(Preshow) Preshow Facility

[Erik Vrell]

Erik stood silent at the back of the room as the King introduced Yu and Ahana to each other. Valeria eagerly darted around the room as the adults spoke, checking out the assorted training equipment. The psychic was slightly worried about what the young Wolfe would do, but brushed the thoughts away. There was only so much damage she could do to training dummies, after all. After a brief conversation, the announcement screen’s activation cut through the chatter like a knife. Erik tensed up as the partners for DA were announced, both eager and nervous to find out who he was matched with. 

“Erik Vrell and Deadpool will be facing off against Dave Strider and Kenpachi.”

Erik’s heart raced as he heard the announcement. Deadpool! The Deadpool would be his partner! Erik could barely contain his excitement, his stoic expression squirming slightly as a smile attempted to break the surface. He had no knowledge of this Dave or Kenpachi, but wasn't too worried. What did worry him, however, was the matchup bestowed upon King Gilgamesh.

“Kanda and the King will be facing each other…” Erik murmured to himself, deep in thought. “And Mickey Mouse will be Kanda’s partner.” 

This was bad, of course. No New Babylonian should be forced to fight with the traitorous mouse against the King. Disturbingly, Kanda didn't seem to mind much about his partnership. Erik tried, semi-successfully, to brush the mere notion of being in his place out of his mind. He needed to find somewhere to put Val first. The half-zombie was busy brutalising a training dummy as the other New Babylonians filtered out of the gym, leaving Erik alone with the young girl once more. 

“I swear I've seen more of her than her father…” Erik muttered to himself as he walked over to remove the child from her current position, her small hands ripping chunks of stuffing out of the fallen dummy as she sat on its chest. The trouble wasn't finding somewhere she'd be safe, but rather finding somewhere where everyone else would be safe from her. 

“Well… I've watched her this far, watching her a little longer can't hurt too bad. I'm sure she'd love a Deadpool autograph, too, if he's feeling sane enough to give one.” Erik thought to himself, watching Valerie pick some stuffing out of her hair. “Come on, let's go meet my partner.”

The half-zombie perked up at the mention of meeting his partner. “Who is your partner?”

“He's a really strong fighter, with regenerative powers.” Erik said enthusiastically. “He's come in the top ten of the last three Abyss’s, and he almost won in ‘05.”

“Whoa.” Val said, apparently not exactly grasping the gravity of the situation, but still realising that it was impressive. “Can I see daddy too?”

“Sure, if he's done… Uh… Touring the facility and we see him on the way.” 

“Yay!” 

Erik led the young Wolfe out of the gym, heading towards the entrance. He hadn't seen any trace of Deadpool so far, so perhaps he could find the merc with a mouth at the entrance. 

“Hey, Val, if you see a guy in a red suit with two black eyes, tell me.” Erik said, just in case she saw something he didn't. 

“Why does he have black eyes? Did he get punched in the face?” Valerie asked, seemingly losing some confidence in Deadpool’s healing factor. 

“No. Well, yeah, probably, but the black eyes are part of the suit. Although, the eyes are white, actually, it's just the parts around them that are black.” Erik replied.

“Ooh, right!”

Erik and Val have moved to the entrance, looking for DP

[Dust]

Hayaidesu was waiting on the other side of the teleportal when Taloc phased into existence. She watched him in her endless judgmental silence. He had solid footing upon appearance, but when he raised his left foot up to walk forward, he instead leaned too far back and fell against the corner as every limb on his body went wet noodle limp. He was not only greeted with the strange image of his new friend suddenly appearing after he’d left her in Ashen Steppes.

MInd you, he was still happy to see her. Just surprised.

Taloc was sure he saw her smirking before she flashed him a friendly wave to calm his nerves, too bad his stomach argued.

A boy with a bucket rushed over to assist the newly arrived fighter, presenting the bucket with as much grace as he could after today. The Masked Prime lifted his hand, palm towards the boy, an omniversal sign for ‘stop’ which made the secondary obeyed. Neither of them could see it, but Taloc’s face was drenched in sweat as he used breathing exercises to calm his body. Removing his mask was not an option.

After a few moments, he was positive he’d been able to will his last meal back down into his stomach, not that there was much there if his memory served its purpose.

“I am fine.” He said, his voice not at all muffled by the mask.

“Yes, sir.” The secondary backed off with a low bow.

Taloc refocused himself and pushed himself back to his feet, where he stood for a solid moment before trying once more to walk to his companion. As he successfully approached Hayaidesu his tunnel vision pushed everything else out. He wore confusion on his face, so strong that it could have changed the mask that not be impossible. “Are you competing as well?”

A face as stone blank as his mask shook her head. “I cannot risk my life as Primes do. As you already know, I would not come back.” She shifted her weight to look more feminine. “So I shall be cheering you on in the spectator’s section.”

Was… Was she showing confidence in him?

“Either way, while you were making your way here Karl Jak has already teamed you up.” She commented, pointing down the hallway to a large monitor that displayed the results of Karl’s fun. “Lucky you. Not only were you drawn first, but you get to go first, it would seem.”

Desu and Taloc still stand at the Teleport Machines; in the main hall.

[Karl Jak]

Karl walked the preshow facility.

Unlike last year’s model, PSF-18 felt a little more crowded, and the producer couldn’t tell if that was because there were more people or if the facility was smaller. He racked his brain, but in the din, he couldn’t focus enough to recall the exact schematics. Once he had some time later, he’d return to his office and mull over them. He wasn’t a fan of the shoulder-to-shoulder atmosphere—one of the reasons why he abhorred the Central City office that Syntech had maintained before that final, disastrous planetary invasion. How people could stand to live in Coruscant or Minas Tirith amazed Karl. Why not just go create your own spacious home? It’s a universe of limitless opportunity and people still felt trapped in whatever tropes and societies they considered naturally.

Karl Jak fished into his pocket for the disc of omnilium. The multi-colored surface glinted, even in the mostly florescent lighting of PSF-18. Raw omnilium had always been fascinating on a few levels. Where else could you find raw power and unbridled dreams blended together like this? The man flipped the coin before returning it to his vest pocket.

Everything was running smoothly, with the exception of a small hiccup between Golidlocks, the Mouse, the Gun. Fortunately, the threat of being evicted from the festivities had kept at least two of them in-check and none of the employees had been beaten or battered.

Lifting up his CapuslePad, Karl glanced at the social media feeds and smirked. This event was certainly trending well, which would only mean even better returns once the fireballs and fists starting flying about.

People love a blood sport.

Back in his home world, the atmosphere around Dante’s Abyss had always been a little darker and foreboding. Someone who died in those tournaments had a higher chance of vanishing forever, because no everyone in Karl’s home world was cut out to linger in existence in service of the Kais.

But in the Omniverse?

Primes were living gods, capable not just of crafting reality but also never dying. Sure, they’d invent stakes, but at the end of the day, they had nothing to lose in these competitions.

And even the most boring primes could be made more fanciful through the pseudo-science of omnilium. Karl panned through the various zones he’d handcrafted over the last year, and the various enhancement or handicapping features he’d woven into the various regions of his Danteverse.

Slipping away from the main concourse, Karl stepped into a water closet and made for the far wall. Without skipping a beat, he casually walked through the steel surface and emerged on the other side. He cracked a smile as he nodded to the security guard posted in the room.

“You need some kind of indicator light for when you’re going to do that, Sir.”

Karl jiggled his left arm, which always seemed to twitch after the phasing process. “I could just pop in here, but I don’t trust your itchy trigger finger, Karlson.”

“Love you too, Sir,” the security guard replied as he tipped his hat to his boss. “Always fun when this place is buzzing.”

“I know, Karlson,” the producer remarked. “When do you go back to your shift outside?”

“Few hours and I swap with Richards.”

“Send my regards,” Karl said before departing from the screening room and making for the network of halls and stairs that would lead him up to his office suite in PSF-18. He got about halfway before the mobile phone in his pocket started to chirp at him. Normally he’d ignore the call, but the ringtone was
‘We Are the Champions’.

Flipping open his phone, Karl lifted it to his ears and smiled as he spoke. “Good evening, Sir, how are you?”

“I’m all right. Sunset. You would have loved it.”

Karl scowled. He loved sunsets and rum. Or sunsets and tequila. Or sunsets and vodka…

“Anyway, Karl, your shift’s almost over. You can head back once the first round starts, sound good?”

The producer nodded his head. “Perfect, boss.”

“Be good to yourself, and I’ll speak with you soon. Smooches.”

“Smooches.” Karl said as he flipped the phone shut and continued on to his office.

***

On the other side of the phone call, Karl Jak toasted to the amber haze on the horizon before taking another sip from the coconut.

“Here’s to another one.”

[Ricter]

Things were going to start soon by the looks of the time on the wall, he was still in the main hall area and knew full well that eventually everything would kick off with a bang in the coming few hours. He didn’t know what to feel about this, should he feel nervous about having to fight for essentially his life, or should he feel somewhat grateful for being able to participate in such a grand event. It was all a mix of emotions that made him feel antsy, almost anxious to get things started as he paced around in the main hall for a little bit but got the feeling he wouldn’t be able to see his partner till the whole thing would begin to start. Hopefully he would make it for the matches, if not he would probably just hope for the best, or the facilities manager would probably step in and dictate what would happen next.

Looking around more people would begin to pour in, mostly near the teleportres as he noticed a boy with a bucket rush by, aiding someone else as he didn’t know who this person was nor whom they wished to affiliate themselves with but he would pay little mind unless their attention went back to himself. Turning his eyes back to the board as the listings flashed by and showed a big grand scale of how the tournament would go he would rub his chin. So win or lose they gave you a chance to come back to the top of the latter, which only meant the stronger of primes would probably be meeting one another again at the finals, which is ‘fair’ but at the same time kinda annoying. There was no limiting of powers, nor skills that were banned, hell for all he knew this Ash and Jak pairing could very well melt his brain into mush just from him looking at them.

