[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Our Heroes set about truly investigating the past murder sites, eventually going so far as to visit the morgue for a little corpse-gazing. At the morgue, they discovered that Amy apparently was NOT dead, having switched herself for a Weight-of-Amy doll at some point. Their search, after some headaches caused by an immense magical aura.] ( EWOOC for the people who want to be in there. ) [...resulted in Shiho mounting the immense center ring of the arena to determine if there was a hidey hole under the arena. This proved to be the case, as upon Shiho's casting of a spell, a hole opened in the middle of the arena leading down into the ground.] [Session... Start!] Well. Tha's convenient. Shall I lead, or does someone else want that job? When could she have made this? * Rocky peers into the hole. "I'm not going first." Daphne or Ichi should lead. I'll follow and provide support fire. Does it really matter? She made it, all the same. Or found it, maybe. Right. I'll lead. * Daphne goes fearlessly down! * Ichi looks at the hole, "Will it be dark down the...Wait for me!" * Daphne drops down into the darkness and is gone. There's a curse a moment later as she hits the bottom. * Shiho blinks twice and peers into the hole. * Ichi calls down into the hole "...Uhm...are you allright Daphne?" Shit! D-daphne? * Rocky calls down, "Are you okay?" 'M fine. 'S jus' a long drop. Careful comin' down, an' all. * Shiho frowns. "Anyone have any rope?" * Ichi shakes his head, "I don't." Uhm... I have rope, but I'm down here. Oph, and someone bring a light, when ye' come down. * Cara looks down. Uhm...I don't have a light either. I could make one. I still have some torches. Make a ladder or something instead, Cara. Oh! Good idea. * Cara quickly starts sketching out a ladder going down the hole and focusses. * Ichi waits for the ladder. * Cara frowns. * A ladder appears. * Rocky peers at the ladder. * Ichi moves twords the ladder, "I guess we go down now." Ichi, go ahead down. Can you climb while carrying a torch? I don't think using that's a good idea. * Ichi stops, "Why not?" It doesn't look real. Sure it does. Does not. Does too/ Does not. Does too. It isn't? ::pokes the ladder:: Yeah, it's all flickery. * Cara looks at her ladder. * Daphne sighs. She'd pace, but who knows what she'd step on in the process. It feels like a ladder. I'm just saying it might break or something. It doesn't look right. Looks like one, too. * Rocky pouts. "Nobody believes the raccoon." It looks okay to me, but... * Ichi pokes it again, "But what? And Daphne is still down there." * Shiho shrugs. "If it's that big of a deal, I'll go down first." Maybe I should go, I did make it. So if Rocky's right, then it doesn't hurt anyone else. Uhmm...If nobody trusts this one...can't we just make another ladder? * Shiho shrugs. "Alright. But I don't think it's necesary." * Cara nods, and starts to climb down. * Ichi watches Cara climb. * Rocky fidgets. * Cara manages to catch the edge of the pit as her body goes straight through the ladder. Her body slams painfully against the side of the pit, and the ladder vanishes with her concentration. * Rocky points. "TOLD YOU!": Gah! Cara! * Shiho hurries to help Cara up. c.c * Ichi runs forward and reaches for one of Cara's arms, "Well get you out of there." * Daphne blinks. "You alright?" * Cara 'oofs' and breathes heavily, then clambers out with help. "I'm okay." Y'know, it's not *that* much of a drop if you're ready for it. How far down is it? Here, I'll light a torch and drop that down to you, Daphne. * Shiho does that. Uhm, only about... er, thirty feet or so. On second thought, you might want some rope or somethin'. * Daphne catches torch. * Shiho looks down at the light and Daphne. * Ichi looks down to see how deep it actualy is. * Daphne looks around, now that she has light. * Cara gulps a little. * Daphne is in a 10'x10' pit about twenty five feet deep, with a passage leading one way out from the bottom. Uhm...I think another ladder might be a good idea. I don't think I can create a ladder out of nothing. ^^; Oh... * Shiho