The Evrensel Confict -- Prologue: Chapter 1-- The Only Easy Day was Yesterday

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Trigger
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The belief that the group had dimensionally traveled was completely bizarre to trigger. He had never even considered that there could be other worlds out there other than his own. Apparently, these worlds were extremely different considering that they had creatures like sonic and whatever that tree person was upstairs. It didn’t matter, Trigger just wanted to get back home. “Well, I don’t care what we were dragged here for, I just want to get back to my dimension,” he said, turning to Alista. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go do that” he mentioned, disappearing from existence for one second and reappearing near the stairs. “See you all later!” he shouted to the group as he opened to the decaying door and walked down the stairs. Trigger was met with water as he made his way down the stairs, it seemed like the lower floors had been flooded from an exposed pipe of some sort. It was going to be difficult for him to get out of the building because of this. Trigger sighed, guess I will need their help he thought to himself as he leaned on the wall. He scratched his head and slowly made his way back up the stairs. He quickly reappeared next to Alista by teleporting. “Stairs are flooded, anyone have any bright ideas on how to get out of here?” he commented.

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Dusk
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The deadzone was awfully quiet in the evening hours. Not a sound could be heard except for the blowing of the wind and the soft trickling of water in streams. This was Dusk’s favorite time to water his plants. It provided a type of peace for him. The large creature sat in his small bunker in the ground. The entire place was overgrown with strange glowing plants and different multicolored flowers. Dusk picked up a small watering can covered in rust from years of age. Dirty water gently sloshed around in the can as Dusk cared for his plants. The water in the can slowly was emptied on top of the different vines and roots within the bunker, so it needed to be refilled. Dusk opened the creaky metal door to the outside of the bunker, revealing the destroyed city almost directly outside. He walked a few minutes to the nearest stream that went through the streets of the city. Happy with his progress, he set the can down and sat next to the stream, taking in the view. Dusk stood up and stretched after a few minutes of relaxation. A few moments later he saw a strange light from the corner of his vision. He turned to have his entire body engulfed by a bright flash of green light.
A strange weightlessness filled Dusk’s senses. It felt like he was floating in a very large pool, but there was no water to be found. It was nice for the first few seconds until it was abruptly ended with a hard push into a concrete wall. A small indent of Dusk’s large figure was left in the wall as he peeled himself off the ground. A large crash was then heard behind him. The building he had apparently started to fall over. His smack into the building must have redirected it since the middle area of the building was cracked and slightly bent from the redirection of energy. Dusk looked around the corner of the slowly falling building to see three figures, slightly short than him and with a different assortment of gear. One of the creatures looked like they were covered in ice, while the other with fire. The third figure didn’t look anything like the others, instead, this one had a large black cloak that surrounded his armor like a mother protecting its young. Dusk was unsure of how to react since the figure with the cloak attacked the one with the ice, which was then pushed by an explosion closer to Dusk. He stared on with amazement. He had never seen creatures like this before, but in the same sense, they seemed so familiar. He was equally confused by the fact that he could understand what they were saying. Dusk could obviously be seen by the three figures, so he awkwardly waved and stayed where he was.
 
Not far off from the building, another bright flash popped up in the sky, the game neon green color as before which had brought them all. When looking to the sky, something was falling in a fiery blaze, as black smoke trailed behind it. The thing was a ship, a small one, painted blue with a logo on its side. It looked like a capital A, but in the center of it were three blue stars, and under them said 'NS 1.'

mass_effect_kodiak_shuttle_by_timzero4_dblxc11-pre.jpg


The ship spun around, heading straight for the water, and when it crashed, its feet bounced upwards when they first hit, before skidding across for a few more feet, and finally vanishing into the water, water splashing up high from where it crashed. Within the ship, several men laid inside, all unconscious from the hard landing; their bodies being thrown about within the metal body. The first to awaken with a resounding pain in his back and left leg, along with a cold feeling around his body, was a human, wearing armor and a space helmet which provided him with some much needed air. The others within the ship floated in the flooded insides motionless, making the soldier swim over to try and wake them up to no success. He frantically tried getting them to wake up, as above, there was a small pocket of air they could use, while he could use whatever air remained in his helmet to find a way out of this death trap. The attempts were futile though. He had woken up to the compartment flooded, and for who knows how long. Only a few minutes of air remained, before the entire ship was entrenched in the cold waters, which sent a shiver down across the soldier's body.

He first tried finding a way out of the ship, trying to open the door, but it was locked. He went up for air, removing his helmet, as it was starting to run out of oxygen, and taking a few breaths. He went back under the water, trying to find some sort of release hatch to open the doors. Still no luck, and his time down under the water got shorter and shorter, as the cold water was starting to freeze up his joints and body, as well making him harder to breath as the bubble of air started to go out. He needed help.
 
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Sonic:

Well looks like this guy wouldn't be trouble after all. Except the plant girl thingy was kind of speaking gibberish to the big lug. The ancient light died down and the hedgehog was back to his normal blue color. And maaan this Thor guy was rude. However he did mention the green light thingy. So now was not really the time to pick a fight. He did try and stop him to go all out gungee ho with his power. What would be the point in fighting now.


-Well seems like the green light is the thing that carried us as for me, well name's Sonic. Can't really say that I'm a hero. I run around, help people here and there, times to times I stop a mad scientist from taking over the world. Wellguess I'm kind of a hero after all.

