Altered Tundra

Ripples in Reality: A World in Lines

Posted~ I hope you liked what I did. :D

Ripples in Reality: A World in Lines

These two were a blast. Carlos was loving every bit of it, the way they did things, their style of talking, the way they talked to each other — everything was alright by Carlos. Even when G and Digger would get Carlos and Niko a ride, they kept up the energy like it was no one else’s business. Truly, Carlos viewed these two guys as his own friends. If Carlos was ever back in this realm, he would love to have these two to show him around the town.

When Carlos and Niko rode the bikes, Niko slipped the blue helmet on and Carlos got the teal helmet on. They were off down the street and all four of them(well two at first) were doing tricks, and shouting out cheers and whoos so loud that some people would yell at them to quiet down. However, they were all long gone before any of them would hear the party-poopers.

When they headed down a street, Niko even seemed to be getting into the spirit and he was speeding up on his bike, telling Carlos that the last one there was a rotten egg. Carlos smiled and licked his lips. “Fine, but you asked for it.” He said zipping through the street, passing Niko, and doing an ollie with his bike. Yes, despite his looks, Carlos knew a few bike tricks.

He would look back to Niko and stick his tongue out. He was laughing and laughing. Digger saw him having a blast. “That’s the spirit, yo!” He said giving Carlos the thumbs up. Carlos laughed and smiled to Digger.

The four of them eventually came to The Dark District and it had its name for a reason. There were very little lights on. The only form of light that it had were from the stars above, but that wasn’t much. “Geez, no wonder they call it the Dark District.” Carlos said as he rode on his bike, peddling one leg at a time.

---

As Lenore and Audrey sat on the bench that had a wall that Lenore could rest her head on, she would hear her classmate and new friend ask her if the streets they’ve passed along the way looked familiar. Lenore would move her eyes to Audrey and release a “hm?” sound. Audrey would continue by saying that the street that the cops were on looked like Kingwood Street and that the street that they’re on now looked exactly like Seventh Street. Lenore thought about it and she noticed the similarities, yes.

“Now that you mention it--” She said as her words stopped when she saw two males(?) sit down on the bench. They had human bodies, but they had Tv’s for heads. “Okaaay..” Her voice trailed off into awkward silence and she could sense the fear that Audrey was feeling. Lenore would look at the one that waved to Audrey, showing a yellow smiley face and pointed to it. “Okay, that’s creepy.” She murmured.

Lenore looked at the other one and he too was waving at her, and as he/it would press the power button, it did not show the yellow smiley face, but rather The Fonz and it said ’eyyy”, it even showed the hand gestures that made The Fonz so famous. Lenore would wave and laugh nervously at the one that had The Fonz on his head. He would then, in The Fonz’s voice, speak. “Hi there Human, I am The Fonz. A pleasure~” He said as The Fonz’s picture went to static.

Lenore shook his hand nervously. “Nice to meet you, The Fonz.” Lenore said as she looked to Audrey. “What do we do now?” She moved her lips in such a way, but no sound came out.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As they sat around the table, Grant would echo Jaakuna in stating that none of them wanted to revisit Nabudis for a variety of reasons, but maybe the main one everyone could agree on was that the place just crept them all the fuck out. That’s when Grant would then pose the question on how Lola made those nightmares. Emiri would reveal that she told her that she did so via the information she gathered on all of them, though didn’t specify how she got said information. Jaakuna, and Savayna cursed aloud and Wesley was curious and equally as angry and distraught.

When Nadeline would assume that Emiri wasn’t put in one, she would respond by saying that she was in one, but Lola brought her out of it as Jaakuna and tortured her by tying her up and taking her weapons, saying she would do the same to Jaakuna. At that point, the blonde man was thinking back on what Emiri said that Lola would do to all of Emiri’s friends and kill them right in front of her. Though, Jaakuna wondered what her nightmare really was about.

As everyone thought about their respective thoughts, Nadeline would half-rhetorically ask the group if their nightmares were really that bad. Everyone shot Nadeline a glare, and Emiri would voice her slight anger and ask Nadeline what she meant by that and then ask her if hers was affected her as bad as the others. The Rozarrian Princess would say that she heard everyone’s voices and that she was in a wedding dress and drowning. Jaakuna huffed moderately loud, Savayna did the same out of jealousy. Everyone seemed to feel the same way. Wesley did as well, but he did not do anything to hint as such.

