Gentlemanvaultboy

World of Light

I forget that just because they work for me doesn't mean they work for everyone else.

World of Light

Submitting for inspection.

The Oracle of the Sodden Raven

Name: Yuri Kozukata
Game Origin: Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water

Personality: No one would ever mistake Yuri for being the life of a party. She's quiet, her reactions understated, giving off a constant air of anxiety. She's politely friendly but tries to keep a safe distance from people. Despite this she is not cold. She is intimately familiar with the pain of loss and possesses an empathy as deep as the abyss. As such she's always found it hard to ignore other peoples problems. It gives her the courage to face death, over and over again, and move past it because no matter how afraid she is she knows nothing is more frightening than losing someone.

Background: Yuri lives with one foot in the afterlife. Ever since her family was killed in tragic car accident she had been able to see things that other people just can't. The doctors all assured her that these visions of spirits and death were figments of her imagination, and for a time she tried so hard to believe them. To believe that she wasn't sick. But she kept seeing them, even after she was given a clean bill of health they kept appearing to her. Kept hounding her everywhere she went. All the while she felt a pull, and inexplicable urge to climb a certain local mountain. With no one to stop her, no one to help her, no one that could possibly understand, she followed it. Up the slopes of Mt. Hikami, to the edge of a lonely cliff. To end it.

Before she could, though, she felt herself being pulled back. A woman named Hisoka Kurosawa, a woman she didn't even know, had come to find her. She wrapped her arms around Yuri's shoulders and asked her to stay just a little while longer. It was such a little thing. She had never really noticed just what a difference a little warmth could make. She could stay if it was for this woman, who took her in when she had no one and treated her with such kindness. Just a little longer became longer and longer, and eventually Yuri could barely feel the call of the mountain anymore. She spent her days with Hisoka, learning how to prepare coffee at her antique shop and how to use her powers to tell fortunes and help find the things people had lost.

Then, one day, Hisoka disappeared. It wasn't that unusual, she did that once in a while when she was working on a case, but then her client, Fuyuhi Himano, showed up at the antique shop looking or her. Hisoka had gone to Mt. Hikami in search of Fuyuhi's friend, and after a moment to gather her thoughts Yuri followed after them.

The mountain was infested with ghosts, and as she searched day after day Yuri was more and more immersed in the mountains blood soaked history, the pain of the tragedies that had transpired there, and the mystery of the strange rituals meant to appease something called the Shadow Spring. She lost Fuyuhi to the mountain, but managed to save her friend Haruka. She lost Haruka, who was lured back to the mountain under the influence of Fuyuhi's ghost, but managed to rescue a girl name Miu from a water filled casket. Multiple times she encountered a powerful, raven-haired spirit, and was saved from the spirits influence by Miu.

Eventually, she fought her way to the shrine situated on the very top of the mountain. There she found Hisoka, prepared to willing become a sacrifice so the mountain wouldn't eventually take Yuri. Unwavering, Yuri managed to pull Hisoka away from the edge and the two of them returned from the Mountain together. That should have been the end of it, but there was one last thing Yuri felt she had to do. One last girl suffered alone on Mt. Hikami and, armed with everything she had learned, Yuri ascended the mountain one last time.

In deepest recesses of the shrine, so far that she had stepped fully into the netherworld, Yuri faced Ose Kurosawa. The raven haired shrine maiden, whose sorrow was drowning the mountain in tragedy. They fought, and as they did Yuri glanced into Ose's soul and engraved her pain into her mind. She embraced the shrine maiden, and let her know she wasn't alone. Ose, her sorrow calmed, stepped away and began to sink. Yuri would have gone with her if she had asked, but Ose didn't. That one moment of warmth had given her the resolves she needed. Ose sank willingly into the shadow spring, sealing it's dark waters forever and lifting the curse on Mt. Hikami.

Afterwards life went back to normal for Yuri and Hisoka, until one day Yuri received a strange letter. It was pretty vague, only stating that her "Assistance" was requested at some tournament. She didn't know what to make of it, but Hisoka encouraged her to go. It would be good for her to broaden her horizons a little, and after what Yuri had faced she had more than proven how capable she was at handling things on her own. Hisoka would always be waiting for her when she got back.

