Guess Who

Fate/Prisma Connections (the reboot!)

Papercuts. Up until a few moments ago, Hana's attacks had reminded Aoi of the occasional papercut she had gained from reading to her little sister every night before bed. They were annoying and hurt when touched, but when compared to the emotional torment of fighting her sibling, they were nothing. The guilt of landing a blow on her sister did far more damage than any attack that got past her defense.

Bee stings. Suddenly, the blind girl would switch fighting styles. Where before they had been aggressive slashes and cuts, now she was using her sword to lunge at any open segments of her armor or, if that failed, between the plates themselves. Each time the blade pierced her skin now, Aoi was reminded of the time the two had been playing in the backyard as children and had mistakenly disturbed a hive of bees. At first she had barely felt a thing, but as the sharp object stayed in place the limb would soon begin to burn. Unlike back then, she couldn't curl up into a ball and wait for her mother or father to rescue the two of them. She had to continue blocking or the next strike could be lethal.

However, as the assault continued, the master of Longinus would find it increasingly difficult to even remain standing. Exhausted from her constantly stinging arms and legs, unable to find the determination to take the offensive, the young mage would find herself with no where to dodge as her sister charged forth for her finishing attack. I- I can't. I can't do this anymore. It's over.

No, child. This shall not be our end. Hearing his master's thoughts of defeat, Longinus used all of his willpower to overpower and take control of Aoi's body. With no time left, he forced her hand to let go of his prized spear and grasp the incoming blade, slicing the palm but stopping it from going through the skull. It had not completely stopped the sword's advance however.

Incomparable. Where before, each time Hana's weapon found purchase it had sent Aoi back on a trip down memory lane, her brain attempting to rationalize the beating she was receiving, this new pain was unimaginable. She had never felt anything like this before. As half her vision began to turn red and disappear, the girl released the most horrifying of screams, the noise echoing through the trees and back to the main campus.

Still retaining control as both tears and blood dripped down her face, Longinus used her other hand to shatter Hana's sword, leaving only the tip that was lodged into her eye. Aoi's body would duck downward to avoid any follow up attack before grabbing the Spear of Destiny and rolling to the right. His master's body had taken too much damage. She needed medical attention. Searching her memories for directions, Lancer would attempt to navigate the labyrinth of school hallways and arrive at the nurse's office while also trying to lose their pursuer. If successful, he could begin the painful process of removing the remnants of Hana's blade and cleaning the wounded eye of possible infection.

Granblue Fantasy: Rhapsody in Red

Cayde Selmy

_{@The Irish Tree@Awesomoman64@floodtalon@Skyrte}

“On it,” Cayde quickly replied, wasting no time to leave the pirate with the burning engine and rush up the stairs to the top deck. Perhaps sending the man in heavy armor to climb up the three story ship wasn’t the best decision, but Sid was needed below. Feeling somewhat out of breath after fighting the goblins and a hard sprint, he approached the first non-green skinned humanoids he spotted. Not knowing Arno had gone temporarily deaf, he shouted to him and Zendrith, “Do either of you know how to repair a burning and possibly explosive engine?” There was not enough time to find and evacuate everyone aboard. They needed to keep the fire from spreading.

Seeing Arno's confused look, followed by the Harvin pointing to his own ears and shaking his head side-to-side, Cayde soon understood the problem. This was the crazy bastard that fired the cannons. That immediately gained the savant the nobleman's respect. Pointing to the blackened smoke escaping from the ship's entrance, the former commander heated up his armored fist until it glowed red hot then opened his hand to give off the impression of an explosion. The charade was clear, Arno was needed down below and the two would quickly descend back to the engine room where Sid waited.

Granblue Fantasy: Rhapsody in Red

Cayde Selmy

_{@The Irish Tree@Awesomoman64@Skyrte@floodtalon}

Watching as the last of the goblins retreated from the inside of the crashed ship, Cayde would give a friendly pat on the back to his newly found battle buddy. Hopefully this wasn't just a temporary alliance, since the nobleman could easily see this pirate knew how to fight. "Impressive work there. I've never seen footwork or weapon handling like that before in my life," he praised him, similar to how a commanding officer would congratulate the work of his auxiliary. While he certainly was no hard ass military commander, it would probably be clear to Sid that this man hung onto their upright and scrupulous nature.

