Troops Come Marching In

[stringmods]

It's finally tournament time, which means it's time for the cavalry to move on out. When the rescuers make their way to the abandoned factory that had been named as the entrance by Q, it's rather easy to spot where their destination was. In fact, they were greeted with the appearance of extremely out of place grecian columns and ancient-looking ruins, complete with a large set of stairs leading downward; there might as well be a big neon sign with arrows pointing downward and the caption "HEY EVERYONE!! HERE IT IS!! ENTER THIS DUNGEON!! WIN FABULOUS PRIZES AND LOOT!!!" It's a rather alarming testament to just how powerful rumors are in this town, if the Junes saga wasn't indication enough.

Reiko, a member of the Seven, awaits them at the entrance with her Jack Frost standing at her side, clutching two strange objects in her hands as every assembles.

"I took a look around inside before you got here," she began, a matter of fact tone to her voice, though it was still light despite the gravity of the situation. "It's something else in there! Looks like they've set up some kind of maze inside... You'll have to get through it if you want to find the others deeper inside.

"You'll split up into two groups to get through it; Eikichi, Rock, Kotoha, Ruri and Yosuke on one, and Nano, Shinjiro, Lucas, Lucina and Billy on the other. It'll make it easier for you to get through undetected, but be sure you stay together with your groups, OK?"

She moved forward with the devices in hand, handing one off to Ruri and the other to Nano. "These are courtesy of Q-- they'll teleport you and any others in a short radius back outside here, but they're one time use only. Make sure to only use them once you've found all of the others, OK?"

Once she'd handed them off, she stepped back out of the way of the entrance, her Jack Frost following at her side. "I'll stay out here and watch your back; if you need anything, you can contact me or Q over the CommLink. Good luck! And try not to get anyone killed!"

Comments

MINGLE

[stringmods]

[Before going inside, you have a chance to take a moment to speak with your teammates and your fellow rescuers to devise a plan if you so desire, as well as discuss your personal strengths and weaknesses to keep in mind for the future mission.]

Nano's team

[all_wound_up]

[Nano seems somewhat taken aback at having been trusted with the teleportation device, but nods seriously to Reiko before securing it in her pocket. And then she turns to regard the others - she recognizes only half of them.]

Um... I suppose we should start by introducing ourselves? My name is Nano Shinonome.

[She folds her arms in front of her waist, giving a polite bow of the head before continuing.]

I'm a Support Persona user. My current Persona, Drosselmeyer, should be able to communicate with the people who have been kidnapped if anyone would like me to try.

[puubuu]

[There's an odd little boy not too far from Nano, standing with his hands behind his back.]

Hello! My name is Fattycakes, but when I'm human like this, you should call me Billy. I'm a support Puusona user, too, but my Puusona focuses mostly on healing and defense. It also has a nifty distraction skill, though! Oh, yeah, and my real form is much smaller than my human form, so if there's any nooks or crannies to peek into, I might be able to do that.

[a_gentle_boy]

Er.

[The third member of what is apparently the Small Children team smiles slightly and chimes in as well.]

My name is Lucas. I... think I'm also a support Persona user - I've only had it for a little bit, though, since I just got here a few weeks ago. Without it, I'm a PSI healer and supporter. I can make you stronger, put up shields, reflect attacks, and other things like that. I'm not really exactly sure how to use the Persona yet, to be honest, but I'll do everything I can.

It's nice to meet all of you. ...I just really hope we can get them out of there quickly.

Ruri's Team

[electricyousei]

Ruri is handed the device and clips it to her belt nodding. With that she brings up several terminals in front of her and lets out a breath.

"All right. Let me know who is here and I'll start mapping routines for this all. I'm Ruri Hoshino, Captain of the Nadesico. I... Well, maybe if you let me know what all you do?"

[flyonadog]

Rock steps up, followed by a dog, and turns so he can address both Ruri and the rest of the group.

"My name is Rock, or you can call me Mega Man if you prefer - I'm a lab assistant robot with combat capabilities. I'll be doing my best to help both the kidnapped people and all of you as well. Unfortunately, I've yet to awaken my Persona, so I'm not sure what kind I have or what it can do - though I do have a copy chip that allows me to copy mechanical weaponry."

He stoops down and pats the dog on the head. "And this is Rush - he's both my pet and support."

[unbroken_chain]

Kotoha's done her hair up a bit, trading her trademark buns-and-tails look for a functional braid and swapping out her normal visor for a pair of safety goggles. Her normal clothing has been replaced with a dark shirt and a pair of heavy jeans, and there's an airsoft gun tucked into a shoulder harness that looks fairly new, as if she'd bought it recently. Glancing around, she nods once in greeting before speaking.

"My name's Kotoha, I'm a Pokemon Trainer from Unova. My Soul Persona specializes in Fire and Light attacks, but also has access to a healing skill. I also have a Persona from the Velvet Room that specializes in weakening foes. As far as my other skills go, I have a full team of six Pokemon - non-human sapient allies with superhuman capabilities. Three of them possess the ability to fly and are capable of carrying humans with them, although they won't be able to fight at full capacity if they do so."

