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"Hey! Melissa disappeared! Something's fishy!"

Not even a few moments after the fighting seemed to stop, Trevor heard this deafening voice. He looked to the direction of where this strange unison filled voice came from, and then noticed something else...one of the young ladies and the one young individual were no longer around. It was, quite strange indeed...and yet, Trevor could definitely sense a strong magical presence and energy around this whole area...possibly it was even present in this world he found himself in.

Honestly...he truly couldn't tell.

Nevertheless, before the young sorcerer could do much of anything, or even start moving...there entered another...

"You'll get to fight all you want later. Right now you need to go to the Arena. You'll get your answers there. Get going. You don't want me getting more involved than I already have."

"Arena?" Trevor asked, to no one in particular as he looked at the strange young man. He wasn't there to begin with, he knew that. But almost from out of thin air, this man seemed to just appear and walk between the creature in purple and the man with an eye-patch. There seemed to be...an air about him. Although, Trevor couldn't tell if it was a sinister air or just one of a foreboding nature. Regardless of the answer to this, he cleared his throat and stepped forward. "So it would seem we're being told to move along." he said, turning slightly to look at the others. "Perhaps we should heed the warnings of our mysterious 'friend' here and just move forward."

As much as he didn't want to just outright listen to this man shrouded in mystery, they might not have much of a choice. And given two of their little group had already moved ahead and then vanished, perhaps they needed to move on...if only to get answers to their dilemma.

"So, shall we?" he asked, already making his way to leave the park, before simply nodding and tipping his hat towards the mysterious stranger.

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The way they were going felt... wrong. At first, it was just uncomfortable to be in such a wide open city environment, with flying cars that put Duel Runners to shame, but it only got worse as they went. Things seemed to get seedier and seedier as the shifter tried to catch up to Melissa, until they were headed through what was likely the red light district. And, as luck would have it, the stares grew more obvious. Burning into their skin. Sure, their hooded appearance would draw attention... Especially if they were following a young girl... Through the bad part of the city... Oops.

"Melissa!" the shifter called out, closing their eyes as they sprinted to her side in one final burst, breathing a bit heavily as they stopped in front of an alleyway. "I don't think this is the right w-"

"Hey. Who're you, huh? We're the Spike Brothers and we know everyone in these parts. But we ain't never seen you before. Where'd you come from that you think you can just walk on past without so much as a gift for us, huh?"

As the two of them were surrounded, memories began to roll in their head. How would they react? What was the correct course of action? After all, stepping down to the level of these boorish men was stupid... But it was clear there would be no talking their way out of it. So maybe, just maybe...

Looking at the seeming leader, the shifter lifted their face just enough to have their eyes meet his, pulling the hood open just so he could see their face, a glimmer of yellow visible to Melissa as they turned. As they spoke, it came out somehow more garbled than before, almost otherwordly.

"I don't know. Who am I?"

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Fen was startled once again as the booming voice came out from ahead of them. Surprised to see that it came from what was once the garbled mess of a coherent shape - though mostly because she had pinned them as a more soft spoken type - the girl then registered the contents of the message. The other girl that had been with them had seemed to vanish. She didn't see hide nor hair of her next to the shape shifting person that had called out, and it seemed that they hadn't either. Concerned about what was going on, the girl looked towards the two combatants, still seeing that there still seemed to be a bit of tension in the air. She didn't really want to leave these two alone as she wasn't sure that they wouldn't kill each other if left to their own devices and she could tell that she wasn't entirely alone in this opinion either. As such it became a matter of the group divvying up and deciding who would watch after them and who would go help the shapeshifter, but of course that didn't seem particularly ideal either. 

As the girl was mulling on this, another voice appeared near them. One telling them to move along and head towards the answers they sought. The girl blinked a few times, as she looked at the source of this voice. He hadn't been there moments ago, but now here he was. She hadn't sensed anything like a sudden influx of magic in the area nor were their any tell tale signs that he had teleported in. And there wasn't a rush of wind so it wasn't like he moved in at super speeds either. He was just suddenly there. The girl was befuddled by this, wondering how he could've possibly just appeared without her noticing a single hint of it. 

Still, this confusion could only last for so long as his words seemed to spur Trevor to action. Nodding alongside him, Fen said, "right yes, answers. I'd like to know where we are and all," as she had learned everyone would as well." And Melissa- " the girl looked back to see the other one had vanished as well, "er, both of them are gone. And we need to find them, right? So uh..." The girl began to shuffle away towards the exit, before looking back to the mystery man. Giving a small bow she said, "thank you for your assistance, and all." With that, she began to walk out of the park. 

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The flying cars were new -- they were something she wasn’t used to back in Ambrosia -- but Melissa tried really hard not to gawk too much, lest she draw more attention to herself than she already did in her current getup. It was weird, actually. She still felt some level of comfort from it, but back at school the attention was just “the girl who wears a habit every Sunday” and that was if they even noticed her at all! She had to avoid making eye-contact with those people too, though the more she avoided everyone else’s gaze by staring straight ahead at her destination, the more she was sure they were looking at her. It was a vicious cycle, really, escalating in intensity with each step until-

“Melissa!” It was the shifter, calling out to her from just a small distance away (Had they been following her this whole time?). Of course, the moment she turned to confirm this was when she realized the change in scenery. The buildings were still large, but nowhere near as large as they were before, and their displays were of the more “pleasures of the flesh” kind. “I don’t think this is the right w-”

The right way? “You don’t feel it too?” she said, gesturing in the direction of the pull. It was pretty difficult to ignore, she thought, and if they all had to cross through less desirable areas to get there, then so be it, she thought.

But then she saw what had cut them off. A group of six men had emerged from an alleyway, each with more green spikes in their hair than the last. Each of them had a metal pipe in their hands and each of them looked like they were willing to use it. The one with six spikes on their head stepped further than the rest. “We’re the Spike Brothers and we know everyone in these parts. But we ain't never seen you before. Where'd you come from that you think you can just walk on past without so much as a gift for us, huh?”

These weren’t the intimidation tactics Melissa was used to. Back on Ambrosia, she was taught that even people trying to do harm to you would challenge you to Duel Monsters first; that was why she had picked the game up in the first place, as a form of self-defence. But with only one card and no duel disk on her person, it didn’t seem like initiating the challenge on her end was the best idea either. She had some money, of course, but she doubted they would take it.

Before she could think further about exactly how she was supposed to respond, the shifter stepped forward with their own solution. Melissa could only see a flash of yellow beneath their grey hoodie, but with the way their voice changed under the hood she could imagine it was something terrible. “Who am I?” the shifter asked.


When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
-Exodus 34:30 (NIV)

Spike Brother Six staggered back a bit. “Gah, keep that hood down you freaking freaky… freak!” he said. “What the freak are you supposed to be?” The rest of them, too, were clearly unsure, but they still brandished their pipes in anticipation of a fight, something Melissa wasn’t ready in body or mind to give them.

The voices in her head reappeared, sounding slightly different but still as familiar as they could be for something she hadn’t heard until, like, an hour ago her time. Melissa, it may be possible to offer assistance here as well.

She remembered the cherub in all its radiant glory, and especially remembered the two blades at their hip. I don’t want to hurt anyone, she thought.

Hopefully, that will not be necessary. This would merely be an extension of what the shifter already proposed.

Okay, like, she wasn’t about to get her face warped into some nightmarish visage, was she? Melissa wasn’t sure how the shifter was doing it or managing in the meantime but she was very sure the process could not be replicated on her. Or she hoped it couldn’t. The other option that sprang to mind was to just take off while everyone was distracted, but she wasn’t sure she could get away from several grown men.

Alright,” Melissa said aloud, “Let me just…” She got down on her knees, just like she had in the park, even if it was significantly less comfortable on the hard sidewalk.

Okay.


It is the same feeling as before, and is already familiar to her. Again, she is standing just behind her kneeling form, observing the Spike Brothers’ collective reactions to the shifter through a dreamlike haze, and again, a flash of light from outside her vision draws her attention away.

The angel is different than the one she is expecting. The cherubic humanoid she saw the first time is replaced by one significantly more alien. “Wheels within wheels” is the phrase that comes to mind, with eyes on the rims. But she does not feel fear. She knows this is an ophan, and if it is anything like the cherub it means her no harm.

She can sense the ophan’s gaze looking upon everything in every direction, though it is specifically focused on the Spike Brothers. Leave us alone, the ophan says.

One of them obeys, already retreating into the alleyway from whence he came. Another, however, is braver than the others. He takes his metal pipe and lobs it in a high arc aimed at the angel. It is a large target -- most any throw would strike true on something as tall as a human and equally as wide -- but the pipe merely glances off before clattering to the ground.

Again, the ophan speaks: Do not test our patience.

It is this combined with the shifter’s continued efforts that finally convinces the lead Spike Brother. “Where’s all these freaks coming from, anyway?” he says, before turning to his brethren. “Let’s get outta here. You better not come back here again; next time The Boss gonna be wanna talk to ya! And The Boss don’t mess around!”

The other brothers agree. “Don’t mess around! Don’t mess around!” they repeat as they all shrink back into the alleyway, out of sight.

A moment later, the ophan disappears as well, vanishing just like the cherub did: in another flash of light.


It had surely only been a few moments but Melissa still felt a little ache in her knees from having been on the ground. That was not the primary emotion she was feeling, though; she felt just as relieved as she had back in the park. “Thank you,” she said, both inwardly and to the shifter. “Hopefully, we haven’t just attracted the wrong kind of attention, and honestly, I don’t want to stick around and find out.

She went a few steps further in the direction of the pull but remembered the concern from just before the Spike Brothers appeared and paused to let the shifter catch up. “Maybe there’s more like that this way, maybe it’s worse, but at the same time, it’s still the only hint we’ve got right now,” she said.

