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Post by HungryHunter on Mar 22, 2019 1:50:36 GMT
Ariana squinted in the sunlight while Cosmina skipped past in delight. “Oh, it’s warm here!” The spread her arms and flopped in the sand, giggling as she made a sand angel. Ariana made a weak grin and sat in the shallow water at the edge of the island. She was going to tan, she absently thought. “Fight? No!” Ariana was snapped out of her complacency. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt each other.” Cosmina spoke with perfect confidence. “Not too much anyway, I’m sure.” Cosmina pulled Elyssa’s swimsuit from the kaspa and began fiddling with it while she watched.
Ariana just covered her eyes, peeking through her fingers at the fight. Part of her deep down was excited. Elyssa and Love having a fight, how cool was that? But mostly, she hated that she had spurred this on. Still, if this reduced the tensions and made things go back to normal, maybe this was a good thing. Ariana peeked with hopes of peace.
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Post by Vapovile on Mar 22, 2019 22:07:08 GMT
A wide grin spread across Elyssa’s face when Loveline accepted her challenge. “Alright! Ready whenever you are.” She called over, placing one leg behind the other and getting into a defensive pose. She didn’t want to hurt Loveline badly...so she would take it easy to start.
When Loveline suddenly disappeared in front of her, Elyssa smirked and closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds around herself. “Your illusions are cool...buuuut…” Moving her right arm down, Elyssa moved to backhand Loveline’s arms away and follow up with a light punch aimed toward the illusionist’s stomach...or where Elyssa thought it was. “...there are other ways to see where you are!” She said confidently.
“Uuf.” Loveline could tell Elyssa was holding back. Knowing how strong she actually was made it obvious, but with the power difference, it still hurt quite a bit. She didn’t answer Elyssa’s statement. Instead, with a glint of determination in her eyes, she split into three. One Loveline jumped forward to tackle her, the other two leapt to either side to swipe at her arms. None took more than a step so sound wasn’t going to be of much use. But the real Loveline was invisible again and waiting for Elyssa to respond to any of them before actually jumping in with a swipe at her stomach.
The split made Elyssa’s smile broaden once more. “Hey, that’s pretty good!” She said to Loveline, putting her weight onto her left leg and twisting her body to the side. She aimed to kick all the Loveline at once. Her eyes widened slightly when her leg passed through all of them at once, the real Loveline swiping at her stomach and drew 4 small scratches upon it. Elyssa winced at the sting, then looked up.
“Huh...guess I underestimated you! Now...my turn to be cool!” Stepping forward, Elyssa aimed to grab Loveline by the arm and kick her right leg out with her own, trying to pin her down onto the ground.
And it worked perfectly. Loveline was pulled off balance and swept off her feet with ease. “Ugh, get off of me!” She curled her legs under Elyssa and morphed their structure into something closer to that of a bunny or a kangaroo to add some spring and try to knock Elyssa off.
Elyssa didn’t expect Loveline to be able to body morph so easily, so she was sent flying off Loveline and rolled across the sand, pausing for a moment to adjust her swimwear. She whistled at the move. “Ooooo. More stuff like that, ok? I’m going to get a little more serious now!” She called over. Sprinting forward, Elyssa took out her grappling hook and fired it at a nearby tree, jumping into the air and attempting to kick Loveline directly in the chest.
Unfortunately for Elyssa, that move was too obvious. Loveline didn’t need super speed to drop back to the ground from which she didn’t even fully get up from. “That’s not more serious! You’re just playing around now!” she yelled at the adventurer zooming over her.
But Elyssa wasn't done. She planted her legs on a nearby tree and rocketed toward Loveline, aiming to grab her arm and use her momentum to toss the illusionist several meters into the nearby ocean.
Elyssa’s swing back wasn’t unexpected, but it was too fast for Loveline to react. Elyssa grabbed her arm and pulled her along. Love realized what was going to happen just a second too late. She reached for Elyssa’s arm to hold on to it, but she missed by a hair and flew into the ocean. The landing was much better than if she hit the ground, but it still hurt. Now she was angry. She was being toyed with! Damn you, Elyssa! But in a way, this was also a perfect opportunity. Like her opening move, she was invisible. She hid the ripples of the ocean as she walked out and all the wet footsteps left in her wake. But she was walking this time, actually staying silent as she got closer. When she was close enough, she made her left arm normal and hardened her right even more. She compensated for her relative weakness with hardness as she aimed a right hook at Elyssa’s head. “Take this!”
Success! Her move worked! Elyssa looked out toward the ocean and waited for the inevitable rant from Loveline...but she didn't appear to surface again. Was she really that hurt that badly? Her answer came when she saw a few grains of sand get kicked up from Loveline's steps, only starting to move out of the way when Loveline clocked her across the head. This sent Elyssa rolling across the ground, clutching her head from the hit.
“Ooooow...hey heh… didn't think you could hit that hard, Lovely.” She said jokingly. Standing back up, Elyssa held violently kicked the sand in front of herself to make a makeshift sand veil as she sprinted toward Loveline. If she got close enough, she would attempt to get behind Loveline and deliver a hard suplex to the illusionist.
Loveline reflexively shielded her eyes from the sand. That left enough of an opening for Elyssa to easily get behind her. Love felt her feet leaving the ground and twisted her body as much as she could in expectation of a hard landing. She avoided landing on her head, but her shoulder was very battered. She tried to roll away and get some distance, but Elyssa grabbed her arms and pinned her from behind.
