OPEN MAIN STORY Cosmic Madness -- Conflict in the Lands Between

[Wade von Mackensen]

PREVIOUSLY ON THE EVRENSEL CONFLICT​

Chaos! It is rampant across the multiverse. On dozens of worlds, a strange catastrophe has plagued them. A beam of light, like a laser being shot down from the heavens, would smash into their worlds with the force of a hydrogen bomb. As the shockwave would ripple for miles, the blast would emit the light into a sphere of blinding white, as though the whole world was about to be scorched into nothing but atoms. Yet, those engulfed by it would not be destroyed. Instead, they were thrown across the cosmos. Time and space passed by at light speed, entire galaxies whisking by in the blink of an eye, but when they finally reached the end of this transdimensional trip, they would find themselves lost and scattered across a dead planet.

Earth, to be precise. It had been ravaged by war, and humanity had been brought to the brink of extinction. Monsters roamed the old metropolitan cities, while bandits and wastelanders took control of what little remained. But, the human species, like the cockroaches they were, still clung to life. They had begun to rebuild piece by piece, starting with a city along the Aegean Sea coast of Greece, and forming a coalition of surviving civilizations into one super government, aimed at retaking the Earth. Along with that, nomadic tribes that survived off the scarred land worked in unison to develop themselves into city states, government by their own laws. The coalition government, the United Republics of Earth, believed scattered beings to be the cause of the Earth's destruction, and humanity's downfall. All scattered beings will either be captured or executed on sight.

How did this happen? Why were they all dragged through space? What happened to their homes? Who was responsible? Such questions could only be found by exploring the remains of this Ruined Earth...

---

Across the barren Tundra of Texas, newly arrived scattered would find themselves stuck in a blizzard. They had woken up inside stasis pods, which looked to have fallen from the atmosphere of the Earth, but someone had freed them. A voice had called out to them, telling them to awaken from their sleeping confinements. When exploring their frigid environment, their rescuer was nowhere to be seen. They would be found by a large envoy of nomadic soldiers, scouting out to find parts from the fallen debris and any other 'scattered' goodies still usable. They were brought back to their town, 'Old Armadillo,' but not before being attacked by a legion of crazed mad-men and militia soldiers that were attempting a raid.

They were swiftly beaten back, thanks to the might and combined efforts of the scattered, and for saving countless lives, were treated as heroes. With the towns skeptics about scattered now silenced for the time being, the heroes were introduced to the rest of the scattered they had saved from the wild tundra. It was a military encampment, based within one of the old mines across town, made up of nearly a hundred scattered from dozens of worlds. There was the earth Bender, Toph, who had made the mines easier to navigate and more roomy for everyone. Oakyli, a doctor and camp surgeon of the plant species Sylvari. And acting leader of this ensemble was the legendary Adrian Carton de Wiart. They weren't the only scattered battalion, either. There were several others, located across the globe, and working together to find different means of escaping this world and rescuing their counterparts from danger. This ragtag army was given the name 'The Scattered Corps.'

While Adrian could explain what happened to this world, and the current state of it, he lacked the answer for 'why' and 'who.' But did have leads that could give them those answers. The would-be raiders belonged to a being called 'Godrick,' who had caused troubles for the nomadic tribe over the last several months. A cult had been created around him for his power of 'grafting,' and with the aid of his own personal military soldiers, had been trying to expand his control over the land, only to be thwarted by the nomads each time. Evidence suggested not only was Godrick another scattered like them, but that he was somehow able to travel between this world and his own. And they had pinpointed where he was on the map. An old military base just along the Panhandle of the state, where the border between it and Oklahoma met.

If he had the means to escape this world, then they would take it from him. But, as you might imagine, things would not be as simple...

COSMIC MADNESS
CONFLICT IN THE LANDS BETWEEN

Starring:

Oliver -- @BazusoTheGrey
Yua Yaiba / Kamen Rider Valkyrie -- @Hymeno Ran
Girania Agdyne -- @Girania the Knightess
V1 -- @thesuprememachine
Jill Valentine -- @Goonfire
Chika Kobayashi -- @Otomos
Ziv -- @LenxKaitoYaoi


​

---

Sheppard Air Force Base. That was the name of it. As the United States struggled with the invading scattered arrivals in the early days of the invasions, it was retrofitted as a base of operations for major personnel. But, once the US became disorganized and eventually collapsed, it was overrun by the scattered that invaded. Though they had been long gone by the time Godrick's men had taken it over. Old, rusted planes sat on the buried and crumbling runways, and the hangars were collapsing from the lack of care. One was still standing, however. Modified by Godrick's cultists into a fort with lookout towers, and the doors locked tight.

