Stories from RhyDin & The Rings

((What the heck is all this noise, you ask? Read all about it here.))

> Begin opening sequence.

A young man shudders in a dark room, underneath a spotlight. On his hands and knees. Sweat drips from his shoulder-length black hair. Dark red eyes squint, heavy with exhaustion. He pants heavily.

> Enter name.

A voice emerges from the shadows, sharp. Deriding. "Serge Tenebra."

"...What the hell do you want with me, you sicko?!" The young man bites back ferociously.

> Question progress on Hate Force.

"Can you feel it?" questions the unseen voice. "Can you feel it burning inside your heart?"

"I'm not telling you jack, you assh***!"

A staggered laugh. "You've already told me all I need to know."

> Be Serge.

You are now Serge. You stand up slowly, eyes not leaving the floor. But your ears have locked onto the target. You're going to give that assh*** what's coming to him. You're going to make him pay for twisting your heart up like this. For filling you with that poisonous power. You can hear where he's coming from even though you can't see him. And you're going to feed him his own poison.

> Ain Soph Aur.

You feel power blooming from deep inside you. It squirms, writhes. It forces your body to tingle unpleasantly. To shiver. You direct it toward your hands, and in one swift motion, point them at the direction of the voice. Burst Arte. "Ain Soph Aur!!" A fierce blast of energy shoots forth from your hands, shaking the floor beneath you. You can hear the light above you rattle as it shakes, the spotlight twitching. But the blast persists into the darkness. It didn't hit anything. And worse, it didn't reveal any of the room. It didn't even reveal the floor. Where the hell are you?!

> Be the other guy.

You are now the assh*** hiding somewhere in the shadows. You chuckle quietly as Serge's arte incinerates nothing but the air in front of him. What an amateur. Did he honestly think you would be so stupid as to let him pinpoint your location through sound? No. You're far more intelligent than that. Genius, even. Instead, you sneak up behind him and stab a syringe into his neck. You push down the plunger quickly and immediately retreat backwards into the shadow just before the young man whips around with a backhand. You knew he would do that. Again, you're not dumb enough to let him catch you.

> Serge: Succumb to exhaustion.

You fall back down to your knees, and then to your hands. What does that assh*** keep injecting you with? Some sort of horse tranquilizer or something? You pull out the syringe and toss it aside, not bothering to take note of the fact that you don't hear it hit the floor. You already feel... your consciousness... sli...

> Assh***: Laugh evilly.

This is obviously the best way to close the ominous introductory sequence. So you indulge and laugh evilly. You deserve it. You're a genius, after all.

> Begin game.

You are a young lady, asleep and tucked cozily in your bed. Sunlight is creeping through the blinds in front of the window. Your chin-length light brown hair is slightly tousled from the faint tossing and turning you did in your sleep. You clutch your favorite plush tightly, an adorable light blue bunny rabbit. A faint smile is on your face. You must be having a good dream. Or maybe that's just how you are.

EEEH EEEH EEEH EEEH EEEH.

Aw, fiddlesticks. The alarm. Your smile breaks as your pleasant sleep is interrupted. You don't wanna wake up...

> Turn that crap off.

Your hand wanders a bit, feeling about randomly. Your phone. Where's your phone? Ah, there it is, sitting on the arm of your couch. You pick it up and fumble with the touchscreen. The snooze is on this side of the screen... there it is. The phone shuts up. You smile cutely and snuggle back up with your bunny. And only ten minutes later is the phone buzzing again. Uuuuuughhhh...

> Wake up already.

You sit up and yawn, stretching out one arm while the other continues to clutch your bunny. Bright teal eyes finally open up. You look over to your phone, and slide the button to turn off the alarm. You're up. It's okay now. Another yawn, and you toss off the covers, getting out of bed. Even though you're 21 years old and have a job like a responsible adult, it is the weekend and you're not sure why you're not sleeping in since you don't have to go in. You've already been named, but why doesn't the player take a guess at it anyways?

> Enter name: Barnstench Fartface.

Oh hell no. That is very much not your name, and whoever guessed that name is a meanie poopyhead! Try again, meanie!

> Enter name: Ellie Luisante.

Your name is Ellie Luisante. You have a variety of interests, including but not limited to plushies and other cute things, books, art, and some video games. You are faintly nearsighted, so you wear glasses to see clearer. You typically prefer them rimless. You know how to fight a little bit. You dabble in the chinese blade, and your faithful blade, No Name, a thin, gold sword, sits nearby.

Your sense of fashion is simple. Cutesy graphic tees suffice for up top, stuff like hearts and bunnies and flowers. But you like to wear long, flowing skirts on bottom. Always of the circular variety, the hem reaching your ankles. The designs are usually simple: a solid color with a large patterned band near the hem. You do like to accessorize, though. You wear golden earrings, a pair of golden swirly armbands, and a rather gypsy-like gold necklace. You also wear an alice band matching your outfit, along with a flower and a few white feathers on the left side.

You're also a fan of MS Paint Adventures, particularly Homestuck. Some of your t-shirts are various aspect t-shirts. In fact, you're wearing one right now. A dark maroon tee with a light maroon heart in the center, the left side of the heart solid and the right side hollow. You fancy yourself a heroine of heart. The matching skirt is a darker maroon, with the pattern on the bottom being a maroon band the same color as your shirt, riddled with slightly lighter hearts.

Now that you're done plugging the inspiration for this story format, you move on to examine your surroundings. The walls of your bedroom are painted in a light pink. Your carpet is light brown, and so fluffy that you could sleep on it. But you don't have to because you have a comfy bed with lots of plushies on it. Bunnies, squiddles, kitties, puppies, and even a scalemate. Your favorite, is, of course, the light blue bunny you're still holding onto. His name is Nigel. There's a small purple couch, and a decent-sized TV is mounted on the wall. Underneath it is a wide dresser where your fashion accesories and game consoles sit. There's also a pumpkin there for some reason. A simple desk is on the opposite side of the room from your bed, with your computer there. There's an icon flashing. Looks like someone's trying to contact you.

What will you do?

> Retrieve your arms from the dresser.

You already have arms, sillyhead! What about this format could have possibly made you think that you don't have any arms?

> Check the pumpkin.

What pumpkin? You are quite sure there is no pumpkin in this room, and never will be.

> Do something adorable.

In a sudden fit of cuteness, you scoop up all of your plushies from the bed and huggle the crap out of them, releasing an adorable squeal as you do so. Then you set the plushies back down on the bed and giggle. That's always the best way to start the day!

> Squawk like an imbecile and crap on your desk.

You go over to the desk, and start to hike up your abundant skirt, opening your mouth to sq... wait. Wait, no. This is stupid. This is so very, very stupid. Why did you possibly think this would be even remotely a good idea? You release your skirt and frown at the fourth wall. Still being a meanie poopyhead, huh?

> Check your computer.

You sit down at your computer and look at the icon. The application is Pesterchum, a real-life computer application adapted from the fictional one in Homestuck. It's a fairly simple protocol and quite functional. Fortunately, your friends who aren't fans of MSPA use it as well. It looks like your buddy Serge is pestering you. He's such a good friend. You love him to death, but he's seemed kind of off lately. He's been talking about some disturbing stuff happening to him, and you don't know what to make of it.

Pesterlog wrote:taciturnZephyr started pestering sillyFlower at 9:50 AM

TZ: Hey, Ellie...
TZ: It happened again. :(
TZ: Just shoot me a message when you wake up, you know, if you're still willing to talk about it.
SF: awww, serge!
SF: its okay, ill still talk to you about it. c:
SF: what happened?
TZ: Oh, there you are. Well, I was just walking home from work, and I got conked on the back of the head.
TZ: When I woke up, I was in the same dark room... and like before, I couldn't move.
TZ: I could feel all this poisonous power surging out of me. That assh*** kept talking all this technobabble...
TZ: When it was over, I was exhausted, but I tried to blast him with some of the new powers he gave me. I missed.
TZ: Then he stuck me with that syringe again and I passed out. I woke up in my bed.
SF: :c
SF: how are you feeling now?
TZ: Kinda sore. Scared.
TZ: Of him. Of what's growing inside me.
SF: awww, sweetie...
SF: you wanna meet at the inn? :D
SF: you sound like you could use some snuggles.
TZ: I'd really like that. :)
TZ: Thanks, Ellie.
SF: of course! <3
TZ: <3

taciturnZephyr ceased pestering sillyFlower at 10:40 AM

> Leave immediately for the Red Dragon Inn.

You frown, concerned for Serge's well being. You start out of your bedroom, but immediately remember that you haven't even so much as showered yet. You take a whiff of yourself. Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff. Not terrible. You could brush your hair, put on some deodorant, and just go. You know Serge doesn't care about your hygeine. In fact, you know that he's in love with you. You do love him to death, but you don't know that you're in love with him. He doesn't press the issue, fortunately. He hasn't even really told you. You only know how he feels due to your heroine of heart powers. ...Or, just your astute emotional perception, which is an actual thing. You know he will wait for you if you decide you want to freshen up first.

Whichever option you decide to take, you're sure that it will definitely go absolutely smoothly with no complications at all whatsoever. What will you do?

> Freshen up first. - 0
> Just go immediately. - 1
> Wear the scarf. Be the rider. - 5 (WINNER!)

> Wear the scarf. Be the rider.

A profound urge overcomes you. It's nearly uncontrollable! You have to... You have to...!!

...Ride.

You grin and swipe your chic white, purple, and teal Purse of Holding from your dresser, dropping No Name into it. In it goes, no visible harm to the shoulder bag whatsoever. You then dig around inside the purse, searching, searching... Ah-ha! ...You pull out a frog. That's not it. Instead of wondering why you have a frog in your purse of holding, you drop it back in and dig around more, then pull out your long pink scarf. You promptly put it on and dash outside. "Whee~!!"

You have mounted your trusty white steed, Thunder, and are riding it aimlessly through New Haven, the area in Rhy'Din City in which you live. The crisp ocean breeze blows through your hair, your scarf flowing majestically behind you. The hooves of your trusty horse kick up dirt from the city streets.

...Wow, what a freaking waste of time!

> Stop being dumb and go to the Inn.

You realize that your pointless trotting about isn't getting you to the Inn, and to Serge, any faster, and promptly feel bad for faffing around like that. As you should, you terrible person.

You regain your bearings on your location, and steer the horse toward the Red Dragon Inn. While you're on him, you might as well take advantage of the increased speed of transit. Just as you're about to leave New Haven, though, you come across an unwelcome development.

There's a parade blocking the intersection. And not just any parade... an undead pride parade. Undead of all kinds are lethargically trudging down the street that you need to cross. Who approved this crap? Surely this is jamming up all sorts of other transit. What are you gonna do now?

> Trample them!

You're not going to trample the zombies. That would be multiculturally insensitive, not to mention definitely a hate crime. You don't judge a person by the... uh... quality of their... aliveness.

> Try to just navigate through them.

If you weren't on your horse, you could possibly pull that off. There's no way you can get Thunder through that.

> Abandon the horse and cross the parade.

Abandon Thunder?! Never!! Besides, you're already venturing out without a shower, and you don't want to compound that by squeezing through a crowd of zombies. No, not even Serge will snuggle with you after something like that.

> Have Thunder leap over the parade.

Thunder can't jump that high. He's not a mutant Rhy'Dinian horse, just a regular old horse. A good horse! But a regular horse.

> Look at the surrounding buildings.

You take a long look around, reaching into your purse of holding for your spare brush as you do so. You retrieve a bottled ship instead. Damnit. Back into the purse it goes. It seems like they're apartment buildings. The ones on the other side are shorter than the ones on the side you're presently on. If you could find some way to get on top of the buildings, Thunder could probably jump across. Although getting down would be an entirely other challenge.

> Check the back of the buildings for fire escapes.

That's a terrible idea. Horses can't climb stairs. You look over anyways, though, and see a large, tall ramp. Rhy'Din is nothing if not accessible. It doesn't appear to be attached to the building.

> Push it over to the intersection.

Man, you're going through a lot of trouble just to be multiculturally sensitive. You dismount your trusty steed and go over to the ramp, beginning to push. You grunt, shove, and heave, but it's not moving much. You're pretty weak. Fortunately, Thunder trots over and starts to help you. With a little teamwork, you're able to get the ramp over to the intersection.

> Jump over the stupid zombie parade!

You mount Thunder once more, back up a few trots, and dash toward the ramp, riding like the wind. With a mighty leap, you and Thunder sail over the parade. None of the zombies take notice because they're all brainless. Oops. You chide yourself for that culturally insensitive thought as you land with a bit of a startling jolt. Thunder handles it like a champ, but you've never done anything like that before. Too bad for whoever's ramp that was, though. They're gonna have a rude surprise when they roll outside.

> Proceed to the inn.

It doesn't take you much longer from there to get to the inn. The good old Red Dragon Inn. This place never changes. You dismount Thunder and lovingly stroke his mane before he trots off. You know that if you need him, you can call him with the horse whistle somewhere in your purse of holding.

You walk on inside and head to the usual area, the couch in front of the hearth. It seems you've actually beaten Serge here, so you take a seat on the comfy couch and wait. You finally manage to successfully retrieve your spare brush from your purse, and use it to brush your hair. Much better. You put it back and look around a bit, and can't help but take notice of someone at the bar checking you out.

It's some dude with a shaved head, and a scarred eye, grinning at you like you're some piece of meat. Must be a warrior of some kind, considering the leather armor he's sporting over his bland, tasteless clothes, and the scimitar hanging from his belt. You frown and look away, trying to pretend that he's not there and not watching you.

But you can feel it. You can feel his eyes on you. You can feel that he wants you, and not for any purposes that you would possibly be okay with. It's different than just some creep who would try to make moves on you, though... it's like this guy wants to take posession of you. You can feel that dreadful feeling coming ever closer. And then, the rugged voice of a tactless request.

"Hey, toots. Want I should buy ya a drink?"

You slowly turn your head to look up at him, visibly uncomfortable.

> Ask him for a cosmo.

Hell no. You're not asking him for anything. In fact, the only command you will respond to right now is "Shake your head nervously."

> Leap at him and maul his face with your lips!

That doesn't sound like "Shake your head nervously."

> Fine, shake your head nervously.

You shake your head nervously. And rapidly. "Uh... uh-uh. N-no thank you..."

Predictably, he presses on. "Aw, come on toots. Wha's da hurt?"

Before you can think of something else to say, the harsh, stern voice of a young man pierces the air, bringing you immediate relief just from the sound. "She said no. Where are your manners?" It's Serge, standing a few feet behind the man with his hands in his pockets, speaking a myriad of threats and promises with just the look in his eyes and the frown on his face.