Loveline thrashed around trying to unpin herself, but brute force wasn’t getting her out of this. She realized this quickly so she shifted instead to melding her fingers to her back, then separating the parts below and above from where Elyssa was holding her. Since she didn’t get rid of the mass from her hands she could quickly regrow them and toss some sand behind her, hopefully straight into Elyssa’s eyes. She then tried scrambling away and getting up to launch a pathetically human-strengthed side kick.
The bizarre way Loveline opened her back made Elyssa almost jump back with surprise before Love made her get away, the sand mostly blocked by her hat. The side kick managed to connect...but Elyssa managed to catch it afterwards and grinned.
“Now THAT I didn't expect. You have lots of cool tricks, don't ya?” She asked with a smile.
That smile vexed Loveline. How could she always smile like that? How could she always be so positive? Did she never experience pain or sadness? “I don’t know!” She yelled. “I guess you’ll find out!” Her threat wasn’t as effective considering she was barely keeping her balance with Elyssa holding her leg.
The response made Elyssa beam with satisfaction. Loveline was finally getting into the fight! And she was smart, too. “Guess I will right now!” Yanking up on Love's leg, Elyssa began to twirl her around. “Let me know when you want off!” Elyssa joked, sprinting forward and leaping into the air, aiming to slam Loveline down onto the sand.
Never, Loveline though. She wouldn’t give up just because she was a bit dizzy! Never, she thought as Elyssa jumped into the air. Never! Loveline grimaced as she was smashed down into sand.
“I’m… Not… Giving up!”
Loveline stumbled to her feet, feeling as if an elephant walked all over her back. Clones started splitting off from her again, only far more numerous this time. Thirteen of them encircled Elyssa, shifting their arms back into the clawed gauntlets they were at the start and getting ready to attack.
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Post by HungryHunter on Mar 22, 2019 23:07:46 GMT
“Are they killing each other?” Ariana asked, still peeking through her fingers. “No, not at all.” Cosmina answered, carefully working a brush on Elyssa’s bikini top. Ariana opened her fingers just in time to see Love clone herself and make neat claws. “Woah.” She leaned forward, intrigued now. “Yeah, super neat. Do you think I should put flowers on the other side or do an asymmetry thing?” Cosmina asked, not even looking up from the swimsuit.
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Post by TimePuppy on Mar 23, 2019 23:22:20 GMT
All of the Loveline’s dashed in at the same time. Love expected Elyssa’s reaction would be similar to last time, but with a longer range. That’s why the real Loveline was the one right behind Elyssa, hoping to be in her blind spot. While the others all ran at her with various claw slashes, she ducked down and tried to knock her over by swiping her leg. The sudden swarm of Loveline illusions made Elyssa stare at each of them with suspicion. Was there any way to tell who was real and who wasn't? “Nice try...buuuuut…” Smirking, Elyssa jumped forward and twisted her body so that her feet pinwheeled in the air. She took satisfaction in hitting the fake Lovelines...but the slash from the real one was one she expected. “You missed something in your illusion!”
While Loveline did manage to slash at her right leg while it was in the air and draw a tiny red trail, Elyssa used her legs to lunge forward and try to wrap around Loveline's midsection. She then pulled sharply back. Again Loveline found herself in the air, being hurled at the sand headfirst. She couldn’t wiggle out of it and raised her arms to protect her head. That only lowered the damage though and Love was dizzied after it. She pushed herself up slowly while trying to modify her inner ear to stop the dizziness.
While Loveline recovered, Elyssa paused and looked at her opponent with curiosity. “So...I have to ask. Was this the reason why you didn't like me at the start of all this? You somehow knew Ariana liked me?” She asked.
Loveline grit her teeth. “No,” she answered curtly. Not that she liked her in that way at least. How could she have known? “And it doesn’t matter!”
“It does matter! I want everyone here to be open with each other. If you have a problem with me, I want to know!” Elyssa said to Loveline, looking on with determination.
“Maybe it’s…” too embarrassing to say? “Maybe…” it’s too personal? “Maybe…” Love was afraid of what they would think, maybe they would think it’s too stupid a reason… Her fingers dug into the sand. The thoughts swirled together, forming a clump of emotions Love couldn’t figure out. She was barely aware of her gem glowing and then…
“Maybe I don’t want to tell you!” She hurled herself upwards, her dress scattering sand everywhere. She swung the back side of her scythe at Elyssa, aiming to hit her more with the handle than the small sharp part jutting out at the end.
The response only made Elyssa more determined to find the answer. For if you can't have fun with people you call friends, nobody will enjoy this adventure they were on! Elyssa had dedicated her life to exploring these, and she wasn't going to let someone walk away feeling sad. She drew her short sword and smashed it against the scythe, the force pushing her back a few feet and kicking up sand behind her.
“But it is clearly on your mind! So I am going to help if you like it or not!” She said, turning the blade to the side and attempting to hit Love with the flat of it.
Love blocked with her scythe upside down. The blade clanged against the handle. “Why do you have to be so insistent! Why won’t you leave me alone? Why won’t you let me deal with it myself!” She scooped up some sand with the scythe’s head and threw it into Elyssa’s eyes, then spun around and jabbed at her stomach with the end of the handle.
“Because you're internalizing too much! You seemed cold toward me since the moment we saw Ariana in her room!” She yelled back, now getting frustrated at Love's evasiveness. The sand hit her eyes and made Elyssa stumble backwards, jabbed by the handle and tumbling over. She hopped back up and fixed her suit again.
