Genon

One Piece: The Scarlet Pirates (Reboot!) [Chapter 1 END]

Well, I got a WIP sheet up. I didn't bother completing it because I wasn't sure if this character would fit, for a variety of reasons, so I wanted @Noodles to take a look what I have so far. The backstory is 1,909 words, so it's pretty dense, and I wanted to see if he would fit in with the crew or the game concept before I finished the entire thing.

WIP Sheet

Name: Adrian "Shadow" Hex

Age: 23

Bounty: 50,000,000, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE for 437 counts of first-degree murder, high treason against the World Government, 54 counts of impersonating a Marine, and associating with a group of like-minded traitors.

Gender: Male

Appearance:

Appearance

Personality: Adrian, though a man in the pursuit of justice, is an assassin by trade, and it shows. As a former Nightblade, he is not without compassion, but he has been taught from an early age that, for many evildoers across the seas, death is the only just sentence. He will almost always kill a person he has decided is his next target, as few that he seeks out are worthy of a second chance. He is not all doom-and-gloom, however. He can be a fun-loving person outside of the battlefield, but he's slow to truly trust others, knowing that in the world of outlaws, and especially pirates, almost anyone you meet is willing to slit your throat in your sleep for a few dozen berries. It should be noted that he's convinced himself that simple violence won't fix the world, but will only be stopgap solution. Even so, he is willing to kill Marines, and both work with and kill pirates, out of simple necessity.

Backstory: Adrian was born to parents he never knew, the product of a one-night stand between a drunk pirate and a prostitute. He never knew his mother, the woman abandoning him as an infant. He somehow survived to adolescence, eking out out a miserable existence as a street urchin in the moderately-sized island city he was born in. Over time, he witnessed many Marines, whose job it was to guard the city, abuse their power on the regular. Running rackets against the citizens and beating those who couldn't pay, threatening to arrest anyone who dared inconvenience them, turning a blind eye to pirate dealings in exchange for bribe money, and sometimes even committing murder and getting away with it.

There was a Marine commander, one William Draco, in charge of this island, and he was by far the worst of the lot. There were few pies he didn't have a hand in, and very few crimes he had not committed during his career, though perhaps a more appropriate term by this point would be "reign." Commander Draco was a massive man, said to be capable of effortlessly tearing an ordinary person in half. He was an expert in armed combat. His weapon of choice was a massive, two-handed battleaxe modeled off of a Marine boarding ax, that he once used to cut down the support beams of an entire tavern that hadn't paid his protection money, collapsing the whole thing on top of himself and walking out unscathed. He was also an expert swordsman, easily disposing of the few pirates who dared attack him when he didn't have said battleaxe with the cutlass he kept on him at all times.

On the morning of Adrian's 16th birthday, he woke up to find the Marines shaken, their protection rackets no longer in effect, and no more crimes being committed. He asked one of the local street boys he knew what had happened.

"Didn't you hear?" he said. "Draco was killed an hour ago. They one second he was fine, beatin' the shit out of some kid who mouthed off to him, and the next his head just fell off. There was a rush of wind too. They think someone just...moved fast enough to decapitate the guy without anyone seeing him. An' then, five seconds later, there was a note on his carcass: 'Your commander has been executed by the Nightblades. Abuse your power again and you will meet his fate.'"

Adrian ran off, without another word, leaving the boy calling after him. He figured that the assassin couldn't have gone far. And maybe, just maybe, if he could catch the guy, he might be impressed enough to let him join these "Nightblades." It wasn't like his life was going anyplace good anyway, even with Draco short a head.

The only way on or off the island was a ship, and he figured the assassin would be wearing some kind of disguise. This was a decently-sized island, and he doubted the assassin could keep that speed up forever.

Sure enough, he caught what looked like an young Marine boarding a civilian ship at the docks, by himself. The people wouldn't question a Marine, no matter if he was familiar. Just because Draco was dead didn't mean the fear he instilled would go away, at least not immediately.

He tailed him, using the skills he had learned hiding from the Marines to sneak onto the ship. When it left the dock and was sufficiently out to sea, he came out of hiding and announced his presence. He was brought before the captain, arms tied behind his back, and held at swordpoint by the captain, who asked him why he'd stown away. The captain seemed to be smirking. Had she known that he'd been onboard the entire time? She might've thought he was a Marine spy, and as he had noticed the unique armbands the crew were equipped with (likely designating a secret ranking system), he smiled widely. He knew that he had come to the right place, and he needed to make sure she knew he wanted to join and wasn't here to hinder their plans. He announced then and there that he had hidden on their ship so that they'd be impressed enough to allow him to join, having figured out that this was a Nightblade vessel.

In response, the captain sheathed her sword...and decked him across the face hard enough to knock him over, saying, "The Nightblades are an assassin group. WE. KILL. PEOPLE. You shouldn't be so eager to take lives, nor throw your life away, just because we did a good deed for you. You need to carefully consider your course of action. You'll be fighting the cruelest pirates and the most corrupt Marines imaginable, and you'll see the worst humanity has to offer." She then pulled Adrian to his feet and put her face an inch from his, saying, "And you're going to kill them, or you're going to die. This isn't a life you sign up for because you want to rise above your station. You enter because you want to clean up the world, and you're willing to put your life and freedom on the line for that ideal. You're willing to become an enemy of both the World Government and the pirate community in the name of that goal, and devote yourself to the cause. You will murder, you will often fight for your life, and you may very well die in action. Or worse, be made an example of by the World Government. I can tell by looking at you that you're some homeless ragamuffin, and you've probably done all of this because you think that being one of us will give you a better life. Well no, it isn't. It's much, much more dangerous, even if you get fed more often."

She then dropped him to the ground. She said to her underlings, "Put him to work for now, give him a taste of the day-to-day life. I'll ask him how he feels about it in a week."

True to the captain's word, Adrian was put to work as a low-level crew member almost immediately. It was tedious and sometimes back-breaking labor, but he had gotten a feel for it over the course of the week. Of course, he hadn't joined for an easy way out of the homeless life, though that was certainly a contributing factor. No. He just wanted more people like Commander Draco to drop dead already. The world would be better off without them. In a week, he was asked his answer, and it was a resounding yes.

The ship eventually arrived at its destination: Seemingly a large deserted island covered in dense jungle, he was led to a hidden entrance at the base of the island's natural cliffs. Inside, he saw the Nightblade HQ in all its glory. They had hollowed out the entire cliffside, creating a colossal stone fortress, complete with folding-out openings for cannon emplacements and such, hidden in plain sight. A passing Marine ship would have no idea that that the Nightblade headquarters was within swimming distance, as, using a similar technology to that found in the motors of cyborgs, their vessels were hidden behind a sliding rock face at the back of the island's natural bay, kept in a grotto.

And it was in this base that Adrian would learn the ways of the Nightblade. It turned out that the group had been founded by a former CP9 member, a master of the seven techniques of the Rokushiki. Having overcome his brainwashing and become disillusioned with the World Government's warped sense of "Absolute Justice," he deserted the organization and founded his own group of killers, a group that, while no less lethal, would employ the nuance that the World Government sorely lacked.