Well seems like the boy with the gun didn't want to stay buddy buddy with them and wanted to go home. Wait did he just go chaos control on them! And the stairs were flooded. Great! He was really bad at swimming! Well seeing that this thunder god guy did open a way. He was going to use the scenic road thank you very much.

-So nice of you to stay with us kid, how about we...

A flash of bright green light interrupted him and a spaceship went crashing in the ocean in a loud splash. And it was already sinking.

-Well change of plan! There might be people trapped in this ship! I gotta go help them!

And he jumped through the window angling his body so his feet were parallel to the wall of the building. He then started running toward the summit accelerating until he reached the top at mach 1 speed creating a loud bang that shattered all the windows left in the vincinity. Then he jumped toward the next building, running from office to office. Reaching the ocean in the matter of seconds, he activated his dash ability to run on the water and passed the ship before doing a wide u-turn. Well he was reaching it now what? He obviously couldn't climb on it, it was already sunk. Well he had absolutely no idea how to get them out of the metal coffin. Guess he would have to get the ship out of the water!

Slowing his speed enough so he could direct his dive, he started to think where the metallic object was plunging deep onto the abyss. At least his angle was right. Darn this water was freezing! Before long he reached the ship. Yes air was beginning to be needed there. He angled himself and started running activating his dash ability once again

-Darn that's heavy!

With the power of the ancient light he started accelerating his run except even at max speed. This thing was moving slowly toward the city. At this rate he would be drowned well before they reached the shore. At last it wasn't sinking anymore... but he would really need the power of friendship there.
 
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Hedorak, Sage of the Dark: Shaded Woods

It was another day of rumination and quiet contemplation. She started the morning off simple, go over the ancillary texts regarding crystalline enhancements to magic, see if it could applied en masse, become interrupted by a hollow and return to her works... It was tedious. By all accounts certain crystalline lattices could, as long they remained intact, maintain a soul indefinitely. While the concept in and of itself flew in the face of her core tenants, he was not one to dismiss knowledge based self maintained dissonance between her knowledge and that of the past. She was just sitting down to began a thought experiment on possible combinations of crystalline and other magic types when a green light engulfed her vision... and show her a slate grey wall. That was the first thing, then came the sounds, destruction of all types rang in her eyes as well as the sound of rushing water. She had all her equipment, so she didn't neccessarily have to worry about replacing anything yet as she rose from her chair. She turned and surveyed the area. It appeared to be a strange... place of learning. It was Small, compact, and high apparently as the large windows panned of impressive city that was being devourved by the sea.

"Like Heide," She muttered to herself.

And then she heard some one yelling, no at least two people yelling.

"This is a tad fortuitous, perhaps they can illuminate the reason for this place's existence."

After maneuvering out the strange and regretfully realizing that she would have to leave her old chair behind, she found that the yelling was coming from bellow her... curious.
Luer let out a small shiver as he listened to the sounds coming from outside. It was chaos just listening to it, he could only imagine what it was like out there. No… no he could not. Nothing has made sense yet so perhaps it was not within his ability to even imagine the cause of such commotion as this. He did not want to, either, after what he has already seen.

There was a sound that stopped him though; something different than the chaos of booming thunder and yelling voices. A knock. A few of them. He knelt down to the floor before leaning down entirely to listen for it.

…!

There is knocking! He sat up and looked around for a stairway. “There is something under us.” He stated. It was a repetitive sound, there was a pattern to it too. That was not the erratic knocking of a flailing beast or rapid beating of a panicked man. There was something about it that spoke urgent, yet it was a calm one. That was human, and if he had to guess, a trained one. Another Knight?

After a bit of seemingly pacing his stopped over a spot on the floor carefully, close to where it was coming from. He could not get to the source as it was under a pile of rubble. He leaned back down to the floor and knocked three times. If there was a pause in the knocking, he would have no doubt someone was there. “Can you hear me!?” He called, curious to know if there was someone down there.

She walked along the strange hallways following the noise as it grew louder until she came upon a boy? No a young man, although he very could have been older based on past experiences. She gazed around the hallway, there was door leading to a stairwell.

"Why would the stairs be separate from the central area? Strange design to be sure"

Then there was the young one, and presumably two others in the floor below and based on what was going outside...

"I can hear you just fine boy, however I doubt they can." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I suggest that If you are going to do something, then do so quickly. Drowning can be such a horrid way to die..."
 
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“Wait!” Luer called quickly, moving to get in Ranma’s way of his attack. “If you cave the floor here you risk the entire pile collapsing on them.” He warned. The idea was to save them, not make it worse. He took a quick glance around, finding a decent spot with some open space around. He got up but stopped a moment to look at the new person that spoke.

He gave her a somewhat irritated look. I was not asking you… He thought to himself. “Working on it, thanks.” He said simply, turning back to go over to the area he spotted earlier, but as he did so, just a bit further beyond that was already a decent sized hole in the ground. “Actually, that will do…” He muttered, moving over to it and taking his bag off. He set it aside and followed up with his quiver and bow. The only problem with here, is it was closer to the other side of the room. He did not doubt he could hold his breath that long, but it was still going to be difficult.

He paused and put his attention on the other two. “I do not know I can lift them out on my own. Wait here, I can guide them here and you can help me get them out.” He stated. He would need the help. He had little doubt this water was going to be cold too. Just to be sure he dipped his hand in it for a brief moment. Cold… damn. He expected as much but it still was irritating. He nodded to himself and took a couple deep breaths before taking a larger one, taking one step forward and falling in. He resurfaced quickly and shivered. “Dammit that is cold!” He complained.

