The General Roleplay

Jack placed a hand on Grell's shoulder and shook his head.



"I'm not looking to pull someone like Phoenix Wright or Miles Edgeworth into this. Lord knows that they'll probably bring the whole thing down in the name of 'truth' or some legal hogwash like that. No, we simply keep merging and buying and making backroom deals... That family does sound promising, though. See if we can afford Ouran yet."

Capitalist Montage wrote: Jack continues to make phone calls. Images of charts going up and stocks rising flash by him... Montage style.

"Excuse me, Cradle Pharmaceutical? I just bought the rights to Soporil out from under you, and I'll flood the market if you don't play ball..."

...

"Not only am I going to buy Konami out from under, you, SIR! ... I'm going to give it to Kojima, and let him, Del Toro, and Mikkelsen use it as a gachapon-themed paintball arena. Your move, punk."

...

"Grell, we really ought to figure out a better name for this growing conglomerate of business pleasure. Something smooth, suave, welcoming... I'm thinking about 'The Harbingers of the Apocalypse.' What do you think?"

Reverie wrote:

"God, I'm being way too predictable here."

Leaping up and flying through the air, her hair fluttering about loosely, Marisa continued weaving around her opponent's ink streams with considerable ease. It didn't occur to the magician for even one second that Marina might not be taking this life-or-death catfight seriously, as Marisa was far too busy concentrating on dodging the projectiles heading her way to notice the squid octopus girl's dumb, giggly expression.



"Don't get your hopes up, 'cause this is just a warm-up," she exclaimed, launching another, seemingly endless, volley of magical weapons to push that point home. The missiles were ridiculously fast, albeit not so dangerous, but Marisa was content with using them to force Marina further away. With a wave of one hand, some kind of card inscribed with various characters made its way between Marisa's fingers and something about the environment began to change. It was as though the sun itself had grown cold and were dimming down like a dying bulb.



"Let's see how you like this! Magic Sign - Stardust Reverie!" Marisa announced the name of her spell card with characteristic glee, locking herself into the same position in the air as a series of magic sigils formed around her, tracing circumferences around her and spiralling away, producing what looked like small, star-shaped lights in the same way that wrapped around the air and seemed to split it into various regions between which movement was rather difficult, especially for someone stuck on the ground.



"Come on, this is my easiest spell."

Even then, the sigils kept moving, tracing new patterns almost constantly as the old ones began to fold back on themselves, attempting to force their target inbetween their crushing motions. And as new danmaku were brought to life, what remained of the old floated aimlessly throughout the battlefield as passive hazards.

The battle raged on, Marina doing her best to get mileage out of the maneuverability the Dualies granted her. One dodge-roll later, she found herself reassessing the situation upon the casting of Marina's spell-card.



"Huh! A special!?"

Again, it was one she'd never seen before! A rain of various colors, dancing in spiral patterns... Her inked turf was downright enveloped and erased by the dance of the shining lights. As quickly as she could, Marina dived into what little remained of her ink on the floor and swam to take cover wherever she could. However, the tree behind which she hid was quickly decimated and she took a couple of hits. It burnt against her skin, but she wasn't splatted quite yet! No time to think, Marina, dodge-roll for your life! And so she did, shooting, shooting, rolling rolling, trying to avoid her body (read: hitbox) making contact with even one more projectile. She needed time to recover. Finally, after what seemed way too long, she found an opening. And, as luck should have it, her meter was full too!



"Alright! Time to repay color with color!!"

Tossing her Dualies in the air briefly, Marina readied her special.

"INK STORM!"



A machine shot forth from her barrels, erecting itself on the battle field and shooting up into the sky a large, green cloud, covering the sky even darker than before. A rain of teal ink fell over all unfortunate enough to stand in range.

Regiwi wrote:

That was a lot of stuff that they had in the warehouse.  Vespus looked over to Aqua.  They needed to ditch the guide they had to begin their search for information.  Vespus was certain that they were going to unleash all of the robots in here against them, that was the easiest setup for a trap that he had imagined.

I apologise. I am not programmed to give tours, as such I cannot give you information regarding this warehouse, however please feel free to browse our wares. Each box should be labelled with the product we provide. Including models not on the shop floor.

No information? Could it possibly be referring to the trap? Or maybe a secret about Palm Robotics itself? It seemed like they were hiding more than just a trap.

"Thank you, anyway." Aqua nods, then turns to Vespus with a hushed voice. "Let's begin our search."

Squinting, Marisa saw the squid girl's machine being constructed in front of her. It didn't seem like much of a threat at first, but Marisa remained on guard because it seemed so benign down there. Her instincts were rarely wrong and this time proved to be no exception, as the behemoth below seemed to act as a mortar, firing something up into the air. When what had been launched skywards failed to come anywhere near her, Marisa grew even more suspicious and began focusing on it intently. Subsequently, the ink cloud formed not far from her and she was ultimately forced to cancel her spell card (the various bullets ceasing to materialise anew and gradually clearing altogether) in order to move away and dodge the trap that had been sprung.

Although she was back to evading the ink hazards full-time, it was not dissimilar to a regular danmaku field. Whilst this meant that Marisa was not particularly worried by the danger they might have posed, she was still somewhat occupied by the concentration it took to avoid the bullets outright. After all, Marisa had seen the effect that this weapon had had on that injured girl earlier.



"Where's that umbrella youkai when you need her? This is the dumbest attack I've ever seen."

Her temper clearly out the window, Marisa turned her back on her foe momentarily and let some kind of light flash from her hand into the ink cloud itself. Having made a small gap in it, she rapidly ascended into the newly-formed hole, shooting a handful of larger star bullets along the way.



"I don't know what any of this weird crap is, but it looks like it burns alright!"

Pulling another spell card out from under her hat, Marisa glanced at it once with a feverish smile and then held it out to the heavens.



