Sometimes, in the darkest hours of the night, you've wondered: How *long* did you spend down there, down in the depths? The bits and pieces you recall, as the endless fighting blurs together into a mosaic of violence and desperation, are little more than fractured, writhing visions - Of running and hiding, of feeding on those you killed, and even those you met, to keep your strength up. Of white worms wriggling beneath your gauntlets, as you waded knee-deep through an ocean of seething gore...

-But mostly, you remember the monsters.

The wyrm's great shadow blots out the crimson sky, as it looms over you; The filthy maw of its bone-armored skull opened, to expose articulate, translucent fangs as long as spears. Horn plates glistening, it wraps around the rock pillar on which you're perched, rising-

...At this very moment, as the morphic obscensity reveals itself - All you can think is: "Why does it have a human face?"

Smaller *things* - parasites, like thickly clustered barnacles, like ringworms - are clustered across the thing's scaled form, pale and colorless. The wyrm's jaws are hinged so wide they form a tooth-fringed opening like a chapel cave, at it *roars* at you - The vast tonnage of its bulk grinding and scraping off the black stone span.

> HP: 127%
> METER: 7%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 100%

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21050398
>>21050408

(My bad, forgot to put the title in the subject field.)

>>21050398

Oh my god, what the fuck is that thing.

>>21050408
Engage the Scrander and take off. Use concentrated gatling fire to burn off parasites, both to remove obstacles to our awesome weapons and clear a place to land if we need to.

Above all, avoid the mouth.

>>21050398

Start shooting that fucking thing. Keep our shield up and back away, to build our meter.

>>21050466

> Engage the Scrander and take off.

We, uh, we gave it to Argent Prominence to upgrade. We're currently Scrander-less in Seattle.

>>21050452
It looks like a white guana from Abara.

>>21050488
Oh right. In that case, what I said, but replace taking off with running.

Just checking up the archives: This thing is curled around a pillar, right? So take out the pillar and it'll fall with no suport.

Alternatively, we could use it's back as a slide to get to the lower levels

>>21050563

(The problem is, it's the same pillar you're standing on.)

> Engage the Scrander and take off. Use concentrated gatling fire to burn off parasites, both to remove obstacles to our awesome weapons and clear a place to land if we need to.

Your forearm sheaths retract, the whirring barrels of your plasma vulcans deploying - Even as you brace yourself to take off, to *fly*...

-Nothing happens.

That's right, you remember - You don't *have* it right n...

The ultrasound of the wyrm's call sends agony blitzing through your mind - The stone cracking underfoot, puffs of dust coiling upwards beneath the sonar blitz. The noise is *agonizing* - It hurts you somewhere deep in your chest, a wave of nausea knotting your guts.

> Start shooting that fucking thing. Keep our shield up and back away, to build our meter.
> In that case, what I said, but replace taking off with running.

The autoreactive shape of the Adjudicator locks in place, your vision still blurred - But you back away, your armored boots raking against the slick black stone, both Vulcans blasting-

Gouting flashes of fire bloom at your wrists, blinking and flickering fast as the Vulcans cycle up to full speed. The plasma bolts fireball against the wyrm's dirty-ivory skull, bursting the lamprey-mouth parasites clinging to the surface; Most of your shots deflect off the horn-plates, but the wyrm makes a deep, throbbing growl of distress-

...Without warning, it lunges forward in a vicious bite; You bring your shield up just in time, as the blurred shape *slams* into the stone, falling short, making the platform *rock*...You're standing on the tip of a raised pillar about ninety meters wide, give or take, but it feels uncomfortably cramped with a behemoth *this* size...

(Continued.)

As the wyrm withdraws, it sloughs off the clinging parasites - Each one is about the size of a large dog, with filmy, translucent skin and a ring-mouth lined with teeth; Agitated by the promise of meat, they begin to wriggle towards you, the ground shaking underfoot...

> HP: 119%
> METER: 13%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 100%

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21050601

(Quick clarification - It's a vaguely circular platform, with a diameter of about ninety meters.)

>>21050609
Attack the parasites. Using the gatlings against the wyrm isn't likely to do much good, but shooting builds meter, which we need for heavier weapons.

If possible, when the opportunity arises, jump on the wyrm's back.

>>21050609
Before the Wyrm withdraws completely, use a cobalt boosted jump and land on it's head. When you land, slam your shield down into it's head and activate the pile bunker spike. Simultaneously, engage the railgun's mag-locks.

RIDE EM COWBOY

>>21050631
>>21050631
With other rock pathways and bridges surrounding?

>>21050651
No, I think leaving the platform and making a run for it on the other ledges is the best idea. We just can't afford to fight every monster we meet in here. Especially not when they're this size. We should run somewhere it can't follow.

>>21050662
This sounds like the absolute worst idea.

>>21050713

(Yes, there are multiple walkways and bridges - They *are* rather narrow spans and treacherous to cross, but they're viable.)

Yapping, *riling* in sickeningly organic ways, the eyeless prey-things swarm towards you, in a living carpet of horror - Ring mouth wide open, claw-toed flippers scritch-scritch-scratching at the rock. You turn your guns on them, the churning fire of your plasma vulcans stitching flame through them - Each direct hit is a satisfyingly wet explosion, as viscous tissues and filmy flesh superheat beneath your shots.

You keep one eye on the wyrm's coiling shape, at it rears back - That battering-ram skull swaying back and forth, in a sinuous gesture, before the jaws ratchet open again-

There's a rank smell of ammonia, and a roiling cloud of *acid* spews forth. Your crimson armor begins to fizzle and *seethe*, with a horrid scratchy feeling as if your skin itself is being eaten away; You can actually *see* the smoke rising from the plates, as the carrion-feeders - Heedless of the risk, mindless of anything but *hunger* - come on.

(Continued.)

>reading the last two threads

Holy crap, Argent reminds me of Fast Wheels with his moe blob of mercury.

>>21050609

Gotta keep building that meter. Kite the little ones around while focusing the big one down. If there is any big clumps of the little collectors, blow 'em to hell.

>>21050662

You may have been able to make it - If you didn't have your hands full with the sickening *things* skittering towards you, even as they dissolve; There's three for every one you kill, as you back away - As shoot as one dies, the others swarm over it to feed, but that leaves far, far more to close the distance...

Your vision is fogged with the pestilent, acid cloud - It feels like it's eating into your mono-optic sensors, as teeth sink your left ankle: You can feel the tips of fangs biting through the metal, as you shoot the parasite through the torso at point-blank range, staggering out of the churning airburst.

A small mercy: The seething acid exhalation is a momentary barrier - It's eating into your armor, but it's literally dissolving the blind creatures worming their way after you, forcing forth a shrill, chittering chorus of distress.

The awful sound of your armor dissolving slows to a steady gnawing; You can feel the air sizzle as the wyrm's coils contract with a rattling *hiss* - It's going to come at you again. You're closer to the edge of platform, now - An all-out sprint could take you either to a bristling formation of stacalites, or towards a narrow span of rock - The walkway leading to a sprawling granite island beyond.

> HP: 111%
> METER: 20%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 100%

TIER ONE WEAPONRY UNLOCKED.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21050822
Take the narrow span. If necessary, use the Cobalt Booster to gain some extra speed, because we might need to dodge the wyrm on the way.

>>21050754
>>21050822
Hmm, battle scenes. I've no tactical sense, so I'll lurk until there's social situations.

Stalactites are the hanging ones, right? Unless we've got a Bat--er, Joker Grappling Gun in the suit, it's the rock span for sure.

>>21050822

Time the deathworm's lunge to coincide with us hauling ass across that narrow deathtrap of a rock span. After it's finished it's lunge, retreat.

>>21050822
I'd like to put a boosted blast from the plasma caster right through it's face, but momentum would probably cause it's body to hit us anyway.

>>21050822
Yeah, let's get to that island. Have to be careful with the jump seeing as we can't air brake anymore.

If we go for the narrow rock span right this instance, we'll become a delicious snack for all of the things that go bump down below as it crashes into the rocks behind us.