She set out on her bike, following the odd directions the letter provided, to the setting of an utterly otherworldly tournament. Before she could get her bearings on all this, though, she was engulfed in light.

Specialty: Psychic. Yuri's abilities are particularly adept at finding things that are missing or uncovering the history of an area using shadow reading and psychometry.
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10

Powers:

• Shadow Reading: Yuri can find missing or hidden people and objects if she has a token of them. A token can be anything related to a person, such as something they owned, something they held dear, a piece of them, or even a photograph. When she concentrates on the token she sees a ghostly outline of that person wandering in the missing persons direction. A token of someone who is dead can also be used to search out objects that also belonged to them, though searching for the dead person using this method carries the risk of drawing malevolent spirits to the user.

Strengths:

• Sixth Sense (Frontside): Yuri has a very powerful sixth sense, and it able to see and feel the presence of spiritual beings such as ghosts.
• Shutterbug: Yuri's experience using the Camera Obscura to defend herself on Mt Hikami has left her very skilled at photography. She can quickly draw the camera and line up a perfect shot in the blink of an eye.
• Nerve of Steel: Yuri is very hard to fluster in combat. She is able to calmly raised her camera and patiently wait for the perfect moment to strike even in the face of things that are utterly horrifying coming right at her.

Weaknesses:

• Ordinary Girl: Bedsides her sixth sense Yuri is an ordinary, not even particularly athletic, 19 year old girl. No magical superpowers, no amazing feats of martial prowess. Baseline human.
• Sixth Sense (Backside): Stare too long into the abyss and the abyss stares back. Stare too long at a ghost and a ghost will stare back at you. They know that she knows that they're there.
• Wetness: Yuri's spiritual abilities have an odd relationship with water. When she gets wet her sixth sense seems to spike, resulting in her Camera Obscura attacks dealing more damage. However it also make her more vulnerable to spiritual damage and causes her to encounter ghosts more frequently.

Spirits:

Kindred Spirits:

• The Sorrow - The ghost of a spirit medium, a terrifying combination. In life he was able to speak with the spirits of the battlefield dead to gather intelligence for his unit. In death? Who knows what he's truly capable of.
• Lucky - Lucky found that frat boys are a useful source of food, and so decided to become an Alpha Tau. Sadly, their electrical repair skills were wanting, leading to Lucky's electrocution by their warm but malfunctioning pinball table. The spirit of a cat that met an unfortunate end, Lucky has mysterious powers over machines and fortune, both good and bad.
• Hayden Tenno - An agent the CIA sent to clean up it's messes, including other agents of the CIA. He got more than he bargained for when he was sent in the country of Lasria and infested with the Technocyte virus.

Inventory:

• Camera Obscura: A special camera invented by Kunihiko Asou meant to take pictures of things man was never meant to see. While capable of functioning as a normal camera what makes the camera special is it's ability to capture spiritual entities on film and damage hostile ones. Yuri's version is loaded with an infinite amount of Type-O7 Film and currently fitted with with the modified SMASH! Lens, though other films and lenses can be loaded if acquired.
• SMASH! Lens: A camera lens provided to Yuri for use in her function as a Smash Brothers assistant, this one is unique in its ability to effect the living. When someone's picture is taken with this lens equipped the victim will be stunned for a moment and inflicted with a status effect similar to poison signified by a dark aura for a few seconds. Pictures taken through this lens are darkened, and suffer from a significant amount of grain.
• Herbal Medicine X3: A blend of healing herbs that Yuri now never leaves home without.

@Lugubrious

World of Light

Linkle

Merge Rate: 30%

Level 9 - (0/90) + 1

Word Count: 415

Location: The previous day, in the Frozen Highlands ~ Snowdin ~ Bar Survive

@Lugubrious

---

Linkle followed Albedo example before they entered the bar, kicking the snow off her boots and giving herself a good, doggish shake for good measure.

The inside was a totally different vibe than Grillby's had been, what little she had seen of it anyway, and not just because the place was empty. She could hardly even believe this was a place of business. It was more like she was stepping into someone's house. Despite that the serious looking man behind the bar gave off the same professional air as Grillby did. She felt like they could have passed for brothers if he was made of fire instead of skin and meat and stuff. Then again, maybe that was just the vibe a classy guy gave off.

