Zone D -- The Foam

[The Future Warrior]

They had made it to the hotel resort vacation place thing a while ago, now. After managing to make it inside and out of the rain, their merry little group had split up to go root around and see what there was around here. Archer had made a beeline for a particular area of the place, with a single-minded determination. There was almost something spooky about the unearthly glow of determination in his blue eyes as he hurried off, pushing his hair back out of his face again. He seemed really keen on getting to this "bar" thing he'd mentioned on the way here, whatever that was. She wasn't too worried about it, though. It was bound to be nothing too bad. They could regroup again after a while and see about where to head off to next.

Of course, that did still leave her with ample time to wander around and explore. And she did just that, parting company with Cell as she did so. For all the work they'd done together so far, it still felt a little odd to actually be on the same side as him, so she was glad to be splitting up again, even if only for a little while. Her searching and random exploration uncovered...not a whole lot of use. But it did let her unearth some more supplies. Chief among them some actual food! None of those awful 'rations', but...well. It was all preserved. Kind of old. Probably still all that great, but better than anything she'd had so far, and that was grounds for relief all on its own.

She was, in fact, just sitting down to enjoy the 'good' food when an alert on her tablet drew her attention. Quizzically, she retrieved it and gave it a look over. "More item drops..." she murmured to herself. Studying their locations intently, she noticed there were three relatively close by. One of them in the city...that place still gave her the creeps. So foggy and unsettling. The other was in the mountains...and the other back out in the flooded area. Looking back up toward the rest of the resort as a whole, she was just about positive those two wouldn't want to go back out there. Heck, she didn't really want to go back out there herself.

With some resignation, she stored away all her findings, securing the items liable to get damaged by water, and hopped up, rushing back out into the rain. There were items to grab!

Splitting off from Colosseum Bros.
Graowr moving from D3 to D7

[Handsome Jack]

“Come on, man! We gotta go!” I plead with Archer as he downs his eighth shot of whiskey.

“I haven't had a good drink since we *hic* got to this island,” the secret agent slurs back at me, a bit wobbly on his be-stooled perch. “I-i'll be done in a minute.”

With a sigh, and a thought about just leaving him, I ask him again. “For f-f-f-f-f-f-FUCK'S sake, man! The longer we're in here, the further we fall behind. I know that Gentleman's Jak is both delicious and affordable at only 30 Syn-Bucks for a litre, but we have places to be!”

The shock was actually starting to kinda feel good. Maybe I was programmed to be a masochist. Wouldn't surprise me, Gero seemed like a dude into some freaky shit. I mean, just look at Eighteen. You KNOW the senile prick fucked her every time he turned her off.

Archer mumbles something that COULD be an answer, but I can't quite understand him. You know... even drunk, the dude is STILL better company than Blue Waffle. The kid was busy scoping out the rest of the building, and while I had done the same myself, at first, I didn't find a damn thing of interest. Well, except for ONE thing, a small cotton and bean-filled animal. A Beanie Buddy. Seemed pretty clean too, so... I shoved that bad-boy right into my empty eye-socket, its head poking out comically, and tossed the sunglasses. They weren't doing shit anyway, except make it hard to see.

Fortunately, the bar Drunks McGee had decided to raid had a relatively solid roof, so at least I was dry again. Well, until I managed to GET HIM TO FUCKING LEAVE and we got back outside. Speaking of... I prod his shoulder wordlessly and, surprisingly, the man just topples from his seat and to the muddy floorboards. Out, fucking, cold. You know... this is why I HATE humans. Their digestive processes are so... disgusting. And don't get me started on how inefficient their biology is. Welp, ain't shit to do about it, I guess. I hoist the big guy up into my arms like an adorable baby (and he IS such a cute thing too), give a quick look-around to see if Graowr is about (thank GOD she ain't) and head back out into the rain. A recent beep told me their was an item dropping nearby and I'll be damned if I ain't gonna get it.

You might ask if I feel bad leaving behind Little Blue, and the answer MIGHT surprise you. But probably not, if you know me at all.

Moving from D3 to D2

[The Future Warrior]

For a while, her raincoat did its job and kept her safe and (mostly) dry, warding off the worst of the rain. The wind? Not so much. Not at all, really. It kept blowing into her face and the occasional leaf or bit of other jungle-esque detritus would catch her. It was incredibly irritating. But she was too focused, too laser-guided and bent on her task, to let it bother her. She just had to keep her mind zeroed in on where she was going and why she was going there, to avoid dwelling on the fact that she was headed back out into the water. That was probably even rougher by now. And probably over her head out where she was headed to. It wasn't going to be pleasant at all, but there was going to be an item dropping out there, and she was going to get it!