All he could hope for, all he could ask for really, is too maybe face someone who wasn’t out for blood like it seemed most of the competitors were. So when he sees someone given the name ‘Ash the Storm Demon’ as a title he could only guess that was going to be the case, but who knows, they could be a nice storm demon. Jak Mar on the other hand was not someone he knew personally, which went for about 95% of the people here, and he didn’t know what he could do either. Sure the shoe was on the same foot for them, they probably didn’t know what he could do but he was in a very large information pit since he had no idea about anyone, not even his partner who seemed to not be around, or at least not in the place he expected them to be in which was the main hall.

Pacing around some more he would look back down the hall towards the multiple entrances and exits to where he could go, he could go looking for them, maybe see if they were in any other part of the facility, but it would be an annoying venture to go and do that but turn up with nothing at all. But it was worth a shot, maybe cell was just relaxing in the barracks, or at the library, which he was just at but he didn’t bother to check inside as he was so enamoured by the prospect of seeing who would fight who that he just had to come over here in an hurry and look through all the lists and matches that could be had. For someone that didn’t enjoy fighting in this type of manner he was clearly excited for it, mostly because he wanted good fights with people, not ones that would be murder fests with one another.

Even now as he was thinking about it his mind went back to Marisa, she seemed like a sweet human girl or woman, he didn’t bother asking her about her age, but even as she explained to him about her home town she seemed pleasant to be around. He’d smile as he walked down the halls, maybe he’d get to fight her? If so he would try to have fun with it, since on mention of her Danmaku fights he knew they probably enjoyed doing that sorda thing for every small dispute and large one, maybe it was even fun for them which was why she was here. Even if they didn’t’ fight he’d hope that she would at the very least survive and be able to leave the tournament with out any harm or major injury, if anything he’d come by and heal her if she was maimed by some asshole trying to prove a point. Now he wished he had gotten her contact information, not to call or bug her repeatedly, more so to just have some extra friends around here.

You never really know who could be nice to have on your side, but for him he was more so thinking that it would be great to have some friends who were primes in this world, after all he just got here around a week ago. He was still very new and as he came back to the library to look around he would find nothing, but he did notice his books on the table still, still unread and closed, he’d take out his phone though and begin to scan the pages. Snapping pictures of what he could as he needed information on something, the underverse, a place he was warned about on many occasion, however he was scared for the sake of what could be a location you could never return from. Where monsters and demons had full control and living there would equate a literal living hell. Few have came back from there by the looks of it, and from glancing over a few pages he could see that they had a very horrid ‘death economy’ to put it lightly.

Once he finished the book he would pick it up and place it back into the shelf for someone else to use, he got the jist of it, don’t be an asshole and you wont get banished, or just don’t get banished lest you wana be some demon’s slave or next meal. With his search coming up empty he would leave the library before he’d look towards maybe going to the barracks, he hadn't gone there yet, so he would head over. It was as plain as you could guess, at least for him, a place where you can sit down and drink while having rooms for everyone to sleep in, it was nice from a funding standpoint but he rather not sleep in any of the rooms if they haven’t been changed or cleaned given passing by a few males they smelled like a public locker room. But alas he wouldn’t find anyone here either, which annoyed him, the time was clicking down and they would be going at it soon, maybe they had more time to prepare but by the looks of it that wasn’t the case. So instead of stressing out he’d simply kick up a seat and relax, maybe even catch some sheep as he dozed off.

[Victor Wolfe]

Victor raised an eyebrow as a wannabe model rushed past with a satisfied smile on his face carrying the storm demoness, the kid that had been staring daggers into the lords' skull in what was probably his closest to being "scathing", being knocked down in the process. It almost made Victor feel bad for the redhead, who had a look of confused rage on his face as he seemed to question if the abyss was simply out to kick him down at every opportunity. Once again he did nothing, no running after Mr steal your girl the second, or actual proper rage. 

Distracted by the pleasurable vibrations of his dataverse device Victor flicked it open, the list of partners was now updated, nervous excitement built in Victors veins as his eyes darted the list for his own name, It would seem that this event would be a tag team tournament, and Victor had drawn Retane, the green man from the first Abyss that Wolfe had ever taken part in. From his memory, Big Green was more than capable as a warrior, a pretty good match for the assassins tactical and cunning mind. Looking at the other matchups he noticed that the Uchiha boy had gotten the cute chick from the library and that Erik seemed to have gotten one of the best matchups of all, Deadpool, one of the most impressive duel wielders with a healing rate in all the verses. 

Wondering what noble warrior or dashing rogue their King with all of his luck would have pulled Victor noticed his opponents first, the captain of the guards and the genocidal monster known as Mickey the Rat. He wasn't the biggest fan of either, but knowing their capabilities Gilgamesh would need one hell of a partner to pull through, and it seemed that all the other Babylonians where taken. The name Desman Black sat next to Gilgamesh, pausing for a few moments the assassin decided to look up this persons profile, a sinking feeling filling his stomach as he didn't immediately recognise the name. 

The redheaded kid's picture and details popped up onto the screen, causing Victor to hold his arm against the wall to prevent himself from collapsing, from laughter, tears, or despair he didn't know. The kid that couldn't keep a girls attention for more than five minutes was supposed to be the one to protect his King, Karl Jak was a cruel madman, a brilliant one but cruel none the less. Perhaps in the short time that they had before the event started Gilgamesh with all his motivational speeches and unmatched charisma could pull a man out of the child that Victor observed almost sobbing in rage on the floor. He doubted it but time was of the essence, and if Victor was going to help draw the fire from this boys belly then he needed to work fast. With a sigh, he walked over to Des offering his hand. 

"It looks like you have been partnered with my King Mr Desman, now I don't like you, and I have a feeling you are not as big a fan of me as your girl is. But if you are teamed up with a Babylonian then you had best come with me, because unfortunately I am now duty bound to get you to our King and mentally prepare you for the battle ahead, so get your butt up and walk soldier!"  Victor said in an authoritative tone as Des angrily got to his feet. Victor noticed a group of the New Babylonians entering the main hall, from what he assumed was the training area. With a worried smile on his face, Victor rushed over to his comrades in arms. 

"My King, I bring your partner to you, I recommend immediately testing him out, from my own observations let us just say that things are not looking too promising." Victor sighed as he pressed his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose. Before the King could respond the assassin noticed the exorcist, his black uniform matching his feelings towards fun. A wicked smile crossed the face of the assassin as he thought up a plan to force the redhead to get angry and give this tournament his all.

"Hey Sir Kanda, this guy is your opponent in the next round, and he said that if you ever get a romantic partner he would do his best to steal her from you." Desman seemed shocked and stunned as a look of anger spread across the Exorcists face, his glare piercing both Desmans and Victors souls as he didn't respond. 

"But I, I didn't..." Before Des could finish his sentence Victor leaned in close and whispered.

"Actually, you should have seen how lovely-dovey Ash and him where getting, all snuggled up under a tree, like what you and she could never truly be, a couple!" Victor pulled away with a laugh a look of rage in the eyes of the youth as the assassin's plan seemed to be working. 

"Does that make you mad boy? Do you want to beat me up, go ahead if you think you can? Or do you need to go ask Ash's permission first? Wolfe taunted. 

Victor and Des are now in the main hall area. 

[Jak Mar]

The eco warrior turned toward Retane, mixed annoyances crossed his face “I fight Cell and Ritcher first. But I’ve fought Cell before… DA 17’, but somehow this Cell’s appearance doesn’t seem the same as last time we met, last.”

Richer was someone different, someone he’d never met before. “Any info on any other contestant this time that you could find out? Jak asked Retane, a serious frown on his face, he wanted to know more about others that foughts.

The ottsel was still staring up at Victor Wolfe’s name and his picture. There was a tension he still couldn’t stop hiding but ignored it for the sake of Jak, who seemed to be pacing.

There was more to Jak than his outside appearance showed.

And yet those sides weren’t exactly someone Retane wanted to meet. That is if Jak ever let them out to “play.”

The Dark King was a full demon that roamed Jak’s head at times and loved the feeling of control over Jak’s body. However, the eco warrior wasn’t yet strong enough to hold the full demon’s form. His dark form was that of a insanity fueled beast in that he was less able to control and gave the demon more control of the eco warrior’s head instead.

The Angel found his realm over jak’s mind rather tight due to the Dark king demanding that he gave up his space.

But these were living in his head.

For as long as the Angel/ Light Jak remained in control and in balance, Jak was normal.

[Marisa Kirisame]

As Marisa put down the empty cup she sighed with a fairly large smile. One thing this Syntech knew was there alcohol and the good types. She heard someone walk up behind her and turned to see someone in a fairly weird looking outfit but she didn't mind. He then spoke after clearing his throat. "Um... hi. I'm Dongja."

The witch nodded as she put that information away somewhere. "Hi Dongja, my name is Marisa." She made a conscientious effort to get the introductions done with before going on to talk about other things. "So Dongja I want know what you can do in a fight." She spoke as she started to grab a fair few items from her apron to show Dongja since they were partners.

"In anycase I have my explosive flasks." She motioned to the sickly green, semi solid-liquid mixture. Dongja nodded and she continued to speak. "I got my Mini-Hakkero which I use for my larger attacks, and the broom. so I can smack a person away or whack at with if need be." Marisa first motioned to the magical furnace with its trigrams and the Hihi'irokane in the middle; and then motioning to the fairly large broom right next to her.

She sighed before continuing to talk. "And that's all I got in terms of attacks and stuff. Ok Dongja nodded once more before showing the black and white magician Yoe-Pil which she was honest confused about. "It's a stick?"

It started to move on its own and snapped at the witch. "Stick? did she just call me a stick?!" Marisa looked around a bit confused as she tried to find the source of the voice before it spoke back up again. "Hey, blondey over here, yea you I'm the drawing utensil talking to you."

Marisa looked at the talking stick and sighed. "Alright so let me guess its magic?" And with the confirmation from the odd looking fellow, she tapped her chin in deep thought as she tried to think out how they were going to deal with Yuuka.