Linkle didn't sit just yet, leaning on the bar next to Albedo as he introduced her. "Hey. I'm Linkle, Hero of Hyrule. Nice to meet you."

As the man, Mr. Kashiwagi according to Albedo, went off to attend to bar business Albedo launched into another explanation that Linkle leaned back and listened to with a smile on her face, turning her head in the direction she indicated. She had already seen some examples of this kind of "modern technology," like the washing machine back in Peach's castle but she never really put much thought into how it worked, only how convenient it was. She didn't even have a cold box like Albedo's world had. So it was electricity that was the key, huh? Like what happened when she kicked sometimes? She looked around. These lights, that cold box, maybe even this song she was desperately trying to ignore the Skull Heart menacingly humming along to. "His whole world is like this? That's pretty cool. I thought maybe just royalty would have this sort of stuff."

Her attention was draw particularly to the black box, and it only took Linkle a moment to realize why. She pushed herself off the bar as Albedo offered to get them something. "We need something warm. Get the warmest bento." She said as she approached the box. It looked like it had buttons below the screen. "You know, near the start of our journey, someone died. Then, later, a friend of ours somehow put her in one of these and attached some arms and a wheel to it so she could get around. I don't think he even used her spirit for that, because it was a while afterwards." She reached up and curiously started hitting a few of the buttons to see if she could turn it on. "That's actually one of the things I wanted to ask you about the dust." She said seriously, watching him in the black mirror of the screen. "If you had enough of it, and the right spirit, could you alchemy them together and bring it back to life?"

Somewhere inside her the Skull Heart fell silent.

"I know you said it needs life to keep it together. But you also said I'm dead, and my dust hasn't broken apart. I'm not the only one either, there's this whole area called the Dead Zone where there's a ton of things there that are dead and still walking around. It's really creepy."

Royal Rumble!

@KillamriX88

---

At least he wasn't mad.

"Yeah." She replied. "Did you not get mine? Ah, screw it. Doesn't matter." She could just tell him. She needed to tell him. She needed to talk like normal. "I got 'em. At least, the ones on our home phone. I don't know what happened to my cell, it's probably sitting in an evidence locker somewhere. Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, I was somewhere no one was going to find me. Thobias ended up pulling me out and setting me and Chrissy up in a safe house with what I'm guessing were the best doctors you could buy with dirty money. They did good work though. All stitched up in one piece, more or less."

That thought led to another, one that sent her as bolt upright as she could in her present condition. In her chest the scar still glowed faintly even after defusing its heat into the pond. "You are in one piece, right? I only learned about what happened days later, you know. I didn't...I was worried at first, not that I thought that those bastards could beat you, but..."

She stopped, deflating a little back into the pool. Relax. Just relax. "Gods, I was so relieved to hear your voice." She breathed out. "Your family's okay, right?"

World of Light

If that's what Frog would do go ahead.

World of Light

Link

Word Count: 1962

Level 4 - (28/40) + 3

Location: The Edge of Blue ~ The Bowls of the ship(girl?)

---

---

The damage was about as bad as Link had expected, but The Cadet was fortunately already making headway. The most apparent threat in the room already had three of those great arrows poking out of it, and so Cadet had its undivided attention. Other Monsters, the blackfish he had spotted earlier, struggled to chomp and wriggle their way through as the wood of the ship in a constant battle against Blazermate's healing. Link watched as one got overzealous, tried to force its way in through a hole not quite big enough for it, and got stuck halfway as the wood reformed around it. It screamed, fired of it's guns randomly, then was reduced to ash and a spirit as its white body was crushed.

For every one like that, though, there was another one that got through and plopped like a dead fish into the knee deep waters of the hold. He could make out the shape of them in the brackish, constantly shifting water, and their heads would rise up out of it to take potshots in any direction. No matter where they shot they'd hit their enemy, after all.

