The Secondary Saga - Prologue, Introductions

[Gildarts]

The Road to Omni - Day One, Part One

Day 1 - Morning

Your secondary finds themselves simultaneously gathered in a large clearing and a part of a large group of strange looking beings. (See participating members/ roster for those involved.)

This phase will last about 3 OOC days and conclude on Monday night (11:30 PDT). In order to keep active, please post at least once per phase.

Their location: The Tangled Green

How they arrived should be hinted, implied, or can be written as you like. Please put anything prior to their arrival –such as memories– in a spoiler tag (for coherency).

You may stagnate their arrival times as you wish.

Your secondaries have followed the "Ghost Girl" or another lead to this location, only to find that Omni, is quite evidently, not there.

Notable surroundings were read by the many pairs of startled eyes while the heavy scent of humidity tainted the air, thick to breathe. Lush greenery filled the horizon and covered the sky. Tropical birds chirped from afar, echoing through the forest with their incessant squawks and alarming song. Wings of bugs larger than the size of a watermelon, viciously buzzed in the air and only layered more on their already brimming senses. The atmosphere combined together was enough to remind any stray mind that those who now found themselves there were stranded, isolated, and very far from home.

In the near distance – about twenty feet away – covered by dense layers of leaves and brush, was an abandoned gray Jeep Wrangler, stashed just past the giant ruins that would immediately catch the attention of anyone around.

The sandstone ruins were covered in brambles that crawled like veins in the nooks of ancient rock. Along the side of the square temple was a hidden entrance, partially covered by a leafy branch. Meanwhile, gargoyle heads smiled and looked in every direction, appearing as though their purpose was to guard something; these lion-like statues were perched on pillars all around the clearing and surrounded the temple in a scattered pattern that could only be seen with an aerial view.

If one looked close enough, they would see some tribal markings etched on stone and tree alike.

...

With the back of her hand, Christa's pale hair was wiped gently from her forehead, already sticky with the glitter of sweat. Her dampened expression weighed with an abnormal amount of annoyance as she found herself standing in front of the large set of ruins. After everything she had gone through, the road to Omni had lead her here. Face to face with a very diverse group of people. A flurry of emotion was read by the swift flicker of her eyes as her heels dug into the soft earth and she readied her closest weapon –  a pistol – and raised it at the most threatening creature there.

This is an ambush. She was convinced and set her sights on him; blood pumping with every drumming heartbeat, while the snout of her revolver was aimed at the thing's head. Her stance had squared on the being, she observed how it was cold and motionless yet still very alive. Christa's eyes narrowed while her lips curled back into a growling snarl and she dared him to challenge her with any sort of reason that would motivate her enough to pull the trigger.

Christa, encompassed by a group of people who were notably less hostile than she was making them out to be, felt her mind thrill with paranoia. She had spent too many of her days at war. And this was just a taste of the many consequences to come.

Little did the woman know, she was surrounded by those who knew her own inhibitions all too well.

[Smith]

[spoiler]“Ooooh noooo! A zoooombieeeee! Whatever will I doooo? I hope he doesn’t try to eat my juicy brains!”

Even my undead dominant half could only stare incredulously at the weird girl who had appeared before us. And I don’t mean she walked up from somwhere, or anything like that. I mean she literally appeared out of thin air. Hell, the bitch was translucent. The way she wriggled adorably, eyes wide in mock terror, only made things weirder. Who was she trying to kid? She was obviously a ghost, what the hell would a zombie want with insubstantial brains?

An awkward moment passed before the chick dropped the façade with a sigh.

“I guess that isn’t going to work, huh? Look, buddy. I’m here to help you. You need to head over to the Tangled Greens. There’s some people there heading out to see Omni and they’re going to need your help. You’re going to need them too, if you ever want to be a human again.”

“Uhhhn…” I said in reply. Not a whole lot else I ever really say these days. Can’t really blame me though, I haven’t had higher brain functions in a long time. Of course, even if I wanted to go along with this whole ‘Find Omni’ thing, it wasn’t like I had much of a choice in the matter. Dracula had me under his thumb and that wasn’t about to change. In fact, as if just thinking on the dick brought his attention on me, I felt an irresistible urge to return to his castle, my body turning away from the Ghost Girl to follow orders.

“Hey! Where you going, buddy?” she asked of me as I began to shamble away from her. Since I couldn’t really answer her, she began to tag along for awhile, pestering me with questions and shit. To be honest, I kinda just wished she’d go away. She was reminding me of times before I was a monster, and it wasn’t something I felt like dealing with right now.

“Oh right… I almost forgot!”

The specter placed her hand on my forehead and a wave of pain and light washed through my undead form. I staggered and fell from the sheer power of what she had done and when my eyes regained focus, I could see her translucent form standing over me.

“That should take care of that. I went ahead and severed ol’ Drac’s control over you. You’re welcome, pal.”

“Uuuuuurrr…” I replied as I slowly got back to my feet. Slowly being the key word, I wasn’t exactly a athlete before I was turned undead and I sure didn’t get any better at moving since. But, with surprise, I found that she was telling the truth! I didn’t feel the vampire’s presence in the back of my mind any longer. And for the first time in a long time, I felt hope rise in my unbeating heart. Maybe I really COULD be a normal person again. Unfortunately, it seemed my body still just did what it wanted to do. Whatever. This was still a vast improvement over the way shit had been going, so I wasn’t about to complain. It’d just take a bit of prodding to get the beast moving in the right direction. And so, with some goading, I managed to start moving towards the Green and to my destiny.

Or whatever.[/spoiler]

I’m beginning to think that ghost chick made a mistake. So, I made it to the Greens, with just a little help from ol’ See-Through, and the very first thing that happens is some other chick points a gun at my head. I guess I can’t really blame her. I AM a zombie, after all; a brain eating monster willing and able to kill someone as soon as look at them. Every instinct in me said to attack this woman, to kill her before she could kill me, and if it weren’t for an extreme effort of will, I probably would have. And died before I took more than a step. So, for now, it seemed that in the interest of actually making it to Omni it would be best to play nice with these people and hope they didn’t get too trigger happy.

[Jak Mar]

BOOM!.......

Helghasts!!

The men, my group of men and woman of the ISA, or the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance were shooting at those damn stubborn Helghasts and it appeared we were slightly winning at the time, right?

Wrong...

I close my eyes for what seems like a second as I aimed a gun at the nearest Helghast and then.... I disappear?!

Startled from whatever the hell i was drinking that day, I wake up "FUCK!" Where are the other ISA members, where are those Helghasts?" I arrive in an odd place and some....being... of some sort starts to talk to me out of thin air.

The ghost girl waves a hand in front of my face, as I hesitantly keep my gun close by. "Come... the Twisted greens can help you figure out why you are here..."

I stared at the blank sky, i swore i was going crazy but I lifted my gun over my shoulder and frowned "Just get me the hell back to my crew of ISAs and we can finish off the Halgasts."

The man held his gun close by and followed this ghost girl toward a lush forest, and a full group of people or what seemed like people anyways. One girl was holding a gun at what appears to be ... another creature?

I immediately frowned "What the hell is going on here?"

[Zack Fair]

[spoiler]Abner White let expletive after expletive flow from his mouth. The veteran stormtrooper had managed to fall into a pretty nice groove with Nexus duty. Inform Primes of what they are, invite them to Coruscant. If they came with him, great. If they didn't, that was just dandy, too. Make a patrol to confirm that nothing had changed in the Nexus, bullshit for a moment with the veteran Camelot soldiers who also realized how expendable they were, then go the hell home.

But that was over.

He had been reassigned to the special operations section for some reason that was so far beyond him he couldn't begin to phathom why. Well, that wasn't entirely true. The Empire and it's "streamlining" ways weren't exactly a secret. He'd worked it down to a science, just about. Don't do enough to be commended or promoted, but don't do so little that your ass gets on the chopping block. To be honest, though, he wasn't sure which of those two directions he'd shifted to.

There had always been rumors that there was a way to find Omni, that he was accessible to anyone who searched in the right place. Not once in his wildest dreams had he expected that the Empire would send real manpower out to follow up on these whipsers, and he certainly never imagined himself doing such a thing.

Yet here he was, standing in the armory and adjusting the last modifications on his old rifle. He'd geared himself up for a long solo trek. Gone was his white stormtrooper armor, replaced by a much more tactical outfit. Most of the pockets on his bulletproof vest's outer carrier were filled with spare clips for his rifle and pistol and a few other miscellaneous tools, but he'd made sure that at least three of them were stuffed to the breaking point with cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

He took one last look at his gun, and sighed his typical sigh of annoyance. He picked it up slung it over his back, where it comfortably had room on top of his small rucksack. Between the rucksack, his vest, and his belt, he was carrying everything he figured he'd need. But dammit, it sure was hot and heavy already. Abner went ahead and took a large pinch of chewing tobacco and put it in his mouth as he was walking out the door.

