Lugubrious

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I was going to write a big ol' thing rebuking one or the other of you @Lucius Cypher@Prince of Seraphs but I can't figure out who needs one more, so allow me to say that this entire thing is stupid and try to cut it down. So Lucius, please do not take tongue-in-cheek suggestions too far, and Prince, don't blamefully misrepresent things and make pronouncements about what fiction has to do or else be insensitive to reality. 'We', as in you, me, all white people, all people, or whatever you want, aren't responsible for the actions of a few. The actions of people in the past, be it colonization (whether British, Spanish, American, Japanese), to wars throughout history (including Egypt, Greece, and Canaan), to more modern undertakings like the Great Leap Forward, led to countless deaths, and that sure is a shame. But races aren't responsible; people are responsible. I don't believe anyone else here would have picked the fight with Lucius' joke that you have over this perceived issue. Lighten up, will you?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Sure, I'll take another look at it.

Pokemon: New World

@Dusksong @LuckyBlackCat @Zarkun @Lugubrious @Eklispe @KiritoAsuna @Iatos

Small Update:

I have lowered the barrier to entry for League Prime. Now you don't have to battle another user as a requirement. You can simply have a battle with a wild Pokemon. I esspecially recomend this organization for Olivie, @Lugubrious. She seems to like battling quite a lot. Might as well earn extra points from it!

Thanks!

@Balthazar007

Ah, that's neat. I'll consider it.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

@Lugubrious I suppose Joshua getting on 1-on-1 with Hyun or Zanders will be unlikely, if not impossible, eh?

@Joshua Tamashii

Probably not, but who knows?

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Ready to rumble.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Frenzy Plant's Elite

After a few moments, the six soldiers drew apart. Silence reigned for a moment, but Dmitri could not suppress himself forever. A low chuckle escaped from his lips, and his shoulders shook in laughter. ”So that's the plan, huh? I'm full of energy...fit to burst with excitement! Seriously, I'm amazed. How do you come up with this stuff, Zander?” A wide grin adorned his face as he held his hands up in wonder at the Ruby Knight.

While Zander's face only shifted slightly, gripped as it was by his overwhelmingly serious attitude, he permitted some satisfaction to slip into his voice. ”I'm not the guild's Number Two for nothing, hot shot. This plan of action, executed in coordination by all of us, will ensure a tremendous triumph. That said, keeping the five-man team limit in mind, not all of us will be participating. Xyster, you fought bravely yesterday, but I ask you to bow out of the arena this morning.”

”What?” The Dullahan's wan face turned from eager anticipation to pouting. "Put me in, coach! You know I'm good for it!” Imploringly, she glanced around at her teammates for support. ”Why me?!”

Zander frowned. His comrades couldn't see the expression behind his new helmet, but they could hear the edge in his voice. ”Can you truly think of nothing?”

Suddenly realizing, Xyster slid a hand up toward the right side of her face—or rather, the lack thereof. Yesterday, an ash-imbued uppercut had blown an entire third of her head, including her right eye, into smithereens and then cauterized the wound. Even now, her injury was rife with ash. Had she not been a deathless monster, Nolan's overblown attack would have killed her then and there, though no doubt he only used the move because of his opponent's undeath. ”Oh! My face. Well, I might not be as pretty as usual, but you know what they say: in the land of the blind, the one-eyed...” She withered beneath Zander's gaze.

He shook his heat gently, clasping his hands together. When he spoke, he endeavored to keep all traces of condescension or meanness from his voice. ”From a critical standpoint, Xyster, you would offer the least utility to our strategy. Besides, we do not wish to test your endurance any further. We'll be counting on you, our only supporter, to cheer us on from the sidelines.” For a moment she considered his words, but it was a brief one. Filled with a sense of duty and understanding, the Dullahan tossed her head up, caught it on her shoulders, and nodded resolutely. Then, calm and serious, she returned the way she came.

That left five soldiers on the field: Zander, Indigo, Hyun, Dmitri, and Owen. They listened closely the the proclamations of the Game Master. Resentment smoldered against Sheldon's remark that the match today would decide the winners—it meant that none of what Frenzy Plant, or any of the guilds, had accomplished in days prior would matter. Indigo gave a bright, cheerful laugh when he said that the city of Crocus would serve as the battleground today. ”As if! We have everything we need to win right here.”

