Zone A -- Lowlands

[Karl Jak]

"So he hasn't done anything?  Just been standing there?"

A nervous voice replied back after a short pause.  "Yea, Mr. Jak.  He's just been standing around in that area since he was dropped."

"Did you beep him on the tablet?  I mean, he knows the rules, right?"

"Y-yeah," the worker shot back.

"Welp, come here and press the button.  I don't like doing it during these situations... it makes me feel icky."

"No problem, Mr. Jak."

***

Harry Potter had been sitting on the hillside looking at the stars when he heard the collar start to beep.  He tried to crane his neck to get a better look, but as he brought a hand up to it, the device exploded, painting the slope with blood and bits of charred hair, flesh, and brain.

[spoiler]
#13 Harry Potter DEAD

Harry Potter will revive at the Nexus in 7 OOC days
[/spoiler]

[Karl Jak]

End Day 1

Begin Day 2 – Early Morning

[Harlan Higgs]

The God and the Pretender entered the safehouse, a rustic building made of stout timbers and wooden beams, something sturdy and log like an old stable with the stalls removed. While Enel had no trouble entering and casting his imperious gaze at the other Primes already crowding it, he failed to notice his partner standing at the door, frozen with a blank look on his face. The god went to a comfortable looking corner and sat down on a cushion, leaning against the wall cross legged with his staff under the crook of his arm, ready to be used at a moment's notice while he rested his divine frame. Hendy barely noticed, since he was in the process of noticing something much more interesting. To him, at least.

Blood.

Fresh Blood.

The girl, the clown he'd seen before, a child wrapped in golden robes, and an old man looking near death. They reeked of it, were covered in it, every one of them marred by vicious combat. The room was rank with the smell of drying life and open wounds.

Without thinking, Hendy ran his tongue over his fangs and sized up the occupants, the curling claw of his Beast settling over his thoughts like a lizard on a rock. The old man looked comatose, he would be easiest. The clown was adolescent and bore a vapid look, but he didn't look human, and his blood was purple. Eurgh. Who knew what that would do to his constitution. The child was likewise, out. Hendy didn't like feeding on children. Reminded him too much of the robber barons and slumlords that had owned his childhood homes. Which left-

The girl. Mmmmmm.....

Blonde. He had a soft spot for blondes, and he could see the hate and vitriol in her eyes, the violence hiding behind her irises. Contrary to widely accepted Kindred ideology, emotions -did- lend certain...flavors...to hot pumping life. Depression and sadness was thick and rich, rife with complexity and aged misery. But anger and violence like the girl's, ooh, that was almost erotically painful, spicy and boiling and piquant, like a fiery curry or southern gumbo. He took a half step towards her, readying his legs to coil and spring upon her before she could react, sink his fangs into her throat and rip the skin open, lay bare her neck and sup his-

NO.

No.

He shook his head, clearing the red fog from his vision. Shit, he'd almost lost it. The cougar blood had sated his urges for the moment, but it was empty and unfilling. No, to wander into a blood feast such as this would be like a recovering alcoholic walking into a free wine tasting. Who could blame the Ravnos?

He averted his gaze from the other occupants and settled in near Enel, leaning against the wall and glaring sullenly at the floor, fingers in his pockets playing with the necklace again. The golden clad child looked towards him and made a token effort to address the pair. "Hello. I am Chak-"

Hendy twisted his head up and fixed him with a piercing stare, the whites of his eyes going a pearlescent black while his irises unfolded into a purple miasma of infinitely splitting fractal shapes, cubic formations of spiky, piercing vistas and foreign dreamscapes swirling in his orbs, a hellish sight that Chakravartion couldn't tear his gaze away from, feeling the pattern repeating itself in his head, driving him to near madness-

Then Hendy blinked, and his eyes were a normal, plain grey. Perhaps....perhaps it was a hallucination brought on by his extended effort in the Colosseum. Yes, that was it.

It had to be.

[Larfleeze]

That was truly strange. But then again, mortal bodies were so frail, and he had never, not in his millions of years of consciousness, been this exhausted. Perhaps his missing eye was sending ghost images? He had never lost an eye before, after all.

In the end, he put the disturbing... hallucination... from his mind.

