SV vs. Sonic '06

[EternalStruggle]

Before Vile interrupts anything she way about to say. She doesn't visibly react though - not in any way you'd like, anyways. Instead, she makes a polite half-bow toward the group. "So, this is where you were summoned. I humbly apologize for your arrival in this particular place, and thank you for your efforts in defending this place and protecting my people. I am Blaze, one of the two Champions of Angel Island, and he-" she nodded after the hedgehog- "Is Silver.

I presume you have questions about why you are here, and I am able to answer them. However, I must request that you hold them for a time, as another assault is approaching and I must prepare myself."

Click to shrink...

If Vile had eyes, this would definitely be the point where he rolled them. "Sure, sure, go do your thing then." Cheated out of another fight most likely, he made an approximation of stretching, and moved to walk back towards the base (he hesitated to call it a fortress at this point, but it probably rated higher than a mere encampment) to do something like get some rest. Not like he had anything else to do right now.

 

[Mew]

With the two introducing themselves Lilac smiled in a friendly manner, carrying herself in a relaxed way. She was about to introduce herself...

"Ooooh! So you are the reason that teleporter went crazy! Well, no matter. I'm Carol Tea and that's my best friend and partner, Lilac!" Only for Carol to beat her to the punch, grinning and standing proudly. The feline certainly has been more assertive lately.

Still, Champions of Angel Island, isn't it? The silver-colored guy, 'creatively' named Silver (hopefully Carol doesn't comment on that, embarassing them), seems nervous and tense for a champion. Maybe he's shy before a crowd of new people?

"I'm glad to meet you." the dragoness said, deciding to carry on. "I do admit that we'd have prefered if you had contacted us first but still, I will be more than glad to help."

"Right right." Carol approached Blaze and while keeping her smile, stood in a more neutral pose. "So! When will we get paid and how much?"

Lilac blinked a few times, instantly losing her smile. She knew the feline would embarass them somehow. And frankly? "Carol! What are you saying?! We aren't going to ask for money for this!"

It was Carol's turn at getting annoyed. She turned around and glared openly at the dragoness. Then she grabbed her and dragged her a few meters away. She reduced her volume and spoke angrily to Lilac, though if one cared to listen, one would still hear her. "Oh yeah? Then I assume it means you plan to steal Vile's things? Or maybe to swing by some of those burnt houses and take everything not bolted down?"

"Why would we do that?" Why was Carol saying this?! This is nonsense!

"Oh sure." deadpanned the feline, her tone bitter and resentful. "And how are we going to feed ourselves? Or maintain our equipment? Or buy energy sources for your Chargers?"

"Have you seen this place? Didn't we just shrug off an attack by those lava monsters? They, this entire world is clearly in dire need of help! It's the right thing to do!"

"How do you know that?!"

Carol's last reply caused Lilac to completely stop. She stood there, eyes widened, shocked. For a moment, Carol had been angry, genuinely angry. But as she stared at her partner, she saw her expression. Lilac had been able to lash out, to counter what Carol had said, to argue that this was the right thing, that this is what heroes do...

... only to remember, do she even know if this is the right thing? Is there even a right thing to do? And this caused her to actually, truly think on the issue. Carol... has a point. They are stuck on an alien world, with no support. They will need local currency for food, to get a place to stay, to maintain their equipment, to get her new energy sources for her Chargers. While she still feel a bit guilty about asking money for helping people, it is true that since they restarted taking ninja contracts from the governments back home and joint missions with the Red Scarves and the Chasers, they no longer needed to steal to survive.

Faced with what seemed like a scenario right out of a movie, she was falling back into bad habits.

"Look, I'm sorry. Lilac-" Carol started but the dragoness interrupted her.

"No no, it's okay. You're right. I... wasn't thinking. I... don't know what I'm doing. I guess we should clear things up. Just... not now. I mean, they just arrived and they're in such deep trouble. Can we really bother them with money issues now, of all times?"

Carol let out a long, tired-sounding sigh. "Fine, I'll deal with it."

"No no, I'll do it. Don't worry Carol..."

Lilac and Carol approached Blaze and Silver again. Lilac hesitated a moment and then, after calming down, spoke up.

"Sorry for the commotion. I am Lilac and this is my partner, Carol Tea. We're ninjas for hire from Avalice. We've been doing joint missions with the Chasers and you may have heard of us before, as we were the ones who stopped the schemes of Lord Brevon, two years ago. I can't speak for the others but we will definitely help you. As soon as it is convenient, we need to discuss the specifics." She smiled in a way she wanted reassuring and friendly. "I know we may seem young and a bit odd but I assure you that we're competent. You did the right thing by calling us here."

Carol's smile instantly faded at that last comment. "Maybe they could have asked for permission and cleared up the details before actually calling us here."

That deadpan earned Carol a very, very annoyed glance from her partner. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I was just sayin'..."

 

[The Fourth Monado]

With the two introducing themselves Lilac smiled in a friendly manner, carrying herself in a relaxed way. She was about to introduce herself...

"Ooooh! So you are the reason that teleporter went crazy! Well, no matter. I'm Carol Tea and that's my best friend and partner, Lilac!" Only for Carol to beat her to the punch, grinning and standing proudly. The feline certainly has been more assertive lately.

Still, Champions of Angel Island, isn't it? The silver-colored guy, 'creatively' named Silver (hopefully Carol doesn't comment on that, embarassing them), seems nervous and tense for a champion. Maybe he's shy before a crowd of new people?

"I'm glad to meet you." the dragoness said, deciding to carry on. "I do admit that we'd have prefered if you had contacted us first but still, I will be more than glad to help."

"Right right." Carol approached Blaze and while keeping her smile, stood in a more neutral pose. "So! When will we get paid and how much?"

Lilac blinked a few times, instantly losing her smile. She knew the feline would embarass them somehow. And frankly? "Carol! What are you saying?! We aren't going to ask for money for this!"

It was Carol's turn at getting annoyed. She turned around and glared openly at the dragoness. Then she grabbed her and dragged her a few meters away. She reduced her volume and spoke angrily to Lilac, though if one cared to listen, one would still hear her. "Oh yeah? Then I assume it means you plan to steal Vile's things? Or maybe to swing by some of those burnt houses and take everything not bolted down?"

"Why would we do that?" Why was Carol saying this?! This is nonsense!

"Oh sure." deadpanned the feline, her tone bitter and resentful. "And how are we going to feed ourselves? Or maintain our equipment? Or buy energy sources for your Chargers?"

"Have you seen this place? Didn't we just shrug off an attack by those lava monsters? They, this entire world is clearly in dire need of help! It's the right thing to do!"

"How do you know that?!"

Carol's last reply caused Lilac to completely stop. She stood there, eyes widened, shocked. For a moment, Carol had been angry, genuinely angry. But as she stared at her partner, she saw her expression. Lilac had been able to lash out, to counter what Carol had said, to argue that this was the right thing, that this is what heroes do...

... only to remember, do she even know if this is the right thing? Is there even a right thing to do? And this caused her to actually, truly think on the issue. Carol... has a point. They are stuck on an alien world, with no support. They will need local currency for food, to get a place to stay, to maintain their equipment, to get her new energy sources for her Chargers. While she still feel a bit guilty about asking money for helping people, it is true that since they restarted taking ninja contracts from the governments back home and joint missions with the Red Scarves and the Chasers, they no longer needed to steal to survive.

Faced with what seemed like a scenario right out of a movie, she was falling back into bad habits.

"Look, I'm sorry. Lilac-" Carol started but the dragoness interrupted her.

"No no, it's okay. You're right. I... wasn't thinking. I... don't know what I'm doing. I guess we should clear things up. Just... not now. I mean, they just arrived and they're in such deep trouble. Can we really bother them with money issues now, of all times?"

Carol let out a long, tired-sounding sigh. "Fine, I'll deal with it."

"No no, I'll do it. Don't worry Carol..."

Lilac and Carol approached Blaze and Silver again. Lilac hesitated a moment and then, after calming down, spoke up.

"Sorry for the commotion. I am Lilac and this is my partner, Carol Tea. We're ninjas for hire from Avalice. We've been doing joint missions with the Chasers and you may have heard of us before, as we were the ones who stopped the schemes of Lord Brevon, two years ago. I can't speak for the others but we will definitely help you. As soon as it is convenient, we need to discuss the specifics." She smiled in a way she wanted reassuring and friendly. "I know we may seem young and a bit odd but I assure you that we're competent. You did the right thing by calling us here."

Carol's smile instantly faded at that last comment. "Maybe they could have asked for permission and cleared up the details before actually calling us here."

That deadpan earned Carol a very, very annoyed glance from her partner. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I was just sayin'..."

Click to shrink...

"We will arrange payment of some sort - perhaps not in the style you are used to, but we can negotiate later," Blaze interrupts, before moving toward the hole in the wall. "Right at this moment, though, I would request that you all move to cover of some sort - the blast waves will be rather bad out here, beyond the walls."

Inside the fortress, another alarm began blaring, and you hear the Commander shouting to get inside the building - surprising lungs on someone that old.

Xan patted out the smoldering bits of her clothing before she shuffled out of the shadows to greet the arrivals silently, hoping this meant things were about to get a less hectic. She just hoped the others won't try to question where she was during the siege.

Click to shrink...

"-so tell Isarphiel that she needs to get ready for the ritual, and sound the alarm to get under cover," you overhear as you get closer. "Going by the estimated numbers, Chaos won't be able to hold anything back."

"I understand," replies the Commander, motioning to Vess, who sprints off into the building. Barely a few seconds later, you hear a different alarm from earlier begin to sound, as the Commander begins yelling for everyone to move into the building in a calm fashion and her soldiers begin to obey.

And then she notices you.

"Ah, Xantria. Well done, young lady," she gently congratulates you. "What an amazing power you have there, eh? Hmm, but that doesn't matter now - come, you'll want a good vantage point for this. Follow me," she finishes, turning to enter the main building.

 

[Mew]

"Alright, thank you." Lilac said, bowing briefly. "Apologies for the bother."

And then as the alarms sounded. Carol didn't waste time. She ran for the building. Lilac followed closely behind though she caught some of the words. Chaos? Who might that be? And hold anything back? Hmmm... she wonder...

Well, they'll ask about this later...

 

[GradeonMagus]

"-so tell Isarphiel that she needs to get ready for the ritual, and sound the alarm to get under cover," you overhear as you get closer. "Going by the estimated numbers, Chaos won't be able to hold anything back."

"I understand," replies the Commander, motioning to Vess, who sprints off into the building. Barely a few seconds later, you hear a different alarm from earlier begin to sound, as the Commander begins yelling for everyone to move into the building in a calm fashion and her soldiers begin to obey.

And then she notices you.

