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Post by HungryHunter on Jan 2, 2019 6:38:12 GMT
“Of course don’t release another monster! That’s nuts.” Cosmina pocketed the shining gem and followed Elyssa. “It’s so weird to be in somebody else’s body. At least we’re all girls. This would be way weirder if we weren’t.” It was hard to move in the daintier, more elegant way she wanted to in Ariana’s body. She was just so heavy and tall! It took her a minute to catch up to Elyssa as she experimented with her gait, but when she did she blinked in confusion. “Huh… didn’t expect it to be in English.” She looked it over three times, then shrugged.
“I don’t… cube of gluttony? Like a gelatinous cube?” Cosmina had drug some friends into playing D&D before, but hadn’t used that particular monster. Was it a real animal? “Hey… I saw something glowing on the wall back there that looked like the mantis.” Cosmina turned and jogged back, finding a carving that did indeed look like the mantis they had battled. However, now that wasn’t what got her attention. “Hey! That spongy thing! That’s kind of a cube!” She pointed, careful not to touch the image.
Ariana stared at the retreating mantis, watching its blood stain the water above her. She remained under as it paddled away, waiting for it to vanish in the murky water. Her sonar still detected it even when her eyes couldn’t and she paddled away. She didn’t want to see it in pain, even if it was a monster. She emerged onto shore. Click. There was Elyssa! She scrambled to her feet and ran over to her, pulling her to her feet. “Elyssa! Wait, no, if I’m in Cosmina- Love!” She had never realized just how tall Elyssa was until she was in a shorter body. She was barely over her chest!
“Are you okay, Ely-Love?” She wanted support, but she couldn’t just lean on Elyssa. She was so dizzy though… the 360 degree vision her sonar gave her was still making her head spin, even if not as much as before. Could she focus it at least? She concentrated on Elyssa, and when the next click came, joy! Only Love’s shell was captured in her mind’s eye, more detailed than the eye could pick up.
Ariana’s joy at controlling it became another sickening swirl of nausea when she realized she had imaged every layer of Elyssa’s body, from her swimsuit down through her skin and all the way to her bones, and every greasy, bloody organ in between. It wasn’t the viscera. She had seen that plenty of times. It was every layer swimming together at once, a mess of Elyssas failing to congeal into the one body that stood before her. “I need to sit down.” She fell onto her butt, hand clapped over her mouth to prevent another upchucking.
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Post by TimePuppy on Jan 3, 2019 15:11:24 GMT
When Cosmina reached the shore, Loveline got up and wiped the dirt off her swimsuit. That's when she finally noticed her swimsuit was different. Black instead of red and white, and it didn't even have the cute lacy bit! That and Cosmina calling her Elyssa before switching to Love finally drilled the situation into her head. So this is Elyssa's body? It doesn't feel that different though. She hopped up in the air a bit, seeing how much stronger Elyssa was than her. She was quite impressed by her newfound jumping power. But she still missed her old abilities. Wait, did this mean Elyssa was now in Love's body? Oh no, what would she end up doing in it? Love was called out of her thoughts by Ariana asking her if she's okay.
"Ariana? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken after your attack." Love saw Ariana losing her footing. "How about you?"
Loveline knelt down next to Ariana and put her hand on Cosmina's back. "Do you want to rest a bit before we start looking around? I need to look for Elyssa's sword anyway."
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Post by Vapovile on Jan 11, 2019 20:35:27 GMT
"Good observation, Cosmina!" Elyssa beamed, following Cosmina back to the previous room and spotting the 3 carvings on the walls. "That is indeed what I think we are supposed to find! So here is what I think the riddle wants us to do." She pointed toward the 3 carvings in the wall. "The cube is supposed to get parts of this 'cradle of life'. What do you think that refers to?” Elyssa asked.
