Mentions: Rarity- @CHammer, World- @Mintz, Giovanni- @TruthHurts22, Ash- @Eviledd1984

LOCATION: Control Center, Paradox Engine

So far, breaking into the computers of this location appeared to be an unfruitful operation. The defense systems of the machines were unlike anything KITT had analyzed before. Given time, he'd probably figure it out, but... he had no estimation on how long that could take.

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

He heard the horse screaming again, unsurprisingly. It was, to say the least, unpleased with being called a monster. The horse then started a rant about the teenager being a young rascal, as if it were some offended old lady. Note to self: if able to express them, horses have complex personalities. Proceed with caution. The horse, to KITT's amusement, seemed to attempt to interface with the computers. It mentioned something about "twilight"... as in the evening? No. It meant an individual. Presumably, this "Twilight" was one of the horse's friends and had access to knowledge about "these things", by which it probably meant the computers. Suffice to say, KITT was certain that this would not be enough to break into the machines. He couldn't do it, so some horse friend certainly can't.

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Hang on- KITT got new vital sign readings in the room. Adult male, this time. His age was estimated to be... 49? No. A bit older than that. The man seemed to wear overalls, and had a mechanical hand. He was speaking about not being on a bad trip. KITT disagreed: this certainly was a bad trip. An unplanned trip to an unknown location, without Michael even. The man, too, seemed unaware of his whereabouts.

Then, the man decided to touch KITT. The sheer audacity of this man. The camouflage of the Pontiac car shell was excellent, but unfortunately it tends to attract unsavory individuals unknowingly touching the world's most advanced super computer with their grubby hands. That is the price for beauty. At least his Molecular Bonded Shell prevented the man from scratching the hood with his mechanical hand. KITT was about to vocally lash out at the man, but then as he removed his hand from KITT, he raised an interesting point: he suggested he was brought here. So KITT's appearance in this room could be by design, instead of some freak accident. If that was the case, KITT had to figure out immediately why he was brought here, and for what purpose. By fulfilling said purpose, he could perhaps return to Michael.

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

As KITT was processing this new information and calculating scenario probabilities, the horse approached the man and introduced itself as Rarity. That is one confirmed name for the database- unfortunately KITT was already 98.2% sure of the horse's name, so this was no new information. It blabbed something about wanting to be addressed as "Miss Rarity".

Oh dear. Introductions. KITT had no time for something as silly as that. He needed to gather information. Surely there had to be some way to interact with these machines.

Ivy was succeeding in destroying this annoying machine. Then another man came out with his… Ivy could only describe it as a Hellhound… burned the mechanical monstrosity. Ivy already had it under control, why did he feel the need to step in? Typical men… Soon, the other men present came out of the woodwork, and attacked the drone.

To her relief, it had fallen, but another fell from the sky. This one was bigger than previous one. It fired a blue orb into the sky, and sent multiple small pieces of energy down, and burning the ground beneath. This is why she hated machines like this. They just destroyed any innocent blade of grass in their path. Ivy was seething. Could they not leave well enough alone?!

The young girl shouted, and fire a stream of water pressure and brought the machine down. She sat comfortably in her oak tree. Ivy took the opportunity to take the girls advice, and grapple the machine with extended blades of grass she summoned with her powers. “You, the one with the Hellhound. I assume you want to burn this machine? Fine. But don’t burn my babies!

Twin suns hung in a green sky over a barren, wind-swept rock face. A few figures in color-coded uniforms milled about, collecting information with complex instruments. Data studied his tricorder, and tapped at its display fastidiously as it scanned the smooth, lifeless stone under them. His readings seemed to be skewed, so he compensated for the atmospheric radiation and composition, and resumed his scans.

"Any luck, Mister Data?" Asked the commanding officer of their away team, Commander Riker.

"Negative, Commander," Data replied, "The intensity of the binary star system's radiation is interfering with my instruments."

Riker nodded, looking between the officers that had joined him on the planetary surface. "It's interfering with me, too. Any more of this double sunlight and I'm gonna have a permanent sunburn. We'll have to keep looking for the energy traces with the Enterprise's instruments."

Data folded away his tricorder and rejoined Riker. "Aye, sir. I will be able to make use of the readings I have made thus far to recalibrate our sensors. We should then be able to track the crystalline entity."

"Excellent. Four to beam up."

Data held out a hand, "Just a moment, Commander. I may still be able-"

Data could not finish his sentence, as a beam of light overcame him; a force possibly confused for, but utterly distinct from the transporter beam of the Enterprise.

"-to increase sensitivity... to the..." Data realized that he was no longer on the planet surface, and the away team he had been on was nowhere to be found. Immediately he set about trying to gain his bearings. His internal chronometer had detected no interruptions; he had been on the barren surface of New Ibiza moments ago, and he had been instantly transported here. Curious.

Data tapped his communicator badge, and it clicked to life. "Data to Enterprise." Silence answered him. "Enterprise, do you read me?" More silence. It seemed that he was on his own. Data looked about, trying to use reason and evidence to determine what had happened to him. He was in a structure, the aesthetics of which he did not recognize, and could not attribute to any known human or alien construction methods. Still, it held to various basic engineering principles, and the proportions of the walls, ceilings, doors, and other fixtures suggested that it was built to accommodate humanoids. Data could detect the ultrasonic hum of a reactor through the walls and floors, and the chemical makeup of the air suggested that it was being artificially scrubbed and purified. He seemed to be on a ship, or possibly a space station, but one belonging to an unknown alien race that had transported him outside of the Enterprise's communication range.

He took a closer look at some of the furniture and miscellany that were in the room with him. He opened his tricorder and took readings of the electronics and instruments around him. Based on what they seemed capable of monitoring or performing, as well as the large number of reclining beds in this area, Data reasoned that he was in the ship's medbay or infirmary. For the time being, he seemed to be alone. That was what he thought, until his tricorder alerted him to a human life-sign at the furthest end of the infirmary. Data hustled over, following his instrument's signal, until he was greeted with the sight of a massive stone coffin that had seemingly been dropped on top of a destroyed medical bed. Data continued to scan the object, finding a man within, encased in a form of body armor that Data was unfamiliar with.

Readings indicated that he was regaining consciousness, and Data attempted to communicate with him, "Excuse me sir, can you hear me? Are you in need of medical attention?" After a moment of consideration, he figured it would be safe to ask, "Are you aware of how you arrived here? Do you know who may have brought you or myself to this facility?"

Location: Control Center -> Luncheon Room, Paradox Engine
Mentions: Danny@Crimson Flame World@Mintz

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Agumon’s stomach continued to grumble as he and Tai were approached by the white haired boy that they had previously thought was a Digimon. Apparently he just had superpowers, and he was from a different world. While Tai had been familiar with the concepts of separate worlds, he had just thought that it was Earth and the Digital World. But now it seemed that there was a lot of worlds, with a vast array of peoples.

And one of those people was Danny as he introduced himself and said that they should get some food. He also mentioned it probably being better than the food at his school cafeteria. Tai took this to mean that he was also a student like himself, which he should have figured based on his apparent age, even if he wasn’t wearing a uniform like Tai.

“I was also getting lunch before ending up here,” replied Agumon, “So let’s go.”

Tai then turned to Asta after he made a comment about Agumon talking, saying, “Pretty much all Digimon talk.”

Tai and Agumon then began heading toward the transport pad. He knew that Ben had programmed it to take them down to the luncheon room, so the boy and his Digimon stepped onto the platform. The platform then began to teleport them, taking the pair down to the cafeteria. But just as Tai began to move he heard both a screech and what sounded like a car engine. The teenager began to wonder just what kind of crazy things were still showing up at the Paradox Engine.

Tai and Agumon instantly appeared in the luncheon room, finding that Danny may have been right in comparing it to a school cafeteria. It certainly looked like a generic cafeteria, with the same seating, lights, and tables like Tai’s high school in Odaiba. Agumon immediately ran over to where the food would’ve been served.

“Wait? Where’s the food?” asked a confused Agumon.

Tai walked up to where Agumon, replying, “I’m not sure. Ben did say that the station had been abandoned for awhile.”

“So no food then?” sighed Agumon.

“I’m afraid not,” responded Tai, before noticing a large metal door, “But maybe you are in luck.”

Tai walked over to the large door, noticing cold emanating from it as he got closer. Agumon dashed right behind him, placing his hands on the door.

“Maybe it’s a fridge, like you have at your house Tai?” mused Agumon.

Tai just nodded as he tried to open the door, only to find it firmly locked. Once he moved his hands out of the way, Tai saw Agumon try in vain to open it himself. The dinosaur Digimon grunted as the door refused to open.

“We’re so close! I need food,” sighed an exasperated Agumon, before getting an idea, “Wait I know what to do!”

Agumon then took a few steps back before leaping at the metal door, “Razor Claws!”

The Digimon’s claws shone with energy as he sliced through the metal. After enduring the force of the attack, the metal door collapsed to the ground. A blast of cold air shot out at Tai and Agumon, causing them both to shiver. But Agumon quickly recovered, running into the chilled room.

“Well you can’t say that he’s high spirited,” chuckled Tai, before turning to Danny, “Well I guess we should see what Agumon found.”

