RP Smash [IC/Conditional Acceptance/PG-16]

[Alaina]

 

As the dragon girl had managed to get the attention of both her friend and the new guy, the girl soon followed shortly after into the bar. As the group began to question the man she had got, Xia's face became more concerned then normal, however. As the man spoke of the other man covered in blood, the girl was only concerned and confused as to why that would be the case. Not so much the how it happened, but more so the why it had to in the first place. All the same, the girl's face perked back up at the mention of the casino, remembering the fun she had had there the night before. 

 

Looking to the man she said, "oh, and thanks for the info, Person. You can enjoy your fries again!" The girl's expression was so earnest there didn't seem to be any sarcasm behind her voice at all. Looking over to the barkeep, she said, "oh, Snowball! Sorry to leave you behind like that, here we go." Lifting the cat off the counter, the girl placed the cat atop her head again, before saying, "oh, I could go for some fries too!" After getting her order taken care of, the girl sat down and said to her fellow fighters, "so, do you guys want to go to the casino now? There's all sorts of fun games there! Oh, and Julian!" She looked to the woman with bright eyes. "Do you want to keep hanging out with us too? The more the merrier!"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Why does everything care so much about these stupid fries. I...I don't know nothing. I just don't like people askin questions is a-aagh. Look it's just...I....I don't want to lose my job! So....n-none of you talked to me okay? Okay? I wasn't here when...it happened. But...my boss was. He was here, he saw it all, I dunno how he got out but...but I saw him after and he was so shaken up and...covered in blood. He made me swear I wouldn't say anything but I didn't think I'd have a bunch of her people after me!"

"And who is your boss?"

"Ah...P-Perry Colarata. B-but you didn't hear it from me. Ah, by the Great Dragon I hate my life..."

 

"Perry Colarata." Gavin muttered, immediately moving to access his MOVA, a holographic image of his A.I. appearing. "VEX, I'm gonna need you to pull up any information for this. Not sure if you've had time to gain access to anything via this world, but I need you to search for the name, Perry Colarata. Let me know what else you found other than him owning a casino."

 

"De inmediato, Gavin. Puede tomar algún tiempo, pero debería poder descubrir algún tipo de información." VEX simply responded, before the holographic image faded again.

 

"Still in Spanish...great." he rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the assistance. As for the involvement with the information...we heard it from someone outside the group, I.E. not you."

 

"If you can get our helpful lead here a drink, I'll pay you back for it a bit later."

"Oh, you're payin' for both of them, by the way."

 

Such the gentleman... Gavin shook his head, before standing up. Still, least the lead is kept occupied.

 

"So, do you guys want to go to the casino now? There's all sorts of fun games there!"

 

Gavin stood there for a moment, rubbing his chin slightly. He wasn't known to be much of a gambling man, then again, that was the only location they had was the casino. With a slight nod, he looked at Aurora. "I think that might be our best bet, actually. I've already got VEX searching up for any other information he can find on our Mr. Colarata, so while he's on that little scavenger hunt, we should at least make our way to the casino."

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Angela

Rama Indri Mine Depths

 

"Wow, what a huge slug."

 

Managing to shake off the creatures chasing her, Angela was now faced by a crossroad. She was able to drop down, where she just noticed a large slug, or she could try to pass the broken bridge before her and reach to the other side, where she saw some large mushrooms that lit up in the dark. She was tempted to play around with the giant slug a little. It's always a pleasant thing, going off her experience. However, this place reek of danger. After the strange creatures earlier, she would rather not take her chances. She thus made her decision. She lifted herself up using her wind magic, and propeled herself to the other side at high speed.

 

"W-wait, stop that!"

 

Just as she landed and walked away towards the opening before her though, the mushrooms around her fired tentacle-like appendages, intent on restraining her for whatever reason. Angela drooled at the thought for a moment before she got a grip on herself, and used a wind blast to throw away the tentacles as she started running.

 

However, no matter how much she ran, she kept ending up seeing more  and more of these mushrooms. She managed to avoid their tentacles so far, but now she started to feel dizzy. This felt familiar. It was like when she was on a quest to find a creature inside of a cave and she ended falling unconscious due to something in the air, and then the plants there...

 

"...That's it, spores!" Before her thoughts drifted again, Angela uttered a few words, and formed a wind barrier around her head to filter the air. With it, she was able to keep a grip on herself avoiding the spores from the mushrooms. A few more tentacles soon aimed at her. Another wind blast sent them scrambling, and Angela attempted to use the opportunity to shoot at the mushrooms themselves. However, rather than being torn apart by her wind, they end up moving strangely and seemingly reflect the attack. Realizing that it's pointless to attack them now, Angela continued to run and run.

 

Until she reached a certain point.

 

---

[Yui]

---

Day 3, 3:00, Some grimy bar

Points: 177

W/L Record: 2/1

 

"Imma hold ya to that! Yea, how bout ya get me and our helpful friend 'ere a drink! Thank's fer the information. Our lips are sealed - I'll make sure they are. Oh, you're payin' for both of them, by the way."

 

"Er..." Paying for both? Aurora had only wanted to pay for the one drink, and even that was mostly because the guy giving them the info had been so nervous about it, yet tried to help despite that. She still had to get that room upgrade too, so she had a place to put her heater and stuff! Maybe if she was really conservative about her spending from now on until she got that taken care of? That would work, right? Aurora could only hope.

 

"...alright," she reluctantly sighed. Hopefully the reimbursement for the booze didn't hit her funds too hard.

 

"So, do you guys want to go to the casino now? There's all sorts of fun games there!"

 

"I think that might be our best bet, actually. I've already got VEX searching up for any other information he can find on our Mr. Colarata, so while he's on that little scavenger hunt, we should at least make our way to the casino."

 

Alcohol and gambling... if August heard about the places I was visiting today, he'd probably be upset. Not that she'd blame him. These were very un-hero-like places to stop by, even if her intents wewre on the right track. "Sounds good to me," she agreed. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can ask this Mr. Colarata about the attacks and get to the bottom of this. Let's get going." And so - stopping at the bar proper to get her chicken first - Aurora turned, and made for the door.

 

Detective work was very difficult, she had noticed. But it felt good to be making progress!

---

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"Eh?" Cyanthrax simple said, giving the girl confused looked. He had been expecting some form of rebuttal, and it wasn't like she was happy to do it. In fact, she seemed rather upset with the idea. And yet she just agreed to it. The demon sighed a bit, disappointing in the girl for being such a push over. And then he saw Gavin shake his head at him. He had the audacity to judge Cyan, especially as he sat there and did nothing? Now we wasn't just disappointed; he was also furious.