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Some of the others seemed interested in not having the park around them explode either Aduain was happy to find out. Of particular interest was was the weird little flowers that had appeared over Roy and Mr. Purple. It seemed like some sort of healing hatsu but was still not quite like anything the hunter had seen before. The fish boy was about to make it a point to go and introduce himself to Trevor to understand the trick but something caught his attention. A shout stating something was fishy. Aduain was fishy. But somehow it seemed if that was literal it would have happened when they all first came to in the area. So Aduain concluded this had to be one of those figures of speech humans were really fond of. He liked them too he just wasn't great at following them all the time.

This distraction turned into a chain of distractions as a mysterious person appeared out of nowhere. He seemed intent on there not needing to be any further interventions between the two combatants. More importantly, he spoke to the group at large stating answers to their questions were in the city. Well he said Arena but Aduain could only imagine that was somewhere in the city. At this point, the girl with the amorphous person both couldn't be seen anywhere in the park so they must have really gotten a move on ahead of the others. That magic man and the other girl present both wanted to follow suit was all Aduain needed to know it was time to get on out of here. And now there was little to distract him from what he had originally intended to ask. With a quick pole vault of his trident he at Trevor's side.

"Heya!" the fish greeted the man after getting some residual giggling out of his system from the leap. "Name's Aduain, I'm a Hunter. That's some real cool nen you were using there on those two. Dunno that I ever met someone with a healing hatsu, nevermind that looked like little plant things in the process." He would give the man some time to answer before running up ahead a bit of him and Fen to try and get to the city faster. Still he didn't wanna leave any more of the group behind than he had to. In fact he ended up walking backwards to be able to talk with any of the other people who had arrived here with him when suddenly they all disappeared from view, causing him to tumble backwards a bit. Upon standing up he seemed to be in the city but there was so much more going on than any view from the park could have ever given him. People, machines and lights everywhere. It was overwhelming for a moment as he took it all in from his back lying on the ground. Still, one couldn't lay about forever and there was still a nagging sensation in his mind of somewhere he needed to go. The boy hopped to his feet to get a proper look around. Before too long some of the others who were on the way out with Aduain came back into view. Nothing much about Prana made sense but that just made it all the more exciting.

"This way I guess!" Aduain declared with uncertainty and enthusiasm despite it all. It wouldn't be long before the fish saw a bright flash of light in the direction they were going which was either a sign of trouble or an indication they were going the right direction. The fish picked up the pace, wanting to track the light source down before it moved too far away. It proved fairly easy for him to weave in and out of the various people moving about the town until the two from earlier finally came into view some several minutes after their handling of the Spike Brothers, not that Aduain had seen any indication of them. At least Aduain thought it was them. The person that didn't have a shape never looked the same from moment to moment so it was hard to decide if it was the same shapeless person or not. But then Aduain had never met someone like them before so Prana would have to be really weird to have more than one running around. The girl by their side though, Melissa he believed he'd heard her referred to as, she definitely seemed like the same person from the park. All this thinking about if these were the right people was well and good but this along with the distractions of the city had also prevented Aduain from making sure not to run into either of them. And the city wasn't exactly made of stuff he could plant his trident into to stop himself.

"Heads up!" he shouted in alarm to warn Melissa and Devin of the incoming fish. With a little luck he hoped to run right between the two, maybe trip a bit and finally come to a stop some five feet in front of them. That was the plan anyway. How gracefully executed it would be remained to be seen.

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As she approached Trevor, it seemed that the fish man - Aduain - was keen on leaving the park as well. With the others still seeming to sort the conflict out between themselves, Fen had felt it good to move on now with at least half of them feeling the same. And so, after noting on what Trevor had done - using a few terms she was unfamiliar with and leaving her slightly confused as to what he was talking to the boy about in the first place - the fish man had gone ahead. Though he was walking backwards, that did little to help Fen see him once he crossed the threshold, vanishing entirely from sight. Looking to the book mage, Fen  shrugged and said, "here goes nothing?" Taking a deep breath, the girl stepped forward and crossed the threshold. 

The girl's eyes were briefly overloaded as she walked outside of what was now clearly some kind of bubble. The various multi colored lights that she could see through the park seemed to be all the brighter, as if they were all suddenly flaring to life, dazzled her. This was made no better by the sudden burst of sound that accompanied it as well coming from the hustle and bustle of the people milling about, the vehicle that seemed to be flying around along with other miscellaneous things the girl couldn't place. The whole thing was quite overwhelming and the girl couldn't help but stepping a bit back towards the bubble they had just come from, not entirely equipped to deal with all of this at once. 

Fen continued to look, though, now trying to process all of the people here. In spite of their strange fashion from her own and Trevor's as well as the fact that they likely just appeared out of nowhere, the people didn't seem to be all that bothered by their presence. Looking to the sky, the girl as well as saw something that baffled her; something akin to a wheel-less carriage or maybe closer to a more compact yet still wheel-less train car. And there seemed to be a whole lot of them at that. The girl scratched her head, only more confused by all the sights muttering, "getting answers would be very nice." 

Seeing Aduain rush off and seeing a light follow, the girl figured that was as good as any a direction to chase after. Keeping pace behind the fish boy, her eyes brightened as she saw that Melissa and presumably Devin were standing around not too far from them. Giving a wave to them, she shouted, "hey guys!" Though, quickly made her way more over as she saw Aduain's own charge of sorts end in a crash of some variety. Looking to the three of them she said, "are you uh, are you guys alright?" 

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Cyan found himself propelled backwards by a spout of water, which seemed to at least temporarily douse the flames surrounding his obsidian shell. The fish had managed to separate him from Roy, Cyan landing on the ground still very much on fire. With a groan, Cyan snapped his finger, the black substance around his body receding as the flames flickered away. Opening his mouth released an alarming amount of smoke, almost like there was a fire inside of him. Approaching him were the magic boys, a strange green circle appearing around him as the one with the silly hat spoke. He gave the hatted one a scowl, before turning to Masaru. "Eh? I said where we were! It's Prana, dumb ass! Or some bastardized version of it, anyways..." He said, clearly annoyed. "Why the fuck am I stuck here explaining shit, anyways! Isn't she suppose to do that!?"

As he ranted, the mysterious man showed up out of thin air, seemingly annoyed that the two had started a fight. "Finally!" Not quite what he as looking for, but it was something. At least he knew that the Arena still existed; if that were the case, there were probably other similarities to his old new world as well. Which meant that, if this place wasn't a complete bastardization, there would be a bar at the Arena. He turned towards Masaru, his sword fading to smoke as he took some steps forwards. "Let's get the fuck out of here. We've got places to go and people to see." He cracked his knuckles, grinning. "More importantly, we've got drinks to drink! Bwahaha!"

Whether anyone had followed him or not, Cyan marched on wards, scowling as he patrolled the streets. The lights were somehow more obnoxious than they were from the park, causing him to squint occasionally. The noise from the people walking around him wasn't helping, especially as he caught a few of them glancing at him, although most seemed to be busy with their own thing. He wasn't even sure if he was going the right way; even though his gut was telling him that he was, the whole city felt like an overwhelming maze. Still, Cyan was never one to distrust his guy. It had, after all, always served him well. Grumpily, he marched onward, determined to find the arena.

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The fish had managed to neutralize both of them with what appeared to be minimal effort. Despite the shockwave from his upward-pointed hand being enough to visibly warp the air above him, its effect seemed to cease only a few hundred feet up. Something here isn't as it seems…

He was scolded by the fish, before what looked like a Britannian Jester did some kind of trick that was supposed to heal him. Laughable, since Roy hadn't taken any damage. While the rest of the group seemed to be discussing what to do next (or perhaps not, Roy wasn't paying them any mind) he stared up to the sky, slowly dispersing his aura back throughout his body, carefully, so as not to damage his thaumatic circulatory system. What the hell is up there… is it a projected ceiling? he had seen a conjurer's trick where they made a wall seem to disappear, by shining a special light on it. That was at a theatre him and Morgan briefly attended while on tour. Even he prepared a second attack, this time prioritizing the fish, he could hear her words in his head.

"Roy, you're the single-strongest soldier I've ever seen. But we're outnumbered, outgunned, and I'm barely keeping Big Turtle in one piece as it is. Surrendering is the wiser choice here; no matter how strong you are, you can't put it to any use if you get killed."

"Morgan…" Hardly any sound escaped his lips, likely not enough for any of his would-be companions to hear, as his lips only opened the slightest amount, the faintest trace of a breath forming the name. That's right. I need to get back to her. Back home.

He flooded his eyes and ears with aura once again, both expanding his senses as far as they would go and bringing his attention to the man now standing in front of him.

"You'll get to fight all you want later. Right now you need to go to the Arena. You'll get your answers there."

He didn't need to say where. Roy had felt the rug ever since he had arrived. But he had no intention of going quietly like a little autohound an aristocrat would take around town. And so, he took a step toward the man. "Whoever the hell is waiting there had better have a compelling argument on why I shouldn't kill every last one of you, or be prepared to kill me first. I would recommend sending a letterbug back with that so they can have their answer ready when I get there."

Pushing past the man, he quickly caught up to Cyanthrax. "Demon," his tone was laced with venom, clearly mocking the man for his declared race, "you were explaining this place to them earlier. What the hell am I up against up ahead?"
 

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The mysterious pull would take those who followed it through the city for a while longer. Past the park. Past the office buildings. Past the bars. Once out of those areas they would find themselves among apartment buildings. And right after that they would emerge into a large, open, area.

For a large stretch there was only one building in the middle of a field of grass and pavement. The sun was starting to set but there were bright lights coming from the single building in the area. A building that seemed to tower over everything due to the lack of anything else around it.

The building itself wasn't quite as tall as some of the offices and apartments they passed, roughly ten stories high, but it was incredibly wide. It seemed to be circular and upon first glance looked to be made of stone. When they got closer they could see the building had absolutely no sign of wear and the "stone" was actually metallic and simply shaped to resemble a stone building.

Screens were set up across the walls of the building that were playing various scenes of combat. People facing off against each other in various battlefields. A massive sign at the top of the building marked it as "Mauvache's Arena."

