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

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Arcade...? What is that? Sounds fun though, let's check that place later! Also you should work on your advert- nevermind, you're still not feeling well enough for that. It's quite tiring, trust me. Maybe you can do your interview instead? Hey, we can do that together after I do my photography session!"
 

Angela listened to what Aria had in mind while she finished her sandwich, and replied to her afterwards. Relaxing under the protective canopy of the roadside bench felt nice under this light rain, but they should get a move soon. The thought of those missing guys was still etched on her mind though, and for a moment, she felt like she should go meet up with the so-called police force to tell them about what she know about it-

 

But Aria was still with her. She couldn't just make her worry like that.

 

As much as it still worried her and weighing her down, Angela pushed those thoughts away and decided to say to Aria that she's going on the photoshoot now. Accompanied by her new friend, she went on to look for the photographer, and around a quarter hour later, she managed to find him. He...was quite handsome but Angela really wasn't in the mood for flirting after last night and with Aria's sticking around, so she simply introduced herself to him and asked him about the arrangement of the shoot. As he was preparing everything, Angela turned around to Aria and asked a question to her.

 

"Uh...I...well...I'm not usually someone that cared about what other think of how I look, but...well...since you have seen every single part of me, what do you think about my appearance? My body, my looks, all of that.

 

I just feel...I need to start working on making myself more presentable from now on."

 

After waiting for Jack's answer, Angela went towards the photographer and started to prepare her pose. The opinions on the audience that she read about yesterday came back to her mind at the time. She gritted her teeth, and started to change her pose. The disappointment of those people, Mauvache's disapproval...Angela knew, she could do better than what she had done yesterday. Right now she had a certain imagery in mind regarding on what kind of public image would she have to maintain in this world.

 

"The previous spear user was more popular...? No way I would be able to be better than them in any way, but at least...I don't want people that watched my fights to be disappointed. And...I don't want to lose to that Mauvache and Nezar."

 

Angela went for a more action-like pose, not displaying any bit of her flighty flirtiness that was still apparent from her yesterday advertisement. Her expression was fierce and focused, her stance was firm. She paid attention to the instructions from the photographer, and after a while, the photoshoot was over, leaving Angela satisfied with the first step towards a better public image. Looking slightly brighter than before once it's all done, she approached Aria again who was waiting on the side.

 

"Alright, let's go to the interview if you want to go there! Or if you're already feeling better, I can get you to the TV station for the advertisement."

 

---

[ChampionZero]

Elijah checked his point count as he bought a sort of breakfast sandwich (I mean it looked like a panini) 126 from yesterday, minus three for breakfast, and he was angling to take his next match by storm. Plus he was doing more commercials, which would be a big payoff further down the line, and he was going for a photo shoot after the fight.

 

Alright, so commercials for the Kid. A little spray-painting for the first, roller-skating for the second, and maybe just one where I talk to the camera for the third. Simple, but plenty childish.

 

Elijah took another bite of his breakfast as he signed himself up for the fight, commercials, and photo shoot. Spider was one hell of an efficient worker, hopefully he'll be working with him again today. And soon, he could upgrade his living space a little. A little more room, a shower of his own, an actual bed, it'd be home-sweet-home-away-from-home. Ahh, he could picture it already.

 

Well not really, he had no clue how it would look. Not the point.

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"Arcade...? What is that?" Angela asked in earnest.

 

"It's like a... well, it's sort of... you know those TV's we've seen, an' you play games on them, and it's like..." Aria struggled to describe what an arcade was, and noticed Angela's general expression of confusion and sighed. "You'll get it when we go there."

 

"Sounds fun though, let's check that place later! Also you should work on your advert- nevermind, you're still not feeling well enough for that. It's quite tiring, trust me. Maybe you can do your interview instead? Hey, we can do that together after I do my photography session!"

 

"Yeah, just so long as they don't ask me any weird questions."

 

The two of them went to the photography area, where a bunch of them recognized Aria pretty soon. It had only been a day after all. The photographer was different this time, however; an older man who was very easy on the eyes. Aria found herself glancing in his direction a few times without meaning to.

 

"Uh...I...well...I'm not usually someone that cared about what other think of how I look, but...well...since you have seen every single part of me, what do you think about my appearance? My body, my looks, all of that. I just feel...I need to start working on making myself more presentable from now on." Angela spoke up before approaching the photographer.

 

Aria looked over and, based on her memory of what Angela looked like with less clothing on, and how she looked now, Aria's cheeks turned a light pink, but she felt like she had just been smacked in the face. This is what she looks like without even trying?! That's not fair at all! Aria cleared her throat. "I mean, the comments all thought you look hot; and if you're not even trying to make yourself more presentable that's not even fair." Whoops, Freudian slip. "I-I mean, what I'm trying to say is that you look a lot better than me alre-" God DAMN IT, Aika! Aria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You look great. Don't worry about it."

 

Angela went on to do her photo-shoot, trying out a series of poses rather unlike the person that Aria had come to know in the past two days. Aria glanced over at a mirror and examined herself, standing there wearing steel-toed boots, cargo pants, a plain, sleeveless shirt, and a torn-up jacket. Her hair had a fair bit of volume to it, and that was at least something that most girls would try desperately to achieve while Aria was doing it without even trying. Thanks to her jacket and sleeveless shirt, Aria's arms were fairly pronounced. Aria's new body wasn't buff by most standards, and the muscles weren't particularly defined; a saving grace to keep at least a bit of a more feminine characteristic to her appearance. But despite that, it was still fairly toned and, compared to Angela's slender body, it leaned more on the bulkier side. Aria looked at the various different outfits and props that the photography center had available and tried to imagine herself in different clothing. Maybe if she wore clothing more like her old clothes back in the real world on Earth she'd look a lot more feminine... maybe the guys in the audience would like her more that way? Maybe guys would notice her at all?

 

"Alright, let's go to the interview if you want to go there! Or if you're already feeling better, I can get you to the TV station for the advertisement," Angela's voice snapped Aria out of her own thoughts.

 

"Oh, uhh, no I don't think I wanna do a commercial yet; but yeah let's go the interview," Aria replied, a little nervously. They seriously not ask any weird questions.

 

Aria and Angela left the photography studio, and followed the directions their watches gave them towards the television studio. Both of them walked in and looked around, not quite sure who to go to or what was going on. Eventually, Aria found someone that looked at least somewhat important and approached him.

 

"Excuse me, is this where the interviews happen?" Aria asked sheepishly.

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

He let out a yawn, checking his watch. "It's only 7:45? Fuck..." He muttered under his breath on his way to the bar, letting out a yawn. It was much earlier than Cyanthrax was used to. "Maybe I should go back to sleep..." He stopped to stretch a bit, before continuing on his way. "...after a drink or two..." He grinned as he opened the doors to the bar. It was strange, he had only been here for two days and yet the bar felt so familiar to him already. Even the faces were a bit familiar - while he didn't seem to find the waitress that had helped him the other day, he did see the big guy. Cyanthrax made a mental note to chat with him at some point, although he was far too tired to do so now. "Yo! Can I get some food goin on 'ere?" He called over the bartender, ordering the same thing he had ordered before. As he ate, he let out the occasional yawn. He didn't really talk all that much, due to exhaustion. While he was eating, however, a certain news story caught his attention.

 

 "We of the Rama-Indri Police Force are taking this very seriously. I, that is, we, certainly won't dismiss a case just because of something like the victims being known as drunkards. If anyone has any knowledge of the whereabouts of these men please contact me, us, at the police station as soon as possible. Yes of course we're taking it seriously...I do not know what my race has to do with....No I was not assigned as a token effort that's ridiculous...That is all I have to say on the matter, good day."

