[IC] Character Crossover Crisis City

[Penultimate_Pi]

All around him people were accepting the challenge the Viewer brought forth. The explanations of the trials and restrictions, along with the explicit core saying of 'be careful what exactly you wish for' stood very firm, and despite it all people were willing to go forth. Saber, Vash, even Morito all wanted in on this final game the Viewer desired to host. No longer could Sazh afford his skepticism; he knew what he wanted now, and he understood what was in his way. But Sazh wasn't going to let any challenges beat him away; he wanted the best for his son, his friends, his world, and by God, he was going to get it. With all the powers of a l'Cie to aid him, this was to Sazh his ultimate Focus.

The old pilot, seeing has how Morito was looking to frightened, stepped back a bit to carefully put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Don't you worry, now. We'll all get through this. Wish or not, we're all gonna get home. That's a promise," Sazh whispered out. Whether it was to the kid, or himself, he couldn't really be sure.

Regardless, Sazh stood up tall again, back to where he was just behind Saber, and called out decisively, "Okay - you can count me in for a shot at that wish!"

[Vulpes]

“It's a video game so I'm not sure how the hell you have real ones, that's pretty damn weird, Eighth Grader."

“A video game?” Whitney asked. She blinked for a few times while trying to figure out what that actually meant in practise for her. Many video game characters were incredibly awesome and Whitney did not have anything against being like that. Defeating all the obstacles on her way and being immensely powerful were things which sounded like a dream. But there was also something she couldn’t put into words, an eerie feeling that she couldn’t explain.

“That’s freaking cool! I gotta be an awesome hero, who defeats everyone who dares to threaten the peace of the world or something!” she shouted cheerfully but her voice trembled a bit. An emotional breakdown was creeping closer (again) even though the girl did her all to barricade its path with pictures of herself as a fabulous heroine. They slowed it down but did not manage to stop it.

"Wow! What does a cute cow is doing in the middle of the cold?" a little girl said. Whitney turned towards her. Seeing an opportunity to praise her Pokémon suddenly cleared all the anxiety, at least for the moment, and she started to babble about her Pokémon. “Isn’t it cute, right? It’s my main Pokémon Miltank. It’s normal type, I’m a normal type gym leader, you know. And it’s not only cute, it’s powerful as well!”

“Others have been away quite a while, aren’t they”, she changed thr subject after a while of exaltation. “I’m starting to feel a bit uneasy. Hopefully they haven’t run into a trouble. Hah, who am I even kidding, it’s rather oblivious that they have. There is no way not to run into a trouble in a place like this. Well, I hope that nothing serious has happened.”

[Gabriel Evings]

"As I said before it is not as though you would take a simple no. Even if you did I would remain here till the deed is done, there is no point in not at least trying to get a reward for my time." Asphyxious folded his arms and began rapping on metal finger against his arm. He was growing impatient with this being taking his time to get to the 'grand event' of today at the very least. Stepping from the elevator and moving beside Sazh he said in a quite tone, "did the others not come with you? Perhaps you should relay them the information. They would probably be very eager to know there is a way home, and the situation seems to have stressed the child."

Oh Asphyxious how you so do care. Deamortus you are feeling rather talkitive today aren't you? perhaps if I tossed you to the bottom of a lake for a couple thousand years you would shut up? No I do not care what becomes of any of them however I know little of such beings and I lack an army to take on those who the 'viewer' may have brought. Help will be needed.

"Also what if we have no wish at all? What happens then?"

[Grey Star]

"Excellent, so many takers... now then... The festivities shall begin upon the dawn of the coming morning... Get some sleep while you can and then enjoy this fleeting dreamworld..." Nodding to himself, the apparition then disappeared by absorbing his own darkness into a core, which then winked out with a soft pop. No trace of the Viewer was left, and the group was left to their own devices for the moment. The clock on the wall told that the time was a quarter past two in the morning. Three and a half hours before the newcomers would experience their first challenge.