Adrian became proficient in the six major Rokushiki techniques, never quite managing to master the seventh secret technique, but he became an established Nightblade in his own right over the course of 437 successful assassinations across the following five years. And yet...the jobs never stopped coming. He had killed hundreds of people by this point, ranging from small-time pirate captains (and their crews) all the way up to a Rear Admiral--though he barely escaped that fight with his life. Was he really helping the world, just by eliminating pirates and corrupt Marines? He was putting fear into the hearts of the World Government, for sure, but realized that one group of violent killers cannot change human nature. Murder, on a large scale or a small scale, couldn't change the world. Even killing the World Nobles would just cause a power struggle that would leave even more people dead. The Nightblades were self-defeating: All they would do is kill, solving nothing, until they were killed themselves.

And so, he asked the Council of Nine, the group's leaders, if he could leave the organization. They agreed. They would give him everything he needed to leave the island: A small vessel, enough supplies to reach civilization--as he had no bounty on him at the time, so impeccable was his record--and enough money to start a new life as anything he chose.

So, he packed his things, and left for the nearest civilized island. There, he tried to settle down, start something new with his life. Two years later, he had managed to become a small-time trader, and was traveling along one of the prime East Blue trade routes when his navigator caught sight of a formerly-deserted island to Starboard. The island, known for its natural cliffs, was thought to be uninhabited, but for some reason those beautiful cliffs had been utterly obliterated.

The navigator immediately called for his captain's attention, asking what they should do with this information. Captain Hex told him to move towards the island. And so, despite some shocked cries from the men, they did so dutifully. Adrian had thought that it couldn't be possible, but he knew the coordinates of the island well enough by this point. This was the NIghtblade hideout. And it was in ruins.

The cliffs had been reduced to little more than rubble, and beneath the rubble were bodies. Thousands of bodies. Nearly all of them had decayed into skeletons by this point, but he recognized a precious few. He left the island sullen and miserable, and he told the crew to never tell a soul about what they had just witnessed. They solemnly agreed, but when they arrived at their next stop, one crewmember, on the guise of heading to a tavern, alerted the local Marines to his captain's suspicious reaction, and almost immediately the Marines put two and two together: The man who captained this merchant ship, one Adrian Hex, was in fact the assassin who had been given the moniker "Shadow," a Nightblade who had managed to stay completely under the Marines' radar for over half a decade now. The annihlation of the Nightblade's order had caused the authorities to assume he was killed in the bloodshed. After all, who could have survived a Buster Call which warranted the personal intervention of the Fleet Admiral, two of the three regular Admirals, and five Vice Admirals?

But, due to an early retirement, Adrian had survived, and now he was a wanted man. Thanks to Soru, he could run farther than anyone else outside of CP-9. But eventually, he'd be caught, tried, and executed...right?

Abilities: A list of what your char can do. Does he or she have a devil fruit? How does he fight? Cutlass or Pistol for example.

Relationships: Can be left blank, optional. For crew, what does she do in the crew, and how much she like the captain for example?

Dreams: What does your character aspire to achieve? Can be anything, like personal motivation

World of Light

Vs. Sweet Tooth

Word Count: 3,523
Donnie, Din, Tora & Poppi +3 exp
@Stern Algorithm @Lugubrious

By the Four Celestials…

Donnie gaped as the truck transformed into, of all things, a giant robot that, keeping with the Goblin comparisons, would give one of their shredders a run for their money. He had no more time to think about it though as a stream of high-caliber bullets flew in his direction from robot’s giant rotating gun. He managed to avoid the gunfire, but he was already breathing heavily. He had overtaxed his energy reserves, and was running on empty. He’d need to wait for his body to recover before he could cast more spells...which could make grabbing the clown a lot more difficult. He mentally called upon the massive reserves of Elemental Air in the Fists of the Heavens, using the wind currents to enhance his speed, making it much more difficult for Sweet Bot to hit him while he gave himself the time he needed to recover. Thankfully, being a monk, that process would be quick, quicker than a mage’s Mana regeneration for sure...but he’d need the time to do that, and the Fists would allow him to engage in evasive maneuvers while he waited.

“I need to recover!” he shouted to the others, “Try to avoid its attacks until I can cast my magic again! “ He smiled devilishly. “Then the fun starts!”

Fortunately for Din, Sweet Bot seemed to focus on Donnie, leaving her and Gogoat unscathed. But seeing as how Gogoat’s attack merely left a small dent on the side of the truck, Din realized that she should adopt the tactic employed by Donnie; attacking the driver. She was grateful that Donnie had opened up an entrance into the machine, but as Sweet Bot rocketed up into the air, Din found that she had no way to take advantage of it. Two ideas came to mind, both likely to end in failure. Still, there was nothing stopping Din from trying, so at first she cast the Spell of Winter towards Sweet Bot’s rockets, hoping that cooling the flaming jets might disable it and bring it back to the ground. Her other plan involved launching herself up with the help of Gogoat into the robot ice cream truck, but she would hold off on that unless her first attack failed to make an impact.

Try as she might, Din’s spell ended up melting under the flare of Sweet Tooth’s rockets, only slowing it down momentarily as its ice froze over the ports. For his part, the clownish driver scarcely seemed to notice. He sprayed an almost lazy burst of gatling rounds over the scenery, little threat for anyone keeping a close eye on him, before zeroing in on Donnie. Needles went to launch a Laughing Ghost at the disk-borne monk, bound to home in on the monk and blow him to smithereens, only for a sudden jerk to throw off his aim.

Unable to freeze the rockets, Din resorted to her next plan of attack. Riding Gogoat a little further away, she turned back towards Sweet Bot and began accelerating. A certain distance away, Gogoat leapt majestically, and at the height of the Pokemon’s arc, Din stood up and leapt from Gogoat’s back towards the leg of the robot. Din, dressed in red, jumped from her green steed in midair, an action that caused the ghosts of numerous similarly betrayed dinosaurs with long tongues to stir in agitation, but Gogoat managed to land safely back on the ground, and the abandoned spirits settled down.

Ghosts of betrayed dinosaurs

Poppi appeared from behind the Sweet Bot, planted a solid cross in its chest’s passenger-side windshield that left the glass with a spiderweb crack, and boosted away. Tora, however, stayed behind; the intrepid Nopon leaped down onto the macabre mech and yanked a wrench from his overalls. With practiced hands he began to sabotage the Sweet Bot’s machinery. A moment later, Din herself latched onto the machine, having been flung up onto the low-flying deathbot’s fuselage by her Gogoat companion. The extra weight plus Tora’s hijinx worked to quickly exhaust the Sweet Bot’s fuel supply, and it began to descend. With a snarl, Needles engaged the Sweet Bot’s drop attack, and it plummeted to the earth with a giant slam that shook the ground. Tora leaped from it before it got up to speed, and the ever-attentive Poppi caught him, though the impact jarred the wrench from his wing.

Din, likewise, jumped from the machine even though she had just managed to get on it before it gained too much speed in its drop, landing on Gogoat, who managed to catch her, without injury. Din somewhat resented her wasted effort, but at least the machine was now more-or-less grounded. She rode away, rounding back to face Sweet Bot head on, looking for any new developments.

