((This is my last post for the day))

@Ninkitty
Arin heard a familiar voice and normally if he weren't being attacked, that would've been enough to calm him down right there. "Thanks, Ayaka."

---

Shadowman looked at the one that sent wind toward it. It stopped attacking Arin and turned on his girlfriend.

---

Once he saw it turn towards his girlfriend, that was it. Arin cared too much for Ayaka to even think about letting this shadow get anywhere near her. He walked behind the shadow and grabbed it before pulling it away. He was pretty much doing the same thing it did to him earlier. He grew claws on his hands and feet then a tail. His skin started really scaly and then his whole body started to grow. After a few minutes passed by, a roar could be heard throughout the forest making it clear Arin was in dinosaur form which was very gigantic.

Haru's eyes widened at the sound of the roar, before grinning and dashing off, with Shiro sighing before following him, knowing that Haru would get into all kinds of trouble without him. Of course once Haru found the source of the roar @Letmehaveone2 then he grinned wider. "This is badass!" he said as he saw Arin's dinosaur form.

"...No one." I looked to the side, smiling bitterly. "Especially the girlfriend part. A... rather heated contention between me and my family. There is no one waiting for me. My family, they've already written off my existence, to them, I'm dead and burning in hell. Maybe that's where I've ended up. Maybe I have died and this is my punishment for merely existing in the first place." I gave a dry chuckle.

I looked back at her. "I don't want to be a burden to anyone. It's really fine. As for the helmet... I've never done anything like that before. If something did happen, it's likely because he messed up on the spell, that has to be it. Like I said, I'm completely ordinary, below average in just about everything. Oh, but uh... could you apologize to him on my behalf? Oh, and tell him, that it's alright. Ya know... to kill me the next time we meet, uh... that goes for everyone else too. I mean, that's one of the reasons you don't want me to go, right? That this guy, this necromancer'll just bring me back to trick you all, right? So... once I leave here, I'm just another enemy, okay?"

In the distance there was a rather loud roar. "That... doesn't sound good. I'll make sure to avoid that. Goodbye." I turned back around and began walking, a little more steady this time.

@mmarage
Well asking what happened between him and his family wasn't Luna's place. If he wanted to talk about it, he would on his own. She laughed a bit at his comment about being dead. "You aren't dead silly. And like I said. No one's life is meaningless. Not sure what happened between you and your family to make you feel that way. And honestly, I'm not going to ask. It's your place to decide if and when to talk about that as well as with who. Though I am sorry for what happened. "

And now he was talking about being a burden..... Seriously, whatever happened obviously had a negative effect on him. He apparently already had a few pyschological issues he was dealing with before seeing that lake of blood. "You can apologize to him yourself. In fact, he'd probably be happy to see that you came back. That is if you come back. Same goes for the other Neko you saw. She's short tempered, but a caring person once you get to know her."

"No one's going to actually want to kill you. Call you foolish maybe, but I seriously doubt anyone in the group would want to kill you. I promise you won't be burden to anyone. Besides, sometimes it's best to move with a group no matter who or what you are. Of course, I agree that there are times when it's best to move alone or in smaller groups. This just happens to be one of those times where alone might be the worst possible option. A smaller group maybe, but not alone. "

"Look no one here wants to see you or anyone that ended up here die for any reason. You're not just another enemy..."

That's when she heard the roar. "What....was that?" Luna saw that he was now walking away...again. She sighed. "Well fine, let me walk with you then. At least that way, you won't be wandering in this forest all by yourself." She began following him.

---

@Letmehaveone2
Ayaka was ready to start a tornado in the area when the shadow turned on her, but that's when Arin grabbed the shadow from behind. A couple minutes later he changed into a dinosaur. And of course, this in turn made her angry. "Hey. Dumb shadow. Why don't you go tell Hunter to quit hiding behind his shadows?"

"..." I sighed softly and turned to her. "You're going to follow me no matter what, aren't you...? Even if it means that it'll likely get you killed... Fine, let's go back, but the second I begin slowing everyone down is the second that you all leave me behind, got it?" I crossed my arms. She clearly weren't going to leave me alone and I didn't want to drag anyone down with me.