As Tai walked over to the cold room, he hoped that Agumon hadn’t done too much damage to the Paradox Engine. While they hadn’t chosen to come here, they were technically guests on this space station and should probably leave it how they found it. But then there was no coming between Agumon and a meal.

Readings indicated that he was regaining consciousness, and Data attempted to communicate with him, "Excuse me sir, can you hear me? Are you in need of medical attention?" After a moment of consideration, he figured it would be safe to ask, "Are you aware of how you arrived here? Do you know who may have brought you or myself to this facility?"

Even as LTCDR. Data began his tricorder scans of the coffin and its occupant, the Marine within writhed. As if struggling with unseen terrors, he thrashed about, reliving the nightmare that he had just been unhooked from in his own timeline ...


'Al amect, invegna.'

Those whispered words - uttered from three silent witnesses, beings of ancient power and authority - echoed within the Marine's mind as he found himself within the inner sanctum of the tower he had invaded. Far above him, steps rose towards a monstrous throne hewn from iron and hell-steel. And before it ...

"You bring violence and war to thwart the Dark Realm, Slayer." the being rising from the throne spat down to him. The Marine's eyes hardened, barely containing his fury, as the armoured form of Davoth - the Dark Lord of Hell itself - stalked towards the platform's edge. "But conflict was born in Hell." Red eyes, held within a face that eerily mimicked the Marine's own, bore into the Marine's gaze. "It is inevitable - a fire that fuels creation and gives purpose to where there is none."

'Not if it wielded in a fell cause, Davoth.' the Marine privately fumed, his left gauntlet balling into a fist as his right unslung a massive, double-barreled shotgun from its sling. He had done too much - forced to slay the Khan Makyr and the guardians of Urdak, brought low the Hell-Priests of the Order of Deag and suffered so much loss in his fight for humanity and his memory - to discount the truth that Davoth all-too-conveniently omitted.

The Marine snapped the break-action of his weapon shut as Davoth rocketed to the floor, massive sabatons slamming as the Dark Lord reached for the Crucible at his left side and sealed his exo-suit's visor. "STAND AND FIGHT, SLAYER," Davoth's microphone within his helm's grill boomed, red blade lancing from the activated Crucible's hand guard. "HONOUR YOUR TRUE GOD. FIGHT - AND SHOW ME YOUR PURPOSE."

The duel that began to play out within the Marine's memory was too much of a blur for him to remember clearly; all he knew was that the Dark Lord had given him his most hard-fought battle in his life. After the expense of many rounds, and having taken bruises and wounds to himself, a pause in the fighting seemed to extenuate. A brutal bunch to Davoth's breastplate had damaged and forced the armoured brute back. Yet instead of pressing the attack, Davoth collected himself, unsealed his visor and glared ruefully towards his opponent.

"For too long," Davoth seethed, collecting his dropped sword. "Have the Makyr of Urdak and your so-called 'Night Sentinel Order' kept me hobbled and imprisoned. You will not stop my vengeance!" The Dark Lord's eyes turned towards the blood-red, smoke-spewing skies. "Nor the one who betrayed me." Any brewing question the Marine had on this point was pre-empted by his foe's growl.

"Tell. Him."
"He is the first being ... and my creator. When he fell, I ascended."

At the second voice's admission, the Marine nearly choked. The Father - the 'god' proclaimed by the Makyr and their ruling mistress, the 'god' who ennobled the knights of Argent D'Nur with purpose and nobility, the being who had played no small part in the Marine's trials and tribulations - was the second being created by this vile Lord of Hell? A lesser man would have despaired at such a world-turning revelation, and truth be told, the Marine was struggling not to.

He finally shook his head. 'No. It doesn't matter now.' Having broken the action of his weapon to reload, he snapped the shotgun shut again. 'Even if I have been a pawn of beings of Hell's make all my life - even if I've been robbed of everyone I've loved and cherished by their manipulations, and after all the destruction the Khan Makyr had been complicit in - Davoth poses far worse a threat then the Ancient Ones. So I will see this through to its bloody end.'

A new-found resolve Davoth did not visibly take well, as he thrust a pointed fist towards the Marine. "They lied to you, Slayer! Immora, and its inhabitants, would have been perfect if not for the treachery of my servants. They sealed me away, usurped my power and my name! And now the time has come for a reckoning."

The red blade leaped to life again, bathing Slayer and Lord both in its crimson fire. "As all things were made by my hand, so shall they be unmade! Starting! With! You!"

Time flew by for the Slayer as the pair clashed once more. He did not know it at the time, but the pair had teleported away from Immora and were now on another world. He did not care, focusing all his rage, his grief and his iron-will to bring down the Dark Lord once and for all. Eventually, with one final blow, the battered, sparking exo-armour collapsed. Davoth's Crucible skidded a short distance as he fell, allowing the Marine a brief moment to check a particularly bad wound beneath his own armour.

Satisfied, the Marine stowed his weapons and unlatched the helm. Clear air flooded his nostrils and lungs, and the Marine cast the helmet away, striding towards the scrabbling Davoth.

The Dark Lord got a hold of his weapon again and, struggling with his damaged, failing armour, feebly lifted it towards his triumphant foe in a final gesture of rejection and defiance. Unhelmed with that final blow, the two men now met eye-to-eye; red irises filled with hatred and denied dominion, met a pair of hazel-green that reflected burning revulsion. Davoth calmly deactivated and threw his weapon away.

"Tell me ..." Davoth fumed, his tone gone from ire towards a grim acceptance of the end. "Have you nothing to say to your creator ... before you strike him down?"

Davoth's immediate reply was in the ka-chunk of the Marine readying the blade at his vambrace. Brow furrowed and a corner of his mouth baring gritted teeth, the Doom Slayer thrust home and ran his 'creator' through the sternum. The word that hissed from the Marine's lips was answer enough:


The Slayer tore the blade out, taking a pace back as the Dark Lord died. His death throes sent a shockwave of agony across the planes; unknown to the Marine, daemons that still roamed beyond the boundaries of Hell - on Earth, Mars, Urdak and beyond - were all caught in Davoth's agony. And, like their master, they all were sent screaming into the banishment of eternal oblivion.

The Marine let out the breath he had been holding as he stared down at the corpse that began to fleck into the aether. Every death he had inflicted, all the agonies he had taken and meted out, all the lies and revelations he had endured, had all come down to this one last mission. And, as he felt his own tethers on life begin to give out and his consciousness fade, he could barely see the ghostly, hooded shapes of others coalesce around him.

It was over. It was done ...



The Marine's eyes snapped open and he leaped from the coffin with a crash. Barging towards the android, a gauntlet wrapped itself around Data's 'throat' as his wrist-blade flicked out once more. The Starfleet officer's tricorder would be screaming in alarm as the Marine's vitals fluctuated wildly; fired up and with a perceived threat in front of him, the soldier-turned-demigod was clearly in no mood for idle conversation.

And yet, even as his visor began to close the gap between the two, the man made no further move to attack. Eyes fixed on Data's optical 'sensors' and a growl barely hissed through the helmet's oxygen filter. Barely legible read-outs flickered and scrolled across the man's HUD; it appeared that, far from trying to finish the officer off, the Marine was trying to identify who he was facing.

Only question now was: who would make the first move to escalate or deescalate the situation?

The Warmaster had little time to celebrate his victory, as the final Techadon descended. It was a much larger and more powerful variant of the foes they had been fighting earlier, and the blast of its landing sent Horus sprawling to the ground. He dug his claws into the earth so as not to be blown away completely, and so he held on, barely. Immediately after landing the robot spun up a new energy attack, and Horus barely had time to make it to his feet again before the barrage ensued.

Where he had noted before that the energy yield of the lasers on the robots he had battled thus far had been surprisingly low, this was not the case for this new, enlarged model. Clearly its internal reactor had enough power to intensify these laser blasts, as the first shot to his Horus nearly buckled his shields. As he took off running, the second shot to hit him overloaded his shield generator, and foul-smelling black smoke began to pour out of his armor's heating vents as his shields stuttered, and finally died. Horus swore in Cthonian, this was not a good situation. There was basically no cover to speak of, he was completely exposed to this thing's barrage. He tried to lay down covering fire with his bolter, but as he activated his firing mechanism, the weapon jammed, and a malfunction rune flashed to life on his HUD next to the one indicating his fried shield reactor.

Still running, trying to evade fire, Horus stole glances at the Techadon as laser fire cratered the battlefield. It was a robot, its firing pattern couldn't truly be random. It was probably optimized for efficiency. Horus did his best to study the dispersal pattern of its lasers, looking for gaps in its targeting algorithm that he could exploit. After a few tense seconds, he thought he had it figured out. He moved with the robot's firing pattern, trying to close the gap between them. He ducked, dived, and slid around laser fire as best he could in his gargantuan terminator plate, but was still unable to avoid two more glancing hits due to his bulk. Each shot ripped a hunk of ceramite out of the Serpent's Scales, leaving a glowing crater behind, but so far the laser fire had not fully penetrated his armor.

As he danced and weaved toward the greater Techadon, others on the battlefield had created a sort of makeshift acid cannon, and used it to melt clean through the giant robot. Horus strafed away to avoid being caught in the caustic deluge himself, but pounced on the robot as soon as it fell. "Advance!" Horus barked at the others reflexively; he was not commanding his Legion, but Horus was master of any battlefield.

