(Preshow) Registration [Where you sign up IC]

[Gilgamesh]

As the registration agent took Ahana for her signs, two men grabbed onto Gilgamesh’s arm to lead him in the opposite direction. He jerked his head towards the men before ripping his arms from out of their hands. Giving them a sneer, Gilgamesh strode forward to the splintery, wooden chair that they were leading him to. Spinning elegantly, he plopped himself down onto the chair and glared at the two men. The embroidered ‘DA’ on their shirts brought back memories Gilgamesh had buried from long ago. Visions of epic fights, dragons, and alliances flowed adrenaline through his system. The grand prize came into his mind and it irked him slightly. How Karl Jak got so many of the King’s treasures eluded him. That thief Karl Jak...

Karl Jak’s smiling visage flashed through his memory and made the King’s mouth turn into a sour frown. Being collared like an animal was humiliating but that endeavor was nothing compared to...Gilgamesh actually winced in pain at the memory of Diablo. At the mere thought of the demon, the brand on his chest began to warm slightly. If anything though, the experience gave the Golden King thicker skin.

One of the agents snapped his fingers in front of Gil’s face, jarring him back to reality. “Hello?” He chuckled as Gilgamesh became aware of his surroundings once more. “We thought we had lost you to heat stroke for a moment there.” Turning his back, the man walked back over to the tent and grabbed a clipboard and a small cup of cool water. The other man had already began his assault on Gilgamesh, as he suddenly flashed a light into both of the King’s eyes. Squinting his eyes, Gil brought his hand up to shield himself from the bright light. Gilgamesh sneered at the dark skinned man, forcing the agent to sigh and roll his eyes.

“What is the meaning of this?” Gilgamesh hissed just in time as the other man came back. Taking an obnoxious sip from his water, he looked towards his colleague.

“What’s he going on about?” He said as he raised his glance again to take another loud slurp.

“He wants to know why we’re checking his vitals.”

The agent with the water turned to Gilgamesh and bent over before speaking with a condescending tone, “We’re trying to make sure you’re healthy enough to die for us?” He went to pat the King’s hair but his wrist was snatched from the air and into Gilgamesh’s tight fist.

“You might lose your tongue if you continue to speak to me in such a manner.” Gil’s crimson eyes narrowed and his grip tightened forcing the agent onto his knees. His colleague put his hand on Gil’s shoulder earning the King’s death stare.

“Harming a Dante’s Abyss Agent will result in disqualification from the event.” He spoke with a calm and collected voice as if he had done this for many years. Reluctantly, Gil released his grip on the agents wrist, his hand print lingering onto the man’s pink skin. Turning away from the agents, Gilgamesh spoke dismissively.

“It is ridiculous. You know that us primes are always healthy.”

The dark skinned man nodded his head in agreement, however did not speak. Instead he looked over towards his compatriot. His friend swore beneath his breath and shook his arm, as if it would relieve the pain. Bringing it back up, he picked up the pen and began to fill out the form. Giving Gil a hostile glare, he asked the first question in a gruff tone.

“Name?” He said mocking the piece of paper in front of him.

“Gilgamesh,” The name flowed off Gil’s tongue, hoping to get some reaction from the staff. The more irritating and paler of the two laughed for a solid minute, his breathes short and rapid.

“Yeah right. And I’m Omni.” The agent scoffed and looked up towards Gilgamesh, the King’s serious face giving him some second guessing. His voice was now a bit shakey instead of humored and he raised an eyebrow at Gil, “You can’t be serious? Gilgamesh was banished years ago.” He waved his hand dismissively.

His colleague turned to him, “Dude seriously? Have you not been on the Dataverse recently? The dude’s a spitting image of Gilgamesh from DA15’. The pale agent turned towards`towards his partner giving him a skeptical look. Letting out a defeated sigh the agent scribbled on his paper.

“Occupation?” He sighed, briefly looking up.

“King of Heroes.” Gilgamesh spoke, with the agent bitterly mimicking him. “Ming of Meroes” was mumbled beneath his breath. Gilgamesh ignored the insect and carried on. Not interested in asking Gil any more questions, he flipped through the ‘optional’ pages of the notebook and went straight for the Waiver.

Mumbling beneath his breath, Gil could only make out, “Do you…*mumble mumble* no harm *heheheh* annd THERE.” With a shit-eating grin he handed the King the waiver with a pen, hoping the King would just leave. Picking up the pen and signing quickly, Gilgamesh stood up and walked over to a small podium they had.

“This is the part where you broadcast my glory right?” Gilgamesh spoke with a sly grin, poking the nerves of the pale agent.

“Something like that,” He said with a groan. Recording on his dataverse device, he pointed the device at Gilgamesh who did nothing more than give the camera a somber look, saying dryly, “I’m back.” before cutting the camera off. Practically shoving Gilgamesh into the recall station, the agent gave him a forced smile before flipping him off and sending him off his merry way.

[Broly]

“Pull up along side that half track and park her.” Emilia said through his comm helmet.

Turning the controls Broly watched from behind his LCD monitor as a parked half-track with a sizable tent built off the side of it slowly came into view of their rolling war machine. Grinding the transmission down into it’s lower gear and depressing the obviously worn brakes the full-blood brought the tank to a halt.

“You don’t think it’s the same thing, do you?” Emz said from the command seat.

Broly was already unbuttoning his hatch and climbing out. Sliding down the bow and to the sands beneath his feet the blonde Saiyan jogged over to the half track and ripped one of the fliers down off the side of the parked half-track.

“Yeah. It’s the same.” He said crushing the flier in his hand and heading through the canvas flaps that served as a front door.

“I’d like to sign up for Dante’s Abyss. My wife will spectate.” He said to the nearest employee he had been taking a drink from his canteen.

Sitting the blonde man down the staff took his blood, filmed a short video of him staring at the video camera with disgust, and filled out several documents. Once the formalities were done they proceeded to guide him towards a metal pad towards the back of the large tent. Once both Broly and his wife Emilia were on it a brilliant flash of light carried them away to Dante’s Abyss. Leaving their hulking war machine to be driven back to Emilia’s camp by the lone gunner left inside.

Registering in the Dunes

[Serraph Quarrere]

The hours after the boy’s awakening would blur by seamlessly, requiring unfaltering willpower to keep up with what was going on. His mind seemed to be nearly detached from the rest of his body. When the newer prime would arrive late to the task the odd pair had been working on, the proud Tarutaru would take the reigns. The Arrancar would say very little if at all, his eyes focused on the waddling Shantatto as she led him through the morning crowds. He could hear them gasp as they all flocked towards the smoldering ruins Serraph and Shantotto had left in their wake. No doubt the guardsmen would have their hands full keeping the worried masses away from the surveyors that arrived.

Serraph’s right hand would tighten around the bleached bone crown in his grasp. With no memory of a certain part of the night prior, he could easily be swept by his own urge to speculate by the few clues left behind of his blackout. Such a thing would bare no fruit here in the hot dusty streets. His chest throbbed with phantom pain, but he knew the wounds he was given the days prior had been long since healed.

As the two trailed through the winding streets and alleyways, he’d be stricken by a ray of the Nippurian sun. The intensity of the light proved too uncomfortable. His face grimaced, his eyes calmly narrowing on the Tarutaru before him. Wordlessly he held out his hand, the familiar rainbow light taking form in the palm of his hand. The glowing mass of sparking light would lengthen, the shape becoming clearer and clearer as time continued before fading back into the object Serraph created. The familiar umbrella’s weight was one of the last things attributed to the object then the bleached bone grip of its handle. He’d expand the pale silk canopy, bringing its width to bear over his head, veiling his body in its comforting shadow.

It was at this point that he’d realize that he’d nearly lost the pint sized lady amidst the crowd. His grey eyes glanced to and fro among the excited crowd tracking the little lady along.  Little did he realize that this crowd circled a certain Syntech tent outside the walls of the great city, the same tent Shatotto led him to. The mood of the crowd enticed the former Espada. The one in which the pair had wandered from was one of worry and shock while this one expressed a general aura of hype and euphoria.

Serraph would then find himself following the line leading into the rather large tent. His curious nature was prominent, he would gladly wait to see what all the excitement in the air was about. The line wasn’t terribly long but he did catch the visage of many familiar faces. Shantotto had just entered. His eyes glanced around behind him noticing a towering man clad in flawless golden armor. Serraph paused  and glanced up at him subtly, recognizing the man’s features of his own King. Gilgamesh stood there, his arms crossed in impatience waiting for his turn.

Despite his relative proximity Serraph dared not speak and would tilt his umbrella slightly to conceal his features. Down into the dust beneath their feet his gaze fell, his teeth biting hard into into his lower lip to force himself into silence. He’d step out of the line as naturally as he could, keeping his umbrella tilted in a manner to shield his features from the king and took the position behind him. The king merely stepped forward, paying no mind to the Arrancar as he gave up his spot to him. A servant he was of the Golden King, yet he couldn’t yet bring himself to speak to him yet. His accomplishments weren’t quite up to the level worthy of being recognized by the Great Gilgamesh.

 Being in the presence of the King was a bit overbearing. He was immaculate and pure while Serraph stood not even fully clothed. He’d pause once more, his mind lingering on his half nakedness. Quickly he’d summon himself a simple, unadorned hempen robe to cover his features. The time it took to do this didn’t seem very significant, but his focus took longer than he’d imagine. His turn had come.

 He was led inside the tent and so Serraph collapsed the umbrella hiding the Arrancar from the wrathful sun. A woman with a data pad stood before him, her gaze tired but questioning the more she looked over him.

“Alright little lady, I am unfortunately forced to inform you that entering this event will likely result in a sudden demise, either subtle or spontaneous, as well as other ailments that will follow you into the distant future.”, the woman said, handing him the pad and a steel stylus. He’d accept it, the stylus fitting perfectly within his fingers. “Sign here, please, letting us know-”

“That I cannot sue Syntech for personal or bodily damage during the event?”, Serraph would finish, his eyes glancing up curiously at the woman, offering back the pad and stylus once it had been signed.

She’d purse her lips, biting back a rather distasteful remark. She’d slide a finger across the screen’s surface. “I need your name, miss.”

The woman had perceived Serraph as female. He wasn’t aware of the feminine qualities her perhaps possessed, but he didn’t bring the issue up. He merely smiled and returned the woman’s look. “Serraph Quarrere”, he spoke, slowly sounding out the syllables for the woman. He’d rather not have to repeat himself.

“Titles or aliases?”

“Former Octava Espada. Humble Servant of King Gilgamesh”, he’d answer, nearly shaking in genuine enthusiasm. His hand tightened around the hilt of his umbrella before driving it against the floor of the tent.

“Prime?”

“Indeed, Madam.

“ Residence?”

“Nippur”, he’d answer smartly. He’d only been here a day or so, but this place will be his home for the foreseeable future.

“Race?”

 He’d hesitate not because of his inability to answer, but of the necessity. He doubted that others would know of his race, but he may gain hostility or disdain from those who do. “Arrancar”

“Gender?”, she’d ask causing Serraph to glance away momentarily in thought.

“Male.”

