"More fuckin' corpses, huh?" Guts said, as one of Them shuffled near. Guts sucker-punched it with his iron arm, knocking it to the ground. The undead twitched on the ground; its teeth had fallen loose and its eyes had popped partway out. Guts brought down an iron boot, splitting its skull like a melon. He looked up, and cracked his neck as more creatures spilled into the halls.
Guts' muscles tightened as the Dragonslayer swung in a wide arc, cleaving through several torsos. The ghouls fell to the ground, trailing entrails behind. Guts swung a second time, and a second set of heads flew.

The blade changed directions with surprising speed, flying the opposite way with an ominous hum, sideways, then down, then across, releasing a rapid flurry of slashes that left only a hall full of gore and dismembered bodies.

Placing the oversized hunk of iron over his shoulder, Guts descended to the next floor, blood dripping off of his cloak.

Eagerly awaiting her next meal, Saber paused for a moment when she noticed that Nono was once again speaking with her. Considering it for a moment, she found herself wondering quite what the robotic girl met. The food did not simply vanish, did it? It went to her stomach. That was an obvious fact of nature, right? Even as a servant, especially given her circumstances, she still had a stomach in which the food was processed. After a few moments of silence as she listened to Nono, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I cannot simply leave such excellent food uneaten," she said, smiling faintly for a moment at the memory of such a fantastic meal, and the thought of the next one to come. "However, I do not understand what you mean by 'vanished'. I ate it, it did not simply disappear."

The chef clapped her hands together and widely smiled up at Gintoki. "Wonderful! That's exactly how it's meant to taste. I'm glad that I'm still perfect at everything I prepare!"

She folded her arms, showing no small amount of pride in herself. As Gintoki jolted from the soda, she smiled and continued. "Now, I'd like to inform you of our agent discount! Since you do so much work keeping people safe, you get twenty-five percent off!"

Meanwhile, the figure, their face in shadow, glanced at the robot and the princess astride him... and immediately burst into a sprint in a bid to escape.



"... I'm with her!" Marisa said cheerfully, jerking a thumb towards Misaka and hurrying to keep up with her. Kakine was being some kind of damp towel or something. Or however that phrase went, at least. There was no way she was going to ignore something as kickass as that. She didn't completely understand why some government place or whatever would be inside a giant robot, but who cares? It was really cool in her opinion. She gave Kakine a dismissive wave as she hurried off after Misaka. He could come, or he could not. He wasn't going to stop the Perfectly Ordinary Witch from checking this kind of thing out, though.



Black Rock Shooter's arm snapped up immediately, the huge barrel of the immense gun immediately interposing itself between her attacker and herself. The fist struck, hard, and sand flew up in clouds of dust as the otherself skidded back across the sand. Digging her feet in, she pressed back. In spite of her slight and unimposing figure, as an unreal being embodying the psyche of a human she possessed attributes far beyond what one would expect from a girl of her size. Gritting her teeth, the black-haired girl pushed back and poured her strength into the effort, her feet digging into the sand. Knock him back the length of Rock Cannon.

Aim.

Fire. There was little that could survive a point-blank shot.

Nervously, frightened, the girl shuffled back, attempting to find a spot where she was hidden.



"... She is a unique existence," The Leader began, after a small pause, "Someone who is herself and yet the embodiment of another. She is the living form of a girl's psyche."

Within the tube, the black claws on the girl's hands(or perhaps the girl's hands themselves) twitched. But her eyes did not open. It was as if she was dreaming, to be truthful. Her hand once again resting lightly on the transparent material that composed the tube, the Leader looked to Cinder once more. "I suppose the worth I find in her is based around this uniqueness, in some way. Why do you ask?"

Gintoki simply nodded his head as he continued to consume the meal in front of him before turning his head up at the mention of a discount. Right. This was a store. And he definitely needed money to pay. Well, maybe it wouldn't be an issue. After all, it all depended on the price of the thing in the end.

"A discount? Alright..." he trailed off before looking at his meal again. "...How much was this again?"


Suwako glared at the mobile suit of armor as she immediately erected a shield of stone to block the initial onslaught of attacks, pulling out a small spellcard from her sleeve as she launched herself into the air.

"Jade of the Horrid River!" she shouted, the card glowing an uneartly blue as what seemed millions of shards of jade and a torrent of water rained down from above. A close combat fight was probably inevitable, yes, but there was always the possibility that this could force him to retreat, if only for a moment if at all.


Kakine sighed and shook his head. So it really was inevitable for them to fight, wasn't it...?

"If you're so determined to fight, I won't stop you. It just means I'll have to fight, too." he said, sighing. With the warp back home still under repair, all he could really do was make sure that 10032 wouldn't end up biting off more than she could chew. Though the... "Former" him would delightfully crush any being willing to even go near him, the person he was now wasn't like that. He wouldn't take that path again. That didn't mean he didn't feel anxious about the entire ordeal, though.

Black Rock Shooter - Client World 576143290-B

Black Rock Shooter's arm snapped up immediately, the huge barrel of the immense gun immediately interposing itself between her attacker and herself. The fist struck, hard, and sand flew up in clouds of dust as the otherself skidded back across the sand. Digging her feet in, she pressed back. In spite of her slight and unimposing figure, as an unreal being embodying the psyche of a human she possessed attributes far beyond what one would expect from a girl of her size. Gritting her teeth, the black-haired girl pushed back and poured her strength into the effort, her feet digging into the sand. Knock him back the length of Rock Cannon.