Wait for the worm to be in mid-lunge before making a break for the other island.

>>21050866
>>21050842

You back away, your targeting sensors locked on the great, tensed shapes: You *know* it's going to lunge any moment now, those nictating, lightless eyes tracking your form - To swing in for another unstoppable bite, as you wait, wait, *wai-

Driven by the undulating elastic of throat muscles, bristling with spine teeth, the wyrm's secondary jaws extend too - In the instant before it sweeps across with the ponderous unstoppability of a glacier. The Cobalt Boosters sends strength stinging through your muscles, as you break into a sprint, a *run*...

-The wyrm's snapping maw misses you, but the uncoiling coils of its massive shape swats you aside, almost in passing; The blow sends you skidding forward, nearly off your feet, as you turn the glancing impact in a tumbling roll as the world spins end-over-end.

For one heart-stopping instant, there's only empty space beneath your feet; Your fingers dig into the rock, and you claw away from the edge, lit from within by an azure glow.

(Continued.)

Your boots find purchase as you wrench yourself upright; Bizarrely, it's almost like the thing did you a *favor* - The thrashing impact hurled you in the very direction you wanted to go, right next to the winding span that leads to the next island...

-It's longer than you expected. Treacherously slick, too - Enough that you can't use *all* your boosted speed, the uneven surface sloping and jagged in the worst possible places...But you run anyway, as the ground trembles, flakes of stone falling from the narrow walkway, as a gust of displaced air roils through the space behind you-

...In your mind's eye, you just *know* that the wyrm has withdraw itself, once more - You can see something sinuous and glistening black coiling through the dark beneath you, like some ocean-going behemoth...The speed of it passage making space itself shiver.

You're about - A quarter of the way across, but it's not easy going - at this rate, you may make more than half before it strikes again.

> HP: 101%
> METER: 26%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 80%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>21051057

If we believe in a higher power now is the time to start praying.

There is no atheists in foxholes as the saying goes.

I'm all for >>21050662 if that Mad God Murphy and his Three Laws interferes.

Spit logic in the face.

>>21051057
Jump. Let it pass under, start shooting. Land on it and keep heading in the same direction, but be ready to jump again.

>>21051099

It's going to eat the narrow deathtrap of a rockspan. There is no jumping. Only falling to our deaths.

>>21051099
If we can pull this off the shot HAS to be from the cobalt boosted plasma caster. It's armor piercing and this thing has plenty of armor..

>>21051115
There may be handholds on the side of the bridge. If not, we'll just have to fire all of our missiles into its mouth and hope it stalls long enough for us to either cling to it or traverse the remainder of the bridge.

>>21051057
Launch Interceptors to distract it as we get across.

Heedless of the risk, you accelerate - Somehow managing to keep your balance, even as the ground skids away beneath as your feet - going from a run to an all-out *sprint*, as the awful shadow draws closer, closer...

-You can see the next platform, now; A finger of rock rising from the darkness, granite and stony. The rank, roiling smell of ammonia informs you that the wyrm is directly *beneath* you-

...When it surges forth from the dark, you *leap*.

If it'd been trying to swallow you whole, you would've dodged it - But instead, the flat arrow-shaped head and the eerie human face of the crest *slams* into the fragile walkway like a meteor's impact, with all the force it can muster.

In a word: WHAM.

(Continued.)

>>21051057

You better grow some slave feet Anon-kun and keep *running*.

>>21051155
It's not a bridge. It's a literal, zigzagging path of rock that's connected between two islands.

>>21051162
No point. Armor's too heavy for them to do any damage. It might not even notice them, they're so tiny in comparison. Save the meter for other things.

>>21051183

>Armour to heavy?
>SEND THEM INTO IT'S GULLET!

In mid-leap, you only feel the echoes of the tectonic impact - But the entire walkway shatters, accelerated to a reverse hail of pelting stone and obsidian shards, jagged chunks of rock tumbling into the abyss as the rest is flung skyward.

Your Interceptors deploy, *right* as you begin to fall - One, two, *three* of the fanning out from you, as you begin to *plummet*. The Plasma Caster shot goes wild - The azure flare of energy flechettes blasting apart a hurtling slab of stone, the molten fragments gouging against your armor as your Interceptors slash through the worst of the debris...

-And *now* the wyrm, coiling upon itself, lunges to take you oout of the air like a cat snatching a dangled treat-

...At the last moment, you catch a bright light - A flicker-flash of silver - and the thing *roars*, flailing as it twists aside. You slam into the thing's crest - The Adjudicator's blades igniting, as you stab out to slow your fall...Digging a deep, gouging track across the writhing surface, the Pile Bunker's spike slamming out to punch deep into the gap where two plates meet. Somehow, you managed to *hold on*...Your vision reeling as the wyrm thrashes-

...You saw *something*. That was, definently...

(Continued.)

Chrome Cypher just saved our asses. Yeah.

>>21051207
Still won't help. It's TOO BIG for the interceptors to be of any help. The cutting blades are only so thick, and if the creature is sufficiently large the blades might not even be able to cut the insides of its throat. Now, maybe targeting the eyes could do it, but at best the interceptor would be destroyed on impact with the eye. Problem is that this monster is already breaking rules about how fast something of in that size can accelerate, so there's no guarantee the interceptors would manage to hit the fleshy and vulnerable eye or whether its blink would render the attack useless.

File: 1349763054583.jpg-(243 KB, 611x806, chromecypher2.jpg)

...There.

A silver shape, on wings of steel and blue fire - You can see the white-hot light of the lance clamped in chromed gauntlets, the harsh illumination beaming from the visor.

It's Chrome Cypher.

There's a deep judder of motion beneath you, as the wyrm swings to track the new arrival - Smoke coiling out from the wound you've left, the bone-armored head swinging back and forth, as if in confusion...Enough for you to make out the molten scar gouged deep into the crest.

Cypher banks round for another attack run: You're just beneath and to the right of the wyrm's head, the endless abyss plucking at you as you *hold on* - Your shield jammed in place, like a climbing piton.

> HP: 94%
> METER: 22%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 70%

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21051304

>Chrome Cypher just saved our asses. Yeah.

Nah, he's just here to catch himself an Onyx. Bitches love Onyx.

>>21051317

It's Kazuma! Or, is that Natsume?
Has to be one of them, anyway.

>>21051317

>You screwed up my plan!

>What took you?

Can we use some Afro-Engineering to use our Interceptors as an improvised surfboard?

>>21051317
Keep our shield hand stuck in him, we need as much of a grip as possible.

Take the other hand and put our vulcan point blank up to the scar, or inside if possible, we gouged out and cobalt boost the vulcan for maximum dakka.

It ought to feel that.

>>21051347
inb4 Chrome turns out to be Akira and all those coincidences were really just coincidences.

>>21051317
Can we try another booster plasma bolt or is the caster on our shield arm?

>>21051317
send the interceptors to distract it from Chrome.

>>21051415
>send the germs to distract it from Chrome!

Recall the interceptors.

>>21051317

Recall interceptors.

Do >>21051389

>>21051451
Thirded

>>21051394
You're all wrong! It's Fumito, he's really a schizo amnesiac. Argent and all the "players" under him are really just different personalities.

>>21051507

I didn't realize he was a Malkavalian.

When did we start playing WoD?

>>21051525

I know I typed Malkavian into this damn tablet...

File: 1349764170012.jpg-(34 KB, 500x297, 500px-Vampire_-_taxi.jpg)

>>21051525
First time we took the taxi, obviously.

> Recall the interceptors.

Your Interceptors scythe out - Their cutting fields buzzing against the wyrm's horned plates, striking sparks from the surface, raking narrow slices from the thing's flesh...It doesn't seem to feel them. Or if it does, it's not responding - It's attention fixed on the fast-moving shape, snapping at it as Cypher darts *just* out of reach...