The man looks back to Serge and grimaces. "Fine. Suit yerselves." He trudges away, and you can tell that he is not at all happy about how that went down. But more than that, you're happy to see Serge. You smile brightly at him, and he manages to smile back at you, though it's never as bright.

He ventures around to the other side of the couch and sits down next to you.

> Snuggle the crap out of him!

You throw your arms around Serge, and throw basically the entirety of your being onto him. He laughs and catches you in his arms. You squeeze him tightly, and nuzzle the side of his face with yours. You can feel him flushing faintly as you do, and his heart beat racing nervously. But you can also tell how happy he is. And it's almost overwhelmingly so. Before long, he expresses it with his words. "Thank you, Ellie." And you can feel the second, unsaid part of that sentence in his heartbeats. I love you.

"You're welcome, Sergie." You love him too, of course. Although not the same way. More nuzzles. The two of you sit there together, snuggling contentedly for a good half hour. You're so wrapped up in your cuddling that you don't even notice the man had started to watch you again. He rises from his stool again and walks over to the couch.

> Become aware of the rude warrior.

Something snaps into your senses, and your head jerks in the direction of the rude warrior from before, who is now standing behind the couch with a smirk and his arms crossed. "So, li'l man. Wha's a sweet li'l thang like dis doin' wit a pussywillow like you?"

The intensity of Serge's frown is quite palpable. "I'll thank you not to butt into our business any further."

"And I'll thank you ta get outta da way and let me handle dat sweet piece 'a meat." Dread washes over you. His intentions are straight up malicious now. And where you could feel love and happiness in your arms just moments ago, you now feel fury.

Serge releases you and stands, reaching into the Backpack of Holding he left beside him on the couch. You hadn't noticed he'd brought it with him, but then again, living in this city, he'd be dumb not to. He pulls out a sheathed katana, and holds the scabbard near the hilt of the sword, in his left hand. "Back off. Now." In response, the warrior chuckles grimly, maliciously, as he removes the scimitar from his belt.

Oh, great. Things just went from bad to worse. You've seen fights in the inn before, but it's never ended well for the participants, nor the inn itself. And often, it's bad for the patrons too. You may need to break them up. On the other hand, trying to get between them may be too dangerous for you. You're already in a dangerous position as it is with the guy's designs on you, so it may be better to just let Serge handle it himself, especially if his power is anything like he says it is. But what if this guy's too strong for Serge? It looks like he's no pushover, and has certainly been through his rounds. You have No Name in your purse... you could fight alongside him. Together you could probably take him, although Serge wouldn't like you endangering yourself further.

What will you do?

> Try to break up the fight. - 0
> Hide on the couch and let Serge handle it. - 2
> Fight alongside Serge. - 2 (WINNER!)

Tiebreaker between hide and fight. I grabbed a nearby d12, and declared that odd would be hide, and even would be fight. I rolled it, and it came up 10.

> Fight alongside Serge.

You decide that you can't stand the thought of Serge getting hurt by this guy for your sake... and not only that, but you also can't stand this guy calling you a piece of meat! You're going to lend a hand in knocking that attitude out of him.

You stand up and huff at the warrior. "I'm not a piece of meat, you jackass!" You reach into your purse and pull out a rubber ducky. Crap, that's not it. Serge and the warrior look at you like you're the biggest derp in the room. Which you basically are after talking so big and pulling a rubber ducky out of your purse. They then go back to staring each other down. More rummaging...

> Be Serge while Ellie derps around with her fetch modus.

You are now Serge. You stare down the rude warrior. How dare he talk about Ellie like that. How dare he so villainously interrupt the snuggle time you have so sorely needed ever since that assh*** swiped you up again. You are getting so sick of that crap. In fact, you think you actually might ask Ellie to walk YOU home instead of the other way around as it often is.

You glance back to Ellie, and find her rummaging around in her purse for something. She pulls out a scalemate plush, groans, then puts it back in, rummaging some more. You get the feeling that she wants to fight along with you, and she's looking for her sword. For once, you are grateful for how uncooperative these objects of holding can be.

You return your attention to the warrior in time to see that he has taken your brief moment of distraction to charge in, and he is quite nearly upon you. You shrink back in shock, but knowing what's on the line, you are somehow able to quickly regain your bearings.

> Just Sakura Twister x2 combo.

You take a deep breath in the short time you have to do so, steeling your nerves to perform the maneuver you've practiced so many times. Your stance shifts, your grip on your scabbard tightens. Your rear foot slides back a bit, and you crouch down. Then in one fluid, rapid motion, you lunge forward, unsheathing your sword in a wide, sweeping slash, twisting your body as you shear through the air and harshly cleave across the chest of the incoming warrior, knocking him on his back and causing him to skid backwards with his legs up in the air. "Sankei!!"

As you finish your rotation, you resheathe your sword, completing the fluid motion just before your feet touch the ground, all in just one fifth of a second. And just as soon as you land, you repeat the same motion with the same deadly precision as the first one. It's got to be perfect. If it's not, it will be just a hair longer than 1/5 a second, and it won't connect. You lunge forward in another deadly twist, this time connecting with his legs and causing him to rapidly roll backwards until he crashes into a table.

When you land again this time, you simply stand ready. You know your body can't handle three Just Sakura Twisters in a row. You don't have enough TP to do that crazy arte so many times. And a third one probably wouldn't even work anyways.

The warrior flips up to his feet, displaying agility that defies his burly stature. "You li'l runt! Yer gonna pay fer tha'!" He stabs his own sword into the ground, causing earthen spires to shoot up from beneath the wooden floor, rapidly approaching you. You can't help but wonder why that's even possible with the inn having a basement.

> Stop thinking about stupid things and DODGE!!

Right, deadly earthen spires. You should dodge. You slide quickly to your right, and look at the last spire as you barely avoid it impaling your left shoulder. Your gaze lingers for a bit. You can't help it; you're an inexperienced warrior and you nearly just got completely screwed. The Twisters were just a result of frequent practice; you've seldom seen actual battle.

> Don't take your eyes off the enemy, stupid!

Right, you should probably look at the guy you're fighting. You look over to him just in time to watch him ferociously swing his left leg up at your right side. You have no choice but to raise your right arm to try to block it. That's your sword arm, too. He took the opportunity your dodge made to trap you into taking that blow. He's smarter than you gave him credit for.

And stronger, too. Despite blocking the kick, it has so much force that you get knocked clean through the spire, and fall to the ground rolling to the side. Ow, that smarts like mad. Lots of HP lost from that one, to be sure. You sit up, starting to rise, when you look up and notice the warrior charging in with what appears would probably be a lethal thrust.

"Make peace wit' yer god, kid!!" No Twistering out of this one...

> Ellie: Save the day!!

Why do you have so many cans of Four Loko in your purse? You don't like energy drinks! You don't particularly like alcohol, either! So why would you have a drink that is both?! You watch Serge get kicked through the earth spires and grit your teeth. Come on, stupid purse! Cooperate right now! You reach in, and grasp a familiar-feeling hilt. No Name! You pull it out and rush over to stand between Serge and his assailant.

The warrior is almost surprised enough to slow his roll, but it kinda feels like he doesn't care if he impales you what with that sass you gave him earlier. It doesn't matter to you. You take up a defensive stance, and then push forward, expending a fair bit of TP for a Guard Impact maneuver. The side of your sword meets the tip of his, and his momentum is instantly reversed, causing him to stumble back.

You then reach into a different reservoir of energy: your Burst Gauge, which you share with Serge on virtue of you and him being on the same team. And fortunately, his twistery shenanigans built up enough for you to pull off some sweet moves. Burst Arte. "No escape!" You pull back your sword in a quick wind-up, then leap up into the air, spinning about and slashing repeatedly into the rude warrior, tossing him up into the air with you. "River of Stars!!" You land with a flourish, and wink cutely at your unfortunate target as he falls down unceremoniously a few feet away from you. "Did that hurt~?"

Apparently it did, because he's just kinda lying there, face down and groaning. "Uuuughhh..." He seems to be pretty humiliated from getting owned by such a cute little lady.

> Check on Serge.

You look over to Serge, who's a little bit dumbfounded, but otherwise alright. Yeah, he probably didn't know that you figured out burst artes. You smile sweetly at him, walk over, and hold out a hand. As he grabs hold of it and stands up with your assistance, you get the feeling he just fell even more in love with you, impressed by your fighting skills.

Once he's up, you wrap your arms around him and squeeze tightly. "That was too close..." you whisper with a slightly shaky voice, only now revealing how scared you were that you wouldn't make it in time. You feel Serge's arms wrap around you, and allow yourself to indulge in the warmth of his loving embrace.

> Serge: Notice the rude guy.

What about the ru-- oh. He's back up on his feet, and there's a bunch of runes in the air in front of him, in a circular formation. What could he possibly be-- oh, crap! You forgot that enemy teams have burst gauges too! You hastily let go of Ellie, and push your way past her, getting between her and the warrior.

You're not sure what you can do since you're out of TP and Ellie sucked your burst gauge dry with her sweet moves. What can you do?

> Ain Soph Aur.

You realize you still have those powers that have been unwillingly planted into you. You could use them. You have to. You have no choice. You reach deep, deep inside of yourself, seeking a seed of hatred planted inside of you entirely against your will. You feel a heart-wrenching sensation surge up from deep inside of you. Your entire body tingles unpleasantly.

The warrior pulls back his scimitar. "Chew on dis one, eh?!" Burst Arte. He thrusts the scimitar into the circle of runes, unleashing a beam of yellow energy toward you and Ellie. "Geodyne!!"

You direct the force to your right hand, and point it at the beam. Burst Arte. The entire sensation that you summoned converges upon the center of your palm. "Ain Soph Aur!!" And a blast of light shoots out toward the earthen energy beam. You hadn't noticed before, since you had performed the arte in nearly complete darkness... but the energy you've unleashed is completely blacklight colored. An appropriate color considering the feelings that accompany it.

> Ellie: Worry about that unsettlingly harsh pang you just felt.

You watch as Serge harnesses some burst arte-level power despite your burst gauge being completely sucked dry due to your sweet moves. It's not like you didn't believe him before when he was telling you about all the stuff that was happening to him, but the sensible skepticism that was in your mind has just been wiped clean.

Especially considering the emotion you're feeling. There's so much... raw hurt. And raw... hatred. They're the most toxic, dark emotions you've ever felt. You can't believe this kind of emotion is inside of Serge right now. In fact, it hurts you so much that your eyes are welling up with tears. You're not even the one feeling these emotions. It's just your astute emotional perception. "Serge...!"

> Serge: Beam struggle.

The two energy masses collide right in the middle and begin to push at each other. You're not sure how you can tell... but you're just barely losing this struggle. The warrior has more control over his than you do over yours. After all, you're pulling this power out of somewhere completely aside from your burst gauge, and the power is mostly unknown to you. You don't even like the power!

> Pump up the volume.

Maybe you can make it stronger? You shut your eyes tightly and reach deep down once more to the seed of hatred. When you open your eyes, they are completely black, and what looks like black veins are starting to spread out from your eyes. "RrrraaaaaaaaAAAAAAAARRRGHHH!!"

You can feel the returns from your efforts immediately. In fact, your mass of blacklight energy has increased considerably in strength. But reaching so deeply into such power is yielding consequences already. Your vision starts to fade. You start to feel smothered by the darkness. You feel like you're sinking in quicksand. And what's most frightening is that you're losing the ability to care about this development. In fact, you're losing the ability to be frightened by it.

> Ellie: Worry some more.

You can feel it again, and it's even stronger. Is this arte powered by that poisonous power that Serge was talking about? What is this power doing to him? You want to look into his eyes to make sure that he's alright, but he pushed his way in front of you for good reason. You can fight, sure, but you can't handle this.

Right now, all you feel is that heart-wrenching emotion, and it's just getting stronger, and stronger. It's starting to feel numb, even. And that's when your fear for Serge's well-being reaches a new height. Tears run down your cheeks and you wrap your arms around his waist, clinging tightly. "Stop!!!"

> Serge: Stop.

The voice of the woman you love more than anyone else in the multiverse pierces your toxic stupor. The black veins branching from your eyes abruptly vanish, and the color returns to them. You are suddenly set free from your dark trance. Your eyes stay wide as the realization of what just happened hits you. And you are even more scared than before. What kind of monster are you turning into? And what about Ellie? What could she think about this? She must be scared of you now...

There are, however, more pressing matters at hand. You put your self-reflection on hold for a bit to check on the situation in front of you. It seems you tapped into that power just long enough to strengthen your arte to where it would... well, completely and utterly overpower the other guy's.

You see a long scorch mark on the floor, all the way up to the wall directly across from you, which now has a nice big hole in it, with scorch marks all around the edge. The scorch marks continue through the dirt outside, all the way to the rude warrior lying on the ground. You just kind of stand there and stare, returning to self-reflection.

The rude warrior has been defeated.

> Level up.

You level up to Level 2! You level up as a team, and share various incremental improvements. And the first improvement your team gets is a boost in TP! Serge could now theoretically do three Just Twisters in a row. Too bad it's not physically possible to combo them together. That would be broken anyways.

Ellie has gained an increase in Pulchritude. You're not sure what that does.
Serge has gained an increase in Asperity. You're not sure what that does either.

> Ellie: Check on Serge again.

Your eyes follow basically the same path that Serge's just did, all the way out to the guy lying on the ground outside. He's not moving, but you can see utter humiliation in his body language even as he's on his back. You're pretty sure he's alive. And you're also pretty sure you won't be meddled with by him ever again.

But more importantly, Serge. You move into his field of vision, and his eyes turn down to meet yours. "Serge... are you okay?"

"I..." He struggles to respond.

"I could feel it. That... that feeling. The dark feeling."

"Were... were you crying?" It seems your eyes may be a little red.

"I... yeah. I was just so scared for you."

Serge pauses for a moment. "But... but not of me?"

You're kind of flabbergasted by that inquiry. "Scared of you? Oh, goodness, no! I could never be afraid of you. I adore you!" In fact, you give him a nice big hug just to ease his fears. He hesitates a little bit in returning it. It seems he's as scared as you are. For himself, and also of himself.

You're briefly distracted by what sounds like shifting brick. You look behind you and see the wall of the inn mending itself. Ah, of course. The self-repair magic. Even the scorch marks on the floor are gone. In fact, the earthen spires have been gone for some time. You look back to Serge and smile warmly and reassuringly at him. He manages to muster a smile back at you, reaching for your hand. You volunteer it quite readily.

But now there's a more complicated question at hand. Now what?