The doorway was inside of a large arch and, as they approached it, lights would flash and something along the sides of the archway scanned them. The doors opened up and they would be able to see the interior. A marble floor led up to a semi-circular desk where a young man stood looking at a pair of screens at waist-level.

When they entered he looked up. But, as he opened his mouth to greet them all who entered would be surrounded by a bright light.

When it faded they found themselves in another room.

The floor, ceiling, and walls, were covered in large black panels lined with a blue light. No doors could be seen and beyond each other they couldn't see anything else in the room.

Then from the ceiling a screen descended. It turned on to reveal a woman dressed in black standing in front of a sturdy-looking desk.

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"Hello! And welcome to my Arena! My name is Mauvache and it was I who called out to you and summoned you here. I am happy you all arrived here safely. Thank you, Nezar, for watching over them." She inclined her head and the group would notice the dark haired man from before standing off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I am sure you are very confused. I suppose I shall get to the point. This is not your world. Nor is it even your universe. I know this is hard to accept but I can offer you nothing more than the truth of my words." She made a gesture and the room was suddenly covered in light. Stars and planets surrounded them. Moving slowly in a circle just above their head. "We are on the planet Rama-Indri. A place that has had its fill of misfortune. The city you are in now, Prana, is one of the only remaining on the planet and it is in grave danger."

"Which is why I called out to you. Heroes from other worlds. You and those like you are our only hope to keep this bastion of civilization from coming to ruin."

Her video feed faded away and in its place was a view of a building somewhere in the city. With the word "recording" at the bottom of the screen. As they watched the building exploded and monstrous creatures appeared on the screen and started attacking people.

The video paused and then half the screen filled with Mauvache again. "Creatures from other worlds, even beings similar to our own citizens but much, much, more dangerous, have begun to appear in my beloved city. Try as we might our own defenses do little to these fiends. I found that, beyond some exceptional cases, nothing from our own world truly can stand up to them. Which is why I began looking elsewhere. Using my vast knowledge of magic I was able to bring warriors who could stand up to these foes. People, like yourselves, from different universes."

She sighed. "I wish it were not necessary but I'm afraid I know of no other way. Which is why I am reaching out to you. Please, help my city, my planet, protect my home."

She smiled. "Of course I do not expect you to do this for nothing. You will find this world to be filled with many incredible things. Knowledge, experiences, material goods you could never have dreamed to obtain until now. All these things will be open to you to make your own. All I ask is that, when danger to my city rises, you protect this place and its people. Think of it as a job of sorts. You do this and I provide you with housing. And income that you can spend on anything you'd like. I know it is much to ask and I'm sure you have many questions and demands. Whatever it is you inquire on I will do my best to answer. Though there are things I do not know...granted that is an incredibly small amount if I do say so myself."

Spoiler

I tried to cram the important information in there without being too wordy and scattered. I probably failed but I tried.

I'll say I don't want to linger on this scene for TOO long but feel free to use this period to threaten, ask, demand, whatever of Mauvache. Please direct your responses to me if you want Mauvache to respond to them to make this flow easier.

I know it's a bit of a shaky set up but hopefully it'll help to bring the characters up to speed.

 

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The scenery...truly it looked like nothing from the Ever, aside from TRON.ERR.EXE and San Fransokyo and it truly showed as the sun set, the countless lights from the buildings...but one shone brighter: "Mauvache's Arena". What this place was, Trevor knew not, but it was obvious that this was a big to do building considering the various videos and footage of various combat scenes. Perhaps the sport here in this Arena was combat? It wouldn't be unheard of, after all, TRON.ERR.EXE happened to have arenas for Light Cycle races and even whatever sport/game they had using those discs they had...what were they called...Identity Discs?

Nevertheless, he'd have to think more of that later. Namely due to the fact that once he and those others entered the Arena interior...they were surrounded by a bright light...and brought into another darker room. ...seriously getting that time we appeared in the Soul World...or did Olli and the Councilman call it the "Station of Unremembered"? he thought to himself, before the room was granted light by the blue light and then by the screen who projected a woman with a top hat on.

"Hello! And welcome to my Arena! My name is Mauvache and it was I who called out to you and summoned you here. I am happy you all arrived here safely."

It was a name that truly didn't resonate with Trevor at all, but it was clear that this was her arena and that she did summon them. But for what purpose?

"I am sure you are very confused. I suppose I shall get to the point. This is not your world. Nor is it even your universe. I know this is hard to accept but I can offer you nothing more than the truth of my words. We are on the planet Rama-Indri. A place that has had its fill of misfortune. The city you are in now, Prana, is one of the only remaining on the planet and it is in grave danger."

This caused Trevor's eyes to widen. He was aghast at hearing this Mauvache just blatantly saying this...just simply confirming that there were indeed other worlds. U-Unbelievable! How careless!! he thought, whilst trying to compose himself the to best of his ability. Why would she just give credence and confirmation to them of other worlds like that? Does she not understand the World Order needs to be upheld? Unless...unless those rules don't reach here? Hmmm, I may need to ask her privately... Trevor kept pondering this, whilst watching the screen and hearing the explanation of needing help against these strange creatures that plagued Prana, but regardless of this...he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

"...I know it is much to ask and I'm sure you have many questions and demands. Whatever it is you inquire on I will do my best to answer. Though there are things I do not know...granted that is an incredibly small amount if I do say so myself."

"From one epic to another..." Trevor muttered, glancing down at his grimoire, before stepping forward some. "If I may, Mauvache was it? Trevor Masters, apprentice to Balthazar Blake, sorcerer of the 777th degree. I do have a question...you called for us, but does this mean you've seen into our worlds to see our aptitude and abilities? If so...allow me to ask, do these creatures resemble in power and stature enemies and creatures we've fought in the past?"

She looked towards Trevor. Seeming to give it some thought. "It's quite possible that many foes you face will be equal to some of the strongest you've meet. This will not be an easy job to take but, I hope, that makes it even more clear why I ask you all to take it."

"Not an easy job...you say that as if not knowing that what most, if not all, have gone through quite the ordeal. But if these creatures may be similar in strength and power to the Undecided, then I should have no problem." he smirked, simply tipping his hat. "All the more reason for me to assist, as from the looks of it, this may be the reason I haven't been returned home from my previous venture." Trevor gave a look at Mauvache and began to chuckle. "You have the magic of myself and my grimoire at your disposal, my dear. I will have to request a private conversation with you sometime, if you would allow. There is a great deal I'd like to ask you."

"My my. Well, I'm rather busy. But perhaps I can make some time. After all I want to be sure you're happy here. Otherwise what kind of hostess would I be?"

Trevor tipped his hat once more, a smile on his face. "I eagerly await the time we can speak." he said, the Cabanomicon already floating up to him as he opened it up and proceeded to write once more in it:

The location I've been summoned to has a name: Rama-Indri, the planet, and the city, Prana. While it's beautiful location and scenery reminds me of worlds I've traveled to during my time in the Ever, it seems it has been plagued by creatures that should not belong. And while they seem to not be anywhere near similar to the Undecided or even the Heartless, I've been told by the planet's own Mauvache that they are quite strong...possibly equally strong. It seems to show exactly why I was summoned here...if these things are similar in strength and power to the Undecided, then someone of my abilities and knowledge need be here...I only wish Olli and the others could've joined me. Alas, tis fate that brought me here...and tis fate that wanted me alone from my group of friends.

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It appeared the commotion had indeed attracted attention, though thankfully most of it was in the form of people she’d already seen, with both Fen and the fish person bounding up from behind, the latter significantly more energetic than the former to the point that he very nearly knocked Melissa off her feet as he skittered up, his “heads up!” coming just moments too late for her to react in any way other than just accepting the inevitable.

Fen, for her part, immediately ran up afterwards. “Are you guys okay?” she said.

Physically she was as fine as she could be after having been run into by a fish person. The Spike Brothers, for all their bluster, hadn’t made things worse on that front. Actually, even mentally she was mostly okay, which surprised her. Her fearful adrenaline had been put towards something useful -- moving forwards towards wherever they had been called -- and some of what was left felt like it had dissipated along with the ophan, like one had caused the other. Or maybe it was that there was no longer a tangible threat; there was that too. But at the same time, that lingering “not knowing where she was” feeling was still a stressor, especially when there were three other people apparently following her. That the Spike Brothers could come back, that was a stressor also. And the existence of a demon somewhere in the city. And…

So the answer was no, not really, not that she could say that out loud. Melissa opted for “I’m alright,” instead, and tried to push the focus of the conversation somewhere else. She turned to the fish person and knelt down to help him back to his feet. “Sorry, I should have been paying more attention.

“No, that was all me,” he said. “Fins weren’t really made for sidewalks. Just glad we were able to catch up after you two disappeared.”

Well, we got into a bit of a spikey situation,” Melissa said, “Um, but there’s safety in numbers, right? Do you know if anyone else is coming too?

It was Fen who answered that one, looking back in the direction they came from and saying, “Ah well, um, I don't think so? They seemed pretty wrapped up in… well, they didn't seem wrapped up anymore because of the other new guy who told us to move but. Ah, well, I think we're all that’s going. For now. Hopefully.”

Melissa bit her lip. “Well, I’m sure they’ll catch up. I don’t really want to wait around here any longer.

The addition of a “new guy” was weird to Melissa. Obviously, if someone had put the pull feeling in everyone it stood to reason that they had the capacity to watch them too, but that didn’t mean knowing she was probably still being watched wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling. Hopefully, there was an answer for that too.


How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
-Psalm 13:2-3 (NIV)

Oh.

Oh.

When Melissa had gone looking for answers, she had kind of been hoping that the answers would still match up with some version of the worldview she already had. Like, yeah, the fish and the shifter were anomalous to any of that, but that was what revisions were for, and the fact that they existed -- that they were physical things that she had touched -- meant that they weren’t about to be ignored. But on other matters, on things like, say, location, she had been hoping that she’d just been launched outside Ambrosia somehow. Sure, that would have meant a whole dome-wide coverup as to the state of the exterior world, but that was easier to swallow than this.