It was a surprising amount of strength from one so frail-looking, for her to be able to push him back like this. However, it took all of the girl's strength to do so. She wouldn't last long in close quarters. Before Kiba could press his advantage, his opponent began to fire her weapon yet again.

Aim.

Fire. There was little that could survive a point-blank shot.

Immediately, he gathers energy onto his right hand, clenched into a fist and now giving off a pulsing dark red glow. In a fraction of a second afterward, he points his fist at the oncoming blast, opens it into a palm, and fires his own energy blast at the blue orb. When the dark red projectile collided with the blue energy sphere, a great explosion occurred. He braced himself for it, arms crossed into an X. The smoke cleared in a few seconds, and Kiba's armor is cracked in several places, with much of the forearm areas gone.

"Bit of a close one there."

Senbonzakura was annoyed that his Shikai was blocked so easily. As the rain of jade came, Senbonzakura pulled back his sword petals and brought them above him to act as an umbrella of sorts. The jade bounced off the shield of petals, and when the rain ended Senbonzakura made his move.

Senbonzakura Flash Stepped three times in a zig zag motion up to Suwako, his blade back to normal and raised up to deliver a downward strike. Also, if Suwako happened to dodge or use a barrier again, Senbonzakura would immediately release his Shikai again and send his cherry blossom sword petals at her again.


When Spy saw the figure run in his direction, he realized he had to make the split decision of whether or not to interfere. He could trip the figure with his leg, but the moment he made contact with him would mean his silhouette would appear. If he didn't help the figure would potentially escape.

In the end, he decided that it would be better not to help and let the figure run past him. He had no reason to be involved, and had no intention of getting involved in something that didn't concern him. Walking past the robotic knight into the restaurant, he uncloaked and waited patiently to be seated.

Jericus "Ing" Ignace Client World 576143290-B

Seeing as the people he was with decided to settle the situation with violence he immediately put himself in-front of the young girl. As his companions began there attacks he quickly made his way over to the young girl. "find cover and stay there in-till someone come to get you," the guardsman order the girl setting his lasgun to full auto. Seeing Senbonzakura about to slash at Suwako he fired a burst of las fire at Senbonzakura to help.

Steve took the Shadow Pass from Takahara. "Oh, this seems to be quite an interesting object. I shall quite enjoy taking advantage of such a device. So then, it seems you have some sort of plan going on. Would you like to fill me in on the particulates? Because I mean, Heyoo! This does not seem to be a simple gathering right now."

Her Majesty Gwendolyn Ashworth III scowled as she gave Sir Garret a light smack on the back of his head. She puffed out her cheeks and frowned at her knight. "See, this is what happen if you aren't smooth. Oh! Run the calculations I like." The robot paused for a moment before it began speaking.

"Anaylsis in Progress.
Probability of Cloaked Figure Being a Prominent Highranking Member of the Midnight Compact: 3.376 Percent.
Probability of Cloaked Figure Being a Threat to the Regime: 0.00000291 Percent.
Probability of Cloaked Figure Being a Potential Mutant: 49.121 Percent
Probability of the Knighthood Sustaining Injuries From Action Against the Target: 5.0912 Percent
Net Economical Gained or Lost From Subduing of Target: Currently Indeterminable."

Gwendolyn tilted her head as she patted on Sir Garret. "Capture the Probable Mutant and Slim-chance Traitor." Sir MacCabe began chuckling as he slung the rocket launcher off the back on his heavy armor.

"Oi! Mate!" He declared as he marched towards Sir Attwatter who was carefully fiddling with a single syringe. "Let's see, if only I could run an analysis on the target's genetic structure before-hand. Yes this should be an effective drug, if Sir Garret's analysis on the suspect being a mutant isn't wrong. Er yes Sir MacCabe?"
The Pompadoured Knight gave a quick glare at the gaunt Attwatter. "I dinnae wantcha ta do the paralysis, BEFORE I fire my launcher!"

Sir Attwatter nodded at MacCabe. Sir Garret quickly unsheathed his sword from his side. "Apprehension of the Mutant will be done. As is the Queen's Will. Failure will not be tolerated in failing defense or capture."
Gwendolyn gingerly got off the back of Sir Garret as she gave a nod, "Sir MacCabe you shall stay in the back to protect me." MacCabe gave a nod, and a quick bow. "Course yer Majesty."
And with that the two Knights quickly pursued the suspect. Sir MacCabe and his Majesty followed at a slower pace.

Nono, Restaurant District, Yggdrasil

Nono noted the apparent activity beyond involving the man in the coat, as well as the strange group of knights...or something, but made no move to do anything yet. They weren't causing much of a ruckus, and were more interesting than anything. Besides, she was busy at the moment, so that was that.

At Saber's question though she took on a slight pout, shooting a low yield glare at the girl next to her. "I know that, Onee-sama." Though she still couldn't speak for herself given that her food did actually vanish, courtesy of the technology involved. She could have explained, but it would have taken time.

As quickly as it had come, the glare dissipated, and the pout vaporized as well, leaving Nono her happy self once more. "I've just noticed that no matter how much Onee-sama eats, there never seems to be any physical result from it. I mean, in normal humans you'd expect weight gain, whether it be muscle or fat, but I haven't noticed that."

