DGS4 Phase 2-3 -- The Cabin

[The Man in Red]

Persons Present:
Majima
Mid-Boss
Flak
Kevin
Rogue
Travis Touchdown
Elena Rosa
Shadow
Leonidas
Elise Guiscard
Buu
Roughly 10 3 of the generic, nameless Carnivale staff who survived the crash

The front of the train had careened out of control, smashing through anything and everything in its way before forging full steam ahead right over the edge of a frozen cliff. Miraculously, the engine car hadn't exploded entirely, merely catching fire and sending huge plumes of fire and smoke spiraling into the sky, even as its wheels still slowly turned, desperately still trying to keep the car moving even as it lay impaled nose-first in the icy ground like some kind of giant train-shaped spear hurled from the heavens.

Staggering from the wreckage of the first class car, Shadow the Hedgehog shrugged out of the obnoxiously oversized coat he had pilfered from its belongings. Shredded and torn, covered in ash and soot, but the bizarre insides lined with enough armor and padding to make bomb disposal techs jealous...it had been the perfect place to take shelter in the event of a crash like that. He looked around, surveying the scene of chaos around him.

The doors to the engineer's cabin abruptly went flying off, revealing the gleaming silver-capped boot of Goro Majima as he hauled himself up out of it, tossing the whining form of Mid-Boss out alongside him. Moments later, he hauled himself out and plopped down into the snow. "Well...not the worst parking job I've ever done," he remarked, with a shit-eating grin.

This is the engine car, as well as the 8 or 9 cars behind it. Aside from Shadow, the rest of you can wake up as you please nearby the crash site.

You will find yourselves at the bottom of a deep canyon. Looking up, you can see another train car or two smashed to pieces among the cliffs, and at the top of the canyon the same fierce storm, evolved into an absolute lightning-streaked blizzard, raging overhead.

The canyon leads north and south, as well as featuring a few perilous paths leading up the cliffs and into caves on either side. There are signs of emergency lights far to the south.

It's up to you all where to go. The generic staff will do their best to be informative and helpful, but are relatively expendable.

 

[Rogue]

Hang me by my toes over a pile of swamp cats! Ah'm floundering in powder completely disoriented, can't tell if ah'm right wise up or head down in the snow. All ah can hear is the pounding of my heart in my ears long enough that ah'm starting to run out of breath. Finally, my hand punches through to a pocket of space. Didn't know if it was the surface or some frozen over pit in the ground but ah crawl towards it for all ah'm worth. It's that or give up and die.

Ah burst out of the snow gasping for a breath, only to have icy cold wind steal it right back out of my lungs. Ah move an arm in front of my face, hacking and coughing, still half-buried in the snow. There's shards of glass stuck in it, and probably most of me ah'd wager, plenty of thin slices in my clothes that would be trouble if ah wasn't careful. Guess ah'd gone straight though one of the windows.

However bad that snowy burial had been, being on the surface was almost worse. This wind whips my hair in a frenzy, blowing right through to chill me to the bones on top of that. However bad the conditions were down here though, it looked even worse up above where we must've been before the crash.

Ah can barely hear anything over the howling coming through this canyon, and can't see much more, but from the little that was apparent there's quite a number of us down here in this little crevice. The debris of our oh so loving ejection from the train's scattered on the ground and the walls as well.

"He goes and ships us all up into the frozen wastes and doesn't even warn us first?"

Even screaming my head off like this ah doubt any of the other folks were even hearing me. Ah do get a sort of a response in the form of screeching metal up above on the cliff side. ah barely have time to scramble out of the hole before a pair of wheels and an axle slip free of their perch and come crashing down in a big pile of snow cloud.

Ah scramble to my feet, hacking and coughing, shredded hood plastered to the side of my face by the wind. Where the hell is the driver? So help me ah'm gonna tear his hide but good!

Ah finally catch sight of the guy in a uniform poking his head into one of the train cars. Ah storm right over grabbing him by the scruff of his jacket and spin him round with a good jerk. He gives a shout of surprise but keeps his footing well despite it.

