Oath Sign: The Clone Wars

Sinsystems · Jun 26, 2017

A world split in two!!! As the Clone Wars rage on the demand for Bacta reaching an all time high the Republic seeks to supplement their dwindling supply with Kolta, a long obsolete alternative, by securing Ancient Ahto city on the planet Manaan. Seeking to deny the Republic of this valuable resource Count Dooku dispatched his own forces to take the ancient city.

Now it's a bloody stalemate of brutal street to street combat with neither side giving an inch, the outcome hangs in the balance. It's fate shall be decided by 6 unfortunate souls, thrust into a world that is not their own.

@The3rdCorinthian

You awaken on a hard metal floor to the sound of dozens of artillery shells pounding into the ground all around you, a mixture of solid explosive rounds, EMPs and plasma that could easily kill a person unlucky enough to get hit. But for the moment you were sheltered from the bombardment by the ruin you had found yourself in, one that was already starting to crumble as one as more and more shells hit it.

Of course you didn't have much time to think as you were suddenly overcome with searing pain as a mark literally burned itself onto your hand and a voice echoed through your mind.

Rescue "The Talon of the Republic" from the Separatists

@Megaolix

The first thing you notice when you wake up is that you didn't really want to get up, the bed was just too warm and the room just too cold. But the steady beeping of medical equipment, along with the pain of a mark literally burning itself into your shoulder, forced you to acknowledge the world outside of your bed.

It was a rather small room, barely big enough to hold the bed you were laying in and it had that all too clean smell that hospitals do mixed in with a little salty seaside air. The door was slightly ajar and through the opening you could see a mass of tents, prefab shelters and people rushing to and fro looking in a hurry, oh there were also armored men patrolling the place keeping the peace.

Then something screamed inside your head

Calm the Spirits of Rage and Tranquillity

@Wizard_Marshall

If you could ever feel deja vu from waking up in the middle of a ruined city with no memory of how she got there and instantly knowing for certain that you were not surrounded by hundreds of high explosives, although something told her that it should have been bombs instead of Mines for some reason, then Sion could say that that was exactly what she was feeling right now as a single wrong step would surely lead to her getting a face full of high explosives and shrapnel. To make matters worse the only structure that wasn't rubble was the remains of a blasted out skyscraper, but that was at least a 100 meters away through what is likely a mine field.

Doesn't help that she was suddenly suffering from a mark burning itself into her left thigh like a tattoo and a voice screaming in her head

Discover the Nature of the Red Mist Project

Oh and there was the distinct sound of a battle going on somewhere in the distance.

@Slayer1968

If there is one thing a GI doesn't want to happen is to wake up and not know where he was, in this particular instance you only woke up in an alleyway rather than a military prison or interrogation facility. Of course there was still the fact that you were in an alleyway in an unknown city, one that had robots patrolling it if the squad of metal men that just passed the alleyway's mouth was anything to go by.

Of course there was also the burning pain as a mark burnt itself into your neck and a voice screaming into your mind

Retrieve the "Eyes of Heaven" from the "Pearl of Naboo"

@Blackout

Chara was awoken by a steady drip of water on their face to something out of a horror movie. They were laying in the middle of a dark room with flickering lights and stale air in the middle of a ritualistic circle drawn in blood, probably the blood of the fish monsters kneeling around the circle who had seen fit to carve out their own stomachs with dinner knives.

Honestly it wasn't even that surprising when a mark burnt itself into Chara's chest (right over the heart to be specific) and a voice echoed through their head

Neutralize The Heart of Madness

@Brightflame

The Sounds of battle were what awoke the Squidgirl from her slumber, which wasn't a result of her falling asleep in the Splatzone again, with a wicked hangover and a searing pain as a mark is burnt into her left hair-tentacle. She was in a crater, protected for now, as beams of light streamed back and forth above her head. On one side marked a veritable tide of Droids, relentlessly advancing across No-mans land and on the other were a group of armored soldiers hiding behind cover and shooting at the advancing droids.

Oh and a voice screamed into her head

Discover the Nature of the "Energizer Project"

It felt their arrival......It could smell one of them nearby.....It wondered if it should attack so soon.....It needed more information.....It had to complete it's plan......it was H̨̥̣͕̯̮u͝҉͎̖̩̪̯̳n̸͝͏̢̩͓͙̭̠̬̺̦̞͔͜g̸̢̜̥̤̩͜r̶̶̛̼̟͉͖̼͚̤͟͝y̷͚͈͖̦̰̬̼̲̼͇̭̺̞͔̱̱̮̰͟

The3rdCorinthian · Jun 26, 2017

Sinsystems said:
@The3rdCorinthian

You awaken on a hard metal floor to the sound of dozens of artillery shells pounding into the ground all around you, a mixture of solid explosive rounds, EMPs and plasma that could easily kill a person unlucky enough to get hit. But for the moment you were sheltered from the bombardment by the ruin you had found yourself in, one that was already starting to crumble as one as more and more shells hit it.

Gentaro Kisaragi woke up with a splitting headache. It had been the day after they had discovered that Kengou was alive, having been revived by the dying actions of their former enemy and chairman of Amonogawa, Gamou. Given that had been the ending to a school year filled with upheavals and a ton of new friendships. There had been a lot of fights as well, but most of those weren't really all that important.

Still, he'd kind of assumed that there would be a bit of a while to rest after that. So he hadn't expected waking up to see a roof that looked like the middle of a war zone instead of his ceiling...Or his alarm to sound like the middle of a war zone...Or his bed to feel like hard painful rubble...Like the middle of a war zone.

He was in the middle of a war zone wasn't he?

Sinsystems said:
Of course you didn't have much time to think as you were suddenly overcome with searing pain as a mark literally burned itself onto your hand and a voice echoed through your mind.

Gentaro gripped at his right hand as an odd, circular mark was burned into the back of it by some unseen force. The pain was almost the worst he'd ever felt before. He'd say he felt like he was dying...But given that he'd already gone through that once, and it hadn't actually been that bad, that wouldn't be a good metaphor. At least that time he'd been able to help Ryusei out with his problems! The Voice echoing through his mind, telling him to rescue some kind of Talon from Separatists (What even were those?), was almost unheard.

Then the pain left as quickly as it had struck, and only the odd circular mark remained, like a brand.

This was...This was...

THIS WAS AWESOME!

The whole deal with the Zodiarts had just ended, and he was already being flung into some other amazing situation? This was so cool! There must be a bunch of people here who he could make whole new friends with who he could talk about with the Kamen Rider Club when he returned home!

Off to the side, Gentaro could see the familiar form of the Fourze Driver, along with the case that was used to contain the Astro Switches. That made things so much easier, though he had to question how he had them when he thought they were with Kengo...Eh, whatever. It wasn't like the Kamen Rider Club needed them as much anymore now that the zodiarts had been defeated, and if any trouble came up, he was confident that Ryusei, aka Kamen Rider Meteor, could handle it. He proceeded to slot four switches into the slots: Wheel, Stealth, Radar, and Rocket, before pushing down the red switches on the driver in front of each of them.

Alright! He'd decided! As Kamen Rider Fourze, it was going to be his mission to befriend everyone in this war, and to end it!

3...
2...
1...

With a cry of "Henshin!" as his marked hand pulled the driver's lever, a cloud of smoke reminiscent of a taking off rocket billowed out as Gentaro was surrounded by a ring of cosmic energy, transforming him into the black and white figure of Kamen Rider Fourze.

"UCHUUU KITAAAAAA!!!" He shouted, performing the signature 'Blasting off' pose that he'd done countless times before when he'd transformed to pump himself up!

picking up the case of Astro Switches, he left the building in order to survey his surroundings.

Blackout · Jun 27, 2017

Chara Dreemurr, technically and against their will the Crown Heir to the kingdom of Monsters, woke up. It wasn't a gentle awakening, as it often was for them, even years after returning to the ranks of the living.

They sprung onto their feet like a cat, red eyes blinking in the darkness as they swept their surroundings.

Sinsystems said:
They were laying in the middle of a dark room with flickering lights and stale air in the middle of a ritualistic circle drawn in blood, probably the blood of the fish monsters kneeling around the circle who had seen fit to carve out their own stomachs with dinner knives.

They knelt down and swiped a hand on the occult symbols, tasting the substance.

...

Blood... monsters don't have blood. What is this?

Chara stepped outside the boundaries of the circle, inspecting the corpse. A real corpse. Either... either someone sunk a lot of time and effort into this. Someone with a real sick sense of humour.

Their hand curled into a fist. Who would do this?

Nobody. Nobody left had the means and motive.

Which left reality. Accepting that this was what was happening, until proven otherwise.

And if so... What were these beings? Certainly not monsters, but they didn't immediately repulse Chara with their very existence like humanity. Something inbetween? Questions for later. But for now... they would not leave it like this. A spark lit the cave, filling it with the roar of flames as it grew into an inferno.

If they were real... they deserved a burial better than being left to lie in some cave. The cloud of fire swept across the bodies, cremating them in an instant, before whipping back into Charas hand, dying down into a torchfire. Sparing a brief glance at the ashes left behind, the self-proclaimed demon stepped forward, looking for a way out.