"My apologies," Chakravartin murmured, blinking his remaining eye several times, "My name is Chakravartin Wu Kong." as he looked closer at the giant of a man his eyebrows rose slightly, recognizing him from his brief stint on the Syntech device before he had been whisked away to the Colosseum, "I think I've seen you on Omnitwitter..." the pretend handyman frowned, disappointed the kid hadn't backed off yet. The ol' glare full of eldritch horror tended to dissuade most people. Kids especially.

As he got a better look at the child though, all the appetite he had built up upon entering slowly declined. Even despite his scruples of not feeding off children, as he got a better look, the blood coming from the child's various wounds definitely wasn't red. Or even completely liquid. It was almost as if golden pudding was slowly dripping from his body. Utterly unappetizing.

Enel looked over with interest, rather than mild offense, for the first time, "Are you one of my followers?" he asked, just a little hopeful.

"No."

The pretend god scowled, "And why not?"

"Why should I give any loyalty to you?"

"I am the one true god!" Enel said, "All loyalty is mine by right, and anyone who doesn't see that is a heretic."

"You're a god too?" Chakravartin asked,

"What." Enel said, narrowing his eyes.

[Odin]

Safehouse A was full of contestants, and it seemed unlikely that anyone would want to team-up with the cripple. He couldn’t blame therm. He would slow them down and be of limited use in a fight. So that meant his only chance was to find something to heal his leg or something he could trade for healing. The good news was that the Fates seemed to be smiling at him. For some unknown reason, no one had gone after the drop in subzone A1. It would only be so long before someone else realized the oversight, so he had to move fast.
 
Odin wrapped some leather around the bottom of his spear’s shaft so it wouldn’t click against the ground when he walked. Then he made sure his brace was secure, and he had all the supplies he could take from the safehouse. Finally, when everyone else was busy with their own drama, the old god snuck out into the dark of the night.
 
Odin shuffled away from the lit-up building as quickly as he could. If one of them saw him leaving, they might take the opportunity to put him out of his misery. With each step, his hopes rose higher and higher. Maybe the Fates were giving him an opportunity to prove himself. To prove that no matter the odds, he would trek on.
 
Or maybe he was just lucky. Maybe everyone just assumed someone else had already picked it up. Because he lost his tablet, Odin had to rely on blogs and fan sites to get his information. Maybe the other contestants didn’t check them. Maybe they just relied on the app that only said when and where the drops were and not if they were picked up.
 
Or maybe someone was waiting for some dumb, injured contestant to go for it. Then they would swoop in for a kill and the item. There was only one way to find out.

SHA -> A3

[Enel]

I’m trying to sleep, and some jank-handed motherfucker is asking me questions. Great. Just great.

“I’m a God too!” he said. “We should ally.”

I’m way too God-damn tired for this. “Look, kid,” I say, eyeing his roughed-up appearance and crab-claw hand. “You look like you’ve had a rough day. Don’t go making it any rougher on yourself. I’m here to get some shut-eye and move on.”

He spreads his palms. “Very well.”

Tch. Omni, Nealapph, this guy … does every motherfucker in the Omniverse claim to be a God of some sort?

As he turns to go, I rear myself up. Maybe sleep deprivation is making me reckless and angry, but the fact that he so casually claimed to be a God in my presence has pissed me off bigtime. As though I would accept him as my equal. As though I would accept anyone as my equal.

“You’re lucky we’re on neutral ground,” I say. “Any other place, any other time, you’d be dead for speaking those words in front of me.”

He says nothing. Heh. I should think so. It offends me on some deep level that I’ve been reduced to this. When everyone’s put on the same level, it’s no surprise that pretenders crop up left and right. Who’s to tell the difference between a fake and a genuine article?

Hell, maybe they think I’m a pretender God. Like that git Shay. Or that Gerudo woman I had as my slave for a while. She certainly changed her tune after a few days.

I take a look around the room, now thoroughly too angry to sleep.

Damn. One of them slipped out?

Must be making his way to that last drop. Tch … I rested too long.

I stride to the door, roughly grabbing Hendy by the shoulder. “What’s wrong, you in a trance?”

He looks to me, and for a second, I almost see … defiance. But it’s probably just my imagination.

“One of them slipped out. We need to get that last drop, now.”

Hendy grunts in affirmation.

I turn and scan the room. More ordinary-looking individuals. I’ll deal with them in time. For now, it’s double-time.

Moving from SHA to A3.