[Bandit With No Name]

Bubblegum hair bobbed and swished around the bandit’s shoulder armor, the light of the blue touch screen reflecting the eldar and nameless woman’s faces as they stared intently into the Dataverse stream. Caret’s hand grabbed the bandit and tugged, “Let me see!” She dashed to Balanlara’s side and peeked around her cloak, then ran back to the other side of the impenetrable wall of bodies that blocked the Dataverse stream. She whined frantically and then muscled her way under the bandit’s arm, her head poking out from beneath the woman’s armpit. Her face lit up into a grin when she saw Karl Jak in a dapper suit, smiling with a showman’s smirk.

“Oh my goodness, this is so exciting!” she squealed with glee.

The woman pushed her gloved hand down into Caret’s hair and tousled it aggressively, “Shut up, I can’t hear!”

Karl pointed to the camera and winked dramatically, “Hello and welcome to the Dante’s Abyss 8 Draft Live Stream!” Caret squeaked in a soft, continuous tone before the bandit bonked the top of her head. “Our organizers are particularly cheap this year,” he quipped, holding up a cheap glass bowl with a number of slips taped up inside of it.

“The way this will work is that I’ll draw a name from the ‘hat’, and the next name I draw will be their partner. The next name I’ll draw will be the first person of the team they’ll be against in the first round, and the one after that will be their teammate. Got it?” Caret nodded exuberantly, her mussed hair bouncing along. The nameless woman sighed and clicked her tongue at her companion, but left her be for the moment.

Jak stuffed his hand into the bowl and fished it around for a moment, the retrieved a thin, blue strip. “Alright, it looks  our first contestant is…” He carefully pried it open and read it. “I am gonna get so many names wrong,” he chuckled, then composed  himself. “Taloc! Taylock? Tlalock? Taloc!” he announced, then turned the strip towards the camera.

The woman let out an anxious breath, not sure if she wanted to see her name drawn next or not. “And his partner will be…” the announcer’s hand thrust back in and snatched another strip. He aggressively snapped it open, partially tearing the strip, but it was legible nonetheless. “Makoto!” he called out with flourish. “Looks like our first team will be Taloc and Makoto, folks! And they’ll be up against…” Another slip torn open, read, and turned around. “Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades!”

The combatant’s fists clenched and unclenched. She hadn’t expected the team-making draw to be so engaging, but she was latched on, hook line and sinker. She could only imagine how the folks back home would be reacting.

“And her partner will be…” Another slip, another tear. “The one that was a fake secondary and is now a fake prime,” the bandit’s chest stopped its rise and fall as she held in her breath, every muscle in her body tense, “the bandit with no name!”

The thin mechanic shrieked loudly and began jumping up and down, slapping the nameless woman’s steel-plated back with a twang. “You’re in it!”

Balanlara offered a faint smile and tilted her chin up, violet eyes cast down at the phone with an intrigued stare. “And I am simply enraptured by who your teammate might be.”

“Damnit!” she yelled into her device, grabbing either side of it firmly, “I put down Ass Kicker! You can’t have my name be the same as it was in the last one!” The veins in her head bulged as she shook her phone back and forth impotently. For a moment it seemed as though she would throw the tiny machine but she caught herself, frozen with her hand over her head. She exhaled slowly and gathered herself, her body relaxing back down. “It’s fine, I’ll have them fix it in the announcements,” she reassured herself, “No biggy.”

Balanlara nudged the armored woman and placed her elegant hand upon the rugged surface of her armor. “But who is this Kerrigan that you’ve been paired with?” she said, her psychic echo almost like the purr of a curious cat.

The woman’s shoulder bopped upwards with a clank. “I dunno, let’s look her up!” She began to clumsily thumb type “kerrygan queeen if blades” into the search bar. It helpfully corrected the search and brought up a few, scant results. She tapped the “Images” tab and sudden;y recoiled. “Ah damn,” she spat with a laugh, “well that’s something.”

Caret peeked over the woman’s forearm, and her face immediately went almost as pink as her hair. “Yeah, that’s something alright,” she said softly.

The bandit’s arm dropped and she planted her hand on a planted hip, staring down the young mechanic with a judgmental expression. “Why you always into the ones that look like they wanna tear out your heart and eat it on the end of they claw, Caret? Why you so into monster chicks?”

The grease monkey recoiled and hung her head bashfully, then mumbled something beneath her breath.

“What was that?” the woman scorned.

Caret shook her head and put on a transparently faux smile. “Nothing!”

Balanlara’s lips curled incredulously. “She said that’s not all she can eat,” she scoffed, her tone flat as an old tire.
Caret’s mouth hung open and she stammered, the bright pink on her cheeks deeping to an almost purple shade of dark red. “I- well- I did not!”

The eldar rolled her eyes, flourished her cape and began walking towards the main chamber. “Let us find your partner before the young romantic does?” She cast back a sly look, “We wouldn’t want anyone to be ‘consumed’ before the tournament even starts.”

The bandit creased her eyebrows. “Gross.” She began her slow trudge into the main hall, her flustered and now dead silent friend trailing after listlessly.

The main hall was packed shoulder to shoulder, a vast sea of humanity and “other” intermingling into a hot soup of sweat, awkward “excuse me”s and body odor that the AC and public affairs teams couldn’t quite conquer. Pictures were being flashed and microphones were being hustled in front of everyone that might be mistaken for a prime. While Balanlara swept through the crowd like a shadow, even with her exceptionally broad pauldrons and oversized backpack, the nameless woman was forced to push herself through like a bull through a herd of cattle.

It only took a few moments of standing on tiptoes before the bandit caught a glimpse of the practically titanic woman’s dreads standing over in the corner. It only took a few metal-spiked shoulder checks before people got the picture and started clearing the marauder’s path.

The Queen of Blades had been leaning against the wall, her ominously glowing eyes darting from person to person. The bandit knew those eyes. Intelligent, calculating eyes, every shred of information gently falling into a vast record of neatly kept mental records. She’d seen it a hundred times in the eyes of warband leaders, insane shamans, and snake oil vendors. The rest of the woman was completely alien to her.

Her entire body was sheathed in a thick, reddish-brown shell that flowed organically over her entire trim feminine figure, otherwise devoid of the trappings of humanity. Atop her head was something akin to hair, which the nameless woman had thought to be dreadlocks such as her own, but was instead twitching and writhing and chitinous, more like hundreds of smooth, hairless spider legs. Folded behind her back were two large “wings” of spines, reminding the bandit of a bat’s skeleton but with a lot more stabby bits. Her fingers terminated in long, pointed claws, the shell over them shaping them into nightmarish weapons of rending and tearing.

For a moment the nameless woman simply regarded her from the safety of the crowd but then shrugged her hammer unto her shoulder, strode forward, and held her hand out. “Oh yo, so you must be Kerrigan, right? It’d be pretty damn hard to confuse you with anyone else. MY roster says ‘Ass Kick’ but I don’t really got a name.”

The woman smiled sharply and picked herself off of the wall. The bandit wasn’t used to others looming over her, but Kerrigan was almost a half foot taller than she was. The Queen of Blades took up the wastelander’s and shook it confidently. “A pleasure,” she said with an edge of intrigue. “"If I can't call you by your name, what are you known for? I can tell from the looks of you this isn't your first fight, but I hope those are the scars of victory?"

The bandit smirked and shrugged passively. “Only lost twice, and the first time I was a secondary, so don’t hold it against me. Some people call me ‘the bandit,’ ‘cause that’s what I used to do for a living, but I’m trying real hard to keep anything from sticking.”

“A secondary,” Kerrigan purred, her burning eyes narrowing with attention. “So you’re a proper veteran then. And as the ‘bandit,’ you would be the one listed as my partner.” She released the nameless woman’s hand but didn’t take a step away. “I'm glad to see it's someone with strength. I shouldn't expect you to have any qualms with my,” she paused and allowed a poisonous smirk to soak into her cheek, “methods, then?"

“No idea!” the warrior laughed back. “As long as we’re fucking up primes on prime time, I don’t particularly give a shit. Last time I was in one of these competitions I got shivved by a dirty rotten disease boy and I don’t hold it against him, if that gives you any indication.”

The titanic woman’s smirk split into a broad grin. “"I think we'll get along just fine, then.” She looked the woman up and down, taking note of every minute detail. “And just what happens to be your preferred method of fighting?”

The bandit twisted the throttle on her hammer, filling the room with the brief roar of the engine perched atop it. “Either I shoot em, crush em, or get creative.” With her free hand she pat Magus’ head, which hung from her belt in a permanent scream. "I also carry a few souvenirs from previous fights. They give me a couple of extra tricks."

“Such a handsome face,” Kerrigan teased. “And what does he do for you?”

“Shit’s wild,” the woman replied enthusiastically. “He spews out this super thick cloud of black fog that drains everyone but me of a bit of strength. It’s also, like, a big black fog cloud, so it’s pretty hard for anyone but me to see in there.” She slapped her left forearm, which had been replaced with some kind of steel prosthetic. “This used to be Gildart’s, I think he’s here isn’t he? Anyways, it lets me punch shit into about a million little cubes. Like, literal cubes. It’s called Crash Magic or something.” Next she pointed to the small ribbon on her flesh and blood arm. “And this was Mami’s ribbon. It’s basically like a rope, but way cooler.” Finally, she slid her fingers over a large hole hear the sternum of her armor. “And this is from Okor, the aforementioned disease boy. I really don’t know what’s in there, but something is left of the sickness he stabbed me with. The blood that comes out of it is almost clear, and I definitely do not suggest touching it.”

The infested woman nodded with a calculating lilt. “Such a collection,” she responded coolly.

The nameless gladiator laughed, “You should start one of your own.”

“I’d love to know more about your method of combat,” Kerrigan said with a falre of psionic energy flashing from her pupils.

The woman gestured over to the dojo with the haft of her hammer. “Only one way to figure each other out.”

Kerrigan’s almost permanent smirk deepened, “Of course. I would greatly enjoy a quick spar.”

The broad-shouldered woman began making her way towards the training area, her secondary companions sticking to the edges of her attention as they watched with giddy investment. The camera crews and service staff had even less of an issue parting for the two oversized woman as they prowled through the central room, a few even taking a few candid photos as they strolled past.

