To elaborate: there are a few different methods to achieve a "flash step", but they all share one trait. They all fuck physics in the ass.
Flight, on the other hand, is still beholden to things like momentum and inertia. A high enough level of Flight may let you move faster than the eye, but it while it may let you zip around the battlefield like a demented hummingbird high on caffeine, it won't let you pull off teleportation-in-all-but-name. For that, you need something else.
Predictably Portals Produce Profoundly Problematic Phenomena: Part 1/???
For before you was a scene you'd never imaged you ever see again, outside of nightmares. Blood splattered across broken pavement like paint, a titan of liquid flesh and writhing tendrils surrounded by rubble, and the heart wrenching sound of Candy Heart's remaining flesh and bones being ground apart by the beast's unholy gullet.
Red hot RAGE overcomes you, much as it did the first time you laid eyes upon this scene, and you unleash your Purifier Beam upon the Spawn of Mayhem before you.
(Purifier Beam: +1,137 Base damage, +86 Dice, +568 RAGE = 1,791 Total Damage
Spawn of Mayhem: +50 Base Resilience, Dice Negated, -10 Weak to Purification Effects, -37 Juggernaut = 3 Total damage reduction
Spawn of Mayhem Health: 5000 - 1788 = 3212)
Instead of the pathetic beam, and even more pathetic hole it burned into the beast, of your memories a titanic death beam spews forth and blows straight through the mountain of flesh and straight into one of the collapsed buildings behind it before exploding and spraying shrapnel everywhere.
For a moment it seems all of reality is frozen. Where once stood a helpless weakling now stands a proud Magical Girl who fights besides the true titans of the world. The moment is shattered when the mount of flesh realizes it's injuries and unleashes another burst of indescribable sound. "▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
Where you still as weak and inexperienced as you once were the sound would have been the end of you. Your eardrums would have exploded, your brain melted, and your life extinguished. Now however it's barely annoying and not even remotely distracting enough to prevent your follow up attack.
(Celestial Severance: +1,600 Base Damage, +164 Dice = 1764 Total Damage
Celestial Severance: +1,600 Base Damage, +164 Dice = 1764 Total Damage
Celestial Severance: 3528 Double-Cast Damage Total
Spawn of Mayhem: Resilience Negated, Dice Negated, -10 Weak to Purification Effects = -10 Total damage reduction
Spawn of Mayhem Health: 3212- 3538 = -326)
The white pane of energy that sweeps from your weapon doesn't merely cut the Spawn of Mayhem like it had so many others. No it's strength has grown four fold since the last time you used it and that new power is demonstrated as the mound of flesh explodes in a shower of gore.
You're not sure how long you stare blankly at the blood strained ruins surrounding you but you're shaken out of your daze when a familiar voice calls out, "Considering you only just awoke your powers, the fact you slew the Spawn of Mayhem is quite impressive."
Spinning around you see Rei standing before you in all her resplendent glory. What gets you though is her eyes. There is none of the warmth and love you've come to know in them. To her your not her beloved pet Nepgear. Your just a strange new Magical Girl.
Everything is gone. All the friends you've made are strangers once more. All your struggles to desperately survive in the face of monsters never happened. Your sister lies dead outside your home once more. For the second time in your life you've lost everything.
---------------------------------------------- Author's Note: Someone mentioned expecting something to go wrong with the portal. Well here it is; upon entering Nepgear was thrown back in time, a whole 17 days, to the very moment she first transformed. Kinda sad I was just a bit too late to make it into today's update. But there is the next reflection!
"Alright everyone! Today we're going to be looking into Sky Ball and the Cooking Contest they've been holding the last few days! Gabriel! You'll be our go-to guide for this one, alright?!" Your cheer instantly injects the room with energy as everyone that had been sitting collectively stand up, and Gabriel, who had been near the door, practically hops in place.
"Understood! I've never been very good at Sky Ball, but cooking has always interested me because of The Children,so leave it to me!"
You all file out of the room. Through the wall.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"So what is Sky Ball exactly? I've heard a few Angels mention it, but I've never actually looked it up."