"Love Storm - Starlight Typhoon!" yelled Marisa, her sigils returning to her side and then forming a loose circle around her. "Sorry to rain on your parade, fish person."

The sigils began firing lasers of various bright shades outwards, cutting into the smog like a hot knife through butter, as their collective shape rotated this way and that, whittling down the enemy's special. Whilst this was happening, of course, the spell sigils also began to fire streams of stars - some big, some small - towards their caster, which looped around her general vicinity and then fired outwards again. These were the only real danger to Marina at present, though she would likely notice that these bullet streams were a lot denser. Perhaps the witch had decided to up the ante.

Mad Glitched Holographic Robot Scientist wrote:
Scientist: It's... it's started. GRAAHHHH!

*As he says this, the glitching starts to spread to his chest.*

Just... just listen to me! Take this, I haven't got time to tell you...

*He pulls out a scrap of paper and shoves it into Haruhi's hand. As he does this, the hand he handed it to her with begins to glitch up too.*

He's behind all this, people have no idea what he's planning, just... just stop P-AAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAWEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGTWAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKK
AWAEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!1321341242342313412543514354353415431513

Haruhi could only watch as the Mad Scientist glitched. What the heck was happening...?

Not knowing what she could do, she took a look at the paper she now had in her hands.


" 'Doctor Robert Ryder, we hereby invite you to a party celebrating the business successes of Giovanni, head of the Rocket Game Corner' ", she read. " 'The Party is taking place at the Rocket Game Corner'. Blah blah blah, date and time, blah blah blah, we expect you to come, blah blah blah..."

Haruhi took a glance at the glitchy person who used to be her "mad scientist".


"His name is Robert Ryder? That's got to be a pseudonym. Everyone knows that Robert is the fakest name ever! ... Aside from John Smith, of course."

Then she turned back to Yuki, a million thoughts running through her mind.


"Hey, Yuki... Do you think we can go the party?"


"We got an invitation after all!"

Haruhi tore up the paper where it said the name of the receiver, and shoved it into her pocket. Now it was an invitation for her! Sort of.

Giggles wrote:Jack placed a hand on Grell's shoulder and shook his head.



"I'm not looking to pull someone like Phoenix Wright or Miles Edgeworth into this. Lord knows that they'll probably bring the whole thing down in the name of 'truth' or some legal hogwash like that. No, we simply keep merging and buying and making backroom deals... That family does sound promising, though. See if we can afford Ouran yet."

*There's a knock at Jack's door. Which is odd as this is at the top of a large skyscraper.*

--------------------------------------------------------
*Meanwhile, at the Gensokyo Octopalooza.*

Wow... what are all those stars?

*Then, a shower of ink and danmaku begins.*

Oh shoot! I guess we'd better get going...

*Link then ducks in order to try and avoid the incoming fire. He also starts walking whilst ducking. One may call this, the duck walk.*

You should all do the Duckwalk! Cool huh?

After grimacing in frustration, Kristoph nods. As much as he wants to question Colress further, it seems circumstances won't allow it.


"Yes... Let us see what this is about."

---

Rapunzel wrote: "Also, what do you mean 'corpse'? I revived him! Sheesh, is that so hard to understand?" she paused. "Don't answer that."

She sighed.

"A-Anyway, Eugene is great! He's cool! He's 100% okay! The only thing I'm gonna need a therapy group for is --- Well, all the other weird stuff that's been happening in my life! Ha Ha..."

On the outside she was laughing, but inside she was cringing at the memories. Also crying, just a little.

Revy narrows her eyes, noting that this girl actually sounds like she's serious about this whole reviving shtick of hers.

"Look, blondie? Why don't you stop with the fairy tales and go home to mommy instead, yeah? The 'Hocus Pocus Pixie Dust Hour' ended long ago, okay?"

Aliucon wrote:

"That's not very nice."

She took the order from the hands of the motionless barman, and chugged a good portion of it in one go. Her eyes swept through the bar for a moment.

"You must not have a lot of friends," Kino commented, off-hand. She'd like to ask more of Rapunzel's story, but she had a feeling the foul-mouthed woman to her side wouldn't let her.

"That goes for you too, boy-o. I'm feeling nice today so I'll warn you first: unless you want an extra orifice to shit through, shut the fuck up and fuck off."

Regiwi wrote:

*There's a knock at Jack's door. Which is odd as this is at the top of a large skyscraper.*

Jack finished up making his third to last deal as the knock came, ending the montage.



"Thank you, Mr. Burns. I'll see to it that all hippies are evicted from this country, not just those in... Whatever the hell state you live in. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and turned towards the door, then nodded at Grell. "Get the door, Grell! What am I paying you for? Wait, am I paying you...? No matter. I need to call Vince McMahon and make an offer on his empire. He won't go easy. I may have to wrestle him."



"Then, I'll finally buy out that arcade in Crystal Toyko, Game Center Crown. Usagi Tsukino once ruined a perfectly night of board game playing and scotch drinking for me, so I intend to respond in kind."

He waved his hand at Grell and then the door, and went to place his calls.

Triplemathics wrote:
"That goes for you too, boy-o. I'm feeling nice today so I'll warn you first: unless you want an extra orifice to shit through, shut the fuck up and fuck off."

Though outwardly Kino's expression didn't change, she found it important to bring a weapon up as soon as she saw that the other was in process of doing so. She didn't mind getting pinned at gunpoint by someone she could eventually reason with: but this woman was not one of those people. Or at least Kino didn't think so.



"I wouldn't do it if I were you."

The people in the bar started to move around and panic. Hermes was probably going to wonder what is going on inside.

---

Triplemathics wrote:
"Huh, more people than I thought. This would be perfect for a new Battle City tournament.
Wait, I recognize that guy. That's Bandit Keith..."

After his plans of stealing the starchips of the Trainer were thwarted, Bandit Keith eventually reached No Man's City, and so scouted the area for more suckers he could take advantage from: though even a normal duel at this point would alleviate the pain.