From the dust, Sweet bot rose, recovering quickly but smoking out the back. A salvo of bullets zipped upward, forcing Poppi to disengage with her cargo.

Donnie gritted his teeth as he called on the Fists, gunning the Disc as far as it would normally go and beyond, as he noticed that the clown-like robot was aiming for him, only to feel a rush of relief as Tora and Poppi threw off its aim. Better yet, he had completely recovered by this point. Now it was time for the main event.

Maintaining his incredible speed, Donnie aimed straight for the hole he had made in Sweet Bot’s cockpit, weaving around any further attacks, and soon he was right next to Needles himself, the Fists sheathed and with his hands directly grabbing Needles’ left arm.

”GET! OUT!” he yelled, as he attempted to bodily haul the killer clown out of the driver’s seat with all of his strength, aided by the fact that Needles wasn’t wearing a seatbelt for some reason, and throw the bastard to the ground below. He kept an eye out for any desperate moves by either Needles or Sweet Bot itself, and would disengage if it looked like he was going to get blindsided.

Through brutish, Needles was no oaf. Donnie’s approach and intrusion did not go unnoticed, and by the time the monk made it inside the cab, the clown was ready. Donnie latched on to his arm, aiming to yank him from the Sweet Bot’s controls, but Needles wasn’t in there for his own safety. With a guttural bellow he swung a viciously-serrated machete at Donnie’s head. If granted even a moment’s leeway, he’d be going for his sawed-off shotgun in the passenger’s seat next, which would mean a terribly messy end for the interloper.

Of course, the interior struggle demanded Needles’ attention, leaving the Sweet Bot itself ambling straight forward without launching any kind of attack.

The clown’s swing was vicious, but it was the wild swing of an untrained street fighter..Lots of power, but little skill. He had seen similar fighters during his stint in the fighting pits of the Brawler’s Guild, and they were usually small-fries who always lost to someone who knew what they were doing. It was a simple matter to dodge the strike, catch Needles in an armlock, and start using the Disc to accelerate rapidly in the opposite direction to Sweet Bot’s jogging.

Now, Needles’ arm was in Donnie’s iron grasp at it was held outstretched, ground ruthlessly against the doorframe of the truck, all the while Donnie continued bending it into an unnatural angle. Considering that Sweet Bot was still jogging forward, as the gap between the two widened, Needles was put in a bad position. If he didn’t do something fast, his arm would at the very least break, and at most might actually end up being torn off at the shoulder. That was unless he allowed himself to be pulled out by the backwards movement, which would result in him hanging onto his enemy’s arm, suspended in the air. Even if he did have his shotgun by this point, it would be faster for the monk to just drop him, and Needles didn’t have the benefit of reflex-enhancing magic to make sure he pulled the trigger first. And that was assuming that Donnie couldn’t outright disarm him in that situation.

Given the cabin’s cramped confines and his foe’s martial prowess, Needles fell prey to his tactic, and couldn’t maintain his position. His grasping fingers closed around his shotgun, but the next moment the monk hauled him bodily from his seat.

Din watched, with some amazement, Donnie’s combat ability. More than that, Din felt as if there was magic in his strikes, though she was unable to place it. It occurred to her that she should ask her teammates what magical elements they used, and test if any of her spells could bolster theirs. But when Donnie managed to force Needles out of the cockpit, Din saw her chance to help. Accelerating, Din rode Gogoat towards the dangling clown. Gogoat jumped making a leaping Horn Leech strike at Needles.

Its horns struck true, tearing into Needles’ exposed flesh before the impact sent both him -and monk with whom he was entangled- tumbling clear of the Sweet Bot. With nobody at the helm to keep it upright, the mech proceeded to trip on an outcropping of rock and topple with a crash; when Needles rose from the dust and spotted what happened, his head blazed viciously. From nowhere he pulled a trio of trip mines, which he scattered around himself before brandishing his shotgun. “Alright, gather round, kiddies. It’s time for you to see how sweet I can be.”

“Not seem sweet.” Poppi cruised in from above, dropping off Tora and handing off her Mech Arms to him before assuming a battle-ready stance behind him. “Poppi think clown not being honest with self.” With a roll of his eyes Tora clanged the metal gauntlets together before heading for Needles himself.

The good news: Donnie’s trick had worked, and Needles was now completely at his mercy, with him able to rise several dozen feet in the air and drop him at a moment’s notice (though the shotgun would’ve had to be dealt with).

The bad news: That lasted for all of five seconds before Din’s Horn Leech, while making a rather satisfying slice into the clown’s flesh, knocked him from the Disc and sent him tumbling to the ground. He let go of Needles in the confusion, who presumably due to Sweet Bot’s relatively short height, had emerged unscathed from the struggle. Donnie tucked and rolled as he hit the ground, mitigating what little damage the impact would have done, while the Disc simply dropped to the ground with no-one to pilot it, hovering off of the miniature cloud on its bottom.

The better news: Thanks to that Horn Leech, the clown was definitively away from his robotic ice-cream truck and wouldn’t be getting inside it anytime soon. And he was bleeding.

However, it wasn’t all fun and games. Apparently, the clown had some kind of magical pocket-dimension or something like the Madman’s Luggage, because he pulled a bunch of what he assumed were more-advanced versions of Goblin Land Mines (by Xuen, why was he able to make so many goblin comparisons today?!) and scattered them on the ground around him...before he brandished his blunderbuss and said...that.

Donnie, under his helmet, stared at him with an incredulously flat expression. “You’re the furthest thing from sweet I’ve ever seen, and I’ve fought the sha.” Quick as a flash, he ran full-tilt over to the nearby Disc, which would only put him in a better position, and hopped on. Then, he fired a Chi Burst downwards towards Needles’ skull as he flew above the grounded clown’s head.

A gravelly guffaw resounded from Needles as Donnie approached. Reaching down with his machete, he slid the tip beneath a landmine before flipping it up into the air with a sudden twist, activating its sensor in the process. The explosive beeped once, then on the next beat blew up right in the monk’s path, negating the predictable Chi Blast and shell-shocking its sender. Donnie’s ill-planned flight path carried him over Needles’ head, who waited with gleeful patience to unleash a deafening shotgun blast straight upward.

He thought that he might pierce the bizarre flying machine, or that the monk’s disc would die a shield, but it proved to be made of sturdy stuff. Yet, that meant that every ounce of force packed by the brutally-modified weapon went to violently throwing Donnie off its surface and to the ground, dazed and confused. Needles moved to finish the fistfighter off, but Tora and Poppi leaped into his way. Before either could say much of anything, the clown had already lobbed a molotov cocktail their way, which shattered against the earth between them in a surge of flame. Poppi dodged sideways, but Tora moved forward. While Needles could scarcely believe that some egg-shaped hamster thing not even half his height was running at him, he wasted no time hacking away at Tora with his machete. Clang after clang rang out as the Nopon blocked his swings, holding out long enough for Poppi to flank Needles with a jet-powered kick to the head. Though staggered for a second, the clown flung his machete at Poppi when she turned to face him, forcing her to block with her arms and take a nasty slice.

