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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:17:17 GMT -5
The Banshix: Terror in the Depths of the Library
-An Introduction By... -Chapter I-Ki Theory -The Study of Thought -The Geography of Your Universe -A Talk of Eras From Start to Forever -Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide -Chapter II-Ki Theory -The Study of Thought -The Geography of Your Universe -A Talk of Eras From Start to Forever -Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide -Chapter III-The Study of Thought -The Geography of Your Universe -Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide Puar's Total WC: 14,247 Kakarot's Total WC: 1,350 Keres' Total WC: 6,800 Pagoma's Total WC: 5,866 Android 24's Total WC: 5,333 Ur'alcyonis' Total WC: 5,094 Oolong's Total WC: 4,863 Towa's Total WC: 4,954 Juch's Total WC: 8,082 Broly's Total WC: 1,273 Amelia's Total WC: 1,059 Joseph's Total WC: 899
Topic Word Count: 59,409
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:18:00 GMT -5
An Introduction By...
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“The scholars are afraid.” That was an understatement. The scholars were terrified, instilled with the same horror as a man whose foot was stuck underneath the tracks of an approaching train. A girl had ventured to deep into the library and had become a beacon for the worst monster known to the Librarians, The Banshix. Not a soul that knew about the creature wanted in, and the Librarians could not handle this alone. That is why, Ashley Cobain, the Chief Librarian, had come to Adel. “Mercenaries will be needed. The Banshix could easily wipe out our own forces,” she said to him. They were in his office, and the Grandmaster had a cup of tea in-front of him, giving Ashely his attentive gaze. “Is that so? So this problem has risen out of our control that fast?” “It is the Banshix, afterall. It has already split the defense grid into seven shards. We can’t even locate him properly without it operational again.” “Noted. You have my permission then. Still, check and see if there are any scholars that are about and willing to help. Keep the outsiders on a short leash, Ashley. No one ventures without a tracker. We can't afford to lose our own resources.” Adel took a sip of tea. Ashley nodded. Understood. She then left his office. Ashley would go to produce several recruitment flyers, having them sent and posted up on various worlds. 238 / 238 Kakarot
You sure 'bout this, boss?" Toitas asked. "'Course I am! I mean... The clerk said fifty Zeni wasn't gonna cut it for the amount of damage we caused when ya let me pilot the SES Nimbus into the docking station, so... We kinda need the money.""...Right. And... Have you ever been to Kelioux? Ever heard anything about the Scholars?""Nope!"And you gave the fueling station's clerk the keys to the Nimbus as collateral until after the job's done?""Yuhuh."And thus, several hours after leaving Toitas and the rest of his Vanguard at the deep-space fueling station he'd partially destroyed via reckless piloting, Kakarot arrived at the academy with only his armor and a rucksack full of dried food slung over his shoulder. 125 / 125 Keres
Keres was on Kelioux almost by chance when the library came calling for mercenaries. She had come back to help an old student, if you could call him that. Really, she was helping Adel help an old student, but when the job was complete she didn’t leave immediately as she tended to do. Kelioux was her home once, and it was a planet where she could actually find people closer to her age to associate with. So she decided to stay and visit on a whim, and then the Banshix escaped. As a former scholar she knew well the dangers of the creature, but this was surely an act of fate. She hadn’t been allowed into the inner sanctums of the library since she was expelled from the academy for stealing something out of it, and now they weren’t even closely checking credentials in their desperation. Fate. She showed up in the lobby, staff in hand. She wasn’t very tall and her figure was hardly muscular. She was dressed in her traditional garb as a shrine maiden, and really did not look like she belonged in a library let alone a dangerous battle. But she had a certain presence. Her mismatched eyes watched everything with a curious brightness that wasn’t shrouded by any fear or doubt. She was ready. She was also ready to be kicked out, which kept an amused smile on her face. 240 / 240 Pagoma
Pagoma didn't expect he would be back in his own home on Planet Frieza for quite some time. He had been assigned from planet to planet on various tasks for the Planet Trade Organization, under Lord Frost’s orders. It was only a matter of time before Pagoma would be sent somewhere else. As the Changeling reflected on these things, his Scouter began to vibrate. Turning it on, he saw the projected image of Lord Frost, only visible through his own Scouter. “Pagoma,” Lord Frost quickly spat out. “I need you to go back to Keliloux and visit the Scholars. Something bad has happened there and they are requesting outside help.” “Keliloux?” Pagoma questioned. He remembered his short stay there, training with Puar, and reading a bunch of boring books as a visitor of the Scholar’s library. They kept the good stuff for themselves. He wondered why the Scholars needed help with those like Grey and Puar there, or the demon Towa if she was present. He knew it had to be something serious. “I’ll enter in the coordinates now,” Pagoma replied to Lord Frost. Lord Frost rushed off the call after Pagoma confirmed. It was unlike him, but Pagoma knew the Universal politics were a wreck, and he was under a lot of pressure. “Keliloux…” Pagoma said to himself. It wasn’t his favorite place, but it sounded like something interesting would at least be going on while there. 242 / 242 Android 24
Android 24 was getting used to the idea of being one of Earth’s mightiest heroes. By no means was he as strong as the great warriors of Earth, like Master Roshi, but he knew with time that could change. He was really getting used to his new Cybernetic body, and with Master Roshi’s help was getting stronger and faster every day. Still, Android 24 couldn’t help but feel like stopping robbers and other low level criminals in West City was going to get him where he needed to be. Not based on the horror stories he had heard of Earth’s past cataclysmic threats. “Master Roshi…” Android 24 interrupted one of their Kata sessions on the beach. “Can I… talk to you?” “I already know what you’re going to say,” the old Turtle Hermit responded. “The truth is, there’s not much exciting happening on Earth right now. But there is somewhere else…” “On another planet, you mean?!” Android 24 had never been off planet before. “That’s right,” Master Roshi confirmed. “How about it? Want to go on an adventure?” “Wow!” Android 24 could hardly contain his excitement. “Let’s go! I’m ready now!” “It’ll be a solo mission for you,” Master Roshi clarified. “I’m too old to be cramped in a pod for that long.” Master Roshi walked behind his house and uncovered a small, orb-shaped ship that looked like it would barely contain one passenger. “Take my ship,” Master Roshi continued. “I’ll help you set the coordinates for Keliloux. The Scholars seem to be in some kind of trouble. Maybe you can help. But be careful. Try not to get yourself killed!” 284 / 284 Ur'Alcyonis
Having had some dealings on Kelioux, all the Primeval’s jobs were currently rather beneath him, making it quite the boring time he had to spend on Kelioux. However, when it so happened that he had managed to run through all the meetings and dealings which he seemed to loathe so much, the Primeval was surprised by the arrival of his subordinate Ciel at the Grand Library where Ur’alcyonis was enjoying a moment of rest and tranquility, reading a few books on ancient cultures all the while enjoying a cup of coffee in a separate booth. “Have you ever checked your communications, Milord?” The celestial stood in front of the masked man, practically huffing as the black feathers on her wings seemed to get ruffled. “If you want to escape from the boring routine as you called it, why didn’t you just look for something more interesting to do?” The masked man looked up at the woman, his eyes having a hard time to turn their attention from the text he was reading towards the woman he called his number one subordinate. “As far as I know, I have no work on Toffit and both the Saiyan Empire and the Planet Trade Organization seem to be quite calm these days.” “Well…it looks like the Scholars haven’t been that calm though,” This seemed to pique the masked man’s interest, so as his subordinate stressed on, he reached for the side of his mask, checking the scouter within to see if there had been something going on. “Do you see it now, Milord?” “I guess we’ll see what’s going on…we’re already on location, so it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on those who’d react to this missive..” 285 / 285 Oolong
Chamomile Long was on Kelioux already when the call for mercenaries came. Despite the empire’s pristine image in the galactic circle, Kelioux dealt in almost as much questionable trade as the PTO. This became even more substantial after the loss of Ippen where new deals needed made and certain resources needed gathered from other places. The Fallen war shifted a lot of things around for the empire and her type of services became more in demand. She ‘knew from Mate’ how terrified the scholars were of this task, while the ASI helping them out was begging him to go inside anyway to build her collection. There were a lot of fascinating things in the library and it wouldn’t be wrong to assume the Academy would be willing to part with some valuables inside it were the threat contained, especially with how fearful they were of it. It was enough for any merchant to see dollar signs. Plus a certain blue cat was a librarian and would be stuck facing this threat with or without them. Chamomile offered to go instead of the scholar, with a sense of adventurer and a better eye for valuables. While she shared blond hair with her adoptive brother, she was Lismian which meant she was a little ways under five foot. Because of that she kept some of her power level unsuppressed so there would be no mistaking her as under-qualified. She seemed to be one of the first people to get to the library lobby. Others had accepted the offer but all seemed in transit despite a time frame being discussed in their contracts with its heavy sense of urgency. She looked to the nearest librarian, quickly signing the question of whether they understood KSL, before signing on: ”Others are on the way right? If not, will the pay increase?”She had a mechanical voice, but this question wasn’t one to say loudly, so she preferred to sign it assuming someone could understand it. 333 / 333 Towa
The Academy had called for help. It wasn’t often that it happened like that, but word had come from Grandmaster Adel that any that were capable of helping needed to report to the academy at once. The first to get the call were obviously those associated with the Keliouxian Scholars, but from what she had detected and heard from associates around the Universe, this call went out to any ally of Kelioux and even those that just wanted fame or fortune. This was certainly a call for help that was unique. Towa was on Kelioux already working on getting herself to the level of Sage still so that she could have her own lab. If she had her own lab, then she could work on the things she needed, but also be a state funded entity. That was going to be the key to her work here. She wanted that freedom and also the protection of the empire as she continued to work towards her ultimate goal. That would never stop being the objective, no matter how many side objectives she ended up having to go through to get to it. Drataz was off planet. The Lizardman likely wouldn’t have been welcomed in the halls of the academy though and she didn’t really want to deal with that drama either. Mira on the other hand would have been more than ready to help her, but she decided that this would likely be a mission that would be best for her to attempt alone. If she looked strong in the eyes of those involved, maybe it would help move her along in the process. If she used Mira to have an easier route, then he might get the glory that she needed to earn. She stepped in to the lobby the library, looking around at those that had already gathered. It seemed this was going to be an interesting crew taking on this task. Whatever that task was??? 327 / 327 Juch
Well, it was nonnegotiable, wasn't ? A passing letter, stamped and approved with the Grandmaster's seal. An envelope exquisite, embroidered with a quill of a...Northern Tadornina Swan; oh, and is that--mm, BM Elixir Ink? Expensive. However, from such a luxurious cocoon did no butterfly emerge; instead, a wrinkled flyer--a call for help, a call to arms against a ferocious nightmare unlike any other--crumpled purposefully before flattening back out and folding up with care. How droll. Juch understood what the Grandmaster meant. He smiled to himself. He wasn't always needed at Kelioux, but if the Pen called for him, he will answer. ----- Past the heavy double doors, guardians that shielded the delicate pages from both the elements and tardy returners, the lobby was as familiar of a sight as ever. One person he recognized as familiar, giving a smile and a wave to Towa before looking at the two others that had arrived at the lobby already. One in a traditional garb of sorts--if her choice of dress meant that she didn't belong, Juch's didn't either--and the other a Lismian in conversation with one of the staff, with sign language, no less--a cursory check of her ki signature returned some interesting numbers. Hm, duly noted. It's been so long; are any of the old staff still around? He wondered to himself as he popped some pills--discretely, of course. He didn't want to get his hand slapped again; something about a bad example for students or something. And so, if others were to look his way at this moment, he would just smile and nod--at least, until he was able to dispose of the now empty bottle. 284 / 284 Broly
The winds shifted and a cloaked man turned to face it's warm and gentle embrace. The hood fluttered as the tattered bottom of his cloak flared backwards. Drifting toward him came a piece of paper. It was thin, well kept, and easily readable- in other words, it was professionally made and not some missing dog poster someone might have hung up around the area. The cloaked figure grunted, swiping the flier out of the air before taking off his head to better read it. From behind the hood came a rugged and chiseled face with deep scars carved into his face. His eyes were stern, his jaw tight, and his brows furled. With a growl he scanned over the paper before tossing it into the air from wince it came. "So, they are asking for some kind of help, uh?" The titan like man said to himself. "Might as well check it out," with a shrug he closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to go forth. Within minutes he appeared in the central lobby of the Scholars within a blink of an eye. Some of the patrons within the immediate area became startled for only a moment at his instantaneous appearance, but after a moment of his stoic nature, they returned to their work once more. His head slowly drifted from his left to his right, looking for anyone that seemed to be of any importance. 237 / 237 Amelia
Kelioux Academy, a place that the mage only became slightly familiar with. She had read about it from time to time and Mona while she use to attend the Academy before going M.I.A shared her reports. There was also a rather interesting meeting she had with the cat like librarian in the Astral Achieves. Kelioux's Academy and its empire did well to Garner the woman's interest. Now an opportunity presented itself in the form of the Academy reaching out for assistance. Amelia didn't mind stepping forward to help, especially for a profit and a chance to see what knowledge the mythically erudite was hoarding. Not to mention, being employed as a mercenary of sorts provided a pretense to rove about and gather information about the Academy. If Kelioux was aware of her and Mona's homeplanet it was in her interest to find out exactly how much they knew about the hidden homeworld of the two mages. Amelia entered the library quietly with her spellbook in hand, she looked around the room getting a glance of each of the people inside while discreetly measuring their power through an energy sensing spell in her Tome. She wondered who else would join them. 200 / 200 Joseph
Joseph was on his down time in between classes at Kelioux's Campus when he heard that the Academy was reaching out for outsider assistance once again. The boy was not sure of the exact details of this mission but he was eager to take a chance to take part in whatever they were planning. He had been enlisted to aid the scholars before, an expedition of some sort that Mona and Cauli were getting involved in before the event had to be canceled or postponed for whatever reason. Hopefully the same would not happen in with this mission. His time on Kelioux had brought him a learning experience as well as strong opponents. The boy had no doubt that whatever the Scholars had in mind would lead him to excitement as well. Joseph entered library and walked through the room taking a glance at all the people who were present, he wondered if Victoria was around, though with how many scholars operating within many different departments of the Academy he didn't think it was likely he'd come across her now of all times. The Demi-Earthling sat down in a chair and looked around to see if there were any snacks out as he awaited further instruction. 206 / 206 Puar
In order to enter the Library it took strength, only because Kelioxians were naturally strong. Two massive double doors would be pried open and the lobby it self was massive. A few shelves of books lined the walls and there were plenty of places to sit or stand, if you were the standing type. Upon entry, the receptionist on duty was missing it seemed, at first, until a healthy blue furred cat pounced onto the receptionist’s desk and stretched in dramatic fashion, her maw opening and letting out a cute moan of satisfaction. “Ah, well isn’t this quite the surprise. I expected more actual scholars.” She looked to Towa knowingly and then her gaze fell upon Juch with surprise. “Ah, even the most elusive man himself.” She took note to the others showing up as well, especially Cham, who signed in KSL and the cat sighed. “You aren’t deaf are you? Needing to transform to answer would be quite a drag.” Whenever Puar was in this form, she was the most cat she can be. She was lazy as all hell. She took note to a lot of faces she recognize and some she didn’t. “My name is Puar for those who do not know me and I am a top level Librarian. I was instructed by Ashley Cobain, the Chief Librarian to both inform you of your job and to run a scan to see where you will fit in. As for payment,” she stopped and her gaze fell upon Cham specifically. “Above my pay grade to say,” she said and there was another yawn. She jumped off the table and began a slinky and lazy strut, more like a relaxed panther -- a mini one at that. She looked at each person, Broly, Kakarot, Towa, Juch, Joseph, Amelia, Pagoma, Android 24, Keres, Cham and Ur. Different expressions dressed her face, but nothing particular to set apart that she was just entertained by how rag tag this group was. And then ran in two random scholars, Puar recongnized them instantly and sighed. Not these two. “Keith… Kevin… well welcome you two are late as you will ever be. On time for the sorting hat though.” Puar had made her way to a shelf and the bell upon her collar rung a sweet tune. From that tune a hat sprung off the top shelf, animated and sassy. “What the hell do you want,” it asked Puar and she rolled her eyes. “Well, the Banshix is out--” “What the hell, put me back!!!” “No, I need you to sort these adventurers and scholars so that we can send them to fix the defense grid that it broke. We need that to locate him and strike against him.” “Eh, eeeh. I guess,” the sorting hat said aand it sprouted eyes. “Have em put me on their heads and I’ll tell you what subject they are good for.” Puar nodded and the looked over to everyone else. “Well, by the order you arrived. I guess that means you are first.” Puar’s eyes fell upon Kakarot. “Put the hat on.” 573 / 759 Kakarot
"'Scuse me ma'am, where's the lieberry?""The- oh! Li-brary! You've got quite the thick accent for a Saiyan... It's down this hall, then two left..."Kakarot nodded along to the blue-skinned and well garbed woman's directions, and promptly made his way. The Saiyan slipped through a pair of ajar great wooden doors and tiptoed into a gathered hodgepodgery of people, some of whom he recognized. He slid into an open position in the crowd just in time to hear a blue cat declare, 'Above my pay grade to say.The cat jumped down from its elevated position to slink about the room, chatted with a pair of late comers, and then produced a talking hat from a shelf. After exchanging words with it, she approached Kakarot and ordered him to wear the hat. He held it in his hands and gazed into its eyes. "If ya try to eat my brains, mister, I'll eat you." With mutually assured destruction in play, Kakarot felt comfortable placing the hat on his head. "MEATHEAD!" The hat screeched. "Only technically," Kakarot retorted. "But I've got a skull in my noggin', too! Plus at least my hair's on my head, instead've inside've me..." Kakarot picked a long strand of hair from the underside of the hat's wide brim, and felt it sliding along his brow. It was white and curled, as though belonging to a wizened old man. "... Oh! By the way, cat lady, are you related t' Korin? And what's a Banshix? Can I take this hat off now?" He grinned and waved a hand over his nose as though blowing away a bad smell. "It's bein' real rude," he explained. 277 / 402 Keres
”Pass it along,” Keres said gently to Goku, holding out her hands for the hat. Assuming he gave it to her without issue, she’d place in comfortably down over her ears. It did not take long to come to an answer. ”Old hag!””Why, thank you,” Keres replied with a happy smile. She didn’t look past her early twenties, nor like a Keliouxan who aged slower or even a demon who didn’t age at all, but looks can always be deceiving and there were other lesser know races out there. She was definitely an alien of some sort. She recognized the hat from her own days as a scholar and knew it didn’t necessarily read what was in your head. It just found rude ways to describe places in the library. She was surprised it lasted so long, as it had pissed off many a scholar, but it gave her a small idea as to where she might be going. Well, there were many parts of the library that could be considered old, so it was only a guess in the end. The librarian said to go by arrival, than proceeded to hand the hat to one of the late comers, so Keres removed it from her head and simply passed it to the person closest to her, which at this point was a Changeling. 229 / 469 Pagoma
As Pagoma arrived on Keliloux, leaving his ship wherever he felt like it, he stormed through to the library he had few fond memories of. He burst through the heavy double doors, making more of a commotion than he had intended as he remembered the library was a place where people often kept quiet. He saw someone he recognized immediately; Puar. This feline friend was a bit unconventional but had been an excellent trainer for Pagoma. He had worked with the blue figure a handful of times and had to thank her for each one as a result of his progress, but she was a bit odd compared to what Pagoma was used to being around. It didn’t seem like too many others had arrived yet. Acting as Pagoma normally would, he found a seat in the back where we would be unnoticed and took a seat. Puar made a brief introduction, which Pagoma admittedly didn’t pay enough attention to. Before he knew it, someone was handing him a hat that could talk. This caught the Changeling a bit off guard but with all eyes on him, he began to lower the hat to his head as instructed. Before the cloth had even touched his scalp, two words were loudly muttered throughout the room. “MENTAL PATIENT!” The talking hat spout out to everyone in earshot. Pagoma immediately felt anger rising in his chest, thinking the hat was calling him some sort of lost cause or mentally inept. “Ragged old piece of scrap,” Pagoma muttered before tossing the hat to the one closest to him, an Android. He sat back in his chair and tried to disregard the hat’s words. If it were just the two of them the hat would have been burnt to ashes for its offensive tone, but since the room was full and he was on official PTO business, Pagoma decided to behave himself. He sat back in his chair, leaning back on the hind legs. He paid little attention to the others. He had no idea what he was doing there or why Lord Frost would subject him to such a mission. 359 / 601 Android 24
Android 24 followed the Universal Positioning System as closely as the coordinates could lead him, landing on a planet so much different from Earth. It was the Android’s first time ever leaving Earth and he could hardly contain his excitement, as nervous as he was. He exited the ship of Master Roshi’s, leaving it nearby some similar pods he had seen parked, and entered a nearby building. He had to use all his strength to push through the heavy wooden double doors. Android 24 looked around the library and felt a bit awkward. Warriors and students from all over the universe looked at him, but he had no idea who any of them were. He found a seat near the back where he would be unnoticed, next to some mean looking guy that had a black and silver metallic body. They seemed to be passing around some sort of hat that said one or a few words on each person. Android 24 had never seen a magical piece of cloth like this before, so when it was his turn to place it on his head he was overwhelmed with the mystery of what would happen next. ”HIPPY!” the hat would cry. Android 24 gently removed the hat and handed it off to the next one in line. He was a bit confused though. ”Hippy?” he thought to himself. It was a word he had heard used when describing old stoner fans of classic rock. Something from his grandparent’s generation; certainly not his own. What was this supposed to mean? 262 / 546 Ur'Alcyonis
so many people seemed to arrive in the lobby, each more impressive than the other. There was quite an eclectic group gathering, making it quite hard for the masked man to concentrate on his book about Kassack mating rituals. It seemed that all of those had come for the same purpose, for as he wanted to come closer and ask the lot of them to be quiet within the library, a blue cat with a rather cutesy demeanor presented herself to the group. Almost aloof concerning the whole discussion between the cat-lady and the two who happened to be scholars, the Primeval just tilted his head ever so slightly to have a better look at who exactly was present in this group of theirs, only to find himself at attention, when a shrill voice blurted out ‘meathead’. It appeared the sound came from the hat which the saiyan known as Kakarot had placed on his head. Already, the masked man wondered just what in the blazes he had gotten himself into. That same hat was being passed along, shouting obscenities and curses while it was placed upon yet another head, making the Primeval wonder what kind of drunk, malicious and spiteful genius must’ve created that thing. Yet, when it finally managed to reach him, after having insulted the blonde-haired android, as the masked man removed his own hat for the sake of the sorting hat, it screamed out “MENTAL PATIENT”. In response, the masked man shrugged his shoulders and as he passed the sorting hat on to the next person, he just let out a chuckle. “It isn’t entirely wrong…” 270 / 555 Oolong
Chamomile frowned when the librarian entered. Well, no. A cat entered. A completely ableist cat which was ironic because it was a cat. She did catch the word transform however, and easily reasoned this was a person merely taking the form of a cat. Still, Puar received a glower in response. She wasn’t deaf, but being mute she found the deaf were far more willing to learn different ways to communicate. She didn’t really have patience for people like Puar who made assumptions on her abilities. Yep, Oolong was that good. He swore Puar had met Cham before but he might have been misremembering. If it had happened it was before she knew about Mate. But she’d get Cham’s ire throughout if that meant keeping in character. ”Sorry my potential disability is inconvenient for you,” a slightly mechanical voice said, though the woman signed the words as well in habit with an edge to her gestures. The cat’s answer to payment also wasn’t very satisfying. She took the hat from the masked man after its strange outbursts anyway, and placed it on her head. ”Animal lover!”Normally she would have said something along the lines that the hat must be broken, since she was definitely not an animal lover, but she didn’t bother after Puar’s comment and merely handed the hat over to the next person. 234 / 567 Towa
Towa noticed a few people that she knew had arrived. Juch for example had given her some acknowledgement so she returned it in kind. Puar having spent a majority of their time in the Library tool charge of the situation. Apparently something got free and an animated hat was going to be guiding them along on the mission. At least the hat was sassy so that was entertaining. It seemed to not like Puar or maybe that was just how it always was. It was sassy after all. The mission would start by putting the hat on it would give a label. That was all they knew at this point. The others put the hat on one after another it gave them some sort of phrase. Seemed meaningless but Puar did tend to know what they were doing so as Towa was passed the hat she decided to follow what the others had done. After a quick examination of the hat she placed it on. Quickly it said "Old Hag". If Towa hadn't heard that already she likely would have been offended, but it matched another in the rooms word. "Seems I got Old Hag." She turned to the next person taking the hat off and extending it as an offer, "Seems you are next." A grin on her face made it clear she was welcoming to any that were not from the Keliouxian Empire. They did need to be welcoming to others to expand their knowledge. This would clearly help with that. A team building exercise was how she was looking at this mission. The demon goddess had no idea what a Banshix was. 275 / 602 Juch
The distorted pressure of a colossal figure. The careful steps of a purple clad girl. A young familiar student. The silent arrival of a Saiyan. The rowdy slam of a Changeling. The uncomfortable look of a blonde boy. All this underneath the watchful eye and lethargic swagger of the receptionist desk cat. Even if the Lismian didn’t seem happy with her treatment, Juch couldn’t help but smile at Puar’s antics. And his amusement only grew when she dragged that infernal hat out. Like the other scholar, he had fond memories of that blasted relic, especially during his student days. “MEATHEAD!”“…fffph…” “OLD HAG!”“Pffft…” “MENTAL PATIENT!”At this point, Juch had to cover his face with his own headweard as the Sorting Hat was passed around, convulsing with barely held laughter. It was rather immature, but he just gave in to the wave of nostalgia. Still, Juch was able to keep an eye on the proceedings, including the masked man that had went unnoticed prior. By the time Towa handed the Sorting Hat to him, he had reached composure. After thanking her, Juch held the glaring hat and inspected its wear and tear over the years. “You’re all conked out—a bad fur day too, I see.” “JUST PUT ME ON YOU RAT BASTARD!”And somehow even angrier. Juch obliged. “ANIMAL LOVER!”Same as the Lismian then, “Why must you say it like it’s a slur?” The colorful curses that followed next should not be repeated under any circumstance. “Yeesh, as obscene as ever,” holding the tip of the hat with his fingertips, Juch kept the hat at arm’s length as he approached the statuesque giant with a grimace, “Here you go, big guy.” WC: 284 290 / 567 Broly
Broly stood in silence, his hood obscuring most of his face with thick shadows as one by one the warriors approached to don the hat. Kakarot was first, catching the words spoken as if they were insults 'Meathead.' But then it quickly continued to the next, declaring the titles in order as old hag, mental patient -Broly's personal favorite- and animal lover. It was clear from the words alone that there was some kind of method to the madness. Members that were paired along side of the same name, such as Mental Patient, had clear similarities in one way or another. Due to this there was only one thought that Broly could conclude, he was going to undoubtedly get the words Mental Patient or Meathead, animal lover didn't fit the bill, nor did old hag. So which would it be? He waited still, watching as they each passed the hat from one to the other until it was finally his turn. With the declaration of 'animal lover' for Juch, Broly was approached with a seemingly fearless demeanor and a quip at his size as the words 'big guy' hit his ears. The corner of his lip quivered as he forced back the grin, something about the confidence in the individual was enough make him want to break character, but he remained stoic. Broly took the hat and began to lift it toward his head, but before he even got it to his chest the hat yelped. "MEATHEAD! JUST LOOK AT THIS GUY, DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY IT?!" To those that paid attention there was a slight look of displeasure on Broly's face, possibly due to the insulting tone, possibly due to not even getting a chance to wear the hat like everyone else. Yet he said nothing, instead he just held the hat out to the next person, maybe they would get the same treatment. 317 / 554 Amelia
Amelia's sensing spell had picked up on the presence of a metamorph that had entered the scene. She turned in the cat's direction immediately recognizing who it was. The cat library who she encountered in the Astral Realm. Her lips curled into a smile, not being able to help but be amused by how casually Puar was walking around in the form of a cat. After some exchange of words between the library and the cat. The hat was passed around to appraise each member of the motley group, shouting the title it granted to each that donned it. Amelia had to stifle a giggle each time the hat assigned a name. Once the hat was passed to her, Amelia took off her own hat setting it on the table beside her and put it on. "Lost Child!" the hat exclaimed. "Hmmm, interesting" Amelia said. She thoughts lingered on her title. There was an irony in the fact she was being called this while next to an actual child. The woman turned towards Joseph and handed him the hat. She had a look of surprise for a fleeting moment. "Oh. wasn't expecting to see you here. It's nice to see you." She said as the boy proceeded to put on the hat. 212 / 414 Joseph
Joseph looked in Puar's the direction the moment the feline metamorph entered the room. It was a surprise seeing her involved in this gathering of business and it was a welcome on. He watched as Puar scanned over the area taking in the sight of the various people in the room. He noticed the amused look that flashed on her face. The boy continued sitting in the chair awaiting instruction as Puar spoke to one of the people, saying that it would have been bothersome to have to transform to communicate. That took him by surprise, he didn't expect something so uncouth or slotheningly to come from the usually refined librarian. The hat was then brought to the scene and he listened to Puar exchang words with it and explain the hat's purpose in deciding what to do with each of the people in the room. It made him think of Harry Potter and how there was a talking hat that decided which house a student would be assigned. Joseph listened to the hat declare a title for each wearer to mixed reception. He actually found each of the names funny. The hat was passed to each individual and eventually went into the hands of a vaguely familar figure who received the name Lost Child. He wondered if he would have ended up with that title if their positions were reversed. The Witch lady addressed him, saying it was nice to see him again as she handed him the hat. "It's nice to see you too," he said as he put the hat on. "Tree hugger!" It exclaimed. Joseph didn't know what to make of that. He appreciated nature and had a degree of concern for the environment but those concerns didn't name for thoughts he had for particularly long or often. 302 / 508 Puar
The sorting hat jumped off of Joseph’s head and made his way to one of the late comers, whose name was Keith. “TREE HUGGER AS WELL HUH,” it said. He jumped off rather quickly, now becoming impatient and wanting this over with. Next was the other, his name Kevin. He didn’t even hop on his head he just stared at him. “LOST CHILD,” it said. It then turned its attention to Puar who twitched her own eye. “I didn’t know I was going,” she said and the sorting hat did a shrugging motion. “Ashley is saying you aren’t going to be lazy this time – AND I ALREADY SEE HIPPY.” Puar’s body flailed and she rolled onto the ground in detest. “Noooo, I don’t want to go to that bookverse of all places. Who chose these locations for the keys.” “Job is done. Ashley is saying that you need to explain what the hell is going on better! BYE!!!” The hat jumped up back onto the shelf and lost all of its animation. Puar slowly got back up to four legs and sighed. “I suppose,” she said and afterwards started shaking her head, which made the bell on her collar ring. The ring of the bell summoned seven doors, each with a label. “I mentioned a defense grid when talking to the hat. That is what you are here to fix. That and the recapture of the Banshix. We can’t locate which Bookverse he is hiding in.” Puar then shook her head again, another bell tone escaped into the air. In each of their hands appeared a library card with their name and the name of the section they were permitted to travel through right underneath. The section would also be named on the door. “Do not lose these. We track you and also use it as a sort of fishing line to pull you out of a Bookverse. Some Bookverses are dangerous – while others are just plain annoying. The goal is to traverse through and search for the keys to the grid power system. When we get all seven our Library Defense Team will get vision on The Banshix. That is when we strike – be careful as you move around in there.” Puar’s body took on a bright blue glow before molding and shaping into the cat human hybrid woman that many knew her to be. Just as she changed, so did her demeanor. She looked to Cham with a bit more recognition now, her tiny cat like senses overwhelmed with a lot to actually remember that she knew Cham from before. She signed easily: But then after that she gave her attention to everyone else again. “Please if you run into the Banshix do not engage for too long. His fighting style is very unique. He shatters dimensions and walls we cannot imagine. It will take a group effort. Once the grid is back online and he is located, the Defense Team will transport us all there,” she said takin a breath for once. “Any questions? If not, then head into your door. Good luck.” 540 / 1,299 Ur'Alcyonis
After having heard the explanation on this...Banshix, the masked man just nonchalantly raised his hand and tilted his head slighty to the left, looking straight at puar. "So...this Banshix, I reckon with the fact you can't locate it nor know how it breaks through dimensions...so tell me, what DO you know about the Banshix that can be useful with this little hunt?" 65 / 634 Puar
Puar turned to him and there was a bit of unease in her facial expression when he asked that. It was a perfect question, and probably the one thing that would change how people would go about preparing for this beast. "According to historic events of when The Banshix was captured the first time, it stated to us something strange -- he claimed to know that we are part of a game. We are controlled by beings he simply called 'Weavers of Fate'." Puar pinched the skin between her eye brows as she thought. "I feel he will test your Weaver of Fate. That seems to be the only thing he is ever interested in." 114 / 1,413 Broly
Lumbering over toward Puar the Saiyan Behemoth stood quietly. There was no real question he could think of at the time that would make much of a difference for him- however, one thought did come to mind. His words were direct and might have came off as 'rude,' but in reality he was just a blunt person. "Does our power change in the Bookverse?" He said plainly, confident in his own abilities in reality, but cautious as another dimension's power came into play. 83 / 637 Pagoma
Pagoma was feeling ever more like he surely must have been summoned to this strange endeavor by mistake. But the thought of this “Banshix” intrigued him, as did the threat of anything stronger than himself. He really only had one question for Puar. “So… Mental Case… I suppose that’s the name of one of these Bookverses you speak of. What can I expect there?” 65 / 666 Android 24
Android 24 was overjoyed to be on his first major mission and after seeing a sort of laminated identification card being presented to him, with his name on it, things felt even more official. The blue cat said he could ask a question, but the Android was far too busy to get started and far too nervous to speak up in front of the group. 65 / 610 Puar
After the question from the masked man, Puar was then approached by the tall brute of a man, and she looked up to him, awaiting his question. She didn’t really think he needed to move up to her, but she didn’t’ feel any invitation to violence and was still relaxed and poised. “Change? You don’t lose any power, but how it reacts may be different. I would like to say, please do not attempt to destroy a bookverse – it isn’t terribly hard to do, but destroying one loses us knowledge and we love our knowledge. And well, without a proper way out of a bookverse, you will just destroy yourself in the process. Remember, do not lose your library card. I stress that, heavily.” She then turned to the changeling with question of how the sorting hat did his thing. “No, he is an asshole. He did choose where to place you, if you take a look at your library card, there will be a name – that is the bookverse you are permitted to, and it saaays..” Puar leaned over him and looked at his card, filling his nose with the scent of brown sugar and caramel – the perfume she tended to favor. “Ah! The Study of Thought. So I would assume that any Mental Case has gotten that bookverse, and ‘Hippy’, which is what I got – That is Ki Theory – oh the fun we will have –” That was said sarcastically. 245 / 1,658 Oolong
”Any recommendations on what to do if we do run into the Banshix early?” Chamomille’s robotic voice said through a flurry of less urgent or annoyed signs. They were very business like. ”Is it a run for our lives situation or entertain it long enough for it to get distracted?”She asked the latter based on Puar’s answer to the masked man. If things were just a game to it, then maybe playing with it just enough was how you got away with your life. It was all well and good however to say ‘don’t engage too long!!’ until you actually faced the thing. She waited until all the questions were asked in case someone thought of something she didn’t, then looked to Puar one more time. ”Be careful,” she signed silently, before switching to American Sign Language to sign the name of what was once the ninth planet of Earth’s solar system. KSL didn’t really have a sign for such an insignificant place, but Puar would most likely recognize it, and Chamomile, even if she was still giving the cat girl a suspicious glare. Then she headed to her door with the old man who apparently wasn’t a hag. 207 / 774 Juch
The card in his hand almost seem to glitter in the light. Amidst the flurry of questions up at the front desk, Juch took his time as he traversed past the scattered chairs for the motely crew gathered. With the urgency of the task at hand, idle chit chat would only melt away like candlewax the precious time that they had. He suspected that he only had time for a quick inquiry before making his way to his assigned Bookverse. Taking one last glance at the now defunct Sorting Hat (sweet dreams in hell, you flapping garbage tarp), Juch approached the now humanoid Puar as he twirled the card between his fingers. Funny how scarcity could make even a simple question hold the weight of the world behind it. What if he asked about this? Maybe he could have avoided that mistake if he just had the foresight to know about this before hand--oh the hand wringing of it all. There could be more important matters to inquire about, something that may help with the task at hand, little nuggets of hints or info that could somehow be wrenched from Puar's mouth like an overzealous tooth extraction--bloody splatter and all. Or maybe, perhaps it didn't really matter at all. And ultimately, there was something that bothered him more than anything else, but it was such a minute detail that it may simply prove to have no bearing at all to understanding the situation better. Reaching Puar, Juch leaned on the desk and murmured, "And where is Ms. Ashley Cobain, the Chief Librarian at this crucial time?" Frankly, he expected a shrug and a "I don't know", and that was fine. But with something as disastrous as this happening at the Library, where should the Chief Librarian be if not supervising those who heeded the call--or rather, flyers--instead of pushing Puar and the Sorting Hat to the frontlines in her stead? Surely not still at the printing presses. 327 / 892 Towa