Of course, her excitement and focus was all well and good, but it didn't do much to keep her dry. This time, at least, she was starting to wise up. Her clothes, made more or less out of the same stuff as her body was, still eld onto water irritatingly well. Especially her scarf. And her gloves and boots had a tendency to get full of water and slosh around, getting soggy and unpleasant quite quickly. To say nothing of her pants and vest. To such an end, as she neared the water, she stopped when it was scarcely ankle deep, and let out a deep breath. Retreating back under the (relative) cover of the jungle growth, she started to remove it all, piece by piece. Gloves first. Scarf next. Boots followed. Her vest went next. Belt was unbuckled, and pants came off. All of it was wrung out, as much water as possible removed, and then folded up and stored in the backpack she'd been using. And then it, too, went the way of her tablet. Pressed against her torso, which spread out to just seemingly absorb it, storing it...well, inside of her, well away from any water. It would be good and dry, whatever happened to her.

That sorted, she gave a quick stretch, finding it...a little strange to be not wearing anything at all, but dismissing it. It would be convenient, if she was going out in the water again. Besides, not like anyone was around. With only brief moment to fetch and re-check her syntech tablet to confirm her direction, she stored it away again and was off, bounding out from the trees and into the water, heading out into the deeper flooded area. No sense being slow about it.

Graowr moving from D7 to D11

[The Future Warrior]

It wasn't really any easier, exactly. It never got any easier. The water was just as rough as ever, if not rougher. The rain hadn't helped matters any. Luckily she was more or less content and able to just remain ducked under the water, staying out of the worst of the wind and rain and pounding surf up on the surface. Every now and then she would need to pop back up, to check her direction and keep herself oriented, but overall she spent a great deal of time just being inconspicuous and creeping along. A blue, tentacled figure, seemingly belonging in the water if her appearance was anything to go by.

She was finding it remarkably easier to sort of...pull herself along, under the water, than to try and walk. Grasping at the muddy, sandy bottom, tugging on bits of coral and other assorted bits and pieces of this and that littering the flooded ground. She practically glided along, quickly getting accustomed to the feeling. It wasn't easy going by any means, having to work with the current alternately coming and going with the waves over her head, but it was certainly better than walking. At least she could just sort of float along when it was going out, the way she wanted to go, and then grab hold of something and pull herself along, or keep herself steady when it went rolling and crashing back in. It was really quite a nice system.

Almost reminded her of climbing, back before she learned how to fly. Or really flying in general, when she was still getting the hang of it. Was this what swimming was like? She'd never really...learned how. Had never really needed to. But it was starting to seem like it wasn't half bad.

Her meandering thoughts about strange modes of conveyance and travel was cut off by catching sight of something along the coral-studded seafloor. A large, jagged outcropping of rock, with what looked like a cave of some sort in the side. Well..the 'side'. It was more like the ground near it and incidentally, part of the bunch of coral-covered rock, as well. Even though she was really trying to make good time toward this item drop...well, she did have a bit of time before it dropped.

After spending some time to weigh her options, she eventually shrugged and changed course, tugging herself along and, after a curious inspection of the opening, slipping down into the mouth of the cave. Exploration, away!

What she failed to notice, however...was the sinuous, swimming form slowly drifting after her. It passed over the mouth of the cave, briefly casting it into shadow. Looping around, it made its way through the cave opening with a glimmer of silvery, gray-blue and white hide. And far too many teeth.

Graowr moving from D11 to D15

[The Future Warrior]

As she dove deeper under the water, into the cave, something soon struck her which should have been fairly obvious in hindsight. It was dark down here. Even with the day starting to get on and brighten outside, not a lot of it was filtering down here. The water, and the narrow opening, left it pretty dim only a few feet down. Luckily, her scouter had a flashlight function built in. She just had to fish it out again, and...right, there it was. She fumbled about in the water, the extra resistance compared to open air making it a little irritating and awkward to get it affixed in place. But after a few moments of working at it, she managed it, and with a grin she pressed at the buttons for a few seconds, and...wow.

Everything for a goodly distance in front of her was bathed in a gentle, blue light. Looking around slowly, she could see pretty clearly. Well enough to get around, at least, which was all she really needed. There were all sorts of pretty formations of rock and coral down here. Fish darting and flickering through the water, gleaming and shimmering in the blue glow of her scouter. Her eyes were wide and staring, just marveling at the display. It was...it was really something else. Especially given her otherwise fairly mundane experiences with seeing things like it. She was mesmerized, scanning every inch of the sunken cavern she could, even turning around and over, floating along backwards to look back where she'd come. Up at the top of the cavern, down at the floor, and into every nook and cranny. The colors and shapes of it all were certainly beautiful to look at, and were quite distracting. She completely failed to notice the largest occupant of the cavern, slowly meandering its way around the cavern.