Shiroe looked about for a moment before lowering his hands and heaving a weary sigh. That was so tense for him... His heart was beating so fast that it was almost to the point of becoming palpitations. Letting the cool air back into his body, he felt himself losing the heat of nervousness and become stable once again. "So...To recap... We are all stuck here for 21 days, wish or not... We can collect anything and it will stay with us... And if we survive until someone completes the last trial, then we can get a wish and/or go home..." Shiroe began muttering to himself, focusing on the main points. "Three weeks then..."

After a bit more mumbling, the mage then decided that to play this game, he should be at the peak of his game. Using his staff as an impromptu hook, he grabbed the rings of keys from the front desk and brought it jingling to the counter. "I guess we could either rest in the accomadations for now or use the time to gather supplies. Without knowing what this Trial is going to entail, our best bet might be to take the first one and figure out its pattern. And it was rather kind of the Viewer to give us shelter for the night..." Shiroe adjusted his glasses and grabbed a room key meaningfully. "Much better than roughing it, I believe."

[Dead Cruiser]

Sorin's face twisted into a sneer. The Viewer had done scarcely anything to confirm that he had anywhere near the level of power that he claimed. A few tricks may have been enough to cow the others, but Sorin was far from impressed. As the Viewer vanished, Sorin made up his mind to leave this plane and return to his previous business. He began to Planeswalk away, when he was suddenly halted. Perplexed, he tried again, tk the same result. It was as though some undetectable force was blocking his passage between planes.

Resisting his first instinct to fly into a rage at this sudden inconvenience, Sorin collected his thoughts. His first priority was to get off of this plane. To do that, he needed to figure out what was keeping him from doing so. The Viewer was the most obvious choice, but Sorin tried to remain open to other possibilities. Regardless, he would need to find the Viewer again to interrogate him, though as far as Sorin could tell, he came and went at his own leisure. The most certain time that he could be encountered was at these "challenges." Sorin sighed deeply. It seemed he had gotten roped into this asinine game after at all.

He felt like taking a walk to weigh his options, and perhaps learn more about this plane that he was now trapped on. Not announcing his departure, he simply marched out of the building and into the dark and snowy streets. We chose a random direction and set out on it, stalking calmly through the gently falling snow.

[VitaVitaAR]

Jakuzure Nonon

"... Yeah, sure you are, Eight Grader," replied Nonon, raising an eyebrow. Her tone was practically slathered in thick, dripping sarcasm. Jeez, this girl really was just full of delusions even if she was right about the whole Pokemon thing. Or at least she acted kind of delusion. And then some other little girl came along and started praising the admittedly-cute Militank... and as the Eight Grader talked about herself, memories started to resurface for Nonon. A normal-type gym leader with a Militank? She could've easily dismissed that as more delusions if not for the fact that she did have Pokemon no matter how ridiculous she acted...

Nonon shrugged. Nah, that was too ridiculous. Besides, she didn't have the right name, right? It was just more Eight Grader Syndrome.

As for the discussion of the others...

"They're the ones who wandered off," she said, simply, "Besides, they might be idiots but they look like they can handle themselves as long as the problem isn't more intellectually challenging then a child's jigsaw puzzle."

---

Saber

Saber lowered Excalibur, Invisible Air still surging around it. And so... this was it. She could only return after passing each of these trials. It did not matter. She would pass these trials and return to those she needed to protect. But for now, here... she would protect the child and anyone else who needed it. The blonde girl turned, regarding the others who had been taken here. The one in glasses, Shiroe, he was suggesting courses of action. It was certainly good to have shelter, but simply resting here was far too quick an action. They did not yet know the area, and some of those who had been taken here still hadn't arrived at the hotel.

"We should scout the area," she began, "As well as bring those who remained behind here."

