destinystrings | Troops Come Marching In

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Troops Come Marching In

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!"

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"Yeah let's just... go."

Still super awkward okay.

The most awkward. Kotoha and Arthur will just sort of stare at Otoha for a bit before moving out.

"Y-yeah, let's get a move on. The others aren't going to save themselves, after all," Rock states, trying to defuse that big pile of awkward without letting on how worried he is about the people inside.

Mostly Blues and Daichi, but he's allowed to have his biases.

Ruri nods and keeps mapping as they go.

"It comes to mind that perhaps we should ask the next monster for directions."

[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.]

Edited 2013-08-03 22:45 (UTC)

Kotoha just sort of stares, nonplussed.

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

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.

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

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."

... Seriously guys. What even.

"What kind of idiots do you think you are?" Stupid punks - not even punks, really. He's totally willing to pound their faces in.

"Hoooo! While Michel appreciates your snazzy intros, you still have a long way to go! He understands that you gotta fight for love...that's what he did for Miyabi, and if it means punching you two, he'll do it as well! We're here to rescue our friends and that's that!"

Oh great, someone was making this over-dramatic theater even worse. Maybe he just felt like he got upstaged.

"Can't we just talk this out?" Rock steps forward so he can be seen past the other, taller members of the group. The statement is a bit contradictory, given that he's wearing combat armor, but he's pretty sincere. "Mister Michel is right, to a degree - we just want to rescue our friends, with as little trouble as possible."

The twins stared at all five of them, mouths agape like they simply could not understand what was going on.

"Wait you're not..."

"...you don't want to fight us?"

"But humans like fighting right?!"

"Yeah! like that blue haired guy said! FIGHTING FOR LOVE!!!"

"We can't...talk this out! We're supposed to fight but you need to challenge us! That's what we've been told to do!!" The voice was whiny and pretty pathetic sounding. In unison, they did their Bruce Lee Routine again.

> FIGHT?

> REFUSE?

> OFFER SOMETHING ELSE?

Edited 2013-08-03 23:50 (UTC)

Ruri just stares, aiming the FULL FORCE of her deadpan at them

"Perhaps we can negotiate. Fighting can waste a lot of energy and I have been told that its bad luck for a hero of justice to fight if his introduction has been messed up."

Kotoha smiles, holsters her gun, and steps forward.

"Listen, boys, you really want to take this offer, okay? Let me lay it out for you: you're outnumbered, first of all - there's eleven of us and two of you. Tall, Dark, and Brooding over there - " she makes a gesture at Otoha " - is pissed, I think you stole his boyfriend or something, the glam rocker has a ridiculously strong Persona, and I personally have a team of fully combat-trained Pokemon that have defeated actual, literal gods. It's not that we aren't willing to fight, it's just that...well, we'd stomp you like freshly-hatched Lillipups. And I don't know about you, but I'm not really in the habit of kicking puppies. Now, I get that you want to make your parents happy, but you've got to think - do you think they'd be happy if you were hurt? Our first priority is getting our friends back, you see - if we show up and you're injured, your parents will probably try to fight us, right? And then, not only will you have lost, you'll be responsible for your parents getting hurt too, because we will not be stopped. So here's our offer, made in good faith: let us through, and we'll do our very best to just grab our friends and leave. You won't get hurt, your family won't get hurt, and everyone is happy. So what do you two cuties have to say, hm?"

"...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?"

At Ruri's comment Eros seriously thought about it.

"She is right about that...although we're more of heroes of love and not justice, you kno--"

Then he burst out laughing at Kotoha before he could go on. Silly humans, thinking they could be threatening like that.

"Hurt our parents? Honey you can't be serious!"

"Yeah she's got that whole trying to be threatening angle down pretty good."

"Too bad the others are here to listen to this. Shit! They'd be laughing their asses off."

A teleportation spell later, both twins stood in front of them, Eros leaning on the other, his arms crossed. At least they knew how to react in this case, and were milking it for all it was worth.

"Look, you ain't talkin' just to any demons! Why do you think the city got into an agreement with our family? We aren't just the typical Jack Frosts you run into the street. You might have fought actual, literally gods..."

"...but persona or not..."

They stood upright again, and in unison shifted their bow and arrows for golden submachine guns.

"We run this underground!"

Unfortunately it looked like Kotoha's talk had given them an excuse to fight back.

"...but we did ruin our intro."

"...Dammit! Should we see what the others think then?"

"Yeah I guess soo..."

"Man I was so pumped for this...I spent all day polishing my gun--"

"They don't need to know that either!"