A sagacious grunt marked Zander's affirmation. ”Indeed. Ours rivals do not fight as guilds, but as collections of individuals. Perhaps two or three may band together, but none have lived the lifestyle that will allow them to work in harmony as we do. Because they fight alone, or as loners forced to compensate for one another by circumstance, they will hinder one another, become frustrated, and in the end, bitterly blame each another for their defeat. Today, Fiore's guilds will receive a stern reminder of what truly matters as they face the well-oiled machine that is Frenzy Plant: unity! And it will go down like clockwork.” He fell silent for a moment. The very atmosphere of the arena was full of tension. ”The bell will toll imminently and our battle will begin. Indigo, you know what to do. Everyone, get ready.”

Instantly, a cracking noise rang out—the sound of crunching stone. As Dmitri cracked his knuckles, heatwaves emanated from his igneous forearms, and droplets of lava fell to sizzle on the earth. With long, delicate fingers, Indigo slipped a tome from her book bag, and it fell open in her hand. Owen went to work strapping his buckler to his left hand and adjusting the ties on his clothing and armor. Not a moment's hesitation prevented Zander from drawing his ruby arming sword, which he held in a reverse grip with two hands. Hyun slowly slid her sword from her left scabbard. Rather than a katana, she instead held a flamberge. This 'flame-bladed' weapon, with its unique jagged blade, was an instrument to counter other sword users. Its many edges would saw right through clothing and into flesh, while the jagged steel would send numbing, painful reverberations into the hands and wrists of swordsmen who tried to lock blades with her. In the place of her second katana was another new weapon: a parrying dagger with an upturned crossguard and basket grip. Today, it seemed, Frenzy Plant's supreme swordswoman had relinquished her traditional weapons in order to gain more effectiveness.

After this, the elite of Frenzy Plant stood still, poised and waiting. The game was ready to be played, and each of the players knew his or her role. All that remained was the bell.

Pokemon: New World

I'm glad you're happy with how things are going, Balth.

Many, the guild chat's pretty crazy. I'll be glad when we have our own room.

The Three Realms War [A DMC, Bayonetta and Darksiders RP]

Mad World

@zarkun@lazo@kapuchu

A roar was intimidating...for a moment, that is, and to those not yet numbed to roars by countless battles against monsters. One did not issue from whatever behemoth lay inside the stone shell suspended before the Charred Council's agents. Instead, it remained still, the one monolithic eye open and staring straight at the intruders into its domain. Around it, the entire Hanging Jungle seemed still as a spider's web, motionless and silent but no less deadly to the flies dangerously close to its sticky, silken strands. Uhelei did not want to speak, or even move, but though the gaze of the hanging behemoth filled him with dread, he took some comfort in it: that for the moment, at least, death was not coming for him. From the shelter of this solace he worked up a reply to the hellhound who questioned him. “It is...a legend to my people. We call it 'Ourakekem' – the Baleful World. You must understand: I did not guide us to it. It moves through the great tangle as it pleases...or at least, it is said to. Maybe it is better that we found it than some of the things out here. Our tales do not say that it is evil; merely that it is 'above us'. I will tell you what I know.”

“Our realm, the Undersky, is said to have not been made by the Creator himself, but by a mad renegade mistakenly gifted awesome power. After crafting an inverted world, she devoted herself to making living things, from beasts to us tribesmen to beings that rivaled her in might and insanity to keep her company. Ourakekem was one of these elite spirits, a consciousness of energy. Eventually a great war brewed among the renegade and her toys situated at a place called Wit's End, which the lord Panoptos calls 'the Seal', which is our destination. The battle resulted in the destruction of all involved. The spirits perished, the remnants of their power laying dormant inside protective cocoons, some of which, like Ourakekem, became living things in their own right.” Uhelei glanced back at the massive, everpresent eye. It held no trace of wariness, or wrath, but rather a cool intelligence, calmly evaluating the specks that stood before it.

Panoptos, having somehow restrained himself from interrupting the boring dialogue, now put forward his two cents. ”My superior intellect has arrived at a brilliant conclusion. What if this Oura-thing purposefully bars the way to Wit's End as a test? Wouldn't that be a nice surprise.” He floated forward slightly, ascending as he did so. Almost imperceptibly, the eye of Ourakekem slid upward. ”Yoo hoo! Don't know if you understand me, ole buddy, but we've got an urgent appointment with the Seal. Mind moving out of the way?”

Nothing happened. The seconds, rife with tension, stretched farther and farther. Then, quite abruptly, the whole tangled canopy was in motion. Ourakekem's enormous tentacles began to retract into its body at a healthy pace, but as its limbs went in, something came out. Emanating from the behemoth's eye was a mint-green wave, sweeping across everything in sight and bathing it in a soft glow. The tendrils released the platform on which the agents stood, but it, and the rest of the hunks of land, floated in the air as if weightless. As more and more of the colossal tentacles retreated into the mountain shell, it became apparent that the behemoth itself was now hovering in the air, kept buoyant by the same psychic force imparted to the stone. Very soon, the entire region was devoid of strands. Far away, the ordinary, steely cables of the Hanging Jungle remained, but in the vicinity of Ourakekem there existed only a belt of floating platforms.