“So what’s your home universe like? Any of your friends make it over here? Make any new ones?” the marauder chatted casually.

“The world I come from is very different,” she said in that distant tone that just about every prime had when they were talking about their origin. “I was human there, once. Now I am more than that.” She blinked away the memories and carried on with the questions, dodging any depth that might have been plumbed from her answer. “The only person in this place I might call a friend would be Illidan.”

The nameless woman let those details die in obscurity. “Why you doing DA?”

“I’d like to win the competition and solidify my position within this world,” she said passively.

The woman scoffed, “Alright, I’m not gonna let that one go. That’s the most generic answer that every would-be king gives. You don’t seem the type.”

Kerrigan hummed pleasantly, “At least you’re sharp.” The Queen of Blades glanced down to her clawed fingers and splayed them out idly. “I’d like to collect information on all the strongest fighters and influential players of this universe. I’d like to fight them in a controlled scenario to see what I make of them.”

“Everybody wants to rule the world,” the nameless woman laughed, shoving a particularly insistent microphone from her face. "Ya know this place has been won and lost by so many primes that saw themselves as king of the molehill, I don't even know if the history books would bother writing one more down. Even Palpatine, Aragorn, all the other dudes that have been around since the start don't seem terribly interested in leadership anymore.” She sighed, glancing up to the white tiled ceiling. “The Omniverse is just chaos. We're here to have fun in it, make a few messes, clean some up. I know I'm sure as hell gonna make a racket when I can.” She turned and looked at the imposing woman over her shoulder. “I guess I just hope you focus your attention on the primes when you're doing whatever you're gonna do. They got nothing to lose. But secondaries? They're once and done. They were created by cruel hands, most of the time. Their lives usually suck. You'd probably have a pretty easy time just letting them go on by, if not make their world a little better with your literal god powers."

"I was already in complete control once,” Kerrigan responded, almost sounding bored by the idea of it. “When I got there, ruling all the little ants didn't seem very interesting to me. Here, I simply wish to,” she paused, searching for the perfect word , “establish dominance, you could say."

"Yo, I know that feeling, the woman pleasantly affirmed. “I can honestly say it interested me more in dominance when I was a secondary; everything felt more important then. But I hear that. There's not much that feels better than looking down at some jackhole who copped off to you with a hammer in your hand.” She cast a disdainful glance at some of the other primes across the room, “Everyone in this joint needs a fucking attitude adjustment."

Kerrigan ran her fingers through the thick tendrils atop her head, flipping them from side to side like a model adjusting her hair. "Heh, I love the passion in your voice. So much more honest than most of the 'noble warriors' gathered here. I think we're going to get along famously."

The bandit stepped over the threshold of the training area. Her nostril flared and a sinister snarling grin appeared on her face. “We’ll sure fuck be famous when we win it.”

[Clownpiece]

“We’re heeeeere!” No sooner had the duo of fairy and youkai appeared in the Preshow Facility, than the fairy let loose a cheerful cry, throwing her arms up in the air and lifting just a bit off the ground. Though suddenly being upended from one side of the world to another had scrambled the little Clownpiece’s senses just a bit, it did nothing to dampen her spirits. A wave of nostalgia hit the fair-haired child as her vision quickly stopped spinning, her ears quickly stopped ringing, revealing to her the familiar building, and the welcome bustle of fellow primes. So many people talking and mingling and in general enjoying themselves. So many lost souls to torment into madness~.

“It does seem that way...” Yuuka responded after a moment of hesitation, her voice just a bit shaky, her eyes blinking rapidly as though she’d just stepped out into a bright light. Which she technically had done. The pre-dawn light of Darkshire had scarcely been strong enough to illuminate their surroundings. The interior lighting of the registration booth had helped, but even so it wasn’t much when compared to the brightness of the Facility. “So, what do we do now?” The flower youkai followed up after another moment, ever so slowly getting her bearings. “You’re the one who’s been here before, lead the way.”

“Of course!” It came as no surprise that the little fairy was all-too-happy to accept such a prestigious position like ‘leader.’ Nevermind the fact that she didn’t actually know what she was doing. Hell, last year she’d simply bumbled about randomly until the announcer told her it was time to go. Of course, she didn’t let Yuuka know this. Not really so much out of embarrassment or arrogance, but more out of the fact that the girl had forgotten herself.

Planting herself right back on the floor, recovered from her bout of excitement, she stood as tall as a girl as short as her could, lips lifted in a grin somewhere between mischievous and eager. With all the confidence of someone who actually knew what they were doing (because to her, she did), Clownpiece took a marching step forward, towards an entirely random hallway. She hadn’t the foggiest idea where it actually lead, but surely everything would work out. Wouldn’t it?

“The teams are over that way, Clowny.” The fairy hadn’t made it more than a step or two before Yuuka’s mildly amused voice stop her. She spun on her heel in an instant, turning to face the youkai, a little bit of red flushing into her cheeks as she did so. “Don’t you think we should start with that?” The older woman asked with a knowing smile, half-turned away from the fairy, pointing up towards a large screen on the other wall. A screen which bore all the different names that would be participating in this year’s event.

“Y-Yeah!” Though her voice shook for a moment, Clownpiece quickly regained her vigor, acting as though she had that idea all along. “I was just... moving to get a better view!”

“Away from it?” Yuuka pressed, grinning sadistically as she did. “Instead of just... flying up to get a better view?”

“I-I...” The fairy hesitated, smiling nervously and shifting a little bit on her fight, trying her best to hide her embarrassment but failing. “Y-Yeah!” She lied boldly. “I can see it pretty well from here, it’s just that... over there would’ve been a bit better!”

“Oh, really?”

“Y-Yes?” The small girl’s stutter only grew more obvious as she felt Yuuka’s noose close around her neck.

“Well, why don’t you go over there and read them off to me?” The youkai’s tone only grew more dangerous as time went on. “After all, I’m getting a little bit... hard of sight, with my age~.” Her words didn’t sound genuine in the least.

“U-Um... I-I can do it just fine from here!” Clownpiece did her best to steel herself against the verbal assault, her posture slowly returning back to its confident state as she did. “It’d be easier this way anyway, with all this noise...” Silence fell between the duo, with neither bothering to try and speak over the din of their fellow contestants. Yuuka, in particular, was happy to simply stare and smile, waiting for a few moments, until...

“I suppose it would be.” She finally said, slowly, agonizingly. “Go on then...”

“Got it...” Of course, the youkai only continued to press on, and the false confidence the fairy had managed to build up was crushed in an instant. She turned away from Yuuka, lifting her head up to stare at the screen up on the far wall, her purple eyes squinting as she did her best to make out the names from this distance. It wasn’t actually all that hard to see them, per se, as it was designed to be read from anywhere in this room, but reading wasn’t exactly Clownpiece’s forte. She muttered under her breath, lips moving faintly, any sounds made drowned out by all the surrounding conversations. Slowly, she sounded out all the different names she saw, discarding all the ones that didn’t really apply to her, looking only for names she recognized, and their partners.

“Um... Link and Clownpiece...” Finally, after what felt like a minute or so of waiting, the fairy began. “That’s me... Versus... Skeletor and Kuzuru? W-Weirda and Yuuka, that’s you, versus... Dongja and Marisa...”
“Marisa?” Yuuka broke in, her voice not so much an interruption as casually taking advantage of the fairy’s slow pace. “Kirisame?” Though she asked that, the flower youkai knew damn well that it was. Clownpiece wasn’t the only one who could see the board, after all. She was just getting too much enjoyment out of teasing the little fairy.

“Y-Yes,” the lampad answered, taking her eyes off the screen for a moment to nod, before turning back. “That’s all of us, but...” she continued, still squinting as she slowly read over the various names. “Larva’s here too. A-and Dane.”

“Oh, our little friend is here too?” Though the term ‘little friend’ could’ve been used to describe either of them, coming from Yuuka, there was something about the green-haired woman’s tone that tipped Clownpiece off that it definitely wasn’t the butterfly fairy she was referring to.

“Yeah...”

“Well, let's hope he keeps my little message in mind...” There was something dire hidden in the youkai’s voice, her tone slowly growing sharper as she spoke.

“What?” The fairy asked, eyes opening completely, head tilting vaguely to the side as she turned to face her friend. A message?

“Oh, nothing. Let’s just go find our partners, why don’t we? Whirda and Link, was it?”

“Uh... I think so?” By now, Clownpiece was second-guessing herself, trying to sneakily cast a glance back up to the screen without letting Yuuka know that she was doing that. Of course, even though they knew their partners' names, they didn’t know what their partners actually looked like, and even if they did know that, they wouldn’t know where to even start looking in a place like this. Not that this occurred to the fairy, nor would it have bothered her at all if it did.

“Yup!” Her not-so-surreptitious glance confirmed everything for the star-spangled hellspawn, and with a bright cheer, she spun on her heel, turning right back towards the direction she’d been determined to march off in the first time. “Follow me!”

“Excuse me, miss, but I don’t suppose you could help us find our partners, could you?” And once again, the fairy hadn’t managed to make it so much as a step before her adoptive mother put a different plan into action. Clownpiece twirled about once again, vision and head spinning with all the turning she’d been doing, and was quickly met with the sight of Yuuka a few more feet away, chatting amicably with one of the Syntech employees, a brunette-haired, suited woman in her twenties carrying a high-tech tablet (much like an enlarged version of the fairy’s phone) and a stylus to go with it. The youkai leaned casually against her folded up parasol, her smile genuinely friendly and not like she was one wrong word away from ripping your throat out, but still trying to be civil.

“Sure thing, ma’am,” the young employee was quite chipper, her voice taking on that sort of overly-cheerful, entirely fake tone of customer service workers. “Yuuka Kazami and Clownpiece, right?” Though she spared a quick glance towards the young girl, she kept the brunt of her attention focused on the perceived authority figure, and without waiting for either of them to answer, she continued right on. “Whirda is not here yet, but should be arriving via Recall Station shortly. Link is over in the Gym area, right down that hall.” She spoke, gesturing with her stylus. “Would either of you happen to have a phone or an MDD in general?”