"Ah, Xantria. Well done, young lady," she gently congratulates you. "What an amazing power you have there, eh? Hmm, but that doesn't matter now - come, you'll want a good vantage point for this. Follow me," she finishes, turning to enter the main building.

Click to shrink...

Xan silently nodded, not caring that her name was misspoken. She was exhausted and starving and this talk of ritual bullshit just made things even weirder than the flying cat and chipmunk.

What little hope she had left was still focused on no one prying for more information on her 'amazing power'. Just leave her be to her food and actual sleep...

'...Shit. Follow to watch... ugh, fine.', Xan thought with a silent, resigned sigh through her nose as she followed the commander into the main building.

 

[Malbutorius]

Mugman

"Right right." Carol approached Blaze and while keeping her smile, stood in a more neutral pose. "So! When will we get paid and how much?"

Click to shrink...

Mugman was shrinking his plane when he realized they were safe at the time, but as soon as he heard mention of payment he felt the sudden urge to give his two cents like his brother taught him, always make sure they pay you in gold.

"I accept gold bullion!" He said, adding in his bit after he slips his plane into his pocket.

The two seemed friendly, the Silver porcupine guy looked serious, and the purple cat looked a bit queer with that gem in her head that reminded Mugman of one of those Indian folks. The one's from India, not America.

When the alarms suddenly went off he went to follow the group quickly, jogging along after them.

 

[EternalStruggle]

Vile ended up hopping on to the walls, leaning on the battlements and watching what would happen next.

 

[The Fourth Monado]

@Mew
@Malbutorius
@EternalStruggle
@GradeonMagus
@Takoe

Soon, all the soldiers and inhabitants of the fortress had withdrawn into the great, blocky building, taking cover within and leaving Vile on the walls to continue watching - though he'd still be able to observe most everything from his position. The rest of the newer arrivals gathered on the roof, near the silent artillery. A few of the artillerymen are still up here, lounging around near their guns, and Silver and the Commander joined you quickly, the hedgehog leaning up against one of the gun's pedestals and the commander standing by the rail, hands resting on it as she stares out over the blasted landscape. Behind you all, the ocean stretches out, almost black under the ash clouds, and the airship above continues circling, waiting silently for the events to unfold.

Below, Blaze and a few other denizens were conducting some sort of ritual below, directly by the docks. Any questions any of you had about it had been deflected to Silver, who was being remarkably quiet about it. "It's not something I can really put into words," was all he'd said. "You should just watch. "Which was... suspicious, but considering how awkward and honestly uncomfortable he seems around all the respectful kowtowing and almost worshipping looks you notice a few of the soldiery give him, it's actually somewhat understandable he's not comfortable talking to you entirely new people. Still annoying you can't get a strait answer, though.

About five to ten minutes after you'd all reached the roof, you all feel a sudden tingle run over your skin - almost like touching something that had a lot of static buildup in it, before the zap. Everyone except the commander and Silver perk up almost expectantly, even as the air pressure suddenly seems to build, causing you all to feel just that little bit heavier. Out to see, a rumbling, almost thundering noise begins to sound, building and growing even as a massive whirlpool forms, reflected light from the fortress glinting off of it's inky depths. Could that be the 'Chaos' everyone was talking about-?

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

With a roar of displaced air, a massive spire of rotating water erupts out of the whirlpool, shining internally with blue and green light and almost dwarfing the fortress with it's immense size. Four tentacles split away from the body, thrashing in the air as the column writhes, hunching over and gaining more details and features. Almost fleshy chunks of skin and scales form, even as three almost-spikes form on it's back. The center splits in half, forming a massive gaping mouth lined with shining green teeth, and a head finishes taking form.

Green, reptilian slitted eyes snap open, and the beat howls, the the raw strength forcing you all to brace yourselves against it.

PERFECT CHAOS

Ocean God
Guardian of Life
​

Deep in the being's throat, a shining light swells and builds, before it whips its head forward and unleashes a howling torrent of white power that touches down near the base of the mountains. With a flick of the head, it sends the beam sideways, slicing across the entire length before cutting it off. All was still for a few seconds...

Then a massive series of explosions, almost as large as the mountains, erupt along the edge. A howling wind tears across the land, hammering into the fortress and forcing Silver to extend his hands, cyan energy shielding everyone up here.

"This is Perfect Chaos... the guardian of all living things since before my grandfather's time," the Commander says, voice quiet even as it cuts through the howling wind. "As long as we stay near the sea, he will help us, as long as we call upon him. None of Iblis's creations can contest his might, though he may not leave the seas he rules."

---

@Cyreni
@HorizonWanderer
@Xellos
@CaesriusPolybius
@Grue

The massive, armor-lined room lay quiet, even as it was gently painted with green light from its centerpiece. Along one wall was a massive dark screen, a huge keyboard built into the wall just below it. Most of the floor was covered in wires, tangled and crisscrossing toward different parts of the room. In one corner, a decently large platform sat, electricity sometimes arcing over areas where metal plates had been blasted off from inside. Several wires lead from it to the center of the room, where a pedestal with three pillars around it sat. Adorning the pedestal was a massive green gem, shining internally with both light and power. Beside despondently say a hedgehog, grey-blue spikes almost drooping and gloved hands clasping stained legs to his chest. A female echidna sat beside him, silently patting his shoulder understandingly.

"...I just don't know what went wrong," the hedgehog finally said, breaking the silence. The echidna said nothing, just waiting for him to continue.

"It wasn't supposed to explode. I installed circuit breakers and safeties all over, and made sure the pillars had modulators for the Emerald's energy, and yet it somehow exploded," he continued, somehow drooping more. "Why does this always happen when I do this sort of thing? It's like everything has it out for me... Tikal, should I just give up now?"

The echidna shook her head. "No, Wrench. While this sort of failure is expected-"

"Like the last five thousand," Wrench cut in bitterly.

"-That doesn't mean we should give up," she continued, like he hadn't even said anything. "After all, the stories say most inventors spend most of their efforts finding things that don't work, over things that do. And inter-universal summoning is something entirely new, by my knowledge - nothing it was ever recorded to have been ever attempted by the old world. We shouldn't give up just yet."

"But, it feels like reality itself has it out for this project," sighed Wrench. "Seriously, would it be too hard for me to get just one brea-?"

POP

Five figures - a self-proclaimed god, a martial artist, a master mage, a robotic maid and a hero - all suddenly face-planted onto the platform in a pile. Wrench and Tikal both snapped their heads up, spinning to look over at it, and the hedgehog jumped to his feet with a startled exclamation. "What the-?"

 

[Malbutorius]

Mugman

Mugman stared at the massive creature for what felt like a small eternity, he'd never seen anything so massive, so awe inspiring, so godly. It looked like the Devil made a dragon out of water and then it got out of hand and kept growing.

His pupils shrank in stunned fright, he mouth open slightly in shock, his shoulders stiff and his body tense.

And when it fired that massive, massive beam of energy, the fluids in his head gurgled itself as a chill ran through him. He tried to shake himself out of it, drinking some of the alcohol out of his head to try to calm the nerves, the mixed drink going down smoothly enough. Once he takes a few sips his heart starts to thrum softer and he starts to calm down and relax a bit. He wasn't sure what to say about that, what was there to say really?

"I'm glad he's on our side." Mugman said, saying the only thing he could bring to mind.

 

[Xellos]

@Cyreni
@HorizonWanderer
@Xellos
@CaesriusPolybius
@Grue

The massive, armor-lined room lay quiet, even as it was gently painted with green light from its centerpiece. Along one wall was a massive dark screen, a huge keyboard built into the wall just below it. Most of the floor was covered in wires, tangled and crisscrossing toward different parts of the room. In one corner, a decently large platform sat, electricity sometimes arcing over areas where metal plates had been blasted off from inside. Several wires lead from it to the center of the room, where a pedestal with three pillars around it sat. Adorning the pedestal was a massive green gem, shining internally with both light and power. Beside despondently say a hedgehog, grey-blue spikes almost drooping and gloved hands clasping stained legs to his chest. A female echidna sat beside him, silently patting his shoulder understandingly.

"...I just don't know what went wrong," the hedgehog finally said, breaking the silence. The echidna said nothing, just waiting for him to continue.

"It wasn't supposed to explode. I installed circuit breakers and safeties all over, and made sure the pillars had modulators for the Emerald's energy, and yet it somehow exploded," he continued, somehow drooping more. "Why does this always happen when I do this sort of thing? It's like everything has it out for me... Tikal, should I just give up now?"

The echidna shook her head. "No, Wrench. While this sort of failure is expected-"

"Like the last five thousand," Wrench cut in bitterly.

"-That doesn't mean we should give up," she continued, like he hadn't even said anything. "After all, the stories say most inventors spend most of their efforts finding things that don't work, over things that do. And inter-universal summoning is something entirely new, by my knowledge - nothing it was ever recorded to have been ever attempted by the old world. We shouldn't give up just yet."

"But, it feels like reality itself has it out for this project," sighed Wrench. "Seriously, would it be too hard for me to get just one brea-?"

POP

Five figures - a self-proclaimed god, a martial artist, a master mage, a robotic maid and a hero - all suddenly face-planted onto the platform in a pile. Wrench and Tikal both snapped their heads up, spinning to look over at it, and the hedgehog jumped to his feet with a startled exclamation. "What the-?"

Click to shrink...

Right after Mech-Hisui finished after-battle repairs and daily maintenance, the world flashed green, and the force of gravity suddenly shifted 90°. Her tactile feedback sensors made note of the fact that physical sensation ceased for approximately .02 milliseconds within the time frame where the brilliant flash of green light covered up any visual data that could be recorded. When tactile feedback sensors began recording data again, she was only in contact with air, which very quickly changed as non-damaging impacts fell across her body and she fell to the ground.

...Analyzing.

A new file had been downloaded into her memory. It was a apparently a short video and auditory file.

Open File: Y/N?

>N

She wasn't going to open unfamiliar downloads until she had more firsthand data on what was going on. It wasn't running anything, so it couldn't be in an active state, assuming it was some form of trojan. No system flaws were detected. Operating at regular capacity. The mechanical maid began to move, standing up while attempting to not put pressure on any of the organics that were within her range-

Hold. Three apparent organics, two apparent beings that were near the 'Neco-Type' class, and one apparent Necrotic-Type being of an unfamiliar exact classification. Gem in center of the area outputted excessive energy readings of unknown frequency.

Possible enemy territory. Chance of Great Cat Village Plot calculated at 38.653%. Chance of TATARI Manifestation Calculated at 42.397%. Chance of Kohaku Experiment at 16.541%. Remaining options at 2.409%. Mech-Hisui immediately began to move, wheels emerging from her feet, heading towards an position that would allow observation of all parties in the room.