As soon as he stepped in the hallway, though, something felt off. The air was cooler, and something just felt different. As he moved down the hall, he was confronted by an odd, ghostly figure. A girl, right here in the Imperial armory. Huh.

"You seek Omni," the ghostly girl said, staring straight at him. "But not even for yourself. I can help you find your way."

Abner stared directly at this mysterious figure, but the only thing he could think of was the fact that he'd forgotten to fashion some kind of spit cup for his chew. Oh well, he spit a wad of dip on the ground beside him. He wasn't coming back here for awhile.

"Barnes, if you're fucking with the holoprojector again, I'm going to beat your ass one last time before I leave," Abner loudly announced, not sure where to look other than directly at the ghostly being.

"Come to the Tangled Green," the girl replied, paying no heed to what Abner thought she might be. "All will be explained."

The girl vanished as abruptly as she appeared, and Abner was left alone in the hallway. He spit a little more tobacco on the ground, then shook his head and loudly signed. The Tangled Green? Well, what other leads did he have?

With as much of a sense of purpose as he could muster, Abner resumed his walk down the hallway, the first steps of his new journey.[/spoiler]

The bushes parted a bit, and Abner White exited the thick overgrowth into this clearing. He wasn't exactly graceful as he emerged, with his foot catching a root and causing him to stumble out of the thick bushes. After taking a few steps to catch his balance, he simply stood up and pulled a cigarette from one of his vest's pockets, lighting it and immediately breathing it in. It might not be the best move for his stamina, but he was really craving it by now. He looked up at the ruins curiously as he put the carton away.

Hint after hint had let Abner to this point. Some less subtle than others, but the point was that he was here now. It was a strange place, but to him it looked like just another odd portion of the Tangled Green. What stood out more than anything was the ridiculously odd cast of characters that were scattered amongst the place. They looked like they hailed from just about every background imaginable, and there appeared to be no clear leader. Had they all wandered up here, as well, or were they a group here for some other purpose?

Oh, and one of them was already aiming a gun at another. Abner shook his head. That was just about par for the course, as far as this mission of his was concerned. Another had spoke up, wanting to know what was going on, but Abner was content to light a cigarette and just observe this for the moment. A few eyes glanced to him, noting his less than spectacular arrival, but he simply gave a casual, maybe even slightly awkward, nod of acknowledgement. Though he didn't reach for either of his guns, he was ready to disappear back into the overgrowth if this odd situation took a turn for the worse.

[Jack Frost]

Pop

This sound just gave a small Fairy entrance to the omniverse. This fairy was on a mission. She had to find Him.

The small fairy creature whizzed around for a moment as she looked around herself. She saw few people and creatures alike, standing around a large and beautifully carved, marble fountain; but it wasn't like they would see her, no one ever noticed her at a first glance. The colorful humming bird sized creature gripped her wand as a group of men passed her, Where is he? I thought he would be here. how else could I have gotten here? The fairy wondered to herself.

The fairy flew into the sky to see if she could get a topological view of the area. She rose until she felt a strong wind in her feathers then proceeded to stop and take another look.

I know where he is.

The voice frightened the small creature. The fairy took her gaze from the ground and looked for the seemingly close female voice.

The boy is safe Tooth.

The fairy was questioning her saneness now. This voice knew her name and knew who she was looking for? Tooth looked wildly now, any help is good help. Tooth uttered a loud tweet as she tried to find the person of intrest, she couldn't speak words to the woman if she had no sight of her.

Look to me young fairy.

Tooth heard the voice come from her left and quickly turned her head. She saw a glimmering, white dress before the girl herself. The female had long, bouncy, blond hair that slightly waved in the breeze. The girl was a pale shade of white and it looked as if she was almost translucent. She wore no shoes as it was plain to see her petite feet.

Who are you? Where is Jack? Why is he here? Tooth was full of questions and worry now that the woman had provided an intrest. I can give you these answers, but you must follow me young Tooth. As the woman spoke these words she slowly floated backwards as if on her own word's accord. Tooth began to flutter cautiously ahead as well, thats when the woman surged backwards. Tooth followed this suit.

They zipped through the clouds as the wind blew past. For one moment Tooth had forgotten how important finding Jack was and enjoyed the complete rush of the flying. She realized how careless she had just been when she fluttered directly into a clound and became sopping wet. Tooth truged through the clound and looked frantically for the white woman. She spotted her down near the ground, hovering at what appeared to be a gate of some sorts that led to a forest. Tooth took this for a chance to catch up and whizzed on down to this gate.

As she reached this and came to the woman the woman began to float yet again through the gate. Tooth had no other option but to follow the flying woman. She wasn't about to throw away her first lead. Not yet.


----------

Tooth had kept fast after the woman had led her a good few hour's worth of flying into the forest. Tooth was getting winded, How far away from these answers are we? She asked the woman who zipped without fatigue.

We are here. The ghost like girl said as she stopped to a halt and turned to face Tooth, You will find your answers here. May the best of luck be upon you. Tooth looked at the woman questioningly as she mustered these words.

You are leaving?! No! I don't know where I am! You can't do this to me! I HAVE to find Jack! Tooth thought but had no prevail because the woman was already gone. Tooth uttered one miserable squeak as she fluttered down to the ground. She kept her gaze on the earthen floor, that was until she heard the commotion ahead.

Apparently a man was threatened with his life while the other held a gun to his head. How typical. She spoke to all the group, as They all looked around in response.

Tooth rose from the ground and fluttered forward into view of all the group to see her.

[Jak Mar]

Jan Templar was covered in heavy ISA armor, with a orange bandanna around his neck, and emergency supplies on his back. There was a logo on his backpack that said ISA. His gun was trained as his eyes turned to notice another man nearby, stepping out of the bush brush but awkwardly tripping on a branch. Once this man got up, he was wearing...some sort of vest with He wouldn't aim his gun at the stranger just yet, but it was yet to tell if this man was friend or foe.

The scent of a fresh cigarette caught the ISA captain's nose as he kept his hand moved toward his gun in case of any hostile behavior. There was.. a woman aiming at what appeared to be a...undead man?

While Jan held his gun out with one hand, he accessed the situation he was in. His body was sweating underneath the ISA armor and he wiped off the sweat forming on his face.

However in the distance, he noticed a jeep... a old model..something long left behind on Earth as advanced tech took over.

The man loaded his gun, with a "Click... click"

Not only these two show up, now there... was another being that showed up? A strange voice who was not coming out of nowhere but a fast....moving creature? (Tooth)

[Guu]

Info on Raw Onion

[spoiler]Raw Onion flew through the coruscant gate and immediately made her way for the Tangled. She received a call just a little bit earlier from one of her superiors ordering her to meet him just as she entered the forested verse.

However, when she finally makes it there, she finds herself all alone.

“Hello?” she called out the mass of trees ahead, but with no repy. She waited.

An hour passes. She had long suspected that he commander may never show, but her fear of disobeying orders kept her at bay; waiting to see a flying pegasus arriving.

Suddenly, a noise caught her attention. A rustling in the bushes. She saw the leaves waving at her in the distance. Finally breaking her post, she trotted over to the brush expecting some sort of animal; if only it was that simple.

When she poked a hoof into the leaves, out popped a little human ghost girl. Raw jumped back in shock.

“Hey there little pony!” She said warmly.

“Uh… He-hello?” Stated Raw, baffled at the sudden appearance.

She giggled at the confused horse. She suddenly dart off into the forest, laughing all the way.

“Wait!” Yelled the pegasus, taking to the air after her. “Where are you going?”

It didn’t take long to loose sight of her, and the poor horse find herself flying randomly through the wilderness.[/spoiler]


After five minutes flight time, she found herself in a clearing. She saw a bunch of humanoid creatures gathered together. Some of them looked hostile, some were just kind of there. She looked around confused, looking for the little ghost girl.

Suddenly, her phone lit up once again. She looked on the screen and saw it was a text form an unknown origin.

“You’ve always felt like fate had different plans for you than what society wanted. Here’s your chance for validation. This group is off to meet Omni himself. Maybe he could tell you what you’re truly meant to do.”

She stared blankly at the text for several minutes, her mind in a maelstrom of thought trying to process the information before her. She looked again, they looked like the times to go on an epic quest.

‘Could this be my chance?’ She thought to herself. ‘Surely Omni will say that I’m meant to be a chef. Even my mom can’t deny god himself!’

A huge grin spread across her face. She knew she was going to get in trouble with her superiors, but if she had a chance, it was all worth it.

She flew in with the crowd, pulled aside a cloud and laid down comfortably on it, completely forgetting she was still in her armor. She listened intently to the group of people who had yet to notice the technicolor pegasus above them.

At the first person to look up, her instincts cut in and she suddenly jumped to attention on top of her cloud, saluting the person.

“Private First Class Raw Onion reporting for duty, sir!”