“But I have to say...I am glad you are finally getting mad. Vocalize your frustrations!” She called over at Loveline.
“No!” Love yelled. “But if you really want me mad, then here you go! Combo pattern! Boom Boom Lavender Stream!” She fired a bullet towards toward Elyssa which burst open in mid-air and released a stream of small purple orbs at the adventurer.
The colorful stream approached Elyssa, the adventurer sprinting forward and extending both of her hands outward. Just before a bullet reached her right hand...it disappeared and was fired directly at Loveline. She repeated thus for 2 more orbs...until one slammed into her side and exploded, kicking up sand. Elyssa was then obscured by the dust and sand generated by the stream...which finally cleared to show Elyssa standing there, smirking and certainly more injured than before. Several bruises could be seen where bullets bounced off her body, a thin stream of blood ran down her right leg, and the explosions unraveled her bottoms to where it was a lion cloth that went down the front and back, billowing in the wind.
“Not...done yet. You didn't answer me. So I will ask again...why won't you tell me?!”
Loveline was caught off guard by Elyssa sending her bullets back at her. Was this her actual power? The thing Loveline didn’t figure out in the mirror room? She guarded with her arms, the explosions kicking up more sand around her. When it settled, her dress was in a visibly worse state. Sleeves torn, cape in tatters, and various lacerations everywhere.
“Because…” Love bit her lip. Her emotions were clear now. She was angry. Angry at Elyssa for not letting her deal with it herself. Angry with herself for behaving the way she was. Angry at the world. “Because!” She flew toward Elyssa faster than before and swung the back of her scythe again.
Elyssa was now wearing a deep frown as she raised her short sword and swung to meet the scythe with far more force than she originally used. The clash of weapons echoed loudly. More sand was pushed away from the center of the clash Love felt the sudden stop harder than before, but she refused to give an inch even as her whole body trembled.
“Come on...you can tell me! You think Ariana would want you being this secretive?! Now for the final time…” The adventurer's face darkened. “Tell...me...why are you being like this!” Elyssa demanded as she loosened her grip on the blade and punched Loveline with a right hook in the stomach.
“Because…” Elyssa’s punch pushed Loveline away. “Because…” She looked at Elyssa, her eyes wetter than before. “Because it’s not fair!” Loveline exploded. “I tried so hard to help her out, but I couldn’t! I spent time with her when I could! I thought we were close! And then you just showed up and she perked up right away! And I felt so useless! Am I really that unimportant, that… Worthless? That feeling… It stung! It stung so bad!” She swung her scythe at Elyssa without really aiming. Her hands were trembling ever so slightly.
The blow smashed against Elyssa’s sword, which sent out a small shockwave from the force of both fighter’s strength meeting. Both the scythe and short sword flew out in the shockwave, the force sent Loveline stumbling while also knocking Elyssa backwards several feet and falling over, but quickly rolling back onto her feet. Elyssa’s eyes were now noticeably more wet than before too.
“...so it finally comes out. I had no idea you felt that way, Loveline.” Elyssa began, slowly walking toward her opponent. “I was only thinking about helping Ariana out, and had no idea you were invested in this as well. I really wish you’d have told me sooner...because you’re not useless!” Elyssa’s face grew more determined, blinking away the water in her eyes. “Now let’s finish this, Cromwell!”
Weakly leaping toward the fighter, Elyssa aimed to pin her to the ground and keep her held by the dress, something she probably couldn’t manipulate. Loveline leapt forward too, tears starting to roll out from her eyes. Elyssa managed to win the clash and Loveline was knocked over. Elyssa held on tight, but Love was stronger now too. She put one arm between herself and Elyssa and pushed off the ground with the other to switch their positions.
The two’s positions did change, Elyssa now on the bottom...but utilized the momentum Loveline generated to try and keep them rolling, Elyssa trying to get back on top so she could try to pin Loveline. “You...are certainly stronger now.” She said exhaustedly.
Loveline used the same trick to keep them rolling even further. “I.. Know…” She too was breathing heavily from the exertion. Yet their positions kept reversing. Even as Loveline’s mana was depleted again and she transformed back, she turned mass into thicker muscles just so she wouldn’t fall behind. Eventually, they reached the ocean. As a wave splashed across them, Love looked out toward the horizon.
“If we keep going this way, it could be very dangerous.” She let go of Elyssa, but kept straddling her. Her chest rose and fell with her exhausted breathing. “Why don’t we call it a tie?”
The fight had been exhausting for Elyssa, looking up at Loveline as she straddled her. Water was now halfway around her head, nearly to her face. “...heh...heh...not like this entire fight was dangerous?” She laughed at her own joke, wincing slightly in pain. “...but sure, let’s call this a tie.” She stared up for a few seconds, thinking. “...so...are we good now?” The adventurer asked.
Love closed her eyes. “Yes,” she said. Her emotions were settling down even though some tears still escaped. “I think we’re good.” She started to get up when Elyssa grabbed her arm suddenly and yanked her back down, wrapping the shapeshifter into a tight hug. It caught Loveline by surprise, but she quickly relaxed in Elyssa’s embrace. She even returned it as well as she could with Elyssa lying down.
“I am so...happy to hear that!” She said with relief. “Sorry for not realizing your feelings earlier. This whole thing kinda...took me by surprise too.” She said with a nervous laugh.