[Odin]

Odin’s feet sunk into the soft earth, and it made his leg hurt so much worse. Each time he pulled it up out of the sucking mud, he groaned. It was only a few more feet until he reached a little hill that should be dry. When he finally climbed to the top, he collapsed down and took a break. It had been hours since he left the safehouse, and he had seen no signs of anyone. He scanned the swamp, looking for trouble that might be headed his way.
 
From what he could tell, the area probably flooded during high tide. If he got caught in the water, it would mean agony and possibly infection. Of course, if you could create a raft, things would be a lot easier. There were patches of trees, but he didn’t have an axe. No, he didn’t realistically have time for that. He had to make it to his destination, find the drop, and get out before high tide came in.
 
Odin pushed himself to his feet with his spear and began to hobble on. He tried to stick to the higher, drier areas, but there were only so many options. The splint he got from the safehouses was holding up a lot better than his makeshift one, at least. He wasn’t chaffing, nothing was digging into his leg, and it helped prevent his foot from getting sucked too far down into the mud. Thank the Fates for small miracles.
 
When he was finally forced to descend into the next low area. It felt wetter than before. He just grit his teeth and trundled forward as fast as he could. He didn’t really have the option to bail out now. He had to get that drop and make something of it or just give up. There wasn’t going to be another chance like this.

A3 -> A2

[Enel]

I stalk through the hills, trying my best to sense the one who got away. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. Shouldn’t have placed my trust in another. Once again, I got arrogant … and I’m paying for it.

Well, this’ll be the last time.

I brace my legs and jump forward into the air.

There. In the distance, far beyond the range of my senses, I can see something. Just for a second, in the darkness – a figure. He’s moving towards the edge of the island, just like we are.

Gah! But if only I had my flight! I’d be over these hills and at his back in a moment’s notice! More importantly, just who is this impudent player who thought they could outdo me and get away with it? I want to know. I want to see their face.

Hendy trails behind. Do I leave him, or do I press on? I hesitate, at the crest of a small hillock, looking back to Hendy’s shuffling form and then forward, to the darkness, where my opponent awaits. I’d rather not dirty my hands unless absolutely necessary.

Perhaps I can move on ahead and intercept? That’s right. When push comes to shove, nobody can outrun me. I am lightning, after all.

“Hendy!” I roar back. “DOUBLE-TIME you oaf!”

I’m beginning to think I need faster allies.

I tap my foot until he’s caught up. We’ve lost several minutes, but I need to brief him on the plan.

“I’m going ahead. I’ll keep him busy. While I do, you come up behind and finish him. Understood?”

“Got it,” Hendy pants.

I don’t wait for further affirmation. Sparks literally fly from my bare feet as I cross the dusty ground.

At long last, I’m going to have the chance to kill someone. I’ve been waiting for this.

Enel and Hendy are moving from A3 to A2.

[Enel]

Finally he’s within the range of my senses. I speed ahead, and the adrenaline cuts through my sleep-deprived brain like a knife, alighting all my senses. Even my persistent headache, worsening since the start of the competition due to senses I’m not yet used to, fades beneath a cloud of satisfying bloodlust.

All the waiting. All the wandering. Finally we get down to what it’s all about.

Power versus power.

He’s stopped ahead of me, prepared for the worst. And then I notice he’s injured. He’s nothing but an old man! Limp and prepared to die.

“Well, well, well!” I grin, spinning my staff. “I wasn’t expecting Father Christmas! Is it my turn for a gift?”

I stop the staff, and my next words come out far lower than I intend. The sleep deprivation twists my growl into something I don’t recognise. But something … something I like. Something new.

“Or is it yours?”

Enel and Hendy are challenging Odin to a fight.

[Katrielle Layton]

Augh, it was like  his torso was on fire! Bendy cringed and toppled back as the samurai made contact, the blade effortlessly plowing through his liquid body and launching him into the now-useless puddle of ink. In the hazy recesses of his mind, the thought that he should reabsorb the puddle became forefront, bashing away any other ideas-- including the ones that urged for him to lose consiousness. His tail flicked back and forth, diving into the abyssal pool. Within a second, the ink rushed back into his body, working to fill in where he was thinning.

Revitalized, he melted into a puddle himself. Claws harmlessly slashed at the air above him as he slithered away. The manbeast gave chase, but claws were neither as long or as sharp as a sword and thus would not prove as effective against the imp's black, malleable body. Realizing that his natural weapons wouldn't work like that, Dust spun around, focusing on assaulting Abyss alongside his demon friend. And judging by the massive wounds she had accrued, the Egg Boss would be calimari if he didn't do anything about it.

