Testy Test Thread 2.0

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Prologue
Let the Games Begin

Whether or not you chose to fear your mortality, it has been with you from the moment you were born--etched into your entire being. This looming, inevitable end waits in the shadows for every fleshly individual--and your time has finally come. Your heartbeat stalls, your vision blurs, and you feel every ounce of energy within you sapped by the very claws of death itself. Depending on your situation, you may even feel a pain traversing its way through your body, eventually leaving you numb and cold. You draw one last breath into your straining lungs, before your body ceases to function. Maybe, if you're lucky, you passed with loved ones at your side, managed not to suffer much, and found time to offer a quick prayer to whatever god you may have believed in. Or maybe not. Either way, you have died.

After passing on, a pure void of darkness is the first thing to greet you. You wander forward, into a seemingly endless abyss until you hear a voice in the distance.

"Jeez, the new arrivals are here already? I never even had a chance to sip my mornin' cup of joe. Do I really gotta take care of this, Josh?"

You wander closer, eventually finding yourself before a well-dressed man sporting a pair of sunglasses--despite the dark condition of this mysterious area. He continued speaking to himself as if he hadn't noticed your arrival. Upon further inspection, however, you could see that he had a phone pressed up against his ear and he was engrossed in a conversation with someone.

"Yeah, yeah, someone's gotta teach the newbie players the ropes, I know, but it ain't supposed to be the Producer's job. I know Coco can't do it anymore and neither can that Lord Death guy, but next time we really should try to find someone else to--"

The man cut himself off, finally glancing in your direction. "Oh shit, they're here. I gotta run. But hey, you owe me one for doing this." The man quickly slips his phone into his pocket and turns to greet you, a sheepish, crooked grin on his face.

"Yo! I'm guessing all of you are pretty confused right about now, huh? Eh, well, don't worry about it too much. For starters, my name is Sanae Hanekoma, call me Mr. H for short. It's my job to catch you guys up to speed. Hang tight."

The man snapped his fingers and the lights suddenly flickered on to illuminate the area. You instantly find yourself to be in a classy-looking Japanese waiting room, and you're not alone. A rather sizable group of people stands alongside you, a group of individuals who appear to be just as confused as you are. Mr. H begins to speak again.

"So, I have a proposition to offer each and every one of you in this room. All of you have recently died and are now in a world we like to call Underground Shibuya, inhabited by reapers of the afterlife and their leader, an angel referred to as the Composer. Normally, you would've gone to the afterlife connected to the universe you're from, however, all of you are exceptions to the rule. You are a few lucky souls who have been hand-picked from across the multiverse by the leader of this realm to participate in a game. This game will be a challenge of sorts; you must survive for seven days and will be given daily missions to complete. Should you survive until the very end and complete all your missions, your reward will be... a second chance at life."

The man grinned. "Sounds good, huh? Well, it ain't all sunshine and rainbows. If you lose, your soul is gone for good. There's also the little fact that you can't participate in this game without cost. If you wanna play the game, you gotta pay up. The price is... the thing you love most. But don't fret, if you win you'll actually get your entry fee back. So, based on the information you've learned so far, I'm gonna ask everyone who is interested in taking this challenge to step forward."

With hesitance or not, you inevitably step forward along with everyone else from the group who is interested.

"Heh, not bad. Looks like we got a decent turnout. Come over here," Mr. H instructed, gesturing for you and the other players to walk over to a desk in the room. Atop the desk, you will see a wide verity of pins of various colors and designs spread across its surface. "Fighting will be required in this game, but you won't be allowed the use of powers or equipment you had while you were alive. Instead, you can select three pins to use. Each pin contains an ability. If you want to know what each of them do, I'll try my best to explain."

After hearing a long winded explanation on all of the pins resting atop the desk, you select three. Once the entire group finishes this task as well, Mr. H passes out two more items to each individual in the group. The first item is a cell phone, a very simple flip phone that's design is rather unremarkable. Whether or not you know how to use a phone, knowledge regarding the device shoots through your mind when your hand rests upon it. Apparently, the phone will be the medium through which the reapers will send you your daily missions. The second item you receive is another pin, but this pin is different from the three you chose before; it's black, displaying a white skull design.

"That black skull pin ain't like your other ones," Mr. H began to explain. "It's called your player pin. It's like a special badge, showing off your status as a player. Don't lose it. If you do, your soul will be erased and it'll be game over for you."

He chuckled, suddenly rubbing the back of his neck. "Player pins used to have a power, the power to read the minds of others. Even though we intended the players to use that power for certain missions, they kinda abused it so we removed the power. I ain't complaining though. It's nice when things are simplified."

"Anyhow," Mr. H dropped his hand from his neck, "All of you are set to play the game. Ordinarily, I'd send ya straight to day one of the game and you'd get started right now. But this game is the first one we've had in a while. We reapers are gonna celebrate tonight with a party. All of you are invited, in fact. I'll take ya with me to a place where you can put on some fancy clothes if you wanna. My treat."

With a snap of Mr. H's fingers, yourself, along with the rest of the group would be at a new location--a large department store in Shibuya. For a while, you're allowed free rain of the store to look around or even change into a new outfit.

A bit of time passes, and Mr. H calls you and the rest of the group back to him. He leads all of you to another waiting room where you waited for what felt like hours before it was finally time for the party to begin. You, along with the others, wait for what felt like hours. Your group was told by Mr. H that they were not allowed to leave the room until given the proper cue to do so. If you, or any of the others, chose to peek through a crack in the door, however, you could visibly see the party area.

The sun had set, leaving the marvelous array of lights that Mr. H and various other reapers had worked to put together glowing brightly to illuminate the darkness of Shibuya's night. Many guests had arrived already, either seating themselves at tables or wandering around for idle chit-chat. As minutes passed, more and more guests arrived, until nearly all of Shibuya's reapers, and even reapers from other districts, had arrived. Eventually, a glowing, angelic man stepped onto a stage with a microphone in hand and began speaking.