With that, Cayde would finally direct his attention to the smoke which had been gathering above their heads for the past several minutes. He had noticed it earlier, but with the little mechanical knowledge he had and the goblin ambush he had pushed any thoughts about it aside until later. Now it was difficult to ignore. Cayde had never directly messed with a ship's engine before, but he knew that the thing was in a much worse state than it had been earlier.

"I don't suppose you know how to fix this thing, would you?" he asked, turning to Sid. His best guess would to just throw cold water on it in the hopes that it would cool it down, but he knew that was a temporary fix at best and something to further to break it at worst. "If not, I think we should check the top deck. Perhaps whoever was operating the cannons also knows how to fix this."

Fate/Prisma Connections (the reboot!)

Frightened of what Longinus might do against her will should she give over complete control to the servant, Aoi would find herself fighting a defensive battle with her sister using only her own skills and knowledge of fighting and the spearman's enhanced strength and reflexes. She could feel his thoughts trying to convince to dodge one way or the other, but each time they'd be followed by a counter-attack. No. I refuse to hurt her.

Child, if you continue to put yourself in such situations, she will wear you down until you can no longer continue dodging.

Just then, Hana would thrust her sword forward toward Aoi's chest. Having been distracted by Longinus' words, the girl hadn't predicted the attack and panicked in her response. Instead of bringing the large weapon close to parry the blade away, she swung the Spear of Destiny like a club, batting her stone sister away. In her current state, she may be a rank C in strength, but it was more than enough to send Hana flying several feet away. The terracotta warrior felled two trees before impacting against the third and halting her impromptu flight.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry Hana. Are you okay?" Aoi asked, her words reminding her of better days when such a question was reserved for the aftermath of playing too rough with her sibling and their mother was fast approaching to investigate the sound of tears. That was before the world turned topsy-turvy. Before she had entered the Student Council. Before she had begun training her magic. Before she had blinded the closest person she had to a friend.

In response, Hana simply looked back at Aoi with those same cold eyes, her face unchanged from the neutral expression that had stayed since the beginning of their duel. She was still a drone serving her master, and her master's orders were to kill. Gripping the blade now with both hands, she charged again at her sister, sending forth a barrage of stabs and cuts that Aoi's C rank agility struggled to keep up with.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Blossoming Relationships

_{@Lazo@Awesomoman64@Crimmy@Abillioncats}

"Seems like a fair request to me," Robert replied to Trad. The only reason he had pushed the responsibility of one liners to his teammate was because he couldn't think of one on his own either. Soon after Sand got a last couple comments in, the platform would reach the top of their transport and things would get loud. Very loud. So loud that all he could really hear was the rushing wind and the screaming Nevermores. He was pretty sure the wolf girl had said something, but he wasn't sure what. "What do you have?!" he asked, just before Violet began her systematic slaughter of raven-like Grimm. Every trigger pull sent a Grimm plummeting to the Earth below as she methodically emptied the magazine. "Oh you've got this. Yeah, I can see that now."

Not one to let others do the work for him, Robert finished loading in a new magazine for each of his bracers and lifted his arms into the air. Admittedly, he wasn't as good a shot as her, and the rounds his weapon used were a lot smaller than the Atlesian rifle, but he got was able to gain a respectable number of kills considering the conditions. Seven more birds would begin nose-diving downward, while another two would be struggling to stay airborne as the 10mm rounds nicked their wings. "Whoo! Pretty sure I got two of those with one shot. That's two birds with o-"

Before he could finish his lame joke, something very... Well something very predictable occurred considering Robert's presence. As he began to reload his weapons, one of the larger Nevermores swooped down and gripped the hood of his sweatshirt with it's talons and started to carry him away. The young huntsman-in-training tried his best to struggle, but after looking down at the possible fall that would result from escaping his captor, he shouted back to his team, "Guys! Someone help!"