 

"Drunks will be drunks." He shrugged, the irony of his statement flew well above his head as he took a swing from his second order of alcohol. Still, he had to admit that it was a bit weird that a group of that size would just disappear without a trace. He, however, didn't think too much about it - he had other things in his mind. Like fighting. Taking one last chuck from his mug, he got up from the chair. "Seeya." He gave a short wave as he made his way out of the bar, checking on his watch for the time. As he did so, he noticed a message telling him that he had gotten his points from the commercial he did. His eyes widen, surprised to have gotten that much. He almost felt like going back into the bar to get one of the more expensive drinks to celebrate, but decided that he'd do that later - after he won his fight, obviously. Whenever that would be, anyways. "It's too damn early..." He groaned, thinking about what he could do. It was only 8:25 and, if things worked like they did the last time, he wouldn't get into his fight until much later in the afternoon. He considered looking into the case from before, but then he realized he didn't give a sheet. He surfed through the things he could do, noting that he was able to do some of the combat events now, although it would cost him all of his points to do so. Plus, he had the fight later - he'd much rather do that before doing anything else. "Damn it..." He let out a defeated sigh, which morphed into a yawn. "I'll sleep in for an hour or some sheet, I guess." He made his way to his room, fiddling with his watch a bit.

 

 

Eventually, after returning to bed, he woke up yet again. He checked his watch to see how long he had been out. "11:15, huh? Not bad!" He stretched, cracking his neck as he did so. He felt much better as he stormed out of his room, looking over the things he could do once more. "Might as well get the interview out of the way, I guess." He put down his watch as he made his way outside of the arena. Luckily, according to the watch, it seemed that it was in the TV station; he wouldn't be getting lost this time. Or at least that was hope, anyways.

[Tesability Black]

As soon as she walked into the room, her nose found itself pointing towards the various electronics around her, thankfully catching not a single whiff of magic.

She admittedly wasn't paying all that much attention to Julian as she looked over the equipment, the urge to do something growing bigger and bigger. "Dunno how we're gonna strap a mic to you but if there's anything you need before we go on the air let me know now. Else we're going right into this bitc-thing."

She barely heard the hiccup in Julian's choice of words. Instead, she pointed her muzzle towards one of the stereos and stretched out her wings a little as she began the process of 'jumping' into technology, her body turning into a stream of 1s and 0s of miniscule size that constantly shifted between the two that entered the stereo.

After a few moments, Tesability could be heard 'doot, doot'ing along with a cheery little melody that Julian could be absolutely sure did not exist on Rama-Indri as a whole.

Now that we had someone that knew their sounds well nearby, it would be at this point that Julian noticed that not only did the voice she realized to be Tesability's sound slightly lower, there was no sign of the speech impairment that had been present when the little dragon was in front of her...

[Yui]

---

5:00AM

Points: 57

W/L Record: 0/1

The police station was a nice place. Not as in it was a grand work of architecture or anything; its simplicity appealed to Aurora. None of the crazy bells or whistles people liked adding to things sometimes. And the inside seemed fairly busy. Police ran around the place, civilians wanted to talk about things, and she soon spotted the police woman from the news broadcast. Aurora went up to talk to her, but instead got to overhearing the tail-end of a conversation she was having with somebody else.

 

"You don't understand I'm sure it has to do with them, evidence suggests."

 

"Evidence? Evidence that one of hers are to blame? You have been here long enough to know not to go down that route. Should never have taken you off paper-pushing, damn minority quotas..."

 

That's harsh. If she's trying to help, let her help. Aurora wanted to tell that to the older guy, but was that really her place? Unfortunately, no. The woman kept her head high, but she seemed upset. And she walked right past Aurora too! Aurora turned, following the girl. The news said her name was Kate Lawson, right? Officer Lawson, then. Aurora turned, to follow Officer Lawson, picking up her pace to try and match the woman. Aurora found herself moving at more of a power-walk than anything; she'd never been the most mobile of sorts, and the officer had a brisk pace going.

 

However, with a bit more speed put into her step than she would have liked, it was fairly easy to catch up. Easy enough, anyway. "Excuse me, officer," Aurora said. "I'd like to help with the missing persons case."

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Aria, Angela, and Cyanthrax

 

"She did it! She really did it!" Gabby lamented to the, still half asleep, cameraman beside her. "I don't know how she got one of them on her cursed show so soon but I. Will. Not. Be. Outdone. Let's go go go!" Gabby shoved a cup of coffee into Ty's hand and went to leave.

 

"Excuse me, is this where the interviews happen?"

 

She whirled around and charged up to the girl, no, the two girls, who had recently entered the TV Station. She left dust and fallen employees in her wake and she stopped right in front of Aria. "Yes, that is here, that is me, hello! I'm Gabby, that's Ty, we're going to do your interview...." Cyanthrax walked in just that moment and Gabby pointed at him dramatically. "You! Get over here, interview time, on the double!"

 

Ty, who had just finished the coffee, made his way over to her and leaned in. "Gabby uh...what are you doing? Think you're going to do three interviews at once?" He meant it as a joke. He should have known better.

 

"Great idea!" She shouted. "Triple interview!"

---

Tesability

 

Julian's smile widened as she watched Tes get to work. "Absolutely positively f-a-n-tastic!" She clapped her hands together once as she realized that Tes could now speak normally in this odd state. "Well aren't you a convenient little dragon?" She rolled her chair over to turn on some more equipment. "And we're on air in 3" she held three fingers up. "2" put down a finger. "1" then showed a 0 with her hand.

 

"Welcome back to Julian's Radio Show, the number one spot for everything you ever need to know. Today I have a very special guest, Tesability, the Electric Dragon who you all saw fight in the Arena just the other day. Tesability why don't you introduce yourself to the listeners?"

---

Aurora

 

She could feel that she was being followed. Did it happen already? What the chief was warning her about happening already? No...her sensors didn't indicate any hostility. In that case...Kate slowed herself down a bit, letting the other girl to catch up.

"Excuse me, officer," Aurora said. "I'd like to help with the missing persons case."

 

She paused. One of those, was it? She turned towards the voice. "I can't let civilians..wait. You're one of hers. Why would you..." Kate held a hand up, telling Aurora to pause, as she processed this information.

If she had one of the fighters on her side she could get places she normally wouldn't be able to...But it was against the rules to allow civilians to assist in an investigation.

But then again did the fighters actually count as civilians?

She took a few moments to go through her memory of the rules and regulations. She couldn't find anything to indicate either way. Then perhaps...

"I might be able to let you help. Why do you want to help? How can I trust you to assist? And what would you bring to the investigation?"

 

[spoiler=OOC for all]Okay so VCR, Nai, and Rep, let me know if you want to do the triple interview and if you do then I can set up a PM or group chat for it (up to you all). Otherwise decide an order.

 

Tes you can at some point either by PM or Skype get the questions from me if you wish.

 

And Yui if you want to get lines for Kate talk to me.

 

Otherwise you CAN all do things post by post but it'll be slower.

 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Aria, Angela, and Cyanthrax cont.

 

The three were raced along to a fountain that was a five minute run, as Gabby took off at top speed, grabbing onto whoever seemed least enthusiastic, away from the TV Station.
“This place again?” Ty said, coming up several minutes later.
Gabby shrugged. “After the first couple I kinda grew attached. It’s a nice place.”

She gestured for him to get the camera ready. Then, spinning with a flourish, she faced the group of three fighters. “So down to business. My first question for you all...What do you think of the Arena so far?”

Angela was the first to answer. “I don’t like it, but I’m trying to find some enjoyment in it. There is zero risks in it, and I feel no thrills from it. How can I enjoy something if it cannot kill me?”

“It’s funking great! I get basically free booze, and a chance to kick ass? This place is a funking paradise!” Cyanthrax responded next.

"But the good ones are way too expensive!”

“Well it’s a good thing I kick ass then! Hahaha.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I mean, it’s like a fighting game, so it’s pretty fun I guess. Dunno about the other arenas, but the one I got with Angela was pretty boring.”

“Now that I think about it” Gabby said. “Aria was the only one who won of the three of you. How do you feel about your performances?”

After giving a cocky laugh Aria responded. “Well I mean, obviously I was the one that actually kicked ass if Edgeboy over there lost.”

“I was still too attached to how I fight back in my world so all I could think is skewering Aria and destroying her heart for a quick finish. But since that doesn’t work, I guess I should start figuring out another approach that would fit better in this format. No offense, Aria.”

Cyanthrax glared at Aria. “Tch. The kid got lucky I took it easy at first. Even then he barely won. Next time I'll kick his ass for sure!”

Aria, ignoring the edgelord, turned to Angela. “Wait, you were trying to KILL me?! What the hell?!”