"Many of you know me, but for those who don't, I am Yoshiya Kiryu, Composer of Shibuya. First, I'd like to say thank you all for coming today. This is an event that we of Shibuya pride ourselves on, and it is very much appreciated when those of other districts can come to be a part of it. This party tonight is not only a traditional affair, but also an event dedicated to celebrating Shibuya's accomplishments as of late."

Joshua sounded smooth and well-practiced as he spoke, as if he had given similar speeches time and time again. He didn't look nervous or uncomfortable, even when the crowd clapped between his words, but he did look bored and even slightly annoyed. Nevertheless, he continued to speak.

"In our time of struggling to repair the damage done by my previous Conductor, we found new allies, new alliances, and new hope. Because of these important connections we've made, we were able to aide the Coalition in ending the Archdemon's reign, thus restoring a great amount of balance to the entire multiverse. Since then, my confidence in the strength of my reaper team has returned, and I've even been able to appoint a new Conductor into power..."

Joshua trailed off for a moment, peering through the crowd to make sure he could see Teresa before he continued speaking. "Please give a warm round of applause to Teresa Agnes, Shibuya's newest Conductor."

While the crowd clapped, a spotlight fell on Teresa, a raven-haired young woman who didn't seem very amused by her boss putting her on the spot.

"Moving on," Joshua said after a moment, "I have one more accomplishment I'd like to present. Shibuya has finally been repaired to the point of being able to resume its activities. So I'm happy to announce that the Reapers' Games will be continuing again, starting tomorrow."

More applause followed, but when it died down, Joshua was prepared to add on to what he had been saying. "However, things will be different this time. The players whom are to be participating in the game tomorrow are going to be introduced here tonight. They will join in this party, free to roam among all of you as equals. Their entry fees have been collected already and they don't yet have any pins they can use to fight, so treat them kindly." Joshua paused before adding, "So without further ado, please enjoy yourselves at this party tonight."

Joshua gave a small bow that was accompanied by applause before he began to walk off stage. As the applause died down, music began to play and your cue had come. The doors opened of your waiting room opened and you were free to roam the party area. Even if you attempted to speak with others attending the party, however, you found it difficult to do so. The party's music was so loud you found it hard to even think.

A few hours later, when the party eventually ends, Mr. H ushers you back to the waiting room from earlier, and you fall into a mysterious slumber...

---

The next day, when you awaken, you find that you're no longer in the waiting room from before.

You check your phone to see that it's exactly 8am and find that you have access to a map displaying that your current location is Shibuya's Scramble Crossing. You also find a new message on the phone; its your mission for the day.

Partner up and defeat the noise at the 104 building. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure.

--The Reapers

After reading the message, you feel a sharp pain etched into the palm of your hand. When gaze upon your hand, you see a glowing red timer, ticking down from sixty minutes. The game had begun.

And, noticeably in the distance, you hear a loud crash and a scream come from the direction of 104. So it seems, something dangerous is already occurring where you are supposed to go. Better find a partner before heading out.

@Cast​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Prologue II
"Trouble at 104"

Jaune Arc screamed.

As one of the first players to arrive at 104 with his partner, the male had fully been expecting that he could charge in like a hero and defeat the noise he was required to fight before any of the other players even had to get their feet wet. But oh how wrong he had been. Not only was he finding himself unable to reach 104, but he also had no time to locate the noise he was required to destroy. He was a bit pre-occupied with running for his life.

The thought hadn't even occurred to him that maybe he wouldn't be running for his life right now if he had never died. Of course, he couldn't remember exactly how he had died due to the fact his memories had been his entry fee, but according to Pyrrha--a reaper he had met last night durning the party--his death had entirely been her fault.

According to the red-haired female, Pyrrha had been his friend back in the world where they were both from. She had died before him and Jaune himself had been her entry fee. Pyrrha had played the Reapers' Game and had apparently lost--thus losing her entry fee, him, and causing Jaune to die. Yet, for some reason unknown to Jaune, Pyrrha had been allowed to play the Reapers' Game again and had managed to win her second time, allowing for her to choose between the option of returning to life or becoming a reaper. Apparently, becoming a reaper had been her choice.

And here Jaune was now, playing the Reapers' Game due to the fact he had lost his life because of Pyrrha. He could've blamed the girl after what she had told him, but no, the blond male wasn't that kind of person. Instead, he chose to immediately forgive her. A kind and forgiving nature came natural to him, and it especially helped to know that they had been friends before they had both ended up in Shibuya. He just couldn't blame her. His current situation wasn't Pyrrha's fault.

He just really wished he wasn't running for his life right now.

"Ah, wait, stop!" Jaune cried out, running to doge pink laser beams being fired at him from a reaper standing between himself and the 104 building. "This isn't faaaaair! I thought we were supposed to fight a noise here! The mission didn't say anything about facing reapers! I-I don't even really know how to use my pins yet!"

The reaper, a kimono-clad young girl, giggled to herself after firing the attack from the palm of her hand. She ignored Jaune and instead glanced toward two reaper companions who stood beside her. One of said companions was a male about her age and the other appeared to be a short, blind girl with a bizarre pair of wings that did not seem to look like typical reaper wings--one was black and the other white.

"And that, Arya, is what we have to do here. While the game goes on, we reapers are tasked with making life more difficult for the players. We're even permitted to erase players. It used to be a harder job for us than it is now though. Back in the early days, reapers very lives depended on erasing players. Our lifespans ran on a point system. The only way we could earn points was to erase players and, well, if we stopped erasing players we'd eventually lose our lives."