Two Entities similar to Neco-Type were most likely responsible. The other four were in a similar position to herself. Gem was most likely power source for whatever they had done.

"Identify: Names. Species. Location. Purpose of Kidnapping." she intoned, not having drawn a weapon, and hands still down clasped in front of her skirt. However, her gaze was locked on the two anthropomorphic creatures. There was a short pause before continuing.

"Please."

It would be remiss to forget manners.

 

[EternalStruggle]

"This is Perfect Chaos... the guardian of all living things since before my grandfather's time," the Commander says, voice quiet even as it cuts through the howling wind. "As long as we stay near the sea, he will help us, as long as we call upon him. None of Iblis's creations can contest his might, though he may not leave the seas he rules."

Click to shrink...

"So, a being that rules the land, and a creature that controls the sea..." Vile hummed. "Is there a sky one too? This sounds like something out of a religion I once heard about. Or a child's game. Or both." It was... potent, to be sure. This 'Perfect Chaos' had no doubt wiped out the entire attack force with that almost beautiful attack, and if the one called Blaze decided she needed the big guns, then it was as large or larger than the assault that had just struck at the encampment. Either that, or she couldn't repeat that wall of flame very easily.

He chuckled. "Real shame that humans can't live in the sea, isn't it? I suppose it is impressive that you have a nuke on demand button though. I suppose two with that fiery entry earlier."

He turned away from the scene, leaning back on the wall. He looked down at Blaze, and shouted at her. "Hey! Blazing Kitten! Kitty! Kit-Kat! You said that you'd answer our questions after the next wave was dealt with. Well, the next wave's been dealt with." Vile turned back to lack at the dust of the explosions, and nodded appreciatively. "Well, I certainly hope so at least." He may as well get right to business. His processors had of course stored the apocalyptic series of divine-caused detonations in long term memory for appreciation, right up there along with his single-handed defeat of X and Zero, his single-handed defeat of Sigma, that time he caused an entire skyscraper to collapse to get some Mavericks hiding inside, and that one hostage situation he actually saved the hostage in.

 

[Mew]

Once Lilac followed inside, she was surprised to see Carol already watching Blaze doing her thing. Carol was watching quietly, having calmed down from earlier.

"So you finally decided to join us." she said, not turning to face her. "Can you sense anything?"

The dragoness nodded. "This is a ritual and a powerful one at that. I can sense the power being channelled."

"Really?" went Carol, her voice devoid of skepticism. Their world had its share of 'magic' too, so she really didn't doubt it. Rather, her thoughts wandered. "You know, it must be nice."

"What must be nice?"

"To be able to sense that energy." Carol said, a bit quieter. "You know, it's really unfair. You get to be faster than any other being alive, you have amazing durability, you have longevity, you have innate powers much greater than any other species..." She sighed briefly. "I wish I wasn't Energy-Blind..."

The dragoness approached her best friend and patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay. We like you as you are. Beside, you aren't exactly weak yourself. I don't know many people who could punch tanks at the age of twelve, even with the training you had."

"They weren't full military models and you know that." Carol said, a grin on her face for a moment, glancing at her friend. But after they exchanged smiles, she turned back to the ritual, her grin fading. "Still, I have a dragoness on the side and on the other hand, the most powerful psychic to be born in centuries. Sometimes, I feel... like I'm the weakest link. And then, maybe..."

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing."

She recovered her smile. "Say, Lilac? What do you think they're doing?"

"No idea." The dragoness said. "All I know is that they're channelling power."

"What about Pangu? It got a scanning device, correct?" Carol said.

Lilac blinked once before snapping her fingers. "Of course! Thanks for the idea, Carol!" She turned to the floating squid-like drone hovering by her side. "Pangu, analysis of the energy pattern?"

The machine's lone optic adjusted for a moment, a pair of antennas emerging from a hidden pannel for a moment. "Analysis complete. Energy output is negligible. Energy flow is likely a communication signal."

Both Lilac and Carol raised an eyebrow, Lilac putting a fist on her hip while Carol blinked rapidly before voicing what the two of them thought aloud. "What the heck? Then why do they need so many people then?"

"Signal is extremely precise and complex in shape. Signal must be sent through what appears to be a great distance." Pangu added.

That caused Carol to get a bit curious. "Really? What could they be trying to talk with? What would require that level of power? And why not just use a phone or a radio then? Magic is impractical for long-distance talk. It's why no one use magic for that anymore."

"You mean you don't know?" Lilac said, suddenly mocking.

Carol's eyes narrowed and she begun to deadpan. "In case you're wondering, they're a bit too busy to anwser questions at the moment. Like, duh."

"What about the pretty silvery boy on the side?" The dragoness asked, pointing at Silver.

"Him?" the green feline asked before shrugging. "I and a bunch of people tried to cozy up to him but seems the guy is either really shy or professional. That and they obviously don't trust us with the info or think we should all stay on a need to know basis. Either way, it's really annoying." She crossed her arms in thought.

"So the great Carol Tea failed to get some information out of some silver pretty boy?" Lilac teased.

"Hey, it's not like I pressed the guy for info. What could I do to get him to talk, anyway?" Carol said.

Lilac suddenly got a very large, very odd grin. Carol raised an eyebrow, confused and pre-emptively mildly annoyed. "Well, since you said he's seemingly shy and embarassed, maybe you could take advantage of that?" She punctuated her suggestion by poking the feline's exposed midriff, causing her to yelp softly in surprise.

Carol seemed confused for all of a second before she gave the dragoness a definitely deeply annoyed expression. "Lilac, if you want to add a new boyfriend to your collection, PLEASE don't do it in front of everyone at least! For once!"

Lilac took it in stride and actually grinned wider. "I didn't mean going that far! I meant just taking being nice for a bit, maybe show him a bit of your inherent cuteness, get him more comfortable with talking? Or do you really find him that cute?"

Carol flinched and then relaxed, rolling her eyes in amusement. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?" After seeing Lilac nod, Carol crossed her arms and continued. "Anyway, I just didn't think it appropriate. We'll see soon enough anyway. I say we wait." She was also tempted to comment that though she technically wore less, that Lilac's armored suit was so form-fitting that it left less to the imgination than her tank top and shorts. That comment, though, she kept to herself.

Though now that she think about it, she wondered... is Silver's suit of a technology akin to Lilac's? And what kind of species is he? He seems to be pretty weird, overall. A nice mammal thing but big spines like these? He's clearly a mammal of sorts but she don't know any species with a pattern like this, physically. Maybe some kind of dragon thing? Oh dear. Hopefully not! There's already one dragon too many in this place.

And so, Lilac walked up to Carol's side and the two watched. Then, there was some kind of glow. Noticing the commander and Silver both seeming to perk up, Carol spoke up to Lilac. "Oh hey, seems like they're done!"

Lilac nodded. "Seems like it."

The two turned to face what was causing that strange light and the two to perk up... only for Carol's eyes to widen as a huge being of water seemed to form. Lilac stared at it, eyes equally widened.

"This looks..." Lilac almost wanted to say it looked like a dragon but it was an even more impressive form than Pangu's holodragon form. And before her eyes, it proceeded to use powers that are intense on an even greater level. And then hearing the explanation...

The two were absolutely baffled. Carol slowly spoke, her body frozen by shock. "... what was that we saw?" she whispered.

"P-Pangu?" Lilac asked.

"Energy patterns shows a natural nexus event, self-directed." Lilac and Carol could not believe what they just heard. Nexus events were already almost theorical but the implications, hearing it was self-directed? No, that couldn't be right. It just couldn't be.

"What kind of core did they use to make it? What kind of people manage to create nexus machines?" Carol commented aloud.

"What kind of core was used in it?" Lilac asked to Pangu.

"No metallic objects detected. Nexus event was self-directed."

The two turned back toward Blaze and Silver. Lilac wanted to speak but found her mouth refusing to move. So of course, Carol blurted out, going from baffled and dead terrified to absolutely amazed. She was hopping on the spot, leaning forward, a huge excited kitty grin on her face.

"That. Was. AWESOME! How did you guys do it? You guys made a genuine self-directed nexus event, a god! Teleportation, now this?! You guys have SWEET technology! How did you do that?! And that thing? It looked like a huge mix of a dragon and an octopus! Were you guys visited by dragons too in the far past?"

Oh and of course, she spoke very quickly. Not so fast as to not be possible to understand but it was very obvious that Carol's mind had went bye-bye. With Carol fangirling over the idea of a self-directed nexus event (to be fair, she was absolutely baffled herself as well), Lilac decided to instead turn her attention elsewhere.

Since Carol was busy fangirling, Lilac turned to Vile instead. "Well, if your world had a self-directed nexus event, your world would probably have made a religion about it. Self-directed nexus events are as close to a real life deity as the laws of physics will allow. They're essentially the consciousness of an entire planet's aspect or energy. Think of it as an entire world's ocean or sky somehow being connected into a network, with an intelligence capable of directing it. On my world, we do have nexus events but they're just natural phenomeneons, without a will of their own. I'm actually surprised a self-directed nexus event exist outside of theory."

She then put a hand under her chin. "And now that you mention it... why aren't they living under the sea? They seems to have extremely fancy technology, obviously. Long-range teleportation and now this... so why can't they build any underwater cities?"

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

POP

Five figures - a self-proclaimed god, a martial artist, a master mage, a robotic maid and a hero - all suddenly face-planted onto the platform in a pile. Wrench and Tikal both snapped their heads up, spinning to look over at it, and the hedgehog jumped to his feet with a startled exclamation. "What the-?"

Click to shrink...

As Link fell out of the odd realm of green, he was still processing what he had heard. Hitting the ground snapped him out of it, however, and after taking a moment to extract himself from the pile of people, he pulsed his Focus (tiring, in his current position, but not being prone was worth the effort) and was summarily standing ready, his hand on the hilt of the Master Sword.

Then one of the... odder people spoke, and- wait, that voice was familiar. Before Link could confirm that he was the one that had summoned them, however, one of the others spoke. Thus, the Hero stayed silent, and instead took a moment to examine the others in the room. Four Hylians - well, probably Hylians? None that he could see had pointed ears(which while not unheard of, was certainly rare), and the one who had spoken already was wearing what had to be the strangest makeup Link had ever seen. Then there was an odd entity that somewhat reminded Link of a monster only seen in lore - redeads, or something like that. Still, it didn't seem to be trying to eat anyone, but Link made a mental note to keep an eye on it anyways.

Then there were the duo that were their likely summoners, given their position in the room. Two people, belonging to a race that Link hadn't seen before. People in a room filled with strange machinery...

Yuuuuup. Definitely not in Hyrule anymore...

 

[Cyreni]

I don't know! Something's interfering with-!

Click to shrink...

That was an unusual way to start the day.