 

"It was a joke, dumba​​​ss!" He said to Aurora, his tone a mix of disappointing dad and playful trickster. "Ya were s'pose to tell me to fuc​​​k off!" Cyan crossed his arms. "You shouldn't let people push you around like that. Stand up for yourself!" 

 

"And you!" He shouted, pointing at Gavin. His voice became much more stern, almost venomous. "Were you just gonna sit there and judge me!? While you sit on your a​​​ss and do nothing, while I bully this poor girl?" The demon shook his head. "Pathetic."

 

Feeling better about himself, he loosened up a bit. "Ya know, I was just gonna call it a night with the bar hopping, but this is getting much more exciting! We should head out after we get our orders." He turned back to Aurora. "Oh, and don't worry about payin' for my drink. Ya still payin' for the first one though, for failing your test." He let out a chuckle as he leaned back on his seat.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Xia, Cyanthrax, Aurora, Gavin

 

The bartender let out a sigh of relief as the people actually ordered things. "It's hard to keep a business running when people think that it's a haunted deathtrap." He muttered as he went about making the food and preparing the beer. The food wasn't very well made but it was passable and cheap, as was the alcohol, and, the bartender said with pride, not likely to poison you.

 

After making sure no one was going to interrogate him more the informant shoveled his food into his mouth, lest someone try and tackle him for not eating it, and ran out of the bar.

 

Julian watched the group with an amused smirk. "You crazy kids. Reminds me of my younger years." She said wistfully as she watched them with her hand on her chin. "I hate to be a spoilsport but..." she hooked her thumb out the door. "It's getting dark. Don't think you want to go to the casino this late at night for something like this. Plus, I bet Angela would want in on this one. But it's up to you. My job here is done. You all can stop by my place whenever you want...oh and I've already got my number into your contact lists. Later, lovebirds." She called out before heading out of the bar.

[spoiler=OOC]So yeah you can still go to the casino but it might be more difficult. Might want to save that for the next day. Remind me to have some information for you by then, Chaos, when the Spanish thing is done.

 

---

Angela

 

As the girl continued on, taking several turns on the way, and seemingly headed downward, she eventually would notice a glow ahead. When she got nearer she'd notice that there was a drop off where the floor suddenly dropped down a dozen feet. It was clearly visible due to the excessive amount of Aetherstone along the walls by the drop off. There was more in this one area than she had seen previously and it caused her head to ache and a bit of nausea to set in.

 

Though were she to look past this she'd see that the drop off opened up into what seemed like a huge cavern. At the far end of said cavern she'd see a gate. Massive, twenty feet high, and made of silver. The gate had runes and carvings surrounding the outside and the middle of it a round, two feet in diameter, slab of stone with a diamond in its center seemed to serve as some form of lock.

 

However that wasn't all she could see in the cave. A creature, slightly less tall than the gate, paced back and forth in front of the gate. Even standing on four legs the beast was massive. Its skin seemed to be a gray black hide and a sharp observer would notice that it was covered in scars. a strange reddish glow, different from the Aetherstone, could be seen through what almost looked like cracks in its skin. The beast had some kind of metallic plate on its back that looked to have been melded with its body by some outside force.

 

Whatever this creature was Angela could tell at a glance that it was far above the other monsters she had seen thus far.

 

And, given how its head swiveled back and forth, it seemed that it realized someone was near.

[spoiler=OOC]You can try and fight it, Nai, but I'll be blunt. I wouldn't advise fighting this on your own.

 

[Alaina]

 

Xia looked bright eyed as everyone else seemed ready to have fun times at the casino with all of her arena fighter friends, Julian spoke up and talked about how late it was getting. The girl had a small frown on her face at this, but quickly bounced back as she said, "your right, and I should probably get you back to Riley before looking for bloody people, right?" She looked to the cat, who had seemed more or less indifferent about the goings on, merely "mrowing" at Xia's question. With a wave, she said, "see you later Julian! Can't wait to hang out some more!" Looking back to the others she said, "so Cyan, looks like we can still go bar "hopping" for the rest of the night. Isn't that great!" The girl gave a bright smile as she said this. 

[Yui]

---

Day 3, ?:00, Some grimy bar

Points: 173

W/L Record: 2/1

"Eh? It was a joke, dumba​​​ss! Ya were s'pose to tell me to fuc​​​k off! You shouldn't let people push you around like that. Stand up for yourself!"

 

"I stand up for myself all the time," Aurora rebutted, turning to face the guy who'd told her to pay for both drinks in the first place. "I'm saving up points for a room upgrade right now, but if I'm already paying you back for one drink, I  didn't see much harm in also covering a second one. I'll just win the points back tomorrow in the arena anyway, right?" As the elf guy continued, this time targeting Gavin for a bit, Aurora took a bite of her chicken. Very hot, just like she'd asked! Yum!

 

"Oh, and don't worry about payin' for my drink. Ya still payin' for the first one though, for failing your test."

 

"I hate to be a spoilsport but... It's getting dark. Don't think you want to go to the casino this late at night for something like this. Plus, I bet Angela would want in on this one. But it's up to you. My job here is done. You all can stop by my place whenever you want...oh and I've already got my number into your contact lists. Later, lovebirds."

 

"You're right, and I should probably get you back to Riley before looking for bloody people, right? See you later Julian! Can't wait to hang out some more!"

 

"In the meantime, I should head back to the arena. I've got a lot of things I want to take care of tomorrow on top of this investigation, so I'll have to get plenty of rest. I'll see y'all again tomorrow, okay?" With that, Aurora stepped out the door, starting back the way she'd came from, retracing her steps to get back to the Arena. In the meantime, she pulled up the messenger on her watch, and sent a message.

 

To: Mauvache

From: Aurora

There's something I need to ask you about, face-to-face. Can I meet up with you in your office tomorrow morning?

---

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Sounds good to me,. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can ask this Mr. Colarata about the attacks and get to the bottom of this. Let's get going."

"You crazy kids. Reminds me of my younger years. I hate to be a spoilsport but...It's getting dark. Don't think you want to go to the casino this late at night for something like this. Plus, I bet Angela would want in on this one. But it's up to you. My job here is done. You all can stop by my place whenever you want...oh and I've already got my number into your contact lists."

 

Made sense, to be completely honest. It was already getting dark out and more of this little "detective" work would most likely do better in the daylight. After all, no one else needed to be roaming around in the dark like this. "She has a point. Would probably be better if we just finish up this little search tomorrow. Plus, we may be able to ask Angela what she saw as well." Not only this, but it would definitely give VEX some time to find that information on Colarata.

