Yankee

Clown Reinforcements

Ooh I've always wanted to try Space Station 13 RP. Welcome to RPG!

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Welcome to RPG!

Call me Ishmael (actually, call me Nikola)

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World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1210 (+2 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 358/90
_{Wednesday Morning.}
Location: the Frozen Highlands

The Ace Cadet had been content to walk alongside the massive metal stagecoach, but after returning with the newly captured Pals and helping Edward make some decent rigging for them to attach to the vehicle, that wouldn't be possible without being left behind. He hopped onto the carriage as it really got going thanks to the Reindrix, hanging around the back where he could look out over the path they tread. Snow flew underfoot, kicked up by the wheels as they moved.

Speaking of the possibility of being left behind, there were still those that had chosen to investigate that mill in more depth out there. They could just follow the path and eventually reunite with the bulk of the Seekers whenever they needed to stop the coach and rest, but the forest combined with the cloud cover meant it was still relatively dark out. Not to mention they were putting more distance between them now by moving faster. In the interest of making sure the missing members found their way, Ace let loose a few scoutflies to act as small, glowing trail markers as the coach proceeded ahead.

When they cleared the thickest part of the forest, Ace shifted to look out of the carriage's windows as it snaked towards what looked like a small city. As they got closer it was clear whatever structure awaited them wasn't a city, exactly, but a complex of some sort. The function of the abandoned facility eventually became apparent as well, especially when disfigured, cadaver-like animals advanced upon the party. Even down a few members their fire power was enough to wipe out the creatures, though if they'd be traveling through the old zoo there were sure to be more of them. So, when the entourage was stopped by massive iron doors that Roxas' keyblade couldn't unlock (suggesting it was stuck rather than locked) and Sandalphon proposed culling the population of the carcasses, the Cadet tapped the flat of his sword on his shoulder and said, "you don't have to tell me twice, boss."

While a few stayed to guard the coach and their supplies, the Cadet was one of those that split up to take a look around. The Hall of Adventure was large enough that the explorers could spread out and have whole wings to themselves, especially since the area wasn't as crowded with monsters as one might have thought... or maybe Ace was just comparing it to the Qliphoth's interior, where they'd been swarmed by all sorts of nasty things. Regardless, the hunter's wandering generally brought him towards upper floors, and he made sure to put down any carcasses he crossed paths with. He'd seen solitary ones so far, but eventually he came upon a small group - a couple of humanoids and a half-plucked raven with wicked hooks in place of feet.

"Hmm," Ace hummed to himself, considering something. His sword and shield was still in fine shape and ready to tear into any monsters, that wasn't an issue. He glanced down at his hip where the amulet Edward had made for him was tied to the colorful fabric that wrapped around his waist. He was alone up here, facing enemies that he wasn't at all concerned with (even if they weren't as easily dispatched due to their nature, on the flip side Ace doubted they could easily get through his vambraces and other armored points, plus his ever-helpful rigging protected his middle), so it might be a good time to actually try it out when there wouldn't be any distractions, or friendly-magic-fire, or anything else of that sort.

Might as well, right...? he thought to himself, only a little nervous at the prospect. He took a steadying breath, gathered the amulet and slipped the cord around his neck, then approached the carcasses. Right away they turned on him and shambled forward to lunge. They were easily repelled with his shield, though he didn't knock them away just yet. When the raven swooped in Ace willed the wyvern in the amulet to life. The apparition appeared and grew larger, circling the immediate area once and rushing through all three monsters before darting back into the necklace it'd come from. Even though he'd expected it, Ace couldn't help but stumbled backwards a little as the ghostly bone-wyvern returned to him and he felt its stolen empowerment wash through his body. The carcasses too stumbled with their new weakness applied, though were not as quick to recover as the hunter. He easily cut through one of the pair and felt a dull pulse in his chest as he did. That concerned him for a moment until he realized it probably wasn't something the monsters were doing to him, rather the feel of the Cast that he'd gained weeks ago and had tried to forget about.