De Wiart had ordered a full scale attack on the fort once it was found by his scouts. Although, strangely, they had reported to him the place took recently abandoned. No patrols, no watchers on the towers, the only thing they had to do was open the doors. He took no chances, though. With aid from the other scattered battalions, Adrian built up a fighting force to take the base. Even if Godrick and his men weren't there, they would likely return to it thanks to its strategic value in his expansion across the territory. When the time came to attack, they charged in full force.

Only to be met with no resistance at all. No one was home. Why?

An answer lay inside. As when the hangar doors were forced open, they would all be met with the astonishing sight of what floated gently in the center of the place.

​

 

[Goonfire]

Jill Valentine​

It was a mutual stroke of luck when the Scattered Corps found a wounded and hypothermic Jill Valentine in the snow. Once she recovered, it was easy enough for her to join the Corps and requisition tools for her specialties; 'masters of unlocking' and EOD specialists were apparently rare, even with a group as diverse as this. A two-for-one package with Delta Force training was like a unicorn, then.

When the time came, Jill was at the front, Skorpion at the ready. She swept the base, cracking locks and searching for signs of life. There was nothing, except...

"A floating crystal?" she managed, brow furrowed. "General, are you seeing this?"

Another moment passed. "It doesn't seem dangerous... yet." She knew a thing or two about danger by now; with the many humans and humanoids deposited, there were also plenty of monsters and hostile forces at work. Members of both sides wielded powers that weren't always obvious, so it paid to remain guarded. It was for that reason she didn't lower her weapon. The attached laser sight shined brightly, yet the red dot didn't show on the surface or refract. "Look at that," Jill murmured as she studied it from afar. "It swallows the light..."

 

[Wade von Mackensen]

~~GM~~

"Yes, I see it, Sergeant," de Wiart answered, walking up beside Jill, "I'm not blind in both eyes."

By no means should de Wiart have come. He was a man in his 60s, suffering from dozens of wounds and injuries over the course of his long military career, lacked one of his eyes, and was by far the least experienced when it came to supernatural and superhuman elements the rest of his regiment had faced back on their home worlds. But, believing an invisible commander was not a source of inspiration for troops, along with the importance of the role model of the well-behaved and disciplined officer truly was, he insisted upon going. The deeds of a commander could make or break morale, and given they were all stranded on this world, he believed the danger was well worth the support he would give to the men and women of the Corps.

His officers accepted his decision, but forced him to wear at least a kevlar vest for his own protection. He put it on while in camp, and on the journey here, threw it out into the snow to be buried. 'It was too cumbersome,' he would tell everyone. While the others searched the hangar for signs of the enemy, they would find nothing. The place had been picked clean and left with nothing. There was only the crystal inside this building.

Why? There were no signs of battle or a struggle, they had intentionally packed up and moved everything, but there were also no signs outside of movement of any kind. No one came in or out. It was obvious, even to Adrian, it had something to do with this floating stone three times his size. And, without saying a word to anyone, began walking towards it; MK IV Revolver in hand. The energy it emitted felt warm, like basking in the sun shine on a sunny afternoon, yet sent a strange tingling sensation across the skin as the particles of red moved across him. Showing no fear or hesitant, he holstered his weapon, and reached out with to touch it.

Within the blink of an eye, de Wiart vanished. A red glow absorbed him, and not a trace of the old man was left.

 

[Goonfire]

​

Sergeant... It had been a long time since anyone identified Jill by her military rank, but it suddenly became relevant once more upon her joining the Scattered Corps. During her time on S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, she was simply an officer, while the BSAA labeled her a Special Operations Agent.

Jill had little to say on the matter of de Wiart's refusal to wear kevlar. On most of her missions, she didn't don armor, since flexibility was essential in a world with monsters that shredded steel. This was a similar situation with an added layer of complexity: magic, the stuff of fantasy. Even then, the General had sustained many crippling wounds in wars past, so it was her self-imposed duty to look out for him.

... And then he did something reckless.

As Jill noted aloud the odd behavior of her laser, this man stepped right up to it and touched it, only to vanish before she could protest. Staring in disbelief, she tried to comprehend what just happened.

Godrick and his forces were nowhere to be seen, and now de Wiart had disappeared just as mysteriously. "This has to be a portal." If it didn't vaporize him and Godrick, then both were on the other side... wherever that may be. There was little time to think it over. "I'm going in. Who's with me?"

 

[thesuprememachine]

The creature of steel made it's way forward. It's trusty revolver in hand as it was able to fetch it's old weapons while they were in the midst of the Tundra. It readied it's composure, loosening it's joints. V1 was a severely erratic and violent individual, for when it saw something that could bleed that wasn't it's fellow Scattered Corps, it made it bleed. From struggling stragglers on the brink of death to local wildlife, it drained all of their blood. But don't worry. It saves some meat. With a chunks of bullet pieces on the side.