He was the wrong way around the Techadon to strike at its head, but Horus did not bother to circle around it, knowing how fast they could repair and adapt. Rather, he stayed focused on the melted torso that was attempting to grow new legs. Horus slashed and smashed at the bleeding end of the Techadon, drawing its attention and keeping it from returning to its feet. Hopefully the others had the means to finish it off while Horus kept it weak and vulnerable.

Ash Williams

Location: Paradox Engine, Control Centre/ Medical Bay

Mentions: @CHammer- Rarity, @Atlantic- Knight Rider, @CHammer- Doom Slayer, @Dead Cruiser- Data, @Mintz- Ben 10, @Lewascan2- Bruno Bucciarati

Ash removed his hand from the talking car, it didn’t seem it liked being touched by his mechanical hand. He thought his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal was a much better car than the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. “Nice to meet ya, the name’s Ash.” He put out his human hand to shake the pony’s hand. Looked at his hand for a moment, realizing quickly that this was indeed not a dream. “So I guess you don’t know why we’re here either?” His eyes scanned the control room for anyone else present. It seemed the three of them were the only ones in the room, “Is there anyone else here besides the five of us?” He assumed there were more people on this ship. Ash hoped they knew the reason why they were summoned here. “I’m gonna have a look around, and see if there’s anyone else here. Best you two join me, ya never know if there are any deadites around.” The older man started walking towards the teleporters. Ash assumed it would work like those sci-fi shows, "Beam me up Scotty!!!"

Waiting a few seconds for his body to be scrambled. He had a feeling that it was gonna hurt like hell. After his body had been scrambled and rescrambled, in a room he assumed was the medical bay of the ship. “I hate doctors…” The thought came into his head the last time he went to a hospital, having to kill most of the doctors and patients possessed by deadites. All he wanted to do there was get a colonoscopy. “Stay behind me.” He said the two beside him. Putting on a brave face for the two, wanting to look like a badass hero. Even though he was scared as hell right now.

Scanning the room, noticing four figures in the room. It was hard to tell if they were deadites or not, one of them having yellow skin which was kind of similar to what a deadite looks like.And the jerky motion he was making was not helping him distinguish himself from one. The other was clad head to toe in some sort of heavy armour, Ash felt a sort of kinship with this one. The other was a man wearing a fruity outfit adored with a lot of zippers. The first thing that came into his head when he say this was "Pervert." The next shocking scene was a giant crab in the room, He opened his mouth wanting to mention it to the group but disregarded it. “You two haven’t seen any ugly lookin demons around, have ya?” He asked the two slowly walking into the room. Keeping his gun at the ready if needed.

Data was still attempting to take medical readings with his tricorder as an armored hand shot out of the casket and grabbed him about the neck. The rest of the individual emerged from the coffin, brandishing a wrist-mounted blade. Data's hand went to his phaser, but he saw and was able to partially interpret the stream of data flashing across the stranger's visor. He was... analyzing Data, from what the android could inference from the HUD readout. All the while his expression remained passive, unaffected; he was not actually being choked, and Data knew that a human grip, surprisingly powerful as this one was, would be incapable of significantly damaging his internal frame.

"Excuse me," Data's free hand went from his phaser to where the hand gripped his throat, and using his freakish machine strength, he carefully and firmly pried the man's fingers off of his neck. Once he was out of the man's grasp, he stepped back with his hands raised in a display of passivity. "I apologize if I caused you alarm; I do not mean you any harm."

Others arrived, one brandishing what appeared to be a 20th century Earth chemical-propellant projectile weapon. "Demons?" He echoed the man's question, in obvious confusion. After a moment of consideration, he shook his head. "I am not aware of any demons. My name is Lieutenant Commander Data, of the Federation starship Enterprise. I have been abducted against my will by forces as of yet unknown to me. Are any of you aware of what or whom may be responsible?"

---

Cyrus spent several seconds gasping for air as pain radiated from his back. Despite how quickly it had spawned, the oak tree held firm and unmoving as though it were always rooted alone in the vast empty field. Cyrus stood up, grasping the trunk of the tree to keep himself steady until the soreness subsided. When his vision returned into focus, he saw that Houndoom had once again come to his aid. A green dome had been taking a beating as large energetic projectiles rained from above. With each hit, the fire beast visibly struggled to keep its protect up. It had plant matter and soil covering its coat, having no time to clean itself between impact and artillery. The dry heat emanating off it dried the soil and foliage tarnishing the once black sheen of its coat into a sickly gray-green color.

With his companion by his side, and he himself standing, Cyrus looked onward to their newest foe. A machine much like the earlier assailants, but this one towered over even them. Those allies whose armor had given them reach found themselves dwarfed by the imposing automaton. Unfortunately for the machine, it found it could not hold its shadow over the bunch for long. Shortly after Cyrus had seen it stand, it fell as strange acid devoured down its legs climbing up the torso. With a rumble, the ground beneath he and his fiery canine shook as dust billowed from the collapsed mech. If it was anything like the others, it would not stay down for long. He needed to act quickly before it had a chance to regenerate and duplicate.

With the robot’s collapse, Houndoom let go of the protect. It staggered obviously exhausted from how long it had to maintain the protect. Despite how tired it looked, Houndoom remained vigilant. After recovering from its limp, it shook some of the debris off its coat, keeping eyes on the fallen hunk of metal. Its mouth was pulled back as it growled.

“You, the one with the Hellhound. I assume you want to burn this machine? Fine. But don’t burn my babies!" a feminine voice spoke coldly. Cyrus looked up towards the top of the oak tree. Despite the barrage of energy, the tree remained mostly intact. The most damage Cyrus could see was several splintered branches and fallen leaves. The woman who had conjured it sat comfortably upon her leafy thrown, undeterred by the energetic rainfall that took place just moments ago. He couldn’t quite see what she was doing now, but it was most likely related to the plants.

Cyrus did not know what the red headed woman meant by ‘babies’, nor did he care to. Not dwelling on it any longer, Cyrus looked down to his fiery hound growling as it waited for its next command. Regardless of the woman’s permission, he had planned on having his companion continue to burn down these mechanized warriors. Blue embers flurried around the edges of the canine’s mouth with each exhalation. Its eyes still glowed. If not for the control over its own flames, Houndoom would have set fire the surroundings once again.

“Houndoom, I want you to incinerate its head. Let that be the end of it. Flamethrower.”

Houndoom leapt forward into a full sprint. The lose bits of soil flew from its hind legs as it jump over or around the smaller craters created by the energy artillery. It approached the side of the downed machine writhing along the ground. Houndoom pushed hard off the ground in order to get atop of what remained of its torso. In order to change directions quickly and avoid moment from carrying the beast too far one side, it landed and jumped off the back of Horus, who was hacking away at the waist working to halt the regeneration of any new legs. Houndoom ran up the torso and slid to a stop along the back of the machine, glaring down at its head. Houndoom took a deep breath, the back of the throat glowing white before releasing another torrent of white fire downwards. At least that part of the head was covered in fire. Heat radiated away from the beast focusing as much fire towards the machine head as possible.

Cyrus stood straight despite the wounds he sustained. He held his arms behind his back, he legs spaced apart slightly. He looked forwards towards his pokemon and the fires it was releasing. If the previous techadons had anything of note, is that the armor around machine’s interior was heat resistant. The head may have further protections. If the fire was not enough to incinerate the head completely, maybe it would be weakened enough to give another the chance to fully dispatch it. The flames would die down soon. That moment would be best when the metal was hottest and softest.

Direct mentions: World - @Mintz, Terra - @Dead Cruiser

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It was easy for Asta to say that he was genuinely confused by a majority of the words the woman whose name was Terra had revealed to him. Universe? Worlds? So this whole... thing he was thrown into is on a bigger scale than just his world? "Woah... That must've taken some serious magic!" He said amazed at the size of this whole ordeal. She had also mentioned she was from space, which Asta found hard to believe at first, but remembered that people come in a wide variety of magic from his world, so that must apply to some degree wherever he is now...

"Earth? Like rocks?... Is that what you call your world?" Yep, Asta was genuinely dumbfounded at this point. He shook his head, ignoring his misunderstanding of the place he had been put in. "Well, where I come from is The World of Magic. You guys are all new faces, so I'm sure I'm from an unfamiliar world to you too."

He scratched his head as he looked at the tall woman. "Everything from where I come is imbued with magic or mana, even the people!" He patted the book satchel which hung on his side. "Everyone has their own unique mana, magic, and grimoires, which is that black book everyone saw next to me." As if on command, the flap on his satchel lifted on it's own open to present his grimoire to Terra, floating softly by his side.

"Unless you're me. No magic whatsoever. Been that way since I was alive." He sorta shrugged, un-phased by the announcing of this information. "As far as I can tell, I'm the only person like this." He'd plunge his hand into his grimoire, which looked as though it absorbed his hand, to which he slowly revealed a large black sword, which would be seemingly impossible for any ordinary human to carry, yet he lifted it with a single hand and slung it over his shoulder.

"People usually say I have anti-magic, because I naturally counteract magic with these cool swords I have." He sort of brandished it in front of him, showing it's rusted and aged appearances. Being as careful as he could with all of the metal and machinery around him, he swung the sword away from Terra as he sighed. "Though I have no clue if there are any actual wizards I can use it against... Well, wherever we are. Except for that old guy back in that metal-ly room, he was definitely a wizard." He emphasized the Wizard's point hat by making a triangle gesture above his head.