He ducked the bird as it made a second pass, swiping his blade up to catch it and send it crashing to the ground. The remaining carcass clawed at him, though the weakening had definitely taken affect and left it doing little if any damage to the Cadet. Ace pressed his attack in order to make quick work of the monsters, and once they were ashed he stopped to let out a heavy breath he hadn't even known he was holding.

"Okay... everything's Ya-cool..." he said to himself, looking himself and his equipment over as if he would find some kind of physical change. The buff wore off by itself after a moment, and the hunter smiled a little. That hadn't been bad. He could work with it. Ace stowed his weapon and continued on.

Of course not being connected to Sandalphon's network meant he missed her call out. Ace ambled around the now empty higher levels of the hall, peeking into wings and rooms but not searching them in depth. If something stood out to him he'd take a look, but mostly all he saw were shadows, broken furniture, and other junk. He wasn't really looking for forgotten treasures left behind by whoever built this place anyway, he was mainly looking for any way outside. Unsurprisingly there weren't any large enough for some of the bigger Seekers to get through, let alone the coach. Maybe their only option really was to break through... though tearing through the walls around the iron gate would probably prove faster and easier than the gate itself.

He turned back only when the semi-distant sound of combat reached his ears, loud enough that it couldn't have been just the small carcasses that they'd encountered so far. It turned out though that whatever monster had been making the ruckus on the bottom floor had been dealt with by the time Ace got back, and with Blazermate just returning herself from zipping out of the windows to clear up some sort of fungal growths that had held the gate closed, the hunter was just in time to put his strength to use in pushing the metal doors open so the group could continue on.

And from there it didn't look like they were out of the zoo just yet. There were more cages to be found scattered around, and flare ups from some distant fire, and a long walk still to go.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Fight the Gods Aftermath

Wordcount: 2442 (+3)
Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s Low Tier
Amaterasu: level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (47/80)
Pit - Level: 8 - Total EXP: 276/80
Sakura +3

All things considered the stop into the Fight of Gods dojo hadn’t taken long, mostly owing to Zeus pushing for an immediate jump to a combat trial, and the two goddesses that Pit and Amatera-two ended up fighting stepping up to the challenge right away. The Seekers still couldn’t afford to dilly dally, but at least they didn’t need to rush and sprint to sign up either.

Amaterasu was looking particularly pleased with herself, snout held high and proud while her tail did slow swishes behind her. Maybe a bit much for someone who’s success had mainly come from being chucked into a low tier dojo, but she’d take the high of being the best Amaterasu that there was and run it all the way to registration.

Sakura, meanwhile, didn’t know how to feel. Of course, she was proud of her companions for their victory. But at the end of the day, this was a kusoge dojo. It looked like they were having a pretty tough battle. Was it just the matter of the people running the dojo having no idea how to showcase their talent? Or had they caught a dojo right before it was about to skyrocket up the tiers, with or without Pit and Amaterasu? Because the most troubling outcome would be that Pit and Amaterasu were only barely strong enough to beat poverty tier fighters pretending to be Greek gods, and that would be no good. ”I mean, that can’t be right.” She muttered under her breath.

”Man, you two did great!” Is what Sakura settled on saying aloud. ”At this point, not getting to spar with anyone is kinda driving me nuts.” She joked.

She definitely looked eager for a bout, but that wasn't really surprising since fighting was her hobby and passion. Pit wasn't as enthusiastic as a street fighter, but he did find friendly matches fun more often than not. Plus he had already told Sakura he'd indulge her once the Seekers were all set with what they had to do that morning.

"We can figure something out after lunch! Don't wanna fight on an empty stomach!"

”That…” Sakura pat her stomach. ”Is one thousand percent true.”

For once, Amaterasu had no reluctance in the bark she gave as agreement. Partially because she enjoyed a good meal as much as anyone, but also because fighting on an empty (second) stomach was just plain risky, given a full astral pouch represented an entire second chance at life.

As for the sparing, the divine wolf could take it or leave it really from an enjoyment perspective, but who knew, maybe she’d learn something, and so she’d be up for it if asked.