To that question, Yuuka simply gave a blank look, far too out-of-touch with technology to understand that question. Fortunately, Clownpiece understood vaguely enough between the two of them to make that not an entirely futile query. “Oh, I do!” The child beamed excitedly, hopping forward a few steps and retrieving her smartphone out of... somewhere. “See?” she proudly presented it, screen-first, towards the Syntech employee, as though that action would be of any help.

“I see,” though the employee’s words were short, she still sounded as cheerful as ever, and still wore that plastered-on smile. “Why don’t you check it right now,” she followed up, eyes quickly flicking down to her own device as she tapped at it a little bit. Looking a little bit perplexed, the fairy turned the phone back to herself, pressing the little ‘on’ button, and...

“Woah...” A wondrous expression painted Clownpiece’s face as suddenly she was met with a picture of a green-clad teen wielding a sword and shield. To anyone who was actually familiar with technology, this wasn’t all that impressive. To the more-than-a-bit behind the times hellspawn, who had difficulty just figuring out how to text, this was magic. A mysterious magic she’d never seen before. “Is this Link?” She asked excitedly, turning to look up at the brunette, her purple eyes wide and sparkling.

“Yes?” The employee sounded a bit... taken aback by the child’s reaction, though she didn’t show it on her face, only in her words. “Anyway, if you wish to wait around for Whirda, this is what she looks like.” The nameless woman wasted no time dwelling on the fairy’s actions. There were plenty of technologically inept Primes in the Omniverse, after all. Instead, she just about immediately turned her tablet towards Yuuka, revealing a picture of her partner.

“As tempting as that is, I think I’ll help Clowny find her partner first,” the youkai responded, memorizing Whirda’s visage even as she spoke. Once she was finished, she turned her attention back towards the helpful employee, bowing a little bit. “Thanks for your help, miss. We can take it from here now.”

“Glad to be of assistance,” the woman responded, nodding respectfully. “Enjoy your stay here at Syntech.” And with those words, she turned and stepped off, making her way over to whatever other business she had, leaving fairy and youkai alone.

“So...” Yuuka said slowly after a moment, shifting just enough on her feet and turning her head down to look at the grounded Clownpiece. “Lead the way.”

Moving to Dojo area

[Clownpiece]

“Okay, that’s him.” Two sets of eyes, stacked atop each other peered around the corner and into the dojo. The not-so-quiet whisper came from the purple-eyed girl on top, wings fluttering surprisingly silently as she floated a good few feet off the ground. Though her star-spangled outfit was hilariously ostentatious, not the sort of thing that allowed for someone to be sneaky, the blonde-haired fairy was finding remarkable success. Although the steady flow of people going in either direction, employee or otherwise, often shot a confused or even suspicious glance at the plaid-dressed woman beneath her, most of them were making it a point to ignore the little girl.

“Which one now?” Yuuka asked from beneath her, Clownpiece’s vague directions doing nothing to help her actually locate the fairy’s partner. Compared to the child, the youkai wasn’t nearly as into this little game of theirs, and honestly didn’t really make any effort to actually hide herself, instead opting to sort of half-stand around the corner, looming suspiciously. Her voice wasn’t really quiet either.

“The green one, right there.” Purple flashed as the small girl gestured into the room with her purple-flamed torch. Of course, as she was currently wreathed in an aura of madness, making all those who laid eyes on her simply believe she was a hallucination, this pointing did all of nothing, as Yuuka refused to acknowledge the motion above her.

“Oh, that guy?” Came Yuuka’s response, one of her own hands stretched out and pointing in the exact same direction. Fortunately enough, there was actually only one green-clad guy in the room at the time, so the youkai’s guess was right on the money. The guy in question was Link, back turned away from the sneaking duo, and from the doorway in general as he swung his sword against a dummy, possibly warming up for the coming fight.

“Yeah, him!” The little fairy affirmed, all pretenses of stealth disappearing for a second as her voice raised.

“He doesn’t look like much...” Yuuka said quietly, her mumbling comment made mostly to herself, though Clownpiece heard it anyway. The garishly dressed girl simply hummed a vague agreement, her mind wandering, paying no mind to what exactly she thought of the boy yet. Instead, all she could focus on was a certain, hellish idea that sprung to mind...

His back was turned to her, she currently couldn’t be comprehended by feeble human minds, and he was super embroiled in that sparring session of his...

The fairy’s unseen mouth cracked open in a devilish grin.

“I’m gonna go greet him!” Of course, despite how sneaky she’d been trying to be, and how sneaky she fully intended to be, the little girl couldn’t help but be excited. She dropped right back to the ground, almost-bare feet slapping on the floor in front of Yuuka.

“Sure thing. I’ll be there in a minute.” The youkai, unphased by the sudden sound of nowhere, sounded perfectly unenthusiastic about the whole thing.

Without hesitating a moment, the torch-wielding fairy cheerfully skipped forward, towards the boy testing out a flurry of blows with his sword. Each hit shook the dummy of his and sent a powerful thwack echoing throughout the dojo. The perfect sound to mask Clownpiece’s footsteps. The living madness crept (or rather half-ran) ever closer, swiftly coming up on the unaware hero. Of course, she did keep herself at a safe distance amidst his assault, circling around him at a distance where she wouldn’t be hit by an errant sword swing. Not that such a thing was an issue, he kept his swings short and efficient. It was the form of someone familiar with his weapon. Her small, star-spangled form flitted into his vision, perceptible only as a hallucination, and suddenly Link’s flurry faltered. His sword-arm hesitated, his blue eyes locking onto the fairy, and for just a moment, Clownpiece worried that her stealth had failed her.

It hadn’t.

Catching himself staring at specters, the teen shook his head and flicked his gaze back to his target, raising his sword high. With a mighty shout, he brought his weapon down, embedding it into the dummy with a loud thock. His arm strained, a grunt escaping him as he tried to pry it free, and that was when the fairy struck.

“Yo!” Clownpiece called out loudly, hopping forward the last little bit she needed to put herself face-to-face with Link, her form suddenly actually registering in his mind. A startled shout escaped the blond-haired boy, and he threw himself backward, adrenaline-induced strength causing him to pull his weapon with him, and letting him fall back onto the padded floor, landing on his butt. A vibrant grin spread across the clown fairy’s face, lips open with a toothy smile, and a cute giggle escaped her. She stared mischievously down at the fallen hero, arms crossed triumphantly over her chest.

“Hey! What’re you doing!?” Surprisingly, it wasn’t Link who spoke first, as he was simply too busy staring at her, eyes wide. Rather, it was his little blue ball friend thing. The weird little thing she’d vaguely noticed before, but hadn’t really given any mind. Clownpiece simply stared, baffled, at the strange glowing ball for a few seconds.

“Wasn’t talking to you.” And she immediately brushed it off, promptly tuning out its screaming as she turned her gaze back to the boy. “Link, right?”

“Uh, yeah...” The hero blinked a few times, slowly regaining his bearings, but not really moving from his position yet. “Then you’re Clownpiece, I’m assuming?”

“Heh heh heh...” a low laugh escaped the small girl, and she stood slightly taller, her grin turning downright devilish. “That’s me!” With a dramatic flourish, the child uncrossed her arms and swept her torch up into the air, painting a brilliant purple arc as she did. “Clownpiece, the most terrifying and disastrous fairy on hell, earth, or the moon!” Her grand introduction finished, she dropped her torch back down to her side, though her face was still painted with her slightly sadistic smile. “I hope you’re ready to raise some hell~,” she sang, leaning over a bit as she offered up her left hand to help pull the Hylian to his feet.

And again, Link simply... stared, for a second, the gears in his head almost visibly turning as he tried to process the fact that this was gonna be his partner. Only for a second though, before he groaned at the fairy’s little pun, deflating a little bit, but accepting her help nonetheless. He grabbed hold of her left arm and was almost immediately just hauled to his feet, the girl’s tiny form hiding an unexpected strength within yet. He stumbled just a little bit, thrown off by the power behind that pull, but regained his balance quickly.

“So...” Clownpiece said once he was back on his feet, hopping back a step or two and staring up at the Link who now towered over her. “What do we do now?”

[Deadpool]

”Another year, another action figure,” the mercenary muttered.

Beams of light shot from the telepad’s surface, enveloping him in a rave of multi-color which spun around the pad’s circumference, illuminating the tent walls with a rainbow palette.

Jimmy and Summer stood on the opposite side of the registration desk, both leaning forward as the colors washed over their faces. Summer watched Deadpool’s departure, too in awe of the process to close her lips; Jimmy’s eyes found Summer’s bosoms to be a better sight, and his head never turned from them.

In an instant, the mercenary vanished; a few moments later, he was spat from the mouth a portal. He staggered into the familiar Syntech lobby, gently smacking three or four faceless and nameless persons in the grill with the tail of his trenchcoat as it flailed behind him. Thankfully (or perhaps not?) his momentum stopped when he collided with a burly blond, who rocked a handlebar mustache. Deadpool slammed into the man’s bare  chest, nose perfectly fitting into the shallow cavity between his pectoral muscles.

Mr. Handlebar looked down at the mercenary with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. “Watch out where you’re going, little man.” He said--his voice was surprisingly squeaky. Then he grabbed Deadpool by the skull and yanked him back. “You’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself; not many bugs survive smacking into windshields, and not many people survive crashing their cars into buildings.”

”I’ve hit harder and more solid surfaces before,” the Deadpool replied, looking the man up and down, examining his physique. ”In fact, your muscles are probably about sixty to seventy percent sodium. Creatine junky, maybe?”

“Enough creatine to flatten you like dough.”

A smirk creased the front of Deadpool’s mask, and his brow ridge sharpened. ”You’re not worth your weight in words.”

Mr. Handlebar reared a fist, but before it could be launched, three white men dressed more like janitors than security guards grabbed hold of him--one wrapped both arms around Mr. Handlebar’s cocked fist as if it were a stripper’s pole, while the other two collectively bearhugged his torso.

Deadpool chuckled. ”Told ya! Not even triple digits.”

