Takumi
Member of the Yato Club
"Kill you?" Arcade cackled, a hand clutching his stomach. "Oh, no, I'm not going to do that!" Glasses appeared behind the Cyborg and presented him with a soft, rhythmic, highly condescending massage. "You see, Hank, on Planet Malice? Arcade is the Top-Dog. His Word is Law. His Will is Reality. Down here? We're unmatched. We get to be a decadent as we like, and no-one gets to say nothin'." He leaned in close. Hank and Hank alone could feel the Madman's breath on his cheek. "We're not going to kill you, Hank, because that would be boring.
" We're not going to kill you because none of us would get any satisfaction out of watching you squirm like a fish in a flaming barrel.
"No.
"We're going to set you free.
"We're going to give you a fighting chance.
"Why?
"Because there's nothing more glorious than the spectacular fizzle of a moral spirit robbed of all dignity.
"Because there's no sight more beautiful than a man's eyes as the last few, bitter drops of hope are squeezed from them by someone he once called friends.
"We're going to torment you.
"We're going to torture you.
"We're going to make you angry. Heartbroken. Desperate.
"By the time my game is done?
"You'll kill each other without question.
"Without thought.
"Without reason.
"You'll all be corrupted.
"Broken.
"Ruined.
"Then,
"And only then,
"We will allow you to die...
"All of you...
"Well...
"All but one, that is...
Arcade released Henshaw's shoulders with a extravagant, dramatic push. He span around on the spot, his index finger raised high.
"That's right, ladies and gentlemen! You heard me correctly! Not all shall fall in the service of my whims! Oh no!" A grim trickled across his lips. "Oh no. The Team that lives to see this week's end? The Team that brutalizes the competition? The Team most willing to pulverize, mutilate and murderize their fellow pawns? Oh... they shall be rewarded!!!"
"Yes! A prize beyond imagination awaits you at this week's end! The greatest killers among you shall have their Greatest Wish Granted by Army of Arcades... and they'll also win a lovely dinner date with yours truly. I'm sure that you Masters back home have promised you glorious things too, no? They've promised to burry your secrets? Free your friends? Clean your slates? I'm sure you're all spoiled for incentives!"
"So kiss you moral conundrums goodbye, my dears! Leave your compasses at the door! A week of misery, agony and suffering awaits you!"
Arcade stretched out his hand. A long, silver leaver extended out of the floor and nestled in the palm of his hand.
"Welcome to Murderworld Tour, Bitches! First Stop: New Pride City! Planet Albion!"
[CRANK!]
*****
CHAMPIONS OF THE ARENA III: CURSED COMPANY
CHAPTER 1: FLAGFALL
[World 3.1: New Pride City, Planet Albion]
***
Falling.
Failing.
Falling.
Clouds rushed by you. The wind howled. The scries screamed. The taste of smog and ash burned your tongue. Hard to breathe. Hard to think. Hard to--
Crack!
You struck the Earth. Your head was spinning. Hard to tell where... When... Was that...?
A horse shoe narrowly avoided your skull. Another one stamped down beside your ear. A great, wheel hurtled towards you. A hand yanked you out of the street before--
"Oi! Move it! Damn Vagabonds! Go back to New Paris, freaks! We don't want your kind in Pride! Ya hear me?" The driver whipped his horse twice more, and trundled across the cobblestone street towards New Buckingham. "Go back to New Paris you alien tossers!!"
***
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***
Welcome to New Pride City. Welcome to the overworld.
Carriages and carts swarmed you like seagulls swarm chips. Every step you took, you risked a very painful, a bitter pill which would no doubt be washed down by another sour dose of xenophobia from some of the locals. You reached for your weapons. Bullocks. Where were they? Your holsters. Your satchels. They were all gone. You clothes and costumes were... different, than before. Sponsorship patches and tacky company logos had been stitched onto every free patch of fabric. It was now all too easy to tell which Conscript belonged to which brand.... ahem... which team everyone belonged to.
You looked up. There they were. Your tools. They were sitting in the heart of the fountain in the center of the street. If you wanted them back, it looked like you were going to have to swim through a sea of horses and carriages and, of course, the superpowers conscripts who wanted your head mounted upon a spike.
The streets were smoggy and cluttered. If you wanted a better lay of the land, you were going to need to fall back, climb to some high ground, and survey the situation from there. That said... everyone you could possibly want to kill was standing right in front of you... There was nothing stopping you from getting the party started here and now...