Well it was better than nothing at least. Luna would find it quite hard to do that, though if she said she would, then she probably would. She couldn't say what the rest of the group would do, however. "Fine...., though I can't make any promises on what everyone else will do if you begin slowing everyone down. But if it makes you feel better. I will, though I will find it difficult to do that."

Matt

I drank too much the night before. But unlike every other time I drank myself to sleep, this time I woke to both a headache, and drowning.

"Pfft, blblb!" I muttered, splashing as I worked not only to get out of whatever I was drowning in, but also figure out where I was. And this is all a lot worse than it sounds when you're hung over.

My hand scraped dirt. I was only in ankle deep water.

Wait, this wasn't water. This was...blood. It stretched out before me like a lake, or river.

"Aw shit" I moaned. This was it. I had actually drank myself to death and was in pain.

Still weak, I looked around to see people standing nearby. Probably demons sent to torture me actually. Best crouch and hope they dont see me...

"...I'm sure it'll easier than you think." I gave her a half-hearted smile. I looked around and then began retracing my steps from the way I had run away, I'm sure that it wasn't the fastest way back, but it was better than trying to go in the general direction of where I thought the group was. "I'm sure that guy's gonna be really angry..." I chuckled softly. "Oh, right... uh... never introduced myself, did I? Um... I'm Joe."

I crept out of the blood pond. Seriously, how the fuck does that even happen?

Anyway, it was almost quiet, yet I could swear I heard voices far off.

Maybe I should go towards it, I figured. If this was Hell, surely there were people like me who weren't necessarily horrible, but managed to get on the wrong side of the asshole god that sent me here. Maybe I could also find some water on the way. Might help with my hangover

I rarely use this but... Deon shifted to his bat form as he thought it would be the best way to find Price. Also, it was easier to avoid the possibility of anyone else getting in his way. He flew away from the lake in order to go locate Price and after a few minutes of flying, he came across a forest. He looked down to see if could spot the one he was looking for anywhere. He found him eventually, but was disappointed to find out that Price had a friend with him. Should've known that mute neko would be there. He decided not to worry about that for now. I just need find a way to get rid of the friend and then once Price is alone, I will find a way to bring him to the lake and throw him in. He flitted over to a nearby tree before going invisible and getting out of bat form. He layed there on the tree branch.

---

Price was still unsure of where to go, let alone know a way out of this forest. The only options he could come up with weren't great ones. If that lake was truly made of human blood, then he knew for a fact that he couldn't go there. If he did, it raised chances of him turning demon and he didn't want that to happen. When he looked in the other direction where he had seen a group in the distance, he still had a strong feeling there we humans among there too. He turned to his neko friend. I feel so lost in here.

---

Juno decided to take a better look at their surroundings and thought he saw another pathway and listened to what sounded a fight(Arin's) going on further down. Deciding not to get involved in that, he turned to see a different path and kept his ears perked, listening for any sign of danger if there were any down there.

Luna knew exactly where the group was, however Joe didn't seem to be on a direct path back. She didn't say anything about it however, and decided not to unless they were starting to stray away from everyone else. She figured he's smart enough to find his way back. Basically, he isn't as useless as he makes himself out to be. It was funny that he thought she'd find leaving him easy in the end since Luna knew how she was. Simply leaving someone behind isn't something she'd normally do. "I'm Luna. Nice to meet you. Well hopefully he isn't too angry with you."

@Ninkitty
Shadowman smirked. "Whos says he's hiding?" He looked at the dinosaur, knowing what Hunter was planning with him. "Master Hunter wants me to bring that thing to him."

Arin glared at the shadow who had the nerve to call him a thing. He was so ready to use his ice breathing ability, but in order to do that, he need to move the shadow away from Ayaka. He set his tail down in front of it an curled it around before picking the shadow up and setting it in a good spot before backing up. As he was about to do this, he heard someone(Shiro and Haru) shout something about how cool they though his fight was. Not knowing where the two were, he could only hope they wouldn't be in the way of the ice he was was about to breathe out. Here goes nothing. He opened his mouth as wide as he could and aimed at the shadow before releasing the ice and freezing it.