-This isn't working, you realize. Cypher's spear flashes out, and slices one of the wyrm's many tusks free - Silver spikes (javelins?) deploy from a shoulder launcher, and bounce right off the Corrector's bony skull. If he had a week, he might - Just *might* - be able to kill it; Dodging and flying like this, he just can't do enough damage to seriously *harm* the thing...

But you can.

The phase blades of your shield flare, your Interceptors locking back into place; Armored fingers digging yourself a handhold - Biting into the blistered black flesh underfoot - you gouge the Adjudicator back and forth, widening the wound you've punched in the thing's coils...

-And then you press the smoking shape of your Plasma Caster into the wound, and *fire*. At point-blank range, there isn't even enough time for the blast to disperse - A gout of blue fire blasts into the join, expanding in a detonation of superheated flesh; Boiling acid blood splatters you, as you cling on like a tick - The hard carapace plates blown *right* off the wyrm, as you shove the Vulcan's spinning barrels into the crater...

And fire again.

(Continued.)

File: 1349764325877.jpg-(18 KB, 264x233, 1331086547691.jpg)

>>21051579

>realization

>>21051619
We're actually insane, everything is just a figment of our imagination. Hecate, just a girl we met who was lonely enough to hang out with a rambling crazy man, this snake, it's just a really tall guy who we are holding onto as we stab him in the neck with a pocketknife.

File: 1349764511321.jpg-(155 KB, 400x400, 1333768144258.jpg)

>Chrome Cypher

So, where's Blue Lion And Red Bunny?

Your Cobalt Booster burns like a hot coal in your chest, as you trigger the stirrup grip - The Vulcan making a horrid buzzsaw noise, as plasma fire eats into the wound like malevolent cancer; The autofire burst ripsawing lines of blue-hot tracers, in a rattling chain of overlapping gunfire...

-The *sound* the wyrm makes is impossibly loud, impossibly violent, as a terrible impact nearly flings you right off; It's slammed itself into the walls of the cliff, in a single shuddering convulsion - Grinding the thrashing length into the jagged black rock, in a frantic attempt to scrape you off.

The wyrm's ghastly mouth belches a vast ball of flaming gases at Cypher; It misses wide, but the massive explosion lights up the eternal darkness for an instance, enough for you to see the chrome-armored Player buffeted by the blast, spinning away and trailing smoke...Struggling to right himself in the air.

> HP: 94%
> METER: 34%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 49%

TIER TWO WEAPONRY UNLOCKED.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21051619
Makes a twisted kind of sense, doesn't it? Obviously the armor is Technocracy experimentation into what would become Tech Infantry power armor gone horribly wrong (or right?), the Correctors are Spectres from Wraith given physical form, maybe through Changeling dickery, or hey, other Mages.

You can extrapolate from there.

File: 1349764781341.gif-(168 KB, 400x400, 1311144055371.gif)

>>21051694

>You can extrapolate from there.

We're in a coma and all of this is just a figment of our imaginative consciousness.

The OP ends the quest with

>and then you wake up

>>21051694

Damn, that actually makes sense.

The entire thing is a Virtual Adept experiment in reaching the Underworld. Hence the monsters (Spectres). Also, all the Players are either Enlightened Sorcerers (In the case of the rank-and-file) or Awakened Magicians (Like Argent Prominence.)

Hecate is probably a Changeling.

>>21051690
The best thing we can do for Chrome is to keep on dropping the pain on this guy.

I'm tempted to go for a fully charged, cobalt boosted, fusion annihilator shot, but I think given that it's thrashing around like this, we're barely holding on, we'd get baked due to being right next to it, and if it's damaged during the charging phase bad shit happens we should hold off on that.

I advocate keeping on holding on, firing into the hole with the Vulcan and firing a focused beam from the Tyrant Burst into its now unprotected flesh.

>>21051690
Keep going, you need more. Once the wound opens up enough, blast it with the Cobalt Booster's particle beam. Give the fucker a lobotomy.

>>21051690

Keep shooting. Rip and tear. Keep on filling that meter.

>>21051690
How wide is this thing?

What if we Cboosted the shield without removing it, drove it deeper, and then wrenched sideways to partially bisect the worm?

>>21051747
That's the oWoD explanation of course. I wouldn't know where to start with new. Free Council experiment into fusion tech with magic, with a touch of Prometheans?

>>21051690
It doesn't like what we're doing to it. Keep doing what we're doing to it. Maybe boost it? Wish we had radio comm.

>>21051834

If we knew morse code we could flash a signal to Cypher using the booster. Although, this is counter-productive as (s)he would be blinded in the process.

>>21051690

Shove the Nihl Sphere in there.

>>21051782
Sounds good. Missiles might also be good to put some hurt on the body or any of the parasites that made their way over.

Bloody hell, we're using the booster way too much.

Don't forget we still have to descend into the depths of the hive.

>>21051883
If it's glowing and looks hungry that could work. It does seem to like draining things, and this guy might be tasty enough to draw its attention. Odds are that it'll be dormant, but might be worth a shot.

>>21051883

You're *hurting* it - And you *keep going*. Your Vulcans fire again and again, until the charge element glows hot against your wrist, the barrels smoking; Superheated, steaming gore bubbling out from the wound, as the wyrm slams itself into anything it can reach, in a thrashing frenzy - You bite back a groan of agony, as a wickedly sharp spike of rock punches into your left leg, your armor skidding and scraping sparks from each glancing impact...

-But you never let go.

A focused *surge* of will, the circuit-patterns on your armor burning blue - And the Adjudicator's cutting edges flare brighter still, expanding into a great sweep of slashing blades; Flesh vaporizes beneath the field, the wyrm's wedge-shaped head contorted in agony-

...Until your Vulcans stop working. Clogged with core, they let out a grinding, sputtering sound; But the Corrector's black flesh had turned blacker still, the crisp edges of a hellish wound pulled like an awful smile.

(Continued.)

>>21051883
Wait a sec...
Corruptor Wyrm = Onyx
So,
Nihl Sphere = Pokeball???

The Nihl Sphere is dormant and cracked as your forearm sheaths close back over the gore-choked barrels of your right-arm Vulcan; But when you shove it against the wound, it *glows* with a hungry light - You actually *see* the Corrector's flesh begin to wither, violet illumination throbbing maliciously...

-From somewhere close by, Chrome Cypher lets out a monotone, vox-distorted *roar*. His electromagnetic longsword tossed end-over-end, connected to his spear by a cunning magnetic interlock. He plunges down, driving the seething edge through the wyrm's skull - Making it *wail* its ultrasonic cry of pulsing distress, its struggles frantic, now...Like an animal in a trap.

...And then your Pile Bunker, driven deep into rapidly-corroding flesh, slips free in a welter of acid blood and gore. Suddenly, you're sliding *down* the thing's surface - The Adjudicator slicing shallow wounds across the thing's hide...

...Before Cypher cannons into you, diving down from above. His flight pack's jets roar, pulling you both away, in a twisting arc - You can make out the shining spike of his spear driven into the wyrm like an aerial, the red-hot metal clearly causing it incredibly amounts of distress.

"Kill it," he growls, in a monotone rasp - The mouthpiece of his helmet locked down.

> HP: 78%
> METER: 46%
> COBALT BOOSTER: 34%

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21051935

...
...
We're Brock aren't we?

>>21051998
"Of course.

We'll have to talk later, come back to school please."

Fusion Annihilator, 6 charges, I don't think we need a Cobalt Boost at this point, we're too low on it anyways.

>>21051998
"With pleasure."

Then >>21052024

>>21052048
Seconded

File: 1349766386137.jpg-(2.6 MB, 2000x2701, Sky.High.full.543405.jpg)

>>21051998
I love you in a completely platonic sort of way right now OP.

Then Annihilator it's face.

>>21052024
>>21052048
>>21052069
>>21052086
Aww, the sphere wasn't done eating.

Anyway, we need to watch our aim with the FA. Wouldn't want to collapse the hive before we got whatever Hecate thought was down here.

> "Of course. We'll have to talk later, come back to school please."