Granblue Fantasy: Rhapsody in Red

@Awesomoman64

Fate/Prisma Connections (the reboot!)

Breathing hard from the mental stress that comes from losing control of one's body and attempting fratricide, Aoi's knees began to buckle under her weight as she dropped down to the floor. The magical spear which had appeared in her hands moments ago continued to stay embedded in the wall she had aimed for while trying to avoid running her sister through, while it's wielder watched Hana slowly make her exit, following a voice that only she and the other stone warriors could hear.

"Hana," she whispered, reaching her hand out despite knowing the blind girl was too far gone.

It's too late, child. She has fallen to whatever unholy forces lead these people on their destructive crusade. If you shall not allow me to end your sister's suffering though, I shall not force you to do so. Know though that such a curse is unlikely to have any way of being reversed. More innocent blood shall be shed from your decision.

I... I don't care. I can't do it. Not after all I've done to her already. She doesn't deserve this.

So often is that the case for God's children. However, in the end, he has a plan for us all and we must learn to play our role. No matter how... difficult it is to do what is asked of us.

This gave the student pause. It was only now listening to this religious man preach about his devotion that the question she had asked him earlier returned to her head. Who are you? Aoi asked the voice.

I am Longinus, and by installing the lancer card as you have done, you have gained the power to wield my power and my weapon.

You mean-?

Yes, child. That spear which you pierced into the walls of your institution of learning is The Spear of Destiny.

Kuremi, Rebecca, and any other students who may have been in the school's courtyard would be able to see as their fellow classmate returned to her feet and pulled out the weapon with ease, as if the wall before her was styrofoam. She turned back to them, still covered in her class card's strange armor and the color of here eyes missing, before attempting an awkward smile. "Um, I'm not gonna lie, I'm about as confused as you all are."

Granblue Fantasy: Rhapsody in Red

Cayde Selmy

Seeing the sudden appearance of goblins on board their crashed transport, Cayde would attempt to defend their weakest party member, that being Perkeo. His heavy armor and distance would slow him down enough for the small monsters to get a few good licks into the draph with their slings, however the nutshot would be the best they could accomplish. The armor that had slowed his movements a moment earlier now worked in his favor as he became a human shield for their bard, rocks harmlessly bouncing off his body. The only part of him that was unguarded was his face, his helmet lacking a visor in order to obstruct as little of his vision as possible, but even this was easily corrected by lowering his head and shrinking their target.

Now in position, the nobleman charged his three opponents, sprinting toward the nearest of the wolf riders. The room was small, it's ceiling only a few feet above his head, so instead of using an overhead slash Cayde opted for a piercing attack, thrusting the end of his sword through one of the creature's mounts. The man let out a grunt of disappointment, having intended to stab the rider instead. The goblin had panicked though when it had saw it's heavily armored rival coming so close, directing the wolf beneath to turn and evade but instead putting it between itself and Cayde's sword.

With his sword embedded deep within the wolf's body and the three goblins reading to pounce upon him, Cayde released his hilt and let the canine slump to the floor, charging it's rider again with fists raised. The green bastard had no time to react before flaming knuckles collided with it's cheek. Teeth clattered to the floor as the goblin clutched the burned side of it's face. It could try and scamper away as best it could, but Cayde was too close, grabbing one of the rocks the goblins had been using as ammunition and smashing its skull in. The guards back at the prison were one thing, innocent men only doing a job and making a living, but these were monsters. They were incapable of kindness or mercy. So he would show them the same.

Rising up from the floor, Cayde kicked over the wolf's dead body and pulled his sword out from it's chest cavity. Free of its temporary sheath of flesh, the blade burst into flames and boiled away the blood which had been covering it. It's tip was now pointed toward the two remaining goblins. "Who's next?"

Fate/Prisma Connections (the reboot!)

No. Nononononono. It can't be. Even if she was no longer using her trademark walking stick, Aoi recognized the figure that slowly approached their group. After all, how could one not recognize their own sister? Hana please don't tell me you're-

I'm sorry child, but it's true.

