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Post by Vapovile on Apr 7, 2021 9:21:25 GMT
Haven watched as Martha went over and apologized to Akabane, though it seemed to have a mixed reception. But he was still proud of Martha's maturity in going over there regardless. She was still one of the few dolls that he could rely on after Cadence left, and Yuu was still in denial about Marika. Ash wasn't responsible at all, and Jane was still too immature to deal with many responsibilities outside the house. He walked up to the group and glanced at the footprints.
"Looks like we have a trail at least. Let's see where it's headed, shall we?" He asked the group, letting Akabane get a little further ahead before siding next to Martha. "Good work back there, by the way." He gave her a wink and continued onward.
When the group made it to the cave, Haven squinted at the light. "It does seem like someone's inside...maybe some mad scientist who let one of their drones escape. Be careful, everyone." Haven instructed, then looking at Leslie. "Do you mind watching our back? Make sure nothing comes in behind us for an ambush, you know." He asked casually, wanting to make sure the youngest member of the team was the most protected in this enclosed environment. He also wanted her ready should the lights go out and plunge the group into darkness, as the fire would be a perfect light.
His attention was then turned to the area behind them. "Hey, Cally? Can you smell anything in there?" He asked, trying to keep his shy sister involved in the group.
---
"Khag, huh?" Sid asked nobody in particular. The names here seemed foreign alright. No Johns or Sarahs here. He glanced around as they walked across the toxic landscape, Sid making sure to keep his boots out of anything particularly nasty-looking. Casey finally caught up to the group and took note of the land. "So this is all one big corpse, huh...?" Casey wondered aloud. She had no idea they were going to get something like this in a simple-sounding message to recover some eggs.
Sid had no idea what to make of the dead guardian, while Casey did her best to avert her eyes from the carnage. Seeing so much death made her absolutely sick. Sid noticed this disgust and walked over. "I guess you haven't seen gross stuff as much. Hey, that's the reaction normal people should have if you ask me." He said casually. Sid had seen plenty of disgusting scenes in his time working odd jobs, so this didn't phase him much. Casey let out a huff. "Yes, you could say that. I do feel a little out of place now, thank you very much. How on Earth are you all so used to this?" Casey asked nobody in particular. She was about to ask Aimi, but then paused when she remembered that the seamstress was a kitsune, and probably brutally murdered animals like she tried with the lizard just now.
With a silent nod, Casey turned toward Maya and tried to follow what the detective was going to do to give them another lead, doing her best to not look at any of the carnage.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 12, 2021 19:25:02 GMT
The robot they destroyed didn't have any clues so the group followed the only thing they could. Their tracks led to a little hill with a cave opening. A curious glow beamed from inside so Akabane suggested it was a camp. A poorly hidden one, Leslie thought.
"Do you think it could be a trap? Why would they let the light get out if they're trying to hide?" She asked. It didn't stop the group from going in, of course. Leslie was given the task of covering the rear. So for the remainder of the exploration, she kept turning around to make sure nothing was following them. --- Aimi swooshed her tail while Sid and Casey talked. Casey wasn't used to the gore it seemed.
"This is just how nature works," she answered the question even if it wasn't aimed at her. "Dying is unavoidable, weather from sickness or because someone benefited from your death. Even long-lived kitsune have to die once, you know. Once you accept it, scenes likes this just seem natural." Her upper lip twitched as if she was shaking invisible whiskers.
"Call it natural if you want, but I don't accept that." Maya chimed in. "Premature death is a saddening affair and those who bring it about need to be punished. I won't let them get away with it. Or the baby stealing." She crouched by the body to look it over, keeping an eye out in case another spirit attacked from it.
"It seems as if his neck was torn out, much like the one Aimi attacked before. Did anyone hear the explosion? If it was recent, the perpetrator might still be around."
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 13, 2021 6:11:05 GMT
A lone wolf? Nobody waiting for her? “That sounds sad. Wolves are supposed to be in packs, aren’t they?” Martha responded to Akabane. “If you don’t have any friends, I’ll be your first!” With a goofy grin, she popped off back to Haven. “Thanks for telling me to do that. We’re friends now.” She settled into line as they approached the cave mouth, creeping right up to the entrance. “With robots like that, maybe they think they don’t need to? Could somebody with just a spear hurt metal?” Martha said when Leslie asked why the cave wasn’t better-hidden. It just got stranger when they entered.