 

"In the meantime, I should head back to the arena. I've got a lot of things I want to take care of tomorrow on top of this investigation, so I'll have to get plenty of rest. I'll see y'all again tomorrow, okay?"

 

Gavin thought about possibly going to walk with Aurora, but after facing off against her...it was obvious the girl knew how to take care of herself. "I'll be heading out as well. I need to get some rest...first rest in this crazy place." he chuckled, deciding to leave the bar.

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"Riiiiiiiight." He responded to Aurora, chuckling as he rolled his eyes. He took a swing of his newfound drink, before slamming it onto the table. As the night went on, it became clear that they wouldn't be checking out the casino tonight, leaving Cyan a bit disappointed. Everyone else seemed ready to go and rest... except for one.

 

"so Cyan, looks like we can still go bar "hopping" for the rest of the night. Isn't that great!" Cyan turned to Xia, a grin on his face.

 

"Hell yeah, now we're talkin'!" He shouted, finishing the rest of his drink. "Don't got any damn kids to worry 'bout either." He stood up, stretching his arms. "Whenever ya ready, we can ditch this stand." 

[Alaina]

 

As the group began to split off, Xia gave a wave to the two other arena fighters as they left saying, "see you tomorrow Aurora and New Guy! Can't wait to hang out again!" As Cyan agreed with her idea, the girl smiled saying, "woohoo! Come on Snowball, it's time to say goodbye to the nice bar-man." With a "mrow" in agreement, Snowball walked over to the dragon girl, which she then scooped the white furry creature up, placing them back on her head. Looking at Cyan she said, "so are we going to go hopping there this time?"

 

---

 

With their bar fun time activities having been finished, Xia parted ways with Cyan as the two had to end up going back to their rooms. On her way back, the girl first stopped by Riley's room, delivering Snowball with her and thanking Riley for letting the two of them hang out for the day. After saying goodnight to the both of them, Xia eventually made her way back to her room and with a smile on her face, thinking about all the fun she had managed to accomplish in just a single day, went to sleep. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"...This is ridiculous."

 

Angela had attempted to fight the creature of lava for a bit, but nothing she had done actually made any dent on it. So far she had only narrowly avoided having herself amputated and killed, but she wasn't sure how long would this last. The tail swipes were brutal, the lava-spewing was dangerous, and the thing was faster than it had any right to be. And there wasn't even any vulnerabilities on it, even its insides seemed to nullify magic. It somehow felt less like a natural creature and more...something else.

 

Angela decided that it wasn't worth fighting the creature. As much as she enjoyed the fight itself, the lack of progress started to frustrate her, and the gate was over there. That gate was definitely where Angela would find her answer on what secret did Mauvache wanted to keep here. She steeled herself, and made a run for it. She hated to admit it but she was too tired to continue fighting the lava creature already. If she could reach that gate, open it, she would be safe to rest and continue. With that in mind, she continued to run.

 

However, before she was able to reach that gate, a tail swipe that she failed to take account for ended her dream.

 

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Angela

 

The beast's tail caught Angela in the middle of her body. Knocking the air out of her as she was flung into the wall. She saw the door getting farther and farther until she suddenly stopped, hitting the stone wall and sliding down to the ground.
 
Still conscious but stunned she would only be able to watch as the beast turned towards her and opened its maw up to spew forth its lava breath attack.
 
I Am Here
 
"Not today!" Angela would see a blur of motion as something slammed into the side of the creature's face. Its attack went astray and launched off to the side of the girl.
 
She would see someone falling to the ground before a glowing red platform appeared beneath them. They landed on said platform and, as the creature attempted to stomp on them, propelled themselves away at high speeds. While moving they swiped their arm across and a bolt of red energy shot at the beast.
 
Mid-air, the figure flipped and, landing on yet another platform that was generated moments before the landing, moved in Angela's direction. They landed in front of her. And, as Angela faded out of consciousness, she saw the face of their savior and heard them speak, in an oddly distorted voice, "Don't worry. You're safe."
--
Angela woke up on a small, but incredibly soft, couch in a tidy apartment room. She would be able to smell pie and hear some noises which, if she were to look, were coming from an attached kitchen.
 
As though hearing the sounds Angela made when waking a short and purple haired girl turned around holding a tray with the source of the smell in it. "Oh, you woke up." The girl said in a melodic voice. "One sec mkay?" The girl set the tray down and, removing her oven mitts, hobbled over towards Angela. It seemed clear the girl had a limp but she still moved with swiftness. "You really shouldn't go that deep into the mines on your own you know. I only found you cause I felt so many Aetherstones start resonating over there.all at once."

 

Mauvache gave a sigh and rubbed her temples, hat already tossed to the side, as she looked at the reports. "If I had known Tesability was going to cause such glitches in our system I never would have...well, what's done is done. That problem can be taken care of soon. As for this one...I suppose being part of the theater could still bring advertisement to the Arena...."

 

It was then that she got a message from Aurora. "Hm, what's this now, they usually don't message me first....Ah, well well well, what could this be about?" Mauvache smiled a bit. Meet in her office? Well, she would have to make some preparations but that shouldn't be a problem.

"I would be delighted. Let us make it 10 AM though. Mornings are not my strong suit these days. Be sure to let me know before you head up. Oh, and, one more thing. Do be careful. I heard rumors that you were on a date with Gavin at a seedy bar. Such things could cause trouble down the line."

Mauvache hesitated and considered deleting that last part. Young girls could be so very rebellious. But, no, Aurora was a good girl. She'd understand.

 

Mauvache glanced in the corner of the room and her gaze darkened slightly. "I won't let it turn out like last time."

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"...What...what did just happen?"

 

The next thing Angela knew, she was on a couch. Her body hurt, perhaps due to the fact that she was smashed into a wall earlier with a tail. It was a wonder that she was alive, but how she got here? Before she could dwell on her thought for long, she smelled a pleasant smell coming from the room next of hers. It revealed a girl walking on a slight limp, with mittens as she had recently baked some pies. Angela had several questions. Though. She was cute.

 

"You really shouldn't go that deep into the mines on your own you know. I only found you cause I felt so many Aetherstones start resonating over there.all at once."

 

"Wait wait....uh, first things first. Who are you? Where am I? And...how did you manage to come inside of the mine so fast?"

 

Right, the last one was especially a concern. Angela had to use many tricks to even get down there, but this girl was able to do it fast enough and got her out at the nick of time without much issues. That was concerning, to say the least.