Oh the bookverse. Towa had heard about it since coming to the scholars, but she had never been there herself. Why would she have? She had no reason and it wasn't really something that was pushing her forward in her career goals. She had plenty of things to do, but the bookverse was mostly just a place of legend. A place where you only went if things got bad. If the Banshix was free, that was certainly a qualifier for something going bad. The demon goddess walked up to Puar and nodded, "Pardon me if I missed it, but if we are going to find the Banshix to hopefully recapture it, then how did they do it last time?" After Towa got her answer she took her card and headed to the Old Hag section. It was time to move along with the mission. The faster they got to work the less damage that could be done and hopefully the less power that the Banshix would be able to gather while it was free. 174 / 776 Kakarot
"Hey ho merry dol, I've been overcome by the will of a Weaver of Face!" Kakarot declared; the fourth dimension entity going by the handle Ghoul could only work with what contents already existed in the Saiyan's brain, you see. "If we're looking for the Banshix all over the place, and supposing it ain't behind our door, are there any other big bad monsters to rough up?" 67 / 469 Puar
That questions rolled easy in no time, and Puar fired back as quickly as she could. First came Chamomile. "If you run into the Banshix, flick your Library card with your finger, immediately. Your life won't be in the line, as I said before it won't be you he is looking at. He looks beyong you," she said with a frown. Juch asked an important question next and it perked Puar's ears. "Off world with the her Assistants. Some secret expedition I know nothing about." Putting it like that, made it seem like the Banshix wasn't as dire as they made it seem -- maybe just an annoyance they needed to deal with in the absence of their most useful Librarians. Another important question and yet a weird answer to give. "The ones that captured him stated they empowered their Fate Weaver with these strange artifacts -- the artifacts are scattered throughout the bookverses we are sending you along with the pieces to turn the defense grid back on. Be sure to look out for them -- they aren't too hard to find. Apparently your Fate Weaver will see them!" And then...Kakarot -- what a character he was. Simple quesiton and all she had to do was nod. "Yes, " she said with a bit of a chuckle. "There are big bads to 'rough up'" With the questions coming to an end Chamomile switched to ASL and signed something specific -- that made her squint and blush all the same time. She signed back to her quick and privately in ASL as well before she paired up with A24 to go to their bookverse 269/ 1,927 Puar's Total WC: 1,927 Kakarot's Total WC: 469 Keres' Total WC: 469 Pagoma's Total WC: 666 Android 24's Total WC: 610 Ur'alcyonis' Total WC: 634 Oolong's Total WC: 774 Towa's Total WC: 776 Juch's Total WC: 892 Broly's Total WC: 637 Amelia's Total WC: 414 Joseph's Total WC: 508
Topic Word Count: 8,776
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:19:14 GMT -5
1.1 Ki Theory
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Immediately upon entering the door to this section a rush of cold air flushed outward and in this room was an endless tundra. A blizzard slammed into their faces, violently violating their bodies. The sky was bright, as if it was one large never ending white cloud with a bright sun behind it, which could not provide its warmth because of the barrier of cold the tundra created. In the distance were mountains, and that seemed the only land mark this place had. As one would breathe, they would see their breath easily and it seemed to glow as it came out. When a person exhaled they felt surprisingly weaker. When then inhaled they felt that strength return a little. Snow would soon begin to pile onto those who entered and their joints would begin to freeze up. If anyone actually tasted the snow that dropped, they would feel strangely more invigorated, especially after they had exhaled. 161 / 161 Android 24
Android 24 held his identification badge tightly, taking to heart what the librarian had warned him about. He would be certain not to lose it. Stepping through the doorway, Android 24 was surprised to himself far away from the library. Or at least, he felt fairly certain that where he was now couldn’t have been on the planet Keliloux. ‘Perhaps this is what they meant when mentioning the Bookverse’ Android 24 pondered. Looking outward, Android 24 felt a thick coldness that even his cybernetic body was stunned by. He seemed to be at the top of a mountain, or at least high above the normal elevation. All he could see through the thick snow filled wind, was the outline of mountains on the horizon. They seemed to stretch on for an eternity. While taking in the scene, the blue cat like being known as Puar at his side, Android 24 noticed he felt out of breath. He recalled learning in school that at high elevations the air was thinner and people often got altitude sickness. But this seemed like a step above that. After only half a minute or so in the frozen tundra, Android 24 was practically gasping for air. Breathing from his mouth now, practically wheezing on the thin air around him, a few of the fine pieces of dust like snow fell on his tongue. Strangely, Android 24 felt reenergized by this. Was it his imagination, or was this snow somehow restoring the energy that was lost by his heavy breathing? Android 24 was unsure of the truth but decided to do his breath to remain calm and breathe slowly, conserving what little oxygen seemed to be present in the mountainside scene. ”Where are we?” Android 24 asked, directing the question at his furry, blue comrade. Android 24 crossed his arms, rubbing the tops of his arms up and down to create a sort of friction in order to keep himself warm. Though the electronic side of him was just fine in the cold conditions, his biological parts were freezing cold. 346 / 346 Puar
Puar knew how to work this Bookverse, already taking in consideration of how much breath to take and what not -- she was a Librarian after all. She was quick to instruct A24 once he asked his question. "Eat the snow," she said before she answered. "We are in the bookverse known as Ki Theory. The ki in our bodies is being drained faster than it replenishes. This verse steals our ki away until we are husks. The snow will restore our lost ki faster. Actually," she stopped and kneeled. There was a bottle buried halfway into the snow. She dug it up and filled it with snow. "Let's keep some, in case we need it later on in the verse. There will be parts of this place that won't restore our ki. It will be up to us to do so somehow." She handed him a bottle of snow. "But while we are here feel free to munch on the snow -- it tastes quite refreshing in my opinion." At that Puar took a handful of snow and shoved it into her mouth. "Let's continue. There is a door to the next section in the mountais." Just as Puar said, eating the snow replenishes ki! Android 24 has found a bottle and Puar filled it with snow for him, how nice. Everything seems pretty simple in this verse but that won't always be the case. Actually, it isn't the case now as the snow began to pile up in various places around them to form snow yetis, vicious white furred monstrosities that were made of snow ki. They started to throw snow ball at the duo, and if and when they hit they exploded like ki blasts! 286 / 447
Android 24
Puar seemed to really know her stuff about the Bookverse, and Android 24 felt lucky that he was paired with her. She explained what Android 24 was feeling without him realizing it… his breaths were draining his Ki while the snow was replenishing it. Puar handed Android 24 a bottle full of snow. ”Wow, thank you,” Android 24 said as he accepted the blue feline’s gift. “You are very kind.” Puar grabbed a pile of snow and shoved it in her mouth, so Android 24 did the same thing. He immediately felt the energy it replenished, however small one handful might have helped. “Hmm, that’s strange,” Android 24 pointed out into the snow where a mound of snow seemed to be spontaneously gathering. As it continued to gather, a monster made of the snow formed and growled at Android 24. Soon, several more rose up and scattered about the snowy mountainside. ”Yikes!” Android 24 said. The first yeti had gathered a ball of snow and began to throw it at Android 24. Android 24 had been in enough snowball fights as a kid and expected it to be harmless, almost wondering if the snow monsters were just playing around. But as the ball of snow hit him in the chest, it exploded as if he was hit by an energy blast. He took a few steps backwards as the smoke rose from his armor. “Hey!” Android 24 shouted. “That wasn’t very nice!” Android 24 reached down to the snow and made a snowball of his own. He chunked it at hard as he could, showing off his skill from back when he was a Quarterback on the football team, combined with his cybernetic technology. The snowball flew swiftly at his target and looked as though it would strike the yeti who had made the first move. 310 / 656 Puar
But of course Puar knew what she was talking about, she was a Librarian! She grinned as he appeared grateful at her gift and the knowledge she possessed. "I just love giving back the knowledge I hold, that's all." That was true to be honest. Her ears twitched and she saw the snow monsters appear, and she frowned. "I was hoping we could cross this place without running into them," she said and picked up a hand full of snow herself. A24 caught on easily, and instead of exhausting his own energy, he threw a ball of snow. Puar did the same thing, chucking her own balls of energy after swiftly dodging the yeti monster snow balls. It looked like this was going to turn into a snow ball fight at this point.
As A24 scooped up his snow, he would notice the shine of another bottle, which he could use to put more snow in after the fight! The yeti's were hit by the the snow balls and sure enough they exploded like ki blasts, chunking the yetis away. In response, one yeti quick scooped up enough snow to create a trench, and another one piled snow above the trench to create cover. Afterwards, all the yetis hid behind them and started chucking snow balls over the wall toward the two!! If they wanted to stay in the fight maybe they should do the same!? Everywhere in-front of them there were groups of 3 yeti who created trenches and barriers, and they were tossing snow balls as well! 258 / 706 Android 24
Android 24 continued to grab snowballs and throw them at the yeti’s as fast as he could make them. After gathering yet another handful of snow, Android 24 exposed another glass bottle to be filled with snow. “Another one!” Android 24 said to Puar, holding up the bottle. ”Hmm,” Android 24 reflected to himself. “The people who have traveled here before must make it a point to bury these bottles here for others to use. I’ll have to remember to put them back before we leave this place, so the next ones to come here will be ready for the Yeti’s.” Android 24 grabbed two more handfuls of snow, shoveling one into his mouth to help keep his own energy up. The Android was making good progress, but the amount of Yeti’s present was overwhelming. They had begun to group up and shield themselves with makeshift walls of snow and ice. Although they are more protected this way, Android 24 saw that their accuracy dropped noticeably, making it a bit easier to focus on his offense instead of dodging dozens of snowballs. “I wonder…” Android 24 said to himself. He wanted to test a theory. Bending down, Android 24 gathered much more than a handful of snow, scooping it all towards him in a big pile. Using the same method as someone who was building a snowman, Android 24 formed a large ball of snow that was roughly twice as big as a basketball. After patting down the snow to make it smooth, he held it up over his head. ”If one handful of snow is the equivalent to one energy blast,” Android 24 said to Puar as he showed off his huge ball of snow. “Then this oughtta do some damage, right?” Before Puar could advise Android 24 one way or another, Android 24 chunked the giant snowball as far as he could, landing it somewhere in the middle of the Yeti’s territory. 332 / 988 Puar
Puar noticed him holding up the bottle and she nodded with a grin. "Good," she said while digging into the snow with her paws. It didn't tak elong before the feline transpormed into a canine instead and she dug much faster, making a trnech fo rthem and kicking up enough snow to make plenty of piles. She then reformed herself into a beaver, and used her tail to pat down and form a solid wall for the two to hide behind. "Fill the bottle with snow please," she said while reforming back to her feline form. One would guess that was her base form, they would be wrong but it would be quite the guess. Puar was able to finally look up to see A24's massive ball of snow getting ready to drop down and her eyes widened. "Get down!!!" She dropped into the trench, behind the wall she made, which had become solid with barrier like energy. 158 / 864 Android 24
Just as Android 24 was thinking how lucky he was to have a cat like being there to help shovel snow, he looked at Puar and realized… she wasn’t blue anymore. “Woah!” Android 24 said out of shock, staring at furry dog. At first he thought Puar had disappeared, only to be replaced by the fuzzy, happy pup. But Android 24 realized pretty quickly, that didn’t make any sense. The dog, who was apparently Puar, was helping to dig a trench for the two of them. “You can be a dog too?” Android 24 asked, phrasing his question awkwardly. Just as the words left Android 24’s lips, Puar transformed again, this time to a Beaver. “Fill the bottle with snow please,” Puar asked, transforming back into her feline form. “That was awesome,” Android 24 said, completely distracted and unhelpful. “Oh right, snow…” It was around that time, while filling his second bottle of snow, that Android 24 formed his oversized snow bomb. “Get down!” Puar instructed Android 24, who dove behind Puar’s barrier enforced wall. The resulting explosion was a lot more than Android 24 had anticipated and if not for Puar’s quick thinking, Android 24 could have easily been wrapped up in the blast. He wondered if she was building a trench for protection first with plans to ultimately do the same thing, only Android 24 jumped ahead. He made a mental note to pay closer attention to Puar and try not to come up with any more ideas on his own. Still, his giant snow ball had been effective. Android 24 continued to hide behind Puar’s cover, the frosty wind scattering in all directions as if Android 24’s explosion had set off some kind of chain reaction. It hadn’t occurred to Android 24 until that exact moment, that snowy mountains were prone to avalanches. “Sorry,” Android 24 said as he looked to Puar with an awkward smile. “Do you have one?” He offered the container of snow to the feline, wanting to make sure they were both prepared. 348 / 1,336 Puar
Puar easily took hold of the container and as she did, another one peeked its head from the snow behind the trent. The explosion did not harm them, but definitely destroyed the Yeti, leaving behind...pages. Each yeti that was defeated had become pages of books. If any of them had gotten up to read them, they were all about the theory of energy and where it may have come from -- what it means. Things like that. But that wasn't the most important part at all. The path to the mountains was clear for now. Puar stood up, peeking from the trenches. "Hm, we are clear it seems. Let us continue on," she said while getting up and waiting on A24. They would then be able to continue their trek. Puar would turn to him to answer his question about her transformations. "Yes, I am a shapeshifter. To be fair, this form right here isn't even my real one. I've grown used to using this feline form." It matched where she got the power from anyway. She just really like the color blue to be quite honest. "Good thinking with the bomb of ki by the way. That is how it works here. The snow has drain many people, and has also given back to just about the same. A snow fight here is easily the most dangerous thing." 229 / 1,093 Android 24
When it came to sentences that Android 24 never thought he’d hear, “A snowball fight is easily the most dangerous thing here,” was definitely up there. That certainly seemed to be the case from Android 24’s vantage. It seemed the threat of the Yeti’s was over for the time being. Strangely, the beings seemed to be turning to pages when they fell. Android 24 bent over and picked up a single loose sheet, which had some drawings and a couple paragraphs on mastering one’s Ki. “That’s a cool power,” Android 24 said in response to Puar explaining she was a shapeshifter. Android 24 was still new to a world amazing abilities like the ones they had, so seeing something he never had before was quite exciting to him. Android 24 may have had robotic eyes, but they still showed his emotion and excitement at Puar’s words. “So where to now?” Android 24 looked around at the terrain surrounding them as well as Puar. 169 / 1,500 Puar
"Ah, it's a cool power yes. I thought so when I was a teen," she said then sighed. "But it brought too many problems along with it. Puar noticed he was excited about her power and she could not help the smile that spread across her face. "The mountain range right over there," she pointed toward the massive lumps of snow. "Once we are inside there should be a person there who guards the artifact that we need." After that small explanation she started a trek, her feet crunching in the snow. "So where are you from?" Puar popped open a bottle and ate some snow from it to keep herself from losing too much energy. But then she easily scooped more snow up and replenished what she used. 129 / 1,222 Android 24
Puar smiled at Android 24’s compliment on her abilities. Android 24 had only just met the shapeshifter, but he was beginning to like her. She was very helpful in a place where Android 24 was not the least bit familiar. Puar explained that the two of them needed to go inside of a mountain and find an artifact that would help in their journey, prompting Android 24 to follow her. She then asked Android 24 where he was from, passing the time with small talk while they trekked through the snow. “I’m from Earth,” Android 24 answered, scooping up a bit of snow in his hand from the ground and shoving it in his mouth. “I used to be a human, but then I had an accident that left me paralyzed. A man on Earth saved me, but went a bit overboard. So now…” Android 24 moved his arms up and down over his body. “…Now I’m this.” Android 24 was incredibly excited to be on a new planet in a new dimension. Or at least it was new for him. He wanted to ask Puar a million questions all at once, but tried to slow down his thoughts to not overwhelm her. ”So tell me more about that library where we met,” Android 24 said. “Are you guys some kind of club or something?” Android 24 was intrigued by the things he had seen there and the powers that Puar had shown him. She seemed like the type that would possibly teach Android 24 a thing or two, and the cyborg preemptively wondered if their club was accepting new members. 274 / 1,774 Puar
Puar could only giggle at the mention of it being a club, but only because he wasn't wrong. "Yes," she said with a wiggle of her nose which had her whiskers shake a bit. She returned back to his explanation of himself though before she moved on with the conversation with keen interest. "Earth? That is where I am from," she said matter of factly. I am sorry for your accident, but in the end it seems to have its benefits. Being a cyborg can be quite interesting." She then hit her own palm with her fist in a realization. "What is your name? That is terribly rude of me to not have asked." 114 / 1,336 Android 24
Android 24 was surprised when Puar told him she was also from Earth. He had just assumed she must have been from Keliloux, where their mission was, and never thought twice about it. “Uhm..” Android 24 hesitated a bit when asked what his name was. It still felt a bit odd introducing his “new” self, but he supposed the more he did it the less awkward it would be. “You can call me Android 24,” the young Cyborg said. “My name was Gino when I was a human, but that’s my… new name.” Android 24 awkwardly waved his hands as if he were displaying himself, explaining that he was less human and more robot these days. 117 / 1,891 Puar
“AH Gino,” she said opting to call him by his human name. “Not to worry, alterations to your form shouldn’t fully change who you were. Long as your memory is in tact, you are still you.” They finally made it to the mountainous area and there was a door. It was oddly out of place, being the door to a normal house or something. Puar grabbed onto its cold handle and she gasp at its temperature, even though she should have expected it. “We are finally where the artifact should be. Once we go in everything will change. Do not be alarmed. Most of these doors – well all of them—are just dimensional portals to different parts of the Bookverse.” After saying that, she opened the door, bright light spilling out from it in rays. “Let’s go shall we?” Puar then walked through. 143 / 1,479 Android 24
Android 24 felt quite strange hearing someone address him as Gino. Truthfully, he hadn’t felt like Gino in quite some time and almost liked the separation of names from his new self to his old. It somehow cushioned the blow that all of his old friends and family were no longer a part of his life. He probably knew that pushing some of those emotions down instead of addressing them wasn’t good, but Master Roshi wasn’t exactly the best psychiatrist and he had no one else to talk to. Nonetheless, Android 24 was far too shy and awkward to speak up and tell Puar he preferred his new name. She might have been able to sense his hesitations, though. Breaking the tension, Puar opened a door that was built into the side of the mountain. She warned Android 24 that it was going to seem very strange inside and not to be alarmed. ”I’m getting used to just accepting this place is weird,” Android 24 admitted. The Android followed Puar through the door, its frame flowing with bright light that spilled out onto the snowy canvas where he had stood. 195 / 2,086 Puar's Total WC: 1,479 Android 24's Total WC: 2,086
Topic Word Count: 3,565
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:20:16 GMT -5
1.2 The Study of Thought
“So are you going into the building to the left orrrrr,” said the annoying voice of an old man. “is it the right?” Not even the Librarian that was leading the group knew how they ended up in this situation. When everyone went through the door for the Study of Thought, there was a serious lapse between the time you stepped into the door until this very moment, standing on a busy sidewalk, people shuffling by and trying to lose you in their sea of bodies. In-front of you was an old man wearing a diaper and nothing else relevant, teeth crooked and eyes showing signs of jaundice, the yellow more gold than anything. Upon inspection of the buildings, the one to the left was brand new, and bustling with business. People were going in and out, and it was the most traveled building. “Everyone chooses the left,” he said with a sigh. “Always the left and never the right.” The right building was old and half the size of the left building. True to the old man’s complaint no one has gone into it. “Robert Frost would pity this world.” The man had lost his focus to the Librarian and the two they brought, but then regained it easily. “Each building is a portal to something, and by the looks of it the left building seems to bring great success. But no one has yet to try the right. I mean, why try something less traveled, when you know what to expect on the other side?” 258 / 258 Pagoma
As he was led through one of the library’s doors, his identification card inside the interior of his chest plate, Pagoma couldn’t help but still feel a bit confused what he was doing there. The chaotic atmosphere of the library was much different than the last time he was on Keliloux, and everyone was flustered about the Banshix. Upon stepping through the doorway, Pagoma was transported to another world. A strange, other world. Hundreds of bodies were shuffling past the small group, minding their own business, except for an old man that had acknowledged their presence. He was naked, short of a diaper, and had stained yellow teeth. He instructed the group to either go to their left or right, choosing between the entrance of two buildings. The nice building on the left was very busy, while the one on the right was a boarded up ghost town. The old man said that no one had ever gone through the one on the right before, bringing this up multiple times in a short span. Pagoma couldn’t help but feel there was some reverse psychology at play. “Well if everyone else goes through the left…” Pagoma looked hard at the old man as he said this, hoping his eyes might give something away. “…I guess I will too, then.” Pagoma didn’t really care if he was going alone or the others would follow him. He was not heavily invested in the outcome of the Scholars’ mission, and wanted more than anything to explore and venture around the strange place they called the Bookverse. 266 / 266 Ur'Alcyonis
Though there had been quite a few questions asked by those in the group, in the end not a single answer came anywhere close to actually providing a solution for the job they were asked to do. A thing that could jump through dimensions, bookverses that were essentially bubble universes on their own, if the masked man hadn’t gone through way more unnatural stuff than just that, he’d feel uncomfortable as well, but for now he mainly felt annoyed. With the card given to him placed in the breast pocket of his vest, the masked man allowed his gloved right hand to tighten around the door he was supposed to open. For a moment, he decided to run through the answers he’d gotten and had heard just to make sure he didn’t forget anything. With that being done, he stepped through the doorway, finding himself in what was essentially a whole different place than the library he’d been in moments earlier. Dozens, if note hundreds of bodies, shuffling aimlessly in a queue with no end, all under the watchful eye of someone who looked like they’d gotten out of an elderly care home in a hurry. If it weren’t for the eyes of this rather nasty looking man to have that golden shine within them, the Primeval wouldn’t have cared. Yet now, while he listened, the masked man could see a familiar figure move away and go to the right. Letting out a sigh before allowing a chuckle to escape his throat, the masked man quickly followed suit, choosing to go right, if only to sate his curiosity… 276 / 276
And so they decided to split, Ur went right, and right he went. It led to one of the five rooms in this Bookverse. When Pagoma went left, following everyone else, he would find himself in a room full of people, and they were in a very worn down room. This room had no one to clean it and as people piled in, it had gotten dirtier and dirtier. The floor was black, but it wasn't its natural color. There were stains on the wall, and the books that were there had dust on them. Speaking of books, the people who were going in were constantly transforming into books to add to the shelves of them. This room had a deep analysis of the mental wavelength that goes unheard and unnoticed unless telepathy was involved. On the middle of the room was a necklace, however. It was on a pedestal and there was a barrier around it -- as if it were meant to keep something from obtaining it. If Pagoma reached for it, he would grab it with ease. 179 / 437 Pagoma
Pagoma took a left into the high traffic building but was quite surprised by what he saw inside of it. For starters, the building was absolutely filthy. The high traffic had brought in dirt and dust from all sorts of people, and clearly the room had not been maintained by anyone. Though the floor was covered in a layer of dark dirt, Pagoma could tell that there was once a very clean floor underneath it. Part of him wanted to stop his mission and clean the floor, but the side of him that was internally suggesting that he pushed down and ignored. He had more important things to focus on. The other quite strange thing that Pagoma saw, was the people who had been walking into the building were all transforming once they reached a close distance to the bookshelves, lined around the entire dirty room. It was like a library that was ever growing, and these people must have been coming from places across the universe to add to the collection. This was Pagoma’s best guess anyway. In the center of the room, Pagoma felt himself drawn towards a pedestal that held a lovely necklace. It was a large ruby that was mounted to a golden claw, connected to a chain. Pagoma could feel a unique energy signature within the amulet and was quite interested in seeing just exactly what it did. Approaching cautiously, uncertain if the amulet was in actuality a trap, Pagoma slowly reached his hand up towards the amulet in an attempt to grab it. It was then that the Changeling noticed there was a thin barrier around the amulet. Thankfully, as he cautiously reached towards the necklace, his arm safely passed through the barrier and he was able to retrieve the necklace, holding it in his hands and turning it over to examine it. It truly was a beautiful piece of jewelry, full of a strange and unrecognizable power. 325 / 591
Once Pagoma had taken the necklace, the scene completely vanished, as if everything were made of sand and a strong wind blew it away. When the scene was being blown away, another wind blew a scene right around him. It was a cave. The formations were jagged and the space was very limited. Behind him was a wall and forward would be a dark path that was lit by torches. Upon walking forward, if he chose to, it would open up to a room that was well lit. In it were more books lining shelves, a desk, a chair, and a quill next to a half written letter. More observation would show a bed in the corner and a person in it, asleep it seemed. 125 / 562 Pagoma
As soon as Pagoma touched the necklace something peculiar happened. The room he was in, full of people transforming into books, began to fade away. Not all at once, but it was as if everything had turned to ash and the wind blew it away piece by piece. Pagoma wondered for a moment if he had done something wrong, and destroyed the room of books. But he certainly didn’t know enough about the Bookverse to understand it. As the room faded away like dust in the wind, another scene appeared in the reverse, building itself from the ground upward until the ash formed a rich scene around him. Pagoma looked around to see that he was inside some kind of a cave. He was backed into a wall, but ahead of him was a torch lit pathway carved into the cave. As he progressed down the hallway, the light became brighter and the width of the path became larger. After a short walk, the hallway seemed to end as it opened into a room, carved into the cave. But for a room in a cave, it was well finished out, containing many shelves with books, a desk, a bed, and plenty of lighting. Someone was asleep in the bed, lightly snoring. On the desk nearby, a piece of paper sat next to a quill, filled about halfway down with words. It seemed to be the start of a letter that wasn’t yet finished. Since the one who was present was sleeping, Pagoma decided to snoop and read the letter on the desk. 264 / 855
The note stopped there, as they were not finished writing it at all. Pagoma would take note that while reading it there was the absence of snoring like before and a woman(https://i.imgur.com/io6mH0u.jpg) was standing right next to Pagoma, also reading the note just as he was. "Did the librarians send you," she asked in a whisper. Even though she had just waken up from what looked like a nap, she had bags under her eyes and looked exhausted. 144 / 706 Pagoma
Pagoma read what had been written on the letter so far, wondering what would distract someone enough that they would have to stop and nap in the middle of such a short note. Was writing somehow more difficult in the Bookverse? The letter Pagoma read indicated it was written to someone named Ashley Cobain, and that the Banshix had been through and stolen something from the author of the letter. Pagoma looked up. The girl who had been sleeping was awake and had silently snuck her way next to Pagoma. ”Did the librarians send you?” The girl asked with a whisper, startling Pagoma as she made herself known. ”Oh,” Pagoma started, a bit embarrassed to be caught reading her letter. “Yeah… the blue one, Puar? Her and some other people I don’t know sent me to help find the Banshix. It sounds like it’s been through here?” Pagoma was referring to what he had just read in the girl’s letter. The girl seemed a little bit… off… she looked exhausted, with bags under her eyes. She didn’t seem like the type that would be prepared to fight something on any level. ”So…” Pagoma continued, “Do you know where the Banshix is now?” Pagoma knew he was not supposed to engage the Banshix if he found it, but to notify the others and wait. But Pagoma was stubborn and always eager to test his strength against a strong opponent. He wanted to see just how tough the Banshix was. Then, he would decide for himself whether he needed help or not. 264 / 1,119
"Probably Nowhere," she said to answer about the location. "And by Nowhere I mean the Nowhere Dimension. When we expand the Bookverse we borrow space from the infinite Nowhere. If I had escaped and I wanted to plan my next move I would go there." Her voice, tiny and cute yet dry and cracky, began to leave its whisper as she woke up a bit more. "Puar? The blue one? That must be a newer Librarian then. It sounds like the Chief Librarian is just as busy as ever. I was sending a letter -- but I couldn't stay up. My Weaver is very very tired. He tends to sleep a lot, so I don't get much moving time." She stretched and then there was a yawn. "But, I guess you are the answer to my letter. Are you aware of your Weaver yet?" 143 / 849 Pagoma
Pagoma stared at the girl as she spoke with zero sense of urgency. She did seem mildly excited that he was there, and that her letter had been answered, but Pagoma could hardly hear her when she spoke. She told Pagoma told the Banshix was probably nowhere… or rather, the nowhere dimension. Pagoma had no idea what that meant, despite the girl making it feel like he was supposed to. Furthermore, she didn’t seem to even know who Puar was. She moved on to tell Pagoma that she hadn’t finished her letter because her weaver was tired. Pagoma was growing impatient, unsure if the girl was completely delusional, going crazy from the solitude perhaps, or if he had been missed on mission plans being handed out. “Look…” Pagoma said. “I’m not exactly a patient person. I don’t know what the Nowhere Dimension is, what a weaver is, and I frankly don’t really care. I came here to help find the Banshix. Are you here to help me, or would you rather stand aside and let me find it on my own?” Pagoma was speaking from a place of anger and hoped he hadn’t gone too far, as he did probably need the girl’s help, but he was tired of wasting time. 218 / 1,337
"Well, if you find the Banshix and he attacks you, you will stand no chance at all. A weaver is part of our Fates. They properly input our part in this world through words and story telling," she started. The girl was getting right to it, despite beating our the bush earlier and being vague. "Oh," she said taking focus to the amulet he had. "That is good. That amulet will help your Weaver-- your fate writer. As they tell your story, it will effect the Banshix greatly." No doubt he would either not believe her or fail to understand. "Its hard to really explain what a weaver is other than the fact that they give our world the story it needs to push us along. Certain weavers gain more power during the course of the story. The Banshix can manipulate a weaver. He has grabbed a powerful one this time." No doubt the Banshix could grab any weaver to be quite honest. That is what makes him dangerous. "Now as for finding the Banshix... The defense grid was broken, and that puts the portal to the Nowhere Dimension on lockdown. The Banshix stole my part of the artifact... knowing that he doesn't want to face me or Sally would mean he took them deeper into this bookverse and hid them. "Also knowing his playful nature, he wouldn't lock himself completely out and would want for us to find him eventually... he is a weird one. SO I guess I can help you move on some if you are ready..." 260 / 1,109 Pagoma
Pagoma was growing ever frustrated trying to figure out why he was summoned to this mission. It was a wacky trail of unusual occurrences that were leaving Pagoma perplexed. While some might have enjoyed how different the Bookverse was, Pagoma wasn’t one to entertain such oddities. ”Wha… what?” Pagoma said looking at the girl. She spoke to him like an equal but Pagoma had frankly not been giving his mission enough of his attention to understand what was happening. Something called a Banshix… Weavers… Fate Writers… “Look,” Pagoma said plainly and with immense irritation. “Can you just tell me what I am doing here? Why was a Changeling warrior brought to the land of the scholars to deal with this… problem, whatever it is? Is someone having a laugh at me?” The girl went on to mention Pagoma’s amulet before explaining that their defense grid was down and that put some portal on lockdown. Pagoma felt like he was having a conversation with a computer character in a game. But finally, she offered to help Pagoma move on. ”Finally…” Pagoma muttered. 183 / 1,520
"Well, you answered the bulletin call or whatever, right? The best way I can explain to you as to why you are needed is because -- this may sound strange but all of Kelioux, The scholars and its military, all run on the same line of fate -- the same Fate Weaver. That very Fate Weaver is being controlled by the Banshix. The Banshix knows all of our moves, but he doesn't know yours -- you are on a different line of fate." It was hard to follow for some, but she tried her best to simplify it. "Basically, the person who writes your story can't be read by the Banshix and he won't know your next move. The person who writes my story and everyone elses on Kelioux has been compromised. Hell, they write my story now only because my original weaver isn't available -- no doubt the work of the Banshix." "But, on to the next level I guess -- the next room." A ping is heard and she pulls out a phone. "Oh! Sally has another one like you! So we are going to meet at the entrance to Thought Processes Room. OH! My name -- its Amanda," she was all over the place but she found a way to make it to her destination of thought fair enough. Amanda looked back to the pathway Pagoma came through and then she looked to her right. There was a bookcase there. She moved over to it and she pulled a few books, seemingly lost at which one she wanted until she finally found the one that opened the bookcase like a door. "There! Okay, come on let's go!" Her demeanor was brightening now as time went on. She moved on to the next room, where Pagoma was beckoned to follow her. 297 / 1,406 Pagoma
The strange girl continued to speak in riddles and Pagoma’s temper flared. She told him more confusing bits of information about a Fate Weaver and Pagoma just didn’t have the patience to put it all together. It was a similar experience to an elderly person trying to understand lingo or technology from a young person. That, and Pagoma was quick to notice the girl was a bit… off. From what Pagoma did gather, it seemed like she was trying to tell the Changeling that there was someone who was “writing Pagoma’s story” and that they somehow had some kind of special power against the Banshix that Pagoma didn’t have. It made the youthful Changeling wonder again what he was doing there if that was the case, but had already accepted he was there and figured he might as well have finished the task. The girl introduced herself as Amanda and told Pagoma there was someone else they needed to meet that was sent there. Opening a door that was hidden by a bookcase, Pagoma followed her through the pathway to meet their third party member. 189 / 1,898 Puar's Total WC: 1,406 Pagoma's Total WC: 1,898 Ur'alcyonis' Total WC: 276 Room Word Count: 3,580
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:21:35 GMT -5
1.3 The Geography of Your Universe
After entering the door, you find yourself inside of a bright room that has countless doors. They were not staged against a wall, and instead were just standing like portals. When one would open it would be different locations shown. It was difficult to tell which door led where at first glance, but that wasn’t the main focus, or should be. There was a pedestal in the middle of the large room. It was evident that something was missing that would be on top of it. And then… everything went dark. The light soaked up into a single point and formed a girl – not just any girl but THE girl the Banshix had possessed and she stood there with a look of menace. It was apparent that Banshix did not like that you were here. Without much time wasted she attacked! 142 / 142 Amelia
Amelia entered the room as per the instructions she had received. She walked through the room with her spellbook in hand and looked around as she turned her gaze to scan around the room, taking in the sight of the many doors. As the woman continued to walk the pedestal down, the room caught her attention. It looked like something was meant to be there to be displayed. The mage channeled focus into her telepathy gem to send a magic-transmitted inquiry to Puar, or whoever's job was to answer the questions of those employed for the mission. Then suddenly, everything went dark, and a girl appeared, possessed by the creature responsible for the Scholar's current plights. Amelia slowly stepped back as she opened her spellbook and snapped her finger, and summoned her sword in her other hand. The woman twirled her sword in her hand and slammed the edge of the blade into the ground, sending out vibrations into the air that spread in all directions and would hopefully push back the possessed girl. Amelia followed by letting go of her spellbook go, leaving it to levitate in the air. A blue silhouette of a lithe woman with a hat similar to Lisa's appeared behind the mage for a moment before vanishing as Amelia's energy went from feeling divine to feeling like a human's. A glyph appeared on the ground, and with a raise of her hand, Amelia sent out a wave of water that rushed towards the possessed girl. It would splash against her and drive her to the wall. She would hit the wall with a bit of a thud that could take the wind out of her. It wasn't hard enough to hurt her more than a bit. The mage just wanted to sap some of the energy the Banshix would use to be violent. The water suddenly froze, plastering a mass of ice against the wall that would hopefully keep the girl and thus, the Banshix firmly restrained; though the use of her magic, the information of what to do if the Banshix was encountered was relayed to her. She pulled out her library card and flicked it. She was curious and hoped that this action would pacify the Banshix possessing the poor girl. 378 / 378
Keith followed behind Amelia, his eyes transfixed on her outfit with a small blush in his features. Damn she is fine, he thought with drool dripping from his mouth comically. He had thoughts of maybe asking for her number after this, not wanting to pass up a chance with the beauty. They both walked forward to the pedestal that was lacking an item. "Hm, looks like something should have been here," he said. He took note that she was busy doing something... maybe in her mind. Probably thinking, so he didn't bother her too much and just got annoyed. He kept that to himself though. Then pure horror... a girl popped up and he knew. He knew who the Banshix had possessed and seeing her froze him. "Fuck," he said and then an eye beam shot toward him and he ducked. "Fuck!" Amelia acted quick and decisive and so Keith did the same. He got up and backed her up with his a bunch of generic ki blasts. It was the best he could do -- he was only here to help free his friend and didn't want to hurt her too much. She could handle some Energy Dans.