 The answer brought out a confused look not just of the interviewer, but of those within hearing distance. The amount of eyes upon him gave him a feeling of uneasiness in his gut. Thankfully she’d clear her throat and move onto the next question.

“Age?”

“94, likely older”, he’d state casually, earning another set of strange looks upon him.

The woman broke her stare to write down a few more notes, filling in other questions with information inferred from their conversation.

“That’ll be all. If you’d step this way, we like to get a short video of each contestant.”

Serraph would nod and walk in the direction directed but stopped short before turning and bowing his head slightly toward the interviewer. “Thank you for you time, madam”, he’d say, the woman waving her hand dismissively to him.

“Don’t thank me. If you’d excuse me I have others to interview”

He’d nod and continue through the door way in which another employee, this one adjusting his camera and the like, preparing it for the footage he was about to take. “Stand right there, miss, and do something or say something… just make it brief”

He’d nod and wait for the man to return his nod before continuing. Serraph’s hands would clasp the other securely in front of him, his eyes looking deep into the lens of the camera. He’d smile softly, his head cocked slightly to the side.

“The Son of Old Uruk, God of the Golden Sands, King of Nippur will bathe you all in the shimmering light of his majesty. Prepare thyself as His Will will not falter here.", he’d speak, his tone soft and clear. His accomplishments were not worth mentioning here, but his King did hold value in merit. The man would wave him on, motioning to step through the next doorway.

[Link]

A couple of days had passed since Link entered Camelot. He’d spent a good while exploring, taking in the sights and such. He’d visited a number of villages along the way, nobody had tried to capture and interrogate him, all in all a successful trip, thus far at least. This morning, however, Link left the village he was staying a little earlier than usual. He was headed for Minas Tirith, off in the distance. 

The path to the Capital was bustling, strangely. All manner of people were making their way to the Capital as well. No doubt something was going on, which was more than enough to pique the Hylian’s interest. 

“Hey, Link..?” The boy’s fairy companion piped up, having emerged from within his tunic, “What d’you think’s going on, huh?” 

“You know as much as I do, Navi,” Link muttered, glancing around at the others that followed the road to the Capital, “Should be interesting, what with this many people going.” 

“Could be dangerous, though,” Navi spoke again, this time with a faint undertone of concern, “Best be ready for when we get there, right?” 

“You worry too much,” Link chuckled and rolled his eyes, amusedly, “Things around here seem different, can’t you tell?” 

Navi huffed and set about fluttering in between the travellers and caravans, chiming and squeaking greetings to those that pay her any heed. Link let out another coy chuckle as some that were a little more hesitant to have a fairy fluttering around their heads swatted her away. 

***

A little way ahead, just outside of the Capital and on the side of the road, a large tent had been set up. Many of the travellers ignored this and continued on into the city itself. Link and his companion, however, made their way over to the tent, curiosity having gotten the better of them. As they approached, one of the Syntech employees made their way over toward the duo. A young female, dressed in the Syntech uniform. She practically bounced her way over, beaming a smile.

“Welcome to Syntech Dante’s Abyss 18 Registration!” She called out in an overly bubbly tone, arms outstretched to the side, “We have forms and everything you need inside, if you want to sign up!” 
Link’s features contorted into a bemused grimace, “Dante’s Abyss?” He spoke, eyeing the tent and it’s inhabitants momentarily.

“It’s a contest of power!” The woman blurted out, followed quickly by a chuckle, “You’ve never heard of it before? Are you new here, then?”  

Link merely shrugged in reply, a contest of power seemed interesting, regardless. “Anything I need to know, before signing up?” The Hylian asked, to Navi’s dismay. The Fairy fluttered incessantly around the young Hero, wrought with despair. The Syntech employee ushered Link inside quickly, showing him directly into the registration booth. Another Syntech employee sat behind the desk, somewhat less. .eccentric than his female counterpart. 

“Name?” He asked, abruptly.

“Link.” The Hylian replied.

“Full name?” The man grunted.

“That’s.. It. Just Link.” The employee looked up from his form, muttering quietly.

“Right. Sure it is. Occupation?”

Link considered the question for a moment, “Uh, Hero?” 

“Are you asking me, or telling me?” The man grumbled.

“Uh.. telling?” Link grimaced, “Sorry, telling.” 

The man behind the desk snorted wryly, continuing to write down the Hylian’s answers, “Right. Prime or Secondary?” 

“Prime.” 

“Residence?” 

“I.. don’t have one. Wanderer, I guess.” Link spoke quickly. The man snorted a laugh, “A Prime without a base, as you say, kid.” Link shuffled, awkwardly under the employee’s gaze.

“Are you aware that Syntech is in no way responsible for both physical and mental harm this competition may or may not cause?” The employee asked, nonchalant, to which Link nodded quickly in reply. 

“Gonna need verbal confirmation, kid.” Link sighed, “Yes, I’m aware.” 

“Are you aware that destruction of Syntech property or assaulting staff and or other participants within the facility is prohibited and results in disqualification?”

“Sure.” 

“Alright, next we’ll need to take your vitals. It’s quick and painless” The employee explained, all the while gesturing for a chair just away from the desk, “Sit.” 

Link did as instructed, he took a seat and waited patiently while the employee cleaned a few patches of Link’s skin with an alcohol wipe. He then pulled a few small white dots from a tray beside the tray, proceeded to remove the paper from the sticky backing of them. The man cleaned a few patches of Link’s skin with an alcohol wipe before applying the diodes to the Hylian’s temple, jaw, neck, forearm and wrist. A few moments passed and the machine connected to the diodes beeped, signalling Link was all clear. 

“All done. All that’s left is the promotional material,” The desk jockey spoke, “Good luck.” He snorted derisively before handing the Hylian over to the third and final Syntech employee. 

The third employee, a tech by the looks of it, greeted Link with a smile and nod. “So, we’ll get to recording some promotional material. Nothing to worry about, it’ll just be streamed on the Dataverse and some other places. Consider it your way to get noticed and pull in some traction and supporters.” 

 “Uh, alright, so how does this work?” Link questioned the tech, his bemused grimace returning quickly at the jargon.

“So, step up in front of this green screen. If you get stuck I’ll give you some tips and direction, just say something cool, give that fancy sword of yours a swing and we’ll go from there. Or, if you don’t feel comfortable, give us a nice battle stance, something action-y.” The tech nodded affirmatively, gesturing for Link to step up to the screen as she raised the camera, ready to film.

The Hylian nodded and stepped in front of the screen and drew his shield and Master Sword. The Tech gave him a thumbs up and a red light began to blink on the camera. Link then dropped into a defensive stance, shield raised and sword held outstretched behind him. He thrust forwards, first with the shield and then with the sword, quickly followed by a horizontal slash. Link then held his sword outstretched to the side for a brief moment before spinning a couple of times, his sword glowing a bright blue, letting out a loud “HYAH!” as he did so.

“That’s good! Real nice!” The Tech called out, beaming a smile and showing Link another thumbs up, “You’re all signed up. All that’s left now is to send you off to the staging ground. All you gotta do is stand on the pad in the room behind that door,” The tech gestured towards the door a few feet away from the green screen, “And you’ll be teleported directly there. So, good luck, kid and have fun!” 

“Thanks, I think,” Link spoke as he took a few steps towards the teleporter room, “Root for me, huh?” The Hylian grinned cheerfully as he stepped into the teleporter room and onto the pad. 

Camelot > preshow

[Clownpiece]

Though she’d been so eager to lead the way, as always, it quickly became apparent to the trio that Clownpiece didn’t have the foggiest clue where they were actually supposed to go. While all it had taken was the mere suggestion of DA to get the little fairy all fired up, simply being motivated meant a whole lot of nothing if they didn’t know how to actually make good on that motivation. Fortunately, it hadn’t taken all that long for Renko to get over the near-death experience that had been her trip out the window in the arms of a tiny girl, and with all the adrenaline flushed out of her system, she was more than happy to take the lead, tablet in hand.

Although usually loathe to be the one doing the following, Clownpiece was more than happy with this turn of events. It gave her the few minutes she needed to sit back on one of Yuuka’s shoulder and summon herself up a brand new, non-bloodied pair of obnoxiously decorated tights. No new hat, however. Hers was still back with Cirno in the hotel, and like hell she was just gonna conjure up a new one! Aside from that, it also gave her some moments to discuss the situation with the woman giving her a ride, let her know what had prompted the sudden sneaking-away, and why exactly Afrátos was missing.

Listening to the tale of how Dane had tried, and nearly succeeded at killing the ceramic hellbeast, Yuuka nodded along, offering an occasional sympathetic word. To Clownpiece, who had mostly seen the youkai as someone very deadly and not to be fucked with, hearing her show what sounded like genuine concern was a bit... off-putting. That wasn’t to say it was necessarily bad. It was quite the opposite, in fact. Welcome, though more than a bit unexpected.

With plenty of conversation to pass the time, it wasn’t long before Clownpiece was in said brand-new pair of tights and riding on Yuuka’s shoulders in a much more... normal way. Less like a tiny fairy catching a ride on someone’s shoulder and more like a kid getting a piggyback ride from their mother. Beyond that, even with their leisurely, ambling pace as they followed behind the scouting Renko, it wasn’t overly long before they found the registration tent. To which the college student turned and announced “We’re here,” and made no effort to go inside the tent, lest she accidentally get signed up for it herself.

“Before I head in...” Yuuka said slowly, her voice calm. Deceptively so. Though she couldn’t see it from her perch atop the youkai’s shoulders, Clownpiece figured she was probably smiling her usual, deadly smile.

“Yes...?” The fairy asked uncertainly, turning down to stare at her messy green hair. 

“Could I borrow your phone? It’ll only be a minute, and then I’ll join you.”

“... Sure?” Though it was phrased more like a question than an answer, Clownpiece nevertheless fished the device out of her dress and handed it to the youkai, before hopping off her shoulders and dropping down until she was hovering just above the ground. “I’ll see you on the other side then!” Her excitement was back in an instant, and she floated back into the tent, giggling cheerfully at Yuuka.

“Thanks~,” the woman said, a note of... something hidden beneath that calm as she waved goodbye to the little fairy.

And just like that, Clownpiece slipped into the registration booth, turning herself back around in the air to face the good people that would be giving her waivers to fill out and check her vitals. It was a process she was vaguely familiar with, having gone through it last DA as well, and so it passed relatively painlessly. Even if it was a bit difficult to actually get a fairy to do what you want in the way you want it. Before she even knew it, the hell fairy found herself hustled into the teleporter and was off to DA proper.

[Pennywise]

IT stirred, remnant dream-thoughts scattering like a flock of frightened birds from the machinations of the cosmic devourer's waking brain. It was always like this after the creature's customary long rest— strange, that even the most monstrous of beings could do something so innocent as dream.

As Its eyes blinked open, however, the creature was baffled enough to consider that It might still be asleep, strange as Its surroundings were.

To Pennywise's growing consternation, It was not met with the dreary, homey sight of the Derry sewer system, nor was Its highly-evolved snout tickled by the myriad scents of decay and the sweaty, stupid humans that lived above ground. Instead, It was surrounded by an oppressive amount of weight. Stiff, unrelenting edges pressed into Its body in odd places, blunt objects of various shapes and sizes littered over Its form. They hardly budged as It carefully, caaaare-ful-ly shifted Its weight, luminous eyes flickering like candlelight in the close-quartered darkness.