“The womb? No, that’s gross. Water!” Cosmina’s face lit up with the joy of discovery. “That’s right! It’s raining in the area where we were at! So if my guess is correct...we need to have it absorb a bunch of water. But remember...it can’t jump into the ocean. Bad stuff might happen, you know?” She said with a sly grin. “Well I don’t like the sound of that. Alright, let’s free it! Or… no, not while we don’t know if the mantis is still active. Let’s leave them a note about what to do, then switch back to check it out ourselves!” Cosmina searched her pockets for anything resembling a pen or paper, but it was fruitless. Ariana was only carrying the gem.
Elyssa, meanwhile, grinned at Cosmina. “Hm...I think we should actually release it now. The thing is pretty slow, so it’s not going to affect them much. How about we make things a bit more fun and release it now?” The adventurer asked, widening her grin and adjusting her hair. It was strange to have hair this long. Cosmina’s eyes widened for a second, but her grin widened the next. “...let’s do it!”
---
On the other, more rainy side of the challenge, the beam of light began to shift once more. It moved several feet to the side, focusing on the ice cube that corresponded to the cube picture and began to melt it. After several seconds, a massive green gelatinous cube began to shift, its body moving rhythmically, like a piece of jelly. It slowly began to hop toward the door that led to the bridge where Ariana and Loveline were on. The sword that had clattered to the ground was landed on by the cube, absorbing into its body.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jan 11, 2019 21:21:36 GMT
While Elyssa aimed the sunbeam, Cosmina took the shining sapphire back out of her pocket. Loveline had told her she used a phrase to transform. Was that just not the case for Ariana? Could it be simpler? Cosmina held out the stone and channeled her mana forth into it. The stone exploded with light. When it cleared, she was easily 6'4", muscular, and adult. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" She called, skipping about. "I'm gonna tell Love to make me exactly like this, but bigger!" She admired her height and curves most of all. The muscles she could do without.
"Yeah... I need to sit down for a bit." Ariana's head was still ringing. Her horns clicked again, but weaker. There were a few more clicks until she finally wore them down to a stop. She gladly settled into Loveline's hand, closing her eyes. After the sensory overload of Cosmina's powers, it was nice to relax and focus on simple things. Elyssa's hand felt especially nice right now. No, Love's. She reminded herself, but it didn't really matter. Why was she so warm? Why was Ariana so cold?
"These powers are so weird. I saw every layer of your body all at once. Not on purpose! I wasn't peeping! I just don't know how to control them!" Ariana kept her eyes shut and made a tiny click. She captured Loveline's face as it was, not piercing into the muscles of her jaws, or the sinus in her skull, or her optic nerves. Just Elyssa's face with Love's soul behind. "I think I'm getting it now th-oh, fuck! That's cool!" She jumped to her feet when she spotted the cube approaching. It absorbed the sword and she backed up. "Cool... but not good. Any ideas?" Ariana began scanning the cube, although she doubted it would do any good. She could barely read the images she got back anyway.
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Post by TimePuppy on Jan 12, 2019 20:59:02 GMT
Ariana seemed to be feeling better. Loveline was glad, even if the situation was fairly weird even for her. Especially when Ariana said she saw 'every layer' of her body.
"Hey, don't worry. You were peeping on Elyssa, not me." Love jokingly comforted her. But that statement brought one thing to her attention. She closed her eyes and focused on Elyssa's body. If Ariana was learning how to use Cosmina's powers, Loveline should try to do the same with Elyssa's. She searched herself and found Elyssa's mana coursing through her. Was Elyssa a mage? What kind of magic did she use though?
Loveline didn't have time to experiment with it before Ariana's proclamation of coolness snapped her out of her meditation. She hoped it wasn't a reaction to a giant sea serpent, but a weird-looking (and not dangerous) rabbit or something. Something fluffy and cuddly and new she could experience. Seeing the green cube, Loveline got the feeling this was not something she wanted to touch. Ariana asked her if she had a plan and Loveline thought about.
"Hm... Yeah, I have one." Love took Elyssa's backpack and rummaged through it, looking for a towel Elyssa offered earlier. When she found it, she wrapped it around her arm and ran over to the cube.