They would find this "Heart of Madness", and extract answers.

Slayer1968 · Jun 27, 2017

Sinsystems said:
If there is one thing a GI doesn't want to happen is to wake up and not know where he was, in this particular instance you only woke up in an alleyway rather than a military prison or interrogation facility. Of course there was still the fact that you were in an alleyway in an unknown city, one that had robots patrolling it if the squad of metal men that just passed the alleyway's mouth was anything to go by.

The moment consciousness returned, I immediately do a forward combat roll, simultaneously pulling out my sidearm from its leg holster in a single fluid movement and swipe it back and forth across both sides of the alley I find myself in. I only just manage to catch a glimpse of an ordered squad of what looked like humanoid robots passing by before a sudden sharp pain in my neck interrupts my thoughts.

Sinsystems said:
Of course there was also the burning pain as a mark burnt itself into your neck and a voice screaming into your mind

The pain is dull on my plasti-skin flesh, like a laz-scalpel burn, but it goes as quickly as it comes, replaced with a booming voice in my head telling - no, ordering me, to get something for it. What the Skev did it put on my ne-

{Rogue, over here!} I whip my head and gun around to the synthesized voice of Helm projected in infrasound, finding him, Gunnar and Bagman placed next to a nearby dumpster. Quickly making my way to them, two other voices pitch in. [Are we glad to see you, Rogue! You okay? Need anything from the medkit?] Good old Bagman, always looking out for us. "I'm solid blue, Bagman." Solid blue. It was the phrase us GIs had always used strictly among ourselves, first in the years of harsh training in Milli-com and then during the nightmare carnage of the Quartz Zone Massacre. "Blue-skinned freak" was the most common epithet used against us by the instructor-guards, but the close brotherhood of GIs had turned the insult on its head, adopting the intended slur as a badge of pride.... and an effective code word for spoofing traps and imposters.

Something that proved itsself yet again, as the almost unaudiable 'click' of Gunnar's safety turning on was heard and I saw the rifle fully slump against the dumpster. I hadn't missed how he'd kept himself ready to turn the gun barrel on me with his telekinetic power, something that still boggles the mind even after all these years. <Told 'em it was you, Rogue, but you know Helm and his paranoia. Now come on, holster that peashooter and pick me up already!>

{Sorry, Rogue, but seeing as there's a whole bunch of things wrong with this situation I thought some prudence wouldn't hurt. Speaking of strange things: what's with that mark on your neck?} I'd just finished equipping my gear when Helm's question reminded me of it. But before I could open my mouth, Bagman was already passing me the mirror from my shaving kit with his claw arm. The symbol looked like it was branded on my skin and it was completely unfamiliar, but I can recognize an ID mark when I see one. The problem being there's no context for it.

Softly growling in anger, I answer. "Don't know but this whole situation stinks of another Beamer fiasco." None of us could forget the God-like alien entities that 'recruited' me, and by extension the others, to be their own personal assassin, their Angel of Death. They promised us that we'd end the war and they would re-gene my dead brothers, but they betrayed us in the end and would have killed me had something not interfered. Unfortunately, said something doesn't look much better. "Looks like our saviour wants us to retrieve something called the ''Eyes of Heaven'' from the ''Pearl of Naboo''. Helm, you know what to do." But of course things are never so simple.

{About that, me and Bagman have been trying to break through all the comm encryptions being used around here but they're nothing at all like Nort or Souther ones, Rogue. It's gonna take some time before we can monitor local communications, we're better off looking for a listening post or a computer mainframe to jack into.} Helm ruthlessly shoots down my hopes of getting easy info. [Yeah, and judging by long-range seismics and the magnitude and intensity of signal traffic in the airwaves, we're in yet another warzone. Good news is, it looks like we're far behind the frontlines and comm traffic seems to go through a nearby building at these coordinates. Might be worth checking out.] Bagman punctuates his words by handing me a digi-map.

After looking at the device for orientation and slamming in a fresh las-clip into Gunnar's magazine, I stealthily make my way out of the alleyway. <Finally, I thought you guys would never shut up! Time to find something to shoot!> "Synth out Gunnar, you'll get your wish soon enough." A small part of me can't help but hope it's not too soon, a little breather to get my bearings and deal with all of this Skev would be welcome, but GIs aren't made to complain, we're made to act.

Megaolix · Jun 27, 2017

Sinsystems said:
The first thing you notice when you wake up is that you didn't really want to get up, the bed was just too warm and the room just too cold. But the steady beeping of medical equipment, along with the pain of a mark literally burning itself into your shoulder, forced you to acknowledge the world outside of your bed.

It was a rather small room, barely big enough to hold the bed you were laying in and it had that all too clean smell that hospitals do mixed in with a little salty seaside air. The door was slightly ajar and through the opening you could see a mass of tents, prefab shelters and people rushing to and fro looking in a hurry, oh there were also armored men patrolling the place keeping the peace.

Marona had been enjoying her sleep, thought something felt wrong. Even if she was comfortable in her bed, that sense of discomfort would not go away.

Once the mark appeared however, she could not longer stay asleep when a searing pain struck her shoulders.

"Ouch ouch ouch!" She cried out, moving straight up. "What is... huh? What's that mark? And where am I?"

What she could see only confused her further. Very obviously, from the way some things were unfamiliar like the soldiers, she was in another world. That itself was fine. But how did she arrive here to begin with? Why wasn't Ash with her?

Maybe a putty played a prank on her? But... That didn't seem right. First of all, they wouldn't do that to her. And Ash wouldn't have let it happen to begin with. So who did this and why?

Calm the Spirits of Rage and Tranquillity

That had been kinda loud... Still, it seemed there WAS a purpose after all!

...Even if Marona had no idea where to find them.

"Still, why didn't they just ask if they needed help? ...Well, I can ask that later." She pondered.

She checked herself first. Clothes, okay. Staff, on her back. She could use some breakfast but the people here seemed to be on hard times. She could probably scavenge something later. All that was left was maybe find whoever was in charge in this makeshift hospital and ask some questions.

...Oh! Right! Maybe she could ask who brought her here too! After all, surely she just didn't appear in it, right? So surely, someone had seen her being put in bed!

Brightflame · Jun 27, 2017

Sinsystems said:
@Brightflame

The Sounds of battle were what awoke the Squidgirl from her slumber, which wasn't a result of her falling asleep in the Splatzone again, with a wicked hangover and a searing pain as a mark is burnt into her left hair-tentacle. She was in a crater, protected for now, as beams of light streamed back and forth above her head. On one side marked a veritable tide of Droids, relentlessly advancing across No-mans land and on the other were a group of armored soldiers hiding behind cover and shooting at the advancing droids.

Oh and a voice screamed into her head
Discover the Nature of the "Energizer Project"

Callie groaned as she slowly tried to lift herself off of the ground, only to fall back down when a booming voiced echoed throughout her head and a burning sensation enveloped her tentacle hair.

"Owww..." she moaned in pain, "what's the big deal?" she asked the invisible voice inside her head as she stared at her now branded tentacle, partly curious about the meaning of the brand and what it represents, and partly frustrated by the thing being branded on her in the first place. "first you give me...this, you send me to a battlefield, and now you want me to do something for you? You could atleast say please!" the idol muttered, the grogginess of being rudely awoken still clinging to her.

Slowly crawling up to the edge of the crater, Callie saw the battle take place, between two sides unknown to her. What's with the weird robots battling some people in cheap sci-fi costumes?

Callie internally shrugged, this wasn't her fight regardless. What really matters is that I need to get out of here before it is!

Laying low, Callie began to crawl out of the crater, hoping she wouldn't be seen by either sides.

Wizard_Marshall · Jun 28, 2017

What was going on? Sion was confused as she washed the grogginess from her mind. It felt like she was hungover, an impossibility since she never indulged in alcohol to such an extent. Could Kohaku have put something in last night's meal? The elder maid's ways and mind were unpredictable even to an alchemist of Atlas.

Sinsystems said:
@Wizard_Marshall

If you could ever feel deja vu from waking up in the middle of a ruined city with no memory of how she got there and instantly knowing for certain that you were not surrounded by hundreds of high explosives, although something told her that it should have been bombs instead of Mines for some reason, then Sion could say that that was exactly what she was feeling right now as a single wrong step would surely lead to her getting a face full of high explosives and shrapnel. To make matters worse the only structure that wasn't rubble was the remains of a blasted out skyscraper, but that was at least a 100 meters away through what is likely a mine field.

Doesn't help that she was suddenly suffering from a mark burning itself into her left thigh like a tattoo and a voice screaming in her head

Discover the Nature of the Red Mist Project

Oh and there was the distinct sound of a battle going on somewhere in the distance.