[Black Mage]

[spoiler]"Finally done with patrols Bucky?" Solomon, a Muun droid technician asked as I headed into the droid storage room. Humans had things like 'living quarters' but such things were wasteful. All that space for living was inefficient. All you needed was a good plug for power, and something to keep spare parts in. Then again, humans couldn't really carry around spare parts like I can. Wonder how those creatures conduct field quick field repairs with such squishy parts. But I don't have time to ponder such things. Solomon asked me a question.

"Roger Roger."

"Report?"

"3 criminals apprehended, two rodian males and one bothan female. Fourteen criminals expired-"

"How many did you 'expire' Bucky?"

"This unit assisted in the expiration of three secondaries with E-5 blasterfire."

"And was that all?" He asked, as if waiting for something.

". . . This unit also caused injuries to two stormtrooper units."

"Fierfek. I thought for sure that targeting upgrade would have solved that issue." The Muun cursed before letting out a heavy sigh. "Plug up Bucky. I'll analyze the data and try to come up with a patch for you." The Muun rolled his wheeled chair over to a datapad and began to boot up some programs. I plug in the software and powerlines and start to power down. I don't dream like other creatures do, but I know the value of keeping power emissions low. Maintaining a powerful machine like me costs the Empire good credits, around 12,000 credits per day. If I can lower that cost for just a few hours a day then that's money Palpatine can use to armor those stupid stormtroopers who get in my firing lanes, which makes Camelot's downfall all the closer.

About four hours later I'm up and at'em. Initial diagnostic shows that Solomon has uploaded the file. Time to unzipping the file, download it, and apply so I can-


Blip

That blip tells me there's a new file. Specifically File "???.pdf". A quick perimeter diagnostic confirms the status quo. Nobody's here but me and other powered down droids. Which means this file is classified, top secret, only for special infiltration units like me. Far beyond Solomon's pay grade. Time to open her up and look at him.

File:Access ???

>>>>??? Encrypted
>>>>Enter Encryption Key: ______

Why would they send me a file I can't-

Blip!

Another file. This time named "Key". Part of me, 34.7% to be exact, thinks I'm being fooled with. But 34.7% was not a majority, and 52% of diagnostics show this is a very important mission for myself, sent in two parts.

File:Access Key

>>>>Encryption Key == ghstgrl
>>>>Encryption == Received
>>>>File:Key == Deleting

Hmmm. Well that seemed rather clandestine.

File:Access ???

>>>>??? Encrypted
>>>>Enter Encryption Key: ______
>>>>Enter Encryption Key: ghstgrl
>>>>Bucky, the Emperor has selected you for an important mission. Palpatine may lead Coruscant, the Costa Del Sol, and the Endless Dunes, but it pales in comparison to Galactic Empire he once held sovereignty over. Rather than continue to wage a war against Camelot and her people the Emperor has decided to go right for the heart of the Omniverse. Omni himself. However locating him has proven difficult, with Omni monitoring Palpatine's every move in fear of his power.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to travel to a temple hidden deep within the Tangled Green rumored to be created as a monument to Omni and discern his possible location while in competition and feeding false information too agents from Camelot, New Babylon, Ambrosia, and the L.A.W. As always if you or any of your associates are captured or killed the Empire will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This file will self-delete in five seconds. Good luck Bucky.

[/spoiler]

And that's how I got here. Sent here on a special mission by the Emperor himself. And who better to do it than me? No other B-1 had as genius of a disguise as me. No Stormtrooper had the metal he did. If only the Tangled Green weren't so foresty though. The vibrant colors, the uneven ground, the overwhelming presence of organic life. It all seems so . . . unnecessary. My only comfort is my knowledge that the Emperor will one day rule this land, and I'll have helped speed the process along. After a while of trekking through the muk however a familiar visage comes into my view. The nice familiar white tone of armor. Another servant of the Emperor. Slowly he made his way to the stormtrooper, keeping E-5 in hand and being careful not to snag his backpack on the many obstructions of the woods. Heading over to the man I nudged his side, before reaching into the backpack.

"I have another disguise." My vocabulator speaks at a soft hum as I reach into my bag, showing another Mandalorian 'helmet'.

[Mickey Mouse]

[spoiler]Despite the fact that just weeks before Darkspawn ravaged the woodlands, you could not escape the serene, peaceful aura of the Tangled Green. Wherever a person went, they could hear birds chirping; see the waters of the Animus River raging with no care as to the rest of the forest; feel the gaze of Mokugakare’s ninja warriors shifting silently through the shadows. To some inhabitants, it seemed nothing could ever break the verse’s calming spell.

Well, never say never.

CRUNCH.

Mr. Clayton clambered through a small patch of bamboo, not bothering to gingerly lean the plant life out of his way. Rather, he snapped it apart as he made his way out of the forest, slicing any stalks he couldn’t overpower with his rather large, intimidating machete.

“Hello?” he called out, sheathing his blade, his civilized accent ringing out through the forest in false friendship, “Little girl? Are you still out there?” The phantom he’d been pursuing had disappeared; perhaps she’d caught wind of his plans to somehow entrap her. How, exactly, did he plan on capturing a ghost? Well, that part the hunter had yet to figure out—but he had dealt with more ferocious creatures than she before, and he always trusted his instincts. His instincts told him to follow this girl and so he did, and now his instincts told him that her ectoplasm would look good nailed to his trophy wall.

Quick glances behind him revealed what he had already known—Miss Porter and the Professor had long since separated from him, stunned with disbelief at his ramblings about the transparent child that had called out to him. He remembered their gestures, simultaneously caring and condescending. A gentle hand placed on his forehead; Miss Porter’s sing-song voice asking, “are you feeling alright, Mr. Clayton?” in that annoying way she did.

Oh well, he supposed. They’d gotten in his way more than they’d helped anyhow.

Suddenly, a flash of white caught his attention in the trees above him, and he quickly slung the shotgun off his shoulder and aimed it at the disturbance in the otherwise motionless canopy. The figure flitted from one branch to another, and Clayton let off a shot.

A resounding bang scattered the nearby songbirds, and the phantom girl, knowing that he’d have to take time to reload, hovered down to the floor of the forest, finally looking him in the eye again since the first time they’d spoken. “I am not your target, Mr. Clayton,” the ghost spoke, her voice eerie in a way the hunter couldn’t describe, “you are destined to hunt greater prey than I.”

He loaded two more shells. “Perhaps,” he mused, “but a man must take what is presented to him in the moment, don’t you think?”

The shotgun raised again, sights set on the ghost girl, but she spun around and began to race away. Mr. Clayton struggled to get a good shot, but within seconds she had escaped the range of his weapon and so he lowered the barrel and sprinted after her. The chase went on for several minutes until finally the ghost girl flew into a clearing, currently inhabited by nothing other than a large ruin and a rundown-looking vehicle. She turned around to face Clayton; he raised the shotgun again.

“We’re here,” she whispered, placing a hand on the end of his weapon’s barrel. He squeezed the trigger, planning to blow apart the ectoplasm that made up her hand, but she simply smirked as the weapon failed to fire. He squeezed again. Nothing.

A scowl crept onto his face.

“Your prey awaits you,” she smiled, disintegrating into the wind as if she’d never been there at all. Mr. Clayton harrumphed, and decided that in the lack of anything to actively hunt—contrary to what the ghost girl had said—he would simply explore his surroundings. He approached the ruins, but as he got closer, his attention was drawn to a commotion just around the corner of the stony structure.[/spoiler]

Peeking around the ruins, he spotted a group of people and other strange-looking creatures that might very well serve as fine specimen on his trophy wall. The numbers, though—they worried him. Already there seemed to be five or six people at least, perhaps more, gathered around; certainly they wouldn’t take kindly to a single man trying to hunt them all. Besides, it seemed like some woman had already started a commotion. She had a gun pointed in the face of a very… interesting-looking fellow. His type of woman, yes, but perhaps a rash decision given the reaction of some of the crowd. Yes, his own violent tendencies would certainly be looked down upon at the moment.

He would play the part, then.

Later, he promised himself, and he slunk out of his hiding spot and crossed his arms, immediately inserting himself into the commotion. “Young woman, don’t you know how dangerous that little toy is? You can’t be waving it around wherever.”

[Gamzee Makara]

[spoiler]“Ich… Wo bin ich?” I open mein eyes, and find that I am staring at the sky, but therein lies the problem. It is a sky devoid of the blitzkrieg I was so accustomed to, clear of screaming metal and smoking barrels. This sky is undeniably, blindingly white, and the last time I checked, skies were not supposed to be white, THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BLUE.

Or gray.

Yes. The sky I recall most recently seeing was very, very gray. And the ground, it was so very muddy and bloody. Why, I was practically prancing on the corpses of my enemies! I remember that much indeed. I remember wielding a weapon of immense power and energy, one that gave me the power to wield the element of lightning like I was a Norse God! More importantly, Agartha, the place of myth and legend that housed the Aether was almost mine! My impromptu allies (who are nowhere to be found might I warily add) and I had almost freed that wretched brat Samantha from her hidey-hole, when, when..