***
_________________
Team OBLIVION:
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"So..." Godbrand tutted. "Let me get this staight. Arcade isn't dead, I'm not making a boat out of his corpse, Akuma vanished the moment we arrived, I don't have my swords and I'm stuck babysitting a band of mortal children. The bird man trained us for this, but none of us can remember our training for some bizarre fucking reason. In short, I'm fucked. You're fucked. We're all fucked." He plucked upon the hairs on his chin and slowly strode into the path of the some oncoming carriages. "Oh, I almost forget. The Smog Coverage is the only thing that's stopping me from unwittingly transforming into a masculine pile of dust. Did I get everything? Have I ticked every box on the 'we're fucking fucked' list? No? Good. Now, if you'd excuse me..." Godbrand continued to dance between carriages on his way towards the weapons fountain. "I'm going to go eat a human..."
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"Damnit, Godbrand! Get back here!" Eevie exclaimed, reaching out to the Nightcreature. He efforts were wasted. Her please fell on deaf ears. The vampire continued to march headstrong into the midday traffic, avoiding Eevie's grasp by centimeters and seconds. "We need to think this through! We need to stick together! We need a plan!"
"Don't go forgetting it. We know what you did. Play the game. Win. Kill Arcade, or the world finds out. It's as simple as that... Start killing, or the rumors will grow..."
SHANG TSUNG// SHION// PHI// MOLLYMAUK TEALEAF// SUIGETSU HOZUKU// EEVIE FRYE// GODBRAND// AKUMA
^ @Jeremi @Atomic Knight @Takumi @Lucky @Space_Candy ^
_________________
Team NEXIUM:
"Never thought it'd turn out like this..." 17 bit his lip and sighed deeply. "Thought today would involve more 'killing Arcade' and less 'going to London'. Guess beggars can't be choosers..." The Android cracked his neck, knuckles and wrists in turn. "So what's it gonna be, kids?"
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"Someone hit me with a plan in the next 30 seconds, or I'm going out alone."
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"Running away?" The Eleven chirped, speaking the voice a man half his age. "Of course you would run away... Hmm... What's wrong? Late for an appointment at the Salon? Getting your roots colored today, are you? Hm? Oh... I smell a cow-ard! Cow-ard!"
"..."
Forge mumbled some stern retort.
"Sage advice from the lip-cripple! Oh mighty mute, be a dear and share some more 'wisdom' with, your loyal followers!" The Eleven spat. "What was that? A boy has fallen down a well? A well has fallen down a boy? What was that, scruffy? You're a dead weight who's going to drag the rest of the team down? That's what I thought!"
"You're fighting for your freedom. Don't forget it. If you guys don't win the game... If Arcade make it out of this alive... We all better start prayin' for quick ends. Play to win, guys... Play to win..."
CIRI// SARUHIKO FUSHIMI// ZORA SALAZAR// EREN JAEGER// ALEXANDER ANDERSON// FORGE// ANDROID 17// THE ELEVEN
^ @Minerva @Ver @Capri @Gummi Bunnies @Crunch ^
_________________
Team Dead Hearts:
Sinestro raised his hand. His ring soared up out of the fountain and returned to his finger. That smile. That sickening smile. It returned to his lips.
It had been too long... At last... His hand was complete...
"I'm done here." The Yellow Lantern scoffed. "I doubt Conner here owns anything more than the shirt on his back."
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"That just leaves the rest of you. You--" He waggled his finger towards Spitfire. "--Name."
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"Jackie." She replied bluntly. "Call me 'Jackie'. And no, I don't have any gear. So can just--"
"--We can't go." Conner interjected, throwing caution to the wind and leaping into the fray. "Not yet."
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"Leave me if you gotta, I ain't leaving it behind!"
"You're going to get yourself killed, child!"
"Don't care! There's something of mine in that fountain... something special! And I ain't leaving it behind!
"Don't forget our 'deal', 'friends'. The Dead Hearts get what the Dead Hearts want. Play the game. Play to win... or else you collateral might... just... vanish..."
MARRIANE VON EDMUND// JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA// DAN KUROTO// AIZAWA SHOTA// MATO KUROI// CONNER KENT// THAAL SINESTRO// JACQUELINE FALSWORTH
^ @Yun Lee @Capri @MagatsuNoImouto @Space_Candy @Gummi Bunnies ^
_________________
Team Prudence:
***
"One, two, three, four, f--" The Doctor stopped himself mid-word. His hands drifted to his lapels. His mouth slipped agape. "Oh my, we are in a pickle, no aren't we, hm? It appears as if we're two men down... Lost in the fray, no doubt. They've chosen their paths. We must now chose ours." The callous old man synced his watch with that of a nearby clock tower, ceasing his brief search for their two missing members. "Curious... we've lost a few minutes on arrival. Needless to say, we're in a different time-zone... Dare I say, a different planet? Ever been to one of those before, hm? A different planet? A different world? This is new experience for some of you, do doubt! Ha! Well, drink it up, my dears." He smiled warmly, setting his watch aside.