“It’s all in good fun! I thought Mauvache would just revive you after combat, but she chose the more boring solution.”

Aria looked on, stunned.

Gabby waved her hand about. “Okay folks let’s not focus on that now; time’s a wasting.” She smiled at each of them. “Well we’ve covered the battles but...how do you feel about our city? From what we know it’s different from what you’re used to.”

“It’s confusing, but fun. Scary, but I still find places where I can have fun together with the others. It’s just the early news about the disappearances started to worry me…”

“Oh, it’s a lot like the cities in my home country, but I haven’t checked out the arcade or the mall or anything, so I dunno if it’s better, ha ha…”

 

“I’ve never seen anything like it! I hate it! Only damn good place is the bar in the arena.”

“Wow, you country bumpkins never been to a city, huh…”

"No city with this kinda technology! You guys are like… from the future or some sheet.”

Aria shrugged. “I mean, yeah more advanced than my home, but still pretty similar.”

“At least in my place I can find someone to sleep with easier without creating any big incidents.”

Gabby started and stopped talking several times, pausing with her mouth open for a long while at Angela’s latest statement. “Aaaaaaanyway. Something I’m sure many are wondering… what are your goals here? Surely there’s something you want right?”

With a shrug Cyanthrax said, "I just kinda showed up and was told to fight sheet… that’s good enough for me as a 'goal'."

“I just want to go home… I miss my home and my friends already”

“I… I guess…” Aria paused. “I don’t really know. I was stuck in this game back at home, and then suddenly was here. I don’t really have anything back there I really… miss or anything, so I guess I’m just here to make the most of it?” She finished her statement with a shrug.

“Well those are some unusual responses wouldn’t you say?” Gabby said to the camera. She seemed slightly disappointed there wasn’t much more to it but moved on to the next question without missing a beat. “What are you most looking forward to?”

“Returning home. And maybe the bar. Maybe the fights if there are more risks to them.”

“Kicking everyone’s ass here of course! Getting some better tasting ale doesn’t sound too shabby either hehehe…”

Aria was quiet for a moment before answering. “I… wanna be the best out here, and see what I can do!”

“Well, ya better get used to second best, cuz there ain’t no way you’re beating me!”

“Oh I’m sorry, who won their last match?”

“Please, if I actually tried this’d be too easy.”

“Yeah, whatever you say Tough Guy. Frickin’ edgelords.”

“What does that even mean, anyways!? My sword doesn’t even have an edge!”

“Wait, are you serious?”

“Do I sound like I’m joking?”

Aria laughed. “Well, basically an edgelord is like, those try-hard teens that just go ‘OH LOOK AT ME I’M SO DARK AND TOUGH AND I LIKE HEAVY METAL MUSIC’”

“Heavy Metal… Music?”

“Oh my god…” Aria seemed unable to stop her laughter.

"I wish we could have a fight here… it would be fun for everyone, right?”

“I’m always down for a fight!”

Gabby held up her hand for attention. “Please no fighting I would rather not have my filming interrupted by the police…”
“Again” added Ty.
“Again...Anyway! One final question.” The next part she spoke under her breath “though not sure it’s a good time for this one.” Louder she finished her statement, “What do you think of your fellow fighters? Um, try and remember this is a family show.”

“They seem to be quite a fun bunch. I wish to know more about them, albeit I did get a chance to know one of them deeply last night.” As she said this, she gave off a suggestive wink towards Aria.

Aria's silence seemed telling in of itself.

“Ohoho! I didn’t know you guys knew each other like that.”

“We don't!!”

 

“I dunno, the other one’s answer though...”

“She looks great in her underwear, trust me.”

“So, uh… what’s your name… ya sure you two ain’t a thing? Cuz to me it seems like you’re a thing.”

“My name’s Aria, jabroni! And yeah, we’re not an item!!” she gave a growl towards Cyanthrax before turning back to Gabby “Well, I can tell you one of the other contestants is an edgelord jabroni” She glared back at Cyanthrax. “But I’ve made friends with a few others and they’re… pretty cool people. Overall.”

“Alright, alright! Chill!” Then, to Gabby. “To answer your question, I barely know ‘em, so uh… I dunno.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, we’re not really a couple or anything, we just had a nice fling last night. We’re still quite friends though… hopefully.” Angela eyed Aria in an awkward manner, just realizing that her teasing might be a bit much.

 

“OH! Like a one-night stand type of deal? Sounds like it ended a lot better than some of the ones I’ve had…”

Aria responded simply by burying her face in her hands.

“Ooh, you should tell me of your nightly adventures sometimes. I’m always up to listen to those, and perhaps I can give you another one you won’t ever forget~?”

Aria, with her face red, shouted, “OKAY IS THIS INTERVIEW DONE YET?”

Cyanthrax began to laugh. “Well, there was this one time I-”

“I SWEAR TO GOD”
 

"Yes I think that's enough." Gabby said, her face red as a tomato. "Er, well that was quite an...interesting chat, that's a wrap."

 

Ty gave her a thumbs up and Gabby let out a long breath. "You three sure are something. Thanks for taking the time for us, guys, really. Maybe we'll do another one of these another time." She paused, then gave each a serious look. "I hope you find something here you love, like I have...Alright Ty let's get going, I'm sure there's more stories to cover somewhere!" Without further ado she took off.

 

Ty looked at the group and shrugged apologetically before following the woman.

[Alaina]

 

As Xia had been walking around the apartment complex, at the first door she knocked on, she was greeted by an older man. The man seemed to have fondness for gardening, which caused there to be quite a large influx of dirt around his place. Xia was amazed at the raw amount of dirt located in one house, but rolled up her metaphorical sleeves and said, "don't worry! I'll clean this in a jiff!" With that, Xia had gone straight to cleaning the room. It was a bit of a process. 

 

The girl hadn't ever really cleaned things, and most of it was something along the lines of dishes. And even those she didn't have much experience in cleaning, due to breaking them by accident while cleaning. As such, she wasn't sure what to do about the dirt. Her first approach was to get the mop she had wet and start scrubbing the ground with that. However, somewhere along the way she felt as though she was only spreading the dirt around rather than actually cleaning it. Her next approach to this was to get a large towel and start wiping it up that way. Though, that only served to make the towel quite unsuable rather quickly. As she stood there pondering, she then settled on her final idea. 

 

Borrowing a hand shovel from the gardening old man, she then got a garbage bag and started scooping the dirt that way. It was a long, slow and inefficient process but Xia continued to toil away at it, until the ground was only partially dirty. From there, she got her trusty mop at her side once more, and began to scrub away the floor. After a long and arduous process of cleaning, Xia wiped her brow to signify that she was indeed finished cleaning with the room. Proud of a job well done on her part, she put the mop back in her cart and started to wheel away. It was at this point, that she heard a shrill shriek echo throughout the halls. With mop in hand, the girl started to run down the halls where she saw head maid Camille backing away in sheer terror.

 

With mop in hand as though she were ready to strike something and concern in her voice Xia asked,  "is everything alri- er, what's wrong? Is there a dangerous mess that needs cleaning?" The maid simply backed away in pure terror as the white furry creature before them started to walk forward. While they were trying to slow their breathing to calm themselves, Xia then took note of the creature. The girl started to wave her mop at it threateningly but, by the non-reaction it had Xia could only be more curious then anything at it. Lowering the mop, Xia squatted down to keep eye level with it. As she did, the creature walked up to her and nudged its face it against her, which prompted the dragon girl to let out a soft giggle. Bringing her hand down to pet it, she then stopped, with it hovering over the creature as a voice shouted at her. 

 

"Wait don't touch it!" Camille gasped out. Spurred to action by Xia's bravery Camille pulled themselves from the wall.

 

Turning to face Camille with a small look of child-like disappointment, she said, "awww, why not? It's so fluffy."

 

Camille start to take deep breaths, attempting to steady themselves. "Uh. Just...how aren't you scared?" As the creature let out a "meow" sound Camille flinched. 

 

Xia pet the cat, and with genuine curiosity, asked, "how could any animal be scary? Are these ones supposed to be scary?" 

 

Camille gulped, seemingly having calmed down now that Xia was mostly obstructing their view. "Er...D-don't worry about it. I think I'll just...go clean elsewhere."