'A call for help from another world set aflame. You mortals repeat history so often, but not normally this quickly...'

I kept silent as Aluneth's amused tone echoed in my mind. While those in the mage hall knew that the archmage of the arcane had a staff containing an extremely powerful entity inside of it, it was considered impolite and just a little off-putting to start taking back to something nobody else could register. Like a schizophrenic, or a shadow priest nudged just a little too much into the deep end.

'The power to travel to other worlds is within your grasp, child. It may be worthwhile to see if there's anything of value left,' Aluneth continued, hunger edging its words. It had only a little compassion for beings of flesh and blood, and even then it was limited to those who wielded arcane power. I grunted, very quietly so as to not disturb my fellow mages looking at the deployment map.

Aluneth had obviously made its wants clear, but I was more ponderous. I turned the message in my head over and over. Someone, I don't know who nor where (but that could be rectified), is desperate enough to contact other worlds for help against a global elemental threat. If they were genuine, the help of just one mage would not be enough to handle that sort of opposition. They would need a great number of heroes and probably the entire militaristic and logistical backing of both the Horde and the Alliance, and who knew how they would divvy up the new world as recompense? I, at least, held quite a bit of political clout. Perhaps the other halls had received similar messages?

Either someone was trying to play me for a fool from another world entirely, someone was willing to pay an incredible price, or someone was hoping for a Light-blessed miracle. Even in the first case this was still an intelligent message from another world, according to Aluneth, and thus bore a scientific investigation at the very least. I resolved to contact the other halls before performing any sort of reckless action, then grab a few mages to find this world and perform a preliminary expidition.

Of course, all of this reasoned planning was thrown completely out the window as I was suddenly, unexpectedly teleported out from the milling mages around me.

Five figures - a self-proclaimed god, a martial artist, a master mage, a robotic maid and a hero - all suddenly face-planted onto the platform in a pile. Wrench and Tikal both snapped their heads up, spinning to look over at it, and the hedgehog jumped to his feet with a startled exclamation. "What the-?"

Click to shrink...

My arms pinwheeled frantically as the green flash deposited me on a hard, metal surface. Reflex had me blink forward, into a mass of cables and wires halfway between the platform and a massive gemstone that glowed with power, and to ready a number of destructive spells I could fire off in an eyeblink. Aluneth pulsed with arcane might and my eyes flicked from one person to the next in rapid succession.

Human, human, human with elf in the family, mech, two of an unknown species. My grip on Aluneth tightened.

'Interesting,' Aluneth whispered, sounding bored. 'The energies of that gemstone are immense, yet they are not quite like anything found on Azeroth. Chaotic without the corruptive influence of fel. I must drink...'

"No," I murmured. Then, louder, "A fine time to have summoned me. I was on my way to gather an army before coming here."

 

[HorizonWanderer]

Name: Chase Grand
Date: First day of being kidnapped!
Location: ... I have no idea.
Status: Well. This is... new.

@The Fourth Monado

@Xellos @Grue @Cyreni @CaesriusPolybius

... A day like any other it was. Chase had once more gotten up at the crack of dawn, started going through his usual routine twenty mile jog 'round the wilderness that his master', Gouken's, dojo stood, and... Basically that was it, yeah. It was kinda colder than usual, though Chase had long since acclimated to Japan's climate. It wasn't really anything that bothered him, or anything that he couldn't handle. It was rather refreshing, really, even though he hadn't really worked up a sweat yet from the exertion. ... If nothing else, Master Gouken's training had certanly instilled him with a healthy amount of endurance and vigor. Still remembered the days when the run would practically kill him and he'd need to stop every now and then. Now, though... With a slight grin, Chase burst ahead in a rush of air.

Now he could do stuff like that. When you really got down to it, Ki was bullshit useful and fun. Practically teleporting with speed? Check. Punching boulders into rubble? Check. Firing freaking hand blasts made of life energy? Also check! ... Though, at the thoughts, a slightly sheepish grin replaced the eager and honest one. Ehehehe... Really... really shouldn't have been using Ki to run ahead like that. Gouken would know. Gouken always knew. The man's senses had been honed to a ridiculously fine degree over the years, along with the rest of his body. ... His arms still were sore from the last 'sparring match'.

Anyway!

It was a slightly chilly, normal day. Nothing had indicated that this would be any different from the other days during the last six years of his 'enrollment' into Master Gouken's dojo. There wasn't any ominous threat around, there wasn't any feeling in the air that made him choke, Akuma was long gone to... wherever the hell he usually went to, Ryu and Ken had got back to doing their usual thing... Really, it was pretty boring all things considered. It was great that he was getting stronger, faster, more durable and everything, but... Having something to really test his progress against would be nice. Gouken and the bear always beat him down pretty handily, so he couldn't really use that as a great point of reference... Though he nearly landed a good punch on the bear that last match!

'Six years... I wonder how much I've grown...'

A sigh drifted from his lips. Oh well. It was a common complaint he had, enough that it usually floated to the surface of his mind around the same time he took his morning run. Not like that day was going to be any different. ... Another thought drifted by. Eh, it wasn't like he was going to get into worse trouble at this point... Another burst into Surging Gale and Chase rocketed toward-!

- A green portal that appeared right the fuck out of nowhere. And Chase was entirely going too fast to even really contemplate stopping.

With a slightly panicked yelp...

He vanished into the air.

The portal vanished just as quickly.

... A mostly silent mountain pathway was all that was left, birds softly chirping as they woke...
__________________________________________________________

'Perhaps,'

Some part of Chase's mind managed to argue even as the world twisted, distorted, and changed around him,

'This is a lesson on why going too fast is a bad thing,'

Indeed, it sounded like something Master Gouken would say. Chase had fragrantly gone too fast when he had been warned to not go too fast. The lesson would both include the fact that he'd gone too fast in the first place, and then foolishly decided it wouldn't get any worse if he went faster. Clearly, the small part of Chase concluded, that was the real issue at hand. That he went too fast and would have Master Gouken on his ass probably the moment he stopped falling. The other parts of Chase kindly told the small part to screw off elsewhere and stop bothering him because freefalling took a lot of effort to not spiral into a death spin. ... Oh, yeah, and the world around him distorting as it was was also kinda concerning. The falling part his mind could handle, at the very least, considering how often he'd done stupid stunts like 'jump off a waterfall and land without dying'.

... Let it never be said that Chase was smart as a teenager.

Mmm. The other concerning part, though, was that... it had gone on for a while, hadn't it? Was there an end to this rainbow-colored hell? Would he be drifting through this chaotic portal of FAST forever, as penance for his grevious sin? Would he ever be forgiven, for going too fast? Perhaps this was his new home, his purgatory, doomed to-

BWORP

"OH WELL THAT ISN'T GREAT!"

Apparently he was doomed to crash into the back of some guy with short black hair on the ground. Huh. Well that wasn't the worst punishment in the world at least. It was something he could deal with, considering he'd crashed into a multitude of people before, and... Huh, actually, the angle Chase was coming at... Yeah, yeah that'd work. ... Guy probably wasn't going to feel great. Oh well. He'd apologize later.

Instantly, Chase's body swivled, hands coming out and, using the poor guy's head as a springboard, flipped his momentum around, sommersaulted through the air a few times, slammed his feet back on to the ground, back facing toward a wall, and slid into a solid Stance, quite literally. Couldn't entirely cancel his momentum, so his feet kinda slid against the... metal ground. Huh. Neat. Anyway, with both feet firmly on the ground, his arms positioned in such a way as to block or manuver around attacks, Chase took stock of the situation he found himself in. ... And, while he didn't let his guard down, his mind... Uhh...

'... I didn't... I didn't crash into some mushroom and accidentally swallow it... did I?'

There was what looked like a corpse in very, very stereotypical magic user robes, another guy in... Brown and green with p-pointy ears?! Was he an elf?! A cosplayer?! Something else!? ... Regardless, Chase felt the urge to start declaring this the best day ever so far, but quelched it. Undead and Elves aside, he didn't really know what else was here... Except... Someone that looked... Were those maid clothes? Blinking, Chase slightly tilted his head at the... Okay what. Either she was a really great cosplayer as well, and this was some kinda... D&D meeting he'd stumbled in to in some mushroom induced stupor, or... or she was a robot. His eyes glanced at the man on the ground he'd... kinda diliberately smashed into the ground. Just a bit. ... He winced slightly.

Okay, uh, that was... that. Now what was-

'Holy crap those are-'

... His brain stalled, even as he flinched slightly.

'... I have no idea what even they are.'

One big spiky animal-looking-guy and a girl(?) who equally looked like an animal except they clearly both weren't. The light in their eyes... those eyes didn't belong to mere beasts. And... Slowly, his gaze trailed to the... giant... gem... ston... e...

...

His eyes widened a fraction.

'... Holy fuck that is a lot of power.'

The giant fucking (wince) green gemstone was apparently ridiculously powerful. He could feel it practically radiating off of the thing! That... that wasn't normal at all!

...

'Okay, now I'm just gonna declare this the best day ever.'

Because holy Lord new people! New species! New place! New giant glowing super gem thing! This was more pure raw excitement he'd felt in a long while! It was great! ... He didn't drop his guard, mind, but he was still really excited! Maybe Master Gouken wouldn't kick his ass (wincing intensifies) if he did well in doing... Stuff! ... No, no, there was definitely an ass (the winciest) beating when he got back. That was for certain. ... Kinda awkward silence, though. Maybe someone else'd talked already, but he... kinda missed that.

... Back to the old standby then!

"... Soo... How's the weather?"

 

[Grue]

Help us, please. The world is burning.

It's been burning for the last three centuries, to be fair; I don't think there's been any greenery anywhere near the mainland that isn't algae. And don't get me started on civilization; I swear, the only place that isn't regressed to the Dark Ages is Angel Island, and even that has... Yeah, I'm getting off track.

Anyways! The entire reason everything is burning and emitting massive clouds of black smoke over everything is this ugly jerk:

It's called Iblis, and I've been looking for people to help destroy it. You guys are... well, the best I can get right now, so-

*CRRK*

Wait, what? No! Tikal, what's happening?!

I don't know! Something's interfering with-!

*CRACK*

Click to shrink...

The massive, armor-lined room lay quiet, even as it was gently painted with green light from its centerpiece. Along one wall was a massive dark screen, a huge keyboard built into the wall just below it. Most of the floor was covered in wires, tangled and crisscrossing toward different parts of the room. In one corner, a decently large platform sat, electricity sometimes arcing over areas where metal plates had been blasted off from inside. Several wires lead from it to the center of the room, where a pedestal with three pillars around it sat. Adorning the pedestal was a massive green gem, shining internally with both light and power. Beside despondently say a hedgehog, grey-blue spikes almost drooping and gloved hands clasping stained legs to his chest. A female echidna sat beside him, silently patting his shoulder understandingly.