"The hell did you do? You trying to get us all turned into a jam, ya lunatic?" Ah'm basically screaming in his face, half 'cause ah'm angry, half just to be heard over this storm.

"Bohze moi! The crazy chicks won't leave me alone!" He says it fast and under his breath, probably didn't even think ah heard him with the wind, but he slides loose of my grip and does a tight little bow with a grin on his face.

"Conductor Majima at your service, ma'am! I did precisely the opposite, in fact, and saved all of our necks!"

His facade of customer relations didn't even hold for the whole second sentence, this guy wasn't any more of a conductor than ah was a movie star, but ah didn't have much more venom to spit without throwing hands so ah just grunt and move past him into the train car.

That clown on the monitor had talked about 'getting to it', so either we were all gonna kill each other down here in a ditch this year or folks needed to pick a direction and start trekking. It would be best to get supplies for either task while folks were still getting their bearings.

Current party: Rogue
Current Location: the cabin crash site
Activity: scavenging the wreckage, particularly for more suitable winter attire or a weapon

 

[Christopher Chaos]

Snow. He’d never seen it before, but as he crunch, crunch, crunched through it, Shadow felt its trademark chill start to creep up his black fur. It signaled something cold, something lost and buried and cast out — dead, immediately. Nothing could live in the snow. Nothing good could survive under its vast, icy blanket.

It was a damn fine thing he wasn’t ‘good.’

The frayed edges of the obnoxiously-oversized black fur coat he’d burgled from the first class car flapped in the wind as he trudged through the snow, getting a feel for their surroundings. It was a wind that carried unfortunate tidings; if you really took a sniff, you could almost smell the Man In Red’s homicidal oeuvre dripping off of it. This was no summer breeze, but a dark, foreboding gust, sweeping up the Death Game’s wayward contestants and carrying them toward a tornado of knives and gunfire and whatever other hell this place meant to unleash upon them.

It would do well to be prepared. He glanced down at the armor that lined the coat — slick and black pieces of Kevlar, occasionally patched up in weaker spots with a less glossy, charcoal gray steel. Aside from those patches, it looked altogether regal, albeit still covered with some of the remains of the train’s fiery doom. Shadow let his gaze linger for a moment on the ash diluting the shine of his armor, interrupting the red stripe painted down his chest. The weight of the crash hadn’t been lost on him, even in this new protection he’d managed to snag just in time; how hellish must it have been for the others who had nothing?

That, he knew, was none of his concern — except that it was.

The suffering of his fellow man wasn’t something that naturally lived in the mind of the Ultimate Lifeform. After all, suffering was eternal for these mere mortals — why should they receive the notice or, even more absurd, the concern of a nearly god-like creature like him? They were undoubtedly less than him, ants to be crushed one by one as he uncovered his purpose and stepped into the Shadow the Hedgehog that he was meant to be.

But even as that was crystal clear, the reality of his situation also was not lost on him. He glanced up at the train cars that hung limply over the edge of the canyon; the likelihood that any of their compatriots from the back of the train survived wasn’t high, but if they did, he and his canyon crew certainly wouldn’t be seeing them anytime soon. No, down here in this deep pit, they were on their own — just the way Shadow liked it.

Across the snowy field maybe thirty meters, a young human woman with a shock of gray hair mixed with her otherwise brunette mess jerked the conductor towards her. Shadow smirked — a show of strength already.

Humans were so predictable.

He shoved his hands in the pockets of the fur coat and sauntered toward the woman and the conductor just in time to watch her push past the man. As she passed, his legs finally gave out from under him — fear will do that — and collapsed toward the snowy floor of the canyon. He landed with a splat on the ground as Shadow reached him. The hedgehog might’ve only stood just over three feet, but he towered over Majima as the train’s driver curled up below him.