sighs. "Cara, go buy some rope. We'll wait here in case something tries to eat Daphne." * Ichi looks around for something to make a ladder out of. * Cara nods and runs off. * Daphne sighs. "Right." * Cara returns some ten minutes or so later with rope! * Daphne sits down, muttering. Okay. Got it. * Shiho nods and looks for something to tie it to. Great. I'm sure we've still got the element of surprise. Can you say that a little louder, Daphne? I don't think I caught the sarcasm. I doubt we ever had it. * There doesn't appear to be much in the area to tie the rope too, given that you're in the middle of an immense fighting ring. * Ichi nods. "She probibly knows...and so would Tulpa." Um... I guess one person will have to jump... * Cara looks around. "Well, I guess we'll have to lower people down..." * Shiho nods. "I'll jump." Right. Y'want me to catch ye? Couldn't hurt. * Rocky hops off of Shiho's shoulder and onto Cara's. Wait, nevermind. Gotta hold onto the torch. Couldn't you give it Cara after she climbs down? * Ichi scratches his head. * Cara starts tying one end of the rope around her waist. Eh? Oh, right. * Shiho picks up the rope. "Ichi, help me out here." * Ichi nods and grabs the rope close to where Shiho did. * Everybody makes it safely (and SLOWLY) down into the pit. Right. Now let's go do some villain-stompin'. * Rocky hops down to the ground. * Daphne heads t'wards the light. Not the torch, either. * Cara looks around warily. * Ichi follows Daphne down the passage. * Shiho follows Ichi and Daphne, bow drawn. * Cara follows Shiho, sketchbook and pencil at the ready. * Rocky scampers along, looking... er, very intimidating. Very scary raccoon, yeah. * Behind Our Heroes, the entrance finally closes, plunging the passage behind them into darkness. * Our heroes walk into the light, and come to a corner that the light appears to be coming from. * Daphne doesn't seem the least bit surprised by that, and keeps going, torch in hand. * Cara shivers a bit. * Ichi puts a hand on the hilt of his Katana, but keeps walking. * Daphne walks around the corner! She already has her weapons ready. * As they turn the corner, they can see that the hall emerges into a large room. In the distance, they can see a corner, and sitting in the middle of the room is a person with their back to this entrance. * Rocky sniffs at the air as he goes. * Daphne keeps going, but warily; she looks for traps and people waiting in ambush while she goes. * Ichi turns his head to look at Shiho. * As you go, you emerge into a square room, though from your perspective, it's a diamond, since you're emerging from a corner. * Shiho is looked at? * In the corner opposite you, you can now see, is Grandfather the goat. In the corner to your left is Bear-san, and opposite him is Wolf-san. In the center is... *** Atom is now known as Amy H'lo, Amy. Amy... So you... Hi there. Why, Amy? * Shiho puts an arrow to her bow. Because it's fun. Havn't you ever been bored? Everyone here is so stupid. Plus, have you seen the way they treat animals? Uhm...no, not realy. Taro wasn't like that! I mean, you're the first to figure me out, and you're not the brightest flames on the candle. Imagine how fun it was to know I could this without getting caught. No, but he was annoying. I wanted him to shut up. So in the end, you're just another monster. * Rocky glances around, keeping an eye on the other animals. Yeh. Have you seen the way you treat people? No, you see. You're the monsters. I'm the hero here. Once the humans are gone, no animal will have to worry about them. * Rocky looks up, too. People are dirty foul creatures. A mistake of nature. It'll be better once they're gone. All you are is pathetic. Uhm...but arn't you a human too? * Cara scowls angrily. "Then why don't you die first?" Of course. Once the humans are gone, I'll end my own life. Because I have to kill you first. Right. And the humans, of course, have no right to live? Y'have any idea how stupid y'sound? I'm sorry? Is it better to be a drunkard. Or a coward? Or a cold hearted bitch? Or an idiot? How about we help you skip the genocide