Gabriel spins, walking backwards so she could face Samael in order to answer his question, while throwing a hand into the air. "Sky Ball is the only real sport here in Heaven! As you know, Angels aren't really all that competitive: so Sky Ball isn't actually a competitive sport as other races would consider it.
As it is, you have three teams of three. One of the Teams is given the Sky Ball and they have to play keep away with it. It's the job of the other two to steal the ball from that team. If the Team with the Ball can keep ahold of it for five minutes, they win. If the other two teams get the ball within those five minutes, they win. There's a lot more rules than that, but those are the basics."
You frown, clasping your hands behind your back as you think over what she said. "But... why are there three teams then, if that's the case?"
"That's because each 'Game' usually consists of five 'rounds'." Lucky is the one to answer this time, her strides short but swift, in order to keep up with the rest of you. "The team with the most wins at the end win the game. Full tournaments usually have longer games, up to eleven rounds a match, but the last tournament ended yesterday." You all watch her, and as she realizes that she has your collective attention what confidence she seems to have evaporates like mist, causing her to practically dive behind Michael and hide. "I-I l-like to l-look t-this kind of s-stuff up! I-it's nothing s-special!"
You all watch as Lucky practically shrivels up in seconds. You, yourself, grimace is worry as she does so. It was almost as if she was outright terrified of everyone. In an effort to take the attention off of her, and rescue the poor Fairy, you draw attention to the large field that was coming up; "Hey Gabriel! Is this it?"
Well... 'field' would be a misnomer.
"Yup. This is it!"
Instead of a 'field' in the traditional sense, it's instead a massive round bowl close to six hundred meters across. It was made out of the same 'cloud stuff' that seemingly everything else in Heaven is made from as well.
"Each Team starts at equidistant points around the bowl. The referee then passes the ball to whichever team either didn't have the Ball, or didn't steal it last game."
Your group comes to a stop next to the 'field' among the other spectators that were watching the three team currently flying around in the bowl. As you watch, one of the Angels that were dressed in bright green, complete with tie-dyed wings, passed the ball (roughly the size of a soccer ball but shining like someone plucked a piece of the sun out of the sky) to one of his teammates, who then flew upward until a barrier of magic snapped into place, keeping him inside the 'field'. He raced along the barrier, dodging two attempts to tackle him by the other team, picking up a trail of followers as his teammates dove low into the field.
Once he was at the complete 'top' of the field, he simply dropped the ball, letting gravity carry it to his third teammate that had taken position at the bottom of the bowl. She caught the ball, and raced away from where she had been floating, just barely dodging the rush of wings that had followed the object of the game like sharks smelling blood. One Angel though anticipated her dodge though, and ducked out of the pack just in time to catch the carrier by surprise and tackle her. The two of them went bouncing along the bottom of the bowl, causing the barrier that was keeping them inside to flash repeatedly. After the fourth bounce, the green angel let go of the ball, tossing it away across the ring. But instead of making it to one of her Teammates, it was caught by one of the yellow angels: ending the game.
"I'm at least told it's not as intense as a number of other sports across the Local Cluster. And the only ones that really play it are those of us prayed for by athletes and their fans. Though, it is fun to watch a lot of the time." You had to agree with that last piece.
"I wouldn't mind playing one of these days." And James sums up your thoughts perfectly. "If I ever get the ability to fly at least."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"Next, we have... the cooking contest. It's going on all this month, so we didn't really miss anything-"
"Actually, I have a question about that." Aquila's voice interrupts Gabriel's attempts at being a good tour guide. "Literally everything here tastes like your favorite food. Even a turd. So how the hell do cooking contests even work? It makes no sense to me!" Which... was actually a good point. Though you didn't want to know why she was so certain on the turd part.
"Umm... well, as you know Angels don't use very many ingredients in our cooking. And since everything tastes good all the time, we have to get a little creative: we use magic heavily in our cooking. As you've just said, everything tastes like your favorite food: not food type, just your favorite overall." Explains why everything so far tasted like Sega's burnt lasagna to you. "So the objective of the cooking contest is actually an exercise in magical skill. We weave a spell into the food we're preparing so that instead of tasting like only one thing, it tastes like something different: making cookies taste like your favorite cookies for example. Or a cake like the cake you like the most. So on. You also get an honorable mention if you manage to somehow screw up cooking so bad that even Heaven can't make it taste good. Those are everyone's favorites."