 

Xia's face brightened up as she waved to Camille saying, "ok, have fun!" She then giggles again as the kitten licks her hand. "Well aren't you cute. But where'd you come from...and what are you? Hm." Xia mused trying to figure out what to call the creature before her. "Oh, I got it. I'll ask Gnash or Angela, they're smart. But first." She picked the mop back up only to then say, "I gotta get back to cleaning! Can't let Camille down again, no you don't Xia. Come white fur beast!" She gestured as she stood up. The kitten tilted their head and began to follow Xia around, while Camille cleaned the rooms as far away as possible. Oddly it seemed that the apartment the kitten came from, while furnished, was also empty of occupants. Though, Xia wasn't bothered by it and while she wanted to go clean the room there wasn't a person in there to tell her to do such. As such, the girl went on her merry way to find another room to clean. 

[Tesability Black]

Unfortunately, Julian made a critical mistake.

The mistake? Not making sure she had the NetMonster's attention again before starting her broadcast. While Julian was beginning the broadcast and talking, Tesability had been 'doot doot'ing to herself without a care, enjoying the melody that she was making the sound of play as with the electronic piano in front of her in the digitized space. If she could be seen, the green ambience of the world of data would be illuminating her wagging the tip of her tail to and fro as she played and dooted along.

So, when Julian requested for Tesability to introduce herself, the black-scaled thunder dragon completely missed it, singing to herself and being heard in the background...

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Xia

 

As the Dragon Girl moved on to the next room the kitten would continue to follow her. It did not make much noise but when Xia stopped so would the kitten. When Xia moved the kitten was not far behind. After cleaning a couple more rooms Camille poked their head around the corner, making sure to lock their gaze with Xia's and not look down at the kitten. "Xia? I think that should about do it. You can go on if you'd like I'm sure you have things to do."

 

A moment later Gnash came floating up towards them. "Hello there Xia, Camille, good to see you both! Camille, I was wondering if you had any news about tomorrow."

 

"Ah, sorry Gnash, I have to work double. I can't help you go shopping. We'll have to reschedule."

 

"Oh that's fine that's fine...oooh a kitten, I LOVE kittens. Always wanted one." Gnash, suddenly distracted, floated near the kitten (who proceeded to try and bat at his eye stalks). "Ah but you're one of the tenant's. I think we need to get her back home."

 

Camille meanwhile was staring with intensity at the far corner.

---

Tesability

 

Julian stared, mouth slightly agape, at the device the Netmonster was inhabiting. She then began to laugh and clapped her hands together once. "Ha! Alright folks seems our Cyber Dragon is a bit new to this. But hey you all get to hear her singing voice at least! Now, Tesability, if you would, we should really start this little chat."

[Tesability Black]

Something fell on her sniffer, something small and light that soon disappeared, causing her to sneeze and let out a tiny bolt of lightning. This break from concentration on her melody allowed her to catch some of what was being said near the device she was in.

 

"Now, Tesability, if you would, we should really start this little chat."

 

Her ears had picked up her name and caught the tone that indicated that she was directly talking to her, which netted a muted grumble before she pushed the electronic piano where she got it in this digital space. "Wha' abouts," was the question asked by the NetMonster when her middle decided to grumble at her...and therefore at the audience as well, due to the sound already being digitized. "...owies."

Thankfully, it wasn't a loud grumble, but she was still in a ball around her underside. "Needings to eat ish weird and painfuls..."

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"....Er...I...think I went overboard back in that interview. I'm sorry, Aria."

 

Awkwardly trying to apologize after well, after Angela thought she had publicly shaming her on air, Angela tried to talk over it with Aria over some food, and so she had both stop on a stall to get some subs and fresh water on her treat. As she attempted her best to apologize, something she never really felt like she had nailed properly yet, Angela also bitterly realized that her little antics on air pretty much also immediately betrayed the new image she tried to cultivate - just hours after she resolved to change it for the better. That thought made her sigh - it wasn't exactly the first time this kind of thing happened, and it always ended up the same. Changing herself was really hard, and at times, she wondered whether she should even bother attempting it at this point. Nevertheless, she didn't want to see Aria worry about her more than seeing her being worried about Aria's mood after the interview, so Angela tried her best to hide it and awkwardly attempted to shift the topic in hope that the two could talk more loosely.

"E-e-er...you're having a match in the Arena soon, right? Do you perhaps have any expectations or hopes on how it would be?

 

And...a-ah, I'm really sorry to ask but...what do you think of me as a person? Did you think I'm...disgusting?"

 

Oh no. A slip. All the thought about her public image spilled into her words despite that Angela's intent was simply to just have a light talk about the upcoming arena stuffs and plans for the rest of the day, perhaps maybe inviting Aria for a relaxing massage. But now she had slipped with the question, and Angela knew that if she attempted to withdraw that question, she would appear to be even more insecure than she already was and would potentially worry Aria more. So she just chose to steel herself and pretended that it was really just a normal question in silence as she gave off her best attempt to smile to Aria.

 

---

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"...Er... I... think I went overboard back in that interview. I'm sorry, Aria." Angela apologized to Aria after the interview. On their way out, Aria's temper began to cool a bit, and she let out a sigh.

 

"I-it's fine, don't worry about it," Aria was only really able to get out.

 

Lunch was quiet and awkward for the two of them. Aria was frustrated at the teasing; something she received a lot of back in her old world, and something that she had hoped that she had left behind. She was never good with people to a significant degree; she could never find the courage to be honest, or to open up. Deep inside, she wanted people to like her, to think highly of her. Yet, when people teased her, without her knowing it made Aria think that people didn't think much of her at all. She couldn't trust people in their fun, that they didn't mean to make someone look badly when they were doing what they were doing, but simply wanted to have fun with them. Deep down, Aria hated herself, and if people didn't explicitly express anything to the contrary, she believed they probably hated her too.

 

It took some time, but eventually Angela spoke up.

 

"E-e-er... you're having a match in the Arena soon, right? Do you perhaps have any expectations or hopes on how it would be? And... a-ah, I'm really sorry to ask but... what do you think of me as a person? Did you think I'm... disgusting?"

 

Aria looked over to Angela, taken aback by the question. She had no idea how Angela had felt about the whole thing, and Angela's face betrayed her guilt. Aria's anger melted, and in its place was her own guilt for having been angry in the first place. Aria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She was bad with these conversations; very bad.

 

"N-no, I don't, that's not..." Aria took a deep breath. "You're... a nice person and, I dunno I guess pretty cool for wanting to hang out with me? I mean, if you hated me I guess you woulda just left me half-naked at the karaoke bar and done something really bad. I dunno it's just-" Aria growled under her breath, frustrated at her inability to think of something to say. "I don't... really know you well enough I guess? Yeah, it's been like, a day, and so far you seem like a good person. I just- I'm not good with the teasing thing, and I dunno something to do with us being from... different worlds or whatever, I guess I don't really get what people were like from your world."

 

Aria took another deep breath. The word "disgusting" had brought up an elephant in the room, and there was nothing to do but address it. "Also I-I don't think you're disgusting. It's just, I'm not, really comfortable with the whole... sex thing. See I've never... really had a boyfriend before... or even done 'it' yet..." Aria's voice had trailed off, and her cheeks had started to flush. Almost to save her this embarrassment she received a notification on her watch, announcing her next opponent.

 

"Cyan...thrax? Was he-" Aria paused, remembering who the guy was that they had interviewed with. "OH, HE WAS THAT COCKY-ASS EDGELORD!" People who were passing by gave Aria a weird look, causing her cheeks to turn pink again. "Sorry, that was loud. A-anyways, to answer your other question, I'M GONNA KICK HIS ASS AND SHOW HIM WHO'S BOSS! THAT'S WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN!" Aria's demeanor seemed to switch on a dime, as she went from meek embarrassment to her usual fired-up bravado on a whim.