idea and get straight to the point where you die? You're not Amy. Amy was kind, and loving, and she helped animals. She made ME see how important nature was. I'll never forgive you. Uhm...That doesn't make any sense, There's a lot of humans...or at least there are where we come from...I don't know much about here..I don't think you can kill them all by yourself. * Amy pulls out a staff. "Actually, I'm thinking it's the opposite. Once you're gone, I doubt any of the other idiots will figure me out." Yeah, actually it is. Drunkards don't kill for no eason, nor do cowards, bitches, or idiots. You've been doin' a lot of that lately, tho. You damn fool. It's because of our faults that we have strength. Anything's better than being a monster. Oh? What about the drunks who get angry and kill someone in a rage? Or the cowards and idiots who cause people to die from inaction? Humans are foul creatures, and the world will be better then they're gone. What, the rest of the creatures aren't foul? How are animals better? They kill each other to live. * Ichi nods. It's simple. Animals don't kill for no reason. Animals don't beat their mates, or shoot their children. They only do what is needed to sruvive And we do what we need to to survive, too. Actually, monkeys sometimes eat the children of other monkeys, just to be rid of them. Or doesn't that count? That's why we'll stop you here. You're fools. Utter fools. The ocean says the river is wet. Anyway, I think it's time to end your lives. If you wish to surrender, I promise to make it painless. There's no point in talking to you. You could never understand. That's why you are what you are. Uhm...I'd rather not die...I'd rather you not die too, but somehow I don't think this is going to work out that way. * Daphne sigha, walks up to Amy, and puts the torch to her hair. * As Daphne walks forward to light Amy's hair on fire, the screech of an eagle comes from above and Eagle-san swoops down from above to grab the torch out of her hand. * Eagle-san grabs the torch out of Daphne's hand and flies away, dropping it in a pile of manure. * The manure begins burning blue, but does not explode. * Thankfully. Nice. Does he do fireworks for birthday parties? * Ichi shakes his head "I guess this then." I'm sure we could arrange to make you explode * Ichi charges at Bear and draws and attack as he reaches it. I'm sure you couldn't, but that prolly won't stop you from trying. * Bear-san rears just as Ichi arrives, and Ichi's sword slices deeply into his body. The bear slumps to the ground, barely missing Ichi, and does not move. YOU BASTARD. YOU'LL DIE SLOW. Promises, promises. * Ichi nods at Amy, "Probibly, but not now." * Daphne slaps the buckle of her belt, and then makes a leaping kick for Amy! * Amy ducks, and Daphne goes flying over her. * Daphne lands, pivots on one foot, bringing a heel around towards Amy's head! * Amy twirls out of the way of Daphne's strike and yells "TONGUE OF THE LIZARD! STRIKE!" Amy's tounge streaches out of her mouth and goes right for Cara's arm. * The tongue slams into Cara's wrist with the force of a bullet. The wrist crumples under the impact, sending waves of amazing pain washing over Cara's brain. * Cara screams. Cara! Wolf-san! Go for Shiho! * Cara manages to hold back from sobbing from the pain, but tears are streaming down her face. "I...I'm sorry, guys...I can't help anymore." Do not worry about it Cara, you got us down here. * Wolf-san scratches Shiho badly with his wolfy claws! Try yer off-hand! * Shiho hisses. Eagle-san! Claw that bitch's eyes out! * Shiho slides out of the way, aiming at the nasty ol' eagle. * Shiho aims at eagle-san and fills the sky with arrows. * Eagle-san takes an arrow, but it falls out as he flies up and away, and he's still going strong. * Shiho takes better aim at the eagle. "Feel what it's like to lose a friend, Amy! Flare Arrow!" She fires a flaming bolt at the retreating bird. * The golden eagle becomes a burning eagle and falls like a star from the sky, landing in the pile of burning manure. .. You're dead. I'll never be defeated by you. Shiho! * Rocky runs as