He shook his head, and with another deep breath dove back under and made his way towards the source of the knocking. It took him nearly a minute to find them, and relieved to get a chance for another breath, joined them in their little air pocket with a small gasp. “…There are two of you…” He said to himself. He did not expect that. “There is a hole not too far from here, but it is hard to see. I can guide you, but I can only wake one of you at a time.”

He nodded to himself lightly, his focus turning to the dark skinned man first and offering his hand. “Deep breath on three, dive on four.” He stated. If neither of them could swim he could pull them, probably… That armor looked heavy…
 
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Michael Bludreihm, Abyss Watcher of Farron's Undead Legion
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The watcher felt a sort of savage satisfaction rise in his chest as one of the woman's Dragon heads were destroyed outright by the great lightning spear, the girl howling with rage as Ice shattered and broiled. It would teach her not to make light of a possible opponent like she had, Though he wondered if she had been taught any sort of soldierly discipline at all before hand, if her petulant yelling at him as her transformation grew was any indication. Perhaps the power had Three blasts of ice roared from the false dragon’s maw, and so he took that as his cue to leave.

Concrete rumbled and metal shrieked as the building began to collapse, and a tall shape crashed out one of the many windows on the third floor. As his cloak flowed upwards while he began his freefall, Michael's gauntleted hand snapped out, impaling the stone of the building and slowing his descent with the crooked paring dagger in a shower of sparks from metal against stone. As he fell, he looked upwards to look at the state of the fight... was that fire woman slapping her rear? He blinked, hard. Yes, It seems she was indeed trying to egg on her enemy in one of the more... demeaning ways he had seen.

He couldn't see the outcome, as the cracked stone of the ground rapidly approached beneath him. Removing his dagger from the stone, he braced for the impact, tucking in his legs as he impacted the ground with a Whumpf! and rolling forwards, conserving his momentum as he began sprinting forward with Greatsword and Dagger in hand. He breathed evenly, his high collar of the Watcher attire completely blocking out the dust; stone and glass clattered around him as three separate explosions rang out from in front of him, the rebel being slammed into a steel lamp post not far away. Good, the Ice woman was winded. The Fire woman then ran over to the edge of the collapsing building and began yelling at the Watcher to come to her through the rising Dust, causing Michael to blink at her in disbelief as he ran. Her opponent was ripe for the kill, but she would rather come to the aid of some random stranger? An admirable effort, but absolutely the wrong thing to do in this situation.


His baritone voice rang across the short distance between them, a mixed tone of disbelief and admonishment. "I am fine, woman! Focus on the downed opponent in front of you before you are stabbed in the back!" His instincts screamed, and he dodge-rolled to the right, barely escaping being crushed by a chunk of stone twice as big as him, but he did not let it deter him from his course; neither would the figure standing akwardly a ways away or the flying metal object that crashed somewhere nearby. As soon as he was close enough, his legs tensed and coiled with strength, the next step sending him blurring forward in a jump-dash. Just as it seemed he would simply fly past her, he slammed the Dagger into the ground up to the hilt, his momentum redirecting into a 180 degree spin, his Greatsword poised to cleave both the Ice girl and the lamp post with the added momentum of the pendulum movement.
 
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Ranma

Honestly what's wrong with blue boy here, he was really beginning to be a pain in the ass. Plus if it wasn't for his amazing control, Ranma would have caved him with the ground they were standing on.

-Whadidjado that for!

Oh yeah did forget about the collapsing part. He scratched his head.

-Yeah right! Good thing you thought 'bout it heh!

Then there was a lady with a strange ki who spoke to blue boy. Her ki felt strange. Stale, unmoving as if it was the ki of some dead people that would be leaving the body by sipping out of it. Except it didn't. Yeah, instead of being fluid and moving this one was stagnant.

On his side Luer decided to dive in a hole and told them to stay here. Yeah right stay with the creepy lady. But he did say he wouldn't be able to lift them. So he did need some help to bring them outta water.

Except... well he sucked, his ki was going all over the place. Some time approaching the two other kis, some time getting further away. Right it had to be another Ryoga.

-Ok lady don't move from here, am gonna use yer ki as an anchor.

Memorizing the room he was in, he dived after their "leader". He wasn't right! The water wasn't cold! It was freakin' freezing! So much that she didn't feel the change kicking in. It was like the time of the cat tongue. Her skin was fucking burning. She had to get outta here stat!

Using her ki sensing ability she reached for the two, arriving at the same time as Luer and taking some air. Yeah this plan was good except.

-Yeah r-r-right. Y-you c-couldn't f-f-f-find your way outta a p-p-p-paper bag.

She told him in her soprano voice. She had a much better plan. Using the dead not dead lady as a beacon she could imagine the room they were in. However she didn't focus on her earlier so maybe she moved. Ok try and find something for localisation. She started replaying everything that happened in this darn building. Alright time for plan b.

-You sh-should t-t-t-take the other with y-y-ya! I'll t-t-t take care of the big guy! D-D-Don't get lost kay?

She looked at the heavy armored guy.

-Ya still can swim?
 
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The spriggan came closer past the ruined desk to look at Thor as he said his name. Relaxed her daylight glow lit the room the root feet stepping over debris. Light also gleamed under an old set of fur spaulders on her shoulders. The funeral sword at her side roughly belted on.