Loveline thought about. In the end, Elyssa hadn’t done much in this debacle. She couldn’t have known any of that was going to happen. This fight didn’t clear all of Loveline’s feelings up. She still felt pain. But it felt different. As if letting the others know made it lighter. As if they were helping her shoulder the burden. And that was Elyssa’s doing.
“I’m sorry, too,” she said. “This wasn’t really your fault. But thank you for this. Really.”
A wave of relief washed over Elyssa when Loveline both hugged back, and forgave her. “It wasn’t a problem, just wanted to help you and Ariana out. Now...let’s head back.” With a sudden jerk of her legs, Elyssa leaped back onto her feet while still holding Loveline, transferring their positions into Elyssa holding Love in her arms. “Hang on!” And with that, Elyssa carried them both back to Ariana and Cosmina, still breathing heavily.
“Hah...hah...we worked things out. You guys didn’t get too bored, right?” Elyssa asked, chuckling. She was still holding Loveline who was red as a beet.
"H-hey. If you let me down, I can fix you up. You won't have to use your scrolls."
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Post by HungryHunter on Mar 24, 2019 0:16:24 GMT
Ariana blushed when Elyssa and Loveline went tumbling right into a wave. Elyssa’s outfit falling apart was a lot, but now they were soaked and squeezed together. She wanted to cover her eyes, but instead she clapped when they hugged and made up. “They’re done?” Cosmina glanced up from the bikini. “Yeah!” Ariana stood and ran over to Elyssa. She wrapped her arms around her before she could put Loveline down. Both were squeezed like a stress ball. “I never meant to make you feel that way, Love. I’m sorry.” She sniffed and wiped away a few tears. Her arms relaxed and she stepped back, blushing and looking at Elyssa’s loincloth. “Elyssa, though... you need to change.”
“Don’t worry about that, I’m done here! Hey Elyssa, I improved your bikini!” Cosmina hopped to her feet with Elyssa’s bikini, now with a field of yellow flowers painted on half of her top and a yellow band added to the bottoms. “You can change in my kaspa.” Cosmina opened the kaspa with a wave of her hand. “Probably a good idea. And, uh, Love, can we talk alone in there when she’s done and you’re patched up?” Ariana kicked the sand, hands folded behind her back.
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Post by Vapovile on Mar 24, 2019 12:51:00 GMT
Elyssa squeezed back as best she could with the hug, despite both arms holding the stubborn shapeshifter up. When Ariana stepped back, Elyssa shrugged her shoulders and shook her hips slightly to make it sway back and forth. "What, not a fan of the cave girl look?" She let out a few chuckles, and looked over at Cosmina with a smile on her face.
"You did?! That's amazing!" She exclaimed with delight sparkling in her eyes, looking between the group until her gaze focused on Ariana. "Hey Ariana, mind holding this for me while I'm in there? Careful, she's a tricky one!" Elyssa joked, handing Loveline off to the other gem girl of the group and jogging over to Cosmina. "Thanks for doing this, Cos! I owe ya one!" Elyssa briefly wrapped the doll into a tight hug, then grabbed her bikini and looked back out toward the group.
"Hey Cosmina...mind stepping in here for a second? There is a thing I need to ask you about." Elyssa asked, motioning with her neck for Cosmina to follow. She wanted to allow Ariana and Loveline to chat out here in the nice beach area, not in Cosmina's kaspa. Regardless, she waved to the others and disappeared inside the kaspa, jogging over to her bag and beginning to apply the healing ointment to her various injuries sustained during the fight.
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Post by TimePuppy on Mar 24, 2019 17:39:00 GMT
Being sandwiched in the hug while also in Elyssa’s arms was weird, but if Elyssa could return it with her occupied arms, so could Loveline! Elyssa apparently decided she didn’t healing afterwards, at least not right now. Then she handed her to Ariana.
“Hey, wait!” Loveline said, growing even redder. Could she even hold her when not transformed? Dammit Elyssa, where you actually trying to kill her with embarrassment now!? “Oof!” Ariana’s knees buckled a little when she took on the extra weight. She had left her gem girl form to save mana at the start of the fight and Love was heavy!
“The cave girl thing is… distracting.” Ariana said. When Cosmina and Elyssa left, Ariana sat, setting Loveline down in front of her.
Loveline sat up, too. “I think she wants us to talk now.” She watched the two leave. “So, yeah, we can talk.” Even as she said that, she was filled with anxiety? What was Ariana about to tell her? All the ideas made her dizzy, but she had to do it.
“So, uh… I don’t really know how to feel right now. You’re in love with me?” Ariana spoke breathlessly, clearly confused out of her mind.
Loveline looked down at the sand. She took a second to compose herself. “...Yes,” she said with a trembling voice.
“Crap.” Ariana rubbed her face. “I really don’t know how to respond to that. I like you a lot, but I never thought about you that way. I never thought about anybody but Elyssa like that.” Ariana was beginning to realize what limited experience she had. She had thought other girls were attractive, of course. Love was gorgeous, though in a different way than Elyssa. But she had focused all her crushing energy on one target, and now that she was rejected, she was set adrift. She didn’t know how to respond to somebody else admitting their feelings!
“I realized,” Loveline said. She realized, but hearing it said stung. “I can see why you like her. She’s pretty and she can be charming. And she’s adventurous. It makes sense.” She paused “This isn’t really how you were supposed to find out, you know.”
“Did you have something fancy planned? That’s so… so Loveline.” Ariana sighed. “You’re cool too, but right now… well, right now I don’t think I should do anything romantic, okay? So maybe… ask me out in a week and we’ll see what I say.”