The empty marble eyes of a doll glittered back at It, glossy and painted in shades of rich tortoiseshell umber— like the last star of morning, twinkling defiantly before the light of dawn swallows it whole. Other toys littered the space above It: tricycles with deflated tires and chipped paint; action figures with missing limbs; baseballs and Barbies and busted arcade games. It was buried beneath an avalanche of probably a few dozen antique childhood amusements, all of them so densely packed together that It couldn't even see a trickle of light through their collective mass.

But there was something else, too. Something else for Pennywise to latch onto and turn over inside Its brain, to keep at least one of Its senses occupied. Someone was speaking somewhere above the pile It had found Itself under and, judging by the volume of their words, they were standing nearby. Muffled by the clutter— quick, hushed and carrying the same hissing tone as whispers.

One voice stood out in particular; the speaker was obviously accustomed to giving orders of some kind. Their words were snappy, not a single syllable wasted. Harsh and possibly female. Upset about... something.

"Where the hell is it?!" Angry Voice demanded. Harsh stomps echoed beneath her words, like distant gunfire during a boots-on-the-ground skirmish. "The bounty board said this... this thing would be here, right here! Xanyen, you better have a damn good explanation for this!"

Head tilting as much as It was able to move it with a child's scooter digging into Its ear, Pennywise listened, yellow eyes staring unblinkingly in the dark.

A quieter voice answered, a hint of a lisp sticking their words to the roof of their mouth. "Uh. Well, it's a real mystery, boss. By all accounts, it doesn't make any sense."

"You better make those accounts have some sense to them then, snotblood. I ain't got all day to scrounge through this pile of junk for something that's not even here." Even without Its enhanced sense of smell to detect the tiniest of emotional fluctuations, Pennywise could tell this unknown personage was growing angrier by the minute. "I swear, if we don't get this bounty I'll rip your bloodpusher out and feed it to your own fucking lusus."

"First of all," hissed the quiet one- Xanyen, Pennywise guessed. Not that It really cared. "My lusus is dead, I've told you like a million times, so thanks for that you insensitive prick. Second of all, I've just checked the bounty board. It's been, uh, updated."

There was an irritated scoff. "And? Let me see that data padd, peon."

More rustling, then a heavy silence as the female considered whatever it was Xanyen had to show her.

"As you can see. Uhm. Someone else beat us to it- whatever IT is. So, uh, we're kind of out of luck in that department, I'm sorry to say..." Xanyen trailed off, apologetic.

There was a harsh metallic slide, like a knife being drawn. Xanyen stuttered, voice rising in pitch. "B-but that doesn't mean we can't still make a quick buck, Sarluu! Cool it!"

"I dunno, I'm thinking killing you would be more worth it." Sarluu grunted, sounding like she was really considering it. "What do you make of all this, Rasere?"

A third voice piped up that It had not heard before. "I think that this pile of junk is a fitting metaphor for my life. Disordered, broken, and filled with relics of happiness from long ago."

...What? Pennywise thought.

"... What?" Sarluu said. For once, she didn't sound angry. Just monumentally confused.

"Yeah. Come to think of it, this entire place could serve as a pretty accurate representation of my mental state. Maybe even yours. It's empty, like my heart. Barren, like my hopes and dreams."

"Don't those mean the same thing?" Pennywise heard Xanyen whisper to Sarluu.

Apparently, Rasere heard. "No. Empty implies merely an absence. My heart has nothing within it to love, but there once was something there. But like all things, that too is gone. Barren, on the other hand, can be understood to mean that there appears to have never been anything present in the first place. Like my hopes and dreams. Both can apply to this place."

".... You're really bumming me out, man." Xanyen complained.

"Oh." Rasere replied simply. Then, "Were you not already?"

Before Xanyen could respond, Sarluu made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, followed by what sounded like her blade returning to its sheath. "Whatever. You were saying something about a quick buck?"

"Yeah." Xanyen breathed, sounding extremely relieved to still be alive. "You know how Primes reappear at the Fountain after dying, right?"

Sarluu snorted. "Of course. I'm not stupid."

"Yeah! Of course," Xanyen readily agreed, trying to smooth over any ruffled feathers. "Well, there's that Dante's Abyss thing coming up, and they're always looking for live bodies to participate. What if, bear with me here, what if we catch this Prime and sell it to Syntech! Like, as an attraction."

From Its prone position underneath a pile of trash, It scowled. These worms were welcome to try, but their efforts would do nothing but guarantee a full stomach for the sewer-inhabiting clown. It was certain of that.

"That... sounds really fucking stupid." Sarluu said after a really long moment of silence.

"Yeah, but. It's almost stupid enough to work, right? That's like, a saying humans use. People fricking love clowns, Sarluu."

It was around this time that Pennywise lost patience with the whole eavesdropping thing. It would ascertain just what kind of enemies It would be facing, and then slaughter them all for good measure. Whatever this Dante's Abyss was, It wouldn't be brought there outside of Its own will. That had already happened too much in the past... day? Week? Month? Whatever the passage of time was since It had lost to the icy biomech and the fiery sorceress, It refused to be cowed once again.

A quick snrrffing of the air did nothing but fill Its nostrils with cloyingly irritating dust, the disturbed particles tickling at Its sinuses. The clown's painted visage twisted into a grotesque sneer, spiny teeth prickling along the edges of Its red lips. Its eyes narrowed, maintaining perfect eye contact with a baby doll mere inches from Its face, and then... It sneezed.

The sound was loud as a gunshot in a concrete gymnasium. It erupted from the pile of junk in a riot of violent sneezing and frilly costume ruffles, a cloud of grey dust flying around. All the while the sneezing continued, the clownish monster's eyes ringed with an ugly, bloody red, nostrils and mouth flinging spittle and snot in every direction.

"Holy fuck!" One of the worms, It wasn't sure which, shrieked. Through Its tragically blurred vision It could see three figures, tall and grey-skinned with bright orange... horns?

Pah! Unimportant details. Pennywise would go ahead and consume the horns, too— anything to thoroughly destroy these feeble, irritating mites. The creature's glistening red mouth stretched wide, teeth churning out from Its gums in horrible, serrated rows. Wickedly long claws ripped free from the creature's goofy Mickey Mouse gloves, spindly fingers twitching with ravenous intent.

It lunged for the nearest blurry half-image that It could see, every deadly asset that It possessed roaring to the surface, chomping at the bit to tear them apart. Unfortunately, a blinding, lightning-hot pain seared through Its chest, thoroughly winding It and knocking the creature off to the side.

The creature hit the Nexus ground with a heavy thump. It laid there, twitching faintly as vibrant blue electricity sizzled along Its limbs.

"Huh," said Sarluu Murtis, hefting her shock-grip club and grinning a wide, fanged grin. "That was easy."

Two hours later, and Sarluu was about done with these Syntech people. Here she was, a perfectly noble cerulean-blooded Alternian troll, and these asshats had the fuckin' gall to act anything less than grateful for her generous donation.

Said donation growled menacingly from where Rasere and Xanyen had the thing wrapped up in all kinds of knotted steel rope. Sturdy stuff, and yet the ugly beast kept on struggling. She probably could've shocked it more with her club, but she was a little worried about damaging the merchandise. Even if the hissing, spitting thing already clearly had plenty of damage. In the head.

Seriously. It had waxed poetic about stripping the flesh from her bones all the way across the Nexus to the Pale Moors gate. Two solid hours of threatening. That took dedication; she was almost worried that she might start catching some black feelings for that ugly painted mug.

Speaking of ugly mugs, Xanyen kept prodding at the hog-tied clown. Each time he did, the creature's hissing rose in volume, venomous yellow eyes darting around.

Xanyen said the hissing reminded him of his lusus. Sarluu'd always thought olivebloods were total whackjobs, but comparing a murderous abomination to your equally murderous, mammalian custodian was... Well actually it was a pretty solid comparison, if Xanyen's lusus had been at all like hers.

Ah, poor Centipede-mom. You will be missed.

Anyway, Sarluu was having a hard time filling out the requisite entry forms that Syntech apparently really wanted. What Sarluu really wanted was her money, but that didn't seem likely anytime soon.

"Name of the contestant?" The bored-looking employee asked, already poised to enter the answer.

"Er..." Sarluu said, racking her brain for a suitable answer. Fuck. What had the bounty said? Something to do with insipid human currency and being intelligent. Nickelsmart? Dollarknowing? Hell, some stupid shit like that. She'd take a wild guess- "Pennywise."

Yeah. That sounded decent. The Syntech employee dutifully copied the info down as Sarluu rapped her claws on the desk and glared at the nearest wall, generally acting like she'd rather be anywhere else.

There were other questions. Basic information, most of which Sarluu made up. The Syntech employees were able to take Pennywise's vitals without incident, making a few appreciatory comments about those big as hell teeth. They even filmed a cute little video while Pennywise was angrily hissing up a storm at Xanyen, though Sarluu personally didn't think it was very flattering.

"Worthless, sweaty animal," the clown had snarled, straining against its bonds. "There will never come a day where you may sleep soundly, for Pennywise will be near, watching- waiting for a sliver of weakness. And then, oho! Then, you will experience the most excruciating flavors of fear."

They'd stopped recording after that particular brand of weirdness.

It wasn't long after that when the clown monster was half-dragged to a small attached room, presumably to be teleported to the island. Good riddance, Sarluu thought gleefully, snatching up her pay with gusto. Just one more brute out of her hair.

She kinda hoped they'd put a muzzle on that thing, though.

[Retane]

From Tangled Greens

"What was that? Where am I? What’s going on? Is this death? Is this what peace actually feels like? Is this actually peace?" Many thoughts began to run through his head as he struggled to grasp this new darkness. He attempted to let out a growl, but there was nothing aside from bubbles escaping around his face.
 
Bubbles?
 
"Relax, sir." As the strange, yet familiar voice spoke, a low light slowly flickered as it began to hum. "You've been asleep for quite a while. What you've been living was a dream, of sorts. Brought on by a strong spell of a Goblin Shaman."
 
"A dream? Goblin Shaman? Spell? Who are you?" The Namekian slowly tried to wrap his head around the information he was being given, but the 'dream' was a bit too lifelike to be a dream.
 
"I am Jade, the Artificial Intelligence assigned to Jade Reckoning, Headquarters of The Horsemen. A part of your genetics have been integrated into my code, if you remember. You are In Jade Reckoning, under the vault, encased in a fluid that was created to sustain you till you finally awoke. You should open your eyes, and slowly allow the light in, so that they are not damaged once you emerge into the sunlight."
 
As she spoke, the Green Warrior began to recall, and understand. He remembered, who she was, and where he should be. "Goblin Shaman..."
 
"Yes. A horde of goblins had camped out in front of one of our entrances. You went alone and interrupted one of their rituals. The Shaman, he cursed you as he used most of his clan in a blood sacrifice. You were found, and after catching one of the goblin survivors, we were able to extract enough information to cipher some of the spell. We learned that there wasn't a current cure, and that we would have to let the effects wear off. Not that the others didn't try."
 
