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GYM: Heads Will Roll!
A young woman in black armor and a mask with yellow tinted bug-eye lenses walks up to a building, below the mask there's a determined look on her face as she goes through the doors... Only to find it empty, no locked door, but for some reason the whole place is empty.
"Well, I guess there's nobody around right now? Hmm, that's fine then, I can just mess around some and pass the time for now."
She'd never properly examined the place last time, but it seems very large. Takes up most of the street it's on really, there's various training dummies and workout equipment around, and oddly there seem to be more fire extinguishers than needed... Must be the fireballs? Beyond that, there appears to be an unmanned drink bar over in a corner, and a door on the back wall leading out to a yard. That said and done, Taylor would prop the back door open with a chair and focus... As she does so, a large swarm of various flying bugs rushes in through the door, along with some more crawling along the ground as well. They absently perform flips and rolls in the air, even some flies picking up the grounded ones and carrying them as the girl leans on a wall and stares at the front door. Watching and waiting, hopefully, she'll get someone to practice against.
[A strange structure but one that interested me none the less. I wondered what it could possibly reside inside of it and knew there would only be one way to expand that though. I thought I saw another being before but perhaps it was just my ideas clouding my sight. I decided to walk in regardless. There was a chance I could learn more from this experience.]
(A strange boy with pale skin and hair would walk in. His eyes shined with an almost blinding light as if he was lit up from within. He would look around in amazement at the interior of the GYM. It was unlike anything he had seen before and he would be so distracted he'd almost walk straight into a wall not paying attention.)
{A strange man with a metal mask covering the top of his face and wearing a white suit enters the building.
The insects made him curious.
Such creatures would make marvelous test subjects.
And the girl who can control them...
She could be a Queen if she had the right mindset.
The man doubted this for his mindset was a rare and wondrous thing.
Despite everything and all who would oppose he decides to simply address the girl.}
"Strange to see someone training on their own.
If I didn't know any better I'd say you need to work on getting more friends."
{The man acknowledged the bizarre appearing boy but that wasn't his target of interest for now.
He was interesting as well but perhaps he was the type that needed to develop a bit more before becoming ripe for the picking.}
(edited by Femt)
Taylor looks over at the masked man... Huh, somebody else with a mask? Is he a Cape too? Upon hearing his statement, the young woman would shrug.
"Friends are... Not something that's ever worked out for me, I prefer my swarm, to be honest. They've yet to turn on me. Oh yeah, call me Skitter if you want a name. "
What a strange person... But, perhaps he's simply being friendly? Either way, she turns over to that rather odd strange boy who walked in a bit before Femt... Hmm, wonder what his deal is? Well, she can't find out unless she asks.
"How's it going there? Hmm, you seem... New, and those eyes are weird too, well name's Skitter if you didn't catch. And I'm curious if you've got any powers yourself if you hadn't guessed they're mine."
Upon saying "they're" she'd gesture to the various insects around the room. Despite having her back turned on them for now, both Femt and Meian might feel as if she's still watching them... Which she is, but no need to say it out loud.
{The insects intrested the man as well.
The man had no issues with keeping things private though typically being secretive about his goals wasn't his style.
The man tosses a few capsules up and down a few times.}
"Never worked out? I think having lots of connections isn't a bad thing.
It can be fun and give you access to all kinds of fun things.
You may call me Femt, F-E-M-T.
Pleasure to meet you, madam."
{The man takes a slight bow as a twisted but friendly smile appeared on his face.}
Connections... She's heard those same words before, and they're not wrong either, Tinkertech gear, actual support, perhaps not friends but allies?
"You do have a point there, can't exactly get that much done when everyone hates you. And..."
She'd pause for a moment, it's clear that her powers are the reason he's taken something of a shine to her, but that doesn't mean she should be hostile, it is a curious thing after all.
"Well let's just say in the past I've had some connections that turned more than a bit sour, no reason to stop trying though right?"
At that the masked girl bows in turn for a moment, despite her mask not showing her face at all, the bugs around her would buzz with something akin to happiness...
"This might just be the start of something interesting Mr.Femt, and I can't deny... Fun things do interest me, even more so when in the form of insects!"
A furious tapping comes from behind the drink counter as the others go about their conversation. The source of the tapping? A large man with crooked half smile that twitched at the right corner. His foot hit the floor with a rather furious rhythm, but surely that's to be expected...if any of them knew who he was.
"Why."
The word wasn't phrased as a question. He knew the answer, and just spoke it out of habit. The tapping stops as he lets out a gruff cough, clearing his throat.
"Who are you lot? And why, pray tell, did you let those bugs into GYM? I just finished cleaning damn it! I wake up from a nap and find this?"
His left eyebrow begins to twitch now. He certainly seems a bit annoyed.
"My name is Kalib. The owner of this place. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Taylor wheels around toward Kalib, even as she's moving the bugs would actually start to move a bit closer to... No, not just attacking from reflex here... Despite that moves they'd started to make,
her horde is kept simply "glaring" at him for now.
"I'll make them leave when I'm done, controlling them is kinda my thing Kalib, and call me Skitter if you want a name, I don't give out my real one in costume."
As she looks him over her swarm begins rushing away from the man, no longer posed to attack at a moments notice, instead they'd simply gather around Taylor as she speaks to Kalib in a flat voice.
"And I guess it's nice meeting you too, second time I've come here so good to know who owns the place at least. And uh sorry about the swarm, but they really are easy to get out... Oh! I can make any bugs nearby move out when I come around actually! It's a lot easier than dealing with pest control, so hopefully, that makes up for using them?"
Taylor would then over at the boy... Not much of a talker is he? Well, if nothing else at least he doesn't seem to be hostile?
"She... Um, are you asking me to define she? Or about my bugs? To sum up, I control them... Think of them as myself, just uh across many beings?"
(edited by Taylor-Herbert)
[They were making noise as usual it seemed. I still struggled to comprehend the sounds but I had already begun being able to translate the concepts. I was still limited in this regard though to my own mental functions. The new concepts presented to me:
'Skitter'
'Power'
'owner'
'bugs'
All these concepts were strange to me. I couldn't possibly make them out. The rest was easy enough for me to decipher but I needed to inquire more.]
{The strange boy would once again attempt speech as he slowly pointed to Taylor and then to the bugs.}
"She?"
{The man notices Kalib and smiles confidently as he begins leaning on a cane.
Kalib seemed to be a bit boring to the man but he thought he should be nice to the owner.
"I just was here on a evening stroll.
It's a lovely day for it.
Don't you think?"
{The man then looks back to Taylor holding a few capsules in his hands.
"So, how do those powers of yours work?
What kind of control do you hold over insects exactly?
And what qualifies as an insect?"
"Skitter, huh? You come up with that?"
Kalib lets out a laugh as he watches the bugs return to the girl.
"Good choice. Now then..."
Kalib turns his attention to the small boy first and foremost. Something about him was off...but water is wet.
Kalib knew exactly what to expect around these parts; the unexpected. With a soft smile he goes aroun the counter and stands a few feet to the left of Skitter. His eyes watching for any hostile activity from the bugs. His attention shifts once more to Femt as he speaks.
"Certainly a nice day out. Air is starting to warm up finally."
He notices the man's hands but pushes that thought to the back of his mind, this kid was more interesting.
"Yo kid! You interested in training? What brought you to GYM on a night like tonight?"
What counts... Worms, beetles, lots of things actually, but all of them seem to have fairly simple brains?
"I think... Worms, beetles, wasps bees hornets and spiders. As long as the brain is something like that I think it should work? But I've never had giant insects to play with or anything, so I can't be totally sure..."
She grins under her mask at getting to how much control she has though, that's a far more simple thing for her to explain in fact!
"As for how much? Absolute, more so than just control? They become a part of me, I'm able to see and hear through my swarm as well, and I can multitask, well enough that I can do... This."
Upon hearing "this", Femt might notice the fact that a black widow is dangling off the underside of a hornet, it's string holding it onto the thing's abdomen as the hornet hovers in front of his eyes. At the same time, a rather large group of said hornets can be seen flying above the room, casually flipping about in rings made of each other, even as a set of spides on the ground climbs up each other to reach a tower about 3 feet tall.
"I've never run across something they don't do when I tell them to! It's pretty amazing what bugs can pull off actually, like how spiders would normally never utterly run out of webbing, but when you push it? Well, it's a lot easier to get enough."
As Kalib speaks to her however she'd be brought out of her gushing about her skills, training huh? That is why she came out here... Gotta get better at using them if she wants to get anywhere.
"And yeah, I'm still pretty new to this whole controlling bugs thing. I figured using them in a fight or something wouldn't hurt, not like I have anything else to be doing right now."
[I could identify the noises the being wearing the clear material on his face was making at me.
The being seemed to be full of many concepts which I did not grasp. I knew I had to try to use more language but I could barely manage to pronounce she. I had to start small and with simple words.]
(The strange boy would look somewhat frustrated as he began struggling to speak. It was as if the very vocalization of words was a foreign concept to him. His words would be slow and he'd have a bit of trouble pronouncing certain things but he tried his best to mimic the others.)
"K-id...wh-a-t? G-YM? Tra-in?"
[I could comprehend how messy my language must have been. I felt something new, frustration. I wanted to communicate properly but all I could manage were sounds that barely could be turned into a comprehensive form.]