As suddenly, she realized her own error and quickly worked to make amends, arms raised between the two of the as she leaned back in protection of herself from Excalibur (Not that she thought Saber would use it, but better safe than sorry) "N-N-Not that it's a problem, Onee-sama. It was just odd...."

---

Misaka 10032, Client World Macross

With Kakine's reluctant agreement, and Marisa's enthusiastic agreement, the trio headed off towards the Battle Frontier. Vehicles drove past as they moved along down the side of the road, some carrying men in uniforms, while others had people in suits, and a few had civilian clothing as well. As she had noted before, it was a busy area of traffic.

Misaka scanned their surroundings as she went along, recording all the data she could for later review. Even if it was only civilian traffic and vehicles, it could still be of use. Who knew what designs might be in there that could be of an advantage to Academy City?

The road sloped upwards then, and the trio found themselves headed towards the center of the large mecha. The limbs were now revealed to be not dissimilar to aircraft carrier surfaces, launch points from which defense fighters could be launched to protect the ship or the colony. An interesting design, and one that spoke to their engineering capabilities.

It was then that they approached their first problem, a security checkpoint that they would need to pass if they wanted to actually get inside. And they probably weren't getting through without identification, which they didn't have for the government of this particular world.

"'We will need to locate an alternative entrance,' Misaka points out calmly as she assesses the situation," Misaka told the other two after noting the presence of the checkpoint itself. Then again, with the size of this thing it should be too hard to do so. They'd just have to find a way in, and they would be all set.

---

Cinder Fall, Shadow Eternity HQ

Well, Cinder would admit that she found that answer to her question interesting. So, uniqueness then? The living embodiment of a girl's psyche? She wasn't sure how that was supposed to work, but given her presence here and now, it would be hard to deny that it didn't somewhere in the multiverse. Strange, to say the least.

Paying another curious glance to the girl, Cinder stepped away, pacing off to the side before she came to a rest. "I see." Asked why, all she could do was gain the barest hint of a smile, the corner of her mouth lifted in mirth at some unheard joke. "Curiosity, primarily. I wanted to learn more about the one who brought together such a collection of villains for the purpose of destroying the UMMA, and what her own plans might be."

"Well, I used to work for an organization called Shadow Eternity. I'm contractually obligated to say that nobody knows what the goals are, but I've worked with enough evil organizations to know what they are better than the child in charge. It's worth noting that the leader doesn't pay employees any sort of living wage, treats her employees as expendable, and doesn't even give any sort of retirement plan because she says 'that will be irrelevant.' Basically, none of her goals are centered around financial profit, gaining political power, destroying her enemies, or increasing her organization's reach, so I think her goals go without saying."

Takahara took a bite out of his pizza, writing down a few plans. Highlighted in a list of names were "Athas," "Titans," and "Dreamland."

"I, however, have worked for FAR better organizations. II think I can safely say that Handsome Jack had more respect for his employees, that The Joker has a more sensible direction in his plans, and Cobra Commander is more competent. So I'm gathering up the members at the lowest level to form an organization modeled after the one I originally worked for, SHOCKER. Low-level henchmen from every universe I can find, working for one simple, concrete goal: money and power."

One burst of assault rifle fire disintegrated a sword-wielding green-garbed goon, once again demonstrating the superiority of firearms versus freakish flesh. His gun's barrel still smoking, Sindibad called out to the others.
"These things must be made out of paper! Don't be afraid, keep shooting!"
With practiced precision, the squad butchered the horde of goons. At least a half-dozen bodies lie on the floor in various states of gory disrepair. Sparks flew from the creatures' ruined weaponry. Rimanahson, his hearing already augmented, signed the all-clear. There weren't any more enemies nearby.

Using their brief lull in the action to explore the offices, Sindibad Darude came upon a document. Before pocketing it for later, he read it closely.

Experimentations with the Subspace Communications Array have been phenomenally successful.

After some urging from the research director, we have successfully managed to open communications with an Alternate universe!

It seems that our first contact was with another research facility.

Though it took quite a bit of finagling with the director and with the superuniversal facility, we have agreed to an exchange of information. One fact from us, for a fact from them.

As it turns out, this superuniversal facility is also designed around bio-organic weaponry, with a significant difference: where we sell our services to provide foreign countries with BOW's, they seem to sell their services to support humanity through eliminating natural BOW's called Neo-Mitochondrion Creatures (ignoring the physical impossibility of mitochondria becoming sentient, of course. We suspect these scientists are poking fun at us.) and changing humans into alternate forms.

Though it's obvious that reproducing these Neo-Mitochondrion Creatures using our facilities and physics would be entirely impossible, we have managed to obtain something that is useful.

A genetic sequence here, a few special molecular compounds, and a definitive procedure for growing a very specialized human fetus, in exchange for our special process for creating Tyrants. One loss of company secrets in exchange for quite possibly our single most useful anti-BOW unit since the Cleaners: what they call a GOLEM.

With immense physical strength, intelligence at the level of a guard dog from day 1 of growth, and strange new abilities as they mature, the GOLEM is a phenomenally useful creature. Each one is completely immune to all forms of disease and toxic agents (in fact, adult specimens produce deadly neurotoxins!) and is easily capable of matching any BOW, Critical J'avo included! Unfortunately, GOLEMs seem to be phenomenally weak, as live-fire tests have proven that even handgun munitions are sufficient to destroy them.