The Emerald Warrior nodded slowly, as he squinted, noting that the low light was getting brighter, even if it was a slow process. "How long have I been asleep, and how do you know it was a dream?"
 
"It's been two years. For the first year, many of The Horsemen and allies hunted for a cure, but after Triumpht, Dante, and Jack held a meeting, they decided that you would want them to go on and make a name for themselves and make you proud of The Horsemen once you came to. Some of them were still hunting for a cure on their off time. As for the dream, I've monitored your sleep patterns since they put you in the liquid. I didn't inform anyone of your dream, and no one asked. I felt that you wanted to keep it private. As well, nothing seemed to have any relevance to your situation. I am sorry you had to go through that though. You seemed sad and angry through most of it."
 
The Namek let out a low sigh and shook his head, indicating that he didn't want to speak about it. "Thanks." The water had slowly started to empty and the warrior reached up, noting a breathing apparatus was on his face. "Shouldn't I be feeling atrophy?"
 
"It's the fluid. I was able to send pulses through it to keep your muscles in pristine shape, so you should be in the same shape as when you went under. Since you are awake, and the decompression process is nearly done, would you like to inform everyone?"
 
The Emerald Fiend thought for a second and shook his head, sloshing water as he did and removed the mask as the water receded below his nose and mouth. "No. I'd like a bit of time to myself. Who all is in Reckoning at the moment?"
 
"Only Sasha and Grix. But they are in their quarters at the moment. Resting. I've dimmed the lights throughout the base so once the decompression is finished, you can move about while your eyes adjust."


"Thank you." The Namekian let out a long sigh, "Can I have a few moments to myself?"
 
"Certainly. If you need me, just call my name. I will wait for you in the Command Center."
 
Retane took in a deep breath as the ceiling above him opened up and the chamber he was in rose up into his Vault. He looked around for a moment gripping at his head trying to make sense of everything. Shaman. Dream. Dream. Was it really a dream? It felt so real. Maybe this was his punishment for it all. Maybe it was a premonition. She had mentioned Shaman, which was another word for Witch Doctor. Curse? Blood Spell?
 
The Emerald Warrior shook his head of the questions. What was important at the moment was that he was here, dead or not, and dream or not, he had to go on. Retane looked around and noticed that all his treasures were covers up by some protective iron and he frowned, wondering if they were all still there. Perhaps his other Horsemen had made good use of them?
 
As he stood, the Vault door opened, and the chamber he was in descended and vanished underneath the floor. The Namek's flesh was cold, so he quickly materialized a vest, pants and some boot for himself as he walked down the hall. His instincts and memory were slowly kicking in so he remembered where to go. He quickly found himself in the room he needed and looked around. Things had changed, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.
 
"Welcome back, sir." Jade's head, that of a female Namekian, appeared on a huge screen in front of him and she nodded for him to sit in a chair.
 
Normally the Leader of The Horsemen would stand, but he was still trying to take everything in, and the lights and colors still made him a bit uneasy, "Please, don't call me sir. My name is Retane. Use it."
 
"I'm sorry, Retane." Jade offered a smile on the screen, you never specified before, and I was unsure, so I chose the best submissive option appropriate.
 
"Yeah... So, can you give me an update? Where are my kids? Where are the Horsemen? What's been happening? “The Emerald Warrior tensed, afraid to hear bad news.
 
"All of your children are out and about", Jade reported. Naturae is strong and well, helping others when she can. Probitas remains the Ambassador with the Ninja Village. Jack Frost tends to stay there as well, with Krosst and Airyonna. Triumpht and Dante are off on Missions. Dante convinced Reatus to go with him on his latest, so he's there as well."
 
"So everyone is alive and well?" Retane started to let out a weak smile.
 
There was a hesitation before she spoke, " No. Torn is dead."
 
Retane's face went straight to a stern look as he remembered the hardcore elder. "He was a friend of Jak, right?  Helped with our intelligence?"
 
Jade nodded as she brought up the images of Jak, Daxter and Torn. "He died in Coruscant, by the Storyteller."
 
The Leader of The Horsemen let out a low growl, "That place." After a pause he shook his head, "How is Jak doing?"
 
"He seems to be well. From the records, he recently registered for this season's Dante's Abyss."
 
The Namekian's eyes went wide as she spoke and brought up the information Dante's Abyss 2018. "What!?!?!?!?"
 
"There have been two events sense you passed. It has been two years after all."
 
The Namekian gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in, but quickly calmed himself, "You said everyone is ok, aside from Torn?"
 
"Yes, from my intel, everyone is fine. But, there is something I think you should know..." Jade hesitated.
 
"Yeah? Go ahead and tell me. Out with it." Retane could only guess what could be next.
 
"Well, the silver haired girl in your dreams, your son's partner. She's here. Tamsin Suzaku. She was in Dante's Abyss 2017." As She spoke she pulled up a profile of Tamsin and showed footage of her inside the Abyss.
 
The Emerald Fiend's vision was blurred as he looked down at the floor. It was too much for him to take in at once and he struggled with it all. He had missed two years of his children's lives. He had lost a member of his team. His own son's partner had come to Omniverse, and he hadn't been there for her, and everyone still kept trying to make him proud. He hadn't been there for them. But they still kept going.
 
"Tell me Jade", he whispered. "What should I do?"
 
Jade's voice lowered, "It's a tough question going through your mind, I understand that. Your options are to call all The Horsemen from their jobs, and attempt justice on a fallen comrade, when you haven't been out and about in two years. Or, go join Dante's Abyss, like you really want to. Vengeance can be gotten at any time. Plus, if Jak is there, what’s the point unless he's with you?"
 
The Namekian nodded, "But Tamsin..."
 
"Maybe she will wind up there this year? Maybe you can wind up as her teammate? Or Jak's even."
 
Retane rubbed the back of his head debating it all.
 
"Your children were spawned mostly because of the memories of the last Abyss you joined. You've always joined every Abyss you could. You are Retane, and that's not supposed to change now!" Jade's voice rose slightly as did her head, but she quickly quieted down and let out a weak, “Sorry."
 
Enroshia nodded as he stood up, "But, she scares me."
 
"Why? She cared about your son."
 
"I wasn't the best father... Still suck at it, I guess." The Emerald Fiend mumbled his head as he glanced at the rules.
 
"Could be worst. But opinions are opinions."
 
"Yeah. So, it's a Random Team Tournament?" Retane noted from the rules. "It's still the Abyss. Sadly, it's calling me. I guess I'll be going." Retane let out a chuckle, perhaps this will be a good way to let everyone know I'm back."
 
 
------
 
 
Minutes later, Retane was cloaked in dark green and standing atop a tree. He pattered a pocket of his and took off into the air.
 
"Retane, I've sent everything you need to Syntech, so they should have your info once you reach the gate. They want you to cut a promo though, a new one."
 
The Namekian gave a grunt, "A promo? Can't they use my old one?"
 
"No, they are strict on this, no killing employees either. Have to save it all for the arenas. It's ok though. i believe in you."
 
Retane tried to remember if Jade had ever shown this much emotion before but couldn't recollect, still he didn't mind the confident boost. She had his genes, and he had birthed Naturae. He was a Member of the Dragon Clan and the Creator of the Wolf Clan. Perhaps it all had something to do with it.
 
As The Horsemen approached the Gate, he saw a line, and let out a sigh as he dropped to the back of the line. "Don't kill people till event", he muttered to himself. As he spoke, he looked to his right, and Arith and Inirtias appeared.
 
"Hold my dick! We are going in!" Arith shouted as he started pushing past everyone. Inirtias just shrugged his shoulders and let Retane follow in Arith's wake as he covered the Rear.
 
"This is fucking Retane! Top Eight of Dante's Abyss 2015! He gets front seats." The Golden Masked Warrior used his twin sabers to mover everyone out of his way till Retane was first in line.
 
The Syntech warrior looked up only once and nodded, "Retane, Leader of The Horsemen." She paused as she looked up and pointed almost as if to be a fan girl. "You were Jack Frost's teammate! He is so hot!  I mean COOL! Is he joining!"
 
Retane let out a sigh and shrugged, "You aren’t his type."
 
The fangirl rolled her eyes, "Well you have to cut a new promo, sense you are SO OLD, so go on."
 
Retane looked at her and opened his hand for a moment, thinking hard about summoning energy. Instead, he whispered "Bitch, you realize that after DA is over, I could still hunt you the fuck down and make you wish that I had killed you now?"
 
She shivered as he left her, towards the area to make the promo.
 
----
 
A black screen breaks with shattering glass to show Retane in black attire with an orange screen in the background appearing the song, "Back in Black" starting to play lowly.
 
The Emerald Fiend squints his eyes for a moment, as the music dies down, and the Namek speaks, "I am Retane, Leader of The Horsemen. I am here because this is Dante's Abyss. Any Horsemen that show up, pray you aren’t against me. If you do wind up that situation. TCH. Only one can survive. Everyone else is fucked."
 
 The Namekian is filmed walking towards the teletube.

[Harley Quinn]

Signing up for Desmond's Defense was like what I imagined signing up for America's Got Talent would be. Eager spectators brushed past me wearing t-shirts of their favorite stars, all sharing the same glowing smiles. You can even smell the excitement in the air, with fair-style food vendors on every corner. The streets leading up to the registration booth were littered with posters and banners, counting down the minutes until the big game began.

When I had finally gotten to where I needed to be, there were not very many people I had to wait in line for. In about a few short minutes, cushy men in suits saw me. Surprised to be receiving the royal treatment, I promptly asked them, "Is this the right place to sign up for Deigo's Void?"

The men dressed in uniforms and black sunglasses turned to each other before asking "Dante's Abyss?" 

"Bless you," I replied with a giggle and followed with a pop of my pink bubble gum.  

I always found that men in stiff suits rarely had the ability to enjoy some grade A humor. How unfortunate, I thought, I hope this game picks up in the fun factor.  The corporate goons then flooded me with a whole bunch of questions. It felt like I was being interrogated, or screened for a porno, or something. 

"What are your measurements, Miss Quinn?" the less grumpy looking fellow questioned me, while he tapped, tapped, away at his tablet device. 

"Please call me Harley," I winked,  "I'm 34-24-34." 

"Ok, Harley." the official laughed and gave me good once over before digging further, "how much do you weigh and how tall are you?" He asked while two white nurses appeared in the room with a tray of medical equipment.  Getting nasty flashbacks from the time spent at Arkham Asylum, mixed with all these questions had begun to agitate me. 

"Woah, Woah, Woah Mr. Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady how much she weighs!" 

After all that absurd invasion of privacy, they tricked me to stand on this metal platform, that told them how much I weigh anyway.  Fucking Bastards. One hundred and thirty-two pounds! How ridiculous, I had some burrito thing at one of those food carts outside, and I'm just a little bloated, ok. Outraged,  I asked them to let me go to the little girl's room and then weigh me again, and they refused to do so! 

Now I am waiting for someone to take some pictures and record a video of my beautiful self. This room is well stocked with beauty supplies, snacks, and brochures of tips and tricks learned from the previous Dexter's Circle contestants.  They are really trying to get people fired up for this event, aren't they?  