After the few seconds to think the eyeless sockets rose to turn and say to Alista, "I am spriggan. a servant to Magicka we recognize all the true names. Aetherius whispers to us its own. Thor is not of our aedra but we know he is rightful."

She turns back to Thor with soft claps, "God of lightning, thunder, strength, and protector of mankind. It is also my purpose to protect the natural laws. There are places outside our realm something brings me here. I am born a sunset ago; something is deeply wrong if we exist."

One finger to her chin the spriggan adds with pauses to add an uncertain tone, "Also they say hallowing and fertility."

She eyes his muscles and face then looks down further, "yes, I think so."
 
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"What the..." Alistia said in shock as she watched what happened with Sonic unfold, ending with his dive underwater. Could he breath underwater? He WAS blue which seemed like it could hint towards some hither-to unknown water breathing abilities, but that was an utterly stupid reason to think he could breath underwater at all! Quickly she looked about before spotting an empty, long-discarded, plastic bottle resting near one of the buildings. Then she checked it for holes and, once satisfied, she took off towards where Sonic had been before.

She hadn't gone swimming by herself in a long time. For quite a while now she had held the blessing of the seas with her every time she desired to dive underwater which meant she didn't have to worry about things like 'breathing' underwater. Prior to that most of her battles had been either land or, at worst, boat based meaning she'd no need to dust off even the kitty paddle. That wasn't to say she couldn't swim. It wasn't as if she hadn't practiced in those times before she could remember or with the blessing, but it would be safe to say that this would be different. She held an ace up her sleeve that she doubted any of the others held however. She was a White Mage. Conjuration was something innate to her and, of the three primary nature elements, water was easily one. She got as close as she could to the depths, took a deep breath, sorely regretted wearing a dress that would only slow her down and not having her bathing suit, jammed her finger into the bottle hole, and dove down.

She swam as fast as she could as her mind reached out to the water. Her will sought to merge with the planet as she moved. Not the easiest thing but something she did do. She reached out to the water, urging it to move her along, to carry her on a current, as she surged towards the hedgehog. She moved as fast as she could and, when she was close, she took her finger out and practically jammed the plastic bottle into his mouth to try and give him a breath of fresh air before she tried to will the waters to help them move faster.

---

"A citizen who actually gets it and isn't going to try and fire me for doing my job? This is a welcome change." said Lavaetain for a smile. "Not that I'm a member of the police in the first place anyways. I am not worried about this woman though. She may be fearsome but she is weak, unfocused, and clearly untrained." remarked Lavaetain as she watched the Watcher lunge forwards. "But I wouldn't do that just yet! She's still got some strength left in her!" she cried out to try and halt him only for the remaining dragon head to lurch out to bite down on Michael's greatsword as he swung at her before her second head, still only partially reformed, shot out to try and maul him in the gut. Then, most terrifyingly of all, the frozen blood on her face had fully mixed with the ice and formed over her own head to finish the third head.

"Trying to kill a mage before you're certain that they've expended themselves just leaves you open!" called out Lavaetain as she rushed over to try and reach Michael in time only for a pair of faint wings, as thin and frail as a veil of snow but ever-hardening, to send a gust of ice and snow out to knock the two back. Lavaetain grabbed Michael, bracing herself as she slid back and a faint layer of frost formed on the ground. Lavaetain looked down for a second as the wind died down before shaking the thin frost from her feet and laughing just a bit.

The dragon gave a roar. "Why do you mock me you imperialist b*******? I am almost fully transformed! Almost fully become the dragon of frost and snow!"

"And you've been losing blood this entire time." remarked Lavaetain with a grin. "On a broken leg. Is this all you can muster with such a form?"

Karen hissed again as she flapped her wings. "Wh***! I bit you! You're bleeding too!"

"But unlike you I learned how to treat a shallow wound! You are a foolish rebel. Let me guess... Raised on the belief of freedom? Discovered you have powers so you trained yourself to fight a war for tha... No. No. That would be... too... Smart... Oh my God..." Lavaetain laughed a bit. "I can't believe it took me so long! The arrogance, tone, lack of training, obsession with power, you're not from any conquered group that might have even a remote claim to freedom's call, you're just a mundane girl. Am I right? Some citizen raised in a simple life with just a fledgling amount of magic power, too little to get into anything more than a basic magic school, who got mad at the system and jumped at the call of rebellion. So you joined to fight back against 'the system' that obviously 'wouldn't acknowledge your talent and genius' snowball throwing technique, had some rebel group jump you up on drugs or something to boost your power, but then instead of bothering with actual training to fight other mages you probably just beat up some gang members or militia folk and then decided to gun for the biggest, baddest, target on the continent!"

Lavaetain gave an additional laugh, almost doubling over. "That's why I was able to wound you so easily! That's why you were surprised when I broke your knee. You've probably never even raised a barrier before now and relied on that ice to keep you safe from bullets. Am I right?"

"Shut up! I'll gut you to pieces!"

"And it's why you didn't even bother bloody attacking me this whole time I was speaking despite it being as huge an opening as possible. Because you don't have a clue what you're doing."

The dragon screamed before it spread it's wings again, one of them starting to flicker a bit as if having trouble staying formed, before it took flight towards Dusk. "Another citizen for me to use as a shield and shut your ***** mouth! If you speak again this new one dies!"