Odd. What happened next, it escapes me. My English cannot convey the necessary words or meanings. My...Bah! Was ist das Wort? Erinnerungen?

Memories! That is the pronunciation. Yes. My memories of what happened after building this Staff of Lightning, they are shattered and broken.

Lost in thought, it almost escapes me that I am still lying on my back. This causes an involuntary spur of movement, my mind telling my body to rise as I scramble to my feet. I reach for the staff, and find it is gone from my back! Luckily, the pistol I affectionately refer to as the “Boomhilda” remains at my hip. I draw it, and aim down the sight with a pleased grin. Such an odd sight attached to such a small gun with such a large damage output. It is brilliantly ironic, and I enjoy the sound it makes as it vaporizes the heads of my undead enemies. On that note, I reholster the 115 infused pistol.

But the staff! I frantically examine my surroundings, my head reeling at the thought of it falling into the wrong hands, or rather, anyone’s hands but MINE! White, white, white, as far as the eye can see. In the distance, there’s a collective group of unidentifiable figures and shadows quite a ways off but that is all! No staff, no anything, and I’ll be damned if-

My vision whips around instinctively. Behind me, a rather large, rather imposing Archway. Leaning against the left base lies Kemat’s Bite, my weapon of ultimate power! I dive for it, regrettably like a child lunges for his lost toy, and snatch it from its resting place.

My vision whips around once more, to the figures in the distance, and back to the Arch to my flank. Someone has brought me here to this place against my will and I will not stand for it. I must find a way back to the battlefield of which I was ripped from reality, for there is still so much work to be done. As if they had minds of their own, my feet start to move for the silhouettes on the horizon, the worn, dirty work boots moving one foot after the other, when a voice, so young, so familiar pierces my thoughts. I stop dead in my tracks to listen to the girl speak.

“Poor Richtoffen... So far from home.”

“Samantha! Is that you!?” I cry to the heavens, the voices in my head mingling with mein own thoughts.

The voices. They mock me.

“Make yourself known to me you miserable poltergeist!”

Nothing but a damned fool’s illusion spread to feed off of others’ weakness of mind.

“I am not the entity you refer to as Samantha, Doctor. But I know where you may find the answers you seek, the power you wish to obtain. Or, if you really wish it, I know how you can return to whence you came.”

Such bold promises from un spirit that refuses to show itself, and I start to say as much, before it cuts me off.

“You will have your answers, Doctor, but not if you ignore me as you have so clearly ignored Samantha.”

The grip held so tightly around my staff loosens as my weapon clatters to the ground. I sink to my knees once again, my hands clawing at my own face. There is simply no silence to be found, not even in this strange universe. And it is from this moment that I deduce I will have to once again strike a temporary bargain with a spectral being of whom I know little to nothing about. Out of one loop, into another.

“The gateway behind you, Richtoffen. Walk through it. See what is gathering on the other side. All will be explained in due time. For now, accustom yourself to your new surroundings. You will surely have to…”

The voice pauses, as if searching for the right word.

“...Adapt. Especially if you are to keep your sanity.”

A little flustered at this sudden but apparent departure, I challenge her words. “But what am I even hoping to find, spirit? What am I seeking?”

What can only be interpreted as a giggle resounds in my head, like laughter off of a canyon wall.

“The being you seek is called ‘Omni.’ This is his world. His universe. The Omniverse.”

Then and only then does silence fill the void that particular voice left in my head. Then and only then do I realize that there are no other options than to walk through this gateway into another Crazy Place, another Agartha. I pick up Kemat’s Bite with a shaking hand and walk towards the Archway, the gate. No music box to activate this one. Throwing one last casual glance over my shoulder, I step into the unknown, this time, but certainly not for the last time, alone.[/spoiler]

I am not quite sure what I was expecting. But it certainly was not this...this gruppeficken. In front of me, a motley crew of strange beings, some of which appeared to be human. Others, not so much. Rather ironically, the first thought to pop into mein head is that this is certainly not Agartha. Quickly, however, I realize that I need to capitalize on this...whatever this gathering is.

"...How dangerous that little toy is? You can't be waving it around whenever."

I barely manage to stifle a laugh.

"Oh no, by all means, please continue threaten your would-be allies with a measly little pistole, that's how I made all of my friends."

I say nonchalantly (because it is sickeningly true), my voice catching almost a sing-song tone at the end of my quip. It is important that I appear friendly and co-operative, even though the situation demands for much more drastic and immediate action. Though wearing a pleasant smile, my grip tightens on the staff of Lightning. These people, creatures, whatever they are. I can only assume that they, too, were led here by an astral being. They are not of my world, nor perhaps, of my universe. I briefly ponder if they know anything of my place of origin, my accent for example, or of Nazis and World Powers and Wars. I make small notes to myself of the advanced technology some of them sport, or the lack thereof. At any rate, once one is exposed to a zombie apocalypse, one tends to blur the line between the natural and supernatural. I am still unsure of exactly is supposed to be happening in these dense, obviously ancient woods, but time will tell.

Translations in Order of Appearance:
Wo bin Ich? = Where am I?
Mein = my
Was ist das wort? = What is the word?
Erinnerungen = Memories
Un = a/the (conjugation)
GruppeFicken = Cluster Fuck
Pistole = Pistol

[Yu Kanda]

[spoiler]A glass of red wine gets placed onto the wooden counter as Klaud turned her head towards the bearded man sitting on her left. Her one eye not covered by her blonde hair shot daggers towards the man. 'Look, I give you one last warning. You're drunk, leave now before you go too far and you regret it'

'Ah come on sugar, all I want is a little kiss from the pretty little lady' Her drunken don Juan laughably closed his eyes and with his lips puckered up went in for his prize. But Klaud didn't stand for it, she grabbed the greasy hair on the back of his head and bashed it on the counter without as much as moving from her seat. The body crumbled to the floor as a little speck of blood from his nose remained on the wood.

'Useless men' She sighed before she took another sip from her wine. Flavoring the liquid as it moved over her lips onto her tongue. It wasn't long before the seat on her left was filled again with another, this time younger, man hoping he would get lucky today. 'Don't even think about it boy' Without even looking, she warned him.

'But what about Lau Jimin ? You haven't found him yet have you ?'

The high nature of the voice surprised Klaud and turned her head. She looked passed the stupid grin on the young man's face and noticed a young girl in a white dress sitting on the counter swinging her legs back and forth. 'What do you know about Lau Jimin ?' Klaud asked while she was still a bit bedazzled by the moment.

The man looked behind him and back to his feminine prey, slightly confused. 'Excuse me? What are you talking about?'

Klaud didn't pay any attention to his words, her eye focused solely on the strange young girl that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
' I know you have been searching for him for weeks, perhaps even months now without luck. I also know you haven't had a single lead ever since you started your quest'

' How do you know all that ? Who are you, what do you want from me? '

Again the man looked behind him, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. 'You are one crazy woman you know that?' With those words the man took off, stepping over the snoring body of his predecessor. Klaud didn't give it any attention nor thought, she was still under the enchantment of the mysterious girl.

'What do I want from you ? Miss i am here to help you find your companion, you've been going at it all wrong. There is one way and only one way for you to find Lau Jimin, and that is finding Omni'

Klaud scuffed 'Finding Omni ? That is your suggestion ? If it was that easy any person within the Omniverse would have knocked on his door'

'I never said it was easy, it will be the most dangerous journey you have yet undertaken. So dangerous even that you cannot even accomplish it alone. There are other unique individuals like yourself that have their own reason to find Omni that will also undergo this journey.' The young white girl then jumped from the counter down to the floor and slowly started to walk towards the exit of the establishment. 'Together with these men, women, creatures you stand a chance to find Omni and with it the reunion that you crave so much. Only together are you able to fulfill this task'

' Where do I find these...people ? And why should I believe any word you say ?'

'They are gathering in another verse, the tangled green. There is a more detailed route on that piece of paper i left for you on the counter. But you better hurry up before they leave without you' Not only her voice but also her body faded away as she was walking towards the exit, completely vanishing into thin air leaving Klaud speechless for a moment. There was a piece of paper on the counter, Klaud was not losing her mind. Examining what was written on it she finished her glass and got up. Fixing her black with golden coat and strapping her whip to her belt, she headed out.

'I will find Omni, I will find you Lau Jimin.'[/spoiler]

The road to and through the tangled green has been rough, but she was nearing the location the mysterious girl has led her to. The closer she got, the more commotion she heard. Guess she was not the first to arrive. Perhaps the girl was telling the truth after all.

Klaud wasn't born yesterday and before doing anything she decided to observe for a moment. From a small distance she was watching the scene unfold, people and creatures arrive, heard questions asked and threats made. What a bunch of unorganized band of misfits. Would this really be her best chance of finding Omni ? If this was going to work these individuals will have to work together. Time to show them what a General of the black order is all about.