While cheerfully explaining these things to Arya Stark, the female reaper continued firing these blasts at Jaune. Meanwhile, the male's partner--a girl who went by the game of Beth Greene--stood off in the distance, using a cloaking pin to hide herself with invisibility. She swore under her breath, her eyebrows knitted together in irritation as she tried to figure out a way to aid Jaune without becoming Saya's next target. With every shot Saya took, Jaune seemed closer and closer to being hit, however, so the girl eventually gave up and came out of hiding.

Using her egg bomb pin, the blonde reached down onto the ground and picked up a rock--turning it into a bomb. Holding the bomb until she was closer to Saya, she would eventually toss it where Saya and her two companions were standing.

"Whoa!" Saya squeaked out, flying to safety with a mere flicker of her black, coiled reaper wings. "It looks like the boy's partner is a bit more spunky than him."

"Dammit, this isn't even fair!" Beth hissed out, angry. "The mission told us to make it to 104! It never said nothing about fightin' any reapers!"

"Make that very spunky," Saya said with a laugh, ignoring everything Beth hissed out. "You wanna play next, huh? Well, tag! You're it! Ah ha ha~"

The kimono clad reaper turned her attacks to Beth, firing the same pink laser at the apocalypse survivor that she had just focused on Jaune. The girl swore again, taking off to dodge the blasts. Jaune, on the other hand, took a moment to place his hands on his knees and catch his breath while his partner was Saya's next target. The pair clearly needed help facing down these reapers.​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Prologue III
"Looming Problems"

Once the new Reapers' Game was in full swing, the Composer decided it was time to have a dreaded conversation with his second-in-command. As much as he didn't want to talk to Teresa about a game-changing issue that had popped up, it would've been unwise of him as a leader to keep dangerous information to himself. He hated to admit it, but Joshua needed advice. So, he proposed a meeting with Teresa, having her teleport them to a location where he could better explain their situation.

When Teresa would succeed in teleporting herself and Joshua to this new location, they would find themselves in a quaint little library. It almost looked ordinary, save for the fact that had a bar area where it looked as if people could purchase foods or drinks. Yet, nothing could be purchased since the place appeared to be abandoned.

The Composer ignored Teresa's questions and instead went to sit down straight away at a table. He moved slowly and glanced down at his feet as he walked, carefully observing his own movements before he seated himself."Do you know anything about this place?" he questioned. "It's no ordinary library. In the real world, in the real Shibuya, Mori no Tosho Shitsu is a rather new hotspot. It's owner hand-picked the books to go in this library, only books that they liked. They even sell foods and drinks here. It's a unique little spot, so I suppose that's why it became popular. Humans are... saps for trends," he said, turning his nose up at the building.

"But here in my Shibuya, this place is different. It's not a hotspot, but it's still special, perhaps even more special than the real one." The angel glanced around, his amethyst eyes scanning the bookshelves. He would then pick up a book sitting near him, casually leafing through the pages. "Don't judge a book by it's cover, or a library by it's contents," he mused before tossing the book he held at a button on a nearby wall.

Once the button had been hit, the walls of the library rotated revealing different shelves. But instead of holding books, these shelves held something else: rows and rows of pins. There were thousands, no, millions of them lining the shelves. All of them had different symbols on them, so Teresa could instantly see that these pins were not like the ones the other players used in battle.

"Those are entry fees," Joshua told her. "You're standing in our storage room for entry fees. Every player who has lost their Reapers' Game or is currently participating in one has their entry fee stored here." The male sighed. "This place is well hidden, and well protected. Only the Composer, Conductor, and Producer can get in or out." He ran a hand through his hair, struggling to find the words to continue. "So I figured this place would be the best location to store our noise hybrid girl. You remember the girl we captured the other day, right? The one who impersonated Hurley? Well..." Josh trailed off again, thinking for a moment.

"I entrapped her in a pin as I would anyone's entry fee. I placed her here for safe keeping and," Joshua paused to furrow his brows and ball one of his hands into a fist. "She escaped. She escaped her pin and broke out of here." He gritted his teeth together, clearly frustrated. "I don't even know how she did it. It's impossible!" He pounded a fist on the table he was sitting next to before continuing to speak. "But the fact she escaped isn't even the worst part. Before leaving this place, she stole from it. She... took the entry fees of all the current players in the Reapers' Game we started today. I don't know how the hell she knew which ones to take, but somehow she did. This is a big deal. If we don't find those entry fees before this game is over, we'll be in big trouble with the higher ups. We're already on thin ice lately and I--"

Pausing, Joshua placed his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. "...when I talked to Sanae about this last night in the stairwell, he suggested we run the game as if nothing had happened. If we postponed it again, the higher ups might become suspicious that something is wrong and we could get in trouble sooner. If we run the game, at least we have a week to find this girl and the missing entry fees assuming she hasn't erased them from existence." Joshua sighed again. "So, there, now you know what's going on. Happy?"

Suddenly, it might've made more sense to Teresa why Joshua had been in such a foul mood the other night. He had been keeping this information to himself for a whole day, shouldering the burden on his own before Sanae made him spill the beans.

"Really? We're playing the ignoring game?" she remarked with a faint pout as Joshua ignored her question regarding both the cane and the stairwell. "C'mon, Josh. I want to help. Can you just... Let me? For once?" she pleaded, warily. "If you just tell me, I can try to make it up to you and help."

"...Wow." It was a quiet mutter, almost inaudible, as they came to appear in the library. Teresa's eyes were wide, wandering the area with awe and admiration. Sure, this may have been normal to most, but she had long been kept from such wondrous structures with the destruction of civilization in her world. As such, the sight was beautiful to her, and she couldn't help but take a moment to breathe it in.

Joshua's words snapped her out of her trance, a slightly sheepish look coming to her face as he asked if she knew of this place. Remaining standing where she initially landed, she rubbed her neck, unsure how to respond. "...Uh..." Yeah, nope. She had no clue. Surely he knew that, too, considering the fact her own world had long since met its end and this place was apparently new, anyways. At least he explained it, anyways. "Got it, " she confirmed with a nod of understanding.