Preshow Entrance

[Desman Black]

Desman stared angrily at the cocky blonde haired male. “Your not worth the time.” Desman finally responded before turning around and grabbing Gilgamesh's arm, trying to pull him away. “Let’s go make a plan, hopefully your more well mannered then your ‘subjects’.”

“You DARE order a king about.” Gilgamesh questioned angrily, “Get your filthy paws off me mongrel.” His arm jerked from desman’s gripped as the red head marched forward.

“I guess not…” Desman said quietly to himself. “Well I’m gonna have a chat with our other competition, feel free to tag along if you want, ’Your Highness.’

“eeh… pal, I’m right here.” A high pitched voice could be heard from behind his first opponent.

Desman just stared at the short humanoid mouse. “Your not with these guys are you?” The red haired deadpanned at him.

“You think I would be with them?” Despite mickey best efforts Desman could sense the slight sustain mickey had if being asked that question.

“Well then it’s nice to meet you, my name is Desman.” The face and voice of the redhead settled into a more peaceful mood, his hand reaching at for mickeys as he bent down

“Well I’m Mickey,” He said, accepting the hand shake. “And this is Proto” Desman looked up to see what appeared to be a teenager in red armour, and quizzically started at him.  How did he keep not seeing these people? And why did the boy remind him of someone.

[Ahana Varma]

I almost feel bad for Kanda. This ‘Mickey Mouse’ character, though, not so much; judging by the god-king’s talk of vengeance, I’m sure that the creature must have played a part in Nippur’s downfall He deserved everything he has coming to him. Kanda, though, surely must be seeking only to impress our king, much as I am… but here he is, about to be knocked out in the very first round by none other than Gilgamesh himself…

That said, I do notice that the list of matchups includes a note about the tournament being ‘double elimination’... so at least the guard captain won’t need to worry about being tossed out of the entire competition when he is mercilessly crushed beneath our king’s gold-plated boot.

After exchanging a few words with first Gilgamesh and then myself, Kanda leaves, perhaps in search of his partner. A few moments later the god-king also heads off, presumably to do the same. I follow him out… not actually sure at this point whether I’ll bother to track down my own or if I’ll just follow meekly along after him and enjoy the sensation of being in his august presence.

At the doorway I hesitate, though, and turn to look back. Despite staring at the screen for as long as I was, I had been completely focused on the mention of the duel between King Gilgamesh and Captain Kanda (plus the sideshows of this mouse and who- or what-ever a ‘desman’ was); I’d forgotten completely to look at my own matchups... even if I were to decide to look for my partner, I don't even know who they are yet.

Serraph Quarrere & Sasuke Uchiha VS Ahana Varma & Eternity Larva

… It doesn’t tell me much. I don’t know who any of these people are. Still, on the bright side, at least that means I won’t be having to fight anyone from New Babylon, as has happened to my king and the captain. I don’t know what to make of my partner’s name, though… ‘Eternity Larva’? Am I being teamed up with the Omniverse’s oldest maggot?

Content to leave Erik Vrell to babysitting duty—Valarie is currently in the middle of brutalising one of the training dummies... however her parents have been raising her, they’ve clearly done a bang-up job—I turn around once again, to head after my king.

“Ah.”

He is gone.

I look around and catch no sight of him, then hurriedly dash out and head in a random direction—to my left—praying that I’m not heading the wrong way, as panic grips my chest.

He hasn’t gotten far, thankfully; after just a few moments of shoving and shouldering my way through the crowd, I catch sight of him and quickly make my way back over to the group, breathing a sigh of relief.

We’re barely walking for a couple minutes, though, before we find ourselves interrupted when Lord Wolfe rushes over with some young guy whom he insists is the god-king’s partner: Desman Black. He doesn’t look like much, but in a place like the Omniverse, appearances can be deceiving.

The lord tries to antagonise him for some reason, and the redhead simply dismisses him… I’m not particularly interested in whatever rivalry these two have going on between them… though from the sounds of it, it would seem to have something to do with the events at the barracks earlier.

But then, the man decides to take out his frustration on my king. He speaks rudely to Gilgamesh, and then even goes so far as to grab him and attempt to drag him away. I’m so horrified that for several moments I can do nothing but gawp cluelessly at the scene like some brainless fish, hardly even able to comprehend this reaction at all. Doesn’t this ignorant cretin realise that he ought to be eternally grateful for the chance to fight by the god-king’s side? That he should be considering himself lucky to be allowed to grovel at Gilgamesh’s feet and kiss his boots?

But no, the instant my king rejects his feeble attempts at… at… whatever that was—asserting dominance, perhaps? I can only assume that that must have been his intent—he simply turns away and begins speaking to the hateful rodent that must surely be Mickey Mouse… not only does he dare to lay a hand upon the Golden King, but upon being told his place, he immediately begins conspiring with the enemy, right in front of us all?

“Heretic! Traitor!” breaking free of my stupor, I leap straight past everyone else, right at the crimson-haired betrayer, knocking him bodily to the ground. He tries to shove me off, but is too surprised to react quickly enough, and I’m able to fasten my hands around his throat. My lips pulling back in a vicious snarl, I lean forwards, putting as much of my weight as I can onto his neck, doing my best to crush his windpipe, “Die already, vile, disrespectful filth! And when you get back, never dare to insult my king like that, ever again!”

He’s gasping for breath, struggling to pull my hands away… but I never get to find out if I'd have managed to kill him, or if he would have thrown me off on his own, for almost immediately I find myself being ripped away from him and hauled back by a pair of Syntech’s muscle-bound security goons. Cursing and screaming, I writhe in their grip, wildly trying to wrench myself free of them so that I can continue enacting righteous retribution upon the heretic.

“Ahana! Stop!” anger. There is anger in the god-king’s voice, directed at me. I freeze, feeling as if my heart has been frozen solid, then shattered into a million tiny shards by the swing of a sledgehammer, “Control yourself.”

I go completely limp in the guards’ grip now, my head hanging. Was that disgust in his voice? Hot tears burn my eyes as my rage evaporates and I realise what I’ve done. Everyone in our immediate area, and possibly even those further afield, if this incident has been caught on camera, will have noticed me—a subject of the Golden King—acting like some rabid dog and resorting to attempted murder at the first sign of disrespect for him.

This is not what he wanted. His aim was to prove to everyone that he was a good man, and a great king… and with my stupidity, I may well have ruined everything. Rather than making Nippur out to be the blissful utopia which he has been seeking tirelessly to turn it into, my actions will only have convinced the sceptics and unbelievers that they were correct to doubt him.

Simultaneously, as if by some prearranged signal, the security personnel drop me. I see the floor coming, but make no effort to keep myself from hitting it face-first.

Golden flames fill my vision for a moment when I strike it, as my defensive enchantments act to keep me safe from harm. For once, though, I wish they wouldn’t... I deserve to suffer for my crime.

I hear footsteps, as someone walks past me, then Gilgamesh speaks, “Will you be alright?”

He’s talking to his partner… Desman. I screw my eyes shut, wanting nothing more than for the ground to swallow me up. I’ve made such a mess of things that he’s needing to force himself to act polite and respectful towards such a despicable man, just to make up for my idiocy… Gilgamesh is having to demean himself in an attempt at convincing people that not all Nippurians are the raging, mindless brutes that I’ve made us out to be.

As usual, instead of helping him, I’ve only made things worse.

[Lord Zedd]

By the time Zedd arrived in the Preshow facility, there was a lot of commotion. It instantly put the ancient warlord on the defensive to see everyone moving so quickly and talking so loudly. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the prevailing emotion in the room was excitement, despite his hopes that it would be terror. People were shouting names of people and presumably locations, but it all seemed irrelevant to him until he swore he heard someone in the distance say his own name.

His head turned and he scanned the crowd as he walked forward, taking note of one or two odd looking individuals he assumed were combatants that he would need to slaughter later on. Regardless, the whoever had spoken his name was lost to the sea of cretins that surrounded him. It was then that he noticed why. The brackets for the tournament were live, and Zedd clenched a fist upon seeing one detail that had been omitted during his recruitment.

This was a team tournament. He was to be anchored to a partner for this entire fiasco. Of course it wouldn’t be so simple with Karl Jak. He followed his first instinct, which was simply to turn and leave, but as he viewed the teleporter it registered that it would not be so simple. Had he really fallen for Karl Jak’s schemes once again?

Summoning every ounce of strength in his deformed body, he marched towards one of the projectors and observed the pairings. He spotted his picture next to that of a lavender haired girl appropriately named Violet. He briefly whether the hair color was a result of the name, or vice versa. He shook his head and turned into the crowd of people. Before he wrote off this fiasco entirely, he would at least see what he had to work with.

Unfortunately, he only had the single picture and a name to go with, so he found himself trekking through the preshow facility playing something of a one-sided game of Marco Polo. There was no guarantee she would answer to the times he angrily called out her name in any case. Truth be told, if she didn’t it would be an indication that they might work well together.

Zedd’s journey led him into the bar as the Power Rankings were announced over a speaker. He paused for a slight moment when he heard the comment about his head, remembering all too well his ill-fated adventures from the prior year. Karl did too, and found it a suitable thing to mock? This did not bode well.

“This is how it will be, Karl Jak?” Zedd announced to no one, lacking self awareness as always.

His outburst had attracted the attention of most of the bar’s patrons, but there was only one he was concerned about. The purple haired woman sat on a stool, looking at him unimpressed as she worked on her drink. Zedd held an equal view of who he presumed to be his partner.

“You are Violet,” Zedd snarled through his metallic voice mask as he approached her.

Violet’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t sure if that was a statement or a question, but the answer was the same either way. “Yup.”

“I am Lord Zedd, the one who will bring retribution to this land,” Zedd briefly introduced himself in the only way he knew how. “You will witness this first hand, as my partner. Do not disappoint me.”

Violet paused before replying, and no Zedd’s indignation she held up an index finger to tell him to wait. While she did that, she tossed back her drink and finished it all at once. She was going to need it, it appeared.

“You must be new to the Omniverse,” Violet remarked as she slammed her glass down on the bar.