The situation was a great deal worse than she originally suspected. This wasn't merely a prank by Kohaku; Sion had been kidnapped by an unknown entity. An entity resourceful enough to sneak past everyone in the Tohno household including Arcueid. Sion wouldn't say she was close to the True Ancestor, but she'd like to think they had somewhat friendly relations. Arcueid wouldn't really just let someone walk off with Sion would she? Well, Arcueid aside, the other members in the household were exceptional in their own ways. Satsuki definitely would've raised an alarm. The young vampire was inexperienced but her raw talent was incomparable. Sion preferred to think that the offender hand sneaked past her friends; the alternative was too horrible to imagine. It was times like these that the human side of her felt the cold logic of alchemy was distasteful.

Regardless, this was no time to be worrying about others. The stigma on her thigh concerned her, but compared to her worry for her friends, this didn't even warrant an increase in heart rate. Sion quickly took stock of her local environment using her Etherlite. It was much more efficient than just relying on just her physical senses, though she put them to use as well, scanning her immediate area. Partitions 2 and 3 begin local mapping. Priority level one. Accelerate. What would've taken other people minutes to figure out, Sion ascertained in nano-seconds.

She was in a minefield. Sion didn't recognize the make of the mines in question, but she was hardly an expert in conventional weaponry despite her military training. For a moment, she considered trying to analyze and disarm them, but there were too many. And she could hear fighting in the distance. Best not to chance it. Good thing there was a large building roughly a hundred meters away. Leaping from a standstill position would be pushing it even with her vampiric heritage, but luckily her Etherlite was more than up to the task.

Sion manipulated the nano-wires to create a elevated line between her current location and the building. Then she merely rode the line at a controlled pace.

Sinsystems · Jul 5, 2017

The3rdCorinthian said:
Gentaro Kisaragi woke up with a splitting headache. It had been the day after they had discovered that Kengou was alive, having been revived by the dying actions of their former enemy and chairman of Amonogawa, Gamou. Given that had been the ending to a school year filled with upheavals and a ton of new friendships. There had been a lot of fights as well, but most of those weren't really all that important.

Still, he'd kind of assumed that there would be a bit of a while to rest after that. So he hadn't expected waking up to see a roof that looked like the middle of a war zone instead of his ceiling...Or his alarm to sound like the middle of a war zone...Or his bed to feel like hard painful rubble...Like the middle of a war zone.

He was in the middle of a war zone wasn't he?

Gentaro gripped at his right hand as an odd, circular mark was burned into the back of it by some unseen force. The pain was almost the worst he'd ever felt before. He'd say he felt like he was dying...But given that he'd already gone through that once, and it hadn't actually been that bad, that wouldn't be a good metaphor. At least that time he'd been able to help Ryusei out with his problems! The Voice echoing through his mind, telling him to rescue some kind of Talon from Separatists (What even were those?), was almost unheard.

Then the pain left as quickly as it had struck, and only the odd circular mark remained, like a brand.

This was...This was...

THIS WAS AWESOME!

The whole deal with the Zodiarts had just ended, and he was already being flung into some other amazing situation? This was so cool! There must be a bunch of people here who he could make whole new friends with who he could talk about with the Kamen Rider Club when he returned home!

Off to the side, Gentaro could see the familiar form of the Fourze Driver, along with the case that was used to contain the Astro Switches. That made things so much easier, though he had to question how he had them when he thought they were with Kengo...Eh, whatever. It wasn't like the Kamen Rider Club needed them as much anymore now that the zodiarts had been defeated, and if any trouble came up, he was confident that Ryusei, aka Kamen Rider Meteor, could handle it. He proceeded to slot four switches into the slots: Wheel, Stealth, Radar, and Rocket, before pushing down the red switches on the driver in front of each of them.

Alright! He'd decided! As Kamen Rider Fourze, it was going to be his mission to befriend everyone in this war, and to end it!

3...
2...
1...

With a cry of "Henshin!" as his marked hand pulled the driver's lever, a cloud of smoke reminiscent of a taking off rocket billowed out as Gentaro was surrounded by a ring of cosmic energy, transforming him into the black and white figure of Kamen Rider Fourze.

"UCHUUU KITAAAAAA!!!" He shouted, performing the signature 'Blasting off' pose that he'd done countless times before when he'd transformed to pump himself up!

picking up the case of Astro Switches, he left the building in order to survey his surroundings.

As you finished transforming a dozen artillery shells land behind you, destroying the cover but miraculously leaving you complete unharmed (and looking cool). But now you could survey the land, more like a warzone. All around you there were the blasted ruins of a city, complete with chasms in the metal street that lead to mile high drops into the water below, between what can only be battle lines judging by the artillery fire they were spitting at each other.

You now had a few options, you could go left or right across no-man's land towards one of the battle lines or you could take your chances with the dive to the waters below. What was certain was that you needed to be careful as another wave of artillery was sure to come any moment now and you do not want to get hit so you will need to find cover.

Blackout said:
Chara Dreemurr, technically and against their will the Crown Heir to the kingdom of Monsters, woke up. It wasn't a gentle awakening, as it often was for them, even years after returning to the ranks of the living.

They sprung onto their feet like a cat, red eyes blinking in the darkness as they swept their surroundings.

They knelt down and swiped a hand on the occult symbols, tasting the substance.

...

Blood... monsters don't have blood. What is this?

Chara stepped outside the boundaries of the circle, inspecting the corpse. A real corpse. Either... either someone sunk a lot of time and effort into this. Someone with a real sick sense of humour.

Their hand curled into a fist. Who would do this?

Nobody. Nobody left had the means and motive.

Which left reality. Accepting that this was what was happening, until proven otherwise.

And if so... What were these beings? Certainly not monsters, but they didn't immediately repulse Chara with their very existence like humanity. Something inbetween? Questions for later. But for now... they would not leave it like this. A spark lit the cave, filling it with the roar of flames as it grew into an inferno.

If they were real... they deserved a burial better than being left to lie in some cave. The cloud of fire swept across the bodies, cremating them in an instant, before whipping back into Charas hand, dying down into a torchfire. Sparing a brief glance at the ashes left behind, the self-proclaimed demon stepped forward, looking for a way out.

They would find this "Heart of Madness", and extract answers.

The flickering light of the flame revealed what Chara had thought was a cave was in fact something more. Instead of rough stone the room you found yourself in was smooth metal, although you could see several marks of a struggle such as dents, scratch marks and patches of dried blood and oil. Here and there exposed wires sparked while water dripped from the ceiling.

The only exit to the room was a doorway with a sliding metal door jammed partially open, on it a single sentence was scratched 'BECOME AS GODS'

Slayer1968 said:
The moment consciousness returned, I immediately do a forward combat roll, simultaneously pulling out my sidearm from its leg holster in a single fluid movement and swipe it back and forth across both sides of the alley I find myself in. I only just manage to catch a glimpse of an ordered squad of what looked like humanoid robots passing by before a sudden sharp pain in my neck interrupts my thoughts.

The pain is dull on my plasti-skin flesh, like a laz-scalpel burn, but it goes as quickly as it comes, replaced with a booming voice in my head telling - no, ordering me, to get something for it. What the Skev did it put on my ne-

{Rogue, over here!} I whip my head and gun around to the synthesized voice of Helm projected in infrasound, finding him, Gunnar and Bagman placed next to a nearby dumpster. Quickly making my way to them, two other voices pitch in. [Are we glad to see you, Rogue! You okay? Need anything from the medkit?] Good old Bagman, always looking out for us. "I'm solid blue, Bagman." Solid blue. It was the phrase us GIs had always used strictly among ourselves, first in the years of harsh training in Milli-com and then during the nightmare carnage of the Quartz Zone Massacre. "Blue-skinned freak" was the most common epithet used against us by the instructor-guards, but the close brotherhood of GIs had turned the insult on its head, adopting the intended slur as a badge of pride.... and an effective code word for spoofing traps and imposters.

Something that proved itsself yet again, as the almost unaudiable 'click' of Gunnar's safety turning on was heard and I saw the rifle fully slump against the dumpster. I hadn't missed how he'd kept himself ready to turn the gun barrel on me with his telekinetic power, something that still boggles the mind even after all these years. <Told 'em it was you, Rogue, but you know Helm and his paranoia. Now come on, holster that peashooter and pick me up already!>

{Sorry, Rogue, but seeing as there's a whole bunch of things wrong with this situation I thought some prudence wouldn't hurt. Speaking of strange things: what's with that mark on your neck?} I'd just finished equipping my gear when Helm's question reminded me of it. But before I could open my mouth, Bagman was already passing me the mirror from my shaving kit with his claw arm. The symbol looked like it was branded on my skin and it was completely unfamiliar, but I can recognize an ID mark when I see one. The problem being there's no context for it.

Softly growling in anger, I answer. "Don't know but this whole situation stinks of another Beamer fiasco." None of us could forget the God-like alien entities that 'recruited' me, and by extension the others, to be their own personal assassin, their Angel of Death. They promised us that we'd end the war and they would re-gene my dead brothers, but they betrayed us in the end and would have killed me had something not interfered. Unfortunately, said something doesn't look much better. "Looks like our saviour wants us to retrieve something called the ''Eyes of Heaven'' from the ''Pearl of Naboo''. Helm, you know what to do." But of course things are never so simple.