Dead, black eyes gleamed like glass as it leisurely cruised around the perimeter. Dull, silvery-gray hide and countless teeth glimmered now and then when an errant speck of light struck them. Even the gentle, oscillating motion of its passage churned the water violently. Always, though, it was just out of sight of the blue creature that had dove into its lair. Just ahead of her probing, wandering eyes. Keeping pace with her, and out of sight, observing and watching her as she observed and explored the cavern. Waiting. Biding time. Soon the predator would prove its title as king of the seas. The tiny blue thing would barely be a snack, but it was trapped in here, and wouldn't put up much of a fight, unlike the huge skinless titan of the day before.

[The Future Warrior]

Swimming was still kind of hard for Graowr. Mostly because she wasn't exactly...buoyant, like humans and such were. She tended to sink more than a little, which made it easy enough to just sort of walk along the bottom. She could still manage to swim if she put some effort into it, now that she was starting to learn how and get the hang of it. Of course, in her case it was really more just kicking off the ground or walls, gliding along in a semi-controlled path through the water.

It was during one such touchdown on the cavern 'floor' that she paused to take a good look around. It was sure nice down here and all, really pretty to look at. And as she looked around, she was starting to see all sorts of little side passages and caverns leading off of the main chamber she'd floated into. She was seriously debating going to have a look and see where they might end up leading to, before she caught sight of something worrying. A few bubbles left her mouth as she whirled around, the stream of light from her scouter bobbing about crazily as she looked this way and that, trying to catch a solid view of what she'd seen.

Reflexively, her hands curled into fists, and a faint trace of her aura started to flicker up around her, fasting a further glow of dim pink around the cavern. "Suddenly it got kinda spooky down here..." she thought to herself. With a light flex of her knees, she 'jumped' off the cavern floor, drifting through the dim, murky waters toward one of the side passages. "Not really wanting to stick around here. Think it's time to go..."

She had scarcely made it halfway to the passage when something huge, silver, and with a mouth full of way too many, way too sharp teeth wide open, surging out of the gloom right at her. And as the sight of it fully registered to her, her eyes went as wide as they ever had, as a singular thought crossed her mind, including a word that she'd never really understood the meaning of until that exact moment. "OH FUCK!"

[The Future Warrior]

She was stunned for a moment, just staring with wide, terrified eyes at the gaping gullet of the huge sea creature rushing toward her. There was nothing in its wake except churned water, bubbles and seafoam, and the massive maw of the behemoth was so huge that even if she were to stretch out from hands to feet, she wasn't sure if she could touch both jaws. She didn't have long to react, though, before she got to find out personally whether or not she could. Her panic and terror gave way to something akin to adrenaline, and her wide, straining eyes snapped shut, narrowing in focus. Hands, clenched into fists, loosened and spread wide, the glow of ki sparking to life in her palms.

Both legs kicked out, stretching out and planting a solid, double-footed kick right on the aquatic predator's nose, pushing her back from the impact and briefly confusing the mighty beast. But only for a moment, as it shook off the shock, charging forward at her. For all its trouble, it received a quick triple shot of one-two blasts of ki, right into its wide open jaws. The swift bombardment of explosions were enough to dissuade it from its charge, and it broke off, smoke and wisps of excess energy billowing from its now closed mouth. It had been discouraged, but even Graowr could tell it was just retreating to build up steam for another run at her. She really didn't want to be around for that.

Both arms shot out, grabbing hold of an outcropping of coral and tugging herself along, like a slingshot. She picked up a fair amount of speed, swishing through the water for one of the myriad of underwater side tunnels. "Time to go!" she said to herself, carefully scrambling and swimming along the (relatively) narrow submerged passageway. Wherever it lead, she wasn't much concerned with. Just as long as it got her out of the territory of sharky mcbitey back there!

Graowr moving from D15 to D16

[The Future Warrior]

She was now on high alert as she scampered and swam through the tunnel, her aura flaring a brilliant wash of deep pink, lighting her way far more effectively than the flashlight of her scouter. Pulling herself along with both hands, now and then kicking softly against the walls with her legs. In some places it was more slow motion hopping and floating than proper swimming, but it was still constant, easy movement. Her eyes constantly swept across the tunnel before her, wary for any other sudden surprises that might jump out at her. Every now and then she even came to a stop, turning back around to scan behind her, eyes wide and alert. It was probably bordering on paranoia, how attentive she was being, but one close encounter of the toothy kind was more than enough for her. She didn't care for a repeat incident!

