"... Eh? Church?" Marisa started blankly for a moment, scratching her head. What did that have to do with magic? Was this because of the religions in Gensokyo all competing for followers or something? She didn't really care about that. She guessed she kind of counted as shinto, but only when it benefited her. She didn't know what magic name meant at all. Element? Well, that was water, but screw that. Water wasn't flashy. Sign...? "... I dunno what you mean by all that. I'm Kirisame Marisa, the Perfectly Ordinary Witch, and that's it!"

The blonde girl gave a cheerful grin towards the boy and his female companions.

"... Aaaanyway, girls might be attracted to him, but he's not my type so you don't gotta worry about that," she continued with a shrug. It seemed like the girls thought the guy was totally dense judging by their treatment of him. And on top of that, the tiny one managed to get up and slap him in the face! She had to stifle some laughter at that. On top of that, there was the planning stag. Rip off the habit first, or get the tiny girl... it didn't look like she could fly, so she wouldn't be able to get away too fast regardless of what was going on...

"... What are you, anyway? Inchling? Lilliputian? Some kinda other super-tiny person?"

A camera-operator decked out in power armor was busy setting up a camcorder. After he set up the camera, he was double-checking the condition of his hover-boots. He needed to be absolutely sure they worked as intended; after all the event was not taking place in any two-bit desert, but in the Sea of Silt. The Sea of Silt was an incredibly dangerous place, full of all sorts of dangerous critters. And merely standing on the sands would cause a man to sink into the desert, then into the ocean below. The sand filled winds whipped at the camera-man's armored suit. Above the camera-man hovered some smaller camera drones. The droids idly floated above the track, ready to collect footage at a variety of angles. By some miracle, the red sand which marked the motocross track was still intact.

Chuck Greene was sitting on-top of his bright yellow dirt-bike. Its frame was marked with a TIR logo with a number five just above it. The dirt-bike continued to idly hover above the sands, while emitting a dim noise. Chuck cocked his head towards the cameraman and spoke. "So what's the catch?" The camera-man didn't respond immediately, as he was busy listening to a communication device that was in the suit.

This place was far too quiet to really be a spot for a TV spectacle. The fact that there wasn't something running about making havoc quickly tipped Chuck off to the fact that something was off. And he was going to find out what that something was.

A few seconds after hearing Chuck speak, the operator turned his attention onto the contestant. "Huh-wha?" The camera-man spoke as he tried to recall what was said just a few seconds ago. "Uh well Terror is Reality isn't filming yet, so you don't need to race down the track yet." Chuck shook his head and glanced at the man, "No I mean what's the actual catch." Before Chuck could finish up his piece, the Cameraman interrupted him. "They finished the introduction back at the Studio. We're on in Five-"

Chuck properly started up his hover-bike and grabbed onto its handles. "Four." The folks at home would soon see this particular Terror is Reality challenge. Though to Chuck, this particular challenge still seemed off. "Three-" But he didn't decide to dwell on it. After all, Chuck needed to give the folks who were watching the broadcast a good show.

"Two..." Chuck revved up his engines, as he let the engines roar. He didn't dwell on the thought of how the audience would like the show. Chuck instead focused on the real important thing here, his daughter Katey. Shortly after the engines were revved, the ground began shaking violently. "One!" The red lights of the various cameras flashed on.

And just when the cameras began to broadcast Chuck at the track, ten white giant tendrils shot up from the ground, spraying dirt towards Chuck and lashing towards him. Chuck stared unamused, but he gave a bit of a smirk. He now knew what the catch of this round was. "So, calamari." He quipped as he sped off with his hovering dirt-bike, while swiftly driving through the tendrils. The tendrils thrashed and swung towards him, but so far they did not manage to land a hit on the bike.

The Athas Motocross speed-run had now truly begun.