{Frusteration could be visible on their face whether they wanted to display it or not. They seemed to be aware of the issues they were having but could do nothing to improve upon them.
{The man lets out a chuckle at the site of the bugs performing their tricks.
The man decides that maybe having this individual as a connection might be worthwhile and if not he might at least be able to get some entertainment out of her.
From his coat, he'd toss her a bag of capsules, about 20 in total.
Each would contain a unique breed of insect type demon beast.
If she really had the control she boasted it should be no issue for her to use them.}
"A bag of my pets.
They're all insect types or at least should be.
I want to see the extent of your power so I'll be making sure to keep an eye out.
I always keep an eye on my 'friends'.
Though, I should give a warning.
Each one is activated by water and once brought out cannot be put away.
On top of that, they have a limited lifespan.
One might be good for a single battle but after that, it will expire so use them sparingly."
Kalib smiles warmly at the kid before him, kneeling down to eye level and noticing the light. He reaches his right hand out and places it on the boy's right shoulder.
"It's okay. Alright? Take it slow."
He thinks on it for a moment and grins after a few moments.
"Let's see...a kid is what you are. Small, young, innocent looking. That's what kids are!"
He stands back up and does a gesture to the building they were in.
"This is GYM. A gym is where you go to increase muscle, get stronger, and lose weight. This one is different, here we train using our different abilities, powers."
As he spoke he'd attempt to act out the key words he touched on.
"Training against each other lets us learn and grow. We adapt and change to each challenge."
Kalib crouches back down and holds his two hands to the kid, both palms facing upward. He closes his eyes for a moment and a pool of darkness appears in his right hand. It would begin to ripple softly before a small black figure of a fish jumps out and lands in a pool that appeared in his left hand.
"Training lets us do cool stuff. And it makes people happy and it brings us all closer!"
He closes his hands as he overhears the words of Femt. Oddly enough, it sounded fishy. He stands and turns to Skitter with a curious expression.
"Are you really going to use those?"
Taylor would catch the bag, and start looking at it curiously for a moment... 20 of them huh? Well, that's not a ton but she can work with it.
"I understand, I'll be sure not to just toss them around casually... Should test one soon though, best to have some idea of what I can do before trying to pull anything stupid with it... Well then, guess I should offer my thanks. Not often you stumble across toys like these after all!"
Trusting this man entirely would be foolish beyond belief, that much is clear... Still, if she can control these demon beasts with her powers? She's just gained the kind of thing that she'd need a Biotinker for back home... Kalib isn't wrong about them being fishy, but she'll test it out, on her own time of course.
"Not here, I don't want to cause any needless damage. Besides if it's not too much like my normal in terms of body I might be clumsy at first, I'll save them for another time. Besides, it'd be a waste for just training anyways."
That light show he did... What's the deal with it anyways? Is he some kinda, no not a Parahuman, in so far as she can tell she's the only one of those here. Almost like she's the sole person to come from Earth Bet? Hmm, odd.
"I'd be up to practice against you for a bit though, not sure how much good a stun baton and a bunch of bugs can do against magical powers, but I am a bit curious to find out."
She'd begin looking Kalib over, hmm... He seems to have some clue about those powers of his if nothing else, best to take this guy seriously. She's curious about if he'll notice a little trick though, from Taylor's swarm a single gnat would fly toward Kalib, aiming to dart up into the roof and then come down and land on the man's back, just to test if he can spot it.
[The beings noises were becoming easier to understand. There were still concepts I struggled to grasp but the context of them seemed clear enough. So, I was small to them like what they considered a 'kid"? 'Innocent'? This concept confused me a little but perhaps it had something to do with the next. 'Young"? Yes, young.
A concept to do with time, that much I could comprehend. Young was a concept for those who had only held sentience for a short time. That made sense in regards to myself.
The next set of concepts was confusing as well:
'Muscle'
'Stronger'
Weight I actually did comprehend as it was a measurement of how much pressure was applied to an individual due to the force of gravity on them. I wasn't sure myself how I knew this but it felt like natural knowledge. So, this would mean people come here to lose their weight. I was unclear as to why this would be the case but I accepted it regardless.
There was the concept of 'train' again as well as 'powers' but abilities allowed me to define those concepts. An ability was something I could understand. It was a utilization a being held within themselves. I had abilities as well.
It seemed to be implied that in this place people do a thing know as 'train' with their abilities or 'powers'. Abilities and 'powers' might have been synonyms.
The next few concepts would explain what training was to me. 'Grow' was not something I could define. 'Challenge' was also a foreign concept to me but everything else allowed me to define the meaning behind the noise. 'Training' seemed to aid in the process of learning and adapting.
The being's demonstration scared me a bit. The darkness scared me. It reminded me of those things I wish I could forget and aggravated the light within me. I would instinctively let the light loosen.
I believe I understood the concept of this 'GYM'. It was a place that fostered the growth of one's abilities and weight loss in order to adapt and change.
I wondered if I had more abilities I was unaware of. I may have felt as if the light was mine now but I still was unsure of what the truly meant.]
{The boy seemed to listen to Kalib intently but upon seeing the darkness he would recoil in fear as his body for a second seemed to glow with a bright light. The light sparked and crackled around him in an almost wild manner. It was as if the light was reacting the same way he was to the darkness.)
"No more darkness...."
(He'd soon return to his own pondering as if trying to piece what Kalib said together fully.)
(edited by Meian)
"I don't like it one bit...hm?"
Well that was odd. If she could control them, then why did a little fly just fly up and...oh.
"So you want to see me in action do you?"
His eyes follow the dot up as he speaks, however upon it getting out of his peripheral vision he looks back at Skitter.
"Part of me wants to say no because of the spiders. Can't stand the things. Sure they're great for eating other insects, but yeeesh they give me the..."
Tilting his head back for a moment, he spots the dot and lunges for it with his right hand...just narrowly missing it.
"...heebie jeebies! I hope they aren't offended by that. I know it's no better than racism considering they're living beings!"
He turned to see the kid looking a bit roughed up at his display. He crouches back down with an apologetic smile.
"No more darkness it is then! I'm happy you spoke more! Right now I'm going to train against this girl. I promise I won't use darkness okay! So you can watch and learn first hand if you're interested."
He gets back up and faces Skitter with a grin before leading her to the back lot. Before leaving, Kalib would grab a large trident that stood on display above the juice bar. Moments later he takes his spot in the arena and does some stretches.
"Alrighty! Nothing too poisonous I hope, eheheh..."
Skitter chuckles upon seeing the man attempt to grab her gnat, that's actually good reflexes all things considered so she can't judge too harshly.
"Not bad, if you weren't paying attention you would have just missed something like that, I hope you don't write me off just for being the bug girl!"
She'd then begin following him back out to the yard... Outdoors, easier to call up more of her bugs if needed, they're not limitless but she should be okay for now. As long as she doesn't kill the ecosystem or something... And heh, offended.
"Poison? I'm a fan, but since you aren't really an enemy I'll spare you the pain, at least I won't use too much of it. And don't worry about making them mad, I like my insects and all, but I understand that most people aren't such fans... I'll keep the spiders off too."
Skitter would stand on the opposite side from Kalib, not even looking at the man himself as she does a few stretches of her own... Only for a swarm of fire ants on the ground in front of him to begin rushing toward the man. If he were paying mind to the sky he might notice the rather large swarm of moths that's coming down toward his eyes, to be exact they'd spread across the field in front of him and aim to block his view of Skitter, almost a solid wall of the damn things for about 20 feet to either side, and 10 feet tall, the girl herself would quickly charge toward him while weaving about, one hand reaching down for an electric baton on her waist as she moves toward Kalib. Right around then the ants should reach him and begin trying to sting at his legs, along with the moth wall parting and Skitter dashing from it to try and slam her baton into Kalib's upper chest.
"Um, I just realized but if you're allergic to any of them that'd also be good to know Kalib. I'd really hate for something to go wrong..."
He whistles at the wall of moths, it was certainly impressive. And it'd be easy to just have Roland use his full power and wipe the curtain out. However, something was strange about that masked man...so he opted not to tip his hand yet. He stands ready with his trident and unfortunately missses the assault on the ground.
"Ow. Ow ow. Ow ow ow...ow....OW! THAT ONE HURT!"
Losing his focus for a second, he barely has time to block the baton with the thick wooden arm of the trident.
"Oh...uh...no allergies! So with everything you have left, feel free to go all out!"
He smiles warmly as he raises his left hand off the trident and aims his palm at the air between them. A small orb of flame would appear and continue to grow until it was roughly the size of a baseball. Then in the next instant, a solid hot projectile would be launched at her point blank.
Moths dart in front of the flames, her former cover instead soaking up the ball of flames as they fall down to the ground, Skitter sounds mildly annoyed as she mutters something upon having to burn a few dozen of them to take that hit. Now... Fire ants are still climbing him, so she'll have them move up some and try to go for his chest now. He'd likely feel them crawling up his legs and attempting to settle under his shirt, before quickly digging in if they pull it off.
"Alright, and geez that fire is bad for my swarm... It'd be worse for me though, bugs aren't too hard to replace, after all, third-degree burns or worse scare me a bit, however."
Despite having lost her shield of moths, the girl would rather quickly summon up some more flying types. This time however its about 20 hornets all aiming to rush onto the back of Kalib's neck and sting away, they wouldn't inject him with poison unlike the ants, but it's hopefully hurt enough for the straight punch to his lower jaw she's sending at the same time to hit.
