Zone D -- The Foam

[MADBULL34]

Like many of the best beaches in the world, the water was relatively shallow for a long distance, and presumably did not drop off until one journeyed far out to see. Sergeant John Estes had waded out until the ocean had reached about chest height, roughly four feet. Afterwards, the lawman had adjusted his goggles and snorkel and began to swim along the brim of the waves, the old plastic flippers propelling him along.

He pushed ahead, frog like, and was glad to have found the used the gear he had looted from the resort's pool. Trudging through four foot high water would have been laborious with every step and an absolute chore. The burly cop could remember how much of a struggle it had been to walk in and out Coney Island's surf as a kid, and he was satisfied that he had thought to properly equip himself for once.

Mad Bull's snorkel snorted and puffed with his heavy breath underwater, but for any other prying eyes, he might have seemed like a very curious submarine periscope. As he looked through the cloudy visor, the cop's mind wandered and he began to consider the situation at hand a little deeper. Since arrival, he had not seen another competitor, but given the explanations shared before his arrival, he knew there were probably still another 29 killers roaming the island. With each of them equipped with the same locating devices, each would know the sites of these special item drops.

Mad Bull snorted frustratedly as he considered the possibilities. His police training reminded him that nothing was more guaranteed to attract scores of violent criminals than the chance at a big score. If these items were as powerful as the event's organizer had led them to believe, every dirtbag and crook would be all over that zone like flies on fresh dog crap.

“Great…” Sergeant Estes muttered to himself.

The cop had been sent to kill a criminal who had clandestinely entered the contest, so it was inevitable that it was going to come to this eventually. Nonetheless, the realization that he was among other Primes, and very dangerous ones at that, filled the ruthless cop with a rare feeling of trepidation.  

Moving from D9 to D13

[The Future Warrior]

"Well, my li'l blue friend, it's quite funny you should be askin' about that," Gamzee said. "'Cause you see, that's all about—"

The eccentric troll-clown was cut off mid-sentence as he disappeared with a flash of light and a sudden POP.

Leaving Graowr, of course, to just float there on the surface of the muddy water. "...uh. G-Gamzee? Waah!" And as she then went to look around, she flailed and splashed down into the water. She splashed around in the dark, murky liquid for a handful of seconds before getting herself righted and remembering which was up and which was down. Feet touched down on the ground, and she pushed up to get her head above water. "Bwah!" She spit out a mouthful of dirt-colored water, shaking her head to create a shower of droplets in every which way, flying from her head, scarf and tentacles. Then she touched down again on the bottom, the water up past her mouth by now. If she'd had a nose, she imagined it would have been sucking in water with every breath.

"This sucks!" she complained, loudly. "Gamzee! Where'd you go?!"

When no response was forthcoming, she shuffled about in the water, looking this way and that. Back where she'd come from, where she'd been heading, and everywhere else. "Aw, maaaan..." She sank a little into the water, letting out a long, dejected sigh, a stream of bubbles blowing up to the surface. She'd just made a new friend, and then lost him all of a sudden. Didn't even have the forethought to get his dataverse handle or contact information or anything.

She wallowed in her sadness for a few more minutes, before she finally got back underway. Sad as it was, there was a safehouse she was getting to. It'd be nice to get out of this water for a while.

...of course, as she went, she caught sight of something else. Someone else, maybe, just floating along on the water's surface. "Oh? What's that?" She perked up immediately, her curiosity making her poor mood disappear in a flash. She hurried forward, splashing through the water and kicking up clouds of mud and silt as she went. "Hey! Hey, wait up!" she called out, not really thinking about 'floating makes you move as fast as the current, you don't have much choice in how fast you go'.

She got closer, and saw it was indeed a person. Who didn't seem to be doing so well. "Ugh...h-hey, there," he said warily.

"You don't look so good," Graowr said bluntly, hopping up out of the water to do so.

"Yeah, I, uh...had a rough landing, I guess. Think I messed up my leg..."

"Oh. That's not good." She blinked once. "....oh, hey! I have an idea! There's a safehouse just a little ways off, there should be some supplies and stuff in there!"

"Yeah, that's where I was headed," he admits. "But I, uh...think I pulled something. Can't really manage to walk. Not sure if...the current'll get me there."

"That's bad." Graowr's simple insight was once again right on the money. She went quiet for a moment, jut slowly shuffling along to keep pace with the floating man's slow movement through the flooded area. Eventually, she got an idea and piped up with it. "Hey! I have an idea! I could carry you! Or, you know, pull you along through the water! I was heading there, anyway!"

"Oh, well...you don't have to do that, I'll--" he started, but got cut off by the affable azure abomination.

"Hey, hey, don't worry! You could use the help, and you might not get there otherwise! Come on!" And she ducked out of sight under the water, coming up again underneath him and lifting him out of the water, just enough to get her eyes above the surface again. Most of his weight was still floating on the water, to help with his leg much as she could, as she started off on her way for the safehouse again.

"Well, uh...if you insist, I guess..."

Graowr and Isaac Clarke: Allied
Moving from D15 to D14

[Corporal Light]

It seemed he had grown a knack for making acquaintances with the strangest people the Omniverse could throw at him. First Essent, then some medieval guy, and now whoever this blue, tentacle-headed woman was. Nicole had always said he was handsome, but he never realized he was this much of a player until that moment.

A wave washed over them, forcing the Majin’s head underwater for a few seconds. Her head bobbed right back up, a huge smile on her face. He would have thought the water didn’t faze her at all if she wasn’t coughing her guts out. The same thing happened with each wave that passed over them, and her attitude regarding it never soured.

Knowing that, even if he begged her not to, she was probably just going to keep dragging her through the sea to her heart’s content, he took to setting his head up against the waterline, floating along. His pulled leg was as straight as a ruler, and every attempt to bend it sent flashes of pain up through it. Whatever the hell he had ended up doing to it, he was more than certain that it was going to take quite a while to fix.

As the rubber-skinned alien dragged him through the flooded plains, he thought back to the Nexus, and more specifically to Essent. The first person he had ever met, and she had just picked him up in her ancient red vehicle while he was busy running for his life from something that was never there in the first place. He had been too confused and scared to really think twice about it, but perhaps the blood all over his RIG had saved him. She had made some small talk and was otherwise friendly, but it was the kind of awkward friendliness he couldn’t trust. She might have seen him as prey, rather than a person in need of assistance.