Thankfully, she didn't run into anything else along her way. The tunnel gradually started to slope upward, growing wider and easier to navigate. And...was that? It was! Natural light up ahead. Dim as it was, given the probably still terible weather, it meant she was getting back up to the surface. A place she was more than ready to return to. She left the tunnel behind, emerging into what might have at one time been a moderately deep pond or natural pool, some twenty or thirty feet deep. She rocketed up in a strong push from the base of the tunnel and tumbled into a slow motion somersault, landing on her feet on the sandy bottom of the submerged pond.

She shuffled forward, the harsh and flaming glare of her aura dying down to a dull shimmer. Almost at the surface, almost free. Then she could check her tablet and map, and see how off course she'd gotten down there in those tunnels. As she lumbered along the bottom, toward the slope that would lead up to the 'shore' of the sunken pool, she failed to take note of something else disturbing the seafloor.

Her focus on regaining the surface left her completely unaware as a massive form rose up from the depths, spreading a number of long, undulating tendrils. And nearly as one, several of them lashed forward, lashing about and curling around the blue girl's limbs, tugging her back away from her escape to the surface. A (mostly) noiseless shriek left her, the sound mostly muffled by the water and only a torrent of bubbles (the last of the air still in her body, and the primary thing letting her get any buoyancy to swim at all) exploding from her mouth.

"I was almost out of here!" she mentally complained. "Why did this have to happen now?!"

[The Future Warrior]

Dragged back down into the depths (as much as they could be called depths), struggling the whole way,the water quickly grew cloudy from disturbed sand and mud from the bottom. In her mind, a chorus of "No! No! No! No! No!" competed in mental volume against the thought of "I'm gonna be late for the item drop, at this rate!" Her priorities were quite clearly in order and on the right track.

After a matter of moments, her already tenuous footing gave way, the shifting sand slipping out from under her feet and leaving her to tumble slowly backward. She was dragged further back, more firmly into the grasp of her (as of yet) still unidentified captor. Her teeth ground against each other, bared for anyone that would have been nearby to see, and her eyes were narrowed in some volatile mixture of anger and frustration. She just couldn't get any solid leverage down here to try and worm her way out of this awful, slimy grip. The only saving grace was that it wasn't particularly strong. All she needed was one good bit anchorage, one good second to tug and break free and she could get out of this mess.

But with the tentacles of this thing already having her arms more or less pinned to her sides, the odds of that happening weren't looking likely if she didn't get creative. If she had needed to breathe, she would have been a lot more urgent about her efforts to get out, but as it was she wasn't at risk of having the air squeezed out of the lungs she didn't have. All she had to worry about really was maybe the sensitive items she'd stored inside her body getting damaged if she didn't escape this deathgrip.

"Come on...think, think!" she mentally shouted at herself. She tried to take stock of her situation, eyes drifting closed to focus. She could probably manage to get off a couple ki blasts, but without being able to see what she was shooting at it would be blind firing. If she could shift slightly, she might be able to land a hit on the tentacles holding her... If she could even get a little wiggle room, maybe she could wrestle herself free enough to get into a position of leverage and really get herself loose again. And then she could blast this thing out of the water. She nodded to herself, agreeing with her plan of action, such as it was. It was simple, but it should work.

....of course, that well went out the window, when another tentacular appendage came slithering up, coiling around her neck and then up over her face. In a fit of aggression, she lunged forward and bit down, sinking her teeth into the slimy appendage. There was a deep, reverberating thrum and a thrashing spasm of pain, the injured tentacle withdrawing in a hurry. The sudden shock did far more than that, leaving the grappling creature stunned just long enough for the majin to wrench one of her arms free.

Her head twisted around on her neck, pink eyes glaring down at what she could now see as a massive octopus. Or...or squid? It was hard to tell. She didn't care what it was, she just knew she was going to blast it! Her free hand curled into a fist, and began to give off a glow of ki, flaring with a bright golden-orange light. Her eyes went wide as she thrust her arm forward, releasing the large ball of energy from her hand. It surged forward, through the mass of tentacles and hitting the aquatic beast square in where its face should have been, There was a deep, bass rumble and the entire creature shook and trembled in pain, the grip of the tentacles on her slackening. Just a little more!

She sank down fully to the bottom with the lack of support actively holding her up, and dug both of her feet into the sandy bottom. Baring her teeth in a snarl of effort, she pushed forward, her head twisting back around to align with the rest of her body. It was with a supreme effort that she managed to take one step, then another, straining against the slimy, tentacular grasp, feeling it start to slip and slide, loosening its hold on her. Another few slow, struggling steps, and she ripped her other arm free. Her legs came next, freeing her completely and she ran forward as quickly as she was able, out of reach of being grabbed again. Spinning around, she brought both hands together, gathering together energy for a quite familiar technique. She didn't have the air to vocalize the attack's name, but the mass of blue-white energy quickly began to glow brightly in her cupped-together hands, shining like a beacon and clearly illuminating the submerged pool.