"No." said Lavaetain. "You're done fooling around. I could list off every reason why, but in short, citizen Karen, your punishment is..." Lavaetain quickly swung her blade around in a circle. Flaming clones like before spawned at her side but, unlike before, Lavaetain took more time, more effort and energy, and where there had been one Lavaetain there was now three. Each of the two clones shimmered as fire ran along their body and form. Then all three women dashed forwards, the clones leaving flaming trails behind them as all three raised up their blades. The dragon wings faded away as Karen couldn't keep them formed any longer and Karen fell to the ground, crashing into the asphalt as she skidded to a halt before Dusk. All three Lavaetain's raised their blades into the air before they jumped upwards. The heads on the side twisted around back as best they could to try and snap at the flame clones only to bite right through their firey forms. Then the sound of blade sliding through ice and flesh filled the air as the clones blades impaled Karen's legs through and through, pinning her to the ground. Karen cried out in pain as Lavaetain landed just behind her. She seized her blade and brought the tip down towards Karen's back then slowly, with a determined motion, pushed it into her body. Cutting through flesh and bone. It pushed through and through until it came out the front side.

"P-please..." she begged.

"Even if the emperor himself told me to save you, without a healer present, your death is assured. Before you go, let me give you some words of comfort. I know you see me as a villain. Maybe you are right. I have seen horrible things done in the name of the empire. The very empire I support whole-heartedly. However, even if I agreed with the rebel ideals, even if I wished to shatter the empire into a thousand pieces... I would never do it beside you. If the rebels are good than your attitude and actions today are an insult to their name."

Fire ran along Lavaetain's blade as Karen screamed in pain. Flames ran along her skin and flesh, melting the ice in a plume of steam before the fire engulfed her. She opened her mouth to scream again but only tongues of flame came forth. Light radiated out of her eyes before fire came forth from them as well. Her skin boiled away leaving the sickeningly sweat scent of burning flesh as Karen slumped forwards and the flame kept going until the scent of charred ash filled the air. A few seconds later all that was left of Karen was a small pile of ash and fragmented bone.

"Fairwell, dishonorable opponent Karen." said Lavaetain before the twin clones beside her dispersed and she collapsed to her knees. She then looked to Dusk. "I am sorry you had to witness such a gruesome sight honored citizen." she then took a deep breath as she held her blade close to her. Then in a soft voice she whispered to the blade.

"Erik. Am I a villain now? How can I know if I'm still a hero when you aren't here anymore to help me." she said as a tear came down her cheek.
 
Ranma

Honestly what's wrong with blue boy here, he was really beginning to be a pain in the ass. Plus if it wasn't for his amazing control, Ranma would have caved him with the ground they were standing on.

-Whadidjado that for!

Oh yeah did forget about the collapsing part. He scratched his head.

-Yeah right! Good thing you thought 'bout it heh!

Then there was a lady with a strange ki who spoke to blue boy. Her ki felt strange. Stale, unmoving as if it was the ki of some dead people that would be leaving the body by sipping out of it. Except it didn't. Yeah, instead of being fluid and moving this one was stagnant.

On his side Luer decided to dive in a hole and told them to stay here. Yeah right stay with the creepy lady. But he did say he wouldn't be able to lift them. So he did need some help to bring them outta water.

Except... well he sucked, his ki was going all over the place. Some time approaching the two other kis, some time getting further away. Right it had to be another Ryoga.

-Ok lady don't move from here, am gonna use yer ki as an anchor.

Memorizing the room he was in, he dived after their "leader". He wasn't right! The water wasn't cold! It was freakin' freezing! So much that she didn't feel the change kicking in. It was like the time of the cat tongue. Her skin was fucking burning. She had to get outta here stat!

Using her ki sensing ability she reached for the two, arriving at the same time as Luer and taking some air. Yeah this plan was good except.

-Yeah r-r-right. Y-you c-couldn't f-f-f-find your way outta a p-p-p-paper bag.

She told him in her soprano voice. She had a much better plan. Using the dead not dead lady as a beacon she could imagine the room they were in. However she didn't focus on her earlier so maybe she moved. Ok try and find something for localisation. She started replaying everything that happened in this darn building. Alright time for plan b.

-You sh-should t-t-t-take the other with y-y-ya! I'll t-t-t take care of the big guy! D-D-Don't get lost kay?

She looked at the heavy armored guy.

-Ya still can swim?
Hedorak pondered about the other person she didn't notice until after they had both addressed and jumped into the water.

"That was quite a rude way of leaving... Very rude indeed, I wonder who taught them they're manners?" She asked aloud.


She began to pace around the edges of the hole and developed several mental questions.

"And what did he mean by Ki? and as anchor? While the presence of water does facilitate the need to consider nautical means based on the effervescent flooding, referring to a person as an 'anchor' is a strange and insulting notion. Unless of the course the boy's usage of the 'ki' was merely another method by which one were to refer to as magic. Then would that mean the boy has the inherent ability or trained skill to sense magical properties or perhaps even base spiritual? The legends stated that the Old King developed a similar method, but the child is too young for that... unless of of course whatever school he learned from developed the method in ages past, chronicled it, and believed it more prudent to release it as common knowledge than to hoard it in a strange play for power... then yes he may very know of a similar method. Oh, I do hope the boy doesn't drown, loss of such memories and skill would be an absolute waste."