[Kael Taiyou]

"Poke...mon? What's that? Are they like the Elemental Spirits?" Plum asked holding her chin. In the battles of her world, one could acess the powers of familiar spirits called Elemental Spirits. Plum's Spirit was that of a fox that increased her flame powers, and she could change the size of her sword to an even more bigger size. But right now, her 'fox' wasn't around, and probably wouldn't appear, but that didn't worry Plum that much, she gave a cheerful smile at both Whitney and Nonon. "My name is Plum Scarlet, pleased to meet you two! So, can someone tell me where i am?" she asked with a happy and carefree tone.

"Hmm...In other words, after all that speech, i can assume we are really in another world, right?" asked Master Asia, sorting what she called 'nonsense' like the wish part. Of course, he had arrived in the middle of the Viewer's speech, so he couldn't understand what everyone was talking about. Everything was still vague for him. Eventually he decided to ask the ones who were already in the 'Oasis' later. "I'll help out on the scouting. Who knows if there might be other like us in this place." he said.

[Kaga]

“That hardly leaves us any time to sleep…” Vash murmured, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Still, you’re right that it’s nice of him to give us a place to rest for the night.” he said to Shiroe. “Much better than trying to find a place out in the, uh… cold.” he said, not sure what else to call the weather phenomenon outside. “Is that stuff just water, by the way?” he asked. “The white ice, I mean.”

[Raineh Daze]

Fujiwara no Mokou, Blissfully Unaware

"Scouting? I guess I have nothing better to do. Can fly, too; though that's not all that hard to do..." Mokou said thoughtfully, stretching for some reason or another and completely uncaring that there were life-threatening challenges ahead. The blonde guy was asking what snow was, but after that explanation--about multiple worlds and all--she doubted that he'd ever actually seen snow. It wasn't the most impractical thing she'd ever had to deal with... gap youkai, shrine maidens, half-ghost gardener samurai, hungry ghosts, magicians, vampires, and maids: she'd seen quite a lot of things recently that this would fit right in with.

As she stood there looking thoughtful, and continuing to smoke and thus make everyone else choke, she tried to remember any knowledge she might have of scouting or teamwork. Sadly, neither were skills that she had ever had any occasion to learn; though she was quite adept at navigating locations that looked the same in any direction, she'd never really had to go out looking for something and then find her way back to talk about it.

---

The Prettiest Of All, Back at the Start

It was cold. This was rather confusing to Kaguya, as Eientei was generally a pretty warm place--and if it wasn't, she had blankets to sleep under, followed by rabbits crowding around her for warmth. To wake up in the cold reminded her of that time she'd fallen asleep reading and woken up half outside, trapped in bamboo. There didn't seem to be any bamboo here, and, more importantly: there was snow everywhere.

After climbing to her feet, the exiled princess picked up her umbrella (and now she was even more confused: what was her umbrella doing here? Had she gone to sleep somewhere with her umbrella?) and looked at the snow. It was all rather trampled, but there were only a few people nearby and that couldn't explain all the footprints...

Having initially assumed that the people would be familiar to her, Kaguya looked again, and then checked a third time. Pointed at Whitney, she said, "You're not Reisen..." whilst Nonon got "You're not Tewi..." and Miltank finally received "and you're not a rabbit..." until she was forced to admit that none of these people were, well, the people that lived with her.

Pointing at a random person, Kaguya asked the important question: "Have you seen Inaba?"

[nichinichisou]

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

A garbage can with LEGS had appeared out of nowhere. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Said a voice. The garbage can stood up and starting running around. Where was he running around? Some people setting up camp. The can appeared out of nowhere, obviously. There wasn't like there was millions of cans scattered about. "Can someone help me? I thought this was a good idea!" The can yelled. That was before the can conveniently slipped off, revealing a teenager with fawn-colored hair, and red headphones.

When he looked in front of him, he saw some people that had set up camp. What were their fucking names? Hold on, let me go back to the OOC-oh, and this isn't Garbage Can Boy talking either. Um....Nonon, Whitney, and some others. Nonon. The fuck? Who named a character Nonon? That's like naming Alucard Alualuc or some shit. That name doesn't even make sense! I mean, what the shit? Were they on drugs? I can imagine that.