The blonde haired woman walked towards the group, not trying to hide her presence in the slightest. Before anything this little argument had to be settled. Her strong walk, military outfit and scar over her left eye would leave the right impression, as she approached the woman holding her weapon out.
'That's enough! ' She said with a loud and strict tone of voice. 'Aren't We are all here with a mutual goal? Do you honestly think shooting at anything that's different than yourself will solve anything ? In a place like this ?' Klaud slowly presses the barrel of the gun the woman was aiming at the creature towards the ground. 'I am General Klaud Nine of the black order, stuck in this godforsaken place and I have zero tolerance for crap like this. Now sit down, behave and wait until we know what it is we are doing here.'

Klaud glanced over the faces as she found herself a tree to sit against. Time to find out who here is an ally and who here will be a danger to her.

[Strazio Rockwell]

A collection of strangers, some human and others perhaps more or less, had through a twist of fate found their way to the Greens. It was a strange ragtag group of characters Isaac had become accustomed to strange beings in the Omniverse, but this truly was a melting pot. He watched from a distance as Christa stormed up to them and readied her pistol. It was the natural conclusion, it seemed, that she would find a threat in the gathering. Isaac moved slowly, the previous day’s excitement taking a toll on his aged body. Several others arrived as he sauntered up next to Christa and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Come, now we won’t find Omni like that...” he smiled at her and then turned his attention to the rest of the group. Despite the toll that aging had taken on his weathered face he was still able to form a warming heart-felt smile.

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Isaac and this here lovely lady is Christa. Nice to meet all of you.”

An ominous gust of wind whipped through the group and Isaac pulled his crimson cloak tight around his body. A chill crawled down Isaac’s spine and he shuddered in response. Around him the sounds of the forest formed a striking staccato, the call and echo of animals and insects created a truly profound experience. For as much as he loved the comforts of modern civilization, Isaac felt a certain undefinable yearning for a simple life in nature.

Isaac snapped to attention as the General took command of the situation. Her authority took him by surprise and his reaction was a relic of his long-gone past. A deep breath was had by the Bloodlance, glad that the situation was seemingly defused. He glanced at Christa and offered a weak smile before walking over to the general.

“So what brings a general to the front lines?” he quipped, hoping to lighten the situation.

[Zack Fair]

Abner tossed his used up cigarette to the side, watching the scene continue to unfold. It didn't look like it was going to go badly, with everyone yelling at this woman for drawing her gun presumably prematurely. Then again, he couldn't blame her. Everyone else was raising their voices at her for drawing her gun, but he couldn't help but notice that it was at a freaking zombie. If this were the Pale Moors, there would be little consideration about painting the side of these ruins with that thing's insides. Apparently the Tangled Green had a different culture.

Abner kept an eye on the zombie as he looked around at the other arrivals. Some looked like average people, and some looked a little different. Hell, there was even a flying horse up there. He watched how they interacted and talked for a moment, and made note that they were all here looking for Omni. So, maybe this wasn't a wild goose chase after all. It seemed a little more than coincidence that this many people would show up in the same place with the same objective, randomly. Something was at work, but before Abner could consider it any further, he suddenly felt a nudge at his side. Abner curiously turned his head, only to see one of the last things he ever expected to encounter out here.

That damn droid.

Not just any droid. That damn droid.

Abner watched silently as the battle droid dug through it's backpack, and when it announced that it had another 'disguise' Abner didn't immediately respond. Instead, he simply pulled out another cigarette and lit it, quickly taking in another puff. Yea, he was going to need these.

Any questions about what his superiors might think of him had been answered very quickly. Here he was on a mission to find Omni, and they'd just happened to send none other than defective old Bucky on the same assignment, and hadn't bothered to give him the heads up? Someone, somewhere, was laughing pretty hard right now. It sure wasn't Abner, though.

The battle droid was insistent, though. Where the hell did it even get these things? As it kept trying to give him a similar "disguise" Abner responded by simply holding out one hand and gesturing downwards, telling him to keep the "helmet" in the back.

"Save it. We might need it later," Abner responded, trying to appease the overeager droid. He had a more important question in mind, though. He had to confirm this one. "What do they have you all the way out here for?"

[Gamzee Makara]

Ah. A newcomer approaches. Late to the party though she is, it is clear that she has little tolerance for...

Well, anything.

I remain at my post leaning against the trunk of a rather large tree, unmoving. Yet, my eyes carefully analyze this woman who clearly wishes to stop the quarreling between our little gathering of the minds (Or lack thereof.). Her outfit and posture is obviously very militant, though not of any army or country I have ever seen. Special Forces perhaps? Unlikely. She walks with an air of importance - A commander of some sort. A leader. While I certainly see the need for a voice of reason amongst this calamity and rabble, I am not so sure I wish it to be this one. I keep my words and thoughts to myself for now. Such a sharp tongue, this one.

But what's this? Another particularly interesting individual appears from the shadows, so to speak. This one, this one is different. To be truthful, I am not so sure what I make of this one. Wise, to be sure, but not necessarily from age. Perhaps there is more than meets the eye, as it would appear he is well aware of who our young, trigger happy lass here is. Christa. Isaac. I believe they know more than perhaps they are letting on. He attempts to make light of this potentially dangerous predicament, it seems that he too reached the conclusion that this woman is a general of some sort. A wise specim-

Person. A wise person indeed. Perhaps I should vocalize my thoughts on this matter.

"You know exactly why this woman is here, Herr Isaac. In fact, I may go as far as to assume you know why we are all here."

I left much unspoken. It should be evident of what I am saying, what I am quite suspicious of without unnecessarily wasting my breath on pointless words. My eyes seek his. There is so much you can learn from a man's eyes, so much. But, you give as much as you take.

[Guilmon]

[spoiler]I've been traveling through the Tangled Green for awhile now. After Asuma's training, I was definitely ready to get out of that Ninja Village. It's name was fairly hard to say, but they all had managed it well enough... While I was fairly fast for a human to begin with, Asuma helped me a lot. Now if only I could find someone to help my Iaido...

"Hi there!" The sudden voice behind me made me jump and turn. As I landed, I felt the familiar grip of my Cyber-tana in my palm. Strangely, I couldn't see anyone. I know this forest is dense, but this was insane.

I decide to shout out. "Who's there?" A giggle to my right made me turn. Standing, actually, I should probably say floating in front of me was a partially transparent girl. She looked to be about my age, but in a place like this, there was no way to really tell. Hell, that big-boobed lady that led the Ninja Village was in her fifties at least, apparently. She barely looked like she was in her mid-twenties.

After a few seconds of me staring her down, she finally spoke. Her voice was high-pitched, like that of a child's, but it was kinda sweet at the same time. "Heeheehee! You like like you don't belong here." Her features were kinda faded, so I couldn't really get a good look at her, but she obviously meant no harm. I relaxed my grip on my Cyber-tana, but I left my hand there just in case I was wrong about her, too.

"What gave you that idea? The fact that I'm not a Prime? Or that I'm not Omni?" Oh, yeah. I'm not a Prime. That's why I needed training. If I'm to keep a Prime from killing me off - or another Secondary or other creature for that matter - I have to get stronger.

"That's a couple of the reasons. Another reason is that Omni's the only one that really belongs here. We're all just his play-things." I'm pretty sure the chick just read my thoughts. Her words were pretty much what I was thinking word for word. I don't know if we're all thinking that, or if she invaded my mind. Flattering that she wants to know what I'm thinking? Or creepy that she didn't even ask? Good thing I wasn't thinking anythi- Damn. Hope she didn't see that.

"Stay out of my head. I'd rather you not see what I've seen." Yeah. That probably sounded cool, right? Shit. Did that make my thoughts more intriguing to her? Another giggle made me question myself even more. Internally, I was freaking out. Hopefully it didn't show on my face.

"Heehee. Fine. But you have to help me with something." Shut up, brain! Now I was really freaking out. Hell, I'm only a teenager. You don't say that to teenage boys! "I want you to help me find Omni."

Wait, what? Oh, thank God. "Is that all? Why do you want to find Omni?" Wait, why did I ask that? Now that I think about it... Why wouldn't anyone want to find Omni? He's the fucking god here!

"Heehee. Silly, that's a secret. If I told you, you might not want to help us." "Us?" She just said "us," right? The hell?

"Okay, now I'm confused? 'Us?' How many of you are there?" The ghost girl grinned and started to float backwards. As she disappeared through a tree, I start to chase after her. "Hey, wait! How many are there?!"

I follow the sound of her occasional giggling and "Over here~" through the Tangled Greens. I'm not sure how long I followed her, but every time I thought I saw her, she faded away again. It was starting to get ridiculous.

Just when I was about to give up, I Burst through the brush and run into someone.[/spoiler]

As I sit on the ground, I looked at the guy I ran into. Shit. The man was significantly larger than I was. I'd guess at least six feet tall. His muscular arms were larger around than my thighs. His thighs were even more so. He had on a yellow safari-type shirt and his pants looked like they went to just below his knees. But the cloth that covered his boots and pant legs probably hid more of his pants. And he has a gun. By the looks of it, it was probably a shotgun. The huge man turns and looks down at me. Welp. Looks like I'm gonna get shot. "Uh... Oops? Sorry?"