Link gripped his new weapon as he crouched at the top of the stairs, getting a good feel for the heft. The other thing, the metal plate, had an odd adherent property he had noticed almost as soon as it had manifested. He'd found it had stuck to his glove, almost like a shield would, and with a little effort he had pried it off and stuck it onto his back as a little extra body armor. With those he had the makings of a plan of attack, and it only highlighted how woefully underequipped he was. If he'd had his way he would have just helped Cadet get back up on deck then chucked three or four lightning weapons down here and called it a victory. As it stood he was going to have to face the swarm head on.

If you were going to fight something head on, you had to make the first strike count. He spotted what looked like a good cluster of the black shadows under the water, bubbles rising to the surface every time he saw the flash of one of their guns going off. Taking a deep breath Link jumped off the steps into the middle of them, spinning forward in the air and bringing the full weight of the axe slamming down into their midst.

He felt one get crunched under it, the familiar feeling of his weapon biting into armor and flesh instead of wood radiating up his arms, but more important than that was the impact. Water exploded upward like a geyser from the force of the blow, sending three of the blackfish and what looked like a group of smell childlike monsters flopping into the air with it. As they did the axe disappeared from his hands, replaced by the good old sword and shield. He drew back, a sheen of light running all the way up the Soldier's Broad Sword until it reached the tip. With a mighty "HYAAAAAAAA!" Link spun. The sword just chopped through the imps and left nasty gashes on the blackfish as they were sent flying back into the water.

Without missing a beat Link brought his shield up at the end of his spin, crouched, and braced himself. He didn't have to wait long before he felt the shuttering power of the blackfishes counterattack, their guns lightning up as they each in turn turned their attention to him and fired. He had anticipated that he'd get their attention with a move like that, and more importantly draw off that attention so Cadet could handle his prey relatively unmolested.

He waited for the shots to stop like he knew they would. After all, he had been watching them all day. They didn't shoot forever. The last impact sounded and he moved forward deeper into the hold, scooping up the imp spirit floating on the water with his shield arm and crushing it before storing the result without even looking at it. Some of them came to meet him, a pod of four that didn't bother reloading and came for him with their jaws gnashing. They broke off, spreading around him like a pack of wolves before charging in, but it didn't matter. He stopped, reared back, and spun again. The sword cut through the water as it scooped the attackers up and scattered them. He set his shield again and the firing line opened up once more, battering it further but he held his ground. He worried about its integrity, but he just had to hope that he and Cadet could sweep the creatures and crush the majority between them before it broke.

Suddenly he felt an impact on his back, an explosion that almost threw off his arm if not for the metal plate he had affixed there. Had the one coming at him from behind survived his spin attack? No, that wasn't it. As the thunder of the abyssal assault died down again he could hear...buzzing? Like wasps. He felt something else dive into his shoulder, the impact absorbed, but as he looked up he saw what was attacking him. More little flying machines buzzed around the inside of the ship. Had they come in from above. No, that splashing. He cast his eyes downward just in time to see another little green plane burst out of the water. The blackfish had that ability as well?

He dove forward toward another group of lurking shadow as more of the little planes dived at him, the propellers of one trimming a little hair from the top of his head as it did so. They were like wasps, running after him and peppering his fleeing form with their own small machinegun fire. As he charged up his next spin he saw the shadows pin around and begin to retreat out of his range. The planes also broke off pursuit, content to circle above him like vultures. They'd learned, but the ship was enclosed. If they were going to run he would just herd them into an area where they couldn't. Besides, a few weren't fast enough. He spun again, striking the two that hadn't been able to get away, but then did something they abyssals hadn't expected. He jumped, letting the spin carry him up into the air and slicing into the swarm of planes. Green parts were scattered as the biplanes were caught in the tornado of steel and landed about him in the water as he came down and set to readying his shield again.

His pattern was interrupted as suddenly the entire hull was engulfed in a blue light, what looked like electricity sparking off the walls but surprisingly not frying everything in the hold. Even the abyssals were forced into a state of caution by the odd phenomenon. Then all attention was drawn to the front of the ship as a pink light began to build up. Link could see the outline of teeth, then the battlefield itself as the ships mouth opened and Shippy put everything it had into one attack. The entire hold shook, nearly throwing him off balance, but as the light faded there was a moment a peace as each side found their bearing again.