And for it's armor, it didn't wear any. It too has a similar reason as whom was referred to as "Sergeant" or "Jill Valentine." Ofcourse it never elaborated upon this, but it didn't need to. From it's show of elaborate violence to hunting, it moved at top speeds no other machine could. Dashing in the air, sliding without losing it's velocity, jumping off walls, leaping far distances, it could really do it all. So, for it to do something reckless like their General had done just now wouldn't be unexpected. However, nontheless, it wouldn't be a wise idea.

V1 wasn't known for it's practical ideas. It was known for making impractical ideas work. Give it anything, and it'll make it a weapon.

It's leaped forwards, jumping and into a slide. It almost swan dived into the red crystal.

>>"RED CRYSTAL-1."
>>"20 WAYS TO KILL SOMEONE."​

 

[BazusoTheGrey]

Oliver blankly watches as the robot decides to answer their "sergeant's" question by straight up just power sliding into the floating wack ass crystal. Honestly, the situations he was finding himself in this week were downright surreal. Hell, he didn't even know how he got here, just vague recollections of leaving a submarine and deciding to work with these guys for some reason. Himself and that, uh, girl that wore the yellow and white outfit. The one that picked up the note from the starved dead guys. Yai Yuba or something?

Yua Yaiba. Dunno when, but we asked her for her name.

It is likely that you are suffering from memory loss. The cause of this is because you have forgotten to replenish your head-piece's supply of brain fluid. This is due to a lack of supply and a lack of available targets to source from. Note however, that there are several human beings surrounding you that present possible points of resupply. However, your unwillingness to break professionalism by using your 'coworkers' prevents their deaths. Keep that in mind.

Eh, you'll be fine, gone on for longer days with a lot less. Let's just do our jobs and get this going, yeah Oliver? Hey, maybe you'll get a chance to top up in ther-

HE WILL

Ah, well, that's ominous.

Sighing lightly at himself, the Fixer casually began to stride toward the crystal, turning slightly toward the blonde chick and giving her a shrug as he did so, "Kinda redundant to ask that, don't you think? Our boss already walked inside so not much else to do but follow."

Heh, yeah. Hopefully this goes better than the last time we teleported blind.

With his trusted sword perching comfortably on his shoulder, the Fifth Grade Fixer reaches out toward the crystal and vanishes in a flash of red light.

 

[Wade von Mackensen]

When Oliver vanished, a soldier cried out, "are you out of yours minds?!" He was dressed in a Hazardous Environmental Combat Unit uniform with urban camo, and was bewildered by everyone's brazenness to touch the stone without any safety protocols. "That thing could be vaporizing everyone who touches it! Hell, it probably is giving us some sort of radiation poisoning from all the energy readings." The sensors did go crazy when scanning the stone; the meters going right to max once they were pointed at it.

"Until further notice, no one is touching this thing! We're gonna man a parameter and--"

"Belay that order!" A familiar voice to Jill could call out from behind her, having returned from searching the nearby hangar to investigate any signs of activity in them. The man in question was the one who save Jill when she showed up in the Tundra. He and his own squad of men were out scouting recent activity of 'Scattered' sightings, and sure enough, stumbled upon Jill as she was entering into the early stages of hypothermia. They brought her back to town, and with the help of Oakyli, nursed her back to health.

The man's name?



Bond. James Bond
​

"Kapor, Stern, Wagner, return to Armadillo. Inform them of our findings, then bring back reinforcements to strengthen our position here in case Godrick and his men come back. Take up defensive positions as best you can in case they come from outside or in here. Ackermann, Steiner, you men stay behind to watch the stone. Anyone comes back from it looking to pick a fight before more of our men make it, make a hasty retreat back to town. The rest of us are going in," Bond ordered and informed the garrison.

"But sir--"

"If this is a door," Bond interrupted, "then the only way to see what's on the other side to cross through it. And I trust Sergeant Valentine's judgment completely in this situation," he finished saying by looking right to Jill with a playful and cheeky smirk. "Unless... you have reasonable doubt about trying to cross over."

 

[LenxKaitoYaoi]

Truly, things have been rather hectic ever since he woke. Ziv was lost in a whole new sense of the word. How he even ended up in those strange pods was confounding as it were, never mind the voice that woke him, but where he ended up was just as puzzling a mystery to him. And he hardly had time to contemplate any of it.

He was at least somewhat thankful the locals not only found them, but were willing to take them somewhere they might be able to at least call shelter to get their bearings. Or he had hoped. The attack happened rather unprovoked as far as he could tell, and they weren't easy to fend off by any means. He was grateful to the others, since they were adept at handling the raiders.