"Lad, you should pay more attention to your surroundings. You're liable to get... shot at around here." As if to further his point, he pats the shotgun he was carrying. After a moment, he reaches his hand down. Reluctantly, I take it. The man picks me off the ground like I was a child, easily lifting my feet from the jungle floor a good foot. He sets me back on my feet and I stumble a bit. "Dear me. It seems I underestimated myself, or overestimated you. No matter."

I'm pretty sure I was offended by that. No, I was definitely offended by that. I grip my Cyber-tana. That was when I noticed the other people pointing guns at one another. Well... shit. The hell did I get myself into this time?

My words.
Ghost's words.
Clayton's words.

[Ruby Rose]

[spoiler]

Continued from From Dust

Grave strutted along the misty cobbles through the minuscule markets of Darkshire. He had often visited the accommodation segments (which he had found rather despicable, and that was saying something if you took a glance at his makeshift shelter), but never the markets. Apparently they were equally poor. His gunblades, now folded up at his sides, kept clunking with each step, but rhythmically, creating a beat - coupled with Alice's melodic humming - that the silver-haired Nephilim rather enjoyed.

He took a peek around at the variety of... 'stalls', for lack of a better word for wooden crates with crappy goods laid on them. And here he was thinking he'd enjoy a day out in the... well, not 'fresh' air, but it was a decent comparison. He lowered his nose to a bowl of strangely colored fruit (or were they vegetables?) and took a deep whiff. The reaction; his eyes quickly narrowed to dots and he recoiled at the atrocious scent they produced. Thankfully, the storekeeper was busy gathering something behind her. That 'something' Grave hoped was not more of those horrid 'food' products.

He spun one-eighty degrees to spot his Vampire companion musing over some old china sets. Seriously, how much of the real world had that girl seen? Grave strode up to her and gave her a light tap on the shoulder, at which she turned to face him. She seemed to wipe her eyes as if... she was clearing off tears? What had gotten her so emotional? He guessed only time would tell.

"Alright, next set," Grave told her, but she quickly poked him in the chest to stop him.

"You didn't even talk to anyone did you?" she accused the man in the white singlet. Grave gave her guilty wince; was she going to continuously drive the iron stake deeper in his half demon heart? Maybe a stake was irony when talking about a Vampire...

"Um... Well no, but I don't really like the look of-" Grave began to respond, but he quickly came to a halt as he noticed the substantial change in the girl's face. She looked absolutely stricken, as if she'd seen a ghost. Grave waved his hand in front of her face, not once, not twice, but thrice, and all she could say was...

"G-Grave..." well, maybe say was poor vocabulary to use. She was more stumbling over her own words. Grave turned his head, and truth be told, the poor girl had seen a ghost. There was a pale woman down an alleyway, very much carrying an ethereal aura and cyan tinge to her frosty image. No joke, she actually looked like there was frost flowing from the bottom of her dress. But... The beautiful - although haunting - image was incomplete, as the hazy female's pale face was hidden deep in her equally pale hands. Her head bobbed up and down as she supposedly cried.

Grave firmly grabbed Alice's wrist and dragged her along (on her feet, of course). As they drew closer, it grew further apparent that she was actually crying. Grave released his iron hold on the stick-like wrist and jogged up to the ghost-girl.

He extended his hand out to 'touch' her and spoke, "Excuse me miss... But are you okay?" he asked her, as if talking to a ghost was nothing out of the ordinary. To tell the truth, it really wasn't out of the ordinary in Darkshire. To Grave's surprise, the specter turned and phased through the large, iron door to her right, into a supposedly abandoned building.

"Grave, don't give... don't give ch-" Alice began to puff at the Nephilim's side, but he had already rushed off, kicking the door down like a SWAT member. His silver eyes scanned the area. Yep, of course. She had to pick a tavern, with upturned chairs and seats; a place she could easily find a hiding place.

Each careful step he took upset the white dust gathered on the fragile floorboards. Grave didn't want to find out what would happen if he placed his entire foot down. He proceeded to tiptoe through the tavern, the dim light from the doorway at his rear and deep shadows to his face.

He was quick to deploy his red, demonic looking gunblade from his right and aim it at the bar. If it was the ghost, it wouldn't hurt her. If it was some other creature, they'd receive a nice, hellish bullet to the skull... But all he saw was a watermelon-sized bat climb onto the counter. The man sighed as he flicked his weapon back into its folded form and clipped it back on his belt.

"And here I was thinking I'd be able to shoot something," he complained irritably. Alice gave an ostensibly displeased squeak in response. In the silence that followed, a soft sobbing could be heard from the stairs beside the bar. Grave took off, scattering the chairs on the tables, using the latter as stepping (or more so 'leaping' stones) to swiftly make his way to the stairs.

His sight caught a drifting, white essence pass around the corner at the top, and the Nephilim followed, hearing a heavy flapping behind as he went. He turned the corner and skidded across the obviously stronger floorboards to see the ghost girl, still sobbing. He reached out to her, but he stood dumbstruck when she started laughing into her hands. Grave's face fell into a grimace while his hand was still outstretched.

What was said by the girl could barely be heard, "Everyone falls for the same fucking trick. Why are people sooooo stupid here?" she mused as she removed her hands. She met Grave, now with the Vampire girl at his side, with a mischievous grin.

"Okay, joke's over, why did you lead us here?" Grave asked, shaking lightly, after he cleared his throat in displeasure. The wraith gave a very high pitched cackle, reminiscent of a witch.

"Why, Grave, has your Vampire companion not told you about the Void quest?" she asked with a very matter-of-fact tone. Another girl who seemed to know his name, but this one he wouldn't question; dealing with Alice's response was hard enough.

"For your information, she has," the Nephilim replied, "But she told me the party may be gathering next week," he aimed his comment at his companion, who casually twirled her blond locks. The ghost gave a sigh as she began to inform him.

"For your information," she parroted, "They're gathering today, so I suggest that you haul ass to the nearest Greens gate," she told the silvery man, who was staring in disbelief. The silence was filled with Alice's high voice.

"S-sorry... I was poorly misinformed," she apologized, but Grave only shrugged, aiming his next question at the girl.

"Where might the nearest Greens gate be?" he questioned, and was soon met by another bout of cackling. What was his problem with attracting such strange females?

"Sounds like you haven't been outside of the Moors very much," the specter teased, "Why, the gate's only two anticlockwise from ours, of course! I do hope you don't need a compass to find it," she finished before fading away... just like that. No phasing through another wall, no falling through the floor... she just vanished. Grave facepalmed as he made his way down the stairs.

-----

The bright white of the Nexus was something Grave hadn't seen in... he had no idea how long. Hard to tell under the swirling clouds of Darkshire. When he scanned the area to his right - anticlockwise as the ghost had told him - he set his gaze upon an archway made of bark and other plant matter... at least that's what he thought. But standing in front of it was - yep, you guessed it, the ghost girl. She was waving at the duo in a silly way. Again, Grave took off, leaving poor Alice behind.

"Seriously, Grave, stop leaving me..." she asked to the air, before muttering under her breath, "Like you always used to..."

She continued to walk, head hung low, thoughts swimming like fish in a pond, until she bumped into Grave's hard back. She was about to curse at him, before she realized he was growling at the ghost.

"Seriously, what is your problem?!" he shouted, and the ethereal female recoiled in fear - genuine fear. Grave continued his tirade, "Stop it with the 'cute and vulnerable' shit! You might think it's funny, but it just pisses me off! Keep it up and I'll shoot your see-through-" he was about to say the 'A' word, but he was stopped by a soft, shaking hand on his elbow. He looked down, fire in his eyes (like, actual fire; half demon, after all), and saw Alice, cowering away.

Realizing he'd snapped at someone else, the flames in his silver eyes slowly died and he looked to the ghost, blushing heavily.

"I-I'm sorry... That was poor form of me," he apologized hurriedly. The ghost turned away and pushed a lock of transparent hair away before she phased through the strange gate. Grave's head still hung low in shame, until he felt a thin hand collide with his right cheek in a powerful, open-handed slap. He rubbed his sore cheek as he looked forward again to see Alice's not-yet-familiar frown in front of him.

His mouth began to open to speak, but the Vampire had already spun and tramped off, following the ghost. Grave wiped a tear from his eye, proceeding to follow the two females.[/spoiler]

Damn, this place is frigging hot, were the first thoughts that barreled through Grave's head when he arrived in the lush green foliage of the Tangled Greens. He'd never been anywhere so humid... nor filled with so much noise. There was a cacophony of buzzing and growling emitted from bugs and animals respectively. Said bugs and animals were hidden from the Nephilim's sight though. He whipped out both his gunblades, red in right and white in left, and stalked his way through the jungle, following the telltale Vampire scratch marks on the trees.