Our relations with this superuniversal facility have definitely proven fruitful, though we have made contact with other organizations through multiple alternate universes. What's strange is that, no matter what frequency we use and which universe we direct our messages at, we only ever seem to get research facilities! A full list of frequencies and facilities follows...

Sindibad grinned evilly, and quietly stuffed the document in his rucksack. As he lifted the document up, he found a Pawn Keycard! Chuckling to himself, David moved to the center of the complex and radioed in.
"Found one of those Pawn keycards. Group A, how are you doing?"

Lieutenant Leatherhoff's voice came through on the radio.
"We have run into a bit of trouble with some airborne BOW's. However, we have found a Pawn keycard as well. We're moving to your position now!"

As opposed to reacting with irritation, as Nono had feared, Saber's face instead fell into a look of confusion. It was not the first time such a comment had been directed at her, Rin had stated that her body retained its rather slender frame regardless of how much food she had eaten. Part of the blonde girl's mind found itself wondering just how 'unfeminine' it was, in spite of the fact that she had been previously told this was not the case. Certainly, it seemed as if 'feminine' girls had more weight in certain areas...

As such, Saber appeared to have fallen completely silent and looked down at herself, staring intensely at her own body as if she was contemplating something deeply. Of course, it wouldn't be long before she returned to eating, but for the moment the King of Knights was rather distracted by the thoughts Nono's comments had brought on. Did the lack of change in her body from eating food relate to this? Of course, Rin had stated this wasn't the case, but she could not help but wonder about it.

It was rather comical, the intense stare Saber was giving... herself.

"The meal you ordered? Let's see..." Meanwhile, the tiny chef smiled brightly as she reached into her pocket to produce a small console. The panel hovering above her hand, she tapped the screen twice and a long list of menu items appeared upon it. Noticeably, one, the "Gigaceros" was both crossed out and colored red and set to a ridiculous price of sixty-five billion Yggdrasil Marks. "... Ah, here it is! The base price of your meal is sixteen Yggdrasil Marks!"

The waiter, noticing a new customer, quickly hurried over to to address them. "Ah, welcome, sir. Are you waiting for anyone or do you want to be seated?"

Outside the restaurant, the figure glanced back over their shoulder. Blue eyes were briefly seen beneath the hood, widening at the sight of the various knights and the princess in pursuit. Inaudibly muttering what was likely a curse at the fact that they'd been spotted, even if it wasn't by agents or Yggdrasil law enforcement, the figure sped up, sprinting for a thick crowd of people in a bid to lose their pursuers.



Marisa grinned at Kakine when he gave in, then turned back to Misaka and hurried over to the other girl. Standing next to her, it was clear that Marisa was the shorter of the two, in spite of the fact that she, at least, felt like she was the older of them. As someone from a land possessing little in the way of technology unless you were some very specific people, aside from looking cool everything the Perfectly Ordinary Witch saw flew right over her head. Definitely, this wasn't her area of expertise. However, when Misaka mentioned getting an alternate entrance, excitement surged in Marisa's heart and she grinned.

"An alternate entrance?" she asked, reaching under her hat to produce the mini-hakkero, tossing it up and down in her hand. "I've got this!"



All the tiny girl could do when the armored trooper spoke to her was nod weakly and hurry away, heading behind a nearby rock and swiftly moving to get herself in cover. She was terrified, but the nice new people would keep her safe, right? ... Well as long as they weren't dumb or anything.

Black Rock Shooter winced as her shot exploded. He'd managed to counter at the last second... As the smoke flowed around her, she calmly shook her head. Rock Cannon was a useful weapon, but it seemed that she would have to counter him in melee from the looks of things... the massive black barrel dissipated into blue lights, just as the glinting black blade of her katana materialized in her opposite hand. Clutching the hilt in both, she erupted forward, breaking into a sprint. She burst out of the smoke just as it cleared, the blade pointed directly at the enemy's chest!



The Leader inclined her head to one side, and let out a low sigh, finally removing her hand from the tube. Her entire body turned to face Cinder, as the tube faded so that its occupant was no longer visible. "You know, you certainly are not the first to question my motivation. And it is quite simple."

She took a step towards her. Insofar as could be told, the figure in the dark robe and white mask was rather small. It was not what anyone would expect from the one leading a massive terrorist organization. However, if one looked at her for long enough, it was clear she seemed to exude some sort of purple haze. It wasn't visible in every light, but here, in the dark of her control room, it was quite notable. "They are an obstacle to some personal goals I harbor. This organization operates under a simple principle, that the UMMA is an obstacle. To free access to unaware universes, for example. Many of those in this organization feel the same way."

Her head inclined to the side, the robes shifting. "Now, it is true some of them may be considered 'villains'... but they have pledged their services to me, and I shall not judge them in exchange. There is no need to cause undue suffering by turning them away."



The zombie horde was encountered with something that, perhaps, it did not expect. Somewhere somewhat distant from the two foreigners to the dimension, an inferno, visible from their position, engulfed the undead. Whoever it was clearly did not care about being seen by anyone who may be surprised by such an event, as they bathed the zombies in flame, burning them away and unleashing an entirely unpleasant smell.