The bubblegum girl whistled into the misty breeze, her music cutting off as the delicate but powerful swells rushed into them. He couldn’t say he got the same vibe from her that he got from Essent, but he was still being dragged through muddy marshlands by some blue-skinned chick he knew less than nothing about. For all he knew, she was going to drown him or bash him into a rock or something, and all with the same gleeful smile on her face.

Teeth chattering, his hand slithered down to the plasma cutter on his belt. He cupped the handle, but did not remove it. It paid to be cautious, especially in the Dante’s Abyss, where everyone was an enemy. In fact, a part of him hoped he was being tricked. At least then he wouldn’t feel bad fighting her.

Regardless, he did not want to go through another Kendra Daniels.

“So!” she said, “what’s your name? I’m Graowr!”

Her words knocked him out of his thoughts.

“Um… Isaac. Isaac Clarke.” There was a clear level of discomfort in his voice. “Graowr?”

“Yeah?”

“No, I mean, why ‘Graowr?'”

She pondered the question for a moment before speaking. “No clue! Why Isaac Clarke?”

He actually didn’t have an answer to that. You’d think parents would at least explain to their kids why they named them the way they did.

“No clue.”

She giggled, occasionally getting cut off by the floodwater seeping into her mouth. “Names are strange, but I can’t judge. Most everyone else is named differently from me. You’re a human, aren’t you?”

He kept it short and sweet. “Yeah, human.”

“You’ve got cool-looking armor!” she replied, “what do you got it for?”

There wasn’t any point in being dishonest. “I’m… I’m a space engineer. I repair starships for a living.”

“A space-man?! You’ve been to space? What’s it like up there in space?”

Her barrage of questions threw him for a loop. Why do I have to keep running into so much weird shit?

“It’s… big?” he said, “well, it’s a lot of things, actually, but the first thing to know about it is that it’s pretty big. It’s got planets, star systems… hell, there’s entire other galaxies somewhere out in space. We’ve more or less taken to mining resources from other planets and colonizing some others as well instead of actual exploration, though.”

He loved his job as a space engineer, but on occasion, he wished he could be sent on a ship designed for exploration and not planet-cracking. Space was just so vast and filled with places to go and visit that he wanted to be among the first to find sentient life. The fact that they STILL hadn’t found any had been extremely concerning to him in the past.

He lifted his head, looking down at the tentacle-headed woman. He grinned underneath his helmet. At least he met one face-to-face.

Suddenly, his body jerked to the right. He turned his head back to the direction they were originally heading to. The small, wooden platform was just barely in view, partially covered by several layers of sharp, jagged rocks.

“What’s going on? We’re going the wrong way!”

“Shortcut!”

He looked back towards the rocks. Yeah, I can't really argue with that, can I?

Isaac + Future Warrior Alliance --- D14 to we're not actually going anywhere we're just floating around D14.

[Karl Jak]

End Phase 2 -- Day 1

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face (D13 Item Drop) -- Madbull vs Zedd

Post order will be:  Madbull - Zedd - Madbull - Zedd

Your timer starts... now!

Word Limit: 800
Posts Per Player: 2
Time Limit: 20 hours
Random Elements: On

[MADBULL34]

Face to Face (D13 Item Drop) -- Madbull vs Zedd

Post order will be:  Madbull - Zedd - Madbull - Zedd

Your timer starts... now!

Word Limit: 800
Posts Per Player: 2
Time Limit: 20 hours
Random Elements: On

As Sergeant John Estes snorkeled just below the surface of the ocean waves, he heard sloshing footsteps in the distance. The law officer surfaced and peeked his head above the waterline and spied Lord Zedd standing regally as a wave crashed against his shoulder. Z-Staff in hand, he stood like a villainous king. He casted a haughty look of disdain at Mad Bull, wondering why the buffoon was bothering the hide.
 
“Ain’t no swimming around this freakshow,” Sleepy mused.
 
The burly cop stood up in the four-foot deep water, beads of salty ocean spray matting his hairy barrel chest as stared back down at Zedd.  The policeman’s fat mustache bristled and his thick eyebrows twitched as they sized each other up. The Sergeant’s sidearm was tucked away and holstered in his belt along with his nightstick. Within the peaceful summer afternoon, the two waited like gunslingers for the other to make the first move. They knew neither’s intentions, but their mutual demeanor and unwillingness to yield spoke to only one future: violence.
 
Mad Bull motioned quickly for his revolver, but Zedd was too fast. In the blink of an eye, the Z-Staff glowed and unleashed a terrifying bolt at the officer’s direction, but in the sudden flash of light, Mad Bull dived under the water again, swimming beneath the shallows.
 
“Cursed ox! Show yourself and fight!” Zedd cried as he unleashed blast after blast, the water sizzling and steaming with each shot.  
 
“Yet another loathsome cur, just like those wretched rangers!” Zedd ranted in boiling rage. His assault continued, churning the waters. Suddenly he turned, lost and wrapped in the mist of his own onslaught. With growing anxiety, he pivoted left… then right, searching for his prey.
 
With a sudden splash, MAD BULL rose from the shallow waters with a furious bellow. His nightstick was raised overhead, gripped by the tonfa-like handle at its side. He brought the club down thunderously across Zedd’s shoulder, letting loose a thickly wet wallop as it made contact against the red-fleshy deltoid.
 
The blow was sudden and came unseen; in his surprise the Z-Staff fell into the water with an almost noiseless plop! Zedd grunted and braced himself as Mad Bull swung the truncheon again, this time like a batter stepping up to a fastball pitch. Just as fast, however, Zedd unsheathed and parried with his Dragon Dagger. The sergeant reeled, allowing Zedd to combo the parry with a quick slash.
 
The dagger had left a thin red line across the cop’s naked chest and the brawny man had taken a step back, the nightstick held defensively across his torso.  The two stared each other down again, waiting for the next bout.  As they waited, another wave crashed against the two, blurring the red line into a smear of blood that pooled between them.  They paced, circling each other, neither willing to lose sight of the other within the steamy mist now billowing off the ocean waters.
 
Before long, they had turned round-and-around until they were more than 15 yards distant. They studied each other’s movements, waiting for just the right opportunity to strike, and as Zedd brandished the blood-dripping dagger, Mad Bull had a sudden realization.
 