The look on the man’s face… helpless. Down in this hellish pit, he was exactly the type of specimen Shadow couldn’t find any sort of explanation for. He’d been built by humans — programmed by them. Surely some of them, then, must be possessed by even the slightest residue of his power? Thus far, no one could touch him.

“D-don’t you start with me too,” Majima croaked, scowling even as he shivered.

Shadow’s eyes bored into the conductor’s very soul. “You walk a lonely road,” the hedgehog scoffed. “I won’t chain myself to you by choice.”

And without another word, Shadow, too, moved past Majima and started to climb into the wreckage.

“I saved us!” Majima screamed hysterically. “You’ll all pay for your disrespect.”

Shadow, hunched inside the nearest hole in the train’s exterior, glanced over his shoulder. He turned, standing up on the edge of the hole. He lifted up a fist. “Would you like cash…” he held out that fist, then lifted up the other, “or credit?”

Majima huffed, then turned and started to crawl away.

That’s what I fucking thought, Shadow chuckled, turning and re-entering the wreckage. Across the car, the brunette from earlier was looking through the rubble. Shadow might’ve spoken to her, but something else caught his spiny mammal senses before he could interact. A hand, reaching out from the rubble, squirming and searching for purchase. Shadow hopped from chunk of debris to chunk of debris until he stood over the hand, arms crossed and glare filled with judgment.

I should leave you, he thought. Weakling, letting yourself get buried here, like this.

He knew, though, that in a situation like this, even the Ultimate Lifeform would need — well, not necessarily friends, but meat shields, nevertheless.

A gloved hand clasped the squirming one, and yanked.

Current Party: Shadow
Current Location: Cabin Crash Site
Activity: Pulling someone out of the rubble!

 

[John Connor]

The front of the train literally sent everyone flying including Leonidas. He didn't say much but grabbed onto whatever the hell still was attached to the train cars in the bar area. He watched as several wine bottles went flying and smashed into the windows, creating some small openings.

Eying the supplies nearby, Leonidas took charge and took one of the bar chairs with wooden handles and smashed it into the window, trying to open the opening even though the snow was blowing. He finally smashed the window, pushing out into the snow, eying the rest of the combatants.

Now was the time to put his Spartan survival to the test. He grabbed what was left of the extra bar stools, broke them into pieces and proceeded to shove them inside his survival pack. He’d need a potential kindle for a fire eventually and with one of the survivors, Travis with him he’d need to warm both of them or potentially more survivors.

The Spartan king debated his past life as he eyed Travis. He kept himself from scoffing at the man who ordered him to find some food but extended some sort of olive branch as a truce for now.

“Travis, right? See what else you, Majima and Rogue can find around here. I can create makeshift spears if necessary. “

He, however, saw obstacles in the form of all relationships. Other survivors were not always trustworthy and he wasn’t sure if he could trust them fully, part of the group or not.

He gritted his teeth and dusted the snow off him, there was yet another survivor: a black sentient hedgehog named Shadow.

Except the hedgehog had gotten a coat while the rest of them casually gritted off hypothermia

Leonidas couldn’t help but drift off back to his Spartan days. He was a Spartan king, leading his men through impossible odds yet now here he was trying to make order out of chaos of different names and different faces who he couldn’t fully trust.

The past was now way off and here he stood in front of a challenge: Help a ragtag group of survivors out, or face the same fate like he did at the Hot Gates. Yet he couldn’t help but wonder, what if things were different? Would he still be feared and respected?
He stared at the hedgehog lightly and turned back to the others, finishing off a makeshift spear
He eyed the others quickly and nodded “Anyone following me so far?”

He would join the group of Travis Touchdown for now, unless Majima and Rogue decided to join them in their adventure.

He was used to absolute order, not chaos yet he couldn’t help but feel this order would break at the sight of trouble.

A far cry from the days of old, no more cocky gods named Apollo, no more Spartans trusting him for his respect and discipline. The glory days of a Spartan king were over as much as he hated it.

“Endure, survive, adapt.” was the new statement he would take on.