Kalib goes to bring out a whip of darkness, but quickly remembers what he said. Geez. Talk about both hands tied behind his back. Both hands behind his back...would that work? The sudden buzzing from behind him would confirm that anything is better than whatever they had in store.
"Moths to a flame and all that. Oops! Better buzz off!"
He reaches his arms behind him with his palms facing outwards. A couple wasps get some stings in before he drops down onto the ground with a pained grin.
"Those ants suck! Like...wow....they don't stop!"
From behind his back comes a bright orange flash and Kalib is propelled into the air. His goal is to deliver his own strike to the jaw with a rising kick as he blasts off.
Movement ants sensing it should b- any attempts to actually use her swarm gathered info are cut short as Kalib's leg quickly slams down into the girl's jaw... Gah, just because she can tell where it'll be, doesn't make her good enough to dodge.
"Bad point about all that info gathering, if I'm not fast enough I can't actually put any of it to use... That being said, it is sometimes useful regardless, given how much faster they are than me."
At that, the single gnat that had placed itself on Kalib's back before would move at a rapid pace, the fire ants sadly got shaken off in all the mess, but one tiny bug flying directly into the center of Kalib's left eyeball should leave him a bit stunned regardless, at that point her hornets would also begin their attack once more, the buzzing sound would rush at Kalib from above and try to fly down onto his head, aiming to quickly sting it, this time actually bothering to inject their poison. Taylor herself simply gets up off the ground and grips her stun baton.
"Now, I can do a lot of things at once as you may have guessed by now, but putting out a fire is a real pain for me, guess I should make sure it doesn't come to that right?"
She's slower than the swarm, and not that good at fighting, but between having a bug in his left eye and hornets on his head, Kalib might not see the stun baton rushing at his upper chest from the right side of his body. Assuming it hits, the weapon would crackle for a moment before Taylor tries to dart away and take a defensive stance.
"Being slower isn't all bad since ya know it does mean I can do stuff like that... They're pretty distracting, or so I'm told!"
Seeing a similar building light up again, Fuci walks in and takes a quick look around, pretty empty, he wanted to get to the bottom of this blood feud but it looks like he wasn't getting answers today
Hmm... Well it certainly is alot nicer, guess the bootlegs never compare!
A black and red blur of motion rushes through the door, he'd settle in a sparing ring and finally, the boy looking around would get a good glance at Shadow. Namely that he is a two-legged hedgehog with black fur and a red streak on the top. Which happens to be looking at him with a bored expression.
"Greetings human, I assume my speed is far beyond what your eyes can easily track? Call me Shadow, The Ultimate Lifeform! Now, this is a place of training is it not? I have come to do battle, engage me!"
The hedgehog's tone leaves little room for argument, and the way he's looking at Fuun clearly shows he's itching to fight, it's been a bit too long since he's bothered to do battle after all... Hopefully this human can be entertaining.
Fuci's mind spins as he watches the edgehog whirl around the place, barely having time to comprehend what was going on before he was thrust into combat, drawing a black sheath with the Fuun family name etched into it in silver. Putting his right hand on the handle as he holds the case with his left. Protesting the circumstance he was thrust into
H-hey now! Isn't this a little sudden? I don't exactly want to fight you... But I suppose training can't hurt, I suppose I should introduce myself as well, Fucidin Fuun. Let's have a good match. First things first! Warm up Fuci...
Taking a swift step forward, Fuci takes his right arm and goes for a right hook before swinging the sheath at him and then drawing the weapon with his right and slashing once across his chest, he didn't expect to hit but it was a good test to see how fast he really was!
Shadow casually watches the boy draw his weapon, tapping his left foot on the ground impatiently as Fuci moves toward him, gah why are humans so slow when it comes to this drawing weapons thing?
"Hmm, indeed training is always a good thing! Besides, don't you get bored without that rush of blood as you move through a battlefield? Dodging bullets and smashing your foes to bits... Heh, it gets me excited!"
It's a simple attack, clearly meant to test and see if his speed lives up to his boasts, a test which Shadow would easily pass by quickly raising his hands to block Fuci's punch, from there the hedgehog would duck down in a blur and spin as a ball, the sheath passing over him harmless as Shadow launches a spindash right at his foe's chest.
Gah! Wh-what is that move?
Being dodged easily was expected, his opponent seemed to have insane levels of speed so it would be hard to keep up with him, however what wasn't expected was the spin dash, hitting him square in the stomach as he gets blown back a bit, his shirt and jacket in shreds as he gets back on his feet
Yeesh, how unlucky... Bored without battle though? I don't exactly like to fight, I don't see the point of it. People get hurt and nobody truly wins. Anyhow, back to the battle at hand. Kana-Hin-Byo!
Taking his right hand off the handle he thrusts it into the air, a burst of light emitting from his fingertips as a hunched over man sits low on what seems to be a dead wrinkly turtle, holding onto a glaive with a rusted tip.
Now! Stagnant Air! Let's change the atmosphere!
With the call out, the man stomps down on the shell and immediately a foul fog begins to spew out from the turtle, quickly covering the GYM in a thick stinky gas, in the fog Fuci tries to dash around and deliver a draw strike to the back of the hedgehod before holstering, using the cover of the fog to try and conceal himself
Can't hit what you can't see right?
Fog... And that strange thing he summoned, Shadow would attempt to keep track of his foe through the fog, but as the boy had said it's hard to hit what you can't see, the weapon slams into Shadow and sends him stumbling forward a bit. Unlucky for Fuci, however, that the edgehog was already braced to suffer an attack.
"I can't hit what I can't see, but getting into melee does mean I can feel where your blow came from, now since we're tossing around our magic I'll show some of mine too!"
Shadow whirls around in a blur as a glowing gem of some kind appears in his right hand, he'd point the jewel toward Fuci and smirk, suddenly glowing yellow energy would take shape all around his head in the form of five spears.
"CHAOS SPEAR!
As he shouts, the spears would begin rushing toward Fuci's general direction based upon where Shadow had felt the blow slam into him, he's taking five guesses as to where the boy will be and shooting at all those points, the good news is decent odds of hitting, bad news is only one spear will land even if he did guess right.
Drat, Fuci didn't account for that, the spears come flying and one strikes him straight on, holding onto the wound as he back pedals and reviews his options
Geez, you know magic as well? I guess I should expect that by now, let's see here... How about this! Karna! Mahama!
Hidden by the fog, Fuci summons up Karna, a tall man with a hole where his heart should be, wielding a golden spear with 9 heads as it brings the weapon upward, multiple square runes about half a foot in length and width begin to appear on the floor, just stepping on one would begin to sap away and destroy Shadow, luckily for him though,
the fog was beginning to dissipate slowly, and the light given off by the runes and persona were visible through the mist. Fuci meanwhile stands guard in front of the persona holding his sheath out to protect against any incoming attacks
"Hmm... That light seems as if it's something I shouldn't go near! I've got just the idea to get around an attack like this, GO OVER IT!"
Even as he speaks the Black Blur is already dashing back toward the wall of GYM that's away from Fuci and his little spell, rather than aiming to weave through he'd shatter the sound barrier and move up the wall onto the ceiling in an instant.
"You can run on anything with enough speed, trust me it's not so hard!"
With a cocky smirk on his face, Shadow would reach the point of the roof that's right above Fuci's head and launch himself down toward it with a blindly fast kick, both of his legs point out toward the boy's skull, and finally a pair of jets on the bottom of Shadow's shoes would begin blasting flames down toward Fuci Shadow sails at him. With that, he'd land right in front of his foe and begin tapping his foot while looking them over.
"So, did you see a move like that coming? I'm curious if you've fought anyone like me before, though it seems like a no."
Watching Shadow physically break the sound barrier leaves Fuci in shock, simply staring as he divebombs onto him, unfortunately for Fuci, Karna isn't exactly the most sturdy against physical and he gets demolished by the strikes, falling down and tumbling away, unfortunately the mist is just about to lift, only wisps of smoke remain as Fuci clutches his head, feeling a headache from all the trauma and use of his persona
Nngh, you sure are special! Nothing like anything I've seen before, that just means I'll have to show off my own abilities... Come! Tri Summon!
Concentrating his hardest, Fuci summons forth Karna, Kana-Hin-Byo and a new persona, Misfortune, a rather slender lady in rags with long black leading down to her legs, her face covered up with an opaque veil
This is what makes me special! Now then! Let's give this hedgehog a road bump!
With all of his abilities ready, he first sends Karna into the fray and has the persona fire off a speeding bullet at Shadow, upon impact it would explode!
However he didn't expect to hit with that strike alone,
so he sends Kana-Hin-Byo in next, as the hunched over man begins to spin the glaive, a ravenous wind picks up and blades of wind are sent to the sides of shadow, hopefully hitting if he decides to sidestep, finally Misfortune.
The lady doesn't move at all, instead standing right behind Fuci and getting a dark look under the veil as shadows begin to melt from her face and drip into the ground, lifting the veil up with her hands to reveal that she has no face, only piercing red eyes, trying to instill fear so that Shadow won't attack directly. Combined with the putrid smell it was definitely a fearful sight
"3 of them at once!? I've seen Persona Users before, but this... I'll have to show my best skill as well!"