[Andx]

Caleb had simply sat down in the reception area casually watching the news while he waited for his match announcement. He always liked watching the news but much like when he first started working at the Hotel Atlantica he found it difficult to understand very much of it given he knew so little about the world. After about fifteen minutes a voice called out to him. The dog turned to see the rabbit boy at the desk addressing him. "Hey, sorry bout this, but you seemed bored over there, thought you might want a friendly chat or something. Saw you with Noreen over there, she's quite something isn't she? We went to school together but she was always missing class cause she found something interesting out the window to photograph and just had to go out and get it." the friendly voice said. Caleb was surprised that this person knew Noreen but then that made some sense as to why he had run into her while in this area. She was likely visiting her friend when she saw an opportunity and pounced on it just as he had described her always doing in school.

 

"Yeah, definitely... something alright." the dog replied with a somewhat nervous chuckle as he looked back at the still unconscious girl. He stood up and walked over toward the desk to get closer to the rabbit person that had addressed him. "Does she make it a habit of tackling people or am I just lucky?" he said, not shy with the sarcasm. Benjamin shared the awkward laugh with his repsone. "It's the fur probably. Not the best trigger in a world of Beast-Kin I'll say that much." he said. The dog could just imagine the number of poor animal people the energetic photographer had jumped all over. Having others actually experience the inconveniences he dealt with was a somewhat new feeling for him. He wasn't sure if he liked it but it was new and different.

 

"Bet that get's hairy. But wait you said you went to school with her? Not exactly an artsy job you got going on here huh?" Caleb said, shifting his attention to talking more about the rabbit person himself instead of Noreen. "No I meant just...public school, didn't go to college or anything...heh." came the reply from Benjamin. It was funny how despite some very obvious differences, a lot of things in this world sounded very similar to the world Caleb knew. "You too huh?" the dog said, acknowledging the fact he had never attended a university of any sort himself. "I got working basically right out of high school. Been working ever since. Well until this whole... not entirely sure what to call all this to be honest." the until recently security officer said.

 

"Yeah, gotta earn my keep ya know. Never had any particular talents and Mauvache was so kind to let me work here without any experience! And I get to meet all kinds of people...like you!" the rabbit boy replied. Caleb smiled, feeling something of a kindred spirit in Benjamin. "Story sounds a lot like mine. Just without the whole your employer transformed you against your will thing... You have always been a rabbit-person haven't you?" he said hoping he hadn't found someone too similar to himself. "Far as I remember yeah." he said, tugging on his ears a bit. "What were you before then?" the boy questioned.

 

"I could say something crazy and you'd have to believe me." Caleb started before laughing. "Human, believe it or not. Like Noreen. That was six years ago now though, I hardly remember what it feels like to be a biped." he said. "Bi...ped? Uh, anyway, wow, that's a big difference. Only person I know who could pull something like that off is Miss Mauvache." Benjamin replied. He attempted to explain the biped term but Benjamin seemed fine to carry on so Caleb let it pass. "And I thought the Levianthans in my world were the only ones who could do stuff like this, but here I am. Damn crazy magic people." the dog said, nodding to himself as he once again cursed inconsiderate magic users aloud. "Right, where are my manners. Name's Caleb in case Noreen hadn't already told you everything she knew about me."

 

"I know your name, haha, I kind of have to, working here and all. Oh one second." He said then paused to help out someone coming to his desk. Several minutes passed and Caleb sat by patiently, watching the boy work with the person. After the guest had left Benjamin seemed surprised to still see the dog still there. "Seems like you really got this job down. I shouldn't keep distracting you like this so I'll be getting on my way. But we should hang out some time when I'm not fighting and you're not working and stuff." the dog said, his tail wagging excitedly behind him.

 

"Oh boy that'd be great. Gee, that's two of you who want to hang out, I should really free up some time...Well come back any time if you have any questions! Be sure not to be dognapped by Noreen on your way out." came the happy reply. The warning had Caleb on the alert. He looked to where Noreen had been sleeping and saw she had since moved. The panic really set in as he quickly saw himself out the door and faced out toward the city. It was supposed to rain until the early afternoon and he was quickly reminded why he wasn't exploring right now as it was. Perhaps a nap before the fight was in order. The sound of the rain was soothing enough and there was enough cover right outside the building to find a spot where he wouldn't get soaked and wouldn't be in people's way. If nothing else happened he would take it easy, listening to the rain until his eventual match against the not Tes Tes would be announced at noon.

[Yui]

---

5:00AM

Points: 57

W/L Record: 0/1

"I can't let civilians..wait. You're one of hers. Why would you... I might be able to let you help. Why do you want to help? How can I trust you to assist? And what would you bring to the investigation?"

 

"I want to help because it's the right thing to do," Aurora answered, like it was just that simple. Was it not that simple? A hero was supposed to... well, that probably wasn't something a lot of people on Rama-Indri knew about her. Even back home it wasn't exactly common knowledge that Aurora was working to be a hero; just that she had a Fragment that would let her do it if she so desired. "I wanted to be a superhero back home, but I shouldn't stop helping people just because I'm in a new place. As for what I can bring... I can catch the bad guys real easy when we find them! I was studying to be a superhero before, and I think I was a pretty good student if I do say so." That, and I'd like you to succeed so you can shove it in that mustachioed chief's face.

 

Kate crossed her arms and brought a hand to her mouth, thinking. "I can't allow you to try and capture anyone directly. But if you're that determined...I think I might be able to let you help. But you're going to have to take orders."

 

"No problem. Just tell me what to do."

 

"I need you to get one of your fellow fighters, Angela, and bring her somewhere we can talk without being followed or overheard. It doesn't have to be now but sometime today. I'll give you my contact information and you can let me know when you're in place."

 

"Got it. I'll go find her now." Aurora gave the good officer a thumbs-up before turning to leave. Why do I need to find Angela anyway? Oh well. As Aurora left the station, she pulled up the interface for her watch, and started setting up a message to send to Angela. As much as she wanted to keep things sounding warm and casual, she was dealing with serious business right now. She had to be at least a bit serious.

 

We need to talk at some point today. Somewhere really private. You aren't in trouble or anything, don't worry! We just need to talk.

---

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

After the interview, the demon made his way back to the bar to blow off some steam. He noticed that the prices seemed to have dropped since the last time he order a drink as he decided to order a normal drink. The taste was a lot better than the piss-poor alcohol he had been drinking before, so much so that he ordered another one. As he took a swing from his drink, he noticed a notification on his watch. "Aria? Now why does that sound familiar..." It took him only a few seconds to remember the name he had heard near minutes ago. "Oh! That weird future girl from the interview." He got up from his chair, remembering the strange words that she had used. "Hopefully this'll be interesting." He stretched a bit before making his way out of the bar, heading towards the arena.  

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Ahah...I am sure you can do that. Yeah, I believe you can show him what you got."

 

Angela could at least see that Aria was somewhat uncomfortable answering her question, and for a moment, she thought that perhaps she was still hiding something, but Angela dismissed the thought almost immediately. It's not something she would do, accusing people like that. Although...regarding Aria's mention that she hadn't done it yet, a thought crossed Angela's mind. She had given off the impression that the two of them slept together last night, and it seemed that Aria was unsure about whether that happened or not. Perhaps lying about this could help her feel less awkward around her? Having being intimately close and all. She thought about it for a while, and decided that that wouldn't hurt to try saying. Even if Aria didn't show any interest to her, it would perhaps help removing some barriers between them so they could be more relaxed around each other and could talk about more things freely.

 

"Although...well...last night...we did kind of do it, actually. I'm not sure whether it'd count as your first time but...more or less basically you'd be surprised on how aggressive you can be while inebriated. I know you're not really interested in me in that way, but last night was...pretty fun I guess? Perhaps you'd consider experimenting around again next time?

Hey, actually, I just thought about something. You haven't been with a boy before yet, right? Perhaps I can help you with that! How does that sound, me finding a potential boyfriend for you? Don't worry, I'll help you with it whenever you're feeling awkward!"

 

As she excitedly told Aria what she had in mind, Angela noticed the beeping on her watch and decided to check on it. It was apparently a message from Aurora, another one of the fighters that came in with her. A meeting? Somewhere really private? Did she just ask for a one-night fling? That felt weird, but still appreciated. She barely know the girl and this had happened. Ah well. She decided to immediately reply to it.

 

"Hi Aurora! It's nice for you to want to talk for me like this, and in private too! Is there anything I should prepare for first, or any tools to bring? I could perhaps come to your place this evening if you want to, I'm probably busy with matches and exploring the city this afternoon.