Admittedly, Souta was having a terrifically hard time not freaking out. Navigating the Hanging Jungle had been hard and nerve-wracking enough when it was just vines; now, he -along with the rest of his group save Panoptos, the very individual who'd gotten them into this mess- was at the mercy of this hulking aberration. He could only watch as yellowish light began to will up within the monster's shell, which resolved itself into a sort of fog that streamed around its body. By honing his eyes, Souta could tell when the fog came close that it was not mist, but billions of bugs. So this is the monster's power. We are so dead. A bizarre sound filled the air—some kind of reverberating mumble that he could not decipher. He guessed it to be the cacophony of insect wings, but above the noise, Uhelei shouted, “It is speaking in my people's tongue! It is as you said, lord Panoptos! It wishes to test us. We must weather its swarms until it determines whether our intentions will...will suit its purposes. Prepare yourselves, agents of the Council!”

Immediately, the swarms began to whirl through the floating array of stone. It took on the shape of lances, beasts, and even armed humanoids, attacking the agents both as projectiles to be blocked or avoided, and as facsimile opponents. Souta had no idea what was going on, but he knew that he had to fight, and to fight with everything he had. The Trawlers appeared, and the smith went to work.

Pokemon: New World

Scoffing, the Cacnea crossed its arms. From it a gurgling noise issued and, seemingly in response, the Karrablast let loose a determined cry and scrunched up its face. Its expression became a mask of goofy, overdone, and ineffective intimidation—to Olivie, at least. Buck, though, could only shudder as his trainer snickered. At this the Brunette's eyes widened in surprise. ”You kidding? That's not a scary face at all. Rollout, now!” Grateful for the distraction, the Bidoof tucked himself into a fluffy sphere, ready to smash into his opponent as a wrecking ball. Unfortunately, the Karrablast was faster. It took advantage of Buck's momentary fearfulness to leap in and, with a horn brimming with strength, deliver two diagonal slashes to form an 'x' from their trails. Fresh cuts opened across Buck's back, and the second slash, a bottom-left to to-right sweep, threw him back.

By then, however, he'd tucked himself tight enough and gained enough momentum to power through the pain and roll straight into the Karrablast. The force behind the full-body blow, combined with the added edge of rocks picked up in the roll and sticking out of Buck's fur, dealt a decisive blow to the bug. It stumbled backward, barely keeping itself upright and teetering on its little feet even after it recovered. The short but brutal exchange earned an approving nod from Olivie. ”Looks like it didn't like that Rollout at all.” Buck, still curled up tight, continued to roll around the clearing blindly. His trainer imagined that he wouldn't be able to cancel the attack, but she'd already made up her mind that a repeat performance would be wildly effective. It made sense; though lightweight, fast, and annoying, bugs couldn't typically take much punishment, especially from heavy, blunt objects. Still tottering, the bug in question gnashed its teeth and assumed a solid stance. Olivie watched, suddenly intrigued, as some sort of power began to build up in its horn, visible by a light green glow. Quite unexpectedly, the Karrablast's horn suddenly exploded outward, growing to twice the size and gaining an array of new spikes. Before Olivie could react, it threw itself like a torpedo at the oncoming Bidoof. A pang of fear gnawed at the girl's heart: could her partner make it? By now, all of his rolling had picked up a lot of dust and stones in his coat, making him look like a miniature boulder, but the Karrablast's Megahorn looked fearsome to say the least. As the two Pokemon drew near, Olivie held her breath.

In a flash it was over. A cracking sound echoed through the field as the revolving force of Buck's Rollout diverted the Megahorn's point straight down, and where the horn went, the Karrablast followed. In the end, the Bidoof rolled right over it, burying it partially in the dust and cracking off its horn. Fragments of carapace littered the ground as Buck rolled to a halt, emerged from his ball, and began to shake himself off. He was worse for wear, and terribly dirty, but he was still conscious. The same couldn't be said for his foe. When Buck saw that he'd won, he chattered noisily in celebration, and Olivie knelt by his side to brush him off. ”Great stuff! That dumb beetle really bit the dust. That's three wins under your belt, counting that crappy Pansear.” Rising to her full height, she crossed her arms beneath her chest and narrowed her eyes at the Cacnea, who'd also been looking on. She felt as though the walking plant were sizing her up, but it was an altogether different sensation from what she got from the usual 'sizing-ups' that went her way. This thing was deciding whether or not to respect her from the abilities and attitude of her and her partner alone. Honestly, it was exciting.