{About that, me and Bagman have been trying to break through all the comm encryptions being used around here but they're nothing at all like Nort or Souther ones, Rogue. It's gonna take some time before we can monitor local communications, we're better off looking for a listening post or a computer mainframe to jack into.} Helm ruthlessly shoots down my hopes of getting easy info. [Yeah, and judging by long-range seismics and the magnitude and intensity of signal traffic in the airwaves, we're in yet another warzone. Good news is, it looks like we're far behind the frontlines and comm traffic seems to go through a nearby building at these coordinates. Might be worth checking out.] Bagman punctuates his words by handing me a digi-map.

After looking at the device for orientation and slamming in a fresh las-clip into Gunnar's magazine, I stealthily make my way out of the alleyway. <Finally, I thought you guys would never shut up! Time to find something to shoot!> "Synth out Gunnar, you'll get your wish soon enough." A small part of me can't help but hope it's not too soon, a little breather to get my bearings and deal with all of this Skev would be welcome, but GIs aren't made to complain, we're made to act.

Once Rogue left the alleyway he found what could only be described as a city under martial law, which makes sense since it sounded like the warzone wasn't too far away, with patrols of Robots passing every few minutes and larger spider shaped robots with large guns for noses standing on the corners of buildings acting as makeshift turrets.

Of course the inevitable was bound to happen and a group of the stick thin robots spotted him, approached him and their commander asked in it's synthesized voice while pointing at Gunner "Excuse me Sir. Do you have a permit for that weapon?"

Megaolix said:
Marona had been enjoying her sleep, thought something felt wrong. Even if she was comfortable in her bed, that sense of discomfort would not go away.

Once the mark appeared however, she could not longer stay asleep when a searing pain struck her shoulders.

"Ouch ouch ouch!" She cried out, moving straight up. "What is... huh? What's that mark? And where am I?"

What she could see only confused her further. Very obviously, from the way some things were unfamiliar like the soldiers, she was in another world. That itself was fine. But how did she arrive here to begin with? Why wasn't Ash with her?

Maybe a putty played a prank on her? But... That didn't seem right. First of all, they wouldn't do that to her. And Ash wouldn't have let it happen to begin with. So who did this and why?

That had been kinda loud... Still, it seemed there WAS a purpose after all!

...Even if Marona had no idea where to find them.

"Still, why didn't they just ask if they needed help? ...Well, I can ask that later." She pondered.

She checked herself first. Clothes, okay. Staff, on her back. She could use some breakfast but the people here seemed to be on hard times. She could probably scavenge something later. All that was left was maybe find whoever was in charge in this makeshift hospital and ask some questions.

...Oh! Right! Maybe she could ask who brought her here too! After all, surely she just didn't appear in it, right? So surely, someone had seen her being put in bed!

Marona's preparations were interrupted by a mechanical foot stepping through the door, it was a robot of some kind with a bunch of surgical equipment attached to it's crude mechanical arms. It stopped once it saw that she was now awake and paused a moment before speaking "Patient 803 return to your bed, you may leave once standard check ups and anti-viral vaccinations have been completed"

Brightflame said:
Callie groaned as she slowly tried to lift herself off of the ground, only to fall back down when a booming voiced echoed throughout her head and a burning sensation enveloped her tentacle hair.

"Owww..." she moaned in pain, "what's the big deal?" she asked the invisible voice inside her head as she stared at her now branded tentacle, partly curious about the meaning of the brand and what it represents, and partly frustrated by the thing being branded on her in the first place. "first you give me...this, you send me to a battlefield, and now you want me to do something for you? You could atleast say please!" the idol muttered, the grogginess of being rudely awoken still clinging to her.

Slowly crawling up to the edge of the crater, Callie saw the battle take place, between two sides unknown to her. What's with the weird robots battling some people in cheap sci-fi costumes?

Callie internally shrugged, this wasn't her fight regardless. What really matters is that I need to get out of here before it is!

Laying low, Callie began to crawl out of the crater, hoping she wouldn't be seen by either sides.

As Callie crawled out of the crater she got a better view of the battlefield and the bloody stalemate that it was. On one side an advancing column of droids, in front hundreds of stick thin things soaking up incoming fire for the tanks and bulkier grey plated models that followed behind them, all unloading their red shots at the armored soldiers.

As for the armored soldiers the had set up a barricade of rubble and were returning fire, far more accurately than the droids who relied of pure weight of numbers to hit their targets, destroying dozens of their mechanical foe every moment but for every one they destroyed another took it's place.

The Battle was currently a stalemate with the Droid column making little progress but the Armored soldiers failing to do enough damage to drive them back. Which was good for Callie as it allowed her to crawl from rubble pile to rubble pile without being noticed and left her with a few options. She could head south away from the battle but towards explosions that reminded her of a barrage of Inkstrikes or she could head north into a maze of toppled skyscrapers. There were also some holes but she couldn't see where they lead to from where she was.

Wizard_Marshall said:
What was going on? Sion was confused as she washed the grogginess from her mind. It felt like she was hungover, an impossibility since she never indulged in alcohol to such an extent. Could Kohaku have put something in last night's meal? The elder maid's ways and mind were unpredictable even to an alchemist of Atlas.

The situation was a great deal worse than she originally suspected. This wasn't merely a prank by Kohaku; Sion had been kidnapped by an unknown entity. An entity resourceful enough to sneak past everyone in the Tohno household including Arcueid. Sion wouldn't say she was close to the True Ancestor, but she'd like to think they had somewhat friendly relations. Arcueid wouldn't really just let someone walk off with Sion would she? Well, Arcueid aside, the other members in the household were exceptional in their own ways. Satsuki definitely would've raised an alarm. The young vampire was inexperienced but her raw talent was incomparable. Sion preferred to think that the offender hand sneaked past her friends; the alternative was too horrible to imagine. It was times like these that the human side of her felt the cold logic of alchemy was distasteful.

Regardless, this was no time to be worrying about others. The stigma on her thigh concerned her, but compared to her worry for her friends, this didn't even warrant an increase in heart rate. Sion quickly took stock of her local environment using her Etherlite. It was much more efficient than just relying on just her physical senses, though she put them to use as well, scanning her immediate area. Partitions 2 and 3 begin local mapping. Priority level one. Accelerate. What would've taken other people minutes to figure out, Sion ascertained in nano-seconds.

She was in a minefield. Sion didn't recognize the make of the mines in question, but she was hardly an expert in conventional weaponry despite her military training. For a moment, she considered trying to analyze and disarm them, but there were too many. And she could hear fighting in the distance. Best not to chance it. Good thing there was a large building roughly a hundred meters away. Leaping from a standstill position would be pushing it even with her vampiric heritage, but luckily her Etherlite was more than up to the task.

Sion manipulated the nano-wires to create a elevated line between her current location and the building. Then she merely rode the line at a controlled pace.

With her Etherlite Sion was making steady progress over the minefield, during which she noticed that whoever had set these up had been an expert and that the closer she got to the building the denser the mine field became which could only mean....

*BAM!*

Her thoughts were interrupted when a yellow bolt shot past her head, missing her head by a scant few millimeters and scorching some of her hair. Then a voice rang out from the building "That's far enough!! Unless your here with my blue milk I don't want you here!"

Brightflame · Jul 5, 2017

Sinsystems said:
As Callie crawled out of the crater she got a better view of the battlefield and the bloody stalemate that it was. On one side an advancing column of droids, in front hundreds of stick thin things soaking up incoming fire for the tanks and bulkier grey plated models that followed behind them, all unloading their red shots at the armored soldiers.

As for the armored soldiers the had set up a barricade of rubble and were returning fire, far more accurately than the droids who relied of pure weight of numbers to hit their targets, destroying dozens of their mechanical foe every moment but for every one they destroyed another took it's place.

The Battle was currently a stalemate with the Droid column making little progress but the Armored soldiers failing to do enough damage to drive them back. Which was good for Callie as it allowed her to crawl from rubble pile to rubble pile without being noticed and left her with a few options. She could head south away from the battle but towards explosions that reminded her of a barrage of Inkstrikes or she could head north into a maze of toppled skyscrapers. There were also some holes but she couldn't see where they lead to from where she was.

Callie looked at the battle with fascination, a battle far larger and on a far grander scale than any Turf War she has ever seen, even Splatfests weren't nearly as big! Instead of Ink, these people used what looked to be scathing hot lasers instead, odd.

Callie thought for a moment. Regardless of how epic this battle is, it wasn't hers to fight. She needed to get out of here and focus on getting a lead on this "Energizer Project" that voice was talking about so she can get back home. Looking around, she had three options: Either brave the explosions, run through those towers that look like they can collapse at any second, or try her luck with one of those holes in the ground.

Callie, curious as she is, decided to risk her luck and made her way to the nearest hole.

Slayer1968 · Jul 5, 2017

Sinsystems said:
Once Rogue left the alleyway he found what could only be described as a city under martial law, which makes sense since it sounded like the warzone wasn't too far away, with patrols of Robots passing every few minutes and larger spider shaped robots with large guns for noses standing on the corners of buildings acting as makeshift turrets.