What would he be remembered for?

Current Party: Leonidas is joining Travis Touchdown in a group
Current Location: Bar crash area train/in the snow
Activity: Scavenging bar stool wood/Making makeshift weapons, finding food or whatever left?
Focus 3/3

 

[Gizmo Gear]

One minute he was enjoying a drink and the next the whole train was tumbling. He hung on to the bar for dear life while the train was crashing. Until finally, it all came to a stop. That was when he got a message from the cute clown girl saying that they had arrived at their destination and that one of the contestants didn’t survive the crash. The game has already started and already one person was lost before it even began.

When Leonidas broke open a window Travis crawled out of it. He was used to the arid regions of California and Texas. It’s a good thing he was already wearing a jacket but he’s still not prepared for this cold weather. Then he had an idea and activated his Beam Katana using it as a source of heat and light. He then turns over to the wreckage of the trainwreck.

“I sure hope someone has a cellphone because I fucking called this happening,” Travis said.

When Leonidas orders him to go find supplies he nods his head and is about to do that but before he does he notices a familiar figure from a game he recognizes. Not to mention the live-action movie based on it made by his favorite director.

“Is that the Mad Dog Majima?” Travis said.

Then he witnessed Shadow acting like an asshole to Majima as he went over to the wreckage. He didn’t like Shadow’s attitude. So he went over to set him straight.

“Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed it seems, or let me guess, you have amnesia again?” Travis said.

Shadow then turns to him perplexed.

“Now just what are you babbling about?” Shadow asked.

“Well spoilers but you are the Ultimate Lifeform created by Gerald Robotnik, and your best friend was Maria Robotnik. Anti-climatic to tell you right away I know but better to rip off that band-aid now.” Travis explained.

“Those names me nothing to me,” Shadow sneered. “So either pull your weight or quit wasting my time.”

What the Hell, usually bringing up Maria gets to him. And what is this Cytokine? Did they brainwash him? Or is he just a fanfic version of Shadow with all of the edge and none of the interesting parts? There were more important things to worry about, however.

“Ah whatever, you’ll probably figure out sooner or later that you’ll be the Shadow you’re supposed to be. See you around, faker.” Travis said.

Along the way back to the wreckage of the train he goes to help Majima up. And begin to look around for any food they can snag and if there is anything they can use for warmth. Sure his Beam Katana is hot but he doubts it will be able to prevent him from freezing to death.

He then looked up to see that they were stuck in a canyon and that the rest of the train was up there. So the other half of the survivors are probably better off than they are. Once they’re good and ready they need to find a way out of here. Paths upward lead into caves, and emergency lights to the south.

“Some destination for a Death Game your boss picked out. A shitty tundra instead of a jungle or woods. What kind of survival game is this?” Travis asked.

“As far as we know this was supposed to be the destination or at least a while away from it, but the train was not supposed to crash.” one of the staff members said.

“What the Hell?” Travis asked.

If the crash wasn’t staged then did someone make the train crash on purpose? Or was it due to Majima failing as a conductor? No Majima is smarter than he acts and looks like something fishy is going on here. He decides to put that in the back of his mind for now and continues searching for supplies.

Current Party: Travis and Leonidas
Current Location: The crash site
Activity: Searching for supplies including something warmer to wear.
Focus: 1/1

 

[Jim Raynor]

The bubble popped and Buu’s eyes blinked open, though still hidden from view. He sat up and stretched his arms, yawning. That was a good sleep!

A clump of snow fell from his gloves – the first sign he wasn’t waking up in his cabin. How did snow get in his room?

“Huh?” Buu murmured, rolling to his feet.

Destruction and debris littered the cold landscape around the Majin. Somehow he had landed in the middle of a giant canyon. A raging snowstorm consumed the sky high above, lightning streaking through the clouds. His purple cape and yellow trim vest fluttered in the frigid winds, but his resilient pink flesh barely felt it.

“Aww, did Buu miss something fun?”