Heck, even if he did do something, she'd still probably die.

...So why was he still risking himself for her?

Not even the cartoon himself knew the answer; he didn't have the time to think about it. But if he had the time, then he would've realized that the Mobian was filling the void that was left behind by Boris the Wolf. She was reminding him of older days, back when things weren't so down-to-earth. Even more so, the demon thought of her as a friend.

And because of that, Bendy was about to something that he would've normally found to be stupid. Maybe he would deem it as such when he looked back on that decision later. He pulled himself together, planting his feet into the ground to make sure that he would remain in the same spot during his move. Once he was assured of his solid footing, he pulled back both arms and launched them, his limbs black missiles aiming for the barechested fighter.

To the typical viewer, most would assume that he was simply looking to pummel the man with both fists. But that was not the case. The devil recalled the actions he took within the dojo, specifically the one where he slammed two hanging sandbags against each other. He'd do the same here, only this time, Dust and Shinmen would play the role of the sandbags.

Elastic limbs coiled around his quarry's torso, immediately pulling back before the bestial warrior could react. Bendy, instead of allowing his prey to be pulled all the way back toward him, chose to tug sideways, sending him spinning clockwise in a centrifugal motion. His target dug his claws into the cartoon's hands, and the imp struggled to keep his grip.

Despite the pain drilling into his fingers, he held on tight. He swung Dust around in a wide, sweeping arc, making almost a full turn before slamming his victim into the sword-wielding demon. As the barechested man was behind, flanking the imp, Shinmen had no visual cue to see when his partner had been snatched up. Only when the solider cried out in shock did the samurai realize what was happening, but by the time he turned to attack Bendy, the human sledgehammer was already speeding towards him.

Flesh collided with flesh as Dust was forced to a stop. They toppled over each other, tendons twisting and bones cracking, before collapsing into a little pile behind Abyss. The demon refused to let up, dashing up to the pile and pummeling the duo as hard as he could before they got back up.

636 words

[Dawnika Snow]

The fight was over and the blonde was relieved. As eager for battle as she nearly 24/7, that was rough. Another feeling of warmth enveloped her body, like a soft embrace from a loved one, and in another moment she was teleported yet again. Right above Gamzee Makara. The troll stood there, trying to cope with the wounds of battle as his former combatant dropped on his head with her ass end. The vigilantes back smashed Gamzee's face and the 'present' from Karl Jak spawned above her. The plastic cock falling out of the box and smacking her in the face unpleasantly. The blonde gritted her teeth and growled.

"I hate this island." She said pulling the fake penis off her face and throwing it into a nearby wall. It was then she heard a muffled groan from underneath her.

"Lady, could you get mutherfuckin' off me, please?" His voice barely came through. Erika jumped up from the troll and gave him a sour look before remembering they were no longer in the colosseum. She stretched her hand out and helped him back to his feet.

"Blame Karl Jak for that, no me." She said fixing her hair and realizing she no longer possessed her facemask, which still sits in the sand. She would just summon a new one, but that privelige has been stricken from her. Gamzee looked at her awkwardly, wondering if she would attempt to flatten his face even more than what she had done in the arena. She simply sighed and turned her back to him. "Oh, come off of it. You aren't preventing me from proceeding in the competition anymore. Congratulation on surviving my fists. Next time, I'll make sure you don't walk away from it, but for now, you'd better leave me alone. I'm fucking tired."

With those last words, the assassin turned her back to the troll and looked for somewhere she could sleep, leaving the Faygo loving troll to his business. His voice stopped her, however.

"Ey." He said holding out a can of Faygo. "Good fight, and nice magic trick with hair color changing and shit. That was mutherfucking awesome."

What was he talking about 'hair color changing and shit'? That confused Erika, but she wouldn't turn down a compliment. The blonde took the can of soda from him and held it up in cheers, Gamzee returned the gesture and they both had a drink...of pop.

After that, though, Erika really did part with the troll. She searched for somewhere to sleep for awhile, as it has been 24 hours and she has just noticed how extremely worn out she is. I dusty old matress lay in the corner of the safehouse, but it looks recently used by another competitor. Who fuckin' cares though? The assassin dove into the bed and fell asleep nigh-instantly.

