CHANGELING Quest [Current World: One Piece] (Planeswalker Multicross Quest)

Going on ana adventure, got it. I will start working on the update after lunch, so it should be ready in a few hours or so as usual.

Thanks for voting!

The sun is setting from the west, tinting the sky and sea both in various shades of red. You stand atop the bow of the Utan Sonar, Shoujou's personal ship. Your flesh and skin are human, today, so as to not arouse too much suspicion. Even still, you can feel Shoujou's crew giving you odd looks.

You stand beside their captain and their captain's dad, of course, they wonder about you. Still, they are smart enough not to comment and other than a couple of whispered questions, they chose to ignore you. A favor you reciprocate.

You have more important things to do anyway.

"You see it?" Cricket asks, arms crossed and wearing a full diving suit.

"Aye!" Shoujou says, equally serious. "My divers just reported a big shape moving quickly... that way!" He points to your right. You and Cricket follow his finger.


You see nothing. You focus on your eyes, strain your senses, focus all you can, but still, you see nothing.

And then Cricket grabs you by the scruff of your neck and throws you back. Just in time for an explosion of water to shower the entire deck, something emerging so fast and hard the ship itself rocks backward, throwing you even further away and, if it weren't for the help of a crewmember, down into the water and your very quick death.

What the fuck.

People shout and scream, you can hear the sound of wood breaking and metal bending. You hear Cricket shout something intelligible, but it sounds angry. What few crewmembers managed to steady their legs are running to and fro, rushing to various tasks you don't know anything about.

When the ship stops rocking, you come to your unsteady feet and run back towards the front. Or, at least, what remained of it. The entire figurehead and part of the bow were just... gone, ripped away by giant teeth and monstrous strength.

Shoujou you find hanging from the broken front, slowly pushing himself back up with his wiry arms. You rush towards him, grabbing him by the forearms and doing your best to drag him back up.

But even with Shoujou himself doing most of the work, you can't get him up before the Prince comes back.

It emerges from the water slower, this time. It is a monster of black scales and sheer muscle. Its head is level with the ship, a giant red eye radiating anger and menace, meeting yours. It roars, a sound of anger and pain.

And from inside its mouth, Cricket emerges, roaring back, a trident stuck between the Prince's jaws and prying it open.

"Jack," Cricket screams, loud enough to make your ears rattle, "do it now!"

You shake your head. Right, the plan, Now's time to do your part. Cricket's wearing that weird diving suit specifically for this, the thing's made out of some material, rubber or something, that would insulate him from lightning. He was supposed to distract the thing, weaken it, and then bait it out for you to--

"Jack!"

Right, right. No distractions!

You take a couple of steps back, leaving Shoujou to drag himself back on his own and raise your right hand. Index finger pointing at the Prince, thump up, you focus, sparks of red Lightning dancing over your entire arm.

"Lightning Bolt," you intone, the words coming to your lips by instinct and feel.

A flash of Red light and a boom like thunder assault your senses, and for a second you're blind and deaf. When the world comes back into focus, you look at the Prince and find...

Nothing. Not a mark on it, other than some light scorching on one of its teeth. The Prince roars back, redoubling its bite and bending the trident in half, freeing its jaws and forcing Cricket to jump way and back onto the ship in an impressive display of athletics.

"It didn't work," Cricket says, sounding slightly winded but not worse for wear.

Shoujou climbs back up, shaking his head. "No worries!" he says, "I, the Sonar King, will save the day!"

You and Cricket share a look. Shoujou is strong and capable when he wants to be, but his preferred method of attack--

Shoujou grabs a microphone from one of his crewmembers, takes a pose, and begins to... sing. It's a long, loud, wail of sound and vibration. The entire ship, already weakened, begins to shake. You and Cricket cover your ears as best you can, and still, the sound makes your teeth rattle.

The Prince roars gin, this time in pain, and for a moment you think it'll be over--

And then the creature dives back down, only to re-emerge moments back, on the other side of the ship, and bite off the giant speaker from that side. There's still one remaining, but at half power, the sonic wail becomes much less threatening.

You take your hands from your ears, even as they still ring, and look at the Sea Prince. It floats there, with the speaker in its jaws, shaking its head and raining metal and other electronics onto the deck. The crew is running in a panic now, scared shitless. Shoujou is trying to compensate for the speaker with sheer volume, but it's barely making a distraction on the Prince.

Cricket rolls his shoulders and takes out another trident, and you know the man is about to throw himself against the Prince again, this time for real.


And then you notice something. The cables from the speaker remain intact, tangling the Sea Prince and making his movements slower. The beast keeps savaging the device, distracted by its rage, but it could notice at any moment, and then it will only need a moment to disentangle itself.

You have only seconds to act. What do you do?

The Sea Prince is distracted, what is your plan?

[] Hit it harder. You have two Mana left and enough time to focus. Cobble together a new spell on the fly, something strong enough to kill it in one hit! (High risk of injuring yourself if you fail the needed checks.)
-[] Write-in color combination. It will cost 2 Mana to cast, so you can either double on a color or mix two.

[] Use your brain. The cables are still intact, and that means there's a direct connection to the Prince. Go to the generator and overcharge it, frying the monster with the ship's own power. (High risk of damaging the ship if you fail the needed checks)

[] Use the time to empower Cricket. The man is your strongest fighter and your best chance against the Prince. Burn all your Mana to try and empower him! (High risk of injuring Cricket if you fail the needed checks.)

[] Something else? Write-in!

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To make up for today's short update, I'll be also updating tomorrow, so the voting period will be shorter.