 

See ya!"

 

Closing her watch after she was sure the message had been sent, Angela turned her attention to Aria again, clearly looking brighter after receiving Aurora's message.

 

"Hey, do you think we should go to the battle room again now? Let's go there! Sooner the better, I want to fix my record in this place!"

 

---

[Alaina]

 

As the dragon girl continued to clean room after room, the kitten continued to follow after her, trailing behind. It was soon that she was alerted by Camille that she had cleaned enough rooms, to which she let out an enthusiastic "woohoo!" Walking back over to the head maid, kitten in hand, they were soon greeted by the floating eyeball fish thing, Gnash. Her face lighting up at the sight she said, "hiya Gnash!" After the security guard had a short exchange with the head maid, the guard then looked over to the kitten in her hand before telling her that it belonged to someone else. Realizing that she had meant to find him earlier for this very same reason, the girl felt like she had just had a stroke...of luck! Though, she was still curious as to who the owner was and so she asked, "oh! Do you know who this little guy belongs to?"

 

"From what I remember its one of the residents on this floor, room....403 I think."

 

"Alright, let's take you home then, you little cutey you," she then poked the kitten's cheek with her finger. Looking back to Gnash she said, "it's weird though, because when I was cleaning I didn't see anyone in the room this guy was in."

 

"Well at this time the owner is probably at work, they sure are quite the workaholic that one."

 

"Ooooh," Xia's brow furrowed as she tried to understand the term before saying, "that sounds like something they need professional help for." With that, she began to walk with Gnash to the 403 room. Once she had gotten to the door, Xia hadn't noticed that the head maid had slipped away at some point. What she did notice, however, was that the door was closed. Looking at it curiously, wondering why it was closed now, the girl decided to be polite and start knocking on the door before saying, "hellloooo?"

 

Gnash laughed at this, the noise sounding, as per his name, like gnashing knives. "Didn't I say they were out? The doors aren't going to stay open forever, thankfully. You have no idea how many people forget to close them on their way out..."

 

Xia pouted a bit at the revelation before having a more concerned look on her face saying, "so what should we do with this guy then? We can't just leave him outside."

 

Gnash gave her a proud look. "Well that's easy, I AM the guard here." He floated towards the door and stuck out one of his eyestalks, touching the door, it opened up. 

 

Xia gasped at the display of guard prowess before saying, "that's awesome Gnash!" While Gnash seemed a bit embarassed over this, Xia soon got over her awe and attempted to release the kitten back into the room. Squatting down, she opened her arms and placed the cat on the floor before saying, "now time to go back home little guy." The kitten looked at her in confusion, simply standing at the doorway. She returned its stare, her previous look of triumph starting to become more confused. "Yep you're home free now. Can't just leave the person who lives here worrying about you, right?" The kitten turned to look at the empty room, then back to the dragon-girl, mewling. Xia's expression started to drop, before she said to her security guard friend, "Gnash I don't know what to do. I don't want the owner to be worried about his cat, but I don't want to leave the cat all by themselves either." Trying to figure what to do in this situation, the gears in the girl's head were clearly whirring. 

 

"Well I suppose I could let you know where the owner works, and you can go to them directly."

 

Her face becomes pumped up again as she says, "leave it to me!" She then turned to the kitten, scooping it back up in her arms as she says, "don't worry, I won't leave you all by yourself." Turning back to Gnash she asks, "so, where does the owner work?"

 

"They work in the mall, I'll show you where to go, but I can't go with you. I leave this in your hands." Xia then felt...something in her head, and knowledge, directions, as well as a memory of a face finds itself taking up residence in her mind.

 

A bit weirded out by what had just happened, she then shook off the feeling before looking as ready as she had been when she first started her maid job. "Don't worry Gnash! I've got this! Xia and kitten, off we go!" With that, the duo began to walk out of the apartment and make their way to the mall.

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"Ahah... I am sure you can do that. Yeah, I believe you can show him what you got." Angela cheered Aria on, while the two of them laughed for a brief moment. "Although... well... last night... we did kind of do it, actually. I'm not sure whether it'd count as your first time but... more or less basically you'd be surprised on how aggressive you can be while inebriated. I know you're not really interested in me in that way, but last night was... pretty fun I guess? Perhaps you'd consider experimenting around again next time?" Angela continued. Aria seemed to freeze in place, still as a statue. "Hey, actually, I just thought about something. You haven't been with a boy before yet, right? Perhaps I can help you with that! How does that sound, me finding a potential boyfriend for you? Don't worry, I'll help you with it whenever you're feeling awkward!"

 

Aria continued to remain stock still, her face and body frozen in the middle of the laugh she was just sharing with Angela seconds before. Angela poked Aria a couple times to get her attention, and eventually Aria's mental processes did a hard reboot. "I-I- what... didya say something?" Aria asked, still trying to process what Angela had just said before.

 

"Oh, sorry! I was just saying that I could help you find a boyfriend! Y'know, help make this less awkward and everything?" Angela restated.

 

"O-oh well, I don't... know if anyone's gonna... wanna date me, I mean I'm not really... from this world, right? That's a... thing?" Aria coughed again, her cheeks flushed. "What I'm trying to say is, ummm, don't like, feel pressured to do much... just like, I guess if you meet a cute guy that you think might be a good match then... you could introduce us or something..." Aria's watch began to beep, signalling that she needed to show up for her next match. "sheet! It's that time already! Sorry, I gotta go for my match, wish me luck!"

 

Aria practically broke off a sprint toward the elevator. While she was one to normally be late back at home, she'd already seen enough of Mauvache to not really want to test one's patience here.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"A-ah..."
 

And thus Aria left the scene in a hurry, leaving Angela behind. It seemed that she was still feeling a bit too awkward now. Maybe she's just shy? Or perhaps, she actually considered her offer but didn't want to admit it yet? In that case, perhaps Angela should introduce Aria to the cute receptionist of the hotel. She had a good feeling regarding that since he was such a sweetheart, so Angela felt that this meet-up wouldn't end in a total disaster at worst. Of course, if either or both are this shy, then she had to nudge them in her own way to break the awkwardness.

 

Although...now that Aria had hurriedly left, Angela was left alone without much to do. There was still no news of who'd be her opponent next, and it seemed that it'd be a bit until she'd start that match anyway. She could get a massage now, but that might take too long. Or perhaps, she could try finding a place to buy spare clothing. If doing that could save a man or two and stave off the stalker away from her, no reason not to go shopping. Thus Angela went to check on her watch about places to go shopping in, and found out about the place labelled as a shopping mall, not too far away from her current position apparently. She decided to ask the sub vendor regarding it, and after getting the directions, she used her magic to rush forward to reach the place. Though, once she reached the place she slowed herself down significantly. She was quite amazed at how big the complex was and how many things were around there, and thus had decided to go sightseeing there for the time being.

 

---

[Tesability Black]

“Don’t you worry about food; once we go to our first break I’ll order something for you.” Julian reassured the hungry dragon. “But before that I’ve got some questions for you. I want you to tell me...about the world you came from.”

“...home is gone.” There was a sad tone on her voice in that statement. “All that’s left is fallen and corroded buildings and the crystals that used to be other Champion NetMonsters like myself.” A small sniffle came through the speakers of the device she was in after this was shared.

Most people would likely end it there, seeing the reaction, and in fact had Tesability been talking to Gabby the topic would have changed. However Julian is very much not Gabby. “Did someone destroy it? Who? What would you do if you could meet them?”

“Someone did Collapse my home,” she responded, tail wagging slowly in the digital space she was in. “A Phantom Mage NetMonster by the name of Nemesis that possessed another of the same Attribute and Species named Shade. And…” A heavy pause emerged in the middle of her sentence as she thought. ”...there’s nothing I can do because Nemesis erased itself when it exploded.”

“So the one who destroyed your home is gone...does that make it better or worse do you think?” Julian seemed not at all confused by the multiple odd words the dragon had spoken.

Tesability literally poked her snout out of the machine, though her voice came through the speakers still. “I’ve been alones for almost 20 years, and asleeps for almost all that time after the Collapse.” Pulling the snout back in completely, she continued on. “Until my floppy disk was found by strange people calling themselves ‘The Divine’ in search of something called the ‘Pathway to Origin’, I could have been sleeps for...probably ever.”