Loveline couldn’t answer. She hadn’t planned it yet. She had nothing aside from vague ideas. She never really had the opportunity. WIth Warden, Ariana was constantly on the move and trying to stay hidden. Just hanging out with her took effort. And after Warden…
“Yeah, now’s not the time.” Loveline smiled weakly. “After all of this, neither of us really ready to think about it right away, huh?”
“Nope. We both did stupid, impulsive things. I guess love is like that. Cosmina always told me it makes you dumb and I guess she was right.” Ariana teared up a little.
“Mhm.” Loveline drew random lines in the sand. She had the urge to give Ariana a tissue, but she, of course, had none. Even with all the money her dad had, she didn’t really have what she needed right now. The randomness of that silly thought made Loveline chuckle.
“This trip wasn’t all that bad though. At least I saw you smile again.”
“Aw, Love.” Ariana hugged her friend again. “Thank you for everything. I’ll always love you as a friend, even if I never love you as more. You were there for me when I needed you most and, well, I’m sorry for not appreciating it more.”
Loveline still held out hope for that more, but she let the hope sink down for now. It shouldn’t ruin the moment where she returned the hug tightly. “And I’ll be there again. I promise.”
Ariana finally released Loveline and knocked on the ajar kaspa door. Out came Cosmina, now wearing a blue swim cap with a rubber shark’s fin atop it. “You guys done making out?” She grinned. “Shut up.” Ariana responded, her and Loveline blushing again.
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Post by Vapovile on Mar 24, 2019 20:04:04 GMT
Out of the Kaspa door behind Cosmina, Elyssa strolled out wearing her improved swimsuit. Several bright yellow flower were added to the design of half her top, and a yellow band to her bottoms. The added yellow complimented her blond hair nicely. "Hope we gave you guys enough time! That invite for healing is still open, right?” Elyssa asked, motioning to the scratch marks across her stomach. Most of the other wounds had closed up though after Elyssa applied the healing substance.
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” Loveline said and put her hand on Elyssa’s shoulder. The remaining wounds closed up and even her bruised skin went back to her natural pink.A smile spread across Elyssa’s face when Loveline finished her work. “Wow, it actually worked! Thanks again!” Elyssa reached out and pulled Loveline into yet another hug, this one brief though. She broke away and looked directly at Ariana.
“Now that Loveline seems cool with me again...how are you doing?” She asked, looking at the water mage.
“I think I’ll be fine. I… I’m sorry for kissing you without asking. And a lot of things. I learned a lot about love today. The hard way.” Ariana ran her toes through the sand.
The response made Elyssa nod her head in acceptance, flashing a reassuring smile toward Ariana. “It’s alright, we’re all pretty new to this thing. But I hope we can all move on from this as smarter, cooler people! And in case you were worried…” Elyssa smirked. “You can totally hug me without asking anytime! Heck, I just did it to Lovey here.” She said, outstretching her arms to invite a hug to Ariana.
Ariana blushed and shook her head. “I really shouldn’t right now.” She would feel like a pervert accepting it right now. “We should really just get back to adventure, okay?” Ariana transformed back into her gem girl form, but still blushed even in her larger, more adult form.
The rejection came as a surprise to Elyssa. It was rare for someone to outright reject a hug offer from her. She thought about just walking over and pulling her into one...but that’d be too aggressive for the situation. So she wheeled around and pointed dramatically toward the circular platforms floating in the water next to the beach.
“Well ok then! Moving on! There is a trick to those platforms, so if you’ll just follow me…” Elyssa began to jog across the sand down to the beach, skidding to a stop when she reached it and leaped onto one of the platforms.
“Here’s how these things work…” The adventurer put her weight upon her right leg, which caused the platform to slowly move in the direction she was leaning. She then took the weight off that side and planted her leg on the other, repeating the motion.
“You control it by putting weight onto the side you want to go. Easy, right? Now here’s the hard part.” Leaping toward the edge and slamming her toes down against the very end, the platform tilted greatly as it shot forward and took Elyssa several meters away before she moved back and guided the platform back to the group.
“It tilts a lot the more you move toward the edge, but it also goes faster! So what do we need these things for, you ask?” Elyssa pointed toward the sea, where they could see a single figure standing on their own platform, draped in a long white cloak that covered their entire body. “We just have to beat him in a race. But watch out...he has tricks. I’ll let you guys figure that one out.” She smiled in anticipation. “Now, hop aboard a platform!”
Loveline was intrigued by the mechanics of this room. Although it would take some time getting used to those controls. And there was no way she could cheat with gem form now. Still, she hopped onto one of the platforms and said: “I’m ready!”
Ariana flew over to a platform next to Loveline and tested it out, immediately gunning it and falling off with a yelp. Cosmina more gingerly hopped onto one and slowly puttered it around. “This isn’t so bad!” She yelled as Ariana rose from the water to try again.
The display made Elyssa laugh at how Ariana fell over. “Hahahaha...hey, least we’re having fun, right? Now, these things can really go fast...so be careful, alright? I don’t want you guys flying off and slamming against a rock or something. But if everyone is ready…” She smirked toward the figure, waving at him. The figure then raised their sleeved hand toward the sky and fired off a small ball of blue light that flashed for a second, then reappeared as a snaking line that weaved across the sky.
“That’s the path we’re taking! You’re free to take shortcuts if you can find them, but that’s where we’re headed. Oh, the countdown!” Elyssa moved the others until they were next to the hooded figure, a similarly colored number 3 appearing in the sky. The number then flashed to 2...then 1...and at 0, both Elyssa and the figure slammed their feet toward the edge of the platform and shot off to follow the line.