Chrome Cypher visibly starts - The steel fingers tightening momentarily, as a seething line of acid spews past you. He throws himself into a dizzying evasion, putting some distance between your forms and the wyrm's.

The Fusion Annhilator cycles up to charge, slowly; The charges mounting, as the Corrector wyrm sways its length back and forth in distress - The frenzy storming the liquid darkness into chaos, its coils tightening around the pillar it's latched onto, hard enough to crack the stone.

Vast blade-teeth glisten in the anti-light, as you pulled your arm back, the targeting reticule pinging at you to fire NOW NOW NOW-

Light spews forth. The tracer beam from the Fusion Annhilator widens, shot through with writhing lightnings and cored with blue flame; Going from pencil-thin to wrist-thick, to an expanding blast that washes seething energy out in all directions. Corospant writhes across your armor, leaping in weird garlands across Chrome's silver plate.

The blast goes right down the wyrm's gaping throat, and annhilates it from within.

As it falls, as it dies - Head a flaming ruin - the ropes of its coils tense one more time, then slacken. The pillar breaks apart, collapsing into the abyss; You turn away, almost flash-blinded...

-But still you see the Corrector swarms rioting upwards from the blackness of the abyss, to feed in their thousands. They're already beginning to feast, as the wyrm's shape shrinks to nothing, and is lost to sight.

> RED JOKER LEVEL UP
> SELECT BONUS.

[ ] FORCE (WEAPON UPGRADE)
[ ] METER (FASTER METER GAIN)
[ ] GUARD (DEFENSIVE UPGRADE)
[ ] SURVIVE (VITALITY UP)
[ ] EVOL (ABILITY UNLOCK)
[ ] ROULETTE (RANDOM RELIC)
[ ] RELIC ATTUNMENT: ADJUDICATOR

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21051935

Gotta catch 'em all.

>>21052151

Upgrade our Interceptors.

>>21052151
Describe attunement, please. Upgrading it?

I think we said we wanted meter, earlier.

>>21052151
>>21052182

I thought it was Interceptors, myself.

Go with

> [X] EVOL.

>>21052151
[x] EVOL (ABILITY UNLOCK)
[x] ROULETTE (RANDOM RELIC)

one of these

>>21052151
[X] EVOL
Gimme dem interceptors

>>21052182

Meter is fine honestly. Our interceptors are starting to come to the end of their usefulness without a much needed upgrade.

>>21052151
I'm thinking Evol.

Our Meter is doing pretty okay in its charge time lately though more is always nice, we're doing unholy fucktons of damage already so we don't really need Force, the Adjudicator and the soon to be returned Assault Shroud cover us in terms of Survive and Guard. And fuck Roulette, random fate took Hecate from us, we will never trust them.

Evol got us the Interceptors, and I don't need to tell you how useful those have been. They have saved our ass more times than I can count.

METER for crying out loud, past fights have shown we don't build it nearly fast enough.

>>21052223
I second Meter. Still too slow.

>>21052209
>>21052202
>>21052200
>>21052191
>>21052171
You guys have to be screwing with me. We've had to be saved in all of our fights since Pazuzu primarily because we can't deploy our powerful weapons fast enough and you want to upgrade the things that actually slow down our meter gain?

We can get meter next time. Right now our little flying buzz saws need to be upgraded to funnels.

Your Interceptors subtly alter in shape and form - The auto-seeking drones fanning out, as two more materalize in a flash of green light; From three to five, with two at each shoulder and one at the small of your back.

> SECONDARY UPGRADE UNLOCKED
> SELECT UPGRADE

[ ] RIFLE BITS
[ ] REFLECTOR BITS
[ ] VECTOR BITS
[ ] CLAYMORE INTERCEPTORS

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21052207

Let's go with interceptors this time. I really, really like our gun drones.

>>21052207
Untrue. Interceptors are supposed to distract, draw fire and block incoming projectiles. They're not assault weapons, which is how they've been utilized--

>OP POSTS
DAMN IT ALL.

>>21052250

HAHA TIME FOR FUNNELS. WE NEWTYPE NOW.

>rifle bits

>>21052250
[x] Vector Bits!

I think this'll give us more maneuverability. Though I'm tempted to go after Rifle Bits.

>>21052250

It sounds like the upgrades are Ranged, Defense, Melee and I dunno. Ranged sounds best, to me.

>>21052250
[X] Vector bits

MORE CUTTING POWER
MORE, MORE, MORE

>>21052250

>Reflector

What is the limitations?

>Vector

Does this increase our maneuverability?

>>21052250
Fuck you guys for voting for these damn things.
If they are going to save our asses they need
>[ ] REFLECTOR BITS

>>21052246
>>21052258
Pazuzu- Hecate dies saving our ass

Bardiel- Sudden Nihl Sphere shenanigans stop the fight as we're about to fall to our doom.

Div E Sepid and friends- Argent Prominence show up despite being wounded to prevent us from experienceing what we do to others with our Fusion Annihilator.

Giant Worm- Chrome Cypher out of nowhereright before we're about to get eaten.

You guys are dumb.

>>21052302

(Apologies, but I can't detail them further - The Red Joker pretty much only sees the options available.)

You forgot:

Pazuzu was really hard to kill. We were WINNING against Bardiel, and we would have killed him if the match hadn't suddenly ended.

We could have tanked Sepid's friends, because we were holding them off fairly well. The giant worm was a clusterfuck of a fight, anyway.

>>21052327
Fuck me I was right, this IS Gantz, and the 100 point menu is showing the options.

Good movie versions, btw, but it needed more RAWK and less orchestra.

>>21052321
Agreed. Any way to press back on the menu?

>>21052344
In all the cases you described one more meter upgrade would have put us in a position where none of that would have mattered.

>>21052250

Tough choice. I kind of want Claymore funnels, whatever they are, but let's go for Rifle Bits for now.

[ ] RIFLE BITS

Rifles. Our interceptors already provide protection if they're deployed around us. Now they can do double duty as fire-support as well as defense.

>>21052361
I hate to agree with this guy, but he is right.

>>21052250
[X] RIFLE BITS

We could always use some more long ranged firepower.

>>21052375

He has a point, but I still really like Funnels. In Gundam, those are the most broken weapons OF ALL TIME.

I have to vote for

[ ] Rifle Bits.

>>21052375
Hey man I'm one of the good namefriends, I swear!

>>21052383
You do realize that this isn't Gundam and they're called INTERCEPTORS for a reason? If they were viable as weapon platforms they'd be called assault drones or similar, not "bits".

>>21052327

OP, then can you at least outline what the other upgrades would be like? I've already voted, but I would like to know what we're missing out on.

>>21052344

You haft to remember the GM REPEATEDLY asked if we actually wanted to go through with checking up on the book. We got in over our heads with the worm and he had to bail us out.

Again.

>>21052344
Pazuzu was hard what with his calling reinforcements

Bardiel was going to complete his transformation because our FA shot was running down and our scrander had also exhausted it's power leaving us to fall out of the sky.

Apollyon had us dead for an alpha strike and we were below 80% health with no shroud and trapped under another player with no way to evade.

The worm, well obviously.

But all these could have been avoided if we had been able to use our more powerful weapons sooner. Hell at this rate we''l never even see 100% meter.

>>21052406
We've pulled out the 100% weapon before, and I think we hit 100% meter twice.

OP, can we vote to hit the back button on the menu?

>>21052363
>>21052377
>>21052368
>>21052383
Not sure if samefagging.

>>21052431
We already manifested the extra two interceptors, can we even refund the level up at this point?

>>21052431
No it was just once. If we'd done it twice we'd have tried out the QSC by now.

>>21052431

As fun as funnels are, we do need more meter.

Did we hit a quick-save point or did we forget to save-scum?

>>21052440

Nope. Only one of those is mine.

>>21052383
>>21052377
>>21052363
>>21052368
I hope these Rifle bits don't have limited ammo, cause if they do you've screwed us even worse than I think you have now.

>>21052471
Said that poorly. "You've screwed us worse than just choosing to use the upgrade on the bits.