Reminding himself to tell Poppi to tag-team properly later, Tora moved in to attack the disarmed clown, only to be taken aback by the roar of a chainsaw. Needles swung it with reckless abandon, its teeth grinding against Tora’s weapons, but in a free second the Nopon slammed the ground with his Mech Arms and rocketed upward. A midair somersault turned into a overhead slam, but even that weighty blow barely seemed to faze the burning killer. Letting go of his chainsaw, Needles grabbed Tora by the hair and kicked him bodily away.

Tora rolled to a stop a moment later, barely avoiding another mine in the process, and Poppi appeared by his side. “This clown no joker!” the Nopon wheezed.

Din was intimidated by the mad clown’s threatening demeanor, and wondered waht those metal plates were that he laid at his feet. But as Donnie went to attack, the clown flipped up one of the plates. The result let Din know that they were bombs of some sort, though seemingly more advanced than anything that was available in Hyrule. But this gave Din an idea as Tora and Poppi kept the monstrous clown at bay. ”Heads up!” Din called out, riding Gogoat into position, placing the mines between herself and Needles. She noticed that he was swinging a mechanical slicing instrument. Gogoat lifted itself up on its hind legs before slamming its fore-hooves down ward, using Rock Slide, and initiating a wave of sand, earth, and stone towards Needles, pushing the mines towards him. Hopefully, this would cause the mines to detonate on the clown, while also jamming up his mechanical cutting machine with sand. Not caring whether the attack connected or not, Din acrobatically leapt off her steed and cart-wheeled over towards Donnie, activating her invigorating dance as she approached him in the hopes of reviving him from his daze and giving him a second wind. It seemed silly, and downright dangerous, to be dancing and healing, completely exposed, but she knew that if Needles came after her, Tora, Poppi, or Gogoat would protect her.

“What!?” Din’s torrent of earth left Needles dumbfounded--just for a moment, but it was long enough. The wave swallowed up the remaining mines before crashing into him, and the next second blew apart in a great plume of sand, stone, and fire. When it subsided into smoke and dust, it left behind a half-buried Needles, burned and bloodied. His head, however, still burned, and when he saw Din dancing for Donnie, he beat his fists against the ground. “I’ve had it with you runts.” In one motion he tore himself from the ground, and from flame a machete appeared in each hand. “Time to die! HRAAAAAGH!”

From his mouth spewed a raging cone of flame, its heatwave distorting the air.

Donnie took a bit to recover from that impact. A lot longer than he used to, in fact, probably because the armor was a lot weaker this time around. Once he stopped seeing stars, he cast Vivify once on himself to heal the remaining mental trauma away before rising and turning to face the threat. He dodged out of the way of the incoming attack, invigorated by Din’s strange dance, as he went in to actually start dealing some serious damage. He was lacking many of his most potent techniques, such as Touch of Fatality, Serenity, or Whirling Dragon Punch, but that was no reason to do nothing. Keeping the Fists sheathed for now, he leapt into action.

Once he had dodged the strike, it was a simple matter to begin fighting Needles toe-to-toe in earnest. He came around from the back, opening with a Tiger Palm to his kidney, then kicked Needles in the spine with a Blackout Kick, and followed that up with a Rising Sun Kick that knocked him up into the air, and finishing up with a relatively-normal axe kick to Needle’s torso while he was still airborne, knocking him down to earth. And with that, he unsheathed his weapons and made to get out of dodge, hopefully before Needles could brutally retaliate, enraged as the killer was. And with Din’s enhancements, that wouldn’t be hard. Of course, he’d be coming back into melee range to let loose with his actual weapons soon enough, but he expected a counterattack first.

Din did not expect Needles could breathe fire. She needed to get out of the way, but as a healer, she couldn’t leave the one she was healing behind to be scorched by the flames. Fortunately, Donnie recovered in time and used some healing magic of his own, so Din rolled out of the way. Meanwhile, Gogoat had been using Bulk Up on itself, pawing its hoof at the ground, readying itself for another attack while Needles was distracted. When Donnie knocked Needles to the ground, Gogoat attacked with another wave of Rock Slide in an attempt to bury the angry clown. Meanwhile, Din ran back to reunite with her pokemon, and looked on, hoping the fight was over, but she was doubtful. Needles seemed strong enough, and crazy enough, to keep going.

Needles’ wounds were piling up. He struggled to get to his feet, a deep noise of pure rage rumbling within him. A molotov appeared in his hand; he shattered it against his mask, bathing himself and the area around him in flame. Gogoat’s Rock Slide bore down on him, and Needles met it with chainsaw in hand. Its screaming teeth flashed in the sunlight as he span, a hurricane of burning steel, and annihilated the stones that threatened to squash his fire. Tora watched the display, wondering why the clown would go to such extreme lengths. Did he feel like he had to utterly crush any challenge that came his way…? The Nopon wasn’t complaining, though. After a workout like that, the overweight psychopath had to be running on fumes. “Poppi, now is chance! Prepare for super double attack!”

The Artificial Blade nodded, grinning. “Understood. All Poppi systems are go.” She grabbed the Mech Arms that Tora through before jetting toward the clearing dust cloud. Needles couldn’t see through the haze, but thanks to his fiery head, she could see him. He moved to lash out with his saw the moment he saw a shape approaching through the dust, but too late. Her spinning punch broke his left elbow, and as Needles reeled from the blow, Poppi delivered an explosive uppercut to his masked jaw that sent him flying upward. From behind his partner, Tora leaped onto her shoulders, grabbed the Mech Arms, and was promptly hurled after the brutalized clown. “Meh-meh-meh-meh-meh-meh-meeeh!” Tora landed punch after punch as he ascended, his trajectory following Needles’ closely, until after final smack he opened up the Mech Arms to pelt his foe with a swarm of missiles. With a hellish cry the killer disappeared in a terrific blast.

A burning husk hurtled toward the ground, bounced twice, and rolled to a stop. For the briefest of moments, the smoldering mass held its shape, as though death itself couldn’t stop the twisted clown. Then it crumbled to ash, leaving only a spirit behind.

Tora landed a moment later, having used the Mech Arms’ blasts to slow his fall. With the fight concluded, his put his weapons away, though Poppi remained in her new form. Both regarded Needles’ spirit dubiously. “Wanted to try new powers,” Tora said, “But that too dangerous. Not want crazy hell clown in head.”

Nodding sagaciously, Poppi patted Tora’s stomach. “Plus, probably make Masterpon even rounder. If such thing possible.”

Aghast, Tora could only sputter for a moment before crying, “S-so disrespectful! How could Poppi exaggerate Tora’s roundness like that!? M-must have circuit crossed somewhere, meh.”

World of Light

@Genon

Sure, feel free to PM me the link or whatever.

@Stern Algorithm

@Stern Algorithm
Alright, I'm still waiting on @Dawnrider and/or @Lmpkio.

One Piece: The Scarlet Pirates (Reboot!) [Chapter 1 END]

@Noodles

So I've had this in my subscribed threads for a while, but I've been a bit nervous about joining. I wanted to ask you a question first before I applied.