Serge has been quite clearly unsettled by all this. Your original plan was to snuggle, shoot the breeze, and help him ease up on his worries. Which you did accomplish, at least until that jackass ruined everything. Now he's even worse off than he was before. Maybe you should go to the park with him. There's no way anything of any significance whatsoever could happen at the park.

Speaking of that jackass... what was his deal, anyways? He was giving you some straight up malicious vibes. What kind of intentions did he actually have toward you? Why was he so strong? You may actually want to drag him to the Watch and turn him in while he's down and out. Then again, the only evidence there is right now is evidence that two men literally fought over a woman. And that's not exactly uncommon around here.

You're worried about Serge, too. And until now, you didn't have a lot of information on his predicament. He was kind of reticent about the details. What was that arte called? Ain Soph Aur? Maybe you should go to the library together and look up information on it, try to find some answers. But then again, maybe Ain Soph Aur, and whatever its connections are, are the last things Serge wants to think about.

What will you do?

> Go to the park and try to relax.
> Go to the library and try to find info.
> Go to the Watch with the jackass in tow.

-= Click here to vote =-

> Go to the Watch with the jackass in tow.

"I think we should probably take that guy to the Watch," you tell Serge. "He felt really malicious when he was coming on to me. Like... not like a guy who just stubbornly wants some. Just... way worse."

"You don't say," replies Serge, looking to the spot on the wall where the hole once was. His eyes narrow. He doesn't seem to be at all opposed to putting the guy through more hell, except for one catch. "We don't have any evidence, though."

"Well, let's just go take him there and see if there's anything they can do." You're pretty insistent about this.

Serge shrugs. He doesn't seem particularly resistent to the idea. It feels like there are things he'd rather do, but he's fine with letting that guy get some more punishment. He leads the way outside through the front door.

> Notice that everyone is staring at you.

You just now notice that most of the eyes in the inn right now are on the two of you, and become incredibly self-conscious. The three of you did indeed make quite a bit of a scene. You shrink back a bit, tucking your head into your shoulders and wishing your skirt had pockets just so you could stick your hands in them. You look forward to Serge, who is sending off waves of discontent and general unpleasantness to try and deflect all the attention, or at least keep it from getting to him. You quickly scurry up next to him and grab onto his arm to try and get some of that protection.

You immediately feel more comfortable once you're outside of the inn, though there are now some people gathered around the guy on the ground. Serge just walks straight over to the guy, his Apathy clearly on par with that of a honey badger.

It only just now dawns on you that you have not at all considered the logistics of transporting this guy. Neither you nor Serge have particularly high Strength. If you can get him up together, you won't carry him for long.

> Find a cart of some kind to toss him in.

As much as you'd like to pretend that you're on an episode of Jackass, you can't find any carts around that aren't occupied with cargo or people using them.

> Do some steroids to increase your Strength.

That's highly illegal and strikes you as a bad idea regardless. Knowing what the side effects are for men, you don't want to know what they do to women.

> Just drag him along the ground.

Yet another bad idea from beyond the fourth wall. That won't be any easier than carrying him together, and it's more likely to wake him up.

> Call Thunder to carry him.

Ah yes, that's right! You have a nifty horse that is plenty strong enough to carry even this guy. You reach into your purse and rummage about for your horse whistle. Meanwhile, Serge shooes off the bystanders. "Nothing to see here. Get going." They don't care enough to stick around.

You pull out an action figure. Damnit. You think you've seen this guy before. Shirtless, spiky blue hair, blue shorts, yellow headband... some high-profile duelist of some kind? There's a button on his back. You press it. "I'm the greatest!" Huh.

> This is dumb. Throw it away.

You toss it over your shoulder. Why are such weird things in your purse of holding? You go digging about again and successfully retrieve your horse whistle. It doesn't look like anything special. Just a normal old silver whistle. You blow hard on it. It doesn't sound any different than a normal whistle either. Regardless, Thunder comes trotting up to you in just a few minutes.

> Help Serge lift the guy up onto your horsie.

With the combined effort of your meager Strength stats, you are able to hoist the guy up onto the horse. You take a little bit of time to adjust him so that he won't fall off or wake up from discomfort. Then you head off together toward the nearest Watch station.

> Get pestered while in transit.

You feel your purse buzzing. Someone must be pestering you. You reach in and retrieve your phone, the only thing you seem to be able to retrieve from it without it being a federal freaking issue. "Who is it?" asks Serge. Your response is a groan, and his response is a chuckle. "Say no more." It's a guy who's... well-meaning, but unpleasant as of late.

Pesterlog wrote:vigorousOx started pestering sillyFlower at 12:06 PM

VO: GOOD DAY, ELINA.
SF: uuuugh... why do you gotta be so stuffy?
VO: I AM NOT STUFFY.
SF: yes you are! you always talk so formal and you always call me by my full name.
VO: IT IS SIMPLY IN MY NATURE.
SF: just... nevermind. *le sigh* what's up?

You do actually sigh. "It's not like I dislike him, he's just all stuffy and overbearing, and it's frustrating. He always thinks he knows what's best for us. I already see how this conversation's going to go."

Pesterlog wrote:VO: I NOTICED IN MY SOCIALIZATION FEED THAT YOU AND SERGE CHECKED IN AT THE RED DRAGON INN.
SF: yes?
VO: I ADVISE THAT THE TWO OF YOU CLEAR OUT OF THAT AREA IMMEDIATELY.
SF: uhhh... why?
VO: THERE IS TROUBLE AFOOT THERE.
SF: trouble? like what? are there cultists hanging around there again?
SF: ooh! or are the soda taps suspected to be poisoned again?
SF: ooh! or is the stew finally going to rebel against all life on this planet?
VO: WHY MUST YOU SPEAK TO ME WITH SUCH ATTITUDE?
SF: because there's never actually any trouble!
VO: NONSENSE.
SF: no, not nonsense! you are always so quick to believe these tabloid rumors!
SF: and you always make it a federal issue about our safety!
SF: look, i appreciate that you look out for us, really.
SF: but it's gotten way past silly and is now just a huge annoyance.
SF: you gotta stop believing everything you read so easily!
VO: NO, THIS TIME IT IS DIFFERENT.
VO: I DID NOT READ ANYTHING. I SAW THE TROUBLE MYSELF.
SF: oh, is that so?
VO: I SAW A GROUP OF WARRIORS WEARING THE EMBLEM OF A MALICIOUS ORGANIZAION ON THEIR BACKS, HEADING IN THE INN'S DIRECTION.
SF: oh really. malicious organization, huh?
VO: INDEED. I HAVE READ OF MANY OF THEIR VILLAINOUS ESCAPADES.
SF: you know what? no. look. cut it out.
SF: serge and i just straight up kicked a guy's butt.
VO: WHAT?
SF: he started some trouble, and we beat him up.
SF: so we can take care of ourselves. we don't need you looking out for us!
SF: and we don't need your hyper-paranoid warnings and made up stories!
VO: ELINA, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I NEED YOU TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING FOR ME.
SF: nope. no no no. lalalalala.
SF: i'm done letting you be paranoid about us.
SF: send me a message when you actually want to hang out, like we used to.

sillyFlower ceased pestering vigorousOx at 12:20 PM

"Still being paranoid as usual?" Serge can see you frowning quite exasperatedly.

You preface your response with a huff. "Yup. He has the gall to say there are a bunch of baaaad warriors coming our way, too."

"He's graduated from poisoned taps and Stew rumors, huh?" He shakes his head, but you can tell that Serge isn't as quick to dismiss VO's warning. You can tell he's got a bad feeling, and it almost makes you feel bad for being so dismissive. But you can only cry wolf so many times before you lose all your credibility. Serge has never led you astray. He's never cried wolf. You've seen the personal tribulations he's endured with your own eyes, even before the recent incidents. Meanwhile, none of VO's warnings have ever turned out to be true. That's why you are able to believe Serge, and VO's warnings are just silly paranoia.

You've already arrived at the station by the time your frustrating conversation ends. Incidents happen fairly often at the Red Dragon Inn, so there's a Watch station very close. Now for the awkward thing of delivering a miscreant upon a horse...

> Just take Thunder into the station.

"Whoa there, little lady." You're stopped at the door immediately by a watchman coming out. "You can't bring him in here, for an overwhelming number of reasons." You frown kind of defeatedly.

> Ask the watchman to carry the guy in.

You point to the guy on top of your horse. "We got attacked by this guy at the Red Dragon Inn."

Serge corrects you immediately. "Well, more you than me. I just stopped him. You were the one he was so menacingly after." You pause for a bit, but you're a smart lady and you figure out his angle. If you prevent the situation with as much severity as possible, they'll be more willing to check it out, despite your lack of evidence that he committed any actual crime.

The watchman looks up at the guy on the horse. He squints... then his eyes widen momentarily. You can tell that he's pretty shocked at what he just saw. You look up at the guy too. You can't tell what's so shocking about him. "Yes, right away, ma'am," says the watchman. He comes over and immediately shames the two of you with his superior Strength that allows him to carry the guy by himself.

> Follow him in.

You and Serge follow the watchman into the station and take a look around. It's a fairly spacious entry area. It's been around for a while though, and has seen better days. You look to the front desk, and see a man with long blonde hair and a long black trenchcoat speaking to a young female receptionist. His voice is low, his tone distinguished. "Please inform me when you have leads on--"

He is interrupted by the watchman carrying your captive. "Detective Caliber!"

The man turns around, revealing a face with sharp, stoic features and pinkish purple eyes. His eyes widen slightly at what he sees.

"We have him... the slaver you've been pursuing in Skycrest!"

Both yours and Serge's jaws drop simultaneously. A slaver?! The two of you just defeated a slaver?! Almost as shocking... a slaver just tried to snatch you up?!

> Finally enter the slaver's name.

Detective Caliber speaks up. "Jasper Stone. I finally have you... Why is it that we are now in custody of him?"

"It seems these two defeated him..." the watchman glances back to indicate the two of you.

> Enter the detective's name.

The detective's eyes are now on you. "Impressive. My name is Kersh Caliber. I currently work as a detective in the city of Skycrest. Please describe the confrontation. Spare no details, please."

"Well..." you start, rubbing the back of your head, still coming to grips with the fact that you and Serge had a run-in with a slaver, and you're not in a collar. "He was coming on to me. It seemed harmless at first, and we got him to go away. Then he came back, more aggresively. More... maliciously. The two of us fought him off together."

"How intriguing." Kersh strokes his chin. "But he is fairly strong, especially his burst artes... how-- !!" He starts to question more, but something stops him.

"What's the matter, Detective?" asks the receptionist.

> Be Kersh and address the bad juju you just felt.

You are now Kersh. And you are not feeling particularly rushed to reply to the receptionist. Trouble is afoot. You can feel it. Multiple strong fighting spirits are converging upon this point. They are certain to be Stone's cronies. How were they so quickly alerted to their boss's predicament? Your eyes scan around slowly, as if looking through the walls. That is not something you can do, though.

"Ugh!" Your attention is suddenly caught by the pained cry of the watchman in front of you. "Aaaah!" Immediately followed by the shocked scream of the young woman. Your line of sight jerks to that direction, and you witness the now conscious Stone cutting down the watchman with his scimitar, to the horror of the young woman. The young man stands in front of her to protect her, gritting his teeth.

Stone places his foot on the chest of the fallen watchman and glares menacingly at the young duo. "You... little... f%#@ing... runts..." His grin is palpably menacing. He points to the young man. "I'm gonna kill you..." Then he points to the young woman. "And then I'ma take you back wi' me, and ya might just find yerself on th' market in the next day 'r so. A cutie like you's gonna fetch a hoigh proice." The woman shrinks back, eyes wide with horror.

The young man becomes visibly enraged, and you can feel an immense, horrific power rising from deep inside him. "Ain...!"" What appears to be black veins spread out from his rapidly blackening eyes. "Soph...!"

The woman seems more terrified with the development transpiring directly in front of her. "Serge, don't!!"

> Defuse the situation.

It is clear to you now that this is something you can not allow to happen. You reach deep into your mind, seeking memories that are not yours. In fact, they are the memories of all the citizens of a long extinct kingdom, one in a long dead realm. "Memory of Horror." You conjure the memory of a woman stolen away and forced to endure the horrors that Stone surely intends to put the terrified young woman here through. And then you send them straight at Stone.

You see Stone's body lock up immediately. His spine straightens up, and his fists unclench, fingers twitching. You can see his shaved head rapidly perspiring, but you can't see his widened eyes. "K-Kersh! You b-bastard!" Serge is overtaken with surprise, and you feel the horrific energy ebbing away. His eyes fade back to normal, and the veins vanish. Stone's head jerks as it slowly turns to face you, teeth clenched. "You followed m-me here?!"

"You can run, but you cannot hide." Your face is bereft of any expression other than faint contempt as you regard the slaver. Indeed, your poker face is impeccable. When it comes to poker faces, you're the best there is. "Did you actually think I would lose your trail if you went to the planetary capital? Rather the opposite. This city is more active than Skycrest. I can obtain leads more rapidly, reliably, and efficiently here. It was an ill-thought move."

The slaver cackles as he starts to supress the memory. "You know w-wha' else was a bad move? Lettin' me and mah boys c-corner ya like this!" Stone forces a grin, holding up something that looks like a walkie talkie. Damn. He must have used it before losing consciousness. With one last surge of will, Stone pushes the memory out, and snaps his fingers. Earthen pillars shoot up from the floor and lift the roof up off of the station. A multitude of rough-and-tumble looking warriors leap over the walls.

> Fill 'em with lead.

You have no intention of letting them corner you. You reach into your Trenchoat of Holding and pull out two machine guns. Without missing a beat, you depress both triggers in unison, unleashing a storm of bullets upon the descending warriors. The young woman screams again, and crouches down. Serge covers her up. An admirable gentleman. The warriors that were descending to corner you are now wounded, neutralized bodies.

> Fail to notice the smoke bomb.

In the midst of the bullet fire, you were unable to hear the signature hiss of a smoke bomb, and your vision is now already completely obscured. You hear the loud thud of the roof falling back into place to contain the smoke.

> Serge: Get thrown against the wall.

You start to cough, only just now aware of the smoke filling up the room. You clutch tightly onto Ellie for dear life, determined to protect her at all costs. "Outta th' way, runt." You hear Jasper's gruff voice just before he grabs you by the neck, and forcefully yanks you off of your best friend, chucking you hard against the wall. You slam into it unceremoniously.

> Ellie: Become a slave.

"Serge!!" You cry out as you no longer feel your best friend's protection, and hear the sound of a body slamming into an object. You suddenly feel yourself being lifted up by your neck... and then the cold metal of a collar around it.