You wonder why that is... but then again it's probably obvious. Angels, being born in heaven, probably went most of their early lives tasting nothing but their 'favorite' foods, if such a descriptor could be given to something you've never tasted before. So tasting something that didn't taste perfect? The experience alone would probably be jarring enough that they'd remember it for their entire lives. And if they reacted like some humans did in similar situations when coming across certain things, they might even get addicted to it; leading them to chase bad foods across dimensions in order to recapture that feeling.
Burnt cookies: an Angel's drug addiction. Holy shit that sounds depressing.
"Anyway, while we're at this one you'll be able to give feed back on how well they've managed the magic. Each station has to have a description of what they were trying to do, and depending on how well they managed it, you can rate them. The winner gets a prize."
"Sadly though, we won't be here long enough to see the prizes given out." Aquila's response seems to pop the group's metaphorical bubble. "Anyway, let's enjoy the food. I'm looking forward to this. I haven't had my mother's pasta in years."
As it turns out though, her mother's pasta wasn't Aquila's favorite. Instead it was apparently her younger sister's. Who had died at Reluxus. This lead to the elf finding a corner to have a small breakdown in, leaving you grimacing after her in worry.
James found out that his favorite pizza was Jessica's home-made pizza. And though the soldier didn't cry, you could feel his melancholy whenever you looked at him for the rest of the event.
Samael was happy to announce that his favorite steak was "Lily's Special Steak" whatever that meant. And considering you knew his fiancé was a succubus you had a feeling you didn't want to know. At all.
Michael, after tasting the chicken on display had simply clamped his mouth shut, and headed over to Aquila's breakdown corner himself. You knew it was most likely something to do with Gabriel, so you said nothing and let him have his space.
Lucky had simply went up to one of the cookie stands, so she could take a plate of them off... somewhere, to eat them alone.
This left you and Gabriel to watch the slow dispersal of your team together. The young Angel slowly becoming more and more nervous as the different members of your team scattered to find their own depression corners. "Hey... Gabriel?" Your voice causes the angel to jump, and spin to you with a squeak. "Hehe, don't worry about it, alright? A lot of us... these past few years haven't really been the best for any one. And a lot of our bad memories have a habit of being connected to the same place a few of our favorite foods are. It's nothing against the Angels, it's just... James recently lost his sister. And I know that her Pizza was his favorite. So, being reminded of that... it all brings back what we've lost, ya'know?"
Gabriel looks at you, eyes cast in shadow from her inner thoughts. With her wings drooping as they were, however slightly, even though her shoulders were squared, it made her look far older, and far more like the statue of the previous Gabriel, than you had thought possible. "I... I'm sorry, Anastasia. It's just... this whole vacation was supposed to be a time for happiness. And it just feels like I've ruined it for everyone." She doesn't slump. You honestly don't think she had it in her to show weakness before something like this.
"Well. You haven't ruined it. I don't think so at any rate." You wrap your arms around her from behind, just short enough that your face fits into the small of her back, in between her wings. "It does bring up all these bad memories... but it also reminds us of all the good ones. It reminds us why we keep going, and helps us come to terms with the things that have happened. And it's worth it! That's what I think."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
Your return to the resort finds itself as heavy in thought as it had been the previous day. Michael, James, and Samael retire to the table in the small 'dining' area to reminisce about Richard and Jessica, the two original members of Team GEAR that did not manage to make it as far as they had. Lucky sits upon the windowsill, watching the fading light as Heaven realizes how tired she is. Aquila makes herself scarce, vanishing with little more than confirmation that she would return.
You on the other hand, follow Gabriel to the roof. There, you sit with the young Angel as she watches what few others are visible from her perch.