Undeterred by her earlier failure, Ariana took off at top speed once more, putting her full weight on the edge of the platform. Cosmina only went at a middling speed, still trying to get a handle on the strange vehicle. She wobbled, horns clicking rapidly to help her find her footing. Loveline started with just a little pressure, but seeing Ariana and Elyssa going full steam ahead made her slam down too. She had to slow down a bit again though because keeping her balance on the fast-moving platform was a bit harder than she expected.
The team tore through a narrow passageway that opened up into a small archipelago of tiny islands dotting the landscape. Elyssa was only slightly behind the figure in white as they raced through the islands...but began to stumble when the figure turned and fired a strangely familiar object toward Elyssa that was attached to a rope. She swerved out of the way just in time, but bounced off the edge of one of the islands and was thrown off the ideal path. “Dang it! Careful getting close to him!” She called toward the team, jetting back onto the trail.
The figure raised their arms and fired several small blue orbs down into the water, scattering across the race course. The others would soon feel their effects. From below Ariana’s platform came a strange dolphin-like creature that shot upwards to try and knock Ariana off her platform from below. On Loveline’s side, a strange eel-like creature caught the underside of her platform and moved to the front, lashing forward to try and ensnare her feet.
Cosmina was far enough back that the mage didn’t anticipate many issues, but she would encounter 5 large crabs that latched onto her platform and attempted to get on top to pinch at her feet.
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Post by HungryHunter on Mar 28, 2019 20:49:21 GMT
Cosmina puttered along at her own speed, quite content to slowly follow the others. It was to her great surprise that she was targeted by the mage, crabs scuttling onto her board. “No no no ew! Ow! Ow!” Cosmina danced around. She danced backwards, coming to a complete stop. Not wanting to splatter them all over the platform with sonic blasts, she kicked at them, trying to knock them back into the water.
“I think I’m getting it!” Ariana yelled, wobbling atop her platform. She controlled the water beneath to maintain balance as she rocketed forward. It was a tricky matter, but she had it figured out enough to travel in a straight line. This wasn’t so helpful when the dolphin-thing came streaking for her. “Ah! No! Bad Flipper!” Ariana leaned liked a tree in a storm and went flying out of the dolphin’s path at the expense of spinning out of control. She toppled, gripping the edge of the platform to avoid being thrown off. “Ugh, crap…” She stood, shaking the dizziness out of her head. The others blasted ahead, leaving her behind. “Oh, not a chance!” Ariana formed a small anchor with an extra long chain, spilling out onto the deck like a coiling serpent. She twirled it over her head like a lasso, and with an excited yelp, threw it at a distant island. The moment it hooked onto the exposed rock, her muscles went to work, yanking her forward at the same time as she jumped onto the end of the disk. With doubled speed, she skipped across the water.
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Post by TimePuppy on Mar 30, 2019 20:36:40 GMT
Loveline watched Ariana messing with water to keep herself stable and wished her powers were convenient like that. But maybe she didn't need them? She'd managed to get herself completely balanced and was getting used to this fairly quickly. She put slightly more weight forward to speed up, but still not at max. This ended up being a good decision when some suddenly jumped on and warped itself around her platform. Her platform wobbled for a bit while she was startled, but she managed to regain control and even keep her speed when she realized it was just a weird eel. But how will she get rid of it? If she had access to her gem form she could've used her scythe in so many ways to get rid of it, but...
When it's slimy body tried wrapping around her feet she just reflexively tried kicking it. If the good old football punt didn't work, well, she'd have to start thinking faster.
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Post by Vapovile on Mar 31, 2019 23:17:16 GMT
The crabs that were going after Cosmina were easily kicked back into the water, them being the weakest creatures summoned by the mage's power. Loveline's kick would prove only somewhat effective, as the eel was kicked off of her platform...but left a small trail of slime where it once sat. If Loveline didn't want to risk sliding off, she should reposition where she was leaning forward towards.
Elyssa whipped through the tiny archipelago with impressive speed, gaining on the figure in front of her. "Hah, I got you now!" She said triumphantly, firing her grappling hook at the person in the cloak as they swerved to the side, the grappling hook only able to hook the back of its hood and pulling back sharply, removing the hood to reveal...
...Elyssa? The figure before them's head looked like Elyssa's in every way. The blond hair, blue eyes, and confident expression. Strangely though...she didn't have the hat on. "Hey, cheap move!" The imposter yelled, swerving around a nearby sandbar and crashing into Elyssa's platform, making the adventurer stumble. "You did the same thing to me! And now I guess you want to fight!" Swinging a kick for the imposter, Elyssa watched as the figure inhumanly stretched out of the way, her foot meeting the cloak she wore and hitting nothing beneath. The figure then repeated the move, kicking Elyssa and sending her bouncing back several yards on her platform.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 4, 2019 22:24:30 GMT
Oh yuck! The eel flew off the platform, but now Loveline's leg and the platform were both coated in slime! When she tried putting her leg back down, she almost slid right off. Thinking quickly, she made small suction cups on her feet. Gripping on like an octopus tentacle, she managed to stay in the race and didn't even have to slow down. Still, she wasn't sure if this was a permanent solution. Especially if their opponent pulls out more tricks. Loveline looked up to see Elyssa was catching up to their hooded nemesis. She used her grappling hook and managed to get its hood off revealing a familiar head of blond hair.