"Yer all mine, toots." You can feel yourself going completely and utterly white. No. Oh god, no. This is not happening.

"No...! No!! Let me go!! Let me go, let me go, let me go!!!" You desperately start to flail your arms and legs about, trying to punch and kick Jasper, a last ditch effort to get freedom. You feel your attacks impact uselessly. You're much better at fighting with a sword. You can feel yourself being carried outside.

You are chucked into the sidecar of a motorcycle. You hear Serge's voice cry desperately for you. "Ellie!! Ellie, no!!!"

You have to fight. You reach for your purse to retrieve No Name, but it is yanked from your person. Damnit!! "Hol' onta this." You assume it's been chucked to one of his minions. You're too disoriented and panicked to be sure. You see your last bit of daylight just before the cover of the sidecar slams down over you.

You've never seen a sidecar anything like this, but it's no surprise that a slaver would have one. You bang desperately on the cover, hoping to knock it open, or punch through, or something. Again, you are much better at wrecking things with a sword. You feel the motorcycle zoom off, and are jostled inside the sidecar.

Tears flow down your cheeks. It's no use. You are a slave.

> Serge: Do an acrobatic freaking pirouette off the handle.

No. That did not just happen. That did NOT JUST HAPPEN!! You let out a scream in a primal rage, and against the painful protest of your injured body, you force yourself to stand and stumble outside.

You're going after her. You're going to get her back. You don't care what happens to you. You don't care what it takes. You don't care if you lose yourself. In fact... you're more than happy to let the darkness swallow you if it means more strength to save her.

Your eyes blacken immediately, and the black veins cover your face. "RrrrrRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" You somehow manage to dash after the motorcyle. You don't care that it's much, much faster than you. You're going to chase it.

Despite the rapidly deteriorating state of your sanity, Thunder trots up beside you and offers you a ride. You hop on.

The horse does not seem to care as you give yourself completely and utterly to the darkness inside you.

> Kersh: Damage control.

That did not just happen. Literally all of the worst case scenarios just unfolded right in front of you. Ellie has become a slave, Serge has flown off in a rage, and Stone has gotten away. You scowl in discontent as the smoke finally dissipates.

You need to go after them, but you need to make a plan. Not only do you have to defeat Stone, but you must also rescue Ellie, and you must also prevent Serge from making the situation worse. You must go in prepared. But first, you need to know where you are even going.

You look around for survivors among the minions you shot down. You hear groaning and look to one man who is starting to get up. You grab him by the back of his collar and give him some assistance. Your piercing eyes meet his, and he is immediately scared out of his wits. "You're going to tell me where Stone's Rhy'Din establishment is."

The minion regains his wits and narrows his eyes. "Never!" He then spits in your face, but you tilt your head aside to dodge the loogie.

"Never, hmm?" Your eyes narrow at his. "We'll just see about that." You carry the minion with you toward the back of the station, relaying an order to the receptionist, who has been hiding behind her desk for sometime, on the way. "Send an officer to the interrogation room."


-= END OF ACT 1 =-


> CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN!!

Holy crap, it's a character select screen! Where did this thing come from?! There are four characters on it. Ellie is grayed out, in a universal UI convention that means you can't pick her right now. Then there's Serge, riding Thunder after Jasper. Then there's Kersh, taking an unfortunate minion in for interrogation. Then there's... who's this guy? You can only see his silhouette, but he looks like he's built like a brick house. Is this VO?

Please select your character!

> Be Serge. - 2
> Be Kersh. - 0
> Be VO. - 2

Aw, hell.

> Be both Serge and VO.

Oh jeez. You decide to be witty and try to select two characters at once. You hold down Ctrl and then click Serge, and then VO. Both of them get highlighted. It... worked?

> Character Select Screen: Flip the hell out.

You don't like that. You don't like that one bit! How dare the player try to game the system on you like that! Humph. Fine, if they want to be both, they can have both. But one at a time! But not before you screw with them. You start blinking the highlights, alternatingly and rapidly.

> Shine Reader: Flip the hell out.

Oh my god, what the hell is the character select screen doing?! You can't handle it! How dare the system react to you gaming it in such a way!! Oh, the highlight stops blinking. VO is brighter, and Serge is dimmer. The character select screen fades out.


-= BEGIN ACT 2 =-



> Be VO first.

You are dreaming. But this is no ordinary dream. In most dreams, you end up doing stuff that you think is real and normal while you're in the dream, such as, for example, going to a university class in a treehouse with a cake on your head or something dumb like that, and you realize how nonsensical it is once you wake up. Sometimes even during the dream, you realize you're in a dream because it gets too stupid and you're like, "this is obviously not an actual thing."

But this... this is real. These are visions. Precognitions. You are seeing into the future. You just know it. You always wake up in a cold sweat afterwards, with a sense of urgency. These visions shake you to the core. And this time is no different.

You feel like this particular vision is the climax of a building conflict. A conflict that you are sure has not yet started to build in the real world, and wish to do everything to prevent if you can.

You see a dark-haired man in demonic black armor in the sky, firing a beam of blacklight energy toward the ground. On the ground is a light-haired woman in an angelic white gown, firing a beam of bright white energy back at the other beam. You hear them yell three words at each other, but you can't distinguish them. They're not the common tongue, you know that much.

Their struggle sunders the ground around them. Earth and heaven quake with their might. The realm can barely contain a conflict of this physical, metaphysical, and emotional magnitude.

> Wake up.

You snap back to consciousness suddenly, sitting up in your bed. You're breathing heavily, and in a cold sweat. You look over to your ornate digital clock, perched upon an ornate desk. 7:50 AM. Not even a man of your high class needs to be up this early on a Saturday. But you know what this dream means. So you get up anyways for the time being.

> Enter name: Cowturd Dogbreath.

Oh my. That is very much not your name. Why, whoever would deign to input such an indecent name is of lower class than the dirt beneath your feet. Please do try again.

> Enter name: Brutus Kaiser.

Your name is Brutus Kaiser. You are one big dude. And not necessarily in the horizontal manner, either. You are built. Buff. Strong. Exceptionally so. You're very high class, too. A distinguished gentlemen of the highest degree; when you attend fancy gatherings, you always have a monocle and top hat. Why, to wear either of them separate would be a sin of the most severe gravity!

You have faintly tan skin, indigo eyes, and short black hair, always gelled and immaculately styled. Even whilst sleeping! Your sense of fashion is high-class; long-sleeved button-up shirts and slacks dominate your wardrobe, and you are practically never seen without a bowtie.

You are the heir apparent to a corporate empire known as Kaisercorp. You are in direct competition with Lezareno Company, a business who has expanded from its original realm into Rhy'Din. Chances are high that if it is a thing that is made, your company sells it. Just like Lezareno. Breaking into the smaller cities on the planet has been successful, but for some reason, the planetary capital is quite involved with local business. You're not doing bad here, but you're not doing nearly as well as you wish you were.

You are obviously completely loaded. You live in a mansion in New Haven. Everything in your room is stupid nice. From your king-size memory foam bed to your 60-inch LED tv to your top of the line computer, nothing in here isn't the absolute best it could possibly be.

What will you do?

> Call your butler to deliver your arms.

What a foolish idea. You already have arms, and they are quite strong! In fact, you flex them just to show them off. Daaaaamn, those are some guns.

> Check the pumpkin.

You look at the pumpkin on your desk that has clearly been there for quite a while. Why do you have that? That is completely pointless. It may prove useful someday, so you summon your Butler of Holding with a finger snap. A distinguished old gentleman emerges from a rift in space, retrieves the pumpkin, and walks back into the same rift with it. It shuts behind him.

> Do something STRONG.

In a sudden fit of machismoism, you flex your entire body and rip your pants. Oh, fiddlesticks. That just will not do. You really must stop flexing in your pajamas like that.

> Bleat like a goat and pee on your TV.

Hey, how about absolutely not. You're not impressionable at all; what kind of corporate heir would you be if you could be influenced by dumb ideas like this?

> Check your markerboard.

Ah, yes, of course. The markerboard of precognition. You haven't done much with the corporation lately due to a recent bout of precognition. You have been seeing visions in your dreams lately, all concerning your friends, Elina and Serge. Your first vision was your most frightening one: A dead Serge, with Elina crying over the corpse.

Ever since then, you've been looking out for your friends in an almost paranoid fashion, so much that you get the sense that they're starting to become rather irritated by it. You don't know what causes Serge to die yet. But since that first vision, you started to have more visions, and have been filling in notes on your markerboard. You intend to solve this mystery and save your friend.

> Add your latest dream to the board.

Come to think of it, this is a rather important event you just saw. At the bottom of the board is the final cell: "Serge dies." You create a new cell next to it, "E+S: Beam struggle." Then you readjust the links to accomodate the new element. You wonder if this is the last significant element before Serge dies.

> Check the other cells.

You look above the finality that you are trying to avoid to the other things that you know are going to happen. Most of your visions have concerned Elina. "E: Captured by someone." "chumhandle: surlMemorium." "E: Jailbreak." "E: Fight someone strong." "E: Awaken new powers." "E: Pursue Serge."

There is still a lot you don't know. That first cell though, concerning Elina's capture, is a new element you saw the night before. Obviously, it goes before the jailbreak. But you're missing details everywhere. You would also do well with some cells concerning Serge. But luckily, you're not alone in your bout of precognition.

> Check computer.

You seat yourself at your desk, waking your top of the line computer from its sleep, immediately starting Pesterchum. You have not received any correspondence yet, but the person you were looking for is online: radicalPixie.

> Pester radicalPixie.

Pesterlog wrote:vigorousOx started pestering radicalPixie at 8:02 AM

VO: GOOD MORNING, TANYA.
RP: uuugh good my a$$ b
RP: i dont wanna be up at 8 cos of these dumb visions
VO: I AM SIMPLY BEING COURTEOUS.
RP: yeah yeah i know
RP: its cool
RP: i know why youre contacting me
VO: I BELIEVE OUR VISIONS MAY HAVE CONVERGED.
RP: black armor
VO: WHITE GOWN.
RP: two beams
VO: TWO BEAMS.
RP: yup called it
VO: WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MEANS?
RP: i dunno but i think s dies soon after that
VO: I HAVE REACHED THE SAME CONCLUSION.
RP: but yo check it
RP: we know that some doucher has been messing with serge
RP: and we know that he goes all grimdark before e's jailbreak
RP: but the night before i had another one
RP: that same doucher shows himself and snatches s up
VO: YOU DON'T SAY
RP: i do indeed say good sir
VO: THAT EXPLAINS WHY ELINA GOES IN PURSUIT OF SERGE
RP: my thoughts exactly
RP: you got anything new for me
VO: ACTUALLY, I DO.
RP: lay them phat precognitions on me brother
VO: WE KNOW THAT ELINA WILL HAVE TO DO A JAILBREAK.
VO: WE DIDN'T KNOW WHY THOUGH.
VO: IT TURNS OUT SHE WILL BE CAPTURED BY SOMEONE.
VO: IT CAN'T BE SOMEONE SAVORY, THOUGH.
VO: BECAUSE I DO BELIEVE THIS FITS IN WITH SERGE'S DESCENT INTO DARKNESS.
RP: holy flaming dragon crap
RP: thats a perfect explanation
RP: cos its not like e would do something illegal and get arrested
VO: DO YOU THINK SERGE MAY HAVE A HAND IN THE JAILBREAK?
RP: knowing how flushed he is for e
RP: probably
VO: THE PUZZLE IS FINALLY STARTING TO COME TOGETHER.
VO: BUT WE ARE MISSING SOME CRITICAL PIECES.
RP: we dont know when any of this will go down
VO: I FEAR THE TIME MAY BE NEARING THOUGH.
RP: yeah me too
RP: welp that was a nice check in
RP: im gonna go crash
RP: need my beauty sleep
VO: I BELIEVE I WILL RETIRE AS WELL.
VO: GOODBYE, TANYA.
RP: later b

vigorousOx ceased pestering radicalPixie at 8:20 AM

> Go back to bed.

That was a very productive conversation. Indeed, most of Tanya's visions have concerned Serge. So the two of you have been sharing the puzzle pieces together since you realized you've been having the same visions. She has not taken as nearly a proactive role as you, but you know she's been keeping watch due to a rather advantageous trait of hers. But you're still not sure when these events will begin to transpire.

There's nothing more you can do now. It's Saturday, you don't need to be up for another hour and ten minutes yet. So you return to bed.

> Be Serge for a bit.

You are now a young man riding on a silver horse after a motorcyle that is still quite a bit faster than you. There is forest to your left and wide open plains to your right.

> Enter name: Grimpoop Darkbutt.

We don't have time to redo this gag, and it's kind of dumb to even attempt it. We know this guy's name already!

> Enter name: Serge Tenebra.

This is redundant. We introduced him in the introductory sequence! Cut this crap out! Oh, fine. Your name is Serge Tenebra and that's the last bolded term you'll get because you don't have time to rehash this; you're chasing a slaver who has your best friend! We can do this later if we get a flashback or something.

Everyone out of the goddamn way! You've got a heart full of dark, a head full of angry, and a backpack full of sword!

> Retrieve your arms from your backpack.

Oh, piss off already. Your arms are clearly holding Thunder's reins.

> Check the pYou swear to god you are going to a second acrobatic freaking pirouette off of the handle that the last handle was on for a double flip-out if the last six letters of that word are "umpkin".

> ...retty horse you are riding on to see if he's doing alright.

Yeah, okay, that's actually a really good idea. You look down at Thunder. You're not very good with animals, so you can't tell for sure how he's doing, but it seems like he's starting to tire out. You look ahead, and you can't help but feel like the motorcycle's getting away from you faster than it was a few minutes ago.

Thunder's starting to reach his limit. What will you do?

> Do something grimdark.

In a fit of grimdark inconsideration, you channel your newfound dark power into Thunder. At first, he whinnies in objection, but you force the power into him. His fur gradually turns from silver to dark, like an oil spil polluting a body of water. When the transformation is complete, the horse whinnies again, but fiercely and angrily.

Thunder has become Black Thunder.

> Ride.

Now that your horse is grimdark like you, he can surpass his limits just as you did. The speed increase is significant and immediately perceivable. You are now actually starting to gain on the motorcycle.

> Be Jasper and notice your pursuer is catching up.

You are now Jasper, and you don't need any kind of introduction. It's barely perceivable, but the hooves that were fading away for the whole trip are starting to actually get louder. You look back and see that Serge is indeed gaining on you. "What?!"

> Get him off your tail.