Alice seemed to be very displeased with Grave's antics, and that he regretted. How he wished he wasn't Nephilim and was only an angel; it was almost like being bipolar. At least that's what he thought. His demonic side grasped him more often than he'd like, and that was probably the reason why he couldn't get a damn girlfriend.

Without warning, he heard a large squeak from a nearby tree and swung his angelic gunblade around to face the source... and it was only Alice in bat form again. The giant animal swept from the tree and landed on Grave's back, careful with her claws. She seemed exhausted, and Grave could guess why.

"Right... Vampire and sunlight don't go well together, do they?" he realized, and the large animal nodded her small head. Solution; Grave lopped a giant leaf off of one of the less common trees around and tucked the stem in the back of his singlet, the main part of the leaf laying over Alice's furry body. Grave continued on, and saw the ghost, looking rather somber, between two trees. He approached her with care, making his steps heard, but not so much they sounded hostile. The girl turned to face the Nephilim, and she began to shimmer.

"You're on your own from here," she told him, as she began to shimmer further, distorting like an image of static, "Take care, José" she reassured him, and the man went to grab her as he heard the name she used for him.

"Who are you calling José?! Who is that? Tell m-" he went to interrogate, but quickly came to a stop as she dissipated into thin air, remembering he'd already upset her. He was about to walk back through the path he just came from, but...

The scene ahead was something he never saw every day. A woman pointing a revolver at what seems to be a zombie, a few soldiers around and... wait, is that a frigging pegasus?! Grave was gobsmacked, but soon gathered his image together and stepped forward coolly, holstering his gunblades.

"Oh, am I late to the party?" he called out over the quiet pandemonium made my the rather diverse group of people in the area, his British accent becoming much more prominent with his confidence.

[Okor]

Soft black earth slipped through Beor's fingers as he snuffled at the spoor cupped in his hand, his enlarged nostrils flaring as the medley of scents infiltrated the fleshy passages of his snout. Still fresh. Perhaps an hour- no, thirty minutes. He dropped the material to the forest floor, the filth falling amongst the rotting leaves. He unslung his well-worn pig iron, his trusty companion in these strange, dark forests. He had been hunting his prey for a week now. The local village had offered no small amount of supplies and gold as a reward for the beast's head. His hooves made impressions in the soft dirt as he stalked forward, his brown, spiky fur bristling as he heard the tell-tale wet smacking that indicated the rending and tearing of flesh. He pressed himself up against a wet trunk, his tusked snout peering around the massive tree, piggish eyes glaring at the monster in the clearing.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Green lichen covered its back, moss coating its hide. It was difficult to tell where terrifyingly powerful flesh began, and vegetation ended. It tore glistening red flesh from the broken body of a pale white deer, shoving the meat into its crooked maw, masticating the bloody mess into a pulp. It was hard not to imagine his own handsome body being trapped within that deathtrap. Think. Think. Think! The residents of the village had already told him of its regenerative properties. Any wounds he dealt to it would shortly be healed. Any bullets he wasted would just serve to piss it off. He flattened himself against the damp bark once more. He'd need a battery of razorbacks to deal with that damnable creature. His tusked face broke into a grin. Or the best damn brain in all the Thornwood. Drawing his knife, he began looking for usable materials.

He looked over his work. It was hardly his best, admittedly, but it would do. It had taken him 20 minutes of frantic carving to get the stakes ready, and another 10 to set them in place. Hopefully, if the monster was anything like he hoped, it would be overcome by torpor after a meal. If not, well, he'd just wasted half an hour for nothing. He frowned at the thought, and began his way back to the clearing, hoping against hope that he'd find a snoring, blood-covered monster. He took a split second to debate whether his life was ideal or warped beyond all recognition of sanity, but decided to leave such metaphysical debates to those not cursed with sobriety. He stamped into the clearing, hooves digging deep into the earth. To his relief, the troll slumbered on the ground, the bare, broken bones of its prey scattered around the clearing.

Let's get a little bit risky. Snorting, Beor charged towards the troll, his hoof crashing into its skull, concealed by lank green hair. "Souie!" He cried, his blow glancing off its head. It began to rise, its massive green hands reaching out for the annoyance it was plagued with. Beor was already running, screaming taunts and insults at the monster, declaring it to be of poor heritage, abysmal intellect, and of worse hygiene. Granted, the troll understood none of it, but it is the thought that counts. The troll rushed forward in a blind rage, roaring as its gigantic claws clutched at the air, a hair's breadth behind the walking source of bacon. Beorn leaped over the thick vine tripwire, racing through the semi-random pattern of wooden death he had arrayed.

The Troll, on the other hand, had no knowledge of the trap, its tiny eyes entirely focused on the delicious being very much intent on not being its snack. Its ankles hit the knotted mass of vines strung between the trees, the makeshift rope barely able to resist its momentum, as it fell upon the stakes. The wooden points dug deep into its flesh, impaling it throughout a variety of points. Of course, with its titanic strength, it began to tear itself free, its green flesh already knotting itself back together. Beorn didn't give it the chance. He squealed and fell upon it with his knife, hacking and carving at its neck, the saw-bladed knife digging deep into its throat as it unleashed howls of pain and rage. With one last frenzied motion, his blade sunk into its spine, ending its struggles. Panting, he began to wipe the blood from his fur. Motion. He snapped his head up, looking back towards the clearing. A transparent young human drifted through the now-empty meadow, singing a sonorous, undecipherable melody. Dammit all. He quickly carved a pair of tusks onto the head of his deceased foe, ensuring that no other hunter would attempt to take the credit for his hard work. It seemed that Dhunia had chosen to send a little bit of adventure his way.

He shouldered his pig iron and began to follow the glimpses of the ghost, taking fateful steps towards his destiny.

[Roger Smith]

[spoiler]Another day, another bunch of morons trying to act tougher than they were scared off...and another round of gratitude that he really didn't deserve but most certainly wasn't going to turn down. Preying on the stupidity of men who barely knew which end of the axe had the blade on it wasn't anything to thank him for. He'd done it because it was...well...because it was fun.

And now here he was...back inside, in the pleasant shade, relaxing with a cold drink, having accomplished nothing toward his goal of getting back to his proper business.

It was..in a word...depressing.

Hell, everything around this blasted 'Omniverse' was boring... there was just something about it that didn't sit right with him. Something that left him less than satisfied and impressed with the entire thing. He had told himself he'd rest for a bit before he headed off back to the Deep, to see about teaching his crew a lesson and get back to his seafaring, but the truth of it was...he wasn't in any hurry to go back to that sorry bunch. He wasn't in any hurry to go back at all.

He was just mulling over the prospect of finding someplace to settle down...or maybe finding the Prime who'd summoned him to see about getting sent back, if that was even possible, when something altogether unexpected happened.

"You don't look like you're having a good time, Captain."

The sudden voice, speaking up from straight across the table, startled Crow out of his musings with the suddenness of a window shattering after a pleasant meeting with a flying stone. He straightened up in his seat, tilting his head back to get a better angle as he peered out from under his pointy-brimmed hat. And for a moment he thought he'd finally cracked, what with being able to just about see through the girl occupying the spot across his table. He rubbed his eyes with one gloved hand, making sure he wasn't just seeing things from too long out in the sun or too much drink.....or both.

"....well, me ghostly little lass...I'd be a liar if I said ye were mistaken in yer assumptions."

"Nothing around here really has that special kind of allure and adventure you're used to from your home."

Though he did his best to hide it, a chill ran down Crow's spine. He'd been having such thoughts himself for a while now, mulling over what he might do to find some trace of that old spark...but he'd never mentioned a breath of it to anyone else. So having someone else toss his own thoughts right back in his face was...unnerving, at the very least.

Leaning forward, Crow rested both arms on the table, heaving a deep sigh. "Mighty perceptive, aren't yeh..." he grumbled. "...but again, ye speak true words. Don't have a clue why it is, but this place...just don't sit right with me sense o' pride and adventure..." He rubbed at his face with both hands, looking particularly disgruntled. "All these strange new places and things, don't any of it make much sense. Things I took fer granted back home'd sure be nice to see again. Stories me mates used to tell, them ridiculous old tales we'd share and swap and make up on the fly..."

"You miss the companionship of a great adventure, not just the adventure itself."

There was a cold gleam in his eye as Crow lifted his gaze back up to the ghostly little girl across from him. "....well, I won't lie, half the fun of goin' out to see what was what and findin' out new things was the joy o' doin' it alongside me pals and crew...but what's that got to do with anything?"

"If I told you...there was an adventure just waiting for you that would probably be the biggest accomplishment anyone in the Omniverse could aspire to, especially someone with only one life to risk on it..."

Crow's expression wrinkled into one of sudden interest, one eyebrow arching up in a gesture to continue.

"...what would you say to that, captain? To one last big quest, the biggest one here in the Omniverse?"