“That freakshow dropped his staff…” the Sergeant thought to himself with sudden realization.
 
Mad Bull leered a toothy grin at Zedd, and the red-skinned hulk spewed an arrogant reply, “What’s so funny you miserable gorilla? Has the first thought in your insignificant life crossed that pea-sized brain of yours?”
 
The cop’s hand rushed to his side and in one fluid motion unholstered his .38 Smith & Wesson NY-1 Revolver. He leveled the barrel, pulled back the hammer and aimed high as Zedd’s chest.
 
In startled panic, the great lord realized his folly and even his enormous visor could not hide the moment of dread that contorted his face. He froze in place.
 
“Tough words, but I got a feelin’ something else is about to be crossin’ that brain a’ yours.” Mad Bull replied with grim satisfaction.
 
Zedd wracked his mind for an idea, a counter, a chance… anything to be free and finished with what should have otherwise been an easy fight for one so great and powerful as he. His eyes spotted his Z-Staff underwater a few feet away, sitting on the sandy bottom.  It was so close, yet so far as long as that cop had his firearm trained at his body.
 
Zedd spat and clutched his dagger with incensed frustration.
 
“Say hi to the fishes for me on your way down,” Mad Bull replied as he pulled the trigger, sending the first .38 special round hurtling out through the chamber and straight for Zedd
 
KAPOW!

[Deadpool]

A short stairwell led into the small room. The only source of light came from a fixture dangling from the ceiling. It flickered as it rocked back and forth, splashing sunset orange over the walls; they were scaled with curls of led paint, exposing the bare metal underneath. A loveseat couch stretched across the width of the room, and in front of it a modern table sat. Two electrical outlets jutted up from its face in opposite directions, each with a lone terminal.

”Jeez, I've seen prison cells larger than this. The Arkham Insane Asylum cells are definitely larger than this . . . not like I'd know.”

The sound of the mercenary's boots clapping the concrete floor reverberated in the bunker as he went to sit down. He whipped his backpack around and unloaded it onto the table. The usual DA resources fell out—rations, fire materials, water pouch. Then a wet rectangle landed face-flat onto the table.

Deadpool smiled. ”A free iKarl?! This year's DA is awesome!”

He flipped the tablet over. Water covered the screen like a thin layer of grease, but he wiped it as well as he could and tried to turn it on. Initially, it was irresponsive; then after a moment a strong light struck the screen, illuminating the entire bunker in pale blue. The silhouette of a well-dressed Karl loaded the system up until the shittiest version of Windows Deadpool had ever witnessed welcomed him to the home screen.

8-bit app icons filled the screen. Most of them looked exotic—a dating icon, quick-shop for dildos—, but the mercenary recognized one of the icons as a map. He touched it. A hand-drawn map popped up; it looked like it was drawn by four-year-old, who was missing his or her thumb, index, and middle fingers. A blue dot pulsed near the bottom of the map. Deadpool presumed he was the blue dot.

”All right, so I'm in-between D13, 14, 15, and 18.” His eyes rolled upward to Zone C; circles enveloped circles, cut into uneven sub-zones. ”Okay, this must be where the city I saw is, and where I wanna go. That way I can get some fresh narration for damn sake.”

NEW ITEM DROPS, flashed at the top of the screen, inside of a black bubble. Multiple red dots scattered across the map. They blinked rapidly. One dot was extremely close; it rode the hip of his blue dot as if to conjoin into a rainbow venn diagram.

”Damn that's like right next door. I should probably go get it. Yeah, I think I will.”

The mercenary turned the tablet off and slid it back into his backpack, along with everything else he dumped out of it. Then he left the bunker.

Safehouse > D13

[The Future Warrior]

As eager as she was to get to the safehouse, even she wasn't silly and impetuous enough to try and tackle that mess of jagged rocks. Not in this much water. Not while she was carrying someone. On her own she probably could have navigated it without much incident and scampered through, but with someone else to worry about? Responsibility was admittedly never her strong suit, but in this instance she was going to have to be that. Responsible. She'd agreed to help get Isaac to the safehouse to find somethign to help with his leg and walking problem, and by golly she was gonna do that! Even if she had to skirt around an obstacle.

Luckily, she knew a shortcut! It was a bit longer, distance wise, but with the troubles of navigating a wall of sharp, rock-y death, it would hopefully work out for the best. Less time and less trouble, a winning combination!

"So Isaac, you said you were out there mini—BWUGCH!" She tried to speak again and got a mouthful of water. Salty, dirty and disgusting, and it made her cough and sputter. Ugh, why did she keep trying to talk in all this? Dang curiosity! She had to know these things! "Mining and stuff, and colonizing planets? What's—KAFF—what's that all about?"

"It's, uh..." Isaac faltered in his words, looking up at the sky. "...well, the first part is pretty much self-explanatory. Mining operations, like anywhere else. Tools are a little different, scale's a little bitter, but..." He shrugged, as well as he could in his situation. "Still making holes in things to pull the valuables out. Ores, minerals, unidentified substances, that kind of stuff."

Graowr nodded emphatically. She only understood the basics of it. The idea of value was, admittedly, rather lost on her. She understood the meaning of it. Things were valuable, and some things were more or less so. Valuable things were usually rare, or hard to come by, usually both. So these...ores and minerals and stuff must be both, if they had to go space traveling to other planets to find them!

"The colonization part is, well..." He shifted slightly, going quiet as he bided time for his thoughts. The majin, getting a consistent face-full of shallow waves every now and then, was patient, focusing on her footing and pace as she went. "...it's kind of like going to other planets and checking them for the right conditions to survive. Right gravity, atmospheric pressure and components...if it's not all just right, or close enough to it, we gotta make it so it is. Or build places where we can regulate it. It's all complicated stuff, not really my thing. I just keep the ships that go there to do it running and repaired, you know?"

"Yeah, I getcha!" She didn't get it at all, but she was just excited to learn new things. And she went on for a while, peppering Isaac with questions about this and that, about what he did to repair things, how he did it, what sort of planets he'd been to or seen, and on and on.