Her tone as she recites all this is fairly crisp, a far cry from her normal bubbly personality.

"I also possess extensive experience with infiltrating secured locations and neutralizing their security - in my home world I spearheaded the effort to disassemble a country-wide terrorist organization."

MAZE

[stringmods]

[Once you all go down the stairs, you'll be greeted by an extravagant lobby with two different paths to go down. Well... I guess it's time to split up and enter the maze! Good luck, you'll need it.

Please make two threads for the two different groups, and your tag order can be in whatever order people initially tag in.]

Team Ruri - Left!

[electricyousei]

While not always the quickest way through a maze, following the left wall was usually one of the more efficient ways so Ruri looked at the path that was closer to the left of the entryway and nodded.

"I'll begin mapping but I say we move onward. The sooner that we get to the end of this the sooner we can be doing something else."

[deathboss]

"I have a feeling it ain't gonna be that simple," Eikichi explained as he rubbed his chin. "Who knows what they've prepared for us. I'm sure they're expecting something at least."

[unbroken_chain]

"Does it matter?"

Kotoha's voice is deadly serious.

"We go in, we crush all resistance, we leave. Nothing simpler."

Team Nano - Right!

[all_wound_up]

[Nano heads her group down the opposite path that Ruri took, quietly hoping that everyone will be all right until they arrive to save them. She situates herself near the middle of the group, letting the more combat-inclined characters take the front in case they run into anything dangerous.]

I'll try to get in touch with someone from the kidnapped group if I can.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas has, assumedly, received an explanation of the City CommLink by this point and he'll give her a nod. He stays by her side - though he's confident enough in his ability to fend off demons, front-line fighter wouldn't be his personal choice for a role. In any case, the mighty weapons he holds in his hands include... a stick and a yo-yo.]

I don't think they'll be able to tell us anything about how to get down there more quickly, but... it will be good to let them know help is on the way.

Let's just try and make it through as fast as we can. To get around a maze, you're supposed to walk with a hand on one wall, right...?

[themortalhalf]

That's the theory.

[And as far as he knows, the theory still holds true—even in a rumor-spawned maze. He's getting tired of mazes though. At least Shinjiro doubts this maze will be as unpleasant as the last one he had the fortune of exploring. But like before, he'll keep to the front.]

Might as well keep to it. Just keep your senses open. The more we know about what's coming, the easier this'll be.

TEAM 1 - RURI - Final Destination -- The Love Wondertwins Fightoff? The Group Approaches!!!

[stringmods]

[While we are skipping to the final event on each section, the dungeons will continue to be tagged until they are done. This is just to speed things along a bit.]

As the team continues into the dungeon, they can finally hear the sounds of a giant battle above them, sometimes explosions sound off and make the ground shake, causing dust to fall down.

They are definitely getting close, that much it certain.

Arriving to a large golden mirror, it seems that their teleportation to the battle arena is most certainly assured, but nothing is ever easy. Especially not here.

As they step close, a series of lights go off, and thousands of rose petals and cherry blossoms fill the air, spilling over, on them, sticking on their clothing and making a bridge leading to the front and back of them. Red stagelights open up one by one in the shapes of hearts, the dark corridor suddenly looking more like a love nest than anything else.

"ATTENTION VISITORS!!!!" a voice behind them booms out, as threatening as he can make it be. He looks young and thin, maybe sixteen with teenbopper charm to him, blonde hair, baby blue eyes and dressed in a rather charming suit. A pair of shimmering wings rise behind him, almost twice his size. "We have you surrounded! Can't let you get to ma and pa's anniversary bash, you hear?"

"Yeah that's right!" a voice on the other side of the corridor answers. The other voice belongs to a boy looks exactly like the other, only shifting a pair of blue eyes for green and sporting jet black hair. "We promised 'em we'd take care of you if you tried anything funny!"

"Protecting Love is our duty!"

"Yeah!"

"We're going to fight you!"

"Yeah!"

"And ma and pa can go back to doing it all do--"

"No no no! They don't need to know the details!"

"...yeah good point."






Silence.






"...YEAH, READY YOUR WEAPONS AND PERSONA, AND FACE OFF THE WRAITH OF THE PROTECTORS OF LOVE!!"

"EROS!"

"ANTEROS!"


"You're supposed to finish it..."

"But she's the one who does it usually."

"...."

"You know it sounds better when Harmonia is around to cheer us on..."

"She doesn't like this kind of fighting, you know that!"

"Yeah....sorry. Sure ruined our dramatic intro..."




More silence.





"...C-can we just get to the fighting?"

"Yeah that's what we were told to do and all!"

The winged twins looks up at the Visitors expectantly, waiting for their answer.