For all she knew, the gel this cube was made out of was super harmful to human skin. But the sword inside it seemed to be fine. Loveline hoped this meant it couldn't corrode through inorganic materials, not very quickly at least. And if it could and it was harmful to the touch... This wasn't her body anyway.
She felt bad for using that justification even if the harm would be to Elyssa's body, but she had to test this anyway. She aimed a punch at the cube, using her wrapped arm, of course. If the cube was more solid than Love hoped, she would back off. If her arm went through though, she would try to grab the sword and pull it out before backing off.
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Post by Vapovile on Jan 20, 2019 18:22:23 GMT
When Elyssa was finished with the sundial, she craned her head back to see Cosmina transform into Ariana’s gem girl form, the adventurer giving her niece a polite clap in response. “You did it! I’m kinda surprised you figured it out so fast, didn’t think you had experience with channeling mana. Or...maybe you do?” Elyssa rubbed her chin with her right hand thoughtfully. “...well, either way, you look great!” Cosmina’s last statement made Elyssa pause again. Loveline could manipulate other people’s bodies too? She wanted to test out this power...but having no idea how to undo whatever changes she’d make, it was probably wise to not mess with Ariana’s body. Would the changes made to the Gem Girl form remain after she transforms back, and then transforms again?
Looking around the room, Elyssa saw there wasn’t much else to do before the other group opened the door for them. Might as well try these powers out. “Let’s see...illusion powers…” The adventurer imagined a large clawed hand swiping at the air in front of her, trying to channel her mana to assist. She double checked to see that Cosmina was far enough away before taking the swipe, of course.
Loveline’s fist sank into the jelly cube without much resistance. It was like punching through a massive pile of pudding. The creature pulsed and the towel was yanked off of Loveline’s hand. Her hand was left bare to the sticky-smooth glop of the cube. Nothing seemed to happen until suddenly, painlessly, her foot vanished below the ankle. She saw them floating right in front of her in the slime, stump an inky, bloodless void. Her leg was similarly not bleeding, but that hardly lessened the shock.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jan 21, 2019 1:16:42 GMT
“Mom taught me some seamstress magic! In fact, I wonder-” Cosmina held out her hands and made a bizarre gesture, a strange little finger dance. “Pearl Shell!” She whispered her fake gem girl name. She had no embarrassment about her hopeless fangirling, but she couldn’t let Elyssa just learn her kaspa password. To her surprise, space warped and popped right open. Floating in the air was what resembled an open closet, one door sagging with dozens of shirts and an absurd number of hats. The closet itself was deep and dim, draped with coats and pants and clothing of every sort.
“It works! Awesome!” She rummaged around, grabbing various hats and trying them on in the mirror on the kaspa’s other door. “Mine’s pretty small cause I just got started, but I’m gonna make it the biggest ever! I’ll make a cool office for myself, on a skyscraper!” She excitedly explained as she went from hat to hat. She eventually settled on a broad sunhat decorated liberally with flowers. “So, is there anything we can do for them from over here?” She asked as she adjusted the hat atop her head.
“That doesn’t make it better!” Ariana protested, covering her eyes like it would help. She peeked out as Loveline approached the cube. Her eyes widened. “Oh, cool!” Brave and clever! She had barely noticed Love before, but now she had Ariana’s full attention. That attention changed focus when Love’s foot vanished into the cube’s mass. Horror didn’t have time to surface as she dove forward. Her arms wrapped around Loveline’s waist and she pulled as hard as she could. She couldn’t withdraw her from the cube with her own strength, but she provided support for Loveline.
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Post by TimePuppy on Jan 26, 2019 19:17:12 GMT
Ariana clearly misjudged Loveline's cleverness. Loveline herself very quickly regretted her own decision. The slime pulsed and squirmed around her arm and pulled off the towel. Loveline tried getting her arm out of there almost instantly, but she realized she had trouble pulling and keeping her balance. She looked down and a shriek escaped her mouth. It wasn't her first time losing a limb, but she was startled by how quick and painless it was. When did it even touch her foot?