By this point, Index looked as if she would burst from anger. This girl was even worse than Himegami when she and Touma had first met; at least Himegami halfheartedly tried to look like she knew what she was talking about. This girl, this so-called witch...!
"There is no such thing as a 'Perfectly Ordinary Witch'! Do you even know how magic works? Or are you just some sort of cosplayer messing around on some sort of mechanized broom trying to mock magic as a whole?" Index fumed, raring to go and teach Marisa a lesson.

"Oi, oi... Index, calm down..." Touma said, pulling the little nun back down onto the bench as she tried to get at Marisa. "You make enough of a scene when you eat restaurants out of stock, so don't go making yourself any more notorious..."

At that comment, Index immediately turned her anger towards Touma and, without a second thought, jumped onto and started to bite his head/

"GAAAAH! What did I say this time?" Touma cried out, trying to pry the angry Index off of his head.

As he was occupied, Othinus turned to Marisa and, giving her a once-over after leaping off of Touma's shoulder, gave her a look of slight disdain.

"I am neither of those things, little girl. Simply a magical god being punished for her own misgivings, is all."



Okay, now THIS was starting to get a bit weird. Him getting cut would probably give away the fact that his body was an Azure Grimoire, which would inevitably end up ending badly. Alternatives, alternatives...

"Ahaha, okay... Why don't we do something a little less... I dunno, pain-inducing?" he suggested as he pulled out a pair of small tablets from his coat. Well, at least the pickpocketing run back at SE had its uses. "Here, take one. They're linked up through some sorta mechanics that I don't understand, but regardless of that fact it'll tell you location and relative health of a person at a glance."

Tossing one of the tablets to Seiga, Hazama smiled and glanced outside. Still daylight. The guards would probably be more worked up at night anyhow, so this would be fine.

"This okay?"

"... Eh?"

Marisa tilted her head in confusion. What was so strange about what she'd said? Was magic in this world this complicated? Did that mean she was going to have to steal even more things in order to figure it out? Well, it's not like she minded doing that, she'd only seen a little slice of the city so far. She stole things from all over the place all the time, often when it didn't even have anything to do with magic. She supposed that made her a klepto-thingy, but that didn't bother her at all! And hey, the nun was getting pretty distracted, biting... biting Touma on the head for some reason.

Did she have some kind of weird kinks or something?

Well, whatever. Now there was tiny girl to deal with...

"A magic god? Hey, that makes you the... ah, whatever, I never kept count," the blonde which waved her hand. Meeting gods and things that were technically gods or godlike started to run together if you tried to keep the numbers straight. "Anyway, that sounds pretty interesting, and you're adorable so... I'm takin' you home!"

In a flash, Marisa's hand lashed out and snapped up the tiny girl. Her hat was swiftly raised up and the girl was shoved beneath it. Hoping she could act before the other two could respond, her free hand snapped out in an attempt to grab the blue-haired nun's habit.

It wasn't like it'd be that hard to steal if it was just held up by safety pins, right?

Misaka 10,032, Academy City

Well, it seemed they were running again. A pity that Kakine couldn't carry them as he had flown after Marisa before, but it wasn't a major concern. As things stood the Witch would be hard pressed to escape in a city such as this, with all the surveillance and powered people that could stop her. And that didn't take into account the various government organizations either.

"Yes," Misaka confirmed at the half joke as she ran along, drawing on the experience of thousands of hours of cardio and endurance training to set up a sustainable pace, especially with the guns she was carrying along. She'd compete in a marathon if she had the time, but it would hardly be fair to the competitors. And she was too busy most of the time anyway.

She quickly added to that as she noted the direction Marisa was moving in, passing that on to the Network so they could respond to it. At the very least it would allow for a swifter response to the Witch, before she could do any real damage, either to herself or the city. "'Antiskill and related organizations are on standby should we need support,' Misaka adds as she focuses on running," Misaka said to her partner. Of course, setting the Dark Side on Marisa might be a bit overkill, if not traumatic, but it was an option should they feel the need for it. For now, they had to catch up, and that was what mattered most.