I was only given twenty minutes to get glammed up, which is a crime all by itself, but I could make it work. Standing in front of the massive Hollywood style mirror, I sensed my glittery, sexed-up attire would not be taken seriously on the big screen. No, I need to dress like I am going to war with the Batman. 

I ran my fingers through the left side of my hair and changed the tips from bubblegum pink to a deep crimson. Giggling gleefully, I copied this on the right side, changing the blue to soot black. "Time to go dark, Harley," I said, hyping myself up. Now it was time to finish becoming Cinderella, "bipidiy bobbidi boo," and with a quick snap of my finger, my top changed. 

Damn, I looked good, and I couldn't help admiring myself in the mirror. The mini corset I now wore would help with eliminate few extra burrito pounds. "You know what they say, the camera adds an extra ten pounds." 

Deciding to keep my midriff exposed. I changed my pink and sparkly blue shorts into black and red leggings. To complete my look, I put on a pair of thigh-high, black and red combat boots, on alternating color sides of my bottoms.  

The glaring light from multiple round bulbs surrounding the mirror made this whole experience more real to me.  Do you really think you are ready to be playing with the big boys I asked myself. To be honest, it had been a long time since I had gotten out there, let alone had a decent match with an opponent. This whole thing gave me a twisted knot in the pit of my stomach, and I could feel the adrenaline flooding my veins. 

A scrub wearing a headset knocked on my door twice before entering, "You have five minutes to head to the green room Miss Harley," leaving before I could get a word out. With a swift snap, I fastened a black leather choker around my neck, complementing my ghostly complexion. Now all I needed is some more pop, so I reached for the brightest red lipstick on the makeup counter in front of me. 

"MMMM yes, I  think I am more than ready for the cameras now. "

Lights, camera, action! With all the flashing from the cameras, I was definitely feeling myself. Everyone adored me, and I made sure I winked in my headshots, to make the crowd fall in love. During the video, goodnight stared alongside me, so everyone knows I mean business. Seeing as I am already such a superstar, the photography and videography did not last more than a few moments. 

I now find myself among many other contestants, of all different kinds of people, and all kinds of strange things. Some turned to me as I entered, others were either in deep conversation or caught up in the heat of the moment. Taking an excited breath, I can feel how wide my smile is, " It's showtime bitches!"

[PepsiYuuka]

Sounds fun.

She wondered if she would come to regret that decision. But probably not. Regret wasn't her style, anyway.

Cell phone in one hand, parasol looped into the collar of her shirt, Yuuka walked back under the tent with her elbows up, hands behind her head. Perhaps she was a bit of an odd one out, for something like a battle royale to the death- middle aged, kinda fat, very slow. Then again, Dante's Abyss in particular seemed to attract all types, especially if Clownpiece had apparently been in it before. If the human girl's words were to be believed, the only thing that really mattered was that you had fighting spirit and a good strategy.

Yuuka wasn't sure on the latter, but she sure had been holding in a lot of rage recently that would be fun to find an outlet for.

As she stepped under the canopy of the tent, there seemed to be a momentary pause in the attendants still roving about the place. Probably because they were trying to figure out if a woman who looked like her was truly interested, or if perhaps she had just gotten lost. Tentatively, a younger female Syntech employee approached her. Though keeping a couple meters distance, she eventually cleared her throat.

"I take it you are here for-

"Registration."

"Then you've just made it. Please, this way." The young woman took a few steps deeper into the tent before turning around to look at Yuuka again, assuring she was, in fact, following. (Even if she was doing so at approximately the speed of a land snail.)

"I prefer to think of myself as fashionably late." For her part, Yuuka had at least put her bright smile back on her face as she walked. Even though it was painfully boring to be wordlessly led further and further leftwards into the tent, off to some smaller cubicle-kiosk within. There wasn't even much to look at-

That is, until she spotted a red, white, blue and blonde figure out of the corner of her eye, sitting down and filling out some forms.

"Clowny!"

The fairy's head whipped around, meeting Yuuka's gaze.

"Heads up!" At this, the Youkai roughly tossed the cellphone to the fairy- perhaps not knowing how valuable it was, perhaps not caring. Either way, Clownpiece struggled desperately to grab it out of the air, eventually fumbling it onto her lap- at least in one piece. Once the fairy seemed to have released the tension in her shoulders and glanced back up, Yuuka shot her a peace sign.

However, with the scoff of the attendant, Yuuka picked up her pace again, though pulling her parasol back into her dominant hand now that it was free.

Soon she found herself sat at a folding table on a folding chair, presented with a thick stack of papers and a pen. There were at least half a dozen waivers and contracts in there, ones Yuuka didn't really care enough to read. Something about how the whole thing would be televised, everyone would be maiming each other, blah blah blah.

"With forms like these you'd think I was told I was signing up for the annual corn shucking competition. ...It's called a blood sport for a reason." Though she spoke under her breath, the Syntech woman seemed to have heard- the corner of her mouth turning up into a bit of a smile as well. Dotting the i on the last form, Yuuka then passed them to the woman, who clipped them to the front of her clipboard, underneath a single other sheet.

"Kazami Yuuka." She repeated back, after a moment of hesitation trying to puzzle out Yuuka's signature.

"That's the name. Haven't changed it in a while now."

This attempt at humor didn't seem to hit home, as the employee simply checked off a mark on the sheet. "Right. Now we'll need to get your vitals, for our records. If you could please stand on that plate there, and put this on your finger. The employee beckoned to a scale not unlike one from a modern doctor's office as she took some sort of clip-shaped object off the wall. Tentatively Yuuka stepped onto it, allowing the employee to fiddle with the simple metal bits behind her until she seemed satisfied. Then, she clipped the tiny device onto Yuuka's left ring finger.

"5 foot 5... 180 pounds... Blood pressure and pulse not out of the ordinary." The employee seemed to be scribbling these numbers down almost as fast as she spoke. Finally, she looked up from the clipboard and back to the Youkai. "So, may I have a brief summary of anything notable about you?"

By now Yuuka had excused herself back into the folding chair, which she was now sitting in backwards. Just like the middle aged uncool woman trying to appeal to the youth she was, really. "Not much to it. I'm from Gensokyo, I don't really do much, and my hobbies include exactly what you'd expect from the kind of person who would sign herself up for a death tournament. Which is to say hitting things until they don't move anymore and getting myself into unfortunate situations of my own volition because they sounded fun at the time."

The employee nodded along, eventually pausing when Yuuka stopped herself. "...Right. And it seemed as though you knew that blonde girl earlier?" Clearly she knew this question to be prying, as she clicked the end of her pen, once, then twice as she spoke.

"Clownpiece? Yeah, we came here together. You could say we're fairly close." An understatement. But it would be strange to introduce her as "my daughter" when the two weren't technically related at all. To a stranger, at least.

The woman hummed a bit, clearly scribbling into a different box this time. Probably one labelled "notable relationships to other participants" or something. They had to advertise something, after all, and interpersonal drama appealed to some crowds. (Though Yuuka somewhat wondered if those were the kind of crowds to be turning in to see any form of tournament blood match- not that she really knew. If that college girl from earlier was interested enough to watch, maybe she shouldn't be so quick to judge.)

"Anything else you'd like to add?

"Hmm... Ah. That I don't deal in mercy." Though her words were ominous, Yuuka's smile was as bright and words were as playful as ever.

If that was meant to be a joke, only she would ever know.

With a final nod, the employee gestured for her to stand, which Yuuka did. "If you could back up closer to the wall over there. At this point, we will move on to the shooting of your video." Then producing a small camera from the pocket of her coat, she waited for the Youkai to get situated in front of the wall before placing it into a tripod.

As Yuuka approached, the wall momentarily became lime green, before shifting to a tealish blue. If she knew more about technology, she would have realized this was likely because she was too green for a proper green screen to work, so they'd had to pick another color. Unfortunately Yuuka was something of a caveman even relative to the average technology level of the Omniverse, so she had no idea what was happening. Instead, she merely stood nonchalantly, staring at the black object waiting for anything to happen.

"I'm going to count down from 3. On 'go', you have about fifteen seconds to say anything about yourself that you'd like."

"Oh, anything, huh?

"Well, anything that can be aired on Daytime TV. Anyway, starting on three. Three. Two. One-

Yuuka's shoulders tensed up a bit, even if she hadn't intended them to.

"Go."

"Kazami, Yuuka. I'm looking forward to seeing whose blood gets spilled in the weeks ahead- though I wouldn't be waiting around to see mine."

Simple. Effective. Somewhat witty, but not to the point it would really go over anyone but the truly idiotic's heads. It struck at least something of a balance, and that was enough for her- especially for something she'd come up with in like, a minute on the spot. Maybe if she'd been given more warning she was supposed to come prepared with something like that, she would have known better.

Thanks Renko.

"Okay, with that done, you just need to pick which background you'd prefer it to be set on. The choices are listed he-

"That one."

By the time the Syntech employee had even pointed out the sheet of various stock backgrounds for the promotional video to be placed over, it seemed like Yuuka had already chosen one. So she ended up being cut off as Yuuka roughly jabbed her finger at the loudest, brightest, most neon flowery background of the bunch. To any normal human being on the planet, the combination of those colors with her own was hideous. Eye-bleeding, even.

But Yuuka? Yuuka loved it. And she'd be damned if those frail human senses would tie her down.

With an exasperated sigh, seemingly just a hair away from placing her face in her hands and screaming, the employee penned in her choice.

Old people.

"Well, you're all set then. Follow me, and I'll show you to the back. From there you'll be Recalled straight to Syntech Station 18 where you will await further instruction. Make sure you're all set before you leave."

"Do I look like the kind of person who owns anything more than the clothes on my back and this Parasol? ...Come to think of it, don't answer that."

The employee was silent this time as she led Yuuka- still just as slowly- to the back, and her fate.

[Lord Zedd]

Lord Zedd stomped through the halls of one of countless Tier 1 facilities, his metallic feet echoing heavily. He was angrier than usual, which might have been harder to recognize for one not accustomed to spending time around his perpetual bad temper. A failed mission for the Imperial peace keeping forces was a rarity, but he was coming off of one and was none too pleased. One of the few sights that could make it even worse was approaching him, and he growled through his face mask.

Two former stormtroopers, Cade and Laci, stopped before him. Cade was a tall, dark skinned, bald man in his late twenties, with plenty of scars that silently spoke of numerous battles across more than one reality. In contrast, Laci was looked less like a soldier and more like a supermodel with her blonde bombshell appearance that she very clearly spent plenty of time maintaining. Cade cross his arms and Laci ran a hand through her golden locks as Zedd approached, and they both smiled. They and two others had spent their early careers assigned directly to assisting Lord Zedd before being deployed the Vasty Deep, where they had been able to truly prove their abilities and rise through the Empire’s ranks.

Zedd cared little for their progress, and looked upon them with disdain as he stopped before them.

“Why are you here, minions?” Zedd demanded, fearing he might be stuck with the four jokers once more.

“Just picking up some stuff for the Deep,” Cade answered. “Been pretty crazy over there, lately, if you haven’t heard.”

“How have you been back here?” Laci asked with a casual smile.