With the discovery of this 'Godrick' person's abilities to travel, their destination seemed obvious enough. Going back home was one thing, if in part because he liked to be able to let his parents know he was alright, but the revelation of being in a different world was a heavy weight. And one he thought to consider may make his search harder.

He was on guard as they approached the base, ready for guards or anyone to be calling alerts the moment they were noticed, but he probably caught on faster than the others that… there simply wasn't anyone here. He lowered his guard as they entered, raising a brow to the sight they were greeted with.

Jill's observation made him curious. It did seem to be just… absorbing whatever was around it. And then the 'general' did something incredibly dumb. He didn't even have the time to protest. The moment he was going to speak up, the man had already vanished. He blinked, speechless by the brazen action and frankly the sudden disappearance. This explained the lack of anyone here…

He looked to Jill when she spoke first, raising a brow. "How can you be so sure?" He asked. It looked more like the man was erased from existence before their very eyes. He jolted when the odd being from before rather quickly slid towards the crystal and vanished as well, shuddering. That one was already unsteady to start with, though…

The last person he expected to actually follow that was one of the seemingly similarly level-headed of the group, as Oliver calmly walked towards and reached out to disappear as well. Again, Ziv was speechless. He gestured to the soldier in agreement.

Before he could comment, Bond spoke up. He shook his head when he said they were all going in. "He's right. We need confirmation of what that thing is before we continue to recklessly just go into it." He stated in urgency. "How are you so sure it's a portal or door?" And how is everyone else just okay with doing it regardless??

 

[Otomos]

The voices wanted Chika to shatter the crystal. They wanted her to do a great many things that would bring detriment and harm to the people around her. They were the reason she stayed away from them. The spirits may grow even more restless, and make her an enemy to these people. The worst case scenario was that she would end up causing another major incident like Sakura did in her world. She refused to release demons by giving into the will of the fallen. That being said, she could not simply ignore them either. They cried out for release. They wished to shed blood, and force others to suffer as they had when they died. Thus she had volunteered herself to accompany this group. They were chasing after a retreating army. Said army was nowhere when they had reached this place, which greatly upset the bloodlust spirits within Chika. She would have to place hope in the use of this giant crystal. She had to believe that it was a way to reach the battlefield.

She observed the individuals discuss and interact with the crystal. Two of them had already disappeared. Considering the others that had touched it weren't made into thin air upon contact, Chika would come to the conclusion that it was safe. Even if she was wrong, and the last two who jumped in were dead, at least she wouldn't have to listen to the voices anymore.

She walked forward, passing the cautious members of the group. She placed her hand on the large floating crystal.

"Battle... Awaits... I will... go..."

Heedless of their past words, and ignoring any reactions they might have had, Chika allowed the crystal tote her. She vanished in a flash.

 

[Girania the Knightess]

Girania

Girania was glad to have clothes again. In fact, she was glad to be armed again. Performing any of her usual actions took a toll when you're cold and have to use pure memory to execute techniques. That being said, she could not have done any more to help the sick back in the tundra settlement after using her magic and medical knowledge to help them. As far as she knew, they were still unconscious by the time she agreed to join in the search for those attackers from when she woke up.

They had tracked them down to this giant red crystal, and Girania had immediately concluded that it was some otherdimensional variant of Aetheryte. It didn't necessarily use aether, and definitely wasn't the usual color that she had been used to seeing, but she could feel it. The energy permeating from this thing flowed like an Aetheryte crystal's.

Going up to it, she took a moment to study it closer. The similarities were intriguing! Though there was no proper equipment to focus its purpose, it still moved energy and matter using a path! The only differences were that it could do this without the user needing to attune to another Aetheryte elsewhere, and that the path is seemingly headed beyond this dimension. She would have to thank V1 and Oliver when she reached the other end. They jumped in recklessly, but that allowed her to make these observations, and determine some of its functions!

"It really is a teleporter!", Girania exclaimed. "The reckless guys should be fine. With the way this energy is acting, you would need the proper equipment and machinery to even come close to weaponizing it."

She smiled at the thought of studying this artifact some more, then realized that she was on a different job, and the others didn't know anything about it.

"Oh. Uh… The crystal is emitting an energy that harmlessly and instantly transfers something from one spot to another. In this case, it seems like it specializes in interdimensional transference."

 

[Goonfire]

​

More members of the unit vanished as others debated the safety of the crystal. Jill couldn't blame people for having doubts. She nodded in thanks as Bond piped up in her defense and, more importantly, in favor of proceeding. Since he gave her the floor, she spoke with the intention of reassuring the divided team.

"Think about how materials behave when an intense light hits it," she told Ziv, pointing her gun at the cove—the point at which the concrete floor and the metal hangar wall met. Even as the dot shifted between the wall and floor, the red light reflected faintly onto the adjacent surface. "The light should penetrate, reflect, or refract to some degree. It doesn't reflect or refract with this crystal, and it didn't pass through, so where's the light going if not elsewhere?"