Suddenly she felt Ariana/Cosmina's arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her away from the throbbing jello cube. Loveline pulled at the same time and they managed to free her arm, which she flailed wildly trying not to fall. Luckily, Ariana helped her stay upright. She put an arm around Ariana/Cosmina's shoulders and said, "Come on, we need some space."
She hopped with her remaining leg, feeling bad that she ended up doing this to Elyssa's body. She figured the worst that could happen were some acid burns that could be easily fixed.
"That was a stupid idea, hah? We need a better one. Can you do that sonar thing to see if there's anything strange about the cube? If it has a weak point we can aim at."
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Post by Vapovile on Feb 20, 2019 14:49:56 GMT
When the kaspa door appeared, Elyssa peered around the doorway to check out the contents while Cosmina rummaged through the hats. "Now that's the spirit! I honestly have no idea how you guys expand these things, but I know Haruko's is pretty awesome." The adventurer said, recalling the underwater lounge that had a wide array of sea creatures swimming by behind the massive glass walls that surrounded the room. Haruko kept her seamstress supplies in a closet near the back of her Kaspa, allowing the main room to serve as a place to hang out, helped by the small kitchen and bar she kept near the lounge area. Elyssa had fond memories of sitting on one of the couches, playing an intense game of Uno with Haruko, Erin, Kate and Cosmina. A skyscraper did seem a little much for what a kaspa could do...but it was still admirable that Cosmina was reaching for the stars!
The claw illusion swiped like Elyssa imagined, the adventurer jumping off the ground in satisfaction and landing back down. "Yes, it works! Ok, now that I sorta know what I am doing, we should..." Elyssa's voice trailed off when she looked at Cosmina, a bright light briefly flashing out of her body. What was going on here?
---
The cube continued to approach the two, now on the narrow bridge between the two islands. The rain began to hit the top of the slime, sinking inside and pooling at the bottom. Strangely...the creature seemed to be hopping faster now. Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared around Elyssa's body and in an instant, Cosmina and Loveline had traded bodies. Elyssa looked on at Ariana's body from her side, cocking her head slightly. "So uh...you ok? You still Cosmina in there?" The adventurer asked.
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Post by HungryHunter on Feb 23, 2019 3:43:31 GMT
“You just need to know more of the complete spell! When you know the whole spell, you get a full-sized kaspa. Right now I only know a tiny little bit, so I get a closet and a tiny little workshop in the back, but with more, I can start making my skyscraper!” Cosmina’s starstruck eyes turned to the ceiling before blinking in confusion.
Water from nowhere suddenly landed in her eyes. “I… my foot!” It took Cosmina a moment to realize what had happened. They could switch at complete random now!? She looked up at her own body, recognizing Ariana’s baffled expression in an instant. “Wait, are you really Elyssa now, or…?” Ariana tilted Cosmina’s head. “I’m Cosmina but that doesn’t matter! Away from the cube and don’t let it go in the water!” Cosmina lead the two on a three-legged race away from the slime, nearly knocking Ariana over with her superior speed even with one foot gone. Crap, what was the whole riddle? She was having a hard time thinking with panic coursing through her mind. Ariana was just along for the ride. She giggled as they ran, lopsided, enjoying every moment.
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Post by TimePuppy on Feb 23, 2019 7:45:50 GMT
One second Loveline was running, hanging on to Ariana in Cosmina's body. A second later, she was looking down at herself who was asking her if she was still Cosmina.
"No, I'm... You? Me? I'm Loveline!" she explained.
Love looked around the room. She was back where she started, only... She looked down and saw she was wearing a sailor uniform. And she was taller. She felt magic coursing rapidly through her body, thoughts of lifting up the world were in her mind and it seemed doable. She felt the sea outside evaporating, the moisture coming into the room whispered to her. If she ordered it, it would obey. She felt powerful in a very familiar way, yet it was still so different.
"Then you must be Elyssa? And I'm in Ariana's gem girl form. Cool! No pun intended." Then she recalled what happened on the other side of that rainbow mirror and her excitement melted.
"Hey, I'm sorry for doing that to your body. I didn't think it would eat your foot... I really didn't."