With a shake of his head and a broad grin on his face, Crow took up the tankard on the table, and down the remaining contents in one long draught, slamming it back down on the table with a resounding thwack. "I'd say tell me where to be headin', lass. Cap'n Crow's not one to turn down earning a story like that to pass down."[/spoiler]

The trek through the Green had been a rough one. Crow was a hardy sort, there was no denying it, but he was used to the open sea and freer air...not this hot, humid mess he'd been sitting around in for what felt like hours now. He hadn't been quite the first to get here...but there sure looked to be more people showing up after him than there had been before him.

From his perch seated as comfortably as he could be on the gnarled roots of a tree on the clearing's edge, the keen-eyed captain had kept an eye on the proceedings, the arrivals and their reactions to the others. It was nothing he hadn't seen before...but the agressive tone of some of the lot could have been done without.

More and more folk showed up, and finally someone with some sense showed up, the lady general trying to defuse the hostility of the situation as best she could. For his part, Crow could only laugh, a noise in stark contrast to the rest of the situation. "If we're all goin' to start pointing weapons and accusations at each other, at least have the courtesy to let everyone know who's who. Always nice to know who's blood yeh might be spillin', or who might end up spillin' yours, eh?"

Shaking his head, he cast a keen eye about the scene. "....or on a more serious tone we could drop all o' that and try to remain civil, maybe." A weather eye toward the sky brought him clear sight of not only the clouds...but the one hovering just a touch too close to the ground. And the occupant of it. This place never ceased to amuse him.

"....the name's Crow. Captain Crow. Or Ol' Hell-Wings if yeh want to err for the dramatic." He turned back to stare at the clearing at large, and the many people gathered therein. "To ask a crazy question, anyone else happen to talk to a lovely little ghost before comin' here; somethin' about huntin' down our glorious god and creator o' this wonderful place, Omni?" He scratched at the sparse growth of gray hair on his chin. "Or am I just finally fallen completely outta me rocker?"

[Gildarts]

Christa's eyes flashed to those who had approached her. Apparently, they hadn't taken a liking to her very open hostility towards something she quite frankly considered to be a monster. She didn't know what worlds they were from, but where she grew up, zombies were seen as horror movie characters of fiction. The gun lingered on its target and after some thorough contemplation, Isaac's words finally took effect. It wasn't completely uncharacteristic of her to be trigger-happy, that much he knew, and had they witnessed the hellfire she unleashed on the Town With No Name's human inhabitants without a second thought, they would realize the behavior was second nature to her.

What a fine place the Omniverse was. Her head clocked to the side, eyes still viciously narrowed at the monster as she observed the traces of blood still dribbling from his teeth. A smirk. These imbeciles. Telling me to let down my guard. But, if that's how they want to play it.

"A monster that could kill me in an instant, but apparently it's my mistake. I should offer my name before I kill a man, it's only polite." She steamed her anger in the hard consonants of her words as she glanced back at the general guessing she would have some rivaled issue with her, but that would be later. Her voice announced to anyone who was listening.

"It's Christa."

"Isaac, you know why I'm here. And I can't exactly find Omni if I'm dead, now can I? We've gotten this far." She pointed out, her eyes blazed as they tore away from her undead friend and fell on the man who had called her pistol a toy. Didn't he know? Telling him would mean weakness, so instead, quite tempted to aim it at him, she refrained. Fire crept into her bones and set she stared at the man with death in her eyes. Never since what happened had she fallen so strongly into hate, the woman promised herself she would pay the bastard back later. This gave her the strength to fight her instincts that craved to give them all a piece of her mind, while her arm lowered the pistol's snout halfway.

If a fight broke out between them, she knew she hadn't gained many fans. And while her strategy of "Christa verses World" wasn't a complete failure, it certainly wasn't a winning one. Which is what had convinced her to team up with Isaac. It had payed off. But that didn't mean this group of people would be anything other than a burden to her mission.

Another spoke up, this time mentioning she knew something. However, prickles coated Christa's neck as she sensed a danger. Undeniably, her own curiosity, piqued at the familiar mention of Isaac's name. Suspicion cut in her thoughts, a glance to Isaac that spoke, You know this girl? while her eyes announced accusation of something that could have ended this mission right then and there: Betrayal.


More eyes emerged from the shadows. Some spoke, loudly. Causing the veteran's own distress to grow. A Captain Crow had introduced himself, while Christa simply tried to deduce what everyone here was all about. Who were these people? Didn't they know it wasn't safe here?

"Let us all keep our voices very low. I'm not the only predator in this jungle, and we are in a pretty open clearing." Her voice was hushed and she sighed while fishing out a silencer to twist on her gun, even if it meant sacrificing some of the bullet's efficiency, a bullet was still a bullet, and boy it would sting like hell.

Christa didn't look like she was going to just 'give up' on the whole aggression thing and to the onlookers it may even appear like she was preparing for an attack. Perhaps the blonde haired, pistol-holding woman felt threatened by the bunch of people. Or maybe this was how her survival instinct told her how to deal with the situation that held too many unknown variables.

The veteran had come to the Tangled Green to find Omni and wasn't expecting to find others seemingly with the same interest all gathered up in the one place of her most important lead. Turning toward Isaac, she closed the space between them and muttered something in his ear before her chin dipped back out and she decided she would reveal something about herself to the group. A good strategy perhaps if she was to gain their trust, however her own incentive seemed keen on uniting the group. And yes, that meant working with the zombie over there too.

"Tennant went missing three weeks ago. His family, Empire related, oddly enough sent me some 'fan' mail, mentioning that if I can track him down, they'll be able to do me a favor. Well, as eager as I was to cash in, it could've just as well been a trap. Then I looked up on it. Someone was either damn good, or there was some truth to the story. But that isn't what caught my interest. Nor made me walk into what is quite evidently a trap. Next thing I know, I find myself here, surrounded by you all, after a slight detour," She eyed Isaac, implying their meeting, "The doctor left only a few clues for me to follow. One, I hold in my hand." The woman raised it slightly, but in her other hand, did not completely lower the gun she clutched onto in the face of danger, "It's a note from the missing doctor, written on a napkin. And do you know what it says?"

A pause.

"Apparently we have the same taste in men, because it says he went to find Omni. This fellow literally abandoned his family. What an asshole." It seemed trigger girl had some morals after all, even if they seemed particularly borderline contrary to her still half-raised Beretta. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to find this bastard, give him hell, then return him to his family. That is, after I meet Omni face to face. I only have one concern.." She decided to voice before her eyes sharply turned from the group after hearing a thrashing rustle in the vined bushes. The woman's body tensed as she crouched into a battle-savvy stance, offering to her onlookers that she was well versed in combat. Meanwhile others might call the same quality in this dangerous place "Useful."

[Jack Frost]

Tooth had never seen this much pandemonium in all of her hundred years. This was a complete madhouse. People everywhere were pointing guns at one another regardless of the issue at hand. There were a few creatures and anomilies who weren't partaking in the soon to be violence though, One in particular caught the fairy's attention most as a matter of fact it was the man who had most recently spoken. He referred to himself as a 'Captain', If this man was truely what he claimed he sure had the attire for it.

This 'Captain Crow' to be exact, Wore a long, somewhat extravagant, red and black, buttoned cloak, accompinied by a red, one-shoulder cape, despite the humidity of the forest setting. He wore, what seemed to be knee high boots and from what Tooth could tell, these boots looked like they had never once given this captain a problem with crushed toes. Along with the steel toed boots the man had a large brimmed hat that was cocked, covering a slim portion of his right face, white gloves and a blood stained saber. Along with his fashionable attire the man managed to hold a humorus grin.

Tooth swore to herself never to associate with people unknown to her, but this man...She felt an attraction to him. Almost like Jack had sustained to her. As she stared at him she felt a likewise look from another creature. Tooth looked around to meet a stare from a somewhat shorter man than Crow. The man possesed hair as black as night and a gun unknown to Tooth, as she never had an intrest in loud things of the caliber. Tooth beckoned the man with a curious stare as she herself fluttered over to the fancy captain.

Tooth turned her gaze from the gun-holder to the captain as she lowered herself eye level to the sitting man. It was then when the Pirate took notice of her. "Now what would this little critta' be coming to meh fer?" The pirate questioned, I am Tooth. A fairy as you might guess. It just seemed that you...You were quite...You had a tone of Adventure. I know I shouldn't be straying from what i came here for but i was thinking you could help me...But if you aren't interested i understand... Tooth ended her transferred thought with a saddened look to the ground. The man looked suprised as he heard the fairy's voice coming not from her mouth but from what seemed to be his mind!

He used one finger to lift the young fairy's petite face as he stared into her eyes, "Yeh are very curious Fairy." The man cast an interested look in the eyes of Tooth, "Tell meh what yeh have in mind."

The Fairy produced a large smaile and fluttered into the palm of this man's hand as she told him how she came to be here in this 'Omniverse'