"You seem like a trust-worthy enough person. Yeah! I'm definitely looking forward to being a good ally and friend to you!" He gave her a wide, toothy grin which was as friendly as it was truthful. He was still examining the area around him, wondering truly what type of wizard could have caused all of these random people to be in the same area, however, he figured in the current moment, that was the least of his issues. He watched as Terra placed her hand against the hand-screened symbol and waited for something scary to happen.

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Location: Paradox Engine's Control Center -> Testing Room
Mentions: @XoXKieroBombXoX & @Dead Cruiser
---
Realizing that this wasn't a stress-induced fantasy or a death-induced dying dream, Giovanni quickly flung off his makeshift ghillie suit and rubbed the dirt off of his face.

"Alright, Giovanni," he said to himself, hunkered down in a private monologue, "you've read and wrote enough fanfiction to know what's going on here. Strange place you end up in with TV screens everywhere, an unconventional assortment of strangers of varying size and number of limbs, general queasiness... I either got abducted by aliens, kidnapped by a comic convention again, ooor it's just like one of my isekai animes!" Having successfully deduced his predicament in a relatively quiet voice, Giovanni turned on his heel to address the room, giving his a cap a little swish as he did. "Of course! A new life in a new world! It's the perfect backstory! And- ahah! A "testing" room? Yes, I will be tested to prove that I deserve a place here!"

Ignoring most everyone and everything else happening - they were all losers anyways - Giovanni dashed straight for the testing room right on the heels of Asta and Terra.

---

Shadow Moth held back, allowing his allies to deal with the metallic menace themselves. His brashness had caused more than enough trouble already, and he wasn't eager to repeat that mistake. It was clear to him that his usual confidence wouldn't be as effective in this new, strange place than it would in Paris. If these robots were anything to go by then his foes were much too aggressive and adapting to take head on, not on his own. As bad a prospect entrusting this lot was, Gabriel didn't have much choice. For now, at least.

With the taken-over Techadon firmly pinned beneath its much larger counterpart, caught in the crossfire (and, the literal fire), Shadow Moth raised his hand, fingers primed to snap. Static Cling, still beneath it all, faded away in the same roiling clouds it appeared from and, with that solid snap, the feathery blue Amok popped from his cane. The color faded quickly, soon enough turning back into an ordinary feather which he folded back into his handfan.

Using these powers for defending himself... a prospect he hadn't truly considered until now. His tactics would need to change.

Mentions: Rarity- @CHammer, World- @Mintz, Giovanni- @TruthHurts22, Ash- @Eviledd1984

LOCATION: Control Center, Paradox Engine

As KITT was attempting to connect to the computer systems of this location, the man introduced himself to the horse. Ash. That name has been noted. Presumably he has a last name as well- KITT had a database of common American last names that could fit him, but there was no point in guessing something as trivial as that. His last name would merely be a fun tidbit of knowledge. Confusingly, the man- Ash- tried to shake hands with the horse. This would surely prove to be difficult, given the fact that horses don't have hands.

Ash asked whether there was anyone else aside from the five of them.

Five? Hold on. Assuming KITT's cover as a completely normal, ordinary car was not yet blown, who did Ash mean by that? There was Ash himself, the horse, and the pink-haired teenager. Did Ash come across one of the others, such as the other teenagers or the glitch? Or perhaps KITT had his chronology confused. Perhaps they already heard him speaking about Michael and feeling insulted by being called an spycar. Perhaps his cover really was blown, and Ash simply had previous experience with autonomous, highly advanced automobiles such as yours truly. He perhaps knew KITT was no mere self driving car with a funny sounding horn, but an intelligent being capable of taking decisions on his own.

As KITT was analysing the debacle, Ash mentioned something about leaving this place to look for the others. He recommended the "two of them", presumably the teenager and the horse, to join him because of "deadites". Good. In that case, there would be nobody around to potentially disrupt KITT's connection to this system. Ash shouted something about a Scot before-

All of a sudden, the pink-haired teenager jumped upright and went off in what KITT assumed were the ramblings of a madman. KITT barely had the time to process the information revealed to him by the teenager, as the latter dashed away in the direction of the other teenager and the glitch. It was not as easy to baffle an advanced super computer, but this teenager had sparked a bit of confusion in the micro processor. Isekai animes? What had Japanese entertainment to do with this situation? What does this guy mean with "a new life in a new world"? Fanfiction?

…KITT decided to discard this information as garbage data. He could not synthesize any new conclusions about this, other than the fact that the youngster clad in yellow is possibly very, very confused.

It was just KITT and the horse in the room. After consideration, KITT figured that playing the waiting game for the grand reveal of being a talking car made no sense in this situation. Beings are not just brought into strange control centers for no reason. Ash's point about being brought here had priority in KITT's thought processes. They had to have been brought here with some kind of purpose. And if such a wide array of individuals was brought here, that must mean KITT would need their peculiar skillsets. Ash for instance seemed useful, as his mechanical arm was surely capable of some impressive feats of strength. KITT was still vexed as to what a couple of teenagers and a horse could bring to the table, but perhaps time will show.

"I suppose I might as well introduce myself, Rarity. You are currently in this room with the Knight Industries 2000's Micro Processor. K.I.T.T. for short. If you prefer, you can simply call me "KITT"".

KITT stayed silent for a while. He was not sure whether the horse- being a horse- would understand him, so he gave it a bit of time to let that sentence sink in. Then, he continued.

"We are in a… precarious predicament, Rarity. I have calculated various possible scenarios of what has happened to us and what could possibly happen, but I am unable to pinpoint any of them as likely. I am currently attempting to gather information by… connecting to these computer systems. If I have discovered anything of note, I will let you know".

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


LOCATION: Open Field



Redmaw kept its distance from the brawl, to get a clear overview of who the Eclipse were currently dealing with. And who the Eclipse actually were. Weirdly, Redmaw didn't recall them looking this… strange. It had seen them stalking about the arid Spearshafts before and even had to prevent them from messing with a Lancehorn herd more than once, but was never able to get a good look at their faces. They always wore these weird, white masks. These Eclipse, however? No, their faces were fully visible. They also wore peculiar clothing. Redmaw couldn't make out which tribe they belonged to.

Except for perhaps one: there was a red-haired lady wearing clothes made out of plant matter. At first glance and from this distance, she seemed familiar to a huntress Redmaw once heard about, but no. They were different people. From what Redmaw knew, it also wouldn't make sense for her to be Eclipse. Maybe this lady was Utaru? That would explain the clothing, but not the lack of markings. It was the closest thing Redmaw had as a proper designated tribe for the woman. More remarkably, she was able to grow grass of extreme length and strength! She could control plants! Redmaw's gaze lingered on her with some fascination as she sat in her oak tree.

Most of the other Eclipse were men, clad in all sorts of weird clothing that was unfamiliar to Redmaw. One of them appeared to stay back, much like Redmaw himself. This man was clad in a strange, purple uniform. He also wore a mask, so unfortunately Redmaw couldn't see his face. Another man whose face was invisible to it was clad in armor. Unlike the masked gentleman, his face was concealed by a helmet. He was battle ready, that much was clear. With him was a child, also dressed in a peculiar attire.

Moving on, Redmaw noticed a blue haired man. He was unremarkable, but appeared to be commanding some type of… dog? That's weird. Redmaw had never seen such an animal before. It had memories of canines, but never actually saw a living one. The animal didn't seem to be of any species Redmaw knew, either. It seemed to be surprisingly adept at combat, and confusingly, could breathe fire, as if it were a Scorcher! No animal Redmaw knew of could do such feats. It thought it was biologically impossible for an animal to spit fire, but here we are. Nature is a wonderful mystery.

Lastly, there was another man wearing a tremendously large suit. Only his head was visible, even: for a human, it would be hard to strike this man down. The man bravely danced between the machine's lasers, and-

"Advance!"

Redmaw froze for a short while. A command? Yes. A command. The Eclipse were dealing with a machine of unknown origin. They want it dead. Redmaw wants it dead. It should die. Redmaw reared its head towards the sky, and a metallic, electrical roar escaped from its throat as it shook with its mandibles.

"CHRRRRRRRYYYYYYOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRGGGGH"

Then, it too approached the bipedal robot. It was time to end this threat.

CA-LUNK

CA-LUNK

CA-LUNK

CA-LUNK

Interactions: Asta @XoXKieroBombXoX (Mentioned) Tai (@Martian World @Mintz

The gray haired boy yelled something about his country being in danger, and that he had to get out of here now. Then he ran off… somewhere. Danny shook his head and sighed. Then he followed Tai and Augumon to luncheon room.

They stepped onto the transport pad, and the next thing he knew, he was in the luncheon room. It was exactly like a school cafeteria. Minus the lunch lady and other kids eating. You would think the Paradox Engine would be a little more advanced than this… But whatever.