Huh. It brings to light why a lot of the players have died. They didn't min/max properly.

>>21052451
...Ah shit.

>>21052452
We did, against the first worm. The one that interrupted the date with Hecate in thread VIII. Here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/20068677/ post 20081925.

>>21052491
More likely they went for weapons or relics without boosting body stats.

>>21052496

>mfw the new bits actually put our meter into the negatives

Oh man the ironing.

(It seems that the majority favors Rifle Bits/Gundrones.)

>>21052431

(Unfortunately, no - The Interceptor upgrade has already been selected: It's just a choice between one of the multiple upgrade 'paths'.)

Your Interceptors *change* further; The beam emitters for the slicing fields becoming more narrow, more focused, a tiny charging element flickering on and off beneath the gravimetric suspensors that control the weapon pods.

YOU HAVE UNLOCKED: RIFLE BITS.

Now, each of your five Interceptors mounts an independent particle gun, allowing them to conduct their own attacks - Individually, or simultaneously. While not as powerful as your Plasma Vulcans, the drones can maintain a sustained rate of fire, and are *highly* manuverable. The particle beams are particularly effective against lightly armored opponents, and the drones are capable of point-defense against incoming projectiles.

This ability replaces the cutting fields of the Interceptors, for greater offensive capabilities.

>>21052402

The Reflector Bits are the 'defensive' variant, which can independently create deflector fields - Or combine to create a single mighty (but immobile) force construct that can be both a barrier *or* a prison, with the resiliency depending on the number of Interceptors remaining.

The Vectors Bits are a highly offensive melee variant, with enhanced phase cutting fields - With increased effectiveness against highly-armored opponents. They can also be *thrown* as projectile weapons.

The Claymore Interceptors are magnetic mines, which explode into a hail of monowire and high-velocity flechettes. They can be primed and thrown as hand grenades, or set to explode on a time/proximity/remote fuse.

(Continued.)

>>21052510

>Particle Uplink Cannon ready, General.

Goddammit guys, I wanted to go for the Adjudicator attunement or meter.

>>21052510
>drones are capable of point-defense against incoming projectiles
There's that at least. Of course given that they're stronger and there's more of them they'll drain meter faster, and remember what our limiting factor in all of our encounters is? We might have to field FEWER interceptors in the future to ensure that we can use anything stronger than the Vulcans.

>>21052531
No you dolt they're as powerful as a guardsman's flashlight in the tabletop.

>>21052547

Next time.

If there is a next time.

>>21052510

(Quick addition: The Reflector Bits also have synergy with the Tyrant Burst system, allowing the player to 'deflect' the photon rays off them. The Claymore Interceptors are also 'beacons' - When attached to a target, they constantly broadcast his location...Which attracts your Triskelion missiles and lock-on systems.)

The echoes of the wyrm's death - The Corrector's great, tortured fall - are still ringing in your ears, as Chrome Cypher's jets flame; You see the darkness recede, steel arms clamped around you as the abyss gives way to the blessedly solid stone of the platforms...

-And then he lets go.

You fall a short distance, dropping to one knee on grey granite rock; It's only now - after the flailing, desperate tumble of the fight is over - that you're beginning to shake, from the sick rush of adrenaline boiling through your veins.

Chrome Cypher lands badly, with a grunt - Close up, you can see that he looks...Battered. Worn, as if the perfect finish of his armor has been tarnished. More than that...He looks tired, his fingers uncurling, a hunched, weary slope to his shoulders.

"...The walkways will lead you back to the top, Joker." It's a staticky blurt of sound. He points, in the right direction. "-Leave. You're costing me time."

[ ] "-What are you doing here?"
[ ] "How *long* have you been here?"
[ ] "I know this place better than you do, actually."
[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21052510
I officially hate all of you who voted for the interceptors, and especially the ones that voted rifle bits. These are not solving ANY of the problems we have AND have made the Interceptors FAR less useful with no cutting edge. Fuck all of you. OP, you are still cool, even if you had to follow the majority, unfortunately.

[x] "I know this place better than you do, and I have business here."

>>21052551

>Consider the following.jpg

Guardsmen use lasers.

We have Heavy Plasma. Eat your hearts out Sectoids.

>>21052551
Eh, might be useful. Baphomets little devils, Alecto's lightning spheres or... Actually Pazuzu can hacK interceptors so we can't use them against him.

>>21052574

> [X] Free

"I know it's you, Natsumi. Stop hiding behind the mask, and talk to me like a person."

>>21052574
We still have the Nihl Sphere, right? Or did it get stuck in the wyrm?

>>21052603

We held onto it. It didn't get to finish nomming the wyrm.

Aww fack I'm late to a session and you dumbasses waste our upgrade on this?! We could have used Relic attunment on the NIHL SPHERE you jackasses!

>>21052603

(Yes, you still have it - You pressed it to the worm, which made the flesh rapidly wither and decay, dislodging your Pile Bunker spike.)

>>21052579
Read the alternative's abilities. Now rage harder. I'm raging with you

>>21052591
...Did you even read their description? They're particle beams, meaning lasers, meaning flashlights since anybody worth using five on is going to be armored and they're for unarmored targets.

>>21052574
"That's hardly the way to treat an old friend Natsume. I have to admit I didn't expect to find you here of all places. Seeing as I almost certainly know my way around better than you, it's best you tell me what you're here for. We shouldn't stand here and wait for the swarm to notice us; we can talk on the move."

>>21052601
We're still going to be randomly guessing at CC's identity?

>>21052626

It has to be one of them. It simply has to be. Either Natsume or Kazuma.

>>21052574
[X] "-What are you doing here?"

>>21052615

Uh. Particle beams (given time) will burn through an armored target. It's what the giant, flying chemical laser mounted to the nose of a 747 does to SCUD missiles.

>>21052637
Or Akira.

>>21052613
Since the Interceptors are part of our armor, not a Relic, I'm guessing our good friend AP won't be able to upgrade them, right?

>>21052645
They scrapped that for a reason. Also, our targets tend to be high mobility, the beam wouldn't get more than a second of contact

>>21052626
Hecate told us Chrome was in the room with us when we visited Akira. We've a 50% chance of being right at this point. Either we are right or we confirm.

>>21052645
Time is in short supply in a player battle. I can't imagine any player is going to sit and let us burn through their armor. They'll either move or destroy the interceptor, either of which renders them worse than useless since they drained meter.

>>21052649
Nope

>>21052661
less than that, Akira could have been Chrome and the other could just be some random player, we really don't know.

>>21052659

High-mobility targets can be corralled into a kill-zone.

>>21052661

They're highly mobile themselves, thus hard to hit. How fucking hard is it to hit a quarter at 50 feet without a scope?

Difficult. Now try to hit a moving quarter at 50 feet.

> [X] "-What are you doing here?"

"Hunting."

The faceless visor meets your green-glowing eye, and holds your gaze. You have to admit, Cypher has an *incredible* poker face.

You wait, but there's only that one word.

> [x] "I know this place better than you do, and I have business here."

Chrome Cypher's head tilts to the side, considering: Before his shoulders slump, and he turns away with a squeal of articulating joints.

"Suit yourself," he growls, his footsteps making a slow clank-clank-clank as he walks back towards the edge - The turbines of his flight pack purring softly as he stalks away...

>>21052615
>>21052601

Silence.

You have never known a silence more total, more awful.

Cypher turns back, and steel fingers go to his throat, manipulating...something. When he next speaks, his voice - *Her* - voice is hoarse, cracked, infinitely weary...

-And familiar.

The sound - It's slow, filled with mounting dread. She says:

"K...Kazuya - Is that *you*?"

Another scraping step, towards you. "-Who *are* you...?"

[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>21052688
Well, Bardiel would just fill the air with blades, Pazuzu would hack them and send them after us, Rust Kaiser has enough heath not to care as evideced by him taking 3 point blank caster shots to the face and not caring. Thief could probably get out of it too.