How much do I need to know of the source material to do well in this game? I've watched the anime somewhat, but I only got up to the Buggy's Revenge arc before I lost steam, and there is a lot of material in One Piece to get through.

World of Light

@Stern Algorithm @Dawnrider @Lugubrious

I think that's everyone involved in the Sweet Tooth fight, not counting the GM. I was thinking we could collab out our part of the encounter, as I think it would make things quicker, more efficient, and more cinematic. I can set up a Google Doc if you guys want.

Also, I'm not sure what part of the battle @Lmpkio is going for (and he's confirmed on the Discord that he's still interested and actively working on a post) so I'm tagging him to see if he wants in.

World of Light

Donnie

Word Count: 764
Level 2 - (4/20) + 2 = 6/20 EXP
Location: Random Scrubland

In spite of Donnie missing most of his shots, those cars clearly weren't equipped to go up against all of the firepower his allies had brought to bear. He cracked a grin as the two remaining cars turned tail and drove away...only to grimace as three new cars arrived on the scene. Some sort of demented ice-cream truck out of a goblin's worst nightmares, a buggy of some kind, and an absolutely brutal-looking...what the hell even was that thing? He'd honestly never seen a car with wheels that big.

He didn't get to think more than that before he was cut off by a hail of high-caliber bullets heading his way. "Shit!" he yelled, swerving out of the firing path, barely dodging the tightly-grouped burst of fire.

Unfortunately, he also heard the loud cracking and splintering of wood nearby. Craning his neck to the flying doll, he could tell that Geno hadn't been so lucky. Thinking fast, he cast Vivify thrice in rapid succession. Donnie's hands flashed with a magical light for each cast. The signature green mist emerged around Geno's body, the wood around the three bullets' entry and exit wounds regrowing rapidly before completely closing, the internal damage completely repaired as Donnie's body felt a bit drained from that.

Geno's body may have been made of dead wood, but at the very least it was organic. Unlike holy healing, chi healing had worked on the likes of free-willed undead before. A wooden puppet would probably heal just the same: If Vivify could heal dead flesh, it could heal dead plant matter too. The main downside was that a Windwalker's chi magic was cast from the body's stamina, not from its Mana like most magic. And Donnie wasn't exactly as spry as he normally was. After the ten Chi Bursts and three Vivifies, he was already feeling his heart pound, and sweat run down his brow. He would need to conserve his strength if at all possible, and use his abilities in bursts.

He gritted his teeth as he gunned the Disc to its top speed, fully on-guard as he planned his next move at a breakneck pace. He and Geno were high-priority targets for that guy on the turret, and whoever was at the controls of that thing was good. They had led Donnie properly, compensating for both the Disc's velocity and the velocity of the monster truck. They probably would've scored at least one direct hit if Donnie was a little less agile, and with his armor's magic sealed, he didn't want to test its durability if he could help it.

He glanced below, seeing the ice-cream truck fire some kind of demonic fireball at Bowser as Linkle detonated it prematurely. There. That guy at the wheel was his best chance. If he could get onto the ice-cream truck's body, the other vehicles would have to risk hitting their ally to take him out. And if he could get the driver into melee range, he wouldn't be able to drive either, let alone aim.

Of course, this plan assumed that this bunch of killers would care about their ally. But he had to take that risk.

Descending to near ground level, Donnie came up alongside the ice-cream truck and unloaded five more Chi Bursts (a bit more slowly than previously to conserve his strength) into the driver's side door of Sweet Tooth, getting a good look at the driver inside. A large, burly man wearing a deranged-looking clown mask, its features twisted into a demented grin. And the man's head was on fire, but he didn't seem to care. And judging by the truck's weapons, the man probably had a talent for the demonic.

And besides that, the man seemed to radiate an aura of sadism, murder, and death. Donnie could practically feel the clown's sheer killing intent from here. And this...thing was going to turn that murderous intent on his allies.

In response to such a foul creature, Donnie could only mete out the punishment that the clown probably had coming by this point. If the Chi Bursts made contact (which would probably blow off the door), he'd make to bodily grab the clown and throw him out of the vehicle, opening him up for more punishment and depriving the clown of his main asset. Of course, there was the chance that the truck might swerve to hit him, which was why Donnie had made sure to fly about twenty feet away from it to its left, giving him more time to dodge.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

@Genon I'm sorry but I'm with SimpleWriter on this. Some machine-like body parts would be fine, but a full on android just doesn't fit the MHA setting. Also, the reverse engineering thing would likely be really tricky IC. Sound of Silence without the strength/speed aspect would be fine though, if you're willing to redo the backstory.

@OwO I like it, glad for you all the shitposting paid off xD Accepted as far as I'm concerned, just check with SimpleWriter if you haven't already.

@Indra I second the spice idea, instead of a mix of fire and spices. Like a pepper spray effect, which would actually be really useful but not as flashy as fire, so he gets laughed at a lot and has to rise above it. That'd give him a reason to act high and mighty.

Of course, like you said, going with a classic fire Quirk is also an option. It's probably quite a common Quirk as it's a very basic one.

@JrVader I have to say the CS needs more fleshing out. As for the Quirk, hardlight is fine but it needs more restrictions. First of all, in what way does overuse harm his body? Maybe it could cause him pain or fatigue, or it could have a similar drawback to Yaoyorozu's Quirk and drain nutrients. Secondly, nuclear explosions are frankly waaaaay too strong whatever the cost, so please limit his creations in terms of size and power.

Also, the sample post is written like a typical background section. Sample posts in this are meant to be examples of writing style and skill, as well as insights into characters from their point of view.

Let us know if/when you expand on the application, and we'll look over it again.

@Pudding Intriguing character! As long as the Quirk is somewhat like Tomoyami's Dark Shadow rather than any kind of actual spirit possession, it sounds good. And the mystery aspect is interesting, though I recommend PMing SimpleWriter and me with details about the backstory, just to make sure it's all ok.

That and got to say a sample post is needed. Also, while being wounded from having her hair cut is a suitable weakness, instead of becoming nigh-indestructible, maybe it should be tougher than normal hair but a strike from a sharp enough blade would still slice through it. That'd balance things out more.

@LuckyBlackCat

@LuckyBlackCat

The thing is, I actually based the Android Quirk off of something from the anime. In the audience at the UA Sports Festival, I remember there being two robots sitting next to each other. I figured they were heroes of some kind, since so many pro heroes were in the audience. I'm pretty sure they even get some dialogue at some point, commenting on the fight.

Of course, those robots were closer to tin-can types than androids, sort of like the robots used for the UA entrance exam. But I hadn't seen any other sapient robots up to that point, so I figured that their appearance was a Mutant-Type Quirk. From there, why not make an android Quirk?

In any event, Sound of Silence was something I was reluctant to use in its original form. Yes, venting the absorbed sound would make for a pretty good offensive move, but sound is hard to direct, and if it's loud enough to stop a rampaging villain, it's probably loud enough to cause collateral damage. And I frankly didn't want to play such an indiscriminately destructive hero, hence why I gave it a strength and speed boost instead.

I'm not really sure what to do here, but I can probably make something closer to cybernetics, like Iida and Jiro's Quirks.