When Grant would express his obvious jealousy at Nadeline’s lack of tragedy in her nightmare, Jaakuna, Wesley, and Savayna all looked down, each gazing their hands. Savayna was the first one to speak. “Mine was —it was horrible. I was back at my homeland, but about ten years in the past, then I was teleported to the night that Archadia attacked my village and then I saw all of you.” Savayna’s words were cut short. She couldn’t bring herself to say the rest. “It was just something I don’t ever want to think about.” She said, her whole body trembling.

Wesley saw Savayna shaking. It must’ve been really horrible. He thought to himself. “ I think we can all safely say that our nightmares were each our worst fears, I know mine was something that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.” Wesley said smiling down at his hands.

Jaakuna was just staring at everyone, then his hands. “Mine..it was..” Jaakuna stopped himself. He couldn’t bring himself to even say the beginning portion of it. Everything that led up to the end of it really was horrible, especially the part where he gave into Zodiark. Just everything was so wrong, but Jaakuna couldn’t help but feel that it was more of a premonition rather than a nightmare. The fact that Zodiark knew what happened in and out of the dream proved Jaakuna right.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As seen from his face, Grant was not happy with Wesley for hitting him, but soon the expression on his face afterwards would make it clear to Wesley that he understood what happened, so he just would let it go, it seemed. Meanwhile, Emiri and Jaakuna looked at each other. Her look of disbelief was then taken over by a sharp pain in her head as she gripped it. Jaakuna knew this had to be from her power. The more she used it, the more the headaches happened and Jaakuna knew they would just keep on getting worse and worse. Still, she would stand up, claiming she was fine, but Jaakuna knew that she wasn’t.

When she stood up, Jaakuna did the same and they both looked to Chaos. Jaakuna would run in with two swords in his hand. He leaped up, struck Chaos with both of them in a succession of two vertical slashes. Chaos easily deflected them and when Jaakuna was pushed back. Due to his athletic ability, Jaakuna did a backflip in the air and landed on his feet. He would see Wesley and the others each do their own attack. Savayna would attack from the back with a Blizzaga, but Chaos blocked it with Aeroaga, smashing the ice and sending Savayna back once more. He saw Grant and Nadeline each do their own attacks and Wesley even went in with a Holara, which was deflected by one of the swords. The attacks would keep coming and they would get deflected. Parts of them would hit Chaos, but it was just the same thing over and over again. Even when Emiri would do her own attacks, they would be useless.

When everyone kept on trying, Emiri would tell them to stand back. Heeding her words, the group got behind her and they watched as mist surrounded her body. Chaos watched her intently as well. Soon the mist around her would take a form of multiple shades of electricity. Chaos would be surrounded by the same electricity. Emiri would chant out a chant and as she finished, bolts of lightning composed of mist came crashing down upon Chaos, each piling one after another. As it finished, there was an explosion of mist, which sent the entire party flying back. The force of it shocked(pun-intended) everyone. The end result was Chaos starting to fade, turning into a crystal-like object and then fading once more. The glyph of Chaos, The Walker of the Wheel, appeared on Emiri’s left hand. When that happened, she just exited without a word to anyone. Nadeline called out, but she didn’t stop. Everyone else just followed Emiri and Grant. It was one hell of a day, that’s for sure and getting out of Nabudis was their top priority at the moment.

---

In The Cubicle, a head popped out from the wall. A certain female would look as Jaakuna and the others would exit the room. Popping her entire body out, Levi was in full view. She laughed evilly and she looked around the room. Obviously the brats were only in Nabudis to get Chaos and Levi was quite fine with that. Her reason for coming to Nabudis was more important than just acquiring an Esper. Truly, her reason for coming was much more valuable.