>>21052681
Yeah no. http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/20382499/ 20383921

>>21052688
Think about the battlefields we've fought on. When did we ever have a chance to do that? We'd have to change our entire fighting style to make it possible, with no guarantee that they wouldn't just job the interceptors. Haven't you seen before how easily they're destroyed.

>>21052696
Disengage the helmet. I want to see her face. Or hear her reaction, in this case.

Also, HAH.

>>21052696
"It's me, Natsume. It's Anon. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, but there's something important I need to do here. We need to talk soon, if you'll hear me out."

>>21052696
Wow, I'm actually kind of surprised you don't know. All of my ENEMIES seemed to have figured it out easily enough. Natsumi, it's Anon.

>>21052717
HAH indeed dude.

>>21052717
>Disengage the helmet.

Pretty sure the air in these parts is unsafe, bro.

>>21052732
Flip up the visor then.

>>21052727
Hahahaha, I like this.

>>21052696
"Of course I'm not Kaz, you really think he'd be able to keep this sort of thing under the radar?

It's kinda an open secret by now, it's Anon, when this is over you should see Kaz, he's worried about you."

>>21052717

We attempted to use a knife in an artillery battle. The interceptors were trashed in the process. Now that they've been upgraded, we're bringing a concentrated beam of death instead of a knife to the artillery fight.

>>21052710

Pazuzu was hax, literally.

We tried to fight a tank with no room to maneuver. We got squished.

>>21052717
Really? Dude, I was totally expecting you to wall of text this?

>>21052748
>he's worried about you."

Add on, "I was worried too."

>>21052749

And the blades are FUCKING DUMB GUIDED. He filled the air, but they were not guided, while our interceptors are under their own power.

File: 1349771294975.jpg-(78 KB, 800x450, hall.jpg)

>>21052724
>>21052727
>>21052748
>>21052765

"...It *can't* be..."

Her voice is tiny, disbelieving.

"That's - That's a lie, isn't it? It's some kind of *trick*...You can't be - You're *not* Anon-kun..."

The air begins to shimmer, and distort around you. For a moment, you wonder if it's the Corrector swarms returning...But no, the crimson world is releasing its grasp. Something that should've been impossible: You've known the awful gravity of the abyss below - You've felt it constantly drawing on you, like iron fillings to a magnet.

...Then why can you leave...?

You don't have time to think about it - Not much, anyway. Between one blink and the next, the chasm and the stone below giving way to...

(Continued.)

>>21052766
Our interceptors haven't shown any evidence of threat detection capabilities. They seem to have simple coded attack routines which can't recognize external threats

Can we stop arguing about the interceptors now, mistakes were made- deal with it. Instead of bitching about how good or bad they are, focus on keeping the red joker alive until the next upgrade so we can make a better choice.

>>21052783

Damn, it sucks to not be a Newtype. We need a PSYCOMMU, STAT.

>>21052783

Because THEY WERE NOTHING BUT METAL BALLS WITH A BLADE ATTACHED. The only thing they had to do was fly in and slice and dice.

Now they have an active point defense system IF ACTIVATED.

>>21052790
But he started it.

>>21052752
I was planning on it, but then I realized that this would communicate it so much better. I'm planning on writing up a text block, but I want to get a feel for how this is going to go.

>>21052749
>>21052766
We have pencil thin (if that) heat rays, not death beams. The rifle bits will need yet ANOTHER upgrade to be effective in a high speed combat situation. Also remember those dumb blades can still take out any interceptor or bit we don't have moving to evade, and evasive maneuvers are not good for the kind of concentrated fire necessary to pierce armor or do significant damage.

>>21052790
Yeah I'm done. Preemptively vote to slap anyone who doesn't vote meter next time this comes up.

>>21052799
It was an energy field. And if we had taken the Vector upgrade it would have been an energy field that was much more suited for the higher level opponents we've been facing.

You're inside - It's an abandoned warehouse, of some kind. A place that smells of old iron and the patient drip-drip-drip of leaking water; From above, the weak rays of the fading sun cast a wan golden glow on the ground below, where grass is beginning to sprout through the joins of the floor.

Natsumi's standing before you - She's in her school uniform, a coat draped over her shoulders, and...

-She looks like hell. Her skin is smudged and dirty, oil marks on her hands...Hollows beneath her eyes, her lips cracked and dry. There's a look of blank, awful surprise on her face, as she stares at you: Her gaze frighteningly intense, her red hair tangled and mussed.

"...No..."

You've never seen such absolute horror on someone's face before - It's a look that clamps an icy fist around your heart, as her shoes scrape against the ground...Taking a tentative step back from you.

"-It *can't* be you..."

[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21052805
>>21052813

I'll concede the point to stop shitting up the thread with more bickering.

For now.

>>21052805
I'm voting artifact - Nihl Sphere next, irregardless of what the rest of you dumbasses think. FYI Hecate could use the Sphere to hack, so we should be able to use it to protect our interceptors from other hackers.

>>21052830

There was no option to upgrade the Nihl sphere, though.

I don't post normally apart for decisions but
FUCKING STOP ARGUING ABOUT PEW PEW

>>21052837

The power of love man!

>>21052825
"Sorry to disappoint."

>>21052825
And we thought we had it bad.

"Natsume, STOP. I can't imagine why this is such an impossibility for you, but I AM this round's Red Joker,. And YOU are in awful condition. I'm taking you home, you're going to sleep, and we're going to talk about this in the morning. DON'T try and run from this. from me. There's too much at stake." (softly) "I've missed you Natsume."

This isn't a call to try and start her route, note.

We need to hug her.

She looks like she needs a hug.

>>21052825

"You wouldn't comprehend the trouble I had of believing it was you either."

>>21052825
Oh hell, who did we kill.

"Natsumi what...? don't look at me li- nevermind, I need to get you out of here. We need to talk, and you clearly need rest.

>>21052863

Hug and a piggyback ride out of this dump.

While she whispers soft nothings in our ear while she sleeps.

>>21052825
"It's been me for a fair while now. Didn't it seem odd that I was always right there when the Red Joker showed up?

And really, thinking it was Kaz?

Let's get you home, you need at the very least some food and a good night's rest. The world'll keep on spinning while you sleep, don't worry."

>>21052858
Like intentions ever matter when this sort of thing comes up. Though I have to say I'm a bit disturbed by her reaction, especially considering the way it seemed like she could have been crushing on us in earlier sessions.

>>21052825
"I'm sorry, but it is. This game changed everything, and it's taken so much from me. It must be like that for you too, pushing Kazu-kun away to keep him safe. Whatever happens from this point on, we need to start looking out for each other. I can't. I absolutely can't watch another person I care about die."

>>21052825
Need to think back, out of all the players wee killed, did anyone close to Natsumi die around the same time we killed a player?

Kazuya as the joker is ok but you freak out that its me... I dont know ehat tomake of that. We've missed you at school, where have you been?

Did you pull me out of the red world?

I vote no hugs until she calms down first

>>21052886

The one player/collector hybrid comes to mind.

>>21052894

No wait scratch that. I'm talking out of my ass. Sleepy.

Uh.. crap. I need to reread the threads to see.

>>21052874
That was directed more at the posters than anything in character. As for her reaction, it's perfectly in character if you consider how Red Joker is perceived. He's the laughing scourge who appears at will and leaves heartbreak and destruction when he leaves, a cut above the pack, guaranteed a place in the end game, and the armor goes to whoever kills the last one. Can't trust, can't be trusted, a living legend and the biggest monster in the game.

More to the point, remember that Pazzy poached Bardiel from Argent. Anyone thinking that he might be making a play for Chrome? What if something Natsume saw or heard during the massacre is making her react like this? Chrome was hardly as cold to RJ before Nara Dreamland. In fact, she admired him.

Red-rimmed eyes meet yours - Bleary with exhaustion, Natsumi stumbles back as you approach; Not too far, just a step - as if she can't believe that you're real.

Her expression is terrible to behold: Fear, despair, self-loathing, all in equal measure.