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Post by Vapovile on Feb 23, 2019 22:11:48 GMT
Elyssa nodded her head when Loveline explained she currently controlled Ariana's body. It must have been bizarre seeing herself staring back...but having Elyssa in control. Her face grew a small frown when she mentioned losing a foot.
"Doing...what to my body, exactly? Sounds like you somehow lost a foot, Love." Elyssa inquired, her expression softening. "Guess you touched that slime. You see, we need that thing over on this side after it absorbed enough water. But if my foot is missing..." She trailed off.
“Don’t worry, I can regrow your foot for you! It’ll just take some time!” Love interjected, “In the meantime, the human body is 70% water, right?” Elyssa pondered Loveline's question. “About that, yes. Why do you ask?”
“I’m just thinking it’ll make water collecting go faster. Unless it has to be pure water.” This thought made Elyssa pause. “...when it took my foot, did you notice anything? Was the boot affected at all?” The adventurer asked.
“The boot? No, not that I saw.” Loveline paused. “Now that I think about it, I didn’t see any blood either. Weird. Why?” A smile crept upon Elyssa's face. “Come with me, I have to show you something!” Without hesitation, she reached down and tried to pick Loveline up...but quickly realized Loveline was much weaker than herself and let go. “...right, not my body. We just have to head to the room with the pictures!” Elyssa exclaimed.
Loveline was confused watching herself trying to lift Ariana up at first, but when Elyssa explained they had to go elsewhere, she got a bright idea.
“Righto!” She picked up her body in Ariana’s strong arms and flew towards the room. “How bold of you. But I appreciate the gesture!” Elyssa said. Once they reached the room, she hopped out of Loveline's arms and began to observe the wall. The last creature was a strange one...appeared to be a singular eyeball with flanged appendages attached all around it.
“So here is my plan…” Elyssa pointed toward it. “That thing lets us communicate with the other side, and can send stuff between places. But you can't just jump in...it would kill you. So...we need to send the water-filled slime through here and into the little sand pit at the end.” She pointed toward its general direction. “But...I need my foot back. Soooo…I am going to tell Cosmina to jump into it. She will be back in her own body, don't worry.”
“How can you be so sure?” Love asked. Elyssa confidently smirked and folded her arms across her chest. “I did this before, remember? So you will just have to trust me here. I will be gone for a bit...but I will be back soon! So you can either wait for me in the main room, or try out one of the other sections on your own for a bit. I do have one request though.”
“Yes?” Love looked curious, but inside she was thinking how Elyssa must have gotten eaten by the blob at some point before. Guess she wasn’t as perfect as Ariana thought she was! “Just pick up my stuff, alright? This hat means a lot to me.” She stated, pointing up at it.
“Sure, you got it.” Love said, not sure what the hat was that important but willing to go along with it, even if it was for Elyssa. With another confident smile, Elyssa pulled Loveline into a brief hug and released her, messing with the mechanism and summoning the strange creature on the other side.
---
On Cosmina and Ariana's side, the creature was nearly completely without sound. Out of it came Elyssa's voice. “Cosmina! I need you to jump into that cube, ok? Don't worry, you will be back in your own body!” She called out.
Both Ariana and Cosmina blinked. “Is that… Elyssa’s voice?” Cosmina tilted her head.
“Yeah, that thing is talking like Elyssa.” Ariana rubbed her eyes. “Do we trust it?” She looked back at the slowly approaching slime. “I don’t know… How do we know you’re really Elyssa!” Cosmina challenged the new monster. There was a brief pause. “Cosmina, I totally beat you in Uno last Thursday!” Elyssa remarked, letting out an evil laughter.
“That didn’t happen!” Cosmina immediately protested. “Sounds like it did to me.” Ariana nudged Cosmina in the ribs. “We played uno, but I won more than her! Oh, whatever, it’s her. Hold her hat, I don’t think Elyssa wants me to get goo on it.” Cosmina flipped Elyssa’s hat to Ariana, who caught it with the sort of awestruck expression most teenage girls would have getting an autograph from a celebrity. Cosmina took a deep breath and ran right at the cube, tackling it like a football player.