"I feel like I'm being observed by someone who isn't American. It's disgusting."

It was then that Keith spotted him. Someone he hadn't talked to the last time they've seen each other, but one that he knew for sure who it was, in a sea of strange faces and abominations that belonged to other worlds.

"Seto Kaiba! I'd recognize that Kaiba Corp coat and that permanent smug face from anywhere!"



"So you're in this city too! Which can only mean one thing! I still am in the Duelist Kingdom! Pegasus' illusions are not my thing, but he surely has the American spirit in the spectacle department."

He then points dramatically at Seto.

"I challenge you to a Duel! Right here, right now! Winner takes all! How about it, dweeb?"

---

Any1 wrote:Lapis can't help but smile at Viridi's sincerity. She thinks about Steven for a second, about his way of looking at everything like everything deserves a chance, and with the Goddess at her side, his loss stings slightly less for a moment. She feels the need to wrap her in a hug, but she's unable to with her arm locked under Viridi's head. She makes her gem shine, instead, and uses one of her water wings as the arm she needs to hug her closer.

"Viridi... Thank you. This all means a lot. Despite how confused I still am about all of this... I really can't thank you enough for what you're doing for me."

"Ah..."

Though Viridi was surprised when something not that solid wrapped around her, the watery feeling wasn't bad at all. It made her smile soon after. But as she felt the need to reciprocate, she also saw the problem with their arms locked while leaning on each other. It was still something she didn't mind having at all, but she was less bashful about withdrawing her arm for a bit: and then wrapping them as best she could around Lapis, even if the angle was a bit weird, and even if now her face was pretty much against her skin.

Which was pretty solid, but not uncomfortably so. Gems were really interesting in that aspect. Viridi felt like knowing more about them by the minute.

Though her question was not answered, maybe it was better like this. The time they had there was for themselves, not for the past.

"I don't know all that happened to you, and how much it got you confused like this, but I'll always have your back, OK? Just as you had mine."

---

The Emma Bureau sure got lively.



"Woah, wait! Not so faaaaast-!"

Red felt herself dragged along with Hau. She had no drive to resist.

Regiwi wrote:

Well, regardless. Detective, I trust you have vehicles for this organisation of yours?



They caught up with the group.

"Hey, y'guys! Got some free seats on your ride?"

"Yes, we do have vehicles. The garage is very big, but I'm afraid we only have one real option on it so far."

He turns to Hau.

"And I shouldn't put civilians in danger! This is a-"

Then he spots the smug Raichu floating behind him. He then considers it a bit.



"Right. You're a Pokémon trainer. And you certainly do not lack in spirit! I feel like just pushing you away would be a waste of time, wouldn't it... Very well! Follow me!"

Looker left the room and led the way to the garage.

---

Reverie wrote:

"I'm sorry to leave without saying a proper goodbye but I think I may have to interfere here."

"It is no trouble. Take care until we meet next time. I even think it won't be that long. Goodbye~"

Komachi let Kasen just storm out towards the situation brewing ever more dangerous in the distance. She wasn't observing it so much as looking at Kasen going, a blank expression on her face.

When she snapped back to herself, she observed the boat, and offered Rena a hand.



"Rena? ... You don't look too good. The ride gets longer if you die, so stick with me."

Meanwhile-

Regiwi wrote:Huh? Hey! What's going on?

*Even Link could realise something was wrong here. There was only one solution. He was glad he had one bottle left of it, rummaging through his magic pouch.*


Check it out! You're not going to dai!

*Out of his pocket he pulls some 'Water of Life!' handing it to IF.*

With no hesitation, IF snagged the bottle and downed it. For a moment, she thought it might just clog what little airway she still had, or it might not pass at all: but as the liquid ran down her throat, every sense of unnatural contraction and swelling stopped. Her half side of the body that was paralyzed got gradually easier to control too.

IF took several gasps for breath afterwards, leaning on Byakuren for the moment. She was finally coming to.



"Y-You saved me. T-Thank you, hero..."

Now she could effortlessly stand up, as if nothing had ever happened. The only difference is that, now that she had just gone through near death, she was pumped full of adrenaline.

Not only that, Marina decided to use a special move. And Marisa's danmaku was wrapping up their way. Following the hero's wise instructions, IF also did the duck walk while she thought about the next move.



"If any of that touches more people, it's gonna be trouble... We need to stop her right now!"

IF hadn't fought enough to use her EXE Drive yet, but from this range, she could still do something.





"I'm personally sending you to Hell! Demon Flames, go!"

From a distance, a sigil would shape up under Marina, being about twenty feet in diameter. A pillar of fire would rise soon after from the sigil, causing fire area damage. Both the sigil and IF were tells, but if the floor around her is covered with ink, Marina might not be able to see it coming from there.

Giggles wrote:

Regiwi wrote:

*There's a knock at Jack's door. Which is odd as this is at the top of a large skyscraper.*

Jack finished up making his third to last deal as the knock came, ending the montage.



"Thank you, Mr. Burns. I'll see to it that all hippies are evicted from this country, not just those in... Whatever the hell state you live in. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and turned towards the door, then nodded at Grell. "Get the door, Grell! What am I paying you for? Wait, am I paying you...? No matter. I need to call Vince McMahon and make an offer on his empire. He won't go easy. I may have to wrestle him."



"Then, I'll finally buy out that arcade in Crystal Toyko, Game Center Crown. Usagi Tsukino once ruined a perfectly night of board game playing and scotch drinking for me, so I intend to respond in kind."

He waved his hand at Grell and then the door, and went to place his calls.

"I thought I was just mooching off of the business profits?" Grell said, a little perplexed by the knock at the door.

Who the hell could that be? No one should be wanting to see them. Maybe it was someone trying to come and steal their wealth. Being ever pragmatic. he summoned his trusty chainsaw scythe. And if it was an innocent? Who really cared?

He opened the door with a charmed grin, chainsaw visible and in hand.