From then on out, she listened quietly, forcing her gaze to remain on Joshua despite her curiosity regarding this place. And his words quelled her curiosity, in part, an occasional nod coming from her as he went on about this place. Up until he threw the book at a button she had yet to have noticed due to her intent focus on him, her eyes widening as the shelves shifted about. Jeez. This place really is something--

"Wait. What?" she suddenly asked, her gaze snapping back away from the pins to return to Joshua. "Of course I remember her, but... If you trapped her here, how could she get out? I mean, if only you, me, and Sanae can get in here, it isn't like anyone could've broken her out--" No. Quickly, Teresa reined her own rampant thoughts in, shaking her head in attempt to clear it. Joshua was stressed enough; she wouldn't add to that with pointless questions.

With a deep breath, she rolled her shoulders, crossing her arms even as they began to relax from their initial tensing after that information relay. "Alright. It'll be alright. We have a week to find this chick, right?" she spoke with surprising steadiness, seeming unshaken as blue eyes filled with steely, calm determination. "If we find her, we can figure out what she did with the fees and take care of her from there accordingly. There isn't any way she could've gotten out of Shibuya, right?" she inquired, ignoring Joshua's comment regarding whether she was happy. Sass wasn't going to get them anywhere with this, and she didn't really want to stress him or vice versa.

A repetitive drumming motion from Joshua's fingers rapped against the surface of the wooden table he sat beside as he waited for his Conductor's blue eyes to finish navigating the various corners and crevices of the library they had entered into. He huffed out a breath of air and looked to her impatiently, amethyst eyes digging into her like daggers. Had he been in a better mood Joshua may have been able to overlook Teresa doing a bit of sight seeing at this new location, however, that wasn't the case. He was clearly a bit testy, and unable to realize that it wasn't often the dark-haired reaper found herself able to visit places such as this.

To the Composer, this library was like a shack, a location visited by the commoners of Shibuya. Ordinarily, he took it for granted and couldn't understand what anyone else would find fascinating about it. Plus, there was the undeniable fact that this library was filthy and undesirable. He would have to make a mental note to clean this place later, but for now that wasn't an option. He had bigger things to worry about and, frankly, this room was part of the reason why he was in a foul mood. If that damn girl hadn't escaped this place, maybe things would be going a bit better right now.

Not that the girl escaping was the only problem Joshua was dealing with. While Teresa had figured out one piece to the puzzle, the Composer still had another issue going on that was making this whole situation more difficult.

Wrinkling his nose, the angel finally managed another word to his Conductor after her eyes had finished wandering the area. Thankfully, her eyes actually hadn't strayed for very long at all. "You actually like this place? What's so great about a few moldy books?" Sure, Joshua was a fan of books and in some cases even the old book smell. But very old, handpicked books were not the most appealing thing to him. Then again, maybe the condition of the books wouldn't be so bad if Joshua actually took better care of this place like the people who owned the real shop in Shibuya's RG (real ground aka real world).


Anyhow, after Josh's explanation regarding their situation finally sank into the head of his second-in-command, Joshua rubbed his forehead with one of his hands. "The three of us had nothing to do with this," Joshua affirmed. His eyes were stiff and unmoving as he said this, leaving no room for Teresa to question this statement. He truly believed with all his soul that there was no possible way Sanae would've freed that prisoner. In his mind, it wasn't even a possibility. If such a thing was true, he just couldn't— No, he would stop that thought now. He would not allow it to take root in his mind.

"If I knew how she got out, I would be busy fixing the problem and not sitting here," the angel added after a moment, furrowing his brows. "You are, however, correct that we have a week to find her. The only problem is, we have absolutely no method whatsoever to aid us in locating her. She's untraceable. Sanae can't get a read on her and I—" Joshua ran a hand through his hair before locking his eyes closed, his expression contorting in stress. "I can't find her either. This is different than any of the other issues we've had up until now. When we fought in the war, it was obvious what to do. When we took care John White, it was obvious what to do. But this— We're blind in this situation and she has the upper hand."

Joshua placed a hand against the back of the chair he was sitting in and used it as support to help himself stand up. He was so antsy over this that he could hardly stay sitting. "I only have one plan so far: we wait. She impersonated both reapers and noise during her time here and ended up exposing herself. If we wait, watching our reapers and noise for any suspicious behavior, it is quite likely that she will eventually reveal herself again. That's… the only idea I have so far." He grumbled, clearly unhappy that he could think of nothing else they should do. "Any bright ideas yourself? I'm all ears."

Okay then. Considering how oblivious she had been to Joshua's annoyance regarding her awe at first, Teresa was a bit caught off guard by the snappy tone he took with her. In fact, even knowing he was in a bad mood and all of the problems at hand, she still looked completely appalled by the inquiry. Nonetheless, she refrained from snapping at him, answering calmly and steadily.

"What's so great about 'a few moldy books'," she began, matter-of-factly, "Is that this place has history, Josh." It was a simple thing, really, but to Teresa? The idea of a place where people had built, mingled, learned and spent time in for, well, any given amount of years was a beautiful thing, as a woman who's own world's history had been eradicated by the flares. There were no libraries, nor monuments, not even the simplest of buildings or structures left behind when the flares came. Everything had been eradicated; even WICKED's facilities had been built from the ground up after the disaster. So how could she look at this place, worn and withered as it may have been, and not see beauty? In her mind, the state of the place almost added to its character; a clear reminder of how long it must have been around.

But now wasn't the time to linger on history. The present was far too pressing for such, she knew, and faced her boss with only a mild sigh. "I know," she stated, sincerely. She knew neither Sanae nor Joshua would ever do this, and she hadn't even known of this place until now. Still.