Geo and Omega-Xis - Castle Tepes

Geo was rather surprised that the castle kept in touch with technology, despite its archaic appearance. Geo supposed it must have been a thing around these parts, looking incredibly scary while actually being quite normal on the inside. He had to use this to rationalize his view on the variety of maids the group. They weren't that scary... They definitely had to be normal... Like the ghost! Shirley! Yeah...

Geo felt a shiver run down his spine with the ghost maids or... zombie... maids... Zombies are basically ghosts but in dead bodies, aren't they? That thought didn't particularly cheer him up. "Hey, Geo," Omega-Xis piped up from the Hunter-VG, "Sentient zombies are just, like, ghosts, but still in their bodies, aren't they?" The fact that Omega-Xis had that same thought didn't do much to cheer him up either, and he could tell from the snickering that followed that he was trying to get his goat here.

As they descended down the stairs, Geo gave the chained up skeletons a hard side-eye, noticeably creeped out by it in spite of the little queen's assurance such things had happened in her time. With all the actually creepy Halloween horror around, Geo tried to put it out of his mind and focus on other thoughts. Like what his mom and dad were up to, his friends, what episodes of the latest detective flick Omega-Xis was missing out on by being here.

And then they made their way to the Eye of the Serpent. Geo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Whoa! Mega, take a look at this!" With that, he allowed his Wizard to activate on its own again, letting Omega-Xis be free to materialize. His jaw dropped as well upon seeing the thing. "Cripes! It's massive! How can you call that an eye!? And how the heck are they gonna steal that?" That had to be the million dollar question to everyone.

Geo looked back to see Gintoki on his way out, raising his hand out to him, "Hey! Hold on! We're in the middle of this, we can't just-"

"And he's gone," Omega-Xis bluntly stated.

Seiga - Abandoned Basement, Capital City, AgK

"I'm afraid that's not what it's for, Mis-ter Haa-zaa-maa~.", Seiga said slowly as she caught the tablet and tossed it aside.
"Things are a little more complex than that, but in short: If you wish to follow me through walls, I'm afraid we'll have to do this. Yoshika's done it, and she turned out fine, see?"
She pointed at her pet jiang-shi, staring blankly at a wall and idly snapping at bugs as they flew past.
"You'll be fiiiiine. Besides, you're a brute. What sort of brute can't stand being cut? Know your place."

"Good to know. I'd have liked to keep the situation under wraps, but with someone as unpredictable as that it's better we have those two groups as backup." Kakine stated as the beetles within Marisa's hat immediately found themselves a new friend.
"..."
"The witch has made contact with Kamijou Touma and has kidnapped the Magic God under his surveillance. This is going to get rough."


Luckily enough for Index, Touma had managed to push her off of his head and back onto the bench as Marisa lunched for her hat. It took them both a few seconds before they realized what Marisa had just attempted to do. UNfortunately enough, it also made Index even more annoyed.

"Oh, that explains a lot!" she fumed. "You're not a witch! All you do is steal magical artifacts and use someone else's power! That's just mimicry, not actual magic!"

Before she could continue on her tireade, though, Touma quickly stepped in front of Marisa and stared her down.

"Don't know what you're here for, Ms. Kirisame, but you're not stealing her on my watch."


Othinus was taken quite off guard when Marisa had grabbed her and stuffed her inside of her hat. Though she had expected a very cramped space inside, what she instead found herself in was what more more or less a pocket dimension. Well, that made calling for help a bit more difficult...
Seeing the little blonde spot where Marisa's head was- in other words, the exit-, Othinus began pulling a few hair out before sighing. This took more out of her than anything else. Maybe there was something else...?

As that thought crossed her mind, Othinus noticed a pair of white beetles staring her in the face. They felt... Familiar, for some odd reason.
Wait, didn't she use the Number Two's power to make Gungnir before? The same sensation she got them was the same that she had now...
But it couldn't be, right?



Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Well, hopefully the Azure Grimoire didn't freak out when it had whatever the heck that hermit was planning to do done to it. Energy overflow was definitely a possibility, and the results of that could...
Well...
It'd probably cause his usual power to start flowing out, which meant corrosive auras and release of power restraints. While neither was really a 'bad' thing, giving any semblance of power from the Azure would inevitably lead to someone picking up his trail... And possibly that hermit realizing the power of the Azure. Shit.

Well, maybe if he bailed fast enough after negotiations with the rebels were finished...?
No, that wouldn't work. He'd have to burn up all the excess energy in another way.

"...Fine, fine." Hazama sighed, extending his hands forward towards the girl. "If it can't be helped, then..."

"Oi oi, I do plenty of actual magic!" replied Marisa, twitching a little in discomfort as she felt the tiny girl pull on her hair a bit. Well, that was to be expected... Anyway, she really did do a lot of real magic! Sure, some stuff was 'borrowed', but she worked on it herself. She made her own spells. That was kind of insulting, really! She sprang back, kicking her broom up into her hands as she did and holding tightly. "Besides, if I borrow a spell I make it better! My Spark is way flashier then Kazami's!"

She grinned widely at the boy and the blue-haired girl.

"... As for the tiny cute one," she continued, "I'm gonna give her back after I dress her up a bit, okay?"

And that was the Perfectly Ordinary Witch's cue to turn tail and hop on her broom, preparing to take off and get as far out of there as possible. She did intend on giving the tiny girl back... after figuring out how she worked and then dressing her up like herself. After all, she was pretty sure Alice had an appropriately-sized copy of her outfit if nothing else!

Jack followed the others into the depths of Castle Tepes, admiring nearly everything. When the former torture chambers were noted, Jack became even more on-guard, eyeing every nook and alcove suspiciously. When they entered the Eye's chamber, Jack was awestruck. The giant gem was beautiful to behold, and Jack could almost feel the power radiating off of it. He knew this would be one of, if not the, most important mission he ever took part in. He thought to himself for a moment, then cleared his throat to gather the attention of those present, once it was appropriate to do so. He then bowed before saying "Seeing as how we are all highly-trained, deadly individuals, I have realized that the hardest, and arguably the most important job, will be to hold the guard position here, in the same chamber as the Eye. However, if things go exactly according to plan, the person positioned here will receive no chance to fight. This is why I would like to humbly volunteer myself as the guardian of this chamber, if only to ensure our most skilled and valuable fighters will be at the forefront, and able to completely participate in the coming battle." He bowed again, then stood and waited for replies.

Saber stared at the immense gem for several moments. It was enormous, how exactly was Shadow Eternity planning to steal such a thing? It didn't even appear as if it could fit out of the door. Truthfully, the King of Knights had no idea what they were meant to be preventing when it came to an object of this size.

"I'm glad you're all impressed," said Queen Tepes with a cheerful smile. Well, at least until she noticed Gintoki quickly leaving. Saber, too, looked over her shoulder and reached out in a bid to stop him, but he was soon vanishing up the stairs. The blonde girl frowned as she watched her ally's departure. What was he doing, and why? Surely he knew that their job was important... while the torture chambers were... disconcerting, the Queen had assured them that it was no longer practiced under her rule. So, then, what was it?

Queen Tepes sighed. "Anette will go and get him. For now... I like the samurai's proposal! If you stay down here, Jack, Clark will provide what support he can."

There was still no explanation of Clark. "I haven't exactly gotten any strategies worked out for you, I don't know how you work, so it's probably best if you try and come up with something for yourselves. You can probably tell they're not trying to pick it up, the trick they tried to pull is putting teleportation transmitters on and around it to just warp it out. They obviously wouldn't be able to carry it.

Ah... there was the explanation. That was how they planned to steal it.



The maids stared blankly, some peering out of hiding at Dante. They were all stunned into silence for a few moments. It was certainly an impressive display, but to what end none of them really knew. Eventually the white-haired maid stowed her handguns and bowed low before him.

"I apologize for the hostility. Are you from the you-em-em-ay?"