"Yeeeeeeeeeees?"

Shuda51 wrote:The mystery woman is going to pick up the downed thug and toss him to the outside for now, her eyes glaring at the rest. In this situation, they had thrown the first strike as it were, and given that she actually liked the drinks here, they were the aggressors that needed to be kicked out.

Her case is readied at her sid, yet to make a move against the others. Best to let them take a strike and then deliver the counter to evict them. Seeing the way Tuslo took the pool cue and delivered that gut strike though... Yes, this was the start of an interesting time.

*The ruffians in the café had mostly been dealt with. Those not involved had fled and only the somewhat smarter thugs had stayed in their seats. Spidey grabs one who was thrown into a wall holding him up.*

Ok, you know I thought we'd all just have a couple of coffees and talk things out, but guess you guys didn't want that. We're here for information though.

Urgh... w-what info?

Big P.

Hahaha! You're nuts!

Triplemathics wrote:After grimacing in frustration, Kristoph nods. As much as he wants to question Colress further, it seems circumstances won't allow it.


"Yes... Let us see what this is about."

*Colress and Kristoph both arrive at the top of the stairs.*

Boss! This fool thinks he'll find out something about Big P here.

Boss? One of these guys? I'd never have guessed.

Yes well, thank you for that Biff.

*Colress's smile makes the guy suddenly realise how much he's blurted out, as he goes quiet.*

Big P you say? I believe that's the name of a crime boss operating in this town. His name's only been mentioned in newspapers on rare occasions, usually along with sightings of the legendary Ho-Oh I believe.

*Spidey drops the thug to the floor and heads over to Colress.*

Ok, you'd better start talking, I'm getting a bit tired, as is my friend here. I'm not going to let something like this carry on here in this city anymore.

My, you're being quite the brute aren't you. So much for your speech about talking this out over coffee. I've told you all I know however.

*Meanwhile, at the Emma Bureau.*

Aliucon wrote:

"Right. You're a Pokémon trainer. And you certainly do not lack in spirit! I feel like just pushing you away would be a waste of time, wouldn't it... Very well! Follow me!"

Looker left the room and led the way to the garage.

Lead on my good Man.

*The group who follow all arrive in the garage. A flash vehicle is sat squarely in front of them all. Shining brightly looking like a sleek armoured truck.*

Could it be? After all this time!

*The Doctor rushes forwards... past the shiny bright vehicle.*

Bessie! Oh you are a sight for sore eyes!

*He quickly starts rummaging through his pocket.*

Here we are. Yes, your key.

*He eagerly unlocks the door and hops in.*

I've missed you old girl.

*He looks over to Looker.*

Where did you find her?

Red wrote:
"Woah, wait! Not so faaaaast-!"

Red felt herself dragged along with Hau. She had no drive to resist.

The Kid had arrived, it seemed with that Trainer. Where the Spiky Punk was I wasn't sure. Hopefully not far behind, as much as I hated to admit it, he was probably going to be a lot of help on this case, provided he did actually help. I was still trying to ignore that the old Man could understand what I said. Normally I would be very curious and want to know everything I could about it, but with that old Man, I can't say I really wanted to speak to him. I went over to the Kid to let her know we were ready to go if she was.

Pika pi!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ScarletShadow wrote:

"I thought I was just mooching off of the business profits?" Grell said, a little perplexed by the knock at the door.

Who the hell could that be? No one should be wanting to see them. Maybe it was someone trying to come and steal their wealth. Being ever pragmatic. he summoned his trusty chainsaw scythe. And if it was an innocent? Who really cared?

He opened the door with a charmed grin, chainsaw visible and in hand.



"Yeeeeeeeeeees?"

*At the door is a delivery guy. Seeing the chainsaw he recoils.*

Delivery guy: M-m-m-m-m-m-m-message for... for Jack D-d-d-d-donaghy?

*He holds out a small envelope.*

Ah Rube. I always said he'd be surprised to see some of the things inspired by his ideas.

Yes, there is a lot of high-tech equipment here. Well, by the standards of the rest of this city at least. It could be useful, however... it seems the power to this room is off. That leads... to the other thing though.

The other thing, is the lighting here. Have you noticed? We're being watched?

*In the dark side of the room, away from the door, if Lynne or anyone else focused, they might be able to make out something that's almost blended in with the darkness.*

"Hey, if you're saying you know Rube Goldberg, could you please go and tell him to please un-invent his stuff? Nothing personal, but I've kind of got a bad history with them."

This was as far as Lynne got before she realized what the Doctor was referring to.



"...!"

Lynne took a step back gasping.

"Oh boy. We're not alone in here...!"

She gulped, reaching for her gun, only to remember the doctor had dismantled it. Well, so much for that.

---

Squinting, Marisa saw the squid octopus girl's machine being constructed in front of her. It didn't seem like much of a threat at first, but Marisa remained on guard because it seemed so benign down there. Her instincts were rarely wrong and this time proved to be no exception, as the behemoth below seemed to act as a mortar, firing something up into the air. When what had been launched skywards failed to come anywhere near her, Marisa grew even more suspicious and began focusing on it intently. Subsequently, the ink cloud formed not far from her and she was ultimately forced to cancel her spell card (the various bullets ceasing to materialise anew and gradually clearing altogether) in order to move away and dodge the trap that had been sprung.

Although she was back to evading the ink hazards full-time, it was not dissimilar to a regular danmaku field. Whilst this meant that Marisa was not particularly worried by the danger they might have posed, she was still somewhat occupied by the concentration it took to avoid the bullets outright. After all, Marisa had seen the effect that this weapon had had on that injured girl earlier.



"Where's that umbrella youkai when you need her? This is the dumbest attack I've ever seen."

Her temper clearly out the window, Marisa turned her back on her foe momentarily and let some kind of light flash from her hand into the ink cloud itself. Having made a small gap in it, she rapidly ascended into the newly-formed hole, shooting a handful of larger star bullets along the way.