Oh hell no. You are not dealing with this crap today. "I will, I will, ROCK YOU!" You thrust out your hand toward the grimdark young man, causing numerous spears of rock to shoot up from the ground at him.

> Serge: Don't get rocked.

You start to tug on the reins, not at all thinking about how you're going to maneuver a horse through a rocky s%$#storm like this, but it seems that you don't even need to direct the horse. Black Thunder dodges them all for you. You even pet him for that, which elicits a quiet, satisfied whinny. Good horse. Best ally.

> Jasper: Stonewall him.

"Grrr!" You can't believe that horse is so nimble. Come to think of it, you don't remember him being that color... not important! Gotta get this runt off of your back! You reach for your scimitar and use it to tap the ground behind you, barely able to reach without throwing yourself off-balance. A huge wall of stone shoots up behind you, entirely too wide to dodge, or even maneuver around without losing your trail.

> BT: Just charge through it.

Serge takes over the narrative because there is no way you're going to let this good horse just slam his skull against that gargantuan thing. You point your hand out at the wall, and shoot forth three balls of dark energy. Kaboom boom boom. When the dust clears, there's a hole big enough for the two of you to jump through. You duck down to reduce your vertical profile as BT makes the jump.

> Jasper: Call out the boys.

"What?!" You glare into the pitch black eyes of your pursuer with a snarl. You then reach for the walkie talkie clipped to your hip. "Come on out, boys. Mess 'im up good." You then refocus your attention forward with a self-satisfied smirk, knowing that there's no way that kid can deal with what's coming at him. You hear the roar of multiple motorcycles behind you.

> Serge: Deal with them.

Looks like you've got company. About five motorcycles come out of the forest beside you, ridden by goons with all manner of weapons. You see a spear, two swords, an axe, and a pistol. This just got really complicated. How are you going to deal with these goons while you're on a horse?

You quickly realize that spending too much time thinking on this will just get you killed. You scowl and reach into your backpack of holding. You are entirely too angry to perform iaido with the required finesse... so it looks like you're gonna have to fall back to standard old kenjutsu.

You unsheathe your katana without the scabbard. "Stand down... or die."

The goons converge upon you. Wrong decision.

> Unleash hell.
&#9834; Gohan Fights Frieza - Faulconer DBZ

The first goon to come in is the spear goon. He lunges at you... and you're gone. He has no idea where you just went. "Up here!" The black veins on your face have expanded considerably. More black power has filled you, and it simultaneously the best and worst kind of intoxcating. You come down on the goon with a hard downward slam of the sword, knocking over the motorcycle and ejecting its rider.

You land on the tipped over motorcycle, which maintains enough of its momentum for you to ride it like a improvised snowboard, shredding dirt and grass as you approach the pistol wielder. He grits his teeth and takes aim, popping off several shots. You spin the sword in front of you with incredible rapidity, deflecting the incoming bullets. You then come up on him just in time to leap off of the sliding motorcycle toward him. You slash through the gun barrel, then whip around with one hell of a side kick to eject him from his motorcycle as well. You land seated on the motorcycle, taking the handle with your free hand.

One of the sword wielders comes up beside you, and on the wrong side for you to engage him. So you forcefully whip the motorcycle around, and allow it to roll backwards. You lean backwards underneath a horizontal cut that just barely misses the tip of your nose, and without missing a beat, you stab him right through the chest with the katana, then kick him away and allow him to die eating your dust. It doesn't pay to work for slavery.

Next up to take his turn is the axe guy, and boy did you underestimate the size of that axe. You get a huge axe head swinging right at you... and once again, you're gone. The goon finds you standing on the axe head, glaring him down with the most horrifyingly soulless and merciless expression he's ever seen. He starts to swing the axe around to try and shake you off, but you've already predicted this and are lunging off of it to knee him in the face and dismount him from his ride.

You look up from your fourth defeated warrior to get a load of the last sword guy, leaping off of his motorcycle at you with his sword raised above his head. You stand firm upon the motorcycle of your fourth fallen foe, somehow managing to keep balance as you grip the hilt of your katana tightly and amass a frightening amount of power. "Your time is up!!" Burst Arte. You swing the sword directly upwards, causing your new assailant to flip about in the air. "Witching Hour!!" And a huge downward cleaving slam to knock him down to the ground. You probably bisected him too, but you can't see through all the dust you just kicked up, and you honestly don't really care.

Swords work weird in this world. Sometimes they cut, sometimes they just hurt arbitrarily. Again, you don't really care.

> Remount your ride.

You leap off of the motorcyle and back onto Black Thunder, who is definitely faster than it at this point. You then glare down Jasper, who is looking back at you, wide eyed and perspiring heavily.

> Jasper: Call in some way bigger guns.

You need way bigger guns to deal with this kid. You release the motorcycle handles just long enough to clap twice. Your Slave of Holding tumbles out of a rift in space, and you're adept enough to snatch the Earth Gem out of her hands before she hits the ground and tumbles away unceremoniously. Probably dead. Oh well. Gonna have to appoint another one to manage your inventory.

You lift the gem up into the air. "Come to me, mighty earth dragon!" The gem glows with a bright yellow light just before you crush it in your hands. You then grin and wait.

> Serge: Become aware of the ground rumbling.

The ground is starting to rumble. What the hell is going on? You look down at it, and look all around you. Except for in front of you, which is where you would have seen a giant brown dragon shoot up out of the ground. Black Thunder whinnies and comes to a halt, barely able to keep from toppling over.

You look up at the dragon and scowl. This is just great. You can't fight this thing and pursue Jasper at the same time. You hop off of Black Thunder and glare at it.

> One-shot it with Ain Soph Aur.

With pleasure. Your entire body glows with an intense blacklight aura. "Ain...!" You can't feel your hands tingling with the incredible and also incredibly toxic power that you're gathering. In fact, there is so much physiological objection your body is raising right now that you have willingly numbed yourself to. "Soph...!"

"Halt!" You hear a familiar voice, one you've not had the pleasure of hearing in person for quite some time. Firm. Distinguished. An entirely too nice and too gaudy motorcycle skids to a stop right next to you... Brutus! Another motorcycle skids to a stop on the other side. This one is a black and red motorcycle, with Kersh riding it. The two dismount their rides and ready up next to you. Kersh removes a pair of silver pistols from his trenchcoat, and Brutus... looks like he grabbed that greataxe that one of the goons was using.

"It is unwise to poison yourself further with that power," says Kersh.

"Screw you!" you bite back as venomously as possible, your voice noticeably warped... malfested, one might even say. "I'll do whatever it takes to get Ellie back, and I'm not losing the trail here!"

"We do not need the trail," says Brutus. "We know the precise location of Stone's establishment."

"We will deal with this obstruction together," says Kersh. "We won't dally... but we won't resort to dangerous and hasty options."

"Fine," you submit reticently. You see no reason to mistrust them, at least not Kersh, since he has apparently been in pursuit of the slaver for quite some time. You grasp the katana in both hands and ready up.

> B-B-B-BOSS BATTLE!!!
&#9834; The Brink of Death - Chrono Cross



Wait, hold on a second.

> Why is Brutus here?

That's a good question. And in order to answer it, you are now Brutus. Aw snap, bossblocked. You woke up at the considerably more sane time of 9:30 AM and have occupied your time since then distractedly dealing with various small corporate matters.

It's almost noon now, and you've been worrying about your visions ever since you woke back up. Tanya hasn't been online for you to pester her, so you've had to just... deal with it. You noticed in the socialization feed on your computer and on your phone that Elina and Serge are at the Red Dragon Inn together. You're not privy to their interactions, but you see no reason to bother them.

> Go to your observatory.

That's a great idea. Watching the beautiful city will get your mind off of things. You leave the office and take the hallway to the mansion's elevator, riding it to the very top floor. You stand out on the balcony of your father's bedroom. It's not a *real* observatory, but there's a great view, and a telescope lets you see just about everything in the city.

> Notice a group of people moving through the city.

Yep. You notice those people. ... But something seems wrong about them. They're a fairly large group, appearing to be dressed in similar colors, kinda brownish, leathery. They're carrying some stuff, but you can't tell what any of it is. Laser surgery has kept your eyes sharp, but you can't see that far out.

> Use the telescope, dummy.

Oh yeah, that. You hunch down and align your eyes with it. Your father's not nearly as statuesque as you are. You point the telescope at the group of people. Oh my. They all look rather brutish. Most of them have shaved heads, all of them look very unkempt. They all have the same symbol on the back: a mountain with a lion's head carved into it.

> Recognize the symbol.

You... you know that symbol! You've seen it on the news, and in reports from the Kaisercorp branch in Skycrest! That's a slaver's symbol! You don't know who the slaver is though, because like a genius, you dismissed his activities as unimportant when you first heard of him, before you started having your visions. You wish you hadn't done that now.

> Extrapolate their trajectory.

You move the telescope in the direction they appear to be going, keeping an eye out for any landmarks. You run into a rather big one: the Red Dragon Inn. Your heart drops like a stone due to the circumstantial simultaneity. Elina and Serge are there... is that where this group is going?!

> Try not to flip off the handle.

Okay, calm down. Calm down. If the huge bad juju you're feeling is to be trusted, this is the day it all starts. All the stuff you've been foreseeing begins today. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

> Pester Elina.

You have to get in contact with Elina. Get her to get out of there. Deep breaths. Try not to lay it on too thick... You take out your phone and pester away.

Pesterlog wrote:vigorousOx started pestering sillyFlower at 12:06 PM

VO: GOOD DAY, ELINA.
SF: uuuugh... why do you gotta be so stuffy?
VO: I AM NOT STUFFY.
SF: yes you are! you always talk so formal and you always call me by my full name.
VO: IT IS SIMPLY IN MY NATURE.
SF: just... nevermind. *le sigh* what's up?
VO: I NOTICED IN MY SOCIALIZATION FEED THAT YOU AND SERGE CHECKED IN AT THE RED DRAGON INN.
SF: yes?
VO: I ADVISE THAT THE TWO OF YOU CLEAR OUT OF THAT AREA IMMEDIATELY.
SF: uhhh... why?
VO: THERE IS TROUBLE AFOOT THERE.
SF: trouble? like what? are there cultists hanging around there again?
SF: ooh! or are the soda taps suspected to be poisoned again?
SF: ooh! or is the stew finally going to rebel against all life on this planet?
VO: WHY MUST YOU SPEAK TO ME WITH SUCH ATTITUDE?
SF: because there's never actually any trouble!
VO: NONSENSE.
SF: no, not nonsense! you are always so quick to believe these tabloid rumors!
SF: and you always make it a federal issue about our safety!
SF: look, i appreciate that you look out for us, really.
SF: but it's gotten way past silly and is now just a huge annoyance.
SF: you gotta stop believing everything you read so easily!
VO: NO, THIS TIME IT IS DIFFERENT.
VO: I DID NOT READ ANYTHING. I SAW THE TROUBLE MYSELF.
SF: oh, is that so?
VO: I SAW A GROUP OF WARRIORS WEARING THE EMBLEM OF A MALICIOUS ORGANIZAION ON THEIR BACKS, HEADING IN THE INN'S DIRECTION.
SF: oh really. malicious organization, huh?
VO: INDEED. I HAVE READ OF MANY OF THEIR VILLAINOUS ESCAPADES.

Too bad you don't actually remember any of those escapades due to dismissing them like an aloof corporate heir. Dumb stupid dumb. She might actually be able to believe you if you could remember any of it!

Pesterlog wrote:SF: you know what? no. look. cut it out.
SF: serge and i just straight up kicked a guy's butt.
VO: WHAT?
SF: he started some trouble, and we beat him up.
SF: so we can take care of ourselves. we don't need you looking out for us!
SF: and we don't need your hyper-paranoid warnings and made up stories!
VO: ELINA, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I NEED YOU TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING FOR ME.
SF: nope. no no no. lalalalala.
SF: i'm done letting you be paranoid about us.
SF: send me a message when you actually want to hang out, like we used to.

sillyFlower ceased pestering vigorousOx at 12:20 PM

Oh god. That went terrible. That could not have gone worse. And they fought someone?!

> Continue trying not to flip off the handle.

You pace back and forth on the balcony, biting your fingernails. You've never been this out of sorts before in your life. You're positive you just saw the start to the tragedy you've been dreaming about for so long, and you blew the chance you had to stop it by trying too hard all those times before. Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"Master Brutus." A gentle female voice interrupts your bout of self-cursing. You look over to one of the older maids, Madeleine.

"G-greetings, Madeleine. How can I help you?"

She frowns sadly, sympathetically. "Master... I've known about your dreams. I know how they've been haunting you more and more every waking minute." Your eyes widen in surprise. There's not really much that can shame you with her since she's been around since you were very young, but you are surprised at her perceptiveness.

"Master, I understand you worry for your friends, and it is an admirable quality... but your friends are adults. They can take care of themselves, and our watch is very competent, far more so than many of the other major towns on the planet."

"But Made--"

"No buts, Master." She holds out a teacup for you. "Have some tea, and calm yourself, please. The dreams are just what they are... dreams."

You know that's bull... but you oblige her anyways. You accept the tea and take a sip, trying earnestly to calm your nerves as you head to the elevator with the kindly maid. You can't act in a panicked state anyways.

> Go back to your room and channel surf.

You return to your room and begin sipping at your tea, ruminating upon the situation while idly flipping through the channels. Your nerves are slowly calming, but you're still on edge. Game shows. Reality TV. Weather.

You know that the entire incident is likely starting right now while you're sipping tea. But nonetheless, you can't act hastily. You lack information, and your station is far too high to act without it. It would reflect badly on your company. Music. DIY. Cartoons.

You represent far more than just yourself, as the heir apparent to Kaisercorp. It is an unfortunate balance to be burdened with, one that Tanya need not concern herself with. At the same time though, she also lacks resources that you have in spades. Comedy. Animals. Breaking news about a slaver attack.

> Wait, what was that last one?

"...station attacked by members of a slaver organization headed by a man named Jasper Stone."

You drop your teacup immediately, which shatters on the floor, and stand up, mouth agape. Oh god. It has literally already started. Madeleine passes by the open door to your room, and hears the news. She gasps, then frantically runs to put herself between you and the giant TV, extending her arms outward. "Master, no! I cannot allow you to get involved in this!"

"Madeleine! Did you know?!" You grit your teeth, furious with the kindly maid for the first time ever.

"I... I put the pieces together just as you did, using the clues on your markerboard. This is dangerous, Master! There is too much on your shoulders! You are the heir of a corporate empire! I cannot allow you to risk so much for even your friends!"

You frown sternly and use her own words against her. "Madeleine, I am an adult. I can take care of myself."