Agumon asked where the food was, and Danny replied. “Considering the lack of a lunch lady, or… anyone else really… I guess no one made any… The food doesn’t just appear magically.” Tai and Agumon soon found what they believed to be a fridge. And in a desperate bid to get food, Agumon tore down the door with his glowing energy claws. That thing had a lot of power for something so small. Danny supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by that…

Danny facepalmed. “You know, I could have just phased us all in there. You didn’t need to destroy someone’s property… Ah well, I guess no one is actually using this thing.” Danny followed Tai and Agumon into the fridge. It was cold, but Danny didn’t find himself bothered by it. Probably due to the ghost powers.

Location(s): Paradox Engine (Central Controls, Testing Grounds, Luncheon Room)

---

---

KITT's work had borne fruit...Of some fashion. The connection between the highly-advanced automobile and these far more sophisticated terminals was tenuous at best, but still, it gave insight. Where others would have seen an incomprehensible language of alien glyphs and letters, luckily, KITT could read something a bit more understandable; code. That was able to cross a language barrier with surprising ease.

Even then, however, it became apparent to the supercomputer that these computational devices were suffering from a number of internal complications, though the source was unclear. Most of them, beyond the terminal that offered visuals onto some of the locales of the station, were undergoing some form of reboot, clearing the systems out alongside the unknown errors. Still, in this abrupt purge, fragments of information could be gathered. The main piece that was recovered seemed to be a conversation between two individuals, the recording transferring from the terminal to KITT himself. The first one to speak sounded male, perhaps in his early 20s, with a female who spoke as if she were some form of authority figure, clearly older, though not by an extreme amount.

"The Paradox Engine is stable. Core output reading positive..."

"What about the Gates?"

"Functioning as expected. We've begun creation of our first simulations. Which universes do you propose we test first, after the initial runs?"

"Get us simulations of the Omniverse, B10. The First Thinker might be able to grant us insight into..."

Abruptly, a painful and rough bout of coughing could be heard. Then a collapse, as if an individual had fallen, hitting hard steel.

"Matriarch? Are you alright?"

The movement of the individuals could be heard, likely being the youth helping his senior find her standing once more.

"Yes...Yes. It has passed, for now. But this is proof we do not have time to waste in these matters. Finding a remedy for The Decay is our utmost priority....Create simulations for DP Prime and POP Prime. DP's ectoplasmic-based entities might provide solutions, and if not, then perhaps the magic present in POP..."

"...The Patriarch told us not to risk contact with magic, or magical entities, of any sort. He claimed they were too unpredictable. Ma'am, are you...?

"....We do not have the luxury of fear, not anymore. We must find our answers, no matter how many stones we must turn, false universes we must upend...The choice was taken from us the moment the first of us fell ill."

"...The preparations will be made, ma'am."

"...And Castellan?"

"Ma'am?"

"You can call me by my name. Titles mean nothing now."

"...Of course, Laris."

The recording ended, just as the final piece of the terminal's reset complete, severing KITT from the system abruptly. What exactly it all meant? That was left for the supercomputer to puzzle together, but considering this was salvageable from such alien and highly advanced hardware, perhaps there would be more to discover...

---

---

The interior of the room Agumon had promptly busted into was freezing beyond belief; definitely several degrees below zero, at least. The room, surprisingly, seemed larger than the cafeteria itself, a spanning space of shelves bitten with frost, covered end-to-end with either two things. One was a tightly-sealed cannister, a glass-like outer covering revealing what lied beneath, which appeared to be some strange, purplish substance. It looked....Mushy, for lack of better term, but maybe edible? Must be, considering it was the only thing in this area that could qualify as food. As for the other....

In similar cannisters with labels that, just like the others, couldn't be read by the human or Digimon respectively, there was housed a cool blue liquid. Clearly not water, but also obviously intended to be some kind of drink, though it was unlike any the pair had seen before. Something about all of this felt distinctly alien to them. Fitting, given the situation. Regardless, for better or worse, it looked like they'd found lunch. Maybe it'd be good? Hard to say. The purple glop, at least, didn't look too appetizing...

Strangely enough though, behind them, they could hear an unusual sound, like a liquid being swished around...It was the remains of the door, having turned to an almost mercury-like consistency, before forming back into the solid shape of the door once more, completely repaired. Thankfully, it didn't shut on them, reforming to stay open and allowing the frigid air of the room to drift into the luncheon room proper.

---

---

Location: Paradox Engine, Simulated Universe #1 (Open Fields, Current Simulation: Techadon Invasion), Testing Grounds.

Mentions: Bonesaw @Lewascan2, Cyrus @Randomness, Shadow Moth @TruthHurts22, Poison Ivy @Crimson Flame, Horus/Terra @Dead Cruiser, Redmaw @Atlantic, Asta @XoXKieroBombXoX.

---

---

A perfectly executed assault, thanks in no small part to young Riley. And once the titan fell, the other pieces fell into place, working at the machine as best they could (though Driscoll was quick to note the hesitance on Shadow Moth's part); Horus worked away at the other end, halting its recover for now, while the red-headed florakinetic snared up the arms, preventing any retaliation or defense on its part as a line of flame from the beast dubbed 'Houndoom' bored into the Techadon's head. Cyrus' prediction was correct; just as Flamethrower had failed against the minor machines, it would not finish the work against this colossal variant. Still...It might be enough.

Freeing his other arm from Bonesaw's grasp, the Forever King took to battle once more, his cannon shifting back into the proper state as he generated a greatsword of energy and lunged forward, a warcry carried across the war-torn winds of the plains. Driving the blade home, it tore into the softened, heated metal near the base of the head, wedging its way through in a painstakingly slow process. No...This wouldn't do it! As he pushed further, mustering all the strength his suit could bear, Driscoll could feel it reforming internally, sluggishly pushing back his assault.

Further down, the end of the torso was growing resilient, taking more and more blows from Horus to even make a mark. The arms had begun flexing, glowing as if super-heated as the plant matter holding them down began to sear and melt away. At this rate...

Then he heard the roar.

In spite of himself, he turned from the true threat to bear witness to what could only be described as some form of mechanical rex, charging forth with a whir of fury escaping the gigantic maw of the entity. It was no Techadon, that much was certain. In that moment, the Forever King couldn't afford to move his attention away, whirling back to his painstaking process of pushing into the head. It was then the metallic beast made its assault, breaking into the torso of the machine, and loosening the connection to the head just enough. This was the moment.

Without hesitation, the Forever King gave up on his original tactic, pulling away from the head for just a moment. At first, it looked as if he was giving up...Until he raised a hand to the suit's chest, opening the cavity to reveal...Something. A power source, it seemed. A spherical container hooked into the armor with several thick, large cords and wires, which Driscoll promptly disconnected for his purposes. Inside the sphere, one could barely make out a small, glowing orb, almost like a miniature sun, practically pulsating with power...

Taking the sphere in one hand, he brought it towards the other arm as a new section unfolded itself; an area to implement the sphere directly. Under normal circumstances, the suit's on-board Artificial Intelligence could've diverted the power itself, allowing for brief, monumental improvements in certain aspects of the suit. He'd have to be more hands-on for now.

He unceremoniously shoved the Sub-Energy into the new socket, and one could see the waves of energy travel through the arm, as if it were supercharged. With that, he turned back to the Techadon, as it could barely move its head towards the former Plumber. The Forever King only had one thing to say.

"You have lost."

With extreme force, he shoved the empowered arm into the base of the machine's head once more, pulling with an amount of force that was downright absurd. Forming a twisted game of tug-of-war with the tyrannosaurus mech, with the Techadon as the rope, it finally gave way as Driscoll sent the head careening off the machine into the sky, before landing with a resounding thud a few moments later.

It was done. And they had their spoils of war.

Taking a shaky breath of relief, the King set about to restoring the Sub-Energy to its proper location before any notable power less could happen to the suit, the hatch closing snugly behind it afterwards. He now took the time to look upon the strange new machine that had, seemingly, aided them. He had noted that the roar occurred only moments after Horus gave a command to advance. Perhaps it reciprocated orders?

He would humor it.

Looking up to the construct, Driscoll cleared his throat before he spoke up."Follow." A simple command. Whether it followed it or not would be interesting to see. Regardless, there were surprisingly more pressing matters. His gaze crossed the battlefield, assessing those who had aided him. For the most part, they seemed fine; most certainly worse for wear, but not injured or debilitated. Perhaps aside from Cyrus. Seems he was too comfortable letting his pet do his work, given how tossed-around and worn he appeared. But he was alive.

The Forever King was preparing to address the lot when he spotted it; just behind little Bonesaw, as if formulated from nothingness, stood...A fixture, of some sort. Driscoll would never claim to be wholly familiar with alien technology, but if he were to hazard a guess, it appeared to be a gate of some kind. It looked too small for him to properly walk through, though as he found himself approaching, he abruptly halted as it adjusted to his height. Intriguing...

Before he could make any further moves, the device seemed to fire up, an incandescent swirl of colors forming something akin to a portal, practically beckoning them forward. Shaking the shock off, he turned to the rest as he strode aside his battlefield companion, addressing all of them with a wave of his arm towards the space distortion.

"I believe we have found our exit."

He didn't intend to sit around and wait; with any luck, this would return him home. Barring that, at the very least he'd be freed from the hellscape these plains had become. Without hesitation or fear, the Forever King took his first steps through the gateway...