Really, she didn't feel the harshness and snark were necessary, but she wasn't going to judge with the stress he was going through. This whole thing was insane, so it made sense it was taking a toll and he had to release that somehow. Not to mention that she could handle it, and didn't particularly mind tanking it. So she kept face, expression neutral as she replied.

"So we don't know how she got out or where she went, but it's like I said. We have a whole week to figure out at least one of those things, which will give us the answer to the other. The kid won't be able to conceal herself forever; we know her tricks now, and we'll make sure she doesn't get away. Alright?" she spoke, steadily, not once breaking eye contact. "Unfortunately, no brilliant ideas here, save for following yours. So, we keep this between us three and keep eyes and ears out. Something tells me this girl won't be able to go long without either making a scene, breaking character or sharing something she shouldn't know."

There was a brief pause as she stared into those amethyst eyes before she willed a faint smile onto her face, seeming to try to lighten the mood or at least encourage him with such.

"You know," she mused, less serious. "You still haven't told me the deal with the cane. I can't apologize right until I know, y'know."

A groan slipped through Joshua's lips, broken up by a comment of, "Yeah, well," before yet another grumble would escape from the angel's mouth. He couldn't really argue with Teresa; the library they were in did have a lot of history contained within it. "You can sight see another time," he finally added. "You're one of the few people allowed inside this place so you can look at the books whenever you want. But, right now, history shouldn't be our main focus. The present needs our attention," he remarked, his words nearly mirroring her own thoughts. Truthfully, it was a shame they couldn't sight see or do whatever they wanted right now. The first day of a new reapers' game was supposed to be a time of relaxation for the higher ups. Instead, they had an issue to deal with. What a pain in the ass.

"Anyhow, you're right; the girl is inexperienced and will slip up again at some point. When she does, we need to be there to stop her as soon as we can. And, if at all possible, we should prevent the players from encountering her. After what happened during our John White incident, we can't afford to have participants dealing with another abnormal game," Joshua replied, drumming his fingers along the back of the chair that his hand was still draped over. "What we'll need to do is head back to the Shibuya River, watch over the game from there, and send word to the reapers that they need to keep an eye out for the girl. In fact, we should do that now. The sooner the better."

Joshua dropped his hand from the chair he stood next to. "We can fly there this time. That way, we'll pass over the location where the players have started their game. It never hurts to... observe events in person." On cue, the Composer's angel wings sprouted from his back, so big and magnificent that they took up a good portion of space, knocking a couple of books off the shelves. He didn't really seem to care, however, because it was then he chose to react to Teresa's comment on the cane he had been playing with earlier. The angel sighed. Despite his bad mood from before, a smile actually tugged at his lips.

"Oh that. It was my attempt to lighten up the mood, dressing up in that outfit and using that cane, but it didn't really help. Hee hee, don't read into everything, Teresa. It's bad for your health. Now come on, let's get out of here," he said before moving to head toward the door with her.​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Prologue
"Carl Grimes"

Pain.

Pain pain pain.

When the boy awoke to a void of darkness, he hurt so much it was hardly bearable. The very existence of Carl Grimes' soul throbbed in distress, the weight of reality hitting him.

He was dead.

Moving to sit on his knees, warm tears trickled down the left side of his cheek from his one eye, and a small whimper would escape his lips. While dying he had tried to be brave, but now that his life was over he wanted nothing more than to have it back. He wanted to be with his father, Michonne, his baby sister, and even Enid. Life had been hard back home, but that didn't mean that he wanted to be apart from it. He wanted to be there to watch his sister grow up, he wanted to support his father and grow as both a person and a leader to help their people someday.

But now that would never happen.

None of it would ever happen.

Never again would he hold little Judith in his arms and be able to tell her stories of her mother. And Judith's memory of him would fade... she would grow up not knowing her only brother. Carl could hardly stand to think about it.

This was all his fault. He should've been more careful. He should've--

The boy let out a shout, balling a fist and pounding it into the ground. Overwhelmed by his own thoughts, he wouldn't notice voices echoing in the distance until one of the voices would address him directly.

"Huh, when'd you get here, kid?"

Sanae Hanekoma stepped toward Carl, looking down at the distraught boy--who would not give him an answer or even bother to look up. He was dead. How was anyone even... talking to him right now? Was he hallucinating?

"Oh jeez, don't tell me I missed one," the man said, reaching into his pocket and taking out a list. He unfolded it, furrowing his brows as he stared at it.

Carl still said nothing, now looking around the area. At some point, lights had come on revealing that he was in a strange room of some kind. Since when had he--

"Ah, you're Carl Grimes, aren't you? Huh, well, you should've spoken up when I was talking to the rest of the group. Instead, ya sat here pouting. You seem pretty soft for someone with one eye. That makes my job a little harder, you know? Now, I have to go through the whole explanation again--just for you. I hope you're grateful."

"..."

"I'd be grateful if you'd tell me who the hell you are and what the hell is going on," Carl finally said, intensity returning to his gaze. He stood up suddenly, glaring at Sanae as if trying to intimidate him. It was a bit of a wasted effort, however, because not only was Sanae not intimidated, but he was also much taller than the young apocalypse survivor.

"I'm getting to that, eyepatch. Just hear me out..."

This man must've been insane. He told Carl about something called a Reapers' Game. The boy didn't want to believe it, yet he found himself doing just that. He had died, so it wasn't farfetched that he would be in an afterlife of some kind right now. Still, a lot of his friends back home believed in Heaven and God. Had they been wrong? Well, according to Sanae, other afterlives did exist. He probably would've gone to his own worlds afterlife, but the leader of this place chose him.

After giving Carl this explanation, he offered the boy some pins and a phone. Wow, it had been a long time since he had ever laid eyes on a working phone.

"So, what do you say, eyepatch? Are you in?"