If Callie sniffed, she would smell fresh paint above all else, and they would soon come across open buckets lying on the floor, and just beyond it, a cavern draped entirely in blue cloth. Under the cloth, the walls and floor seemed strangely flat, and blue foam pads and boxes lay about. The most bizarre feature of the room was its inhabitants. Several robots stood around, working blue rope pulleys to lift an exotic local creature with cardboard wings strapped to its back. Distinct from the morph-suited machines was the being operating a large film camera. He, if he could be read as having any gender at all, wore a white suit, covering his whole body except for his head. That was a rounded glass jar, filled with greenish fluid and topped with a beret, two glinting pieces of yellow glass looking out at what was clearly a movie set, if a poor one. He noticed them belatedly and raised a hand, skeletal and metallic.
“Hey! Hey you! Don’t step on the set!” Was the first thing he said. Then he paused and seemed to think. “You aren’t even supposed to be in here. Didn’t run when the robot chased you eh?” The morphsuited robots released the ropes and the scaly critter was dropped to the floor, immediately bolting away. They were unarmed, but raised their fists threateningly, ready to attack on command.
Maya would find the body quite intact, barely decomposed and still in the grasp of rigor mortis. If he had been dead more than 4 days or so, his body would have relaxed. “Nobody heard. But when he was found, he was fresh. Still loose, looking alive but for his death wound. That was a night ago.” Khag said. “So it was after the main island’s loss of their eggs.” Eustace said. He touched his own neck, looking at the dead body with a look of near-amusement. He began taking notes on the specific visuals of it, comparing it to the horrors he had seen in the Great War and its hideous sequel. “...the damage is from the inside.” He realized. “They didn’t tear his throat out like our fox, they caused his own body to betray him. Like a grenade going off in his throat.”
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Post by othus on Apr 14, 2021 0:32:57 GMT
"What? No, i dont...need friends"-Akabane couldn't even finish her sentence and Martha was already somewhere else, Musashi sighed and looked at the sky.
"My pack is gone"-she said to herself, looking at the clouds drift.
As they reached the cave Callie sniffed and noticed the unnatural contents within, when they got inside Callie immediately bolted behind Martha, while Akabane stepped forward
"No, it's YOU who isn't supposed to be here. The lizards want their eggs back. hand them over before things get ugly"-She threatened the guy as she reached for her weapon.
Daisuke sat on a corner and began messing around with his controls, he made a weapon materialize, then another. once he went for the third one, his virtual machine overloaded, resetting and sending everything away
"Oh come oooooooonnn!, there has to be a way to bypass this, come on baby, let me use more than three guns"
he took a screwdriver out of his pocket and popped his arm open, fiddling further with it.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 18, 2021 19:20:17 GMT
Haven patted Martha's back when she said that she made another friend. "That's fantastic to hear, Martha!" He praised. For all of Martha's brashness, she was unflinchingly honest. It was nice to have that around when having to live with crazy people like Marika, or sneaky people like Yuu. Cadence was also one that was near impossible to read, but she no longer lived with them.
Following the group into the cavern, Haven immediately recognized that they were walking into some sort of production. He had worked on plenty of stages in his work, so this was natural for him. He saw the supposed director address them.
"So you did send that robot after us. You do realize that counts as attempted murder, right?" Haven asked, frowning and forming a purple rectangular shield in front of himself. "So who are you and what are you doing here? I doubt you got planning permission from the island's inhabitants." He asked, prepared to block more incoming laser fire.
---
Casey stared on when Aimi tried to rationalize it was all natural, like she had predicted. But Maya came back with a little more human reaction, wanting to bring these murderers to justice. Her attention then turned to Eustace when he began talking. "Inside...?" She questioned. How on Earth did they manage that? "Think they could have like, snuck a grenade in his meal or something? What does everyone eat around here?" Casey asked the two lizard guides.
Sid, meanwhile, walked over to where Daisuke was and looked over at his work. "Sooooo...what'cha doin', dude?" He asked casually, knowing he wouldn't be much help with the investigation part of this deal.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 21, 2021 20:44:48 GMT
Leslie followed the others through the cavern. Inside, they found a strange production. Robots and someone else making a movie with a weird winged creature. Akabane was the first to speak up, despite the strange director's protests.