A sudden hum entered her voice, one normally from thinking before she continued with an out-of-place question that sounded like she was more asking herself than Julian. “Dat reminds, how dids I get out of that place?”

Julian gave a small, satisfied, smile that she quickly replaced with her normal one. “Well that was Mauvache of course. She brought you here with her magic. It’s quite incredible isn’t it? Do you like it here, Tesability?”

“...how can she remove someone from something that’s supposed to be locked once in it, especially without the Key?” This was an honest question of curiosity, not one that was meant to be insulting. If anything, the listeners would probably feel even more impressed by the lady in charge. “If you be erased in there, you’re undone from all of existence...and I remember feeling my crystal being smashed by something…I think that big Avatar thing that I’m not gonna try the name of.”

Julian would hear a slight scratching sound as the dragon scratched the top of her head with one of her forepaws.

“Well that’s our Mauvache for you.” Julian said as her smile widened. “Does the impossible. Why do you think her Wish is so expensive?...Oops.” Julian laughed. “Forgot that only fighters are supposed to know about the rewards. Well too late for that, mistakes were made!” She winked in the direction of Tes’s voice. “So what would you do if you could wish for anything you wanted?”

“...I dunno if it’s possible to bring the Internet I knew back to how it was before Nemesis Collapsed it, even if that meant bringing back the Boss NetMonsters. I also miss my Hunter and my old friends...” A slight whine came from the speakers from this. “...I thinks Talen’s still around, but I dunno. She and the other Hunters seemed to have disappeared a few days before the Collapse.”

“Well I wouldn’t be surprised Mauvy could find a way. She’s quite incredible you know.” If Tesability were very perceptive, as in almost impossibly so, she might hear a hint of sarcasm in Julian’s voice. The smile Julian gave certainly could be described as impish. “Well I think that’s enough for now, let’s take a bit of a lunch break before going back on the air. Sorry to go, listeners, but the stomach is king as you all well know!” Julian held up three fingers and counted down 3, 2, 1, and then sighed happily. “You’re doing well Tesability.”

A few moments of silence passed before an utterly-random question was asked. “When ‘back on the air’, thinks I can says ‘hi’ to some of the listeners? As in pop out and give them a grins? I wanna sees who all listens.” After this question was asked, the NetMonster literally hopped out of the electronics, landing on all her paws before her stomach gave a loud grumble that had her folding in her wings. “...ngh…”

“Not sure they’d appreciate that, some of my listeners are older, don’t want to give anyone a heart attack do we? Heh….” Julian’s stomach growled and she winced. “Oh God food…” She activated her watch and, after dialing a number, started speaking. “Yeah, Space Subs, I got an order for you...yep, it’s Julian again. I’d like a 36 incher, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, olives, green and black, jalapenos, banana peppers, and salt it up…” She covered the watch and looked towards Tesability. “Watchu want?”

”Ai...dunno," Tesability remarked with a blank look on her overall face, an ungarbled version of her words showing up on the watch Julian was using. ”Ai’sh nawt ush tu ‘eatings’. Ai deed nawt needsh to ‘eats’." She brought a paw to her muzzle as she looked up towards the ceiling in thought. ”Ai nowsh Ai can eatsh ae hole ‘cheeken’ ats won taims.”

Julian flashed her a thumbs up. “Got it. GIVE ME YOUR LARGEST CHICKEN SUB ON THE DOUBLE!” Upon saying this she hung up and nodded at Tesability. “You holding out alright over there?”

”Ai...dinks sho?” She tilted her head slightly before asking another question. ”...wha’ happinsh aftew ‘eatings’? Ai sheesh awl deshe weewd shpotsh dat Ai no nows abawtsh...wike ‘weshtwumsh’. Ish dat shomepwace yu shweeps een?”

Julian’s eyes widened. “Oh God why. Okay, I...am going to send you a few books. I suggest you read them ASAP.” Julian fiddled around with her watch and soon Tesability’s watch was filled with various books revolving around the bodily function Tesability asked about. Including several versions of something called “Everybody Poops”.

She looked at her watch, which began quickly scrolling through the various titles despite the fact that she was not touching it at all before looking up and asking, ”Ish dewe ah computew awoundsh? Ai needsh five meenutes tu weeds awl dish.”

“Perfect that’s how long it should take for our food...and uhh.” Julian looked around at the various technology around them. “I dunno one of these is probably a computer.”

Tesability looked at her weirdly at not knowing what a computer is, but then again, she didn’t have much room to speak for not knowing what a ‘restroom’ is apparently, so she didn’t ask the question that formed in her head. Instead, she began to sniff around the room for anything that smelled to her like a computer, soon finding a tower with only one cord in the back of it, the power cord.

And it wasn’t plugged in.

”Pwug, pwug, whewe’sh ah pwug?” she asked as she wagged her tail, flapping up into the air a couple of times to see if there were any free plugs.

It took a couple of minutes to find an empty plug right behind quite a few precarious pieces of tech, which had her lowering her leafy ears against her head. “Eehhh…” Grabbing the plug end with her muzzle, she carefully finessed her way to the wall socket with it, a cheek winding up flush with the wall as she pushed it in. After carefully pulling her muzzle out of that mess, she hopped over to the computer tower before hitting the ‘on’ button , then hopping in after a few seconds.

She waited until the computer reached a stable point, seeing how relatively empty it was. A shelving of books manifested behind her in the digital space, pushed out from the watch she was wearing for the time being. A groan left her as she saw it instead of a digitized computer. “Time to reads, then…”

With a claw, she pulled a book out of the shelving before beginning to turn the pages to begin reading, laying down in a comfortable position as she did to read…

...she wasn’t done by the time she heard a ‘tap tap’ echo throughout the area, probably someone tapping on the computer tower. Tesability poked her head out through the top of the machine, looking up to see Julian tapping on the case. “Yesh?”

The radio host gestured at the table, which had been hastily cleared of anything else, and the two sandwiches that were on it. One, Julian’s, was a massive behemoth of bread and veggies. The other, meant for Tes, was shorter but stacked tall with several different types of chicken. “Time to feast, dig in!” Julian said; grabbing onto her own sub and biting down with a groan of pure happiness.

Tesability saw how Julian pulled layers off her food before ‘digging’ in, then tried to do the same. She managed, but she had difficulties in doing so. When she saw how Julian was holding her food, however, she looked down at her front paws. ”...nu dinksh Ai can du datsh…”

She did, however, have another idea. She pulled the outer wrappings closer to the edge of the table, causing a little bit of the food to appear to ‘float’ in the air before biting down into the sub.

Literally two minutes later, the whole thing was gone before she let out a loud belch that could probably be heard from those outside the room, tip of tail wagging from her middle no longer hurting. ”Ai donesh.”

Julian looked up from the food she was eating and raised an eyebrow. “Next time you eat I suggest taking your time. Food is one of life’s great pleasures; it should be enjoyed. Not just inhaled….In any case give me a few minutes and we’ll get back to it.”

“...enjoyed?” She put a paw to the underside of her maw at this in thought, tilting her head slightly to one side. ”Wike ah veectowy againsht ah powewfulsh oppawnensh?”

“Mm, something like that I guess. But with less work.” Julian shook her head in amusement. “You really fit in here don’t you?” A brief pause followed before Julian got back into position, and urged Tesability to do the same.

“I was created to fight after all,” the dragon quipped after hopping back into the machinations.

3, 2, 1

“And we’re back folks, after a delicious meal from our sponsor, Space Subs, any time, any place, anything, they’ve got all your sandwich needs at Space Subs. We’re sitting with Tesability who had just finished regaling us with the story of her home. But now there’s something even juicier I have in mind. Miss Tesability do you perhaps know anything of love?”

“...I no knows. Champion NetMonsters were not made for that kind of thing,” she stated simply from inside the speakered machine she was in the first time. “Love...from what littles I understand, is difficult for a fleshie to understand, and it’s even less so for a data being like me.”

“A wise answer indeed. I’m sure a lot of our listeners can vouch for that one. Still...this is a whole new world now; so many possibilities, aren’t you a bit curious as to what you might find?”