Abruptly, something seized Gintoki's shoulders. He was encountered by the stitch-bearing visage of the maid who had greeted them at the doorway, the ghostly maid still at the gates trying to figure out what to do about all the people who had suddenly show up.

Her expression deeply serious, the stitched maid stared deeply into his eyes, as if she was somehow firing lasers from them. Thankfully, no light and heat based destruction was wrought, and instead she made an incredibly serious demand for answers.

"Was her Highness so cute you couldn't take it?!"

... Wait, what?



Her opponent had fled.

She'd kill him sometime, anyway. Now Dlanor turned her eyes to the conflict nearby. Leaving a trail of blood as she walked towards them, her eyes were still wild as they fixed upon their opponent. Cinder Fall. The Red Key hummed as she raised it, the small girl poised to attack as she drew closer and closer.

"You are OUTNUMBERED," she began. It was truth in red, there was no way to deny that the witch-woman was alone, with only her potential summons to aid her. The rest was left unexplained. Part of Dlanor hoped that the woman did not surrender, hoped that she could bring the taste of death to her.

Seiga - Abandoned Basement, Capital City, AgK

"Wonderful!", Seiga said as she brandished the razor, "Don't worry, this- Oh, I can't lie to a cute little face like that! This is going to be excruciating, but try and hold on, okay?"

She hummed as she grabbed Hazama's right hand to hold it in place, digging the razor deep into the back of his hand. Then, she took hold and ran it across, one deep, clean cut that marked the bone, causing it to go limp. She repeated the process with his left. Blood pooled up from the wounds, staining both Seiga and Hazama's hands a deep red. By this point, Hazama's nervous system was in all likelihood screaming out in pain, a hundred alarm bells going off simultaneously to inform him that this was not pleasant.

"You have to make sure it's extremely sharp so you can get a nice, deep cut, see? Otherwise, I'm afraid it just doesn't work. Now normally, I'd use an obsidian one, but they're a bit harder to come by in regions like this, so you have to take what you can get. All the same-", Seiga continued as she retrieved a number of bottles, jars, and a small mortar and pestle from beneath her dress, "-I'll have to apply the ritual salve and perform the incantation. Is this okay?"

Sir Frederick climbed into the back of the machine monster, and gave a sigh. Ah well, at least there was a weapon crate... Probably something inside worthwhile. As he cracked it open, his eyes opened wide with delight. A strange, sparkling weapon with a huge shining scope and a golden shine... The label said "Hybridification". Fascinating gun, no ammunition, no place to load the ammunition, at least... "This will do nicely," he licked his lips.

George Melons had seen something he liked, too. But it wasn't a traditional weapon, no. In the center of the crate was a syringe, filled with a roiling and bubbling brown liquid. A liquid he recognized. "Is... Is that... Holy SHIT!" he grabbed it up, shooting it into his veins with a speed that could only be described as "greedy". His pupils dilated, and his eyes turned a dark yellow, for a moment. Then, he was back to normal. "Now that's gonna come in handy." With that, George Melons climbed himself into the turret seat.

Nono, Castle Tepes

Nono huffed as Gintoki didn't come back, in spite of everyone practically telling him to. But it seemed to work out thanks to the Queen, who said she would have someone take care of it. Well, that was one less thing to worry about then, which she could be grateful for. Someone had to handle him, and at least they wouldn't have to spend too much time on it.

At least she wasn't the only one impressed with the gem, though she had a feeling that they couldn't quite appreciate it to the same extent that she could. But perhaps it was better, the unknown making it that much more entrancing. That might be something she had forgotten with her shift back to being a Buster Machine.

She frowned as Jack's suggestion, more in thought than in disapproval. What he said made sense, and while she thought of volunteering herself given her lack of close range experience, her arsenal of weapons did lend itself towards long range. Which couldn't exactly be exercised here. It would be more useful in a fight if she was outside, or somewhere similar.

"Alright," she agreed with a emphatic nod, frown vanishing. If that was what he wanted to do, then he could do it. Her attention shifted back to the Queen as she explained that they would probably try teleporting it away. She could probably do that herself, but now wasn't the time to test such theories. "We'll make sure they don't get the chance to Your Highness," Nono said with bristling certainty. When the time came, they would be ready.