The beam of energy surged forth, the kamehameha wave tearing through the water and striking the giant mollusc full-on in its center-mass. There was a brilliant explosion and the water filled with a massive cloud of sand and much, all tinged blue by the release of energy.

When it was all said and done, Graowr practically dragged herself out of the water, onto a rocky outcropping, coughing and heaving out what looked like a substantial lungful of water. Quite the feat, considering her lack of lungs. She shook herself off, staggering up to her feet and looking around. "I think...think I made it..." she said breathlessly. She stumbled over to a rock to sit down for a moment, retrieving her tablet to check her destination and current location. To her surprise and immense relief, she was actually right around where the item was supposed to drop. Talk about convenient!

She stowed the tablet away and sat back to rest for a bit, enjoy the rain, and wait for the item to drop.

Waiting for the item drop in D16.

[Dawnika Snow]

Soon, the mountains began to subside behind her. Small hills lay before her and the Foam, an area discribed to be like a beach, and appearantly the safe house was in a flood zone. She began to regret the decision of hunting down this item that had dropped way down in the water because of her guns. If she tried to pass through the flooded areas with her guns they could become water logged and unusable, but if no one was going for the drop she wouldn't have to worry about her guns being unusable. The best she could do for now was to hope.

When she offically crossed the borders between Zones, she ended up in a palce she was not expecting: A tropical resort, there was even a fucking water park. What, did Karl Jak think we should spend sometime with our no existant families before we cut each others heads off? Even so, she didn't have the kind of money to visit a resort, so fuck you Karl.

Actually, there could be a benefit to going to this waterpark after all. If she took some time to look around for something to help herself across the flooded areas between her and the item drop, it would save her a lot of trouble in the long run. She bolted to the resort as quickly as her injury forsaken body would let her and walked into the water park area. There had to be something like an inflatable raft, a wade-board or something akin to them in the storage units, or maybe even just lying around. She came up to the edge of the pool area and look around in the water seeing nothing floating around that was of interest other than some loose tree leaves that needed cleaning out. She then went to check the storage area, where it would be if anywhere, but no dice. Nothing in there was in condition to carry her so she would have to rely on her melee weapons.

E9 to D2, Dawn is still alone.

[The Future Warrior]

She didn't have long to wait, thankfully. She spent what time she did have checking over various things on the island with her tablet. The fight in the colosseum was really starting to get underway, and into the swing of things. Zedd seemed to be doing okay, all things considered, though given the chaos of a four-man fight it was hard to say anyone was really doing 'okay' up there. She did also spend time checking over the dataverse in general, seeing if there were any updates or new messages. She was mildly disappointed when there weren't, but it was only a passing concern for her. After a time, she stored the tablet away again, leaning back on the rocks and staring up into the failing rain to just wait.

Within only a short while, she saw it coming this time. Falling out of the sky, clearly visible through the rain as it fountained out a shower of purple sparks. It was mesmerizing to watch, certainly, just like the formations of coral and such down in the cave below. It drifted down on a parachute, falling quite rapidly through the rainy sky and heading for a rough splashdown just off the shore of the little 'island' of rock she'd taken up perch on. She hopped up to her feet, eyes following the trajectory of the falling package. The moment it hit the water, she was on it, bounding over the rocky outcropping among the waves and splashing into the water, disappearing under the waves.

A minute later, she came up to surface again, bursting out of the water to perch on the submerged box which had held the item drop. "Got it!" she called out, holding it over her head. She brought it down to look at it curiously, studying it closely. It had kind of a weird design on it. Something...kind of like one of those tattoos Cell had had, maybe? Ah, well. She stored it away with all the rest of her items and clothes, and stood up, leaping back into the rain-frothed briny-not-so-deep. Time to head back to shore and get ready for heading to the next item drop, wherever it would be.

Item drop picked up.
Moving from D16 to D15

[Dawnika Snow]

The water began to rise more as she progressed ever southward. Dawn was fed up with the massive amount of rain and water she had to deal with on this stupid island. Her hood was still up and kept her mostly dry, though, she still wished she hand dropped her facemask in the sand up in the Colosseum. The grassy plains were logged with water. Some were simply soaked with the fallen rainwater, and up ahead there were areas that seemed to be feet-deep in water. It wouldn't stop her from finding out what this drop was, however. No one was in the distance that she could see, but that doesn't mean someone isn't on their way as well; or even worse, they could already have the drop. That would be shitty.