Others were taking it a bit easier. One of the wizards, seemingly not bothered at all, introduced himself as Trevor and immediately started pressing on the exact nature of the monsters they were supposed to be fighting. Admittedly, Melissa didn’t quite follow everything that was said in that exchange, but the mention again of fighting back the darkness did lead her to focus back on one specific word that was mentioned.

“Warriors,” Mauvache said she wanted. That only prompted the immediate follow-up question. “Okay, but if you were searching for warriors, why me? Why am I here?

But Mauvache just smiled and said, “I found exactly what I was searching for, do not worry about that, young Melissa.” Which didn’t even answer anything, but the tone had just enough authority to cause Melissa to reflexively shrink back.

What did that even mean, anyway? There wasn’t some intrinsic quality to her that nobody else possessed. And if it was a collection of qualities, like Mauvache was looking (for some reason) for the intersection of shy, God-fearing, and high-school-aged, that was not just her, especially not in all possible universes. The only part of her that stood out had happened in the last week (or last week for her, maybe time worked differently here), which, one: that was still just Duel Monsters and solved by doing Duel Monsters things, two: despite everyone claiming otherwise, it was not just her, and three: even ignoring those, from what she understood after the fact, the problem could have been solved by anyone with a computer science degree.

Perhaps she knew all that she was getting when she did the summoning, the voice(s) chimed in. And, okay, but the angels thing was an accident, right? It felt like it had so many factors that all had to work out just right. She had to have one of six special Duel Monsters cards on her person, she had to linger in that formless void for long enough for the voices to realize what was going on and formulate a plan, the plan had to actually work, something the voices hadn’t seemed so sure of at the time…

Or maybe that was the point and it wasn’t an accident. After all, if she found a pocket watch lying on the ground, intricate and unique in design, with so many moving parts that she dared not describe what any individual gear did, wouldn’t she assume there was a watchmaker responsible? That the gears didn’t just fall into place by chance? But that would mean…

What the fuck did you do to me?

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If only the air were water, Aduain might have been able to avoid running into Melissa. But as the air was very much not water the fish had nearly knocked her over before stumbling and getting back to his feet. The others who had left the park with the fish showed up to make sure everything was fine and the two exchanged some words. Thankfully, no one was hurt so it wasn't that long before the now even bigger group of near strangers were on their way toward the mental pull together. The group made it to Mauvache's Arena, as the building called itself, without further incident but all the while the fish was making excited observations of the fairly obvious to the others. Even the slightest things seemed enough to impress him which caught more than a few curious glances from passerby. Inside the building was no different as the bunny-eared man came into view. It was just such a unique sight that the hunter couldn't help but get worked up thinking about how something like that had happened. They didn't look glued on anyway so that left weird nen applications to explain it. There wasn't much time to bug the man about it before the group was swept away to a room covered in screens.

Aduain rolled from one thrill to the next with little issue or reservation. Everything about being in Prana was so stimulating there was no point to compartmentalizing things. Just taking what he could get and moving on was going to be the order of business. More than the strange figure that appeared on the screen, Aduain seemed riveted at the appearance of the large screen she spoke from high up in the room above them. The hunter had seen screens on tvs and computers but never anything quite this slim or seemingly disconnected from discernible power sources or inputs. He wanted to touch it to make sure but a quick hop confirmed it was farther away than he thought. This led to progressively higher hops to get a feel for how much he'd have to put into it to reach. The words Mauvache spoke were not particularly processing in the fish's mind but he got the request at least. She wanted help protecting her people. He already did a lot of that as a hunter so it seemed like an easy yes from him. Trevor and Melissa spoke in turn as Aduain's leaps got closer and closer to touching the screen above.

"My, my, well, I brought you here." Mauvache said to Melissa with a clearly confused tone. "But I already said that so I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean." She continued but before Melissa could voice any response her attention was distracted by Aduain finally putting his all into a jump and tapping the bottom of the screen before falling less than gracefully back to the floor. "Can I help you?" she asked him, clearly amused from his antics. The hunter had managed to avoid falling down for the dozenth time so far in Prana so he was thankfully feeling ready to speak to his curious host.

"I dunno about other worlds or universes but the job sounds like what I was doing as a Hunter so I'll just keep doing what I do here, no problem!" Aduain started enthusiastically. Though there were some loose ends to work out of course. "But you can send us back when it's all over right? I was on the verge of an ocean shaking discovery." the hunter commented, the thought of what he was finding in the sea floor ruins returning to his mind. It felt like so much had happened already but it really had not been long since he had arrived here. 

Mauvache gave a chuckle. "Yes I suppose this is old hat for you. Well...I should be able to, yes." She responded. Aduain seemed content knowing he could eventually get back to his dive in his world when a sudden realization flashed across his face.

"Oh! You guys have more water than that fountain right? I'll be fish jerky in a week if there's not a pool or something." the hunter asked, clearly concerned. The concern was multi-layered. For one, if that was all the water they had, he'd feel bad about having swam in it. But also he'd go crazy if that was all he had to work with, never mind the drying out.

"Well, yes, there are plenty of pools. Some large enough to be considered a beach, even!" the woman in the screen replied. Aduain placed his hands on his hips, just below his gills, and put on a confident posture and tone of voice.

"Well, I'll have to be the judge of that!" the fish declared. He was content to end the conversation with her there to allow the others to speak but this time Mauvache spoke first to him.

"Ah, there's something I'd like to bring up, as well. You see while I do not mind it, some people may be uncomfortable with how, ah, out in the open you are." she said as a doorway slid open off to the side. A ball-shaped robot with a pair of pincer arms holding a tray came out towards Aduain with what eventually became clear were a tie and pair of shorts. Aduain was putting together what she had been referring to, his utter lack of clothing given he'd been diving, though not entirely. The robot held his attention the longest, it was such a curious thing. But the boy eventually settled the tie loosely about his neck before putting the shorts onto his head, sliding a few of the tentacle protrusions on his head through one of the legs to keep it in place as his new hat. That had to be what she was on about right, after all she had a hat on. Maybe hats were just common courtesy here. That could be fun.

"Cool stuff, thanks!" he spoke as he degraded into incessant giggling as he hopped to the edge of the room. The fish started doing his best to try and see something of his reflection in one of the various screens in the room. He'd get a solid look later in a mirror or pool or something but for now he needed to know just a little bit how cool he looked.

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When the others approached, the shifter began to withdraw into themselves a bit. Too many people. Too suddenly. Unsure which memories were best here. Instead, they stuck close to Melissa. It wasn't safe for her to run off again, even with those... things she had. They were in a place they didn't know, yet the shifter had already grown a bit fond of her. At least, enough to stay with her, rather than the rest of their supposed companions. Fen seemed fine, the fish seemed harmless, but... who could really know? All they knew was that Melissa had helped them, so they would stick to her for the time being.

Even as they found themselves before their summoner, the shifter simply listened. A fantastical story of being pulled to another world to save it from destruction, live feeds to potentially guilt or incentivize them into doing what Mauvache required of them, and a Q&A session, all seeming a bit too... neat for the shifter's taste. They patiently waited until a lull in the questions came up, then spoke up.

"... Who am I?" the shifter asked warily. "If you summoned me, then you should know who I am... right?"

"Ah." Mauvache leaned in and looked at them for a moment. "Ah I see... Yes, of course! You are Devin Kismet! A rather impressive person in your own right. You must be; you would not be here otherwise!"

"Devin, huh...?" the shifter's feet shifted a bit, emotion welling up inside of them, "You say that, but you don't sound very certain of it. Am I a five, a one, or am I not supposed to look behind the curtain?"

"My, my, don't you be silly. If you weren't what I, what we, needed then you would have not come this far! I may not know all there is about magic but I know this one very well! Not getting the very best for the job is not something I would accept."

"So, you're saying... I'm a villain?" 

The shifter's eye turned red and sharp from under the hood as they looked at Mauvache on the screen, voice a bit more cold.

"Why would you summon someone like that? It doesn't... make any sense. You wanted a hero, so you summoned a killer? Ha... there's no way. Either you willingly brought in a monster, or YOU'RE LYING!"

As their tone rose, reaching a shrieking yell, the humanoid collapsed to the floor, shaking and shuddering like earlier, gasping for air as their form lost its solid shape. There was no way. Out of all the memories, it was the wicked one...? It had... to be a mistake, there was no way... that was true...

"Now, now, calm down. Villain is a matter of perspective. You're surrounded by people who might be considered evil to some. If it pains you so to be told you are such...then you could easily change that here could you not? You're in an entirely new world after all."

Mauvache spoke, but the words were lost. Drowned out by a sea of questioning if it was true or not. What this suspicious woman wanted to achieve by saying that. What if it was true? Was their sense of trust in Melissa because she was easily manipulated...? The stress overtook them as they sank to the floor, all muscle tension giving out, passed out.

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Fen winced as the fish had tackled into the petite girl, but was glad to see that she was relatively unharmed. With their brief split up having been solved, mostly, the girl was then ready to get going towards their answers. And the answers they were presented with wasn't quite what she had been expecting. 

The group made their way into a large building that had been labeled as an arena, and further inside the building the group had found themselves in a large room filled with nothing but glowing blue panels. The girl was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a woman on these panels, wondering if the panels themselves were some kind of conduit for magic or something. The girl didn't really get far in her line of thinking, though, as the woman named Mauvache explained just what was going on. For starters, they were from another world. All of them. And all of them were summoned here with the sole purpose of fighting evil doers of various kinds. Also from other worlds. 

The girl was having a hard time processing everything, though the more she thought on it the more she thought it would be a good idea to work backwards on this matter. Beasts and villains from other worlds; she was used to fighting monsters and had fought her fair share of villainous, some of both that even had strength she wouldn't think possible. Otherworldly? That wasn't entirely accurate, all of it was quite grounded in her own world based on the principles of their magic even if sometimes taken to an extreme. But, for simplicity sake, that part was easy to understand. That it was attached to what would now be their new "job" made it even easier to comprehend.