"...I just don't know what went wrong," the hedgehog finally said, breaking the silence. The echidna said nothing, just waiting for him to continue.

"It wasn't supposed to explode. I installed circuit breakers and safeties all over, and made sure the pillars had modulators for the Emerald's energy, and yet it somehow exploded," he continued, somehow drooping more. "Why does this always happen when I do this sort of thing? It's like everything has it out for me... Tikal, should I just give up now?"

The echidna shook her head. "No, Wrench. While this sort of failure is expected-"

"Like the last five thousand," Wrench cut in bitterly.

"-That doesn't mean we should give up," she continued, like he hadn't even said anything. "After all, the stories say most inventors spend most of their efforts finding things that don't work, over things that do. And inter-universal summoning is something entirely new, by my knowledge - nothing it was ever recorded to have been ever attempted by the old world. We shouldn't give up just yet."

"But, it feels like reality itself has it out for this project," sighed Wrench. "Seriously, would it be too hard for me to get just one brea-?"

POP

Five figures - a self-proclaimed god, a martial artist, a master mage, a robotic maid and a hero - all suddenly face-planted onto the platform in a pile. Wrench and Tikal both snapped their heads up, spinning to look over at it, and the hedgehog jumped to his feet with a startled exclamation. "What the-?"

Click to shrink...

As the tunnel of emerald energy resolved itself into a armor-plated bunker, the immortal gamemaster known as Shin Kuroto Dan descended like a god come from the heavens. A prayer had been sent out, pleading for his divine talent, and as a merciful god, he had answered them. Truly, with his genius, they wouldn't need anybody else-

"OH WELL THAT ISN'T GREAT!"

Apparently he was doomed to crash into the back of some guy with short black hair on the ground. Huh. Well that wasn't the worst punishment in the world at least. It was something he could deal with, considering he'd crashed into a multitude of people before, and... Huh, actually, the angle Chase was coming at... Yeah, yeah that'd work. ... Guy probably wasn't going to feel great. Oh well. He'd apologize later.

Instantly, Chase's body swivled, hands coming out and, using the poor guy's head as a springboard, flipped his momentum around, sommersaulted through the air a few times, slammed his feet back on to the ground, back facing toward a wall, and slid into a solid Stance, quite literally. Couldn't entirely cancel his momentum, so his feet kinda slid against the... metal ground. Huh. Neat. Anyway, with both feet firmly on the ground, his arms positioned in such a way as to block or manuver around attacks, Chase took stock of the situation he found himself in. ... And, while he didn't let his guard down, his mind... Uhh...

Click to shrink...

Unceremoniously, Kuroto's head went slamming into the ground as the martial artist springboarded off him. Without even a chance to acknowledge this, the rest of the new arrivals proceeded to slam into him, Dan's feeble attempt at getting up once more foiled by the robot standing. His body put out a few more gasps before losing movement, being still as it dissolved into purple particles.

-GAME OVER-​

Kuroto's sudden demise may have come as a shock, but what came next would probably suprise those gathered there even more: A man-sized purple pipe rising out of the ground, CONTINUE engraved onto its rim in myriad colors. And as those letters flashed, the immortal Shin Dan Kuroto rose out of the pipe from his grave like a phoenix.
As the Continue Pipe descended back into the ground, Kuroto surveyed who he'd arrived with. Some sort of zombie, two anthromorphic animals, a robot maid, the guy that'd used him as a platform, and...
Pipe vanishing, Kuroto's eyes widened as he beheld the legendary hero clothed in green. As a peerless game developer, he'd recognise Link anywhere, and his presence made clear exactly what was going on. Someone had pulled him into a Game World, like what had happened several times to Emu Hojo. Nevertheless, until his genius devised another way out, he would remain on the route the game put him on. A genius programmer like him would have no issues clearing it in good time.

And so, Shin Dan Kuroto turned to the two who hadn't arrived here with him, and addressed them.
"Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

 

[The Fourth Monado]

The hedgehog-looking guy - yeah, he was probably a guy - scrambled around the pedestal to reach the side facing the group. His mouth opens, and moves soundlessly for a few seconds before he says anything. "Did- did it somehow work?"

A desperate, burning hope fills his eyes for a second...

Two Entities similar to Neco-Type were most likely responsible. The other four were in a similar position to herself. Gem was most likely power source for whatever they had done.

"Identify: Names. Species. Location. Purpose of Kidnapping." she intoned, not having drawn a weapon, and hands still down clasped in front of her skirt. However, her gaze was locked on the two anthropomorphic creatures. There was a short pause before continuing.

"Please."

It would be remiss to forget manners.

Click to shrink...

Until Mecha-Hisui spoke, and he started. "Ki-kidnapping? It-oh no, this is all wrong! The gate wasn't supposed to do this-! Oh, I'm Wrench the Hedgehog, and we're on Angel Island-"

As Link fell out of the odd realm of green, he was still processing what he had heard. Hitting the ground snapped him out of it, however, and after taking a moment to extract himself from the pile of people, he pulsed his Focus (tiring, in his current position, but not being prone was worth the effort) and was summarily standing ready, his hand on the hilt of the Master Sword.

Then one of the... odder people spoke, and- wait, that voice was familiar. Before Link could confirm that he was the one that had summoned them, however, one of the others spoke. Thus, the Hero stayed silent, and instead took a moment to examine the others in the room. Four Hylians - well, probably Hylians? None that he could see had pointed ears(which while not unheard of, was certainly rare), and the one who had spoken already was wearing what had to be the strangest makeup Link had ever seen. Then there was an odd entity that somewhat reminded Link of a monster only seen in lore - redeads, or something like that. Still, it didn't seem to be trying to eat anyone, but Link made a mental note to keep an eye on it anyways.

Then there were the duo that were their likely summoners, given their position in the room. Two people, belonging to a race that Link hadn't seen before. People in a room filled with strange machinery...

Yuuuuup. Definitely not in Hyrule anymore...

Click to shrink...

"Wrench, calm," the female with those orange dreadlock spikes says, somehow being right next to him instead of where she'd been seated before. "Breathe, and let me speak instead."

The self-proclaimed hedgehog nodded, and the girl stepped forward.

My arms pinwheeled frantically as the green flash deposited me on a hard, metal surface. Reflex had me blink forward, into a mass of cables and wires halfway between the platform and a massive gemstone that glowed with power, and to ready a number of destructive spells I could fire off in an eyeblink. Aluneth pulsed with arcane might and my eyes flicked from one person to the next in rapid succession.

Human, human, human with elf in the family, mech, two of an unknown species. My grip on Aluneth tightened.

'Interesting,' Aluneth whispered, sounding bored. 'The energies of that gemstone are immense, yet they are not quite like anything found on Azeroth. Chaotic without the corruptive influence of fel. I must drink...'

"No," I murmured. Then, louder, "A fine time to have summoned me. I was on my way to gather an army before coming here."

Click to shrink...

Alnueth would note, even as she began talking, there was a relatively small flow of energy from the massive emerald containing seemingly limitless power in the center of the room into her body. Something about her body's energy seemed... odd, as well, but in a way that would probably need study to figure out.

'Okay, now I'm just gonna declare this the best day ever.'

Because holy Lord new people! New species! New place! New giant glowing super gem thing! This was more pure raw excitement he'd felt in a long while! It was great! ... He didn't drop his guard, mind, but he was still really excited! Maybe Master Gouken wouldn't kick his ass (wincing intensifies) if he did well in doing... Stuff! ... No, no, there was definitely an ass (the winciest) beating when he got back. That was for certain. ... Kinda awkward silence, though. Maybe someone else'd talked already, but he... kinda missed that.

... Back to the old standby then!

"... Soo... How's the weather?"

Click to shrink...

And so, Shin Dan Kuroto turned to the two who hadn't arrived here with him, and addressed them.
"Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

Click to shrink...

"Before I begin, allow me to welcome you to Angel Island," the girl began, folding her hands before her in a way similar to Mech-Hisui. "I am Tikal, the guardian of the Master Emerald," she nods to the stone, "And he is Wrench, my student. You were brought here by... a mistake, honestly. I notice many of you received the message we broadcasted across multiple timelines, and we intended to open a door to the receivers, to allow you to choose to help if you wished... when attempting to activate the device. It failed.

Explosively."

The platform most of you were on crackled, and a puff of smoke left one of the many holes in its surface to spiral toward the ceiling.

"We had believed it to have completely failed, and that our efforts to call upon other worlds for help had failed completely," Tikal continued, even as Wrench winced at the sight of his project failing utterly. "With your arrivals, however, it is clear the gate malfunctioned in a somewhat unexpected way. Not unwelcome, honestly, as you all seem to bear great strength, but it does mean what plans we did have just became unworkable.

Please, relax yourself," she ended, looking at Chase and smiling gently. "We mean you no harm. I presume you all have questions?"

 

[Xellos]

@CaesriusPolybius

My arms pinwheeled frantically as the green flash deposited me on a hard, metal surface. Reflex had me blink forward, into a mass of cables and wires halfway between the platform and a massive gemstone that glowed with power, and to ready a number of destructive spells I could fire off in an eyeblink. Aluneth pulsed with arcane might and my eyes flicked from one person to the next in rapid succession.

Human, human, human with elf in the family, mech, two of an unknown species. My grip on Aluneth tightened.

'Interesting,' Aluneth whispered, sounding bored. 'The energies of that gemstone are immense, yet they are not quite like anything found on Azeroth. Chaotic without the corruptive influence of fel. I must drink...'

"No," I murmured. Then, louder, "A fine time to have summoned me. I was on my way to gather an army before coming here."

Click to shrink...

Data recorded. The Necrotic being was also some form of refined spellcaster. Closer scans, once the energy output from the gem was filtered out, showed distinct magical energy around the being and it's staff, flaring when the teleportation ability was used. While either trait wasn't quite enough to determine whether it would be considered a violation on its own, the combination showed poor results on the wellbeing of Misaki Town, in the past.

She would have to collect more data on it. If fatal consumption of humans was recorded, it would need to be terminated, as laid out in initial guidelines for dealing with Dead Apostles.

@HorizonWanderer

Martial Artist. Overall ability indicated to be at level below Miyako Arima under TATARI's influence. Unlikely to require confl-

Rectified; Martial Artist had just killed other organic to show off superhuman agility and avoid falling. Possible threat?

Unceremoniously, Kuroto's head went slamming into the ground as the martial artist springboarded off him. Without even a chance to acknowledge this, the rest of the new arrivals proceeded to slam into him, Dan's feeble attempt at getting up once more foiled by the robot standing. His body put out a few more gasps before losing movement, being still as it dissolved into purple particles.