"Two Elyssas!? What's going on?"
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 4, 2019 23:28:51 GMT
Cosmina sighed in relief at how easy to deal with the crabs were. Onwards she puttered, ineffectually but safely following at a distance. “Come on… you can do it… be cool like them.” Cosmina gently budged forwards, picking up just the slightest bit of speed. Her horns nervously pinged to keep her balance as best she could.
Skipping across the waves at top speed, Ariana was well within eyeshot when Elyssa pulled the hood off of their unknown assailant and revealed the ultimate enemy; herself! “Two Elyssas! Cool!” Ariana twirled her anchor over her head like a lasso as she got closer and when she thought she was in range, threw it at the cloaked Elyssa. She had done some quick manual calculations and decided it was more likely that the bendy one was a fake, shapeshifting Elyssa, safe to attack. It was a trick her father had pulled before, pretending to be people to gain an advantage. Her legs wobbled. No! He’s not here! That isn’t him! And we are not thinking about him! She thought, forming another anchor of similar size and this time aiming to hook the platform, preventing the fake Elyssa from gaining ground.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 5, 2019 9:15:30 GMT
Both Elyssa and the imposter slowed down when they started to weave through the sandy terrain. This gave Loveline time to catch up, the imposter turning back and addressing the shapeshifter. "Don't recognize me? I guess you wouldn't...I was way bigger and dumber before!" She laughed. "I was that giant cube! I gained the knowledge of that girl, and now I have form! Hahahahaha!" The former cube cackled. The real Elyssa rolled her eyes. "As you can see, the translation wasn't quite complete. For instance, she doesn't pay attention to her surroundings like me." Elyssa remarked.
"What's that supposed to..." Suddenly, the anchor slammed into the fake Elyssa's body and smashed straight through like nothing, the upper body briefly suspended in the air before landing back down into the stump and reforming. In her recovery though, Ariana managed to hook her platform. "Hm...nice trick...but I bet you're not strong enough to hold this back!" With a wide grin, the fake Elyssa put all her weight down upon one side and made it tilt greatly, shooting off at great speed toward the side and attempting to either yank the chain right out of Ariana's hands, or the chain and herself at the same time. Meanwhile, the real Elyssa had begun to speed away.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 6, 2019 18:23:06 GMT
The cube turned into Elyssa? So it was a copycat? Maybe that's why her footless stump didn't bleed. But if she lost her limb to it, how did Elyssa even survive it? That was something she had to ask Elyssa after this was over.
She kept her course, leaning in slightly to get closer (Balance=4, roll 6) when her suction cups lost grip. As she feared, the remaining slime made the platform harder to stick to and lost balance. She had to slow down a tad to shake the slime off her foot before giving it another shot, hoping she'd stick to it better this time.
Pushing down to catch up to Ariana (Speed=2-1) she yelled over to her: "Riri, don't let go. I'll see if she knows about my secret earthbending!" She winked and a rock pillar rose up out of the water (attack=1). The blob could feel water splashing its face as the rock kept growing. Love hoped this illusion was enough to make the slime flinch, to let Ariana yank her back, while Loveline focused on moving forward (speed=3-1).
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 6, 2019 19:14:14 GMT
Ariana lurched forwards when the blob took off. Her muscles strained, biceps swelling against the force. She planted her feet on her board and ice formed over them, sticking her tight to the platform. It slightly cracked when she started gunning forwards, pushed to the limits of its strength. But still she held, knuckles white, platform skidding over the waves.
“I wasn’t planning on it !If I let go I’ll fall down!” Ariana yelled back at Love. She leaned in, adding in her own speed. With that plus the momentum of the false Elyssa’s platform, she went skipping far forward, past even Elyssa. “Wheeeeee!” She yelled, releasing the chain when she reached the end. No reason to keep holding on when she had passed the thing by this much!
Far behind, Cosmina kept puttering forward at her own limited pace. She couldn’t really see anybody anymore, and even her sonar was faltering at this range. She was being thoroughly left behind. She shrugged and kept moving. So long as one person beat the cloaked figure, they were all good. No reason for her to risk her own neck.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 10, 2019 17:13:03 GMT
In Elyssa’s rush to speed away, she decided to lean forward more to try and get an even larger lead on the faker. This move soon proved to be a mistake (Roll 6, balance 3), as she scraped across a sand bar and was sent flying off of her platform. “Crap crap crap crap...ah!” Her eyes lit up when she saw that Loveline was right there! Taking out her grappling hook, Elyssa decided to ditch her platform entirely and fired it at the back of Loveline’s platform, landing on top right after she made the rock in the blob’s way.
“Hey, I’m going to crash here now! Hope you don’t mind.” Elyssa flashed Loveline a smile and put her own weight into the platform, making them both move forward at a rapid pace. (attack 2, speed 5). Elyssa waved as they manage to just pass Ariana. “Heeeeeeeey!” She yelled over.
The imposter Elyssa saw the approaching rock and moved to swerve out of the way (minus 3 speed). “Hey! Secret earthbending?! When can you...oh…” The imposter then remembered that Loveline could make illusions. “Gaaaaah...not falling for that again!” She yelled, propelling herself forward. (Balance 6, speed 5). The blob found herself near to Ariana, the figure frowning and moving toward the gem girl.
“Nice try there with your friend! But guess what? I’m still here!” She said confidently, maneuvering her platform to try and bump into Ariana’s to throw her off balance. (Attack 1).