"Yeah, give us back the lizard eggs!" Leslie said. "Or we'll trash your crew like the other robot!" She added, trying to sound threatening but the tremor in her voice didn't help. --- Blown up from the inside... Yes, Maya could see that being the case. Casey suggested a grenade being forced down their throat, but Maya suspected something like that wasn't necessary. "A grenade might be too obvious, but if they somehow plugged up the passage for their flame tubes..." She opened the lizard's mouth to inspect the insides, looking for objects, growths, or anything else unusual lodged in there. "Or perhaps the enemy could control fire themselves and make it burn up even from the inside," she mused.
Not being sure how she could help out, Aimi saught other forms of amusement. She noticed Daisuke separating himself from everyone else and Sid following him, so she bounded over to join them.
"Oh, fancy arm. Hadn't noticed that before. Think we can help you tinker with it?" Before he even got to answer, she pressed a random button on it. "You don't have a self-destruct button on here, right?"
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 23, 2021 4:27:52 GMT
“Eggs? What?” The cyborg director sounded genuinely baffled. “Stop rambling about eggs! I’m here to film! Scenic vistas not associated with the work of hacks like Jackson! Nature that is truly untouched!” “People live here, though.” Martha said. “That is irrelevant.” The director said. He was growing even more testy now that they were threatening to destroy his things, and apparently already had already smashed up one of his robots.
“You were entering my film area! You didn’t run when you saw it, what’s wrong with you!?” The director stomped in rage and knocked over his own camera. “NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” His voice took an increasingly metallic tone as he roared. Green lightning crackled around steel claws ripping through the gloves that contained them, his suit tearing away to allow strange-looking turrets to rise up onto his shoulders. One was clearly a flamethrower, a flickering pilot light at the tip of the barrel, while the other resembled some form of mortar, a hollow tube backed up by multiple nubby magazines.
“Grenade?” Khag asked. “I do not know what that is either. We mostly eat meat.” Scalag said. “Eggs too. And their kind when we can catch them.” Khag added, flicking her tongue at Scalag. He hid behind Eustace. Maya found no further clues. No signs of shrapnel, no explosive residue. It might be time to return to the main island.
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Post by othus on Apr 23, 2021 4:55:20 GMT
"Alright everyone, let's all um.."Akabane wasn't even done finishing her sentence before she saw Callie sprinting outside of the cave
"Well fuck"
Musashi immediately followed, shooting behind at anything that chased after her, she was betting that dude was not gonna use the bloody flamethrower inside with all his gear in there, but she was not willing to risk that. Instead, she would much rather face him outside, where she could actually dodge and maneuver.
"What is actually wrong with this island, seriously!"- Akabane took cover behing a rock and shifted her weapon to an antimaterial rifle
"Uggh, I hate shooting with this thing, tires the hell out of me"- As soon as the crazy director came out, she would begin unloading heavy fire.
"I'm fixin to improve this damn thing. You really seem ta be unfazed by everything going on in here dude"-Daisuke looked at Sid kinda weird, people called him crazy, but next to everyone here he was clearly a damn genius. when Aimi came to look at his arm Daisuke sighed.
"Like i told him I am-Whoa what the hell are YOU doing?!!!"- Daisuke replied as Aimi materialized a crusader like blade
"Oh crap, Sabaton, of all weapons"- Daisuke saw how his arm began to blip in erratic ways as his virtual machine interface just went wild, it began swapping weapons at random without him managing to stop it.
"God dammit why did you have to press the damn but-"-Daisuke held his breath when his interface went off. Sabaton disappearing immediately
"Fuck...fuck fuck fuck, I swear, if you left me without my guns, I'm gonna make a coat out of your butt!" Daisuke slapped his arm, hitting it pretty damn hard, lights went on again and he had a sigh of relief.
"Virtual Machine X rebooting...Release mode, 21 guns online"
"AH! I FUCKING DID IT! I AM A GENIUS! TAKE THAT, MAI! I CAN DO IT AS WELL!"