"Angel names are supposed to be unique." Gabriel pulls her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, as you remain silent. "When an Angel is born, they are given a name. We like to believe that our name is given to us by those who prayed, but we're not certain. But once an Angel has a name, no other Angel is ever given the same name until the previous Angel has died. It... We like to think of it as a sign of that Angel being reborn. And because of that... they inherit everything the previous Angel left behind. So, I'm expected to become just as great, if not greater than she was! I... I'm scared... I'm scared of not stacking up." Gabriel buries her face into her knees, trying to both stop her tears and block out the terror of her future.
The terror of being expected to surpass a literal legend. Archangel Gabriel's acts had been the kind of stuff that had started religions. And she had done it again and again, on numerous occasions. Doing the Impossible had been common for her. She slaughtered Demons by the thousands on her own.
Her first act ever had been to preform a feat of biblical proportions, and had gone from there. She had seen the start of the Endless War and had been there every step of the way, leading the Light from one Victory to the next, even after the Children of Nightmare nearly overwhelmed them. She had been there. And by having her name, your own Gabriel was now expected to do what she had done. Expected to do the impossible as if it was an everyday occurrence.
"I think you'll be able to pull it off." Gabriel's sobs are choked off at your words. Though her tears still fall, she raises her gaze to you, a spark of hope lighting in her eyes. "I believe that you'll become strong enough. That you'll be able to do more than even she ever could." And somehow, for some reason, you could believe your own words without a shadow of doubt. As you spoke, it felt as if you were dictating Gabriel's very future. "Throughout her history, the other Gabriel was never alone. Her companions gave her strength when her own failed. Which is why I believe you'll be able to do more than she did, because so long as you have us, Team GEAR... I know that you'll be able to do the one thing even she was never able to!" You suddenly stand, the energy within you filling to the brim. As if it was trying to escape. "You'll be able to end this, and bring Peace in all of it's kindness." The CORE pulses, and the FRAME stirs...
For several seconds, Gabriel stares at you in astonishment. And even as the energy that had tried bursting out of you faded, you felt with absolute certainty that you had spoken Truth. She smiles at you, brilliant in it's relief. Majestic in it's surety. "Thanks. Nepgear."
Red hot RAGE overcomes you, much as it did the first time you laid eyes upon this scene, and you unleash your Purifier Beam upon the Spawn of Mayhem before you.
(Purifier Beam: +1,137 Base damage, +86 Dice, +568 RAGE = 1,791 Total Damage
Spawn of Mayhem: +50 Base Resilience, Dice Negated, -10 Weak to Purification Effects, -37 Juggernaut = 3 Total damage reduction
Spawn of Mayhem Health: 5000 - 1788 = 3212)
Instead of the pathetic beam, and even more pathetic hole it burned into the beast, of your memories a titanic death beam spews forth and blows straight through the mountain of flesh and straight into one of the collapsed buildings behind it before exploding and spraying shrapnel everywhere.
For a moment it seems all of reality is frozen. Where once stood a helpless weakling now stands a proud Magical Girl who fights besides the true titans of the world. The moment is shattered when the mount of flesh realizes it's injuries and unleashes another burst of indescribable sound. "▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
Where you still as weak and inexperienced as you once were the sound would have been the end of you. Your eardrums would have exploded, your brain melted, and your life extinguished. Now however it's barely annoying and not even remotely distracting enough to prevent your follow up attack.
(Celestial Severance: +1,600 Base Damage, +164 Dice = 1764 Total Damage
Celestial Severance: +1,600 Base Damage, +164 Dice = 1764 Total Damage
Celestial Severance: 3528 Double-Cast Damage Total
Spawn of Mayhem: Resilience Negated, Dice Negated, -10 Weak to Purification Effects = -10 Total damage reduction
Spawn of Mayhem Health: 3212- 3538 = -326)
The white pane of energy that sweeps from your weapon doesn't merely cut the Spawn of Mayhem like it had so many others. No it's strength has grown four fold since the last time you used it and that new power is demonstrated as the mound of flesh explodes in a shower of gore.
You're not sure how long you stare blankly at the blood strained ruins surrounding you but you're shaken out of your daze when a familiar voice calls out, "Considering you only just awoke your powers, the fact you slew the Spawn of Mayhem is quite impressive."