As they kept moving towards the low tier registration area, awaiting any other reports to come through their communication devices about who was signing up where, Pit walked with his arms tucked behind his head.

"You know, I think I forgot to ask which tournaments you guys were thinking about signing up for," he said to his companions. ”Though I guess you’d be joining the World Warriors one, right Sakura?"

”Yup yup yup.” Sakura said proudly, setting her hands on hips. Then her shoulders slumped a bit sheepishly. ”It’s gonna be weird seeing everyone when they’re all…Galeemy.” She said. ”It won’t be easy to defeat and Friend Heart any of them, either…

Pit blinked in surprise. He hadn't thought about that!

Amaterasu hadn’t even thought about how she’d do that with paws. A rather awkward balancing act most likely.

"Maybe if you're really quick and do it right after a match...?" he suggested, though it was clear he wasn't actually sure if that would work. If it did though it would be a great way to get a bunch of strong allies really fast.

”I mean, I guess I don’t technically have to win the fight. I just need to do enough damage to make it work. I’m confident in my abilities and all, but beating any of the World Warriors is a coin flip for me even on a good day.” Sakura said.

”I know if they were in their right minds they wouldn’t be happy with how things are. To be honest, Pit-san, I don’t remember how I felt about M. Bison of all people being in charge. Now, it gives me the serious ick.” Sakura grimaced and shuddered.

Amaterasu tilted her head to the side with mild curiosity. She’d mostly understood the ways the mentioned man was a wretched ruler, but was interested to hear if Sakura had anything more to add now that she wasn’t sharing the floor with the prickly Juri.

Pit did not ask after additional details though, so whether Sakura picked up on Amaterasu's curiosity was on her. What Pit had already heard was enough for him to put this Bison guy right in the "bad" category, so he only nodded his head.

Sakura glanced over at Amaterasu. ”He tried to kidnap Ryu-san like…a million times. I don’t know how I put up with him. Everyone in that Dojo risked life and limb to stop M. Bison’s plans. I thought we’d won. But now he’s got full control over everyone…almost all my heroes.” Sakura frowned deeply.

"Can't really blame anyone that's brainwashed though," Pit said. Of course they'd find everything all hunky dory. "But don't worry, 'cause I'm sure he and the other three kings are gonna get in our way even if it's just to defend their title, so we can take 'em all out at once!"

”Oh, I plan on helping make things right.” Sakura nodded resolutely at Pit. ”As long as the Seekers beat that guy I’m happy.”

"We will," the angel promised optimistically. Though hopefully taking out the power structure of this city went better than the last one.

Amaterasu would have their backs on that one, that was for sure, and presumably so would the other seekers, though they’d not gotten too many reports of who was signing up for what just yet. Fortunately, they were getting fairly close to the meeting point of Pao Pao at the moment, which the divine wolf was leading the way to almost entirely by smell now. She was doing her best not to salivate while doing so.

She (and the rest of them really) would have to wait just a bit longer though, as her two-legged companions took a different route. They weren't separated for very long, calling after Amaterasu to get the goddess back on track. In actuality the trio could have continued on to lunch, as one could technically find the kind of robots handling tournament entries in many different parts of the city, but ignorant to the fact that the popular cafe likely had a combot of its own it was the general gathering place in one of the low tiers few plazas that the three were headed to. Though the streets were more or less crowded wherever they went, they could tell as soon as they'd arrived at the plaza that this was their current tier's de facto registration area.

All kinds of people, from fighters to spectators to yokai, milled around in small groups. Elaborately dressed men and women were just as numerous as plain looking fighters and themed combatants. The majority appeared to be humans, or at the very least humanoid, though there were a few distinct non-humans like the panda man who stood with his arms crossed, a confident smirk on his face. Another clothed bear-like creature seemed to be having some trouble signing up, likely because it didn't seem to be able to speak in anything other than grunts and roars, though luckily there was at least one person trying to help the bear out, if only to get the line to move faster.