A game creator is drunk as fuck with like five others. A conversation ensues.

"Dude, what the fuck should we call this character?"

"Meth."

"No."

"Nonon!"

"FUCK YES, YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

Oh god.

Oh, and the Garbage Can Boy's name was Yosuke Hanamura. He looked at the others that had set up camp and said, "Hi. Where am I?" He asked, bluntly.

[Flamelord]

As suddenly has he had come, the Viewer was gone, vanished into smoke and nothingness like some trick magician, or like he was teleporting without the flash and light of asgard beaming technology, and they were left alone, with a scant three and a half hours before their first challenge came,. Fortunately, as a Goa'uld he didn't need to partake in sleep all that often, a benefit of the symbiotic nature that he and his host shared. So while others may be tired for the coming challenges, he would be alert and ready, that much more a benefit for himself.

"I agree," he said in response to Saber. "This competition would hardly be fair if only some know of the full rules and stakes." As Shiroe drew their attention, he walked over and grabbed a room key, his knowledge of Earth society and buildings making him go for one of the ones near the top, guessing it to be some sort of penthouse suite or the like.It wasn't like anyone else would be using it, and if they didn't like it there were a hundred other buildings to pick from. "And yes, snow is just water," he said over to Vash, climate variations something he was all too familiar with as well.

The smoke emanating from the hok'tar stung at his eyes and made him cough, if it didn't affect him as much as it might a regular human. But he still had to breathe, and that didn't help things. It drew his interest though, and he waved over to the one who had such a display of fire abilities, and apparent long life, who's name he still didn't know. "I don't believe I ever caught your name," he said casually as he stepped over. "If you'd care to join me, I was going to take the elevator to the top floor. If you can indeed fly, then it would serve as a suitable launching place, don't you think so? And it would let us get a better view of what else may be out there." He exuded smooth confidence, looking forward to what he would learn from this one.

[Neobullseye]

...Aaand he's gone. Well, I guess we won't get that question answered today. Felt shrugged. "So, do you have any ideas, Azoth?"
-"Well, we came here to seek some information, right? Seeing as we arrived here a bit late, there's a good chance some of these other creatures have heard more than we did. You should go ask them."
"That works for me," the young swordsman answered. With that, he headed for the group with the strange creatures, including one that seemed to be a cow.

Before he could actually ask them any questions at all, a quite beautiful young lady appeared, showing obvious signs of confusion. Before Felt could really wonder all too much about who she could be, though, said lady had quite literally aimed her direction at him, asking him a question about an 'Inaba', whatever that might be.

"Uhm... Inaba? I don't even know who, where or what that is, so no, sorry."
- "Felt, haven't you paid any attention in your mythology class?," the Azoth interrupted. "The Inaba rabbit is a mythological creature. Although the details of the legends differ between versions, one thing they have in common is that the hare/rabbit is far smarter than a normal animal would be."
"I see. In that case... Sorry, Miss, I haven't seen this rabbit."
-"Well, that would be because it's a mythological creature. It might not even exist in the first place."
"So says the talking sword who comes from a world filled with Mana, Alchemists and magic in general," Felt calmly replied. "Don't mind him," the young alchemist turned back towards the (seemingly) young lady in front of him, making a nodding gesture towards his weapon. "He can be a bit grumpy at times."
-"'Grumpy'?!"
"...Anyway, My name is Felt, and this would be the Azure Azoth," Felt said, ignoring his weapon's outburst. "Nice to meet you...," he continued, holding out his hand in a greeting gesture.