The attacks rush toward him, and the woman stares with a look that could make lesser beings wallow in terror, Shadow is no lesser being though and instead he'd raise his Chaos Emerald up and focus, the shot is halfway to him as it begins to glow.
CHAOS CONTROL!
Right as the bullet is about to slam into Shadow, mere inches from his face. Time would grind to a halt for a moment, Shadow easily evades the non moving winds and leaps high into the air,
he'd spin as a ball for a moment and lunch himself toward Karna with a high speed, easily slamming into it with no chance to evade. This is when the flow of time resumes however, from Fuci's view it would be as if he blinked and Shadow had suddenly bounced from Karna and was midway to hitting Misfortune, assuming that strike hits he'd go onto chain a final homing attack at the last Persona, followed by an attempt to slam himself up into the wall and bound down toward Fuci like some kind of living basketball.
"Tell me, can you figure out what the skill I just used was? it's a pretty obscure one, and I'm curious if you've got a clue what kind of power Chaos Emeralds can really be used for."
Shadow does indeed smash into all 3 personas, breaking them instantly. Fucidin stares for a second and blinks as all of his forces are toppled, unfortunately the draw back to summoning 3 personas was the after effects of each of them, causing immense strain on the mind as Fuci drops everything and clutches his head in pain, allowing the Hedgehog to strike Fuci, hitting the ground and getting up slowly, he didn't have too many physical wounds but mentally he was exhausted and hurting
Gahh! H-how unlucky... I really have to be more careful with that move... I'm gonna have to call it here. You win this one Shadow, I've got no more energy left, hehe!
Fuci then scratches the back of his head with a grunt, the side effects of the tri summon still in effect, so he takes a second before responding to their question
That skill? I've got no idea! You just kinda teleported around and destroyed everything! I can kinda tell your emerald might have something to do with it from that spear but other then that I got nothing!
Shadow chuckles, he'd actually feel a bit bad about trashing the kid so roughly... But, it's good to know he hasn't lost his touch after all this time away.
"Don't worry about it, if there's one thing I have a lot of that'd be energy. I can keep going way longer than most people, so it's no shock to be unable to keep up... Still, you do have some talent, good show out there."
He'd offer the boy a nod of respect, it may not have been in the kid's favor, but he did a good job for someone who clearly doesn't practice much going up against Shadow. The hedgehog smirks upon hearing about teleporting.
"And while teleporting is one of my skills, that was actually halting the flow of time, that's how I'd already smashed one of your Personas by the time you could see me again. Anyways, I'll be going now!"
With a slight wave, the Black Blur darts out of the building. He'd be up to about Mach 4 by the time he's out of Fuci's sight, by that point there's barely even a visible line of motion for the boy to follow, and in seconds he'd be long gone from sight entirely.
The black-clad woman pushes open the doors to GYM, the building still unlocked as it was the other day. Whether there was anyone inside or not, she walks out onto the battlefield, then stops and stands still, looking up at the ceiling with her back to the entrance as if waiting for a challenger to approach her.
Eito walks down to the maing GYM area from upstairs, sighing upon seeing the door and the woman.
"At least it's still there this time..."
Stretching his arms, the teenager struts to the arena and looks up at the woman.
"Yo lady, why are you here?"
A young woman in a black suit of armor wanders through the doors, she'd glance around curiously for a moment before spotting the woman with white hair... Taylor stares at the other person, buglike lenses of her mask shining in the light of the GYM as a swarm of bugs trails in behind her.
"Um, hi there... Are you here to train? I guess that I'm up for a fight if that's what brought you... Not sure how much use my power will be though."
Even as she speaks a few spiders off in the corner would begin moving toward the woman, creeping around her back and aiming to set them... Wait no, somebody else is here so she'll hold off on setting up that. Instead, they'd climb up the walls and onto the roof, aiming to spin a rather large web up in the roof of the building and hold it out of sight.
"And um, who are you anyway? Oh right, call me Skitter if you need a name... I control bugs, if the swarm didn't tip you off somehow. And I guess it's nice meeting you, or something?"
Aitome notices the GYM up and paces up to it, sighing to herself before raising her hand and launching a fireball at the door, causing a small explosion to blast it off before walking through
Yeesh.. Was that really necessary? Yes? I will never understand your antics.
Aitome then notices the two already in the establishment and gives a small wave after her little bit of destruction
Oh! It's you two! Angry Kid and you! You... You really need to give me a name you know. I can't remember it. At all. Anyhow what are you guys doing here?
Aitome then notices a whole bunch of buzzing behind her and jumps back suddenly, somewhat afraid of the swarm
Gah! Th... That's alot of bugs! Er, the names Aitome. Your name is Skipper? I suppose that's not the worst name! Nice to meet ya too!
She turns around, giving both Eito and Taylor a harsh stare.
You... you two look like good target practice.
After waiting a few seconds, the lady can't help but laugh after delivering such a line.
My apologies, I was simply trying to draw attention to myself with that.
My name is Na- er, that is to say... Hmm, that's a good question, what should I call myself... I suppose for now you may call me EK-Prototype Mk 2, or whatever you choose to derive from it. Moving on, I have a request of you.
You see, my lack of combat as of late has left me without the ability to run a diagnostic on my capabilities and flaws. I do trust you two would understand should I ask you both to join me for a sparring session?
She gives Aitome a wave as she approaches.
Greetings, Aitome. How has the day been fairing you?
Eito cracks his neck and smiles up at Mk 2, his eyes already glowing.
"A fight? Sure, why not?"
"Not like I've had a lot of time to practice lately."
Nodding, the teenager gets up onto the arena, motioning for Taylor to come up too.
"Well, might as well make it a three-way, no?"
He also briefly glares at Aitome as she enters, though he doesn't speak, not wanting to bother with her and her door destruction.
Aito stares blankly at Na- I mean the robot state it's name. Looks like that string of words kinda broke everything. Taking a second to recover she tries to say the name but it doesn't work. It comes out a garbled mess before she gives up.
Gah! P-K Pronotape Maker 2? I'll just call you PK! That's much simpler! Anyhow, I suppose it hasn't been that bad! Just a bit tiring that's all.
Aito then hears Eito challenge, and meets his gaze, smirking and drawing a short sword off her back before giving PK a pat on the back
Well that's no fair is it? A 2V1? Let me even the odds and change the course of the battle! After all its been a little while before I fought so it'll be good for practice!
Aito then jumps into the ring, checking over her belongings before entering a combat stance with both of her hands at the hilt of the blade and pointing it at her opponents
Evoker check... Swords check... I'm ready when you are!
Ready when you are means strike without warning, from above a mess of spiders would leap down at Aitome carrying a rather human-sized web. They'd attempt to quickly fall with it down onto the girl, and then wrap her up in the netting.
"I hope you were actually ready, because I don't intend to mess around in a fight like this... That other girl's name, sounds like Tinkertech to me."
Assuming that her webbing has Aitome stunned, Taylor's spiders would begin attempting to leap onto the girl and bite at whatever they can, there's about 40 of them all told, and the girl's clearly aiming to simply have them poison Aitome quickly. She's got meds for fixing it now anyway, so it's fine, right?
Eito nods towards Taylor's attack before dashing straight at Mk 2, both swords extended to his sides and set aflame, Tyrfing's silver steel engulfed by fire and Murgleis' sinister dark blade covered in cursed energy.
"Hope you like sharp objects, cus i've got a lot of them!"
Upon getting close, he slashes from above, only to attack from downwards as well in an attempt to distract Mk 2 with one attack and succeed with the other.
The lady gives Aitome a concerned look over the shoulder.
A-are you sure about this, Aitome? Even if it is a controlled match, I wouldn't want you to get hurt...
Er, not to say you can't handle yourself, I know your combat capabilities first hand, but I just... Please be safe during the match, Aitome.
She sighs and takes up a fighting stance besides Aitome, the center of her palms opening to reveal gun barrels.
I'm... ready when you ar-
She immediately jumps into action as the spider web falls onto Aitome. She puts her right palm up towards Taylor and fires a shot somewhat in her general direction before quickly having to put up her forearms to block the two swords coming from Eito. She swiftly blocks each strike, with every one tearing or burning through more of her sleeves and the false skin of her arm, revealing the now scratched metal casing beneath.
Aitome! Cheap trick... what part of a controlled match don't you two understand! Do you two have no honor in the least?
Aitome gives a small thumbs up to the robot as she expresses her concern, it was kinda strange how much she cared but eh, can't be that bad, and she's faced much worse before!
Don't worry about me! We've got healing magic yeah? Besides! I can't lose as the Warrior of Fate! Hyah!
As Aitome begins to move she doesn't notice the net fall down onto her, panicking immediately and closing her eyes, encasing herself in a layer of glowing ice, she takes a few bites and the poison begins to seep in but hopefully it's not enough to impair the rest of the fight, as for the ice it begins to glow more brightly and spread out rapidly, trying to stretch the net way too far out and rip it apart before exploding in a blinding explosion of nuclear energy. If any of the spiders tried to bite the layer it would crackle and shoot off a small laser at it. The explosion itself would try to kill the spiders or distract the enemies for a second. Hopefully allowing Aito to free herself and MK2 a chance to strike
Yeesh! Mind giving a warning before hand?
(edited by Aitome_Korichi)
Taylor's already moving, even as the gun fires off she's running, the shot grazes her shoulder, but a Skitter in motion is a Skitter who doesn't get filled with bullet holes quite as easily. Despite that slight threat, she'd scoff at the woman's talk of honor.
