[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/0B3bJte.png[/img]
And together typed 3,879 words (+3)
[@Archmage MC]'s Blazermate (21/50), [@ProPro]'s Jak, Daxter (23/20) , & Ratchet (25/50), [@Dawnrider]'s Banjo and Kazooie (16/30), [@Simple Unicycle]'s Gene (21/30), [@Genon]'s Donovan Lee (30/30), [@Lugubrious]’s Nero and Nico and [@DracoLunars]’s Kamek (19/30)
Location: Charnel Lane, Dead Zone
[/center]

With a few minutes to spare, Nero headed down the stairs and back to the van. He figured Nico wouldn’t mind him throwing open the door and stepping inside. A quick bathroom break turned up a suspicious smell emanating from the shower, but they could worry about that later. He seated himself on a couch and produced the Blue Rose, which he examined closely. Unlike Dante’s Ebony and Ivory, his revolver shot real bullets in addition to bolts of demonic energy, so it needed a little cleaning now and again. A few moments’ practiced work rid the firearm of soot, burn, and blood, and as Nero was wrapping up he called to his partner in crime. “Hey! Need an open shop here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep yer panties on.” Having extracted herself from her lounging position in the driver’s seat, the woman made her way to the workshop bar in the back. A few taps on the jukebox and an evocating [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZhbg5nrBNE]song[/url] started to play, and Nico opened her store. Weapons and projects of all sorts in various states of completion either were either hung up or confined in cages to keep from flying about when the going got tough. Notably, a revolving rack displayed a fair few prosthetic arms, and Nero devoted his attention to them first. 

“Gerbera, Helter Skelter, Buster Arm,” he ordered, reaching for the first as Nico plucked it from the rack. 

She yanked it out of his grasp. “Ah-ah, you know the drill. Cash first.” With a weighty exhale Nero held out a hand, and above the palm welled a cluster of crystallized demon blood. The gleaming crimson stuff floated just above his skin, allowing onlookers to get a good view of the many faces leering out from within. Nico snatched it, and Nero took the arm.

He glanced down at the magazine on his waist. “Don’t you have some sort of upgrade for this thing yet?” he asked, only for the weaponsmith to lay down an extender loop right in front of him. “Well,” he chuckled. “Would you look at that.”

Nico was all smiles. “Ain’t I a genius? Toldja I could read yer mind.”

“Yeah?” The look on Nero’s face was incredulous. “Can you tell what moves I want?”

With a smirk, Nico directed him at the lion-headed goddess statue sitting on the end of her counter. “Don’t wanna hog all the limelight. Ask her.” Nero approached and laid his hand on it, transferring demon blood within. Technique mastery flowed into him in return. Somehow, Nico seemed to know what was going on. “Ooh, Payline [i]and[/i] Hard Way? Hate t’be whatever sucker thinks he’s outta [i]your[/i] [i]range.”[/i]

While they had nothing better to do than take Nero’s good advice to recuperate and recollect themselves for the endeavors ahead, Banjo and Kazooie decided to relax and poke around inside the mobile home, which sported a deceptively spacious interior not betrayed from an outside perspective of the vehicle. Despite that, it was due to become crowded in there soon as the others gathered within, so they spent their grace period to gander (and, depending on what was included, grab at) the various extraneous materials due to be experimented with that Nico had accumulated. Call it explorer’s instinct (or just plain nosiness), but they couldn’t help going over whatever wasn’t tied down, hidden, or out of their reach. Sadly, should they want any of it, Nico’s exchange with Nero--her own friend--was a shamelessly transactional one, and they were skint broke. They were unlikely to gain favor from her this time around.

After Nero was done making his offer to the idol, the bear and bird became curious and decided to observe it a little closer themselves. It would certainly prove expedient (to an extent) if they could unlock their latent abilities ([i]again[/i]) through means other than the passage of time. They couldn’t always afford to wait, after all.