"Don't...Don't *touch* me," she gasps out, in a choked voice - Shaking her head violently, hunching in on herself. She trembles violently, when you take her into your arms, hugging herself - Natsumi feels so frail, racked with shivers, her tears leaving marks through the dirt that badges her face.

She struggles, briefly - Twisting against you, trying to pull away - but it's as if she's not sure that she *wants* to. Her legs go out from beneath her, and you're all that's holding her upright; Before Natsumi begins to weep against your chest, her fingers curled into claws, sobs racking her form.

Somehow, the cold air seems even colder, now.

"-I killed *five people*-" Natsumi chokes out, hoarsely - Dropping to a whisper, now, as she clings to you. "I didn't *want* to, but I couldn't, I *couldn't*..."

The raw emotion in her voice falters, tailing off into sobs - As if the fight has gone out of her, all at once. "I said I wouldn't, that I would *never*, but I lied, I *lied*..."

[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>21052922

"I'll protect you."

>stroke hair

"You won't haft to do anymore killing. I shall be your sword that cleaves evil and your shield that protects against the darkness."

lol she's dead

>>21052922

Ohhhh, I get it. Remember how Argent's players don't do PvP? And how Chrome was fighting at Nara Dreamland?

I think she must feel really, really bad about the badguy players she killed.

>>21052922

Christ, Anon's Tohno Gland is bigger than Shiki's at this point.

>>21052940
Err, not what we need right now.

>>21052943
Shit, no wonder she doesn't like us. We kill like it's nothing. Well, it doesn't help that our armor and name is a big "KILL ME FOR PHAT LOOTZ 'N TITLZ" sign attracting all the most violent players.

>>21052922
"And I killed more than that, much more.

That's life now, we kill people or they kill us, I killed some so they wouldn't kill any others. You shouldn't feel any guilt for killing the scumfucks at Nara's Dreamland.

I'm sorry Natsumi, but that's how it is."

Come on Watashiwa. Work that social magic, cause I'm lost.

I sort of want to say something like "It's not easy for me either" but we all know it's probably not true.

>>21052922

"You did what you had to survive. Nobody can judge you for that. It's what all of us do in this world. It's kill or be killed. Only the quick witted and fleet of foot survive."


"....I learned that the hard way. It's why I fight. To survive another day in this madness. Maybe I'll find a glimmer of *real* in this insanity. Who knows?"

>>21052950
can the Red Joker

kill

servants?

>>21052940
Please no

>>21052994
Let's not start this.

>>21052968
And then can we start talking about how, just a few days ago, we killed over a dozen people?

Probably shouldn't reference this in the story, we don't need to traumatize her more than we already have.

>>21052994

Is this Extra Servants?

>>21053006

He started it.

>>21052922
Ah, PTSD. Not much we can do on that score except try and limit the damage.

"Natsume, how many people do you think I killed at the theme park? How many people do you think I've killed this month? Since I became Red Joker? I'll answer that last one: I don't know. I stopped counting because thinking about the lives I destroy, directly or indirectly, would drive me mad.

"I killed the old Red Joker. I didn't kill him in the game--he's leagues beyond me, even now. He was hurt, he was dying, and I did what I could. I called it mercy, but I'd be lying if some part of me didn't think about what I'd gain by doing it.

"And you know what? I don't regret it, except for his. The players who challenge me could have chosen to surrender, to step away, to leave, and I would have let them. I don't enjoy the killing. Until Nara Dreamland.

"Natsume, the Players there were murderers, plain and simple. They didn't care about how much they hurt others, how much destruction they caused. They reveled in it. Natsume, you killed them. You're going to remember that you had a choice to kill or be killed and you chose to kill. You're one of us for real now, caught in the murder games like the rest of us, but you're still better than all of us. You regret it, you feel every death like a weight on your soul. They wouldn't have. I wouldn't have. Natsume, you're probably going to have to kill in the future, especially now that the Black Cardinal's in play, but you're not going to enjoy it. You won't become a monster. You're going to survive, you're going to protect others. You're going to live. It's your choice how you want to live. If you're anything like the person I think you are, I think you'll choose to live well."

>>21052752
Happy now?

>>21052922
"Killing five murderers to protect others doesn't make you as bad as Pazuzu. Or Bardiel. Or me.

I'm taking you home."

Carry her, if she can't stand.

>>21053019

tl;dr

Has my vote.

>>21053031
PIGGYBACK.

>>21053019
I'm not sure, that's a lot for the poor girl to try and assimilate. Might need to repeat some of it after she's had time to rest.

>>21052968
>>21052973
>>21053019

She shakes her head, weakly - She's clutching at you so tightly it almost hurts, a violent tremor in her limbs; As if Natsumi can't decide whether to push you away, or hold you close.

"It's not the same..." she murmurs, almost to herself. "-I'm not...I can't be...*strong* like you..."

Despite her words, you feel some of the tension go out of her. She just holds on to you, now, burying her face against your shirt - As if she can't bear to look at you, not at this moment. Her shoulders are shaking, still, as you put your arms around them - holding her as close as you can, her ragged, hitching sobs aching and raw at the same time.

At some point, she's sunk to her knees - The floor cold and gritty beneath you, Natsumi's soft weeping echoing hollowly from the rafters. Somewhere, you hear rats skittering; Somewhere, you hear the cawing of birds.

It marks little more than the passage of time.

After a while, Natsumi quietens, and goes still - For a moment, you wonder if she's fallen asleep, her eyes closed as she rests limply in your grip. But just when you're about to loosen your embrace - Your arms and legs cramping - she says, very softly:

"...I'm sorry about Hecate."

She looks up, at last, a kind of desperate guilt on her features. "I didn't want her to die, I *didn't*...There were too many of them, and I, I..."

Her face contorts, her throat tightening - Her gaze going distant, focused on something only she can see.

Then: "-Everything's...Everything slipping through my fingers. I don't know who you are - I don't know who I *am*, any more..."

A weak, bitter laugh. "Now, I'm not sure if I ever did..."

[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21053019
...I can't really point why, but I don't like you much.

>>21053044
>>21053031

(My apologies, I missed those two - I'll keep them in mind, though.)

>>21053058
"I know you are. I miss her. I really loved her, you know that, I loved her with all my heart.

Let's get you home, you need some sleep, it'll seem better in the morning."

>>21053058

>pat head

"Don't think to hard on it, Natsumi. We'll figure it out in due time. Now lets get you home, okay? Everyone is worried sick."

>>21053058

Wow, shit. She's had a really traumatic day. Can't we do the Mobile X Destiny thing and kiss her all better? Jesus christ, I'm at a real loss here.

>>21053071

A good nights rest with us holding her hand as she falls asleep to keep the nightmares away will be better.

>>21053071

She has a boyfriend.

And we are still looking for Hecate.

... And now I want to ask if she knows for a fact that Hecate is dead, probably too much at the moment.

>>21053071
Kissing won't help, it won't help one jot or iota. It might make it worse.

A hug, a plate of waffles, a bath and a good night's sleep will help.

>>21053058
Natsumi, what happened to Hecate was entirely my fault. I've never blamed anyone but myself, and Pazuzu's cache of murdering psychopaths.

And as for who you are- You're my friend, Natsumi. Nothing changes that.

>>21053100
>Nothing changes that.

Let's not friendzone her while she's this emotionally unstable.

>>21053058

I wish I could draw to put that scene onto paper. Holy crap I actually felt a bang of something there.

>>21053122
Well we sure as hell aren't getting into a romantic relationship with her.

>>21053091
It's the kind of thing we should ask her at the end of breakfast tomorrow when we're getting ready to leave her place.

Crap, does she live alone like we do?

>>21053128

There's always NTR.

Or the threesome route.

>>21053059
I play on people's feelings in an online game in a way that suggests that I have experience doing so IRL? I don't like me much when I start thinking like this.