World of Light

Donnie

Level 2 - (1/20) + 3 = 4/20
Location: Peach's Castle --> Random Desert
Word Count: 1,487

New Power Acquired!
Vivify: Donnie has remembered a basic healing spell. By releasing healing jade mists, he can cause wounds to rapidly heal. Think of it like Cure Moderate Wounds from Dungeons and Dragons.

Donnie woke up the following morning in one of the castle's many guest rooms, depressingly sober. He honestly had expected this castle to have at least some choice wines in the cellar. Princess Peach was a crown princess for the gods' sake! Instead, he had ended up trying to explain what alcohol he wanted to the Toad before shortly realizing that his waiter didn't even know what booze was. By the Four Celestials, that had been embarrassing. All he wanted was a good drink and he had ended up barreling straight into bizarre alternate-universe values. He even recalled the Toad being mystified at why someone would bother with such a dangerous beverage.

So first Galeem had shredded his universe to pieces and made it part of some demented cosmic tapestry. Then he had placed everyone from the worlds in said tapestry under mind control for some unknown purpose.

But worst of all, Galeem had dumped him in a world without booze. And that was unforgivable.

He sprung out of bed with his typical energy, finding his armor cleaned up from yesterday's fight with Merkava and the scraps he'd occasionally gotten into under Galeem's control. The unsightly singe was gone, for one.

He had an issue though. Sitting down in a nearby chair, he pulled up the right leg of the pajamas he had in the Madman's Luggage, only to find that the ankle bite that the black giant's minion had given him hadn't healed. And it was not only still purple, but sore. This would be annoying.

On instinct, he made to fire a Chi Burst at it, before realizing that it would probably blast a hole in the floor. For a reason he didn't understand, however, he raised both hands to cast a spell. His hands glowed, and green mist emerged around his right ankle, soothing the pain for a moment...but as the mists cleared, he noticed that the wound hadn't regenerated. This could prove more troublesome than he thought...

Wait, did he just cast Vivify? That was right, he did! He remembered that Mistweaver spell like it was the back of his hand! Donnie sprang to his feet, the strange wound forgotten about for the time being as he paced back and forth around the room in excitement. So it seemed that as time passed he would remember more spells! Would he remember how to resurrect people again? Split himself into three spirits to take on multiple targets? Redirect damage back to a target? Hit a pressure point with lethal results?

...Come to think of it, he had already remembered intermediate-level cooking skills since last night! This was a very good sign. The wound could be investigated later. Good news in Galeem's mad world was hard to come by.

Breakfast was fairly typical honestly. Eggs, bacon, etc. The castle's cuisine couldn't be more Stormwind-esque if it tried. Still, he was born in Stormwind, and eating it reminded him a bit of home.

A home that he rather despised for much of his life (at least until Anduin came to power, and even then he still detested Jaina Proudmore and the fact that her newfound racism could spread far and wide from the mind of someone in such a high place), but it wasn't like the Horde was a whole lot better. The Forsaken society had more skeletons in its closet than the amount of actual skeletons roaming the Tirisfal wilderness.

He sat through Peach's presentation...which was honestly quite disturbing. Crushing Spirits to turn them into weapons? Binding people's souls to yourself? This sounded like the things that the necromancers in Scholomance would've tried back in the day. Before they were all wiped out, of course. Hell, Frostmourne was a weapon powered by the souls of the dead, and that cursed piece of junk had caused unimaginable death and destruction once the Lich King got his hands on it.

Still, desperate times called for desperate measures. And thinking back to the fight with the black giant, he did recognize that some beings deserved such a fate. Hell, his entire career had consisted of taking down one monster after another. If he met Merkava again...

No. It wasn't worth thinking about right now. At his full power he could annihilate that giant. Once his memories came back, he'd come out on top for sure.

On that note, he went back to his food.

And a few hours later, he was outside the castle in full armor once again, rummaging through the luggage's many pockets and trying to figure out what mount to use. A war-tiger, especially weighed down by heavy armor, wouldn't be fast enough to keep up with a gas-powered machine, so the kitty was out. The Dwarven flying machine was too high-maintenance. The Champion's Treadblade was cool and all but he'd rather fly. Mimiron's Head, as a Titan-forged flying machine of sorts, was advanced enough to fit the bill...but then there was the Disc of The Red Cloud, which would be easier for hit-and-run tactics. What to do...?

”GENO. NEW GUY. SCOUT AHEAD FOR TROUBLE IF YOU'RE FAST ENOUGH, BUT ACTUALLY COME WARN US ABOUT THE STUFF YOU FIND THIS TIME! THAT MEANS YOU PUPPET.”

And that was Bowser shouting louder than than a megaphone. Well, he was fast enough. But scouting was more a rogue's thing. Still, not many people here could fly so it would certainly help.

"Give me a sec!" the monk called back from across the convoy. "I need to choose my mount!"

Okay, so for scouting he needed a mount that was silent, and would work in combat so that he could defend himself easily when seen. The Disc of the Red Cloud fit the bill.

But as he made to pull out its orb...

First, there was a honking sound. Then, he heard Bowser shout at the top of his lungs (he didn't think it was possible for him to get any louder then he normally was, but he somehow did), "MOUNT UP ALREADY YOU MOOKS, OR GET LEFT BEHIND!" Then the sound of tires squealing.

Donnie looked up, seeing Bowser just...drive away. He immediately summoned the Disc, closed and dismissed his luggage, and tore off after him, rapidly catching up.

Peach was thankfully incredibly dainty (aside from her apparent affinity for large firearms) and quite humble. Bowser was anything but. He so wanted to call the guy out, but questioning the authority of a king was a bad idea, even if that king was an idiot who took the risk of leaving men behind because he got impatient.

So he settled for shooting him a dirty look as he shot by instead.

Over the course of his journey, he attempted to scout the terrain ahead aboard the Disc, and he'd come back every now and then to warn his allies about upcoming hazards and such, potentially coming across the heavily-armed cars and warning the party in advance.

However, one way or another the party came across the cars. The ramshackle vehicles reminded him of something an enterprising goblin mechanic would build in order to fool a particularly stupid customer, but somehow even shittier than that. And goblin engineering was a low bar to pass, since goblins were infamous for giving absolutely no shits about the quality of their products. In fact, he was pretty sure that a few of them actively tried to get their merchandise to explode for seemingly no reason, just because they found it funny. Moral of the story: Don't buy from goblins. EVER.

Where was he? Oh right, dealing with these punks. His eyes widened as he saw what the enemy drivers were trying to do. They were going to ram the karts! There was no way they'd survive an impact from something that size!

Thinking fast, he made to light up any car he could hit with rapid-fire Chi Bursts, using the Disc to move unpredictably and hopefully avoid taking too much enemy fire as he did so. He was sure that the occupants had guns too, and if there was a passenger in there, they wouldn't hesitate to fire on him.