As she appeared before the back of the room, right where Chaos was, she smiled. “As dark as midnight, as light as day; as tranquil as a forest, as loud as an engine — open the gates of Nabudis and show me truth.” She chanted as the back wall would first divide vertically and then behind it would turn and split horizontally. A walkway was revealed and Levi walked through the opening. She would walk down the pathway that had golden textiles and the walls were paved with black and silver engravings of the scions of both light and dark,. As Levi would arrive at the end, the room was as she had remembered it. The room had a pedestal up top of a raising, circular platform above ground level. In the pedestal itself, there was an object. It had a hard, grey outer crust and a glowing black inner. It was indeed the Midlight Shard.

Levi would pick up the shard and she would just laugh…and laugh. The laughing could be heard throughout the entire area of Nabudis.

---

As they walked out of the room where Chaos formally was, the walk out of Nabudis was a quiet one for the most part. There were very few words from Emiri to the rest of the group. Even though they would ask, she would just state that she didn’t want to talk about it. About halfway through the journey out, Jaakuna noticed that Emiri was getting physically exhausted, so he told her to let him give her a piggy-back ride. After a few rounds of protest on her part and insisting on his, she gave in. It was the rest of the walk that she was on his back and five minutes after doing so, she passed out. As they continued, Jaakuna heard slight noise of laughter. He would turn his head back as he kept walking. He didn’t know what it was, but he cared not to investigate it. He just wanted to get the hell out of Nabudis.

When they got out of the Necrohol of Nabudis, they would walk further away so that Jaakuna could signal Iris to beam them up. Once that happened, they would be inside the Ifrit and by the time they did, Emiri was awake and walking on her own. Everyone would head to the dining room as Jaakuna had told Iris to set a course for Archadia, since they can go there without worry now. Once he did, they sat at the dining room table. Jaakuna stretched and sighed. “So glad that we could get out of that place. I never want to see Nabudis for as long as I live.” Jaakuna said finally glad to be out of that hellhole.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

While Savayna was occupied with Chaos, Wesley and Nadeline were really getting difficulties from Grant. The man was obviously able to use his full set of skills, which even included his fluid movements and the way he’s able to use that Gunblade. Even his magic was fully intact, which meant only bad things for Nadleine as Wesley watched him use graviga, which weighed her down to her knees. That’s when she would be cut from his Gunblade as he used vanish on himself.

Nadeline would inform Wesley that Grant would be coming in for an attack on him. Wesley acknowledged, and held his Yagyu Darkblade and Demon shield up for defensive measures. He felt something in the air and he looked to his right and saw Grant slash downward. Wesley raised his shield, and it blocked Grant’s attack. Not wasting any time, Wesley would reverse grip his sword and straightly pop Grant in the gut. Wesley heard the raven-haired man let out a slight groan of pain, which would signal Wesley that he was snapped out of confusion.

As Emiri would be staggered backwards, Jaakuna didn’t want to hurt her. He knew he had to do something to alleviate the confusion from her, but how was he to do that without hurting her? He would hear Nadeline call out as he acknowledged her and saw that twelve Artemis Arrows were coming his way. To not get hit by any of them, Jaakuna would doge roll to the left over and over again. In the place that he previously was, arrows would strike the ground. As the twelfth one hit the ground, it was mere inches away from Jaakuna’s head. A sigh of relief came over him, and Jaakuna was on his feet. He stared at Emiri, not sure what he could do to help her.

Let me help, Jaakuna. Zodiark told Jaakuna.

Damn it, why won’t you stay out of my head!? Jaakuna mentally asked him shouting.

You’re in a bind and I can help. Just use my power, Jaakuna. Zodiark suggested.

And why should I? Last time I used it, I lost control, or do you not remember what happened to Robur? Jaakuna said reminding Zodiark of what happened the last time he used his dark powers.

That was at a time when you didn’t have full control. You do now, all you gotta do is tap into it, like a fosit or something. Zodiark told Jaakuna.