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 24, 2021 7:35:54 GMT
"Wait wait, can we please talk about this?!" Haven yelled out, but shots had already rang out. The director had already summoned his weapons, and Cally running away from the fight. He couldn't blame her, the situation was scary. Waving his hands, Haven commanded his barrier to spin and thin out, trying to slice apart the mortar on the director's shoulder.
"Don't kill him, please!" Haven told the others, seeing Akabane had already fired her rifle at him. Regardless if his attack worked or not, Haven would hop onto his board and fly above the action, summoning a purple block behind the director and trying to knock him on his stomach with the sheer weight of the cube.
---
Sid shrugged his shoulders when Daisuke pointed out unaffected he was. Before he could reply, the cute fox girl bounded up and pressed a button on Daisuke's machines. Sid instinctively backed off, holding an arm out trying to indicate for Aimi to follow.
"That doesn't look good, dude..." Sid tentatively said. Did he have a black hole inside that thing?! But it appeared like Daisuke got the situation under control once more, Sid scratching the back of his head.
"O...k. That was something." Sid craned his head at the others. "Find anything over there? We don't have anything back here. Besides a technocowboy." Sid joked. He then turned to Aimi. "So, you seem to be the danger-loving type of chick, huh? Pressing random buttons like that." He joked, making small talk.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 27, 2021 21:38:27 GMT
Uh, the director guy didn't like them messing with his movie-making. Tearing off his clothes, he revealed a very dangerous looking arsenal. Callie was the first to react, running outside as fast as her legs could carry her. Leslie wasn't stupid, she took off right after her, using her hands to cover her head just in case that could offer any protection. Which it probably wouldn't. At least outside she could find some proper cover. --- "Hm, nothing plugged up any passageways. They were just forced to explode from the inside. Not sure I see any other clues either." Maya mused disappointedly. This case was tougher than she expected. "We might need to go back to the main island. First though, what can you tell me about your ghosts, skalag? What do they do other than scratching and turning invisible? Think they could cause this?"
Nearby, Aimi clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, yay, you got it! Good job." She patted Daisuke's head. "So what can it do now?" She asked.
Turning to Sid, she she smiled a coy grin. "Why, I suppose you could say that. It's hard to find an interesting man if you're not willing to have some fun yourself, you know?"
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 29, 2021 5:07:51 GMT
Nobody seemed interested in deescalating the scene, and when Akabane and Callie bolted, tensions broke. “Get them!” The director commanded, and his robots went to work. “Ah hell.” Martha realized half their team was backing off and decided that might be for the best. “Come on Haven!” She turned, grabbing her remaining sibling and Leslie and kicking off, escaping the cave in an instant. It was another second before anything emerged. A good half-dozen robots provided covering fire first, lashing the cave’s entrance with plasma. Haven was above the blast, while Akabane would find that the stone protected her from the brunt of the blast but not the searing hot air it gave off. Martha ducked, jumped, weaved and wiggled, yelping all the way until she got herself besides the cave, only slightly on fire.
The director emerged, but attempted to back off immediately when Akabane’s shots threw sparks off of his hide. He was blocked by Haven’s block, knocking him flat. He was replaced and guarded by robots, two of them rushing forwards in an attempt to flank Akabane. The director just fired off his mortar at her, launching a smoking bolt in an arc. With a surprisingly weak explosion, it spread a thick cloud of white smoke. It was a special effect of all things. The robots themselves seemed undeterred, and they were joined by a stomping abomination. A shaggy, one-eyed beast came lurching out, slow until he locked onto Leslie and went charging at her with an earth-shaking roar.
“The spirits are fearsome, but they cannot do this. Their danger is in being immune to harm.” Scalag said about the ghosts they had faced. “Well this was a pointless diversion. Are there any islands you simply forgot to tell us about?” Eustace asked the lizardman. “No others with life.” “Dammit. But the signs of the boat. It would have to be somewhere close to be worth taking a boat instead of just teleporting…” Eustace grumbled. “Perhaps we should quit while we’re ahead. Report this to more qualified authorities.” Eustace shrugged. He had had enough. They had been walking around in tropical heat for hours now without anything actually happening, as far as he was concerned. He had missed both fights even!