"Shit!" Guts swore, jumping back. The roof he'd been standing on had been engulfed in flames; the tongues reached out and singed his arm. Whatever this was, it wasn't natural. This couldn't have been an ordinary attack; though it struck like cannonfire, there was no explosion. That meant magic. Magic was rarely, good, if ever.

Moreover, the undead were now covered in fire and still heading towards Guts.

Guts wound up an immense swing and forced the sword in a wide arc; the immense weight carried him. Instead of bracing himself like normal, he let the momentum carry him, swinging like a spinning top. One, two, three arcs of edged death hacked through necks and torsos, dispatching the burning corpses. The smoke inhalation wouldn't be too bad in an open space, but he couldn't afford an extended battle. Guts backed up for space, then thrusted his sword downward, piercing through the concrete and slung out the repeater bow. With a series of twangs, a flurry of bolts rocketed toward the source of the flame.

Takahara looked down at his watch. Across many worlds, the fun was starting.
===

A black-haired young man and several others about his age stood on top of a castle wall, looking out over the horizon.

...We all survived the fall of Wall Maria and completed our training. We survived so many hardships, and today, we take the fight to the Titans!

It was then that a tremendous, skinless figure appeared in a flash of lightning behind him, kicking in the city gates and sweeping the defensive cannons off the wall.

Ah shit! The wall's broken and the Titans are gonna get in! And the people will get eaten by the Titans! And the land will get taken over by the Titans!

As the smaller giants rushed into the hole made by their titanic companion, three figures in a shadowy alleyway drew strange dolls, along with red and silver devices. Placing the devices to the foot of the dolls, the devices called out in unison:

MONSLIVE! NEO PANDON!
MONSLIVE! KYRIELOID!
MONSLIVE! BIRDON!

a few of the Titans on the ground looked up as they raised a human toward their mouth... only to be crushed with a sickly crunch by the immense weight of creatures even larger than the skinless giant. The humans of the city looked on in awe and terror as the creatures walked forward, crushing the Titans that so terrorized them like they were rotten fruit. Of course, that would do them no good if the neck of the Titan wasn't destroyed... which seemed to be the case as the dragon-creature and bird-creature brought their feet down, slicing the head and neck of the Titans to ribbons as they advanced toward the larger one. The skinless beast seemed to maintain its focus on the man on the wall... which proved to be its undoing.

First came the razor-sharp beak of Birdon, able to cut steel and mortar as easily as paper. It pecked into the creature's skull, injecting a poison that had stopped the hearts of far larger prey. Next, Neo Pandon's heads began breathing fire, melting away the sections of stone wall where the flames passed, bathing the Colossal titan- the only creature present a match for their size and strength- in a blazing inferno as the boy on the wall turned in fury at the creatures that would dare steal his kill. This was soon irrelevant, as the Kyrieloid jumped over the other two monsters, a blazing flame cloaking its fist as it slammed into the ground, a tremendous eruption of magma shooting up and melting away what remained of the wall. When the smoke cleared, there was a long, ashen cavity up the bisected form of the colossal Titan where its spine, head, and neck used to be- the line of the volcanic blast and flaming attacks of the monsters. The arms and legs fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. The three monsters proceeded to laugh.

On the opposite wall, a golden humanoid stood dancing, pelvic thrusting and laughing at the quick work his comrades made of these knockoff Ultramen. He raised his own silver device to his mouth and began speaking into it.

"Alien Commander Exceller, this is Sergeant P'ultoi with a progress report! The first of the Colossal Titans has been swept aside like teeny little rats... but it seems there are several built into the walls. Want we should make some Sparkdolls, or just salt the earth?"

"Already dead? Magnifique! These Titans are less than merde in comparison to the might of Shocker+! They will make an excellent display of our power... After all, we can not let the Kaijin or Shocker Cyborgs outdo us! Finir your extermination, P'ultoi. They aren't worth the Dark Spark Power. Soon, our Great Leader's plans will come to fruition, and Shocker+'s power- The power of the GREAT LEADER- shall bring the worlds to their knees!"

The golden man on the castle wall and the voice over the communicator-cum-transformation device shared a maniacal laugh in unison.
===


You're heading to Athas. It's kind of a shithole.

Eric Bolton, alias Mr. Thunder, grumbled. That was a heck of an understatement. The dark red sun of Athas beat down, making the slog in the Thunderbolt Gang's signature masks miserable. But Takahara, an accountant who had worked for him under Thunderbolt, and later as an accountant for Lexcorp (and, off the record, the Legion of Doom) had a great head for business. If Takahara saw a business opportunity here, then it was worth using the J-Dial to get here and skip the Gith blockade which normally tried to keep travellers out... for their own safety.

Once a blue planet teeming with life, Athas had since been stripped of its fertility by the use of corrupting magic and the decay of its sun, now a red giant. It was a sun-burnt land forsaken by the gods, water, and hope. The natural resources had been depleted and a lack of metal had resulted in the use of wood, obsidian and bone for weapons, tools and other common equipment. In such a harsh and unforgiving land, even the most mundane of creatures has developed psionic abilities in response to the constant struggle for survival.