"I control bugs lady, I have to go for the damn throat or I'm just some idiot playing around! So no, if I had honor I'd have died my first night out to some freak who turns into a dragon... I guess I could stand to hold back a bit, but honestly, it just doesn't suit my style by its very nature."
The girl's bugs drop dead in an instant... Well, a few were far enough away to avoid being hit,
about half in fact, at that point one of them would in fact bite down on the armor and get fried for it... Taylor would begin rushing toward the girl encased in armor, by the time she's there she's also drawn a stun baton.
"Jeez, why do all you people have so many powers anyways? Everywhere I go it's a big explosion or something, does anyone have a non blowy upy skillset?"
Taylor finally reaches her foe, even as she does so a rather large swarm of various flying creatures is rushing in behind the girl. They'd simply hover above and around, for now, watching Ai from many angles as the spiders left behind attempt to climb onto her legs and start biting down. At the same moment, their master would slam her baton forward, sparks of electricity flowing through the weapon as the girl aims it right at Aitome's chest.
"And I guess I could... Kinda ruins part of the point of them though, what good is being small and quiet if not for sneak attacks?"
(edited by Taylor-Herbert)
"Honor doesn't give you victory, lady!"
Twisting around, Eito sheathes his swords and draws his pistol, it's light already a bright red as he jumps back and prepares to shoot.
"Yo, Skitter or whatever your name is, maybe you should move back a little bit!"
Regardless of anything else, he shoots at Mk 2, the shot narrowly missing due to Aitome's explosion screwing up Eito's aim. It's not that big of a problem though, seeing as the bullet and the 3 others that follow it all explode.
You know you can fight for your life with honor right? It just means not taking every shady opportunity! Stealth is also acceptable but not in a duel! Gah! Whatever!
Aitome reacts to the baton strike by replacing her regular short sword by a katana covered in runes from her back, just parrying and holding it there for a second as the sparks seem to gather in the blade itself, after just a quick second of charging, Aito pushes her assailant back before jumping and spinning in the air to disorient and force the spiders off before landing, she then grasps the handle of the katana with white arms as light begins to mix with the sparks coming off the blade
He he! Well what else do you expect me to do with fire and explosive ice? I make flames, and I hope you know what happens to moths drawn to a flame!
Aito then slashes a few times with the blade as blades of light get sent out, specifically at the swarm but if Skitter got in her way that works as well, the light seems to harden in mid air and would smash into whatever, pulling them along as they get fried by the electricity,
she then turns to Nacci
Hey PK! Maybe we should try and focus on this one together? Got any ideas in mind?
Honor isn't about victory, it's about the feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes with being so!
Beyond that, I'm not asking you to fight with honor against our foes, but in such a match as this where we're allied forces, I ask it of you to begin the match with honor at least!
Now, back to the matter at hand. Allow me to demonstrate the lengths to which I was designed!
The lady focuses on Eito, her eyes flashing as she predicts the trajectory of the bullets by the angle of the barrel, and then blocking the bullets that come towards her with her forearms. To her surprise, they all explode as they hit her arms, but she holds her ground, smirking.
I was built for this type of damage... that peashooter you call a pistol is nothing to me, despite it's tricks!
After the final shot is fired, the lady rushes forward at Eito, firing a few off-target shots towards Taylor with her left hand, before trying to punch Eito square in the jaw with her right. She looks over to Aitome afterwards.
Perhaps... let's see how this plays out first.
Skitter's not one to mince words, and honor isn't exactly something she can be bothered to care about at this point... Or any other. Instead of rushing in again, the girl wou- a sudden pain rushes through her shoulder, a bullet slamming into it and causing the girl to groan... Nothing seems broken, but who even knows? The rest fly past and they were clearly poorly aimed, but she's not exactly happy about being shot either way... Oh well, not that big a deal.
"Yeah, I guess I could have some honor... Not sure I'd call guns that honorable either, but I guess you aren't trying to kill me so it's fine, maybe."
She's clearly a bit annoyed to be hearing a lecture about honor from someone using lethal weapons against her. But the blasts of magic Aitome is sending her way cause far more trouble, unluckily for Ai is that Skitter's swarm would quickly rush down and engulf the girl as a massive cloud which hides her from view entirely. Quite a few are torn up by the magic, but from the cover of her bugs she'd quickly reach down to her belt and pull out... A can pepper spray, Skitter aims it toward the other girl's head and pulls back the trigger, horrible fumes rushing toward the girl's foe as what bugs haven't been torn up by the magic attempt to land on Ai's shoulders and begin bitting down, along with Skitter herself aiming to slam her stun baton into Ai's sword arm.
(edited by Taylor-Herbert)
"I feel enough pride and accomplishment just from fighting, friend!"
Eito raises his hand hurriedly to block the punch, only getting his own hand launched at his face along with Nacci's for his efforts. This sends him flying backwards, though he manages to turn around and roll instead of just hitting the ground, saving himself from some damage.
"Alright...Robots are strong."
Shaking his head, Eito puts his gun back in his jacket and extends his hand before closing it around the floating blue card that appears on it.
"Persona!"
He summons a large man wearing a bronze helmet and armor, which is hidden under a red cloak. He points his spear towards Nacci.
"Odysseus, Brave Blade!"
The Persona dashes straight at her spear first, ready to impale her in a powerful strike.
The woman quickly tries to dodge the strike from Odysseus, however it cuts into her side, causing a few sparks to fly out from within. She sighs, before putting her hand out in-front of herself, a similarly shimmering blue card appearing.
You're not the only one who can do that. Come forth, Hemera!
The lady crushes the card in her hand, and the large spider Persona rises from the ground beneath her, and she now stands atop it. It raises one of it's large gun-shaped legs, and brings it down on the blade of Odysseus, trying to pin it's weapon to the ground. At the same time, the lady looks towards Aitome, seeing the carnage unfolding. She closes her eyes, and after a moment her hair turns a pale green, along with her now open eyes. A faint breeze can begin to be felt throughout the room.
You stay away from her!
She thrusts her hand out towards the swarm around Aitome, and a blast of wind heads straight towards it, attempting to blow them away. The wind lingers afterwards, pushing away from Aitome. The woman seems strained to keep it there.
Huffing, Eito smiles as Nacci summons her own Persona, the spider's leg succesfully pinning Odysseus' spear. This doesn't seem to faze him as he lets go and lunges at Hemera, his hand extended to strike her in the eyes and blind the Persona.
"Impressive! Seems we'll be having a duel of Personas, then?"
He then draws is swords again and sprints towards Nacci,
attempting to slash her from both sides. Eito seems mildly tired by his attacks.
(edited by Eito)
A cloaked figure soon enters the old GYM, the figure glances around, noting the signs of wear upon the place, the floor is scratched up in several locations from.. What passes as "training" around these parts. In a moment, the cloaked figure brings out a small tablet, cradling it against his right arm while typing furiously with his left. The figure takes a spot near a corner of the wall, it would almost seem like he were attempting to hide, yet the cloaked man leans near the wall in one of the first directions you'd look upon entry, seemingly focused intently upon the tablet in his hands
Outside a loud motor could be heard before the screeching of tires and finally the sound of a vehicle outside stopping. A man in a clean yet untucked business suit would wander through the door. He wore a serious expression as his shiny yet neatly combed black hair reflected against the GYM's lights. In one hand he carried an odd briefcase while his other hand rested in his pocket. His face said business but in his eyes, a certain amount of fiery passion could be seen.
"Another day goes by but there still isn't adequate parking for this establishment. I worry about the safety of people's vehicles. No vehicle should be mistreated."
(A 7'3 Snake centipede hybrid slithers in)
Ah.....haven't been here in while...let'ssssss ssse what fightssss I'll be held 'ere today?
The figure winces, shaking his head to clear the overly loud vehicle noises, he was never quite fond of cities, though the problem wasn't usually so bad. The cloaked figure glances up to where the door once was, catching sight of a businessman, probably successful, or at least eager to look the part. Which it is is hardly relevant, judging by the pause between the noise and his entry, it seems likely this man was the source of his disturbance. With a sigh, the cloaked man hides the tablet beneath his cloak, before stepping off the wall towards his... Companion, making a poor effort to veil the annoyance in his voice
Must you be so loud? I swear half the neighborhood could hear it. Unless its mere coincidence your arrival immediately followed that intolerable engine.
The figure briefly glances at the snake-like creature, briefly reaching within his cloak, only to stop himself, he can make sketches later, for now it would be rude to leave a conversation
Well....guessssss I'll just wait here for something exciting to happen
(He says as he slithers up to a random pole, and coils around it)
The man would simply grin as his confidence refused to waver. He would walk over near the center of the GYM and stare at a wall close to the west side of the building. After dropping his briefcase for a moment he would raise his hands bringing them to one of his eyes in a square like form and seem to be checking the size of the walls.
"Yes, that could be possible..."
Finally, he would address the figure as he picks the briefcase back up in one hand and pockets the other. His grin would form more of a smirk as if he had just been given a chance to show off.
"Intolerable engine? That engine happens to be the latest in motor technology. A fusion of elegance and speed! Of course, I'd expect nothing less from Icahn Corp. We are the leading corporation in interdimensional vehicle sales and technology. Anything less would be a crime."