Eventually, they reached the island with the safehouse, and Graowr looked up. "We're here!" she said brightly and cheerfully. She hurried forward, solid ground giving her ample footing to pick up her pace and haul Isaac up out of the water. "Hold on, might get a little bumpy. Only for a minute, though!"

"Wait, wha—" Isaac's question was cut off as he grit his teeth against a wave of pain in his injured leg as the gentle dragging through water went to a jostling, uneven gait as the small, blue girl splashed out of the water and onto land, toward the safehouse.

Future Warrior + Isaac: Moving from D14 to Safehouse D

[Corporal Light]

“Not to worry! Almost there!” Graowr said, dragging Isaac up through the sandhills leading up to the platform of the safehouse. Each pull sent spasms of pain right through his leg which at this point he wasn’t even bothering trying to hide, if only because the fact it was taking this long to reach actual medical treatment when he was so close to it was grinding his gears far more than his stupid leg was.

“Come on, hurry up!” he said amidst agonized groans.

“Wow, you’re being really rude all of sudden!”

“Sorry…”

One more yank was all that was required to set him free. His body shattered the underwater dunes, giving the blue-skinned alien just enough leeway to pull him up onto the dock. He landed with a soft thunk, resting his head against the dirt-covered, old, wooden pier. After what felt like hours upon hours out at sea, the touch of something dry, of something solid underneath him instead of liquid blue, was enough to make him want to remove his helmet and start kissing the earth underneath him. He probably would have done it too, if Graowr had not wrapped her arms around his back and legs and lifted him up, princess style.

“Wha- hey!” he said, staring up at the bubblegum girl. “I can walk! I’m not THAT helpless.”

“Oh. In that case…” Her grip around his body loosened. He started slipping out of her grasp and towards the floor. He practically pissed his water-logged pants, holding onto her shoulders for dear life.

“Okay, okay, nevermind! This is actually really nice of you, thank you…”

Giggling to herself, she tightened her arms around him, stopping his fall. She walked forward, allowing Isaac to brood and grumble to himself about being treated like a child in her arms. Despite the almost condescending act, however, the spaceman relaxed himself, shaving off pounds of stress accumulated from his damaged leg and his damaged mind. It felt comfortable being carried like this; somehow, it reminded him of Nicole.

---------------

They didn’t talk much as they entered the bunker. It had clearly been used in the past, if the cracks in the grey, stone walls were any indication of that. Green mosses lined the corners of the building, no doubt a direct result of the flooding in the area causing it to breed within the confines of the safehouse. They passed through a variety of rooms in an attempt to find an infirmary of some description. They walked by a room with wooden racks filled with rifles and machine guns from various eras. They zoomed by guard posts containing relics of a war that had happened a long time ago, such as a black diary consumed by age, a green cap with several dents, and a letter with a heart stamped in the middle.

Finally, after a few minutes of wandering, they found what they could only assume to be a med-bay. It was no med-bay Isaac had ever seen, though. Small cots laid in perfectly lined-up formation; in the back stood a large case with a red cross in the middle, with a moveable table lined with medical tools right next to it.

The azure-skinned alien set the engineer down on the closest cot to the medical supplies. His weight caused the cloth of the cot to sag, but was stable enough to keep him comfortable. As Graowr rushed over towards the medical kit, Clarke pressed a red-colored button on his RIG. A hologram materialized in front of him, showcasing his entire body. A white bar filled up at the bottom of the hologram as it scanned him. His leg flashed red before the hologram zoomed in.

“Dislocation of left knee. Seek medical attention.” The feminine voice inside his helmet distracted her from the woman standing above him, asking about his condition.

He told her.

Nodding, she opened up the case and pulled out a variety of materials.

“Is it too late for me to tell you I’ve never done this before?” Graowr said, her tone sheepish that contrasted heavily with her aloof facial expression.

“It’s just a dislocated knee, I’m sure it can’t be th- OW! You just stabbed my leg with a syringe!”

--------------
 
“Alright, nice and easy, space man.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

They stumbled out of the infirmary, one of Graowr’s hands cupping Clarke’s chest while the other wrapped itself around his back to support him. The engineer limped forward, pushing his weight against her as they walked. Eventually, her grip on his body loosened, and he moved forward without her assistance. He braced himself for the inevitable face-plant.

Much to his relief, all that was met was an irritating, but otherwise slight cramp.

“Alright, I can walk. You don’t need to babysit me anymore.” He said. He let out a few chuckles when the bubblegum girl rolled her eyes in response.

“I would say ‘you owe me one,’ miner guy, but after all that, it just wouldn’t be real fair if I took the next item you found here, so I say we should team. Team?”

She spoke so fast that it took him a few moments just to think of something to respond with. That happened to be a shrug.

“Sure, why not? I know literally no one else here.”

“Great!” she replied, bringing up her hand for a high-five. Sighing with the tone of an embarrassed parent, he lifted his own and accepted her high-five. “Go Team Space Man Roar!”

“Uh, yeah! Go Space Man Roar!” What the absolute fuck did I just say?!

He didn’t get much time to ponder that question before his new alien ally was off onto some other subject.

“Anyways,” she said, “what do we do now?”

“Ummm…”

That’s a good question, actually.

It was then he remembered the brown knapsack pinned onto his utility belt. He removed it and opened it.

“Guess we should take inventory.”

And with that, he began to loot. The first thing he pulled out were several blocks of packaged, white chunks of tofu. The silvery paper surrounding the tofu was soggy, but he figured the food was intact, if only the tiniest bit smushed up. He then pulled out a flashlight and a piece of flint and steel. The flint and steel he ignored, but he did place the flashlight on his belt. Never know when one was going to need a light at some point. He sighed upon seeing the waterskin. It wasn’t like he hated water, but after being dragged through the flood plains since the start of the day, he wasn’t eager to have anything to do with it. Nevertheless, he attached it to his utility belt.

He then pulled out what looked to be a tablet of some sort. He looked at it for a few moments before setting on the ground to be used afterwards.

And finally, he removed a massive metal pole with a phone at the end of it. He glared at it, twisted it around, basically did everything within his mental power to figure out what the absolutely fuckety fuck the thing was supposed to actually BE. He eventually just gave up and shoved it back into the knapsack alongside the tofu rations and the flint and steel.