Defiantly, Carl slapped the phone out of Mr. H's hand, startling the man a little. "I don't care what you do to me. Send me to Hell or anywhere else. I won't be a part of your game. There's no way I could ever pay your entry fee. I can't risk losing the thing most important to me--the people most important to me. My family has been through enough already." Momentarily, the boy's face contorted in pain. His voice softened. "I-- won't cause them to hurt. Not again."

Carl lowered his head, as if ready to be sentenced to some kind of terrible fate. Instead, Mr. H just chuckled. "You got spunk, eyepatch. Josh would like you. But, uh..." The man trailed off, glancing to his list again. "Wait, you're not the only-- Uh, excuse me a minute."

Mr. H walked to the other end of the room, pulling out a cell phone of his own. He called someone, trying to keep his vice quiet as he talked. "So this boy you have on the list, Carl Grimes, he's not the only person from his world you have in this game. I know timelines don't matter to us; we can pull souls from any period of time, but are you sure you wanna go through with this? He doesn't even wanna play the game... maybe we should just let him go..."

"..."

"I understand. Talk to you later."

Mr. H hung up his phone and walked back over to Carl, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I hate to break it to you, eyepatch, but my boss isn't gonna take no for an answer from you. He wants you in his game."

Carl growled, furrowing his brows and balling his fists before he would take a threatening step closer to Mr. H. "Grrr I said I won't--"

"Whoa, don't take this out on me. This isn't my fault; it's outta my hands," the man replied with a shrug. "You're a strong kid, maybe you'll win this thing. If I were you, I'd focus your energy on coming out of this thing alive instead of shooting the messenger. Ahem. Anyhow, I should probably catch you up to the other players. They're getting ready to go to a party and..."

Mr. H continued to speak, but Carl tuned out the man. The wheels in his head were turning and he began plotting for an escape. He glanced between Sanae and a door that was behind him, eventually making a run for the door. Mr. H didn't seem to have any weapons on him, and he was engrossed in his explanation. Because of this, Carl hoped to have enough time to run through that door. He had no way of knowing what kind of threats might've been outside the door, but attempting an escape was better than submitting to this damn game and putting his family in danger. So he took the risk.

"Hey, wait!" Mr. H called out, whipping around as the boy would rush for the door. Without hesitation, Carl threw the door open and rushed out. Before he could make it far, or even analyze what was outside the room, however, he felt something sturdy smash into the back of his head...

...and everything went black.

Standing above Carl was a large, hulking reaper who went by the name of Higashizawa. Using one of his massive fists, the reaper had knocked the boy out.

"Nice save, Higa," Mr. H beamed, adjusting his sunglasses. "The players are supposed to attend a party later, but I doubt this kiddo will really be in the mood for that. Let's keep him here, alright? We'll bring him to join the other players for the start of the game tomorrow. If you could stay here and watch him, that'd be great."

The man sighed, moving to pick up the unconscious boy and sling him over his shoulder. "Fine, but you owe me," he stated before turning to re-enter the room with Carl in tow.

---

Carl awoke to the feeling of air hitting his face. His eye fluttered open to see he was in the arms of a hulking a reaper, his black wings flapping. It was the same reaper who had knocked him out before. But how much time had passed since then? The boy tried to sit up, uttering a single groan as he would try to figure out where he was. Carl realized he was in the sky, and they were flying over... a strange city like nothing he had ever seen before.

Shortly after he would observe this city, Carl felt the flying reaper descend toward it. The man landed on a street where several other ordinary people, without reaper wings, were standing around. He recognized some of them. They had been in the same room as he had been in when Carl first awoke after dying. They were... other players of the game.

Reality hit the boy and Carl began to squirm. "Let me go!" he cried, rolling out of Higa's arms and falling over onto the ground--his hat blowing off his head as he did. He quickly rushed to his feet and felt of his person, looking to see if he had any weapons. Nothing. The only things he found were... pins--wait, weren't they supposed to be weapons of some kind? Carl aimed the pin at Higa, firing an energy round at the man without meaning to. The man let out a cry when Carl's attack would hit his chest, causing him to stumble back a step.

"Okay, kid, you're really starting to make me boil," he hissed, stepping toward Carl and picking the kid up by his shirt. "Don't try that again."

Carl furrowed his brows, lifting his pin in preparation for another attack. The hulking reaper would slap Carl's hand, knocking his pin out of it. "That's it-- the game has started, I'm allowed to make life more difficult for you."

The man lifted Carl off the ground by his shirt, balling his hand into a fist. He would throw back his fist, preparing to punch the kid.​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Chapter 1

At some point, after the completion of the first mission, all players find that their surroundings fade to black and they fall into deep slumber. After an unspecified amount of time, the players awaken and find themselves once again in the Scramble Crossing--the same location they started off at when the game began. Each and every player would hear their cell phones beep, indicating they had all received text messages containing their next missions for the day.

"Defeat the master of A-East. Fail and face erasure."

--The Reapers

A loud thoughtful hum would come from the back of Jaune Arc's throat as he would observe the mission on his own phone. "Umm, what's this A-East they're talking about?" he questioned for anyone to answer, but he would look toward his partner.

"Don't know, but it doesn't say anything about a time limit this time. We have all the time in the world to figure this out. We should be careful." Beth replied, narrowing her eyes as she would re-read the mission on her own phone.

"A-East is a place," Graham chimed in, holding out his phone for his partner and anyone else standing nearby to look at. He had an image of the area's map displaying on his screen. At times like this, he was grateful for his knowledge of modern day technology because of the time he had spent living int Storybrooke. "According to the map, it's not too far away from here. If we want to figure out the meaning behind this mission, it only makes sense we start by heading to this place."

"Works for me," Carl mumbled with a slight nod, hiding his expression beneath the rim of his hat before he would begin to fumble with his own phone to bring up the map Graham had been looking at.

All players in the group would eventually agree upon heading to A-East and would make their way for that direction.