(He would stare at the fancy man, and sigh)
Mate, if I've seen anything from movies, is that cars always get and thrown, and get blown the fuck up, or just simply blow the fuck up...sooo
If you're such an interdimensional big-shot, I'd imagine I'd have heard of you before.
The cloaked figure sighs, making sure to sound disinterested as he makes his remark, of course, considering multiverse theory it doesn't really mean much, the man grins, giving the businessman a flash of his teeth as the cloaked figure passes, walking towards the door, he gestures for the businessman to follow
But very well, I do hope you wouldn't mind giving me a brief showing of this incredible engine of yours.
The figure marks the word incredible with sarcasm, though he had little interest in mechanics itself, assuming the interdimensional claim was true, it could very well be more than that, perhaps a little closer to home. Regardless, with a short look at the enging in question, the figure should be able to tell whether it was more mystical or mechanical in nature, and determine his interest from there
A young woman in black armor and a mask with insect-like lenses wanders into the building, as of late she's been here quite a bit... Always good to get a grasp on the peopl- her eyes go wide upon seeing Rep, unknown to anyone else around them there's a look of wonder on the girl's face as she stares over at the creature... A giant bug! And it's part snake or something, but either way a pulse of energy rushes from the girl, assuming Rep's anything like an actual bug he'd suddenly raise his head to stare up at the roof for a few moments. Skitter herself would walk over toward him, a clearly sounding curious as she speaks.
"What are you? I've never seen anything like ya before, and I'm almost sure that you're not a normal bug right? Snake-Centipede from what I'm guessing? Who went and made something like that? What kind of animals are you a mix of, do you have venom? Or is a mix of less dangerous things?"
She's speaking rapidly as she stares at Rep, the girl is clearly entirely too interested in what most would call a nightmarish being, but well, working with bugs so much has given her a healthy appreciation for them.
(Rep's body would go in shock for a second cuz of the person who just kind of came outta nowhere, and giving out a flurry of questions)
Whoa!!,...ummm..this is a firssssst...someone is actually interested in me...well..first of all,..names Reperzell, but call me rep, and second, yes, I am a snake centipede hybrid, third, I'm a mix of aamazonion giant centipede, a rattle snake, so that meansssss I have neurotoxin venom, a inland taipan, and that's all, got anymore questions....bug person?
The man would give another confident grin as he seemed to rustle with the lock on his briefcase for a moment before he would just leave it alone all together as if changing his mind about something. He'd simply nod before beginning to walk outside to show off the vehicle in question but he would make a quick remark in response to the odd creature first.
"How strange, is there a breeze in here? I hear something akin to the wind but I can't quite identify it. Anyway, we should get going. I'm excited to show off what my company has produced."
Outside would be...a very average looking blue car. It didn't look any different than an average car in any way shape or form. Even the branding on it was Icahn written in generic text. The man would walk to the front hood of the car before gesturing for the figure to come over as well.
The cloaked figure sighs and follows the businessman, briefly scanning the vehicle as he does so. So far it is entirely mechanical, but that is to be expected of course. The figure does briefly glance back at the... Interaction between the snake creature and some sort of suited figure, nothing of particular interest happening so far, so the cloaked man turns his attention back to the businessman
It is nothing of note, worry not, you're not missing anything, I am far more interested in a glance at this engine of yours.
The cloaked figure steps next to the businessman, drawing his tablet back out, leaning it against his right arm while preparing his left to type notes, even a small glimpse would likely give him the chance to start analyzing it, be the object of any interest. If not, there is little harm done in this little expenditure of his time
Ina enters gym, her hair being somewhat on fire
"Well, after that training accident, I feel like fighting someone!"
Senri enters the GYM, practically kicking the door open. Maybe there was something interesting to observe to day. She instantly heads to the bar, until something interesting happens anyway.
Oi! I'll just be over here. Let me know if something blows up! preferably before it actually does.
The man would open the front of the vehicle slowly as if trying to be careful with his method of opening it...and with reason as the moment, he begins opening it the hood begins folding in on itself with the inside glowing lightly. It would fold many times before seeming to meld with a small section attaching it to the rest of the car.
The inside contains an almost cylinder like construct with many dim blue lights surrounding it. It would lightly hum as the hood unveiled it as if the mere act of doing so activated it to an extent. Above the cylinder in a strange glossy case would be a small blue stone hovering in what appeared to be a sort of dark fluid.
"Far from our finest invention but this is the latest we have in ground and light air travel departments. As far as engines go of course. Engines are a bit outdated compared to some of our other products but I'm a firm believer in not forgetting one's own roots.
This was back when we used an energized cell as a source of renewable energy for the main component to function properly. Some would say that as far as traveling between two worlds this would slow the process as it didn't provide quite enough energy to properly build a link but I personally have never noticed a difference when attending business meetings in some of our other branches."
Skitter nods along happily at his answers, upon digging through his head a bit more the girl would find... "Persona"? Sounds like a weird power, and his nulls fire and elec, while being weak to ice and... Nuclear? How strange, but upon hearing Ina saying she'd like to fight, Skitter perks up and looks at the girl.
"You wanted to fight!? I've actually got something to test out, my uh new friend here doesn't seem... Well, he's not the best thinker, I can control bugs though! So if it'd be okay, I'll take over and fight you with him!"
Rep walks over to a sparing ring and looks at Ina, silently watching the girl as Skitter observes through his eyes... Woha that feels weird, he's way more complex than her usual fare, let alone this Persona power of his.
"Ya ready there... Who are you? I'm Skitter by the way, and um call him Rep if you need a name."
"Well, I'm Ina. And yeah I'm ready!"
She pats down the fire in her hair and enters the ring.
almost immediately the cloaked figure begins typing, his left hand flying across the tablet keyboard, glancing up at the cylinder occasionally, melding his own notes with Carl's comments on the engine. The figure briefly glances up to comment
Of course there are a few ways to enhance the link without necessarily expending more energy, either by a decrease in size resulting in needing to open a smaller hole, or via environmental familiarity, in the case of a vehicle it would be either visiting the same location frequently, or using materials from those dimensions, which have a natural tendency to seek to drift back, thus reducing the overall requirements.
His little rant over with, the cloaked figure finishes writing up a few notes, briefly reaching out towards the energy core with his left, only to think better of it, asking one final question
By any chance is there some way one such as myself could procure one of these cores? I would very much like to study it further, so far it is the second most interesting object I have found so far, the honor of the first belonging to a blessed relic. Though I am afraid I have little in terms of money with me
"Go Rep, I choose you!"
At that cry Rep would begin darting toward Ina, a vicious look on his face as the snakeped leaps through the air, it would aim to quickly coil itself around Ina with a flying strike that holds little concern for its safety. Assuming that it hit, he'd then continue pressing tighter and tighter around Ina, attempting to crush the fight out of the girl.
Skitter meanwhile, despite keeping on eye on the fight at hand would casually walk over to Carl and Luard... Something about those two seems odd, and the way Carl is talking about using an engine to cross between worlds is a dead give away that things aren't quite what they seem with that one. She'd pipe up to them, sounding rather curious as she stares at the device.
"Huh, so that lets you cross worlds then? Neat little bit of tech, you some kinda Tinker... Well doubtful, I seem to be the only one from my own world around this place anyway. Skitter's the name, by the way. And I gotta say I wasn't expecting to see any universe hopping tech in here tonight, Mr?"
"Let's get this party started!"
Ina quickly goes into flame heel mode and dashes away from Rep to not be coiled. She then dashes towards rep and attempts to deliver a flurry of flame-powered kicks.
The man would nod as if impressed with the figure's own explanation. He didn't think to find another who understood interdimensional travel so well. It was almost suspicious but the man knew better than to pry and he had to remain aware of his own suspicious nature. As for the question regarding the core he would have to think about it for a moment before speaking once more.
"Another core? Well, as I've said before production of proper engines is rather low but it's highly likely that we have another vehicle in storage with a core. I wouldn't mind giving one away since you've been kind enough to allow me to prattle on but...to get a car out of our storage would require me to do something that I fear I might, hmmm, what's the word...go a bit overkill with. Instantaneously bringing things out of storage hasn't actually had many conventional tests outside of what is already pre-assigned."
The man once again looks over to the briefcase almost nervously but any sign of fear in his eyes is quickly washed away.
"Perhaps it would be better if you were to pay our headquarters here in this world a visit at some point unless you are in urgent need of a core that is."
The man wasn't expecting someone else to be interested in what he was saying. He would greet this Skitter with a nod before replying to her properly.
"Universe hopping? That's an interesting way to put it. My company specializes in anything involving transportation or vehicles. I guess you could say this tech is pretty common where I'm from.
Tinker? Hmmm, what does that word mean in your context? It may hold more truth then you believe."
(edited by Carl_Icahn)
A few of the blows would slam into Rep, before he can get too hurt however the being dashes down to the ground and tries to slither away from Ina. Skitter winces as his scales begin to crackle with flame and pain from him flows through her mind... Hmm, perhaps she should try out this Persona skill of his? Uh... How do you do that? It's like... Another self, right? She's lost in thought for a moment before suddenly, a giant monster-like centipede appears in front of Rep. Black bursts of energy take shape above the beast's head, 4 orbs to be exact would quickly fly at Ina, two in a straight line, and the other two each curving around and aiming to slam into her back. Rep meanwhile begins ripping through the ground of GYM at an alarming speed, he'd quickly dig down and just as his projectiles get near Ina, rush up from under her feet and aim to chomp into the girl's legs, though Taylor makes a point of forcing his body not to inject any venom.