Of course the inevitable was bound to happen and a group of the stick thin robots spotted him, approached him and their commander asked in it's synthesized voice while pointing at Gunner "Excuse me Sir. Do you have a permit for that weapon?"

It's been barely fifteen minutes before I get cornered by a group of those flimsy looking robots. Not unexpected, considering the abundant overlapping patrols, the sentry-mechs on overwatch and high alertness level, coupled with ignorance of local terrain and the lack of any good concealment. But a moment before I move to cut them down in a burst of las-fire, I notice they aren't reacting to my presence in a hostile manner. Further confirmed when what looks to be the command unit asks for a gun permit of all things. I don't miss how it seems to think of me as an officer, or at least a friendly civilian, instead of an intruder, leading me to think the plainly visible new mark on my neck might play a part in that.

Dozens of possible actions pass through my mind in a single second before a gamble is settled on. Quickly deactivating Gunnar's voice synth so he doesn't mouth off like usual, I 'roll the dice', hoping these things are as dumb as they look if they think of a tattoo as a sure mark of allegiance. "Yes, I do. But I'm afraid I lost it a few hours ago in the fighting. Do you know where I can get a replacement?"

Megaolix · Jul 6, 2017

Sinsystems said:
Marona's preparations were interrupted by a mechanical foot stepping through the door, it was a robot of some kind with a bunch of surgical equipment attached to it's crude mechanical arms. It stopped once it saw that she was now awake and paused a moment before speaking "Patient 803 return to your bed, you may leave once standard check ups and anti-viral vaccinations have been completed"

Thankfully, for Marona's sake, it wasn't something that took long. Five minutes simply for the check and the vaccine.

...She couldn't say she enjoyed the needles for both parts, but it was a doctor. And being healthy was worth it, right?

Still, Marona managed to learn some things from the robot. First, that she was in the Ahto City Republic Refugee Camp. Second, that if someone knew who brought her here to begin with, it was Dr. Curie. Said doctor was currently watching over medical relief efforts for the wounded here. With that known, Marona finished checking over her things before setting out and find the person, hoping she would get some answers.

The3rdCorinthian · Jul 7, 2017

Sinsystems said:
As you finished transforming a dozen artillery shells land behind you, destroying the cover but miraculously leaving you complete unharmed (and looking cool). But now you could survey the land, more like a warzone. All around you there were the blasted ruins of a city, complete with chasms in the metal street that lead to mile high drops into the water below, between what can only be battle lines judging by the artillery fire they were spitting at each other.

You now had a few options, you could go left or right across no-man's land towards one of the battle lines or you could take your chances with the dive to the waters below. What was certain was that you needed to be careful as another wave of artillery was sure to come any moment now and you do not want to get hit so you will need to find cover.

"Man, Talk about Lucky!" the highschooler commented, upon seeing the rubble he'd been hiding in destroyed by however many tons of falling metal death. That is, assuming the artillery was using regular ammo. Some of the blasts didn't seem to be normal.

Obviously, he'd need to get out of here, and soon...But what if there were still people who were in the wreckage of the blast zone? He couldn't just go ahead and leave them there, could he? Not when he, as Fourze could do something about it. Reaching to his Driver, he turned on the switches for his left leg and arm.

WHEEL ON. RADAR ON.

Cosmic Energy surrounded the aforementioned limbs as the modules manifested on them. A teal, Segway like gadget appeared on his leg, allowing for him to move quickly and with great mobility across the ground, making it easier for him to avoid the falling artillery. Meanwhile, his arm had a black gauntlet that ended in a large circular disc, though his hand was still free.

Gentaro activated the Radar Module on his left arm. Hopefully, it should detect the presence of anybody alive in the nearby area

Blackout · Jul 7, 2017

Sinsystems said:
The flickering light of the flame revealed what Chara had thought was a cave was in fact something more. Instead of rough stone the room you found yourself in was smooth metal, although you could see several marks of a struggle such as dents, scratch marks and patches of dried blood and oil. Here and there exposed wires sparked while water dripped from the ceiling.

The only exit to the room was a doorway with a sliding metal door jammed partially open, on it a single sentence was scratched 'BECOME AS GODS'

Riiight.

Looking more and more like some sort of crazy cult thing. And if those bodies weren't there to screw with them....

Well.

That's not a pleasant mental image.

Still, need to find out more. Chara stepped forward, pressing through the gap in the doorway. If not they would force their way through: they were more than glad enough to have escaped the frailties of a human body.

Wizard_Marshall · Jul 14, 2017

Sinsystems said:
With her Etherlite Sion was making steady progress over the minefield, during which she noticed that whoever had set these up had been an expert and that the closer she got to the building the denser the mine field became which could only mean....

*BAM!*

Her thoughts were interrupted when a yellow bolt shot past her head, missing her head by a scant few millimeters and scorching some of her hair. Then a voice rang out from the building "That's far enough!! Unless your here with my blue milk I don't want you here!"

Sion barely noticed the attack at the last moment, a glint in the distance, too late to react. Due to prioritizing the minefield's mapping, her ballistic forecast was inefficient. Her simulation priorities shifted, and her last two partitions activated, the ones storing the data of her close friend, Riesbyfe Stridberg. Sion was comforted by the familiar presence of the Knight Leader and her armament, True Apocrypha Gamaliel. The conceptual weapon's data displayed an illusion In her mind's eye - a desert ruin with the horizon bathed in the morning sun's rays. With Ries' shield activated, Sion felt safer. Despite having the material form of a pilebunker, it's defensive properties sheltered Sion in an omni-directional barrier from any external influence that might harm her. She felt confident that no conventional weaponry could penetrate it.

That said, she recognized that the shooter had her dead to rights earlier. If he had wanted her dead, she likely would've been. That he spared her indicated there was a chance for negotiations. "I would gladly leave this place if you would lead me out safely."

Waking up in a minefield wasn't her idea of fun. And while she did have questions for this mysterious stranger, she didn't want to test his temper. At the very least, he didn't seem to be her kidnapper, unless this was some kind of elaborate ploy.

Sinsystems · Jul 19, 2017

Brightflame said:
Callie looked at the battle with fascination, a battle far larger and on a far grander scale than any Turf War she has ever seen, even Splatfests weren't nearly as big! Instead of Ink, these people used what looked to be scathing hot lasers instead, odd.

Callie thought for a moment. Regardless of how epic this battle is, it wasn't hers to fight. She needed to get out of here and focus on getting a lead on this "Energizer Project" that voice was talking about so she can get back home. Looking around, she had three options: Either brave the explosions, run through those towers that look like they can collapse at any second, or try her luck with one of those holes in the ground.

Callie, curious as she is, decided to risk her luck and made her way to the nearest hole.

As the brave inkling made her way to the nearest hole the tides of war began to swing in the favor of the Droids with the arrival of a trio of 4 meter high metal monsters, the B3 Ultra Battle Droid, a foe which the clone forces weren't equipped to fight. In an instant the defensive lines of the Clone Army began to crumble and soon would be lost with the only course of action being to retreat to their secondary strongpoints.

Which wouldn't have been an issue for Callie except for the fact that just as she arrived at the hole, which she now knew lead to the watery depths below...although if she was skilled enough she could also slip into the city's underlying superstructure, a dozen Battledroids surrounded her and said "You Have Been Captured in the Name of the Separatist Alliance!!"

Slayer1968 said:
It's been barely fifteen minutes before I get cornered by a group of those flimsy looking robots. Not unexpected, considering the abundant overlapping patrols, the sentry-mechs on overwatch and high alertness level, coupled with ignorance of local terrain and the lack of any good concealment. But a moment before I move to cut them down in a burst of las-fire, I notice they aren't reacting to my presence in a hostile manner. Further confirmed when what looks to be the command unit asks for a gun permit of all things. I don't miss how it seems to think of me as an officer, or at least a friendly civilian, instead of an intruder, leading me to think the plainly visible new mark on my neck might play a part in that.

Dozens of possible actions pass through my mind in a single second before a gamble is settled on. Quickly deactivating Gunnar's voice synth so he doesn't mouth off like usual, I 'roll the dice', hoping these things are as dumb as they look if they think of a tattoo as a sure mark of allegiance. "Yes, I do. But I'm afraid I lost it a few hours ago in the fighting. Do you know where I can get a replacement?"

There are several tense moments as the Droid Commander appears to process what you just said, mainly by running the GI's appearance against known local Republic sympathizers or criminals only to come up empty for obvious reasons.

"Understood citizen, we shall escort you to the nearest CIS permit office so you can get a replacement." the Droid said before signaling it's fellows to surround you in a box formation that would make it very hard to slip away unnoticed.

Megaolix said:
Thankfully, for Marona's sake, it wasn't something that took long. Five minutes simply for the check and the vaccine.

...She couldn't say she enjoyed the needles for both parts, but it was a doctor. And being healthy was worth it, right?

Still, Marona managed to learn some things from the robot. First, that she was in the Ahto City Republic Refugee Camp. Second, that if someone knew who brought her here to begin with, it was Dr. Curie. Said doctor was currently watching over medical relief efforts for the wounded here. With that known, Marona finished checking over her things before setting out and find the person, hoping she would get some answers.