The girl herself moved swiftly backwards, being forced back by Amelia's blade. She then moved to the side to dodge the water splash and also avoided being sent to the wall. This also would stop the water from freezing her -- well because she moved. At the flick of the library card she screamed and grabbed onto her head. It was as if the flick of the card had hurt her or something. This distraction was enough for Keith's blasts to hit her and drive her into the wall, and a creature sapped out of her body like an aura. The library card brought it out, but it wasn't enough for him to be driven out of the girls body. It was enough to stun her though. It was a wicked being with a smile that went literally from ear to ear. Its teeth were sharp , jagged, and imperfect. His eyes were wide and white. Its frame was muscular, but also thin at the same time. "Oh Mista Bunbary," his voice was in a very loud whisper and it seemed he spoke outside the realm of the world as well. "You do know you have only 4 days before the admins void your battle, and you are playing around here with me? Wait..." The Banshix looked over to Keith. "Erian, now this isn't fair. You are writing for me and Keith? Well... at-least you aren't rewriting everything Bunbary has said, and I suppose I am forcing you to write for me-- I guess it isn't cheating and you are just worried that Earnest can't keep up with the pace." For some reason, as the Banshix spoke through the 4th wall, Amelia would start to feel weaker. The Banshix looked to her and he held his hand out. "My words are much stronger than yours, your weaver isn't enhanced. But hrm -- your weaver controls 2 souls here. Ah, there is one at the garden I see, and yet another Erian. Erian must be really fond of you. So I supposed you came here to get the artifact? It won't be easy, I will break the Bookverse and release all of these creatures into the world again! This prison will no longer hold us --"
Before he could continue there was a zapping noise and a woman appeared next to Amelia. It was from her flicking the library card, and it called a Librarian. Ashley Cobain appeared and she didn't seem to be in the mood for it. "Great, I didn't expect you to be waiting here. Wouldn't' breaking the defense grid just make it harder for us to get to Nowhere?" The Banshix sunk back into the girl who had a terrified expression on her face. "LEAVE US ALONE!!!! ERIAN LET THEM DO THIS ON THEIR OWN!!!! YOUR WORDS ARE TOO WEAK." Ashley pointed a gun at her, it charging with magical energy but before she could fire it the girl exploded into smoke, vanishing from sight. Ashley sighed and placed her gun in its holster and she looked to both Keith and Amelia. "So this is about that time where I explain why I am not helping and why he ran away from me and not you two." Of course Ashley let the two of them gather themselves from all that just happened. "First things first, are you two okay?" 762 / 904 Amelia
"Tsk" Amelia sounded annoyed at Banshix managing to evade her water spells. At least flicking the card manage to stun it where the ice could not. The mage began to feel lethargic and her feet started to grow shaky as her feet became less steady underneath her what kind of socercery was at play her that was taking away her strength. The Banshix went on saying that it's words were stronger and that it's weaver was not enhanced and controlled two souls here. The mage looked at the Banshix bemused at what it said. "Weaver? I'm not sure what you're even talking about. That sort of extra dimensional awareness is more so the thing of a friend of mine." Little did the mage no, the course of fate has led her to share a weaver with that very friend. Erian was too much for the last one. The current one was more persistent, though a procrastinator... Whatever it was she hopped she could find a way to overcome up. She had to brave through a maze fighting Dinosaurs and Monsters while he was mana was locked away. She did not want to go through another ordeal nerfed. Amelia opened her hands and generated lightning in her palm as she prepared to continue fighting Banshix. She wasn't sure how she could hold out against this creature luckily help had arrived snd drove the creature to flee. Amelia felt her strength return to her and she sighed in relief and looked at the woman who had just arrived on the seen. "I'm fine," she said. "Thanks for the save." 267 / 645
Keith let out a sigh. ‘I am also okay, hey what did he mean by there is another Erian – I don’t get this whole Banshix thing completely.” Ashley frowned a bit. “It’s a outer dimensional thing. It is very confusing without a great deal of knowledge on how dimensions work, but basically the Banshix can see our Gods. Its what I call them. They are the ones that have created us and our ideals. He can see them and he can rise onto their dimensional space and control people like us and sometimes with relative ease. “So that means that Amelia here has someone who is tied to the same Fate Weaver as herself. There are a lot of people like that here I think. I have vision on these types of things. “But on to some explanations. I can’t help you with this – The Banshix is already screwing with my Fate Weaver. Unfortunately, our Fate Weaver also has his hands over majority of Kelioux’s entire organization.” Keith… barely was following but did that mean this weaver owned him too? Why was he here then? “But then that brings me to why he ran from me even though he has my Weaver hostage. Here,” Ashley reached into her pocket and she tossed out a stone right toward Amelia. “That is a fragment of the Defense Grid. That grid protects us from being affected by his powers and my actions hurt him much more with these artifacts in place. “We have 2 librarians right now that have shards, and I was one of them. The other was the one I put in charge of the operation – Puar. I only gave her 1 though.” “Hey, how come I don’t get a shard!?” But then Ashley tossed him one as well. “Well, Keith – we share the same weaver, I can see out connection. I am prioritizing the unconnected ones first.” “Whatever, and also why are you just now showing up? Thought you guys were busy?” “Now that – is just a throw off for the Banshix. I wanted him to believe that we were not taking him seriously. He would have rushed his plan if he didn’t think he had enough time – which now leads me to the troublesome part – he saw me and probably is rushing now. Come on, let’s get the artifact in this place and move on to help Young Joseph and Kevin with thiers.” The room that was dark before finally lit back up and there was now only 1 door. Ashley walked toward it with Keith following and she opened it for them to go through. 437 / 1,341 Puar's Total WC: 1,341 Amelia's Total WC: 645 Topic Word Count: 1,986
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:22:53 GMT -5
1.4 A Talk of Eras From Start to Forever
A grandfather’s clock stood with gold trimmings around a white marble body, in a room full of bookshelves and books. The hands of the clock did not move, the short hand pointing to where 5 o'clock was and the longer hand pointing to the 8. “Ah, thank goodness. They finally sent someone, or well 2 someones. Hurry we are running out of time! Well literally.” The clock had sprung to life, moving its body unnaturally, as if it were made of flesh. It wiggled side to side from the top of its body while the lower half remained stationary. It was in great panic. “The Banshix came through and grabbed my artifact. I just know the defense barrier is broken now. Who even let him out!?” With a groan the clock slumped over as if disappointed. “I couldn’t even use Body Bind! I seem to have forgotten it! I would have handled him if I still had it. Time Freeze didn’t even work, for whatever reason.” After gather itself, the clock looked back up to them. “I can monitor time frames which we have on record, and I took note that he scattered the artifact into five different time periods.” Four more grandfather clocks spawned around the room and their door, which would expose the pendulum, opened showing portals. His own opened as well. “Its up to the two of you, you can split up and take on each period to make it faster or stick together to make it that much easier.” 256 / 256 Towa
The demon goddess with her library card in hand, entered the bookverse through the portal for those declared “Old Hag”. Maybe she should have been offended by that, but it also wasn’t completely wrong. She was young for a demon, but for a normal human she would have likely been considered old. The fact that she was so adapt with time though had made it a rather irrelevant fact. She wasn’t old and that was all that mattered to her. The hat was just kind of a jerk it seemed. She didn’t think about it and the next thing she knew as she was sent into the bookverse she was standing before a humanoid clock. She had expected to see just about anything here, but a clock that acted like a person was certainly unique. ”So we pick a time and handle whatever is in that frame. Seems easy enough.” Towa said, looking to the other person in the room with her, ”Want to go together to make it easier or separate to make it quicker?”It was the first words she had spoken to this person that was with her, but the demon goddess was focused on her task here and less on making friends. Getting on the good side of the library and the scholars would only help her future. That was still the primary goal on Kelioux and she couldn’t forget that. If they decided to go together, she would suggest going in order starting with 1 and working forward, if they separated she would still want to go to 1 first so it really was going to depend on if her cohort in this adventure was going to come with her or not. 291 / 291 Keres
Unlike Puar, Keres was quite happy with the hat’s selection for her. Even with her age, history could not be called a specialty of hers, but she did enjoy it. It seemed like such a fun place to run into the Banshix too, if that’s how things went. Unlike the other scholars, Keres wasn’t very afraid, though she knew the chaos the creature could bring if he fully escaped. It was trapped in the library for a reason, and its power would be devastating to Kelioux, and probably beyond once it got bored with the place. While it was still trapped though, she didn’t have much sense of panic or fear. It wasn’t really in her naturally neutral eccentric old lady personality. ”Hello, Cogsworth,” Keres said to the clock with recognition even if that wasn’t actually his name. Towa would not recognize her as another scholar, considering she had been fired a very long time ago, but it seemed she was quite familiar with the place. The demon spoke up, leaving the choice in her hands and Keres touched her lips. ”Quicker would probably be better. Time is literally of the essence after all, but I’d like to start closer to the beginning for my own curiosities. If that’s where you were thinking to go, I’m not against sticking together.” She paused though, glancing at the portals. ”Though it would be funny if the first one isn’t the first in time.” She said this passing a suspicious look to the clock. Regardless, it seemed they both were interested in the first portal. 272/ 272
At the name Cogsworth, which definitely was NOT his name, he instantly was hit with a sense of recognition. "Keres," he said while leaning forward. He voice came off more like a butler if anything, and as you know butlers remember everything -- especially a grandfather clock butler! "My dear, it has been ages. I wondered what happened to you," he said as he knew her to be one of many interested in bookverses before. Of course the dwellers of the bookverse did not get outsider information -- he wouldn't have known her story without her telling, and he knew she would tell it in due time. "Please come back and have a proper sit down will you? I would like to know everything you have been up to!" He looked to Towa with several nods, letting her know he did not ignore her. "Yes yes, simple enough indeed!" Keres mentioned the first one being the first in time and he chuckled. "I order things by importance, my dear! Carry on now you two!" As the two women go through the portal and come out on the other side, they are surrounded by the aesthetics of a massive space craft. It was made livable, so the hallways were extremely wide, with some people walking on each side. They were going in opposite directions -- they had an order to how to move about the ship. There were doors that would lead to different rooms, and they had a decent amount of space -- most doors led to homes, while others lead to businesses or maybe even a library. It would take exploration to really see what room was which. If any of them knew about their history of Kelioux, they would know that the planet was not always their home -- they were a nomadic race long before they settled down and this brought them back into a time period where they were that nomadic race. Looking outside they would be able to see countless ships, which with Kelioux on the side and their version of a numeral on the side of the ship -- both should be up to snuff on their Keliouxian as well, there was no translation protocol and thus they spoke Old Kelioux instead of the commonplace universal English. It was best to just start talking to people and seeing if they have seen the Banshix come through. It was a time of investigation. 402 / 658 Keres
”Oh my, we probably should have asked what the artifact remains look like in this bookverse,” Keres said as soon as they stepped through and into a busy corridor. Perhaps she was hoping for something a little more crazy where the artifact would be very obviously at the end of some perilous journey. She liked this as well, but without knowing exactly what they were looking for they might walk right on by it. It probably had some kind of distinct energy signature. Probably. While she shouldn’t have laughed, she did, then walked over to the window. Peering out didn’t give her a good idea of the time frame. It was before they discovered the Lost, but the Keliouxans were nomads for quite a long stretch of time and thus a lengthy era. She tried to remember any outstanding events that happened back then, but history was her hobby, not her study. ”My mother said to eat green beans,” she said to herself in Keliouxan Old, feeling out the sounds as she did. It was a bit different than common, and she’d hate for her accent to be so bad nothing could be understood. ”Excuse me,” she said to the first walker that came next that did not seem in a rush. ”You haven’t seen anything odd have you? Besides us.”225 / 497 Towa
Keres was right, they probably should have asked what they were looking for, but they had not. Towa shrugged, a look exaggerated concern came over her face as she tried to lighten the mood a bit, ”It is an artifact, some way it will make itself known to us. That is how this stuff normally works right?” She didn’t know if that was actually the case, but she was ok with having to figure out a little mystery as well. Towa looked around at the scene. She was very familiar with time travel and that sort of thing, but she did not know much actually about Keliouxian history. She could tell this felt like a decent amount of time before the present, but for her it was hard to tell how far back that truly was. Considering the looks of thing it was certainly a good long time ago. Then Keres started talking about food in a different tone than the common on Kelioux that Towa was used to hearing. She looked at her partner in this, ”You ok?”When a person walked by Keres asked a simple question about if anything had been strange outside of them. It was a good question and way to find out something about what was going on. Towa walked on, hoping to hear an answer as she stayed close enough to hear, but far enough away to explore a little. She knew they were looking for the Banshix and the artifact pieces as well. If she could see any kind of trail or trace of energy to lead her one way or another that would certainly be helpful. Focusing her mind, she tried to sense anything that felt out of place to her. It would possibly be a good lead for them if conversating with people as Keres was doing did not provide any guidance. 312 / 603
The person that Keres stopped was a decently tall man and he stopped easily to listen -- even with her accent a tad bit off it wasn't alarming or anything. "Odd? Well there are a lot of odd things happening here," he said turning around and looking at the people walking. They all seemed to be walking in one direction now that it is being observed. "The Captain is acting strange," he said while looking back to Keres. "He was very optimistic that this next world would be habitable. But out of the blue he has changed his mind and we are gathering all of the representatives together to get an explanation of why." He sighed, seemingly in distress a bit. "Based on a rumor, he has found an ultimate power source that will keep the mobile space station running for...quite a long time -- an impossibly long time." While Keres spoke to him, Towa was also picking something up. Traces of fresh potent energy trailed toward where everyone was walking -- as if a foreign and new source of energy had been brought through here. That was most likely the artifact's trail. Towa would also notice that the energy of an approaching man was much different than the energy of the man that Keres was talking to. The man stopped near them. "Wow, you two are not part of this Bookverse at all -- so they sent some people in. Good!" He knew instantly they were out of place. When he approached them, the man Keres was talking to suddenly stiffened and then turned and walked with the rest of the people -- fading into the background with them. 276 / 934 Keres
Keres blinked at Towa’s words, her head tilting in mutual confusion. She’d jumped into a different language and the demon had picked it up so naturally she assumed Keres’ was still speaking common. Well, hopefully that meant her accent was alright. The man was eager enough to explain, and the explanation was certainly food for thought. Nothing was a coincidence in their quest, so it was highly likely whatever was changing to course of Keliouxan history was the artifact. It also made sense that it might be some type of energy source. Before she could ask anything else however, the man stiffened and another outlier to the bookverse’s natural habitat had appeared. ”Aw, you scared him away,” she said with a sigh but moved on to give the Librarian, or whatever you called a sentient piece of the bookverse, her full attention. ”Is this new power source the artifact?” she asked curiously, expecting him to have a bit more insider information by the way he spoke. It sounded like he had been here for awhile. 178 / 675 Towa
Towa was not exactly proficient in the old tongue, but she could pick up a few words. She was mostly just confused that Keres had started mumbling strangely. She did understand a bit, but it was certainly not easy for her. The Captain acting strange was a sign of thing, but then another came up towards him. Towa simply continued to watch what was going on, keeping her eyes on the energy as the conversation between Keres and this individual took place. The demon goddess really needed to pay more attention to this library stuff when they spoke about it, but she wasn’t really focused on that with her scholar training. She was focused like normal for her on more selfish end goals. Towa listened though, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The strange energy was all over and the captain was said to be acting strange. It seemed to make sense that he possibly had the artifact in some way shape or form. She waited for her partners question to be answered. Hoping it would shed some light on the situation. So far, all this being had shared was that it was good that they were here. Considering the situation that was certainly a logical conclusion. ”So the Captain is acting strange, the energy I am sensing is also strange. I would bet it is related.” She looked at the one that seemed out of place like they were, ”Do you happen to know where the Captain is?”252 / 855
The man chuckled and scratched the back of his head in shame and embarrassment -- as if scaring the previous man away actually was bad. "I am so sorry," he said and dropped his head in apology. "He is part of a past simulation of when the Keliouxians found Kayren. This moment plays over and over again, giving everyone who visits this part of the verse a detailed look into how it all went down." He then looked around for a moment. "This moment usually lasts for about half a year worth of time. But this particular moment has been on loop and --" Well he was going on and on until he realized he was talking too much and already had questions to answer. He chuckled once again. "My apologies again. Yes, the new power source is the artifact, a ring to be exact." His eyes fell upon Towa and then he looked back to Keres. It was his first time getting an actual good look at the two of them and he relaxed a bit more. "Good. They sent their best. That is what I like to hear, and very beautiful too thank god." He nodded to Towa's observation. "Yes, that energy is coming from the artifact. That artifact itself is supposed to be in the form of a tiny watch piece, but I have gotten word from Grandfather Clock that it broke into 5 pieces and scattered into rings. Each person that it was given to changed and they had become more violent, aggressive, and controlling. Even for these people to not be real, they still move and act as separate entities. This energy -- it will all feel the same so it would be best to keep it fresh on your senses." Now to the more important question to answer. "The captain is gathering them all together in an auditorium. The goal is to just get the ring. I can assure you that any means needed. I am to be your guide through 'A Talk of Era From Start to Forever'. My name is Jefferson." He bowed to them. "I may guide you but I fear I cannot do anything else, or the Banshix will know -- he has taken control of my Fate Weaver." 375 / 1,309 Keres
Keres’ eyebrow rose at the comment of beauty. It seemed kind of silly when he was surrounded by all of recorded history and thus had many opportunities to spend his time following around a pretty girl. Would the librarians catch him and call him a creeper? Surely after so much time here he could be cleverer than that. Of course, this was a complete derailing of the point, and luckily the man got back on track fairly quickly. He explained the goal and the destination and Keres’ nodded, retrieving her staff from her sleeve and stretching her shoulders before looking to Towa. ”Shall we try trickery, stealthy, or brute force?” she asked, apparently up to any of the three, but imagining team work would probably still be quite vital. Trying to trick this new sentience in a time loop could be quite interesting, sneakily trying to obtain it would definitely require two people, and brute force...well, they had no idea what strength this ring might have given the old Keliouxan. 171 / 846 Towa
It seemed like they were now on the hunt. Getting closer to the answer maybe, but ultimately, they still had plenty of work to do. The positive was that they had a better understanding now of what they were actually doing here. They were looking for a ring and the energy Towa was sensing was caused by the ring itself. Knowing that violence might come from the bearer of the broken pieces was not that concerning to her either. Towa was capable of being a warrior if she needed, but she did prefer other methods of going about things. They also knew that the captain was gathering his people. That meant the piece they were looking for was going to be there as well. It was certainly going to make things that much easier for them. Then Keres asked a very simply question. How would they end up dealing with this problem. With the power of the two they likely could have used Brute Force, but deception was much more down Towa’s normal strategy path. Without Mira around, she liked to stay away from fights as much as possible, just in case things got bad. ”Trickery probably would be the best option. Going in like we belong and trying to snatch the artifact with thievery or deception. We can probably pull that off.” The demon goddess looked at Keres, a raise of her eyebrows as she was confident, but wanting to make sure her partner in this was comfortable with this choice. She had seemed that way before, but she hated to assume that anything was much more than bravado when it came to most individuals she came across. 280 / 1,137
"If it is deception and trickery that fancy you then," Jefferson started to say before he pulled out a bell. Bells were a common theme when it came to librarians and their associates and Jefferson followed such a theme. The bell he brought out looked to be made of obsidian and had an eye carved into its make. "I can cover your aura's scent with Old Keliouxian. Just follow the people, as will I. Once you are in there I will provide a distraction for the both of you. What I need you two to do prior to it is locate a proper pathway to his backside. "The moment you snatch the ring, it will trigger a failsafe event. Everything will reset and we will be booted back to Grandfather" He sighed thinking about it. He would finally be free of this loop. Jefferson worked closely with Grandfather, but doing so had gotten him in quite the predicament. He then rang his bell, a tune escaping that was very low and unnoticed without proper concentration. "There, you now blend in. He won't see you coming. Let us go then." 189 / 1,498 Keres
Keres nodded, her hand touching her mouth as she considered the options for trickery. Jefferson was quick to offer more assistance however, and she nodded again. She felt a small desire to ask the man exactly what he was planning, but in the end decided she didn’t want to spoil the surprise. They would have to trust him for now, and hope for the best. Following after the time remnants they entered into an auditorium of sorts. Leave it to Keliouxans to have an auditorium on their ship. Still, this gave them a clear idea as to who was in charge, and it didn’t take much concentration to sense out the strong power of the ring that practically had an aura of its own stifling the man’s who wore it. On the other hand, his back was closer to the wall with limited routes to get to him except from the left and right. Usually there were some back rooms, but the crowds were blocking any sign of those entrances. “Looks like we have two options. This time let’s split up,” Keres said quietly. “I’ll go by the guards and you go to the left. If Jefferson’s distraction isn’t large enough I can cause more stir with the guards to keep attention off of you,” she offered. Since they’d be booted back to Cogsworth automatically, she wasn’t very concerned to be stopped by the guards, and felt comfortable with her own tactics not to get attacked immediately. This seemed to be the best route. If Towa offered no objections, Keres would offer an easy smile before making her way around the room. Before the guards there were spots of random people she could fit in with and she didn’t rush her movements, looking instead like she was looking for a better seat since the ones to the front had mostly filled up. 322 / 1,168 Towa
It did appear that Towa was going to be in charge of actually lifting the ring. The auras of Keres and the demon goddess were masked by this man so that they would blend in more. Jefferson had said that he would provide the distraction and Keres would move towards the guards to handle that part of the problem. It meant everything else fell on her shoulders. A simple enough task though, one she was very confident in and offered no disagreements with. She walked in with the group, their auras matching up so that no one would be the wiser that they did not belong here. The pieces started moving into place as Keres went left to get closer to the guards, but blend in still with the crowd. Towa had a different way to handle her task. Seeing a young man over on the right side she knew she had her target already. He was close enough to put her in a better situation, but alone still. She walked in that direction as she got closer to the lone man, she noticed his eyes looking in her direction. Her suspicions were right, this was going to be an easy target for sure. Getting closer she ‘tripped’ stumbling forward and right into his waiting arms as he got to play hero in the moment, saving the woman from falling to the ground. She looked up as she was caught, ”Well I have to thank you for helping me out.” She batted her eyes as she gathered herself once again, a small brush on his shoulder as she giggled. The demon goddess’ eyes moved towards a spot that would be much better at getting behind the target. Seeing that this man was already interested in ‘helping her’ she moved her head, ”I was trying to get a spot over there, but the crowd makes it too hard, think you can help me out?” Like a good little pet he obliged walking forward as people seemed to move for him and she followed to get in her position for whatever was to come next. 353 / 1,490
As they got in place, Jefferson finally sprung his distraction. He used his magical powers over the Bookverse and changed his image to that of a young woman, barely clothed for the matter. She broke through the crowd in a run, splitting the crowd like a sharp knife to butter before jumping up on stage. She tripped on the very edge of the stage and fell face first, however with a grunt. Everyone had their eyes on her including the captain who was shook for a moment – and then absolute fear was shown in his features as if this was the worse scenario for him. “C-Celine, I-I mean who the hell are you!?” She lifted up and started crying, only wearing a long shirt which dripped off from the shoulder. “You left without waking me, how could you do that!?” The captain’s face grew cold and he started forward toward her as if he were moving to either comfort her and pick her up to move out the way. It was safe to say he was completely distracted as were the entire crowd and the guards. If there was any time to be perfect, this was the moment to snatch away the ring. 203 / 1,701 Keres
Jefferson’s distraction was a bit…worrying. He spent all his time in this bookverse, and the first thing he had to use at his disposal was the bedroom life of the captain. Just what kind of creeper librarian were they dealing with? All of the bones in history. Still, it was a very good distraction. Keres moved silently, and when all the guards were distracted it was easy to slip right past them. It seemed ship drama was the only thing entertaining these poor Keliouxans on their long seemingly unending journey. They had no way of knowing their new home was on the horizon, and she could understand the boredom quite well. Past the guards, she gestured to Towa, deciding to switch the roles now that she was closer to the rings side. It was very easy to sneak behind the man, but sliding the ring off his hand would be easier still if Towa offered an additional distraction to cause him to turn his head away creating an even larger blind side. Plus, at this point, she was in range of the guards view towards the disguised Jefferson. ”Hey!”Whether the scholar took her signal or not, Keres moved, eager to go forward to the next era. She was very good at sleight of hands, and the gesture to slip the ill fitted ring off the man’s finger was done quite swiftly with barely a bump. 239 / 1,407 Towa
Romance novels… the bane of most men as they made life so much harder dealing with woman who read them, but it also appeared that Jefferson had spent too much time reading such things as well. The distraction was rather entertaining and the nearly nude woman he had become managed to draw the attention Towa had garnered away from her. She was close, but not close enough to lift the ring now. She looked over in the direction of Keres who was already on top of calling an audible. It made sense considering the situation had changed with the distraction. It was also important that they were both able to react to such things. Keres was now on the blindside and the captain just needed a bit more of a push to open up the path for an easy theft. Considering the scene was all about the dramatic love stories, she felt it would be easy enough to follow down that road. Seeing the young man that she had lured into her trap get sidetracked was a good start. She turned and slapped him immediately, ”Do you just look at every girl that comes around almost naked around you? What scum you men are!” The loud outburst turned more attention towards her and away from Keres. The slap from the demon goddess was not meant to kill the man, but it was enough to turn him as well and maybe even knock him on his butt. That was only part of the distraction. The group of people had many women in here as well. This was her chance to start a feminist revolution, ”All ladies in here, have we not had enough of men treating us like garbage. Leaving us in the morning without even a goodbye kiss or looking at every other lady that walks by. We shouldn’t have to stand for this any longer!” She hoped her rousing speech would cause more chaos in the moment and give Keres the opening she needed for the lift. 353 / 1,828
So many distractons, and yet so little time. The captain didn’t know which way to spin his head as so much was happening – he didn’t even notice that the ring was slipped from his hand – not that there was going to be time for him to notice anyway. True to what Jefferson had said, the moment the ring was taken from him – poof! All three of them were returned back to the main room where Grandfather was standing in the middle of the other clocks. Jefferson was still in disguise, on the ground and sniveling before realizing they completed the objective – and Grandfather looked down upon him at what could only be said to be a judgemental gaze. “Is that you Jefferson?” “…long story,” she said before returning to her male form. “I read too many romance novels, and I built that façade up every time that era restarted JUST for this moment. I had to use it. It was completely unnecessary, but so much fun~” The man grinned. “I like these two they are fun to hang out with, the next four are going to an adventure.” “Yes, Yes. I am glad you found entertainment, Jefferson. But the faster we can get this artifact whole again, the quicker we can track down that annoying trickster and put him away again. Ladies – Jefferson – onto the next one!” Grandfather closed the latest door and instead of giving choice like before the clock door next to the one they came from sprung open ready for them to jump into it. 258 / 1,959 Keres
After Keres snatched the ring, and only after, she allowed herself a giggle at the means chosen to secure the distraction. It was absolutely ridiculous wasn’t it? But it had worked which was all that mattered and they were back with Cogsworth in an instant. They exchanged some words, and the attention was quickly brought to carry on into the next Bookverse, as it should be but the summoner paused. ”That was a bit too easy now wasn’t it?” Keres said thoughtfully, without any sign of conspiracy, just fact. She looked to Towa and Jefferson however with an idea in mind. ”How about we split up this time?” she asked. ”I’ll take five and you can take two, or if you have another preference, but like he said, the faster we go the better off we’ll be and with Jefferson that verse really only needed the one of us.”Of course, if there was only Jefferson, it was possible the one who went off alone would have an extra tough time of things, but it hadn’t been challenging so far. Fun, but not challenging. Even without Jefferson they probably could have relied on force to push their way through. Things became clear fairly quickly as well. Time had a way of pointing out discrepancies like huge red flags so they’d probably be able to get to the heart of each bookverse fairly quickly even on their own. She had confidence in herself, and Towa seemed far more than capable alone. She did quite enjoy the others' company, but they were on a mission now. It couldn’t be all fun and games. She’d probably regret missing out on the second door, but maybe she could sneak back in another time with their good will after this venture. 304 / 1,711 Towa
They had accomplished the first mission and, in a flash, returned to the main room where they had started. The demon goddess looked around as the scene remained the same as it was when Keres lifted the ring. It had to be a very interesting situation to see if you did not know what was going on to start with, but in the grand scheme of things it made sense she supposed. The demon goddess listened as haste was given to their mission and then Keres decided that she wanted to go it alone on the next room. They had done door 1 and door 2 was open for them, but it seemed that Keres was going to go to door 5 instead to hasten the process. She was right that things had been rather easy, but that was how the scholar liked doing things. As easy as possible. Still if the protectorate member wanted to go it alone, then she was not going to stop her. Ultimately it would only hasten the process for them to do it that way. Towa still had questions though about Jefferson. He was not part of the mission to start with and she was not aware that they would have support in that first mission. Keres had the first prize so it was not a problem, but considering the scholar had no idea about the Banshix before coming here, she was suspicious of everything. Like trying to weed out a mole that was sabotaging efforts, she had to be ready for everything to be possible. Truthfully if she had not known Keres from before she would have been suspicious of her wanting to go off on her own as well, but so far she felt confident enough in the paladin. She shrugged jumping through door number 2 and waiting to see what adventures it would hold. 313 / 2,272 Puar's Total WC: 1,959 Keres' Total WC: 1,711 Towa's Total WC: 2,272 Room Word Count: 5,942
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:23:38 GMT -5
1.5 Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide
"Well this is interesting," a man in a lab coat said. Once you two entered the door you came out to a lab that had tiny sphere shaped capsules sitting on several tables. The man, with his ruffled brown hair and untrimmed beard, scratched all through out his hairs in what looked like annoyance -- but it was an interesting annoyance. He looks over to the two of you and gasped in a delighted surprise. "Oh! They are allowing scholars back into the Bookverse? Oh this is great, I need your help. A pesky troublemaker figured out I had a piece of the defense grid -- and he did something... annoying." The man smoothed over his hair a bit, especially seeing Cham, and finding her attractive. "Ahem, sorry for the messy version of me, I am quite all over the place -- you see, the Banshix embedded shards of the artifact in these two creatures." The man took up two capsules into his hands and handed them to the Juch and Cham. "They won't release the shard until they have grown and that'll take battles -- kind of how this bookverse works. Well, before I explain further push the button to release the creature inside. 201 / 201 Oolong
Chamomile reached the designated door and looked to her apparent partner. She lifted up the library card and pointed to the name before starting to sign and speak at the same time: ”’And Where To Hide’ doesn’t sound very encouraging.”Her voice wasn’t unpleasant or gravely even if it sounded mechanical. It was feminine and felt a bit like a text to speech application dragging sentences out and guessing at tones. She made a face like they were about to make a dumb decision but it couldn’t be helped, then pushed through the door. She was expecting one of Juturna’s ecosystems. Instead she got a cold lab. She raised an eyebrow at the professor’s annoyance, until he explained. Apparently the artifact they needed was embedded in a creature. Very inconvenient. She took the capsule presented to her however and pressed the button, stepping back and preparing herself in case it decided to be an enemy over a friend. It was a bird. A big bird. It was about two feet tall and its yellow feathers puffed out like it was some kind of cheerleader. ”Oricorio!” it chirped but thankfully didn’t jump into an encouraging dance right off the bat. It simply looked to her, then to the professor. The second look was a bit more devious. 222 / 222 Juch
Juch stepped into Bookverse, still chuckling to himself at Puar's flailing. It looked like she got more than she bargained for, unable to just be the one to have everyone else do the dirty work. He took a glance back at the person that he was paired up with: Chamomile. Of course he was familiar with sign language, so he will accommodate her if necessary, "It is quite ominous, I suppose," he followed her lead, his words accompanying the relevant gestures accordingly--his own voice, while not mechanical like the Lismian's, not really having either a feminine or masculine edge to it, "But I do love a good game of hide and seek." A white lab coat. Spheres on the table. Honestly, Juch was expecting him to ask whether or not the pair of them were boys or girls. Either that or what his grandson's name was again. Shifting his glasses so he could take a better look at the capsules, Juch leaned in. The casing was opaque and it was hard to discern what was actually inside, "I'm assuming surgery to extract the shards isn't an option," the android accepted the one Chamomile didn't take, "Or depending on the rule of this Bookverse, perhaps that'd take longer than this..battling process." It felt cold. "Hm, well, I suppose we might as well get this show on the road." Press and release. Unlike the bird like creature that came out first, a massive snake like creature slumped out of the capsule; its pink eyes stood out against the turquoise skin, and its draconic whiskers resembled what one may expect to see when they gathered all seven dragon balls but...for a lack of a better word, derpy? A large booming voice gurgled from its maw, "Drampaaaaa...!" 295 / 295 Oolong