Then there was the part about them being heroes; Fen hardly thought of herself as one, especially when compared to all of her other guildmates. As far as physicality, magic and creativity went, Fen felt like she was lacking in all of those aspects in comparison to her guildmates. From her fight with Skadi she was shown first and foremost how inferior and uninspired an ice mage she was, and at the end of the day all she was doing was copying Vincent. It wasn't like she could turn into a dragon or anything, so she didn't really understand why Mauvache had chosen her of all people. Maybe everyone else's schedules were too packed? Fen realized that didn't begin to remotely make sense, but the woman assured them that they were all chosen by her for a reason and even if Fen thought it was just lip service at the moment she would just go along and do her best anyway. 

Finally, they were from all other worlds - universes in fact...Well, she was sure she'd sort that out later. 

Before Fen could say anything, by the time she had finally sorted her thoughts together one of her companions suddenly started shouting. Looking towards the shapeshifter, Devin, as they started shrieking and panicking, before passing out on the floor, Fen stared blankly at them. Clearly shocked and not used to this situation - the one shapeshifter she knew never having a problem like this - the girl looked towards everyone, then back to the mass unsure if it was safe to touch or handle them the way they were now. Looking over to Mauvache the girl said, "are...um, are they alright? Like that? Uh..."

"Of course! Well, probably. The floor is clean at any rate."

"I...I see..." Fen knew how hard it was keeping a floor clean, so she was glad that was the case but she also wasn't sure if that the priority concern at the moment. Still, generally unsure with just about everything the girl did a small bow to the woman on screen saying, "well, um...I look forward to working with you..." She continued to glance towards the others after doing so. 

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Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
-Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)


She regretted the word the moment it burst from her lips, enough that Melissa only barely managed to stay her ground long enough to get a response out of Mauvache. The answer was an unsatisfying one, though, and Melissa instinctively rejected it because of that, flinching even as the message was delivered. Either Mauvache really didn’t know, which was scary enough, or she did and wasn’t telling, which was probably worse.

Melissa became acutely aware of her place in the room. She was centered amongst several strangers, many of whom she still did not know (and those that she did, she didn’t know very well). To her right, the fish person was gallivanting around with a pair of shorts for a hat. To her left, the shifter had literally melted into the floor. In front of her was a screen that she both dared not look at and dared not look away. It was as if all those questions she had been ignoring or putting off, well, now that she knew they probably wouldn’t be, the levy had well and truly broken and she was in danger of being washed away.

This is not meant to alarm you, oh, and of course there were also the probably multiple strangers in her own head, how could she forget those? but your pulse has accelerated rather quickly in these last few moments. Is there some-

She knew that! Her inner narrative blasted right through whatever advice the voices were trying to give. She could feel her heartbeat pounding against her chest, that telltale shortness of breath coming close behind, compounding the issue. It had happened so many times before, she knew what happened next.

At the same time, though, Melissa dared not run off. It wasn’t like Blue Yonder where she knew exactly where to go at any given moment just in case. For all she knew, the moment she stepped out of the room, Mauvache would just pop her back in again. Mauvache had just pulled her across the multiverse, what was ten meters?

Freezing in place was an option also, but firstly, that was already what she was doing and the whole point of the exercise was trying to find a way to not, and secondly, she knew from experience how bad of an option it was. There had to be something else, there had to be something 

And then her eyes fell back on the shifter. Devin -- somehow she retained Mauvache saying their name in the midst of all this -- who, while Melissa didn’t want to quantify meltdowns in comparison with others’, again, only one of theirs was literal (not to mention all the yelling). Somehow, that gave Melissa enough will to start moving again, and she quickly found herself kneeling by their head, doing her best to coax Devin back to consciousness. “Devin… Hey, Devin…” It felt more sympathetic than the last time she had done this, for whatever that was worth. Now they had things in common.

She looked back up at Mauvache for a moment. The obviousness of the screen projection was even more apparent thanks to Aduain’s fin-gerprints, though she tried not to focus on that. Instead, she wondered between still-ragged breaths if these reactions were part of Mauvache’s plan too, or at least within her expectations. It wasn’t a question she was about to ask out loud, of course -- she had so many of those already, and she wasn’t exactly in an “ask questions” sort of mood anymore.

Whatever the answer, Melissa returned her attention to the shifter on the floor. “Okay, Devin,” she whispered. “I don’t know if you can hear me wherever you are down there. I guess it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to come back up right away, but do know I’m here for you, at least.

Edited by radio414

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Cyanthrax turned towards Roy, who still looked absolutely furious. A wide grin stretched across his face as the man asked him the question. "Well, if this is anything like my version of this place... we're gonna meet up with a lady in a fancy hat, and she's going to tell us we're beating the shit out of each other for entertainment." He leaned in closer to Roy as he spoke, a trail of smoke leaving his mouth as he continued to speak. "See, all you had to do was ask! Even if fighting was more exciting." He exclaimed, turning around as he let out a cackle. "Now hurry the fuck up! The sooner we get this shit over with, the sooner I can get more drinks in me."

. . .

As Mauvache gave her speech, Cyan crossed his arms. Of course, even this wasn't anything like the Prana he knew - now they were defending the city instead of fighting each other? That seemed a lot less exciting, although from what it sounded like he was still getting paid to kick ass. He scoffed as she indirectly called him a hero, wondering exactly why he had been called here. The Mauv he knew summoned him specifically because he was villainous. Thinking about it, he still wasn't sure if this was even his Mauv, or if Mauv even had different versions. He had to make sure, at least to satiate his curiosity.

"Heyyy, Mauv, 'member me?" He said, walking up to the screen.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hm? I'm afraid I don't follow. Should I?"

The demon frowned, crossing his arms. "Nothing? Not even a name, or where I'm from?"

"Of course I know that. I brought you here. Did you not understand my explanation?" She responded.

Cyan stood there, baffled for a moment, his mind taking a moment to think. It didn't seem like this was the Mauvache he knew. "So you're no- ah, forget it." He said, with an exasperated sigh, turning around. "Getting real tired of this multi dimensional bullshit." He muttered, before turning his head back towards Mauv. "Can ya tell me where the nearest bar is? I need a drink."

"Why, that would be Tegur's Tavern, I can have someone direct you to it soon if you'd like."

"Perfect! I'm assuming that shit is on the house? Considering you did drag my ass here without a dollar to my name."

"Well, I do intend to pay you; you might as well ask him to put it on a tab for you. I'm certain he won't mind."

"Not even a free fucking drink, huh? Well, as long as I can get my drink now..." He growled, crossing his arms. "At least Tegur is still there... even if it's my Tegur. Or however the fuck this works." Mauv simply gave the demon a mysterious smile, which only caused him more frustration and confusion. At this point, he didn't even want to try and figure out what that meant - he just wanted his damn drink.

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FZv2xvc.jpg

Mauvache's smile was impossible to read. Her gaze swept over the group gathered before her. She was certain that one of them would soon cause another disruption of some sort. Perhaps to delay that her gaze settled on Masaru. "Silence does not suit you; I'm certain you have something you'd like to say?" She prompted. "Please, feel free to..."

A noise interrupted the woman mid-sentence.

She paused and glanced off to the side. As though looking at something. They could see the glare of a flashing red light on her face as she furrowed her brow. "Well then..."

Mauvache looked back at the group. "I am willing to bet I haven't even gotten to half of your questions but there seems to be a problem. One of the attacks I told you about is occurring right as we speak. I'm rather fond of the idea that it's best to learn on the job as it were. You will be able to witness first hand the threat that these anomalies pose to this city." They noticed Mauvache making some motions as she seemed to be fiddling with something just off screen. "This might tingle a bit but I assure you it's perfectly safe. And don't worry you won't be on your own for long. I will contact whoever else is in the area shortly."

She glanced over at Devin and frowned. Then, giving a small shrug, her shoulder moved in a way to indicate she was moving her hand across something.

Above them they would hear a buzzing noise and, before they could even look up, a bright light shone down on them and caused their vision to be filled with white. As Mauvache said they felt as though electricity was pulsing through their bodies and soon...

They were standing somewhere entirely different.

Concrete beneath their feet made up a large parking lot which had a large multitude of vehicles parked in sections marked off with a blue glow.

In front of them was a large, roughly triangular, building. A sign above a multitude of glass doorways indicated "Grand Prana Mall" and various other signs advertised names of stores and a multitude of sales.

There were people running about and shouting. Getting into vehicles and trying to flee in a panic. Some of them crashing into each other as they tried to run from something.

What that something was became apparent soon. As the ground rumbled and they could see something moving just underneath the concrete.

Suddenly a large creature, resembling a shark for the most part, burst from the ground and caught onto one of the cars trying to escape.

It ripped half of the vehicle open with a yank and dove back into the ground. Somehow breaking through the concrete with ease as it burrowed out of sight. As they watched they saw several more of these creatures burst out and attack the fleeing civilians.

As though just noticing their arrival some of the sharks, as could be seen by the way the ground rippled with their movements, started heading towards them even as they got their bearings.

BGM

Spoiler

What a shock, sand sharks! Ahaha..ha..

Anyway, some information to go off of. Things that would be easy to notice once you observe them. One is they do have gills but they seem to work differently than regular ones. Their fins have some sort of claws on them and they seem to be able to move them when digging. The tip of their faces (?) are incredibly hard and somewhat pointed. And they react to movement. Size-wise they're roughly six feet in length. And there is at least a dozen of them in the area that can be observed right now.

You don't have to get step by step information from me but feel free to get some general information of how they handle or react to specific things to make it easier. I want to try and make this a bit more free form as long as you don't just godmod everything in sight.