"Though... this is hardly the finest alien world I have visited... oh, and it's hardly the most friendly... But the sight of two suns in the sky is something to behold! You're a long way away from Earth now, dear humans! As much as I'd love to explore this place with whimsy and leisure, I fear that retreat must be today's watchword. Come!" He pointed to a shaded alley a few blocks down the way. "To shelter!"
"I know what you did... I know of yours sins... Fight, or whole word finds out... Fight to win... Kill Arcade, no matter the cost..."
RAMUDA AMEMURA// YASHAMARU// DANIEL DIAZ// CHASE DAVENPORT// HANK HENSHAW// THE DOCTOR// JAMES R. RHODES// JANET VAN DYNE
^ @Takumi @Yun Lee @Atomic Knight @Lucky @Jeremi ^
***
"The girl seems to have some sense," Shang Tsung remarked. "Unlike some of us." The words were loud enough for Godbrand to hear them. "Survey the area and know where we stand. If this is an Arcade game, however..." He smirked and stroked his beard. "I'll have to assume the locals will not be friendly. He strikes me as an individual who stacks the chances to the house rather than his patrons. Best to ere on the side of caution."
@Sark @Jeremi @Takumi @Lucky @Space_Candy @TeamOblivion
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"Your brother is of little consequence," Henshaw replied brusquely. "Only the death of Arcade matters." He had decided to not fly. Better to not stir the populace. Instead, he'd focus his X-Ray vision towards where the Doctor was leading them. Henshaw hated surprises and he was sure Arcade had stored some of them in this place.
@Sark @Takumi @Yun Lee @Lucky @Jeremi @TeamPrudence
Daniel followed the Doctor silently, though on the inside he was broiling. He was tired of these endless, horrible games. These were not fun games at all. They were bad games. Very bad games. They had made Daniel do a very bad thing. Maybe even a lot more than that if he understood all that had happened so far. What he knew for sure was that he killed a version of Arcade. Even if he was supposed to do that, he just knew Sean would be really upset with him.
Sean...
Where was Sean? What had that vision meant? Whatever it was, Daniel remembered something about him and Sean being separated. Had they found each other again and Daniel didn't remember?
"I need to find my brother!" Daniel blurted out to the Doctor and the others. "Sean Diaz! I need to find him! He has to be around here!"
@Sark @Takumi @Yun Lee @Lucky @Jeremi @TeamPrudence
This was still all bullshit to Phi. Still, with so little information, there was no point in running herself ragged.
"A plan?" Phi questioned. She didn't really care where this Godbrand guy went. "Right. We need to figure out where we are. Ask the locals. Gotta be a map around here too."
@Sark @Jeremi @Takumi @Lucky @Space_Candy @TeamOblivion
"Yeah, he likes to have things in his favor from the start, though other than angry locals I'm not sure if we'll find a map here, it might not hurt to look as long as we stay clear of the more violent... competition." Shion sighed heavily. His gun was probably useless by this point, and if needed he could get another knife in the least.
@Sark @Jeremi @Lucky @Space_Candy @TeamOblivion
"Hey, hey, wait a minute Mister! What if you get jumped down there or something? Besides I have something verrrry important of mine in that fountain! If it gets water damaged I'll definitely get in biiig trouble!" Ramuda spoke up from the back of the group to the Doctor with a slight pout. Though the pinkette's gaze landed on Eren as he grew determined to get his own gear enough to become some kind of beast.
"Oh wooww, attacking the Innocents? It's gonna bite him right in the butt later, probably." Ramuda commented with a thoughtful frown. Though, if he could just get his microphone and be on his way then maybe this was one of the quickest ways? Besides, he didn't really care about the 'innocents' right now, but this would totally reflect badly on the rest of the groups. Twirling the ever present lollipop in his mouth he glanced to Daniel.

"Don't worry, I'm sure your brother's just fine! You'll probably see him again before this is all over, so just keep your hopes up!" He spoke up in an attempt to get Daniel to quiet down a bit.
@Sark @Yun Lee @Lucky @Jeremi @TeamPrudence