---

Misaka 10,032, Academy City

Misaka managed to keep her expression under control as Kakine revealed that their target had, almost inevitably, made contact with Kamijou Touma. It wasn't hardly a surprise at this point, and while she didn't mind the opportunity to see him again, she would prefer that it not be while she was pursuing someone fleeing from Academy City authorities. Then again, it fit with his pattern of extremely improbably occurrences centering themselves on him.

She glanced over at her partner as she moved along, mind working as she informed the Sisters of this new development, before providing an answer. "'Misaka suggests that Kakine inform Crowley of this development,' Misaka says as she attempts to shift blame for the situation away from herself," Misaka said in a way that was very much indicative of the fact that she would prefer to not get on someone's bad side for this. After all, things tended to get chaotic when Touma was involved

Besides that, she continued to do the only thing she could do in this situation, preparing for the worst in the process.

---

Cinder Fall, Museum

Cinder glanced around the room with a calculating eye. Blake was reeling, but her help was basically untouched. And even more annoying, her ally had fled, leaving his opponent, though she had been stabbed and hurt, to confront her as well. Those were odds she didn't exactly enjoy, if she was to be honest.

So, she checked for options. Certainly she could make her escape possible, sacrificing more Dust in the process, but that might not be the optimal solution. After all, even defeat could provide opportunities, and she didn't want to waste those. They just needed to be found first. And so this one was, her quickly settling on an idea that could further her own agenda, even if it put herself at risk. Roman would be proud.

So, forcing down the smirk she wanted to show, she acted, standing back up and raising her hands, letting the blades she had used dissolve away into Dust as she placed herself at their mercy. "I surrender," she said without hesitation. Time to see if they would do what she wanted them to do.

"No thanks. Not interested in cat scratch fever." Dante nodded to the Dragonborn, pouring a few more ingredients onto the counter.

The shirtless man began kneading the flour into a ball of dough. Spinning it around, he began to whip the dough around his body like a nunchuck before tossing it in the air. Twirling a pair of pistols on his fingers, he briefly pointed Ivory at the maid.
"Tch." he grinned, and shot the airborne dough with Ebony. The force of the bullet sent the dough ball spinning at mach speeds. Leaping into the air, a metal gauntlet wrapped around Dante's fist as an attached rocket began to charge. The devil hunter unleashed a rocket-powered Superman punch, slamming the dough onto the counter so hard it flattened into a perfect circle.

"Actually, I'm not with anyone right now. You offering?"

"Aight, boys! Strap yer asses down, 'cuz it's time to go!"

With a terrifying roar, Dusty barreled out of the garage and down the street. In no time at all, they were out on the open sands, leaving the lush Thunderbolt City behind.

Once Dusty was a fair distance away from Thunderbolt City, Shazay pressed a small button on a tablet-shaped display mounted on the dashboard. A very rudimentary GUI depicting a green wireframe map of the surrounding several miles appeared on the screen. On the display, a number of small green blips appeared. On the far edge of the display was a massive blip.

Shazay grinned wildly. He was surprised he had found that so soon. Whooping and hollering, he wheeled Dusty around and took off in the direction of the green blip. Hopefully, his two passengers could hold on!


Hi-Hat smiled primly at Doctor Facilier's astonishing performance.

"Yes, as a matter of fact... you could consider us allies to the cause. While we aren't officially affiliated with the UMMA, we definitely share their agenda. We're Shocker+, ma'am: home defense, real estate, and temporary occupations across the multiverse!"

Xiangshi pressed a button on the small 'PRESENTATION' device. Instantly, a holographic display about the size of a flatscreen TV appeared above Xiangshi's hand. Setting it down on a nearby table, Xiangshi began the marvelous duty of assisting in the demonstration.