"I don't know what any of this weird crap is, but it looks like it burns alright!"

Pulling another spell card out from under her hat, Marisa glanced at it once with a feverish smile and then held it out to the heavens.



"Love Storm - Starlight Typhoon!" yelled Marisa, her sigils returning to her side and then forming a loose circle around her. "Sorry to rain on your parade, fish person."

The sigils began firing lasers of various bright shades outwards, cutting into the smog like a hot knife through butter, as their collective shape rotated this way and that, whittling down the enemy's special. Whilst this was happening, of course, the spell sigils also began to fire streams of stars - some big, some small - towards their caster, which looped around her general vicinity and then fired outwards again. These were the only real danger to Marina at present, though she would likely notice that these bullet streams were a lot denser. Perhaps the witch had decided to up the ante.

Marina observed closely as Marisa cleared through her Ink Storm. She made several observations: Firstly, that weird girl appeared to have absolutely no problem moving on Marina's inked turf. Secondly, even more, oh my Cod she could fly!!! (Pearl would have loved that. Flight was always Pearlie's favorite super power, she mentally noted.) As if that all didn't make the battle already complicated enough, her opponent then went and broke through her Ink Storm!



"What!? But that's the one Special that's supposed to be absolutely un-nerf'able!!" she exclaimed. "I didn't even know about that loophole! Was this an update...? Sheesh!"

Still, Marina could still make use of the turf she'd managed to ink, and so she did, diving into the teal and dashing all over the place. She had to stay on guard...! Cod knows what other weird, rule-breaking tricks this opponent was going to pull. 

Aaaand, right on cue, the battle taunts. 



"Umm... You do know that Cephalopods aren't technically fish, right?" 

Marina felt very compulsed to join in on the banter (force of habit, probably), but she would regret it, since in the time she needed to say that line, the next 'Special' was already coming in at her.



"R-recharged already!? And it's different!?"

Now, THAT definitely wasn't fair!! Forget about Ink Storm, somebody please go and nerf whatever the shell this person was wielding! This just couldn't be good for game balance!

The large projectiles and lasers were easy enough to dodge - She was an Octarian after all, her people's warfare ran on tricks like that - But then came the projectiles from the projectiles and the projectiles from Marisa... The best she could do was dive into the ink and do the best to dodge whatever hit the floor, but the shrinking presence of her ink didn't exactly make that an easy task! Ghh, how to strike back?

IF hadn't fought enough to use her EXE Drive yet, but from this range, she could still do something.





"I'm personally sending you to Hell! Demon Flames, go!"

From a distance, a sigil would shape up under Marina, being about twenty feet in diameter. A pillar of fire would rise soon after from the sigil, causing fire area damage. Both the sigil and IF were tells, but if the floor around her is covered with ink, Marina might not be able to see it coming from there.

And then, as if Marina wasn't already having trouble enough with dodging, here came a weird symbol right beneath her that clearly indicated that yet another Special was being aimed at her.



"WHAT!? Two on one!? Aww, c'mon!! I'm not even using a Charger!"

She had no choice. Marina had to get out of the way, WHILE avoiding the bullets. She emerged from the ink and, using the maneuverability of her weapons, she slid and rolled back- 

-back-

-back....

...Right into the river.



"...!? Ah...AHHHHHHHHH!!"

If you ever imagined what a dying mermaid sounds like, this is probably it: gurgly, high-pitched, with a slight hint of unimaginable pain.

Marina tried to claw to the shoreline and pull herself back onto land, but a projectile ended up hitting her hand it was all over. As soon as she was entirely submerged under water, the ink-pressure inside her body was crushed by the outside water-pressure, which was much denser. She couldn't hold her form any longer and so, the membrane making up her skin split apart, teal ink spilling into the water. 

One second later, there was nothing left in the river but a splat of teal (which suspiciously stuck in one place, as if clinging its pieces together like it had a will of its own), and no humanoid or octopus-like shape whatsoever was to be seen. Marina's clothes were still there, but the drifted ashore rather quickly and safely, though they were drenched.

(Uhhh... I only just bought those headphones, too...!)

A lone spirit wailed for its beloved tech equipment. 

---

Revy narrows her eyes, noting that this girl actually sounds like she's serious about this whole reviving shtick of hers. 

"Look, blondie? Why don't you stop with the fairy tales and go home to mommy instead, yeah? The 'Hocus Pocus Pixie Dust Hour' ended long ago, okay?"



"That goes for you too, boy-o. I'm feeling nice today so I'll warn you first: unless you want an extra orifice to shit through, shut the fuck up and fuck off."

Though outwardly Kino's expression didn't change, she found it important to bring a weapon up as soon as she saw that the other was in process of doing so. She didn't mind getting pinned at gunpoint by someone she could eventually reason with: but this woman was not one of those people. Or at least Kino didn't think so.



"I wouldn't do it if I were you."

The people in the bar started to move around and panic. Hermes was probably going to wonder what is going on inside.

Now, if it hadn't been clear before that this woman was weird, it definitely was now. Rapunzel immediately snapped to guard, seeing the stance the lady made. Now, she'd never seen a gun before, but she HAD seen canons, and she had seen Varian's weapons, and that was enough for her to piece together what this thing was. Even worse, that kid had one too! That didn't make anything better! Pulling her hair close and subtly waving into into a lasso with impossible speed, Rapunzel took a stance herself. 



"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, guys, GUYS! Let's talk this out, alright? Alright! Nobody has to get hurt here..Right? Heh Heh..."

But Rapunzel wasn't stupid and naive. She readied herself to use her hair to disarm the two fighting parties if she absolutely had to . She just hopped that her whip would be fast enough. Well, it was pretty fast, but who knows what the fire time of these things was and how skilled they were with them...

In any case, Raps was determined to avoid armed combat. And if she had to tie those two up. If worst came to worse, her hair would protect her. Somehow. It tended to do that.