-GAME OVER-​

Kuroto's sudden demise may have come as a shock, but what came next would probably suprise those gathered there even more: A man-sized purple pipe rising out of the ground, CONTINUE engraved onto its rim in myriad colors. And as those letters flashed, the immortal Shin Dan Kuroto rose out of the pipe from his grave like a phoenix.
As the Continue Pipe descended back into the ground, Kuroto surveyed who he'd arrived with. Some sort of zombie, two anthromorphic animals, a robot maid, the guy that'd used him as a platform, and...
Pipe vanishing, Kuroto's eyes widened as he beheld the legendary hero clothed in green. As a peerless game developer, he'd recognise Link anywhere, and his presence made clear exactly what was going on. Someone had pulled him into a Game World, like what had happened several times to Emu Hojo. Nevertheless, until his genius devised another way out, he would remain on the route the game put him on. A genius programmer like him would have no issues clearing it in good time.

And so, Shin Dan Kuroto turned to the two who hadn't arrived here with him, and addressed them.
"Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

Click to shrink...

...

Subject "Shin Kuroto Dan" was unlikely to be truly organic in nature. And the martial artist had no longer killed him. Or rather, Kuroto Dan seemed to have some resurrection ability. An wide array of Kidnapped characters had been brought here.

Still, time to see what these beings had to say for themselves.

The hedgehog-looking guy - yeah, he was probably a guy - scrambled around the pedestal to reach the side facing the group. His mouth opens, and moves soundlessly for a few seconds before he says anything. "Did- did it somehow work?"

A desperate, burning hope fills his eyes for a second...

Until Mecha-Hisui spoke, and he started. "Ki-kidnapping? It-oh no, this is all wrong! The gate wasn't supposed to do this-! Oh, I'm Wrench the Hedgehog, and we're on Angel Island-"

Click to shrink...

Their species name was in their given name as well. Just like the Necos. Disturbing. Their abilities were likely to be impossible, illogical, and destructive. If their eyes glowed, she'd have to be prepared to summon her barrier at any moment. Filing that away, she considered the likelihood that 'Angel Island' referred to the location by that name in her data banks.

...No, it was unlikely for them to have been summoned by anthropomorphic animals to an island in San Francisco Bay. This place had to be a different Angel Island.

"Wrench, calm," the female with those orange dreadlock spikes says, somehow being right next to him instead of where she'd been seated before. "Breathe, and let me speak instead."

The self-proclaimed hedgehog nodded, and the girl stepped forward.

"Before I begin, allow me to welcome you to Angel Island," the girl began, folding her hands before her in a way similar to Mech-Hisui. "I am Tikal, the guardian of the Master Emerald," she nods to the stone, "And he is Wrench, my student. You were brought here by... a mistake, honestly. I notice many of you received the message we broadcasted across multiple timelines, and we intended to open a door to the receivers, to allow you to choose to help if you wished... when attempting to activate the device. It failed.

Explosively."

Click to shrink...

That Gem was most likely the Master Emerald. The message they were broadcasting across multiple dimensions... possibly the unnamed video and auditory file? She would have to run it soon then. Kidnapping was accidental. That, if true, earned some forgiveness. If it was a mere mistake and not malice, then it was... tolerable. A new experience.

So long as none of these talking animal creatures shot destructive beams from their eyes for pleasure. The others seemed... mostly aware of something she remained unaware of.

>Open File: Y/N?

>Y

The data ran impossibly fast, her electronic brain going through the short data packet in less than an eyeblink. At the very least, it collaborated the story that their arrival was a mistake.

File Created: Iblis.

This was another world entirely, it seemed. One being assaulted by a monster composed primarily of molten rock.

The platform most of you were on crackled, and a puff of smoke left one of the many holes in its surface to spiral toward the ceiling.

"We had believed it to have completely failed, and that our efforts to call upon other worlds for help had failed completely," Tikal continued, even as Wrench winced at the sight of his project failing utterly. "With your arrivals, however, it is clear the gate malfunctioned in a somewhat unexpected way. Not unwelcome, honestly, as you all seem to bear great strength, but it does mean what plans we did have just became unworkable.

Please, relax yourself," she ended, looking at Chase and smiling gently. "We mean you no harm. I presume you all have questions?"

Click to shrink...

"Your message was received as a file downloaded into my systems, Tikal." the robot responded. She paused. "I am Mech-Hisui. What methods have thus far been attempted to destroy Iblis?"

 

[Cyreni]

And so, Shin Dan Kuroto turned to the two who hadn't arrived here with him, and addressed them. "Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

Click to shrink...

'How did he do that? I thought you mortals came back to life with the energies of death, light, or nature.'

I just drew my mouth back in a thin line, scowled, and focused my attention on the important people in this conversation.

Please, relax yourself," she ended, looking at Chase and smiling gently. "We mean you no harm. I presume you all have questions?"

Click to shrink...

'That one is intriguing. She is directly connected to the gemstone, drawing a barest fraction of its energies into her. I wonder what stops her from seizing it all?'

Probably the same reason most mages don't draw on excessive amounts of arcane power, I thought. Perhaps the same reason I don't let you out to do as you please. I kept it all to myself, however. "A few," I said.

"Your message was received as a file downloaded into my systems, Tikal." the robot responded. She paused. "I am Mech-Hisui. What methods have thus far been attempted to destroy Iblis?"

Click to shrink...

'An interesting contraption. The magic coursing through its shell is reminiscent of the Titan's own constructs, and yet it is entirely unrelated to them and lacks any of the ancient grandeur they possessed.'

I made a show of dusting off my robe, and then I held up a finger. "Firstly, are the Master Emerald's energies safe to channel, or do they require infrastructure such as," I waved Aluneth in a vague gesture to the room, "all of this? Secondly, how much do you know of transpatial anchoring and pinching via manipulation of arcane energies?"

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Pipe vanishing, Kuroto's eyes widened as he beheld the legendary hero clothed in green. As a peerless game developer, he'd recognise Link anywhere, and his presence made clear exactly what was going on. Someone had pulled him into a Game World, like what had happened several times to Emu Hojo. Nevertheless, until his genius devised another way out, he would remain on the route the game put him on. A genius programmer like him would have no issues clearing it in good time.

And so, Shin Dan Kuroto turned to the two who hadn't arrived here with him, and addressed them.
"Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

Click to shrink...

At the death and subsequent resurrection of the odd being, Link was taken aback. At the stranger's almost-familiar look at him, he was suspicious. And when the being proclaimed a name that started with the Sheikah word for "deity", Link was unamused. Although, to be fair, one who could come back from death like that...

Link shook himself out of his thoughts; the others seemed to be introducing themselves, so...

Link's hand dropped from the hilt of the Master Sword, and with a twitch of focus and a quiet swishing of fabric the ancient garb and hat he wore were instantly switched for Ancient Greaves and the blue tunic that signified his role as a Champion of Hyrule. He may have missed first impression, but it never hurt to be professional.

Of course, before Link could introduce himself, the hylian with strange makeup (and a stranger speaking pattern) began asking about Iblis, and the ReDead concurrently began asking about the strange gem at the center of the room. The former was important information, so he stayed silent, and it wasn't like he could add anything of worth to the latter questioning. Although... Hmm.

The hylian drew the Sheikah Slate from its place at his hip and activated the Camera ru-no, that-that was the Map. A map which was (predictably, given the whole "not Hyrule" thing) blank. Which now had new ancient Sheikah text at the top saying... something about "unlocking" or "released" or the like. Aaand now the Compendi-empty Compendium was open, which made Link's blood run cold for a moment before he noticed the new "switch region" trigger in the Slate's interface.

So. Entirely new section in the ten millennia old, programmed-by-oracles device in his hands had been unlocked. Which probably meant he was now, to paraphrase the somewhat-dry tomes in Hyrule Castle's Library about the past Bearers of the Sword that Seals the Darkness, "on loan" to these people.

Shaking off the bemusement of still being stuck in the grips of a prophesied events in some form, Link opened the Camera rune, aimed it at the Master Emerald, and took a picture of it; then, he switched to the Compendium, to see if it had picked anything up.

 

[HorizonWanderer]

Name: Chase Grand
Date: First day of being kidnapped!
Location: Where Angels Be. (Angel Island)
Status: ... Wait why did he- Ooohhh he's weeeird, got it, got it...

@The Fourth Monado

@Xellos @Grue @Cyreni @CaesriusPolybius

... Chase knew immediately that something was up, when the short black-haired guy... stopped. He was dead, apparently. ... Chase frowned. What he'd been put through certainly would need some form of medical attention, sure, but... He hadn't taken that much damage, had he? Chase's maneuver had been calculated, very thoroughly at that, as to not... well, kill him. Even the other blows on top of that really shouldn't have done it either... Unless the robot girl was a lot heavier than she looked. ... Anyway. Point was... There was something... really... fish... y... Oh. Chase blinked. ... The corpse had turned into purple squares.

"... What."

Chase had seen a few things in his time. He'd seen his best friend, and his friend's other best friend, take on numerous foes across the globe (when Gouken let him out for a while for training purposes). He'd felt the raw power, anger, and fear generated by the madman M. Bison's Psycho Power. He'd seen Akuma fight, briefly, and was suitably terrified of the raw, terrifying power that man possessed. He'd fought countless times against a grandmaster of the Martial Arts style he was learning, nearly died and practically brought himself back to life with the Satsui no Hadou (and then passed out at the hospital when he got there), and more. He was no stranger to unusual sights. He was no stranger to death itself. ... So uh... Seeing... seeing the guy who's body had just... vanished...

He popped out of a fucking purple pipe in the ground with [CONTINUE] emblazoned across the rim of it, smiling all the while like nothing happened. Like this was a normal occurrence.

... Chase's head titled slightly, still in stance.

Alright. Video game character. That was... that was the only logical explanation in Chase's mind. He was dealing with a literal video game character. ... What had the world come to that that was the logical first choice that came to mind?! ... Also reminded Chase of the fact that he hadn't had the chance to really play anything or catch up on any series he liked in the last six years or so.

'Well. Now I made myself sad. Sigh.'

Anyway, the guy popped out of the thing, looked around, and...

"Ahahahahahah! Rejoice, for you have been graced with the godly talents of Shin Kuroto Dan!"

Click to shrink...

Annnnd Chase froze

'... God in Heaven help me it's an actual God Complex. I don't... I didn't think I'd... I'd see one outside of M. Bison!

... That... spoke volumes... um...

"Did- did it somehow work?"

Click to shrink...