Deciding to lend a slightly more proactive hand, she began to lower the but of her spontoon into the water until only the last third remained above the water line and waited.

"Sensing my magical energies is one thing, but a clear line of sight maybe more beneficial than otherwise. Besides I can always hoist one up if the need arises..."
 
Alken and Gaeira

Gaeira was fairly glad to see Luer for a moment; he appeared to be strong enough to swim. However, the problem still remained; Alken hadn't abandoned his chest-plate and spaulders yet. He didn't blame his comrade; forfeiting Shinra tech was a severely punishable offense. When Ranma arrived, Gaeira gave her a sharp look. "Don't argue; one wasted move, and my friend drowns."

"That's comforting. Good thought, Gaeira."

He was similarly pleased upon the arrival of Hedorak. Did Shinra send these weirdos to rescue us? That's impossible; we just got here. Maybe these locals know the value of assisting a SOLDIER. Or maybe they're just nice; either way works in our favor pretty well.

"My partner can't swim in his armor; even assisting him would just put you in jeopardy. I'll have a hard time even with my rapier."
He turned sharply towards Alken, having made up his mind. "Ditch the chest-plate at least, man; otherwise you're not gonna get out of here."

"...Well, it's either that, or drown." He was visibly perturbed by the rising water, beads of sweat joining the water running down his jaw. "Why'd it have to be water; this is such bullshit." Facing a superior opponent, Alken could handle; dying in dark, cold water made him nervous enough to curse. He turned his focus towards Ranma as he began unfastening latches on his leather harness. "I'll have to ditch some of my gear, but I'll be able to-" The broken pillar that he balanced on snapped. Alken floundered for a moment, his heel slipping as the pillar fell away from him and his head vanished under the surface.

"No no NO" Gaeira reached out, but only caught hold of the SOLDIER's fingertip; Alken slipped loose and continued to plummet moments later. Gaeira grit his teeth, turning towards Ranma. If I go after him, I'll drown with him. I'll have to put my faith in the other ones for now. "Save him, and I'll reward you handsomely. Aside from that, he's a nice fucking guy; too nice to drown here." Gaeira turned his gaze towards Luer, giving a nod. "Like you said. One. Two." Gaeira took a deep breath of air, and prepared to dive after Luer to find the exit.

Meanwhile, Alken looked around. He could see the hole that Luer mentioned; his eyes narrowed in on it, hoping he'd soon see the silhouette of Gaeira and their new blue-haired friend swimming to safety. Above, he could see Ranma treading water. He turned, putting his boots underneath him as he touched the floor, standing at the bottom of the room. He started fumbling with the latches of his spaulders; if he could ditch them, he could swim to the surface. Noticing the pillar falling towards him, he choked up on his blade instead, lashing the fallen rubble in half and out of the way with a sharp swipe. He quickly resumed taking off his armor, only to find the latch fixed in place. Shit; it's stuck. Even with his enhanced vision, it was too dark to see what was catching the latch and holding it still. C'mon, guys; figure something out...

He hadn't had time to take a breath before falling. His abilities granted him no immunity to drowning, unfortunately. As time passed, his movements became clumsier, and it became harder to avoid gulping for air where there was none.

It seems like there's a big difference between what I want and what I get sometimes.
 
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Luer gave a soft glare when Ranma joined them in their tiny pocket of air -as if they were not cramped enough- and started ordering him around. He did not have it in him to argue though when Alken slipped under the water. He gasped softly, but as much as he wanted to go down after him the other blue haired male took charge. “It is dark. Be careful.” He warned the- wait when did the kid’s hair and voice change? Ranma seemed much more feminine suddenly.

Luer mentally slapped himself. Not now. He focused on Gaeira and- Oh wow… his eyes are glowing. That was something new, and something that held his attention quite quickly. He slapped himself mentally again and nodded. “One. Two.” He counted along then took in a deep breath. He dove under quickly after and with a quick glance to be assured Gaeira was behind him, he took off in the direction he came from.

He did not expect to see some sort of stick wading in the water, but he soon smiled to himself. So the new arrival actually did listen to him. Perhaps that is a way to help them out.
 
Ranma

Well when it rained, it poured. Looks like her choice just decided to visit the depths of the building she was in. Little problem, it was flooded. And he kinda did not want to go back up.Talk about swimming like a brick. And tgis water was so freaking COLD!. Well a little bit less, but she wondered if it was due to hypothermia or if she was getting use to it.

Hoping for the latter, she took a big gulp of air and dove anew. She could still feel his ki but it was weakening by the second. And without it she would probably have passed him because of the dark. She produced a moko takabisha, the yellow glow of her pride making the dark less opressing. Because she still couldn't see anything. Talk about a waste of ki.

Speaking of which she could see him standing, moving sluggishy, still wearing his whole armor thingy. Talk about useless! What the hell was he doing here anyway! She got closer and saw that he was fumbling with the latch. Tch! Talk about clumsy.

She moved his hand away and started trying to unclasp it. But to no avail, it was stuck! Well ain't this day gonna be brighter or what! Well she had no time for this! She gripped him by under the shoulder and started hoisting him!

Damn he was as heavy as the panda this one! To compensate the loss of her arms she started infusing ki in her legs. Accelerating but not too much she wanted to swim not give kicks in water.

-All right hold on!

She swam until she found the hole... with a spear in it? No time to wonder air was becoming an emergency. But first...

-Heave ho!