---

Hearing the Officer's words of trust, Hau rubbed his nose a little and grinned. He didn't like to brag, but it always felt good to be appreciated for his skills as a trainer! Even if that man hadn't actually seen his skills yet... 

In any case, he followed into the vehicle. Whatever it was that was on their plate, if he could help out as a trainer, he was all up for it!

---

Rena however shook her head and assured Komachi that she was fine. It wasn't anything serious, just... bad memories... of... bad things...



...Speaking of bad things, did a person just friggin' EXPLODE in the river over there!? 

Okay, Rena was feeling sick again. Sick enough to hurl overboard...

---

Madotsuki does not like what is happening at all. Too much is happening all at once. Kind of wishing it stopped. Wait. Stopped.



She could use the traffic light effect to stop all this nonsense by switching to red light but eventually, she'd have to switch to green. Maybe after she gets out of this hot mess.

Or.



Madotsuki resorts to pinching her cheek. Then it'd all be over and she'd wake up in bed...

---

"At least the Business Suit was fixed. I do not want to take the bus."



"Those two... I wonder if the security cameras can observe them in action... It'd at least give me an idea of what they're capable of. And I know just the perfect thing to test them." Susie reached for the remote control she took earlier. "It's just a stock model, but it should be just as effective as the real thing." Her thumb pushed the button.

...

...

...

Something can be heard in the far back of the storeroom. It sounded like metal banging together.



"You heard that, right?"

Vespus nodded. "Seems like we indeed walked into a trap," he declared. "Not that it was not obvious to begin with. I suppose we should begin with destroying the Abominable Intelligences they will send against us, and then begin our search of the area for more information about the foe we seek to defeat."

---

The Summoner seemed to be a bit pleased at seeing the scenery. They were here on a mission, of course, but nothing wrong with enjoying the scenery. Hopefully they could find Archie soon.

---

Tuslo raised an eyebrow at Colress' statements. "Funny," she mentioned. "If you're the boss of these criminals, who work for Big P, I'd have thought you'd know more about the guy than these thugs do. I'm going to guess either you're as oblivious as these thugs are, or you at least know who we could go see to learn more about what's going on."

From the shiny glass walls of the hallways, the Summoner could see little rolling robot with a tray on top, rolling around the glass to the Mantine. The said Mantine was quite pleased to see the food and started gobbling up the grub.

From the other side, Phoenix would be able to see a miniature tank like object creeping around in between the seaweeds and with its camera attachment, it peered to the horde of Clamperl nearby as it closed and opened, over and over again.

And they both can see that the robots they both saw had the words PALM ROBOTICS written on the robots' side.

Also Phoenix would have felt a rather odd device vacuuming the floors as it bumped into his slippers.



____________________________________________

Meanwhile back at the entrance...


"Man this sick job is giving me a good workout! Soon, I'd be able to beat Ilma's ass as the most handsomest man in Alola, yo!"


"Sigh... as much as I would love to ignore these morons, they are blocking the other paths, by doing some sort of hideous dance routine. Such a misuse of plot device, terrible..."


"Thus it seems the only way we could progress in this investigation is to go through this "SPECIAL VIEWING AREA" that they are not blocking."

Rohan proceeds to walk to the door.

"Come on then, we cant be wasting anymore time than all of you did, by just standing here. Especially the red parrot and the blue jay over there."

In truth, Rohan's just trying to cover up that he got too distracted and let Archie run off.

The woman is going to take her time now, casually taking position at one of the cafe walls. It was a perfect position, one in which she had sightlines on the front door, the side door, and upon the rest of the ruffians in the room. The introduction of Colress will be reaponded with a flinch to action, but she soon stops, the case remaining unopened.

"...."

She keeps quiet for now, watching the way Spider-man and Tuslo handled the situation. Efficiently well done, even against such middling foes. The talk turning to Big P elicits a soft sigh, her focused eyes now trained to the front door. Best to hold steady as the lovely conversation goes on, though one comment gets a remark. "...I would recommend the coffee for this talk. Few places make it so well."

As much as she wanted to ask about "Abominable Intelligences," she could hear the metallic thud of footsteps. Is it slow moving? It's difficult to tell with all the wares blocking the view. Sure enough, the clunk of each step drew closer and louder until finally part of the merchandise was sliced apart by a giant, electrified sword. The enemy finally came into view.



"PALM ROBOTICS STOCK MODEL. DESIGNATION: MECHA KNIGHT. STATUS: ACTIVE. DETECTED INTRUDERS."

Admittedly, Aqua expected something...bigger. This missile-carrying, sword wielding machine is almost past her knee in height.

But she knew better. Experiment 626 was of equal size to this thing and it could handle Gantu, that much she witnessed. And besides, this thing lacked 626's love and friendship.



Aqua summoned her Keyblade. That thing's here for a fight, there's no other option.

Regiwi wrote:*At the door is a delivery guy. Seeing the chainsaw he recoils.*

Delivery guy: M-m-m-m-m-m-m-message for... for Jack D-d-d-d-donaghy?

*He holds out a small envelope.*

Grell looked down at the small, pitiful man, eyeing the envelope. "I see..." He said before taking the envelope from his hand and slamming the door in the delivery man's face.



"Jackie! You've got a letter~!"

"Excellent door slamming, Grell! You really showed that minumum wage delivery monkey what for. Now, let's see..."

Jack walked over and grabbed the envelope. He walked back to his desk, where his phone was connecting to the offices of the wrestling magistrate. He produced a sharp, silver letter opener from one of his drawers, and carefully used it to cut the paper containing the message, which he immediately read.

Unless it was a bomb or something. In that case, he probably dies.

Nenilein wrote:

"...!? Ah...AHHHHHHHHH!!"

If you ever imagined what a dying mermaid sounds like, this is probably it: gurgly, high-pitched, with a slight hint of unimaginable pain.