Mounted combat, and especially flying mounted combat, weren't Donnie's forte. He was mainly an infantry unit in all honesty. So it was expected when most of his Chi Bursts missed. Of ten, only three hit their target. The first managed to destroy one of the cars' chainguns, and with the second shot, he killed the front passenger on that side. He could tell because his corpse tumbled out of the car shortly afterwards, likely kicked out by a driver who didn't want a dead body to distract him. A lucky hit from the third Chi Burst managed to blow off another car's back-left tire, leaving the rest of the axle just hanging out. The car immediately took a major hit to its handling as a result, but wasn't taken out yet.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

@SimpleWriter @LuckyBlackCat

Hey. apologies for going silent. I had a completely different Quirk idea and I was hesitant to undo my progress. It would also require me to redo my whole backstory, at least to a degree, so I was on the fence about pulling the trigger. But here it is.

Quirk Name: Android
Quirk Type: Mutant
Quirk Description: Alex's body may look normal on the surface, but beyond a layer of semi-realistic fake flesh, he's completely mechanical. Strangely enough, his body grows normally with age due to a telescoping internal structure, hence why he isn't still a baby (as robots normally don't grow). This comes with numerous advantages, but also numerous weaknesses. While Alex has the superhuman strength, shorter reaction times, tireless endurance, higher running speed, enhanced durability, and superhuman processing power of a robot, this doesn't mean his Quirk-generated structure is compatible with other computers right out of the starting gate. He runs on his own operating system, with his own internals and unique hardware. As a result, while his basic mechanical structure can be repaired by anyone with a basic knowledge of robotics, in order to outright replace or upgrade a part, the machinist must basically reverse-engineer him first, making it much more difficult for him to get the services he needs. However, he can be modified to rectify some of these problems, such as by giving him additional protocols or a USB port to interface with otherwise incompatible machines, but these modifications are simply not there yet. Of note: Alex can actually eat or drink like normal people, as his body atomizes food for fuel via a plasma arc, much like real-life plasma gasification plants. However, when he burns the syngas produced via this method, he must release the built-up exhaust once an internal canister fills up, much like how most creatures must expel waste. He usually goes outside to do this. His body is also capable of internally self-repairing moderate damage, much like how a human can heal broken bones, but he must consume large quantities of metal and/or plastic and/or rubber to do this, and the process is only slightly faster than similar healing would be in a human. Alex also has a power plug for charging off of electricity if food is unavailable or for convenience's sake. The main strength of the Android Quirk is actually not its superhuman abilities, but its robotic nature: Once it is reverse-engineered and compatibility with modern systems is obtained, any amount of internal weaponry, enhancements, and defense systems can be installed, within reason. After all, his powerplant and processor can only handle so many components at once.

World of Light

Level 1 - 5/10 EXP (+3 = 8/10 EXP)
Difficulty Level 1
And

Donnie

Level 1 - (8/10) + 3 = 11/10 LEVEL UP!
Location: Peach's Castle Exterior → Entrance Hall → Kitchen Word Count: 2,552

As the monk entered the castle, he noticed how posh it was. To be honest, he figured whoever owned it must have a massive ego of some kind. Who else would stick a giant stained-glass portrait of their face right above the front door for all to see, and coordinate the roof color to match their dress? He’d been inside castles before, particularly Stormwind’s, and the Wrynn family usually didn’t go nearly that far with decoration.

Then again, that could be because the Wrynn family usually put functionality and defense above looking pretty, and perhaps if times were more peaceful (read: With all of humanity not confined to a mere two kingdoms or so), he would have seen the same amount of excess from his own king.

Speaking of which, he really hoped that Anduin was still alive. Though even if he was still around, he’d be under Galeem’s control. The boy didn’t deserve a fate like what Donnie had endured not five minutes ago. And if he was brainwashed, Donnie was going to free the poor kid, no matter what.

He opened the double doors and entered, seeing a rather grand-looking entrance hall--as expected given the rich decoration and massive lawn outside (seriously, where were the defenses? Either the queen of the castle was a terrible leader or her kingdom must’ve been incredibly peaceful before all this), he was greeted by a strange furry creature and a mechanical-looking girl (some kind of robot? He’d never really seen one as human-looking as that before), who greeted him in broken Common (or whatever language these people spoke. For all he knew, Galeem could have shoved a translator spell in everyone’s heads so that his troops could understand one another), and ran off with the furry creature before he even managed to get out a greeting.

Well, they were in a rush, he thought to himself as the two fled. With that, he found himself alone in the entrance hall.

There were a few guards around, of course. Some kind of gnome-like species with mushrooms growing on top of their heads. He walked up to one of them and asked, “Excuse me, do you know where the feast is happening?”

The Toad cheerfully gave him directions, but laughed when Donnie asked his next question.

“Thanks, but...are those mushrooms hats of some kind or…?”

“No, it’s real. We’re all Toads. As in, ‘Toadstool.’ The princess is the only one who doesn’t look like us!”

“I see. Thank you for your time.”

With that, he went on his way, wondering if this “Princess” was adopted or something. He wasn’t concerned about the lack of a queen though. He just assumed she hadn’t gotten married yet so she hadn’t officially ascended to the throne. Some kingdoms had saved the coronation for after marriage historically, with the eldest son or daughter serving taking on the responsibilities of the monarch, but without the title. Politics were weird like that.

In any event, onto the feast! He began to make his way towards the kitchens, following the Toad’s advice to the best of his ability, though this castle was still pretty huge and almost maze-like with the amount of doors it had.

With a resounding *THUD!* the door to the kitchen opened, Gene walking through the doorway with a half eaten apple in hand. He'd finished his dinner, if one could call a fruit bowl dinner, and figured he'd look around a bit before heading back to the kitchen for desert. For the most part, the hallways were populated by those weird mushroom things who were all standing at attention. They would have surprised him, but after his latest misadventure, nothing could surprise him. In the course of two days, he fought a fat Mexican demon, a gorilla luchador, a midget Sentai team, a giant fly monster, and, oh yeah, the actual Devil. And then he wound up in a strange new land and met a bunch of strange new people.

Apparently, they all had been sucked right out of their worlds by some dude named Galeem, and now it was either band together and fight back or die. To be honest, he was kinda sorta a little irked that he was dragged into another quest to save to the world. Only this time, the stakes were much, much higher. Like, universe higher, nay, multiverse higher. He was starting to miss the days when all he had to worry about was getting dinner and a place to sleep for the night. Of course, that all went out the window when he met Olivia...

Oh crap, Olivia! He had almost forgotten about her! That psycho chick was probably here too, maybe even under Galeem's control like he was. He was really hoping he could find her and save her. Maybe once they set out tomorrow they'd run into her, much as she was a pain in the ass he wanted to make sure she was alright at least. Hopefully, she wouldn't be under Angra's control... Oh no, Angra was probably out there too! Crap, he wouldn't be able to fight Angra without the other God Hand!

"Okay, deep breaths, deep breaths..." Why'd he have to remember all this crap when he was supposed to just unwind and relax? Just... This was stuff for future Gene to worry about, right now he was just gonna chill out and take a look around. He looked at the apple in his hand, laughing slightly when he noticed that in his stress he had started eating the core. He tossed it behind him, the remains of the fruit bouncing off a toad's head and onto the floor.