Cosmina fell into the slime like a vertical column of quicksand, swallowed up entirely. The flesh began to melt away painlessly, Elyssa's body completely disappearing after about 10 seconds, only leaving the boots and suit she had been wearing. The slime seemed still for a moment...but then began to writhe, shooting up into the air and crashing into the monster that had just appeared. The slime would then appear on the non-raining side, rocketing past Loveline.
Cosmina herself would find that she is back in her own body, her and Ariana in their own bodies again. The slime crashed into the furthest island and began to release its absorbed water, quickly losing its mass and eventually turning into nothing but water. At the bottom of the makeshift pond was a small, shining platinum statue of a sun on one side, and cloud on the other. Elyssa's items also floated along in the waters surrounding it.
Cosmina patted her face and clicked, drawing in a luxurious breath. Being in stronger bodies was nice, but she missed her horns too much. She clicked around a bit, realizing quickly that there was nobody else around at all. “Guuuyyyys? Helllllooooooo?” She yelled, scratching her head, realizing now she was wearing Elyssa’s hat. Weird.
On the other side, Loveline blinked and realized she wasn’t looking at herself anymore. She was looking at Ariana again. That happened faster than she thought it would.
Ariana was just as confused, but she had Love right with her. “Love! I’m back in my own body!”
“Yay! Hope your nausea's gone now.” Love was relieved they were back in their own bodies again. Super strength seemed fun, but this was a lot more comfortable.
Ariana also breathed a sigh of relief. Cosmina’s crazy horns still had her head ringing. She looked around, noticing the brand new puddle. The shiny platinum statue got her attention, but there was something else there. “AH!” Ariana yelped, jumping back past Loveline. “What’s her swimsuit doing in there!? Where is Elyssa!?” She peeked through her fingers, afraid that Elyssa would show up stark naked.
“I don’t think she’s here. Maybe she’s somehow still on the other side since we’re all back in our own bodies.” Love didn’t believe that, of course. Elyssa talked like she knew she would be gone, at least for a bit. “We should go grab those for her, just in case.”
She didn’t see Elyssa’s hat there though. That must still be with Cosmina. Loveline repeated all the steps Elyssa did, hoping that she could talk to the other side too, and said, “Cosmina? If you can hear me, make sure you hold on to that hat, okay?”
Cosmina cocked her head when the voice came again, this time Loveline’s. “Yeah, of course I’ll hold onto the hat! Meet you two outside, okay?” Cosmina had finally noticed the door that had appeared with the cube’s vanishment. Parallel to Ariana and Love, she exited back out into the hub room, carrying Elyssa’s backpack with her. What did she keep in this thing? It felt like it was full of bricks!
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Post by HungryHunter on Feb 24, 2019 3:16:01 GMT
Comina took the weight off her shoulders by tossing the backpack and hat into her kaspa. When she saw Ariana holding Elyssa’s swimsuit at arm’s length, she waved her over. “Hey, you can put those in here. Keeps them out of harm’s way and your hands free!” She called and Ariana happily obeyed, wiping her hands off.
“I feel like a total pervert for touching it like that…” Ariana murmured. “Bah, I’m a seamstress. I touch people naked and I’m not a pervert. We’ll just give it back right away when she comes, right Love?” Cosmina nudged Loveline, hiding her worries about the vanished Elyssa. She apparently planned this out, but it still seemed risky. “While we’re here, we might as well pick the next room. Ariana, Love, got any preferences?” Cosmina swam back, not wanting to pick herself. “That one!” Ariana instantly pointed at the room marked by a monster’s statue. “I want to see that monster!” She declared, still nervously glancing around for Elyssa.
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Post by TimePuppy on Feb 24, 2019 16:41:51 GMT
Love and Ariana left their own version of the room and met up with Cosmina. Ariana gave the doll Elyssa's outfit with a lot of disgust which made Love chuckle.
"If you didn't want to touch them, you should've told me and I'd have done it. They're just clothes, Ri-ri."