Marina tried to claw to the shoreline and pull herself back onto land, but a projectile ended up hitting her hand it was all over. As soon as she was entirely submerged under water, the ink-pressure inside her body was crushed by the outside water-pressure, which was much denser. She couldn't hold her form any longer and so, the membrane making up her skin split apart, teal ink spilling into the water. 

One second later, there was nothing left in the river but a splat of teal (which suspiciously stuck in one place, as if clinging its pieces together like it had a will of its own), and no humanoid or octopus-like shape whatsoever was to be seen. Marina's clothes were still there, but the drifted ashore rather quickly and safely, though they were drenched.

(Uhhh... I only just bought those headphones, too...!)

A lone spirit wailed for its beloved tech equipment. 

*Link duckwalks over to the inkstain in the water.*

Golly!

...Hey! Check it out!

*He pulls out something and swipes at the spirit that seems to have risen with it.*


Cool huh?

((Thanks to Any for the great bottle pic! XD))
-----------------------------------------------

AmeftoWriter wrote:From the other side, Phoenix would be able to see a miniature tank like object creeping around in between the seaweeds and with its camera attachment, it peered to the horde of Clamperl nearby as it closed and opened, over and over again.

And they both can see that the robots they both saw had the words PALM ROBOTICS written on the robots' side.

Also Phoenix would have felt a rather odd device vacuuming the floors as it bumped into his slippers.

Well, more Palm Robotics links, granted products of theirs being here aren't necessarily proof of anything, or helpful.

This place does feel a lot more sci-fi than I expected though.

*He looks down at the vacuuming device.*

With all these robots around I'm surprised they have as many workers here as they seem to.

So, where do you think Archie ran off to then er... sorry I don't think I caught your name yet?

*Meanwhile, at Palm Robotics.*

Peachy wrote:

"PALM ROBOTICS STOCK MODEL. DESIGNATION: MECHA KNIGHT. STATUS: ACTIVE. DETECTED INTRUDERS."

This is one our top products, the Mecha Knight Model 3.0. It isn't quite as formidable as previous models but what it loses in power it makes up for in manoeuvrability. It is currently retailing at 2000 but we can give a discount if you combine this purchase with one of our shop floor products of 200.
------------------------------------------------------------

Giggles wrote:

"Excellent door slamming, Grell! You really showed that minumum wage delivery monkey what for. Now, let's see..."

Jack walked over and grabbed the envelope. He walked back to his desk, where his phone was connecting to the offices of the wrestling magistrate. He produced a sharp, silver letter opener from one of his drawers, and carefully used it to cut the paper containing the message, which he immediately read.

Unless it was a bomb or something. In that case, he probably dies.

*Inside was a rather posh looking small slip of paper.*

Letter wrote:Jack Donaghy, we hereby invite you to a party celebrating the business successes of Giovanni, head of the Rocket Game Corner. The Party is taking place at the Rocket Game Corner at 5pm on the 20th. We expect you to come in order to discuss business. Buffet is provided.

((That date is just for the RP, this isn't literally going to happen the 20th... unless it does. <<>>))

"Huh....HUH!?!?"

Now, Marina had absolutely no idea what was happening.


"W-Wait, what is going on? This isn't the spawn-point... I-I was supposed to have respawned by now! Where's my body? I-Is this a bottle!?"

Tiny, ghostly octopus tentacles started to try and hammer against the walls of her glassen prison. From inside there and in her current form, her voice sounded far more squeaky and sad than usual.

"Eek...!! W-What are you doing? L-Lemme out of here, please! I gotta get to the spawnpoint! If I don't reach it in time, it's gonna register me as AFK and I won't get back to normal! Please! This is a really bad time for a squidnapping, you know...!"


Marina was close to tears, but, of course, being more ghost than either kid or squid octopus right now, she didn't really have tears to shed. So instead she sobbed dryly. 


"Pearlie's and my next act is about to start! She's gonna freak if I'm not on stage with her! S-she needs my tracks to sing! And she's so stubborn, too... Really, you have no idea what's gonna happen if she tries to sing without me! It's gonna be a disaster... The whole square's gonna... " Marina gulped. "Please! You don't know what you're doing! Innocent mollusk lives and my best friend's public image depend on it!!"

Letter wrote:Jack Donaghy, we hereby invite you to a party celebrating the business successes of Giovanni, head of the Rocket Game Corner. The Party is taking place at the Rocket Game Corner at 5pm on the 20th. We expect you to come in order to discuss business. Buffet is provided.

Jack hung up the phone, then read the letter aloud.



"Damn Vince's secretaries. Anyways, It seems that our actions in this world have not gone unnoticed. I wouldn't prefer it any other way. Perhaps we can network at this party, and make some new, powerful allies. Tell me, Grell, do we know a Giovanni from our world? I've played poker with a girl who knew a 'Ghetsis,' but that's the only person I can recall that has a name that starts with G." He looked Grell Sutcliff in the eyes as he took a long, long sip.

Although it took her several moments to process what was happening, Marisa eventually began to move with increasing speed towards the river bank. As the midday shade fell over her features, she practically burrowed into the ground in an attempt to dive towards the spot where Marina had fallen. Although dying was quite difficult for those hardy, obstinate creatures living in Gensokyo, that squid had let out the most blood-curdling noise as it hit the water.

Fortunately, Game of the Year Link had been on hand to scoop the other girl up - or what remained of her, at the very least. And so, Marisa snatched the bottle and stared her vanquished foe's spirit in the eyes.



"I'm guessing that dying thing wasn't part of the plan... unless you're gonna tell me this is your final form."

"F-Final form? Plan? W-What...?" Marina's tiny octo-ghost was trembling in its prison. "What are you even talking about? You're making it sound like I was trying to assault you or something! You're the one who challenged me. I mean, this *is* a festival after all... And during a Splatfest it's only normal to take others up on their challenges right away..."

She paused.