Buu scowled. How did he sleep through all the explosions and mayhem? Maybe he was more tired after being freed from his ball than he realised.

A bunch of random people milled about the ruins of the train. Some picked through the wreckage, others spoke to each other, shivering in the freezing conditions.

No one was fighting. No one seemed very strong. Maybe if he flew around, he would spot someone worth battling.

Squatting down, Buu pumped his stubby legs and launched himself into the air… only to drop back down to the snowy ground.

“Huh? Buu no fly?”

Was it because of the strange steel thing that they snapped around his neck? Maybe if he pulled it off?

“Buu!” Babidi screeched. “Whatever you do, don’t take off that collar! You’ll blow up and you won’t get to show off your power!

“But Buu just grow back!”

“You’ll be out of the competition! I forbid you from removing it!”

“Oh, that right,” Buu said. “Babidi said to leave collar on. Oh well!”

Maybe there was someone to fight nearby. Just because they didn’t look like it didn’t mean they weren’t strong.

A man greeted Buu. “Excuse me sir, is there anything I can do for-“

Buu punched him in the face. The human skidded through the snow, banking up a white pile behind him. He didn’t move.

“Come on, get up!” Buu yelled. “Buu not finished fighting!”

The man stayed down. How boring!

Oh well. There were more people to punch. Buu waddled into the debris, hoping to find someone who could withstand a single punch.

Current Party: Majin Buu
Current Location: Cabin Crash Site
Activity: Wandering about

 

[Karl Jak]

Shadow pulled on the limb. There was a bit of resistance, and then without the debris sliding or moving away, the hedgehog pulled the arm—and just the arm—out from the rubble.

“No way…” he muttered as he looked down at the end of cleanly severed appendage. When the fingers started to tap him politely, he reflexively jerked away and let go as the pile of debris shifted once more. As it did, a second arm burst free, and a few beats later, another one of the contestants liberated himself from the rockslide.

With a groan, Kevin brushed some of the dust and dirt from his clothes, but in the process, he realized that one of his arms was missing. Lifting his head, he spotted the limb standing on its fingers near the feet of an andromorphic hedgehog who seemed to be torn between watching this garish spectacle and fucking off to anywhere but here.

“What are you waiting for?” Kevin grumbled.

Shadow tilted his head. “Are you speaking to me?”

Instead of getting an answer, Shadow watched as the severed limb scrambled over the uneven terrain to the rest of its body. Scooping up the limb, Kevin jammed the end of the broken forearm into its ‘socket’ and gave it a soft twist. A moment later, he lifted the arm and flexed the fingers.

“One of the perks of the job,” Kevin spoke as he looked over at the grimacing hedgehog. “Pays to be dead, I guess.”

“Tch.” Shadow shook his head. “You are a corpse. I am the ultimate lifeform.”

Kevin took a moment to look around rather than address what he perceived to be some type of bait that would let the walking, talking animal continue to gloat about his self-importance. “Did we crash?” He finally asked.

Shadow opened his mouth but was cut off by another response.

“Mhm. It sure seems that way, Sugah.”

Craning his neck, the undead PA spotted the woman standing a few feet away.

“Hello, Rogue.”

She tilted her head. “Mighty kind of ya to know a lady’s name before meetin’ her.”

“We’re met,” he muttered as he carefully moved down to the stable ground. Ten or so yards away, the train had come to a rest, and for the first time, Kevin could spot the others milling around the area. “Two years ago.”

“What fer?”

He turned and looked at her. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem the slightest bit unsettled by his appearance. “My name is Kevin. I did your pre-event onboarding for Dante’s Abyss’ XIII.”

Rogue pursed her lips as she tried to recall. After a moment, she grinned a little bit and pointed a finger at him. “The little fella with the tablet computer!”

“In the flesh.”

“Hun,” she remarked. “Yer lookin’ like sumptin’ the dog dug up.”

“We can’t all be pretty as a peach like you,” Kevin replied as the nearby hedgehog rolled his eyes.