"But Master!--"

"No buts, Madeleine. I command you to stand down." You've always had the authority to command the maids as you deem fit, but you've never seen any reason to use that authority until now. She responds by gulping down a lump and moving out of your way.

> Watch the TV.

You unfortunately missed a lot during your argument with Madeleine, but you catch the rest of the important details, which match your visions so far. A young lady being captured, certain to be Elina. Especially due to the young man who seems to have given chase after being consumed by dark powers. Serge.

Now is the time to act. You must contact Tanya immediately and figure out some sort of plan. "Madeleine, please leave me."

"Master, wait." Madeline pipes up once more. You look to her. "The chumhandle on your markerboard almost certainly belongs to Detective Kersh Caliber... of the Seraphim Knights."

Your eyes widen in surprise, and you look over to the chumhandle in question. surlMemorium. How does she know that? "You have done better research than I, it seems. How did you know this?"

"His name has appeared consistently in regards to the slavery attacks in Skycrest. He has been pursuing Stone for quite some time. Out of curiosity, I researched him further and found out about his abilities. He wields the collective memories of a kingdom in another realm called Surl. That is almost certainly what that chumhandle on your board represents."

"Interesting... Thank you, Madeleine." You smile at her and start to wave her off, but she interrupts you.

"I'm sorry, Master. I... I was also able to figure out that these slavers would be responsible for the capture of your friend. Once I saw that chumhandle on your board, I connected the dots between him and the slavery group. I held back the information because I did not want you to get involved unless I could be sure you would be able to do so safely... but now that the clock has struck midnight, it is too late for that. Please forgive me." She bows deeply at the waist.

> Forgive the nice lady and get to work.

"...It is okay, Madeleine. I appreciate how you have always looked out for me, like a second mother. Please be well. I shan't be long." She bows deeply once more, and exits your room, allowing you to tend to your computer and check Pesterchum.

Surprisngly, Tanya is not online. Is she already putting something into motion? Surely she is aware that the excrement has hit the whirling device. You look over to the markerboard to double-check the chumhandle one last time. surlMemorium. You add it to your chumroll and it pops up as online immediately.

> Pester Detective Caliber.

Pesterlog wrote:vigorousOx started pestering surlMemorium at 1:04 PM

VO: DETECTIVE KERSH CALIBER OF THE SERAPHIM KNIGHTS?
SM: Who are you? How did you obtain my handle? This is not public information.
VO: MY NAME IS BRUTUS KAISER. I AM THE HEIR TO KAISERCORP, AND A PERSONAL FRIEND OF BOTH THE CAPTIVE, ELINA, AND THE PURSUER, SERGE.
SM: I see. I deeply regret what has happened in regards to your friends.
SM: However, I must prohibit civilian involvement at this time.
VO: I OBTAINED YOUR CHUMHANDLE IN A DREAM.
SM: What?
VO: YOU ASKED HOW I OBTAINED YOUR HANDLE. THAT IS HOW.
VO: I HAVE BEEN HAVING PRECOGNITIVE VISIONS IN REGARDS TO THIS INCIDENT FOR A LONG TIME.
VO: BOTH MYSELF AND ANOTHER WOMAN NAMED TANYA STRIDER.
VO: THIS STORY HAS A VERY UNHAPPY ENDING, AND I WISH TO CHANGE THAT.
SM: How intriguing. Indeed, precognition would have been one of the only ways to obtain my handle.
SM: However, that still does not change my stance.
SM: I am prohibiting civilian involvement. Please allow me to handle this situation.

Damnit. Another conversation that isn't going well.

> Use your corporate clout.

You are a man of considerable resources. After all, you are the heir to Kaisercorp. There has to be some way to persuade him to let you join. The Seraphim Knights are adventurers for hire... you could just hire the guy, but you were under the impression that the team is presently out of commission, and has been for some time. You perform a search in your internet browser, and immediately find an entry for his bio page on the Skycrest police force website. Oh, this is interesting.

Pesterlog wrote:VO: DETECTIVE, YOU ARE PRESENTLY WORKING FOR THE SKYCREST POLICE FORCE SINCE THE SERAPHIM KNIGHTS ARE CURRENTLY DISBANDED, AM I CORRECT?
SM: Yes, that is correct. Why do you ask?
VO: THE SKYCREST POLICE FORCE RECEIVES ONLY A PORTION OF ITS FUNDING FROM THE CITY.
VO: AS SKYCREST IS ONE OF KAISERCORP'S MOST SUCCESSFUL LOCATIONS, WE HAVE A VERY VESTED INTEREST IN THE CITY'S WELL-BEING.
VO: KAISERCORP IS THE PRIMARY SHAREHOLDER IN THE COMPANY THAT IS THE SKYCREST POLICE FORCE.
VO: AS I AM THE HEIR TO KAISERCORP, AND AM CURRENTLY IN A FORMAL AUTHORITATIVE POSITION IN THE COMPANY...
VO: THAT TECHNICALLY PUTS ME IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY OVER YOU.
VO: THUS, I AM COMMANDING YOU TO ALLOW ME TO JOIN YOU IN YOUR EFFORTS.
SM: How interesting... Indeed, all of that is true.
SM: When you put it that way, I suppose I have no right to refuse.

Hell yeah, corporate clout!

Pesterlog wrote:SM: I will allow you to join me, but I have one condition.
VO: WHAT IS THAT CONDITION?
SM: Please consider and respect your own limits. If the situation becomes too dangerous for you, I must request that you remove yourself from it.
VO: I ACCEPT YOUR CONDITION.
SM: Very well. I have determined the precise coordinates of Stone's Rhy'Din establishment through a thorough interrogation of one of his cronies.
SM: I will depart immediately. I will send you a map file containing the coordinates to head toward.
SM: I also recommend that we exchange location cookies so that we may track each other's locations and meet up as soon as possible.
VO: VERY WELL.
surlMemorium has sent an attachment: stone.map
surlMemorium has sent his location cookie.
vigorousOx has sent his location cookie.
SM: I will meet you on the battlefield.
VO: SEE YOU THERE.

vigorousOx ceased pestering surlMemorium at 1:11 PM

Perfect. Now THAT conversation went well. You have made allies with a figure of significant strength in this conflict. You may be able to make a difference after all.

> Use the motorcycle. Be the rider.

You smile with determination as you exit your room and head for the garage where your trusty steed rests. Except it's not really a steed, but a top-of-the-line motorcycle, blinged and souped up to the max. You ride with power and style. Time to get going.

> Skip to the Earth Dragon.

Later that day, you're staring up at a giant earth dragon, wielding a giant axe dropped by an enemy that Serge presumably felled. The axe is no trouble for you to wield. But you are pretty sure that you are about to crap your pants. What have you gotten yourself into?

> B-B-B-BOSS BATTLE!!!
&#9834; The Brink of Death - Chrono Cross



Hey, I wonder how Ellie's doing?

You get bossblocked yet again and suddenly become Ellie.

> Aw, damnit! Fine, despondently regard situation.

You are a slave. The very thought of that has made you cry ever since you got stuck into that sidecar, and you've cried so much that you literally cannot cry anymore. You have used up all of the tears. Part of you wants to believe that someone will come save you, but slavery wouldn't be so lucrative if that were a thing that regularly happened. The thought that you'll never get to see your friends again... to see Serge again... agonizes you more than words can describe. It is a reality that you don't want to accept, but are presently trying to force yourself to. You're choked up, but you still can't cry.

> Observe surroundings.

You are stuck in a filthy, dirty cell. And you do really mean dirty. It's like someone just dug a hole in a wall of dirt, slapped in a toilet and a sorry excuse for a bed, and put bars in front.

> Observe inventory.

You have no inventory. Your purse has been taken away from you. All you have are the clothes you are wearing, including that scarf you put on to ride Thunder. Who you also miss terribly.

> Succumb to fatigue.

This entire situation, along with all the crying, has drained you of everything. You trudge over to the bed and flop down upon it, quickly losing consciousness even though it is literally the most uncomfortable surface you have ever slept upon.

> Dream.

You feel like you don't even have the energy to dream. You don't even really want to. You don't want to imagine all the things you could do if you were only free. It would only hurt too much. So instead, you dream of blackness.

"Hey!"

A feminine voice pierces the darkness. You know that voice. A pink light shines despite your efforts to dream of nothing. "Wake up!" You feel that you suddenly have a presence inside this darkness, and you raise your arm to try and shield yourself from the light. You don't want to wake up. A woman steps out from the pink light and approaches you. You thought you knew this girl, and you do!

> Enter name.

"Pixie...?" You whisper out weakly.

"Yup! The one and only, Tanya 'Pixie' Strider!" The light fades, allowing you to see her. She is a tiny little thing, in stark contrast to your friend Brutus. Her nickname is quite appropriate. She has long, wavy maroon hair tied in a high ponytail. She dresses in a very metal/punk style. A short, pleated maroon skirt is worn over black and pink striped leggings. Black and pink sneakers cover her feet. A black t-shirt with the cover of Metallica's Master of Puppets is worn underneath a maroon hooded jacket. Her expensive black headphones are worn around her neck like an improvised necklace, and pink bracelets adorn her forearms. Light maroon stars hang from her earlobes. Purple eyes regard you with a smile, her expression bearing a sense of confidence that she just can't seem to ever shake off. She is the bomb diggity and she knows it.

"Pixie... why are you here?" You can feel your voice quiver, and tears building up. Oh, that's great. Your dream self can cry again. "I won't ever get to see you again for real... I don't want to dream about you!!"

She closes the distance between the two of you and puts a finger on your lips. "Shooshshooshshooshshooshshoosh. Shoooooosh." You allow yourself to be shooshed, and your tears are somehow held at bay for now. "I'm forcing myself into your dream. I gotta talk to you. You can't give up here, E. Not now!"

"But what can I do? I can barely fight and the only thing I can fight with got taken away! Even if I were to get out somehow, I wouldn't be able to find it, and I wouldn't be able to find my way out! I may just die trying to get out! I don't want to die... it would hurt you all more than if I were to just be a slave for the rest of my life!"

"E, c'mon!" She grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you a bit. "This isn't like you! There's too much love in your heart to just let everything be snuffed out by some dirty jackass who managed to get lucky and snatch you up! Slaves have escaped before! They have been saved before! And they're going to succeed again!" She taps the tip of your nose. "You're gonna get outta this!"

"How are you so sure? How can you say that with such confidence?!" Pixie's constant confidence is actually hurting you more due to the desperate reality of the situation. Despite being the bomb diggity, she never was particularly perceptive of others' feelings, though not necessarily inconsiderate.

"Because. B and I knew this was gonna go down. We've known for a while, we just didn't know how and when, and what to do. But we caught the critical moment. The start of all of this. The point where the excrement hit the whirling device. And now we can change everything!"

"Huh...?" You're a little bit dumbfounded, especially considering the huge grin plastered across her face.

"Look. S, B, and K are on their way to help bust you out. They know where you are." S? That's Serge! Serge is coming?! That on its own lights a flame of hope inside you. B is Brutus... and K... is K Kersh? Did Pixie meet Kersh and already nickname him or something? Regardless... they're coming for you! There may be hope yet! You actually manage a sort of smile, but you're tearing up again.

"Hey hey hey, shoosh shoosh shoooooosh." You get shooshed again. "Don't start the waterworks yet. There's a catch. This is still a very dangerous operation despite the firepower coming for you. You need to meet them halfway or they may not succeed!"

"W...what?! But how am I supposed to do that if it's dangerous even for them?!"

"That's easy. Slave establishments are most often structured on the basis that the strongest opposition will come from the outside and go in. Something coming from outside is a very dynamic variable, so all the firepower has to be stationed on the outside to shoot it down. Meanwhile, the inside is very much controlled. With every slave stuck in a cell, they're no threat as long as the cells aren't crap. The weakest firepower stays inside." You nod rapidly as you listen attentively. Pixie is always smartest when you least expect her to be. You had no idea she was bulking up on slavery info. Then again, if she really did know about your impending capture... oh crap, and Brutus too?! You suddenly feel terrible for constantly brushing off his warnings.

"Hey hey hey! Pay attention!" Pixie snaps repeatedly right in front of your eyes to snap you out of your guilty stupor. "Okay, where was I...? Right. So the weakest firepower stays inside since slaves aren't expected to get out. But even if a slave were to get out and get past that weakest firepower, they'd still run into the stronger firepower stationed on the outside. It's kind of a gradual thing. The more you escape, the stronger opposition gets. And if one slave were to be particularly problematic, they'd have the outside firepower and even the big boss on them. Anyone who could handle all that really wouldn't have become a slave to begin with."

You frown. "Why are you telling me all that? It sounds like a hopeless situation!"

"Because this situation is special." That wide grin appears again. "This place is going to be attacked from both the inside and the outside. From the inside, by you. And from the outside, by SBK." An 'ohhhh' expression overtakes your face. It's already clicked for you, but she explains further anyways. "The more problematic you become, the more resources have to be sent to keep you in. But the more problematic they become, the more resources have to be sent to keep them out. Their forces will be split in half and possibly driven into confusion by the split! This makes it way more feasible for both sides!"

"I... I see! But are you sure I can really get out?" You're not letting yourself get too hopeful, not yet.

"Oh yeah, totally!" She waves off the question with a hand. "I believe in you, E!" She squeezes your shoulders. You can't hold back the tears anymore. You wrap the little Pixie up in a big hug and just let it all go. "D'aww... there there, E. It's 'kay. You're gonna see me for real soon, okay?"

"Okay..." You don't dare to assume that she's coming with Serge's team. She's so tiny, how could she actually fight? You can believe Brutus managing somehow due to how naturally strong he is, but not Pixie.

"Alright..." She releases you and steps back. "You're gonna wake up now." She rubs her hands together, then claps hard, a cloud of sparlking dust billowing forth from her hands.

> Wake up.

You wake up and sneeze, as if the stardust actually affected your real world body. You hear an older lady in another yell call out, "Gezundheit." You call back, "Thank you." You hear a guard outside snap back, "Shut up!"

> Once again, observe your surroundings.

Fueled by Pixie's encouragement, you stand up from your hella uncomfortable bed and look around carefully. You start with your cell. There's not really much of use here. Pillow, bed with no sheets, toilet. There's not anything else in here.

You walk up to the bars and look around outside the cell. Your cell block seems to be arranged in a sort of square, with a room in the middle obstructing you from seeing through to the other side of the block. Guards pace about lazily from time to time. You can see that they keep the cell keys on their person, dangling from their belts. They're using those clippy fastener rings. Each cell is closed by a barred door with a lock on the outside.