"Oh... I guess I didn't even ask you if you were Team Sour Cherry before we went and battled, huh? Oh no... Don't tell me you're actually Team Sweet Plum too? That'd be really awkward... No, wait! This isn't the time for that! Anyway, let me out of here!! Look, that Turf War was fun and all, but I really need to respawn now!! I wasn't kidding about Pearlie's singing, you know! I mean, it's not like she's bad on her own, not at all, but... Listen you just gotta trust me!! Plus, who's gonna cheer on Team Sweet Plum if I'm not there!?"

Now in the garage, Looker walked as if he was gonna go past the vehicle the Doctor was entranced by, but he stopped, and seemed genuinely surprised at the Doctor having just the right key to open it properly. That preceded an intrigued smile.

Regiwi wrote:*He looks over to Looker.*

Where did you find her?

"It appeared just as several others have appeared in this city. Zinnia happened to spot it first. We were intrigued, but could never find the key. To think that it was with you the whole time... It is splendid!"



"If it's so, then would you do the honor of driving us, my good man? I'll direct you to where we need to go. Hopefully me and the Detective can take it from there?"

Meanwhile, Red was urged to enter, but she didn't fail to see Detective Pikachu approaching to confirm it. She appreciated it, and nodded.



"I'll be fine! Maybe. Probably. Kinda. If that's even what you asked. Uhhhh, but don't worry! We can do this! Whatever this is."

Then she followed into the vehicle.

---

Weiss felt she was recovering, after all. Her body, albeit heavy in the beginning, had settled and her breathing had steadied up. She thought she would be able to go for another run now, if need be.

But it didn't happen exactly as she assumed.

Regiwi wrote:

"!"

She only really noticed it once realizing that Lynne had seen something as well.

She shot up from her place, and drew her rapier in a hurry. It had no Dust charges, but she could still protect herself and others. Hopefully. What was this thing? She wasn't familiar with it, like the Daleks from earlier.



"I won't hesitate to cut you down. Don't come near."

---

Nenilein wrote:

Rena however shook her head and assured Komachi that she was fine. It wasn't anything serious, just... bad memories... of... bad things...



...Speaking of bad things, did a person just friggin' EXPLODE in the river over there!?

Okay, Rena was feeling sick again. Sick enough to hurl overboard...

"I got to admit, even for the standard here, this is all a very unusual sight."



"But you must carry some painful memories. ... Are memories in any way related to that power of yours? The key or the medals?"

Peachy wrote:Madotsuki does not like what is happening at all. Too much is happening all at once. Kind of wishing it stopped. Wait. Stopped.



She could use the traffic light effect to stop all this nonsense by switching to red light but eventually, she'd have to switch to green. Maybe after she gets out of this hot mess.

Or.



Madotsuki resorts to pinching her cheek. Then it'd all be over and she'd wake up in bed...

"!"

There was nothing unusual in what Madotsuki was doing. She had been someone of few words so far, and though she had no distinct reason to pinch her cheek, like one would to test if they're dreaming, there was nothing stopping it either.

Immediately, Komachi felt something tugging in her stomach. Like the border of fantasy and reality that Gensokyo had in place, the one that made it possible for Gensokyo to even exist as it was, was being messed with by the act, and Komachi found herself dangerously close to the edge, about to fall into the unknown.

While not exactly a portal, an implosion made Komachi and her boat dissapear. Rena might have either stayed within or be thrown overboard if she rather stay in this place: same with Adachi. Madotsuki may find herself waking up as normal

Komachi, however, was gone.

---

Now, as Marina was somewhat rescued by Lonk and interrogated thoroughly by an ordinary magician, IF did the whole pose and victory that she usually did with her group of friends. She got no items and no credits, though, which was a shame. Now that she found herself free, she decided to do something and salvage some of the fallen ink, using the bottle that previously contained the water of life that the Hero had given her.



"This stuff is really strong. It might come in handy to have a bottle. Dousing my katars on it would be really effective... Ugh, but better be careful with that."

Once she was done with the act, she had only salvaged about half of the bottle worth of teal ink. Now was the time to look around at what was happening again, and hear that the girl was, somehow, talking from the inside of a bottle herself.

Nenilein wrote:

"F-Final form? Plan? W-What...?" Marina's tiny octo-ghost was trembling in its prison. "What are you even talking about? You're making it sound like I was trying to assault you or something! You're the one who challenged me. I mean, this *is* a festival after all... And during a Splatfest it's only normal to take others up on their challenges right away..."

She paused.

"Oh... I guess I didn't even ask you if you were Team Sour Cherry before we went and battled, huh? Oh no... Don't tell me you're actually Team Sweet Plum too? That'd be really awkward... No, wait! This isn't the time for that! Anyway, let me out of here!! Look, that Turf War was fun and all, but I really need to respawn now!! I wasn't kidding about Pearlie's singing, you know! I mean, it's not like she's bad on her own, not at all, but... Listen you just gotta trust me!! Plus, who's gonna cheer on Team Sweet Plum if I'm not there!?"

"... What are you on about?"

IF approached Marisa, serious face on, and arms crossed, though one visibly contained the bottle she had just been using.



"Look, I don't know anything about these teams of yours, but you're clearly going overboard for some turf war! That thing you splashed me with almost killed me! You got what you deserved for carrying such dangerous weapons like that."

Says the person that actually has katars sticking out of her long sleeves. She shook her head.



"... But it doesn't feel right to talk this out while you're just confined there. Feels like I'm speaking to a pet."



"Hey, miss. Excuse me for a second."

Just as she had taken the bottle from Link, IF endeavored to get the bottle from Marisa. And with that, she had an experiment in mind.



"I have no idea how you could dive in this stuff and be immune to it... But if it's good for you or something, here's the deal. No one shoots anyone anymore, and we talk this out. ... Hopefully in that festival over there? We clear? Or I'm really sending you to the Underworld this time."

Saying this, IF would try mixing the content of the two bottles: mainly pouring the ink on the one with Marina.