She stopped for a moment, taking her sniper's scope off of the metal and bringing it up to her eye to use like a spyglass. No one in sight. Maybe she was going to get lucky and grab this item without having to deal with any of the other competitors. While that wasn't safe to assume just yet, her spirits were lifted slightly by the simple thought.

Replacing the scope to her sniper in its desired position, the assassin trudged through the mud again, still heading south as fast as the mixture of her soreness and the muggy mud would let her. She wasn't terribly far from the safe house, so it would be a good idea to stop in when she got the item and take a rest. Hopefully, her soreness would recede after another rest in a safe house, even if she just sat down for awhile and caught her breath. If she was going to die in any way, it wasn't going to be by default, that's for sure.

D2 to D6. I'm getting me some Blue Raspberry Bubblegum. Does anyone want some? I'm only stopping this car once. I MEAN IT.

[The Future Warrior]

For a good while, her going was uneventful, just forging ahead through the waves back the way she'd originally come. Still under the water, swimming and pulling herself along, using the waves and movement of the water to her advantage. Silly and naive she might have been, but a quick learner she also was. And she knew when something was easy and useful when she saw it. She was quite aware it was only viable as a useful solution because she didn't need to breathe, and most wouldn't find it all that helpful or even an enticing prospect at all. Even she didn't find it particularly pleasant, the salty water stinging her eyes something horrible, but it was better than the alternative of fighting against the waves crashing into her and knocking her silly every third step, and with the rain and wind blowing her hair-tentacles every which way.

The monotonous, uneventful trip back toward shore could only last for so long, though. In this instance, it was interrupted by a silvery-gray dorsal fin slipping out above the surface of the water. Moving back and forth, in a lazy serpentine pattern, following after the blue majin at a fair distance. Waiting for her to slip up, even for a second. Lose her grip or drift backward with the waves just a little. Then she would be lunch. And the injured, but not beaten king of the sea got its chance when the azure gum-demon lost her grip. A slimy chunk of rock broke free, dislodging from the sandy bottom and leaving her to tumble backward head over heels, right into the waiting maw of the giant shark. It bit down with a mighty chomp, surging ahead and around, thrashing around to try and take the fight out of her right quick and in a hurry.

All it succeeded in doing was making her mad, and every time she popped out of the water for so much as an instant, the air was filled with the sounds of her high-pitched shrieking, in equal parts annoyance and pain. Her skin was slick and tough enough that the mouth full of razor teeth couldn't really get solid purchase and actually puncture or leave lasting wounds, but it sure as heck didn't feel good. The only good thing to come out of it all was her constant struggling and squirming about was keeping the shark headed more or less where she wanted: further inland. Thank goodness for small favors.

Graowr taking the shark express from D15 to D11

[Dawnika Snow]

The waters edge. Past this area, everything in front of the assassin was deep water. She wasn't even sure if she'd be able to stand in the boggy water and move effectively, which means she would have to resort to swimming the distance all the way out of the island and hope that Karl Jak didn't think she was trying to swim away and blow up her collar. She was still slightly east of the drop through and thought it would be easier to just swim straight south. Swimming was never really her thing.

So, she headed west. The water here was still up to her ankles, making it difficult to move too fast, lest she wished to eat mud for lunch. Determination was in her blood, though. Perhaps she was thinking of Dante's Abyss as a self-motivator. Besides all the horrific experiences so far and the injuries she had piled since arriving on the island, she was having fun. Granted she nearly murdered three people already but that's what made it more fun. More dead people means more money after all this was over, and she liked killing people. Win-win.

Focusing on her feet most of the time, she didn't see what she had heard until she heard it. Someone was riding in from the sea in the direction of where the drop was supposed to land. That means someone had beat her to the punch. She looked down her sniper scope to get a better look at the oncoming individual. She was...Blue, and naked...and riding a shark? What. The. Fuck.

She thought Gamzee was weird, but no this fucking blueberry-colored naked woman tops it. She could certainly say that she had seen everything. No matter what she was, though, Dawn needed to do something. She couldn't gauge what this alien-like being was capable of. Perhaps she should approach her more friendly like and strike her when she gets the chance? In any case, she had to know if she'd gotten the drop first. Dawn wasn't ready for another fight just yet if it wasn't necessary.

D6 to D7. Dawn can see bubblegum monster in sight, but the safety is on for now. Graowr might be able to see her if she's paying attention, she's not exactly hiding.

[The Future Warrior]

Her struggles grew more frantic and violent the longer she was in the grip of the shark's meat grinder of a maw. It didn't feel good in the least, and the longer she was caught in it the less good it felt. The teeth couldn't get a solid grip to actually bite down and pierce her skin, but damn if the constant scraping and gnashing was definitely going to leave a lasting ache.