He closed the sack and placed it on his utility belt, reaching down for the tablet. He brought it up to his face and pressed a few buttons. A holographic projection of the island appeared from out of the screen, with a single square dot inside the safehouse that Isaac figured was him. Four sections of the island were highlighted: C16, A6, A1, and D2. It didn’t take long for him to realize that those were the item drop-off points.

He had a goal now, or at least a proactive one that didn’t involve getting dragged along by currents in the hopes he reached help.

He put the tablet in his knapsack and pushed himself up onto his feet. At the same time, Graowr, having sat down a few feet away, did the same.

“Got an idea?” she asked.

“Well…” he said, pointing off into the distance. “There’s a section of the zone we are in that’s going to have an item drop on it sometime soon. If we’re lucky, we can probably nab it before someone else does.”

“An item drop? Here? Cool! Where is it?”

“D2.”

“That’s kinda far…”

“Shouldn’t be too hard, if he leave right now.”

“Alright!” Without further talk, she dashed out of the room.

He was just about to follow when he noticed the letter with the heart-shaped stamp in the middle lying in the middle of the floor. He hadn’t given it much thought when his leg was injured, but with his mind purged of pain, he had to give it more than a cursory glance.

He grabbed it, looking down at it. He had only seen paper letters like the one in his hand in museums, as most everything else had turned digital. To feel something like it in his fingertips was like being transported back in time to another millennium, to better, more prosperous ages. Plus, the heart in the middle was not something he could overlook.

He placed it in his knapsack for the time being. Perhaps he would read it later, once he found some free time. Without a word, he left the bunker, following Graowr into the waters.

Team Space Man Roar (Isaac Clarke + Grawr) --- Moving from Safehouse D to D14

[The Future Warrior]

Graowr bounded back along the halls and corridors of the old safehouse, headed back for the out of doors with all due haste. The doors were flung wide open in her wake, crashing against the exterior walls as she darted down the path toward the dock, and the water. She took a brief moment there to rest, catch her breath (figuratively speaking, of course) and look around. Get her bearings, so to speak. And wait for Isaac to catch up, of course. "Okay, so...D2 would be..." she started, scanning the horizon. "...that way, I think!"

"Hey, hey, wait up!" Isaac called out, hurrying down the path. Moving at a fairly quick, shuffling walk, but with a noticeable limp. "Hold your horses, lemme catch up!" When Graowr continued to stand at the edge of the pier, looking out over the water and waiting for him, he seemed immensely grateful, slowing his pace slightly to come to a shuffling stop near her. "Okay, okay...listen, don't go running off like that. Can't really move that fast."

"I was waiting on you!" the majin said brightly, looking up at Isaac. "Just wanted to figure out which way we were headed and get a look at it before running off." She turned back, nodding out toward the way she'd been looking. "Out that way! Nothing that looks like it'll be any real difficulty along the way!"

Isaac looked out over the water, not seeing anything that might be an obstacle or any kind of issue. "Well...guess we'd better get going, then."

And they were moving. The water wasn't any less unpleasant to move through, for the short little blue demon especially. In no time at all the water was back up to her head. Lapping up over where her nose would be, salty drops splashing into her eyes and making her squint against the spray. In her hurry she wasn't bothering to talk much now, eagerly pushing and splashing forward through the water. Thankfully, her small stature and fighting against the water let Isaac keep up fairly easily. His height, natural bulk and the weight of his armor let him slowly but consistently march forward. A slow, plodding pace it might have been, but he didn't have the issue of needing to stumble and cough every few steps, spitting out a mouthful of salty, muddy floodwater. Or blinking stinging brine out of her eyes.

Every now and then she'd disappear completely under the gentle waves, lurking under the water for a few seconds. Some small dip or ditch in the submerged ground swallowed her, and it was a fight to get back up to 'level' ground again, and poke her head abovewater.

"You, uh...you doing alright?" Isaac asked after the fifth or so time this happened. With that weird helmet of his in the way, Graowr couldn't really get a look at his expression, but she'd bet it was concerned. At least a little. Maybe. "Water's almost as deep as you are tall, out here..."

"Yeah, yeah! I'm okay! Promise!" she said earnestly, spitting out some mud-laced water. "I don't really breathe, so this isn't a problem! Just, y'know...tastes bad. Salty and muddy. Blegch..."

The space engineer just shook his head slowly. What had he gotten himself into? "Well, looks like we're starting to head back inland a little. Should start to get a little more shallow soon enough."

"Yeah!" Whether she was agreeing or approving — or possibly both — was hard to tell, but the fist pump from the cerulean bubblegum abomination was unmistakable. She'd be very glad to be out of this water and back into easy moving territory again. And be dry again, for that matter.

Team Space Man Roar (Graowr and Isaac Clarke): Moving from D14 to D10

[Handsome Jack]

Well, well, well... what do we have here? Honestly wasn't expecting THIS, not after all the time I'd been spending walking around without seeing a single other person on this whole damn island. But, lo and behold, I stumbled across some people. Or, rather, they stumbled across me. See, I was busy trying to decide whether getting thorax deep into the ocean was worth grabbing an item over (a dip of my toe into the water had confirmed it was pretty fucking cold), when I saw a couple people heading my way from the south. Weren't more than a couple specks on the horizon when I spotted them, didn't even know if they'd seen me yet. SOOOOOOOOOO, I went ahead and hid myself in the treeline to wait them out.

As they step out onto the shore, I get a better look at them. First one looks like Eighteen took a dip into some blue dye and threw on some Freeza Force duds. Ok then. Second one is basically your stereotypical space dude, robot suit and all. While the chick seemed to be moving pretty well, the guy looked like he'd injured his leg. Or had a dick in his ass. While the former was more likely, I couldn't exactly rule out the latter. I smirk as I watch them move towards my hiding place in the jungle. All I gotta deal with is a girl and an injured man? Easy peasy, living sleazy.

They approach and BAM, I slide out from behind the tree I was hiding behind.

“Boo!”

Dude looks like he's about to, or already has, pissed his space pants. Either someone who's been exposed to too many jumpscares, or a pansy. I write him off and focus on the girl. I spot a flash of recognition in her eyes and it looks like she's gonna say something. Can't let THAT happen. I cut her off quick.

“Firsst rule: no talking.”

This time Spaceman looks ready to say something and I shoot him a glare.

“Shhh! I ssaid no talking. And believe me, you REALLY wanna lissten to me on thiss one.”