"Now, if you'll look here, you'll see the majesty of Thunderbolt City, one of our very first projects! Thunderbolt City boasts a population of three hundred, and I can say with all candor is the most vibrant place in the entirety of the desert surrounding it!"

As Hi-Hat spoke, Xiangshi dutifully flicked through a slideshow of happy but very gruff-looking townsfolk and guards being tended to by mooks in ominous-looking armor. In the background, a man wielding a mysterious wand called rain down from the heavens. It seemed this presentation would go on for some time.


Sindibad Darude absent-mindedly fiddled with the dials on the radio. He turned to look at the collective Jack Morgan and Julius Aldo with a grin.

"Alright, so we've got Hecuba, and we're about to get the Meat. All we need to do is grab this 'Pendant of Death' thing."

Jack, drinking from a plastic cup filled with what was apparently rum, grunted.
"How about we do that? It's been way too long since we actually did a mission."

"Well, yeah, but it's my job-" Sindibad said, shrugging, "I'd be paying myself for doing it!"

Julius snorted, and glared at Sindibad. To think that he had not realized this
"Yeah, but if you complete the job you don't have to pay anyone. C'mon, it'll get you out for a change."

Sindibad's eyes widened, and he slapped his forehead in exasperation.
"Why didn't I think of that! Good lord!" He smiled weakly at Julius and Jack. "Alright, let's go hunt some treasure! Next stop: Antagarich!"

Shivani - Castle Tepes Kitchens

"I'm no cat, I'm a Khajiit. A Cathay-raht, to be exact. And I don't use my claws that often, unless you're wanting to go weaponless. I have a collection of wooden swords we could easily shrink down." Looking the man over, she figured it'd be quite an even fight on just swordplay alone. Well, if not for the fact he used only one blade while she wielded two.

Compared to other motocross runs, this gig was going to be simple. All that Chuck needed to do was just drive past the horrific tendrils and keep the bike intact. The fact the course was smooth, instead of being far more rugged as they usually were, was going to make maneuvering easier. But that really wasn't ever a problem for Chuck. This hover-bike would do just fine. After all it was already zipping down the track with ease. In fact it was causing a few of the droids a bit of trouble in catching up to record the footage for broadcasting.

The tendrils from before submerged themselves into the depths from whence they came. However that didn't stop other tendrils from rising and trying to drag the Chuck and the hover-bike down. But with his driving capabilities he managed to speed past another series of tentacles, zipping down the track once more.

But of course, things wouldn't be as peachy as he was approaching the half stretch. This time the tentacles shot up in front of him like a wall. The bike slammed right into it, as the speed of the collision caused Chuck to slam into one of them. He was a bit bruised, and his nose was now bloodied from the impact. But it was nothing that hasn't happened to him before. And the motor-bike was still usable, albeit dented.

As the tendril warped to get around him, Chuck regained his senses and lunged back on-top of the seat of his hover-bike. However two of the tentacles were gripping onto the hover-bike. Chuck reached his hands seemingly into his pockets as he pulled out his Paddle-saw. He stared at the tentacles, "Hands off my bike."

With that said he began swinging the active chainsaws to smack the tendrils. The roaring chainsaws were ripping into the flesh of the two. They quickly receded back into the depths. The other eight were slamming towards Chuck. Again he swung the Paddle-saw at the other tendrils, just like if it was a crowd of zombies that needed to be dispatched.

Not wanting to get struck anymore the tendrils again sank into the depths. Chuck returned his Paddle-saw from whence it came, and then sat back on the bike. "Right, well let's get back to it." He noted to himself as he sped off once more down the Athas track. After all he did need to complete the gig.

Geo and Omega-Xis

"So... they most likely have teleporter things," Geo simplified, "And all we gotta do is keep them away from this room?" He asked. It seemed simple enough. And Jack seemed reliable enough to keep the gem safe just in case anyone managed to give them the slip.

Omega-Xis patted Geo's shoulders emphatically and responded, "Looks like it, kiddo. Say! How 'bout we turn into Mega Man here right quick. Ain't gonna harm us none, and who knows if those guys will rear their heads around while we make our game plan?"