When Marona finally got a look at the Refugee Camp it became evident how truly massive it was, a literal sea of tents and prefab structures that stretched across what had once been a runway for truly massive freighters that would export Kolta in times of old. If you weren't already in the local medical relief station then it would have been almost impossible to find Dr. Curie in this mass. Thankfully after a bit of searching you found her at the tail end of an argument with one of the armored me, although his had some blue markings on it.

Curie was a human woman in a white lab coat with short brown hair and a french sounding accent, "-if I can just get the Data from that facility we could complete the project. Please millions of lives depend on it!!"

"As I said we just don't have the manpower to spare chasing some data that you don't even know is there." said the armored soldier.

"But-"

"I'm sorry we can't help you." the armored man said before leaving. An action that evidently Dr. Curie didn't like as she punched a nearby prefab wall in sheer frustration.

The3rdCorinthian said:
"Man, Talk about Lucky!" the highschooler commented, upon seeing the rubble he'd been hiding in destroyed by however many tons of falling metal death. That is, assuming the artillery was using regular ammo. Some of the blasts didn't seem to be normal.

Obviously, he'd need to get out of here, and soon...But what if there were still people who were in the wreckage of the blast zone? He couldn't just go ahead and leave them there, could he? Not when he, as Fourze could do something about it. Reaching to his Driver, he turned on the switches for his left leg and arm.

WHEEL ON. RADAR ON.

Cosmic Energy surrounded the aforementioned limbs as the modules manifested on them. A teal, Segway like gadget appeared on his leg, allowing for him to move quickly and with great mobility across the ground, making it easier for him to avoid the falling artillery. Meanwhile, his arm had a black gauntlet that ended in a large circular disc, though his hand was still free.

Gentaro activated the Radar Module on his left arm. Hopefully, it should detect the presence of anybody alive in the nearby area

All around Gentaro the sky continued to rain death even as he searched for those who might be trapped within No Mans land, but alas his search was in vain as there wasn't a single life sign for miles around and even if he wanted to continue searching time was running short as the bombardment began to pick up intensity. Soon even he won't be able to dodge the incoming fire and would be obliterated.

Which left him with some options, either go north towards the sounds of battle, south into the ruins of larger buildings or take shelter in one of the only nearby structures that seemed to weather the incoming fire.

Blackout said:
Riiight.

Looking more and more like some sort of crazy cult thing. And if those bodies weren't there to screw with them....

Well.

That's not a pleasant mental image.

Still, need to find out more. Chara stepped forward, pressing through the gap in the doorway. If not they would force their way through: they were more than glad enough to have escaped the frailties of a human body.

The hallway was in a similar state to the room Chara was just in, a scene right out of a horror movie complete with flickering lights, signs of battle everywhere, water dripping from the ceiling and leaning against a wall was the legless body of a Droid clutching it's head and muttering "This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening." over and over again.

The hallway stretch with doors lining it, ahead of Chara the path grew darker and something told them that what lay ahead was very very old and alien, as if their darkest nightmares were made manifest. Behind them seemed more normal with a decreased amount of damage and actually looked more inviting, except for the fact that whenever their thoughts considered going that way the brand on their chest seemed to scream that whatever lay ahead the thing behind them was worse.

Wizard_Marshall said:
Sion barely noticed the attack at the last moment, a glint in the distance, too late to react. Due to prioritizing the minefield's mapping, her ballistic forecast was inefficient. Her simulation priorities shifted, and her last two partitions activated, the ones storing the data of her close friend, Riesbyfe Stridberg. Sion was comforted by the familiar presence of the Knight Leader and her armament, True Apocrypha Gamaliel. The conceptual weapon's data displayed an illusion In her mind's eye - a desert ruin with the horizon bathed in the morning sun's rays. With Ries' shield activated, Sion felt safer. Despite having the material form of a pilebunker, it's defensive properties sheltered Sion in an omni-directional barrier from any external influence that might harm her. She felt confident that no conventional weaponry could penetrate it.

That said, she recognized that the shooter had her dead to rights earlier. If he had wanted her dead, she likely would've been. That he spared her indicated there was a chance for negotiations. "I would gladly leave this place if you would lead me out safely."

Waking up in a minefield wasn't her idea of fun. And while she did have questions for this mysterious stranger, she didn't want to test his temper. At the very least, he didn't seem to be her kidnapper, unless this was some kind of elaborate ploy.

The Sniper just laughed at the idea "Haha, yeah right I'm not stupid enough to fall for that one. But I'll tell you what how about you promise to do something for me and I'll deactivate some of the mines so you can walk out of here.....if not...well I'm sure a girl like you can make her way out on her own, just don't come closer or else I'll put a hole in that pretty little head of yours."

As if to emphasis his point the sniper fired another shot, this one passing right underneath where Sion was hanging from, close enough that she could literally smell the air ionizing as it passed.

Megaolix · Jul 23, 2017

Sinsystems said:
When Marona finally got a look at the Refugee Camp it became evident how truly massive it was, a literal sea of tents and prefab structures that stretched across what had once been a runway for truly massive freighters that would export Kolta in times of old. If you weren't already in the local medical relief station then it would have been almost impossible to find Dr. Curie in this mass. Thankfully after a bit of searching you found her at the tail end of an argument with one of the armored me, although his had some blue markings on it.

Curie was a human woman in a white lab coat with short brown hair and a french sounding accent, "-if I can just get the Data from that facility we could complete the project. Please millions of lives depend on it!!"

"As I said we just don't have the manpower to spare chasing some data that you don't even know is there." said the armored soldier.

"But-"

"I'm sorry we can't help you." the armored man said before leaving. An action that evidently Dr. Curie didn't like as she punched a nearby prefab wall in sheer frustration.

Ultimately, the meeting with the doctor doesn't bring much in terms of new information. Marona learned she had been found in some ruins, except the person who brought her was never registered despite it being proper procedure.

On another note, Marona found the tablet thing really useful. She never realyl saw such advanced technology before.

Still, with the matter that seemed to frustrate the doctor, there was not much else learned. The doctor refused to speak about it, but she did mention ghost stories about it. And even then, she refused to elaborate despite the matter being local superstition.

Still, it had to be related to the task she was given, right?

And so, Marona decided on her next course of action. If it was known locally, then someone here could tell her more. Surely, there was someone here who would be able to answer her, be it an adult or even a young kid. And so she was off, looking for people that didn't seem too busy to answer some questions.

Blackout · Jul 26, 2017

Sinsystems said:
The hallway was in a similar state to the room Chara was just in, a scene right out of a horror movie complete with flickering lights, signs of battle everywhere, water dripping from the ceiling and leaning against a wall was the legless body of a Droid clutching it's head and muttering "This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening." over and over again.

The hallway stretch with doors lining it, ahead of Chara the path grew darker and something told them that what lay ahead was very very old and alien, as if their darkest nightmares were made manifest. Behind them seemed more normal with a decreased amount of damage and actually looked more inviting, except for the fact that whenever their thoughts considered going that way the brand on their chest seemed to scream that whatever lay ahead the thing behind them was worse.

On any ordinary day, Chara would have been inclined to disregard outside opinions and deliberately go back.

But this wasn't an ordinary day.

Ordinary days did not involve being treated to a bunch of disemboweled corpses as the first thing when you wake up.

Chara held out their free hand, a strand of red magic spiraling upon itself and coalescing into a heavy-weighed trident. If they were going to walk into a warzone, the least they could do was to be ready for anything.

Holding the trident at a ready stance, Chara pressed on, the path illuminated by fire.

Slayer1968 · Jul 26, 2017

Sinsystems said:
There are several tense moments as the Droid Commander appears to process what you just said, mainly by running the GI's appearance against known local Republic sympathizers or criminals only to come up empty for obvious reasons.

"Understood citizen, we shall escort you to the nearest CIS permit office so you can get a replacement." the Droid said before signaling it's fellows to surround you in a box formation that would make it very hard to slip away unnoticed.

For a second, I was stunned by the fact that that actually worked, before my mind gets back on track and I answer the dim-witted machine after quickly thinking things through. "Alright, lead on." With some luck, I may even get some answers without having to shoot my way out. 'Yeah, right, and Blackmare tanks might fly.' I sullenly think to myself.

Unfortunately, the flimsy mechs have decided to 'escort' me instead of going on their way. This skevvy box formation is just begging for an enemy sniper to mistake me as some kind of VIP, to boot, so I keep my eyes peeled for any unexpected surprises.

Gunnar's rifle slightly vibrates for a second in my arms. His voice synth is still muted and he ain't happy about it, but I'm not turning it on until either this whole mess is sorted out or hostilities erupt, he can rant at me later all he wants. I console myself with the knowledge that the others at least know when to keep their synths shut.

Brightflame · Jul 26, 2017

Sinsystems said:
As the brave inkling made her way to the nearest hole the tides of war began to swing in the favor of the Droids with the arrival of a trio of 4 meter high metal monsters, the B3 Ultra Battle Droid, a foe which the clone forces weren't equipped to fight. In an instant the defensive lines of the Clone Army began to crumble and soon would be lost with the only course of action being to retreat to their secondary strongpoints.