fast as his raccoon feet can carry him, putting himself between Shiho and the wolf. He faces the wolf without hesitation. "C'mon, punk. Make my day." * Ichi charges at and past Amy, as he passes flaims stream around his blade and he strikes, "This is for Taro." * Amy twirls to the left, out of the way of the blade. * Ichi stops and spins on foot bringing his sword around again, this time covered in ice, "An this is in the memory of our Amy!" * Amy is hit by the ice sword. She doesn't like it, but she's going fine. * Daphne swings a fist at Amy, not adding any snappy patter on the side. She's just here to hit. * Amy takes the punch, and gets the starter of a nasty shiner. * Daphne swings again! * Amy gets another smack, and doesn't look happy about it. * Daphne picks up the pace a bit, throwing punch after punch, and putting a lot of hate into each one! * Amy is battered over and over and over again by Daphne's fists and thrown to the floor at Cara's feet, battered and bloody. She stops moving for a moment, then twitches and climbs back to her feet. "Gonna have to hit harder then that." Is that an invitation? CLAW OF THE TIGER! TATATATATATATA! * Amy rushes forward, and claws at Daphne, over and over. Daphne! * Daphne gets clawed but good, and pitches over, blood flowing from numerous wounds. Daphne! Wolf-san! Destroy that drunken whore! NO!! DAPHNE!!! * Wolf-san rushes forward and clamps his teeth down on Daphne's throat, but stops at the last minute and backs away warily from what appears, to its senses, to be a corpse. Please, Daphne! You can't die! * Cara buries her face in her hands and cries. * Shiho growls and runs past Rocky, firing a multitude of arrows at Amy. * Amy doesn't bother dodging the arrows, letting them turn her into a pincushion. * Amy looks like a pretty pincushin! * Shiho fires a flaming bolt at Amy. "Burn in hell. Flare Arrow!" * Amy is hit by the flaming bolt. She's looking less pretty now, but she keeps going. * Rocky runs after Shiho, jumping up to latch onto her back. * Ichi adds his own fire to Shihos, "DAPHNE!" * Amy is cut and set on fire. Despite the fact that she's obviously dying, she continues to smile. * Ichi shouts "WHY?!" as he slashes at Amy with an unlit sword. I won't die until you do. * Amy is slashed again, but stays standing, obviously barely alive. Time to die bitch. * Amy lashes her tounge at Shiho's chest. * Shiho throws all of her effort into not getting hit. * Shiho dives out of the way c.c * Rocky keeps clinging to Shiho. Aieeee! * Amy growls and rushes for Cara. * The wolf is still a little uneasy, and doesn't particularly hurt Cara. * Cara grabs her pencil in her left hand and starts trying to draw an uninjured Daphne. * Daphne's body does not appear to heal. This may be a sign that she is dead. No... * Cara starts crying really hard now, and staggers to her feet. * Shiho was concentrating on not getting hurt. * Rocky stays clinging to Shiho, not letting go for the life of him. Or her. * Cara looks at Amy, tears streaming down her face. "I wanted to see you again so badly...why couldn't you be like her?" * Ichi sighs, "May you find peace in your next life." He then lights his sword again and attacks. * Amy takes the blow and likes it! Not really, she's barely "alive" right now. * Amy is cut. Her organs don't seem to want to stay in the ruined remains of her body much longer. Fifanlgdfs TIGER CLAW TATATATA! * Amy rushes at Ichi and claws as her body falls apart around her * Ichi falls over backward, bleading from more cuts than anybody could count...he does not get back up. * Amy falls apart, her ruined body collapsing. * Wolf-san runs over to Amy and nudges the remains, trying to get her to stand up again. * Shiho hurriedly checks Daphne and Ichi No! * Ichi and Daphne are very, very dead. * Rocky jumps off of Shiho and does the same, sniffing at them. * Cara hugs Daphne's body and cries. * Shiho lowers her head, her hair obscuring her eyes. "God... damn." * On Daphne's hand, a small band of white gold shimmers and shatters, and Daphne's wounds heal ever so slightly, and her chest begins to heave with