Shadowman's eyes went wide as the ice hit him and froze him in place. It couldn't figure out a way out of the ice so it took this as a sigh he's been defeated. "Alright, you win. But there's more where I came from." With that, the shadow vanished into thin air, never to be seen again.

"It's fine if he hates me. It's not that big of a deal..." After that, I didn't really say much. Eventually, we were back where I had attacked that man. I looked down and just tried to merely stay away, trying not to even glance at the man. I felt guilty and ashamed of my actions... and a part of me really did not want to face the implications behind what I had done. I just wanted to pretend that it never happened, or that if it did, it was in a large part his fault and not mine...

@Letmehaveone2 @IceboundMemoire

@Letmehaveone2
"Whatever. He sends his dumb shadows after him. That's still hiding in my book." Ayaka was obviously annoyed at the whole thing. She too heard Shiro and Haru. "Honestly what planet are those two from. This is anything BUT cool." First a crazed human who no one can reason with all because he saw a lake of human blood and now this. Hopefully, Luna was able to talk some sense into that human at least. She knew Arin would eventually calm down enough to turn back.

When the shadow disappeared, Ayaka said, "Arin the shadow's right. I have reason to believe that Hunter's behind everything about this whole forest."

---

"You need more positivity in your life...." Luna didn't say much beyond that until they returned to the group. She didn't worry about Ayaka since she knew her friend would probably be back soon enough. "Well since I haven't had the chance to introduce myself to most here. Hello, I'm Luna. Nice to meet all of you."

She looked over at Joe who was just looking down and not saying anything. "Well at least introduce yourself. And don't you have something you wanted to say to him?" She was referring to the guy whose helmet he had punched a hole into.

@mmarage@IceboundMemoire

It's funny how fast you can run when you're being chased by crystalline humanoids with katanas and miniguns.  This was one of the many thoughts coursing through the Traveller's head as she bolted  away from the sounds of gunshots and battle cries. Her overcoat flapped behind her in the wind, miraculously getting missed by the barrage of bullets. Thankfully, the people of the Diamond Empire in the world of Jewel were best known for their fascinating culture and not their military strength.

As the Traveller ran across the colorful, gem-filled landscape, her boots clicking and clacking across the emerald fields, she looked behind her, her gaze falling upon her assailants. They weren't that far behind her. They were close enough for her to see the shapes of their clear faces and the steel buttons on their blue armor. Behind them was a giant and beautiful kingdom, the walls made of diamonds and sapphires. When she turned her face forward, her eyes caught sight of a boulder of ruby about twenty feet away. She whipped out her revolver, a red arcane circle floating in front of the muzzle. When she pulled the trigger, a glowing red bullet flew out, hitting the boulder and blowing it to bits. She holstered her weapon and grabbed one of the bigger chunks of ruby out of the air. She curled her fingers around it, making a fist. She squeezed as hard as she could, and then opened her fist, seeing that the ruby was now formed into an old-fashioned key. She continued to run though, the key in one hand and her bag and...souvenir in the other. Finally, she thrusted the key forward, and twisted it. Suddenly, a large hole opened up in front of her. In it, she saw a large, red body of liquid. Without hesitation, she jumped in.

The Traveler landed on her feet. Luckily for her, the liquid, which the Traveller identified as blood, didn't go above her boots, which meant her leggings were safe for now. But the Traveller quickly noticed the lack of stability of whatever she was standing on, so she decided it'd be best to get a boat out. She shoved the key in her pocket and lifted the bag to her eye level, tucking her souvenir, a sheathed katana of some kind, into her belt. "That was close, wasn't it?" she said to the bag in an accent that in most Earth Universes would be categorized as british. "Anyway, I'm going to need you to open up to the garage, okay?" The Traveller than opened up the bag and peered inside. "Hey Fred! she called. "Could you fetch a rowboat for us? That'd be great!" A few beeps, boops, and bops, before the sounds of wheels signaled that the little robot inside had temporarily left. A few seconds later, the sounds returned. The Traveller looked back inside before turning the opening away from her. A couple more seconds past by, before a rowboat began to spill out of the opening. When it was all the way out, the Traveller turned the opening back towards her and smiled to the inside. "Thanks Fred! Why don't you have some of that Naltinium chocolate you like, okay?" A few more beeps could be heard, before the Traveller closed up the back and hopped onto the boat.