Meanwhile the girl looks over Carl... Hmm, doubtful he's a Parahuman, but who knows if her world is really the only one with such people?
"To sum it up, Tinkers are a type of Parahuman, I'm another example of a different type, but Tinkers are those who possess powers which for one reason or another make them very good at building a technology of some kind."
She gestures toward the engine, looking it over a bit more herself... Wonder if he could get her? Does she even want to go back though...
"If you were a Tinker, I'd wager that was made by a power that's built for dimensional travel tech, but if it's just vehicles... That's some pretty broad tinkering then gotta admit, maybe even better than anyone who exists back home."
The cloaked man nods eagerly, casting one final glance at the core before putting away his tablet, having already taken what notes he could, it should be enough to busy him for a while anyways, the cloaked figure turns to the businessman and bows
Very well then, I shall gladly visit your HQ at some point, no doubt there are similar objects of interests there. For now, you may call me Luard, a researcher of sorts, primarily in varying types and uses of magic. Until then, I believe I can find something to look into.
Luard grins and looks back into the GYM, looks like the object of his search has begun, two individuals beginning a type of combat. Without further ado, Luard waves to the businessman before walking back into the GYM, whipping out his tablet to begin notes. He glances over the combatants, Ina and Rep, yet seems bored for the moment
Being ambushed by the Orbs was a perfect opportunity for her. She let the orbs hit her and knocked her back, and just as rep can up from under the ground, she jumps up into the air and activates Flame palm mode. She creates a giant fireball and kicks it straight at rep while falling with the fireball.
"SHOOTING STAR!"
The man would wave to the figure as they left before going back to addressing Skitter. Her description sounded oddly close to his true nature but not quite on the point. Yet, the man was curious about these Parahumans. Perhaps this could explain his strange condition.
"Parahumans? People with strange powers, I presume. Perhaps that term could be accurate for me but I am mostly a businessman first and foremost. Any oddity that I may have encountered regarding myself only occurred after that fact of my success.
Though, I assure you that you most likely have still never seen anything quite on the scale of what Icahn Corp. can properly create."
*Wakui enters the GYM. Not really caring about that fight that was happening, he would walk to a chair where he would sit down and wait*
The flames slam into Rep... That Persona could null it, but given how this girl only seems to use fire that little effect is turned off. Instead, Taylor winces under her mask, geez that one did a good bit more damage than the last didn't it? Rep's not feeling so great by now, but he's still got some fight left, the snakeped quickly returns to the ground, his Persona would also rush up into the air with the skill of hovering all Personas seem to have. As Rep rushes under the ground, he'd aim to come up right behind Ina and slam his thick skull straight into her back to send the girl flying forward. Omukade would already be flying down at her, jaws gnashing as the creature attempts to grab hold of the hopefully flying Ina in its mouth. Assuming it hit, it would then begin shaking the girl around wildly for a few seconds before tossing her to the ground. Skitter, despite doing all that is still able to speak with ease.
"I see... Given how much I've seen already I can believe that, Mr. Icahn then right? Hmm, I'm nothing as impressive as you, all I've got is the power to control insects honestly, but well I try to help out where I can..."
With a sigh, Luard makes a few final notes, watching Omukade's movements, before letting out a a yawn, luard glances down at his tablet, realizing the time, and, without further ado, makes his way out of the GYM, walking down the city street
As Ina is knocked forward by the skull bash, she has little time to think of a plan. She fires a flame beam downwards with people's her upwards enough to be out of Omukade's grasp. She lands gracefully on the floor, and her eyes turn a fiery orange. She focuses all of her energy and enters flame boost mode, a orange aura covering her entire body.
"YOU'RE DONE FOR!"
She dashes towards rep and (hopefully) kicks him upwards, and if it lands she begins sending a flurry of kicks, punches, fireballs and flamethrowers at him. One they reach the peak of rep's ascent and they begin to fall, she once more creates a giant fireball and slams it into rep, making him fall even faster and crash into the ground.
Rather than simply letting himself be struck, Rep would take cover once again this time by way of his Persona rushing in front of him. Every last bit of flames slams into the being, but despite that it simply shimmers rather than totally breaking down, thanks more to Taylor's mental strength than Rep's, the Persona is just barely clinging on for now.
"Geez, this is getting really heated huh? I'm not sure how much longer he can keep this up... Guess we'll just have to try and do something else, though uh the whole magic thing is kinda new to me!"
Curse magic gathers up in the fading Omukade, it'd take the form of large bladed tentacles on the Persona's back. There's four of them all told and as the beast rushes toward Ina and attempts to wrap itself around her, each of them would wildly slice away toward the girl and aim to funnel her backward, any attempt at going another direction would be met with a quick jab or a wide slice that either slam in or forces her to move as Taylor wants in an effort to evade. Of course, Rep himself is waiting for her about 20 feet behind the girl, under the ground right up until she backs in close to him, at that point, the snakeped would rush up in a blur of motion and aim to coil around Ina. Assuming he hit, he'd then drag the girl down to the ground and slither away, his centiped Persona aiming to take his place by pinning the fox girl down to the ground and slamming his body into her.
Too blinded by pride in herself as alot of the strikes hit her, ripping up her kimono and giving her scratches on her face. She is able to dodge the rest as well as rep himself.
She once more activates flame palm, but this one looks.....different. instead of a orange aura, this one is blue.
"Say hello to Flame Palm Level 2!"
A flame beam charges up as she dashes towards rep and grabs onto him. She then jumps up and points him towards the floor.
"*Elavator Noise* Going down!"
She drops rep then fires the flame beam. If it hits, it's gonna do some SERIOUS damage.
Grabbing onto an angry snake? Foolish idea to be sure, the flames do indeed cause Rep a great deal of harm to be sure, his Persona is even forced to shatter into light despite Taylor's best efforts to keep it going... Sadly for Ina, he's still alive and fighting if only barely, the snake that she's holding onto would bite down on her neck, there's no time to dodge at such range, and this time around he's not holding his venom back. The rattler venom would rush into her blood, Rep himself then rather slowly attempting to dash away, he's clearly too beat up for fast movement by now.
*Wakui watched the two fight... he was ready to heal the both of them once this was over...*
As Ina is bitten, she goes into shock. She's in alot of pain, her arm even going limp, but she's not out. Once more she charges up for a giant fireball, this time even bigger than before. It launches up into the sky as she jumps after it. Finally she sends it straight at rep.
"FINISHING MOVE! SUPERNOVA!!!!!
Fuci steps into the GYM again after his defeat the other day. It was pretty clear he needed some training, he wasn't exactly the best at fighting, but hopefully it would never come to that. Looking around he spies a weird person in armour and some kind of medic? He shrugs before walking towards Waikui
Hello there? You seem different from the others! My name's Fucidin. Fucidin Fuun. What's your name?
Taylor drops to the ground and clutches her head, there's a horrible pain flowing through the girl as the feeling of burning to death plays inside her mind, for a moment Rep's entirely turned to ash, the girl controlling him would struggle to stand up and... Suddenly realize that the pile of ashes has quickly reformed, seems as if he doesn't die, but she's calling it over, either way, Taylor's control of Rep drops as she sighs with relief, despite a horrible migraine she's starting to get.
"Gah... That was something else, kinda uh killed Rep there actually. But he doesn't seem to stay dead somehow, it does cripple me though... Normal bugs don't really feel all that much, not like we do anyway, but him... It's screwy Well, the fight's over now I'd say."
She rubs her head, clearly suffering a great deal after all that. As for Rep, she's no longer exerting any control, so he'd be free to do whatever it is he feels like at this point.
She drops to the floor and pants. She said extremely pooped out from that fight.
"Huh. Looks like that moron can actually do something when he's really trying. That tired me out and fulfilled my need for battle!"
She then realizes her arm is poisoned.
"Uhhh.... Does anyone have an antidote?"
Oi, Ina-chan.
Senri tosses Ina a small, strange looking capsule. It seemed... Unnatural.
Cure-all stuff from a doctor friend Mona knows. It's fine, trust me~
*Wakui walks over to lna and heals her from the damage and the poison (well just in case the capsule does not work)*
(edited by Wakui_Hiro)
Ina can't he's the capsule with her good arm and looks at it. She thinks *Ehh, who cares* and swallows it.
The capsule was an anti-toxic antidote. It tasted very bitter and almost sickening... But it it got the job done well enough.
Not known for its finish, sadly. You okay though?
She almost barfs up from the taste, but seems fine.
"Yeah, I'm good. Almost lost my lunch though. Hey Sensen, I didn't see you come in!"
She gives her signature heart melting smile.
*Wakui would get up and walk back to his chair after healing Ina*
I exist. Kinda.
She shrugs, more for herself than being indifferent.
That was quite a display, though. Like I said, you're always welcome when we have a "project" to complete~
"What can I say? Practice pays off! Although doing that stuff gets me extremely tired. But I am better now!"
Well, nothing's happening today, so rest up. You did well.
Senri chuckles and pats Ina on the head.
Setting things on fire is a skill that comes quite handy in being a revolutionary~ you're well on your way.
Skitter rubs her head a bit more... Gah, that feeling ain't going away for a while is it? Guess that dying is something one can't shrug off too easily, despite that she'd glance over towards Senri and Ina... Oh right, she met that girl before once didn't she? In pancake land, what a strange place that was, but regardless she'd walk up and greet the girl in a tired voice.