breath. * Rocky dashes over to Amy, ignoring the wolf as he looks her over. * Shiho doesn't look up. * Cara 's eyes open wide, and she stares at Daphne. "The...the ring!" Yeah. The ring. * Rocky stops his search and looks up at Daphne, one paw still on Amy. * Shiho still doesn't look up. * Rocky blinks, then goes back to looking. * Cara hugs Daphne even tighter, crying even harder. * Daphne mutters. "...fuckin' bitch... gunnapunchutilly'can'tbleednumor..." * Daphne blinks her eyes open. * Tulpa steps out of the shadows, but remains silent. ...why'm I lookin' at the cieling? * Rocky glances at Tulpa, then pads over to Shiho and looks up at her. * Tulpa walks slowly over to Ichi's body and stares down at it. * Rocky nudges Shiho's shin with his nose. * Ichi looks very dead. * Cara slowly looks up from Daphne to see Tulpa. "...what do you want?" * Shiho runs a hand over her eyes then looks up again. * Shiho picks up Rocky, too. * Rocky curls in Shiho's arms and watches Tulpa. You weren't supposed to die. Whu's the... * Shiho glares at Tulpa. "What do you mean?" * Daphne sits up, then curses as doing that hurts. I mean that you were supposed to find new lives, in new worlds. * Cara hasn't let go of Daphne yet, by the way. ...you mean...you... * Shiho spins, rounding on Tulpa angrily. "None of this was SUPPOSED to happen! None of us asked for any of this!" ... Cara, leggo. Gotta go punch Tulpa. * Cara releases Daphne. * Daphne staggers to her feet and heads slowly over towards Tulpa. You were one of the ones who sent us here?! You couldn't just live happily on whatever world you ended up on, could you? You had to go and spoil it all for everybody. Magic. Power. Prestige. Everything! And you gave it all up, and your lives, too. What the hell are you talking about? We never wanted any of that. * Daphne socks Tulpa in the jaw. "Wherever we ended up wasn't our fuckin' home." Since we got here, all we've wanted is to go home. * Tulpa takes the punch without flinching, as far as you can see. I'm the last, you know. * Daphne doesn't mind. She did what she set out to do. She's actually kind of surprised by that. The last what? The last of the 'Keys'. The last of the keys. The last guy who wants to fuck with our... oh, that. Since I wasn't sent back with Ichi's death, it means the last other than me was. Why? Why did you do it? Why us? ...Maybe it's the blood loss, but I don' think I got that last part. So which one are you, then? Kensuke, maybe? Because you were the locks. It couldn't be anybody but you. The ritual is very specific. Perhaps... perhaps you had to be the ones because you _wouldn't_ be content with staying wherever you were sent. Perhaps the ritual is designed to be self defeating. Wouldn't that be a trip. ...what. Bloody. Ritual. The one that sent us all across the multiverse. * Cara looks at Daphne. "He's like Brian." Okay. And you did this because why? * Tulpa reaches up and frees the bindings on his breastplate, pulling it down along with the padding to reveal the key tattoo. So... whichever one of you is the last Lock... come and open it. Y'didn't answer my question. We all did it for different reasons. I can only speak for myself, and I won't. Childish. Didja' jus' wake up one day and decide ta fuck with the universe? "Oh, sure, good clean harmless fun, that. Nobody'll get hurt! I'm sure it won't inconvenience anybody!" Perhaps I am childish. I suppose it was rather childish to perform the ritual in the first place. The fact that I went to school with such cold-blooded murderers is what really gets me in the end. Yeah, childish. Amongst other things. Stupid, for one. Shit, I dunno if we even have a lock left. Wouldn't you just love to be stuck here forever? You have a lock left. We would not be here if we did not. * Cara looks down and away. "We're all just kids." * Daphne mutters. "Not anymore, we're not." I'm gonna punch you again now, Tulpa. Y'okay with that? * Tulpa shrugs. "You're entitled, I suppose." * Rocky stays silent, watching Tulpa. Damn straight. *WHACK* * Tulpa falls on his ass, then climbs slowly back to his feet. * Daphne spits on him while