With their preparatory options exhausted, they were left with naught but time to kill before they made their next move, so they both found themselves a seat (or a mounted coat rack, in Kazooie’s case) to kick back in away from the couch, which they left for the unconscious Jak. Shortly into their idling period, Banjo found himself slowly, rhythmically, instinctively swaying, head bobbing, and foot tapping to the mood music emanating from the jukebox. A terrible shame it was that him and Kazooie made the untoward mistake of not packing their instruments while under Galeem’s influence; they would almost certainly be playing along, otherwise.

As for Donnie, he was taking the time to think about all of this. When it came to Nero, there was obvious demonic influence at play. It wasn’t readily apparent from looking at him, but using obviously-demonic crystals as some kind of currency, and then feeding them into a demonic statue to gain...knowledge, maybe? That definitely confirmed it.

Not that he was against those who wielded the demonic, despite being a demon hunter himself as of late. He had known many warlocks on his adventures, and he had learned firsthand that just because you wielded a dangerous power didn’t make you evil. Not to mention that when fighting demons, having someone specialized in dealing with them was a godsend. Especially when warlocks could just enslave and bind any demonic enemies that proved particularly bothersome.

And of course, there was also Kamek near the window, who was suggesting backup as an option.

“I would normally say that’s a great idea, but I’m not actually the leader of this party. That’s Nero, the white-haired guy in the back. And when I brought it up, he said we had too many people, not too few, and we were getting in each other’s way. He’s the expert on our quarry, so”--he turned around--”hey, Nero! I need to talk to you real quick!”

The demon hunter glanced his way. “Yeah?”

Meanwhile Jak’s injuries were healed up nicely thanks to Blazermate’s high tech beam. He awoke quickly and with a start, lurching forward from his seat in the van, hands outstretched. He let out a growl, quickly flashing into his dark form for only a brief second, but upon seeing his best buddy Daxter waving his arms to signal everything was ok, his instinctive transformation subsided. The two stood off to the side so Daxter could fill Jak in on what had happened without bothering the others. Blazermate was a bit too preoccupied with her new part and was fiddling around with it to realize that Jak had up and left, being fully healed.

Ratchet was pretty intrigued with the weapons Nico had put on display. Unfortunately he didn’t have any of those red orbs Nero used to pay, but maybe she took other kinds of currency? The lombax sidled up near Nico, looking over the armaments. 

[color=orange]”In the galaxy I come from we pay with bolts.”[/color] He held out a handful of bolts and lugnuts to show off to Nico. [color=orange]”Any chance you’ll take these for a new gun or a weapon upgrade?”[/color]

The weaponsmith looked over his offering. “Hmm…” A fairly meager payment considering that she normally traded in the crystallized essence of hellspawn, but she liked the cut of the weird little cat thing’s jib. And if she didn’t need spare parts, she could always melt them down for material. “Eh, alright. That’ll fetch ya one second-hand Coyote-B.” From under the counter she produced a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/devilmaycry/images/e/ef/DMC5_Coyote-A.png/revision/latest?cb=20181105001547]shotgun[/url], which she pushed toward Ratchet with a pleased smile. “Ain’t as strong as Dante’s Coyote-A, havin’ no supernatural power, but she’s a feisty varmint and no mistake. Whether it’s a wall or a demon, she’ll bite right through.”

A shotgun that could power through walls definitely sounded appealing to Ratchet, but it still didn’t have the same punch as what he was used to carrying. Better than nothing and at least gave some variety to his arsenal. [color=orange]”Sounds like a deal, weaponsmith!”[/color] Ratchet slapped down the bolts and took hold of the Coyote-B shotgun, doing a jaunty little animation with the weapon to both show it off, and also get a feel for its size and weight. A second later it disappeared into his hyperspace storage to be called upon at will. 

Back at the van window, Donnie said to Nero while gesturing to the Magikoopa, “Well, this is Kamek, he’s the one who supersized Gene. He’s thinking...well I’ll just let him summarize.”