Edited 2013-08-04 01:12 (UTC)

"He's not my boyfriend!"

... Ahem. Right. Composure. Otoha just chuckles at the boys, drawing his sword, all easy violence now. He can handle threats. He can also handle people who think they run places but are sorely mistaken.

"Demons, gods, whatever the hell you are - get out of my way. We've got a job to do and we're going to do it. So just start running and I might not use your faces to sharpen my sword on."

Kotoha glances over at Otoha with an apologetic expression.

"Ah, sorry, didn't realize you weren't out."

Looking thoughtful now.

"Really, you shouldn't resort to violence, you know? I mean, look at them - they're obviously just teenybopper idol types that think they're tough. They are making kung-fu noises with their mouths, for Arceus' sake. They're dorks."

With that, she decides to address the twins again.

"Look, I get you think you're tough and all, I really do! But is pride seriously something worth risking your life for?"

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!"

"Hey! Can we all just cool it here for a minute? Don't underestimate Shozo and Naoki! And you two! Don't underestimate us either..."

Eikichi was no stranger to those types of threats. He'd been in a school of delinquents after all, and had studied numerous anime and movies about that type of interaction. Clearly he was an expert at this. He also had a feeling the demons had watched their share of movies too, and fighting for love aside, there was something off about them.

"...not to mention you guys forgot to remove your safety locks on your guns."

They were trying way too hard.

"But hey! Warriors of love right? What type of demons would you be, if you deny this man's true heart?"

...sorry dude but he was going to run with it.

"I'm not a human," Rock starts. "I'm a robot - a lab assistant. I don't like fighting, but I'll do it if I have to," he continues, tone growing rather serious. "You call yourselves warriors of love, but from what I've experienced in my time being active, you know nothing of it. Someone who fights for love wouldn't kidnap innocent people! And if you won't stand aside..."

He raises his right arm, buster at the ready and begins to charge it.

"Then I'll fight you. I don't care who you are - you've put our friends and family in danger!"

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?"

Ruri just sighs again and looks at them with the same irritated look a playground teacher may look at squabbling 5 year olds and shakes her head.

"Ok, you are gods. Gods are not invincible as for example Zeus was so afraid of being overthrown like his father that he swallowed Metis before she could give birth, or another example being the Norse end of the world situation. There is also the issue of lack of tactical data. Your guns for example. Given that model of side arm and your posturing I would assume that they have ammunition that is capable of injuring not only mere mortals but gods as well, yet in an underground facility like this you may have neglected to note the high chance of ricochet which could lead to friendly fire incidents EVEN if the safety was off."

She walks out a bit, "Then there is the issue of us to consider. You don't know much about us. For all you know I could be the princess of the nation that subjugated the entire country of Greece on my world without loosing a single soldier. This is true."

She pats Michael on the shoulder and shrugs. "Are you certain this man here isn't the most skilled demon negotiator of his world? Are you certain that if this man puts is hind to it he can't amass an army of demons that could flood this place with their own breed of stupid dancing and headache inducing nonsense?"

She moves in front of Rock, "This robot for all you know could have been involved in a plot on his world to develop a doomsday weapon that destroyed all gods and magic to give science the ultimate superiority."

She moves in front of Yosuke, "This man could be the son of the gods of Vengeance and Retribution on his world, who will not ascend to his parents' side until he is responsible for punishing a million guilty souls. That and you took his friend making it personal."

She then walks in front of Kotoha and looks at her. "Perhaps Kotoha here has made pacts with 6 of her world's most ferocious beast gods and at the snap of a finger can release them to feast upon divine essences to grow in power."

She walks back to her position and shrugs. "You are lacking a certain amount of information and yes, we knew that you were powerful. That's exactly why the town chose to negotiate as opposed to send an attack force. Knowing that we know that would you assume we would come down here incapable of defending our own interests?"

Lucina looks visibly startled to see the woman in front of her - she knows it's very much impossible to see Lady Tiki, of all people, at the end of the maze. She's not even in Hinoto-Ri - is she? Shaking her head clears her head at least, but she can't deny that the resemblance is there. Actually, the lady's starting to look like her mother, too...

Her face hardens, keeping focused. Whatever's going on, it's probably one kind of trick or another. She straightens her back, nodding to agree with the rest of her team mates.

"The citizens trapped here tonight are important to the rest of us. We won't be able to return unless they are with us, unharmed - so as the others have said, perhaps a compromise could be reached?"

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Page 4 of 8

Troops Come Marching In

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

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Team 2 - NANO - Final Destination -- Ringleader

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Fight

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NEGOTIATE! - IE Something else

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