Chamomile walked up to the bird, bending down to it to inspect it better, Juturna in her eye explaining it like a creature index. It seemed to have electric traits as well as typical bird stuff, and its cheering, or dancing, had special properties too. At least the silliness had some purpose. She looked over to the lumpy dragon next, and then to Juch, the back to the dragon. She could see a certain resemblance to be sure, which meant the cheerleading pokemon had resemblance to her. It was only then that Juturna dropped the additional information that the bird could change appearance and types. So she wasn’t just a whittled down to a weird cheerleader. Thank Kais. ”If they need battles should we start with each other?” her voice said with her normal signs, before looking to the professor. ”You can heal them right?”This seemed like the best way to see what the monsters could do before they ventured into less friendly situations. The professor said he could heal them, so that left it up to Juch. If he said yes they’d probably be led to a more open space that didn’t seem to exist before in order to do so without damaging the lab. 210 / 432 Juch
While Chamomile was looking over her bird creature, Juch was trying to make heads and tails over this dragon...thing. Before he could take a step forward, the creature--and it was a rather large one at that--rolled over on its side with a contented snort. Honestly, to Juch, it looked more like a swan that got addicting to some rather bad substances rather than a majestic serpent. He didn't have the expertise when it came to flora and fauna like a certain Super AI, but he had his own experience. Making clicking sounds with his tongue, he knelt down to the dragon's head, extending his hand out. The Drampa's nostrils flared out, sniffing at the android's fingers before grimacing and slinking away. Evidently, something about Juch smelled off. "Tsk," Juch heaved a sigh before standing up again. Turning to the lab coat, "Could you uh--ah, yes, there we go, thanks." Treats. Kibbles. Hell if he knew. But the guy in needing of a shave--and yes, Juch noticed the side glances the guy was giving to the blonde from time to time--should know what appealed to the Drampa. A toss. It danced across the floor, the noise catching its attention. It sniffed at it before munching it down with gusto. Score. But it was just a morsel. The Drampa sniffed around, clearly looking for more and it didn't take long before it saw where the source came from. But it still hesitated; very well. And another one. And another one. Closer, closer... And now it was eating out of Juch's palm. There, now we're best friends, aren't we? "Battling, huh?" Juch looked up at Chamomile as his gloved hand now scratching the con tented dragon's cheek, "Well, if those are the rules, then sure. Although frankly, I don't really know how to battle with these creatures, exactly. But it sounds like you do." Still, away he walked from the sensitive equipment and other capsules, into a wide open space, the Drampa now happily following him behind, "Well, where to begin?" 345 / 640 Oolong
”Not really,” Chamomile signed and said. ”All the more reason to test it out.”She had assumed the little creatures would listen to them for the most part, but the professor also said they wouldn’t give up the artifact pieces suggesting disobedience and potential stubbornness. But! If the creature’s goal was to level up, maybe it would be more tolerant to doing things that benefited that task. Maybe. She looked to the bird and waved it along, and it happily started forward, chirping and looking behind it to be sure Chamomile was following. When they got to the open field, the bird jumped into the center of it and began to do a little dance, cheering itself on. Before they could go on the professor handed them both a small device that explained the creature’s commands and she wondered whether they weren’t more like machines than well trained animals. Once the dragon was also in place, Chamomile looked up. ”Pound I guess?”Even in the uncertainty of the command, the large bird jumped immediately to carry out its task. Like a wrestler charging its opponent it jumped into the air, spreading its massive wings to glide down and slam its claws into the dragon’s scaly flesh. 211 / 643
As the bird went for its attack, compelled by its new owner, the professor found it important to mention something. "The more detailed you are with your battles and your commands, the faster they grow. This is a bookverse, and the power of words is -- well very powerful I suppose you can say. But they will only grow after a battle, with all of your details feeding into their minds and bodies. "Being a beast tamer, or trainer, or whatever is the closest thing to being a Fate Weaver, and they have more power than the Banshix. He hates this realm which is why he didn't stay long -- you should learn from the trainers here as well. Many of them bother the Banshix -- but we are bookverse residents. We aren't allowed to leave here --." Because if they were allowed to leave, they would be able to handle the Banshix themselves. They were actually real people, and more akin to a computer simulation if anything. It was all data, and their data couldn't hurt anyone in real dimensions and universes. 179/ 380 Juch
Look at that. Juch tilted his head towards the slithering serpentine creature next to him, as he looked at the handy device that the professor handed to him--"Drampaaaaaa...!" The large dragon nudged him with its large head, out of loving affection--oh nope, it was just looking for more treats, "Later, later. You win this fight, you get more alright?" Juch patted it and it finally slinked into position in front of the bird. Compared to the peppy and energetic crooning and chirping, the pink eyed dragon seemed to be more lethargic as it stretched, yawning all the while. That was when Chamomoile issued her first command. Pound? Juch raised his brow. Different movesets, certainly. He wasn't sure why, but the logic of this Bookverse eludes him. His gaze darted towards the other trainers in the room. Perhaps after this battle, the Lismian and himself could make the rounds and get some more information--or at least, some tidbits of hints here and there for both the fight here and against the Banshix in general out of this Bookverse. He doubted he would make a very good battler in this realm, but for the sake of obtaining the shard, Juch would try his best. Frankly, the most disappointing news was the fact that they couldn't leave here and into the 'real dimension'. Juch sighed to himself, reading the device again when--His chosen beast, however, let out a yelp of pain as the bird's claws dug into its side, "...why didn't you dodge?" Juch asked in disbelief as the Drampa looked back, whining and teary eyed. "Not how it works," he wasn't sure who called out to that, but it was from one of the trainers in the back. Juch muttered to himself as he looked up. So everything follows from these numbers here... "Okay then, use...Play Nice." At that, the Drampa finally perked up. It turned back to the bird, a gleeful expression on its face. It bounded around the area, evidently excited before sharing some of the treats that--ah, that's why Juch's pouch was a bit lighter. 348 / 982 Oolong
The attack landed with more ferocity than Chamomile was expecting. The other creature was not fast enough for the attack to miss, and it let out a whine. Considering they were representations of themselves, Chamomile wondered a little what this Juch character was like to have received such a sad and dumb puppy. The yellow bird chattered its beak waiting for the lumpy dragon to make its move. Apparently they were meant to take turns, and the bird was impatient but honorable, at least until the lump actually used an attack. Play nice? That was an attack? The dragon tramped around, again seeming more like a dog then a mystical beast, and happily shared his treats with the fat bird who took them just as happily, seeming to forget about the fight as well. ”Growl?” Chamomile offered, in hopes to get the fight back on track. Surely the bird would issue a fierce growl to remind the other creature they were fighting not playing. Nope. It lifted its pom-pom in the air and fluttered its feathers before leaning forward with a melodic chirp which was the worst attempt at a growl Oolong had ever seen in his life. It was practically endearing. If this was a testament to himself, that he also had some introspection to do. 217 / 860 Juch
"..." Juch could only stare at the scene unfolding before him. Despite the fact that they were supposed to grow stronger through the blood, sweat, and tears of battle, forged in the flames of violence--here the dragon and the bird were, sharing a picnic out of all things. The entire premise had been turned upside down; topsy turvsy, nothing went the way things should. It was almost farcical, the way that they had deviated so much off course. Honestly, it wasn't that he really desired to see the two animals beat each other senseless for his own amusement. Rather, if they didn't learn how to protect themselves during these play tests, when the real danger comes they would be wholly unprepared for it. And of course, the most important reason of all: the shards that were apparently embedded in the creatures. They need to grow--that's what the professor had introduced them to--in order to get the shards out. And growth must be through battles. On Juch's device, the attack stat on his creature had dropped a bit since the bird's last move--as similar to what happened to the bird with the "Play Nice" technique. Growl? It was more like a serenade. And with those two now happily enjoying each other's company, Juch had to choose a more offensive move now just to get things back on track, "Alright, that's enough. Use Echoed Voice." ...but it didn't work. The dragon deliberately disobeyed him and selected "Play Nice" again. Oh Kais, now it's even worse! Juch had an image spring up in his mind, one that entailed two trainers yelling "HARDEN" at their respective creatures ad infinitum, descending down into a spiral of madness and insanity. They were going to be here forever if this was how things were going to go--and right now with the Banshix on the loose, time was not on their side. Perhaps he needed to think another way. Work with the creature's nature instead of forcing it to do something else, "Question. How low can the attack stat be decreased to? Zero, negative?" 345 / 1,327 Oolong
Luckily for everyone, Oricorio had a hidden trait. They danced to get people’s guards down and then, while they were unsuspecting, attacked! This trait was something Chamomile could relate to. While she didn’t like to be underestimated from the get go, this form definitely allowed certain guards to be dropped, and the pirate could be the most vicious of Oolong’s lives. Most had learned not to mess with Chamomile Long, and yet her charms still swayed people when she needed them to. She wasn’t just a pirate after all. The Long’s were a business. ”Use pound,” she signed, and the bird looked back to her with fake indignance and mimicked the dragon, playing friendly and nice and acting like it was also going to ignore its Weaver’s command. When it got close to the happy dragon it swayed a little in their happy dance and then, quite suddenly, lunged, slamming it again with its claws. The attack was weaker because now the bird was underestimating the silly dragon, but at least it was an attack. Juch’s question was a fair one, though for both their sakes, hopefully this betrayal would spur the dragon into an offense. Cham looked at Juch a bit pointedly, as if his own laid back nonchalance was the cause of his creature’s non-compliance. Was her partner that type of lazy loligag? He seemed at least willing to get his hands dirty when it became necessary, but it wasn’t quite necessary for the dragon yet was it? Perhaps he knew this was just a trial fight, and truly couldn’t be bothered. When a real enemy approached, maybe he’d jump into action. Time would tell. 288 / 1,148 Juch
Oh the horror. Juch's gaze flickered from the bird to the pirate before back to the bird. With a sigh, he leaned against his cane, cupping his hand with his cheek. The two creatures still danced around, as if having so much fun together, but this wasn't going to continue for much longer, as long as the bird obeyed Chamomile properly. But Juch looked properly bored at all of this. Even if the two beasts do properly duke it out, there wasn't much of a choice between just two moves, unless there were some hidden mechanics that the android had yet to discover or think about properly. But for now, the bird soon moved in on its deception. But the dragon was none the wiser and left its defenses wide open for its opponent to get another good shot in. Another yelp and the Drampa slinked back from the yellow pom poms, whining and looking back at Juch. The android made a shrugging gesture. 'What did you expect?' was the implied question. And it was true. They could be good pals after the trial was over, but this was a time for exercise, not one for just goofing around, "Alright, let's try this again, shall we?" he crossed his arms, "Echoed voice. This is good for you, okay?" With some renewed vigor, the dragon turned back to the bird before opening up its maw as if it was going to swallow the other creature up whole. A deep resonating boom gurgle stampeded out, growing in volume as the air shook in vibration. Of course, after the playful banter with its play date from earlier, it wasn't as powerful as it should have been, but it was at least something. If one was keeping score, Chamomile's bird got two good hits in so far while this was the dragon's first shot at it. And since it appeared that both of them are taking turns at it one at a time, other than figuring out how to dodge the attack outright, there seemed to be a deficit that would be difficult to dig out of at this point. Juch didn't care that much about winning from an ego point of view, but what about the growth? 374 / 1,701 Oolong
With its attack made the bird was ready for the dragon to make its counter. Or it thought it was. When the other creature opened its wide mouth the yellow bird jumped backwards expecting the dragon to bite it. There was a glint of cockiness in its eyes when it felt it succeeded where Drampa had not and had managed to dodge! But, the dragon’s accuracy had not been dropped and their speeds were fairly similar, so despite the yellow bird’s efforts when a booming attack shot out from the dragon’s mouth like a ki attack, the bird tumbled over itself and onto the ground dramatically. But the bird was resilient! It stopped its tumble and swiftly jumped to its feet again, waving its pom poms dramatically. ”Pound?” Chamomile offered and the yellow bird charged right at the dragon to deal the killing blow! Or rather the knock out blow. The thing wasn’t that vicious. But the attack, weakened as it was crashed into the dragon’s already weakened flesh and seemed just enough to turn his red health point bar down to zero. 188 / 1,336 Juch
Another pound. Juch sighed, still watching from the sidelines. His posture had gotten even more lax, now all but slumping over his cane at this point. The bird was giving its all, he could tell. And the dragon, despite its bumbling about, was also trying its hardest with the current move set that it had. This wasn't any of their problem, not at all. But it was rather obvious at this point what the outcome was going to be, no matter how one would struggle. This book verse was bound by these specific mechanics, after all. And so, the attack landed. Of course it did. The discrepancy of numbers between the two creatures were so minute if any, that there wasn't any potential room for any form of dodging or inaccurate attacks. And once again, the dragon yelped out. But this time, instead of running back to Juch for the third time to whine about its grievous injury, it simply slumped over right then and there on the spot. Well that was new. Juch raised his brow, his gaze darting back to the device that the professor had handed them. Ah, health bar--or rather, the lack of one. A big fat goose egg right there staring back at him. In other words, as long as the attack landed, no matter where it did, the same sort of damage would occur no matter what. Interesting. Because if this was out of the book verse, while there would be some scratches and bleedings all over the dragon's body, it wouldn't be enough to be considered fatal by any means, nor would there have been enough blood loss to induce unconsciousness or the like. But that didn't matter here, "Well, it seems that our first training battle has come to an end," Juch nodded, putting the device away as the limp form of the dragon glowed for a moment before returning back to the round capsule, "I don't have to give you any zeni for losing, do I?" He opened up his wallet, fumbling through the notes on his person before giving the blonde woman a shrug, "Call it a rain check if need be. Good game," he added. Now to heal. 369 / 2,070
Heal? That happened instantly! Both of their creatures shone with light and they leveled up!! Oricorio has reached Level 14!!! Oricorio has learned Peck, Helping Hand, and Air Cutter! Drampa has reached Level 21!!! Drampa has learned Twister, Protect, Glare, and Safeguard!!!! The professor was impressed with how they handled the battle. "That's good," he said and then looked down at his watch -- like time really mattered or something. "There are 4 Leaders in this Bookverse, I am sure you will gain enough levels for your beasts to spit out their piece of the artifact, but allow me to explain why this is a great help." He cleared his throat. "The Banshix can control weavers of fate, people who guide your story with words and twist your fate. You are not aware of them directly, but they are there. The Banshix can latch onto a weaver. These beasts? They allows YOU to become a weaver." He grinned. "You weave the story of this beast basically. So you are learning what it means to be a weaver. The Banshix is on the same plane as you are and he can't force himself onto you. If you lose your weaver's guidance and become disconnected, these beast can be used to break your weaver free of his control." The professor sighed. "But don't let me hold you up, just travel to the next city. Battle creatures on your way there or just go straight to the Gym Leader -- LEADER. Once you are in the next city you will know. The page will turn. 260 / 640 Juch
A gleaming glow, a shining recovery. The light faded away just as fast as it appeared. The buzzing notification on his device clawed at Juch's attention, and he gave spared it a glance. Numbers. Plenty of them. Without much context, he could only surmise so much about his creature becoming level 21. Was it high? Was it low? Just how much more did they need to go in order to reach their objective? But progress was progress. If this was one step closer to what they were going for, then he'll take it. Drampa at least seemed pleased, its scales now shining again until the dull glow of the laboratory arena. Juch leaned over to give the massive creature a pat. Perhaps he was starting to grow fond of this strange Bookverse fauna after all. Keeping the professor's explanation in mind, Juch gave him a small nod. He was now apparently a weaver by keeping a close connection with Drampa, and this would also help with defeating the Banshix in the end in addition to that piece of the artifact that they were going to go for, "Very well, thank you for everything, Professor," he spoke, "We'll be on our way then." A gym leader was their next objective. Hm, perhaps there'd be more training done there. Though the Professor spoke of four leaders in the beginning--it seemed like that meant they would have to prove themselves four separate times in order to produce a strong enough capsule monster. How long would that take? Juch wondered to himself how the others were faring in their respective sections of the Library--a fleeting thought--before stepping away from the lab with Drampa following behind with a cheery, but deep, humming sound. He turned to Chamomile, either catching up to her if she walked out first or waiting for her to catch up, "These moves," he tapped the device in his hands, "are perhaps our greatest defense here. If we're going to travel through this forest, in case we encounter anything unscrupulous, it may be best to formulate a team strategy going forward yes?" 350 / 2,420 Oolong
The battle ended after a bit of a drag of the two monsters fooling around, but at least at the end of it they gained some levels and a few more options. Chamomile studied the device which also had descriptions of what the moves did. That would have helped earlier considering Growl was listed as “The user growls in an endearing way, making opposing Pokémon less wary.” Who the hell growled in an endearing way? More reason to be confused about this bookverse. With that however, the bird got Peck, which luckily was described as it should be, Helping Hand, which could help team work, and something called Air Cutter that seemed pleasantly more aggressive. That was good. The professor went on to explain in more detail about how this library section worked. They were controlling these beasts to a degree, creating their story, and if the Banshix appeared, he would not be able to take control of their stories as easily. Juch thanked the professor and Chamomile nodded in acknowledgement before following him out, the chipper bird bouncing by her side. She signed to it, and the bird seemed to understand without her needing to use the vocal device so that was convenient, though it still seemed a bit too stupid to be an accurate representation of herself. When Juch spoke, she made a small face. ”You mean we shouldn’t keep playing nice with opponents?” she joked. She had Orocorio growl thinking it’d be effective in some manner. What did Juch expect to happen in a battle by playing nice? Apparently these creatures were fairly easily eased into under estimation. ”I have two more attacks, and a move meant to boost his attack,” she offered after though. 291 / 1,627 Juch
At Chamomile's words, Juch let out a tiny laugh. He covered his mouth with a gloved hand as he tittered to himself, but his amusement still leaked through from between his fingers, "C'mon, don't tell me you weren't the least bit curious as to what that move actually entailed. Oh, I simply had to know--but then, you saw it just nearly derailed anything. Not to mention--I've never heard a growl like that before in my entire life." These were some rather strange move sets to begin with, especially if these pocket monsters that they were working with started out at such a low level. Thank. The. Kais. Thank them that now with all the level ups, they had more moves and strategies to use. Juch didn't know when he'll actually use 'Play Nice' in a serious battle; perhaps the time will come as they continue to observe both the creatures and the battles that they participate in grow and evolve. Still, at Juch's words, the lumpy dragon next to him apparently took that as a compliment, as it let out a proud snort, with steam and smoke blowing through its nostrils in a discernable display of satisfaction and contentment; the bird, Juch wasn't so sure if it would be as agreeable, but the point still stood its ground. "And I have to work with someone who's apparently proud of that. Unbelievable," Juch continued, looking back at Drampa. His casual protest on the beast's behavior was belied by the kind pat that he placed on the Drampa afterwards. With a sigh, he paused and listened to the Lismian pirate's thoughts. More attacks and an enhancement. Interesting, "My friend here," another pat on the Drampa, "can use Twister now, apparently. With a chance to inflict a flinch of sorts. It's a roll of the dice, but we can certainly turn the momentum around that way in a pinch. Especially since your bird seems to be focused more on sheer offense, we can work well." There's more to review, but standing around won't do. Through the forest Juch would start walking. To the gym! Let's go! 353 / 2,773 Oolong
As they began to walk Chamomile’s thoughts stirred over what the Professor had said. She considered her monsters leveling compared to Juch’s. The man had said the more descriptive they were of the attacks, the stronger the monster would get, but neither her nor Juch had explained the attacks out loud. They had said the name and maybe an ‘oh dear,’ and still they had shot up some levels. The idea of a fate weaver was also something beyond her normal scope of understanding. It wasn’t about words spoken, it was about words thought and observed. It was the very reality their perspectives were shaping, and Juch was far more astute than her, which made sense as she absently let her bird do as it wished while he face palmed over the actions of his tired dragon, trying to figure it out as he went. She had to be more observant going forward if they were to make something more powerful against this Banshix creature. But that begged another question. ”We don’t actually have to fight, do we?” she asked Juch, signing the words with some uncertainty. ”At least on the journey there. We don’t have to actually control the creatures or force them to battle, we just have to be more observant to our surroundings, and battling allows there to be more to observe…”Saying this, she looked at the forest as they walked. Sure enough, there were other strange creatures prowling through the high grass, and strangely outfitted teens staring deadly straight ahead as if waiting for someone to enter into their vision without moving themselves. She found herself more anxious to get to the actual gym than study this place anymore, and perhaps that was her flaw in this. She wanted to keep moving forward, but also to go the path that was the most beneficial. When slow was beneficial, she felt a bit stuck even as her feet continued down the path through the woods. 334 / 1,961 Juch
Through the sounds of chirping birds–a flock of flying creatures flew up overhead, their soaring figures slightly obscured through the thick groove of tangles branches and leaves–Chamomile’s arms didn’t remain still. They transmitted her question over to the android and when she was finished, Juch’s smile grew a little wider. He didn’t answer her right away. Instead, while not stopping his pace as he walked besides Chamomile and their two respective pocket monsters, leaned down to pick up an idle branch in the middle of the road, one that had been snapped off either through strong winds or from the movements of these strange wild creatures. “I know of someone that would love this place,” Juch spoke with a small chuckle, weighing the branch in his gloved hand. He swung his arm back and tossed the wooden object up in the air; it traveled further down the path where they were headed. The Drampa, who had been lazily trailing behind him, perked up at the sight before bounding down the worn road past him to retrieve it–much to the amusement of the Scholar. Indeed, while he didn’t explore the biomes contained within Juturna thoroughly, he was certain that the Super AI would be interested in these Bookverse creatures. Too bad they weren’t able to move from this dimension back to their own. “Indeed, we don’t have to battle. As long as we move through the forest from point A to point B, we should be good,” Juch nodded in affirmation to Chamomile’s question. “But I don’t think it’s necessarily just a matter of observation,” he continued, watching Drampa’s distant figure begin to turn around and bound back with the stick in its mouth, “It does appear the way the Bookverse works is similar to how ki flows as well.” “It’s about experiences. And the more intense the experience is, the more ki can flourish. It just so happens that fighting and training are the easiest way to achieve that, but it is by no means the only way. I’m sure you must have noticed it as well during your travels.” “Of course, we can’t just dilly dally around for too long; the Banshee is still out there and the longer we stay within here, the more dangerous it is when we finally get out of the Bookverse. So I can walk a bit faster, but we shouldn’t squander this opportunity to strengthen the bond between us and our creatures.” 427 / 3,200 Oolong
As if to follow her point, Juch did something irrelevant, grabbing a tree branch just to had something to do with his hands that might move his dragon further along in its growth pattern. The pirate looked at the wild grass but didn’t do the same, instead attempting to peer into the wild grasses. They moved here and there, and every so often a head would pop up. They were mostly the heads of tan and brown birds that quickly burrowed their heads back in the dirt, most likely looking for worms, on there was a rather large worm that popped its head up that seemed a bit too big to get down the birds throat. TELL HIM I DO LOVE IT AND HE’S SMART ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO BRING ONE HOME… Juturna said, her technology advanced enough to pass through the magic of this place, and making Oolong squint her eyes in scrutiny. He shook Chamomile’s head in the end and listened to the rest of Juch’s monologue before saying anything. At the word bond her face scrunched again. “I often think there are far too many super powered beings in this universe, while on the other hand think the universe is far too small and every super powered being is connected to one another,” she signed to him. “I think we have the same associate, though as a super intelligence that has a hobby of invading people’s lives, I should not be surprised by her connections to people.” She looked back along the path and thought for a moment how much things had opened up for Oolong since he had sent Mate to the academy. It was like swinging a door open and all the strange folks rushed in. He thought to complain, liking the secrecy of underground work the Long’s did, but in the end, this was the bed he was creating. 323 / 2,284
Even though they avoided as much battle as they could, which was all of it to be honest, there was a quick and observation that it was not about battling and training – and that was correct. Learning about their creature and bonding with them was surely boosting the synergy between them. That was the way of the Bookverse, it was almost automatic how information about their creature filled their minds and not just their biology – mannerisms and tendencies began to flood their minds. As they continued through the forest, many creatures popped their curious heads out of the taller grass or from above the tree line to look down at them. Just a quick and simple observation – a peek at the creature – set off information like an index. Alas, as they moved through the forest, however, they could see that the next pathway was cloaked by a blinding light, and the Bookverse easily told them in their minds that… ‘This will lead to the next room – the town which held the first leader’. 173 / 813 Puar's Total WC: 813 Oolong' Total WC: 2,284 Juch's Total WC: 3,200 Room Word Count: 6,297
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:24:29 GMT -5
2.1 Ki Theory
As they walked through the door, the light simmered down and they walked out into a small town. It would look as if they were walking out of a tavern if they looked behind, there being a building around the door now. They could still see the snowy landscape though as if that was where it truly led to. The door would close it self and now was a good time to get a great look at their new surroundings. As mentioned, it was a town, and it was desolate. The sun was up and shining brightly, giving off heat waves and the general color scheme from a white and blue tundra like terrain was jarringly replaced by the sandy oranges and bloddy reds of a western like town. Tumble weeds blew around at the intense wind and the heat wave itself attacked the both of them with more intensity with each second they were there. Puar
“This isn’t how it should be – it should still be snowing” Puar mentioned as she reached for the bottle of snow. It had instantly melted and become a bottle of water. The bottle itself was cold though. “Yup, yer right about that. Should be still snowin but I took care of that little kitten.” Those words came from a man who was tall, muscular, and smoking a cigarette. “Let me guess, looking for the artifact that helps power the Defense Grid. I got that, right here.” He took out the cigar and blew smoke into the air. “Fixin to try and take it from me?” 216 / 216
Android 24
Android 24 was surprised to see, after following Puar through the mountainside door, that they were in what looked like some sort of scene from an old Western movie. In a small town surrounded by desert, where the only visible vegetation was that of dead weeds gathered in natural bundles blowing through the wind, speckles of dirt struck Android 24’s semi-metal face as his frame grew warm from the sun. “This doesn’t seem so bad,” Android 24 commented, looking around him at something he might have seen on Earth had he lived in a different chapter of history. But Puar didn’t seem so relaxed, mentioning that something was wrong. She retrieved a bottle of snow from her person and Android 24 copied her. They both observed the same thing; their bottles of snow had melted into water. Something was definitely off it seemed. Just then, a tall man made himself known. His shirt was fully unbuttoned, showing the features of a prideful human. A lit cigar sent a thin line of gray smoke slowly into the air. The man seemed to know why the duo was there and Android 24 reasoned he may have had something to do with why they weren’t where Puar expected them to be. That theory was more or less confirmed when the man asked Puar if she was looking for “the artifact”. 231 / 231 Puar
Puar had immediately got onto the defensive, taking on her Baji Quan fighting stance and her eyes sharpening to a focus. “Gino, this is a bookmark. These are people who normally guide us through the Bookverse that they are assigned to. It looks like the Banshix got to him.” “Oh you ain’t wrong about that,” the man said while reaching into an inner jacket pocket and taking out a stone. “Turned this tundra into something more comfortable with this thing, and I am going to keep it this way. Feels good to me, but I am sure you haven’t notice the ki leaking from your pores.” Puar’s frown intensified. “ I did,” she noted before going on the attack. She dashed forward and swiftly punched at the man. He didn’t do much other than block it with what seemed to be a massive gun that he was holding. “Now, now, don’t waste your energy like that. It might bite you in the ass at the very end.” Puar was able to get off three shots which he blocked and she noticed how tired she immediately got. “Damnit…” 187 / 403 Android 24
It appeared that the newcomer wielding the large barreled gun was the cause of the lack of frozen tundra, citing that he was more comfortable that way. Just as Android 24 was thinking how tired he was starting to feel, Puar confirmed that it wasn't just his imagination. They were losing energy, and quickly. Android 24 knew a fight was coming but was unsure how to handle it when it was as if the energy contained within him had sprung a leak. Android 24 knew he couldn't let Puar fight alone and simply had to hope that their little bout wouldn't last very long. Android 24 cast an angry look towards the duo's opponent in battle, releasing a powerful blast of energy through them in the direction of the gun wielding bully. "Puar!" Android 24 shouted out to his ally to give her a heads up. "Since this guy seems to like a sunny day... Mind your eyes!" Android 24 touched his temple with one hand before closing his eyes and summoning forth the energy of the source of light and energy in their current Bookverse location. A blinding light filled the air, as Android 24 intended to keep his opponent from fighting back, while Puar went in for a quick defeat. Feeling the strain on his body, Android 24 quickly reached for the snow in his pocket to renew some of his strength. "Oh no!" Android 24 thought, seeing that the ice in his interior pocket had completely melted. "It's still cold... will it still work?" Android 24 took a small swig to test his theory and was impressed with how dramatic and instantaneous the restoration effect was. "We got this, Puar!" Android 24 shouted out in confidence towards his partner. 293 / 524 Puar
As Puar had kept him busy with her attacks, the cyborg’s eye beam slammed into the chest of the man and he grunted, furrowing his brow down. “Well shit,” he let out as his chest had two burn marks on them. “That packed a punch.” He grabbed at his chest with one hand and then readied his gun with the other, but before he could unleash a stream of bullets a bright flash of light blinded him. “Agh!” He fired his gun but he only destroyed the tavern next to them with the stream of energy bullets. “Damn, I guess that is the draw back of having a sunny day huh.” Reflexively, a bodyshield covered his body to protect him from physical damage while his eyes gathered back their sight. Puar had looked away as she was warned by it. When she returned her gaze to the man he was struggling without his sight. “Good one, Gino. Eh, that is troublesome. A shield. I will break it down. Follow up.” Puar knew she probably should drink from the bottle, but before she did that she needed to create an opening for Gino. A few steps taken, and Puar was in-front of the man with her fists hardened. She gave his shield a thunderous punch, creating a shockwave from the contact point. Her fists then tapped the man’s chest in quick succession, creating cracks in its make and causing them man to grunt in pain. She then followed up with a hard and precise knee shot, like a spear tip, to pierce the rest of the shield and shatter it completely away. “Damnit, of all the Librarians it had to be fucking Master Puar.” 283 / 696 Android 24
Android 24 felt relieved to have cast the Solar Flare when he did. It might have been the only thing stopping his head from receiving a round-sized hole in it from their opponent’s gun. The young Android watched in awe as Master Puar charged in and attacked the man, despite him having formed a sort of Barrier around himself. The Barrier seemed to stop some of Puar’s first few physical exchanges, but ultimately she was able to crack through it using just her hands and feet. “Wow,” Android 24 said under his breath. He had always striven for being a fast and effective physical fighter, not just an energy user, and Puar was leagues ahead of what Android 24 thought was a reasonable goal for himself. If they made it out of there alive, Android 24 was hoping to be next in line to sign up for some of her classes. Not wanting to get too distracted too quickly, Android 24 regained his focus and looked to his still half blind opponent’s aimless gaze. With the state of the man, Android 24 almost thought it was too easy. But he wasn’t going to give much grace to a man who just tried to shoot him. Charging in with a fierce, ki infused punch, Android 24 led his fist straight into his opponent’s stomach. Android 24 then jumped in the air to give the man a swift but powerful kick towards his head. Hoping he made contact and hoping it put some space between them, Android 24 began to charge a strong ball of spirit infused energy in his hand. He threw it towards his opponent, able to guide the ball if his aim weren’t perfect, until it eventually came crashing into the man or somewhere that Android 24 was satisfied with. Android 24 sunk to one knee, forgetting the strain of the place. He was attacking too hard to have any time to revitalize his strength now, though. He took a few heavy breaths before standing up again. 360 / 884
The man’s barrier shattered under the weight of Puar’s aggressive attacks, giving room for Android 24’s explosive punch at full strength! But by Puar’s third punch, which hit him like a boulder to the chest even with the barrier still half up, he went back on guard, lifting his heavy gun up once more the block the punch. Despite his size, the explosion made his feet skid back on the flat ground, kicking up a little dust in the process. “Argh,” he let out. He wasn’t quick enough to completely avoid the kick to the head, he shifted his weight and height so it crashed into his thick neck and shoulder instead. The boy placed some distance between them, but the burly man took advantage of this too, taking off in a circular route back towards the boy. He darted with impressive speed away from the spirit ball, but when it gave chase he spun and braced himself for the impact. He pushed the ball back with impressive strength, lessening the impact of the explosion when it went off. In this however, he noticed Puar had stayed in one place and the Banshix’s power whispered to him in giggles. He swung his huge arm out and a wave of strange energy exploded from it. If Android 24 tried to intercept, it would harmlessly go through him and ultimately encase Puar, creating some type of deeper stasis. “Hah! Without your weaver you’re powerless against the Banshix’s control!” he said with his own cackle before turning to the boy. “Looks like its just you and me now. 273 / 273 Android 24