Kamek was in the middle of sorting out the various items he had acquired from the zombie sprites. Herbs and potions where being stored in various pockets in the wizard’s robes for later use while the wooden boards and spoiled milk where left on the trolley until a use could be found for them. He paused as the man Donnie had called Nero.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”This is your leader? And you’ve not.. Never mind”[/color] Kamek said to Donnie as he inspected the eyes of the white haired youth before shaking his head and moving on from his concerns to the point. Nero’s bemused, slightly indignant look went ignored.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”There’s a safe town on the other side of that teleporter”[/color] he explained simply [color=DeepSkyBlue]”A place to recuperate, get supplies, maybe safely spend the night if you can't reach your target before fatigue begins to take its toll, and if you want less people around, well, there's your solution.”[/color] 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”The suggestion of leaving aside, if you’re getting in each other's way I’d suggest working on increasing your coordination, teamwork and tactics before insisting on taking on this chaotic world alone. One hero is a threat on their own but a well oiled team of heroes can be a force of cataclysmic proportions.”[/color] he added. 

Nero shook his head. “Or lambs to the slaughter. Look, I know you get it by now. I don’t want anyone dead, but I’m not your leader, or your babysitter. Just the most qualified. You’ve used up a couple years’ worth of luck not getting infected or killed already. We’re only gonna be fighting stronger, faster, smarter, more diseased stuff from here on in. You all should leave the tree to me and take a load off in this village.” He crossed his arms. “Provided you don’t carry any sickness there with you, that is. Anyone here could be carrying zombie-itis already.”

“Oh, uh, about that,” Donnie piped up. His hands flashed with magic energy for a brief moment. “We’re fine on that front. Ever since the worlds collided, I lost a lot of my power, and with that, I lost spells as well. And I’ve been [i[ever-so-slowly[/i] getting them back. The one I just cast on myself is one that I got back after the fight with those two demons, it’s called Detox. It’s a basic disease cure spell and it also works on poisons. Requires very little energy or Mana, I can do it as many times as you want. I don’t think it did anything, since I’m clean, but we should once-over everyone here just to make sure. I’ll need their consent though. You guys want to try it first?”

Nero raised his eyebrows. “Huh.” He shared a glance with Nico, then shrugged in concession. “Well, it couldn’t hurt.”

The light flashed twice, and Nero and Nico could feel the magic running through their bodies for a brief instant, scanning for harmful chemicals and microbes and simply deleting them in a purifying wave. Any pre-existing conditions or diseases they might have had--like, say, the respiratory diseases that Nico was probably on her way to getting--were gone in an instant. 

“That’s the two of you,” Donnie said. He called out to the rest of the van, “Hey! I just got my cure-disease spell back, get over here and get any zombie viruses cured just in case!”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah good, I’m glad I'm not the only one missing a great deal of their repertoire.”[/color] Kamek said as he began to methodically hammer the bones he had gotten from the zombies into the ground using the blunt end of the spiked tentacle without any explanation. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”As for the leadership position, I believe that your disinterest might be for the best. If none of the rest of you haven't stepped up to fill the role then perhaps you could vote on it. Or continue to ignore the issue entirely.”[/color] Kamek shrugged and stopped trying to force the issue.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”If your going to go around curing everyone, then I might as well give everyone a boost while I am here before you fight this tree. A lesser version of my enlarging spell that I can grant the entire group.”[/color] he added, before offering the buff to anyone and everyone who came to get their diseases cured. Those touched by the spell would increase in size by 50% with no loss to agility, though the effect would only last until they took a damaging blow.