Zedd did not so much as flinch, remaining as still as a statue. “I have been around long enough.”

“Just talk like that to everyone, huh?” Violet asked, her facial expression showing a bit of both annoyance and amusement. If only this guy knew what that attitude would bring in some of the darker places in this realm.

“Only those beneath me. That is all I have observe thus far,” Zedd barked back. “I am hoping you will prove yourself a worthy teammate.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Violet chuckled. “Zedd, right?”

“Lord Zedd,” the deposed warlord growled back.

Violet looked him up and down one more time, and shook her heard. “Yea, that’s my luck.”

She went ahead and ordered another drink, and Zedd looked up to the television screens displaying various information and predictions about the match ups. He sighed as he pondered what he was getting into. Nothing could be easy in this godforsaken universe.

[Victor Wolfe]

Victor watched as the lupine eared dark skinned women launched to the defence of their King, her hands grasping at the kid's throat, he probably should have stepped in as the head of the diplomacy branch, however seeing the weakling struggle under a short and rather lightly built women was far too entertaining for the assassin to pass up. And if she hadn't been the one to do it, Victor most likely would have pounced and gutted the boy where he stood, no one disrespects Gilgamesh like that in front of him. 

As the guards pulled the girl away and before their lord could react Victor looked around before taking a few steps forward, kneeling down until his wait was supported on his ankles, his arms leaning against his knees, and the smuggest and most sadistic of grins on his face.

"Not worth your time am I? Well, I guess that is true in one sense, after all with how pathetic you are, crying on the floor after having the women you love stolen from you, twice, being verbally destroyed by me, twice, and then finally trying to once again run away from all your problems by hiding in the shadow of a King who's level of manliness and aura of power and respectability, cannot even be measured on the same scale as yours. As you cower like the passive child you just remember, this was all on you. If you had stuck up for yourself, tried to take control of your life, or even just showed a little bit of emotion other than just mild discomfort, perhaps people wouldn't just push you around and use you like the tool that you clearly are. And judging by how little Ash defended you after I last beat you down with my words, you are not even a very functional tool!"

Victor poured venom into every one of his words, leaving nothing to be subtle about, he wanted this guy to know exactly how the assassin and Lord of Nippur felt about him, and just what the consequences would be if he happened to fail their King in the upcoming battles. Leaning in close, his normally smug and happy go lucky expression replaced with murderous glee, Victor said in a quiet tone.

"So no Desman, I am not "worth your time" because your time has no value, to anyone in this world. And if you do not impress in this tournament, and cause the most glorious prime in all the verses to suffer an unjust loss, especially at the hands of that damn rodent, then I am going to hunt you down and have you executed for treason, maybe crucifixion? Maybe hung, drawn and quartered? I have not decided but it will be slow and painful!" 

Before Victor could go any further in his threats Gilgamesh coughed and said with an authoritative tone.

"Lord Victor, enough! this is enough banter. If this man is my ally we should treat him as such, regardless of his previous alliances. After all taunting him will just reduce his loyalty to me in combat"

Standing straight again Victor turned to his king and gave a full bow in apology, some of the onlookers now turning from the rabbit-eared girl being calmed down by security, to the lord of New Babylon, wondering just what him and the boy on the floor where talking about. 

"Of course my King, I am sure no matter the partner you will do well. We really should have a meeting after this event though, I have been a very busy Lord and I think you may like some of my activities" Victor said with a grin before once again turning to the boy. Now that the cameras were firmly on him he put on his more kind and diplomatic tone.

"I am very sorry for the actions of our comrade, our King has just been through a very rough time and we would appreciate it if you would not grab him like that, all of our followers are fiercely devoted to him and you would not want them taking it as a sign of disrespect, here" Victor said reaching into his pocket and dropping a white handkerchief onto Des's lap. 

"Clean yourself up"

He let a flash of his smugness breakthrough as he stood up, finally done with the kid, at least until he had to hunt him down later to make up for any dishonour brought upon their monarch, maybe he could ask the ninja to help once he reobtained his weeb blade, it could be a nice bonding session between stealth brothers. 

Looking around he spotted the bunny girl, distraught at her actions, she clearly felt guilty about something but didn't seem like the sort to regret smacking a peasant for disrespecting Gilgamesh. Looking around the room the Lord realised that she may be feeling guilty over damaging the New Babylonian reputation on a live dataverse broadcast, if not for both Gilgamesh's natural charisma, and Victor's way with words this event may have reflected poorly on their faction. However thanks to the assassin stepping in and people knowing about Gilgamesh being banished for some it may show how loving and supportive a faction New Babylon was now, protecting their King after the horrors of the underverse.

Still, her anger had gotten the better of her and he couldn't follow her around everywhere... Victor noticed just how pretty she was for the first time, silky black hair framing a cute face the rabbit ears only accentuating this for some strange reason. Her light brown skin reminding him of the people that would come on boats from the colonies, exotic, adorable, short, and with a fiery temper. Maybe he could afford to spend all day following her around. Victor got flashes of axes, guns and teeth in his head again. Not all of the time the assassin decided that would likely lead to an early retirement due to death by an axe to the back of the skull. 

Walking over and sitting next to the silent and sullen rabbit, the Wolfe lightly patted her on the back. She seemed almost dead from embarrassment and shame, two feelings that Victor almost totally lacked. 

"Don't beat yourself up over it miss, we all love Gilgamesh and if you hadn't done it I probably would have. I too know what it feels like to love the sensation of someone you despise struggling for air under you as you crush their throat, the last thing they see being your grin as you send them to meet their gods, the only question on their mind being, why didn't they do anything to help them out of their misery? But if you think that your anger issues may become a problem, I can teach you a trick or two I use after this event, if you would be interested in that?"

[Sasuke Uchiha]

*VZZTSHTHAWAPP!*
 
Now accustomed to the foreign technology the world of Omni possessed, Sasuke stepped through an all too familiar crack in time and space, and thought little of it. At this point, he no longer gawked or acted a tourist. Everything in the world of Omni was still, oh so strange… still amazing! He had just grown use to it by now. In fact, just last week he had been treated for dismemberment, at Nippur’s newly erected hospital, the Golden Cross. A casualty from the dispatching of a baron, Kuzuru and he had just slain. The baron, the cannibal king himself, Baron f*cking Deathchew, and the Golden Cross treated him for dismemberment like it was nothing, no big deal, and all in a day’s work.

The medical staff there had hardly even seemed to break a sweat. It wasn’t like they had performed a miracle and regrew his arm or anything, but that’s just how the Omniverse was, just like the Dante’s Abyss facilities before with Sasuke’s gouged eye, they had managed to heal the unamendable, and that was just a common thing. Everyone in the world of Omni was spectacular, whether they possessed jutsu or not.

Still hadn’t seen any holograms tho, the ninja chuckled as he placed a palm to the reality-hole he’d just come through. It was solid, just as he knew it would be, this was a one way thing. There’s only one way out now, the shinobi thought, win the whole damn thing.

Sasuke shrugged his anticipation off and took in his surroundings. Suddenly, the moment changed and the ninja’s expression became serious. Assailed by a barrage of blinding flashes, the shinobi raised a hand to shield his eyes, while the Sharingan sounded internally, and the shinobi braced for the coming attack.

Was it Itachi? Again?! Had he fallen for his elder brother’s trap once more? Why did this keep happening during the Abyss? Was Itachi and the Syntech Corporation somehow connected? Had his brother and Karl Jak become some kind of butt buddies?

An image of Naruto flashed before his mind’s eye. Why did that happen? Jesus, why am I suddenly thinking of Naruto?

 He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected to happen when he had walked through the portal, but this time around, it was exactly as Sergeant Arnold Hammond had said it would be. On the other side of the portal, there was a main hall and/or lobby area, and true to the storm trooper commander’s words, the facility was indeed adorned in lavish, luxurious accommodations and amendments. An interesting décor for an event wrought in blood and violence the shinobi thought and couldn’t help further thinking that perhaps, they should have taken a page out of the Baron’s playbook. The ninja smirked.

The flashes came from cameras, held by journalist and paparazzi alike, but Sasuke had little attention for them. If he was going to come to this ridiculous blood sport, he wasn’t going to go home empty handed. A plume of smoke, an executed jutsu, and an abandoned wooden log later, the shinobi had eluded the press, and made his escape further into the facility.

“Primes.” the ninja grinned as he began to search for artefacts, “They may very well be immortal, but most still fancy a drink and a bite to eat, whether they need to or not.”

[Serraph Quarrere]

Serraph didn’t expect the small woman to cling to him so. The speed of their friendship seemed almost natural yet here she was curled up against his side. She had fallen asleep without a worry on a being she had only known for a little over a day. What had Serraph done to garner such trust from the little lady? Though his knowledge was expansive, the Arrancar failed to wrap his mind around the minds of those among the living. Their actions often didn’t make sense yet they commit to them without a second thought. 

His hand grasped only slightly firmer at the woman’s silky hair, his digits embedding into her golden strands. If he had been any other hollow now would be the perfect time to strike. He could maim her, kill her, and any other actions a mortal would consider unthinkable. His hand relaxed, allowing the hand to slide over her head to rest them upon her shoulders.

 “But I wouldn’t do such a thing. I cannot.”, he’d think to himself, reminding himself of his oath to his king. He remember kneeling there before his perfect majesty, the golden aura of his power radiating off his blemish-less armor. The king accepted him even knowing the treachery dealing with his kind can bring. Serraph devoted himself to him, if only for the security of being surrounded by beings more powerful than he. Serraph did, however, have no intention of ignoring his oath. He’d serve him and support him. Gilgamesh was his king and Serraph was the King’s servant.

He’d sigh, his head leaning back against the cool steel door, his mind exhausted already from the dealings the day had wrought. He’d take his moment of reprieve, his mind drifting into a dazed like state. He could feel that old familiar feeling again pulling at his mind, gently leading it down into the warm depths of his soul. Warm hands would be felt cradling his head, long fingers stretching over the deathly white flesh over his face. A pair of digits would guide his eyes closed.