He looks to be weighing his options for a second before he closes his mouth. Good boy.

“Sso ssorry to interrupt your couple'ss walk. I know you're eager to get back to ssmoochie timess with the Blueberry Majin over there and she with her Sspace Protagonisst...”

Both of my new companions seem to be hitting that perfect stage of super pissed and confused that I love so much. I continue.

“I promisse I won't take up too much of your time. I jusst need...”

My eyes narrow and I crouch into a predatory stance.

“The item you picked up on the island. You two hand it over all nicce and eassy and I'll be on my way. Put up a fight... and I'll drink you both,” I say with a chuckle.

Do they actually even have an item? Fuck if I know. But they're coming from the right direction. And if they don't... well, at least I have a good meal.

Challenging Future Warrior and Isaac for the Item Drop FW has. If they let me have it, consider the Challenge void.

[The Future Warrior]

Graowr's mood was all bright and chipper. The water was getting more shallow, slowly but surely. Down to only about her chest height now, letting her actually walk without getting a facefull of muddy brine every few (dozen, probably) seconds. That was a nice change of pace, and not just because of the lack of water in face. It also let her move quicker, and get going right along. "Getting closer! Water's getting less deep, means we're going the right way!" she said happily.

"Yeah, I'd guess so," Isaac agreed, looking around warily. Somehow it just seemed to be going...all too easily.

She was about to say something else, but then...someone else jumped out in front of them. Both space engineer and former time patroller recoiled in surprise, ready for a fight but struck dumb by the sudden arrival. And the demands. When the insectoid creature finished speaking, having made its demands, the majin just stared at him for a long, long while without saying anything.

"Cell! You're here, too?!" she suddenly blurted out, hands clenching into fists. In a very uncharacteristic display, her expression twisted into a scowl, teeth clenched and bared in as much emotion as she'd shown since getting here. "You..." she started, but faltered. Even back when she'd been at full strength, had all of her abilities, Cell was a tough fight. He was pretty strong. With how weakened she was now, in the Omniverse...could she even beat him? Cell was probably weakened too, but how much she couldn't tell. And with Isaac here...

The aggression bled out of her posture and she straightened up. "...alright, fine. You can have it, Cell. Just bug off and don't cause any trouble, okay?" The giant green cockroach just sneered, with a hissing breath. He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse. Grumbling under her breath, the azure demon brought a hand up to her chest, pressing it in and letting it disappear up to the wrist. When she pulled it out again, it held a length of chain. "Here. Take it." And she tossed it at Cell.

The bug-man snatched it out of the air. "Good choicce," he hissed, backing away. "Have a nicce time!"

Graowr has handed over her item drop to Cell to avoid the Challenge.

[Handsome Jack]

Well, now that THAT'S done, time for me to vamoose. Preferably somewhere drier. Aaaaaaand, since going south will just make me good and wet, I decide that I'm going to go north. I tuck the item I got some Blueberry and Captain Generic, and my tablet, into my pack and make tracks, careful to avoid looking at the damn camera still hovering around behind me and capturing my every move. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Once inside the jungle, I tense my leg muscles and jump into the canopy. Maybe not quite as easy to avoid foliage up here, but it'll make me a lot harder to see too. And right now, stealth in the name of the game. Have to make sure my two victims don't decide to grow a pair between them and chase me down for what I did. THAT'D be a pain.

After a few minutes of leaping from branch to branch, I really start to regret not walking it and using the tablet to keep myself entertained. I can't say it enough, but all this travel is pretty damn boring. Just a whole lot of nothing. Nothing at all but trees, leaves, and the occasional bird getting pissed I stepped on its nest and broke its eggs. Well EEEEEXCUUUUUSE me, but I ain't the one who decided to start a family on a death island, pal. Better luck with the next brood.

Eventually, I just can't take it no more and I leap down from my elevated path and decide to take the ground route to where I'm going. And that would be...

Fuck. I don't even know, do I? I REALLY should start planning shit out better. But I've never been one to think things through. Probably get that from Goku.

Moving from D10 to D6

[Handsome Jack]

I can't fucking believe it! HAHAHA! This is fucking golden. So, while I was walking along and laughing at some dude with Tourette's on Youtube, my pocket vibrated violently at me. Obviously, I was a bit shocked about it. If I had a bladder, I'd probably have pissed myself. Almost dropped my tablet, I was so surprised.

Anyway, I dig into my pocket to figure out what kinda critter mighta slunk its way in there when I wasn't paying attention and I find, not an animal, but a cellphone. I have no fucking clue where it came from, so swipe the screen and looky who it is! Ol' Average Joe himself. Or, Stephen Ludwig, as his contact information would tell me. Seemed he'd gotten a text from his Mammy asking why he hadn't called her yet.

Well, you know I ain't gonna pass up THIS golden opportunity to fuck with someone. I set to texting her, an amused grin on my beak.

'Hey Ma! Sorry about that! I was just fucking-'

As soon as I finish typing the word, an electric jolt staggers me and the screen gets a bit hazy from the electromagnetic interference. Oh... goddamnit. Can't even TEXT curse words, huh Pops? Dick move. I delete the previous word and continue my trolling.

'Hey Ma! Sorry about that! I was just making sweet, sensual love to my boyfriend Brian.'

Before I can hit send, a second shock reminds me that there's one last thing I need to do.

'Using Grimer-Brand butt lubrication. When something just HAS to be inserted into a rectum, you'd better reach for the Grimer's.'

Her return text asks me how Brian has been doing since the last family get together and my expression drops. Figures “Joe” swung that way. A bit surprising I got the name right though. Kinda ruins the fun of it when the troll blows up in your face though. For a second, I consider continuing the sham... but I REALLY don't want to hafta deal with throwing in product placements with every text. In the end, I just shut the thing off and put it away into my pack. Probably better that way.

Moving from D6 to D3

[Handsome Jack]

In the end, I just can't help myself. I turn the phone back on because having access to this guy's phone is probably going to be WAY more entertaining than any number of dude getting hit in the dick videos. Immediately, I notice he has like three more texts from his Mom. Gonna just ignore those for now, unless I can't find a better way to troll him. And, thank god, I do. The dude ACTUALLY has a Twitter account. I flex the ol' fingers and get ready for some fun.