Cosmina suggested they go check out another room and Ariana instantly chimed in by recommending the monster one. Loveline wasn't sure that was a great idea. "We just had to fight two monsters though. Tough ones. And also... Well, I guess maybe Elyssa is in the monster room after she got swallowed by a different monster." She realized one person's downside might be another's upside. "Yeah, I can see why you'd wanna go there first. Sure, let's go!"
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Post by Vapovile on Feb 24, 2019 19:06:05 GMT
"They're clothes her butt has been in. It's weird." Ariana complained.
When the group had decided to go into the monster room, they moved their way down to the entrance that bore the image of the monster they had observed earlier. A strange, ominous air loomed over the group as they swam through the gate and into their hardest challenge yet. The inside of the room was a massive cavern not unlike the main hub in size, but the sun appeared to be much closer than in the other room. The floor was unusually clear...with the sand forming a bizarre circular pattern that seemed to terminate at the center of the room. Inside the center was a 10-story tall black pillar that shrank into a point near the top, the structure looming over the ocean floor. Upon closer inspection, the structure appeared to glisten in the light...covered in a slick substance that looked like skin. Floating at the top of the small lake appeared to be a shining object, but it was too far away to make out many other details. Further up the cavern, the group could see the the walls become more jagged as it neared the water’s surface, with many outcroppings and ledges among the walls, the occasional tree jutting out into the water. Loveline swam in, sort of surprised that she didn’t end up on dry land like the other two rooms. The massive pillar inspired suspicion instantly, mixed with awe. “That’s a cool pillar. It’s also suspicious. And that light is even more suspicious! Let’s touch the tower first!” “Heck yeah!” Ariana instantly shot forward to tap the tower with her knuckles. “Really, guys? Not gonna scope out the situation first at all?” Cosmina sighed and clicked at the shiny thing floating on the surface. Those two could handle themselves… probably. Love stopped at Cosmina’s words. “That might be good. Scan under the ground for us, please!” “You stop too, Harper!” Cosmina’s sharp yell stopped Ariana in her tracks. She began to scan the rest of the room, pillar and strange circles on the floor included. Cosmina would discover the interior of the pillar was almost completely hollow...save for several rows of jagged teeth along the interior of it. But underneath the pillar, Cosmina would discover a titanic body lurking underneath, so large that Cosmina couldn’t even see how far down it went. A deep growl soon reverberated throughout the cavern, shaking the immediate area with its force and kicking up a small amount of sand at the bottom. The pillar began to open up in 4 different directions...showing the several rows of teeth Cosmina had seen. The sheer size of the pillar made it look more like 4 buildings were collapsing. The 4 sections crashed into the sand below to reveal a row of several flanged appendages floating several meters above an abyss below, leading to the rest of its body. The water in the room began to drain into the creature’s mouth, a vortex beginning to form that showed how the patterns in the sand were formed. The group would quickly discover that the water in the entire room was beginning to swirl toward the creature’s mouth, the area closest to the creature having the strongest current. Luckily, the rocky outcroppings and trees would provide plenty of material to hold onto while the monster ingested to entire lake they had entered. For this creature was the bane of sailors around the world, the option less chosen when sailing through the straight. It was the source of the world’s tides, the devourer...Charybdis.
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Post by TimePuppy on Feb 24, 2019 19:18:54 GMT
Cosmina didn't manage to warn the team what was below them before the echo reverbed through the cavern, surely louder underwater than it would've been above it. Then the pillar split into 4 toothy tongues and water started swirling down into the sand.
"Shit!"Love exclaimed and started swimming against the current, but she was not strong enough like this. As she struggled, her gem started glowing, enveloping her in its warm light, and then vanished, leaving behind Loveline's older form with hair ending in all the colors of the rainbow and dressed in a dress very much not made for swimming. It didn't need to be. If flying was like swimming through the air, then Garnet Rainbow could fly through the water, too!
Going against the suction was much easier now and Love "swam" towards one of the trees jutting out of the walls, after checking whether Cosmina needed help with that. Love knew Ariana could definitely get out on her own, especially in her gem girl form.