Her eyebrows raised as Girania blurted out information on the energy it emitted. By the sound of it, she had some familiarity with this type of phenomena, and it supported her hypothesis. "Good to know. I'm trusting you on this." Taking a deep breath, Jill looked back to the others. "Be ready for anything." With that final word of caution, she touched the crystal.

 

[Wade von Mackensen]

~~GM~~

"On your mark, Sargeant," Bond commented to Jill before she touched the stone, keeping his Walter PPK close to his chest. Touching the crystal would give off a warm sensation, like the rays of the sun on a hot afternoon day in summer. The world around them all would disappear into a red and white tinted flash of light, and with a heavy gust of force propelling everyone forward, the stone disintegrated into nothing; fragmenting into small specks of rocky sand that passed them by like shooting stars before disappearing into the distance.

The trip was intense, just like when they were all thrusted onto the ruined earth from their homeworlds. But their landing would not be as violent. Ground would form under their feet first, then the red and white light would fade away like fig dissipating to reveal the rest of the world.

Limgrave​

They were atop a hill that overlook the land. It was hard to make our what lay beyond the church because of the forest, but a road was visible, and looked cleared of any animals or people. The only thing between where they stood and the church was an ongoing battle between a large knight and... A boat?

---

One minute, you're home. Perhaps you are doing something of great importance, like saving the world from a great evil, or stopping some super-villain from destroying it, or even catching a robber before they can escape justice. Or maybe you have finished your quest, finally finding peace from just a long journey and preparing to kick up your feet. Maybe you are on the verge of death, avenging the loss of a loved one to some vicious brute or sadist. Maybe you are beginning that journey that will forever change you. Whatever your story is, or was, it will now become forever altered.

Something suddenly starts to feel different. The surrounding air feels strange, like there's a build up of static electricity. Your skin begins to tingle, while your feet no longer feel planted firmly against the ground, as though gravity is beginning to lighten. The ground vibrates, and small ripples of air begin flowing, at first as a calm breeze, but then growing more intense in strength. To the point where they become shockwaves visible to the naked eye. Whatever is causing it can be seen in the sky.

You feel like you're falling through the air; so fast you can't even open your eyes without them stinging by both the g-force of your flight and blinding light around you. Whatever you can see is faint, but you can just about notice the passing of stars, planets, supernovas, even black holes. Space is passing you by at the speed of light. Your center of gravity is completely gone, and all you can do is be thrown around by the incredible force that flings you across the galaxy.

All of reality blasts by you, and when it feels like your body is about to be ripped apart… You come out the other end

The USCGC Taney would land right in the middle of the knights path. And he was not quite so friendly looking.

​

It would charge upon her at full speed, it's halberd aiming to impale the the old ship turned woman. (You don't say that every day.) As the others watched on, a figure would appear behind them from out of the brush, where there was an entrance to some old crypt. "Well well," he spoke up, making his presence known, "yet more scattered appearing through the stone, are we?"

​

"Come to the lands between in search of Godrick, are we? Well, I'm afraid your element of surprise was ruined by your friend appearing in his castles dining hall. Made quite a stir, it seems, trying to fight back against his grafted minions. Godrick wasn't expecting you to come through so quickly. He's been too busy amassing his troops, what with the invaders right at his doorstep. And while he can't stop you from coming through the stone, he can at least put you somewhere out of the way," the white masked man explained. "But, there are ways to entering his domain still, even as his men repair the defenses. Though, you will need help getting there first. And I would suggest finding other scattered trapped here that are friendly to your cause. Such as the old woman down below."

 

[Goonfire]

​

Jill cried out as the sensation hit her again—accelerating through space, reaching what she imagined was the speed of light. She squinched her eyes shut, ready for the impact... but it never came.

The crystal's magic dropped the Scattered Corps gently in a mountainous region of some sort. The scenery was breathtaking, but there was little time to comprehend it all. Her eye was drawn to movement down below—a knight on horseback, clashing with someone. As Jill knelt down to adjust the scope of her rifle for a quick look, an unfamiliar voice took her by surprise.

"De Wiart landed there? Where is he now?" It had only been a moment between the General's entry and hers. The masked stranger spoke as if it happened hours or even days prior.

Still, there were more pressing matters. Jill turned her attention back to the fight nearby. Taking aim, it seemed the other party was a woman of some sort. "Yeah, she's definitely scattered."

The Sergeant's brain rapidly made snap judgments. A 7.62mm round placed at center-mass was likely to knock the horseman off his mount, and so she gave him a small lead, guessed the windage, and...

BANG!

 

[Rolling Steel Brick]

The USCGC Taney would land right in the middle of the knights path. And he was not quite so friendly looking.