After a few hours of peaceful sleep, she awoke sitting up from the mattress and looking in her pack for the tablet she had received from the beginning of the competition. She powered it back on and looked to see if any drops had been made yet. There was, but the message on her tablet appeared over an hour ago. If she went charging in now, she was sure there would be a fight ongoing already, and she wasn't ready for another brawl currently. She stashed the tablet away in her pack and pulled out the rations provided by Karl Jak and ate them quickly. With her hunger throughly sated, she picked up her belongings and made her way towards the safehouse exit with her Vita Compass on. Time to find the two idiots she had teamed up with, if they weren't already dead.

Erika is up and moving from Safe House A to A9, and will rejoin Takezo and Dust when their fight has ended and been graded.

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
Full Assault (Takezo/Dust) vs The Golden Alliance (Bendy/Abyss)

The full brunt of the assault fell upon the pair of primes that comprised two-thirds of the ‘Golden Alliance.’

Abyss and Bendy retreated—their movements fluid despite the whirling chaos of steel and claws that closed down upon them.  Although routed by the vicious tandem of warriors, ideas formed rapidly in the heads of the smaller primes.  Fresh water began to coalesce in the squid’s palm.  Bendy’s barbed tail unfurled and coiled in anticipation before the two came to an abrupt halt.

Expecting to rundown their intended prey, the pair of Dust and Takezo were taken aback when the smaller, more bloodied twosome spun to confront them.  A sphere of scalding water crashed into the visage of the swordsman, who uttered a slew of profane words as he stumbled back.  While lacking its normal ‘gusto,’ the rapidly conjured orb still had enough kick to stall the lethal warrior.

As Takezo was taken out of the equation, Dust narrowly evaded the stabbing motion of the ink demon’s barbed tail.  Rather than lose momentum, the shirtless man lunged forward and slashed his claws against Bendy’s visage.  Ink splashed against the ground as the cartoon creature pitched sideways and fell to his palms and knees.

Abyss dashed forward, hoping to land a kick upon her friend’s attacker, but a swift elbow to the side of her head threw her back to the ground.  Adrenaline brought her scrambling to her feet for another attack, but she spotted the blade just as it came thrusting at her face.  An erratic, sideways lunge was all that spared Abyss from winding up as a calamari kabob.

“Let’s wrap this up, Takezo muttered as he turned to see that Dust had hoisted the ailing Bendy off the ground.  The cartoon creature was bleeding ink from various wounds on its face and chest.  With zero emotion on his face, Dust pulled the dying demon in for a brief kiss that left little speckles of ink on the man’s lips and chin.  Before the swordsman could say something, Dust opened his mouth to reveal that his teeth were now jagged and razor sharp.

The handsome man, with the civility of a wild animal, bit down into the ailing ink creature’s neck and tore clean through with a series of rapid bites.  

By the time Dust had reduced the inky creature to an indiscernible mound of carnage, Abyss had exited the scene.

[spoiler]
#01 Bendy DEAD

Dust takes 6 points of Accumulated Damage
Takezo takes 4 points of Accumulated Damage
Abyss takes 14 points of Accumulated Damage (includes Minor Injury – Mangled Tentacle; one of Abyss tentacles was ruined in the fight.  With Healing or a medkit, she may restore it)

All three individuals are on cooldown for 24 hours, which you may waive if you desire.
[/spoiler]

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
Odin vs Enel & Vic Hendy

The post order will be Harlan Higgs - Odin - Enel

The timer starts... now.

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

[Larfleeze]

The god had left, and now, so had Erika. Gamzee was still just chilling, but Chakravartin refused to hold still any longer. Without Omnilium, his eye wasn't going to be returning anytime soon, and after eating and drinking a bit, and having some time to lay down, his exhaustion had more-or-less passed.

He climbed out of the bunker and headed out into the familiar fields of Area 9. The grasslands extened in every direction, gold in the rising sun. The sun was gold, the sky was gold, the grass was gold. He enjoyed sunrises and sunsets in the Omniverse, he decided. The same colors had appeared in Camelot. It was always different, from planet to planet. Walking outside, his syntech tablet beeped- huh, he had missed more than a few item drops. And he had already drank the one he had made a mad dash for. He briefly considered which one he, Bendy, and Abyss should go after. Area 1's was still around, and wasn't too far off- though his Halo told him that Enel, the old man, and the handyman were already moving towards it.

Scrolling down the alerts, he grinned as he saw something more convenient. An item was going to drop into their current area, soon enough.

As he played with his Syntech, he found himself walking towards the center of the area- and stepped in something wet.