First tweet out and it's hilarious. Well, in regard to who I'm tweeting as. A few minutes pass and I see I got a reply. I check it and... oh goddamn it. Of, fucking, course the dude is bisexual. Why wouldn't he be? You know what? Fuck this! I start wiping his phone clean. He ain't getting this back. I'm just gonna keep it for myself. He can buy a new one, for all I care. Lessee... block his contacts... check. Delete all his applications (especially Grindr)... check. Aaaaand, since this phone is mine now, I'll make me a new Twitter account. Because, as much as it pains me to have to do those product placements, people NEED to know what perfection is like.

First things first, gotta get me a neat picture and a cool nickname. No one will read my tweets if I look like ol' Stevey boy and have a bad name.Well, no one but my Mom, and she's currently... You know... I'm not sure what's going on with her. I kinda got sucked outta reality. Hope she's doing ok... In any case, 'Cell' was already taken. I mean... how the fuck did THAT happen?

Anyway, after a few minutes I got my Twitter handle all set up and I start hitting the online world with my brilliance and magnificence.

Moving from D3 to C2

[Lord Zedd]

A loud scoff escaped the steel mask that was fused to Lord Zedd’s face. He watched as the the burly individual raised his firearm, but the dark lord made little to no reactionary movement. Even in his weakened state in the Omniverse, he’d walked through more than one wall of of lead, or energy, or whatever absurd source this particular weapon utilized.

Finally, Zedd shook his head. “Do you really think your irrelevant pea-shooter can stop the all powerful might of-”

The next thing Zedd knew, there had been a loud bang and he was struck in the chest with such force that it knocked him off his feet. He collapsed backwards into the water and disappeared beneath the increasingly rough waves.

The force of impact had been genuinely surprising. Since his arrival he’d walked through barrages from sniper rifles and entire gangs with automatic weapons. Apparently Omni in his infinite meddling had decided that a small sidearm would be good fun to overpower. Well, Zedd had an answer for that, too.

From the not-so-depths he arose, slowly standing with a menacing laugh to accompany the terrifying display that he had survived seemingly unharmed. It was meant to strike fear into the heart of the seemingly ordinary human that dared to fight him. Zedd knew from his experiences with human law enforcement that they were never ready for anything outside of their human abilities, after all. Whether Sergeant Estes had seen anything like it or not, it didn’t seem to matter. The man’s only reaction was to fire another round at the dethroned warlord.

Zedd’s intimidating posture collapsed as he instinctively ducked and the shot whizzed over his head. No longer taking the time to play mind games, he abruptly stood up and unleashed a lightning bolt from his hand at the police officer. With Zedd's ranged option long since revealed, the Estes had prepared himself for that attack again. Not wanting to tangle with lightning in the middle of the ocean, the human dove aside and vanished beneath the waves once more.

He did not immediately surface. Zedd raised the Dragon Dagger and looked around. The wind was picking up, and as a result the waves were getting worse. The previous gentle roll of the water had turned into harsh white caps, which not only made visibility more difficult, but also made merely standing a challenging task. Each wave hit Lord Zedd with strong force, but sometimes one would hit just at the right point of its crest, giving a loud pop and forcing him to focus on his balance over anything else. Even the environment was a chore in this godforsaken place.

“Fatback!” Zedd called out as he paced and scanned the area as best he could in the choppy conditions. “You can’t hide beneath the surface forever!”

There was predictably no response. Zedd held the flute end of Dragon Dagger to the mouthpiece of his mask while he continued to look around. With well rehearsed skill he played an old song into it, which echoed across the area. It was the tune used to summon the enormous mech known as the Dragonzord. Although no Godzilla-like robot would emerge from the sea, Lord Zedd suddenly exploded into laughter at the joke that only he understood.

The ocean churned behind him, and Zedd spun as quickly as the chest deep water would allow him. The mammoth of a man erupted from the tide directly at Zedd, firmly grasping the hand that held the Dragon Dagger. His grip was strong and prevented the blade from coming down on his neck, but Zedd didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he slammed his free fist into the sergeant’s face several times. The man recoiled in pain with each hit, but his grip stayed strong. Zedd followed that up with a headbutt from his hard steel facemask to the man’s nose, and that blow seemed to stun him enough.

Zedd felt sand roll over his feet as he shifted his stance within the unforgiving sea. He grabbed the man by his bare neck and turned his body, rolling the officer over his back and dropping him into the ocean once more. In the process, Zedd’s arm with the Dragon Dagger was finally freed.

Mad Bull landed by Zedd’s feet, but Zedd wasn’t about to let him escape again. Zedd stomped his left leg down and felt it collide with the man’s chest. He held his foot there, putting all the pressure he could down on the underwater sergeant and attempting to squeeze the air out of his lungs. Two thick arms grabbed his leg and tried to pull it away, but Zedd would not relent.

800 words on the dot, according to the site.

[MADBULL34]

BURBLE! BURBLE! BURBLE!

Pockets of air raced up through the water from Sergeant John Estes’ mouth, popping above the waterline as Lord Zedd cackled with glee.

“I’m sorry my blubbery friend! It seems my grandeur has quite simply taken your breath away!”

The policeman struggled underneath Zedd’s heel, thrashing wildly below the surface of the churning sea. As the two men battled, it seemed Poseidon himself had decided to watch the contest, throwing the once peaceful beach into a foaming bedlam.

Mad Bull grasped Zedd’s foot with one hand, attempting to push it off, but to no available. As each wave crashed against the overlord, he let out another mad laugh, savoring his opponent's frantic attempts to prolong their miserable life a moment longer.

Another great belch of air left Mad Bull’s throat as he struggled.  The light was getting dark for the policeman and he could sense that within seconds he’d be lost to the surf, making a colossal feast for the local crabs. In desperation, he raised his revolver with his other arm and squeezed the trigger. The hammer obeyed and cracked against the next round.

Plooompt…

The revolver pathetically sputtered, unable to fire properly while still underwater.

“My, my! What big lungs you have in that fat gut of yours, officer!” Zedd gloated.

“YEAAARRGH!!” he suddenly cried, hopping on one foot. The regal villain looked incredulous with a pained expression slipping through his normally menacing visage. As he clutched the chewed remains of his heel, Mad Bull rose to the surface.

“Swine! How dare you nip at the heels of the future ruler of mankind!”