"Revolutionary? I uh wouldn't know much about that, but I'm not so sure that it'd be a great idea... Eh, it's not a big deal either way unless you plan to go out and start a civil war or something. Uh by the way, nice seeing you again I guess... Senri? Hard to keep track with all the crazy that was our last meeting."
The girl chuckles nervously, despite the fact that she's in her little getup, she can't help feeling awkward as usual when dealing with people. Geez, she's only good with people when it involves violence or weird stuff isn't she?
"Hah, if we keep meeting like this maybe you'll figure out who I am under this mask... Not that it really seems to matter much here as far as I can tell."
"Well, I can't rest up yet, I still got a job to do, and that's my maid job! And what can I say? When it comes to fire, I'm the master! I even have the daughter of a goddess and also kind of a dragon under my wing! Anyways, see ya!"
She spins around in a tiny fire tornado and is in her maid outfit and bursts out the door. Well, if there even is a door.
(edited by Ina)
Senri waves goodbye to Ina with a chuckle. What a precious maid she had; never change, Ina-chan.
Senri was pleasantly surprised; the masked vigilante from Pancake Land. She had noticed her here before, but didn't expect to be approached. She seemed more amused by her eavesdropping than anything.
Ah, overheard that bit, eh? No worries. I caused a bit of trouble in the past, but that's another story... I don't know where you come from, Skitter-san, but trust me when I say, everywhere needs a revolutionary, or at least someone to stand up against corruption... Alas, I'm merely an advocate, not a doer.
That last bit was a bold faced lie, clearly to the readers, but she couldn't have anyone knowing who she was underneath the mask.
Civil War, eh? I suppose depending on the circumstances, I could get involved in one. I'm quite fond of the Spanish Civil War, myself, though I didn't like the results... Ultimately, I just want this world to be a place where anyone can be strong, show their strength without fear, love who they wish to love, be who they want to be, and not be strangled under the grip of any higher power... That's the world I strive for... I'll rebel when need be.
Senri leaned up against the wall, smiling as she explained herself to Skitter. She seemed to be quite confident and passionate in her speech. These were goals she held dearly.
Well, I do agree, you stand out in the mask... We all have our secrets though. If I ever do find out who you are, it'll be our little secret~ maybe I'll know and you won't know a thing. Life is funny that way.
She chuckled playfully, though her expression indicated there was more to her than meets the eye. Skitter may already know this from their experiences in Pancake Land however.
Skitter takes a hand to her chin... A bit of trouble huh? Well, she can't exactly say she buys it just being a bit, not with a name like "The Black Samurai". But, Hmm... Those goals aren't so bad, right? Being strong though almost reminds her of... Nah, doubt she's like that, but geez civil wars are something this girl knows about? Who is she, beyond one of those "Persona Users" who pop up all the time.
"I wouldn't say I really have any favorite wars myself, not that I ever paid much attention in school anyway, bit busy with uh, less fun things than learning."
There's clearly more to Skitter's statement, but she's not going to say it outright... Secrets? Hah, it's funny because she's a total nobody, from a world no one knows, who's got zero reasons to care about keeping her name secret, beyond that... Fuck it, she'd reach up to the mask and pull it off, an awkward smile showing on the girl's face as she looks over at Senri.
"Taylor Herbert, I uh can't say I care about it being a secret that much anyways. Just kinda custom around home, but everyone else does this kinda stuff pretty openly here, so what's it matter? And well, I already know yours, so it only seems fair right?"
In contrast to earlier, she'd sound sure of herself... Sure it's still weird trying to deal with people and all, at least as anything but foes. But if nothing else, she isn't going to just hide behind her mask and not try to get to know anybody.
War hardly ever helps anyone. Well, besides the winners... I prefer a revolution rather than a war of power. Though, that in itself may become a civil war... I'm getting ahead of myself, heh. I don't think anything like that is gonna happen anytime soon in this city anyway. The second some dictatorial asshole pops up, I'll be there, though.
Senri smiles at Taylor. She was a pretty girl, underneath the doom and gloom of the buglike outfit. It reminded her of her of the ending of the NES game, Retroid. Senri seemed to ease up upon seeing the girls true face.
You're a cutie under all that mystery, aren't you? eheh.
Senri giggles teasingly, though she meant her words honestly.
Both Taylor-chan and Skitter are interesting. I'd like to get to know both of them more. And, if there's ever authoritarianism amidst or an establishment to raddle, or even just a bunch of assholes that need a good smacking, I'd love to have you as a friend rather than an enemy.
Senri winked at Taylor. Senri was a lot more laid back as herself rather the seriousness of the Black Samurai persona.
Oh, and, I'm Senri, by the way, in case you forgot. Senri Suzuko. I'm kind of a blight around here; and that's not related to my "reputation". I guess, being a bit of a misfit, no one expects much out of you, you know what i mean? keeping a double life isn't so hard if people think you're trash. I'm glad I have my love and my friends though.
Let's get along more, eh, Taylor-chan?
Senri put emphasis on her name as if trying to assess their friendship in her own weird, playful way.
Cu-cute? What the heck? Eh, she'll take what she can get. Not like she's used to people being nice but maybe she actually means it. A slight blush can be seen on the girl's face as she rubs the back of her head.
"Interesting huh? Not what I expected to hear honestly, but um it's not a bad thing! I guess I'm just surprised is all, usually, people are... Not very nice at best, I guess that it's nice, if odd, to actually see someone think I'm interesting."
And assholes huh? Geez, wonder what kinda assholes are running around here? Well, other than the usual petty and not so petty crooks, they're always fun to pick a fight with, but somehow she doubts that what Senri meant.
"Friend huh... Last person I met who said something like that was uh, something else, kinda creepy and a bit too helpful really. But, you seem nice enough Senri! And I can't really say that I've got many friends, but uh at least that's one."
Geez this girl... She can't tell if Senri's being friendly or flirting, not that she'd even know the difference anymore really. And nobody expects much huh? That's something she could live with herself, people expecting things isn't exactly something Taylor loves dealing with.
"Sure, let's get along. Though you can uh drop the honorifics if you want, I'm from America and it just sounds weird with a name like mine don't ya think? "
There's a bit of lightness to her tone by now, it's kinda nice actually trying to talk with someone for something other than a fight, or to get some new item, or... Geez, she's gotten way too used to just doing stuff and not taking any time to rest after coming here, a lot easier to do when you're actually enjoying what you've been doing.
People are total assholes. Me included. But I know where respect is deserved in my own view. You're pretty cool, and you're not like others around here. Kind of remind me of myself in a way.
Senri relaxes against the wall, pulling out some sort of candy and popping it into the corner of her mouth. Probably a jawbreaker or something. She seemed to be enjoying the conversation.
If I sound creepy, I probably don't mean anything by it. Don't worry, I won't hit on you or anything; I'm taken after all, and I'm not so much of a bitch to manipulate an ally.
It was only now that Senri really realized that she was applying an honorific to a gaijin. Force of habit, she supposed. She should be more multicultural if she's gonna stay true to her goals.
Yeah, probably, just a habit you get used to here. Sorry about that, heheh.
That makes it easier, anyway. America, eh? it's no surprise you know all about fighting and getting into trouble then. But, maybe your America is different than the one I've read about... I've never been out of this country, so I can't really tell.
Cool huh? Not so sure she'd call herself that, but Taylor grins upon hearing it nonetheless...
"Creepy? Nah, trust me it takes a lot to creep me out, you don't give that "I'm about to kill somebody" vibe, no, Femt is a special kinda creepy, if charming in his own weird way. You're a lot easier to talk with though."
The mention of being hit on raises a blush from Taylor, and taken huh? She... Is not entirely sure if she's glad to hear that, or slightly let down, what a strange thought that is. Either way, there's more blushing and a bit of a stammer.
"An-and um, glad to know that you uh won't do that. It's um, well I wouldn't really know how to respond anyway so that's for the best."
A different America? Sure most likely, if anything hers is no doubt worse, unless of course Senri's read about the fun times of Endbringers and god only knows how many Parahumans that cause trouble.
"As for me knowing about fighting, well let's see, we've got the largest number of superpowered gangsters where I live, not to mention the untold idiots who follow them, and I've spent my time at high school getting the shit beaten out of me both physically and verbally, so yeah I'd say I've had to pick up a few things just to not die."
Geez that's pretty gloomy, but either way she's thinking it's time to head out by now. That in mind, Skitter would throw her mask back on and begin walking away, throwing a cheerful wave and a few parting words at the other girl as she walks toward the door.
"Anyway though, I look forward to seeing more of you Senri! And if ya ever want to hear all about good old home please do ask, uh not so much on the bullying, but powers and gangs, now those I'll explain happily!"
That said and done, the girl would rush out of the building with a smile on her face for a change. Hmm, no telling this soon, but she's thinking she might have begun making a decent friend... If one whom her dad would call a horrible influence no doubt, but eh, what could go wrong? With that thought, Skitter's long gone by now.
Sweeping dust off the floor with a broom, a white-haired person stood in the background, calmly cleaning up the place.
Even with the ridiculous cleaning apron wrapped around his torso, the tanned Servant kept sweeping, ignoring how the sight of a pretty pink frilly cleaning apron hung off his black and red body armor...