While everyone was getting their diseases cured and their buff from Magikoopa, Blazermate continued to fiddle with her new part. This spirit manifested more like she was used to, replacing her arm instead of combining with her totally like the Engineer spirit had done. Although the arm she was given wasn’t very cute, in fact the maw shield was a bit off settling, at least she still looked better than most heavy platform medabots. Figuring out how to move it properly and everything, she began testing all that it could do as she walked back to the rest of the group. First she noticed it could let out a scream, which when pointed at one of the shambling undead, seemed to make the undead do an action depending on how it screamed. Blazermate wasn’t too familiar with this ability yet, so she made wandering undead throw themselves into the void, jump up and down, run into each other, or attack each other. [color=0072bc]”Cool! I don’t think there has ever been a medabot that commands others like this.”[/color] 

Having tested the screaming that this arm could do to control the nearby undead, Blazermate decided to move up to one of the mindless undead who had stopped moving due to one of her scream commands and wanted to test what else this thing could do. She noticed that the teeth on the maw of her arm dripped some strange liquid, and when she injected it into the undead by biting it with her arm, it transformed, turning into a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/left4dead/images/1/13/Charger_2.png/revision/latest?cb=20120609191223] weird lopsided muscular figure [/url] that looked at her waiting for her next command. Since she didn’t really know how to command it, she just pointed at another undead away from the group and the Charger barreled towards it, slamming into it and running off into the distance with its quarry. Her last test wasn’t nearly as interesting, as she tested the barbed tongue on her arm and it only seemed to be a weapon, nothing really unique unlike the drool and scream.

Having tested her arm thoroughly, she finally joined up with the group. She was sure a few of them saw her playing around with her new upgrade, especially since the screaming made a fair bit of noise. [color=0072bc]”Hey, thanks for waiting for me to test out my new part.” [/color] Blazermate said as she ran up to the group. She looked at what Nero, Nico, and Ratchet were doing, and shrugged when she saw the weapons. [color=0072bc]”Sadly I don’t think I can use any of those. Need one arm to heal, and this thing I’m not used to yet”[/color] Blazermate said, moving her new arm. 

Donnie and Magikoopa were a bit off to the side, casting their magic on everyone and playing with their loot. Blazermate noticed that whoever she scanned that was covered in zombie fluids seemed to be diseased by something, which went away when Donnie used his magic on them. [color=0072bc]”Uh fellas, I think all you guys covered in zombie stuff might need to see Donnie. I don’t know what my sensors are picking up, but a lot of you have this weird disease thing on you like Gene did.”[/color] Blazermate said, making sure everyone was healthy before they moved on.

Perking up at hearing his name, Gene nodded at Blazermate's words. [color=burlywood][b]"Yeah, that fat guy that barfed on me infected me with some sort of disease. Thanks to what Donnie found on the big buff zombie, I'm all good. Thank god he's got that spell of his now, traveling through a place like this will catch us a bunch of nasty diseases. Not having a way to counteract that is a death sentence."[/b][/color]

A few realistic words from the melee fighter won an approving nod from Nero. “Yeah. Now that we’ve got a cleanser, though...things are looking better. I mean, you all could still become hero pancakes any second, but at least we won’t have to deal with the whole turning thing.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked Gene over. “So, no weapons, huh? Just that arm of yours. Can’t say I’ve found a lot of fistfighters able to take on demons.” While he said nothing explicitly, something in his tone implied that he wanted to know more.

[color=burlywood][b]"What can I say? I'm just that awesome."[/b][/color] Gene shrugged, giving Nero his usual goofy grin. With a chuckle, he shook his head and continued, [color=burlywood][b]"But nah, this right here is the God Hand. In my world, this badass guy faced off against demons. God, or a god, or several gods, or something... Well, they powered up his arms so that they both carried the power of a god in them."[/b][/color]

Feeling a filibuster coming on if he kept on like he was going, Gene shook his head. [color=burlywood][b]"But uh, I'm not one for long-winded explanations and I don't know much anyway. Long story short the guy's arms were preserved and, eventually, they were passed down onto me when I lost one. There was another guy with the other God Hand but I whooped his ass and took his. Though, when I came to this world, I only had the right arm."[/b][/color]

Nero considered that for a moment. He’d met more than a few people mistaking demons for deities -the Savior came to mind- and exchanging their humanity for power. Then again, with the confluence of worlds, maybe things were different where Gene came from. Besides, goofiness aside, he seemed alright. Something else occurred to him. “Saw some interesting moves back there. What was that one where you got down and grovelled..?”