[VitaVitaAR]

Nonon

... Aaand now there was a little girl talking about elemental spirits. Was this just... some sort of video game convention or something? Some sort of really elaborate video game convention? These people sure didn't look like the fat, ugly otaku who organized the video game club back when Hououji was still Hououji. ... Okay, to be fair, they weren't all fat and ugly but who the hell cared right now. They also tended not to have pokemon. Goku uniforms did not make Pokemon. But what the hell, Nonon was perplexed and irritated right now and damn it it wasn't easy to express that in the wake of real-life pokemon.

"... Nobody can tell you where you are, Fruit Loli," Nonon began, folding her arms across her chest, "'Cause they're either brainless or don't have the first clue about this place. Or both."

And then, rather abruptly, one of the most stunningly pretty girls Nonon had ever seen seemed to appear from no-where. Well, at least, one of the most stunningly pretty girls... since Satsuki. Satsuki was and forever will be number one in Nonon's book. Still, it was kinda surprising. And then she started asking about people. And then mythology. So that pretty head was kinda empty, wasn't it?

"I dunno why you're looking for mythology here," Nonon responsed, "You're not gonna find it."

... And then someone came rolling up in a trash can.

...

Nonon's lips quivered. Wow... really, some... weird moron just... just...

Nonon raised one hand to point at him, and laughed. It was really the only suitable reaction.

---

Saber

"Then it is settled," Saber said. Even though she was somewhat wary of the 'system lord' as well... there was no denying that scouting was simply one of the most viable options at this moment. She looked over those around her. She was... not entirely sure who would be best to remain here, who would be best to retrieve the others, and who would be best to join her in scouting the area... for a few moments she was silent, and simply decided to make her proposal and judge from there.

"We should split into three groups," she began, "One to scout the city, one to scout this building, and a final group to retrieve the others and bring them here."

Of course, Saber was not going to leave those who seemed suspiscious, especially the skeleton man, with anyone who may not be able to defend themselves... but for the moment she simply wanted to see who would choose to go where.

[Raineh Daze]

Fujiwara no Mokou, Pyromaniac Deluxe

"I forgot to introduce myself? Uh, Fujiwara no Mokou," she answered, flicking the stub of a cigarette into the air and incinerating the remnants on their descent. Not introducing herself had become something of a habit, due to long years spent leading people out of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost in total silence. It was amazing people continued to blunder into there despite its very name, "Sure, why not?"

She faced the elevator, having no idea how you would actually go about opening something like this, and waited, "I could just take off from the ground."

Briefly, the girl with the phoenix motif hovered above the ground to illustrate her point before landing once again, "I guess this isn't a common thing where you're from?"

In Gensokyo, it was basically only the residents of the human village--and even then, only the generic people, as Keine was fully capable of flying--who couldn't take to the air on a whim. Some people had it easier than others, and in some cases it made far more sense (for instance, that damn tengu reporter was a crow), but it was more or less a universal thing that aerial traffic existed. Which did a good deal to explain why it was only ever the villagers who got lost in the forest, as everyone else could just fly up and out.

---

The Moon Princess

"Oh, I was just looking for my rabbits in general, Tewi can take care of herself," Kaguya replied, acting as if being told she was looking for some sort of myth was perfectly. From the knowledge that had filtered into Eientei over the centuries, it was: she was something of a fairy-tale herself, even! Tewi was, of course, one before her. She must have been more rabbit-like then, though, rather than being mostly a small girl. At least, the mischievous streak had hardly changed, "You haven't seen any of them, have you?"

The person with the talking sword--and Kaguya didn't think she owned one of them, though maybe there was one in a closet somewhere--wanted to know who she was. For some reason there was a hand pointed in her direction, which was rather threatening, but that was no reason to not be polite, "I'm Princess Kaguya."

Obvious

AKA Kaguya-hime in Japanese, thus indicating the Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter.

[Vulpes]

Whitney stared at the boy who had just slipped from the garbage can. Her first reaction was to tremble from disguise. Seriously, who on earth would think that going to a garbage can would be a good idea? It’s garbage, filthy and disgusting! Whitney took a step back and would have taken another one if her Miltank hadn’t stopped her because she was about to step on fire.