The man’s strength was more than impressive. He took most of Android 24’s attacks with little defense. Android 24 marveled at his Spirit Ball inflicting its wrath only for the man to seem little more than annoyed by it. “How strong is this guy?” Android 24 wondered. As he took a look at the man, thinking to engage his Scouter he hesitated and instead reached for the magic bottle of melted ice water. “I think I’m going to need this stuff a lot more,” Android 24 confessed, taking two large gulps from the glass. Android 24 hadn’t even noticed Puar had been trapped. He wanted to go help free her but he knew that the burly gentleman wasn’t going to allow that. But with the revitalization of his energy, via the melted ice water, he was feeling confident. “Alright, ket’s lick some butt,” Android 24 said confidentially, immediately realizing his tongue tied mistake. “KICK!” Android 24 corrected himself. He squatted into a fighting stance, ready to pounce. Android 24 charged forward, his temper flared, his energy revitalized, and his fist full of deadly energy. He threw a powerful punch aimed at the man’s large jaw. I mean… “PUNCH!” 205 / 1,089
The man grinned in what looked malicious enough to be a grimace as Pagoma reached once more for his bottle of melted snow. He wouldn’t last long like this, and then victory would be his. “You can tr—“ he started to Android 24’s pep talk only to stop when he realized exactly what the boy said. “What?” His face now was disgusted and confused and that didn’t fade when Android 24 corrected himself, as if the bookmark was questioning exactly where the boy’s mind was at. He did have impressive muscles and his shirt was revealing, but he definitely didn’t come out here to be sexually harassed! But the android’s double slip up worked to his advantage. He yelled kick, so of course the bookmark expected a kick and wasn’t prepared as the fist moved faster than Gino’s verbal correction. “Augh,” he let out again, trying to get a guard up but it wasn’t quick enough and his jaw spun back. This time the boy didn’t create any space between them though, and as soon as the bookmark recovered he swung his own fist hard towards the boy’s chest. His burly hand even clenched was almost the size of Android 24’s torso. Pulling the same arm back he swung again in wide but extremely powerful punch meant to knock the boy’s smaller head right off his body. Then he leapt back, giving himself space to lift his large gun in front of him. He wasn’t blinded this time but still shot quite erratically, spinning the weapon through the air as it went off sending a wave of gun fire towards his opponent. “You’re nothing without Master Puar!” he challenged giving a distinct feeling that the man was trying to rile him up. After all, if Android 24 moved too recklessly, he’d run out of ki and collapse. The bookmark wasn’t unscathed at this point either. Damage was definitely growing each round of attacks. If he could wear the boy and his weaver out, all the better. 353 / 626 Android 24
Android 24 felt accomplished as his right hook connected with the jaw of the bookmark. But his joy quickly turned to sorrow when he was struck in the chest with a hard fist. Android 24 had left himself in a vulnerable position and paid for it by being struck in the chest. He could have sworn he felt his heart being squeezed by the force of the blow as he felt his body lifted off the ground and sent flying from the momentum of the brute’s arm. Even though most of his body was reinforced with various forms of sturdy metal, nothing about the bookmark’s punch made Android 24 feel any more reinforced than a fragile old lady. His body seemed to crumble under the force of the punch. Android 24 rose slowly, grabbing his bottle of ice cold water and throwing it back in a desperate attempt to gulp down as much as possible. But after taking a rather large swig, the bookmark’s right hand landed again, this time against Android 24’s face. He felt in a daze, as if his systems and own brain were struggling to process what just happened. But despite how unbelievably fierce the pain was, Android 24 was reeling even more from something else. “Oh no…” Android 24 said, looking at the remains of the shattered vase that was holding the blessed liquid, keeping his energy from draining too fast. He knew Puar had a bottle or two, but she was currently incapacitated by one of the bookmark’s attacks. “What am I going to do?” Android 24 asked, trying to find a way to put the pieces back together but quickly realizing it was a waste of time. Android 24 only just noticed in time the giant projectile headed his way. We quickly tried, but failed, to escape its clutches, groaning in agony as the burns scorched his body. ”I’ll have to go all out I guess,” Android 24 said before quickly rushing back towards the brute. Spreading out his arms and legs he let out a painful cry as a burst of deadly explosive energy came seemingly out of nowhere. If there was any noticeable difference in their strength before, this attack might have been what bridged the gap or exceeded it. But Android 24 didn’t stop there. He cried out several more times, releasing an utterly reckless amount of energy, given the circumstances of the Bookverse he was in. As his attack winded down, it’s force rivaling that of a nuclear explosion, Android 24 squatted to one knee, praying that Puar would be back in action soon. 443 / 1,532
The man let out a loud roar of laughter when the boy’s vial of snow broke. He hadn’t even been aiming for that, and now the boy’s carelessness had worked further in his favor. This laughter caught in his throat however when the boy started his rush, gaining power all the way through it. The bookmark leaped out of the way of the first beam, but the android wasn’t stopping there, sending pulse after pulse of energy towards the man who normally would have only been able to block, but he wasn’t a normal man. He wasn’t even a man. The world itself was his oyster and the beam was met with resisting force as the ground itself jumped up to block for him, cutting through a giant mountain of hard rock and dirt before reaching the figment of this place. In the end it was just a block though, and the bookmark still got hit sending him tumbling through the air to land hard on his back. For a moment, Android 24 might have thought he won, but then the bookmark sat up again. He was tattered and torn, and his wounds didn’t bleed but instead made those parts of him opaque, and faded, like he was dematerializing. “You idiot!” he managed in a loud voice, though it was gargled a bit with a hacking cough. “You’re supposed to be conserving energy in a place like this. How stupid can you be!” A flake of snow fell down onto Android 24’s nose, and another must have touched the bookmark because he looked up to the clouding sky with a curse. He talked about conserving energy but had spent a good deal blocking that attack, and now the original realm was threatening to overtake his power. The more the boy did here, the worse it would get. It wasn’t just his strength and power of attacks that gave him power here, but if he didn’t realize that yet, the man wasn’t going to give him any hints. It was a short curse, and then his weapon was recharged and loaded and pointed back at the boy before it released a massive spray of gunfire. He followed his own advice and didn’t make it as strong as he could have. He was depending on the realm to eat him up first. 403 / 1,029 Android 24
Android 24 was dumbfounded how his strongest attack did not leave more of a mark on his opponent. Was he that strong? No, it was just the Bookverse playing tricks on him again, the Android reckoned. The energy consumed by the attack though did seem to leave a mark on the air around them, and Android 24 was certain he felt a drop of snow on the top of his forehead. Android 24 didn’t have time to react just then. The bookmark’s anger was spiraling and he quickly shot a pair of blasts towards Android 24. The Android aimed to deflect the first safely away but didn’t manage to repeat this action on the second of the blasts. It hit Android 24 square in his chest and sent him flying on his back. With the wind knocked out of him, Android 24 was worrying about how little energy he had and how quickly the dry air was draining what was left. Android 24 began to get up but happened to catch a lucky break as he did. “The ice water!” He shouted. A small piece of the bottom of the bottle had managed to not shatter and was still holding one or two small sips. Android 24 quickly and carefully grabbed it, sipping about half of it before careful setting it down again.Feeling briefly revitalized and thinking more clearly, Android 24 quickly rose to his feet. “You seem real worried about all that energy I just wasted,” Android 24 said, almost smirking in spite of realizing how irresponsible he was acting. “I wonder what happens when I do this.” “HA!” Android 24 shouted at the end of his sequence. The turtle hermit’s signature technique, the Kamehameha, was always a good choice for fighting evil, as far as Android 24 was concerned. He aimed the blast at his opponent’s chest as it rushed out of his hands. “Puar?!” Android 24 shouted at his comrade through labored breaths. “Any time now would be great…” 338 / 1,870
The bookmark lifted his gun once more as soon as the boy shouted sending a rain of gunfire down to try and destroy what was left of his little glass of water, especially as the android announced its existence, but he was just a moment too slow and the boy managed to get another gulp in. This complicated matters, and the bookmark could feel himself unraveling, and let out another curse. As Android 24 drank, he stuck his hand inside his chest. Yes, inside it. The bookmark was a bookmark, not a real person and his hand sank into his body like an open jacket. He managed to pull it, and something else out with it as the boy shouted, leaving himself defenseless to the kame wave and more damage. When the wave finished rushing over him, Android 24 would see the man in more tatters but a glowing orb was in his hand shining brightly. “Good luck finding this!” he shouted and threw the orb with a pitcher’s arm. It zoomed through the air like a rocket vanishing from sight except for a plume of dust rising in the far distance. Then he completely shattered. The numerous tears in his body ripped apart and he became nothing, back into the bookverse. They were done fighting but this world was still draining his ki, and it seemed the bookmark had made getting the artifact another challenge instead of just defeating him. Android 24 could try and trek the distance of the long throw to recover it, or he could try and wake Puar. Whatever the bookmark had done to her wasn’t undone with his destruction. She didn’t have a weaver, whatever that was, so maybe she was stuck like that for good? The goal had always been getting the artifacts. He could always get it and come back. 311 / 1,340 Android 24
“Yes!” Android 24 blurted out, upon seeing his theory confirmed by the outpouring of ki. Android 24 was quickly reminded the bookmark was not in fact real as he grabbed something from literally inside of himself and threw it. After that, he seemed to fade away and no longer be a threat. The world around Android 24, however, was unchanged. “Didn’t Puar say this place was supposed to be snowy too?” Android 24 muttered to himself before changing his direction towards Puar. “Hey Puar! Is this normal?” Android 24 had assumed that the bookmark being defeated would have woken Puar up, since the spell came from him, but that didn’t seem to be the case as Puar remained still, seemingly in a state of sleep. “PUAR?!” Android 24 shouted in close proximity to the purple cat, hoping to jolt her awake. Android 24 shook her shoulder and did everything he could to try and wake a person, but Puar didn’t seem to be responding yet. “Ugh,” Android 24 muttered to himself. “Where did he throw that ball to?” Android 24 had seen the bookmark chunk the glowing orb. Android 24 assumed that was why they were there, but without Puar being conscious it was hard to know why. “Which direction did he throw that thing?” Android 24 asked himself, gazing the nearly empty landscape of the western desert environment that seemed to repeat itself over and over. Android 24 knew the bookmark chunked the orb pretty far, but had a general idea of the direction to go. He ran in that direction rather than flying and lit up his arms and interior, leaking out with light. He hoped the brightness would create a glint on the orb that would help him spot it sooner. 297 / 2,167
Puar didn’t respond at all. The bookmark said something about her ‘dreamweaver’ and the Banshix’s power. It seemed whatever the man had attacked Puar with wasn’t from his own stores but from the creature they were supposed to be hunting. Who knew when she would come to again…if he could get a hold of whatever her dreamweaver was and find some kind of muse maybe she’d wake up, but for now his efforts were futile. As was his search. As he ran he would see some strange things. As Puar had said, the western desert had once been a snowy mountain. His path would unsettled a small pack of white foxes that stood out dangerously in the now orange environment. The barren land opened into what was likely once a snowy forest but now only contained dying and fallen trees stopping his easy straight forward run. Getting through the damaged forest would take some hiking skill, or at least some jumping skill. The dead pine needles littered the place like snow, but would do nothing to restore his ki. It was possible the the artifact had fallen into one of these harrowed out logs or buried under the needles. A needle in a needle stack? Hopefully not. 212 / 1,552 Android 24
Android 24 was reminded of the hot summer days he spent training for football doing two a days. Two grueling hours every morning and every afternoon of straight physical training and conditioning. If nothing else it had prepared Android 24 for the hero he had become, but he looked back at those moments with mostly disdain. Every step he took in the warm background ached and strained his every fiber. It was then that he felt his systems beginning to go into low power mode. His vision became dim and suddenly it was as though he were entirely human again. Only the systems that were absolutely mandatory for his survival were on then. "Oh no," Android 24 said, realizing just how heavy his cybernetic enhancements really were. "I gotta find that thing and fast..." Android 24 looked over his shoulder back at Puar, still trapped and not moving. He so desperately wanted to shake her awake and beg of her to help him figure out a way to restore some small portion of his energy quicker than it was draining. "Wait a minute," Android 24 said. Whether it was by his own doing or some sort of 'life flashing before his eyes' the young Android had a sort of epiphany. Still looking at Puar, he began to do something very foolish. He began to run. Not in the direction of where he thought the orb was, but towards Puar. Whatever energy he had left was nearly gone and his vision was getting blurry as the warrior's blue figure became a bit more defined despite the fogginess in his eyes. "Please still be there," Android 24 said when Puar was finally in arms reach. There was some sort of barrier keeping her in place, but for whatever reason its energy didn't seem to restrain Android 24. In fact, he could pass through it harmlessly. He began to feel around Puar's person. "Sorry..." Android 24 said, his cheeks burning red with embarrassment as he dug around a bit too personally on Puar's body for how little they knew each other. Unfortunately for the Android he had no choice. "YES!" Android 24 said, holding a glass bottle of melted snow in his hands. Puar had her own bottle of blessed ice water, full or almost full. "Sorry Puar, but seeing as how you don't need this right now..." Android 24 took a big swig of the potion and immediately felt revitalized. His on board systems fired up and he immediately felt lighter, could see better, and move easier. He looked to Puar and confirmed, "I'll give this bag just as soon as I find that orb!" Android 24 then ran back out to where he suspected the orb was, appreciating now more than ever the keen eyesight that his upgrades had given him. 470 / 2,637
So close, yet so far…well, maybe he would have gotten closer if he hadn’t doubled back, but the results to that end were too beneficial to pass up. Puar remained in stasis, but like a thief in the night, Android 24 had no problem looting her person and gaining an extra few swigs to his dally. He was revitalized, but as his search continued, he found that the orb was still being tricky to spot. There were many avenues to explore still, which he had practically ignored on his trek back and forth. Maybe it would be easier to find after all, if he put the effort in. 110 / 1,662 Puar
A massive shattering was heard as the stasis Puar was stuck in finally broke and she took in a deep breath and also a heavy blush appeared on her cheeks. “Well, that was rude. You didn’t have to feel me up while I was out of commission,” she stated while feeling herself a bit in a reflex. But she understood why. He was running out of ki it seemed and she felt it as well. They needed to get out of here and she had the best tools to help out with this dilemna. She focused and she shapeshifted into a Vorox, needing no actual ki to take flight, but also utilized its insane eye sight to spot the shimmer in the distance. There it is, she squawked. All Android 24 probably saw was a random bird in the air squawking though. She would then zip through the sky in a power fly, looking more like a super fast ki blast that was shot out and she landed right where the artifact would be. She picked it up with her beak and proceeded to fly toward the android and perch down on his shoulder with it in her mouth, dropping it into his hand if he outstretched it. She then would hop off his shoulder and transform back into the form he knew, with a bell in her hand ready to be rung. “I’m going to hurry us out of here,” she said and rung the bell. The entire realm collapsed, soaking the background into a fixed point and putting them in a realm of pure black. A portal opened up in-front of them which Puar walked toward. “Let’s go, hopefully everyone else has their artifacts.” 286 / 696 Puar's Total WC: 982 Android 24's Total WC: 2,637 Keres' Total WC: 1,662
Room Word Count: 5,281
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:25:41 GMT -5
2.2 The Study of Thought
As Ur enters the building on the right, he notices that it looks nothing like the run down building that it was on the outside, which had to be typical, right? It was made of clean marble and the lighting was quite good. It seemed almost like the first floor of a palace. Books lined the walls, sitting on shelves and they were all about various studies of the mind -- for all sorts of species that were sentient enough to think. But what tried to catcht Ur's eye was the bracer in the middle that had some kind of bubble around it. It was a silver bracer that woudl fit snuggly on his wrist. If he were to grab at it nothing would stop him from doing so. 128 / 128 Ur'Alcyonis
Well this was odd, somewhat annoyingly so. His choice could have led to anything, from some ridiculously insane hell to some sort of heaven like place, but in the end, it seemed that his choice ended up bringing him to something entirely different. What he thought to look like some shabby, rundown place, looked like a pretty, well-maintained place on the inside, with marble and soft, properly working lightning which one could even call soothing. It all just made him wonder what he would have gotten himself into if he had gone to the left like all those others. Perhaps it was a misconception, a false perception to make someone’s choice more impactful or meaningful. As he looked around, Ur’alcyonis could see lines upon lines of books on shelves, as if he were in some sort of library…again, which in a sense would be a bit funny, on the other hand though it also made some sense in the way that this WAS called a bookverse and what would such a thing be without the very item literally stuffed in its name. With his gaze falling upon a lone bracer seemingly crafted out of some silver-colored material, the Primeval tried to inspect it first, but decided that there would be no harm in trying it out, hoping it would at least prove itself useful in the hunt for this Banshix. 233 / 233
"So someone actually chose this side, great. I have to work then," there was tapping on the marble floor as talons walked on it. A harpy appeared, as if she had been invisible for a moment or something to that effect. She came into view just out of his peripheral vision, so turning would probably be best to see her clearly. She held a phone in a claw, and seemed to be tapping away at it like a texting teenager. "I.... got.... one..." And then a ping sounded on her phone, her putting it down and looking at Ur for a good moment. "Okay, what do you know about how the Banshix operates? Or did the Librarians stay as vague as possible like they always do." 126 / 254 Ur'Alcyonis
Ur’alcyonis couldn’t help himself but to look towards the origin of the sound of claws walking over the marble floor. When he got to see where the sound came from, a creature understood to be some sort of harpy revealed themselves, tapping like some teenage addict on her phone and hardly even looking at the Primeval, something which did slightly annoy him. However, when she finally seemed to notice his presence, a ping sounded and she suddenly asked him a question out of the blue. Tilting his head to the left and shrugging his shoulders, the masked man showed just how much information he had gotten so far and in all honesty, it wasn’t all that much. “At best, I know that whatever you call the thing again…Banshix, was it?...has some ability to traverse from one dimension like this to another, there was little to go on from that point,” The masked man let out a deep sigh, before suddenly letting out a chuckle. “There was some stuff on how they were dealt with and what they had done in the past…but that was just vague…Now though…what do you mean with having found one?” 202 / 425
"So vague... Banshix is probably going to a Dimension called Nowhere. It is a rift between dimensions. We borrow its infinity space to create Bookverses. His goal has always been to escape the entire realm of story and become a weaver. Best place to do that is the Nowhere Dimension. "There you become closer to your weaver of fate -- he doesn't have one and borrows weavers of fate for himself. I don't exactly know how he will escape this realm, but he certainly is the only person I know that can." After the explanation she doubled back to answer his question. "Bookverses are filled with beings that aren't real basically. I am a bookmark, or just a Librarian who signed up to live in the Bookverse for the rest of her life instead of die or something. You are one as in a real being that can be affected by the Banshix, and vice versa." She pointed to his bracer. "That thing there? It powers your weaver and as they tell your story certain parts of it will hurt the Banshix greater than others." The harpy put her phone in her pocket. "The Banshix stole my portion of the artifact -- we are going to link up with Amanda. He probably got hers too. The goal is to move to the final pages of this Bookverse and see just what the Banshix left for us to play with." 237 / 491 Ur'Alcyonis
“Hmm, that doesn’t ring a bell…this nowhere,” The masked man let out a sigh when getting more information than he had bargained for. The whole concept of everyone having a weaver of fate sounded rather strange and beyond his comprehension…HIS comprehension. Obviously the primeval was rather annoyed by this thought that there were still things that could baffle him. “A space between dimensions…I presume this is comparable to the Void between universes and beyond the multiverse itself, no?” “Tell my story…” The masked man tilted his head ever so slightly when looking at the harpy. “Perhaps it was best to keep it all vague. These bookverses sound like they can be infinite in number in that case, which makes me wonder…if these places are as infinite and are all representations of someone or something’s story…which I reckon is their point of existence… would this not mean that the multiverse I call home can be seen as just another bookverse?” It was not the Primeval’s intention to question or deny anything the woman said, but the more information he got, the more questions seemed to pop up in his head. “Anyway…so this thing would strengthen this…weaver of fate I supposedly would have? That is interesting I guess,” Shaking his head, the masked man looked at the bracer for a short moment, before turning his attention back towards the harpy. “Final pages…gotcha, just lead the way, I’ll follow.” 248 / 683
While he spoke she looked down at her phone every so often, but managed to still give him a piece of her attention. She was texting Amanda. "That name's Sally by the way," she stated. He told her to lead the way. "Okay, we are going to the Thought Process Room. It gets a bit dangerous in there because it takes your thoughts and turn them into physical representations." "It likes to target stray thoughts and interesting ones. Usually nightmares and shit are its main targets -- which mean those come to life most the time. I am sure 98% of the time its a fight. I can fight a decent amount, but that isn't my specialty like... at all. Team hashtag support," she said with a very weary and goofy smile. "But anyway, I'm going this way." She looked back toward a wall and she walked to it and tapped it a few times with a talon, lifting her foot to do so. The wall then slide open like an elevator door, showing a hallway. "Come on," she said as she walked forward. 183 / 674 Ur'Alcyonis
“So sally is the one we’re supposed to meet, neat,” The masked man shrugged, continuing to follow and listen to the harpy who seemed to continue to have more interest in her own cellphone or datapad thingy rather than what ought to be her duty. Ur’alcyonis couldn’t just voice this matter out loud, considering she did provide him with all the necessary information WHILE she was looking like some distracted teen. “Wait, wait a moment, hold on,” The Primeval’s eyes widened ever so slightly when he heard the explanation of what this supposed Thought Processing Room was supposed to be. “It manifests once’s own nightmares and fears?” Usually this wouldn’t have been that much of a problem, even the Masked man knew the value behind the idea of facing once own fears to have progress, but there was one key difference. His fears were rather specific, rather dangerous and if that place was capable of manifesting those fears… he wondered if that room itself would actually be capable of withstanding that which it would manifest. Not to mention the fact that should this room be able to manifest his fears, how was he even supposed to overcome those? “I will call this the worst idea… hashtag certain death,” The primeval let out a sigh in response to the someone goofy encouragement of the harpy, finding his way into the elevator-like place and closing his eyes in trepidation. 243 / 926
"N-No, my name is Sally you have already met Sally. My name is Sally," she said as she realized that her wording was confusing. "Ugh, I'm sorry I can confuse how I say things -- I don't speak common language. This translator can really get a bit bothersome." But then he called out how this could probably be a bad idea and she scratched her head and there was a nervouse kind of laugh that escaped her lips. "Don't worry the worst part is that this place won't let you die. It thinks that is the easy way out. I wish certain death was the case." And so they entered the elevator and with a ding the door closed and took them down to the Thought Processing Room. 127 / 801 Puar's Total WC: 801 Ur'alcyonis' Total WC: 926 Room Word Count: 1,727
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:27:12 GMT -5
2.3 The Geography of Your Universe
"Howdy there," a voice greeted the two who popped through the portal. It was a massive farm which they were transported to. "I knew they would send some people through sooner or later, that gosh darn Banshix came through and destroyed all the crops! " That voice was that of a country young girl with pigtails, wearing overalls, and looked dirty from working hard in the sun. "Well, don't just stand there. Grab a tool and lets get to work! Let's start by pulling up all these dead crops." 88 / 88 Joseph
When Joseph had been enlisted to assist the academy, he thought that it would involve participating in some expedition or dealing with a matter like Rhea remerging and attempting to continue from her previous machinations. Both would have been more interesting to him than clearing crops; though the boy was disappointed that his current mission didn't have him seeing action, he complied with the girl's instructions, took a wheelbarrow, and put on a pair of gloves. The girl's southern-sounding accent reminded him of Aria but more friendly sounding and lacking the malice and mischief in which Aria's tongue was rich. Joseph would have rather been fighting the Banshix or searching for it, but he was happy to help in any way he could. The boy went around with the wheelbarrow picking up the ruined crops and putting them in the wheelbarrow until it was a fool. Afterward, he'd go to the girl or someone else in charge of this job and ask them where he should put the ruined crops. He then got a ho, scrapped around dead grasses, pulled dead crops from their roots to put them into the barrow, and rinsed and repeated the process, trying to get the job quickly and efferently as he could to move on to a more interesting job, hopefully. 213 / 213
Kevin followed Joseph, not really knowing much about gardening to begin with. "Uhh," he would let out but then he'd just copy Joseph until they were done. The girl watched and didn't have to really correct them much -- even as they didn't know what they were doing, little did they know, knowledge was filling their heads and giving them the insight on the best way to get the job done. Before long, with a nice time lapse to boot, the garden was fixed and the girl walked up to them and gave them a warm smile. "That wasn't too hard now was it,darlins," she said and then took her hat off and brought out a seed. "Now take this seed with you and soak it with knowledge and power. This is the artifact needed to turn the defense grid back on. The thing is, it needs to grow. The Banshix put a word curse on it. I think you need to say a certain amount of words in order to--" Black. Darkness. Everything went black around Joe and Kevin. "Whoa, what the heck just happened!?" The seed was on the ground though, and it was the only thing they could see. It needed to be picked up of course, and maybe a little bit of energy will help it grow? 221 / 309 Joseph
"Not really," Joseph said as said brushed his hands off against each other. It was easier than he had expected it, having never done that type of farm work before. He felt like he knew what he was doing, it was almost like it was automated. Whatever the case, he was glad he got it done to help them and to have the task over with. The boy looked at the seed and narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized it. The instructions were rather vague. Soak it with knowledge and power, which type of either would work? Then everything suddenly went black amid the woman's explanation. Joseph looked around seeing every looked black and the seed was on the ground. The Demi-Earthling approached it and looked at it then at Kevin and shrugged. He didn't know exactly one would soak a seed in knowledge transferring power was a simple process. The boy extended his hand toward the seed, a gentle trail of blue energy traveled from his palm and to the seed, enveloping it in a blue aura. 178 / 391
And just from that small bit of energy, the seed exploded into vines and vegetation, overtaking the entire darkness of the place. It was like the seed itself held a tiny forest inside (which it did). It he become a massive forest area, leaving both Kevin and Joseph surrounded by a bunch of trees that canopied over them. They were in an opening and the very first thing before them were a lot of man sized flowers. They didn’t move… at first but they suddenly started to walk at them with roots for feet. They were attacking! Kevin panicked and jumped back. “Ahh crap, I thought we were just farming!? What is this!?” He immediately ducked behind Joseph – he wasn’t much cover being a small boy and all. “What the heck are we going to do!?” 136 / 445 Puar's Total WC: 445 Joseph's Total WC: 391
Room Word Count: 836
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:28:03 GMT -5
2.4 A Talk of Eras From Start to Forever
The next door dropped Towa even further in the past. It looked like Keres was wrong to assume the door order represented the beginning to the end, because door number two led to a more distant pass than the Keliouxan pilgrimage. It stepped her back into the days of old where mortals were but an after thought. True civilization was only relevant in the next dimension but even Lucifer’s Empire was no where near the seemingly infinite city that spanned across hell now. Hell was still as big of course, and so easy to get lost in among the torments. Demons would reach for her. Hell itself would twist its reality to meet what would torture her the most. This hell didn’t recognize her, as it wasn’t really hell, so she would have to prove she belonged there. The same energy the ring gave called to her from the distant city, but first, she would have to get there. 159 / 159 Towa
Hell, it was the ancient maybe even most ancient version of the location. The powerful devils and demons that would end up rising out of a place like this was not even a thought at this point. Ancient, even predating those from the demon realm that Towa was looking to free eventually. How did she end up so far in the past? What was the reason for her being here this far back? Was another piece to the puzzle truly here? Tormented souls were all that resided in this version of hell. Souls that had been banished from the heaves with the ancient rebellions themselves. This like went back to the days of the primordial and maybe even further back. Flames ignited around her as she walked randomly forward for where she had come into this place. Closing her eyes for a brief moment to focus on her senses, hoping to get a good scan of this area as she had the last and see if she could once again track the piece she was looking for. It was as if the souls knew what she was doing though as the moment she closed her eyes to focus, flaming shadowy claws ripped out from the ground looking to snatch the demon goddess. Towa had been lucky her time on Kanassa was so helpful as it allowed her to jump out of the way. She would not be able to focus as well here, with this setting as it was, still her senses were good enough to hopefully track the next piece and her way out of this door and back to where she had come with what she had come here for. She looked around, hoping a clue would present itself, something that would guide her if her senses were not fully able to be locked on as they had when Keres was around. Being alone meant she had to also watch out for number 1. It was why she did not want to break apart, but the Paladin had wanted to be hero as those of the protectorate normally wanted. Or at least that is how Towa looked at it. It was foolish to break apart, but here she was; alone, in ancient hell and looking to clues on how to solve this problem they were here for. 389 / 389
“Oh, boy, I hate this realm,” a voice said from behind her. It was Jefferson. Since Keres had opted to go alone due to the easiness of the first task, her arrogance would do just that! Leave her alone. Jefferson went along with Towa. But he didn’t seem like a lot of help just then. He was shivering like there was an actual chill in this realm and holding his arms tight as if that could bite back the illusionary freeze. “This isn’t a normal era,” he said, looking around. “We can’t just let librarians wander into hell…Do you have some sort of connection to this past?” Whatever her answer he would point to a path ahead. “I think the Banshix is out to corrupt the most powerful people of each era. So, you know what that means…” The most powerful person of this era, and most others for this realm was the morning star. Lucifer in his youth, freshly banished and still righteous. This was going to be quite the mess. 172 / 331 Towa
Towa looked at Jefferson as he asked his question and shrugged, "I have connections to many things, but this place is just rather old." She moved her hand to her chin faking the idea that she was questioning her connection, "Maybe just research into past events? I don't know, but this place isn't that bad. Certainly have been to hell when traveling the next dimension with portals before." She said it casually like it was normal even if it wasn't. The theory was that the Banshix was trying to corrupt powerful beings. That meant Lucifer in this case. That was logical, but maybe not 100% accurate. Considering the timelines ancient demonds locked away from hell to the demon realm and time prisons may have been around. She did not have an exact time frame of when this was, but checking on Lucifer did make the most sense here. "Well if you think that makes sense, then we find the most powerful being and go there. Let's just hope it is actually Lucifer and not some other ancient being that maybe he found a way to overthrow?" She closed her eyes and sensed out the area before walking in the direction of the most powerful being. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but she was also hoping to get some kind of trace of the power they felt before. That would hopefully help solve this problem or at least lead to to whatever they were here to get. At this point Towa had no idea what that even was. She also did not know who she could trust. To be honest she did not even know who Jefferson was before the last clock they had gone into. Maybe he was part of the problem that was going on here? It was why she did not like to do these types of things with just 1 person. Working in a group was good or working alone was good, but not with just 1 person. She would have to pick up more of her end of the problem here and at the same time not reveal too much about what she was familiar with in regards to time travel and the demon realm. It was an interesting situation for her to be in for sure. 382 / 771
Jefferson frowned when Towa didn’t come up with a valid reason for their appearance in this place. He was hoping if she had some sort of connection they could gain more of an upper hand. At the least, she had been to hell before, but this was much different than the hell they knew now. Lucifer’s Empire was only a growing town and weaker demons still prowled anxious for a snack. “Wouldn’t that still make him the most powerful if he was able to overthrow it?” he asked her at her assessment of the situation. She wasn’t wrong of course. Maybe something else had grasped it, and now had the power to overthrow its over thrower. That still meant they needed to go to Lucifer. There wasn’t a clear path yet however. In current hell, if you knew your way, you could make it into the gigantic city Lucifer built with less issue--as long as you knew your way. At this point in time however, the roads weren’t metaphorically paved, and traversing through the dimension left them to a lot of metaphorical brush. In this case, their trek quickly led them into a mist. It came upon them quite suddenly, and they were almost immediately separated, or at least that’s how it seemed. They were actually still standing fairly close to each other, but the mist parted into another method of torture. Before Towa was the moment of her biggest regret. She would find the mist moving her in that same path of the past, unable to break free and change that event for the better. It preyed on those feelings of guilt, and would not be keen to release her for as long as she carried it. 288 / 619 Towa
