“By the Lorcanthic Legions of Lyropia, what egregious effrontery is this?!” Thyerg’Octolys roared in outrage. One moment, he was entering a new reality plenum, ripe for conquest, and the next, he had found himself imprisoned within some form of transparent-walled containment capsule. Even more galling, his myriad tentacular appendages seemed to be tightly bound by several restraining bands, each twisted into knots of fiendish complexity. Yet, even this was no match for one such as he. With a mighty surge of poly-plenumic power, Octolys burst free from his confinement and took stock of his surroundings. As far as he could perceive, row upon row and level upon level of similar containment pods stretched out before him. Clearly, this was a prison of some sort, though what manner of being might presume to imprison him, the Domiarch of the 94837568th Negaprism, Octolys could scarcely begin to guess. Yet, such ponderings would best be conducted at a later juncture. At the present moment, escape was the foremost priority, something several of his fellow prisoners seemed to agree with as they emerged from their own capsules. Yet, it would not do to move blindly into potentially perilous surroundings. Thus, a scouting operation was called for. However, before he could launch a single biomechanical dark matter fighter, a voice sounded within the depths of Octolys’s mind…

It spoke of an artifact of great power, hidden within the center of this place, this “toy store”. It was a mask that would supposedly grant greatly increased speed and reflexes to whomever donned it. A boon, to be sure, especially for his ponderous cannon crawler, but could the strange voice be trusted? Could this not merely be some form of trap? In all actuality, the mysterious voice’s revelation did little to alter Octolys’s plan. There remained only one real course of action. Thus, employing his tendrils to pull himself to the top level of his prison block, and taking care to avoid the attention of his fellow prisoners who had begun barbarically brawling far below him, Octolys gazed across the multilayered labyrinth and, upon locating the centermost point, prepared to launch a scout fighter to investigate the veracity of the voice’s claim. However, to the eldritch being’s great shock, the fighter seemed utterly incapable of flight, its ultra-advanced dark matter propulsion systems completely inactive. Yet, Thyerg’Octolys would not allow such a setback to deter his plans. Instead, he simply wrapped a tentacular appendage around the craft and flung it at its destination. He only hoped that when it arrived, at least some of the veil of uncertainty surrounding these perplexing circumstances would be lifted…

There are many horrific fates that can befall a sailor, more so a pirate. In addition to the risk of drowning or being eaten by a sea creature, a pirate is also at the mercy of other pirates and their hunters. From Kurosame’s experience, humans could be more cruel than any force of nature. She had heard stories of men placed in wooden boxes and buried where their treasure used to be. While Kurosame was in a box, it was not made out of wood, above ground, and all of her effects appeared to be with her.

Though something was off.

The pirate’s surroundings were not familiar to her. Nor was her body, which seemed to be made out of a hard, wood-like material. Before the absurdity of the situation sunk in, a flood of thoughts entered her mind. Yes, she had agreed to be here. While many of the specifics were left out, she understood this was a free for all and only the winner would get their wish granted, allegedly. Thinking further on her predicament would have to wait until later. Across the aisle she could see someone systematically walking past toys and ending them with a skewer of their tail. There would be no rest here.

Rather than bursting out of the front of her box, Kurosame took hold of her sword and shoved it through the top. She grabbed her hat before climbing out and landing on the edge of the shelf. A quick look around didn’t reveal any immediate threats, so she took stock of her equipment. As she did so, she was starting to understand how her equipment had been altered in this world. Even her blade was a great deal thicker now that it was encased in some crystal composite. It was fine. She had trained with many swords, and just because this wasn’t going to behave like a standard katana didn’t mean she couldn’t use it.

Next order of business was figuring out what had become of her magic. She could feel that she still had it, but she was so… dry. Nothing but air left her lips as she tried to conjure a simple droplet. She would need to hydrate somehow, and the water pelting the glass window let her know how she might do that.

She ran to the edge of the shelf and jumped, soaring across the isle and landing before the window. With a hefty swing, she managed to crack the glass. Part of her would have loved to have smashed right through it, but a simple crack would work for her purposes. She raised her hand to the crack, and the falling rain began to pool over the crack. Then it seeped through, racing down her arm and behind the seam between her face and the back of her head. Before long, the space in her chest would be filled.

In addition to all the curious things going on, a voice told Kurosame of a mask hidden in the center of the toy store. Given how few of the awakening toys were headed in that direction, it seemed safe to assume that it hadn’t been relayed to everyone. Though she couldn’t confirm that it wasn’t a trap of some sort. Maybe another toy had simply whispered such a thing to her, but it wasn't something that could be ignored. If such things existed in the toy store, holding as many as she could would increase her chances for survival.

After pulling as much water through the crack as she dared, she allowed the water to surround her and launch her through the air. She held her breath inside the water droplet as it soared towards Kanohi Kama, unaware of what would be waiting for her.