Using all her strength she lifted the guy so his head would be above water and started pushing upward. Hope he didn't think about sleeping here! She needed air! Stat!
 
Hedorak

She had been waiting for only a little while before an armored head burst through the water line. Without hesitating, she threw her shield aside seitched hands and grabbed behind the helmet to an overall style strap before dragging the figure further up. When their chest was well above the water, she reached further down, grabbing their belt and pulled them completely before lowering her gauntlet into the water for the next person.
 
Michael Bludreihm, Abyss Watcher of Farron’s Undead Legion
—————————————————
The dragon head that attempted to catch Michael’s sword cracked greatly from the sheer force of the swing and the almost unnatural sharpness of the greatsword itself, nearly shattering from the swing alone. Michael growled at the woman’s face as his blow was caught, if barely. Of course nothing could be so easy, now could it? A second dragon head of ice lashed out at his stomach, catching him off guard and shredding through the tough leather and chainmail into his stomach with a roar of pain from him. In response, his dagger was pulled from the ground and buried tip-first into the offending dragon head like an icepick, the force from such a concentrated area shattering the weak and reforming head outright.

He moved to hut the offending ice mage with the dagger, but a pair of arms wrapping around his waist to pull him away gave him pause, enough of one for the dragon Ling to flap her new wings and sent him and the woman skidding back in a blast of Ice and snow. He shook off the frost that had managed to accumulate on his form a and his feet specifically as one would kick off dirt from their shoes, holding his injured stomach. This woman’s ice was nothing compared to the frozen world of Ariandel, or even Friede’s form of ice magic. He stood next to the fire woman, his tall form looming over her as he clutched his stomach with a grunt, his dagger stowed in his belt. “Duly noted,” he grumbled, retrieving his Estus Flask from his belt, the dancing power of the liquid Flame within tinting the normally dark green glass a bright, flickering orange and yellow. He held up the flask to his covered mouth and took two clear gulps of the fiery liquid, which passed through the covering like it was not even there. An orange aura of particles emanated from him briefly in time with the gulps, his wounds knitting back together alongside the chain mail and leather, as if he had never been struck in the first place.

As the two bantered, Michael could see that his assumption of the ice girl, ‘Karen’, being undisciplined was correct. From the way she exploded at the lightest insults despite her main element of choice being ice, to why she sat there and let the fire woman talk. She was no dragon; she was a fledgling at best. He watched on as the imperial sent out clones made of fire to impale the dragon-wannabe, and he could not help but marvel at the skill one needed to actually make clones of themselves out of fire. No Pyromancer or Sorceror besides the Pontiff of the Boreal Valley, Sullivan, had ever done such a feat, or in such numbers. As the oh so familiar scent of burning meat and fresh Ash reached him through his covering after a few minutes, he stepped forward behind the imperial and loomed over her with his height, if not a bit awkwardly. He had only caught the tail end of what she had whispered, but it was an issue he had felt and seen many times, both in fellow Watchers and himself. To wonder if what you did was wrong, if burning down that village to the ground to make sure the Abyss did not spread was as morally justifiable as they made it to be. To wonder if returning the world to the Dark was worse then letting the First Flame continue to burn...

“My thanks for thy help, fair maiden,” he said softly after a few minutes, his baritone .voice muffled slightly by the coverings on his lower mouth. “And for the opportunity to see such a wonderful display of Pyromancy. But I think now that introductions are in order.” He gave a salute to her, with his dagger hand across his chest, voice proud. “My name is Michael Bludreihm, the last Abyss Watcher of Farron’s Undead Legion, a Lord of Cinder.” He lowered his hand and set his gigantic Greatsword upon his shoulder as he gave a pointed look around. “Forgive me for asking, but does thou know where we are? This is not Lothric Castle or Firelink, nor the Kiln of the First Flame.”
 
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Luer would glance back to find those glowing eyes following him still. Good. He still could not help the wonder about those eyes though. A part of thought he was just imagining it for some reason. Why, who knows? But that could not be real right? Maybe the cold had gone to his head.

He did not expect Ranma and Alken to suddenly speed through the water in front of them, causing him to back up out of the way and on reflex gasp in surprise. Fuck fuck fuck! It took mere moments for his vision to blur and his mind to go black. If he was not already cold from earlier, the icy water in his lungs was damn sure he was cold all the way through now. His body stilled rather quickly. Dammit! It’s all over now… At least we managed to get them out… hopefully this one makes it the rest of the way before he freezes and drowns too… That was the last thing he could think about, was making sure they others got to safety at least. It meant he did his job successfully, saved their lives even if it meant the end of his own.
 
When opportunity emerged, Gaeira seized upon it desperately. Snatching at the lip of the hole, he wound an arm around Luer. With the devil's strength, he gripped.

His haste did him no favors; his handhold shattered in his grip. Okay, be gentle this time. Lodging his blade in the ceiling, he pulled himself closer to the hole, spotting a helping hand from Hedorak. Following Alken out of the water as Hedorak pulled him up, Gaeira broke the surface and hauled Luer up with him.

"Al! Status!" Alken laid prone. In the time it took the others to pull him out, he'd lost consciousness. His mouth wide open, he laid on his back. "Alright then, Al; we'll do this the hard way." Gaeira reached out with his hand, gripping it tightly against the cold air. "A Bind1 spell ought to do the job."