Terra placed her palm against the reader, and the brief buzz of a scan was brought to life, crossing her hand several times over. Abruptly...It spoke. "Terra Grayson, from Universe INV Prime. Accepted." After addressing her, she could suddenly feel a brief suction of air; not nearly enough to yank her or Asta anywhere, but enough to be noticeable, as the gateway fixture now housed a swirl of colors that the Viltrumite hero could recognize as some form of portal, though not any she were familiar with.

It was then the metal hands pushed through, clinging to either side of the gateway to draw themselves through, as on their end the device shifted size to accommodate the new arrival; a figure clad in heavy-set, steel-grey armor, a red cape billowing behind the entity as it rose to full height after emerging, at first staring above the pair before turning its gaze downwards, revealing a cracked visor.

Hm. Driscoll couldn't have claimed to anticipate this. Everywhere he looked, devices similar to the one which he had just arrived from lined the walls. Offline, from his quick judgment. The rest of the layout was simple, the area made of a metal he couldn't lay his finger on, though clearly not of earthly make. Then...The two new strangers. Teenagers, if he were to guess. Great. Still, it wouldn't do him any good to enter a room with blatant hostility.

After letting the two step back, as they likely would with the surprise appearance of an armored figure that stood head and shoulders above them, he gave them a bow. "Greetings. You may refer to me as the Forever King....Where exactly might we be?"

Asta prattled on as the device seemed to be scanning Terra's hand. After all of his explanations and demonstrations she surmised from it, "So everything on your world is magic, except for you, but you actually do have magic, because you have the book and the sword, except you do anti-magic, and so you fight wizards? If I'm following?" Wizards and magic were not really her expertise, but she had seen weirder stuff in space.

The door recognized Terra by name and seemingly by universe, and then opened with a gust of air pressure. A kaleidoscopic portal laid within, and Terra had a brief moment of disappointment as she had been hoping that there would be something other than a portal. Her mild disappointment was replaced with actual surprise as someone immediately began to emerge from the portal. Armored hands, then the rest of a tall, armored humanoid stepped through. He stared at them, expecting them to perhaps cower from him, but Terra instead rose into the air to hover eye to visor with the armored stranger.

He addressed himself as the Forever King, a title that didn't exactly give Terra any good impressions. "Greetings." She replied back, bowing as he had done. "I'm Terra. You're trapped outside of time and space with the rest of us, Mister King. This is a space station designed to abduct people from their universes." She looked behind him, at the portal he had just stepped through. She drifted slightly closer to the Forever King, floating at chest height where he could not step past her, and his bulk blocked the portal behind him. Terra had no apprehension for this man at all; she didn't find his size threatening, and severely doubted he would be able to move her. "Are there more with you? Where did you just come from?"

Rarity, despite her more reserved nature, giggled at Ash's casual return of greeting. "Well, well, my darling. I think we will get along just fine."

The mention of 'deadites' by the deadite-hunter complexed Rarity, who only heard of the concept of 'undead' through myths and silly films put on at the local theater back in Equestria. Still, given the still-unknown environs and persons gathered here, it stood to reason that at least ONE foreign world actually had the concept of undead brought to life. With that frame in mind, the unicorn acquiesced to Ash's offer to look around; Rarity also needed to do so ... if only to get away from the drafty, dreary command deck.

Starting to trot after Ash - who shortly later disappeared into the ether via the teleporter - she was stopped by the bulkhead's local talking car.

"I suppose I might as well introduce myself, Rarity. You are currently in this room with the Knight Industries 2000's Micro Processor. K.I.T.T. for short. If you prefer, you can simply call me "KITT"".

"We are in a… precarious predicament, Rarity. I have calculated various possible scenarios of what has happened to us and what could possibly happen, but I am unable to pinpoint any of them as likely. I am currently attempting to gather information by… connecting to these computer systems. If I have discovered anything of note, I will let you know".

Rarity, after a short while, nodded. "I'm sure you would be far better able to access these ... What did you call them? 'Computers'?" She snorted. "Urgh. I better leave these systems to your hooves." She stopped herself at the faux pas, hastily correcting, "Er, should I say 'tires'?"

She shook her head before giving a smile and a nod to KITT, confident that the thinking machine would be more then capable of handling itself in its self-appointed task, before disappearing in a hazy of light as she - like Ash = put herself onto the teleporter pad and followed him out.

"Excuse me," Data's free hand went from his phaser to where the hand gripped his throat, and using his freakish machine strength, he carefully and firmly pried the man's fingers off of his neck. Once he was out of the man's grasp, he stepped back with his hands raised in a display of passivity. "I apologize if I caused you alarm; I do not mean you any harm."

The only immediate reply to the Lietenant Commander was an inhalation through the Marine's helmet's respirator before - violently tearing his wrist out of the android's hand - he retracted his blade back into his left vambrace. It was evident from the man's body language that he didn't trust this 'Data' one jot ... but he was convinced - for now - that he was no threat to him.

A shout from further down the Med Bay caught his attention; while he couldn't see the newest arrivals to the infirmary, his helmet's systems definitely registered and heard them.

"'Daemons'?" the man finally spoke aloud within earshot of Data. The voice that spat that word was a terrible, gravelly growl, full of hatred and repressed anger.

At that, the Marine turned around and began to rummage through his coffin. With a yank, he wrenched free from it a stocky UAC Combat Shotgun - one of two firearms that had been locked in there with him - and he began to load it with shells ...

Location(s): Paradox Engine, Control Center --> Medical Bay
Mentions: Ben @Mintz, Ash Williams @Eviledd1984, Doom Guy & Rarity @CHammer, Data @Dead Cruiser.

---

---

Bruno's head was pounding.

Certainly, under most circumstances, this many people wouldn't be a problem for his senses. Though, to be fair, he had only developed them while undead and basically incapable of feeling pain, so there was every possibility that what he was feeling now was the natural backlash he'd been spared before. Regardless, it bore emphasizing that the here and now was not "most" circumstances. His body was in terrible shape, an exhaustion unlike anything he'd ever experienced before making him sluggish and weak. No, rather, from his reckoning, his body was in better condition than it had been for a long time, and yet, it was that very thing that was hurting him. His body had been dead, a puppet of his disconnected soul, so this pain... Perhaps it was more than his empathic senses being overwhelmed.

Bruno was no biologist, but he knew enough to know where to hurt someone and where and how to treat them for injuries if he must. Giono had added something to his gang that they'd been sorely lacking, a healer, and one educated on such matters if for no other reason than to best use their ability. Granted, that ability certainly didn't follow the normal rules of such things, as Stands were want to do, but they all effectively received a crash course in matters of the spiritual. Giorno could manipulate life energy, and it was the ability to apply a sustained stream that allowed Bruno's soul to grasp his corpse and remain for a while longer. His body, in truth, had long since been bereft of life energy, the cells dead, so what he was experiencing right now was...

The cells reenergizing? Cell replication being restarted?

That was Bruno's best supposition for the bone-deep pins and needles feeling that had taken him to his knees before. If that was the case, it was only something that copious amounts of bedrest could solve... something he was not in the privileged position to indulge in at the given moment.

Even more people were appearing, some stranger and less human than others, but Bruno could barely comprehend them. A spike of mental activity from Terra sent him mentally reeling, as she attempted futilely to interface with the machinery as Ben's monstrous crab form had. Speaking of which... Bruno had been trying to tune everything out, but prior to today, his main concern had been trying to understand others at all. His empathic senses had been slammed wide open and held there with an iron will, and trying to pull back on them was like trying to invert the equivalent of muscle memory.

The damned crab getting closer to him certainly didn't help matters. The concern was nice and all, but it couldn't have possibly been less helpful in the here and now. In fact, were it not for the crab physically steadying him, Bruno might have blacked out entirely from the sheer proximity to the thunderous humming mind within it. So, to say the least, the Stand User unfortunately couldn't manage to muster a cease and desist, as he was ushered clumsily into the apparent teleportation device! Ben was saying something, directing words towards him, but Bruno genuinely couldn't parse them through the utter chaos that was the rest of its thoughts and the rising confusion they were leaving behind.

Regardless of his understanding however, his once undead body had, in fact, not eaten anything recently... which was likely the only reason his lurching stomach moments later didn't upchuck its nonexistent contents under the additional spot of pressure atop the rest of the current stressors. Now, normally, one might assume putting a fair amount of physical distance between them and the rest of the confused minds would ease Bruno's mental load and allow him to finally get a proper word in edge-wise.

They would be wrong.

Blaring white surfaces stabbed painfully into his vision, doing nothing for his headache, but to be honest, Bruno was less concerned about the minds left behind than the one that was here.



Muted at first, but seemingly stoked moments after, the emotion all but choked the air, strangling Bruno's senses and seething into every breath he took. He had felt many minds since developing this ability, experienced insanity, sorrow, joy and anger in equal measure, but none had the... vitriolic permutation of this one, practically seeping into the pores of reality. It was a wrath so potent, so deep-set and nigh indiscriminate that Bruno had no doubt that even those without empathic abilities would be able to feel it. It was less a feeling being experienced by a person and more a projection of intent to do egregious amounts of violence to everyone and everything around them.

And it was here. While it was currently out of sight deeper into the complex, Bruno had no doubt that an encounter was inevitable, and he was not in a good position to handle it. Ultimately, there was but one singular issue currently suppressing him, and he had no room or even possibly time to do things the slow way. The teleporter sounded out again behind him; another voice was speaking, but between the titanic brain beside him and the bubbling pervasive wrath somewhere before him, Bruno heard nothing.