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Post by othus on Apr 30, 2021 1:02:57 GMT
Akabane was mostly unfazed by the heat, clearly she was a lot more resilient than her appearance indicated. As she noticed the robots rushing, she split her rifle into two smaller machineguns, shooting at the robots that attempted to flank her, with the smoke limiting her line of sight, she swapped once again for an automatic shotgun, ready to tag them at that range should they get too close.
Callie in the meantime used the cover of the smoke to slip past the robots, she readied an arrow and shot for the director, making sure she moved to a different location the second she shot
"What does it do, you ask? This, Unleashes hell on earth"-Daisuke said as he lifted his arm up in a sign of victory, it wasn't long before he was notified they were leaving
"Wait, we are going back? oh well, whatever, for what it was worth, the pay was enough, a shame i didn't get to test my baby, but there will be a time for it i'm sure"
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Post by Vapovile on May 9, 2021 7:51:11 GMT
It appeared that diplomacy had completely failed, and Martha had taken Haven out of the cave. He brushed himself off and hopped onto his board outside. The director launched a cloud of white fog that spread across the area, making it harder to see what was going on.
"Martha, can you blow some of this smoke away?!" Haven yelled at his sister. He then turned to see a strange one-eyed monster appear and go after their most junior member.
Speeding toward her as fast as his board would allow, Haven grabbed the fire mage by the waist and hoisted her up as they dove out of the way of the beast. He tipped his glasses down when finally setting her down on the board behind him.
"Sorry, but it looked a little dangerous down there. How about we work together? I fly us around, you launch fire spells at our new friend. Deal?" He flashed a winning smile that he showed regularly at concerts. Haven then swooped the board slightly lower so Leslie could get a clear shot with a fire spell, while still reasonably out of the creature's melee range.
---
"Wow. You're pretty hardcore, fox girl." Sid said in response to her statement about why she was impulsive. He did enjoy a little spontaneity in his life, even if he himself didn't particularly seek it out.
Casey looked at the group with disappointment. "So even our detective can't find anything, huh? This must be quite the case. I say we check on the other group, look around a little more, and then maybe turn this over to others, like you said." She motioned toward Eustace. It was a little disappointing to not get to the bottom of a mystery, but they only had half the information presently.
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Post by TimePuppy on May 14, 2021 20:59:58 GMT
Leslie thanked Martha for helping her get out of the cave. But despite that, they were still in the metaphorical woods! The director faired a smokey mortar shell which somehow summoned a giant monster! And it decided to lock onto Leslie of all people. Spakleach appeared suddenly in front of her, candlewick blazing furiously in an attempt to scare away the approaching monster. Then it was struck by a moment of confusion. Leslie was moving away! Very fast! Haven grabbed her on his board so the now distressed candle monster was left hopping after them rapidly.
On the board, Leslie breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright," she told Haven. "We'll teach it a lesson then!" She was feeling a lot braver while Haven was keeping her at a safe distance. She put her hands together and channeled her magic in between, then separating them until she had a fist-sized ball of flame between her palms. With a sudden jerk, she launched the fireball at the monsters eye. And she'd keep doing it until it left her alone! --- "Hardcore? Nobody described me that way before. But that must be the case to balance out other things." Aimi turned and bonked Sid with her soft bushy tail, then she winked at him.
Meanwhile, Maya was stung by Casey's comment! But she put on a brave and sagely face. "That is quite alright. Nothing we ever learn is wasted effort. Every mystery will be resolved in the end."
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Post by HungryHunter on May 21, 2021 5:23:33 GMT
Both of the robots trying to flank Akabane were riddled with mini ki blasts, each shot blasting a chunk of steel from their frames. Both were half-gone when they reached her, dark steel skeletons draped with tangled wires. One lost a chunk of these artificial nerves to her shotgun blast and fell, but the second survived. Its hand ran down the side of its gun and changed the barrel of its gun, making it spread into a funnel like a trumpet’s mouth. When it pulled the trigger, the plasma poured out like a fiery shotgun blast. Above, Leslie was now out of the monster’s reach. It tilted back, single glassy eye staring in confusion.
That eye was put out by the fireball Leslie threw, and its whole head plopped off. A robot’s head now stared up, camera eyes equally glassy. It seemed to have no idea how to deal with them being out of range, and it simply stood still until Martha blasted it away with a side kick, sending its scraps tumbling into the woods. “Are you okay up there!?” She asked before another smoke bomb landed right next to her and she was lost in a white fog. The director was back in the fray under the cover of the smoke, chasing Martha away with a plume of flame before targeting Haven and Leslie.