The group would find A-East to be a shady location filled with winding streets, gothic-lolita stores, and concert spaces. The players found themselves at a loss as to what they should do next, wandering around the area aimlessly.

"Helloooo!" Jaune called out as he would poke his head into an empty concert hall, frowning when he would hear no response. "Uh, what now?" he questioned, turning back to the other players.

"We look for the master of A-East, whoever that's supposed to be. There isn't anyone around here except for--" Graham cut himself off, glancing to a man with reaper wings who stood outside of a concert building.

"Tch, where is that guy? I can't believe he's doing this to me again..."

Ash gripped one of her pins, shooting a glare at the mysterious man. "He's a reaper, and the only one here. He must be the master of A-East. Let's get him!" she exclaimed, shooting a blast of fire at the man with a pyrokenesis pin. The man let out a shout and dodged the girl's attack, flying a ways into the air with his reaper wings.

"Jeez, what's that all about? I have no time to get attacked by players. I'm busy," he grumbled.

Graham approached the man cautiously, placing a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Let's not attack him. We should see what he has to say first." The huntsman moved forward asking the man, "Are you the master of A-East?"

"The master of A-East?" he questioned, frowning. "So they're doing that kind of mission again, huh? They must be running out of ideas..." The blonde man shook his head after a moment. "To answer your question, no, I'm not the master of A-East. I go by the stage name 777 (triple seven) and I was going to practice with my band today here in this building. But our tech is missing and I need him to turn on the lights." His frown deepened. "It must have something to do with the mission you guys are on. A while back, the reapers had a similar mission during a different game and my tech was missing that day too. The players found my tech and brought him back to me, then he turned on the lights and they found their "master of A-East" inside of the building," he explained.

"So, you're saying, we should go look for your tech, bring him back here, and have him turn on the lights of this building. Then we'll be able to find the master of A-East inside?" Beth questioned.

"But can we trust he's telling the truth?" Carl mused softly, only for Beth to hear. Despite this fact, 777 seemed to hear him anyhow.

"Eh, you can believe me or not believe me, but what I'm saying is true. What reason would I have for tricking you? It's not like I'm the game master or one of the more aggressive reapers like those Saya and Larkin kids."

"Say he is telling the truth," Beth mused. "What's stopping us from skipping the part where we find the tech and going straight inside? We could use our light and fire pins to light up the area well enough for us to see inside..."

Each player would hear their phones beep again, as if they had received another message. When they would check their phones, they would find an additional message.

P.S. Any kind of light and fire pins will not function inside of the concert space.

--The Reapers

Graham frowned. "It seems we have our answer. Finding the tech will be our best bet." He glanced again to 777. "We'll look for him. What does he look like and where do you think he is?" the huntsman questioned.

"Oh, he's in a black tee and got a lanyard 'round his neck. Lately, he's been hanging around Dogenzaka at an art museum called Bunkamura The Museum." The man scratched his head. "But he's also been hanging out at the Shibuya Public Library and there's also an arcade near the 104 building..."

"So you're saying you have no idea where he is then?" Carl questioned, frowning.

"Uh, hey, don't look so down in the dumps, guys. 777 said he likes to hang out in those three places, right? If we all split up and search those places, we're sure to find him, right?" Jaune chimed in.

"Right," 777 replied. "I can guarantee he won't be anywhere but those three places. So go look for him and bring him back here. I'd help, but if this is supposed to be your mission, I doubt the higher ups want me interfering. Good luck. If you need anything, I'll be here," he said with a nod.

So it seemed, the group had three places to choose from in order to locate the tech: an arcade, a library, and a museum.

As the group would start to move off, they would notice another reaper hiding behind a building waving at the players.

"Pssst! Over here! I've got, like, something totally cool if any of you players wanna see!" the girl chirped, keeping her voice low as if she were trying to be secretive.

@Cast​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Chapter 1 Area Introductions

Those headed for the museum found themselves entering a large building with several floors to it. Outside the museum, the players would notice a gumball machine they could examine.

Upon entering, the group would see a nicely lit, light-colored room with several different paintings hanging along the walls. Only one individual was in the room, a recognizable male reaper who appeared to be tampering with something hanging on one of the walls...

"Pfft, haha," the young male reaper couldn't help himself from snickering as he fiddled with the piece on the wall. He was a good distance from the players, so it was difficult to make out just what he was doing or saying. "Oh, I can't wait for those two to--" Huh? Blinking his golden eyes owlishly, the male glanced to the entrance, his smirk dropping as he noted the door opening. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath, only to seem to outright vanish from sight. With no one else around, it appeared that the group had the place to himself. Various works of art lined the walls that could be examined, including the one that the male had apparently been fixated on. The work of art the male reaper had been tampering with appeared to be art of a couple...

Spoiler

Just who the hell were those two? : |

---

Anyone headed for the library would find a gumball machine outside of it that could be examined, but inside of the building was empty. A massive collection of books awaited anyone interested in looking at them, and a few particularly important books seemed to be sprawled out along a table.

A red journal, blue journal, and a green journal could be examined.

---

Flashing lights, beeping noises, and button clicks were noticeable to all who headed for the arcade. Games of various shapes and sizes were spread throughout the area and a locked door appeared to be in the back of the room. Before the players could better examine the room, Larkin rushed through the door speeding up next to Saya--who was standing near the locked door.

"Jeez, what took you so long? The players just got here. If you would've been a minute later I would've had to start explaining things to the players without you. It's not cool to keep a girl waiting, you know!" the female reaper scolded.​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Chapter 1
Mid-round Update

After locating the missing tech and returning to 777 at A-East, the man would greet them with a smile. "Ah, you guys found him! Thanks a bunch," he said, moving over to give his tech a pat on the shoulder. "What happened, man? Did you lose track of time or something?"