Far in the back...Cosmina would hear a strange sound of water approaching her position. If she looked back, she would see a girl with bright red hair on a platform, quickly approaching her position. She wore an expensive-looking red and black bikini, with a pair of blue water-resistant shoes on her feet.
“Hey, nerd! She yelled at Cosmina, shifting her weight so she wouldn't crash into the doll's platform, but close enough to grab Cosmina by the back of her swimsuit and yank her onto her own, dangling in the air. The lightweight Cosmina was easily yanked off the ground to flail futilely in the air. “No! Put me down! Who are you!?”
The tall girl moved her hand up and down once to bounce the doll. “Call me Anna, shrimp! You're going to help me catch up to those nerds!” She said with delight, pressing forward and using the enhanced weight to gain speed. “I don’t wanna help you!” Cosmina’s foot uselessly battered Anna’s abdomen without effect as she started to charge a blast.
Anna rolled her eyes at the struggle and yanked the doll so they were at eye level, Anna's other hand making a fist. “Well too bad, you're going to help me win this race against that dumb blob and Blondie. Do you REALLY want to mess with me?” She asked, feigning a punch for Cosmina's face. “Ah! No, mam! I don’t want to mess with you!” Cosmina flinched and hid her face in her hands. “I’ll even shoot at the blob… but not my friends, okay?”
“Whatever, the blob is the main issue. Let's go!” She said with a wide grin, summoning a spear into her right hand and jamming it through Cosmina's suit, lifting it up to hold both in the same hand. “I need a free hand!” She called to her captive. “...my suit…” Cosmina murmured, dangling limp and defeated. “What was that?!” Anna called up at her. “I understand perfectly mam! Do what you need to!” Cosmina saluted from her unusual vantage point.
“Good! I may make you useful after all!” She said with a grin, speeding forward until they sped past Elyssa's abandoned platform, and began approaching Ariana.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 11, 2019 3:50:06 GMT
Anna barrelled recklessly forwards, skipping over the waves. Swiftly she closed in on where the blob and Ariana sparred. Ariana set her feet, but it wasn’t enough. When her board bounced, she fall down, landing hard on her rear end. She was still close enough to the edge that she kept going forward. “Ow… Cosmina!?” She looked back as Anna closed in. The girl that had Cosmina dangling from her spear looked familiar. “Wait… Anna!?” Ariana staggered to her feet. “That’s my name, dweeb! That spider finally let you out of its web?” With a cocky grin, Anna twirled her spear (Cosmina wailed miserably) and pointed it at the pseudo Elyssa she had just passed.
“There’s too many Elyssa’s right now! Just to clear the confusion, I’m getting rid of this one!” Anna stuck out her spear and pointed. Cosmina hesitated just for a second. Her first sonar clicks weren’t attacks, but merely a scan. She searched for weak points, but found nothing of the sort. The blob was nude under its cloak, and beneath that, it was like scanning a bowl of jelly. No organs, no bones, nothing to break. Lacking a real target, she hummed again and popped off a small blast for the false Elyssa’s head.
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Post by TimePuppy on Apr 13, 2019 17:39:10 GMT
Elyssa's sudden arrival threw Loveline for a loop. The added speed made her think she was about to flop over, but her suction cups kept her firmly in place (balance=5, roll 4). Still, her arms flailed wildly and she hoped Ariana wasn't seeing how silly she looked.
"Um, I don't mind. But is sharing a platform even allowed?" Well, not like she could do anything about it now. She just had to hope the sudden speed increase wouldn't make balancing too hard. In the meantime, she figured she should keep using the boost Elyssa provided and leaned into it, sending them speeding towards the first sharp turn (speed=3).
While they rode, Love's attention was stolen by a new arrival leaping out of the water and landing on Cosmina's platform. She was essentially holding Cosmina hostage on her spear and seemed to know Elyssa. And Ariana seemed to know her, too.
"You guys know each other? I'm a bit lost, so would you mind introducing us?"
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 14, 2019 21:12:44 GMT
Cosmina’s sonic blast easily managed to burst apart the blob Elyssa’s head, sending several flesh-colored pieces raining down upon the platform she stood on. It took several seconds for it to absorb back the pieces and reform its head (-4 points). “Ooooooooow! Why is she on that spear?! You jerks!” Frowning, the blob tilted forward and shot toward the others (balance 5, roll 1), and shot past Ariana and caught up to Elyssa and Loveline (Speed 6).
“Hah! Thought you could beat me, huh?!” The blob mocked, Elyssa turning to Loveline. “I don’t see a ref, do you?” She jokingly stated. “As for her...that’s Anna. She’s been following me on these things for years now, trying to steal whatever she can at the very end. So don’t let her get anything!” Elyssa said, leaning forward to gain speed (speed 1) and discovering a strange section nearby.
A narrow valley of rapids could be seen as they approached the corner, with several jagged rocks along the sides. Elyssa smirked and poked Loveline in the side to get her attention. “Hey, that is much faster I think! You game?”
Loveline looked at the rocks with a concerned grimace. She didn’t like what Elyssa was thinking, but… Do it for coolness. Be a badass.
“Yeah,” Love said. “Bring it on!” The response made Elyssa smile and shake Love slightly by the shoulder. “I like the bravery! Let’s go!” And with that, Elyssa directed them into the rapids.
The change was immediate and violent. Loveline and Elyssa’s platform was tossed around like a toy in the rapids. They were certainly going faster than before, but it would be a challenge to stay on for the whole ride.
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