Gene's normal grin shifted to a more sheepish one. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled nervously. [color=burlywood][b]"Uhhh... I have access to a special power where I can use a powerful move, but it's a bit of a gambit. What you saw back there was my... 'Grovel' move. Only good thing about it is that after I use it, the bad guys'll take it easier on me."[/b][/color]

[color=0072bc]”Don’t worry Gene. As long as you don’t die, I can heal ya..”[/color] Blazermate said, pointing to the now revived Jak.

While Nero didn’t quite know what effect that might have on mindless undead, the mention of moves from Gene plus his thoughts on that God Hand of his gave him an idea. “Interesting. Hey, I wanna have you try something. See that statuette on Nico’s bar there?” He pointed at the lion-headed goddess. “Try touching that and closing your eyes.”

Quirking an eyebrow in curiosity, Gene got up from his seat and walked over to the statue. He looked at it for a moment, wondering what power was in the statue, before touching it and closing his eyes as Nero suggested. Then, as if before his eyes, he could picture the melee techniques he had, as well as the various moves for his Roulette Wheel.

He felt like a kid in a candy store. They were all available for him! ... Then he noticed the looming price tag over them. As if knowing how much demon blood he had, he quickly deduced that he'd be able to get a few standard attacks alongside a Roulette Wheel move. Good enough for him.

But, just because it was good enough didn’t mean Gene wasn’t a bit annoyed. Groaning at his lack of options, Gene quickly purchased the God Stomp - a Roulette move that allowed him to knock enemies to the floor and stomp on them for a while - along with a few standard techniques. The four that he purchased, that would replace his current combo, were Elbow Spin 1 (a quick two elbow hit attack), Chin Music (a fast one two punch), Right Hook 1 (what it says on the tin), and Mach Speed Jab 1 (five quick jabs in succession).

Buying the moves and quickly "assigning" them, Gene noted that he was out of demon blood. Hopefully, he'd be able to get more. Removing his hand from the statue, Gene backed up and tried out his new combo. It felt good, and much stronger than the basic attacks he had been using. [color=burlywood][b]"Whoo! That's the stuff!"[/b][/color]

“...Hang on, that works on [i]anyone?[/i] Let me try!” Donnie said with the eagerness of a much younger person. Yes, this was demonic, but, as noted earlier in his internal monologue, if he was going to complain about people using the demonic for good he might as well have every warlock in the land executed.

When Gene finished, he put his hand to the statue and closed his eyes…

Nothing happened.

“Dammit. Nothing,” Donnie said, walking away in a huff. He then realized something.

[color=0072bc]”I don’t know what you were trying Donnie, looks like a statue to me.”[/color] Blazermate said, shrugging.

Donnie tried to look a bit more dignified. “Don’t you know anything about magic, Blazer? Clearly that statue did something for Nero and Gene. It just doesn’t work on me for some reason.”

[color=0aaaff]"Huh... It worked just fine for us,"[/color] Banjo interjected, trying to add a layer of perspective plausibility to the discussion. Though, they might not find his overly simplistic commentary to be all that helpful.

He cleared his throat. “A-anyway…” he reached into his Luggage. “I’ve got some gifts for you guys.” He pulled out a bunch of glass bottles of a red liquid and set them on a nearby table in the back. “These are Healing Potions. They’re drinks imbued with an enchantment so that they’ll cause a regenerative effect when you drink them. They taste like medicine--because they are--but they work. I want each of you to take one. If you get injured against the monster up ahead and can get yourself out of harm’s way for a moment, just drink it and it’ll heal most of your injuries. I only have a limited supply and can’t make more, so don’t waste them. They also can only be safely drunk once every minute or two, so I’m only giving you one each because battles don’t last very long.”
He looked at Blazer. “Uh, in your case, just ignore that.”

Nero waved the gift off. “Thanks, but I can heal with green orbs from enemies.”

“Eh, suit yourself.”

That seemed to settle something for the demon hunter. “Alright then. We’ve spent enough time in here already.” He stood and headed for the door. It was about time to get started.