You hear one of the guards speak out. "Hey Bob, we're going on lunch. Can you handle these wenches on your own?" The guard that is presumably Bob responds. "Please. I handled your mom on my own last night, I can handle these wenches." Oooh, sick burn. So that's good news. You'll only have one guard to deal with, at least in this block.

You are still unarmed. You're gonna have to Metal Gear Solid this; avoid fighting as much as possible! You may be able to find your purse somewhere, and it may be wise to prioritize that once you're out.

> Check stats.

-= Ellie: LVL 2 =-
HP: 720/720
TP: 25/75
BG: 0%/100%
STR: Low
MAG: Very Low
DEX: Very High
AGI: High
PUL: High

Your HP is lower than average. Average for level 2 is about 900. You are at the base TP; you can Guard Impact once if you get in trouble, or use a couple of artes once you have your sword back, but you'll need to fight to build it up. That holds true also for the Burst Gauge. You haven't joined up with SBK, so you can't benefit from their meter gains. In fact, you're not sure they're even here yet, and all your efforts would be for naught if you ran into the full force of the outer defenses.

You're pretty weak. You can't hit very hard at all, especially not without a sword. Forget about moving heavy things on your own. And you can forget about using magic to do anything. However, you are super graceful, acrobatic, light on your feet, and pretty fast. The Pulchritude stat is unique to you, and it represents your personal charm. You may be able to use charisma to your advantage in certain situations.

> Eavesdrop on another guard conversation.

"Hey, before you go, what's this email about the place being under attack?" you hear Bob ask. "Oh, just three hacks. They'll probably be dealt with soon enough," replies another guard.

That's them! They're here! You feel your heart light up. Pixie was right! That means the time to act is now!

> Begin Jailbreak.

Time to blow this popsicle stand. But how?

What will you do?

> _

> Use your feminine wiles.

You stand up close to the bars and start batting your eyelashes. You do so for like two minutes despite the fact that nobody is around to see it.

This is stupid.

> Kiss the guard!

One: he's not around to be kissed; he's off in that center room doing who knows what. Two: he really isn't your type.

> Fake a heart attack.

You writhe around on the ground for several minutes without results. You're going to have to find a way to die more convincingly.

> Find a bottle of ketchup and use it to fake your own death.

That's a pretty great idea! Except... where the hell are you gonna get ketchup?

You see the singular guard, Bob, finally come out of that square dirt room. He has a burger and fries, and he's munching on the fries as he goes around. He's probably doing it on purpose to show off the fact that he gets to eat actual food while you and your fellow slaves get to eat... actually, you don't know what you get to eat yet. Still, what a dick.

You see a bottle of ketchup dangling from the back pocket of his jacket. What kind of dumbass puts a back pocket on a jacket? It looks pretty precariously perched.

> Snatch it!

Your arms are able to fit between the bars, luckily. You wait for the guard to move past, then reach out and snatch the bottle of ketchup, waiting to see if he notices. He continues on his way, munching his fries obliviously. What a tool.

You wait for him to be out of sight, then open up the bottle of ketchup and squirt a bunch of it all over yourself. A little bit of smearing to make it look convincing... that should do it! You then close up the bottle, reach through the bars, and slide it across the ground past the corner he came from so that he'll think he dropped it earlier on.

Not long after you do that, you hear him mumble something about dropped ketchup and stupid back jacket pockets. Good. The setup is ready.

> Let out a loud, agonizing shriek in hopes the guard will come in to see what's going on.

It's showtime. You lay down on the ground, and let loose with said loud, agonizing shriek, then closing your eyes as the final touch to selling this oscar-worthy performance.

"What the...?!" you hear Bob say bewilderedly, before you hear running footsteps coming up to the gate. "Oh, s#!%!" You hear the jingle jangle of keys... then the unlocking of the door, and the squeal of it opening. God, that thing needs some WD-40. Luckily, you don't cringe at the sound.

The bait has been taken. The hatches are open. Now to take him out. But how?

You could see this going all sorts of wrong from here on out, so you hit F5 and enable automatic savestate generation, because you're a dirty, dirty cheater.

> _

> Wait till he gets close enough... then punch him square in the nuts!

You feel a little apprehensive about this course of action, but you can't think of anything better to do. You hear him step up to you, and you can smell his stench. And you can hear him sniffing. "...Is that... ketchup?"

Oh, balls.

You snap into an upright sitting position with your fist extended outward. Objective: profound genital abuse. Your fist snaps straight into Bob's nuts. You hear him moan raspily just before he drops to his knees. That's some Rhy'Din's Funniest Home Videos stuff right there.

> Leap into that wrestling move where you use your agility and great lower body strength to strangle him with your legs.

Wrestling? You don't really watch wrestling... but you're in kind of a desperate situation so you improvise. You jump onto his shoulders, wrap your legs around his neck, and twist around so that you end up behind him, bending over backwards and pulling tight, putting your hands on the ground to support yourself.

He's not weakened enough for that to work just yet, especially considering your Strength is so low. So in response, he stands up (not hard since you're pretty light), grabs you by the legs, and slams you against the ground. You are unconscious. Game Over.

-= Rewind to prior command prompt. =-

> Don't forget to use the people's elbow.

Right, of course. It's completely logical to soften him up some more first while he's weakened by the nut punch before you do anything crazy like try to choke him out with your legs.

You can still kick okay, so you swing a kick at his head to knock him over, then backflop with an elbow extended, driving its point right into his sternum. Out goes all of his breath. All of it.

> Leap into that wrestling move where you use your agility and great lower body strength to strangle him with your legs.

Wrestling? You don't really watch wrestling... but you're in kind of a desperate situation so you improvise. Just as he starts to struggle back up, you jump onto his shoulders, wrap your legs around his neck, and twist around so that you end up behind him, bending over backwards and pulling tight, putting your hands on the ground to support yourself.

All the air's been knocked out of his lungs, so he doesn't really have it in him to retaliate, even despite your low Strength. You squeeze tight and successfully choke him out.

Bob is defeated. You snatch his keys and step outside of the cell. That's one small step toward freedom.

> Examine new surroundings.

You walk around the perimeter of the cell block. You can't help but look into your neighbouring cells. And it's only just now that you notice that your neighbors have been cheering for you, fists pumping through the bars with renewed vigor.

"Hey, come let us out!" "Yeah, let us out!" "C'mon, hurry up!"

"That's not a good idea," you hear the subdued voice of an older woman respond. It's the cell directly to the left of yours. The cheering ebbs away.

"Why the hell not?!" snaps back another woman from somewhere behind you. "Why should she get out and not us?!" That is a good point. You suddenly feel compelled to let them all out.

"Because we'll be a liability," responds the older woman. "You heard what the guards said; she can fight. If she has to take us all with her, that also means she has to protect us. Not to mention then being obligated to release every other slave she meets on the way."

"Who said she has to protect us?!" yells out another woman. "We've got power in numbers!"

"But at the same time, that's also a higher number of people that could die trying to get out."

Another more soft-spoken woman is inclined to agree with the older woman. "There's also the issue of punishment... if we don't escape, those of us who survive trying will be horribly punished." Murmurs of debate among the various slaves follow.

You are suddenly not so sure if you want to let them out yet. You stroke your chin, considering. "Do not fret, young lady," says the older woman. "The first thing you should do is retrieve your Item of Holding. It's not in this cell, but I don't believe it is far from here. Once you are capable of fighting at 100%, then decide if you wish to free us. I will not begrudge you either way." You nod in affirmation.

> Check out the center room.

You notice the exit to the cell block directly across from the entrance to the center room. You peek into the center room. There's a plain square table with four chairs. Two cabinets. A desk with a computer on it. A microwave. A refrigerator. The meal that Bob was eating is sitting right there on the table. A cheeseburger and fries.

What now?

> _

Not a lot of commands coming in... How about we go into the past and finally take a look at that boss fight?

> Yes! B-B-B-BOSS BATTLE!!!
&#9834; The Brink of Death - Chrono Cross



You are now Kersh. You have unquestionable seniority over your ragtag team of combatants, seeing as one has absolutely no combat experience, and one has a little bit of experience but has completely flown off the handle. At least he seems willing to cooperate with you.

> Check stats.

-= Kersh: LVL 2 =-
HP: 800/800
TP: 50/75
BG: 0%/100%
STR: Low
MAG: High
DEX: High
AGI: Medium
CUN: High

-= Serge: LVL 2 =-
HP: 900/900
TP: 25/75
STR: Slightly Low
MAG: Very Low
DEX: Medium
AGI: Medium
ASP: High

-= Brutus: LVL 2 =-
HP: 1100/1100
TP: 25/75
STR: Very High
MAG: Very Low
DEX: Low
AGI: Low
SOP: High

Kersh's unique stat is Cunning. You can be relied on to quickly devise clever solutions to unique problems. You manage the Burst Gauge because you are the party leader.
Serge's unique stat is Asperity. He can intimidate some enemies with the magnitude of his hatred.
Brutus's unique stat is Sophistication. He can intimidate some enemies with the magnitude of his class.

> What does the scouter say about his power level?!

You reach into your Trenchcoat and pull out a Kaisercorp brand Magic Lens, peering through it at the dragon and pressing the button to scan it.

-= Earth Dragon
HP: 12500/12500
TP: 50/150
BG: 0%/200%

Its HP appears to be over nine thousand. You're not surprised by this news at all.

> Start off on the defensive.

You need to evaluate your comrades' fighting ability before you start going on the offensive, counting on unknown abilities. "Stay on your guard. Wait for it to strike first."

The dragoan roars, then eyes Brutus. A big, meaty dude. Brutus gulps down a lump of fear and steels his nerves. You ready your silver plasma pistols for counterattacking. The dragon swings a claw at Brutus. He doesn't have the agility to dodge, but he raises his hefty axe to block, then ducks under and swings his axe right up at the dragon's underbelly. Right at the soft spot; critical hit. The dragon takes 600 damage. Not bad. You point out your pistol and fire off a few shots while Serge slashes fiercely at the dragon. You both impact its more armored areas and together only tack on 500 more damage.

The dragon roars and directs its attention toward Serge. It swings its tail at him, but he jumps up over it and unleashes an arte whilst in mid-air. "Demon Fang!" With a slash of his sword, a shockwave shoots through the air at a downward angle at the dragon, inflicting another 100 damage. The dragon seizes Serge's vulnerable moment in the air to swing its tail back the other way, smacking him out of the air and inflicting 260 damage.

Brutus steps away from the dragon, and you stand slightly behind him, content to use him as a tank for now despite your initial warning to him. Despite his inexperience, he could easily take a few hits. Serge gets to his feet behind the dragon with a scowl.

Boss HP: 11300/12500

Serge HP: 640/900 TP: 15/25
Burst Gauge: 20%/100%

> Check artes.

Serge's use of Demon Fang reminds you... you have artes, special attacks that can be chained onto the end of any string of regular attacks and that cost TP to use.

Artes can be chained onto each other endlessly as long as they reach and as long as the TP is available. And the TP is often available as long as you're not hemmorhaging it with reckless arte execution; it automatically regenerates toward 25 when it's lower than that, and is additionally built up through actions like attacking or blocking.

As you are the most experienced fighter, you have the most artes.

-= Kersh:
Base Artes:
AK-22 Storm Edge (10 TP): A quick rush of pistol shots.
Q1-45 Rocket Jump (15 TP): Take out a rocket launcher and use it to jump extremely high. Invincible to enemy attacks, but damages the user.
ST-72 Cyan Instant (12 TP): A horizontal arc of plasma shots.
RT-53 Revolver Blast (12 TP): A front flip while muzzle flashes detonate around the user.
MR-31 Serpent (15 TP): Plant a mine in the ground that is detonated at will. Launches the enemy.
Memory of Sorrow: Eclair de Larmes (14 TP): Light-based magic that lashes out at enemies within a circular radius.
Arcane Artes:
AK-22X Gallant Barrage (22 TP): A more powerful rush of plasma blasts.
RT-53X Napalm Twister (22 TP): A more powerful circle of muzzle flashes.
ZM-12 Azure Heavens (25 TP): Take out a large energy gun and shoot an energy blast into the sky. It rains down two seconds later in many smaller blasts.
Memory of Grief: Piu Grave (25 TP): Light-based magic that creates a powerful pillar to launch the target.
Burst Artes:
SSS-99 Million Dollars (1 BG): A stylish rush of powerful shots. Jackpot.
MR-31ZX Mega Mine (1 BG): A powerful mine that launches the target high.
Mystic Artes:
Memory of Pain: Blast Heart (3 BG): Concentrate painful memories and unleash their sheer force in any direction.
Memory of Camraderie: Goodfellas (???): You're not gonna use this one for a while so forget it.

Wow, that's a lot of artes. Hopefully Serge and Brutus don't have as many. Those Mystic Artes must be really powerful, but you can't use them because three burst gauges aren't available to you yet.

-= Serge:
Base Artes:
Demon Fang (10 TP): Unleash a shockwave along the ground. In mid-air, unleash it 45 degrees downward.
Stone Divide (12 TP): Press against the back of the blade and forcefully push the blade into the target.
Wheel Slash (12 TP): Leap high into the air and fiercely slash downward.
Arcane Artes:
Demonic Chaos (22 TP): Unleash three shockwaves.
Nirvana Cannon (24 TP): Two upward slashes that launch the target.
Burst Artes:
Witching Hour (1 BG): An upward slash followed by a ferocious downward slash.
Ain Soph Aur (???): The limitless shine of darkness sunders enemies.

Oh, that's not so bad. How about Brutus?

-= Brutus:
Base Artes:
Bull Rush (12 TP): Duck down and charge in, mowing down the target.
Poseidon Tide (15 TP): Hook the target with the axe and fling them. Doesn't work as stated on large targets.

That's it? Oh man, all that no fighting experience.

You're pretty sure you can use all of these to good effect. Except Ain Soph Air. Serge isn't allowed to use Ain Soph Aur.

> Brutus: Bait an attack and use Poseidon Tide to pull the dragon over.

This is wracking your nerves. You knew stuff was going to be real, and you thought you were ready for it. But you were so, so wrong. You are fighting an actual dragon. You never thought in your entire life that you would have to fight an actual dragon. And this soon. You can't imagine how much worse it's going to get if this is the start of it all.

> Get a hold of yourself!

Okay. Calm down, Brutus. You can do this. You have to do this! Serge's life depends on it! You peer past the dragon to the scowling young man, his eyes completely pitch black, black veins sprawling out from them. He's in terrible shape. Your resolve is suddenly steeled. Just as the dragon starts to turn its attention to Kersh, you shout up at it. "Come on, smelly! Get a piece of this!"