"Power is not always who is the physically most powerful. Gaining allies and working with others can help you overcome even the biggest problems you might face." Towa said calmly as she kept walking as if she knew where she was going. Truthfully, the demon goddess was not 100% sure where she was going, but she always confident even in her failures. She also had seen before having just the most powerful being on your side did not help when others had more to fight for, more experience or just more allies. She had failed in these ways over and over again. It was not a mistake she was planning on having again. She knew this time she would need to properly unite all of her allies and not just rely on their strength without unity. That had been a recent fatal flaw in her plans. It was also why she had said what she had said to Jefferson. "Not that they'd ever want to, but imagine if all the Sages united against Grandmaster Adel's rule." She said, "The grandmaster would be more powerful than any of them individually, but their combined efforts would possibly cause her problems. It would be the same thing here." She paused as she saw some mist starting to form, "That is if he hadn't already overthrown the one in power before this time." She shrugged, "Who knows?" She took her next step foward and suddenly she was much closer to Jefferson and also in a mental fog. Her time and rulership over Kanassa would have normally helped her shrug this off without problems, but this was not that time frame and clearly this power was not normal, this was something supernatural. Something even her mental defenses could not handle easily. She realized quickly that she seemed to be reliving her failures and the guilt that it caused her. The pain she saw on those that had confidence in her, the destruction of Mira at the hands of Lord Beerus. All of these things flashed before her eyes and no matter what she did, it would not stop. That was when she realized what was needed. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. It was an attack or trap of sorts. One that was attacking her guilt, she had to free herself of that guilt and know that she was working on fixing the problem. Guilt would only cause stress, pains in the stomach and questioning if she had truly done enough. In this case, she knew she had to push that guilt aside. Remove it from her mind and know that she had done all she could and was also doing everything she could to fix the problem. With that being the case, she forced her mind forward, pushing regrets to the side and hoping it would be enough to free her from this trap. 482 / 1,253
“Hm, well, I don’t mean physically powerful either,” Jefferson countered. “The ship captain was not the strongest warrior there, but he was in the most influential position,” he explained. “My suspicion is that it’s looking for the person that can make the largest impact, but you are right. An escaped primordial could definitely cause a huge stir, but Lucifer has always possessed the charisma to build armies. The grandmaster is like that as well. ‘Not that they’d ever want to’ comes from his charisma and values, the worth he has established of himself.” It was an interesting discussion, and Jefferson seemed hungry for it. Judging from his choice in distractions prior, this was to be expected. Soap operas were only so mentally engaging after all, and lacked true intelligence. But then, hell struck, quite literally. As Towa broke free of her small hell the mist would clear to show Jefferson flailing about as if he was being attacked by many bugs flying around his head. It appeared however that when she freed herself, she dispelled the entire trap, extinguishing whatever remorse the piece of the library had. Just what kind of regrets involved being attacked by insects perhaps spoke to the purity of her companion. Regardless, he kept swatting and flailing for a few seconds until he realized the pests were gone, and Towa was back. “I hate this realm,” he repeated. They were coming closer to the city now, or really the village or town, and guarding the path now was a large demon, and would would surely become on in time: an angel, with its wings freshly cut. 270 / 889 Towa
As they got free of the trap, Towa did not even acknowledge the flailing of Jefferson. Instead, she just pushed foward. She had things to do and this was holding her up. It was certainly not what she had expected being in an ancient version of hell, but it was clearly dangerous here. That was more obvious as they came up towards the town where the city would be now and standing guard was a large being. Towa tilted her head, it looked be a fallen angel shifting into a demon. That was certainly a painful process and the cut wings made it clear it was rather new to this one. He was guarding the path though and so Towa looked in his direction, still trying to focus her mind to see if she had any sensations like she had before that would point her in the right direction. She was simply trying to find the way at this point, but the demon did seem to be blocking it. "Hello," She said casually attempting to just walk past the demon with her own demonic heritage and hoping that would be enough. Even if it wasn't the scholar would be quick to not start a fight right here and now. This was not the time or place to draw attention to herself. She was very aware of that; this time was very hostile in general, let alone being in this stage of Hell. 242 / 1,495
“Hi,” the large demon said. It was just a simple one, his voice gruff yet still there was a tickle of doubt and fear that came forth. He was certainly new to this kind of world, and his defiances to their holy god was completely unknown but they had to have been grave to slice his wings and kick him down here. He looked to Towa, not giving her any sign of recognition and then to Jefferson with a look that was all the same. It was Towa’s casual behavior that won her a peaceful exchange, but her trying to push by was still something he could not allow so simply. “You seem in a hurry,” he stated matter of factly. “I can’t just let you in, not without flashing your library card.” Bringing about relief, it would seem the demon was a placeholder -- a bookmark for this specific realm. His gaze fell upon Jefferson and there was a blink of recognition. “Jefferson?” And then there was panic, but not a strong wave of it, just enough to stiffen the large demon and put him on a guard. “If you are out of your era, that means something is going on. I felt a disturbance but I really didn’t expect it to be something out of the ordinary.” “Yea Ezera, Banshix got out. This is Towa, she is a scholar and you know how the Banshix works -- Fate Weaver control. Hell, our Fate Weaver just came back online.” Ezera looked to Towa and then nodded. Before Ezera could bring it to full view, Towa’s vision would pick up on the familiar trail of the artifact piece. It was hard to actually sense because he kept it in a magical pouch. “Then you two came for this. I take my job as a bookmark seriously. The moment I noticed improper energies I confiscated this from the server girl who was going to serve this to Lucifer. It is a piece of the defense artifact isn’t it?” Jeffereson’s eyes were wide with both glee and shock, but then lowered when he realized Ezera took an unsuspecting shot at him about being serious about the job. “Hey, I take my job serious too!” “Oh… so that defense must mean that you failed to keep your piece away from a target. Anyway, Miss Towa here you go. I would love to accompany you two, but I have duties to fulfill here. I must make sure nothing else goes awry.” He simply handed her the artifact and upon it being handed to her, a portal would open that would lead both her and Jefferson back to the starting point of the Bookverse. 447 / 447 Towa
Well things went much faster than Towa had expected. It almost felt like it was much easier to solve this problem than the demon goddess had ever expected. Maybe her time was running out and the bookverse simply solved the problem for her and she would be on her way. She felt like her presence here was almost not needed and that was probably for the best. The demon goddess not having to actually show any influence or power in hell was certainly a good thing. It did make her question exactly who this Jefferson really was. This being was simply given the artifact that the fallen angel was not willing to even part with when he was first addressing Towa. "Well I guess that solves the problem." Towa turned around, not really interested in the bonding fest between the two. She had many questions in her head though. Just moments ago Jefferson felt concerned on who they had to talk with and what they might see, but it was actually his presence that had Ezera give him. In her mind that felt strange. How exactly had things turned out this way? The fact that they were now on their way back to the starting point was even more convenient. It had all worked out exactly how it was supposed to be. Hopefully Keres had the same luck. That would certainly make things go quicker. Whatever the threat of the banshix was she also learned almost nothing about that here. Was she supposed to? That was hard to know either. All that the time traveler knew was she felt like she was just a piece of this cog. Was this how Mira felt? She thought for a moment. It was always Towa's show and he was just along as the muscle. In this case, she felt like she was the muscle and this was Jefferson's show. Her mind began to wonder if Jefferson was somehow the Banshix in disguise as well. Considering she knew nothing about this being it was certainly possible. Especially with the easy this mission had been. He really did not need help. Maybe Ezera was just a being corrupted by the Banshix? That was certainly a possibility. 371 / 1,866 Puar's Total WC: 447 Keres's Total WC: 889 Towa's Total WC: 1,866 Room Word Count: 3,202
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:28:54 GMT -5
2.5 Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide
Buildings are damaged, with smoke rising from charred remains of structure. The people seem non-existent at first, but a squint or a simple concentration of sight could spot civilians hiding behind pieces of rubble or spot bodies on the ground, injured or even worse. The town seemed to have been under attack at some point, and the creature that had attacked it wasn’t too far out of sight – flying around in the sky with a menacing wingspan and a roar of fire cloaking the sky. Upon its back was a person, a menacing grin upon his face. His hair was gray like used charcoal, with spots of black that could set fire still. His eyes were sharp and red, and he immediately peered down to the new comers. “Ha, they aren’t part of the Bookverse! Those are the Banshix’s enemies! I am sure of it! Heh, let’s get em Charizard,” he demanded of the creature. Charizard’s deadly gaze immediately shot down at the four companions and his eyes flash a bright red, all while the surroundings darkened to add emphasis to his Scary Face, attempting to send a fright into their creatures before they could react. 210 / 210 Juch
Juch had raised an eyebrow at Chamomile before he entered the bright walkway through the forest. After all, there was only one person that could be described as a 'super intelligence' from what he knew, especially given the context of the pirate's spiel about how small a world it was after all, "You know Juturna too then?" Before their conversation could go any further, they arrived in the next town. The blinding light consumed Juch's vision and when he could see again, well, this wasn't the place that he was expecting. It was a far cry from the neat and tidy lab that the professor dwelled in. The crumbling buildings and the quivering townsfolk, with the soaring dragon up in the sky... "Was this supposed to be the city? Is that the gym leader?" Juch thought aloud, but his questions were certainly answered by the man on the back of the fire breathing creature, who instructed the creature to attack. A servant of the Banshix, perhaps? A frightening expression from the winged beast sent Drampa into a tizzy. It whimpered and backed away, evidently intimidated by the scary face. Juch, on the other hand, remained unaffected and he would be surprised if Chamomile would be intimidated by such a display; her bird, on the other hand, he wasn't sure about. "I'm guessing that I can't just blast him out of the sky myself," Juch sighed as he placed a gloved hand on Drampa's side. It quelled the beast's agitations somewhat, but it was still hesitant to do battle, "Go on, I'm here, alright?" He patted Drampa, and the lumpy dragon finally moved up to the front lines after the Scholar's encouragement. Juch hummed to himself as he scanned the new moves that his creature had acquired, perusing the list on his tablet in an instance before he directed Drampa, "Glare back at him." Drampa mustered up the sternest look it could towards Charizard, a beacon of defiance finally shining through the darkened environment. Juch saw that the opponent should be sufficiently paralyzed as a... ...result, which should not only decrease its speed down, but also have a decent chance of them being unable to move entirely. At least, that was how he understood it. Whether or not that would succeed--well, he was still new to all these new moves, so this was the best way to test them out. Perhaps the other dragon will fall out from the sky, crashing down to the grounds below, or maybe their opponent would have some nasty tricks up his sleeve. So while Drampa is glaring at the Charizard, this would give Chamomile's bird a chance to strike. The opponent's creature appeared much stronger compared to theirs, so every little bit counted. 458 / 458 Oolong
“I was introduced to her by Yan Cass. She’s very efficient in managing the Long affairs, and her contracts are quite binding. She does torture my brother a bit with her strange creature fetish,” Chamomile signed back before the light overtook Juch’s view of them. It was possible he missed the whole end of her explanation, the struggle it was to sign versus speak, but it didn’t completely matter, at least not now with a crumbling city left in the wake of a huge orange dragon. At Juch’s question Chamomile signed quickly, but also used the mechanical voice again since Juch had more important things to keep his eyes on. “I think it was supposed to be, but this is a sign of the Banshix’s corruption.” The would be gym leader stated his alliances, but Chamomille felt it important to point out. Was he really an ally, or had his programming been tainted? Was he savable or did they just need to destroy him? Talking about Juturna made him think of some of her realms where she created certain programs to mimic artificial life. Ultimately they were programs completely under her control, and while they seemed life like, she could delete them at any time. The dragon glared, and Cham was no more intimidated by the look than the dragon itself. She couldn’t sense a power level, nor figured such things worked like that here, so it was very possible the creature could quite easily eat them. That would be a problem. As Juch said, they couldn’t just blast him. They had to follow the bookverse’s rules. The yellow bird ducked behind her and she glared at it in return which brought some shame to its features before it hopped forward again.It ruffled its feathers and preened a little as if it had never been afraid to start with and looked back at Chamomile with a sharp gaze saying ‘let me take him out!’ She felt quite odd about it, because this was a very similar trait to Oolong. “Use your most damaging attack then,” she said and the bird nodded before jumping into the air its pom poms moving rapidly to give it momentary flight before it spun and clapped them together sending a cutting wind to hopefully crash into the falling Charizard. 393 / 393
The flying beast froze after his Scary Face. Drampa seemingly just told him with that glare that HE was the real dragon around here and Charizard shook. The rider was confused as Charizard did not react and the cutting wind hit charizard head on to send him crashing into the ground, tearing a trench into it. "Charizard!? Hey, get a hold of yourself what just happened!?" 66 / 276 Oolong
The giant orange dragon crashed into the already crumbled city, sending a rush of wind and causing the ground to rumble from a sudden earthquake as the area was affected by a whole different type of attack. Their bookverse creatures however were completely unaffected, and it was only Chamomille who felt her balance shift a little. But that was it. The dragon rider had fallen into a panic as his creature refused to move. Apparently Drampa’s glare was even more impactful than the much fiercer looking orange dragon. While Drampa looked derpy as hell in comparison, it was kind of amusing. Well, this whole venture was amusing. Still, this gave them more time to attack. If this bookverse was mimicking a video game, than the first boss would surely have a higher level than them. If they didn’t before, they likely did now under the Banshix’s influence. The utter sway it had created against the trainer who should have been protecting this city spoke volumes. Drampa had the advantage on damage over her bird at this point, or should with his higher level, so Chamomile quickly glanced through the bird’s moveset, and signed the command to the bird. It nodded eagerly and flapped over to Drampa. She had no idea what the heck it was going to do for “Helping Hand” when it had no hands, but the bird did not disappoint her as it did a cheer dance for the dragon. She could see the bird’s golden energy transfer to the dragon as the pompoms bobbed about, and then the bird, in a show of strange strength, dipped its pompoms under Drampa, and threw him up into the air to get a better vantage point on the orange dragon. Well, that was certainly one option. She looked to Juch and offered the man a small shrug, not really sure if that actually helped or not. Drampa didn’t seem to like being forced into things, but maybe the cheer was enough to get his head in the right space. 345 / 738 Juch
Well, astounding. Juch had studied the move sets closely on his tablet, but he didn't expect it to actually work. The great orange beast seemed to have froze in place, offering up not even a shred of defense towards the yellow feathered friend of Chamomile. It looks like those who act purely on instinct would get their jimmies rustled at such scary and frightening displays. Or perhaps it was a territorial thing for these creatures that was also similar to animals out in the real world; something about alphas and betas--oh, he should get Drampa to T pose in order to establish further dominance... ...oh, that wasn't a move? Too bad, what a pity. Maybe he should walk over there and drag that dragon rider off of his high horse--or, dragon rather--and give him a nice talking to instead. But that was only a possibility, and it seemed to be a far stretch at that. He couldn’t really move towards the opposing side, as if some magical force was stopping him from doing so. The shaking of the ground from Charizard’s impact, on the other hand, at least allowed him to stretch his legs a bit; even though his armored chassis easily absorbed most of the shock without any trouble, Juch found himself leaning over regardless; and he didn’t feel like just face planting in the middle of the fight. Sticking his cane out, he caught himself and pushed himself back up, just in time to see the uplifting message delivered by the bouncing chicken–bird thing. Despite its looks, it definitely had quite some strength behind it; the entire length of Drampa was lifted up flying into the air; the lumpy dragon had an air of confusion around at first from the display–or perhaps it was also as shocked as Juch that the glare was so effective–but it quickly adjusted, leaning into the encouragement. It did good, didn’t it? It looked back to Juch, who also gave an encouraging nod; however, if there was any credit due, it had to be for Chamomile’s beast. Drampa evidently swelled up in power as it was thrown up into the air and Juch took this opportunity to make his next move, “Drampa, use Echoed Voice,” the android instructed after giving the Lismian pirate a thumbs up in response to her small shrug, a gesture of appreciation for the assist. It wasn’t the most powerful move in Drampa’s wheel house, but Juch noticed that it had a pleasing cumulative effect. Every use of it allow it to grow stronger and stronger–coupled that with the Helping Hand move, and there was a deadly combination to be. Drampa opened its mouth, its eyes glowing bright, and…spoke? That was the best way that Juch could describe it. But it wasn’t a language that the android could understand. The warbling sonic attack had some cadence to it, as if some ancient tongue that was lost to history; the heavy rumbling soundwaves produced a great shockwave that sought to smash right into the paralyzed Charizard–alongside his trainer, who seemed to be in the midst of berating his creature at the moment. 536 / 994
“Hey, Charizard. Did he make you panic because he is a Dragon-Type? Ha, don’t worry. Get your ass up and show him that you are more fearsome than he is!” As the rider was giving Charizard his own pep talk, Oricorio did their own cheer for Drampa. It was odd, but very in character for the bird and its pom poms. With Drampa in the air and the two owner’s shrugging and thumbs upping in response to this bizarre battle, the rider had time to look up and only to see a sonic attack smash into them twice and boy did it hurt. He wished that Drampa would have just T posed. Would have hurt less – or would it have? Who knew? “Gahhh, Charizard get it together right now.” And together did Charizard get. His wings flapped, sending a maelstrom of extremely hot gusts everywhere. A Heat Wave of energy spiked the temperature and made it feel like faces and bodies were getting too close to the gas stove which was instantly put on a high setting. Charizard yelled, his claws sharpening and his eyes lowering in anger and disgust. He was mad that he was almost put in his place by a derpy looking dragon. But a dragon he was… and Charizard knew the lore between them as only two beings could fell them – the beings of ice and their own kind. His claw was soaked in Draconic power as he rushed forward and cleaved at Drampa while he fell to the ground, but before he could cleave him again he froze – his body still relucant to go all out on the dragon before him. 276 / 552 Oolong
The trainer tried to cheer up its creature, but the thing seemed a bit more slave to him then friend in this conversation. It was like he was cheering on a beloved pet, only with the Banshix throwing in a ruthlessness the trainer normally didn’t possess in such a kind hearted bookverse. Or maybe he was always a vicious little snot Chamomile had some time to think now about how to deal with this ‘boss.’ Again, it was about surviving but also about observation and interaction with this place. That was the important part. As Charizard got his shit together, his wings beginning to flap, Cham quickly signed to the bird. Again, with barely a nod, it jumped in front of Drampa and began to dance. It’s pom poms fluffed out into thick feathery fans as the bird danced like it was in the roaring twenties, using the fans to slam against the gusts with hard fast strokes of vicious power. It pushed them back with a rush of cool air creating a billowing steam between them. Whatever failure or success the bird had, when the orange dragon rushed full force at them, its eyes widened and it jumped out of the way leaving Drampa in its path if the old dragon wasn’t wiley enough to escape, which was a huge meme in this game. Leaving him to fend for himself however gave the bird time to launch a more aggressive counter strike. Chamomille signed quickly and now her and the bird were in sync. It didn’t miss a beat and launched itself on the fallen beast, taking advantage of its paralysis to viciously dig its sharp beak into its eye, meaning to partially blind it to lower its future accuracy. And of course, cause tremendous pain. The space pirate was not a hero you’d find in a kids game, nor did she have any intention of being one. She’d fight to win, dirty as it might seem to anyone else. 337 / 1,075 Juch
Some desperate pleadings from the other trainer; finally, he had managed to get his pocket monster back up. The Charizard looked worse for wear, certainly, but the fight was far from over. However, the way his opponent spoke was interesting. Did that dragon fear other dragons? There was evidently plenty of history in this place that he wasn’t familiar with. He could ask him about it later, but the match needed to be won first. The air around shifted a bit as Drampa landed back down onto the ground, with an uncharacteristically proud look on its face, “You did good,” Juch gave another pat on the massive beast’s side, resulting in a deep rumbling in return, “But it ain’t over yet. Be ready.” And indeed, now faced with a scowling opponent, the temperature suddenly skyrocketed. The battlefield was filled with intense heat as the opposing monster unleashed Heat Wave. The fiery attack engulfed the area, causing the surrounding grass and foliage to wither and dry up; the air shimmered with waves of heat, making it difficult to see. The ground between the two teams began to smolder, turning an ugly shade of black as ash and smoke filled the air; Drampa took a step back at the sudden display of ferocity. Tch. Juch wasn’t exactly a fan of the heat either, so he understood. Keeping his hand on Drampa and letting it know that he was still here, the dragon stopped its retreat. And thankfully, his teammate came to the rescue just in the nick of time. The bird jumped in before the attack reached them and with the power of its wings, created an opposing cooling front that hopefully protected both beasts from the attack. “Impressive thinking,” Juch nodded to Chamomile with an appreciative grin. He himself had been so focused on understanding the rules of this Bookverse that it didn’t even occur to him that such tactics would even be feasible. Well, whether it was actually successful was difficult to see; the steam was thick, after all. However, the bird wasn’t going to linger around and be a meat shield; it leapt out of the way as Charizard came charging forward, its talons seeking to rip and tear into Drampa. “Protect.” A barrier materialized in front of Drampa, with Charizard’s powerful attack deflected away by its defensive power; at least, that was what Juch expected. The pom pom bird came down, attacking the eyes directly–painful, but effective no doubt. He wouldn’t expect anything less from the Lismian. Juch didn’t know what dirty fighting was until he spent some time on Cactaylisma. Looking for an opening, once the bird was out of the way, Juch directed Drampa to use its voice to attack again. The maw opened up once more and Charizard should be blasted with another powerful sonic attack, this time even stronger than before. 487 / 1,481
“Whoa,” the gym leader let out as the tiny bird jumped in-front of the wave of intense heat and did the most elegant feather dance he had ever seen. He was a bit mesmerized by it, locking him in place, though he didn’t’ really have to go anywhere. He was riding the monster’s back so… he had the luxury of just sitting there. It mitigated a lot of damage from both monsters, but still bled through to hurt them a bit. The bird, having done its job defensively, quickly moved out the way as Charizard charged with a energy potent claw strike that hit what felt like steel. There was a clash and his claw bounced back, surprising and angering the faux dragon. Before he could do anything about it the bird slung its body at him like an annoying… bird. Like a tiny ice pick, its beak slammed into Charizard’s eye and he howled in pain from the weak point being hit. “Hey!! No fair!!” And yet again another powerful sonic attack smashed into Charizard and the trainer and this time with enough force to send him back. The gym leader was slung from Charizard’s back and onto the ground – and that left a dangerous, angry and untamed monster that rose up from the ground. A massive roar erupted from his maw, with one eye closed shut for the time being. His good eye caught drampa’s location and he swiped his claw at the wind, giving the air purpose in the form of a slicing wind that would bluntly slam into the bird rather than actually slice it in half. He scanned the area and found that damn bird and rushed at it leaving a sonic boom pulse behind his departure. He was going to close the gap fast and swing a quick and deadly claw into its body with aims of carving it into pieces. Charizard was now unhinged – and there were not orders… this was simply a beast acting like one. 339 339 / 891 Oolong
The boy fell from the mount he had taken on his monster, and it seemed he did not have the same advantage as them for the creature to be completely in sync with them. Or maybe it did, and the half knocked out boy had been that angry. She was sure it was just the dragon though. No one liked horrible eye pain, as the Banshix might have been giggling about considering the weaver. Half blind didn’t seem to stop him much however, and while Drampa was quite the big target, Chamomile was a bit impressed it could find the smaller yellow bird, even if the yellow did pop out a bit in the smokey half destroyed town. Oricorio was expecting this however, or seemed to be. Its feathers puffed out to make it look even bigger to the orange beast as it hopped around a little, perhaps in another small dance. Its goal was to make the dragon’s strike just a little more shallow, cutting instead into its mass of feathers versus its tender flesh. Either way, the force of the speed alone was enough to send the bird tumbling back. It rolled over its own pom poms but then bravely stood again, digging its claws into the ground and dragging them back as if preparing for a charge. Cham felt it only appropriate to let it have a more vicious counter assault, and signed quickly. The bird gave another curt nod then swayed into a dance that swiftly turned it into a spinning top. A gust was drawn into to the spin until the bird was a little tornado. When it stopped suddenly, facing down the orange dragon again, the twister snapped off of it and towards the beast, then it went again, creating another fierce twister that it sent out faster this time, gaining strength and momentum enough to move a house, and hopefully the dragon. The bird was dead set on getting him spun around and confused before Drampa could attack. 337 / 1,412 Juch
That bird was really something, huh? But then again, anyone would probably be furious should their eye be pecked out like that. It was too much. Even that obnoxious trainer was thrown off the back of his beast. It looked like it was a painful landing. Well, that was the bed that he made; he may as well get comfortable there. Now Charizard was going on a rampage. Despite Chamomile's creature getting much of the orange dragon's attention, it seemed like even in its rage fueled tantrum, it still had the awareness to take a swipe towards Drampa. The lumpy dragon blinked before sudden pain slammed into its chest. It didn't cut through--that pressurized air--but it was more like a punch and the surprise hit made Drampa back down a bit. During that time, the winds swirled around. A tornado had formed from the bird's flapping wings and the ferocious attack no doubt kept Charizard occupied for the time being. Very impressive, Juch noted. The yellow pom poms was small, but its wings could generate quite some force. Juch was patient. He patted Drampa again on the side and the dragon recovered. Snorting in anger, Drampa approached, growling. As soon as the twister from the bird's attack was sufficiently out of the way, Drampa attacked. It was the same attack again, but given the circumstances it had built up a sufficient amount of consecutive damage--might as well continue. Drampa's deep voice bellowed throughout the area, sending soot and ash flying away as he yelled another time towards Charizard. 258 / 1,739
Charizard gasped, which sounded more like a subtle roar before cloaking himself with his wings. The tiny bird let out two fierce twisters of wind and both slammed into him with a force greater than he anticipated. His claws ripped the ground as he was pushed back and defiantly he roared back, even if his body shook in pain. The trainer finally woke up, taking hold of his head. “That hurt, wait. Charizard? Ah hell,” he let out as he saw the big body of his pokemon tilting over and… Drampa’s voice knocked Charizard both over and out with the big bodied lizard falling onto the trainer and properly squishing him and sending him into a state of unconsciousness as well. Almost immediately after defeating Charizard, a bright blue light surrounded both the monster and its trainer. They both exploded into beads of light and left behind… a CD and a CD player? On that player itself was the words ‘TM100’, and it was meant for their pocket monsters -- it would help them learn a new move! The town was still in pretty bad shape, but there was an opening right behind where Charizard was – all bright and what not and seemed to be the next pathway out of here. 211 / 1,075 Juch
Oh dear, oh dear. What a tragic end for the trainer. Was he unconscious or worse? Juch was about to check it out when the sputtering blue light caught his attention instead; it illuminated the path immediately and showed them which direction to take next--oh no, that wasn't it. Right, that was the white light. The blue light was something different altogether. An antique piece of technology. Juch leaned down to pick it up, examining it closely. He hadn't seen these in so long; they had fallen out of disuse for a good while now, but apparently in this Bookverse, they still had some use for them? TM100, what could that mean? The Scholar took a look at his tablet, and found that it was apparently for giving these beasts a chance to learn a new move. Juch presumed that it was different than the ones that the creatures would normally learn upon leveling up, or perhaps they were tailor made for some other purpose? Regardless, Juch gave Drampa a nice pat on the side for a job well done. It was the first real fight after the training one and although they had a shaky start at the beginning, it was clear that the lumpy dragon had potential. Drampa seemed proud of itself too and even leaned over to give a congratulatory nudge to the yellow pom pom bird with its snout; Juch, on the other hand, gave a nod towards Chamomile, "Looks like we make a good team," the android spoke as he looked over the new moves that the tablet showed as Drampa leveled up, "But it was a tough fight regardless. We had the numbers advantage this time, but I'm sure our trials and tribulations going forward won't afford that sort of luxury." He would have gone and seen what the townsfolk were doing, and perhaps even ask to see if they could provide any useful information. But the bright light beckoned; it was no doubt time for the next stage. Juch and Drampa entered, curious to see what place would they be transported to next. 350 / 2,089 Oolong
The trainer awoke only to be dusted into nothing moments later. Chamomile’s eyebrows rose again, but what was left over was a CD…did the bookverse make them a mixtape? She wasn’t sure she really wanted a mix based on the adventure they had so far. With Drampa as one of their main characters it was sure to have many songs with derpy circus like music. Juch took the CD though, and Juturna explained too. Apparently the CD player was this monster. Did the creature have to eat it? Was there an insert place besides their mouth? Please let it not be their butts. Maybe it was just thinking and accepting it, analyzing it into existence! Kais, she hoped so. There was only one though, so she let Juch decide what to do with it since he already had it in hand. Oricoiro met Drampa’s nudge with a pat on his head with its pompom, then chirped a little to get Chamomile’s attention before wandering off, beak to the ground as if looking for something. The pirate took the chirp as more of a ‘wait’ then ‘follow’ and let the bird do as it wished. “Do you think the Banshix has enough control over things to take over stronger enemies?” she signed to him with a tilt of her head. Video game logic said the next ‘boss’ would be a team with monsters equal or better than their own, but this wasn’t a game. Well, the bookverse was sort of designed like a game, but it wasn’t the Banshix’s game. He had taken control of the trainer, but with all the other bookverses to roam, how much control had he taken from this one? He needed their monsters, but wouldn’t kidnapping them be better than trying to openly defeat them? Curious. The yellow bird came back with something in its beak and pecked Chamomilie’s side gently until the woman stretched out her hand for it. It was a berry of some sort. She took it from the bird and Juturna explained making her shoulders slump a little in realization. She shook her head in the end however, and pocketed the berry for now, and followed Juch through the hole. 378 / 1,790 Puar's Total WC: 1,075 Oolong' Total WC: 1,790 Juch's Total WC: 2,089 Room Word Count: 4,954
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:30:15 GMT -5
3.1 The Study of Thought
Even though Pagoma and Amanda went through a bookcase, they ended up coming through a door that lead to an elevator which placed the two of them in the same space as Halcyon and Sally. The elevator was large. It was more like a small room than a closet like most felt annnd it was going downward steadily. Amanda gave Sally a wave, who only nodded back solemnly. "What form was your artifact piece, Sally?" "A phone charm," she said with a sigh. She only sighed because she knew Amanda probably did the same. Amanda and Sally were best friends, or so Amanda said they were. Sally didn't care too much. "Oh! Me too," she said while holding up her phone which lacked a charm. "So he definitely got yours. Did you fight him?" "Uhh... noo? Support member, remember?" Sally looked over toward Halcyon and let out a whisper that only he could really hear. "I'm sorry, Amanda is a bit dense and always very tired. She doesn't think straight most of the time." The elevator finally slowed to a stop and the door opened... It was a pure white room at first, but as soon as they set foot in, that is when the thoughts began. Amanda and Sally would lead the way and their thoughts were controlled. They easily manipulated them into transforming the two into what looked like armor. They were preparing. But as Hal and Pagoma set foot in there their nightmares and distant thoughts of terror emerged... 252 / 252 Ur'Alcyonis
“Hmm,” There was not much for the masked man to say anymore, simply the thought of having to face whatever fears one as himself held within himself was keeping him more than occupied enough. There were but a few things that truly had ingrained themselves as a true fear within the Primeval’s mind and no matter how hard he tried, they were truly things he could not avoid if the harpy’s words held any truth to them. Deep in thought, attempting to drown out his fears with a nonsensical train of thoughts, musing about pointless things, Ur’alcyonis hardly acknowledged the fact that another had joined them alongside a changeling the masked man knew all too well. Nonetheless, when the elevator stopped, the Primeval couldn’t prevent himself from paying attention again, noticing that the companions had transformed into some sort of armor. At the same time, all he could see in front of him was a pure white room. “Strange, no?” He took one step forward, and the room seemed to have vanished. The harpy and her friend were gone, and all that was left was absolute darkness, bar from a small flickering and pulsating light which seemed to dance around within said darkness. Slowly it started growing and taking a humanoid shape, becoming brighter and more luminous until it stood right in front of the masked man. It was but for an instant, just one single moment in time, that Ur’alcyonis wondered if this thing was a reflection of himself, before the shape of light suddenly let out a screech, a wail so otherworldly that it sounded like its soul was being ripped from its body. Only then, when the shape of light shattered, shards of light fluttering into the darkness, the Primeval’s most primal and most terrible fear revealed itself, as a thousand pairs of eyes enveloped by the holy light from the shards slowly started to meld together, a chorus of laughing voices slowly combining into a low, rumbling murmur, a chirping and clicking, a deep and dark gurgling. Black, fleshy tentacles started to sprout forth from the darkness, reaching for each piece of light, each shard of the humanoid shape’s soul. The thousands of eyes now combined into two rows of four milky-white eyes with black sclera, all seemingly looking in a different direction until they managed to focus on a single spot; the masked man himself. A rumbling, chilling sound akin to laughter could be heard, as a maw with thousands upon thousands of jagged, serrated and mismatched teeth opened and revealed itself in all its macabre glory, the stench of the multiverse’s own death emanating from that misshapen hole within the darkness. With the shards of light dwindling, the writhing black, fleshy tentacles whipped in a frenzy, as the eyes seemed to raise up into the air, several limbs; black and misshapen, with large, crooked claws and nails slammed onto what could be the ground, scratching and clawing, constantly reshaping and reforming themselves as if to try and maintain some sort of cohesive form if only imagined by the mind of a madman. The black flesh of the limbs bubbling, popping, revealing hundreds of tiny holes where a moment later new limbs, tentacles or even eyes would grow out of. “I…don’t think I want to be here any longer,” Ur’alcyonis muttered under his breath, his entire body frozen stiff as he laid his eyes upon the madness and monstrosity of his mind that was his greatest fear: a Void Beast. 585 / 585 Pagoma