Eventuallly, though, her constant flailing and struggle let her find purchase. One of her fists whipped about, slamming into the great sea predator's eye. There was an unearthly rumbling, grinding noise, and the grasp of the beast's jaws let up. Graowr wasted no time in extricating herself from the (potential) deathgrip, scrambling out and lashing out with one arm to grab hold of the shark's fin as it surged on past her. After that nonsense, she wasn't letting it get away so easily!

Dragged along on its back, in its wake, holding on desperately with one arm, she brought the other one up, and struck. Once, twice, thrice, hammering it with a swift barrage of blows along its side. One struck it in the gills, and another in its other eye. It was really starting to get frantic and anxious now, and started thrashing, twisting and struggling, trying to dislodge its unwanted passenger. It was unsuccessful. She held on stubbornly tight, right until she was dragged under the water again.

A long stream of bubbles flowed along the flooded area, heading straight for the shallower waters of the shoreline, until both giant shark and tiny blue not-alien came exploding out of the surf. The massive sea beast was being hauled up by the tail, and with a slow, lumbering movement, was spun around once...twice...thrice...and four times! before being hurled well back out into the waters, landing with a terrific splash, and leaving Graowr to hit the shallow water, rolling and tumbling along in the briny mush until she came to a stop in a combat-ready crouch, bracing herself with one hand. "Yeah! You better run!" she shouted after the hastily-retreating form of the so-called king of the sea. "Jeeze...the nerve..." she grumbled, getting up to her feet and looking around. "Oh! I made it back to shore!"

Graowr moved from D11 to D7
She is most definitely not paying attention, like the oblivious little shit that she is.

[Dawnika Snow]

The dark-haired assassin watched as the blue woman swung the shark she had been riding on back into the vasty, and kind of muddy, blue deep end. Her entire body could stretch abnormally. There was one thing. She also didn't seem to carry an other kind of equipment, even clothes. There was still one question that needed to be answered: Does she have the item drop from the southern area. The chances were slim that this elastic, blue, rubber band woman had missed the drop, but there is a chance. Still it would be best to put on a facious charm and ask her about it. She would like to know before she goes swimming in shark infested waters for she would not stand half a chance her opposer did.

Dawn put her sniper rifle away and began to approach the triumphant shark-tosser. The woman didn't see her approach, though, which made it hard to get her attention without startling her into thinking she was about to attack; and she was still naked.

"Hey, you!" She called out, catching Graowr's attention. "Have you been to the item drop out in the deeper waters? I thought I saw you coming from that way."

Graowr's neck expanded and tilted back to look at the ongoer who had just appeared out of nowhere. She didn't seem so bothered about being seen naked.

"Oh! Yeah I just claimed it for myself." The Future Warrior said joyfully, even if she was talking to her enemy. "Sorry, if you had the intention on grabbing it. It seems I was just in a better spot to get it."

"Yeah," Dawn replied, slightly aggrivated that she had missed such an easy drop. She debated attacking the woman right there, but stayed her weapon. "So, where are you heading to next?" She asked as her tablet beeped with another item drop. She showed Graowr and pointed to the map on her screen. "There?"

Staying still.

[The Future Warrior]

The cyan creautre just looked curiously at the newcomer as she showed her tablet, and the new item drop. "Oooh, another item drop already?" That was enough to get her to hop back up to stand. "I was just gonna head over to the resort place over there to rest for a bit and get dressed again, waiting for the next one of those!" She looked from the tablet over toward the city, where the item drop was, and her excited, energetic expression faded. "...oh, it's in the city, though..." she mumbled.

"That place gives me the creeps. And there's a lot of people there..." She shifted slightly, tilting her head this way and that as if debating her options. "But I guess heading that way might be as good an idea as any..." She nodded to herself, stretching lightly. "Well, running around this place alone is boring. And dangerous, if you run into someone really hunting down these items! You wanna head over there together?"

The dark-haired woman just observed her for a moment without saying anything before shrugging and reaching back to return her tablet to a pocket of her backpack. "Sure," she finally said. "I guess we're both headed the same way, anyway...might as well stick together. Strength in numbers and all that, or whatever." She did lift a hand to her mouth and cough slightly. "You really should...put on some clothes, though."

The blue-skinned not-really-a-demon's expression had lit up at the prospect of traveling company, especially given she was about to be headed back into that city. At the mention of putting on some clothes, her expression fell just a little. "Oh, yeah...right, clothes. Almost forgot about that. Took 'em off when I was going for a swim out there. They get all waterlogged and weight down otherwise, But come on, we can duck into one of the houses up ahead at the edge of the city, rest and dry off for a bit and I'll grab my stuff, then we can start moving for that item!"