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

Elijah adjusted his glasses. “Well. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen it, but Diamante would love this place.” Elijah shook his hair out and folded a hand behind his back, the other one held out as if asking to dance. “Very well. Let’s get right to it, no time to waste. You get the first swing.”

 

Aria, meanwhile, shook her boots mercilessly, spraying flecks of sand in every direction imaginable. “Man,” she complained. “If I had known I was going to a freaking BEACH, I would have DRESSED FOR IT.” She was close to giving up and taking her boots off, if it wasn’t for the fact that she would still be wearing pants and a jacket, and also didn’t want to know what kicking with her bare feet would feel like.

 

“...Pardon me?”

 

“What?!” Aria snapped, and realized what was going. “Right, sorry. One sec, and…” Aria continued to shake sand from her boots, but did so to hide what she was doing. Bending down as if to untie her laces, Aria exploded with a loud bang that sent a cloud of sand into the air, blasting forward with intense speed, the air shimmering in her wake as the hum of sound help propel her movements. Each stride was long, and each time she pushed off the sand in another step she let loose another explosion of sound. Beach-goers all around cried in surprise at the loud noise and sand raining down on them. In a moment Aria would be close enough, planting her left leg swiftly and swinging her right around in a blurred roundhouse kick.

 

Elijah, having fully expected a head-on strike in response, responded by ducking under her roundhouse with a smirk. “Lesson 1,” he began.

 

As swiftly as he was able, Elijah rose from below, a sword of flame streaking from his fist in an upwards slash.

 

At the first glint of light that came from Elijah’s hand, Aria turned and pushed herself to the side, watching the blade swipe upwards in front of her.

 

“The first attack is rarely the first hit,” Elijah finished, the flames coalescing into a sort of officer’s sword, but from the hilt guard down it had the design of a musket grip.

 

“Then I guess it’s time for my second shot,” Aria growled. Keeping the words of her trainer in mind, she gave little notice of her attack or what it would be, jabbing her fist forward and having it end with the familiar gunshot blast of her magic. She wouldn’t let up from there, however, following it up with another strike and leaving little room to recover from the first attack. She would continue this relentless volley of jabs and punches until Elijah either retreated or counter-attacked.

 

Elijah’s blade intercepted the punches, parrying the physical blows aside just barely, but the repeated shock of the magical blasts forced him to step back a moment. How does a girl this small--? He didn’t have time to think. Just fight.

 

Elijah leapt back, pointed his sword, and fired, a musket-blast of flame erupting from the base of the blade. That’ll buy me a few seconds at most. He took inventory of his abilities. Hmm. None of these are very good in an open battlefield, so let’s stick with this.

 

Across his other hand, blue flames coalesced into a golden shield with a red, crystalline front. The Magnum Shield. He felt his endurance, little though it was, pour entirely into his strength. This mode made him something of a glass cannon, so he was going to have to make every hit count.

 

He stepped forward and struck in earnest, slashing repeatedly so as not to give Aria a chance to counter.

 

At first, Aria used her gauntlets to block the attacks as best as she could, but once it was obvious she was being pressed back she realized that she would need to counter in some way, if possible. Elijah moved for another attack, and in the same movement of blocking the attack Aria moved her off-hand forward and released a strong wave of deep sound, spraying small clouds of sand in the same direction.

 

Elijah stumbled, shaken by the blast and blinded by the cloud of dust. In a moment of desperation, his weapon vanished into smoke like a snuffed-out candle and he shield-bashed into his opponent in retaliation.

 

“Too slow!” Aria taunted, shifting her weight  to the side and letting the shield pass by her. Ducking deep into her crouch, Aria brought her left fist up, aiming for the ribs just under the arm that bashed forward with the shield. She felt a wave of confidence in her fighting, ready to lay down the smack, but without realizing it she had put too much of her weight forward into her own attack and put herself off-balance.

 

Elijah reeled and spun from the blow, and his shield too snuffed out of existence like a candle flame, leaving only a wisp of smoke. He dropped to a knee with his back to Aria, considering his options. Here’s something. He decided, planting a palm against the sand in front of him, where Aria couldn’t see it.

 

A brief flash of red under his fingers was all he had time to register before leaping forward, anticipating an attack from behind.

 

“Too easy!” Aria laughed, leaping forward to slam her raised heel down on the kneeled opponent, but found her foot falling too far forwards into a soft “whoomp” of the smoldering sand. Once the dust had cleared, she could see Elijah sprinting off into the distance and growled. “Just when I was starting to have fun. Get back here!”

 

Aria released a similar explosion behind her, but one of just air. The resounding gunshot blast alerted even more of the crowd, and the it wasn’t long until the beach-goers surrounding them began to scream and run in a panic. Regardless, Aria bounded forward in a blur with her fist cocked back, ready to really give to Elijah.

 

His palms filled with fire. He then stopped, turned, and threw both hands forward like he was trying to clap them over her temples, but instead the flames collided between his palms and erupted in a massive blast, knocking them both back and showering the beach-goers in hot sand and burning a circle of glass into a part of the beach.

 

Here’s hoping I timed this right… otherwise I’ll have wasted a ton of health. Elijah forced his pain-addled mind to focus as he struck the sand, fingers and toes digging in to slow himself down.

 

“Lesson 2!” He shouted, triggering his previously-planted ability. The spot where he’d been kneeling moments ago erupted as well, transforming a patch of sand into a pillar of glass.

 

“Always be thinking a few steps ahead.”

 

Aria skidded back in the sand from the blast, doing her best to keep her balance and try to stick the landing. However, not long after skidding did she hit some unseen snag in the beach and found herself tumbling backwards onto her back. She groaned as she forced herself to her feet as quickly as she could, only to see the large pillar of glass sticking out of the ground not far from where she was.

 

“Nuh-uh, no way! I’ve had my share of classes today!” Aria growled, the resounding memories of each and every moment she had her ass handed to her while trying to learn how to fight all sounding loud and clear in her head. “This time, I’m going to be the one giving the ass-kicking!”

 

Aria broke into a sprint, clods of sand being kicked up in her wake as she ran straight for the pillar of glass. A few meters away she kicked in a couple of her sound-magics, a loud hum sounding in her wake as her movements sped up, and with the sound of a gunshot, sent herself sailing well over the glass pillar. Once cleared, she stopped using her magic to extend her jump and let herself drop to the sand quickly with a soft “whump” before breaking into another sprint, though this time with a different approach in mind.

 

Elijah’s hands filled with flame and he dashed to the side, a longsword raised defensively in front of him.