Mad Bull spat a mouthful of blood and pinkish chunks of flesh into the sea; he leered with predatory satisfaction at Zedd, while gasping at the air.  The officer was soaked; he raised a burly forearm to his mouth and wiped the blood and salty ocean water off his mustache. As Zedd clutched the injured foot, the policeman stared him down in abject fury. The lawman tossed aside his sidearm, letting the heavy revolver splash noisily to the sandy bottom. Sensing that the shoe was now on the other foot so to speak, he waggled his nightstick at Zedd as if he was chastising a naughty child. The cop brandished the truncheon for a moment, then too threw that away in a fierce display of bravado

“We’ll settle this like men,” Mad Bull thought inwardly.

His jaw locked, teeth grinding against teeth while he raised his dukes. The mammoth cop stepped up to Zedd and walloped the haughty lord with a right hook. Zedd spun, reeled from the blow, and touched hesitantly at his metallic visor. MAD BULL rushed forward, like Ali bearing down on Liston, and jabbed his left fist into Zedd’s chest, staggering the man another pace. Another wave crashed atop the two brawling fighters, spraying them with a shower of gory pink ocean foam

The Sergeant barreled down on Zedd, grasping his opponent's shoulder with his right hand, locking the teetering lord in his gorilla-sized paws. Three hefty blows plowed into Zedd’s stomach, doubling him over.  The red hulking villain sputtered at the onslaught.  Mad Ball clasped both of his fists together, aiming to deliver a finishing double axehandle smash across Zedd’s back.

[Corporal Light]

Who the fuck was that?

Or, rather, what the fuck was he? After recovering from the initial shock of someone popping up out of the blue and hissing at them like a snake, his mind instantly tried to comprehend just what kind of creature this “Cell” was. The sentence that seemed to describe Cell best was “green, reptile insect man with an infuriatingly smug attitude… and potentially mentally insane.” That last part was merely a theory, though given just how many crazy people he had met in his life, he wouldn’t exactly be shocked if he was to later discover the insectoid didn’t exactly carry a full briefcase in that compartment up there.

Indeed, he had a bad feeling that this wouldn’t be their last encounter, especially if the bug was crafty enough to survive to the end by thieving off of other contestants. He was actually kinda surprised he hadn’t thought of that himself, with his bad leg and all.

Nevertheless, the “Cell” had taken the item that Graowr had. Isaac might have asked where she got the item in the first place-- especially considering he hadn’t seen it on her at any point during their travel time together--  if he wasn’t more concerned about how she had reacted. Even while she was dragging his ass through muddy waters and carrying him like a soon-to-be bride into the bunker, she was always peppy, almost distressingly so, and all while maintaining an oddly stoic, half-scowl on her face. Yet when Cell had shown up, that scowl had deepened, consumed by what he could only assumed to be downright aggressive hatred for only a moment before being replaced by what appeared to be meek resignation and handing over her goods. He had said nothing during the whole act, and now he wished he did.

“Hey…” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He gave it a light, comforting squeeze. “You okay?”

She sighed. “Yeah…" Her voice was bright, but she was doing her best not to look at him. "He’s just a mean old bug!”

He was about to ask for clarification before the alien walked forward, heading up the shore. She was moving a lot faster than before, mostly thanks to the lack of water slowing her down, and as a result Clarke struggled to keep up. She marched towards their objective with a steadfast determination that seemed unfitting for someone so normally chipper and carefree. As they broke through the tropical foliage at the edge of the beach, Isaac wondered if he should ask her about the history between her and Cell.

Team Space Man Roar (Isaac + Graowr) --- Moving from D10 to D6

[The Future Warrior]

With the appearance of someone like Cell, Graowr's world had taken a bit of a sharp blow. In hindsight it was pretty obvious that the possibility of someone else from her own world could end up here. She'd kind of been hoping for it, really. But for it to be someone like Cell? She was more than a little torn. Cell was bad news. He was a lot of bad news. Especially in his imperfect form like that, where he was so reckless and impulsive. For him to be here, and in Dante's Abyss no less? That meant inevitably she'd probably have to fight him. Again. Unless someone else got to him first, of course.

She was still pretty bummed about having to give up the artifact piece she'd picked up. But she'd done some time searching up and carefully re-reading and re-reading the rules for the competition during her time in the safehouse before. While Isaac had been easing into getting his weight back on his leg and starting to move around again, searching for supplies, she'd been poking around and reading up on that. There were going to be a lot more items to pick up, from the looks of it. And only actually picking up the items mattered. Just hanging onto them, or taking them from someone else, wouldn't get you anywhere. So she wasn't really that upset about it all. Mostly because of who it had been that took it, rather than that it was taken.

But there was a chance here to grab another one right away! And if they were lucky, maybe hurry on to the one over in the city, in Zone C and grab that one, too!

They both hurried along, Graowr hurrying ahead every now and then to look around, checking paths and hopping among the trees and foliage when it cropped up. She would constantly report on which way to go, which way would be easiest for Isaac and his heavy armor, and other such things. She was doing her best to be helpful.

After a while of this, and during a stretch where she was only briskly pacing along, Isaac ventured to speak up again. "So, uh...hey. About what happened back there, with that...Cell?" he started slowly. When the only response he got was the blue girl's head slowly turning to look at him as she slowed her pace to his level, he continued. "You got some history with him? I mean, you know him from somewhere?"

"Yeah. I kinda do." She looked back front again, toward where they were going. "He was...from my past. Literally. Someone was trying to mess with the time stream, make the bad guys win and change history. Dark magic to make them stronger, or to interfere with the heroes. Cell was one of them." She folded her arms over her chest, looking down slightly. Her tone was oddly serious for a moment. "He was awful. Only out for himself, looking for ways to get stronger and stronger, achieve his perfect form, and kill anyone in his way. He wasn't the worst thing I ever had to deal with, but..." She shuddered slightly, eyes squeezing shut. Her head shook in a vehement denial of the memories she was dredging up. "...he was pretty bad."

"I, uh...right. I get you." Isaac just nodded along absently, trying to process all of that. Change history? Dark magic? What in the world was this girl on about now?

Team Space Man Roar (Graowr and Isaac Clarke): Moving from D6 to D2

[Karl Jak]

End Phase 3 - Day 1