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Post by HungryHunter on Feb 24, 2019 20:53:18 GMT
Cosmina’s warning wasn’t just late, it consisted only of gibberish screaming. Ariana reached her before Love, tackling her away from the rushing current. She went with Love to the trees along the side, hanging Cosmina over one of the branches, where she clung for dear life. “Aw man, this is cool! I bet we have to get the shiny thing!” Ariana pointed at it. “Yeah, probably.” Cosmina didn’t release the tree branch. “You stay right here, we’ll handle this easy enough! Right Love?” Ariana offered a high five before rocketing out, swimming for the shiny bait atop the water.
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Post by Vapovile on Feb 25, 2019 6:01:55 GMT
As Ariana got closer to the shining object, it began to swirl through the violent whirlpool that Charybdis was making, rapidly lowering the water level. Soon, the group would find themselves breaking the water's surface as the level continued to drop. Unfortunately...a loud shrill scream indicated that the surface wasn't safe either.
Sitting atop a ledge high above them, a monstrous creature sat gazing down at the swirling vortex below. The creature had 6 long snake-like appendages coming out of its body, which were long enough to stretch to nearly the bottom of the entire cavern without water. The appendages all had slender dog-like heads at the ends, each with rows of sharp teeth that seemed to be a blend of canine and snake. The center of the creature looked like it had been a humanoid woman at one point, but now resembled a figure sunken into a fleshy wall of its own body, eyes glaring red down at the group below. Two clawed feet hung over the edge of the cliff, while the rest of her body was made up of a long scaled serpent tail that wrapped around nearby rocks. This monster was the forsaken serpent who occupied the other path on the straight, the one who stole sailors out of ships and devoured them as they passed by. It was the monster that mirrored Charybdis in mythology...Scylla.
Scylla let out a hiss with several of her heads, which seemed to make a noise somewhere between a hiss and a growl. 2 heads came at both Loveline and Ariana each, attempting to bite them in half with each. The object Ariana was going for was now moving at such a rapid rate that it would be near impossible to salvage it. While 4 of her heads focused on Loveline and Ariana, Scylla sent a singular head toward Cosmina, the head slowing slightly as it got closer to the doll. The dog-like head seemed to be repulsed by something about the doll.
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Post by HungryHunter on Feb 26, 2019 1:37:05 GMT
“Oh, crud!” Ariana yelled when the snapping heads came from above. Hastily, she summoned an anchor and threw it for the mouth of one, glancing and realizing she couldn’t capture the treasure before tackling Love to drag her safely underwater. She saw the head going for Cosmina and charged at full speed, pulling back an ice-covered fist. Cosmina herself screamed and flailed, looking between her two options with utter horror. “Nonono! I’m smelly and full of preservatives, you don’t want me!” Cosmina waved her hands over her body, trying to blow her unappealing scent into the monster’s waiting nostrils. Even as she did so, her horns hummed and finally released. A massive sonic blast shot forward just as Ariana came from behind, swinging her icy fist a the back of the Scylla head.
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Post by TimePuppy on Mar 1, 2019 17:28:56 GMT
Love looked at the shiny object and nodded along with Cosmina then high-fived Ariana. She let go of the branch and "flew" after Ariana. No sooner did they break out of the water when they were assaulted by large dog heads attached to giant serpentine bodies. Loveline stopped on a dime and pointed her scythe at the two heads coming for her.
"Boom boom dandelion! Triple!"
Three colorful bullets left the tip of the scythe, flying close to the heads before splitting into several colorful orbs. The orbs exploded like fireworks, but Loveline couldn't see their effect before Ariana tackled her back into the water. Unlike Ariana herself, Love felt much safer facing the heads above water then she did in the massive whirlpool created by the toothy worm. Struggling against Ariana's strength would be futile though.
"Don't bring me underwater! I'm more effective in the air!" She informed Ariana when she finally let go. She quickly flew out towards the head, following up the ice and the sonic boom by trying to stab the tentacle and fly along its entire shaft, dissecting it.
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