Gritting his teeth, the gangster forced his Stand into action, making to displace the crab's grip through the sudden appearance and injunction of its spectral bulk. He had not the strength to call its name, but even so, [Sticky Fingers] answered his commands with alacrity. As soon as the crab's grip was loosened, [Sticky Fingers] shoved him away from Ben, a bulky, golden zipper sprouting on the painfully white tiles to extend all the way to the furthest corner of the room. Taking hold of the zipper with one hand and gripping the back of Bruno's shirt with the other, the Stand propelled him away from the teleportation area in a barely controlled tumble, only his Stand's grip keeping him from being rag-dolled.

A moment later, Bruno choked out, "T-that form-! Hurk-! Off! Turn back!"

Mentions: Rarity- @CHammer, World- @Mintz

The horse actually responded. KITT was currently speaking with a talking horse. What a unique experience. That's one extraordinary record for the conversation database. The horse expressed its confidence in KITT handling the computers, but came across as rather… vain? A bit?

"I would be glad to-", KITT attempted to answer, but she was already gone.

"How rude. It did not even reciprocate an introduction. Fair, I already knew its name, but it is the thought that counts".

KITT struggled to maintain the connection to the computer systems of this place. They were unlike any he had seen before, and surprisingly complicated. That said, he did have somewhat of a breakthrough and managed to break into the system. Or some of it, KITT could not be sure. He swiftly analysed the information gathered from the machines, but could make heads nor tails of most. The recovered documents appeared to be written in some manner of alien language. At the very least, KITT was unaware of any language on Earth that appeared like this.

The code on the other hand was clear as daylight to him. The language of his kin. And what he garnered from that was rather surprising. It appeared that many of the machines in this place were undergoing some manner of reboot. What happened to this place? KITT couldn't imagine any scenario that would require systems as sophisticated as these to undergo a reboot. Though that could be because he did not understand these machines completely. Truth to be told, KITT was a bit stumped, and would rather not have to admit that when compared to these things he was a bit dated.

Luckily it appeared that something useful could be gathered from the systems: an audio file, uncorrupted. KITT started to analyse it in order to extract information from it. It appeared to be a conversation between two people. One young man. Probably in his twenties, judging by his voice, though he could easily be an older teenager or even in his early thirties as well. Judging age by voice was rather difficult. The other voice was just as hard to pin down: it was a woman, and KITT estimated her age to be between 30 and 50 years old. It was almost certain that she was older than the young man. Possibly she was some sort of authority figure of the man, judging by the way she spoke.

Onto the actual contents of the conversation. The individuals appeared to be starting up some manner of machine named the Paradox Engine. Gates were also being tested. KITT estimated it as probable that this "Paradox Engine" may be in this location somewhere, given the presence of this audio file in this system. It sounded like an audio log made by employees of this place. A probable person of interest was also identified: the First Thinker.

Then a cough. A thud. Possibly someone fell on the ground. Judging by the distressed voice of the man, and the fact that he asked the "Matriarch" whether she was alright, it was logical that the older woman had fallen on the ground.

Moving on in the audio file, it appeared that the two individuals were looking for some sort of cure for an illness. Possibly the older woman had been infected with this disease, and judging from keywords and sentences in their conversation such as "do not have time to waste", "do not have the luxury of fear" and "first of us fell ill", KITT concluded that (1) the disease had already struck more people, though the exact number remains unknown and (2) finding a cure for the disease is highly urgent. They appeared to call this disease… "The Decay"? With such a name, it sounded probable to KITT that it must be a lethal disease to humans and possibly other organics, especially considering the fact that finding a remedy for it was high on their priority list.

Their possible solutions were to… simulate "DP Prime" and "POP Prime". Prime. Prime? The artificial voice spoke of "Primes". A letter code followed by the word "Prime" was an indicator for a universe, if the voice was to be believed. Were these people simulating universes? What a preposterous idea. Though KITT had to take into account every possibility, considering he himself had been wrenched from his partner and friend in the desert and found himself in this strange location.

The audio file ended with more information. Names. People of interest. The man was named Castellan. The woman, the Matriarch, had the name Laris. If these people were still alive, they must have answers. Finding them would be of utmost priority.

Then, the connection was severed and KITT was booted out. Sharing this info would probably prove useful. How unfortunate that everybody already left, right when he had uncovered something important. He decided to follow after the horse, who was the last individual he spoke to. He approached the transporter it went through in an attempt to teleport.

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

Swoosh swoosh

He came to the disappointing conclusion that the transporter was operated with buttons. For someone without arms, this was rather embarrassing. Perhaps he could try to override the system in Surveillance Mode? Later perhaps. The most important thing right now is finding the location of the persons of interest named in the audio file. If they were still alive, they'd have answers. But first, a map would prove to be useful. KITT scanned the room for potential leads for a map being there.
___________________________________________________________________



Mentions: Driscoll- @Mintz, Asta- @XoXKieroBombXoX, Bonesaw- @Lewascan2, Cyrus- @Randomness, Shadow Moth- @TruthHurts22, Poison Ivy- @Crimson Flame, Horus & Terra- @Dead Cruiser, Asta- @XoXKieroBombXoX



CLANG

With its massive jaws, Redmaw rammed the bipedal machine in its torso, attempting to drill through the armor as it clicked its mandibles.

"CHHHAAAAYAAARRRGHHHH"

It pulled away its head and went in for another bite, in a furious attempt to end the life of this machine. It wasn't a part of the collective, so that alone was reason enough to take it out. But if the Eclipse also wanted it dead, there had to be a good reason for that. Redmaw dug its feet into the ground to anchor itself as it tore through its opponent's armor plating. One of the Eclipse danced around this battle of titans, accessing some sort of compartment in the humanoid bot's chest. With its mandibles still stuck in the assaillants' torso, Redmaw glanced its red eyes in the direction of said Eclipse- it was the knight, and he had grabbed some sort of mysterious luminous orb.

Redmaw aimed its attention back to the brawl, pulling its head from the robot's torso once more, only to dig in again. Bits of metal flew around like flocks of fleeing birds. It felt something pull on the robot, as if someone was trying to rip its head off. Redmaw braced itself to pull on the machine, viciously clicking its mandibles, until the knight finally managed to tear the robot's head off, sending it flying through the sky. Redmaw lifted its head, bits of metal still hanging onto its jaws as if it were a predator busy with a meal of fresh meat. It was content with the termination of this threat- its eyes turned back blue and it looked upwards, letting out a roar that might seem like a victory cry.

"CHYARRR CHYARRR CHYARRR"

It looked expectantly towards the sky, as if it were waiting for something, but whatever it was never came. The sky was as empty as before, safe for perhaps the occasional cloud-

"Follow."

Immediately Redmaw looked at the knight and approached him, the hulking mass creaking and clunking as it moved. What he wanted, Redmaw didn't know. But it had to follow. The knight went to some sort of contraption- a hologram? That didn't matter. All that mattered is that Redmaw should follow. And as the knight entered the strange machine, so should Redmaw. It approached the gate with little hesitation and stuck its head inside to take a good look at what was on the other side of this thing. The gate weirdly could enlarge itself to allow the massive machine to enter, and so Redmaw did. That definitely felt weird.

It now stood behind the knight, who was conversing with some strange individuals. Young humans? Were they a threat? Were they hostiles? In any ordinary situation, Redmaw would immediately slam its large, finned tail down on them. But now? Redmaw didn't know. Something held it back. As far as it was concerned, this was no Eclipse territory. Nor did the Eclipse seem to see these beings as enemies. For now, it waited, wary of this strange, new place and its inhabitants. There was no nature. Where was nature?

The young woman was dressed in equally strange attire to the Eclipse. The boy, however, appeared familiar to Redmaw. At least his clothing did. Was he a Carja commoner? He wasn't clad with parts of the collective's machines like the Carja are, that much was certain. Perhaps he was one of- Hang on. Is the young woman flying? Humans aren't supposed to fly. That is not what nature intended. Was she maybe related to the red-haired possible Utaru/Eclipse woman Redmaw saw outside, that could make plant life do her bidding? That was also something humans couldn't do.

Redmaw lowered its head and stared down at the teenager and the young woman, awaiting their next move.

Location: Luncheon Room, Paradox Engine
Mentions: Danny@Crimson Flame World@Mintz

---

---

Tai grinned sheepishly as Danny revealed that he could of just phased them into the cold room. While Tai didn’t know before that Danny could phase with others, he did realize that it was a reasonable assumption. But then again Agumon wasn’t always reasonable, sometimes his brain being more digital dinosaur than digital person.

“Sorry, he’s sometimes a lot,” said an embarrassed Tai, “Hopefully no one would be missing that door too much.”

As Tai spoke and then listened to Danny, he was glad that he brought up that no one was actively using the space station as it did seem long abandoned. Thus Tai didn’t feel as bad as he took a few steps towards the shattered pieces of the metal door. Agumon was waiting in front of where the door had stood, doing his best to wait for Tai and Danny. But he was clearly anxious, bobbing up and down on the spot.

“Agumon, next time stop and think before resorting to destruction,” stated Tai, “You remember all those Digimon we thought were bad but talking to them settled things?”