That was when the situation went from bad to untenable. The abyssal attack intensified, perhaps by a desperate fear of what the ship had just done, but from Link's perspective what was once a losing battle against an ever intensifying leak turned into a hopeless flood. Explosions' rocked Shippy, tearing more holes and letting more of the wriggling blackfish in. He felt several more shots hit him in the back and was immensely grateful for that plate. Another took the opportunity to swim up and latch onto his knee with its jaws, but for some reason the pants seemed to hold off its jaws before it broke through. More shots came from the front, which he took on his shield and skidded back through the water as a result. He took his sword and ran the one of his knee through, dusting it just in time to hear the bussing of planes fill the hold again.

"This isn't going to work." He called over to the Cadet, stepping back and cutting through another plane before dodging to the side as another pod of imps that gotten inside jumped at him. "Do you have anything else in your bag of tricks?"

Regardless of any idea the Cadet might have they were faced with a new problem soon. Without warning a new light overtook the hold, a familiar light. Link had seen it just last night, when that Sephiroth character had fused with one of the Cia's. That's when things suddenly got a lot more cramped and a whole lot more wet as the walls closed in around them. The water rose sharply, what was thigh deep in a ship the size of Shippy filling the hold at Shippy's new size. He took a deep breath as the water went over his head, feeling the salty sting of the water in his eyes but he had to keep them open because he had to find what was shoving that gun barrel into his chest. Link felt himself bordered on all sides with abyssals, now fully in their element luckily just as bewildered by what had just happened as he was. Unfortunately not for long as one turned and sank its teeth into his chest. Another followed its lead, grabbing him by the upper arm, and another plunged its teeth into his neck as he tried to pry that one off. Another just shot him in the gut, and he desperately pulled his hand to his mouth in a futile attempt to keep the wind from being knocked out of him. Bubbles sputted through the gaps in his fingers as a plane spun into his face, it's tiny propeller working at his cheek and fingers. Blood began to fill the water as the armored plate on Links back crumbled, seeping out from in between the sea monsters teeth as they began to enter the throes of a feeding frenzy.

Then, suddenly as it started, the Abyssals of the hold were pulled off him. They slammed into the sides of the ship as darkness swept over them, the waves traveling one after another through the now cramped hold leaving no room for escape. Link's eyes focused through blood blooming out into the water to see the blurry form of Cia floating there in front of him, treading water as best she could in that outfit.

Had he...? No, it didn't matter right now. He had to find Cadet and get out of here before he drowned. Link wasn't the best underwater but he wouldn't leave him to the mercy of the abyssals that had lived. They had to get out of here, they all had to get out of here. He wouldn't accept anything else. His chest felt like it was on fire as he looked around. At this rate he wouldn't even find the stairs back to the deck.

A hand on his shoulder stopped his frantic searching. He looked up to see Cia again, close enough now to see what he considered uncharacteristic concern on her face. It was so arresting that he didn't spot the shining thing she held in her hand before she had forced it into his chest. One of the spirits floating around with them in here?

The sorceress faded away into the darkness as the changes began to take hold.

World of Light

Why? Frog didn't create a friend heart, and even if he did it wouldn't cost 7 exp since he's only level three.

World of Light

@Lugubrious

The meta knowledge or the cambion thing?

World of Light

Right, stronger according to Dante rules.

World of Light

I need help, I'm stumped for strengths.

@Dark Cloud

Demonic Physiology: Laharl is a demon and is naturally more physically adept than most humans.

Multi-weapon Master: Laharl is well versed in and capable of using a wide variety of weapons, among then spears, axes, firearms, staves, bows, and his bare hands, but truly excels at swordsmanship.

Flight: Laharl's scarf can spread out and function as wings, allowing him to fly.

Meta-awareness: Laharl knows that he is in a video game, and is aware of things like stats, levels, EXP, and whether or not he's the main character of a particular story.

I'd also like to include something like Minion Management skills, but I've forgotten if Laharl is very good at the actual job parts of being the Overlord (you know, things like running the realm, inspiring loyalty, and making sure everybody gets paid on time) or if he's more of a beatstick that hangs out in his castle unless an upstart or another overlord shows up to make trouble and generally leaves things to run themselves.