Three clear, transparent figures took shape around Alken's chest. Forming a trifecta of arrows, they arranged themselves around Alken's upper body, then compressed into him. The SOLDIER gasped, water spilling from the corners of his mouth. Alken gave a breathless squeak, then several wheezing coughs as he rolled over. It wasn't pleasant, but his lungs were clear and he was conscious again. "A-All good. Damn, that was a rush. Thanks, you guys."

Rolling Luer over onto his back, Gaeira put his hands to the man's chest and started pumping. Using my Bind Materia on this guy might break his ribs. Even basic CPR might crush 'em. Easy does it. Gaeira pumped as lightly as he could. After a few shoves against the stranger's chest, he tilted the blue haired man's head back, leaned in, and pressed his mouth to Luer's, breathing into him.
 
Ranma:

She pushed until the big lug was outta the water and swimmed to the spear. Gripping it she felt something pull her out. Well hope it wasn't gonna be another heap or trouble! Because ready or not she needed air!

How glad was she to find in front of her an old familiar face. It was the dead/non dead lady. Oh and good air, she almost forgot to breath. She then got out of the water and sat on the floor letting air fill her up. Hold on where was blue boy?

-This j-j-jerk, he ab-b-bandoned m-m-me. F-f-fine! S-see if I c-c-c-care.

The cold was really violent now that she was out of the water, in fact if she didn't do anything, she might really die of hypothermia. But if Ranma was something, it was stubborn! Scanning the room, it didn't take long before she found the bag and big boy unconscious body. Well in extreme situation always think of number one first. What good would she be to him if she was frozen solid?

-H-Hang on b-big boy! I'll be b-b-b-back!

Like a jewelry obsessed quadrupedal, or like a starving beast, she lunged at the bag and held it in front of her with crazed eyes.

-F-f-finders K-k-k-keepers as th-th-they say.

She started looking in the bag. Throwing haphazardly a knife, some bread, gold and suddenly she screamed of elation. There at the bottom of the bag, neatly folded, a blanket! She took out her wet cloth feeling the cold bite her skin and wrapped herself in the blanket purring in contentment.

Well she was still cold but she wasn't in danger anymore. It was time to see if big boy could still be rescued. Well it seemed to be the case, except that the other sword boy was using magic or something to wake him up.

And Luer, well he wasn't gone as she thought, he managed to fall unconscious. She facepalmed, how could one be so clumsy was beyond her. Sword boy was starting CPR, including mouth to mouth. Ewww. She knew it was just to save him. But EEEEEW.

-Ya know! If ya don't wanna turn solid! Ya should take out yer clothes or armor or whatever.
 
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After a couple breaths Luer coughed up some of the dirty water, managing to roll himself over to finish coughing the rest of it out. …I’m alive? He questioned himself amid deep breaths and a couple more coughs. He glanced around for a moment before stopping on Gaeira. He pulled him out…? “Thank you…” He said softly before violently shivering. Oh gods he was cold. They needed to get of here and find somewhere warm. Maybe some dry clothes too…

It looked like the other man was okay now too. Good, they all got out of that. He settled back on Gaeira for a moment. The man struggled to swim as it were with his weapon, yet he still pulled the archer out with him. How strange. Now if only it was not so damn cold. He could not stop shivering.

He found Ranma at the mention of his clothes. He gave an unamused look, seeing she had seemed to have looted his bag. Could this kid at least have done so without tossing everything about? “Yes w-well… my s-spare cover is t-taken.” He chided. It was fine, but he was frozen too. He may have to rely on huddling with the other two wet men for warmth until they can dry off at least.

He glanced to Gaeira and Alken. “A-Are you t-two okay?”
 
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Lavaetain took a moment to gather herself as this civilian, Michael, spoke and introduced himself. She tried to make sense of what he was saying. No such names or places existed in her world but, all things considered, that wasn't the part that interested her the most. It was the word 'undead'. Such things existed to be certain but they were always mindless monsters, incapable of even outwitting a bacteria. Even Necromancers were notoriously aware of the shortcomings of lacking a brain as one sad video showcased a wanna-be necromancer commanding a skeleton to pick up a broom only for the skeleton to first detatch it's own arm, use the detatched hand to grab the broom, take off it's leg and put it where the arm had been before, then try to pick up the broom with its foot before turning around in a circle wildly before marching off to start sweeping with absolutely nothing in its hands. Yet this 'undead' was speaking. Not just speaking but much better than most people could. Maybe the undead was just a tag? Like how a group calling itself 'devils' were not made of actual demons?

"Honorable Watcher Michael." she said as she dusted herself off, standing up and dismissing her blade in a burst of flame. "My name is Lavaetain and I am the fourth of the six heroes of the American Empire. To answer your question, no. I do not know where we are. Your words and names are unfamiliar to me nor have I heard of them. As such it would make sense that you are not within your world. As for if we are in mine, I do not know, but considering I am looking at a being whom proclaims himself to be undead and has enough mental capacity to make such a proclimation along with a second being yet to introduce themselves I see little reason to believe that you two have been teleported to my world and I have remained as opposed to that all three of us are within a world not our own. A shame that Karen was so unreasonable. Having someone who could fly would have been useful for finding out where we are. But even were I as forgiving of her crimes and attitude as the greatest of saints I doubt she would have been willing to assist us."

She then looked around a bit. "Though this does mean I need to return home fast. As the last of the six heroes standing my absence may cause the empire to collapse in an outright panic and see it as a sign of the endtimes."
 
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