>>21053058
"Who does? People don't have just one side to themselves. The person I am when I'm with you and Kaz isn't much like the person I am when I'm Red Joker. Doesn't chance the fact that they're both me. Knowing someone, doesn't mean knowing everything about them. We all keep secrets, we all tell lies. Some of them are harder than others, and some of us are better at it. For what it's worth, I don't think you've changed. What you've done changes people, but only if you let it. I'm here, I'll do what I can. Argent cares too, but he's your boss and that might be awkward, but he's been at this for so much longer than me, and his path is the one you follow. He'll be able to help you in ways that I can't. Hell, he probably can get you a therapist."

>>21053068
As much as I like the sentiment, it's not true. The collective anonymous and thus Anon liked her, asked her out, was entertained by her and got along with her. Love is deeper than that. Had it gone on longer it almost certainly would have developed that way, but as it is we mourn what might have been more than what was.

>>21053122
She's our other best friend currently dating our best friend. She's already firmly in the friend zone as no intimations of romantic interest have been sent or received.

>>21053135
No.

>>21053122
Natsumi has been our friend since we were little. I'm trying to convey that the red world hasn't changed her as much as she thinks.

>>21053128
Yeah, Mio or Asuna seem more likely if Hecate's really dead. Still, she doesn't need the bitterness a broken heart can bring right now.

I feel really bad for Kaz, this has all the markings of a "second place relationship".

>>21053100
>>21053068

"I know," Natsumi says - But your words seem to strike the very core of her being, make her crumple inwards on herself. "I know," she echoes, and she can't make herself look at you as she says it - Some of the light going out of her eyes.

>>21053044
>>21053070
>>21053092

You pat her head, running your fingers through her matted hair; You can't help but remember a time years ago, between the fireworks of a summer festival, where this girl was happy and smiling - The endless days stretching out ahead with infinite potential.

She flinches away from your touch, slightly, and the moment passes.

As you stand, Natsumi tries to mimick your motion - But she's too weak, too worn-out from crying...Or just too tired. She makes only the faintest protest as you lift her onto your back - A soft, voiceless "No." All the same, her arms tighten around your back, as you carry her...Beginning the slow walk away from this place, and...

-Home.

(Continued.)

>>21053145

Child hood friend never wins.

>>21053141

>experience doing so IRL

So, you're a wizard or something?

>>21053141
More like she gave off vibes and we decided to hook her up with our inept friend.

>>21053157
>"I know," she echoes, and she can't make herself look at you as she says it - Some of the light going out of her eyes.

What did I fucking tell you. Idiots, that was not the time.

>>21053157

That death flag. Oh man.

>>21053158
Hah, no. Rhetorician with training in marketing and politics.

>>21053157
>21053100
>21053068

Oh well done. Hammer home to the girl with the unrequited crush that we went out with a girl we knew for all of a week over her when she's at her most emotionally vulnerable. /sarcasm What happened to playing this character like he's not the idiot lead of a genre anime? Do you even know people?

>>21053177
Addendum: You guys didn't understand that she needed the hope right now. That one positive emotion was propping her up and you just kicked it out from under her. This won't end well.

You've lived...A long time.

For the longest time, you lived in endless and eternal night. It was only later, after the fact, when you began to appreciate how truly focused, how truly *changed* you had become.

Your instincts had grown razor-sharp. You were on guard at all times, at first - With no opportunity to slacken or lose concentration, for Corrector ambushes were sudden and ferocious, and came out of nowhere. You moved, fought, moved, then fought again, without space for rest or reflection.

You have never known, and would never know again, the pure need for survival, uncomplicated by beliefs or the weight or time - The unqualified quintessence of the hostile world that stood between you and the crimson light of the first day.

It's only now, that you're beginning to think...

-Where did all the time go?

Natsumi's home is...It's changed, in places. *There* are the posters you've seen before - The rows of stuffed dolls and plush toys perched like decorations in her room, fuzzy and harmless and adorable. They're faded, like the memory of better days.

(Continued.)

>>21053134
In this universe, I'm not sure ANYONE has parents.

>>21053195

I've been kicking back and watching Anon flail about ever since Hecate died. It's been amusing to say the least.

>>21053210

QM is playing up the tropes well I see.

>>21053203

OP, I salute this.

This makes so much sense. SO MUCH SENSE. No wonder we're so good at the Game.

>>21053157
Oh wonderful. Not only did you friendzone her, you friendzoned her while telling her you loved another girl. [sarcasm]That's just GREAT guys. Well done.[/sarcasm]

File: 1349776506306.jpg-(347 KB, 1637x1200, natsumifestival.jpg)

>>21053203

Natsumi's house is almost painfully neat. It's a homely place, with a feminine touch - Lived-in and warm, a place you realize you haven't been in...For years, now.

'We're home,' you say - As her warm breath tickles the back of your next. She's asleep, lulled by the slow, rocking pace of your footsteps - When you turn your head, she looks so peacefully, resting against your shoulder.

Your footsteps feel too loud, your body too clumsy - It's as if you're an intruder in the darkened house. Natsumi is sleeping the deep, dreamless sleep of utter exhaustion - As you set her down on her bed, she curls up in a fetal position, murmuring softly as she pulls the quilt to herself.

She doesn't even move as you gently draw the covers up and over her; cocooned safely beneath the thick blanket, slowly relaxing as she's put at ease.

[ ] Cook some food.
[ ] Wait for her to wake up.
[ ] Call Argent Prominence.
[ ] Call Kazuya.
[ ] Leave.
[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21053203
>>21053221

I don't understand this. Am I exceptionally dense, or am I missing why Anon-kun has Training From Hell?

>>21053263
[X] Cook some food.

Then call Kaz and tell him to take care of her.

>>21053263

(Apologies, one more option.)

[ ] Call her friends.

>>21053275

Do you remember Asuna's story? And the weird time-distortions we saw?

> A single night in the forest lasted for a hundred years.

is what she said.

>>21053263
[X] Cook some food

>>21053263
[X] Cook some food.
[X] Wait for her to wake up.

I don't know what we'd tell her friends given the state she's in.

>>21053278
Not sure she'd want to see Kaz right now.

>>21053263
[x] TEXT Kazuya the following: Found Natsumi. Sleeping now. Tty @school tmrw. Then turn off phone.
[x] Find washbasin and towel, clean what parts of Natsumi we can without removing clothing or waking her up. Check for injuries. Fetch first aid kit, leave it next to her bed.
[x] Cook. Don't leave the house, use what she's got, ramen only if there's nothing else.
[x] Wait for her to wake up.

In that order.

>>21053194
>Rhetorician with training in marketing and politics
...filtered.

> [x] TEXT Kazuya the following:

Beep-beep-boop.

The message wings it ways off on electronic pathways. You wait, but there's no immediate answer.

>>21053310

It's...Well, it's a bit awkward to draw the covers back, but you do what you can with a warm towel and a washbasin - There's grass stains on Natsumi's skirt, grimy smudges on her limbs, bruises and cuts...Minor injuries, thankfully - But they remind you of the dings and scrapes that marred Chrome Cypher's armor.

Natsumi is Chrome Cypher.

Natsumi *is* Chrome Cypher. You...It's hard to grasp that. Maybe it'd make sense, in time.

When you're done, the water is cloudy and near-opaque.

> [X] Cook some food

Natsumi looks like she hasn't eaten in days. The small attached kitchen, fortunately, is well-stocked; She's always been the conscientious one of the trio.

There's...You can't find pancake mix, but there's eggs and butter and ham - Soon, you're frying a omelette (the student's best friend), the savory smells of meat, herbs, chopped onion lingering in the air...

When you're done - And when the rice cooker is bubbling away merrily - you set it to the side, cover it for later.

> [x] Wait for her to wake up.

You've just washed your hands - Cleaned up the place, from the debris that comes with a guy's cooking - when your handphone begins to ring.

For a moment, you think it may be Kazuya, but...No, it's a private number. You...

[ ] ...Turn it off, before it wakes Natsumi up.
[ ] ...answer it.
[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL.

>>21053364
[x]Step out and answer it.

This should be good.

>>21053364
[X] ...answer it.

Take the call, don't say anything, wait for them to speak first.