Who's there? How is it I can hear you within my head?

Worry not. I know how you must feel right now. I have been in the same situation as you are now. It may hurt, but there is only one option. This is how she would want it.

No. Please.

I shall make it painless. Over Aoi's school uniform, suddenly pieces of armor decorated with crosses appeared over her vital areas. A large spear seemed to come out of thin air, placing itself in her grasp as if she was completely familiar with its shape and weight. Pulling back her arm, the girl prepared to thrust the pointed tip right through the stone soldier that was her sister, all the while tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Sometimes, you must kill the things you love to prevent their further suffering. I know this more than anyone.

"STOP!" Aoi shouted at the top of her lungs, wresting what little control she could muster to move the spear just enough to the right to instead impale the wall next to Hana. Her sister was safe, but now she was in danger of being on the end of that sword. Killed by the one she loved and tried to protect. The servant within was disappointed.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Blossoming Relationships

_{@Lazo@Awesomoman64@Crimmy@Abillioncats}

After being dismissed, Robert would join his teammates at the back of the bridge, as expected of him. He had no intention of sitting though, instead pacing up and down the aisle as he waited for something to happen. Whenever his legs began to get tired, he'd lean against the door to give them time to rest before returning to his anxious walking. These things never seemed to go well for him. Third time was the charm right? Sand would be taking command as well, that was sure to make things go much better by comparison.

As he was trying to get over his understandable often-disastrous-mission nerves, one of the technicians alerted everyone on board about the hostile Grimm inbound for their transport. He was so lost within his own head that the sudden announcement caused the young man to visibly jump at the sound, though he was at least able to recompose himself soon after. That Beacon training wasn't a complete waste.

"Whoa. Sixty's quite a bit," Robert thought aloud just as Sand was leaving them. "Wait, where are you-" he began to ask, just before she returned with two Atlesian rifles. "Oh. Yeah, those will probably help."

The young hunter-in-training would patiently listen to what Sand would have to say, nodding in agreement at her suggestions to stay close to those whose semblances would help them not fall to their deaths. "I'm ready to go. Trad, give us a cool one liner to get this party started. Maybe something about murders and crows," Robert finished, putting his teammate on the spot.

---

Shipment protection

_{@NaraK@Crimmy@HereComesTheSnow}

With Team HTTS all gathered in one place, it would take Captain Farraige some time to find them, but once he had they'd find it difficult to leave without being rude. There was little hope of escape. "Ah, ah've finally foun' yer. Couldn't 'ide from auld Captain Farraige. Not on 'is own ship at laest," he greeted them. Taidan in particular would be the target of a hard slap to his back, enough force behind the overly friendly gesture to throw him off balance if he didn't expect or dodge it.

"Dat reminds me back whaen oi wus yisser age. Me an' sum auld mates av mine 'ad decided ter skip class for de day an' git wasted on me da's fishin' boat..." he began. Pandora's box had been opened. Once the old captain had gotten started on one of his stories, there was nothing that could stop him. Try to interrupt him and he'd only speak over you. Walk away and he would take that as an invitation to follow. The team's fate would be sealed, the rest of their journey spent in boredom until the potential for a new story presented itself to him.

Time seemed to move at a snail's pace. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and the random sound of another aerial Grimm being shot down above seemed to be the only proof that they weren't stuck within some sort of time loop. Eventually though, a miracle would come with the crackle of the ship's PA system. "Hey captain, radar's picking up a small school of very big fish coming our way. And by big I mean Ursa-sized. And by coming our way I mean-" Splash! "They're on board now."

With no prior warning, a dozen and a half large, flippered Grimm had found themselves barreling along on the top deck. They were called Hrossvalr and they were similar in appearance to a walrus. So similar really that their aggressive nature towards humanity was really their only differing trait. That and that they were massive bullet sponges. At best these creatures would be an annoyance as long as none of them got inside, though that would appear to be their objective. Whether they were lumbering towards the nearest door or scratching at the deck beneath their fat bodies, every single one seemed awfully more fixated on something below than the humans already with them above.