The man frowned, shaking his head in response. "Yeah, about that... the other reapers kind of locked me in a room at the arcade and told me I couldn't leave. It was something to do with the Reapers' Game mission they were told to take care of today."

777 let out a huff, folding his arms. "Yeah, that's exactly what I figured was going on. Well, regardless, at least you're out of the dog house now. If you'd be so kind, I'd love it if you would turn on the lights inside the concert space so we can get ready for band practice."

The tech straightened his back, giving the other man a swift nod. "Right away, sir! I'm on it!" Without another word, he rushed into the building. Once he was gone, 777 turned to the group again.

"Hey, thanks again for helping me me find him. You guys should head inside the building yourselves and see if you can find this "master of A-East" you're supposed to face."

"We'll do just that. Thanks for your help, sir," Graham replied back before glancing to the others. "Shall we?"

"Sure, we're right behind you," Carl chimed in.

When the group first began to head inside it was dark within the concert hall, however, seconds later the lights would flicker on--revealing the contents of the room to everyone. Rows and rows of seats, a stage, and lights on the ceiling, and a strange bat-like creature hanging on the ceiling could be seen by everyone. It was very apparent to everyone that the room was empty--except for the strange looking bat everyone would notice.

"Uhh, I don't see anyone," Jaune mumbled. "Is the master of A-East a person? Or could it be, well, that." Jaune gestured at the bat hanging from the ceiling.

"We should get closer and--"

Beth had begun to speak, but cut herself off when the lights would go out again. The group would see nothing for a split second, but would hear thrashing and a scream. When the lights would flicker back on again, the group would be shocked to see [insert victim here] lying on the ground. Anyone who would attempt to check and see if [insert victim here] was alright would find that they were... dead. They would notice [Insert description of body here.] But they would have little time to notice anything more about the body.

The bat that everyone had noticed earlier spread its wings and suddenly swooped down to attack the players, spewing a variety of smaller bats from its mouth that would begin to bite and scratch at the players.

They had no choice, they would have to stop this creature before figuring out what had happened to [insert victim here].

@Cast​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

After the boss battle

Graham turned to look at the victim, kneeling down next to him/her with a firm frown on his face and tears in his eyes. He was sensitive lives being lost, and couldn't help himself from feeling distraught over this murder. "Who could have done this?"

Beth stood next to Carl, exchanging glances with him. Back in the world where they were both from, they were used to seeing deaths. This was nothing new to them. With hardened urgency in her tone Beth would remark, "Doesn't matter. Look." The blond held up her phone, revealing a text message from the reapers that read Mission Complete. "That bat must've been the master of A-East. We don't have anything to worry about anymore."

Carl shook his head. "I don't think we should relax just yet. Whoever killed [insert victim here], it wasn't the bat creature we just fought. It wasn't a reaper either. Before the lights went out we saw this place. It was empty. We were the only ones in here. So that means..."

Graham stood up, his expression hardening. "It was one of us, one of the players."

"But why?" Jaune questioned, his expression saddening as he looked at the body. "We're here to... play the game."

"I'm not sure why, but we should tell a reaper about this. I doubt whoever did this will speak up, and it's against the rules for one player to harm another," Graham replied.

"Right. 777 is a reaper, I'll run outside and tell him!" the blond male exclaimed, quickly heading out the door.

After Jaune would explain the situation to him, the man frowned. "Wow, that's heavy. Your'e right, it is against the rules. I'll... contact my leader about this," he stated, pulling out his phone.

---

When Joshua received the call from 777, he was on CAT Street with Teresa, visiting Mr. H at his cafe. They had been busy discussing their own problems, regarding the noise hybrid girl they had been trying to locate, and hadn't really figured out... anything. Joshua stepped away from the two for a moment, his expression becoming progressively more angry as he would hear what the reaper had to tell him.

"What!? You've got to be kidding me. Why would-- Is there a body? Dammit, how could this be happening? You should, uh, just tell the players to figure it out on their own. I'm a little busy at the moment. Have them vote and decide amongst theirselves who they think the killer is and I'll investigate the person they choose. Just watch over the players, or ask Larkin and Saya to do it, and keep in touch with me, okay? Right, thanks. Bye."

After hanging up, Joshua tightened his grip around the phone he held, letting out a loud scowl. Mr. H took his sunglasses off, staring questioningly at his boss. "J, what the hell was that about? A body? What's going on?"

"One of the players was... murdered by another one of the players," he explained, frowning deeply. "As if we need more problems right now..."

"Yeah, and I gather we have more problems then you're letting on," the Producer pointed out, furrowing his brows. "There shouldn't be a body, even if a player was murdered by another player. The last time bodies appeared in Shibuya, it was because of John White. He had the game so distorted that bodies could be seen for a short time before they vanished. That means..."

"Yes, whatever distortion that noise girl created, it's growing. It's effecting Shibuya somehow," Joshua remarked, folding his arms.

"And not just Shibuya, right?" Mr. H added, his gaze not leaving Joshua.

"..."

"Please don't," Joshua pushed, turning away from them. "Just don't."

He didn't want to admit it, but he was being affected too.​

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Afterlife

[Insert first victim here] would awaken to find himself/herself staring up into a dark, starry sky. He/She would hear gunfire, followed by the swearing voice of a young teenage girl. "Get a move on or she's gonna get you!" the girl spat out, before kicking [insert victim here] on the side of his/her head. When [victim] would finally sit up he/she would see a school building in the distance and that they had been lying across a set of stairs leading toward the school. He/She could also better see the girl who had been yelling at them.

"I said move your ass!" she snapped, going so far as to turn her gun and shoot right next to [victim]'s leg to try and startle him/her into moving. "Jeez, newbies can be so slow. Why do they always seem to appear when I'm in the middle of an Angel encounter?" she mumbled to herself before aiming her gun at a figure in the distance. The figure appeared to be another girl, one who was shorter and younger in appearance than the first one.​