Knowing Takahara, everything wrong with this shithole planet would factor into his plans eventually. But for now, the men of the Thunderbolt Gang had a job- and thanks to the blueprints they stole from the Central City evidence locker, it was going to be a lot easier. Their tremendous metal war machines came in as the J-Dial continued ringing without pause, more and more of the Thunderbolt Gang's masked henchmen coming into the endless desert of Athas. They looked down into a fairly protected valley, far away from any of the cities or villages and still barren of life... for now.

"Okay boys, you remember what Boss Shocker said! We're going to make this miserable place a lot better... and earn our weight in gold doing it! First, use Captain Cold's freeze ray to whip up a lot of ice!"

The masked men raised their cryoguns, spraying an ever-growing glacier onto the desert valley below. One of the tanks readied its own weapon, giving off a low whirring sound as it began to build up power.

"Next, Heat Wave's Thermo-Ray! We'll melt that ice and turn this little crapsack of a valley into an oasis!"

The tank finally fired, a red beam streaking down to melt the ice, the parched earth gulping the water down- the first water this valley saw in ages.

"Now for the important part! That daffy dame from Gotham, Poison Ivy, gave Takahara some special seeds for this! Get to work spreadin' em!"

A few hours and a lunch break later, Mr. Thunder reached to his side and pointed a wand- actually a complex mechanical device- skyward. Several of the other Thunderbolt Gang members did the same.

"And now... we use the wand of the Weather Wizard to call up a downpour!"

Large, black clouds formed overhead as they spun the wands over their heads, thunder rumbling and a gentle wind picking up- both strange sights in this barren world. Sure to attract attention from locals. Well, that was why they had the rest of the Rogues' designs, and a few more surprises from the evidence lockers of their home universe. Already, Poison Ivy's seeds were breaking through the sand to form a beautiful island of water, greenery, and life in the ocean of misery, sand, and death.
===

The Demon Making Plant. Located in the scenic forests of Mt. Fuji. Home of the greatest evil supermen of this world. A perfect place for a man hoping to find mighty warriors to strengthen an evil Organization. Two cloaked figures walked through the doors, into a room where a blood-stained wrestling ring sat. They'd called ahead and challenged the wrestlers here to a match. Of course, there was an etiquette among wrestlers, and that required showmanship. Sunshine, the head of the dMP, stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the room, a staged training exercise for their guests- and the cameras- underway. They'd already completed the secretive Twelve-Hour Muscle Hell training regimen for the day. Sunshine the Sand Monster spoke up, crossing his arms and standing before the ring.

"Those robes... are you two with the Hell Missionaries?"

"No... I represent a New World Order... a Worlds-wide Wrestling Federation... and we're here to put your Bad Attitude to good use."

Sunshine's sandy face turned into a grimace of suspicion. That... was a voice he knew. It wasn't the one from the phone call, though- that was an ex-accountant from the dMP asking if a few of Sunshine's wrestlers could put some recruits for his stable through the ringer. This, though... this was...

"I know that voice... You're... you were banned from the Superman Wrestling Circuit thirty years ago!"

The hooded figure threw away his cloak and began laughing, echoing throughout the gynmasium.

"And now, free from the shackles of the Aztec demon Luar, The Black Mist Federation returns! The 20th century's most brutal stable of Supermen! And with my 13 Superman Cyborgs, I have come to challenge the dMP for the services of its students- if I win, I shall have my pick of them for Black Mist's future endeavors!"

Sunshine took a step back, gritting his teeth. This... wasn't what he expected. He'd worked out a deal with Takahara to showcase some of the dMp's talent during a big gladiatorial thing coming up, but he'd assumed that the people he put in the ringer wouldn't be veteran Brutal Supermen like Black Mist. Still, a good test of the skills of his students.

"What's the matter, Sunshine? Is it that I, Satan Demon, and my comrade Red Bloody Hell are so terrifying that you can not speak?!"

"Not so much, old man! The Demon Making Plant accepts your challenge! But if we win, you're working to teach our students. Best of three, three of your wrestlers versus three dMP supermen!"

The omnipresent ringside announcers chimed in.
What a horrible turn of events! That once-banished Dark Wrestling Federation, Black Mist, has returned to challenge the students of the dMP for their membership in the stable! It looks like the matchup's going to be...

First, we'll have Senketsu "Red Bloody" Hell vs. the dMP's Boaconda!
Next Black Mist's Cyborg Soldier "Bloody Hornet" will face off against The Pumpinator!
And finally, the oddly familiar Devil Spider will see if his wicked web can ensnare Hercules Beat-All!

No matter how this goes, the Superman Wrestling Circuit will never be the same! Black Mist, whose wrestlers were so brutal they were supposed to be forever banned from competitive events, and the dMP, the academy where evil Supermen go to learn the violent techniques the Black Mist Federation perfected! The future of the sport may hang in the balance, so... Let the match begin!

The two groups had successfully rendezvoused. Jack Morgan opted to take both of the Pawn Cards, and stored them in a safe place for later use. After a brief check-up of each other's health, the platoon moved along, through a door on the far right edge of the room.

The room beyond looked somewhat like a foundry, if the architects involved had no idea how industrialized metallurgy worked. Vats of boiling iron dangled precariously on thin buttresses, threatening to tip over at the slightest motion. Mazelike catwalks zig-zagged their way across a lake of molten slag, blind to all laws of convection.

Hampus stared at the place in abject horror. "I want you all to take me to the leader of this place, so that I may voice my concerns! This is simply unacceptable!"