He raised a bushy eyebrow at the sight of ink on the ground. He put the tablet away, and began watching his step carefully- ink, ink, more ink. In other places, a deep blue-green ichor clung to the grass instead. Something hot began to blossom in his gut, it was anger. Both of them were injured? A few more steps told him it was worse than that, as Abyss came running out of a patch of taller grass, before coming to a halt before him. Long blue lines had drawn themselves all over her body, she practically reeked of blood, one of her tentacles was simply gone.

Chakravartin narrowed his eyes, "Thank goodness, did you win?" Abyss said, nearly collapsing in relief at seeing her now sole remaining ally still alive, "you vanished, and one of them vanished, and they challenged us, and Bendy accepted, and now..." she sighed, "Bendy's dead."

"He'll be back. He's a Prime." Chakravartin said, calmly, "But that does not bode well."

"I'm beginning to think we aren't going to win." Abyss muttered, "Those two- I was right, they're absolute demons. The swordsman just maneuvered around my kicks, and that shirtless jerk, he ripped out Bendy's throat, with his teeth!"

"... Well then, you and I are injured as hell." Chakravartin said, "Go on ahead to the Safehouse, I don't want your collar going up on us..."

"You're not leaving me behind," Abyss growled, narrowing her eyes.

"No, no, I'll be right out here. I intend on getting the item drop, when it does drop."

"With all three of them there, now?"

"And more probably heading toward us." Chakravartin said with a grin, "They're injured too- not as injured as us, I think we might be a bit too Fountain Fresh to be expecting much more success in this tournament."

Abyss narrowed her eyes, "So what, you're going into a fight knowing you'll lose?"

"No, no, I don't know that I'll lose." Chakravartin said with a smile, "Have some confidence in me, maybe I'll get an item for us." he said out loud, walking away from her, "The bunker is just thataway!"

"..." the squid looked at him, before sighing and ambling towards the bunker.

"...And maybe I'll avenge Bendy too." Chakravartin said, walking out towards the center of A9.

Moved from Safehouse A to Area 9

[Oleander]

Takezo watched as the mutilated squid flees, laughing in triumph. The Golden Alliance has crumbled. They were not strong enough to stand up to a group of real warriors, despite the similar numbers. With a flick of his sword, he painted the ground in squid blood and black ink, before the weapon was resheathed once again. "One body... Only nine more to go."

Dust took a deep breath - after spitting out a mouthful of ink. The look on his face told an epic tale of how foul the taste was. Clearly he was used to a more crimson reward. After spending a moment cleansing his pallet, he takes out the tablet and starts flitting around the dataverse. "We missed a few drops, it seems. Oh, the Coliseum is done.... Huh..."

"What?"

Dust approaches and angles the tablet so Takezo could see. Rewinding the video a bit, he shows the swordsman how one woman turns into another, then goes fist-ho till the end of the battle. "I guess that means she won."

"I don't understand, why did she change her hair?" Dust shrugged. "We will ask her about it when ... we see her." There was a pause, as the alternate woman caught Takezo's attention from the corner of his eye. He nudged Dust, who too looked to find Erika on the approach. The two men looked the woman up and down, though Takezo was a fair bit more confused than Dust at the moment. The latter had a bit more experience with the abnormal than a man from three hundred years in Japan's past.

Before anyone could say anything, Takezo took a forceful lead. Hand up to silence any explinations or even greetings, the ink and blue-blood covered swordsman responded simply. "I need food, water and a nap. Explaining this," he gestures to all of Erika, "can wait until I am less sleep deprived and some of these bruises have faded." With that, he pats Dust on the back, a silent congratulations, before heading the way Erika came from. Dust followed, and soon they were back on track for the safehouse.

The moment he arrived, he found a nice comfortable spot on the floor, ate a bit from his rations, drank form his waterskin and passed the fuck out. All in under ten minutes. Takezo had not slept since arriving in the Omniverse almost three days ago, and while long stretches of sleeplessness were not new to him, they did tend to weigh heavily on performance. This left ample time for Dust and Erika to converse, but Takezo was down for the count.

Moving Dawnika, Dust and Takezo to SHA.

[Professor Sunshine]

While Abyss was sad when she saw Bendy die, since despite being a dancing demon he helped her to the end, and his death even allowed her to escape from that brawl. She still needed to get to the safe house so that she wouldn't blow up, but as she started to walk torwards the Safe House she ended up running into Chakravartin, who finally managed to return after he disappeared, with a look of anger and sadness upon seeing her covered in blood. As she told him about what happened while he disappeared and about what happened to Bendy, the god looked even more furious, despite talking in a calm voice.