It would charge upon her at full speed, it's halberd aiming to impale the the old ship turned woman. (You don't say that every day.)

​

Oh, what the fuck!

Taney didn't know what happened or where she is or what was going on.

---

Minutes ago, she was on the deck of her steel hull, moored in its pier in Baltimore harbor since 1986. She had watched the gathered summoning party - a military orchestral band, officers of significant rank, former sailors that crewed her and their families, various religious personnel - finish the ritual that would turn her from a spirit to person. Nothing had gone wrong as far as anyone knew, the ritual worked for numerous museum ships before and it would work for Baltimore's museum ships. The ritual was a success as a part of the harbor, not too far from the crowd, glowed brightly. As expected, the shipgirls that made up Baltimore's Historic Ships collection stood there - Torsk, Constellation, even Chesapeake showed up.

Issue was, as Taney realized a moment too late, that she herself was not there. She felt a pull that made her step off her deck and into the water, the call to action that many other shipgirls reported feeling before they were summoned. Something, however, had yanked her before she could touch the harbor waters to join her friends. It was not a pleasant experience as stimuli of all kind overwhelmed the shipgirl and the fairy crew inside of her; sights and scenes that were hard to describe passed by them, noises of some kind assaulted her ears, and her whole being screamed and begged for a semblance of order.

---

Then Taney found herself feeling grass and dirt, a sudden refuge from the feelings before. Before she could savor the sensations of actual touch and feel, her ears caught the heavy gallop of a horse. A massive armored war horse as the cutter-turned human saw with her eyes, with a rider equally as large and armored. A brilliant golden and decorated shield paired with the equally ostentatious polearm in their hands, its point directed towards Taney.

"Shit!" Taney first words as a person jumped out of her mouth. She didn't dwell on it, her body moving to respond to the danger. Despite Varre's words, Taney did not look old - light brown complexion on a slim build that broke just over five feet in height, one could call her as a teenager. What was old (from a certain perspective) was the blue uniform she wore, a vintage undress blue complete with a white cap; the work wear of a WW2 American sailor.

Visual Guide of the Undress Blues

Click on image to see other US Navy uniforms of WW2.

The strange contraption on the girl's back stood out greatly, made of various parts of a gleaming white ship - a smokestack funnel, a radar mast, parts of a superstructure, a naval gun; it looked like someone made a scale model boat, cut it up, and and attached it to the girl's waist. Even her shoes were not exempt, sporting ship propellers and rudders. This was, however, not a bizarre costume getup. For Taney, this was her rigging, the manifestation of her ship self and the tools she would use.

Namely, to defend herself from something that wouldn't look out of place in Lord of the Rings.

Still, there were more pressing matters. Jill turned her attention back to the fight nearby. Taking aim, it seemed the other party was a woman of some sort. "Yeah, she's definitely scattered."

The Sergeant's brain rapidly made snap judgments. A 7.62mm round placed at center-mass was likely to knock the horseman off his mount, and so she gave him a small lead, guessed the windage, and...

BANG!

There was a crack of a rifle. Taney's crew, squarely in general quarters, reported a gathering people close by and the source of the rifle report. Thankfully, whoever fired the shot aimed at the knight. Taney, however, moved to get out of the knight's charge. She was confident that she would survive the hit, but the sheer weight and momentum of the charging enemy would certainly rent her hull. Taney could feel her twin boilers, her "heart", heat up as she jumped out of the way, chunks of dirt and rocks sent flying as her legs dug into the earth.

The miniature M2s, mounted on spots around her waist and under her arms, chattered in anger. Although they appeared scaled down, they were far from toys. Dust and leaves kicked up as the distinctly loud reports of the fifty-calibers barraged the Tree Sentinel and their steed, tracers sparking and flying all over the place.

On Taney's right, a scaled down version of a Mk. 30 five-inch gun was yanked out of its place on the rigging. With the environment and range as is, Taney's fire control radar and computer were of little use. Instead, the cutter "switched" to manual control as she felt her fairy crew man the enclosed turret.

Wrapping her hand around a grip under the turret's base ring, Taney took aim at the enormous knight and steed, and let loose in an armor-piercing five-inch shell. In the blink of an eye, a cloud of dust and debris covered the surroundings as a bright plume of smoke and fire erupted from the cannon barrel.

B O O M !

 

[Hymeno Ran]

"This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown..."


Yua Yaiba/ Kamen Rider Valkyrie




Being sent to one world was strange enough, then ending up in another one?
Even stranger.

Yua made do though, she couldn't sit around all day, waiting for a chance to go home to suddenly appear before her. So, upon coming into a second new world, Yua did what she did best. She put her work as a fighter to use, either as herself- or Kamen Rider Valkyrie.
Today was one of those times.