 

Without much thought going into her attack, Aria bound forwards and sent her fist flying into what she realized too late was the flat of a flaming longsword. Her fist collided harshly against the metal, but it was the explosion of sound and air afterwards that didn’t bode well with the situation. The mixture of wind from the small shockwave and the heat of the flames turned what was normally a relatively small, but strong burst of air into a full-on explosion, a wave of heat washing over Aria as she found herself stumbling backwards from the attack, surprised at the result of her own attack.

 

Elijah was knocked aside as well, buffeted by the blast and singed somewhat,  “I feel as if you’re not taking my advice to heart. Think ahead, Aria, control the field. You won’t often win through force alone.” He twirled his sword and held it in an overhead stance, pointing downward, loading a pistol magazine into the hilt.

 

“HYAAH!” He shouted with effort as he swung the sword in a swift uppercut, squeezed the trigger, and sent an arc of flame across the sand, leaving a line of glass in its wake. Quickly, he followed up with another on the opposite side, and then a wide slash, unleashing a broad arc of flame between the previously made paths, flying through the air. 

 

“Shove it up your ass, I’ll do what I want!” Aria shouted, running forwards and deciding to improvise and do the unexpected instead of whatever ‘think ahead’ bullshit he was trying to push. Bracing her arms in front of her and leaning forward, Aria pushed her magic into her sprint until she collided straight on with the line of fire. The force caused her to lurch back as she felt the heat wash over her, and she was sure she was taking a lot of damage in that instance, but she pressed on regardless, only picking up speed.

 

“Hey idiot, here’s a lesson!” Aria shouted, running full-tilt through the fire in a quick burst. “If you talk sheet, you’re gonna get hit!” Leaving little room to react, Aria blasted forward with another explosion of sound, focusing the magic in her right fist for a straight-on punch. Elijah raised his sword over his shoulder and swept it downward in a blazing slash that would ordinarily cleave her from shoulder to hip.

 

At the last moment, Aria ducked to the side Elijah swung from, the blade whistling past her, heat washing over her body as it missed by just a hair. From the exposed angle, Aria pulled her fist into a quick and strong jab aimed for Elijah’s kidney, every bit of magic she could muster without going overboard pushed into that punch.

 

“What?!” Elijah yelled as Aria’s fist dug deep into his side. A split second after the Aria’s fist had struck Elijah, there was a strong blast of air that flung the both of them backward. Aria dug her heels into the loose sand, leaning forward as a mound of the coarse, rough, irritating stuff piled behind her. Elijah, on the other hand, was not so prepared, and found himself rolling and tumbling backwards right into the picnic setup for a group of bystanders on the beach itself.

 

Aria straightened up and planted her hands on her hips. “Had enough yet? Or are you ready for more?”

 

“Don’t think it’s over ye--” Elijah had begun to talk, pushing himself to his feet, but his voice was very soon drowned out by a thunderous roar that filled the beach. Aria looked around in confusion and could see, approaching the beach from the horizon, a simply titanic wall of water that threatened to swallow the beach whole.

 

But that wasn’t all. The sky had darkened quickly too, and looking upward both fighters could see a dark cloud flying from the wave like an impossibly dense flock of birds-- only it wasn’t birds.

 

“Squids?!” Aria shouted, her words falling on deaf ears. One by one, a well-sized squid would land on the beach sand with a dull “thump”, sending a small cloud of sand in the air in the process. But the shower of cephalopods was not to lighten up. Instead, the squids would smack against the beach with increased frequency until it was a sheer downpour of fish.

 

Aria planted her feet and unleashed a full-strength wave of sound into the air against the falling torrent of squid, keeping its focus as narrow as possible while Elijah vanished into the dense fog of falling bodies. For a brief moment, the wave of sound seemed to work, parting a clear path through storm. However, it wasn’t enough. Aria’s focus had been too narrow, and a squid managed to slip past her magical attack, smacking against her face and sending her attack off-course.

 

And with that, the floodgate of falling fish descended upon Aria as it had Elijah, burying her in as a barrage of squid battered mercilessly against her body. This went on for what felt like an eternity, until the roar of the tidal wave managed to overcome the cacophany of the Squid Storm. Moments later, the beach was soon underneath several metres of water, with everyone and everything pulled from the sheer force of the wave back out towards the ocean.

 

Aria had no time to realize what was going on when suddenly the simulation was gone and she found herself lying on the cold floor, staring at the ceiling. One minute she was drowning underneath a figurative ocean of squid and a literal ocean of water, the next the match was over. What had even happened?

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Angela

 

"Wait wait....uh, first things first. Who are you? Where am I? And...how did you manage to come inside of the mine so fast?"

 

"You sure got a lot of questions don't ya?" The girl said, laughing. "Well don't blame you I guess kinda did just almost die and all. I'm Aurea, I work at the Small Sports Stadium as a trainer, you're at my place, and...well, I was already inside of it. I go there every once in a while. If you want to know how I got in at all...I can't really say." She gave an apologetic look, one that gave her the appearance of having sucked on a lemon, and shrugged. "I know someone who knows a way in but I don't want to tell the wrong people you know? They could get in trouble....Now...want some pie?" She said, grinning. "I heard your stomach rumbling from here, you'd think a Fighter would know to keep her belly filled. Never know when you won't get a next meal."

 

Error: Virtual Battlefield malfunction

Winner to be determined by remaining HP

Error

Cannot determine HP

Calculating

Calculating

Winner: Aria

 

Aria wouldn't have much time before technitions, in the form of floating spherical robots, rushed into the room she was in and got to work. Another, dressed like a waiter, ushered the girl out and towards one of the Lounges. They were on the floor below the Virtual Battlefields and appeared to be soundproof. As, when Aria entered the sliding doors, she would hear music playing.  Which seemed to be coming from a live band at the far end, standing atop a small, round, stage. Throughout the lounge was several "pits" which were areas of lowered floor, also round, with a table in the middle and cushioned floors and seats all around the edges. Each table contained a three-sided television, with attached headphones, and a button that was marked "Call Waiter". The robot seemed to intend that Aria relax there for a while after her ordeal. Though she wouldn't be prevented from leaving.

 

After the end of Aria and Elijah's fight the servers where people posted about the Arena went down. So many people were flooding in and remarking about the unusual end that the site couldn't handle it. Several hours past before the comments finally started to roll in.

 

Though they were mostly about the ending of the fight there were several that remarked on Aria's performance.

 

"She really stepped it up."

"Impressive how she handled an Error like that. Elijah just stood there and took it basically."

"I wish there was a swimsuit skin..."

 

Meanwhile the comments on the other fight were a bit more subdued.