Then an amazingly beautiful lady started to talk. Whitney had been looking at her beauty until the garbage boy arrived and interrupted her thinking. For some reason just looking at her annoyed Whitney a bit. Obliviously, she didn’t admit herself that she was jealous.

“…my rabbits in general, Tewi can take care of herself”, the woman said. "I'm Princess Kaguya."

“So she is a beautiful princess who has rabbits”, Whitney muttered. “They’re definitely Diggersby or Lopunny, a lucky person like her couldn’t have any less. There is no need for her to boast about it.”

“I haven’t seen your rabbits”, she said rather coldly. “Maybe the ones who went to explore have, but I have no clue about it. And I’m Whitney, the well-known gym leader of Goldenrod City, who is said to be an incredibly pretty girl.” A challenge glimmered in her eyes.

For those who aren

Lopunny, a normal type

Diggersby, a normal/groud type

[Flamelord]

Ba'al looked over to Saber, already getting a feel that this one had tactical know how and was used to fighting. If only she were from his world, then she would have made a fine general for his forces. She was miles ahead the other system Lords, who were egotistical megalomaniacs who only understood the use of fear and overwhelming force, and she was even better than his generals, for whom 'human wave spam', as it was so eloquently put, was the epitome of tactics. After all, the Jaffa were infinite, essentially, and devotedly loyal, so why not use the numbers to your advantage.

"As I stated, I will be exploring this building," he commented as he made his way over to the elevator and hit the 'Up' button, the hok'tar joining him as he waited for it to arrive on the ground floor.

"A pleasure to meet you, Fujiwara no Mokou," he said with a grin and a small bow, his long history of dealing with people who had such names as 'Apophis', 'Amaterasu', 'Nefertum', and 'Camulus' meaning that he had a good handle on pronouncing difficult names. It came in handy when all your fellows (and yourself) were Gods in old earth legend.

He watched with interest as Mokou demonstrated her point, rising off the ground and floating before she returned to the ground. "Sadly, no. Not without the aid of machines anyway," he replied, at least appearing to be slightly impressed. "There were a race of people who had extraordinary abilities, such as healing, telekinesis, mind reading, and the like, but they ascended to a higher plane of existence and became beings made of pure energy many thousands of years ago." That would be ascension, the fate of the Ancients, and the Goa'uld benefited off what they left behind. Not that he would mention that bit unless he had to.

There was a 'ding' as the elevator arrived at the ground floor, a green up pointing arrow lighting up above the door as they slid open to reveal the insides, of wood and brass with a carpeted floor. It wasn't quite Ring Transport, but he would survive. He stepped inside, and once Mokou had done the same, he hit the button for the top floor. The doors slid shut, and it began it's ascent with a slight lurch. "Though, I will say that this type of elevator is a bit...outdated, where I come from. The ones I have access to are faster, and it also helps when one has access to teleportation technology," he commented as the elevator car rose towards the top floor.

[Kaga]

“Interesting…” Vash hummed to himself quietly after his question about snow was answered. He made a mental note to himself to remember it, as he figured it would be in his best interest to get acquainted with this world as quickly as possible.

“I’ll scout the city.” Vash volunteered, raising his hand in response to Saber’s suggestion of splitting into groups. “I doubt I’ll get any sleep before tomorrow’s trial, anyway, and it’s clear I have a lot to learn about this place.” he explained. While he was still a bit suspicious of the lich, he had enough on his mind to let his guard down, at least for the time being. Besides, he hadn’t acted aggressively yet, at least… “You coming with?” he asked Saber.

[Gabriel Evings]

"I suppose that leaves me and Saz was it? Sal? no definitely Sazh to go find the others and bring them back? However what should we do if someone is in trouble? We have no form of long distance communication." As little as the possible dangers bothered him he highly doubted that 'the enemy got him' would be a justifiable excuse for someone of his particular party dying.