Distraction! Right! Thank you strange animal man! A slight sigh of relief left Chase's lips as he turned his head to face the... animal guy. ... Mmm. Name'd be helpful. Which he actually got a moment later, from the questioning of the apparently-actually-a-robot maid. Wrench. Wrench and Tikal. ... A 'hedgehog' and an 'echidna'. Now, it might have been a while since Chase saw a biology book on both those animal species, but he was fairly certain neither of the two of them looked anything like an actual hedgehog or echidna. On the flipside, he couldn't actually bring himself to really care about that. What was important was the fact that they were on a place called 'Angel Island' (probably no relation to San Fran), the big ridiculously powerful gemstone was apparently the 'Master Emerald,' and...

"You were brought here by... a mistake, honestly. I notice many of you received the message we broadcasted across multiple timelines, and we intended to open a door to the receivers, to allow you to choose to help if you wished... when attempting to activate the device. It failed.

Explosively."

Click to shrink...

... Chase blinked slowly. He slightly raised a hand.

"... Uhh... I... didn't actually get a message like that... The portal kinda just... opened up in front of me while I was running my morning exercise..."

The hand transitioned to a sheepish kinda scratching at the back of his head.

"... Though... Not like I'm gonna complain, mind, being cooped up in the same place for years does wonders on one's sanity."

Among other things... anyway.

"We had believed it to have completely failed, and that our efforts to call upon other worlds for help had failed completely. With your arrivals, however, it is clear the gate malfunctioned in a somewhat unexpected way. Not unwelcome, honestly, as you all seem to bear great strength, but it does mean what plans we did have just became unworkable."

Click to shrink...

... And then she looked over at Chase. He blinked slightly.

"Please, relax yourself. We mean you no harm."

Click to shrink...

And again... before he chuckled slightly. While he certainly dropped his more 'visible' stance... Well...

His feet were both firmly solid on the ground.

That was pretty much all he needed, anyway. But... It seemed like he could afford to relax, for the moment, somewhat. He laughed, a small chuckle, as the tension almost visibly melted away from his stance.

"Well... I can't really say no to a face like that, heh."

And, to be fair, she was kinda... what was the word. Adorable? Kinda adorable yeah. ... Regardless, though after that... difussial of tension (he was still keeping an eye on the blatant video game character in their midst, albeit without actually keeping an eye-eye on him), now came the important part of the whole shindig;

"I presume you all have questions?"

Click to shrink...

That being seriously what the 'ell was going on!?

Lotsa people had the same question as well!

"Your message was received as a file downloaded into my systems, Tikal. I am Mech-Hisui. What methods have thus far been attempted to destroy Iblis?"

Click to shrink...

"A few. Firstly, are the Master Emerald's energies safe to channel, or do they require infrastructure such as... all of this? Secondly, how much do you know of transpatial anchoring and pinching via manipulation of arcane energies?"

Click to shrink...

... Except for the elf-lookin' guy (Chase had not forgotten about him either. Or the corpse. ... This was a strange party, was Chase the only human?), he [probably?] was... pointing what looked like a tablet of some kind at the giant glowing green Emerald. ... Strange, but eh, he probably knew what he was doing at least a bit.

Anyway... Chase's questions... what to ask?

Oh right that. Chase nodded to himself once, crossing his arms, before making his own voice heard.

"... Considering I'm the only one who apparently hasn't heard anything about this... How bad is it out there?"

 

[GradeonMagus]

Soon, all the soldiers and inhabitants of the fortress had withdrawn into the great, blocky building, taking cover within and leaving Vile on the walls to continue watching - though he'd still be able to observe most everything from his position. The rest of the newer arrivals gathered on the roof, near the silent artillery. A few of the artillerymen are still up here, lounging around near their guns, and Silver and the Commander joined you quickly, the hedgehog leaning up against one of the gun's pedestals and the commander standing by the rail, hands resting on it as she stares out over the blasted landscape. Behind you all, the ocean stretches out, almost black under the ash clouds, and the airship above continues circling, waiting silently for the events to unfold.

Below, Blaze and a few other denizens were conducting some sort of ritual below, directly by the docks. Any questions any of you had about it had been deflected to Silver, who was being remarkably quiet about it. "It's not something I can really put into words," was all he'd said. "You should just watch. "Which was... suspicious, but considering how awkward and honestly uncomfortable he seems around all the respectful kowtowing and almost worshipping looks you notice a few of the soldiery give him, it's actually somewhat understandable he's not comfortable talking to you entirely new people. Still annoying you can't get a strait answer, though.

About five to ten minutes after you'd all reached the roof, you all feel a sudden tingle run over your skin - almost like touching something that had a lot of static buildup in it, before the zap. Everyone except the commander and Silver perk up almost expectantly, even as the air pressure suddenly seems to build, causing you all to feel just that little bit heavier. Out to see, a rumbling, almost thundering noise begins to sound, building and growing even as a massive whirlpool forms, reflected light from the fortress glinting off of it's inky depths. Could that be the 'Chaos' everyone was talking about-?

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

With a roar of displaced air, a massive spire of rotating water erupts out of the whirlpool, shining internally with blue and green light and almost dwarfing the fortress with it's immense size. Four tentacles split away from the body, thrashing in the air as the column writhes, hunching over and gaining more details and features. Almost fleshy chunks of skin and scales form, even as three almost-spikes form on it's back. The center splits in half, forming a massive gaping mouth lined with shining green teeth, and a head finishes taking form.

Green, reptilian slitted eyes snap open, and the beat howls, the the raw strength forcing you all to brace yourselves against it.

PERFECT CHAOS

Ocean God
Guardian of Life
​

Deep in the being's throat, a shining light swells and builds, before it whips its head forward and unleashes a howling torrent of white power that touches down near the base of the mountains. With a flick of the head, it sends the beam sideways, slicing across the entire length before cutting it off. All was still for a few seconds...

Then a massive series of explosions, almost as large as the mountains, erupt along the edge. A howling wind tears across the land, hammering into the fortress and forcing Silver to extend his hands, cyan energy shielding everyone up here.

"This is Perfect Chaos... the guardian of all living things since before my grandfather's time," the Commander says, voice quiet even as it cuts through the howling wind. "As long as we stay near the sea, he will help us, as long as we call upon him. None of Iblis's creations can contest his might, though he may not leave the seas he rules."

Click to shrink...

Xan hung back, still tense from the battle and now the strange pressure being exerted as the weird furries caused some kind of... water spout to erupt from the water. She grit her teeth as she bit back the urge to slink away while the water spout transformed into some massive alien kaiju thing that looked like it came out of Pacific fucking Rim.

Instead, she opted to side eye the commander's reverence for the Lovecraftian thing that rose from the depths and displayed an ungodly amount of power to blow up the... whatever the hell was still about to come.

'...I need a drink.'

 

[Grue]

"... Considering I'm the only one who apparently hasn't heard anything about this... How bad is it out there?"

Click to shrink...

"The entire world is burning. As fitting of a Last Boss. Why else would they need to bring me in?"
Almost if as he'd teleported, Shin Dan materialised on the other side of the currently-unnamed martial artist.
"If Iblis was any normal foe, they'd have cleared him themselves. But he's been undefeated for three-hundred years here. An invincible Last Boss that cannot be defeated. Who else but a man of godly talents could stand against that?"
What Kuroto hadn't mentioned was that he'd barely come here with anything. Even his godly talents couldn't convince the Cyber Rescue Center to leave Dangerous Zombie with him without a greater threat present. No matter; he'd recreated the invincible Hyper Muteki in less than a day; how hard could it be to create a Gashat or five capable of overcoming Iblis?

 

[The Fourth Monado]

@CaesriusPolybius


Data recorded. The Necrotic being was also some form of refined spellcaster. Closer scans, once the energy output from the gem was filtered out, showed distinct magical energy around the being and it's staff, flaring when the teleportation ability was used. While either trait wasn't quite enough to determine whether it would be considered a violation on its own, the combination showed poor results on the wellbeing of Misaki Town, in the past.

She would have to collect more data on it. If fatal consumption of humans was recorded, it would need to be terminated, as laid out in initial guidelines for dealing with Dead Apostles.

@HorizonWanderer

Martial Artist. Overall ability indicated to be at level below Miyako Arima under TATARI's influence. Unlikely to require confl-

Rectified; Martial Artist had just killed other organic to show off superhuman agility and avoid falling. Possible threat?



...

Subject "Shin Kuroto Dan" was unlikely to be truly organic in nature. And the martial artist had no longer killed him. Or rather, Kuroto Dan seemed to have some resurrection ability. An wide array of Kidnapped characters had been brought here.

Still, time to see what these beings had to say for themselves.



Their species name was in their given name as well. Just like the Necos. Disturbing. Their abilities were likely to be impossible, illogical, and destructive. If their eyes glowed, she'd have to be prepared to summon her barrier at any moment. Filing that away, she considered the likelihood that 'Angel Island' referred to the location by that name in her data banks.

...No, it was unlikely for them to have been summoned by anthropomorphic animals to an island in San Francisco Bay. This place had to be a different Angel Island.



That Gem was most likely the Master Emerald. The message they were broadcasting across multiple dimensions... possibly the unnamed video and auditory file? She would have to run it soon then. Kidnapping was accidental. That, if true, earned some forgiveness. If it was a mere mistake and not malice, then it was... tolerable. A new experience.

So long as none of these talking animal creatures shot destructive beams from their eyes for pleasure. The others seemed... mostly aware of something she remained unaware of.

>Open File: Y/N?

>Y

The data ran impossibly fast, her electronic brain going through the short data packet in less than an eyeblink. At the very least, it collaborated the story that their arrival was a mistake.

File Created: Iblis.

This was another world entirely, it seemed. One being assaulted by a monster composed primarily of molten rock.



"Your message was received as a file downloaded into my systems, Tikal." the robot responded. She paused. "I am Mech-Hisui. What methods have thus far been attempted to destroy Iblis?"

Click to shrink...

"To list them all would be the work of a year," Tikal replied. "From resurrecting ancient deities, to creating armies of Champions with powers beyond mortal abilities... fleets of ships, floating through the sky in glorious array, to individual self-proclaimed heroes. At best, they have managed to stalemate the Spirit of Fire, Iblis."

'How did he do that? I thought you mortals came back to life with the energies of death, light, or nature.'

I just drew my mouth back in a thin line, scowled, and focused my attention on the important people in this conversation.

'That one is intriguing. She is directly connected to the gemstone, drawing a barest fraction of its energies into her. I wonder what stops her from seizing it all?'

Probably the same reason most mages don't draw on excessive amounts of arcane power, I thought. Perhaps the same reason I don't let you out to do as you please. I kept it all to myself, however. "A few," I said.

'An interesting contraption. The magic coursing through its shell is reminiscent of the Titan's own constructs, and yet it is entirely unrelated to them and lacks any of the ancient grandeur they possessed.'

I made a show of dusting off my robe, and then I held up a finger. "Firstly, are the Master Emerald's energies safe to channel, or do they require infrastructure such as," I waved Aluneth in a vague gesture to the room, "all of this? Secondly, how much do you know of transpatial anchoring and pinching via manipulation of arcane energies?"