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It seems like Hitting Harder won! With double Black Mana as a base, even! I'll start with the update now, thanks for voting!

As the Prince roars and writhes, and as Cricket prepares to do battle, you get an idea. A plan, almost.

Black. The color of ambition, of selfishness, of opportunity... but also the color of death. Final, complete death. Your first Spell failed because the creature was too tough for it, too strong for mere Lightning to hut it, but...

Is it strong enough to surpass Death itself?

You take out a mote of power from your soul, a spot of black miasma without shape or form, held in the palm of your hand. Immediately, Cricket notices the dark energies and gives you a tense look.

"Jack," he says, trident held tightly in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"Thing's trapped," you point out, and Cricket nods, having noticed the same, "gimme a couple of seconds, I'm making something."

Cricket tries to say something more, to ask for an explanation you think, but you can't afford to pay attention to him. Not now.

Black is not a color easy to control. It will obey you, as long as you bend all your focus and might to the task, as long as you are strong enough for it. The moment you are distracted? The moment you become weak? It will consume you from the inside out, and leave nothing behind.

The answer, then, is simple. Don't lose focus, don't be weak. For someone like you, maintaining the appearance of strength is rather easy.

Making it a truth, however, is much harder.

The ship shakes, and a roar reaches your ears. Not much time left.

Black is the color of thieves, of liars, but more importantly, right now, it's the color of Death and Sacrifice. The Prince is a mighty beast, a monster of the deep oceans, a creature of indomitable might.

It is not a god.

You shape the Black into an instrument of murder, a poisoned dagger, a rusty shiv, hunger and decay, and sickness. You focus your mind on the dozens of corpses you've seen in the Dwellings, calling back the memories of the starving dead, of the skeletons in the ruins, of the decay and the destruction in every brick of your home.

You call back the memory of those thugs, back in your last day in Ravnica, on the way you almost killed them both, of how easy it was, how convenient it would've been for you.

But the energies are too abstract, even with that, too diffuse. The miasma you hold will kill, of that you have no doubt, but it would be an indiscriminate thing, without focus or control. Useless.

You need something to give it shape, and as the sound of cables snapping reaches your mind, you have to do it now.

Without thinking, your hand creeps back to your hip, where your knife rests. Your fingers wrap around its hilt, grounding you with the certainty of its metal and deadly edge.

Ah, of course, what an idiot you've been.


You take out your knife and force the miasma inside. It's not an elegant move, it's not the safest way to do it, but you lack the time for either safety or elegance. The Black mana takes its toll, deep wounds ripping open around your arms and torso, your breath leaving your lungs in a ragged exhale. Your head swims with pain and nausea, forcing Cricket to steady you.

"Jack!" he shouts, concern etched on every line of his face, "What happened!?"

You shake your head and try to speak but the words die in your throat. Instead, you present your knife to Cricket. Or, what used to be your knife.

The blade has changed most of all. Once it was a deadly, serrated thing made to inflict painful injuries. Now it's smooth and straight, but deadly sharp. It has blackened, from metal to something so dark it appears as a void in the world, and absence, the edges glowing faintly with the color of recently spilled blood. It has also lengthened considerably, from a knife to the size of a proper sword. The hilt too has been transformed, growing sharp legs and a long tail like a snake, it has affixed itself to your hand.

For as long as the spell remains, the blade and you are one. But already you can feel the power ebbing and waning, growing weaker by the moment.

The last of the cables snap, and the Prince roars its defiance and throws the wrecked remains of the speaker into the ocean. It's bright red eyes fix on you, on your blade, and the creature growls both in fear and challenge.

You take a step away from Cricket, stumbling but fixing your posture as best you can. With a shaking arm, you raise the blade high in the air. The Prince growls deeper and louder, dipping low for a moment only to explode out of the water with all the strength of its muscular tail, so high its shadow darkens the entire ship, angling its fall so it will land mouth first over you.

You make a swing--

Cricket grabs your wrist before you can complete it, the serrated edges of your blade's hilt digging into his flesh. "Focus," he growls at you, shoving you back into a better position and holding you by the shoulders so your aim is true. "Wait until it cannot dodge."

The Prince nears, its mouth like the abyss of death.

"Wait..."

Its red eyes glint with victory, with malicious glee.

"Wait..."

Already, its teeth are surrounding you, seconds from snapping shut.

"Now!" Cricket shouts, and you finish your swing.

The Blade of Doom doesn't cut. It doesn't separate the flesh from bone, it doesn't draw blood or cause pain. The moment the edge touches the Prince, reality stutters for a second.

All color leaches from the Prince, rendering it in greyscale, an unfinished drawing on the canvas of the world.

And then, like leaves on the wind, the Prince is blown a way, pieces of it disappearing from the wound outwards until nothing remains.

Your knife goes back to normal, claws and tail retracting and blade turning into mere metal once again.

"Unbelievable..." Cricket mutters, awe and terror in his voice.

You close your eyes, and all strength flees from your body.

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For defeating your first Mini-Boss, you may also choose an additional reward!

[] Gain Sea Prince as a Summon.
[] Gain a +2 on STR or CON.
-[] Write in which one.
[] Gain a +5 Bonus to the Swim Skill.

Sea Prince (4UU) (Requires a total of 6 Mana, two of which have to be Blue)
Health: [O][O][O][O][O][O]
Damage: [/][/][/][X][X][X]
Attack: +10 - Defence: +10
Special: The Sea Prince can only be Summoned in deep waters, and cannot function on land.

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