 

"They talk a lot don't they?"
"Xia is so sweet! It's like she doesn't even realize it's a competition."
"I think she threw Angela off her game cause of that."
"Is Angela ever on her game?"

"Be nice it was an unfair matchup!"
"I ship it"

 

[spoiler=OOC]Okay, almost done with the day. Make sure everyone to update your log in the database and make sure your points are right. Aria gains the "Victory" points for that match. Also decided to take this chance to introduce the "Lounges" of the Arena which is another area people can go to hang out and such.

 

Nai, try and get the rest of the convo done fairly soon. And Drew if you'd like to summarize Aria's day and have her react to winning that'd be cool.

 

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

While beating an annoying person to a pulp and earning a victory would have normally improved Aria's overall mood over the course of the day, the fight she had just finished left her feeling empty and disappointed. After all the annoyances it had started with and built up, she was never given the proper climax to the fight to satisfy that frustration. Instead, she left the battleground feeling just as irritated as when she had entered, if not more. She read the comments, and felt at least some satisfaction to see that people were recognizing her improvement in fighting, as well as some embarrassment and annoyance at the one person who seemed to ship her with everyone she went up against.

 

"Who is even spending all their time doing that," she grumbled to herself.

 

To alleviate this frustration, Aria had intentionally avoided others and simply gone straight for the arena once more, spending her afternoon in the weight-room. While she knew she needed to get more training in, the thought of potentially talking to that one muscle-headed idiot who called himself the "top student" just simply made her stomach turn, and even if it wasn't him she didn't feel particularly enthusiastic about banging her head against the wall with someone who knew much more  about fighting than her, even if it meant learning more so that she could fight against Cyanthrax again and punch his big, fat, stupid face into next week.

 

After this, the exhaustion had begun to set in and Aria had gone to Tegur's pub and ordered as much food as she possibly could for as few points as possible. Tegur had started up some light conversation about the fight, but between Aria's ravenous consumption of the food there wasn't much room for any talking at all. Soon enough she had finished eating and simply gone straight to her room.

 

Stopping herself from falling face-first onto the dense, concrete-like slab of mattress at the last second and narrowly avoiding a broken nose, Aria still flopped on her bed. Despite all the improvements and progress she had made that day, she simply could not muster the motivation to want to see what tomorrow would bring. In her last seconds before falling into a deep, and restful sleep earlier than usual that evening, she figured that maybe the next morning would be a better day.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Enter, New Fighters

 

From: Mauvache

Subject: Roster Change

I hate to say it again, after so soon having to say goodbye to a friend, but two more Fighters are leaving us. Tesability and Elijah, who wished to focus on acting, have left our roster. I hope that this is the last swap that we will need but once more I would like you all to meet the new Fighters in Virtual Battlefield Room.

 

This was the message each of the Fighters would receive upon waking up in the morning. Along with a short clip of Mauvache explaining to the fans how they have been doing tests of the system which was why there has been so many changes in the roster. And to assure them that the cast they have will be entertaining regardless of the changes.

 

Once everyone had gathered outside of the room to the Virtual Battlefield they would be let inside. Where they would see a young boy, who would be recognizable to Angela, standing in the middle. The edges of the room seemed to be in some kind of darkness as only the middle of the area was lit up.

 

The boy, who had only been given the rundown of the situation fifteen minutes ago, would then be able to greet them and introduce himself, and vice verse.

 

However as the group was in the middle of introductions...

"This is my show now."

A pair of flaming skulls shot from the darkness and exploded above their heads into a sudden firework display.

 

A young woman in a witches outfit strode out of the darkness. Each step dramatic, purposeful, and full of confidence. "Bow down, peasants, for you now stand in the presence of Morgan Reaperson. The strongest witch in the multiverse. I look forward to showing the fans why I'm the superior fighter AND showman." She stepped next to Masaru and gave him a pitying look. "Sorry to say you're overshadowed before you even began."

 

[spoiler=OOC]And there you have it, the two new, and hopefully last, roster swaps. Hakima please try and post soon to get your introduction out.

Also long ago I asked Hakima if he was fine with his introduction being...interrupted so don't worry about that. Once the introductions are done feel free to stick around and interact or move on to other things.

Also, Chaos, VEX now can speak English again.

 

[Hakima]

---

---

BGM

 

Confused. The word wasn’t strong enough to explain how he was feeling, but vocabulary had never been his strong suit. Mena would probably know a better word… Masaru thought. The last thing he could recall was sitting on the beach and glancing down at his Database Tattoo, noticing that both Angela and his longtime friend Tegur had vanished, and then—nothing. Well, Mauvache must have had something to do with that. I guess she brought me here to play some kinda game? She had also given him a watch. It was weird and it chafed again his skin, but she promised that it would keep track of his schedule and let him message the other contestants.

 

After that she had sent him to meet said contestants, which was how he found himself standing in the dark arena under some kind of spotlight.  “Hello?” he said. His voice reverberated off the walls, bouncing back to him. “Anyone here?” he tried again.

 

No response. None of the fighters had arrived yet, he guessed, looking around. It wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t in Magnolia anymore. Even the light shining down on him he was weird. He looked up, trying to spot the chandelier producing it, but winced and had to look back down a second later. It sure was bright!

 

He rubbed his eyes and decided to fiddle with his new “watch” while he waited. It was lightweight and sleek, silver in color, but the little glass screen was dark. It displayed a picture of a slime asleep in the center of it, cartoon “Z’s” floating up out of his head. “So how does this work…” Mauvache had said he could use it communicate with the other fighters, but he had no idea how to use it. “On. Power on. Turn on. Wake up. Hmm…” Masaru decided it either wasn’t sentient or it was really rude. “What if I…” He pressed the button on the side of the watch. The slime on the screen was jolted awake. “Aha! Hey there little guy. Will you show me how to send someone a--Wait! Come back!” The slime ignored his pleas and hopped away, vanishing off the edge of the screen.

 

“What did I do?” Masaru cried. The dark background on the screen changed to a bright white. “What? How?” Several bubbled icons appeared at the bottom of the screen. One read “CALL”, while another read “MESSAGE”, and the last read “CONTACTS”.

 

He had no idea what any of that meant, but at least he knew how to turn it on now. All he had to do was tap the button on the side to wake the slime up.

 

Luckily, the other contestants had started to arrive. They filed in from the entrance and crowded around him. Masaru counted six of them in total. All of them were strange, but they all seemed to be human—well, except for the one with fins. He wasn’t sure what she was.