“Do not think I will sink to idle banter with you,” Zedd barked with indignation.

“We’ve been pretty good in the Deep!” Laci answered, not missing a step around Zedd’s attitude. She remembered it too well. “Knox and I got into specialty schools, Cade and Grace have a couple active applications out. It looks promising!”

“Why do you continue to talk as if I would be interested?” Zedd had reverted to legitimate confusion.

“So, you entering Dante’s Abyss this year?” Cade shifted the conversation to the one thing Zedd cared about: himself.

Zedd’s stance visibly shifted. Cade’s ploy had worked. “What? He’s opened his realm to outsiders once more?”

“He does every year,” Laci nodded. “Ads just started. Play his game, win, you get a nice prize. Might even meet him.”

Memories of last year’s fiasco flashed in Zedd’s mind and invited the familiar emotion of unbridled fury. Karl Jak had promised fame and fortune, but Zedd had ended up nothing more than a dismembered corpse for the amusement of the crowd shortly after a brief murder spree in the aerial arena. He had sworn his revenge, but had also begun to grasp the complications of Karl Jak’s playpen. It wouldn’t be so simple as walking in and avenging himself.

“I will not submit myself to trekking through the arena of that deranged madman in a mad dash for power like all the others,” Zedd scoffed. “I will deal with him on my own terms.”

Cade and Laci looked to each other, and Cade gave a knowing nod and grin before answering Zedd. “Word is that it’s just a straight up tournament this year,”

Zedd’s neck twisted and his head tilted in genuine interest.

“Yea, fight your way to the end, no gimmicks,” Laci added on, holding back a smile at her oversimplification of the terms. After all, her squad was big fans of the whole thing, and had taken time off to watch the whole thing at various bars in the Costa Del Sol’s party district.

“Culling the Omniverse of inferior beings is a proven strength I possess,” Zedd quickly boasted. “If all I must do is kill my way to the finish line, then I will happily take the challenge.”

Cade and Laci held their laughter. They were used to playing into Zedd’s obsessions, and watching him get killed on the big screen for a second year in a row would be a huge win. They didn’t get an opportunity to say much else, as Zedd had already marched off with purpose and conviction. The two of them just high fived and kept walking. They couldn't wait to tell the others.

---

Zedd marched up to the Tier 1 Syntech booth, where two employees had begun to shuffle some of their lighter things into various bags. The third had stepped away. Registration was probably almost over. Zedd knew they would wait until the end, but he had no interest in loitering through this portion any longer than necessary.

“Here to sign up for Dante’s Aybss?” the male employee asked with a warm smile.

“Yes. Now open the gates, so I may see those I am to slay,” Zedd ordered the two.

“Sure, we just need to get your name, some information, promotional material…” the man explained as he shuffled through his bags and retrieved the paperwork he would need.

“How dare you attempt to include me in Karl Jak’s propaganda. I will not be your jester,” Zedd snarled in disgust. “I am Lord Zedd, emperor of all I see, and now I have cast my gaze on the Danteverse.”

Both employees froze in place at Zedd’s bold declaration.

“Please tell me we got that,” the female attendant said after a beat.

The man was already checking the camera. “Sure did. That’s enough?”

“That’s totally enough,” the woman agreed as she went around the counter and scanned Zedd for his vital information.

“What are you prattling on about?” Zedd barked with unhinging impatience.

“Nothing, we’re all good,” the man responded, and gestured to the tent. “Be careful in there, you might get ripped to pieces.”

“Do you have to say that every time, Trent?” the woman rolled her eyes.

“Just sharing some experience, Kristen,” he replied with a wink.

Zedd ignored whatever the insignificant grunts were discussing, entered the tent and stepped on the teleporter. It whirred to life while he pondered how abruptly his plans for the day had changed. Even if he couldn’t drag Karl Jak behind some building and beat him to death, he would still gain a lot from this endeavor. Power came from actions in the Omnivers, and he remembered how much more powerful he’d become after his last, short tenure in Karl Jak's hidden land. Knowledge of other powerful primes would be useful too, so that he could learn the strengths and weaknesses of those that might oppose his takeover of this realm one day.

The end goal was all that kept Zedd clinging to sanity. Cackling to himself, he was whisked away to the Danteverse.

Signing up in Coruscant

[Dr. McNinja]

Dalaran, Camelot

It was a cold day, and a colder night still. Despite his status as a Prime, Dongja was quite content to live a quiet life since he had become Master Millet's registered apprentice. At the moment, Dongja was carrying his groceries to Master Millet's place, propping the bags up against a glowing quartz lamppost to get a better grip. Tall, impossible towers coiled into the night sky when Yeo-Ee-Pil quite abruptly yanked him to the side.

"Dongja! Dongja!" the staff chirped, "There's a tournament!"

The calligrapher's apprentice raised an inquisitive eyebrow and looked at what his magical weapon was pointing at. It was a worn poster for a fighting tournament. A cocky-looking man with quite the magnificent hair was pointing demandingly at Dongja, and under it said "Dante's Abyss. Fight to the Death."

"It's Dante's Abyss, man!" Yeo-Ee-Pil squirmed.

"You know it?"

"Nope, but It sounds hella fun! Let's go!"

"Um... I don't really wanna join a- OKAY"

Before Dongja could finish speaking, the staff had wrapped itself around Dongja's wrist and flew forward, dragging Dongja down Dalaran's streets towards the sign-up booth.

After what seemed like an hour of cobblestones rattling down Dongja's face, the staff finally slowed down until the boy could stand up again. Dongja irritably pushed himself to his feet and stretched his shoulders.

"I can walk," the boy muttered as the staff uncoiled from his wrist and latched itself onto his back.

When he looked around, he was on the other side of the floating island, in the Enchanting District. The boy had accidentally toppled at least three squires holding magical pieces of armor. Dongja grimaced at them apologetically before turning to the person in front of him.

It was a tired-looking mage, resting his head on an elbow, which in turn was propped up on a probably driftwood table. He had a piece of paper in front of him with nothing written on it. Unlike many of the mages he had met in Dalaran, this one was wearing deep blue robes and a pointed hat. Dongja had lived in Dalaran long enough to know this outfit was silly as hell.

"Hello, sir, ma'am or other-"

"I'm a boy," Dongja snapped, realizing a moment too late how childish he was being.

"-or other, and welcome to the sign-ups for Dante's Abyss. Are you here to join the tournament?"

"Yes!" chirped the staff, brandishing a scroll he had received a week ago.

"I see your magical weapon is able to speak on your behalf, Mr...?"

Dongja considered the ways he could discreetly burn that piece of paper as he replied, "Dongja. My name is Ok Dongja."

"Very well, Mr. Dongja-"

"Oh, no, my family name is Ok," the sorcerer interrupted.

"...Mr. Oak. Are you a Prime?"

Dongja hesitated. "Yeah."

The mage eyed him suspiciously. He waved his hand and several wires levitated towards him, piercing into his skin and wrapping around his elbow. A nearby sheet of glass lit up and began showing numbers.

"How long have you been in the Omniverse?"

"Maybe a few months..."

The mage continued to drone, "And why are you joining our exquisitely entertaining competition? Are you here for the glory? Are you here to test your-"

"I'm here because my stick told me to," Dongja interrupted.

The mage stifled a smirk.

"Alright, that's all. You're good to go."

"That's it?"

"Well, we'd like you to say something for the crowd first, and then we'll Recall you to where the other competitors are."

"It says on your flyer that Dante's Abyss is a competition to the death. This seems irresponsible."

"Very funny."

"That?" Dongja squinted, "Wasn't a joke?"

A nearby device (which Dongja assumed to be one of those "camera" things) hovered to Dongja's eye-level. Upon closer observation, Dongja realize it was being held by a purple arcane platform, likely being maintained by the mage.

In an unprecedented cheery voice, the mage chirped, "Hello, fans! This is Ok Dongja, one of the contestants for this year's Dante's Abyss. What would you like to tell you fans, Dongja?"

The boy blinked twice before waving meekly.

"Aww, he's a little shy, folks. As one of the many newcomers this year, how do you like your chances?"

Dongja blinked again and shrugged. "Not very much."

The mage sighed silently, as to not alert the camera to his frustration. He chirped again, "What kind of fight are you bringing to the table, Mr. Ok?"

Dongja licked his lips. "I know magic?"

The mage rolled his eyes, but his voice was still as cheerful as ever. "And what kind of magic is that?"

"Calligraphy magic," the boy shrugged.

The mage waited for Dongja to elaborate, but seeing that Dongja was finished, laughed loudly.

"Thank you, Mr. Ok. We look forward to see you compete!"

The camera dropped to the table, inactive. The mage waved his hands, and a nearby glyph on the ground activated. Dongja cleared his throat.

"So... how does this WOR-"

When Dongja blinked again, he was inside somewhere. It was a mansion, except very strange-looking people were strolling around. Dongja scratched the back of his neck. He still wasn't sued to this place.

"Remind me to never let you get interviewed."

"Shut up."

Dongja stepped forward, uncertain of himself.

[Schwi Dola]

<Ashen Steppes> Registration

High in the sky an angel floated along. A green tinged glowing halo resting above her head positioned at an angle spun slowly while her eyes looked curiously at the ground below. Earlier, she had found the most curious little creature that was nothing but a head with a chain attached. It was quite the puzzling creature, how would she collect the head of something that was only a head? She had worried that if it were a Prime it would simply disappear after she murdered it. But she was quite pleased when it died without any complications to her rays. Its 'owner', a strange humanoid turtle gave her some interesting information in exchange for its life, and because of that information she was seeking a tent somewhere in this direction. She didn't need another koopa troopa head, the rarity of that thing turned out to be rather low.

Her eyes sparkled for a moment as she caught sight of the thing she was expecting to find. A small tent at a crossroads, if what the koopa had told her was truth this was the location of some things called 'Syntech' that were hosting a fight to the death tournament. Surely such a tournament could use the blessing of a Flügel, weakened as she might be since entering the Omniverse the lesser beings she would face here might even pose a challenge. She carefully lifted the flap on the tent, peering inside. Her instincts sensed nothing coming to strike her, so she took leave to enter. Three immanity were present in the tent and only one looked up at her while the others minded whatever business they had. Jibril didn't care much what that was. The one that looked at Jibril spoke, "Hello, this is a registration location for the Dante's Abyss Tournament starting shortly. If this is what you've come for, welcome, please come in and fill out this form."

Jibril smiled and nodded. "Ah thank you! That is exactly what I have come here for. Thank you." Jibril took the form and pen offered and read through the form quickly, writing down everything it asked for. It even asked for a small history so of course she wrote down what she was in earnest, proud of her background. It had a lot of details on it, such as broadcast rights, liability waiver, arbitration, and other details standard in such legalese. More importantly, she noted the spot that said she would have to fight with a partner assigned to her from among the other contestants. Inwardly she cringed a little as she thought about how unlucky she might be if assigned a mere immanity, but she chided herself. While a powerful ally was useful, surely a Flügel could handle herself in this setting. As she quickly finished, one of the others approached her with some tools of some kind. Jibril considered for a moment and recalled memory to end up pulling out the entire set of medical books that she had memorized from her Masters' collection. "I need to check your vitals to make sure you are fit to fight."