Click to shrink...

"The Master Emerald's power is usually only safe for Tikal to handle directly," supplies Wrench. "Anyone else who tries usually overloads themselves and... it isn't pretty. Anyways, um... basically nothing? I have no idea what that means."

"The way I wield my power differs greatly from how you use yours, from what I can feel, so I am unsure if my knowledge of teleportation would be helpful to you," Tikal replies to you.

At the death and subsequent resurrection of the odd being, Link was taken aback. At the stranger's almost-familiar look at him, he was suspicious. And when the being proclaimed a name that started with the Sheikah word for "deity", Link was unamused. Although, to be fair, one who could come back from death like that...

Link shook himself out of his thoughts; the others seemed to be introducing themselves, so...

Link's hand dropped from the hilt of the Master Sword, and with a twitch of focus and a quiet swishing of fabric the ancient garb and hat he wore were instantly switched for Ancient Greaves and the blue tunic that signified his role as a Champion of Hyrule. He may have missed first impression, but it never hurt to be professional.

Of course, before Link could introduce himself, the hylian with strange makeup (and a stranger speaking pattern) began asking about Iblis, and the ReDead concurrently began asking about the strange gem at the center of the room. The former was important information, so he stayed silent, and it wasn't like he could add anything of worth to the latter questioning. Although... Hmm.

The hylian drew the Sheikah Slate from its place at his hip and activated the Camera ru-no, that-that was the Map. A map which was (predictably, given the whole "not Hyrule" thing) blank. Which now had new ancient Sheikah text at the top saying... something about "unlocking" or "released" or the like. Aaand now the Compendi-empty Compendium was open, which made Link's blood run cold for a moment before he noticed the new "switch region" trigger in the Slate's interface.

So. Entirely new section in the ten millennia old, programmed-by-oracles device in his hands had been unlocked. Which probably meant he was now, to paraphrase the somewhat-dry tomes in Hyrule Castle's Library about the past Bearers of the Sword that Seals the Darkness, "on loan" to these people.

Shaking off the bemusement of still being stuck in the grips of a prophesied events in some form, Link opened the Camera rune, aimed it at the Master Emerald, and took a picture of it; then, he switched to the Compendium, to see if it had picked anything up.

Click to shrink...

Master Emerald

An ancient artifact, created by the gods to rule over the Chaos Emeralds and restrain their powers. Using it's unlimited energy, it allows Angel Island to float through the skies. Like any Emerald, it responds the the thoughts and emotions of those around it.

You can now dowse for large concentrations of Chaos Energy!​

Oh right that. Chase nodded to himself once, crossing his arms, before making his own voice heard.

"... Considering I'm the only one who apparently hasn't heard anything about this... How bad is it out there?"

Click to shrink...

"The entire world is burning. As fitting of a Last Boss. Why else would they need to bring me in?"
Almost if as he'd teleported, Shin Dan materialised on the other side of the currently-unnamed martial artist.
"If Iblis was any normal foe, they'd have cleared him themselves. But he's been undefeated for three-hundred years here. An invincible Last Boss that cannot be defeated. Who else but a man of godly talents could stand against that?"
What Kuroto hadn't mentioned was that he'd barely come here with anything. Even his godly talents couldn't convince the Cyber Rescue Center to leave Dangerous Zombie with him without a greater threat present. No matter; he'd recreated the invincible Hyper Muteki in less than a day; how hard could it be to create a Gashat or five capable of overcoming Iblis?

Click to shrink...

"Simply put... what he said," replied Tikal, suddenly sitting on top of one of the pillars with folded legs. "To go into more detail, however...

It began three hundred years ago. During some conflict, the details of which we've lost, a great spirit of fire was released from it's prison. In a great rage, it rampaged, wiping out the clashing armies and the people's of nearby nations. The rest of the world gathered their weapons, their powers and their armies, and their Champions who bore powers capable of shattering cities and breaking nations. With that power, and the power of the Seven Lights of the Earth - the Chaos Emeralds - it was believed that Iblis would fall before their might.

They failed.

The armies were consumed in storms of fire. The weapons were shattered by creatures crafted of molten rock, animated by tiny fragments of Iblis's power. The Champions, though they fought hard and well, were forced to concede the battlefield - for nothing they could do could truly harm the creature. And even when the strongest of the Champions, the one we now know as Shadow the Golden, took upon all the Emeralds, and used them to achieve power great enough to force Iblis to retreat... he was unable to contain that power long enough to win. The Emeralds scattered, and he, along with the surviving Champions, were forced to flee.

As Iblis continued to rage over the world, turning the continents into the molten hellscape known as Iblis's Sea, the Champions - along with anyone else they could save - found themselves retreating to Angel Island, where the Master Emerald - whose limitless power allowed it to rule the Chaos Emeralds - lay in rest. With it's power, Shadow and the Emerald's Guardian resurrected an ancient deity from the past.

Chaos, the god of the Ocean and protector of Life.

For a century, he and Iblis warred. The sky was blackened with smoke and steam, islands and nations sank, and lifeless new land was created. This would become known as the Age of Ash. Through it all, all those who remained living fled to Angel Island and the rule of Shadow, and a tenuous life was eked out. In that time, the Champions, except for Shadow - for age would never claim him - aged and eventually died. And then, just before the Age of Ash ended...

A great city, that had been placed between the earth and the moon by the nations before, began to fall to the world's surface. It's course would have led it to strike Angel Island, destroying the last remaining civilization of this world. So, Shadow did what he had to. Using all his power, he obliterated the falling city before it could strike us, and saved all remaining life... at the cost of his own.

Weighed by grief, the people called on Chaos to be their protector, and he answered. And so, the Age of Ash ended, and we were bereft.

"In the time since Shadow's death, we've been focusing on recovering lost technology and artifacts, like the Chaos Emeralds," Wrench explained, fumbling around in his pockets before pulling out a shining yellow stone, cut in the same way as the Master Emerald - if much smaller in size. "Lemme just- here, like this. Only issue is, not only did we lose the actual technology, but we lost all the knowledge needed to use it. For a good portion of the time after Chaos became our protector, we've been stuck with farming, unable to strike back at Iblis. It's only been in the last, oh, fifty years, that we've been able to rebuild to a shadow of what we had before, thanks to my father."

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Master Emerald

An ancient artifact, created by the gods to rule over the Chaos Emeralds and restrain their powers. Using it's unlimited energy, it allows Angel Island to float through the skies. Like any Emerald, it responds the the thoughts and emotions of those around it.

You can now dowse for large concentrations of Chaos Energy!

Click to shrink...

Huh. Artifact made by local (?) gods, containing energy which the Sheikah Slate could now detect. Useful. However...

With the intention of testing it, Link activated the Sheikah Sensor, switched it to the new "Chaos" mode, and waved the Slate in the general direction of the massive gem in front of him.

blip blip

Yup, seemed to be working; as such, he deactivated the rune.

"Simply put... what he said," replied Tikal, suddenly sitting on top of one of the pillars with folded legs. "To go into more detail, however...

It began three hundred years ago. During some conflict, the details of which we've lost, a great spirit of fire was released from it's prison. In a great rage, it rampaged, wiping out the clashing armies and the people's of nearby nations. The rest of the world gathered their weapons, their powers and their armies, and their Champions who bore powers capable of shattering cities and breaking nations. With that power, and the power of the Seven Lights of the Earth - the Chaos Emeralds - it was believed that Iblis would fall before their might.

They failed.

The armies were consumed in storms of fire. The weapons were shattered by creatures crafted of molten rock, animated by tiny fragments of Iblis's power. The Champions, though they fought hard and well, were forced to concede the battlefield - for nothing they could do could truly harm the creature. And even when the strongest of the Champions, the one we now know as Shadow the Golden, took upon all the Emeralds, and used them to achieve power great enough to force Iblis to retreat... he was unable to contain that power long enough to win. The Emeralds scattered, and he, along with the surviving Champions, were forced to flee.

As Iblis continued to rage over the world, turning the continents into the molten hellscape known as Iblis's Sea, the Champions - along with anyone else they could save - found themselves retreating to Angel Island, where the Master Emerald - whose limitless power allowed it to rule the Chaos Emeralds - lay in rest. With it's power, Shadow and the Emerald's Guardian resurrected an ancient deity from the past.

Chaos, the god of the Ocean and protector of Life.

For a century, he and Iblis warred. The sky was blackened with smoke and steam, islands and nations sank, and lifeless new land was created. This would become known as the Age of Ash. Through it all, all those who remained living fled to Angel Island and the rule of Shadow, and a tenuous life was eked out. In that time, the Champions, except for Shadow - for age would never claim him - aged and eventually died. And then, just before the Age of Ash ended...

A great city, that had been placed between the earth and the moon by the nations before, began to fall to the world's surface. It's course would have led it to strike Angel Island, destroying the last remaining civilization of this world. So, Shadow did what he had to. Using all his power, he obliterated the falling city before it could strike us, and saved all remaining life... at the cost of his own.

Weighed by grief, the people called on Chaos to be their protector, and he answered. And so, the Age of Ash ended, and we were bereft.

"In the time since Shadow's death, we've been focusing on recovering lost technology and artifacts, like the Chaos Emeralds," Wrench explained, fumbling around in his pockets before pulling out a shining yellow stone, cut in the same way as the Master Emerald - if much smaller in size. "Lemme just- here, like this. Only issue is, not only did we lose the actual technology, but we lost all the knowledge needed to use it. For a good portion of the time after Chaos became our protector, we've been stuck with farming, unable to strike back at Iblis. It's only been in the last, oh, fifty years, that we've been able to rebuild to a shadow of what we had before, thanks to my father."

Click to shrink...

Wow. The Calamity had, unquestionably, devastated the land and kingdom of Hyrule, but... what these people had faced was so many times worse. It was kind of hard to wrap his head around, really...

With a blink, Link focused his mind on more relevant matters. They were searching for something called "Chaos Emeralds"; assuming that the name shared with the strange new energy that his Sheikah Slate could now detect wasn't just a coincidence, he might be able to help there. Which meant that now was the time to speak up.

Unfortunately.

"If you have at least a vague idea where the other Chaos Emeralds are, I might have a way to help find them." Once he was sure he had, well, someone's attention at least, he continued, "I am Link, Champion of the Kingdom of Hyrule and personal guard to Princess Zelda Hyrule. This," he indicated the Slate, "is a Sheikah Slate. One of its runes is a sensor that can dowse for a number of things; when I had it examine the Master Emerald, it added something it called "chaos energy" to that list."

He paused for a moment, before he added, "Its range is rather limited, though, but I've found it quite helpful in finding hidden or lost items in the past."