 

“Hiya!” Masaru said. He rocked back on his heels and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m Masaru! I’m still pretty confused, but I guess I’m here to compete in some kind of contest? Sounds fun!” He smiled. His smile was the contagious sort; warm, genuine, and frequent. “It’s nice to meet you a—whoa!” Masaru suddenly ducked. Two flaming skulls flew over his head and exploded, raining sparks down all around him.

 

"This is my show now." An unfamiliar voice said. A young woman strut out of the shadows, seemingly the one who had launched the fireworks. "Bow down, peasants, for you now stand in the presence of Morgan Reaperson. The strongest witch in the multiverse. I look forward to showing the fans why I'm the superior fighter AND showman." She stepped next to Masaru and gave him a pitying look. "Sorry to say you're overshadowed before you even began."

 

Masaru laughed. “That’s alright. I’ve never liked the spotlight anyways,” he said. “Have you...have you been hiding there this entire time though?”

---

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

The rest of the night was pretty fun, going from bar to bar with someone. It had been quite a while since he had done this, and it seemed Xia was a lot more sturdy than anyone he had gone drinking with. He made a mental note of having a drinking contest with the girl some time, although that would be a while - he didn't think either of them had the money for such a daunting task. Even this night he didn't buy all that many drinks, only purchasing 3 of them. It didn't help that they had spent most of the night playing cops with children. Ah well, it was better this way for his wallet.

 

---

 

The next day was here, Cyanthrax awake as early as ever. "More of them?" He said, confused. Just how disposable were the rest of these clowns, Cyan thought to himself, as he stretched. "Well, better go greet these scrubs." He smirked, heading out of his door.

 

He got to the battlefields rather early, although they weren't aloud in until everyone was there. In the center stage was a rather unassuming boy who introduced himself as Masaru. Cyanthrax rolled his eyes; another kid joining their roster. Why were there so many kids in this anyways? As the demon was about to make his debut to this newbie, however...

 

"This is my show now." Suddenly, an impressive show of flame and bone erupted from the shadows, crashing above them. A young witch made her way into the center stage, every step as powerful as the last. She even talked down to the crowd as she introduced herself.

 

Slightly irritated, Cyanthrax was impressed with the young women's confidence. Not many had the nerve to call him a peasant. He'd have to see, however, if her flame would stand up to the inferno that was Cyanthax. 

 

The demon walked forward, each step leaving flames in his wake. He walked slowly towards Morgan, a grin and a chuckle escaping him as smoke started to peer out of his mouth. "Ah, I see you are a being of culture as well!" He said, a hellish flame appearing out of his hand to form Jigoku, which he began to casually twirl around. "Best showman? Maybe. Your little fire crackers were quite amusing. Best fighter?" He stopped in front of the witch, slamming his sword into the ground. He chuckled a bit. "Hate to brake it to ya doll,  but that spot's taken by the one and only Cyanthrax, Lion's Sin of Pride!"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Gavin awoke from his slumber the following morning, thanks to a new notification...well, in his case...two separate notifications. One from his Mauvache watch (or was at least going to refer to it) and the other from his MOVA. "Heh...guess I'm popular this morning...better find out what the ringleader wants first." he yawned, opening the message from his watch.

 

From: Mauvache

Subject: Roster Change

I hate to say it again, after so soon having to say goodbye to a friend, but two more Fighters are leaving us. Tesability and Elijah, who wished to focus on acting, have left our roster. I hope that this is the last swap that we will need but once more I would like you all to meet the new Fighters in Virtual Battlefield Room.

 

A roster change? Gavin stared hard at the message, reading that Tesability was one of the two fighters that were gone. He felt a little disappointed to hear that this little A.I. was gone, which meant the fact that he couldn't study on it more was out the window. With a bit of a sigh, he closed the message and then turned to his MOVA. Hopefully VEX would have some better news for them.

 

"Alright VEX, what's up?" he asked, whilst getting dressed for the day.

 

"Good morning, Gavin. I have the information you requested." VEX said, his holographic image emerging from the MOVA.

 

"And what's more...I can actually understand you now!" Gavin laughed, adjusting his jacket slightly before slipping his shoes on. "So, fire away VEX."

 

"Firstly, this world's systems of communication and information sending happens to be on a much higher level than anything that has been seen on our world." VEX began, before pulling up a few holographic screens, projecting a few pieces of information for Gavin to see. "Nevertheless, I believe this information will be viable to you and your allies, if you wish to call them that."

 

"I'll say at least acquaintances, but whatever."

 

"The casino in question that Perry Colarata owns was once in the possession by a mob boss that ran a shady business." VEX began. "However, it seems unlike the previous owner, the current one is running a legitimate business in it."

 

"Huh, interesting."

 

"I did find something else after searching a bit further." VEX continued. "Mr. Colarata has a business partner. Unfortunately, I could not find a specific name for this partner, aside from the moniker that they are known by: 'Silver'. This would not be anything worth a glance at first, however this 'Silver' individual appeared under mysterious circumstances and was never investigated due to having no criminal record."

 

Gavin slipped his MOVA on before nodding. "That...is a bit weird indeed. Regardless, at least this is something. Good work VEX. I'll bring this up to snow angel after this little thing and we'll see what we can do about going to get to that casino." he said, watching VEX retreat his holographic image into the device. "If anything else is found..."

"You will be the first to know, Gavin."

 

 

Needless to say, this little thing wasn't something Gavin was into. He only showed up because he thought it best to play nice. Regardless, it seemed like they had some normal looking guy and an obvious witch. Needless to say, these two seemed to have a much better and albeit cooler time to introduce themselves to the group more than he did.

 

"Bow down, peasants, for you now stand in the presence of Morgan Reaperson. The strongest witch in the multiverse. I look forward to showing the fans why I'm the superior fighter AND showman. Sorry to say you're overshadowed before you even began."

“That’s alright. I’ve never liked the spotlight anyways.”

 

"Sooo a witch and a regular lookin' guy...may need to look into these two as well, VEX." Gavin muttered, namely to his MOVA and to his A.I.

 

"Please Gavin, these are new individuals. Give them time to at least show off, then we'll begin the analyzing."

 

"Fair enough...c'mon. Let's find snow angel and tell her what you found." Gavin shrugged, doing his best to look for Aurora.

[Yui]

---

Day 4, 10:00, Virtual Battlefield Room

Points: 168

W/L Record: 2/1

 

From: Mauvache

Subject: Roster Change

I hate to say it again, after so soon having to say goodbye to a friend, but two more Fighters are leaving us. Tesability and Elijah, who wished to focus on acting, have left our roster. I hope that this is the last swap that we will need but once more I would like you all to meet the new Fighters in Virtual Battlefield Room.

 

People are really in and out of here, huh? I'm with Mauvache on that one; hopefully things stay stable with who we've got around here after this.