“...there ish one thing I wanna know. Why do you need a ‘lishence’ to fly? I no needs anything but my wings to fly and I got brought down to someplace called ‘the station’ because they were unsure of what to do with me. Almost was late to match because of that.” An annoyed groan left her throat on that. “I just wanna flies, ish dat bads?”

“Oooh a fighter being arrested on their first day, scandalous indeed.” Julian’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know how the laws work for uh...wings. But without a license the police don’t know who are able to safely fly...But enough of that. What was your first experience in the slammer...er, the station, like?”

“Borings. They almost didn’t let me go to the Arena. Had to be a lightning bolt to make it to the match with how long they held me there. If anyone saw a lightning bolt moving horizontally and heading towards the Arena, that was probably me you saws.”

“So would that make you an escaped convi...oh sorry listeners one second.” Julian switched off her mic as her watch began to ring. “Yes? Oh, Grandmau, nice to hear your lovely voice...yes...yes….oh yes I know I wasn’t supposed to bring that up. Just couldn’t resist...oh, it’s that time is it? Well don’t bite my head off about it.”

Julian hung up and looked at Tesability apologetically. “Apparently we’re running out of time; you’ve got another match to get to. I suppose before we end this one more topic. Your opponent, Caleb……..He’s adorable isn’t he?”

“...he’s the Dog Not-NetMonster, yes?”

“The uh...yes, that one. The fluffy one.”

“...he thoughts I was someone he knew. Which ish...odds, because I’ve never seen him before nows.” A slight scratching sound, followed by a low rumble of ‘itchy, itchy’ comes through the speakers before she continued. “Um...I dunno. I gots called ‘cute’ a lot by Hunters before battle, so I dinks he might be cutes?”

“The listeners are gonna have a field day with that one.” Julian muttered with a grin. “Oh but wait, thought he knew you? I wonder…” A ringing from the watch interrupted Julian. “FINE I GET IT ALREADY. Sorry Tesability, the boss lady wants us to wrap it up. So with that, say goodbye to the listeners, this has been Julian and Tesability’s wonder hour.”

“BAI BAIS!”

Tesability at least had the self-awareness to make sure she was out of the building completely before becoming a literal bolt of lightning across the city towards the Arena.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Xia and Angela (separate)

 

Map

The two ladies would find their way to the mall at separate times; though not too far from each other. The place was a huge structure with three separate entrances. Once inside they would find a high ceiling, with bright and colorful lights across the top of it.

 

The first thing that would be noticeable is the crowd. Many people, mostly younger, were clambering about inside, munching on snacks from the various food stalls, and carrying bags of purchases from the clothing stores and hobby shops that made up most of the mall. There would be several helpful maps all over with labels for every shop and a helpful guide nearby to explain where they could find whatever it is they were looking for.

 

Various workers moved around, cleaning up, guiding people, making sure everyone was happy, healthy, and buying things. If one were to stand around too long they'd come to them and urge them into one of the stores.

 

In the middle of the mall was a huge, star shaped, water fountain that had a sign on it saying that it was a "Wishing Fountain" and that any donations went to various charities.

 

If Xia wanted to find the owner of the cat they would have to ask around. Angela would be accosted several times by employees of various clothing stores, telling her their store was the best of them all.

---

Cyanthrax Vs Aria

 

The now familiar virtual battlefield room was once more waiting the pair as they entered. As always they would have a few moments to say something to their opponent and get into position before Mauvache announced their match. "The Sonic Crusher, who had the first win of all the new fighters, Aria! Versus the Demonfire Blade, who so very barely lost to the dark horse Elijah, Cyaaaaanthrax!"

5

4

3

2

1

Battlefield: Demon's Stomach

The battle takes place inside the stomach of a large, demonic, creature. It is damp, somewhat dark, and the floor will shift as the fighters do battle. Every so often a surge of bile will rush in and flood the area. Any caught in it will be rushed into a wall, taking 30 damage, and stunned for a moment. Dangling fleshy protrusions, hanging like less solid stalactites, are strewn about the top of the battlefield. They hang about a dozen feet in the air, able to be reached by the fighters if they leap for them.

 

Cyanthrax and Aria will start out thirty feet from each other. Several seconds will pass before the battle begins. Within five minutes the first surge of bile will reach them.

---

Caleb vs Tesability

 

The now familiar virtual battlefield room was once more waiting the pair as they entered. As always they would have a few moments to say something to their opponent and get into position before Mauvache announced their match. "The Techno Wonderdog, who defeated his opponent handily, or should I say pawily, Caleb versus the Lightning Cyber Dragon who surely hasn't shown all her tricks last match Tesability!"

5

4

3

2

1

Battlefield: Spider Caves

A massive cave system, this battlefield has many narrow corridors and low ceilings, though there are several larger caverns inside. There is low light but visibility is not a problem except for the far ends of tunnels. The fighters will be able to employ surprise attacks on their opponent but if they go for too long wandering the cave system they will encounter the denizens of the caves. Giant Spiders who will attack any fighter found wandering their home.

 

Caleb and Tes would find themselves in separate tunnels, three minutes away from each other. They will automatically know where their opponent is for the first ten seconds but after that they only will know if one of them gets attacked by a Giant Spider.

[Tesability Black]

She flapped her wings as she flew over towards one of two spots indicated, landing handily upon the ground and folding her wings in. Looking up, she saw the dog that had mistaken her for someone else, someone that, for some reason, looked like her and shared her name.

With any luck, she might find out the reason behing that in the fight to come.

Her silver ears perked up at the sound of the speakers coming to life around them before sliding into a battle stance, unsure of what she would find manifesting around her. But she wasn't worried, she was about to re-enter home turf, after all.

"The Techno Wonderdog, who defeated his opponent handily, or should I say pawily, Caleb versus the Lightning Cyber Dragon who surely hasn't shown all her tricks last match Tesability!"

She couldn't help the muted growl as the loss came to mind.

5

4

3

2

1

...she was in some place dark. What in the Net? Surrounding herself with electricity, she took note of her surroundings, seeing that she was somehow underground.

Gulp. While she was feeling at home due to the enviroment being digital, the nature of the enviroment threatened to negate what advantage she had. Electricity has a hard time surviving underground, after all.

 

 

Shaking her head, she braced all four paws against the ground, closed her eyes and felt the enviroment that had manifested, felt every tunnel, twist and turn she could find. She could feel the many skittering and scattering feet belonging to eight-legged creatures, most-likely Bugs she figured were the kinds she remembered some Hunters refer to as 'spiders', especially among the Custom NetMonsters.

Upon zoning in on her opponent, however...

"...seensh when deds da Dawg Nawt-NetMonshtew hash ah jetpacksh?!"

With this realization, it meant technology was present...she gave a toothy grin that soon faded upon a realization.

Jetpack that manifested with the world, which meant that she might not be able to just jump in and take over. She would, however, be able to read its abilites once she caught sight of it and had a few seconds to study it.

Stretching her wings, she soon took flight, going as fast as she could get away with and only deal with minimal clipping of her wings as she kept the electricity aura around her. She did not want those creepy-crawlies to get near her. As she flew, she purposely allowed her foreclaws to lightly drag across the grounds, allowing her to maintain her 'map' of the arena's current shape. As long as her opponent kept contact with any of the surfaces, even for a moment, she would be able to find the foe with ease.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Err...no thanks, I don't think I can afford that one..."

 

There were quite a lot of persistent sellers that Angela passed through while she was looking around for a good clothing set she could perhaps use. Some of them offered her a quite fancy, and well, alluring set of underwear, and some seemingly was intent on pushing pretty revealing clothing sets on her. She sighed for a bit as she politely refused their offers. Perhaps her bad reputation had spread further than she expected, or perhaps she's just lurking on the wrong section. She wasn't really against wearing something so revealing, but she's currently trying her best in fixing her image, and so she had to find something that wouldn't just get Mauvache and the stalker up in her ass again.

 

After a while of walking, she reached the clothing corner at one of the edges of the triangular building, and she decided to look around for something cheapish. However, her eyes instead hovered to a set of classy suit that was on display there. Aware that it'd cost a fortune but falling in love to it regardless, she asked the counter about how much would it cost.

 

"Er...may I ask how much this one is? I think it'd fit the style I'm really looking for."

 

---