Spinning around you see Rei standing before you in all her resplendent glory. What gets you though is her eyes. There is none of the warmth and love you've come to know in them. To her your not her beloved pet Nepgear. Your just a strange new Magical Girl.
Everything is gone. All the friends you've made are strangers once more. All your struggles to desperately survive in the face of monsters never happened. Your sister lies dead outside your home once more. For the second time in your life you've lost everything.
You wake, again cuddled tightly by Gabriel, as the dream swiftly fades from your memory. A desperate need to cling to Gabriel...
The warmth of her embrace leaves you reluctant to leave the bed, though...
"Why am I crying?"
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
It turns out that at some point the previous night a Cherub had decided to try being 'helpful', and had taken the group's clothes to be washed. All of them.
It didn't restrict itself to the clothes not being worn.
Eye-candy aside Team GEAR was stuck in their room until their outfits had been returned in neatly folded piles smelling better than they had any right to be.
Beach Episode!
-For this arc, voting is going to change slightly. Instead of just voting from a pre-existing list, you'll instead get a list of possible events to cover during the trip, and each day you'll be able to pick up to two events! Right after that though is where it gets interesting...-
-After voting for the events you want to do for that day, you can also vote for a team member to interact with. Each day, you can only vote for one team member to interact with and this is only once! The next day you get to vote for someone else. The reason you want to be careful on these selection is that depending on who you pick, the growth of Team GEAR will change however slightly! Take this chance to interact with different team member and help them work through past trauma, hidden or otherwise, and a couple might show hidden worth you never knew about!-
-Two Days to go!-
"Hey Nepgear, what're we doing today?" [] It's why we're here! HIT THE BEACH!
[] Visit the Gabriel memorial.
[] Visit the Goddess' Shrine. [] Find out what Sky Ball is!
[] There's a cooking competition going on!
[] There's a parade going on, lets see what it's about!
[] I hear there's a swimsuit competition. Lets see if we can win something!
[] I want to go see the Light Road.
"What's wrong with everyone?"
[] James [] Michael
[] Samael [] Gabriel
[] Lucky
[] Aquila
+5xp Discovered Sky Ball!
+10xp Learned some Angelic Customs
+50xp Gabriel gains new resolve to meet the standards ahead of her!
65 EXP Gained = 152 EXP Total
(Angel Gabriel has begun the Avatar of Peace growth path!) (Progenitor Frame has been upgraded!)
"I think you'll be able to pull it off." Gabriel's sobs a choked off at your words. Though her tears still fell, she raises her gaze to you, a spark of hope lighting in her eyes. "I believe that you'll become strong enough. hat you'll be able to do more than even she ever could." And somehow, for some reason, you could believe your own words without a shadow of doubt. As you spoke, it felt as if you were dictating Gabriel's very future. "Throughout her history, the other Gabriel was never alone. Her companions gave her strength when her own failed. Which is why I believe you'll be able to do more than she did, because so long as you have us, Team GEAR... I know that you'll be able to do the one thing even she was never able to!" You suddenly stand, the energy within you filling to the brim. As if it was trying to escape. "You'll be able to end this, and bring Peace in all of it's kindness." The CORE pulses, and the FRAME stirs...
As it is, you have four teams of three. One of the Teams is given the Sky Ball and they have to play keep away with it. It's the job of the other two to steal the ball from that team. If the Team with the Ball can keep ahold of it for five minutes, they win. If the other two teams get the ball within those five minutes, they win. There's a lot more rules than that, but those are the basics."
Lucky is the fairy who shakes like a leaf in a hurricane when she's near the team and hides behind the nearest object possible when Nepgear even looks at her. She's got issues and they need to be addressed before her fear gets herself killed.
Lucky is the fairy who shakes like a leaf in a hurricane when she's near the team and hides behind the nearest object possible when Nepgear even looks at her. She's got issues and they need to be addressed before her fear gets herself killed.
Well, since they had to awkwardly sit around in their room without clothes for a few hours (although some of them probably just refused to get out of bed), shame is probably dead at this point. We also need some fun after all that trauma.
[x] There's a parade going on, lets see what it's about!
[x] I hear there's a swimsuit competition. Lets see if we can win something!
[x] Lucky