Which wouldn't have been an issue for Callie except for the fact that just as she arrived at the hole, which she now knew lead to the watery depths below...although if she was skilled enough she could also slip into the city's underlying superstructure, a dozen Battledroids surrounded her and said "You Have Been Captured in the Name of the Separatist Alliance!!"

Oh squit

Callie's darted her eyes around the place, looking for a possible way out of this mess. There's no way to go, I can't get away....I guess there's only one thing to do.

Callie raised her arms above her head. "I-I mean no harm! I don't even know how I got here!"

Wizard_Marshall · Aug 1, 2017

Sinsystems said:
The Sniper just laughed at the idea "Haha, yeah right I'm not stupid enough to fall for that one. But I'll tell you what how about you promise to do something for me and I'll deactivate some of the mines so you can walk out of here.....if not...well I'm sure a girl like you can make her way out on her own, just don't come closer or else I'll put a hole in that pretty little head of yours."

That was acceptable. Sion didn't care so much on how she got out of this minefield as long as she did. His paranoia was reasonable, though she supposed he could simply rearrange the mines after she left. He probably would. It's what she'd do in his position.

"I promise to listen to your request," Sion replied, an emphasis on listen without even changing tone. Putting aside whether he was capable of killing her or not, Sion did have a healthy fear of death, but that didn't mean it was her top priority. To someone who had been in danger of being corrupted into a Dead Apostle, her dignity was far more important. If this man had an immoral request, something like murder, then Sion would rather die than perform it.

As if to emphasis his point the sniper fired another shot, this one passing right underneath where Sion was hanging from, close enough that she could literally smell the air ionizing as it passed.

Sion still wasn't phased. To be a magus was to walk with death. One little accident in a ritual could spell their doom; sometimes being crippled could be considered a good outcome. Made you think magi were insane to pursue the Root. If the mysterious sniper was hoping for a reaction from Sion, he'd be disappointed.

The3rdCorinthian · Aug 2, 2017

Sinsystems said:
All around Gentaro the sky continued to rain death even as he searched for those who might be trapped within No Mans land, but alas his search was in vain as there wasn't a single life sign for miles around and even if he wanted to continue searching time was running short as the bombardment began to pick up intensity. Soon even he won't be able to dodge the incoming fire and would be obliterated.

Which left him with some options, either go north towards the sounds of battle, south into the ruins of larger buildings or take shelter in one of the only nearby structures that seemed to weather the incoming fire.

Well, it looked like there wasn't anybody here...which was kind of obvious, what with the constant rain of steel.

At least he didn't have to rescue anyone from any awkward situations!

Hitting the bright orange switch on the Driver-

ROCKET ON.

-A giant, orange attachment, shaped like the central Booster Rocket of a Space Shuttle, manifested itself around Gentaros Right Arm.

Staying in place would be dangerous. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible!

The giant booster fired, sending the Kamen Rider flying along towards the South

Sinsystems · Aug 8, 2017

Megaolix said:
Ultimately, the meeting with the doctor doesn't bring much in terms of new information. Marona learned she had been found in some ruins, except the person who brought her was never registered despite it being proper procedure.

On another note, Marona found the tablet thing really useful. She never realyl saw such advanced technology before.

Still, with the matter that seemed to frustrate the doctor, there was not much else learned. The doctor refused to speak about it, but she did mention ghost stories about it. And even then, she refused to elaborate despite the matter being local superstition.

Still, it had to be related to the task she was given, right?

And so, Marona decided on her next course of action. If it was known locally, then someone here could tell her more. Surely, there was someone here who would be able to answer her, be it an adult or even a young kid. And so she was off, looking for people that didn't seem too busy to answer some questions.

Through the refugee camp Marona wandered, passing a wide assortment of people in an equally wide array of conditions. In one tent she noticed a family of 1 human woman, 1 green woman with head tentacles and a baby version of the woman living in...alright conditions for a refugee camp. However for every family getting by Marona passed another group suffering from horrific looking injuries such as severe burns, missing limbs or horrible diseases. It was a sad state of affairs that couldn't really be fixed due to the war and extremely limited supplies.

Eventually Marona found what she was looking for....well more like it found her in the form of a dozen children rushing passed her talking about 'Old Segin telling stories again' and she sort of just got swept up in the crowd, which she noticed was partially made up of ghost...all children and all pretty recent.

As for 'Old Segin' he turned out to be a...Fish?man of some kind sitting in a small tent smoking a pipe. "<Ahh so many young ones here today....what stories can this old man tell you this time.>" he said in a language that Marona had never heard before but somehow could understand.

Blackout said:
On any ordinary day, Chara would have been inclined to disregard outside opinions and deliberately go back.

But this wasn't an ordinary day.

Ordinary days did not involve being treated to a bunch of disemboweled corpses as the first thing when you wake up.

Chara held out their free hand, a strand of red magic spiraling upon itself and coalescing into a heavy-weighed trident. If they were going to walk into a warzone, the least they could do was to be ready for anything.

Holding the trident at a ready stance, Chara pressed on, the path illuminated by fire.

The Darkness seemed to smother Chara as they pressed on, with each step what little light their flame cast seemed to be pushed back by the shadow until all they were left with was a small island around themself in a sea of black. They knew they were still in the metal hallways of the complex, what little of their surroundings told them that, but how far they had walked was a mystery that only the-

It was sudden that they came, from the shadows dozens of figures with glowing red eyes that lunged at Chara with frenzied mechanical movements. They didn't his them of course, but one errant strike managed to snuff out the flame that was Chara's only source of light. Now Chara must face the beings surrounding them, even while their brand burned hotter urging them to run from what was approaching.

Slayer1968 said:
For a second, I was stunned by the fact that that actually worked, before my mind gets back on track and I answer the dim-witted machine after quickly thinking things through. "Alright, lead on." With some luck, I may even get some answers without having to shoot my way out. 'Yeah, right, and Blackmare tanks might fly.' I sullenly think to myself.

Unfortunately, the flimsy mechs have decided to 'escort' me instead of going on their way. This skevvy box formation is just begging for an enemy sniper to mistake me as some kind of VIP, to boot, so I keep my eyes peeled for any unexpected surprises.

Gunnar's rifle slightly vibrates for a second in my arms. His voice synth is still muted and he ain't happy about it, but I'm not turning it on until either this whole mess is sorted out or hostilities erupt, he can rant at me later all he wants. I console myself with the knowledge that the others at least know when to keep their synths shut.

As the Droids escorted the GI through the streets to the CIS offices one of them, almost at random, seemed to decide to start a conversation with their charge. "So what brings you to Manaan?"

Either someone is remote operating these things to fish for info, or whoever programmed them was an idiot... or a civilian.

Regardless of the reason, I answer: "Decided I want to fight for the cause, instead of just paying the taxes for it, so I ordered some custom equipment and hitched a ride on a shuttle for the closest place to the action. Was just passing by here when the war decided to come to me instead of the other way around." Keep it vague but also reinforce the image that I'm on their side. ''Butter them up'' as the Old Earth saying goes, though how effective something like that is on a bunch of mechs remains to be seen.

Might as well fish for information myself. "I'm a bit out of the loop, however, what can you tell me about the enemy strength around here?"

The Droid just nodded "I don't know, they just have me patrolling around here." it said as you marched "I saw them moving a-"

However it was cut off by it's buddy hitting it over the head "Don't tell him that!! He could be a Republic Spy."

Somewhat surprised that these mechs are showing so much personality, I can't help but think that their programmers really were idiots. Gunnar vibrates slightly again, no doubt trying to mock these things, not that I could blame him for once.

Hmm, might as well poke some holes in the slightly more intelligent one's theory. "I'm not a spy," I say with a slight measure of faked anger and indignity, still playing the part of a loyal, if a fair bit idiotic and naïve, patriot. "If I was really a spy I wouldn't be asking about Republic forces now, would I?"

"He does have a point" the first droid says to it's companion.

"No he doesn't!! That is exactly what a Republic spy would say, he just wants to find out about the General's deployment of the Experimental Units after that spy got away."

"Ahh I guess that makes sense."

.....
I open and close my mouth several times but eventually settle on staying silent in answer to... that. Gunnar hasn't stopped vibrating for the past minute and a half, no doubt laughing his circuits off. Even Helm and Bagman let out short infrasonic sputters for a split-second. At least I know for sure nobody is controlling the mechs remotely....

Eventually after a few more moments of walking the Droids brought the GI to a seemingly normal looking office building that had been turned into a makeshift outpost for the CIS forces and, most importantly in this situation, the Bureaucracy. Specifically they brought him to a desk with another droid, this one a civilian protocol model manning it.

"State your business" it said in an almost bored tone.

"This Civilian requires replacement weapons permits for his current gear."

"Very well." the Protocol droid said turning to the GI "Please give some form of identification so that we may check out database."