Jack Morgan chuckled. "What's the matter, can't take the heat? With any luck, the guy who built this little diversion's the same guy who's running it. Private Vilderil, do you have a bead on this room's exit?"

Rimanahson Vilderil spent a few seconds staring off into space, before clearing his throat and speaking. "The exit is directly across this room. However, I do not think these catwalks will give us a straight shot. In addition, I surmise there is yet another keycard in this room, judging by how things have been going."

Though Hampus's face could not be seen, his confusion was palpable. "What? How could you guess that?"

Vilderil gave a tinny chuckle. "Narrative convenience. One challenge brings one key to success. This room will be a challenge, and so we shall find the next key to our ultimate goal: a Pawn Card. Do you understand?"

Hampus scoffed, and took a look around the room. He wracked his brain for lessons learned from his time in Aldrheim, and came upon one particularly interesting tidbit. The voice of his wonderful instructor Vlad rang through his mind's ears.

"Magica ister special! En Secrithinter: Vatten en magma, blir sten!"

Hampus's eyes lit up, and he approached the massive pool of molten slag. Jack rushed forward and attempted to drag Hampus away before he was burned alive, but was quickly shoved away by Hampus himself.

With a few simple movements, a quintet of glimmering, blue orbs appeared around Hampus. With one more movement, a single dull, brown orb appeared as well. Hampus braced himself, and condensed all of the orbs into himself, and jammed his hands forward.

A fist-sized ball of rock, water spouting forth from it, rocketed forth from Hampus's hands and burst on the slag, spreading water everywhere. Wherever the water struck immediately turned into fully-cooled mudstone, literally as if by magic. Hampus stepped onto the newly-made island in a sea of liquid metal, and beckoned for the others to follow. He repeated the spell he had just cast, and created another island connected to the old one.

This trend continued for a short while, Hampus making islands and the platoon following. At last, they reached the edge of the pool of slag, and walked towards the door. It opened with barely a sound, and revealed a coolly-lit monitor bank just ahead.

A small plastic keycard anticlimactically fluttered down from the ceiling and was picked up by Jack.
"Well, that's 3 out of 3. Let's get to that upgrading terminal!"

-Claus-
After shooting the spacecraft down, Claus wrapped around the town to investigate the wreckage and dispose of any survivors of the accident. When he finally got to the wreckage, no one was there. Claus looked into the broken ship and my scanner detected no life in the ship, so he left and flew back to the Pigmask HQ, which was quite small after Lucas pulled the final needle, and went into his room where he plugged two charging ports into his back, put his helmet on its own charging station, and put his cannon-arm into another charging station. He'd have to find or buy fuel for his wings elsewhere, but that was besides the point. He slowly charged up to 100%, and began making a plan. He would in that room until further contact from this 'Shadow Eternity' corporation, and when he was contacted, he'd take all the chargers, and take them to said corporation if there was a room.

Gintoki pulled a small wallet out of his sleeve and quickly counted up the price, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as he counted his money. Just enough to cover the bill. Perfect.

"Ah... I'll just pay up front when I'm done, if that's all right." he stated, taking another sip of his soda before leaning back in his seat. Man, it'd be GREAT if he could come here more often. Of course, that would require money... And not being on a job, but details didn't matter for the moment.


Suwako frowned as her enemy blocked her spellcard so easily; so that sword was also a shield? How annoying. Before she could pull out her next card, though, the person seemingly teleported in front of her. Taking a deep breath, Suwako clapped her hands together and held the blade's handle in place as the Mishaguji that had been running rampant up until then redirected themselves straight at her enemy. The strength that her adversary was putting out was on par with that Chinese gatekeeper at best, at least so far... But that didn't mean that she didn't have to struggle to keep it from landing a direct blow. Hopefully, the incorporeal nature of the Mishaguji would bypass whatever metal it was that it was using and damage whatever spiritual creature was inside.

"...Don't underestimate a native god." Suwako stated solemnly as she immediately formed a multitude of iron rings on the arms of her adversary, all of them bound as tightly as she could manage. With her enemy caught in front of her, it was the perfect chance; regardless of if he could teleport or not, such weight would prevent him from sustaining any flight for long... Hopefully. At that moment, though, she noticed that weird man that had tagged along earlier firing his weapon at the swordsman. Gritting her teeth, Suwako braced herself as she used her enemy as leverage to dodge some of the bullets as they flew by, barely grazing her clothing as they buzzed through the air.


Kakine eyes the object that Marisa had pulled out with an air of suspicion. Though he knew not what the symbols on it meant, there was an ominous feeling of destruction emanating from the item. Marisa's words didn't help much with that sense of foreboding, either; the way she had taken to the term 'alternate entrance' with a smile was never a good sign.

"Er... Let's not destroy the place we're trying to get into, all right?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "It's not exactly sneaky if you blow a hole in the side, regardless of how small it'd be. There'd probably another entrance in the back or something we can use to get through... Right?"

Kaito stood by and watched Guts engage with the fiery inferno. He pulled out a few cards from a cyan-colored gun and weighed the options carefully. On one hand, he could summon Kiva, OOO, and Wizard in their water-based forms, but that'd take a while to summon and switch to their different forms. Then there was one other card: Abyss. Kaito doesn't know much about Abyss. His symbol of a shark-head matched that of the riders in Ryuki's world. Perhaps he was just one of the many Riders that fought and died in the war. Kaito never really paid that much attention to the Riders and their stories, just how they worked.