 

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Despite the lack of real mirrors, Aduain was confidently content with his new look. It was an odd style but perhaps that was perfect given the oddity of this Mauvache woman. The fish could definitely get used to the fashion sense and if it helped the people of Prana feel more at ease around their new hunter-protector-fish-person then the boy was all for it. His giggling was calming some the more he strained to look into the screens to see himself and ultimate cut short by the sound of yelling. The shapeshifter guy was having a really bad time from the sounds of things. Melissa who had stayed the nearest to them the whole time since the group's arrival seemed busy offering what comfort there was to give to the collapsed, shapeless form so for the moment Aduain refrained from intervening. He had never seen a hatsu so out of control like this but until he could actually grasp what Devin's nen was like, or if they had any for that matter, he felt like any advice he could offer might prove more harmful than helpful.

Mr. Purple was the one occupying their host's time now and he seemed more familiar with her than any of the rest of the group. It was at this point Aduain was ready to get going. If he was going to do his job her he needed to get a feel for the lay of the city. Getting lost was always the worst when coming to a new town. The hunter didn't have to wait all that long for something to come his way. Mauvache described the city was under attack as they spoke. There had been enough talking anyway, so getting into action was the best thing to do now. Aduain had to cover his eyes when the light came upon the room as he had been staring straight up wondering how they were going to leave. The process tingled as promised but the fish barely had the time to process the twitches and tickles his entire body was experiencing at once before he found himself standing not in the room with the screens but back in the city with the others.

"Woooaaaahhh, no way!" the fish nearly cheered in awe of the sight before them. Sharks! And they were swimming in the materials of the street somehow. They still had gills but there was no water to be seen. Not that Aduain was one to talk given the passive nen adaptation that allowed him to breathe on land hard at work. Impressive as nature was at allowing all these different fish all these ways to move about outside of water, the hunter could see why these would be less than desirable. They plowed through walls easily and were big enough to eat a person whole. Some were already in the process of finding a meal. Aduain was almost ready to leap into action before he thought to remove the gifted tie and shorts-hat which he neatly folded and placed on the ground beside him. It wouldn't do to ruin these nice gifts right after getting them. But with that short delay he was right into action so as to keep attention off any of the group who were less than immediately ready.

"Over heeeeere!" he taunted the nearest shark to have surfaced. The sound did little so the fish began doing cartwheels which got the beasts attention much more effectively. It dove into the street some more, only the top of it's fin visible above the surface as it carved through the city structures as if it were simply crossing a rough patch of turbulent water at worst. The speed of its movements made for some amusement as Aduain took off running, his fins slapping the pavement like the wet noodles they effectively were next to fins on these sharks. Somehow his land adaptations didn't feel nearly as impressive at the moment.

Aduain was pleased to see he didn't need to fully exert himself to keep ahead of the shark's charge as he looked behind him every few seconds. Just clever distribution of nen to his legs and he was doing fine. That meant he had room to play around, and that was pivotal to everything. Having driven the shark a ways from its pack and the others, Aduain could see it slowly begining to surface. He intentionally slowed his pace to goad the beast into going for its attack and sure enough it took the bait as it scented prey closing in. With the upper half of its body visible, the hunter waited for the creature to begin to shift its weight to lunge forward. Right as it did so a geyser of nen-water opened up beneath the shark's jaw, which exploded upward with some force. Enough in fact to stop the shark's advance and push the front half of its body out of the ground altogether. Curiously, as the nen splashed against the creature's gills, the shark put out a sound that could only be described as coughing though it had a more cavernous mouth to echo in a bit. Aduain scrunched his face in curiosity and something of disgust.

"Wait, you don't just breathe air, you can't handle water? You call yourself a shark?" Aduain shouted at the shark who obviously didn't respond to anything he was saying. The hunter didn't waste anymore time but the thought was going to linger with him the rest of the enounter. The small fish soon found himself hopping onto the back of the semi-beached big fish. Stretching a bit to raise it high as he could, Aduain plunged his trident down into the back of the shark. The skin was tough but it wasn't anything he couldn't pierce. He might need a bit more nen behind his blows to keep doing it though. The shark for its part of course didn't appreciate the injury and began thrashing. And idea came to mind as Aduain opened a small geyser aimed at the shark's right set of gills. Another splash, a louder cough, and the beast began thrashing more in that direction. A quick test to the left side and it responded in kind. It wasn't the smoothest ride but the hunter was riding the shark and had devised a steering method, an accomplishment that elicted no small amount of laughter from the young boy.

The affair got a bit more serious of course when the shark got itself slightly into the ground again. It was moving faster and Aduain's steering method wasn't exact. He was in the middle of trying to make it turn when the beast plowed into a wall, tossing Aduain into the mix of rumble. Now dusty and a little bruised, the hunter stood ready to take the fight a bit more seriously. He readied his trident and- wait where was it? The fish looked around, patted his body as if he had any pockets that could be concealing it, and found his weapon was not with him. A glimmer soon showed him it was a ways off outside the building and there was a land shark in the way of his retreiving it.

"Uh-oh" he started, not really wanting to try and fist fight a shark that could plow through walls like they were nothing. "Gotta go!" Aduain called as he hopped over and out of the rubble pile that had formed insdie the building. For the moment he was running in the opposite direction of his trident, which seemed counterintuitive. But circling back felt safer than jumping across the endless rows of teeth. But that was coward's talk. Where was the fun in fighting a shark if he didn't nearly get his leg bitten off? And so Aduain began hopping as he ran, encouraging the shark to come and get him the while. The shark was happy to give chase and soon enough began making small jumps out of the ground to try and bite at the boy. Eventually it disappeared underground altogether. The fish knew what it was plannning and so slowed to a near stop to let it. Sure enough the ground below him started shaking and giving way as he jumped right at the last second. The world slowed down as his jump carried him just high enough to avoid the tip of his tail being bitten off from the shark's dive straight up to bite him.

"Haha! Gotta jump higher than tha-" Aduain started taunted as something slapped him firmly across the face. It was was the tail fin of the shark as it turned in midair to dive face first back into the ground. The fish was sent flying a dozen feet or so, with some more rough tumbling. Getting back to his feet, Aduain shook himself and readied himself as the shark was already charging him again. A serious look took hold of his face for perhaps the first time in the battle as the shark dove out of the ground to bite at him. With a burst of nen to his legs, the hunter quickly jumped to the side and then into the shark as he kicked the side of its jaw and sent it some several feet away. Landing somewhat gracefully, Aduain found himself nearer to his trident and so quickly ran to retrieve it as the shark recovered from the fierce blow. Now he channeled his nen into his weapon as he decided his next course of action.

The shark had taken a moment to recover before beginning a charge anew. But this time, when it jumped and opened its mouth, Aduain charged in faster than it could close its teeth and found himself inside the shark's mouth before he could bitten. The shark's belly skid across the asphalt of the street for a moment as it came to a stop. Odd behavior to be sure. But it was soon explained as the tips of Aduain's trident emerged out the top of its head, a stab from inside. A few moments more passed as the tips disappeared before several teeth came flying out to reveal a blue foot that had kicked them out of place. The hunter emerged shivering in disgust at the shark saliva he had subjected himself to.

"Eeeeewww, shoulda thought that one out a bit harder..." the boy started as he felt the spit slowly sliding off his scales. "Looked really cool at least... well probably." he looked around to see if any of the others had been watching him if not already fighting or dispatchings sharks of their own. "Totally did, even if no one saw it." Aduain reassured himself before he vigorously shook every part of his body and began running off toward the others and any remaining sharks.

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"Well then...I am willing to bet I haven't even gotten to half of your questions but there seems to be a problem. One of the attacks I told you about is occurring right as we speak. I'm rather fond of the idea that it's best to learn on the job as it were. You will be able to witness first hand the threat that these anomalies pose to this city. This might tingle a bit but I assure you it's perfectly safe. And don't worry you won't be on your own for long. I will contact whoever else is in the area shortly."

Straight into the frying pan towards a trial by fire, needless to say Trevor was both excited and nervous to be preparing to show off his mettle to Mauvache. Nevertheless of his mood right now, the young sorcerer now found himself and the others at Grand Prana Mall...and seeing quite the number of civilians running away from whatever these creatures were...and at first glance, he almost was unbelieving what it was.

A literal sand shark. Six feet long...gills which he assumed were different than many other aquatic wildlife...then again, this wasn't exactly a creature of the water. A dozen of them...they react to movement. This didn't bode well much from what Trevor was observing. And to make matters worse, some of these sharks were already on their way towards them. Hmph, so immediately being besieged is it? he thought, fixing his hat slightly before holding out his left hand for a moment. All three rings on his left hand began to glow with a corresponding color of red, yellow and blue.

"Over heeeeere!"

Needless to say, Trevor was impressed at watching the small fish-like creature strike at these sand sharks like this. "Heh...not bad...but watch how an apprentice sorcerer does things." Trevor smirked, holding his hands out in front of him, his blue ring glowing brighter and brighter now. "BLIZZARA!!!" The ground in front of the young sorcerer began to frost over greatly, which he theorized would hinder these sharks to an extent. Once the icy spell covered the ground in front of him, he watched the protrusions that were these sand sharks moving more and more closer towards him. While some seemed to be simply powering through the ice, others seemed to move towards unfrozen ground, away from the ice.

Impressive...so these creatures aren't just mindless but they have truly an intelligence on display...very impressive. It definitely shows they aren't on the same caliber of the Undecided. Trevor thought, now seeing a few leaping out to try and strike at him. ...a foolish mistake to say the least. "Hmph...intelligent, but not too bright. Thundara..." he simply said, the yellow ring on his left middle finger began to glow and for an added flair, he simply snapped his finger and suddenly over head, lightning was called down to strike down at a few of the sharks. "And don't think you'll only get struck once...my lightning strikes twice!" he snapped his fingers again and another bolt of lightning struck the sharks, even going as far as frying them.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice until just a moment too late that a shark was beginning to emerge from the ground. He had only seconds to react. "Cabanomicon: Defensive Spells!" Trevor shouted, as his grimoire sprung to life, opening and flipping pages almost instantly. "AERORA!!!" he shouted as a sudden series of strong winds surrounded him in the form of some sort of air shield, which spun around him just in time. In that moment, the sand shark beneath him emerged and knocked the young sorcerer back a bit, though it got hurt by the shield quite a bit. "Cutting it a little close..."