He turned the corner, and almost bumped right into another guy. His reflexes kicked in, making him sidestep out of the way with a quiet "nice" escaping his lips at the smooth dodge. Taking the guy in, Gene noted the armor he wore, raising an eyebrow at the gaudy wolf - or is that a tiger? - helmet he was wearing. But the thing that caught his eye the most were the blades at his side. They didn't look like daggers or something like that, more like weapons someone would use to make their punches stronger... Maybe he should look into getting something like that.

"Well, you're late to the party. Just show up or something?" he asked the stranger, though his eyes never left the weapons at his side.

Donnie would have dodged himself had the muscular man not sidestepped. “Why thank you,” Donnie said in response to the compliment (what else could “Nice!” mean?) as he turned to Gene.

He noted that the man was staring at the Fists. “I was just freed myself. I’m looking for the feast. Don’t tell me it’s already over?”

Gene tore his eyes from the blades at the man's words, looking up at his face. With a grin, he shook head and responded, "Nah, it's still happening. Just down the hall, second door on your right. Bunch of people in there, so I hope you aren't the socially awkward type." He paused, looking at the handblades again, before looking back up at the guy. "I was gonna take a look around the castle, but I figure it'd be best if I stick around with you. Y'know, help the newbie out a bit." He conveniently left out the fact that before this guy came along, he himself was the newest member of this motley crew.

Donnie looked at him flatly, the eyes under his helmet clearly showing he had sensed Gene’s bullshit. “I know you’re just here for the handblades, I can see it in your body language.”

His expression lightened up soon after though. “Fortunately, I’m an enthusiast of all kinds of monster-slaying implements, so I can give you the rundown if you want.”

Gene's eyes widened, and he gave a nervous grin in response to the man's accusation. Shit, he'd figured him out!

"Uh, n-no I'm not, I'm just... Admiring..." He sighed, his nervous grin morphing into a slightly less nervous smile at the other man's words. "... Well, they are pretty cool. Think you could give me that rundown while I show you the way to the kitchen? I'd love to hear about those beautiful blades... And maybe find out how I can get my own." He added the last part without even thinking about it.

With that, the two began walking towards the kitchen. Donnie began his explanation. “Okay, so to make a long story short, these handblades, called the Fists of the Heavens, are kinda legendary. They’re powered by magic taken directly from the Elemental Plane of Air, and the spirit that it was stolen from poured way too much power into these things to be safely handled by most people. The guy who made them accidentally killed himself and leveled his entire city when he tried to pick them up, and when an actual air spirit tried to use them, it slowly drove him insane. I am the only person in history to safely wield these things, and that’s because my warrior-monk training gave me enough spiritual discipline to keep them under control.” he said as he took them out, the blades glinting and the internal vortex on full display.

“Unfortunately, Galeem sealed them when he dumped us in this weird place, so you...well, you might not accidentally summon a hurricane and level the castle if you wield them, but I’d rather not risk it. And they’re one-of-a-kind. You’re not gonna find them anywhere else, but if my world shows up here you’ll probably find something even better anyway. There’s at least a dozen equal weapons i could name, and I’m sure there’s some even better stuff on Azeroth that wasn’t found yet.” With that, he put them away.

Gene's normal grin widened even more at Donnie's words. Even better weapons out there? Oh man, he almost wanted to leave the castle now to go looking. Still, he kept his composure... Mostly.

"Well, I'll be sure to keep on the lookout then! Still, I'd be willing to try those out sometime... I'm sure I could handle 'em. After all, this bad boy right here..." He patted his right bicep, the Deistic Brace shaking slightly with a metallic *clank* as he did so. "... Is packing the power of a God! That's why they call me the God Hand!"

Donnie looked at the man’s arm with interest. “Interesting. What can it do? And what kind of God does it get its power from?” His world was polytheistic to say the very least, so its power really depended on what kind of god the God Hand was deriving its abilities from. It could be something like a Wild God, which were powerful but not very high on the totem pole, or it could be something more like a Titan, which could create and destroy worlds. Which got him very interested in its origin.

Gene looked at the other man curiously. What kind of God? Isn't there only the one? "Uh, it just takes power from... The God. Like, the one above all? Created the universe and all that? I dunno how it draws that power. All I know is that I lost my arm, got this sweet new one, and once I rip this off," he patted the Deistic Brace, "I can attack harder and faster, and I'm completely immune to damage... For a short amount of time that is. It can get a bit overwhelming if I don't clap this brace back on in time."

“Ah, we don’t really have one of those over in my world. Instead, we’ve got several different pantheons stacked on top of each other and all myths are true. You’ve got Wild Gods--manifestations of nature for a given area--you’ve got Titans, which are the souls of planets and tend to create machine worlds, you’ve got the Old Gods, which are basically pure evil and should be driven off at all costs, and then there are the Four Elemental Lords, and so on and so forth. I actually had just killed a mad Titan not ten minutes before Galeem ruined it all, and I had to die several times to pull it off. Long story, I can tell you later over a drink.”

As he was saying this, he opened the door to the kitchen, seeing...well, the machine-girl from earlier hadn’t lied. This place really was a ragtag bunch of misfits. He was sure these people were all capable, and probably famous in their own worlds, but they were as varied as they come.

Still though, he had spent time with everyone from undead to fish-people, this was nothing new. So he casually sat down at an empty seat at the table and piled his plate high with food t before he started chowing down. It seemed kinda like standard Stormwind fare, albeit the kind of fare at Stormwind Castle. Royal chefs knew how to make food. For that matter, he looked around at any Toads who were working the nearby cooking implements, if they still were. He was a bit curious how it was made, but he also felt like this would jog his memory for some strange reason….

Gene had fallen silent as they walked through the door and into the kitchen, and he followed the other man to his seat. Taking a seat next to the man not long after he had sat down, Gene grabbed the nearest dessert, a banana split sundae, and looked around. He noticed that the midget mushrooms were still cooking regular food for those who had arrived late, which was good because the guy next to him looked like he needed a good meal.

With a grin, Gene turned back to his fruity ice cream treat, and began to chow down. The bowl was empty in fifteen seconds flat, and Gene leaned back in his chair with a contented sigh of satisfaction. He turned to the monk next to him and, as if realizing something, smacked himself on the forehead. "Huh, man, I was so caught up talking to you I nearly forgot. What's your name? I'm Gene."

The monk grinned. “Call me Donnie.” With that, he went back to practically inhaling a lobster bisque soup before systematically demolishing a giant turkey leg. An observer that didn’t know any better might think that Donnie hadn’t eaten for days.

Gene nodded at the man, Donnie, and smiled. Much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't exactly getting to know the others, so it was good to have a friend among them all. After a moment more, he remembered Donnie's words, about how he'd explain his final fight before Galeem brought them all here over drinks. Hell, maybe they could swap stories; Gene probably didn't have as many as Donnie, but in the last two days he had gotten enough to last him a whole lifetime.

So, with a clap of his hands, he waved to the mushroom guys. "Hey, get us some drinks over here! My throat's parched!" The Toads moved fast, bringing the two of them mugs of what looked like... Fruit juice? Nevertheless, Gene chugged it down, and looked at the now empty mug in curiosity. "... Uh, you got anything stronger?"