The only response was a flat, unamused stare from the hooded woman for several long, silent seconds. Eventually she sighed. "Alright, alright...let's just get going."

Graowr and Dawn: teamin' up
Moving out: D7 to D3

[Karl Jak]

End Day 3 - Afternoon

Start Day 3 - Evening (6pm to midnight)

[Enel]

I wonder how Hendy is doing? That reminds me, I haven’t checked the Dataverse in a while! I got so caught up in real-life, I forgot about my virtual one!

I look at twitter, and the results are a little disappointing. Only five-thousand retweets in twelve hours. But it’s blowing up. Apparently my little sojourn with the blue kid did wonders for my popularity. She’s got a twitter following herself. And there are … nude pics?!

I glance over my shoulder at Bats, making sure he’s not looking.

Oh wow. So she really does have nipples under there. I figured she was just a barbie doll. Totally hairless, too. I bet that’s natural. Snake women, move aside!

But damn, no wonder she has followers. Hmm. Maybe I need to follow suit. Show the ladies out there what I’m packin’. Damn, if only she’d come with us! We could have done a double-scene, down at the beach. That would’ve brought the followers running. “The God and the Graowr,” we could’ve called it. Ten thousand retweets? More like ten million.

I glance over at Batman. I wonder if he’d take my picture for me.

“Hey Bats,” I say. “What say you we head down to the beach? I could do with washing off some of this sweat.”

I stretch my arms out, closing my eyes and flexing my ‘ceps as I do so. Out of the corner of one eye, I spot a glint of glass. Yeah, I see you, you motherfuckin’ pervert. Sinners, the lot of them. And Karl Jak’s the worst of all. Well, indulge yourselves. For now, I’ll allow it.

“Any particular reason?” Batman asks.

“No,” I say, hopefully convincingly. He’s a suspicious one, this Batman. And somehow I feel like nude photography isn’t one of his hobbies. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Enel and Bats moving from C2 to D3.

[Todd Ingram]

The stupid grin upon the god's face had Batman curious. Obviously Bruce was silently judging him, but simultaneously curious nonetheless. Ever since they split up with those women he's been acting strange, even more strange than before. The compliments that blue girl was giving him must've gone to his head. As long as that ego of his doesn't affect performance during battle Batman would endure. It was like working with Oliver all over again.


Leaving the city far behind them Batman and his companion found themselves walking through the outdoors, apparently towards the beach. Bruce didn't quite understand why, this slight rain would make a 'fun' trip to the beach foolish. Perhaps this whole God thing was just an act, perhaps he was a tactician. From the back the dark knight noticed Enel spending a lot of time on the tablet, probably strategizing their next move. That must be why he suggested going to the beach, the possibility of obtaining more items without having to fight an army of primes over it.


Every now and then his associate would glare over his shoulder, as if he was aware of a danger behind them. So far, Bruce didn't notice they were being followed. But just to be sure he kept his eyes wide open. At the beginning, Batman wasn't quite too sure about this partnership, at first glance he appeared to be nothing more than a man with illusions of grandeur. But there were small signs that would claim otherwise. After travelling with Enel for a while it started to feel more nostalgic, one might even say a similar feeling as when he patrolled the streets of Gotham with Robin.


The first whiff of ocean breeze was refreshing. "We're getting close." Said the armored warrior unexpectedly, which startled the occupied Enel, nearly dropping his tech device. His lightning quick reflexes saved the tablet from being crushed on the ground.


"WHOA! Almost had to confiscate yours there, Bats. I was busy, erm, researching. What did you say? Not really used to you talking and all that."


Enel's eyes narrowed as he attempted to read the man, and he wasn't very subtle when doing so. The part of Batman's face that wasn't covered by the costume didn't show any sign of an emotion, nor did it seem to move with the exception of him talking. He simply repeated his earlier statement, "We're getting close."


"Already? Good! We're making good time."


After the small intermission the journey continued. It wasn’t too long before Enel started giving him the third degree once more, "Say Bats, do you ever smile?"


Batman turned to him, creating a long, almost uncomfortable silence, before slightly moving the mouth edges, resembling something that could be a smile. Luckily Enel didn't blink or he might've missed it. "Look at that! I, God Enel, have created another miracle, he smiled. And here I thought you were some sort of machine! Good to know there is an actual man underneath all that black."


Batman had to give him something, otherwise he wouldn't here the end of it. It was like dealing with the green arrow, every now and then you had to throw him a bone.

Moving Batman and Enel D3 to D6