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The maelstrom roared in the shifter's dream, leading to fitful rest. When did they fall asleep? How did they fall in here? Who were they? The voices never ended, or at least, they couldn't tell if they did. Too many voices, some sounding nearly identical to others, eating away at their slumber. A monster. They were a monster. No other sigh. No other senses. Only hearing. Two of the voices, matching perfectly, roared about what they had seen. It was a mistake. This was a mistake. They should know better. She should know better... But as the chaos reached its peak, a single, soft voice echoed through the dream.

Okay, DevinI don’t know if you can hear me wherever you are down there. I guess it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to come back up right away, but do know I’m here for you, at least.

That one voice caused most of the others to grow quiet. The swirling emotions to calm. It wasn't immediate, but the shifter felt more control returning to their senses... Sure, they were still in a dream, but everything began to come back now. They were naught but a demon... But that voice was still there. That one voice. One they had to protect.

-----

Devin, or whoever they were, awoke to the sounds of a fight taking place. Melissa was next to them still, but some of the others had begun to move out and confront the... sand sharks? Weird. But as one of the fish? Mammals? Whatever the hell sharks were set upon them, Devin's body moved like lightning, shooting straight up into the air with Melissa in their arms... and a pair of ethereal blue wings on their back, lined with gold trim. They flapped from above the battle, looking down intently, before their senses returned to them.

"Ah, sorry..." The shifter muttered and cast their gaze aside, Melissa still in their arms, "It was just... instinct. Thanks for waking me up..."

Their mind screamed at them. If what Mauvache had said was true, they should be distancing themselves from these innocent people. But, even so, here they were, rescuing someone and getting further involved.

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Even though Melissa was able to hear and take in most of what Mauvache was saying, most of her focus remained on Devin. Even the sudden addition of a klaxon did little to distract her.

Most of the reasoning for this was care, obviously. She wasn’t about to get up and walk away -- especially when she just said she’d be right there for Devin -- just because of some additional non-answers, even if the literal actual demon in the room was getting increasingly rowdy at not getting alcohol (or something? Okay, maybe she wasn’t taking in exterior conversations at all). There was another reason, though, one a bit more selfish: Melissa dared not. She knew what would happen if she looked back up, if she tried to take everything back in again. Her breath and heartbeat would quicken again, her stomach would retie itself in a knot, and, if she wasn’t careful, she’d end up a lot like the shifter she was minding (or at least collapsed on the floor like them -- the actual puddle part was a bit outside her wheelhouse). Even if she couldn’t directly solve the problem, focusing on one at a time helped, and so she stayed.

Even as they were whizzed through time and space yet again, Melissa’s initial reaction was only to flinch. It was only when the sounds of destruction reached her ears that she finally started to take in her new surroundings.

They were in a mall now? Or the parking lot of one, at least. That’s what all the signage said. And the mall was under attack by sharks, or shark-adjacent creatures who could swim through land in a similar fashion. Almost immediately, Melissa’s mind went to the similar attack Blue Yonder had endured. Was it weird that she had experience dealing with things like this? Step one was obviously going to involve forming a perimeter, especially with the state Devin was in. They couldn’t let anything get close to them. Then they had to locate the other stragglers, any noncombatants at all, and either move them within that safe zone or ensure that no sharks were coming their way as they fled.

Of course, she also had to communicate all this to those around her, and between Aduain’s bounding around and Trevor’s spellcasting, that was already a tall order. Melissa had forgotten that the last time, everyone helping was someone she had gathered, someone who was willing to listen to her. She didn’t have the same privilege here (not that she expected to have it).

And then a second issue with the plan came into the fold. Devin was awake again, which obviously wasn’t an issue, but they had swept Melissa into the air with blue, ethereal wings, much in the same way she and the (her?) cherub had done back in that illusory park. Unlike the time in the park, though, now she had wanted to be near her fellow abductees, and Devin was flying straight up and away.

She didn’t fault Devin for this, mostly because she hadn’t made her plan known to anybody yet, so how could anybody consciously go against it, but also that they immediately started to apologize. “Sorry,” Devin said. “It was just instinct. Thanks for waking me up.”

It’s okay,” Melissa said. “Um, just-

She was cut off by the voices in her own head. We can assist even from here, they said. Just say the word.

A lot of Melissa was wondering when these voices were going to be less vague about what type of help they were offering, but at the same time, just wondering got her thinking about exactly what they meant. At the very least, she realized, either angel -- the ophan especially -- could easily command attention, and the ophan could speak, if she remembered the encounter with the Spike Brothers correctly. Melissa also recalled the two blades the cherub carried with them, which would undoubtedly also prove useful.

Falling was a problem still, Melissa tried to alleviate that as best she could by wrapping her arms around Devin. “I might, um, I might go limp here. Don’t worry, I don’t think I’ll let go, but I did want to let you know,” she said.

She closed her eyes and let her voices take over.


But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
-Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

It is the ophan that emerges from her unconscious body, appearing suspended in the air just under where she and the shifter have been hovering. Its wheels within wheels are constantly turning, eyes pointing every which way, and while she does not directly see what it is seeing, the information enters her mind all the same. It is not overwhelming to her, detached as she is from the physical realm. This is how she sees Aduain the fish tear a shark apart from the inside. This is how she sees Trevor the magician manifest his shield just in time to avoid finding himself needing to do the same. She also sees herself, still clinging onto the shifter.

Do not be afraid, the ophan says. Its voice reverberates off of every surface of the lot, and even in the state she is in she appreciates how big of an ask the request is. Hadn’t this same presence just helped Devin chase off several armed men? Not to mention, of course, the sharks being a fearful distraction in their own right.

Just as she thinks this, another shark burrows out of the ground, and the ophan’s vision subtly changes, focusing on the new hostile threat. The area darkens for a moment -- she realizes the ophan has, until then, been emitting its own golden-yellow light -- before a beam of intense flame shoots out from one of the ophan’s many eyes, striking the beast dead-on.

That is our range, the ophan says. That is the radius of what we can make safe. Any survivors who cannot flee can be brought here instead and take solace in our protection.

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Fen simply stood around awkwardly, as the demon man continued to be perturbed at most everything around him and Melissa had gone to help comfort the Devin puddle. She looked at the others, not really keeping any form of eye contact for the moment and then looked back to the screen, again not maintaining eye contact. She had a lot of questions, for everyone really. Or, well, she thought she did at least. When she actually tried to think of what to ask, especially to the big person on the screen she started to draw a blank, as to what to actually say. And so, she just opted to stand there awkwardly, feeling like pacing to sort out her thoughts and also not speak to anyone but also figuring it would be rude. So, she just stood still. 

As a result, she was almost thankful for the sudden warning alarm that came, feeling literally saved by the bell. She had come to the conclusion that she had much preferred getting straight to work then staying in this room for any longer, and so she felt a wave of relief go over her as Mauvache gave them the situation update. She was less relieved when she felt the incredibly unfamiliar feeling of being teleported, blinking a bit as she looked around the area confused. As it had been not ten minutes ago, she was now in an area completely different. Only at least this place still looked like the city they had just been in. 

The girl was forced to get her bearings almost instantly, though, as the panicked screams of the public immediately hit her ears. Looking around, it had seemed that there had definitely been some force here that had torn up through the area. A concerned expression crossing her face, the girl was wondering what kind of force or person could possibly do this much devastation to the ground, only for her eyes to spot a fin moving through the concrete. And then, she saw it as it burst out of the ground, destroying more property in the process and continuing to terrorize the public. 

Fen's face lit up as she saw the foe that she was supposed to go up against. "Oh, I've never seen ones like this before!" Her generally demure tone was replaced by one of excitement as she looked at the sharks. Fen hadn't had much up close and personal experience with salt water marine life, but she had even less experience with marine life that thought the ground was the ocean! She hadn't ever really prepped regular shark before either so she wasn't sure how land sharks, as they seemed to be, were in comparison. As such, Fen was quite pumped up to get ready to hunt the sudden threat to the public, reigning in her own excitement as she remembered that there were indeed people in peril around her. Clearing her throat, the girl said, "well, um, let's go uh, defeat those shark. Yeah." Following the others who had already made their way into the battlefield, Fen as well slowly walked towards the sharks. 

Normally, she would've preferred to keep her distance between them, but both due to wanting to research them more closely as well not being sure she could get a good hit just by sitting back and firing at their fin. As she stepped closer towards the battle, the fin poking out of the concrete seemed to veer towards her and tear through the ground. Fen seemed impassive as it made its way towards her, conjuring an icy dagger in her hand. As the shark popped out of the ground, Fen side stepped the oncoming land predator without much effort, swiftly plunging her ice dagger into its gills. As the blade entered, Fen let out a yelp in surprise, as the weapon was wrenched from her hand and the gill began to make a grinding noise. "It uh, eats weapons. Huh..." The girl marveled at his, though was still seemed to be a bit spooked at her revelation, shuddering at the thought of what might happen if her hand was stuck in there instead. All the same, she knew where not to attack first, and so tried something else out. 

Conjuring a longsword of ice now, Fen awaited her prey to jump out yet again. As it did, she managed to step to the side and easily evade it as she had before, slashing at the shark as it passed by her. While its skin was hard, Fen's blade managed to draw blood from it, causing a cut to form across the creature's body as it dove back underground. Stepping back and waiting for the shark to come at her again, she realized something was off as she heard something immediately coming from behind her. Looking to see another shark at her back, leaping out of the ground, Fen raised her hand and conjured a small wall of ice. Bringing the wall up, the girl used it to delay the shark's bite and side step it, stopping its mid air flight for a brief moment before its face shattered through the frozen construct. Flailing a bit, Fen was not expecting the resulting tail slap, being hit in the arm and knocked to the ground.