She put the bag down in front of her before setting up the oars and beginning to row. After about a minute of rowing she stopped, and the boat continued to go forward at a slow speed. The Traveller then drew the sheathed sword from her belt. Slowly and dramatically, she pulled the hilt and the sheathe in opposite directions. After a few seconds of this, the sword came completely out of the sheathe, and the Traveller held it in her hands. It was beautiful. The translucent blade glistened in the moonlight. "Well Bag, we got it. The sword that Akonamo Tenama, the god of the Crystalline People, used to create the world of Jewel. If the legends are to be believed, of course. Which I believe they are. It's said that this blade can cut through anything. It's a shame that the Crystalline People were only using it as part of some elaborate shrine. If they would've just given it to me when I asked, I wouldn't have had to steal it." She said, before sheathing it and strapping it onto her back. She then continued to row to shore until the dirt scrapped against the bottom of the boat, signaling her arrival to land. She was about to leave the boat when she saw a humanoid figure. She cautiously rested a hand on her revolver before calling out to it. "Excuse me?"

@MikkishtheLeprechaun

I stopped when I heard a female voice behind me. I turned my head to see a young lady walking away from her boat. A boat. She was rowing a boat across a lake of blood.

Well if this was Hell, and she was some...devil or angel meant to torture me, running away would just be pathetic. May as well face this situation like a real badass. A badass like...King Leonidas, or Elliot Hulse.

I put on my psycho killer expression (which I had practiced in the mirror) stood up straight, with my legs spread and my shoulders back, and looked the woman dead in the eye.

I looked around quietly and then looked at the ground, bowing my head slightly. "...I'm Joe, I'm sorry in advance for being useless." I finally and reluctantly turned my gaze to the man. "I'm sorry for attacking you, please forgive me, but I understand if you don't." With that, I sat down and waited for them to make a decision as to what we should do.

@Ninkitty
Arin had to wait a few minutes for himself to calm down before he could answer his girlfriend. Once he was calm enough to turn back to human, he turned to Ayaka. "I had the same feeling." He just sighed like he somehow knew this may not be the last time he turns.

---

Unknown to the group, a shadow copy of Hunter had been watching the whole thing. Once it saw the first shadow was the defeated and made a mental note to report this. It then left before anybody would notice it.

---

Hunter was busy preparing Shadowsaur for the most epic battle he would be putting Arin against. He still wasn't quite ready to send it out yet. He stopped when he saw his copy return. 'Shadowman has been defeated.' Hunter did not like the sound of this. "Did he use that Ice power of his?" The copy nodded. So maybe that's how he wins. I need to find a way around that. But how? He sat back in his recliner as he thought about this. @Nikki Moonlight "Hey Diana, do you know of a way to combine shadows with fire, heat, anything like that?"

When the strange humanoid turned around, the Traveller was slightly startled by the crazy look upon his face. But she quickly relaxed. She had been to countless universes with countless cultures, so she wouldn't be surprised psychotic smiles were the people of this world's way of saying hello. It seemed to her that the humanoid, who she could now see appeared to be male, had enough mind to not attack her on sight, which was a relief. She always hated when universes through stuff like that at her. So she decided she was safe to exit her boat and pull it onto the shore. Once she did that she muttered "Garage..." to her bag and opened it. "I was wondering if you could tell me where I am. You see, I'm a tourist of sorts, and it appears that I've gotten lost." she then stuffed the bow of the boat into the bag, before pulling it over the rest of the boat, miraculously fitting it inside. She then closed the bag and turned back to the man.

@MikkishtheLeprechaun

I paused.

No attack. Not yet. Perhaps this was some kind of test.

But then she...put her boat into a bag, as if it led to some hammerspace. What the hell?

"I'm trying to figure that out myself. I just kinda, stumbled here." I said, still cautious.