Already armored up as Valkyrie already, Yua and the others had arrived at the location- only to be met with silence... another curious thing was that odd crystal at the center of it all. And damn it all- everyone kept touching it and disappeared only a mere moment after touching it! She was tempted keep others from touching it, they didn't know where those people ended up... assuming they were still alive.

A few others it seemed, shared her sentiments, alas, it seemed they would all go where the others ended up. So, pushing down her on anxious feelings, the masked young woman stepped forward- and pressed her gloved index finger on the crystal. And then she was traveling, traveling at such speeds that rivaled the way she first left her homeworld.


This one... this one reminded Yua of those fantasy worlds one could see in pictures, there was a strange beauty to it. A beauty neither she, nor the others could afford to enjoy sadly.


Yua had drawn her Shot Riser, not hesitating to fire off shots at the horseman charging at the others- the weapon her fellow fighter used looked like it would do the trick, but better safe than sorry. Especially when they had others to find when they chose to touch the crystal first. Honestly what were they thinking?!​

 

[LenxKaitoYaoi]

As Chika went through the portal as well Ziv sighed heavily and facepalmed. If this thing was obliterating them they just casually walked to their deaths. Did these people truly have that much faith in a random chance? Even he couldn't take that chance.

Then Girania spoke up and he looked at her curiously. She seemed quite excited by that announcement, but he was still confused as to how any of them were so certain of it. Her explanation did help garner a little less hesitance in him, at least. She seemed to know well what she was talking about, as opposed to blindly leaping in. That was more reassuring.

As Jill began to offer her reasoning he shrugged. It wasn't unbelievable, it was sound logic if anything. "With what I've seen so far, who the hell knows what can happen…" He offered. Logic didn't necessarily apply in half the things he's witnessed up until now, V1 was an example of that.

He let out a breath and shook his head. "Very well. I'll put my faith in you." If he dies because of this he will be pissed. Following after the others he walked up and reached out to the crystal. At first the warmth was soothing in a way, but it was short lived and he felt like he had been given whiplash.

Thankfully he landed easily, taking a moment to gather himself and the surroundings. Where were they now? He jumped, startled by the voice that came from behind- had he been less jarred he might have noticed them first.

And then they dumped a lot of information on them. Several things ran through his mind at the explanation. It hadn't been that long… So perhaps here time moves faster. Not the first time he's heard of it. As the others started attacking the knight he crossed his arms and observed it. There was little he could do since he was a mid-range fighter. Finding other scattered wasn't a bad idea. He was better off staying out of the way for this one, though.

 

[thesuprememachine]

It only took in a handful of words after it had heard there was something for it to kill. V1's large singular yellow eye snapped towards the knight. It hadn't even realized there was somebody it was supposed to "save" and it just saw an opportunity to kill something. V1 pulled out it's shotgun, ejected a core, then pulled out it's revolver and shot the core, sending itself flying towards the knight. Luckily, nobody had been close enough to get harmed by the explosion.

V1 materialized it's red arm, the Knuckle-Blaster. It readied it's claws as it materialized it's green arm, the Whiplash. It swung the cord of the Whiplash and the sharp blade tied onto it was sent flying towards the knight, causing it to pierce the armor and cling onto it. The supreme machine used the bullet from Jill's gun in combo with it's "Get over here!" attack so it would be easier to pull itself towards the knight.

Since the knight was much too heavy for it to just pick up with ease, it went to them rather than them going to it. As it neared the knight faster and faster, V1 then swung it's red arm.

The hit landed in the knight's stomach, right around where the sergeant's bullet landed, doing more damage than it would have with a normal punch. V1 knew since the knight had been in armor the punch itself wouldn't do much damage, but it wasn't the punch it was looking for.

It was the shockwave that it was looking for.

The punch created a small shockwave that was just enough to send the knight backwards for V1 to combo into with another attack. And one that should heave off the job.

The machine brought out it's revolver, switching to the Marksman variant. It flipped four coins into the air, which it kind of.. materialized? It wasn't clear from the distance. Trying to figure out how V1 worked was useless, anyways. Before each coin had even the chance to shimmer, V1 switched back to the Piercer variant and charged up a shot, a blue beam being released from the muzzle. The revolver shook in V1's hand, the energy preparing to be released, and then a string of blue light was sent exactly towards the coin.

Followed by a few harsh dings from the increasing velocity of the blue beam as it ricochetted of each coin, it was sent propelling straight into the knight's head.

 

[Girania the Knightess]

Girania​

The Viera teleported using th crystal as everyone else had, and expected to see a completely new place, different from where the crystal was. She got that, but apparently it came with a free giant knight and horse fight. Now, she wasn't one for brutality, but in her experience, giant foes such as that tend to tank a lot of explosive attacks. This was a foreign world, however. and she had no idea how much destructive force a being being that wasn't from her dimension would be able to take before things get messy. Unfortunately, she didn't want to go too easy, just in case they were every bit as durable as the creatures she has fought.