It seems unfazed by your smack talk. So you decide to get its attention the hard way. Kersh fires off a couple of shots for 200 while it stares him down. Serge runs up behind it and swings a few times for 220. You need to get its attention the hard way. You swing at its front leg a few times, then chain Bull Rush onto the end of that string for a hard shoulder check into it. That's worth 450. Way more attention-worthy.

The dragon roars at you and swings its other front leg at you. You watch the timing carefully, then pop the last of your usable TP for Poseidon Rush, hooking your axe upon the limb and pulling with all of your extraordinary strength. You pull the leg underneath its body, and it roars in objection as you pull it so off-balance that it falls onto its back. Its vulnerable area is exposed.

Boss HP: 10430/12500

Brutus HP: 1100/1100 TP: 9/25
Burst Gauge: 32%/100%

> Kersh: Coordinate a team attack.

"Excellent, Brutus!" You shout out a commendation to your comrade, then get down to business. "Everyone, attack!" You pull your ZM-12 out of your trenchcoat and point it upwards. "Azure Heavens!" You start the coordinated assault by shooting your dispersing laser into the sky.

Brutus starts swinging at the exposed belly with his axe, but due to his lack of fighting experience and lack of artes, he can't come up with anything to stick onto the end of his strings for extra damage. Still, he is the strongest of the party and is certainly pulling his weight.

Serge jumps up to the exposed underbelly, unleashing three cuts to the soft target, then chaining on Demon Fang for the extra hit. A rain of plasma lasers impacts at the same time. Next up, he kicks off of the belly to start a leap, turning a flip and slamming the blade down on the belly. That's Wheel Slash. Finally, he finishes with Demonic Chaos, unleashing three shockwaves that push him away as they impact, allowing him to return to a safe distance.

You decide to act last, running up and switching your ZM-12 for your Q1-45. You jump up and point the rocket launcher at the ground, pulling the trigger and blasting yourself upward with the explosion. You and the dragon take roughly the same damage. Usually you would hurt your target more, but the armored part took the shot.

You reorient yourself in the air and aim down at the dragon with your pistols. First, several regular shots are popped off. Then, "Storm Edge!" A rush of more shots. "Gallant Barrage!" Then a faster, fiercer barrage of shots. And finally, now that your concentrated effots have maxed out your burst gauge... Burst Arte. "Million Dollars!!" You twist and turn in the air as you stylishly rain a flurry of plasma shots down upon the dragon's belly. You level in the air and charge the pistols for one last powerful shot. "Begone!!" Bang. Jackpot.

Despite the height of your launch, you land gracefully on your feet. Your combined efforts inflicted a whopping 7500 damage. Good stuff.

Boss HP: 2930/12500
Kersh HP: 675/800 TP: 12/75
Serge HP: 640/900 TP: 6/75
Brutus HP: 1100/1100 TP: 18/75
Burst Gauge: 0%/100%

> Earth Dragon: Respond vehemently.

Oh god f#$@ your life. You didn't think these humans would be so much trouble. You're stuck on your back. You've fallen and you can't get up. You gotta hurt these guys bad so you can get some breathing room and get up. Preferrably all at once. Sounds like a job for magic, which you have in spades, being an elemental dragon. And hey, their relentless assault filled up your burst gauge so you can hurt 'em bad.

You cast Ground Dasher. A huge earthquake erupts all around you, easily catching your enemies in its radius. Earthen energy pours out of the cracks to damage them. You're of course not affected because 1. it's your spell. 2. you're an earth dragon. You use the opportunity while they're stuck in your spell to get back to your feet.

> Kersh: Fail spectacularly to defend against the spell.

You made the terrible error of thinking the dragon couldn't cast from his back. What a novice mistake. And now you and your whole party is hurting badly. Your magic stat is fairly high so you only take 440. But Serge and Brutus take 630. Ouch.

Kersh HP: 235/800 TP: 19/75
Serge HP: 10/900 TP: 13/75
Brutus HP: 520/1150 TP: 25/75

Serge is in critical condition. Oh, hell.

And it looks like the dragon can tell, too. It turns to face the grimdark young man, who is sweating, bleeding, and panting on his hands and knees.

> Propel Brutus toward Serge so that he can protect him.

"Brutus! Cover Serge, now!" The classy young man grits his teeth and dashes toward Serge as fast as he can... which isn't fast enough. You knew it wouldn't be. You pull out your rocket launcher and shoot it at the ground behind Brutus's feet. You know it's gonna hurt him a bit, but you know he can take it.

> Brutus: Guard Impact.

The explosion launches you toward Serge. The dragon raises a claw to deliver the finishing swipe. You turn in the air and skid to a stop just in time right in front of your friend. The dragon swings the claw. And it slams right into your ready defense: the potent Guard Impact. You slam the handle of your axe right into the claw with a profound ferocity that reverses its momentum and pushes it up onto its hind legs.

Brutus HP: 270/1100 TP: 0/25

> Everyone: Go at it with everything you've got.

You are now Kersh. Your cunning served you very well to not only save Serge, but open up an opportunity to finish the dragon off, as long as you pour everything into one last assault.

You dash around to the front side of the dragon, readying your pistols. You start firing off shots at the belly as Brutus unleashes several upward swings at it with a ferocity that keeps the dragon up on its hind legs. Serge struggles to his feet, then runs in and starts slashing at the belly as well. You run in as well, firing shots as you go to build up as much TP as you can before you get in.

Brutus is running out of steam for those upward swings and the dragon's about to fall back onto his feet. One last coordinated attack!

"Stone Divide!"
"Bull Rush!"
"Napalm Twister!"

The dragon roars out in pained finality. Your last coordinated assault was worth 3000 damage. Just enough to finish it off. You grab Serge by the arm and pull him with you out of the way, and Brutus dashes to the other side as the dragon flops down on its belly, dead. Seconds later, it begins to dissolve in a flurry of yellow light particles.

The Earth Dragon has been slain.

> Level up.
&#9834; Flawless Victory! - Tales of Vesperia

Your team has reached level 3. You have gained a second segment for the burst gauge and can now do Link Artes, powerful coordinated attacks between two people.

Kersh has gained an increase in Cunning and his max HP is now 1100.

Serge has gained an increase in Asperity, his max HP is now 1250, and he has learned new artes.

Base Artes:
Crescent Strike (12 TP): Two strikes that invoke the image of the moon in their weapon trails.
Void Tempest (12 TP): An air-cleaving horizontal swing.

Brutus has gained an increase in Sophistication, his max HP is now 1500, and he has also learned new artes.

Base Artes:
Hades Cannon (14 TP): A ferocious upward swing.
Titan Ax (12 TP): A ferocious swing that inflicts the most damage at tip range.
Arcane Artes:
Apocalypse Rush (25 TP): Two shoulder charges impervious to enemy attacks.
Apocalypse Cannon (26 TP): A ferocious upward swing that can launch any target.
Burst Artes:
Castlemus Doctrine (1 BG): Grab the target, fling them to the ground, stir them up with your axe, and send them spinning away.

> Take care of your team.

Your team is now looking much more capable of combat. Brutus especially has improved drastically. The talents among your team are now much more even, and you're all much stronger for the experience. However, you are all pretty wounded. "Good job, everyone." You reach into your Trenchcoat of Holding and pull out three Kaisercorp brand Miracle Gels., good for consiserable HP and TP recovery.

"Wait, Kersh," interrupts Brutus. "Save those for later." He snaps his finger, and his Butler of Holding emerges from a rift in space, carrying three Lezareno brand Elixirs on a tray. These are good for complete HP recovery and moderate TP recovery.

"Ah... thank you, Brutus. But why are you carrying Lezareno goods?"

"To study them, of course. But the need to use them is far more pressing."

"I see." The three of you take an elixir each and gulp them down as the butler returns whence he came. You prefer the taste of Kaisercorp elixirs over Lezareno elixirs; the former have a more spicy taste as opposed to the latter's more sweet taste. But when it comes to healing goods, taste isn't really of any importance at all.

> Go back to being Ellie and wait for more reader commands.

You return to the present and are now Ellie once more. You're still level 2 because you didn't get to be in that boss fight. You're still in front of the center room to examine it, and you're not sure what to do.

What do, readers?

> _

> Reheat and eat the cheesebuger and fries.

You realize that you're really hungry. And the meal that Bob was eating suddenly looks really appealing. You pop it into the microwave and punch in 30 seconds.

> Eat it cold, wuss!

ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?!

You are nuking that food and no one's gonna stop you. You should make use of those 30 seconds. You ARE in kind of a hurry, after all. Who knows when Bob will come to. Or when his co-guards will come back.

> Crawl under the table.

You crawl under the table and use the chairs to make a fort. Yaaaaaay~

Wow, what a freaking waste of time!

> Check for ketchup in the fridge.

Why would there be ketchup in the fridge? The ketchup is on the ground just outside the room. Who keeps multiple botles of-- oh my god, they keep multiple bottles of ketchup. There are two more in the fridge.

In addition, there are also several cans of soda. Not diet... uuugh. The calories! Not like you're not about to burn them off in a furious escape from the evil clutches of slavery though. You snatch one, pop the tab, and gulp it down like you're really thirsty. Which you are.

> Check the cabinets.

You open up the first cabinet. Nothing but dishes, cups, utensils, and related items. None of which you need because the burger and fries are already on a plate, and they're finger food, so who cares about utensils.

The second cabinet looks far more useful, though. It has a little box in it to turn it into a filing cabinet, with a bunch of folders inside. You see names on the tabs. Do these files concern the slaves in each cell block? There's also a bunch of purses! Oh man, cross dem fingers...

> Search for your Purse of Holding in the second cabinet; you know there's something in there that can help you.

Yeah, there's definitely something in there that can help you: your sword, No Name. And your cell phone to get in contact with SBK. Sadly though, you do find other purses in the cabinet, but none of them are yours. You get the sinking feeling that you're a special case.

> Search for your folder in the filing box.

You flip through each folder, which seems to be sorted by given name. The family names of many of the slaves are not known, and there are some whose given names aren't even known. This is probably intentional. You're pretty sure Jasper doesn't know your-- oops, yes he does. "Ellie Luisante." He must have checked your ID from your purse. Damnit.

You snatch the folder and open it up. Just a few sheets of paper in here. Beeeep. Food's done. This looks like something good to go over while you're eating. You shut the cabinet, grab your food, and start munching. It's mediocre, but you don't care because it's real food.

The first piece of paper just seems to be pictures taken of you when you were brought in. You vaguely remember them doing that. You didn't think you were capable of expressing such misery. The second piece of paper has basic information about you. Nothing really of interest here.

The third piece of paper is where it gets good. You see with multiple underlines, written in big text: "DANGEROUS CAPTIVE!" Underneath it, "Purse is her item of holding, containing a jian of solid construction." Oh, so that's what those chinese blades are actually called. "The purse has been placed in the equipment storage room. Contents crazy and unpredictable. Typical broad." You can't help but feel offended by that.

You finish eating your small meal just as you finish reading your folder. You decide to leave the folder out since it's already fairly obvious that you've broken out. Might as well let them know you're wrecking their s#!t.

You need to find the Equipment Storage Room.

> Go to the computer and access the internet.

You sit down at the computer and open Mozilla Firefox because you know better than to use.. on second thought, you open Internet Exploder just to spite them. Get some spyware, you horrible slavers.

You wonder if you could possibly install Pesterchum on here so you could contact SBK. You zip over to the site and download the installer... but you need administrative credentials to do that and you have no idea what they would be. Darn.

> Check out the browsing history. Be embarrassed.

Against your better judgment, you open the browsing history. You see countless pages researching treating warts where warts shouldn't be. Good god. Ew. That's just. Ew. No. Ew.

> Close that window and never think on it again.

You've already closed it. BLUH!

Surely there must be something of use on this computer.

> Search the documents folder.

You open up the documents folder and search about. You mostly find more documents about the warts. God dammit. Oh, wait. Here's something... map.pdf. You open it up and find a map of the entire complex. HOT DAMN!

Link to map

It looks like these guys don't have clearance to know the layout of the first floor, or anything beyond that. Even so, this is a great find. It'll be much easier to get your stuff back now that you know where to go. What sucks is that in order to get it, you have to go deeper into the complex. And you can tell that floor 4 is the deepest part because there's no way out of it. At least not documnented. Man, if only you hadn't been considered dangerous...

You need to print this, but there's no printer. Damnit!

> Check the desk drawers.

You check through all of the desk drawers and manage to find some blank paper and a fine pen. You appreciate the Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen you fo-- wait a second, this isn't a Pilot Namiki Falcon. That's just a fake label. You peel the label off. Underneath, it says... "Tectrix of the Arbitor." Huh. Is this a cheaper pen made to look finer, or a finer pen made to look cheaper? You decide to hold onto it anyways.

...Wait a second, there's no ink to put it in. What a load of-- what's this pen even here for anyways, then? You manage to find a regular ballpoint pen and use it to copy the map onto a blank piece of paper. What block are you even in? You look over to the door, hoping to see some sort of label... 3E. At least you're not two floors away from your first destination.

> If there's a pen, there's surely a letter opener.

A fair presumption, and one you find to be true. And it's not one of those dumb safety ones either. It's an actual blade. You decide to take it as well. You may find a use for it later.

> Use one of the regular purses in the cabinet to hold all this stuff.

Yeah, a regular purse is definitely better than no purse at all. You fold up the map and search for a relatively empty purse in the cabinet. You find one that just has some money in it and is fairly small. That'll do. You'd dump the money because stealing money from a slave is just double douchey, but if you succeed here, you may just get to give it back to its proper owner. You put the map inside, as well as the Tectrix, the ballpoint, and the letter opener.

> Grab two cans of soda and a bottle of ketchup too.

You may find some use for them, so you snatch a couple of sodas from the fridge and stash them in your purse. And a bottle of ketchup too in case you need to pretend to die again.

> Just dance!

You feel like this escape is going fairly well so far, so you break into dance. You jazz hands. Then you do the monkey. Then you do some swing. Then some flamenco.

Wow, what a freaking waste of time!

> Get back to work!

Bob will surely wake up soon. It was a good choke, but it wasn't that good. You have to get going.

> Exit the cell block.

You quickly run over to the door and swing it open. You hear a loud KA-BONG! on the other side. You turn white and peek around the door. One of the other guards has walked directly into the door and is now knocked out.

Wow, what do you know. All that time wasting paid off. Otherwise that wouldn't have been timed so impeccably. But you were sure there were other guards that went to lunch with him. Where are they? You don't want to stick around to find out.

"What was that noise?!" You hear from somewhere else on the floor.

Oh, balls.

> _