> FIGHT

> REFUSE
[Please make your character's decision IC, and add it as your title. We'll total up the votes for what to do and that's the direction this will be going to.]

Refuse

[unbroken_chain]

Kotoha just sort of stares, nonplussed.

"...this is a joke. You're joking, right?"

[stringmods]

The two look at each other from the front and back of the group.

"No?"

"We're totally serious!"

To demonstrate their seriousness, they adopted a few Bruce Lee-like moves complete with mouth sound effects.

Refuse

[electricyousei]

Ruri just sighs and shakes her head.

"Baka baka... That and you are acting in a way that is contradictory to the definition of love."

Team 2 - NANO - Final Destination -- Ringleader

[stringmods]

As the group approaches the end of the hallway, all that greets them is a simple wooden door. However, a burst of sparkling pink light smelling strongly of your favorite scent in the world blocks your way forward, taking the form of a quite gorgeous looking woman. Depending on the individual person, her appearance is quite different; whatever you might find most attractive in a woman, be it platonically or romantically, that's how you'll perceive her.

Despite her charming smile, it's obvious enough that she's trying to withold her anger, perfectly manicured fingernails tapping impatiently against her arm as she looks over the group with partially narrowed eyes. The woman sighs and brushes her hair back out of her face, placing her hands on her hips as she turns to address them.

"This was sooo not how I wanted today to go, being my special night and all. I don't usually run the place y'know, how do you think that is gonna look to other people with you sillies screwing everything up? That I can't even handle an itty bitty fighting tournament, puhlease!"

Her smile has evaporated into annoyance at this point, and she waves her hands at them as if to make them all disappear out of her sight.

"I'll give you one chance to leave before you make me really angry, okay? You wouldn't want to make me really angry, would you?"

The woman bats her eyelashes at the group before giving them a heart-throbbing wink.

Continue on?

>Yes
>No

Yes

[a_gentle_boy]

"...Um."

It smells vaguely like the scent of sunflowers, but being thirteen, Lucas wasn't quite susceptible yet to attacks of this sort. ...She was much too old for him, anyway. He glances around at the assorted company briefly before responding.

"I'm sorry things aren't going well for you tonight, but... We can't just go back now without our friends."

A short pause before he continues on. "It would have been nice if you had asked us first if we wanted to participate - I'm sure a lot of people would've wanted to try. What if we came back and helped you set up a new tournament a little bit later?"

Yes

[puubuu]

Fattycakes gets the scent of the breeze from a lovely day. The woman before him appears to have a greenish glow to her, much like the Puffski Mother does.

"...Mama? No, wait, you're not Mama."

Well, at least he's aware of that. "Yeah! I agree with Puu- er, Lucas. There's got to be a nice way to fix this. Please don't be mad at us, pretty lady! We just want our friends back safe and sound!"

Yes

[all_wound_up]

This is a rather confusing set of sights and sounds for Nano. She's pretty sure they're nowhere near a kitchen, so why does she suddenly smell freshly cooked omurice?

Even more confusing is the woman's appearance. As far as female role models, there's no one Nano respects or loves more in the world than her best friends Yukko, Mio, and Mai - and the ringleader has somehow managed to remind her of all three at once.

"U-Um..."

It's a moment or two before she's ready to give any sort of response at all. She actually has to shake her head and rub her eyes first to bring her thoughts to the here and now.

"I'm very sorry, miss, but we can't leave our friends in danger. I'm sure no one wants there to be any more fighting, so isn't there a way we can work things out peacefully?"

After the Ares and Aphrodite Battle: Back Room

[stringmods]

The room you enter is surprisingly plain, sacrificing interior design for utility. A desk with large piles of papers and scrolls sits there, and piles of books are scattered around the rest of the room. If you're observant, you'll notice that there's a back door leading somewhere else.

The most interesting thing, however, is the masked figure rifling through the pile of papers on the desk. The person suddenly looks up and, realizing they've been spotted, takes out a gem, activates it, and disappears before anyone else can make a move.

However, it looks like they forgot to snatch whatever they were looking through, as the papers are still on the desk. How fortiutous!

[a_gentle_boy]

"...I thought this was the way down to the tournament area."

Lucas frowns slightly as they continue down the path to the end, only to be met with a relatively nondescript door.

"Or... Was the entrance on the other side? This must be where the two of them planned out the tourna -- Oh!"

In an instant, the figure in the room vanishes, though the boy takes a few futile quick steps inside. Lucas slows his pace, though he continues to make his way towards the desk.

"...Was he trying to borrow something? I hope we didn't frighten him."

[puubuu]

"I dunno, he looked kinda shady. I bet this is important stuff!" Fattycakes follows Lucas to the desk and immediately starts gathering up some of the papers. "Um... does anyone have a bag? We oughtta bring this back and have a smart person look at it! If we can't tell what it says ourselves, of course." He looks around the room. "Maybe the books are important, too. We should grab as much as we can."