“We’re going to need a new boat to get back, unless we just want to teleport home.” Eustace grumbled. “Guess we’d need one for getting to another island if you’re wrong about that one, eh?” He cuffed Scalag’s shoulder and had to dodge away from an instinctive snap of the lizard’s jaws. “Perhaps I deserved that. One should be more careful with others they don’t know well, eh?” He kept his hands to himself as he summoned up his scythe, leaning on its handle to examine the horizon. He couldn’t shake the feeling they were forgetting something.
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Post by Vapovile on May 30, 2021 4:38:39 GMT
"Yeah, that's how you do it!" Haven cheered on Martha when she kicked away the creature. But it was short lived when the director joined the action again, chasing Martha away with a flamethrower. Seeing there wasn't much he could do, Haven tried the tactic that seemed to work with the other robot.
Flying up to avoid the flamethrower, Haven summoned 5 neon purple walls and have them converge upon the director, making a cube. He could probably break out, but Haven mostly wanted time.
"Hey hey, whoa! Why are you trying to kill us?! Can we please just talk this out?" He called out, then turning to Leslie. "You doing ok back there? Sorry, this ride can get a little bumpy." He flashed her a smile, tilting down his purple sunglasses to reveal the pink eyes beneath. He then turned back to the director, ready to shoot away if anything happened.
---
Sid enjoyed every second his head was in contact with Aimi's tail, feeling like he was just hit with a pillow. When she walked away a few steps, he let out a whistle. "Not gonna lie, that is really soft." He winked back. Turning to Daisuke, Sid glanced around the island. "Sooo...how quick can you get us another boat, dude? You need like, materials or something?" He asked.
Meanwhile, Casey had taken perch on top of a nearby rock and placed her head in her hands. Why was being a detective so difficult? Navigating corporate culture, making music and building an audience was her specialty! So what could she possibly do to help out here?
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Post by othus on Jun 2, 2021 5:24:11 GMT
"Ugh, I gotta make another one? man, this was a bloody waste of time"- Daisuke complained.
"Yeah, i'm gonna need materials...grab what you can i guess?"-He told Sid, evidently Daisuke wasn't looking forward to working on the same project twice.
Akabane backed away from the attacks and got out of the range of the smoke. Looking around, she found Callie hiding behind a tree.
"Hey! get over here!"-Akabane told the doll, who shook her head, not wanting to leave her cover. Akabane rolled her eyes and ran towards her.
"You alright? let's keep low for a bit until the smoke clears, going in without a plan is gonna be suicide. Instead, ready your bow and be alert, we are gonna shoot this guy as soon as we have him on sight"-Akabane told Callie and she gave her a thumbs up in response, Callie readied an arrow on her bow, waiting for a signal to draw, Akabane in the same move, fused her weapons again to form a sniper rifle.
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Post by TimePuppy on Jun 5, 2021 21:12:40 GMT
"Yeah, thanks!" Leslie shouted back to Martha. "Oh, watch out!" She yelled out when she saw something land next to Martha, but she was too slow. It was luckily only smoke bomb, hiding the battlefield in a curtain of white. Leslie froze, unsure of what to do again. If she threw fireballs into the smoke, she might just hit Martha.
It was good Haven was more experienced. Calmer. He was keeping both of them alive with his hoverboarding skills. "I'm okay. But I don't want to hit Martha." Leslie's hands wrapped around Haven harder as he employed evasive maneuvers. --- Satisfied with the praise her tail got, Aimi let Sid go talk about more important subjects. She instead went back to Casey and say down next to her. "So, you're a singer, right? Know any sea shanties for us? I'd love some entertainment on the way back."
Meanwhile, Maya was standing slightly apart from the rest of the group, staring out at sea, racking her brain for a solution to this mystery. She was motivated in part by her desire to help the lizard, but a part was also her pride stinging. Beaten by a common kidnapper, a thief who'd stoop as low as this felon has. She couldn't allow it. But what could she be missing. Daisuke was already working on a boat and she wanted an answer, or the hint of an answer, before he was done. Maybe she could look around the first island when again when they were back. Go back to the starting point.