After talking for a few minutes they finally reached a Safe House, only to see through a window that the demons, with their third member as well, were already in the Safe House, which horrified her since she thought they were in the one safe haven in the area. "Welp, we are dead. As long as they are close to us those demons could cut us down without a thought, and with them outnumbering us we would probably be beaten up so bad that as corpses we wouldn't resemble ourselves at all. And yet, despite that we have to go in since I would prefer dying in battle than letting this collar blow up on me."

As Abyss and Chakravartin thought on how to go in without being noticed, Abyss had a idea on how to reset their death counters. "Hold on Chakravartin, I have a plan to reset our death counters, and in case this doesn't work, then when we next meet each other, I hope we can end up trying to get revenge on that demon swordsman while he's alone." With that, Abyss quickly opened the door to the Safe House, kicked her leg with the collar on through the door, and quickly brought said leg back out onto the ground. After looking at the counter and seeing that the counter had indeed reset, Abyss was glad that it had worked, and because of that she had told Chakravartin to do the same with his collar in case he needed to reset his death collar.

Golden Alliance from Area A9 to SHA. We have entered our collars in to reset our Death Counters, but we are sneaking across the outside of the Safe House.

[Gamzee Makara]

Rest wasn't coming very easily. He'd been teleported onto something soft with his eyes already shut, and had planned on keeping them that way. There wasn't really a way to describe how Gamzee felt. Sore was a good attempt, but not quite spot on. Then again, why would anyone waste time tryna describe how they felt? Pshhh. Clarity is for losers.

*pipipipi*

No rest for the weary. The troll groans and sits up, swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress and cringing when his right leg is racked with pain, all the way down to the toes. His favorite part about this particular pain, is that he doesn't even remember his leg getting banged up. Fantastic, isn't it? He was feeling far more under the weather than any clown ever should. He reaches into his knapsack to find the source of the racket: the Syntech Tablet. Hm.

Seems there's an item drop. Pretty close too.

Gamzee successfully pulls himself out of bed and also successfully falls over as soon as he does so.

"Ow," He says through the cold floor.

Attempt number two is more successful. The troll finds himself leaning against the wall, shuffling through his pack in search of some wicked feel-goods. A-ha!

He pulls out two plastic packets filled with blue-greenish goopy goo, both of them about the size of his palm. Gamzee had no idea how these things work, but this would not be the first questionable thing he had done in the name of science. He rolled up the right leg of his pants, held the medi-gel over his fucked leg, and squeeeeeezed tightly. The packets burst and healing gloop splattered all over his leg.

Mmmmf. Yeh. That's the good shit right there, my dude. His leg still ain't gon' be much use for anything but limpin' but at least it's numb now as opposed to feeling like someone beat it with a sack filled with hammers that were attached to more sacks of hammers. Sound confusing? Good, it should, he was pretty confused.

Hammerception.

Shouldering his backpack, Gamzee saunters over to the door, tablet in hand. It was time to get back into it.

Gamzee used his two medigels, healing 2 points of damage. He now has 10 points of damage. His leg is still fucked. Moving from SHA - A3

[Dust]

It had been pure impulse to kiss him before he took a chunk or 30 out of Bendy, but either the older man didn't want to know or let it pass unquestioned. The ink was still spilling out of his maw when the ronin announced the end of the fight. He darted over just in time to watch a strangely different but similar girl beat the ever loving snot out of the other contenders in an quick montage replay of the battle. His jaw dropped at the changer, but he was indeed no stranger to odd things. Especially transformations.

Only to look up to see the blonde in Dawn's clothing approaching them. With one last glance at the fleeing squid girl - not the death they had been planning for, but a satisfying defeat nonetheless - Dust followed his senpai into the safehouse.

As they walked his stomach suddenly growled as he realized he'd spent the whole day running around and then fighting the two members of the Golden Alliance, the high protien meal he had swiped earlier has finally ran its course. But despite the hunger in his belly something else took more presence inside of him. Payment. It always starts as a mere impulse, but as time slowly ticked away it became a need. He already felt it squeezing his chest, and he was thinking uncontrollable thoughts about how soft Dawn's lips might be. He also could guess she was the slapping type.