There were a few Kaijin Rides he could use, but the problem would be helping out Guts without getting involved in the conflict. Kaito snuck away and watched as the fight between Guts and the burning inferno continued.

Nono, Restaurant District, Yggdrasil

Though the irritation that Nono had expected Saber to display towards her did not manifest, Nono still felt bad for the implication she had made, as well as the current state of affairs. Yes, it was amusing to watch Onee-sama give herself such a serious stare, like she was deep in contemplation, but the gynoid couldn't help but regret making her think that there might be something wrong.

So she took a few moments to fully appreciate the humor of the situation, before turning to the problem as well, head tilted upwards with a finger tapping her chin. She did that for a few moments, brain racing through simulations and calculations, before she spoke to Saber, adding her opinion.

"Well, maybe it's because you only use the food you need to keep at your greatest physical capability, and the rest is converted into that Prana stuff." She'd heard Saber talk about it before, and from what she understood it was some special fuel or soul energy or something. She wouldn't claim to fully understand how the mechanics of the world her Onee-sama came from worked yet.

A bright smile then, as she decided that this was, indeed, the correct answer. "Like how I break down the food I eat into energy." Though it was a trifling amount compared to the reactor she had, but there was no need to mention that, and she watched with expressed confidence to see how Saber would react.

---

Misaka 10032 - Client World Macross

Standing upon the side of the entry lane, Misaka looked from the large robot over to Kakine as he caught up to them, and then to Marisa, who had produced some sort of device from her hat. What it did she couldn't say, but given the accompanying statement it seemed reasonable to assume that it was possible some sort of explosive device, or perhaps a hacking tool. And while the latter would be useful, the former would only serve to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

"'Kakine is correct,' Misaka informs her companions as she examines the structure. 'The presence of maintenance hatches and alternative entrances is quite prevalent aboard the destination. Analysis indicates it had, at some point in time, space flight capabilities'," Misaka said without looking at either of them. With that in mind, they wouldn't have to walk all the way around it; they just had to find an unguarded maintenance hatch.

With that in mind, she hopped off the path that they were currently on and began walking to the side, scanning the path ahead for an easily reachable hatch. For the moment she hadn't alerted security, but they would most likely have to move fast before someone noticed her presence where she wasn't supposed to be.

---

Cinder Fall, Shadow Eternity HQ

Cinder had hardly expected that she was the first to ask, since it would have been ridiculous for such an organization to form without someone asking why they were doing this, and she listened silently to the explanation as she followed the Leader in her movements, also noting the haze that seemed to emanate from her in the light. That in itself was strange, and she wondered what the cause of it might be. Certainly it bore no resemblances to her own carefully hidden state.

"I see," she replied, not moving herself as her gaze followed Leader. "I certainly thank you for the opportunity. Things would be a lot more difficult otherwise." They all had their goals, Leader hers, Cinder with her desire to control, and the others with their own vendettas. And this organization helped to achieve that.

A light smirk spread to the corners of her lips as she took a step forward, heels clicking on the floor. "Well, if you need me to do anything to further this plan of yours, let me know." It would provide her something to do while she searched for the next part of her plan, and it might offer some insight into what their glorious Leader was planning herself.

Senbonzakura made a "hmph" sound as his blade was stopped. So the girl still had a few tricks up her sleeves. That was to be expected, though; he had some himself. He released his Shikai again and was about to strike Suwako when the ghost snakes began charging toward him. Senbonzakura countered by redirecting the flow of sword petals to double spiral around each snake, then constrict the petals to slice through the snakes into pieces, each piece dissipating a second later. A Zanpakuto was not forged out of any mundane metal after all, and could slice through both Souls and Hollows. It would not be unreasonable for it to be able to slice through these beasts as well.

"Was that all you've got?" Senbonzakura taunted. Then Suwako responded by saying, "...Don't underestimate a native god." and formed iron rings around his arms.

"What the-" Senbonzakura exclaimed as the rings tightened around his arms. He didn't lose any altitude, though, as Flash Step was not flight; it was better described as "standing on air". However, they would undoubtedly slow him down. Before Senbonzakura could respond, lasers began flying around him. Senbonzakura instinctively turned and put his arms in front of him, using the rings to help block some the lasers as they flew toward him. As the lasers struck the rings, some rings began breaking off, which Senbonzakura was glad of.

One laser, however, managed to strike his mask and break it, revealing his left eye. Surprised, he quickly replaced the broken mask with his spare one, then he lowered himself onto a nearby towering rock and said, "I will not stand for this humiliation!" Returning his blade to normal and holding it in front of him with one arm so that the blade was pointing straight down, Senbonzakura then let go of his blade, yelling, "BANKAI!"

As the blade sank into the ground, several gigantic blades appeared around him. "Scatter!" Senbonzakura yelled, and the blades disintegrated and created a large cloud of cherry blossom sword petals, much larger than his Shikai could ever hope to produce. Jumping into the air, Senbonzakura directed 4 large flowing tendrils of sword petals towards Suwako from multiple directions, while directing one towards Jericus.

---


"I would like to be seated, thank you," Spy said.