Tumbling, Fen pushed off the ground quickly and got to her feet, though still in a crouching position. As she saw one of the sharks coming at her again, the girl opted to stay low to the ground. Conjuring two spears of ice in her hands, she waited for the shark to leap out of the ground at her, and once it did she shoved both of the spears into the mouth of the creature. As the spears impaled the shark, Fen pushed down on them, having the end of the spear press against the ground the spears to prop the shark's top half up. Letting go of them, the spears only stopped the creature for just long enough for Fen to begin her evasive maneuvers, easily snapping under the weight of the creature. With the ice spears still impaling the insides of the shark, though, it thrashed about for a while unable to submerge before finally giving out and dying. Letting out a sigh of relief, Fen stood back up straight. She looked at the dead shark wistfully, simply saying, "I'll be back to gut you later," before looking back towards the urban carnage. 

Edited by Skaia

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At first the arrival of the strange group served to cause even more panic among the citizens. They felt like they were trapped between the sharks and these unknown forces. After several of the strangers took down some of the sharks, however, the majority of the people became more relieved that help had arrived.

When the strange wheel in the sky appeared they were once more startled but its words caused them to respond mostly positively. "Are they from the Arena?"

"I never saw them before but gotta be right?"

"It's better than being eaten by those things!"

The majority of the civilians began to make their way towards the group. Surging to the supposedly safe area made by their radius of protection. However still others ran the other way. Frightened by the unknown people who claimed to want to help. These scared individuals would draw some of the sharks' attention.

Even as they drew some of them away many of the sharks seemed to be drawn more towards the large group running towards the ophan. And still others tried to attack the individuals that had killed some of their own.

This would split the sharks into several groups and make it clear there were still a large amount. Most went for the group running to the relative safety the ophan provided. Some went after those few that had run off away from the newcomers. Trying to track down and kill those fleeing. And a few more, most likely out of instinct rather than bravery or plan, went for those of the group that were making the most ruckus.

And even as this happened they would all notice something odd. The air was growing hotter.

Spoiler

So yeah there's several options for you all here to focus on.

Basically now we're in a situation where there are people directly in need of protection while also you're being attacked yourselves.

On a personal note I find it harder to get into posting when the period between is too long so I'm going to hopefully post next week but at most I'm willing to wait two weeks between posts so please do what you can to get something out in that time.

 

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Fen looked around to see that the scene around her had only grown more chaotic. The people were still running away from the subterranean predators, some going towards Melissa for help while others seemed to be running away from safety. The sharks, in turn, seemed to be moving towards both groups of civilians, as well as some towards her and a few others who were fighting. The girl put a hand to her chin as she tried to assess what the current situation. They had to save as many people as they could, but their predators were under ground so it wasn't like she could simply fire arrows at the creature's and hope for it to kill them through solid earth. Though, thinking more on it, Fen tried to think of how they were hunting in the first place. Normally she would assume that sharks would see through eyesight and use smell, but these were underground. All they could see and smell were dirt; well, there was the chance that they had some ability to see through solid objects but they didn't seem to be magically inclined beings, just different then the sea dwellers. So, after a moment of thinking, Fen had an idea. 

Creating a bow and arrow out of ice, the girl pulled back and fired towards one of the approaching sharks. Rapidly creating and firing the arrows, the girl continued to fire in a path arcing away from her, before finally tossing the bow to the ground. The shark had followed the path, launching out of the ground and eating the bow. Her eyes lighting up at this, she looked back to the shark he had killed moments ago and said, "I got it." She couldn't possibly deal with every shark on her own and even if she was, she wasn't nearly strong - and definitely not heavy - enough to lure them all away. Which meant she had to deal with her problems one step at a time. Taking a few steps towards the shark that had just ate her bow, she saw the fin veer and turn towards her, before the girl started to back up.

She could try and kill the shark safely through multiple bleeding wounds, she needed to be fast and decisive here. Conjuring a large, spiked ball of ice in her hand, the girl watched as the shark barreled towards her. As it sprung out of the ground, the girl tossed the ball into its mouth, moving to the side and getting struck by the creature's fin as a result. Having the wind knocked out of her by the large predator's body, the girl tumbled back before looking back to see that shark hadn't dived back down just yet. Struggling with the spikes in its mouth, it eventually managed to break through the ice. Coughing as the water and blood from its own mouth went down, the creature eventually dove back downward. Not giving it an opportunity to go after anyone else though, Fen sprung back to her feet. Summoning a glaive of ice, the girl began to spin it, scraping it across the ground with every revolution. As the shark seemed to pick up on this, it veered towards her once again. Once it got close enough, Fen poured more magic into her spear, before hopping back and tossing the heavy ice polearm at the ground at the same time. 

Conjuring yet another spear, Fen waited to see the shark burst out of the ground going after her discarded weapon. However, as it opened up its mouth, the young huntress lobbed her spear straight into its mouth, causing the creature to fall back to the ground and spasm a bit before finally stopping. Barely out of the woods yet, Fen looked over to Trevor, who seemed to have his own hands full. Yet still, she shouted, "Trevor! Um, when you're done...if you have any magic to uh, throw these shark bodies, please use it. A lot. Oh uh, over there!" The girl pointed towards an empty spot near the fleeing citizens 

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Once the wind shield died down around him and he got his bearings back in order after that quick attack, Trevor began to look around on the battlefield and how things were going. Unfortunately, the civilians seemed to be divisive on which of the two options were the better for them: head to the group trying to help them...or make a break for it and possibly get picked off by the sand sharks. Some made the right choice...but the others...well, it was obvious that they went with the chance of escaping on their own merit. But alas, this only proved to separate the sand sharks...which was just perfect.

He was just about to rush in the direction he was launched from but paused, hearing his name called by the Ice Mage.

"Trevor! Um, when you're done...if you have any magic to uh, throw these shark bodies, please use it. A lot. Oh uh, over there!"

Trevor glanced in the direction he was being pointed, before noticing the small empty spot between the fleeing civilians and the sand sharks. A small smile appeared on the sorcerer's face before adjusting his hat and removing the hair from his face. "My dear...I'll be happy to oblige in this little plan of yours." he flashed a toothy grin before making his way towards the destined direction.

Of course, this wouldn't be an easy task for the sorcerer...as a few sand sharks made their way in his direction. Trevor simply began to grip the end of the chain that the grimoire was chained and bound with, and suddenly began to swing it around him slightly. "Bad move...the Cabanomicon can be used as a great flail type weapon...and lucky for you creatures...you experience it right away!" he laughed, immediately slamming the sealed grimoire into one of the sand shark's head while immediately flipping out of the way of the other and crashing it on it's back.

Once he made his escape from these two...and now had them following him, Trevor began to skid to a halt in the space between the fleeing civilians and the sand sharks. He remained steadfast in his stance and his position, only having the grimoire now float near him as it opened and flipped it's pages for the sorcerer. "The lady wishes for these shark bodies to be thrown...then by my merits as an apprentice sorcerer, I shall oblige." he said, smirking before removing his hat, holding it out in front of him. "Cabanomicon Offensive Spell - BALLOON!!" Upon his declaration of this, from his hat there seemed to be different multi-colored balloons pour out and seemingly surround him slightly. Once the balloons were in place, he flipped his hat back on and waited...seeing the sharks come closer and closer...and the moment they touched one...it was all she wrote. The balloon popped and launched one into the air, and then another after they hit another balloon...and then another.

"Excellent. Fen or anyone else, have at these sitting ducks!" Trevor tipped his hat slightly, motioning to the sharks now in the air. Same time, the young man could feel something...it felt...like it was getting hotter, at least the air was. What's going on...?

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      There was also a reworked version where the Academy was a type of magic school and the characters from all over the cosmos were their familiars. Others too have done their wee takes after this.
       
      But now, I want to bring X-Over Academy back in its purest form - as a school where characters from all different kinds of series get together. Original characters are permitted - but only if you can prove that they are from a roleplay or even Fanfiction that has graced either this site or the old one.
       
      EDIT: Instead of just characters from YCM or NCM, I am now permitting characters used from different sites as well, be it another forum, fanficdotnet, AO3, etc., as long as you can prove that they exist and were made prior a good long while to your signups. I understand that Discord RPs or other Chatroom RPs are popular and you'd want to use characters from those, so uh, I'll think of something.
       
      If you're going to ask if characters like MMO avatars or the like are permitted since they might fall into the 'originales des character' territory - yes, yes they are.
       
      Instead of a vaguely defined centre of the Multiverse like prior, I'm thinking the roleplay's setting will be a bit of a set world - specifically a section of Kivotos from Blue Archive. Kivotos is a big Academy City, and a lot of stuff happens. The Academy is meant to skirt the line of being a secret and being known - so what better way than to hide a tree in a forest, especially if a lot of things happen in said forest that are more interesting than the tree you're hiding? Plus there's lots of good places around. What do you think? Do you have other places in mind?
       
      In prior versions of the RP, there were 'normal' subjects in addition to combat classes, and by extension teachers. How about this one? Should I have many classes (obviously excluding combat-based classes if need be) be replaced by online learning - seeing how in school RPs, characters don't really roleplay them out? Or should I just have teachers as per normal? If so, playable or NPC?
       
      This RP will have the occasional incident in school to make things interesting, festival for celebration or field trip if you feel that your current location is a bit boring.
    • By LordCowCow
      Premise
      World
      City
      Magic
      Races
      Major Families of Froura
      NPCs
      Locations
      App Format
      Accepted Apps
       
    • By radio414
      IC

      So much to do, and so little time...
      Rules
      The Story So Far
      Setting
      FAQ
      Application
      Accepted Apps
      changelog:
      (AM 11/18/2022): Discord invite link added
      (PM 11/18/2022): Full OOC is now live!
      (AM 11/30/2022): The RP has now started! IC link added, accepted characters tab updated, discord invite link removed
      (PM 01/13/2023): Updated cast list upon Yui's departure
      (AM 04/13/2023): Forgot to update the cast list again, oops
      (AM 09/10/2023): Formally adding Belladonna to the list of players, also I changed a name in the setting spoiler because I am *very good* at keeping track of established moments
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