Geo sighed at the suggestion. He knew he just wanted an excuse to go "buck wild" on baddies as soon as possible, but he couldn't deny that it'd be convenient to be ready for action just in case. Still, though... Saying his key phrase in front of everyone and outside of a situation sounded just a tad bit embarrassing.

He met the alien halfway and just slipped his Hunter-VG onto his arm for the time being. "There. It hardly takes two seconds to transform, we can do later." Omega-Xis just groaned in protest, though he decided not to push it further for now.

Gintoki stared blankly at the Frankenstein maid for a good minute or so ,a completely blank expression on his face as he tried to think of a response. How the heck did...?

Wait, no. This wasn't a place of conventional logic. For all he knew, that girl just thought he was some sorta cliche-ass tsundere. Boy, would THAT be a fun hole to dig himself out of.

"...In... In what context did you get that out of?" he asked, looking at the maid as if she had grown a third head (or, to put it into a better perspective, as if she had suddenly become a normal human). "I just needed to to take a little breather outside. Place felt stuffy."

Nobody should have to find about of his distaste for ghosts, especially not here. ESPECIALLY not in a world likely to be filled by them. Screw that.


"Well... I guess it can't be helped..." Kakine sighed. But since Crowley never actually told anyone any contact info (instead opting to tap directly into communications devices)...

"I already know, dear clone." said a voice that seemed to be originating from 10032's goggles. Of course he'd take that route.
"Although the girl does not seem to be causing massive amounts of mayhem as I had expected her to, you two are still at fault for letting her roam about as she has. I would appreciate it if the whole city wasn't aware of our new guest, especially given how they have acted in the past."

With that, the speakers clicked off, and Kakine sighed. They were going to get chewed out for this one for sure.


"The tiny one...? Oh shoot, where's Othinus?" Touma asked, panicking for a moment before looking at Marisa's hat. It seemed to be the only place she could reasonably fit the miniature former Magic God, so...!

Before he could pull the hat off of Marisa's head, though, the witch immediately attempted to fly off to somewhere else in the city. Not on his watch!

Lunging for the broom, Touma managed to barely catch a hold on the tool with his left hand as it began to lift off of the air. After swinging around for a few seconds as it rose higher and higher off the ground, Touma swung his right hand - Imagine Breaker - at Marisa's hat, hoping to grab it. He hit the broom instead.


If Terumi was here, Hazama was certain than by now this place would already be a smoking crater. However much of a genius the dude was, he couldn't take a hit for his life.
Well, it's not like he fared much better, Luckily, he had managed to redirect some of the grimoire's power into keeping his nerves from firing off left and right, but it only had about as much effect as anesthesia would... Minus the lack of movement, of course. Still hurt like a bitch.

Then Seiga hit the bone, and everything went to shit.

Hazama's arms immediately started releasing his trademark green aura, which quickly spread out around them both and through every single wound he had sustained up until that point before beginning to rapidly mend everything back together. The process also released quite a bit of seithr, which was... Alarming, if anything. By then, the pain had subsided, but a larger issue was at hand.

"Erm. Well. About that..." Hazama trailed off as the last of the cuts regenerated. Well, if using the Azure Grimoire taught him anything, it was that wounds didn't stick around. The energy reformed into a single amorphous blob enclosing his arms that looked vaguely like a giant snake; the energy also seemed to emanate enormous killing intent, empowered by the Remnant he was using to power Ouroboros. Well, he wasn't going to use a Fang attack anytime soon, so Hazama flicked his arms and caused the energy to dissipate and become seithr once more.

"Self-defense mechanism. Don't worry about it too much." he said, flexing his muscles to check if they had reformed in place. They had.

Well, he wasn't wrong about the defense part, per se. But... That cut meant his time in this world was probably coming to a close, be it in a few days or a few weeks. Either way, it was a ticking time bomb now.

"But yeah, that's why I asked for an alternative. Was hoping it didn't involve messing around with my skeleton."