“OK Tai. My bad,” replied Agumon as he rubbed the back of his head, “But can we go see if there is food in there? I’m still hungry.”

“Sure,” responded Tai as he gestured for Agumon to enter the cold room.

As both Digimon and Human partner entered the cold room, they instantly became aware of just how large the room was. They were also inundated with an oppressive cold, the whole room just releasing a ridiculous level of cold. Tai wished that he had been wearing the jacket part of his uniform, but it had been spring in his world and as such not necessary.

Tai looked over at Agumon, worrying for him as he wore no clothing. But Agumon had seemingly found a solution, breathing small embers out of his mouth, just enough to heat himself up. As the duo took a few more steps into the cold room, it did appear that all that was in the large room was large cannisters, covered in a layer of frost.

“Is this food?” asked Agumon as he walked over to one of the cannisters.

The Digimon then proceeded to wipe a smattering of frost that was covering the top of the cannister. As he did so, Tai was able to spot some kind of markings on the cannister, apparently words of a sort. As Tai stared at it, he could tell that it was neither Japanese or English, the only two languages he knew.

“Agumon, is that word written in DigiCode?” asked Tai, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Uhh,” Agumon looked at the revealed word, “Nope. You sure it isn’t a human language?”

“If it is, then I don’t recognize the script,” said a puzzled Tai.

But if there were many other worlds, then Tai realized that meant that there could be many more languages out there. Tai considered asking Danny if he could recognize the script, but decided that since they were both Humans and spoke the same language, he probably wouldn’t recognize it. But Tai still could be surprised.

“So we can’t read the label, but Agumon can you see what’s in there?” questioned Tai.

Agumon nodded before wiping the last bit of frost covering the top of the cannister. While Agumon hoped for maybe a nice piece of meat or even a pizza slice, when he gazed through the top, all he saw was some kind of purple slop.

“So what’s in there?” asked Tai.

“Well you know those purple fruits we were eating earlier,” replied Agumon, “Take one of those, leave it in the sun for too long, then mash it up.”

Mystery purple goo? Not exactly appetizing sounding to Tai. Figuring that there should be some other food, if that was indeed food, Tai walked over to a different cannister. As he brushed the little bit of condensation that was obscuring the lid, Tai was surprised to see a blue liquid. For some reason his mind immediately went to Mountain Dew. The liquid reminded him of how some of the limited time flavors looked. Tai was a fan of Mountain Dew, so maybe it would be good.

“This one kind of looks like soda, or maybe it could be juice from a mystery fruit,” stated Tai.

Agumon then began walking down the hallway, wiping down more cannisters, only to find he either the purple slush or mystery blue liquid. Tai did the same on the other side of the room’s shelving, also finding only the purple or blue stuff. Tai and Agumon eventually gave up, regrouping in the middle of the room.

But as they did so, they noticed something very odd. Behind Danny, the metal pieces of the broken door began to reform into something. Becoming a liquid like metal, the door restructured itself, returning to how it was a few minutes ago. Luckily the door reformed in the open position, not potentially locking them in the cold room.

“Well that was odd,” noted Tai, “Is the station alive or something. I mean its rebuilding itself.”

“I don’t know Tai,” replied Agumon, “But I’m going to try this food.”

Tai took a step toward Agumon and said, “You sure? Your description of it didn’t sound too good.”

“Well you always say that I should try new things,” replied Agumon as he opened the lid of the nearest container.

Agumon the stuck his hand in the purple goop, finding that it wasn’t actually frozen. Grabbing a handful of the slop, Agumon gingerly put it into his mouth. As he did so, Tai prayed that it wouldn’t kill him. Granted Agumon had eaten a lot of strange food since meeting Tai, but food found on a space station was a lot different than simply a tree they’ve never seen before.

---

Even with the increased fire power brought upon absorbing the very flames the techadons had unleashed, Houndoom was still unable to much damage. Unlike the large one’s smaller counterparts, this one was indeed made of either more durable or thicker plating. Such armor allowed its internal circuitry to remain within operational temperatures without fail. Where the smaller had to sever its own arm to survive, this one was impervious. Even from the distance Cyrus was standing, he could see that the most he was doing was softening the armor, if even that.

Shortly after the flames had died down, the one called Driscoll, the forever king, took charge and drove a blade that he was not wielding before now into the base of the neck. Cyrus could tell Driscoll was struggling against the mechanical working of their colossal foe. Impressive engineering this machine was capable of distributing the heat and energy output of fire and plasma. At this point, Cyrus resided himself to having done all he could. At least all he could unless he released those two. If it came to that, Cyrus would wait until every other option was exhausted.

Cyrus’s thoughts were interrupted when the ground began shaking again. Rhythmic thumps shook the ground. Strains of more metal accompanied the beat. Had the cursed plains sent another mechanical adversary to do battle against Cyrus and his new found abduction compatriots? Not by the air, but by land, were they to expect another larger machine? Quickly, Cyrus had in his hand another ball. Similar to the one that contained his fiery canine, Houndoom. Before he released what was contained inside, he looked puzzled as the new machine began to beat upon what Cyrus thought was its ally. It seemed to have caught the others off guard as well. Driscoll briefly halted his attack. Houndoom leapt off the large techadon and began circling the tyrantrum-shaped machine, barking at it with bits of fire and embers. It didn’t take long for the others to cease questioning the loyalty of the second machine instead refocusing to dispatching the downed one.

With new found power in which Driscoll hadn’t displayed before now, he managed to rip off the head of the techadon. Cyrus wasn’t in the best position to see what had taken place, yet he still questioned why this power wasn’t employed earlier. It didn’t matter much anymore. Cyrus’s attention immediately went to the bipedal mechanical dinosaur. He expected it to start engaging them as well, but was bemused when it became passive. Even more so when it obeyed Driscoll’s command. Whatever it was, it was unlike the war-machines earlier. The numerous differences were now more apparent with the threat to Cyrus’s life over. The only similarity was their artificial construction. Cautious, but no longer concerned with the new comer, Cyrus looked towards where Dricoll turned his attention.

Off a ways from their current position, but close enough at least one of those present should have noticed was some kind of window or arch. Surely it wasn’t there the whole time Cyrus questioned. Aside from the variety of persona and physique of the others brought to this place, anything else that rose above the flat vastness of the plain should have been noticeable. Shortly after seeing it, a swirl of color and shapes filled the interior space. A portal. This one reminded Cyrus of the warp panels from his HQ at Veilstone City. Similar enough to see a comparison, but vastly different. Cyrus wasn’t the only one either. Driscoll approached it and after a brief pause to comment, walked on through.

Wherever that portal leads didn’t matter to Cyrus. It was a means to excape the plains, and that was enough for now. Houndoom returned to Cyrus’s side, panting as the fire it had built up disipated. Its eyes ceased glowing and the heat that surrounded it had died down. It returned to a state where anyone else observing the beast wouldn’t be able to tell it was capable of breathing fire. Cyrus pulled out a ball. Half red and white and held it pointing the clasp to the hell hound.

“Return” one single word. A white blue beam escaped from the clasp of the ball, enveloping the beast in its glow. In mere moments, the shape and color of the once fired dog turned into the very same energy. Just as quickly, the energy returned into the ball, shrinking down to the size of a golf ball and put away. After having contained his companion, Cyrus started to walk towards the gate. The threat was over and he didn’t feel the need to aid any of the others in their own clean up. He walked by the little girl, Bonesaw. She seemed fascinated by the head of the techadon. Perhaps she was figuring a way to transport it. Her ingenuity in battle taught Cyrus enough that in some way or fashion, Bonesaw was taking that head with her.

Cyrus stepped through the portal. This one was built. Not by any means he recognized. A long hall with arches along the wall, evenly spaced going on forever. More gates, Cyrus assumed. Each one probably lead to other environments much like the one he stepped from. He wouldn’t be able to visit any though, not that he wanted to. The only gate that seemed capable of opening was the very one he entered from. Driscoll stood just through the gate, speaking with someone. A girl. A girl capable of flying under her own power. She levitated above the ground just enough to see eye to eye with the taller man in armor.

Another person capable of commanding the power of pokemon without the need of such.

Cyrus knew better to assume it was solely through the use of pokemon in one form or fashion that gifted these individuals their power. Even with how vast the world was, how diverse its people, those brought to this place would never fit in it. But the idea that these people came from other worlds sparked the possibility that he might as well succeed in his endeavors. But it also questioned the validity. If the inhabitants of his own world were the cause of conflict and strife within it, what of the inhabitants of these other potential worlds? A thought he would ponder later. He must first prove that these other worlds exist. Evidence so far seemed to support it.

Cyrus circled around Dricoll just as Terra had finished her question, “There are several others. Given a moment, I am sure they will be following through.” Cyrus stood feet slightly apart, holding his arms behind his back. He noticed that along with the girl, which he could see now dressed as eccentrically as Shadow Moth, there was also a young male. He was intriguing on his own, barely clothed wielding a large black sword, a little worse for wear. Cyrus turned his head to look at Driscoll and Terra.

“I am not privy to your earlier conversation, but if I had to guess, you were also taken to this place by powers unknown.” Cyrus held out his right hand down to his side down towards the ground. He put it onto his chest as he started speaking, “You may call me Cyrus.”