Starting point... Something started whirring inside her head. Something they were missing. Starting point... Where they found the dead lizards and the missing brood. No, before that. When they'd gotten on the island. The island... The place they landed on when they teleported in? No, she was close but not quite there. Starting point... Island... She remembered what she could, what was mentioned, what she'd seen...
Maya rushed back to the others, power walking more than running, to ask Skalag more about what he'd said earlier. "There are no islands you know have life, right? But that's only a better place to hide what someone'd stolen. There was one when we'd just landed. A small island. A craggy pile of geometric shapes. Let's go back. Let's go there. Let's see if what we're missing is waiting for us."
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 7, 2021 4:24:39 GMT
“You started this, you-” The director’s voice was cut off by the cube closing around him. His angry, muffled yells barely carried out as his last robots were finished off. The one who tried to shotgun Akabane couldn’t even handle the recoil of its own shot, bending backwards when its remaining spinal components failed. It topled, neatly bent in half. The director was alone when he finally broke free of the cube. “Wait wait I surrender! Just don’t kill me! Or ruin my studio!” He begged. “We’re not going to kill you!” Martha called, not just for the director but for Akabane and Callie, who she saw ready with their weapons. “We just want to know if you know anything about the missing eggs!” She explained. “Eggs? Is that what’s got the locals all worked up? I’m trying to film a movie, why would I be going around taking eggs!?”
“A boat? Too long. We will take you.” Khag growled, walking back towards the coast. Scalag followed reluctantly, listening to Maya. “That island only has seabird nests. We leave them alone so they always come back.” He told her. “I saw no birds today.” “Then something has scared them away.” Eustace grumbled. “Good work, kid.” He placed a hand on Maya’s shoulder and pushed ahead. “So what’s your ride? Some raft? I hope it’s enough to carry us all.” He asked Khag, balking when they reached the coast and he saw what they would likely be riding. “Oh hell.” He muttered under his breath.
There was a certain smugness to the gaze of the black lindworm as it examined the newcomers. Its flippers curled and pushed at the ground as its slippery body writhed to turn it towards the group. It opened a ducklike bill wide to reveal a row of tiny spikes for teeth and a second row lining its throat. It leaned low to stare at them, seaweed mane dragging on the ground. Khag snarled back and reared up. They stared into each other’s eyes, growing closer until their noses touched. Then the lindworm made a grotesque belching noise and flopped back to roll down the beach into the water with a great splash. “He will carry you.” Khag said. “Be honored.” She jumped onto the creature’s back, settling crosslegged. It honked and chattered like a dolphin, a truly disturbing sound at the scale of a 60-foot serpent. "Well this is a new experience." Eustace muttered, clambering aboard. He found its skin oddly smooth, no sign of scales, more like a seal's than a lizard's.
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Post by Vapovile on Jun 13, 2021 22:58:34 GMT
Seeing that the battle appeared to be over, Haven lowered his hoverboard and looked down at the director. "So you didn't take any eggs? So what about that lizard you had tied up? What other things did you take around here?" He asked, squinting his eyes slightly. He held out his hand to try to indicate to Akabane that she shouldn't keep attacking the director.
"See, that wasn't so bad." Haven turned his head and winked at Leslie, lowering the board enough to where she could get off. "I'm staying on here, but you're free to get off or stick around for the rest of the ride." Haven smirked, tilted his sunglasses at the fire mage, and turned his attention back to the director.
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Casey looked over at Aimi, eyes glancing back toward the sea. "Unfortunately, sea shanties are a little outside my repertoire. But I'm sure I can find an appropriate enough song for the trip back, if you wish." Casey said confidently, following the group until they got to the giant sea serpent. Casey's mouth dropped.
"...how?" Was all she could blurt out. Sid whistled as he casually approached. "Wow, you dudes have a sweet ride! Anyone need help getting on?" Sid asked, looking at everyone. Casey considered his offer...but managed to scramble on top of the serpent and felt its smooth skin. "Wow, it's not even scaly..." Casey observed in surprise. Shrugging his shoulders, Sid turned to Maya.
"What about you, Maya? You're like, our MVP, so I could put you in front or something." He offered half jokingly.
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