Jaakuan thought about it and with Emiri’s time-stopping ability, he didn’t have much of a choice. Plus, more arrows were coming his way. “Fine.” Jaakuna said as he would hold out his hand and a red and black, low-strength blast came from his hand and would maneuver its way through the arrows and lightly hit Emiri in the gut. Jaakuna could hear Emiri react to the blast and Jaakuna would rush over to her. “I’m so sorry, you alright?” JAakuna asked as he was at her side.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

When they entered the room, there sat the esper sitting upon what it looked like a pedestal of sorts., in a meditation position. As he looked at them, the doors closed. The group briefly look back at the door as it surprised them that it closed suddenly, but their attention would soon dart back to the Esper known as Chaos. As they did that, they would see swords floating around. They wouldn’t have to deal with any other monsters, but that didn’t really ease any worry that Jaakuna, Wesley, or Savayna had. It just meant that Chaos was indeed the strongest Esper they would have to face thus far. Well, maybe second strongest. Zodiark probably takes that spot.

As they continued to look further, a large, light green glyph appeared behind Chaos and a gust of wind would take the room. It wasn’t a strong gust though. Jaakuna was surprised at this, but what took his surprise more was that Emiri seemed to be taking her dagger out and turning to Jaakuna. She would then go after him with a full-force strike. Jaakuna took one of his Swords and blocked her attack. “Emiri, what are you doing!?” Jaakuna called out. Had she gone mad? Wait, was she still under the influence of Lola’s nightmare juice. No, that’s not it. There was something more simple to it. She must’ve been struck with the confusion aliment.

While Jaakuna was trying to figure out when exactly Emiri became overtaken by the confusion aliment, Wesley would look and as he did the only thing he heard and saw was a gunshot and Nadeline getting grazed by said gunshot. He looked and saw that it was Grant’s gun that did it. His eyes were full of shock, but also full of curiosity. Why would Grant even do such a thing? Wesley would wonder for a few seconds and then he arrived at the conclusion that he must also be confused just like Emiri seemed to be. “Well, this is definitely not good.” Wesley mused aloud. He was right though. Emiri and Grant were confused and they also had Chaos to worry about. Wesley definitely knew this wasn’t a good situation that they found themselves in.

While Nadeline and Wesley held off Grant or at least tried not to get killed by his gun, Savayna was angry. Well, she’s always angry, but this was just something to add to it. The fact that both Emiri and Grant got themselves confused and the rest of the group didn’t really sucked ass. She didn’t like it and boy was she going to give them hell later on. As for now, she would focus her attention on Chaos. With the others trying to at least hold off Grant and Emiri, Savayna would use her ice to float over them, and as she took her sword, Chaos saw her. A gust of wind was sent her way and Savayna evaded it by turning her body towards the right.. She would then go for a strike from her Ice Queen sword, but Chaos had saw it coming a mile away. One of his swords would block hers and another came in. Raising her shield, she blocked it, but another came and would graze Savayna’s arm, sending her flying in several flips and turns. She landed on one knee, hand aiding her recovery, but she slid back five feet. As she looked at Chaos, she would dart her gaze to the others and they were at least able to hold the others off. Savayna looked back at Chaos and the Esper just waited for her to make her next move.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As they would continue deeper into Nabudis, Nadeline would express that she too has her respective worried about Jaakuna. She would point out that Lola was able shift into Emiri in every way. Her mannerisms were perfect, her voice, and right down to every aspect that made Emiri herself. Wesley would nod and release a “hmm” sound quietly. He also wished to know what was the deal with Jaakuna, but like Nadeline, he would not press the issue until they were out of Nabudis. “That’s if we even get out of here.” Wesley grimly murmured.

Going deeper to the center of Nabudis, the group would come to a door. It had three medallions placed into it. Wesley noticed them and he knew that someone must’ve gone to a lot of trouble to gather them. He knew that they weren’t at all easy to obtain. Still, he saw no one come, he saw no one run pass them as they would approach the door, so it would seem whoever tried to get Chaos failed in their endeavor.

The group would only take a moment to admire the door and it was with that they would enter through the door and there would await Chaos, The Walker of the Wheel.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As Francis was about to get the name of the woman in the tree, Shion would just state to pay no attenton to her and she would bid Francis ado. He watched as she went away and the woman in the tree would as well. Francis thought about the day he had and boy was it eventful. There was finding out that his son was in Utena, then coming to the Gilmore Jungle and getting the attraction of two women. Though, what had in such a giddy and happy mood was the thought of Shion.