Out of nowhere, the Cacnea raised its arms up and began to move. It whirled around and around like a helicopter, its clublike arms the rotors, until it sprang toward her. As it flew her way, Olivie watched silently, noting the dozens of spiky needles protruding from its limbs. Taking a deep breath, she waited until it was in range and then extended her right arm in a backfist punch. The guard of her fighting glove intercepted the Cacnea's arm in mid-air, and it stuck like a burr. After that, all Olivie needed to do was toss her arm to throw the Cacnea off. It landed in a roll, righting itself in no time, and sprang to its stubby little feet. Somehow the brunette didn't think it would attack again, and her prediction came true as the Cacnea crossed its arms again and put on a wide smile. Though Olivie couldn't truly understand it, she tried to imagine what it might be saying. Looks like yer one tough customer, those beady eyes told her. Ah guess Ah kin tag 'long with ya fer a while. When the girl picked up a Pokeball and held it out, the Cacnea didn't flinch, so she proceeded to throw it. Surprisingly, the Pokemon struggled a great deal inside the ball—one last test. In the end, it could not break free, and Olivie grabbed her new minion to set it free. ”Aaalrighty. That's two scrappy Pokemon in my team. Welcome to the club, pal. We're gonna go far together, so I hope you've got enough fight in you to keep up.”

As Buck and the Cacnea approached one another and began sizing one another up as well, Olivie's gaze fell upon the Karrablast. She hadn't planned on nabbing anything besides the Cacnea, but the blue bug put up a pretty good fight for such a small beetle. Besides, it looked much cooler than any other Bug-type Olivie had seen, and the whole way it used Megahorn was pretty sick. ”Eh, I guess I've got room for one more.” Procuring another Pokeball, she tapped it against the Karrablast's shell, capturing the dazed bug easily. With it contained, she rose back up and tapped the ball thoughtfully against her head. ”Let's see. What am I gonna call you jerks?” She shrugged after a few moments. ”Eh, come on. We're going south. Today's the first day of my journey, and Feyhollow's the nearest place to explore.” Flanked by her two Pokemon, Olivie waded back into the grassy field, headed toward a thick green forest only about forty-five minutes away.

@Balthazar007

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Abel Fulgurate – Cafeteria

By the time his teammate discovered and made her way to his side, half of Abel's handcrafted bacon, egg, and biscuit sandwich was gone, and only the core remained of one of his two pieces of fruit. A cup of coffee, mixed with some milk and sugar, sat beside a cup of juice on his tray. Having spotted her approaching, he made no motion but to put down his food so as to not let it get in the way of conversation. He brought a napkin to his mouth, just in case, while Sapphire got herself situated. “Good morning,” he replied to her greeting. She didn't seem too pleased to be her, but her presence was pleasant enough. Hanging around SASG's team leader never bothered Abel—in fact, he felt it appropriate that two of the less talkative hunters-in-training at Beacon should be together. With that out of the way, he gingerly picked up his remaining pear to bite in. Before he could do so, his partner's voice came again, for which he paused in his tracks. Immediately his mind shot to his proposed nature excursion with Krysanthe, but blabbing about it up front struck the guardian as the wrong thing to do. He couldn't quite place why he felt that way -he wasn't doing anything wrong, after all- but all the same he thought it better to be vague with his reply.

Thinking to himself that he could easily blame early-morning grogginess for his lackluster response time, Abel told Sapphire, “I was thinking of heading out into the Emerald Forest. You know, for some fresh air. Explore the woods and all. Um, after that...” He groaned inwardly as he recalled a stroke of misfortune that had been hanging sneakily over his head like a little stormcloud waiting to burst. “I gotta study for the English quiz on Monday. It's all rhetoric, but I'm just awful at all that wordplay stuff.” At this point, Abel felt on a roll. Several sentences had been completed without a major flub. Feeling brave, he performed a stiff give me a break gesture and continued, “I mean, why do we even have English and Math and stuff at Beacon? Won't help us kill anything or keep ourselves from gettin' killed. You...uh, you get what I'm saying?” Abel went ahead and took a large bite out of his pear in order to both provide valuable nourishment and to signal the end of his part of the conversation. Basically, he was home free at this point. Sapphire could drum up a response, or shrug her shoulders and say nothing, but the weight of the interaction lay on her now. Any awkwardness would be totally her fault; to be frank, though, Abel was torn between feeling bad about putting his partner into the spotlight and feeling pleased with how well he'd articulated himself prior to coffee. Speaking of which. Following his nugget of fruit, the guardian busied himself with his coffee cup.