By the time they were alone, or roughly, he was staring at Erika; obviously he had something to say to her and she was on the verge of saying something when he approached her near a wall she'd been leaning on. "Yuki.." He said with a strange blandness to his voice. And when she looked up into his eyes she'd see a sadness that has never been there in the day she'd known the man. She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off rather sharply by snatching up her wrists. He was not blind to how intimidating this might be, but he couldn't risk her escape half way through it. Pinning her wrist to the wall and only word slipping from his lips before his were upon hers: "..Sorry.."

Dust kissed her hard enough to pin the blonde head against the wall behind her, stepping in to pin her in place. But while his actions could be seen as a very steamy confession in the heat of the moment knowing they could die at any moment, his eyes were open and while observant of her reaction were obviously dead. He didn't enjoy this payment. He'd never had to deal with this, the pain and guilt of forcing himself on someone he thought of as his friend. And more importantly, someone he liked.

3..2..1.. Dust pulled away as fast as he could, but held her wrist and legs in place. She screamed at him, "Ok, ok, ok. Stop." He gave her a little push. "I couldn't help myself, and I don't mean that in a romantic kind of way, its how my power works." His words spilled out as fast as he could form them. "Not saying I'm not attracted to you. But I urge you to remember where we are. If you punch me, you could be eliminated." He warned her, willing to both release her and take his punishment but only if she was willing to wait til they left.

[Gamzee Makara]

Whoa. It's like, pretty and shit. That there sun over there was just starting to sink into the horizon, gettin' all swallowed up by the hills. Wait, naw that shit ain't setting, it's rising up, like a, like a...

Gamzee couldn't think of another metaphor, but he could certainly agree with himself that the rising sun was indeed a miracle. The sky was this weird muddled shade of light navy, sunlight encroaching on it in a rather pink manner. The stars were disappearing one by one. The higher the sun rose, the more it's light consumed. There was some kind of irony to be found in this particular aspect of nature, but Gamzee was not the one to be all up and solving the mystery of mother nature and her wily wiles.

He starts walking, with only the incessant beeping of his item tracker to guide him. Oh, and a map. He had that too, just wasn't very good at reading it. Or anything, for that matter. It just made it even more confusing when there weren't a lot of words to read, you know? Like, you would think it'd be like a picture book or something but nah dude maps are confusing as shit.

Ah christ, he really needed to find something to fix up his leg. Limping everywhere was gonna really suck. It was sort of a running joke at this point that Gamzee kept seeing miracles and feeling miracles but none of them ever actually happened to help him out much. That or they actually impeded his progress somewhatly so.

"Is somewhatly a word?" he asks himself, limping along.

Probably not.

"Nah, prolly not," he decides with a dopey smile.

At least he had the power of ignorance. With that, things weren't so bad after all.

Limping from A3 -> A2

[Gamzee Makara]

The beeping was getting stronger now. You know, this Karl Jak seemed like a cool guy, more or less. Gamzee had heard and seen things on the dataverse that made him out to be a very chill person, maybe someone that he could vibe with. Then again, maybe Gamzee wasn't the type of guy that Karl would vibe with. Nah prolly not. Besides, the dude was kinda running a death tournament type thingy and, despite his dashing good looks and sense of style, was probably not the best of people to associate with. Then again, who was he to decide who was a good person to associate with, right? Everything is an opinion, dude. Everything.

Gamzee wish he could fly or hover or something. It sucks that he never actually achieved god-tier. He was always a little jealous of his friends for having that luxury. Not all of them could fly no, but it was the principle of the thing. Maybe when he met his inevitable and/or untimely death and was sent back to the nexus, he'd make his own god tier costume and learn to fly. Omnilium could do that shit right? Yeah, probably.

Sparkly Shit equals Miracles, so Gamzee was going to need all of the sparkly shit.

He found himself on a paved road, the only paved road that he had ever seen on the island, in fact. Besides the city, he supposes, but he had almost forgotten all about that after getting clocked upside the head for tryin' to be a nice guy. Gamzee supposes you can't be a nice guy when it comes to things like death tournaments and anything else involving death, really. There isn't exactly room for chill vibes, which sucked. He was all about the chill vibes, my dude.

The pavement was a little easier on his leg, but it was still pretty numb. I mean, he was used to worse than this shit. At this point the pain wasn't even really bothering him, it was just the general lack of feeling and muscle control that was a pain in the ass.

Moving from A2 -> A1