Guided through a bookcase doorway by Amanda, Pagoma was led through the secret opening which emptied into a sort of large elevator room. Relief washed over him a bit when he saw that he was rejoined with Ur'Alcyonis. There was something about having someone he knew there that gave him comfort, amidst a world that made very little sense to him. Ur'Alcyonis was joined by someone that Pagoma didn't recognize who he assumed was from the Scholars or Bookverse on Keliloux. "Amanda is a bit dense," Pagoma overheard the newcomer whisper to Ur'Alcyonis. So even the ones from here agree that she's a bit off... Pagoma thought to himself. The elevator seemed to be moving, albeit slowly, but suddenly came to a stop. Its doors opened, revealing a pure bright white room. Amanda and Sally led the way off the elevator, appearing like some sort of armor as they did. But as soon as Pagoma set foot outside the room's barrier, a wave of fear washed over him. Looking out into the room, Pagoma saw what was giving him such an overwhelming urge to escape as quickly as possible. It was a strange creature. Not exactly powerful in its look, just very bizarre. Pagoma sensed no power level from the creature, but somehow knew that it was a serious threat. The creature had the posture of a dog, walking on four legs that had a joint three quarters of the way up. The frame the legs were holding was what Pagoma could only think of as a sort of black, tar liquid. It had a smell that even from far away hit Pagoma's senses quite strongly. It seemed to be shimmering and lightly disturbed, like the surface of a body of water that was subject to a light wind. The only distinguishing feature of the bizarre creature was its front side. While it didn't have a head, it had the defining features of a face. Only, they were quite frightening to look at. Crooked teeth sat between two thick lips. A large, crooked nose stuck out more than a foot over the giant mouth. Two eyes with angry eyebrows above them looked blankly into the air as if there was no driver in the driver's seat of the strange beast. "What the hell is that?" Pagoma let out before he could stop himself. The beast didn't seem to hardly even notice him, and the Changeling very much preferred it stayed that way. It was one thing to go up against an enemy that was a stronger warrior than he, but this beast was terrifying on a completely different level. It was as though it had abilities that Pagoma couldn't begin to dream of, and had no way of defending against. 458 / 458
"uhhh okay, what kind of nightmares do you two have going on," Amanda said with her eyes wide at both beasts which conjured in the room. Sally took in a deep breath. This was troublesome indeed. "Normally we get clowns or giant spiders -- not abominations and void beasts what in the actual hell." This room was tricky now. Each beast that was conjured up by the other wouldn't attack their creator. They wanted to attack anything else. "Okay, Uhm you guys have to fight each other's nightmares and beat them to submission? Yea, that. Because these nightmares are just beefed up versions of your mental shade," Amanda said while now hiding behind Pagoma like a scared little mouse. Sally nodded to continue the explanation. "Mental Shades are useful in the Bookverse -- kinda like those capsule monsters in that other one." 140 / 392 Ur'Alcyonis
“This is…odd,” The masked man noted, seeing that the creature in question didn’t attack him in the slightest, but it did seem to bear quite the animosity for the monstrosity which got conjured up from whatever sick and twisted nightmares Pagoma seemed to harbor within his mind. “REEEEH” like steel nails scratching over a blackboard, the void beast screeched from small mouths it had formed on its tentacles. As if to announce its dominance, and display itself as a threat to the strange beast standing near it, the many oozing black tendrils shot up and trembled as the crooked claws started to snip, dozens of small, misshapen eyes blinking angrily. A deep rumbling resonated from within the beast, as it suddenly lashed out towards the other being’s face, at first the black tentacles adorned with numerous additional tiny, wriggling tendrils seemed to attempt to slash like whips upon the other beast, yet when the ground (if there truly was a floor) shook and the voidbeast started to move forwards, a sudden shift in mass happened to the black tentacles, which grew thicker, more numerous and more muscular, and rather than slash, they aimed to slam with their full weight upon Pagoma’s sick and twisted nightmare, fully intending to maim and crush. At long last, the Voidbeast’s terrible maw opened, letting out a loud, thundering and otherworldly roar, at which point it lunged forward with the intent to sink its teeth into the wicked beast’s upper half, all the while continuing to launch more and more tendrils towards the beast in an attempt to constrict it. “REEEH!!” Again it let out a screech, attempting to slam down it’s now massive, oozing black tentacles upon the monstrosity it attacked with a fury of a thousand demons, continuiçng to attempt to display it’s dominance over what it perceived as its enemy. The mouths on its tentacles snapped with small jagged teeth, attempting to rip and tear flesh, while the claws attempted to pierce and dig deep… 333 / 918 Pagoma
Pagoma had been instructed by the strange beings he had met in the Bookverse to fight against the beast that Ur’Alcyonis had conjured, something Pagoma vaguely recognized. The strange beast had an army of tentacles at its disposal, each with possibly hundreds of small mouths looking to consume Pagoma’s creation. The Voidbeast’s attack struck the strange being that was apparently under Pagoma’s control, crushing it on all sides. The ugly creature hardly seemed amused, though. As the tentacles retreated, the large sheep-like blob of black muck with human facial features, appeared unphased by the Voidbeast’s powerful attack. ”Dumb creature…” Pagoma thought to himself. “Why don’t you do something? Fight back!” It was as though Pagoma had said the magic word in his head. As soon as he finished his thought, the Blob turned straight towards Pagoma and stared at him. Pagoma felt a chill down his spine as the creatures lifeless gaze took him over. It was one of the most uncomfortable sensations he had ever recalled, possibly as bad as the Nightmare technique that had been used against him in the past by those who had mastered the physic arts. Pagoma couldn’t seem to find a way to look away from the beast, as though he were completely paralyzed; but thankfully he didn’t have to wait much longer for the beast to move on. The Blob turned towards the Voidbeast and gave it a cold stare, just as it had with Pagoma. It seemed to finally realize that the Voidbeast was the one who had attacked it. Strangely though, the Blob turned its back to the Voidbeast as though it had lost interest. Pagoma worried the Voidbeast was going to attack, but before it would have the chance the Blob turned back towards it. The expression of the Blob changed into an utterly bizarre, crazed look. Though Pagoma himself wasn’t harmed, he could sense the nervous system of the Voidbeast being utterly fried. 333 / 791 Ur'Alcyonis
“What the heck is it doing?” Urizen was obviously rather confused to see how utterly lazy and uninterested the strangely crooked being that had been conjured from Pagoma’s mind seemed to be. It was almost as if it hardly even noticed or even acknowledged the voidbeast’s presence. The Primeval wondered if it just being lazy. As the strange, crooked beast turned itself around, Urizen couldn’t see what was going on, until the Voidbeast started trembling and screeching loudly, as if it was being electrically fried to the core. “Well…I guess it’ll be more interesting if you were to FIGHT BACK!!” The voidbeast screeched, its tendrils were seemingly being ravaged by whatever went through them, splitting, boiled by some strange energy coursing through its flesh and tearing asunder its cells. It seemed to cause enough pain to the massive, shadowy beast to retreat ever so slightly, letting go of the strange, crooked beast and examining its own wounds, the blistering pain and sizzling parts of itself. The voidbeast had to reshape and reconstitute itself in order to preserve its flesh and energy, deciding to take on a more…decisive form that would showcase its unique ability to morph and adapt…the very thing which made it into Urizen’s nightmare of old. Three pairs of large eyes formed atop a long and wide maw filled with long, crooked teeth, while the tentacles and ooze underneath started to form into an uneven number of muscular hooved legs laid out in a strange pattern, but obviously strong enough to hold up the void beast’s considerable mass. Atop what looked to be the voidbeast’s newly formed back, several tentacles that were much thicker and smoother than the earlier ones flailed about. Bending through its uneven number of hooved legs, the massive voidbeast suddenly lept forward, opening its mouth and aiming to clamp down upon what seemed to be the crooked and crazy beast’s neck, it was obvious that this time, the void beast was determined to go for the kill. 333 / 1,251 Pagoma
The Voidbeast, the opponent of Pagoma's strange nightmarish creation, had changed forms into a shape it deemed more appropriate for battle with Pagoma's Blob. Though its tentacles were still there as a primary weapon, the Voidbeast now jumped towards the Blob and clamped down on the Blob's... neck?... knee?... Whatever the portion of it that was beside its head would be. The Voidbeast's massive jaw was successful at clamping down on his target and the strange-faced Blob let out a strange cry. Its expression still remained unimpressed, but in a eerily human tone it simply said "hey..." as if it were mildly bothered by what the Voidbeast had just done. Black ooze dribbled down The Blob's body and it turned its expression into a pained gaze at the Voidbeast. The Blob focused its psychic strength towards the frying of the Voidbeast's nervous system, and had undoubtedly effected the otherwise terrifying creature. But the Voidbeast was determined with his mighty jaw to end the fight and bring down The Blob, and so the formerly lackadaisical attitude the Blob had towards the Voidbeast's presence was now one more of annoyance. "Heey...." The Blob said again, opening its large and strangely lipped mouth. Its eyebrows curled over his eyes as he glared at the Voidbeast, focusing his attention on frying the Voidbeast's nerves throughout its body. The Blob knew if it could permanently paralyze the Voidbeast, then it could go back to paying attention to no one, and doing nothing. That was certainly its favorite thing to do. "Heyy..." the dark Blob said one more time, before standing up on its hind legs. Suddenly, its mucky black body seemed to turn much more liquid in nature. It stretched out in all directions, growing its reach while it surrounding the Voidbeast from all sides. With its body converted into a sort of inescapable ball around the general fighting area, the Blob closed in the mucky substance until it surrounded the Voidbeast, trapping it inside the Blob's attack. 333 / 1,124 Ur'Alcyonis
“Now that’s…strange and unnerving,” The masked man looked at how the strange blob, with its seemingly malleable features, appeared to be able to counter the void beast in its own game. It was without question a strange sight to behold when two horrors seemingly lacking any straightforward shape or form continued to duke it out, like two enormous and amorphous cephalopods of the darkest recesses of imagination trying to gain the upper hand…or tentacle over the other. While one of the two beings seemed to actually talk, the void beast in its raw and unbridled barbarism did not answer the calls, constantly writhing when shocks of psychic energy coursed through its body, yet even if it felt the pain and continued to thrash about wildly, the battle just remained as pointlessly undecided as it could ever be. While it was slowly, but certainly being surrounded by the amorphous blow, which had turned itself in what looked like a liquid state, the void beast refused to surrender, refused to be suffocated and started to gnaw at the liquid form of the blob, ripping, tearing and feasting upon the black liquid, all the while seeming to have more and more issues to maintain its own shape, the two were starting to meld together into one grotesque unity. Maws formed, eyes blinked, teeth gnashed and ripped at the liquid surrounding it, gurgling roars and shrieks emanated from the void beast. Its tentacles barreled down upon the liquid with unfathomable strength and ferocity and yet, while it groaned and roared in a primal rage, the void beast suddenly grew silent and still…suddenly coagulating its entire mass, allowing the blob to surround it and even engulf it. It was a strange sight, as if the beast had surrendered itself to the blob or perhaps because in the very end…darkness, the void was its home and was it not that which the blob seemed to offer? Impenetrable darkness? Thus the beast calmed down, allowing the blob to surround it… 333 / 1,584 Pagoma
Pagoma had nearly lost hope in his slimy black friend as the Voidbeast’s many tentacles and mouths struggled their way through. ”Hey! Hey! Hey!” The Blob continue to say with its strangely placed mouth. It seemed only capable of saying the one word, but it spoke as though it were seeking to calm down the Voidbeast. This seemed to work, as the Voidbeast slowly but surely gave into the clutches of the slimy muk surrounding it. The result of the Blob having successfully “swallowed” the Voidbeast were rather strange. At first it remained rather shapeless, loosely resembling a sphere that surrounded the Voidbeast. But as the substance shrunk and became more formed to fit the Voidbeast, it was as though a new beast had emerged. It looked just like The Voidbeast. Well, in some ways. In other ways, it looked just like The Blob. Either way, it was a sight to behold. The Voidbeast had transitioned into having a black glossy exterior all over it. The front of the Voidbeast was replaced by the blank expression of the Blob’s facial features springing to life on the Voidbeast. Perhaps stranger than that, each of the Voidbeast’s mouths on its tentacles morphed into the same strangely blank face that had been seen on The Blob. It was as though The Blob had swallowed The Voidbeast and had become one with it. The Voidbeast Blob took a few steps around and Pagoma shot Ur’Alcyonis a strange look of “what is happening?” Pagoma felt like he had been under the influence of some kind of strange psychedelic ever since he set foot on Keliloux, and he was not about to try and make any sense of this strange occurrence. ”Whatever…” Pagoma said to himself walking a few steps closer to Ur’Alcyonis. ”Should we call it a draw then?” Pagoma asked his friendly challenger. Unannounced, the chimaera Voidbeast began to shake violently. It seemed to be having some sort of fit or seizure. 328 / 1,452 Narrator
“Wow, you got them to fight each other that’s not normally…” Sally started but then the creature’s seizures began to intensify before it began growing in size. It stabilized fairly quickly and now fused it recognized neither fighter as its creator. If the void beast wasn’t scary enough, now its back held the two large lips, his teeth deformed and seeming to smile. It had four distinct legs making it ability to move stronger, but still the extra limbs of the beast stretched out again, reaching for both of them. “That can’t be good,” Amanda said wearily. Both of them had the chance to finish the other off but specifically miscounted their words so they wouldn’t. Now the creatures took advantage of the attacks they unleashed to regain their health. This time however instead of being tamed and controlled, which as Sally said, was very impressive and unlike the normal stance these things took, the merged creature attacked. There seemed to still be a certain level of loyalty, but maybe that was imagined. The attack unleashed on Ur’Alcyonis was the blobs first attack on the Void Beast. It mouth clenched into a disinterested grimace and suddenly the primordial will feel his insides burning. It was like being electrocuted or set on fire from the inside. His nervous system was frying in one fell swoop doing heavy damage and also working to immobilize him in the shock of it. It seemed almost unending, and Ur did not have the Void Beast’s natural defenses to counter it. This was beyond mental fortitude. Meanwhile The Void Beast side lunged at Pagoma unleashing its many appendages in tendon ripping slashes and crushing blows that seemed countless in number. Each strike ripped at the very fabric of reality in this place, pulling at the light and leaving behind a trail of black dust that was small acid holes in everything. The realm did its best to repair itself but a hit against Pagoma was going to be quite nasty. It moved like a pin pointed storm, chasing him if he dodged and moving on its new legs closer and closer to him, looking to back him into a corner. 364 / 364 Ur'Alcyonis
The changes the beast went through when it looked like the strange abomination had consumed the voidbeast were both fascinating and at the same time horrifying, making it look like the two insanely powerful beasts, nightmares of their owners had started to fuse, meld together into a wholly new, wholly terrifying monstrosity which had clearly set its sights onto the two people responsible for their creation in the first place. What was also apparent, was that it seemed that in some manner of sense, the pieces that belonged to the two beasts, the two nightmares, only faced off against the opposing party, not the ones who had initially formed them and made them come into being. “Not to point out the obvious…little Pagoma…but…I must agree that whatever you thought to be the most terrifying beast…is surely quite…terrifying.” The masked man shuddered, dropping to one knee when the weight of the pain, the electricity burning through his nervous system and overloading his synapses started to overwhelm him. Gritting his teeth behind his mask, the Primeval’s eyes shot from left to right, trying to find something which could help him out, but he could see lights flashing in his vision, making it quite obvious that unlike the voidbeast, the vessel he inhabited did not have the defenses nor the necessary adaptation powers to stand up against this kind of attack. “This is not good…how are you holding out, Pagoma?” Not waiting for an answer, the Primeval tried to stand up, jerking and staggering whenever he could feel the pain intensifying within his vessel. “This is…painful…but try and imagine…your soul…your essence being…ripped from your very body…compared to that…this is a day…at the spa…” Slowly raising his arm, still gritting his teeth, Ur’alcyonis fired off a thin, extremely fast beam of black energy toward the WTF beast’s left eye. “I am…Ur’alcyonis…” Shifting the aim of his arm slowly and painfully, as he tried to take a step forward, firing off another thin black beam towards the beast’s right eye this time. “I am…a Primeval…” Extending his middle finger alongside his index finger, the Primeval concentrated on a spot underneath the beast’s grimacing mouth, directing his energy into that spot and as he awaited for the opportune moment, a moment in which the pain which came in waves would lull a bit, he’d aim to explode the gathered energy like some dark and dirty fireworks. “And I am…Pissed.” 403 / 1,97 Pagoma
The scene had quickly changed. What started as a strange and somehow bizarrely somewhat friendly fight between two conjured beasts took a took for the worst as a new creation, the manifested combination of Pagoma and Ur’Alcyonis’ champions had turned into one single, terrible organism. Rather than ignoring the ones who were commanding it, it now lashed out against them. A plethora of ripping appendages sprang out of the dark creature, all aiming to cut Pagoma into a tiny million pieces. It probably would have been successful too, had it not been simultaneously attacking Ur’Alcyonis, splitting its attention between the two. Furthermore, it seemed as though the attacks that were from the creature Pagoma conjured were only effecting Ur’Alcyonis, while it was the opposite case for Pagoma. The part of the Voidbeast that was still inside of the newly created beast wanted to tear Pagoma apart. But the part of the beast that was created by the depths of Pagoma’s dark mind, seemed somehow still loyal to him. It was perhaps because of this internal struggle that Pagoma was able to see the first swipes from their new opponent, using his own blade (which he had removed from its sheath) to counter against the incoming appendages, aiming to slash back at them as much as he could in the process. But the number of appendages coming towards Pagoma was overwhelming, even with his great speed it wasn’t going to be enough to parry all of its attacks. Enlisting the help of the Dragon Axe affixed to his tail, Pagoma continued to try and fend off the many incoming attacks. Pagoma briefly lost focus when Ur’Alcyonis called out to see how he was fairing. Pagoma had to wait for a moment to respond, as his full concentration was now focused on avoiding this new creature’s attacks. But what Pagoma had not realized is that the beast had cleverly trapped him into a corner. “Not so good!” Pagoma cried out as he wondered how he was going to get out of this one. Deciding to turn to his own energy as a method of escape, Pagoma quickly held both hands to his sides, yelling out loudly as an explosive burst of blinding energy escaped him. The energy blast was large enough and powerful enough to hopefully do some damage to the new creature, but if not Pagoma hoped at the very least its blinding feature would give him a chance to escape the corner and reposition himself better for battle, perhaps closer to Ur’Alcyonis so that they could strategize a way to finish off the beast together. ”How about you?” Pagoma asked between heavy, labored breaths. 444 / 1,896 Narrator
Blinding light against a void slimmed down its strange appendages, like shadows shrinking from the light, but now they moved like snakes, slithering through the air and ground. The ground ones would reach him first, attempting to wrap around his legs and tail to pin him to its essence, but a jump straight up would send him into the range of more tendrils snapping out like his own tail: bladed whips meant to rip him into tatters. What they lacked in strength they now gained in speed and flexibility. They continued to try and both wrap around the changeling as well as slice and claw him to bits. The goal was definitely to catch him however, and to drag him down into the void where he would never escape. The attacks were all to push him towards that fate with slashing, hacking and clawing strikes all leading him to paths where the tendrils waited, trying to overwhelm his strength by sheer number. Meanwhile its main body began to melt down again. Ur’Alcyonis’ declaration meant nothing to it. Pagoma’s nightmare was lazy—too lazy to feel afraid or worry for its life. The dark explosions paired with Pagoma’s attack helped to further disrupt its shape and it seemed to merely groan in protest as it began to break down into the same liquid that had merged the two beasts in the first place. This wasn’t to say the pain stopped. It did for a moment, a sweet release from hell when the creature took the two attacks, but the void beast’s eyes distorted and melted fixed back on the primordial with little difficulty, its once piercing stare now dull and almost lifeless and yet it still managed to pierce his very soul trying to break him down to be easier digested. The claws spread out towards Pagoma, but the main body turned into a wave that rushed towards Ur’Alcyonis. A single touch would magnify the creature’s efforts ten fold. But it was evolving. The more it merged, the more it became a separate nightmare. A strange energy began to release in its transformation, something out of place even to this strange realm. As Ur’Alcyonis tried to escape the wave, whips would come at him from the air, while the remaining still set out to engulf Pagoma. Now however, they sent a burning sensation on any contact. It touched skin like lava, seeming to reach their insides on contact, sending sharp bolts of pain through the nervous system, making it feel like the target was falling apart cell by cell. 427 / 791 Ur'Alcyonis
“You mongrel,” The primeval wheezed, with pain spreading throughout his body, not having ceased in the slightest. The combination of the nightmarish beasts was becoming more and more muddled, more and more corrupted. The fusion was becoming quite a hassle, a problem Ur’alcyonis knew he could not hope to match nor defeat in his current state. The fact that this strange room they had dwelled upon, had turned not only his own fear, but the fear of his associate Pagoma into reality and had then decided to throw both nightmares into one, was quite frankly a rather disheartening sight and experience. There was little the Primeval could do, but to watch as the beast converged even more, turning its main body into a wave which rolled towards Ur’alcyonis with great speed. There was no doubt about it that if the ancient being allowed himself to be drowned by this insane amount of body fluids, his soul would be shred to pieces, his essence scattered into the wild corners of the cosmos and the time stream. Perhaps this showed why the Primeval truly did fear the beasts from the void, the things which lurked in the dark and who were capable of completely ending the existence of beings like him, a feat no celestial, no god could pull off, was but a mere exercise for these beings and now he was trapped in a place with something even worse. “No…no, this is not how it should go,” The masked man looked at the beast, the mask slowly crumbling and shattering. Black energy, silver flames and a golden light combined to explode in a violent current, with the Primeval letting go of all his inhibitions, all his limitations and lastly, all his precautions. To combat the incoming wave, the Primeval grew larger and larger, his suave and handsome features exchanged for a purely demonic appearance as if he were the literal depiction of the Beast within ancient scriptures. Fear and anger made people grow stronger, despair was a tool to gain more power, but also a double edged blade, which could unleash one’s own madness in its purest form. This was visible, as the primeval raised one of his large arms, concentrating dense, black energy into a single point, allowing it to grow to the size of a basketball, a wrecking ball…a small moon. There was no doubt about it now, in his madness, in his despair and wracked by the pain coursing through his body, the Primeval had decided to end it all… “Die…” Rising up from the ground, the massive demonic figure threw down the large concentrated sphere of energy onto the nightmare’s massive form, not knowing if it would work, not caring if it could work, just in a fit of rage and despair and with the wish to destroy it…all. 472 / 2,459 Pagoma
The monster’s hazardous tendrils were overwhelming Pagoma. Even with all his speed there were simply too many of them. He felt a sting in his tail and legs and a few that had gotten through his defenses tore into his flesh. ”Yaghh!” Pagoma let out a painful cry, unashamed of the pain caused by the beast. It seemed to be evolving and now in addition to the razor sharpness of his enemy’s many appendages, they also seemed to be leaving behind a painful burn. ”It’s time to send this beast back to the hell it came from,” Pagoma said. He quickly looked around, trying to remember the items he had acquired along the way. He vaguely remembered being given an amulet of some kind. Or was it a jewel? The Bookverse seemed to be warping his mind and he had little time to focus and build a strategy. But if there were something he acquired along the way that would help, he sure hoped that it would come to him what that was going to be exactly. Pagoma began to power up, letting out a grown as the plethora of sharp, burning organic weapons came flying towards him again. He increased his power and let out a cry, which seemed to produce a sort of barrier between himself and the sharp arms, if only for the briefest of moments. During that time, Pagoma was able to quickly transform into his Fourth form. Although he was stronger in his fifth, it drained his energy, while meanwhile his fourth form he had mastered quite well and was battling rather efficiently with, as of late. Pagoma withdrew his sword and charged recklessly towards the nightmarish creature. Using both of the blades affixed to his tail with the combination of his Chaos Breaker; Pagoma tried his best to mow down the appendages of the creature like he was hacking down tall weeds with a machete. After feeling he had the sufficient room to prepare his next attack, Pagoma quickly charged up a black form of energy between his hands. It was a fairly new technique, and it resembled pure darkness floating in mid air. Certainly not your average energy attack. Taking Master Luther’s bastardized version of the Dark Kamehameha, infused with all of his own dark energy he could muster; Pagoma let out a loud “HA!” as he attempted to send a powerful wave of dark energy into the torso of he and his ally’s mutual enemy. 413 / 2,309 Narrator
Ur’Alcyonis grew larger, and the Void Beast in the monster might have felt something, but the monster Pagoma created was unphased. You could have dropped a sun on its head and it would keep the same blanken figure, untouched by pain or hardship. It wasn’t even troubled when its attack did not do the work as it set out to do, though the claws whipped into a greater frenzy, recognizing their failure to bring everything back into that void. Meanwhile, the necklace in Pagoma’s hands pulsed just like his power did. The makeshift barrier held off the void and his pure concentration kept his own beast’s brutal stare from tearing into his insides. Without anyone telling him, in his desperation, he pulled out the weapon meant to be used on the Banshix, and to his luck, the strange energy washing over the beast was in fact, the Banshix’s power, the creature orchestrating this whole mess of an adventure. With the necklace’s power he charged onward, his blade showing new power against the beast. It wasn’t as if he found its full weakness, it merely isolated the additional power the beast was gaining, giving him ample time to push back the creature and set up his attack. The dark energy pulsed outwards, crashing into the core of the beast…but it was also a void beast. Dark energy and the pitch black was its friend. The attack certainly did damage, but not enough and then Pagoma’s largest mistake became apparent: he hadn’t been paying attention to his so-called ally. Ur-Alyconis had grown into a giant, and as a giant, he created a gigantic attack. The once man was riddled by total madness and he cared not for friend or foe. He had fallen into a hell of fear, and he would do anything to survive. “Is he trying to kill us all!?” one of the librarians shouted, but the moon-sized blast was already falling, falling, and then exploding into a mess of hell fire and destruction that ripped through the entire universe/room. Ur’Alyconis’s goal was to destroy all, and he destroyed quite a bit. When the rubble cleared, the librarians were gone, and the room itself had shifted into a white open space similar to the hyperbolic time chamber, but the beast itself was not vanquished. It had been splattered across the room, but the shadows and whatever the WTF beast was made of began to pool back together like the worst scene out of Dragonball Z. The gooey pieces of the monster began to glow with dark black energy similar to Pagoma’s attack, forming dark shadows in the otherwise white room. As the pieces began to reassemble, the darkness was left behind, and when the creature was whole again, all the dark energy left across the entire room exploded like leftover gunpowder. It didn’t happen all at once, erupting like chain explosions, that filled the room set after set giving a whole new mess of problems. 496 / 1,287 Ur'Alcyonis
Utterly laughing like a maniac, the primeval witnessed his own attack tumbling down, even obscuring his sight of the beast for a moment. He had lost all inhibitions, all restrictions in regard to the safety of himself and that of his comrade. It was in this combination of sheer madness and rage, that the ancient being’s power continued to rise, even in that massive form he had taken, he had yet to reach the full limit of his vessel’s potential, his hulking form growing more and more unstable with each passing instant, constantly trying to adapt to this rising power. Yet when the beast had been seemingly vanquished, the Primeval had to take notice and witness the tenacity of the creature. While the librarians appeared to have fled the scene or were perhaps taken by his own attack, the creature’s gooey parts splattered all over were starting to converge into one another again and while perhaps the massive, demonic-looking Ur’alcyonis thought to be able to rely on the changeling’s newfound power, He wondered if perhaps by some reason, he could get that blasted bracelet he had gotten to work in a similar fashion. Alas, time was no ally in this predicament, as when the gooey remains started to emanate dark energy, it started to darken the momentarily illuminated room once more, snuffing out any and all semblance of hope in the process. “Of course…” Letting out a deep sigh, the Primeval felt a sting of disappointment and disdain within himself as the explosions started to rock the room, a succession of fiery and powerful shockwaves rolling towards the Primeval and the changeling like it were a close-quarters carpet bombing tactic. “As if it could ever be THIS easy…” Dropping down to the ground, the monstrously large primeval leaned somewhat forward, bending a bit through his legs as he started to breathe in deeply, his chest slowly, but certainly expanding to almost twice its original size, and as the explosions continued to ripple towards himself and Pagoma, Ur’alcyonis suddenly opened his maw, letting out such a violent and primal roar, that it veritably produced a shockwave of such an insane magnitude that it could very well be considered a wall of sound and air being launched towards the incoming detonations of dark energy…perhaps if the Primeval was lucky, this wall would overpower the explosions and force itself a path through the darkness to at the very least interrupt the strange beast’s reformation at least for a moment… 416/ 2,875 Pagoma
Pagoma wasn't naive to the fact that their battle was escalating to seriously dangerous proportions. He not only had his own self to worry about, but his surroundings too. Whatever sort of rules the crazy universe he was in had, they seemed to favor the opposite of how he had been feeling. It truly felt like being forced to suffer through an idiotic children's show in Pagoma's mind. He gritted his teeth as the universe around them seemed to be on the verge of breaking. "If I get stuck in here, I swear..." Pagoma said as he recovered from the launching of his powerful dark energy blast. "Woah," Pagoma said, noticing for the first time just how large the silver haired warrior had become. He didn't show signs of stopping, either. Pagoma couldn't help but laugh as the two weirdos who seemed to live in that place ran away, but he couldn't exactly blame them for their cowardice. The chaos that Pagoma and Ur'Alcyonis had created was truly spectacular. "You told us to fight remember?" Pagoma yelled over his shoulder after one of them. He couldn't turn, for risk of getting sliced in two by the voidbeast turned... whatever it was they were fighting. It was ironic at the very least though to see the two of them get what they asked for. Pagoma found what he had been looking for, it was the strange necklace from the library of floating books that had taken them to the place they were in currently. It glowed with anticipation and Pagoma was pleased to see that it seemed to somehow be protecting him from the worst of the monster's attacks, like some kind of Barrier. "Lucky break," Pagoma admitted to himself, allowing himself to breathe for just a moment before getting back into the action. But the necklace seemed to be doing more than just offer a quick defense. "What's this?" Pagoma said as he grabbed his blade from its resting place on his hip. The blade of the Chaos Breaker already glowed a nice green color that helped light even the darkest of caves well enough to see a short distance. But the glow it had now was not one like Pagoma had seen before. It was as though it was it were alternating between its usual shade and a dark maroon color. "Alright, alright." With a new sense of hope, Pagoma charged after the weird creature, the oversized and ravenous Ur'Alcyonis beside him. Pagoma aimed to dig his blade deep into the side of the creature, but his own arrogance got in the way as he made his first attempt at an attack. "Ogh!" Pagoma let out a cry as the familiar sensation of blood trickled down a large wound in his chest. The creature's razor sharp accessories had made their mark and the Changeling realized his mistake. "Maybe the necklace doesn't work at defense and offense at the same time," he reasoned. "Or maybe I was just a bit slow," he said much quieter. But the Silver Haired Warrior was making his mark and Pagoma didn't seem to need to worry for the moment about launching any offense. Therefore he briefly retreated back about fifty meters to metaphorically lick his wounds. He searched around his person for a Senzu Bean but thought better of it. He knew all too well that just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, they often did. "Nice one!" Pagoma congratulated the Silver Haired Warrior as the Changeling examined what appeared to be the remains of the creature they had been fighting. In the wake of Pagoma's demon ally's attack, a sort of blank grid like canvas was left behind. "Interesting..." Pagoma thought, further confused by what he was seeing. But that wasn't the only thing that was interesting going on in the after math of the large demon's destructive forces. "Well shit," Pagoma said as the strange creature seemed to form back into a solid mass, ready to keep fighting. Adding insult to injury, the remnants of Pagoma's own dark energy mixed with perhaps some of the beast began to explode in a chain reaction of sorts. Pagoma quickly put the necklace around his neck and gripped it tightly as he attempted to put up his own Barrier to supplement its defensive ability for any damage that may have slipped through. Pagoma became a bit confused at first before realizing the sound he was hearing was not from the enemy. A scream that sounded like it was caused by combining one hundred legions of hell's finest demons crying out en impassioned battle cry. Pagoma had never seen the silver haired warrior like that before, growing to that size and putting himself in such a state. Pagoma imagined it was likely much closer to what his "real self" was than the mirage that he usually put out to others, but the Changeling still thought he preferred the version of the Silver Haired Warrior that he knew. "Welp, can't let you have all the fun," Pagoma said, aiming his comment towards Ur'Alcyonis, despite it surely being too quiet for him to hear. He took his Chaos Breaker once more and charged towards the creature. He cocked back his elbow and allowed not only the necklace to surge its power through the sword but a dark flame became ablaze, like a wildfire spreading from the top of the hilt to the tip of the sharp blade. "Take this you damned thing!" Pagoma shouted as he began to unleash a mighty strike with his sword. He unleashed a whirlwind of energy as he spun his body around as closely to the creature as he could, twirling and swiping his blade through the air in an effort to inflict as much bodily harm on in as possible. If he could, he aimed to not just destroy the flesh of the creature, but tear apart its very essence, its very soul. 993 / 3,302 Narrator
As Ur’alcyonis’ attack ripped through the entire arena, Pagoma completely ignored it. Well, no, he laughed at the people running from it and stood with metaphoric open arms as his partner decimated him. Even if the artifact could have protected him from the Banshix’s power, which it couldn’t, it would have done nothing against his partner’s attack. The mechanics of this world should have saved him, and yet the Banshix had infested this place as well. “Looks like your dreamweaver has failed you.” It was hardly a voice, more like a presence and Pagoma would feel a direct hit through not his body but his very essence, into the words that created and controlled him. It felt like his entire existence shuddered in a dangerous moment, and Ur’Alcyonis’ attack was nothing compared to the weight of it. But the fight raged on, and the feeling passed, not without leaving its mark. Pagoma unleashed more attacks, as did the primordial and the beast they created finally began to fall apart, cut and blown into too many pieces as the slime of it seemed to evaporate all but in a single spot. The goop was strange there, like the opening into a void but it no longer looked to attack them. “Well, that was something,” one of the librarians said, poking back into the dimension through an invisible cut. They knew better than to underestimate the power of words and also knew their words would have zero effect on the beast the two dreamweavers had dreamed up, so they did the next best thing and looked for the next door out of here. The Banshix’s presence seemed to have faded a bit but there was still a dark energy that made Pagoma’s soul especially ache. “The artifact should be in that void…” she continued, making a small frown. “If one of you want to reach in…” She didn’t seem willing to herself. Reaching in however would pull out some type of tome. A leather bound book as thick as a box, which would not open no matter how much they struggled. At least, not yet. “This way,” the librarian added, waving them forward and towards the next door. 366 / 1,653 Ur'Alcyonis