“I’m going to marry that woman.” He said aloud to himself smiling like a fucking idiot. Francis did think about his son though, more specifically how proud he was of him. Yes, truly Francis was not mad at Michel for being apart of Utena. He just wanted the chance himself to tell him that he was proud of him. However, for now, he would just return to Archadia to report back to Roman and have a conversation with Levi.

---

As Emiri would say that Chaos wasn’t far from their current location, she would beckon them to follow her. Savayna noticed the reluctance on Grant’s face and she just chuckled as they all would follow Emiri. Jaakuna was beside her, Wesley behind them beside Nadeline and Savayna the same with Grant behind Nadeline and Wesley.

As they would walk further, Wesley couldn’t help but think about Jaakuna and how he was able to figure out the real Emiri so easily and then there was the mention of Zodiark that got him troubled. He didn’t know if Zodiark was around and somehow came into play about the three Emiris or if it was something much more complicated than that. Even so, Wesley would speak quietly to Nadeline. “Does something seem off to Jaakuna? I mean, how exactly did he know that Lola was pretending to be Emiri.” Wesley would try to whisper loud enough so that Nadeline heard him, but not too loud so that anyone else heard him.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

When Emiri and Jaakuna had finished hugging each other, sharing a sob or two, they would release each other from their embrace. It was just in time too as Grant would state that he couldn’t handle another minute in Nabudis, to which Nadeline would interject and state that they had their original goal of getting Chaos. Jaakuna nodded and Nadeline as he knew they needed to get the esper. It was the main reason they came to Nabudis in the first place.

So, with that, they had all decided to go on further to find Chaos, but where exactly would they start. Nabudis was so large, it wasn’t like they could go and ask someone. “So, where exactly do we venture off to? I don’t even know where to start.” Jaakuna mused aloud, also asked the others. Wesley and Savayna thought about it and they didn’t have any clues either.

---

When Shion mentioned something about duty calling her, she pointed to a tree. Francis would see a woman with rather large breasts and in a purple jumpsuit. The woman was smiling in a cheerful manner. He would look back to Shion only for her to mention that Francis was still on top of her. Perhaps Francis was subconsciously not wanting to get off, but he instantly stood up, helping Shion up as he did so. They were both up and he had a slight redness about his cheeks.

“I guess it will have to wait.” He said as he lifted his Alpha Blood Greatsword and placed it on his back with ease. He then looked up at the tree. “Hi there, miss..” He simply said waving gently to the woman in the tree. He then looked back to Shion. “Do inform me when you aren’t busy, Shion.” Francis’ charm took the form of flirtatious winking.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Lola had denounced herself of being the fake Emiri as she would place her hands up and she would shift into her usual self, big tits and all. This didn’t make Jaakuna feel any better and it would even worsen Lola make the mention of Zodiark. How did she find out already? Jaakuna was getting worried at this point, but just as he was, Emiri would stab the Emiri dupe and a black smokescreen would take over the area. Jaakuna thought this was just like last time, but it would seem that it was just a smokescreen as Lola was gone.

When it did happen, Jaakuna looked over to Nadeline, who shot him a glare of some sort. Jaakuna didn’t know if she suspected anything, but for his sake, he hoped that she didn’t. Still, Jaakuna was severely worried that he would be found out sometime about Zodiark. Whichever the case, Jaakuna looked at Emiri, walking over and hugging her. He never wanted to let her go. “I’m so sorry, Emiri.” Jaakuna simply said.

---

As his attack went in, Shion raised her Katana up to defend herself from the attack, but perhaps the force of Francis’ own was too much for her as it would knock her back. However, as she would fall to her own back, she would grip Francis’ armor, pulling him down with her, and he was on top of her, Alpha Blood out of his grip, and dropping(as heard from it crashing on the ground). She would then say that she surrendered, tapping his nose, and inform that he won. On one hand, he was extremely pleased that he won, but he couldn’t help that there was something that was at play that made it to where that it distracter her. Still, Francis was over Shion and he couldn’t help but feel very excited.

“Indeed I have, but I think it’s far too soon for us to be like this.” He smiled, obviously commenting on their compromising position. “Let’s see how dinner goes, and then maybe..” He said just looking her with a rather half-naughty, half-suggestive expression.