Girania's own contribution to the fight would be small, but likely more than enough, given how much destructive force was being used at the moment. She would simply sap a small portion of the knight's life energy away, and then sent it back with many times more volatile energy in the form of a Ruin IV spell. Not too big, not too destructive, regardless of what the complicated arcane geometry and draconic symbols appearing in front of her would imply.

​

(Above: Visual example of Ruin IV being cast)​

After sending the spell to home in on the knight and his steed, Girania put her book back, and walked over to the man in the white mask.

"Come to the lands between in search of Godrick, are we? Well, I'm afraid your element of surprise was ruined by your friend appearing in his castles dining hall. Made quite a stir, it seems, trying to fight back against his grafted minions. Godrick wasn't expecting you to come through so quickly. He's been too busy amassing his troops, what with the invaders right at his doorstep. And while he can't stop you from coming through the stone, he can at least put you somewhere out of the way," the white masked man explained. "But, there are ways to entering his domain still, even as his men repair the defenses. Though, you will need help getting there first. And I would suggest finding other scattered trapped here that are friendly to your cause. Such as the old woman down below."

"Thank you for the advice, stranger! Though, I'm not quite sure why you would choose to give us this advice. We don't even know each other! Could you perhaps tell me who you are, and what this place is? Since you know we're Scattered, I must assume you know of our situation."

The man in the white mask unnerved the rabbit lady. She knew nothing of him, but something in her felt a natural unease and distrust of the man in front of her. Perhaps it was because he was expecting them. Perhaps it was because he chose to help a random group of strangers as soon as they arrived. Or perhaps it was because there a chaotic battle happening right behind him, and he was standing there as if it just didn't exist. Still, he wen't through the trouble of at least saying hello, so it would be rude not to converse with him.

 

[Otomos]

To say that Chika was disappointed would be incorrect. Chika was more... upset. She had been one of the first ones to arrive, yet as soon as everyone saw the giant foe, they all had decided to attack it simultaneously. She thought that a fight was just what she needed to calm the spirits down, but given just how outnumbered the enemy was, and given the varied weapons and abilities the others had, even she knew that the initially daunting foe was doomed. It would take a miracle for him to survive, let alone fight back. At this point, Chika was sure that she was not going to even get close enough to execute him, so she would simply have to settle for participating.

She raised her masakari, and pointed it towards the Tree Sentinel. Perhaps the spirits will calm down if they were at least used in this fight. White mist appeared out of nowhere at her feet. It rolled up her body and onto her arm. Eventually the mist would crawl across the weapon before suddenly dispersing. From the Tree Sentinel's point of view, the spirits of fallen warrior of several lands would suddenly appear. They shouted and moaned in rage and pain. They would not hurt him, but their clawing and beating and pain would unnaturally eat away at his armor and body, making it much easier to slay him. They were intent on dragging the tree sentinel's own soul with them, and make it suffer as they do.

 

[BazusoTheGrey]

Once again, Oliver found himself engulfed in light. However, instead of the hazy peaceful feeling that he felt the first time, he instead could only charitably describe this experience as being tossed inside a building sized strobe light while some dipshit shook it around. It really didn't help that his senses were gone (The main downside of replacing your entire corporeal form) so the only thing he could really experience were the lights flashing incessantly in his face. Good news was that his various augs did in fact help with motion sickness. Thank the Wings for that.

It has been approximately twenty minutes since you first touched that crystal and been sent hurtling through this void. You have no data points to corroborate the following hypothesis, but you are pretty sure that it should not take you this long to reach your intended destination. Wherever that may be.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, now that we're thinking about it, was it really a good idea to just touch the fucking thing? I mean-

BE PATIENT FOR FUCKS SAKE JUST A MOMENT MORE

Dude. Seriously, I wish I was whatever the fuck you handle cause I'm feeling reaaaal unsure about our situation right now. Like, this reminds me way too much of that time whe-

SHUSH HERE IT IS THE GLORIOUS COMBAT AWAITS

Suddenly, the light show stopped and Oliver found himself standing behind what appeared to be some of his other coworkers. Looking past them, the fixer could see the bloody remains of what was probably some dude in a suit of armor. Oh and a horse he thinks. Is that what a horse looked like?

You cannot say for certain, but that might be a horse.

Whatever, there's also some dude in a mask that they're talking to.

FUCK

Yeah. Well, whatever it is that part of Oliver thinks was supposed to happen definitely isn't happening. Now before the rest of him decides to get uppity, he'll just ask, "So. Uh, what did I miss?"