Jibril froze for only a moment and smiled. "Of course, please do as you need to. I can assure you I am in top physical form." It was mildly insulting to suggest she was ever anything but fit for combat, but she forgave the creature for its ignorance, she had more important matters than such a detail. This manner of procedure was apparently a common thing from her Masters' world in medicine. The doctor listened to her through a stethoscope and took her heart pressure. "How do you take account for the differences in race between subjects? Surely the standards for one race do not apply to others." "The information is processed by a supercomputer with an extensive database." "Oh? I should very much enjoy seeing this database perhaps?" "I'm sorry I can't do that, security and privacy." "Of course do pardon my request curiosity." Jibril ended in disappointment with the exchange but decided not to press further. As much as she would like to, attacking and attempting to take such information by force now could be very inconvenient for her.

The third Syntech employee adjusted and readied a large Camera. Jibril guessed this was one of those 'TV' Cameras she had read about. So many unusual higher technology things this place unlike the Ashen Steppes she had been exploring since she arrived in Omniverse. It was no big surprise though, she had learned that even Ex Machina like technology existed in Omniverse in abundance and those forms had mentioned this. "Now, as you read in the disclaimer we need to make a quick promo for you. Please introduce yourself to the audience, don't be nervous!"

Jibril gave a wide joyful smile and waved excitedly at the camera. "Hiiiii~ I'm Jibril! A Flügel created by the strongest among gods, Artosh! While Omni may have been unable to pull my full power into this place, I'll still try to kill my opponents in the most entertaining of ways!" Jibril put up a V sign for victory. "Please give me your cheers and support as I climb to champion! Hehe!" The camera guy pulled away and connected the camera to a computer. "Thank you that was great." The original employee that had talked to her gestured her to follow and lead towards the back. "Please this way, we have a recall pad set up to take you to the tournament."

"Thank you, you all have made this process very easy to get through. Good bye!" Jibril smiled again at the humans and then floated over the pad. She looked closely at the pad as she was over it, curious as to how it functioned. She didn't recognize any magical runes or glyphs on it. In what manner did it harness magic? Before she could decide a likely answer, the area around her disappeared in the familiar sensation of a hole being ripped in space and moving her to another location.

[Handsome Jack]

“Aw, come ON, Buttstallion! Get your ass in gear!” Jack yelled to his glittering steed as they moved across the Nexus, towards the Coruscant Gate. For a gemstone stallion, Buttstallion was surprisingly quick, but MAN was the ride hard on the ol’ man-jewels. Oh, and the guards were still hot on his tail. Yeah, they stopped at the Fountain long enough to confirm that the small family had been killed, and went right back to chasing him across the alabaster plain.

“Note to self: next time make a car,” Jack muttered softly to himself as he attempted to not squash his nuts. And only mostly succeeded. Whatever. He was nearly out of here anyway, and it had only taken a few hours of ball-breaking riding to do so. Just ahead, a small group of future Nazis were standing at attention around a real sci-fi looking archway. As HJ came up to them, he hurriedly dismounted and moved past them through into Coruscant.

Honestly, he hadn’t really planned to even go this way. The Dunes had seemed more his style; more like home. But this was the furthest away from the knights that had been chasing after him, and, well, beggars can’t be choosers. It was kind of a weird feeling passing through the archway, like stretching your soul out like a rubber band, or taking an ice-bath in boiling water. Not really unpleasant, per se, but definitely weird.

It didn’t take as long as it felt for Jack to actually enter into Coruscant proper. And, even for a man like him, who’d had a whole world in the palm of his hand, he was stunned by the sheer… majesty of it all. These weren’t skyscrapers. They were spacescrapers. Each gleamed in the sunlight like a monolith made of liquid gold. The streets teamed with life, each resplendent in their garb, and not a peasant to be seen. Billboards and signs gleamed with neon life, even in the daytime. It was, Jack had to admit, pretty damn cool.

He didn’t spend much time gawking at his surroundings, however. Even though he’d heard that the Empire and the Kingdom were enemies, he didn’t want to rely on the Nazis outside holding off those Knights, so his heterochrome eyes quickly scanned his surroundings for a good place to lay low for a little while. And nurse his bruised manhood.

A nearby tent caught his eye, the sign outside marking it as a “Dante’s Abyss Registration” booth. Jack didn’t really know what a Dante’s Abyss was, but it was close to the Gate and… well, it was close to the Gate. Good enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look, pal. It’s getting late, so we’re gonna skim through the details of what happens. Let’s go into summary mode.

Ok, so Jack goes into the tent. Greeted by some Edward Cullen knock-off. The dude asks if our Hero is going to join Dante’s Abyss. Jack mulls it over, goes through some complex thinking and enthralling little encounters, and signs up. Does the bio and all that jazz. Even gets his vitals taken, though he sure as hell didn’t take off his mask. And then, boom. All Dante’s Abyss ready.

Oh, sorry for First Person again. I’m pretty sure you didn’t wanna read through another few hundred words of subpar quality writing. Toodles!

[Taloc]

Registering in the Ashen Steppes

‘Well… It's definitely hot now. Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? After all, it's not like I couldn’t see lava through the portal…’

Taloc sighs softly as he looks around the entrance to this new area, The Ashen Steppes. Mostly rock, though the black of obsidian can be clearly seen as well, interspaced through most pathways. Much of the obsidian remains solid, even tracing up into many of the surrounding cliff faces as far as the eye can see. Slowly Taloc nods, lifting his mask up and sniffing the air. Very low humidity, clear scents of ash and sulfur, the very distinct smell of hot rock, and strangely something reminiscent of chicken cooking.

Soft footsteps behind him mark Hayaidesu’s passage into this realm. Once again lowering his mask, he glances back at her. “We’re not alone here.”

Raising an eyebrow, she slowly nods and points down the path. “There’s a sign up station for Dante’s Abyss over that way.”

“And that is?” Taloc says softly.

“Yearly tournament of the best fighters.”

“Well that would’ve been good to know about… This could be useful.”

Subconsciously, Taloc checks his weapons beneath his cloak, disguising the action as if he’s adjusting his belt, before heading forward, following his nose. Sure enough, a sign comes into view pointing towards a large red tent, “Syntech presents Dante’s Abyss. Registration inside.”

“Go on. I’ll watch.” Hayaidesu chimes in. If Taloc didn’t know any better, he’d almost say she sounded excited.

With a nod, he heads in.

Surprisingly, the heat disappears the moment he enters the tent flap, though whatever is causing this latest phenomenon is beyond him. A brief look around reveals more oddities, like a paved stone floor, rich wood counters, and three people wearing crisp blue uniforms looking at him. One of them, a woman with strangely empty eyes and shoulder length silvery hair, seemingly glides forward and bows. “Good evening. My name is Hana. How may I help you today.”

Despite the kind and courteous tone, there seemed to be something slightly off about how she spoke. Almost as if this was her whole purpose for existing and she would just disappear when that role was fulfilled… Taloc was once again very gracious that they couldn’t see through his mask.

“I would like to register for Dante’s Abyss.”

“Excellent. If you would please step this way, we will run a few tests, have you sign a bit of paperwork, and get you transported there post haste.” She once again bows, smiling widely. Though he still wasn’t sure if it was genuine or because she knew of nothing else.

“Thank you Hana. This is very helpful.”

Hana leads him back to a small room with a metal tablet. “Please fill out your information onto that tablet and Zwei will guide you through the exams. Thank you for your patronage.”

Before he can think to speak, she ducks back around the corner leaving him alone. Looking down at the piece of metal, Taloc realizes it's just kinda floating there. Chalking it up to another thing that's better just to accept than think about, he looks across the words on its surface. “Place bare palm on surface.”

Strange, but fair enough. Taking his glove off he follows the instructions. The metal glows blue for a brief moment, then pings. The words “Registration complete” scrawl across its surface as a man, very similar to Hana, right down to the empty eyes, enters and bows to him. “Thank you for your registry. I am Zwei. If you will pardon me for a moment I will enable the next protocol on the tablet.”

Taloc nods and steps aside as this silvery haired… male… makes a few hand motions across the surface of the metal. A few soft pings and a gentle whirring starts up as Taloc watches, though nothing seems to be happening.

“And, all finished. Perfectly healthy and able to compete. Tribus is waiting outside the room. He will guide you to the teleporter. I hope you enjoy the competition. Have a nice day!”

Taloc looks at Zwei a moment longer. “Um, what? But nothing happened. You aren’t going to take my blood pressure or anything?”

“I hope you enjoy the competition. Have a nice day!”

“Yes, you just said that. What did you even do on…”

“I hope you enjoy the competition. Have a nice day!”

At a loss for words, Taloc tilts his head. “Are… You ok?”

“I hope you enjoy the competition. Have a nice day!”

Taloc shakes his head and leaves the room. “Well that was kinda…”

“Hello! My name is Tribus. I will be guiding you to the teleporter. Please follow me!”

Quickly catching his breath, and pulling his hands from behind his back, Taloc looks over at… A silvery haired, empty eyed male. Though this one, Tribus, was taller than the other two, the same feeling of something being slightly off was still there. Taking a quick step back, Taloc recomposes himself and nods, motioning this… person… to lead the way, which he seemed all too happy to do.

Down a hallway and around a corner, Tribus opened a door, revealing a large circular platform. “Please step onto the teleporter. I will send you directly to the Abyss waiting area. It was a pleasure having you here.”

With that, Tribus bows and motions towards the disc on the floor. Glancing back out the door, Taloc takes a deep breath and nods. “You know, it's kinda strange. I could’ve swore this tent wasn’t nearly this big. I’m also certain I could smell chicken cooking when I entered the tent… Though I suppose you aren’t exactly the most talkative one either?”

“Please step onto the teleporter. I will send you directly to the Abyss waiting area. It was a pleasure having you here.”

“I thought that was what you were going to say. Hope I’m not making some kind of mistake here…”

Taloc steps onto the platform. A few seconds go by in silence and then the world goes white.

[Gildarts]

“Molly?” Gildarts spoke into his handheld cell with a tired voice. Boy was that some… Time? Gildarts was used to parties lasting pretty long but that had been, seemed as though it had been, quite the event. He’d leave it at that. Shared smiles were best left, as they were, in the past. He had a new problem.

“Did you contact Karl Jak? Y’know, the guy who trapped me on an island a few times and runs that deathmatch competition? Is he holding you hostage?” Gildarts asked, it sounded like a JOKE. But Molly, Gil’s pseudo-daughter could tell by the way he had gotten right down ta business that he’d called for the sole purpose of checking her safety.

“Tch, this isn’t some old movie Gildarts,” the youth said with a flick of her hair that carried into the tethers of her voice across the verses, “I’m here in TG, still sort of grounded? I can hack round the blocks and stuff so that’s cool but- hey why do you ask?”

“You haven’t contacted Karl Jak at all?”

“No.” the girl said curtly, putting and end to his questions before squeaking, “It’s so cool how you’re on a first name basis with him! I mean I know he coordinates tv shows to kill people, but you’re a prime so I feel like its in a moral gray zone, ya know? Anyway-”

The girl would have likely kept talking for a good deal of time, which would have required focus that Gildarts Clive, of Fairytail couldn’t afford to spend on anything other than the enigma of the trouble he currently faced. “I gotta go, I’ll text you later.”