"Had the system lord no been so hasty I would have recommended that we use the top floor to signal trouble to the other group but, that would require them to take time out of searching the building." The other problem was that he was still unsure of who here would be able to be trusted with such a task. If he was being overwhelmed by enemies it would be up to the person to get reinforcements. Should they choose not to signal for help it could be the end of him one way or another.

Coming to a solution to at least one problem he glided behind the bar and smashed the mirror coming out from behind with three of the least sharp pieces of the shiny glass and stuck out two pieces one to Shiro and the other to Saber. "We can use these group one will be Saber group two will be me, Sazh, and the small child if he chooses to come with. One flash from the tower means group one is in trouble and needs help, two flashes means group 2 is in trouble and needs help, three flashes means the tower is in trouble and needs help, and four flashes means that everything has gone as planned. The tower group will flash four times when both groups have flashed four times and we will know everyone is headed back safely."

"The only question is who will go up and inform the other two of the plan"

[Neobullseye]

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen any... rabbits," Felt started, pausing halfway through his sentence when the lady's introduction reached his mind. Or, to be more precise, her title. "I.. uhm, I didn't mean any disrespect, uhm... your majesty. I mean, uhm...," he stuttered, not really knowing what to say, let alone how to act in front of a princess. Luckily for him, another young lady entered their conversation at about this point, hopefully drawing some attention away from the mumbling fool he was making out of himself.

...That is, if a certain sword would allow for that to happen...
-"...Princess Kaguya, you say? Hmmm, interesting...," the Azoth spoke up. In between the mentioning of the legendary Hare of Inaba like it was a perfectly natural being and the almost equally legendary aesthetically pleasantness of the mentioner -- or, at least to humans --, another legend came to the blade's mind. -"My lady, this is only a hypothesis, and forgive me if I am wrong... but are you per any chance Lady Kaguya-Hime, the Princess of the Capital of the Moon?"
Felt, meanwhile, was still too much stuck in not knowing how to act in front of selfproclaimed royalty to react to this. Not to mention that, even if he did know how to act, he wouldn't really know what his weapon was talking about this time.

[Penultimate_Pi]

Before anyone could ask anything more, the Viewer himself disappeared into a black hole of his own power, presumably just a fancy way of teleporting off elsewhere. Caught midway through a gesture to say something, Sazh dropped it and shugged. Looked around, he took to mind what everyone else was suggesting.

"Groups, eh? ...Mmm, that could work out. Guess we do oughta get a better look around..." Sazh mumbled, somewhat approving of Saber's first proposition of a plan. He perked up again at the mention of some people going back to inform the rest of people back in the forest clearing. Logically speaking, it would most likely be better if someone with a more 'normal' appearance came to share the news, rather than, indeed, an undead war skeleton or a girl who nonchalantly set everything on fire. Sazh would be happy to elect himself as someone to tell the rest of the group; however awkward of a time he could have communicating this to the rest of the people here, it may be much harder if some of the other individuals tried to do that instead.

Then, the lich beagn going on about talking about possible hazards, and proposing a signal plan between the groups in case of danger. But the l'Cie had gotten the impression that the challenges wouldn't start until a little over 3 hours later. "Uh, hey, look; I'd say," Sazh began with a slight pause, "...that we first worry about getting everyone here and informed of, well, everything that's going on, and then worry about defense and stuff like that afterwards, when we know what everyone can do. After all, that first challenge isn't gonna start for, what, three hours?" The aged man shrugged in conciliation. "I just don't think we should be expecting trouble before that time, is all."

"As for the "gettin' all the others" part, I can totally do that," Sazh lighted his voice in reassuring tones, putting his hands up in a way that said 'I got this'. "It's just that, no offense to you, skeleton guy, but your, uh, appearance... isn't exactly a friendly-looking one, if you get what I'm saying." His arms didn't leave the pose, only just waving the hands as if he was trying to cut off a message.