 

It was in response to that message that Aurora now found herself in the Virtual Battlefield Room, to meet the new fighters, whilst pondering just why people were leaving the roster so quickly? Maybe they got too homesick to bear it anymore?? She wasn't sure what kinds of worlds everyone else came from, but liked to think they were good places to live. The others had already arrived, too. And the new fighter was also here.

 

“Hiya! I’m Masaru! I’m still pretty confused, but I guess I’m here to compete in some kind of contest? Sounds fun!”

 

He seemed like such a nice guy! Aurora smiled back.

 

“It’s nice to meet you a—whoa!”

 

"This is my show now."

 

Somebody had shot flaming skulls, and made them explode above everyone else in a show of fireworks. Aurora found herself instinctively on guard; this was absolutely the type of entrance a villain would make! She found it unlikely that somebody might have breached the Arena's security, but she wasn't about to rule anything out in a world where somebody could yoink people from other worlds all willy-nilly like Mauvache had.

 

"Bow down, peasants, for you now stand in the presence of Morgan Reaperson. The strongest witch in the multiverse. I look forward to showing the fans why I'm the superior fighter AND showman. Sorry to say you're overshadowed before you even began."

 

The way she talked even made Aurora think of a villain. But she didn't seem openly hostile. Just arrogant. Aurora lowered her guard. She didn't like this Morgan girl. Masaru, on the other hand, seemed like a nice guy. "It's nice to meet both of you," Aurora smiled in response to the introductions of the new fighters. "I'm Aurora, and I'd love to stick around and hang out, but I've got things to do. I'll see ya later!"

 

With that, the cryomancer turned and hurried out of the room. She had more pressing matters to attend to. Like Mauvache's office.

 

From: Aurora

To: Mauvache

Subject: Re:Meeting

Hey, I'm on my way now.

Before long, Aurora found her way to the office of the boss herself. "Thanks for seeing me this early," she said, closing the door behind her as she stepped in. This sure was a nice office, but it felt a bit damp. Best make her visit quick. "I've already talked to the new fighters too, so let's get right to business."

 

"Oh why don't you sit down and relax? Such seriousness doesn't suit your age, Miss Burns."

 

"Mom always said, it's best to handle adult meetings like an adult." Seating herself across the desk from Mauvache, Aurora explained her purpose for this visit. "I've been thinking lately, you're probably really strong. After all, you plucked me and a handful of other people from our worlds, just like that. But that's all I really know. Outside of that, I don't really have any idea how strong you are. I wanted to get a feeling for that myself. And so, Mauvache, I challenge you to a battle in your own Arena!"

---

[Alaina]

 

Xia seemed to be in rather high spirits this morning. While she was definitely sad that the other dragon was no longer going to be in the arena scene and she never actually got to know the other person, the girl was still overjoyed that they had two new people to meet as well. Xia had nothing but good experiences with new people, so she was thrilled to see who she would be spending time with now. Making her way into the room, she saw the others already gathered and a boy with spiky brown hair, who while introducing himself was interrupted by a pair of flaming exploding skulls. 

 

Looking a bit in awe, the girl gave a bit of a clap and said, "whoooa. That was cool." As the girl looked down from the explosion, she saw a new girl walk into view as well, introducing herself. With both of their introductions out of the way, Xia seemed to be beaming as she said, "hi new people! My name is Xia and I can't wait to be both of your friends!" With their intros done, she said, "oh oh, since you're new you probably don't know where anything is! Well, I don't either, but it'd be fun to get to know the whole place together then! And Cyan, you should come along with too! After all, all that bar stuff and sports stuff was fun yesterday, so all of us should totally go another fun adventure today!" 

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

From: Mauvache

 

Subject: Roster Change

 

 

I hate to say it again, after so soon having to say goodbye to a friend, but two more Fighters are leaving us. Tesability and Elijah, who wished to focus on acting, have left our roster. I hope that this is the last swap that we will need but once more I would like you all to meet the new Fighters in Virtual Battlefield Room.

 

 

Each of the fights had gathered at the partially-lit arena to greet the two newest fighters to their roster: a young pretty boy who looked like he didn't belond, and a face that defied Aria's assumption that it was impossible for her to want to punch anymore more than she wanted to punch Cyanthrax.

 

“Hiya!” The boy said. God, he even sounded as young and naive as he looked. “I’m Masaru! I’m still pretty confused, but I guess I’m here to compete in some kind of contest? Sounds fun!” He smiled a smile that seemed impossibly cheerful. “It’s nice to meet you a—whoa!” Masaru suddenly ducked. Two flaming skulls flew over his head and exploded, raining sparks down all around him.

 

"This is my show now." At this, Aria's brow furrowed into a deep glare. "Bow down, peasants, for you now stand in the presence of Morgan Reaperson. The strongest witch in the multiverse. I look forward to showing the fans why I'm the superior fighter AND showman." She stepped next to Masaru and gave him a pitying look. "Sorry to say you're overshadowed before you even began."

 

"Ah, I see you are a being of culture as well!" Cyanthrax chimed in, and by now Aria was letting out a low growl. "Best showman? Maybe. Your little fire crackers were quite amusing. Best fighter? Hate to brake it to ya doll,  but that spot's taken by the one and only Cyanthrax, Lion's Sin of Pride!"

 

"Lion's Piece of sheet more like," Aria chided, unable to hold herself back anymore. "Hate to break it to you, Cyanass, but looks like you're not the only one I'm gunning to beat to a pulp." Aria turned her fierce glare to the new girl. "You, whatever your name was, I don't even care anymore. You don't seem like the kind of person I'm going to get along with, so maybe pray we don't get matched up for a fight, got it?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Isn't that...uh...wait, who was he?"

 

Angela was mostly silent when the two new fighters were introduced, but she felt that the male one of the two was someone very familiar to her. The witch that suddenly came and stole the show was well, not too unexpected, but Angela was busy wracking her head on figuring who might the boy was.

 

“I’m Masaru! I’m still pretty confused, but I guess I’m here to compete in some kind of contest? Sounds fun!”

 

"...Wait what."

 

The moment he introduced himself, it finally clicked on Angela. Right. Of course she remembered that slimy boy. Even if well, he left the guild for a reason she forgot, she did remember him enough. It's just that...well, she didn't remember him looking anywhere as cool as this. At least his way of speaking was still not too different.

 

She still felt a little bit shocked on how much he had changed, but ultimately Angela called out to him.

 

"...uh, yo! Masaru, is that really you? It's me, Angela! Where did you go to all this time?"

 

---