Click.

Molly, from across the Omniworld wrinkled her nose in a disgruntled humph!

And Gildarts looked down at the letter he’d messily torn open, thinking it was from an old lover (based on the hearts and xo’s in the top left corner) had opened it in front of friends, before dropping his ale glass and shattering it. Now, Gildarts was sober, had a mild headache and heavy cloud of grog as he made his way across the saline oceans to venture into his past once more.

My my,

You’ve been quite busy Mr. Clive, if you know what I mean.

I actually was contacted by your daughter, and wanted to know if her word had any merit or if this girl just wanted a signed copy of last year’s event on Blu-ray. You see, she seemed to want to get into contact with you. But, as you know, tis my favorite time of the year again, and well, I simply don’t have the time, I hope you’ll attend.

Toodles~

K.J.


Gildarts was left wondering if this was a false note, or it was really from the scoundrel Karl Jak trying to get him to join the games once more. At the end of the day, Gildarts supposed it didn’t matter, he was wrapped up once again, in the depths of Dante’s Abyss.

It was almost like his torment would never end.

He dismounted the boat and wobbled his way on shore, there waiting for him in shiny letters, magically perpetuated confetti and two too clean Syntech employees held out papers and pens. And the many memories he fought so often to repress, came back. And the very power that was never his first choice to use, became the very thing that allowed him to once again, embark on a quest that he never knew if he would come back from.

Signing up from Vasty Deep

[Sarah Kerrigan]

The syntech receptionist looked up from her desk, pen lazily doodling on the back of a spare pamphlet from DA 2017. "Next." The woman muttered, holding up her face with one hand.

A serpentine mass of corded muscle and bone lumbered forwards, a nightmarish mix of serpent and insect and grim reaper alike. The creature let out a low growl, spittle drenching the floor beneath it, as it's unfeeling eyes locked with the receptionists.

The grey-haired woman looked up, adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses, and stifled a yawn. "Name?"

"Oh, he was just saving my spot in line." A warped voice called from behind the mutated abomination that now lowered its head and moved out of the tent. "My name is Sarah Kerrigan."

"Okay. Fill out these forms. Normally we require a promo, but..." the old woman trailed off, motioning one wrinkled hand at the man behind her. "I think we have what we need. We'll splice in some clips of darkshire or something." The woman explained, never leaving her endless monotone.

If Kerrigan couldn't hear her heartbeat, feel her psychic energy, and look at every skin cell with nanoscopic vision.... she'd be pretty sure she was talking to an android. It looked like at least some of Syntechs employees weren't easily impressed.

After filling out the forms - a sight that was quite jarring to those who looked in to watch, or wait their own turn - Sarah handed it to the half-asleep registrar.

The woman took it without a word, and Kerrigan was prepared to leave it at that, before the womans voice stopped her.

"'Fore we take ya to the preshow facility, just wanted ya to know - ya killed my cousin, back in Darkshire.

"I hope you're not expecting an apology?" Sarah asked with a grin, pivoting back to face the old woman.

The wrinkled old woman shook her head slowly, her dried-out prune of a throat giving out a raspong chuckle. "No. Never liked him. Never came to visit. I missed my favorite show that week to go to his funeral though, so I'm hoping you can get some gory kills for me to see this week. I have a bet with Blanche, and that old bitch is due to lose some money by now."

Okay. The queen of the Zerg found herself at a loss for words with this one. Part of her wanted to know who the hell Blanche was, but the smarter part of her psyche told her this was a secret of the omniverse even she'd rather not learn any more about, as she stepped on the teleportation pad, and left the old womans smiling face far, far behind.

[Violet]

Bright white lines raced beneath her feet while the rest of the world in all it’s dark glory sped by, a quick memory, and forgotten. Only the light mattered. The coldness of it coursed through her, touching her in places no one had ever felt, until she felt as if she were that light, becoming one with the lines as they quickened beneath her.
 
Ahead, the light bubbled up from the ground, becoming a giant white sphere. That voice that said everything and nothing urged her forward towards that whiteness, and in an instant, she was completely enveloped within it, part of it, and then, she was nothing.
 
 

Pale Moors, Darkshire

 
 
Blinded by the light, Violet could feel something beneath her body, but couldn’t see it. Her fingers dug into the wispy earth, recognizing the unmistakable texture of grass, and the scent of it as she broke off a handful and brought it to her face, inhaling deeply this rich smell. It was one she didn’t think she’d experience again, and she sighed heavily with relief.
 
The light receded, the world coming to her in blots of grey and green and brown. Although it was overcast and sort of dingy, she recognized that this was neither Hell nor whatever void she’d been expelled into. This was…different. Not Camelot, but it was somehow strangely familiar.
 
Finally, her vision was clear, and so was the world around her. Climbing to her feet, Violet brushed off the dirt and grass and looked around. Off in the distance, through a foggy haze, she could see some kind of settlement, and decided that would be her destination.
 
An hour of walking and sightseeing later, she was within sight of its gates. The walls were a bit worse for wear, but just outside and to the left of the wrought iron gates, was another familiar sight: a registration booth. She was in time!
 
Breaking off into a sprint, Violet closed the remaining distance quickly, stopping just short of a startled attendant garbed in a black and blue cotton suit. His hair was dark, slicked back and shorn close to the skin on the sides. He gazed at her with piercing grey eyes, a question already forming before he even spoke.

“Is this for the Abyss?” she asked, a slight lilt of excitement coloring her voice. The man nodded and handed her a clipboard.
 
“Y-yes, just…just fill out this form and –“
 
“I am familiar with procedure. I am a bit of a veteran, you can say.” She smiled at him. The form itself took moments to complete, and she handed it back to him.
 
He took a moment to look it over, and then pointed towards a white capped canvas tent. “If you will, just go through that doorway, and the employees will help you further.”
 
“Excellent,” she replied, and did as instructed.
 
When all was said and done, they had squeezed out as much information as they could from her, as well as poked and prodded and took fluids, and the final bit was a small video. She was strangely calm through the entire thing, her mind fixated on only one thing, and that thing was Victor Wolfe.
 
“Ms. Uzumaki, if you will proceed into the chamber over there, you will be taken to our preshow facility to await the tournament,” the bubbly young woman who had taken her blood a few minutes prior directed.
 
Violet stood, touching her arm lightly where a bandage wrapped itself around her elbow. “Thank you,” she said, and moved off towards her destiny.

[Kuzuru]

Stars filled Kuzuru’s eyes as he entered the registration tent. Inside sat three Syntech representatives, each of them busy with their respective tasks. The demon approached the nearest one and asked for a registration form. A couple hours later Kuzuru was happily registered in the bloodsport of his dreams.

[Eternity Larva]

Incoming, from the Tangled Greens.

There was some shuffling inside the tent. “Hey, someone’s coming,” one of the Syntech employees whispered. The cracking and crunching of loose branches and leaves gave away the fairy’s approach.

Eternity’s head peeked through the entrance on the tent. She saw and counted three people inside. Suddenly, the fairy asked. “Is this the place for Dante’s Abyss?”

The man behind the desk seemed to be fumbling about, like he was trying to hide something. “Oh! Uhm, yes it is! This is where you register. Please, do come in!” With that approval, Eternity finally entered the registration tent to approach the receptionist.

The sound of a cough came from a lady standing just a few meters away. “But before you do register, we’d like to give a couple of disclaimers. Right?”

“Y-Yes, that is true. Please listen carefully.” the man said. While grabbing some papers and a pair of glasses, he whispered something else back to the woman, but Eternity couldn’t pick up on it.

“...Okay.”

“Number one. By registering to the Dante’s Abyss competition, you agree to not cause any damage to Syntech property or inflict harm on Syntech employees and that, should we find you responsible for said damages, you will be immediately disqualified from the competition.”

“Yes.”

“Number two. By registering to the Dante’s Abyss competition, you agree that Syntech will not be held liable for any harm that occurs to you. This applies to any form of injury, of any severity; including but not limited to severe pain, mental trauma, debilitation, and death.”

She now understood why the cloaked man advised her not to join. This was a brutal competition. Regardless, if death was nothing but a mere inconvenience like Omni had said, then so be it. “...Yes.”

“Mhm. We’ll now be requesting your basic personal information. Let us start with your name, yes?”

“Eternity Larva.”

“Anything you prefer to be called by?”

“Larva is fine.”

The Syntech employee nodded. “And, are you Prime or Secondary?”

The fairy remembered her conversation with the cloaked man. “Prime.”

“Occupation?”

“...none that I can think of.”

“Hmm, interesting. Place of residence?”

“None yet. I’ve only been here for an hour.” Just how many questions are they going to ask?

“Oh, fountain fresh, I see. That explains everything,” he said, writing off many questions in a single run. “Finally: What’s your race or species?”

“Butterfly fairy. Is it over yet?” The fairy asked with a hint of weariness.

“Nice catch, you almost missed that one,” the lady remarked in the background. The receptionist responded simply. “After this.”

“Alrighty, you’ve finished this part of the registration indeed. Once you sign here, do proceed to Ms. Critical right over there so we can take your vitals.”

Being handed a pen, Eternity wrote down her signature on the provided space. It was fairly simple - none of the fancy stuff, yet it was neatly done. Meanwhile, the one whom the man labeled as ‘Ms. Critical’ took this moment to jab back. “At least I do my job well,” she said.

The butterfly fairy really had no clue about the ‘vitals’ thing. She just… trusted her. Luckily she did everything quickly and efficiently, making measurements and operating devices with precision. There wasn’t really any cause for concern as long as she followed their words. It probably didn’t even take two minutes. Before she knew it, they only asked her to do one more thing.

“We’d like to make a short video clip, as a promo.”

“A video clip?”

The least involved of the staff, also the eldest-looking of the three, had to step in for the last part. The other two were just bickering with each other now. “Well, let’s do it like this: Pretend you want to send a message to the whole Omniverse. What do you want to say?”

---

The recording begins with Eternity facing away from the camera. “My name is Eternity Larva...” She turns around and quickly takes flight with her wings. “...and on behalf of the butterfly fairies, I’ll show the people of the Omniverse how powerful we can be!”

“Excellent. We’ll work with what we have.”

As the fairy tried to get back on her feet, some muscles cramped and a supposed-to-be elegant landing became a straight tumble to the ground. “Woah there, are you okay?”

“I’m...ow...fine…” the butterfly fairy muttered as she stood up. Seems like her wings were still unhappy about being pushed really hard a while ago.

“Well, in any case, you’re now an official Dante’s Abyss competitor. If you stand over there, we’ll get you transported to Syntech Station 18.”

After the small accident, procedures went smoothly, and the fairy was transported to the facility where Dante’s Abyss participants are held.

[Sasuke Uchiha]

"Well, well, well," a Syntech employee manning the registration booth said as the finale contestant stepped forward, "If it isn't the champ himself.
Welcome back, slugger."

"Just know that I am not surrendering my fire balls this time." the shinobi grinned.