 Many minutes passed, his body ceasing its breathing. The Arrancar’s body lay frozen next to Shantotto’s. His eyes would creak open slowly, the steel grey of his eyes replaced by a faintly glowing emerald hue. The gaze glanced down at the woman by his side. The mysterious entity within Serraph’s soul had observed the events of her treasured one’s life, but now she was given another opportunity to see it for herself.

It was adorable to see one of ancient standard behave in such a manner. She couldn’t say much. She herself treated Serraph in a similar manner. After all, the boy was precious to him even more now than ever. She’d take in a deep breath, Serraph’s chest rising from the rush of air filling them. And then she’d speak. Her words were an equal if not finer musical quality than even the woman curled up beside her darling. The timeless sound was smooth and flawless, soothing the sleeping ears of her precious and his comrade.

“Spi mladyenets, moi prekrasný, bayukshi bayu~”, the words began, slowly building within the room. Her words filled the bodies of the pair, her spiritual essence enveloping them both in a protective embrace. She’d invite them to further sleep, guiding them along to their pleasant dreamscapes.

“Tikho smotrit myesyats yasný f kolýbyel tvayu.” She was reminded of the hollowed moon of Hueco Mundo, its reflective light providing the only light source for her home. The black sky would be featureless as no stars existed above the realm. Without it the desolate desert would be thrust into landscape void of any hope. Hollows would wander the darkness alone and die of their unending hunger. The sole light in the sky provided the means to survive and such many of hollow-kind revere the night and its solitary moon, forced to remain alone so Hueco Mundo’s inhabitants would not share its unending fate.

“Stanu skazývat’ ya skaski, pyesenki spayu,” The nameless woman in Serraph’s body would reach around slowly as to not stir the sleeping Tarutaru, the arms cradling her to Serraph’s chest as the woman stood. She’d slowly carry her to her bed, setting her upon it softly. “Ty-zh dremli, zakrýshi glaski, bayushki bayu.~”

The mysterious woman would shrug away the loose robes covering Serraph’s body, his arm catching the thick hempen fabric in his arm. She’d drape it over her tiny form, tucking her within its safety.  Serraph’s body would sigh and step back Shantotto , turning about to face the door.  Serraph’s face was grave and serious, the soft smile gone from his pale lips. The mysterious  woman strode to their door, her hand grasping upon its handle.

“Bogatýr tý busish s vidu i kazak dushoi. Pravazhat’ tibya ya výdu, tý makhnyosh rukoi…”, her song left off, the sweet soothing voice darkening as it faded away quietly. Things seemed positive for her precious, but behind every corner and within every shadow a traitor could lay waiting, their venomous dagger poised to strike. She was weary especially in a place such as this where many of various walks of life were kept within close proximity to each other. What would she do if her Seraphim were to be hurt?

There would be nothing she could do. Not yet at least…

Seraph’s hand would twist the latch allowing him to open Shantotto’s door. The hallway’s light would creep into the darkness of the room, shining over his form. His eyes had reverted back to its steel hue, his face returning to its normal expressionless state. The events minutes prior were lost on him but only slightly. He remembered only carrying his comrade to the comfort of her bed, but not the sweet song that enveloped them. He had felt a small taste of satisfaction there watching Shantotto’s peaceful slumber, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. He couldn’t help a sense of dread envelope him as he walked out into the corridor, his shirtless torso for all to see.

A perfect and clean three inch wide hole rested just beneath his collarbone and a jagged black tattoo of the number eight was portrayed on the left side of his chest. Those of his home world would know for sure what he was if they were to lay eyes upon Serraph, but he cared less than he did before. He was brimming with confidence from Shantotto’s comforting presence. From there on he would do his best to keep his wits about him no matter how camera shy he’d get.

“I’d best get a move on. There is likely not more time left before this event starts.”, he’d mutter beginning his journey down the halls. Now where to meet his partner? Best place to look would be where the most bodies would be. The Bar would be the first place to look.

Moving Serraph from the Barracks to the Bar

[Jak Mar]

Ah, Dante’s Abyss. The best and worst time to see everyone getting mad at each other.

Especially the yelling match between Desman and New Babylon getting “rough” on each other.

Jak was just about to stay out of said yelling match between Desman and Victor Wolfe when Daxter casually yelled out “WHAT?! Did that guy REALLY call me a RODENT?!”

Jak stood back, holding Daxter back from what could be another anger angle.

The eco warrior held his friend’s mouth shut while the ottsel struggled “Dax, not now.”

Jak frowned, trying to search for calm within before he caused a scene.

“Retane, sorry. I have to do this, Victor has pissed off my friends for far too long!”

Jak calmly held back his anger and hissed “Daxter, STAY BACK!”

Something inside him was brewing and his headache started to return

“Not now!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside Jak’s head brewed a quick battle.

“MAR STOP! Think about everyone!”

The dark beast shoved aside the angelic figure "Get this straight, the eco warrior is mad."

[Albert Wesker]

When she had arrived here, things had still been relatively empty and quiet. Just the employees of the station. That had quickly changed, though, as more and more people had shown up. Contestants, spectators, and more employees seemed to just pop up out of the woodwork. All a bit much for Cerise. She had retreated rather quickly to the library here, and squirreled herself away in relative isolation and quiet. Others had come and gone, occasionally, but she remained unbothered. Focused on her own business.

A nice book or two. And a dataverse connection to keep updated on the coming of more participants and contestants, and updates on the status of the event's starting. Hours or days or weeks, hard to tell. Time was strange and fluid in the Omniverse. She'd once left the Pale Moors to go do a little scouting and poking around some other verses; it had been a four week trip, and barely four days had passed when she got back to check in with a friend. That had set the precedent then, but this one seemed to solidify it even more. A very strange precedent. Strange and unsettling, even after so long here.

In that way she had sat there quietly. None of this craziness about going out there and interacting or seeing what her competition was. Not making herself known. She could keep as much of an eye on things as she wanted from here. And besides...she worked better with improvising and figuring things out on the fly.

When the pairings and matchups for the tournament were finally announced was when her focus finally shifted wholly to the actual events going on here. Looking over the way things had lined up...hmm. She'd been match up with...Gildarts? What a bizarre name. And they'd been matched against...yet more odd names, Jibrill and Harley Quinn. It wasn't a surprise that none of these names really rang any bells to her, but it was mildly frustrating that it forced her to search out what information she could about them. It was even more frustrating when she could only find any real details about one of them.

"Gildarts..." she murmured softly, looking over what she'd found. "...you seem to be...quite the powerful one..." A lucky draw, some might have said. And it was true, a powerful ally was definitely a boon. But it was also another minor concern. "I'll have to...really put in the effort to stand out here...with such a strong partner." Getting overshadowed or not getting a chance to really shine and show off her skills, as the man in black had wanted, just wouldn't do.

The little snake faunus just took a deep, steadying breath as she stowed her phone away and got up. Carefully returning the books she'd borrowed to the shelf where she'd gotten them, she slunk her way off. Out of the library, to go lurk and poke around. Try and find her partner, and speak with them in person.

Cerise has stopped hiding in the library and started wandering in search of a Gildarts.

[Yu Kanda]

Finally the strange duo managed to escape the chaotic scene that unfolded in the syntrch facility. Both primes sat down at a two seater table across from each other. Mickey's feet dangled over the edge of the wooden chair. The furniture obviously wasn't build for primes of his stature. It remained silent for the longest period of time before the mouse’s attention span wore off and allowed his eyes to drift off. Kanda just say there and observed the childlike prime, his innocent appearance was not that of the monster he envisioned him to be. On top of that, he was able to stand toe to toe with the King.He must have some sort of combat ability or at the very least some hidden power he has yet to reveal. The duo placed their order and waited in silence for what seemed an uncomfortable eternity. It was obvious the scene they observed earlier left somewhat of a bitter taste.

The slurping sound originating from Mickey’s straw attempting to catch the last drop of banana milkshake was preventing the awkward silence from taking place. It was Kanda that decided to pick up the conversation where it left off before other people started meddling in their business, “So, Mickey, you nervous about fighting the Ki-.. Gilgamesh again?”

Before replying the big eared hero had to focus all of his attention on pursuing that last drop of delicious banana goodness. Once it was caught the mouse looked over at his DA partner, “Boy, you can say that again. I never intended to fight him again, let alone in the first round with his guard as a teammate!” He said in his obnoxiously high tone, combined with a hint of distrust regarding the exorcist’s loyalty. It was not something Kanda could get used to that easily. Tolerating the ridiculous voice it was already claiming a tremendous amount of self control.

“I get the feeling you have some distrust towards me Mouse, and i can’t blame you.” Mickey almost choked on the gulp he took of his second milkshake. Not expecting the exorcist to be this direct. With his big cartoon eyes he looked at Kanda, both his hands waving in a dismissing manner, “No no no, It’s not like that. I just don’t know you that well yet. But i would like to! How did you end up in Nippur in Gilgamesh’s service?”

The swordsman leaned back in his chair, his glass of water was still half full by the time Mickey nearly finished his second. “That story begins some time ago, me and my fellow exorcist general Klaud Nine started our campaign together. To continue our mission of fighting demons and protect the innocent here in the omniverse, creating a safe haven for all.” Mickey continued to slowly suck the cold fruit drink through his straw as his eyes were filled with wonder, listening to Kanda’s story as it continued. “The order got overrun, meaning we had to start over. But as fate may have it, i ran into Gilgamesh and his friend Victor. They told me of NIppur, a city in need of rebuilding. I offered my service, hoping i could still contribute on creating that safe place in the omniverse for both primes and secondaries alike. Getting to hunt and slay demons in the meantime is a nice bonus.” Kanda’s grin creeped his partner out. The thought of it alone seemed to bring pleasure to the swordsman.

The duo continued their conversation as more and more contestants gathered at the bar. Neither had eyes for the crowd that was gathering around them, they were focussed on what the other had to say. It’s not everyday one has to fight a deathmatch together with a stranger, Kanda was sure to get as much useful information as possible in this limited time frame.

Kanda and Mickey are at the Bar, enjoying a drink and talking