he's down there, then walks over to a cleanish part of the room and sits down. Did you ever give any thought to all the lives you ruined? ... All the misery caused here. It's all because of you and your stupid game. Shyeah. That's two Amy's dead 'cause of you. Don't suppose any of that actually bothers you? Maybe...maybe Amy really got back. Does it matter? That won't help Ichi, or Taro. Or thier families. Nah. That'd mean something went right. Nothin' goes right in these things. Everyone with half a wit knows that. If it didn't bother me... I wouldn't be surrendering to you. We...we don't have to go back. Not yet. There's that other tournament...with the wish... If we won... The Wish cannot revive the dead. * Cara 's face falls. If it could, I would already have suggested it. Okay, fine. Is there anything that can? That can bring 'em back, can reset this whole can a' wrong? Or did you guys never look into anything beneficial? I wonder if the wish is strong enough to make it so that this whole ritual never happened. Nothing that I know of. The dead do not return. Occasionally death can be prevented, but returning once it has happened is... impossible. Swell. There was no point to any of this. So you sent a bunch of people off to die, knowing full well you couldn't fix it afterwards, and all for no fucking reason at all. That's very big of you. You weren't supposed to do that! I didn't want anybody to die! What's you THINK would happen? You send a bunch of fucking high-school teenagers into worlds full of things that want them to die, and you think they'll be fine? You could have told us everything after Taro died. Ichi didn't have to too. You could have helped us fight. * Tulpa looks away. Y'think this is a comic book? A TV show? A novel of epic deeds and dering-do? Well it's NOT! This is LIFE, and in LIFE, PEOPLE DIE! * Tulpa says nothing. * Daphne slumps back against the wall she's sitting near, and clutches her head. "Now... now let's go home, please. I wanna heal up, and then I wanna tell all you ritual-bitches how dumb you are summore." I...I want to see if Amy's there. Who has the lock? Is it you or Shiho? Me. * Daphne sighs. "Someone needs to carry Itchy. We can't let his corpse rot here with the fucking animals." Who was that woman? Yeah, her! A double. This world's version of a person from our world. Or maybe our Amy is our world's version of this world's Amy. It's very confusing. No, the one who appeared when I touched Brian's key! * Shiho nods. * Tulpa shakes his head. "I don't understand." Shiho, touch the key. Maybe she'll appear again. Itchy saw 'er too, once after he was a doll for a bit. * Shiho nods. "Even if she doesn't, I'm tired. I want to go home." But first I want to know who you are, Tulpa. * Rocky shifts in Shiho's arms, still silent. * Tulpa slowly removes his mempo, revealing... * A face that could easily belong to Akiko Takahashi, the school princess... if it didn't belong to a man. * Shiho stares. * Cara looks at him/her, confused? * Tears are streaming down his face, no longer hidden by the mempo. * Daphne blinks. * Shiho clenches her fists and her teeth, starts to say something, and stops. Know 'im, Shiho? * Shiho says instead. "I'm ending this nightmare." And touches the lock. * There's a bright flash of light, light so bright that it's dark, and you are all gone. * Your vision clears, and you're back at the pep rally that was really a demonic ritual to fling a handfull of students across the multiverse. Shiho is just coming out onto the floor with the rest of her team. Cara and Daphne are looking down from the crowd. * Cara and Daphne quite suddenly realize that they're sitting next to each other, and that they _know_ each other,. * Daphne blinks. * Cara looks at Daphne, confused. "Wha?" * Daphne looks herself over. She still have gaping wounds all over her body? * Shiho is with the kyudo team so she doesn't react much. * Cara looks in front of her. "I-Ichi? * Daphne blinks at the person in front of her. "...Amy?" * Ichi and Amy turn around and look at Cara and Daphne, and say simultaneously, "Do I know you?" [Game... End]