Those that had already registered chatted with each other, greeting strangers, friends, and old rivals alike, all the while sizing up the competition. Those that had yet to sign up for a tournament queued in front of a panel of combots, moving quickly through the few questions before joining the throng of potential opponents around the area. It was toward the robots that the three Seekers moved. Sakura hung back for a second, before speaking up. ”I already registered back up in the High Tier- I’ll catch up with you two later?” She said, backing up with an excitable pace, wanting to take another look around Esaka by herself.

"Sure," Pit said. If he was in her position he'd probably want to skip the boring stuff too. As she left he glanced down at Amaterasu. "Alright, let's get this part over with!"

Amaterasu gave a bark of agreement, and then hustled her way to the front of the pack, eager to get back on track to getting lunch. Unfortunately she’d not had much luck, as the bot proved to be just the wrong mix of smart yet unimaginative that its response to her waving documents of recommendation, dojo membership and her desired tournament around was: “You can’t put the officials through all this and hold up the tournament. Please acquire an interpreter or a team leader to speak in your place and then come back.”

All that farce to sign up and it was apparently all for nought. Especially because her current companions weren't able to perform either function for her when she looked to them for aid.

The first because Sakura had high tailed it away from the loud crowds and was far enough away that she could no longer be spotted, and the second because Pit was on the far end of the panel from her with a whole bunch of eager fighters between them in their own lines. The angel, standing between a well dressed man and a very non-distinct one, peeked around towards the front of his queue to see how much longer it was going to take. It looked like it would be his turn pretty soon, which didn't give him much time to rethink his decision.

Though anyone could register for any of the four tournaments with any combot, there had seemed to be a natural division among the people signing up. Since they happened so often it made sense, just split the queues up for separate tournaments. It was easier that way to see about how many rivals you'd have to fight through with your choice in tourney. Of course some joined the smallest queue anyway just to sign up faster, but the notorious Mortal Kombat's line was still the shortest by a wide margin.

It wasn't Pit's first choice. Nor was it his second or third. But putting himself in danger to spare others was something he was entirely too familiar with. He knew that Sakura was going to join World Warriors, and if he had to guess Juri probably was too, if she joined up at all. Zenkichi had said he was joining Tekken, and Captain Falcon's recent call mentioned he'd be joining King of Fighters alongside Terry. But he hadn't heard back from anyone else about their plans since calling out to them himself. If he was right and covering all their bases was the way to go, and the other three tournaments were already accounted for... it left only one, a tournament that it was likely could see no Seekers join, for good reason. In that case, as team captain it would be up to him to cover Mortal Kombat.

Pit grimaced as the line moved up, and the purple clad man in front of him somewhat bitterly told the combot that his name was Scorpion and he was representing Martial Masters.

If you think about it, a deadly fighting tournament really isn't any different from always risking your life trying to save the world, Palutena spoke to Pit, somewhat reassuringly.

I guess you're right... yeah! It's just some mortal peril but with an audience! And more rules.

And if you're worried about your opponents, just hit them with a Brutality instead!

Can you try to sound a little less excited, Lady Palutena?

When Pit stood before the combot he took a deep breath, then answered its questions with unwavering determination. "Pit, from Fight of Gods, entering Mortal Kombat!"

"Response recorded. Your eligibility check is underway. Please make way for the next registrant and have an excellent day."

Alright, that was easy! Pit thought as he slipped through the throng of people, leaving behind the next guy who'd called himself John Smith from Outfoxies. As he looped around the perimeter of the plaza he spotted Amaterasu, who noticeably was no longer in a queue. He made a beeline for her.

"Amaterasu! You're all set? Me too! Now that that's done let's go get lunch!"

The divine wolf opened her mouth just a touch, then closed it and kept her failure to herself to spare her pride. At least that last word was a reminder that there was one good thing waiting for her, and, who knew, she thought maybe she’d be able to snag a spot on the currently forming team if someone else hadn’t already done so.

With that thought in mind she put a spring in her step and began to once again head for Pao Pao, just with one less seeker on her tail this time.

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