Wheezing, almost like a hound after several miles of running, the Primeval slowly reverted back to his original form, snapping with his fingers to recreate his clothing, the same maroon and burgundy, pinstriped colbert and trousers, the same creepily smiling mask and the tophat upon his slicked back head of silver-white hair. The ancient being let out a deep sigh when it looked like nothing of the amalgamated horror remained, his attention quickly drawn to the voice he had heard, even if it was faint and unfamiliar, there was a deep seated threat within it that the Primeval could not ignore. “Foul beasts and nightmares, pointless servants to bookmarks and page numbers,” The Man calmly dusted off the sleeves of his colbert and turned to see how the changeling companion of his was doing. As the two librarians deemed it safe enough to pop their heads out of a tear or cut in between…what…dimensions…the Primeval gave them a glare from behind his mask, golden eyes with a terrible glow looking down upon them. “You are ought to be our guides, but I’m starting to think you may as well be just as useless as the footnotes within a book to credit those the author didn’t deem worthy of actual, visible credit.” Tapping on the armband he had gotten that was supposed to have some sort of power or strength against this Banshix beastie, the Primeval looked at the hole or void that seemed to remain. At first the ancient being hoped that perhaps the changeling would want to reach into it, but perhaps due to his associate not looking all that well, Ur’alcyonis decided to reach in for himself, grabbing hold of what appeared to feel and undoubtedly look like some sort of thome or grimoire. Since it did not budge at all despite the ancient being’s strength, he chalked it up to some sort of key being needed, but without any clue as to what this key would be, the Primeval momentarily glared at the librarians again. “If we all have a dreamweaver…I do wonder…how about you two, hmm?” Letting out a sinister chuckle, the masked man walked up to what looked like the exit, his eyes still upon the two librarians. “This is all so weird it is making me curious...” 383 /3,258 Puar's Total WC: 392 Keres' Total WC: 1,287 Pagoma's Total WC: 3,302 Ur'alcyonis' Total WC: 2,875 Room Word Count: 8,856
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:31:22 GMT -5
3.2 The Geography of Your Universe
Hell. Now that would be a place to be other than this desert. The hissing was loud and filled the air like bacon cooking in the morning. If only it carried the same smell. Instead there was just that pungent smell of wet heat, the humidity making this place unbearable. A light drizzle of steaming hot rain dripped from the scattered clouds in the sky, and never once did a cloud float over the sun, which beamed down relentlessly. The sand was wet and uncomfortable, and bodies were feeling sticky and nasty. This was probably the most uncomfortable setting possible. It seemed that there was only desert and drizzles, but venturing forward and away from the door would show a mountain range in the distance. As you move you notice that fatigue is creepy up on you fast, draining your body’s stamina at an increased rate. You didn’t want to stay here too long, but you also needed to watch how much stamina you burned. 167 / 167 Kakarot
"But I would walk five hun-dred miles," Kakarot chirped in delirium. He still carried his sack full of dried food over one shoulder, and now drew up a hood from his cloak to shield against the bastard heat that permeated Hellworld. "An' I would walk five hun-dred more," he continued, glancing back towards where he assumed Broly still trudged along with him. "Just t'be the Saiyan who walked a thous-and miles," now Kakarot felt a swelling of energy within him, and his lips curled into a grin. "To eat all-of-the buffet'n'more!" Kakarot walked on for a while, silently, but the Proclaimer's ear worm still swirled round inside his skull. Soon, the timing was right, and the vocals rose back up from within him. "When I'm workin', yes, I know I'mma be, I'mma be the Saiyan whose workin' hard for food," Kakarot's stomach grumbled loudly, harmonizing with him in a queer sort of way. He slung his sack round to his abdomen as he walked, and fished out a pair of dry protein bars. He tossed one over his shoulder to Broly, and then in a single movement slung his sack back into place on his shoulder while tearing a chunk out of his protein bar. Through a mouthful of rice and nuts glued together by something akin to molasses, Kakarot shouted, "Ay, brahlee, 'ing wit' me!" He swallowed, and then resumed- although from a slightly different place then where he'd left off: "blahblahblah, uh... Oh yeah! An' I would walk five hun-dred miles, an' I would walk five hun-dred more, jus't'be th'Saian who walked a thous-and miles 'n eat all've'th'buffet 'n more! Da lat da-" 275/ 275 Broly
The hell hole of a world that they were thrown into, along with the person that he was paired with, was undoubtedly Broly paying for the sins of his past. The heat created from lingering drizzles of rain that had turned to steam fogged the sand and air around them. A single cloud rested high in the sky, lightly greyed from the rain that had just fell, but yet it never moved. It always managed to stay a few inches from the sun, meaning Broly and Kakarot were always exposed to the ungodly heat of the sun high in the sky. At first it was fine, that was until it began.... The singing. Kakarot started quietly at first, but with each passing moment his voice grew louder and louder. Broly, with his best attempts to drown out the voice of the annoying Saiyan, began to look around for some kind of clues. There were rolling sand dunes, blistering heat, steam lifting from the freshly wet sand, but other than that there was nothing. He couldn't find a single clue that might lead them across the Bookverse safely. Each step no took more and more out of the Titan, which was saying something because Broly never grew tired, he had this incredible pool of stamina that never seemed to falter, yet here he was, struggling to walk even another inch. The sound of Kakarot's stomach then rang into the air as his own stomach roared, as to not have been out down by another Saiyan. Broly's hand reached down and he cupped his stomach for a moment with his bear like paw. Suddenly a snack was tossed his way and Kakarot once more began to sing that damn song! ... But he did just give Broly some of his rations... Maybe the man wasn't too bad at all. "just... the.... five...more...." He muttered sheepishly 313/ 313
As the two continued without draining any stamina, because they were a bit smarter than the meathead tag the hat gave them, suddenly three worm like creatures burst from the ground and squirmed around in a frenzy! The make of the worms were...actually a bunch of pages folded in origami style, and they had various things written on them about how to keep a healthy body, and things of that nature -- but to read it they had to be defeated!!! All three worms swung their bodies at the two Saiyans. Be careful!! The can cause paper cuts!! 98 / 265 Kakarot
Kakarot had stuffed his mouth with two protein bars when the sands parted as skin to a fast moving sheet of paper- probably because the sand had been cut by a towering trio of paper pillars. At first, the Saiyan stood with his mouth ajar and hands hung by his sides, shocked. As crumbles of protein bar fell from his lips down his bosom, one of the pillars wriggled, and in a movement that set the ground trembling, it craned itself round so that its top- a top which now revealed itself to have a gaping maw of writhing tooth-like somethings- faced towards Kakarot and Broly. As the overhanging heat source, presumably a sun, reflected off of the long tunnel that comprised the weird creature's mouth and digestive tract, one could make out a series of images and odd letters on each of its teeth; some even had tassels! Indeed, the creature appeared now to be made of paper, and its teeth comprised of laminated bookmarks! "Wow!" Kakarot exclaimed, "a bunch've paper monsters! They smell kind've mildewy..." Kakarot whipped out his polearm and pushed a pulse of Ki through it, exclaiming, "Extend!" Perhaps unexpectedly, his polearm extended backwards, its butt jamming into the sand and jettisoning Kakarot forward, towards the first of the paper worms. As the pole's front half approached the creature, Kakarot clung to it with his dominant hand, exerting power down through his body and into his offhand; his aura formed into the shape of a boxing glove. In the same moment that the power pole jammed itself into the creature's body, Kakarot accelerated forward; the momentum of the power pole's extension combined with the Saiyan's powered flight, and with his left hand outstretched beyond him, he aimed to drive his Ki-coated fist into the paper worm's body. If and when he connected, Kakarot exclaimed, "Serafin Punch!" 310 / 573 Broly
Kakarot was the first to charge in as his power pole planted itself firmly into the ground lifting him into the air toward one of the large paper beasts. Broly immediately followed, heading directly toward one of the other worms and making a b-line for the base of the creature. Sand lifted and swarmed around the titan as he came skidding to a halt, he could feel the heat still beating down upon him as he spread his arms out wide like a mother waiting for her child. Then, after latching down in a bear hug against the folded paper, he began to squeeze. At first it was easy, he could feel the paper crushing beneath his power, but slowly he began to feel the slightest of pain, a mild hindrance at best. A quick glance down toward his forearms would reveal small razor like cuts that were nothing deeper than superficial as the edges of the paper retaliated against the might of the Saiyan Behemoth. With a growl and a roar Broly tightened his grip once more, the sound of crumpling paper echoed throughout the desert skies with the final synching of his muscles. Then, as the ground began to rumble, he started to twist and pull out the worm like a weed in the garden. "Agh!" Broly screamed, sweat dripping from the surface of his skin and seeping into the micro cuts along his forearms causing irritation as the worm was finally lifted. "Get lost!" Commanded the Saiyan Elite as he began to turn, over and over again, each time gaining momentum as he spun the beast by its tail. After quite a few spins he could feel that he wasn't gaining any speed, and with the simple release of his grip the worm began to fly. Into to horizon the beast began to soar and with the quite distant 'oomph', he knew that the worm had been taken care of. 323 / 636
The worms were easily dealt with, only because they were only a test for the mighty, which these two saiyans were. A swift serafin punch cleaned the first one, and a bear hug and a swing around sent another one pretty distant, almost comically with a star ping to boot. But then there was the third one! It looked between the punched one, its body in shambles and pages now, and then he looked to the distant one and then... he looked to Broly. Uh-oh. Broly was cut and mad, pretty sure papercuts and sweat didn't mix. He then looked to Kakarot and took in a small but easy realization. These two were strong. "Okay listen," the worm said and bowed its head in fear. "Okay, I give up!!! I give up!! Do not swing me or punch me." Yes, the worms could talk. "Why are you two even here? You don't look like you need any work out knowledge or anything -- that is literally all I am or he is...or he was..." The he that was, was the one that was thrown far away. "I can just let you guys read me if you need to --" The worm didn't even know about the Banshix it seemed and he needed to be alerted!! Before Kakarot or Broly could get to the worm, however, a creepy voice filled Broly's head. "Your weaver needs rest, until then... you enjoy the same." And without warning Broly would lose consciousness and his body would fade away from the realm, leaving Kakarot alone. Broly's body was harmlessly transported out of the Library and elsewhere. 214 / 479 Kakarot
Kakarot's words died at the top of his throat, his thoughts derailed by the peculiar phenomena which claimed his partner, Broly. The gargantuan Saiyan's face loosened; he'd always seemed a man possessed by a restless specter, his face eternally tugged into a hint of unease. It was though Broly's blood had been forever laced with jagged glass, so that the very function of being egged on the raging Oozaru which dwelt below his psyche's surface. Only now... That cornerstone of the Legendary Saiyan's persona eased, and a sense of restful peace overtook his visage. Even as the tension departed from Broly, his very form faded, first desaturating, and then growing translucent, and then, gone. Kakarot stood, mouth agape, a whirlwind of feelings and thoughts kicking up inside him. It was too much- more than he'd been able to digest in a lifetime colored in the vibrantly malfeasant tones of mourning. He, as all born to a warring race, knew loss, and he, as all those raised under the blue skies of Earth, knew hope. But he had not prepared for... Kakarot cleared his throat, cutting himself off. When one's mind provided too many thoughts and reactions to process, there were two options. Let it out, or push it back until you could. Kakarot's eyes flicked back to the Bookworm, and without knowing quite what to say, think, or do, he found himself speaking. "I've gotta help that Cat Lady solve this Banshix problem, Mister Worm. Do y'know if there's a Banshix here, or maybe somethin' that could help me turn the defense grid on?" Kakarot waited for a response, and then followed it with another question. "I'd like t'read you, Mister Worm, but d'ya think y'could give me a ride to wherever I've gotta go, first?" 296 / 881
The worm watched as Broly faded but also it did not bother him much. He didn't know he very well. He didn't know this other guy well at all -- they attacked his friend and sent him flying! Well, the worm attacked them back -- so I guess being a loser in the situation has humbled the massive string of paper with text on it. "The Banshix? That crazy thing is out again? So that is why the artifact was glowing. The defense grid is off," he said. The saiyan asked for a ride and -- well that was easy and fair enough. No one wanted to be out here in this crazy verse that drained your body of its stamina. "Sure, I'll take you to the mountain range. That is where the artifact is. I guess you'll need it to gain access to the Nowhere Dimension." With that being said, the worm took a rest on the sands, its belly shuffling through it and making it easy for Kakarot to hop on its back. Hopping on would give Kakarot an express trip to his destination, the mountain range in the distance. 189 / 668 Kakarot
Puar's Total WC: 668 Kakarot's Total WC: 881 Broly's Total WC: 636 Topic Word Count:
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Post by Puar on Jun 29, 2023 17:32:09 GMT -5
3.3 Tales of Marvelous Beasts and Where To Hide
As they stepped into the light, it was natural to be temporarily blinded by it. When that faded they were left in a much darker place than the city and felt much stranger as well. They were on a softly illuminated path, but if they looked up they would see the same path in patches above them and next to them in a completely distorted reality. Each step forward they’d feel a shift in weight, feeling heavier and heavier only to spring up and feel light as a cloud. The path forward slipped away into darkness but that was the only way to go, and stepping through that darkness they’d end up on another path, completely upside down from the one they were on prior. There was a troubling energy felt throughout the maze of pathways, but with the distortion affecting their senses, it was very difficult to pin point exactly where it was coming from. Surely the next phase of this journey would be to find it, but as they had already realized, the experience itself would fuel the budding artifacts inside their new friends. 188 / 188 Juch
…well this was different. Gone was the scattered debris and the rapturous fires that swept through the town. Instead, upon crossing the luminous threshold, Juch's senses were immediately met with a strange realm entirely. The android stopped in his tracks, only to be bumped forward by Drampa from behind. Floating platforms were suspended over a dark blue void below, where the swirling of matter felt as if they were suspended over a whirlpool. As he took another step forward, the android noticed that the path they trod upon, though appearing as an island of soft, lambent light amidst the encroaching darkness, seemed to defy the conventional laws of physics. With every footfall, the sensation of corporeal mass beneath would vacillate between the oppressive gravity of a celestial giant and the embrace of a cloud, as if toying with their equilibrium in some form of dance. Solid. But not. Simultaneously. As his gaze ventured upwards, Juch tilted his head to the side. The path on which they stood appeared to replicate itself in fragmented echoes, suspended above and beside them like the shattered remnants of a once-whole reality. These luminous pathways wove through the abyss, their sinuous trails entwining and then diverging, as if the threads of fate had become ensnared in some grand cosmic loom. “Quite the place this is,” Juch remarked as he looked over his shoulder towards the Lismian, continuing their conversation from before, “One might surmise that our mandate to halt the Banshix stems, in part, from their potential to recruit more formidable adversaries, were they granted unchecked freedom to operate.” But there was no such obstacle or challenge here yet; rather, as the android approached the darkness, he suddenly found himself perched on the other pathway, looking at the upside down figures of Chamomile, the dragon, and the bird. Yet how exactly he managed to do so, not even he himself was sure. What was certain was the ominous signature on his radar, almost beckoning them deeper into this strange maze, “I suppose the only way to go is…whichever direction this is,” he gestured towards the natural destination of the pathway that he was currently on, “Watch your step.” 364 / 364 Oolong
Oolong felt uneasy as soon as he stepped through the portal. The first two ‘rooms’ of this place were odd enough, but the newest one seemed to be completely out of line. Was this the Banshix’s effects, or was this just another oddity of the library? It definitely didn’t seem like a room possessing any more beasts like their library card suggested originally, but Oolong knew better. Juturna had a few ecosystems like this. Shadow monsters loved distortions, and this place would have been a heaven for them. The shadows in this place were definitely moving unnaturally, but while some were jagged and jerky, others did remind him of actual movement. They definitely weren’t alone. Juch stepped through the shadows and vanished, but before the pirate could feel weary, he reappeared above them, scaring the yellow bird who seemed skittish since arriving. The bird was practically shaking, and its eyes kept growing wide and almost whiting out at each sudden shift. “Scaredy cat,” Chamomile signed, which the bird took understandable offense too, chirping in argument and putting on a braver face. They followed Juch through the shadows, and met up with him on the new path way. It was more than a bit disorienting, and the shifting gravity didn’t help. Each step and the world now below them above them made her feel like she was about to fall off. But they had to walk on. “I don’t think we’ll find any more people here,” she said as they walked. It wasn’t like the lab or the city where fake people fit in well. This place was for something nefarious, and didn’t seem to hold the resources for normal people. There was sure to be a monster at the end of the path. “Can you monsters function on your own without a trainer?” she asked Oricorio, who immediately chirped in response, planting its feet and shooting a pompom in the air enthusiastically, but it just reminded her of a child saying ‘I can do it all by myself!’ when they really couldn’t. The orange dragon had a bit, but that was likely interference by the Banshix. This beast seemed not to have an original master. She had to take this like exploring one of Juturna’s ecosystems. This place wasn’t meant for humans. Another shadow swept over the place like something large overhead. Another dragon perhaps? But the size reminded her more of a whale. With gravity so confused, maybe it was better to think of the matter here like water, and they were walking along as a shark circled them. The air grew chillier too. The place was mostly a stagnant void, but the shadow cast a chill into your bones that made the hairs on the back of your arms stand up. It was like being in a haunted house, where apparitions threatened to break through to reality, and a ghost could grip you by your ankles and drag you to hell at any minute. 507 / 695 Juch
The bird may have been able to put on a veil of bravado, but the lumpy dragon didn't have quite the same poker face. Juch looked back at Drampa; frankly, just based on its appearance alone, it should have been a different story. The dragon's body was bulky and muscular, but it moved with an awkward gait, like a newborn pup taking its first steps. As the dragon quivered, a pungent odor emanated from its scaled skin, a mix of sulfur and fear. Its breaths came in short, raspy bursts, and its wings flapped weakly, as if trying to escape its own body. Its gaze darted around the room, looking for a way out or a friendly face to offer comfort. The dragon's eyes held a pleading look, as if begging for someone to come to its rescue. It was clear that the dragon was overwhelmed and scared, its giant body quivering in its metaphorical boots as the surrounding temperature seemed to nosedive down while a massive...thing flew overhead. The android felt the air part from the sheer size of the moving creature before he even took notice of the momentary darkness, like a temporary solar eclipse that lasted a mere second or so. Juch tilted his head up to see, but despite his efforts, he also didn't get a good look at it. So he moved back to coax Drampa along--the last thing that he needed was for Drampa to panic. Despite the Bookverse's qualities, an animal was still an animal, despite the bird's defiance towards Chamomile's question, "Another creature that is not in my data base," he murmured more to himself, "I didn't get a good look, but it was huge, whatever it was." "While this place reminds me a bit of Ippen," Juch began, "But I agree; the chances of meeting someone here may be slim. Unless we find a particularly tenacious backpacker on our way here." "It would be best to hurry through this place then, and not linger," Juch patted Drampa, who seemed to calm down a bit, "Stressing our pocket monsters here can't be good for their health." 355 / 719 Oolong
Chamomile nodded to Juch’s assessment, but took her own time to inspect the area. While the pirate had no experience in ecosystems like this, Oolong did. He made two deals in his life he could with one hundred percent call ‘deals with a devil.’ The first had helped establish the Long family and resulted in many deaths. The second was with a certain ASI to get him into the academy and closer to Puar. He didn’t bear the brunt of the first deal, but he definitely dealt with it in the second. Mate Long became a scholar of strange metamorphic creatures, also known as Juturna’s helper in the many dimensions her ship carried. So he was quite adept with traveling through dangerous areas only monsters could thrive in. His senses had become sharper, looking for the beast in the dark. There were some besides the whale, lurking like wraiths just out of sight but watching them like prey. They weren’t afraid of Drampa, Orocorio, or the two humans. They were waiting in case the whale-like creature wanted to eat them first. They would face certain death if they got in the way of him. They reminded him a bit of the shadow creature’s Fayte Zema added to Juturna’s collection. They were the closest she had to things like specters and ghosts. She liked actual creatures, not spirits, and usually pulled away from such things since they rarely played a natural part in an ecosystem. Spirits usually disrupted. But where was the whale? It was so big, one couldn’t expect to miss it, unless, like the shadow creatures, it could control this environment so well it could escape their sights without issue. She nodded again to Juch’s words, and started forward, but before any of them could get far a rush of darkness passed over the ground, suggesting the beast was flying overhead again. Looking up was part of the trap however, as that shadow itself was the attack, stretching out and grabbing them up like a physical force before it threw them down into an entirely different area of the realm, causing the gravity to flip over on them and send a rush of vertigo. It revealed itself then, a larger spider like dragon. Its main body was like a chinese dragon, stretching behind him and covered in golden spikes, but six claws erupted from its sides like spider legs, only they were made completely of shadows. Its red eyes glowed in the darkness, and its mouth opened in a large screeching roar. 431 / 1,126 Juch
What little reprieve they had gotten from the massive creature was brief. Once more did the Lismian’s visage become shrouded in darkness. Juch tilted his chin up again, in an attempt to get a better look at the creature. There was…just darkness. As he glanced upward, curiosity piquing at the sight of an inky shadow stretching across above, its tendrils snaking outwards like sinister fingers, he felt the air change. It seemed to vibrate, the tension palpable, as if an unseen force was pulling the strings of reality. As the air around them grew thick with a sense of unease, the group found themselves suddenly enveloped in darkness. It was as if a thick fog had descended upon them, shrouding them in a blanket of obscurity. Drampa exhaled loudly, its scales raising up almost as a defensive mechanism in an attempt to make itself look bigger than what it already was. Suddenly, the shadow lunged down, wrapping around Juch like an icy vice. The darkness slithered over his skin, cold as the abyss; if the android could have goosebumps, then he would no doubt have his arms covered in them. His breath hitched as he was yanked upward, the force of the pull wrenching his body from the ground. The world around him blurred, a dizzying whirl of colors and shapes melding together as he was propelled through the air. The surroundings morphed into a chaotic frenzy of unfamiliar landscapes, the terrain shifting beneath him as he fell. His vision filled with flashes of jagged rocks and treacherous cliffs, each more menacing than the last. The wind roared in his ears, its violent gusts tearing at his clothes as his overcoat fluttered violently in the disorienting dance. Just as the ground seemed to rush up to meet him, the world tilted on its axis, and gravity shifted. The sensation of free fall vanished, replaced by a sudden and overwhelming vertigo. The ground, once so far below, now loomed above him, an immense wall of stone and soil. He collided with its surface, feeling the new ground shake as Drampa’s body slammed heavily down as well. The lumpy dragon whined in discomfort as the android moved back to roll it onto its front, looking over to Chamomile, “Are you alright?” Another creature, another battle. Drampa’s claws slammed against the ground, its breathing heavy as it glared at the beast before it. Its eyes glowed in an attempt to intimidate its foe before opening its maw wide, unleashing a powerful sound wave that threatened to overwhelm the spider legged monster and maybe even destroy the part of the platform that it was standing on. 446 / 1,165 Oolong
Chamomile didn’t look up. Shadow creatures were more dangerous than some swooping beast she could block against but she chose not to avoid this shadow to test her theory, and sure enough it gave her a nice yank. With so much familiarity with this sensation, she quickly adapted to the shift in gravity, even in this place, and was able to brace for her landing, moving into a skillful roll once the ground was restored. The same could not be said for her bird companion. When the shadow grabbed it Oricorio tried to take flight in defiance, and thus was thrown even harder into the ground with a loud squawk. “I’m okay,” she signed, while moving to inspect the bird. To her surprise, it was already rising, pulling its pom poms back like it was going to deliver another one of those wind gusts. Drampa attacked first, but the ghost-like dragon seemed completely immune, swooping over them again in a taunting way. This was disrupted by Drampa’s roar however, which hit it, causing the creature to screech again. Oricorio’s pom pom’s shot forward and nothing happened in their line of sight at first, until a darkness seemed to cast over the dragon, and then like its attack, the massive beast was yoinked through the sky like someone grabbing a snake. It was powerful enough to regain its balance again fairly quickly, but in that time the yellow bird jumped to Chamomile, squawking and nudging at her pocket for the berry thing she pocketed. Figuring that was what it wanted, she handed over the nectar berry and the bird gobbled it up in an instant. Its yellow feathers morphed, turning blue as the pompoms changed into more graceful wings, now seeming to have fans at the end of them. Weird ass bird, but at least now she knew why it was hers. Despite how strange it looked, its energy had changed entirely and it seemed kind of wise and kind of creepy at the same time. The menacing dragon recovered and dove down on them, its face targeted the new bird letting out a deafening roar with an almost physical force into its smaller body, while the shadow claws stretched and snapped at dangerous speeds towards Drampa, aiming to slash him into sashimi. 387 / 1,513 Juch
Okay, looked like everyone was okay, for now. Drampa seemed a little surprised that its previous tactic that worked so well against the fiery dragon from before didn't seem to scare the beast that was currently attacking them. Truly, it was the bigger monster. At least the other attack hurt it quite a bit. However, Drampa was forced on the defensive once more as the creature was shot up into the air by the bird, while it sustained some damage, it was evidently not enough to put it down. Rather, it came crashing down towards the lumpy dragon, its sharp claws gleaming in what little light there was in their surroundings. A shimmering barrier surrounded the dragon and the claws bounced off harmlessly. Once more Drampa opened wide and shouted another voice blast to its opponent. 136 / 1,301 Oolong
The roar got to Oricorio, sending him tumbling over himself, but the two dragons seemed to clash in a more volatile way, making the now blue bird feel a certain type of way. There seemed to have been another attack that the dream weaver completely forgot to write in, so for now he could recover a bit easier. The ghost dragon reared back as Drampa opened his mouth to lash out at him, and Oricorio took this opportunity to burst into a fierce dance. Was this another power up or was he trying to attack? Chamomile couldn’t be sure as the bird’s strange foreboding energy began to grow and leak off him, before he released it in two large pulses towards the ghost king, not seeming to give two fucks about his superiority. Giratina took the hits with another screech, recoiling against the bird’s new power as it swished through the air. In response, the distortion world recoiled as well, and the ground around them shot up and spun about, threatening to send them flying into another platform facing the wrong direction. The dragon swooped down once more, this time using its more physical claws to try and break through Drampa’s scaly hide, before it vanished completely into the darkness. Like before it seemed like a shadow moving around them, but the actual beast was untraceable, lost in the shadows. 234 / 1,747 Juch
Those were some powerful attacks. Juch nodded to himself as he watched the shimmering energy from the blue bird collide with the ominous creature. He wasn't sure what that berry did other than the physical appearance change, but the proof was in the pudding, wasn't it? However, despite their efforts, the shadow monster wasn't down for the count, it seemed like. The grounds shifted once more and gravity itself changed. Juch grabbed onto his hat just in time while the larger Drampa flailed around as both of them hit the adjacent, but different oriented slab of floating grounds. However, despite the pain, Drampa flipped around, another shimmering barrier shining forth to stop the beast’s sharp talons, who scratched on the shield like nails on a chalkboard. As the monster disappeared into the shadows, Drampa also growled, its originally timid nature slowly shedding away as he moved towards the offensive. He flew up into the air, in search for the shadow monster; the moment it would appear, Drampa would hunt it down. 172 / 1,473 Oolong
The bird probably would have kept on dancing straight through the attacks if it weren’t for the sudden shift in gravity. This forced its wings to move into a more expected manner to take flight though it didn’t little against increased gravity. The bird was smart enough however that it let it throw him into a dive and then swooped through at the last moment when the gravity changed again to avoid crashing head first into the new ground. The same grace did not apply to Chamomile. If she wasn’t mute she’d have definitely let out a curse now, since all she could really do was brace herself for the fall. It was a strange experience after all, but rather than hero-land it she attempted to duck into a roll. It wasn’t super increased gravity after all. It was mostly normal but fast. The damage was minimal. But then the dragon attacked Drampa before vanishing into the shadows. That was inconvenient, and Oricorio also took to the skies in an attempt to find the creature, though Chamomile had a dreadful feeling that was exactly what it wanted. As Drampa glided through, the shadows shifted almost on top of him and Giritina’s claws dug into its scaly flesh with reckless abandon. It truly was as if he was not there one instant, and the next he was, just like an apparition. The ghost king didn’t stop there however, slashing it’s eight claws over the over dragon again with vicious force meant to send him flying back into one of the platforms. Seeming to vanish again, it reappeared right in front of Oricorio with a wicked roar, surprising the bird and sending him squawking backwards. The face was scary enough normally, but the ghost bird had been watching Drampa ready to perform a counter attack and did not expect Giritina to appear in its face like that. The bird recovered quickly enough however, spinning in the air like a brilliant acrobat, and into a new dance that once more ended in its wings flapping outward to send another blast of ghostly energy to wash over the much stronger beast. 365 / 2,112 Juch
With a swift and eerie grace, Giritina's claws tore through the ethereal veil of shadows, piercing Drampa without mercy. It was like a thunderclap on a calm summer's day - the hunting through the air had not gone successfully. The lumpy dragon howled out in pain, writhing in agony as he twisted his large body around to protect his softer underbelly, with all the sensitive organs were. However, his hide was stained with his liquid life as he plummeted down to the ground. Drampa, however, managed to recover in time. Despite the excruciating pain, Drampa's reaction was not one of submission, but of righteous fury. Its once serene expression contorted into an enraged grimace, its eyes ablaze with a fiery determination. With each breath, wisps of smoke escaped its nostrils, mingling with the ambient haze, as if the dragon's anger was manifesting in the very air around it. Although the bird was stunned, Drampa took this opportunity to close in the distance, yelling with all his might towards the other monster's ear, aiming to blow out his ear drums. 178 / 1,651 Oolong
Oricorio’s dark energy crashed into the dragon’s body, making its insides twist and churn, seeming to bite right into its soul, and then Drampa was upon it, making a swift recovery and showing a great deal of tenacity. The ghost beast screeched in turn against the dragon’s roar, but it rushed through it, once more getting into Drampa’s space before their eyes met and a pulsing filled the entire distortion realm. The effect was immediate. Many of Giratina’s wounds healed up as others opened. The same thing happened to Drampa, as the pain and damage was equally split between them until they were a mirror image of each other’s suffering. It seemed the ghost king was not going to allow them to leave without at least feeling the pain it felt. With both creature’s still close to it, its shadowy claws suddenly exploded outward like a smoke bomb erupting only with the shockwaves of a bomb meant to send them both hurtling through the air with hopefully more damage. The creature closest to Giratina now was Oricorio, or maybe the beast just wanted to get revenge. It swooped through the air, his shadow claws expanded and attempted to maim the much smaller bird. Oricorio let out another squawk, this time in pain, as he could feel the harsh attack rip right through him, but he wasn’t going down yet! Definitely soon! He wasn’t sure just how much he could handle if the fight went on, but he would do his best! Once again, the bird mimicked the dragon. Its body was engulfed in shadow, and he shot at the dragon with fierceness, aiming for its eyes as it had the charizard, only this slash was fueled by the same ghostly energy Giratina used, and thus, also bit right into the creature’s soul. The bird fumbled then, falling back to the ground where it planted its talons and rested for a moment. If it didn’t, it doubted it would survive long enough to reach the next round. 347 / 2,459 Juch
Drampa's mighty roar reverberated through the distorted realm, a bellow of defiance that echoed against the ethereal battle cry of Giritina. But before the sound could fade, before the echoes could dissipate, the ghostly beast surged forward, breaching the invisible boundaries that separated them. Time seemed to warp and twist as their eyes met, a profound connection forged in the midst of chaos. In that instant, a pulsing wave of energy rippled through the realm, engulfing both Drampa and Giritina in a maelstrom of shared suffering. Drampa's reaction was one of profound shock. His gaze locked with the spectral eyes of Giritina, the depth of their connection intensifying the agony that coursed through his body. The dragon's countenance contorted with a mixture of surprise, anguish, and disbelief. Its massive form trembled under the weight of the torment, muscles rippling with strain as the pain became an all consuming entity. Through the hazy gaze wracked with suffering, he could see his teammates attack striking against the opponent before taking a well deserved breather; while the lumpy dragon had suffered quite a bit of damage, the bird was on the brink. The sudden explosion sent pressure waves throughout the arena, with Drampa bowling over from the oppressive attack. Groaning, it slowly got back up to an upright position; it was almost over, just a little bit more, just a little more to endure! Drampa sent two more sonic attacks towards the ghostly monster; hopefully the bird would recover enough in the meantime. 250 / 1,901
There were sounds of sound itself sucking away and into a fixed point, that point being Giratina. It sucked all the way to that point until sound itself was muted, even the ringing itself could not be heard -- not even a thought. Sight dimmed and faded as the realm collapsed completely and a massive and jarring explosive sound was heard that ended in the shattering of glass, leaving Juch, Chamomile and their beastly companions alone in the Nothingness. They could see each other and only each other. Drampa and Orocorio both started to glow, a vibrant and more jarring color of rainbows cloaking their bodies before a snap of that color broke from their bodies and their colors were much different. Drampa’s cool bluish green coat had become golden in color and Oricorio had swapped her color pallete, the purple's becoming light blues and the light blues to purples. Once that had happened, two shards also appeared above their heads and smashed together to form a crystal -- the artifact needed to open the Nowhere Dimension! A portal opened up just a few feet in-front of them, ready to swallow them up and spit them out of this realm. 198/ 198 Puar's Total WC: 198 Oolong's Total WC: 2,459 Juch's Total WC: 1,901 Room Word Count: 4,558
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