Brightflame said:
Oh squit

Callie's darted her eyes around the place, looking for a possible way out of this mess. There's no way to go, I can't get away....I guess there's only one thing to do.

Callie raised her arms above her head. "I-I mean no harm! I don't even know how I got here!"

The Droids continued to aim their guns at Callie. "We will be the judge of that, now hands in the air!!"

Callie complied, raising her hands into the air.

The droid nodded to it's counterpart "Cuff her." it said before another one, this one a more advanced version of those cannon fodder droids from earlier approach Callie, a pair of cuffs in hand.

Callie allowed the cuffs to be put on her, though she began to fidget a little after they were on

The droids lead Callie to a small group of the Armored Soldiers, stripped of their weapons and bound together as they are marched back towards to the Separatist lines for...well Callie didn't know but considering that they were enemies with each other it couldn't be good. Still it was this procession to which she was added as the march began.

But the choice was her's on how to proceed, does she try and escape? Chat with the other prisoners? Talk to the Mechanical Guards that walked besides them? Or sing a traditional inkling tune to life everyone's spirits?

Wizard_Marshall said:
That was acceptable. Sion didn't care so much on how she got out of this minefield as long as she did. His paranoia was reasonable, though she supposed he could simply rearrange the mines after she left. He probably would. It's what she'd do in his position.

"I promise to listen to your request," Sion replied, an emphasis on listen without even changing tone. Putting aside whether he was capable of killing her or not, Sion did have a healthy fear of death, but that didn't mean it was her top priority. To someone who had been in danger of being corrupted into a Dead Apostle, her dignity was far more important. If this man had an immoral request, something like murder, then Sion would rather die than perform it.

Sion still wasn't phased. To be a magus was to walk with death. One little accident in a ritual could spell their doom; sometimes being crippled could be considered a good outcome. Made you think magi were insane to pursue the Root. If the mysterious sniper was hoping for a reaction from Sion, he'd be disappointed.

Below Sion a bunch of the Mines lit up, clearly marking their location for all to see "Okay I've disabled some of the mines, they should be safe now." the sniper called from his perch "So here is the deal, I've been getting a bit lonely here all by myself and I could use some...companionship...just not from someone like you, not my type. There is a bar over in Separatist territory where a...ladyfriend of mine likes to hang out, it's called 'The Fried Hutt' all I want you to do is go there, find the girl and bring her to me. She like to wear a pearl necklace and has a bit of a core world accent, can't miss her. Just tell her that she looks like a Nabooin Queen and she'll -"

Before your host could say anything more there was an explosion nearby, probably by something tripping the mines. "Karabast!! Who the hell did that!!...stay put I need to check this out."

The3rdCorinthian said:
Well, it looked like there wasn't anybody here...which was kind of obvious, what with the constant rain of steel.

At least he didn't have to rescue anyone from any awkward situations!

Hitting the bright orange switch on the Driver-

ROCKET ON.

-A giant, orange attachment, shaped like the central Booster Rocket of a Space Shuttle, manifested itself around Gentaros Right Arm.

Staying in place would be dangerous. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible!

The giant booster fired, sending the Kamen Rider flying along towards the South

With great speed the Kamen Rider flew through no-man's land, artillery shells exploding just behind him like a blazing trail. Like the hero he was as he rushed into the ruined landscape and....wait what's that beeping?

...the next few moments...were a blur, but the gist of it is that due to stepping on a Landmine our hero was flung face first into the dirt, which triggered more landmines...and then some more....and some more...seriously what kind of crazy has the time to set up so many landmines? Well basically after being flung around by the explosions for a couple seconds you are now comically embedded in a wall, have nasty bruises on most of your body, some minor cuts and in the middle of a minefield. Thankfully you are on it's outer edge so it would be a fairly simple task to escape back into no-man's land.

The3rdCorinthian · Aug 9, 2017

Sinsystems said:
With great speed the Kamen Rider flew through no-man's land, artillery shells exploding just behind him like a blazing trail. Like the hero he was as he rushed into the ruined landscape

Gentaro always enjoyed flying with the Rocket Arm. It was fast, filling one with the speed and joy of youth lived at full throttle! The way that the artillery shells were detonating just behind him was also co-

Sinsystems said:
wait what's that beeping?

Huh. Landmines.

...

WAIT THEY PLANTED LANDMI-

Sinsystems said:
...the next few moments...were a blur, but the gist of it is that due to stepping on a Landmine our hero was flung face first into the dirt, which triggered more landmines...and then some more....and some more...seriously what kind of crazy has the time to set up so many landmines? Well basically after being flung around by the explosions for a couple seconds you are now comically embedded in a wall, have nasty bruises on most of your body, some minor cuts and in the middle of a minefield. Thankfully you are on it's outer edge so it would be a fairly simple task to escape back into no-man's land.

It was fortunate that the Kamen Rider suit amplified it's wearers durability as well as their other physical abilities, otherwise Gentarous journey would have ended very messily with him being in multiple places at the same time. As it was, when the sensation of being thrown around like a rag doll had stopped, Kisaragi found himself

Okay, let's see...Surrounded by explosives, I'm exhausted, I'm stuck in a wall, And most importantly, I have no idea where I am or how I got here.

...This still isn't the worst straits I've been in. And that was also kinda cool.

Well, there were still a couple of options Gentaro could take going forwards. He could use Radar to try and detect where the mines were, He could use Gyro to just fly higher above them in a more controlled Manner, or he could go into Fourze Cosmic Sta-

...Why hadn't he gone into Fourze cosmic states?

Eh, at least he could try now. Opening up the case he had (Somehow) managed to keep a hold of, he removed the Rocket Switch and took out the Large, Blue Cosmic Switch...Which refused to enter the Driver, shooting out a short burst of blue electricity.

Curious, Gentaro Pushed the button on the Cosmic Switch:

DANGER.

...That wasn't normal. He vaguely remembered hearing it before, as he tried pushing the button a few more times.

DANGER. DANGER. DANGER.

He made to push the Cosmic Switch again...and remembered where he had heard the sound:

...Yeah, it's probably a good idea to stop now.

With this in mind, Gentaro Swapped out the Radar Switch for the Gyro Switch, returned the Rocket switch to its holder, and turned off the Driver, the suit de-manifesting into Cosmic Energy.

It had been a hectic few minutes, and being blown up in comedic fashion wasn't fun. Gentarou decided to rest inside the wall, taking a good look at the scenery around him.

Slayer1968 · Aug 9, 2017

Sinsystems said:
Eventually after a few more moments of walking the Droids brought the GI to a seemingly normal looking office building that had been turned into a makeshift outpost for the CIS forces and, most importantly in this situation, the Bureaucracy. Specifically they brought him to a desk with another droid, this one a civilian protocol model manning it.

"State your business" it said in an almost bored tone.

"This Civilian requires replacement weapons permits for his current gear."

"Very well." the Protocol droid said turning to the GI "Please give some form of identification so that we may check out database."

'Ah, skev,' I think to myself. 'This is gonna be problematic.'

Thinking quickly I answer: "That might be a problem, I arrived at Manaan just before the fighting started and lost some of my possessions in the chaos. I only have IDs from my homeworld, Nu Earth, and it was only recently discovered and colonised so you probably won't find it in any databases." All of it true, if only in a very skewered way. I finish my statement by manually taking out a Nort Identi-Scan dataslate in a deliberately slow manner, concealing it as me searching through my backpack, in reality giving Bagman precious seconds to delete and purge it's data while putting in something vaguely reseambling a privateer ID. A half-assed ruse but there's no other way out of this situation besides ''guns blazing'', not that me and the others aren't ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Here it is." I hand over the hastily re-written dataslate. 'Hopefully this mech isn't much brighter than the others.'

Brightflame · Aug 10, 2017

Sinsystems said:
The droids lead Callie to a small group of the Armored Soldiers, stripped of their weapons and bound together as they are marched back towards to the Separatist lines for...well Callie didn't know but considering that they were enemies with each other it couldn't be good. Still it was this procession to which she was added as the march began.

But the choice was her's on how to proceed, does she try and escape? Chat with the other prisoners? Talk to the Mechanical Guards that walked besides them? Or sing a traditional inkling tune to life everyone's spirits?

......Well this isn't good Callie thought as she was added into the same bunch as the POWs

Callie thought perhaps she could escape, but considering there were armed robots on both sides of here any chance of escaping are rather low. Best to try to get out once we reached our destination, there had to be some type of transition where she had to meet some living, breathing officials. Perhaps there she could clear up this mess she got herself into?

Callie put aside these thoughts for now and instead turned to her fellow prisoner nearest to her. "Soooo....What are you here for?"

Oath Sign: The Clone Wars

Patron Librarian

Fed By Comments

What about his Legs? Are they safe? Are they OK?

Lord of the Dance

Patron Librarian

Lord of the Dance

What about his Legs? Are they safe? Are they OK?

Fed By Comments

Patron Librarian

Fed By Comments

What about his Legs? Are they safe? Are they OK?

Lord of the Dance

Patron Librarian

What about his Legs? Are they safe? Are they OK?

Lord of the Dance