“This banter is pointless.” Shadow barked as he took a few steps toward the remnants of the train. “We shouldn’t stay here. We’re in the open.”

Kevin, his focus shifting back to the train, frowned as he realized that it had been torn apart at some point. “Train broke in half?”

“Are you stupid?” Shadow shot back as he pointed a gloved finger toward the rear-most car, which had been cleaved apart at its seams.

Ignoring the smarmy animal, Kevin looked over to Rogue, who had her hands on her hips as she scanned the length of the locomotive. “Are we in the half with the Man in Red?”

“The whatsit?”

“The host.” Kevin stressed as he looked around at the other survivors.

The reply came from Shadow. “He’s not here. Probably in the other train.”

“Damn.”

“I’m sure he’s okay, Sugah,” Rogue shot back as she wrenched open a train door and peered into the car. “No one turned up any dead bodies… ‘cept ya,” she said the last part with a faint smile.

“It means we’re the sideshow,” Kevin answered. “When the plane crashes, you want to be in the half with the host. That’s the part that’s important to the narrative.” He looked up the canyon walls and wondered how many of those dark crevices contained cameras.

“I’m here,” Shadow barked once more as he stalked over to Kevin and glared up at the zombie. “That makes this the important part of this heap of junk.”

Kevin, fighting the urge to pat the scowling hedgehog on the top of his spikey, furry head, opted to turn and shamble his way to the train. “We should try and find supplies. I agree with our little friend here in that we shouldn’t … dally.”

“Love the way ya think,” Rogue shouted from inside the train.

Squad: Kevin, Rogue, Shadow
Location: Inside and around the wreckage of the cabin

Current Actions: Going through the wrecked train for any useful supplies or clues left behind.

 

[Rogue]

"Useless, trash and junk besides!"

Ah dig through the gutted out train car with less and less expectations of finding anything useful. the booths were empty of anything ah could consider in the realm useful. This was a lousy start to our toil, and it didn't help that ah was feelin' strange, a weird sort of itch all over, like ever since the crash I was having one giant case of Deja vu. It wasn't a good sign to be in my own head this early on. There were too many hidden cards to be doing any sort of counting yet, Ah needed to be nimble an' fast on the reactions, not distracted.

Irritated, ah toss a chunk of splintered wood off to the side. It doesn't even make a satisfying sound, just lands in the snow near the bar with a quiet crunch. The dead paper-pusher's head is just barely visible behind the edge of the bar, broken bottles and booze-stained snow littered the area, but he didn't seem to be finding anything more than ah was. The black-furred critter was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, head bowed with his eyes closed and a scowl on his face. Very helpful.

"And just what is it you are hoping to discover amidst this twisted rot of metal?" The hedgehog's tone is dripping with incredulous disdain, "Are you expecting that a train cart to dispense drinks would also be holding weapons as well?"

Ah give a defeated sigh, "No, ah suppose that part was wishful thinking, though ah'd feel like it's a rough sort of death game that's expecting us to beat each other to death with our bare hands. To tell it straight ah'm looking for warmer clothes. We'll freeze in that storm, quick as a glass of water in the artic."

The hedgehog scoffs.

"I am the ultimate lifeform. Do you think the ultimate lifeform would freeze to its death?"

"Well that's cheery for you sugah, but the rest of us that ain't so special need to worry about keeping our body heat!"

There's an awkward sort of cough as Kevin stick his head up from behind the counter.

"Well, I'm not too sure that I would freeze actually, given that I'm, you know..."

My eyes roll practically of their own accord.

"So ah'm the odd lady out then? Fine. Ah'm not about to be the weak link that slows people down!"

Ah grab a jagged bit of wood and stab it into one of the cushions. Dragging the splinter down ah carve a good slice in the vinyl, wool spilling out of the hole. Undignified to be sure, but it was better than nothing. Ah start to scoop the wool up in handfuls, stuffing it under my shirt to act like a makeshift sorta lining. My headache is getting worse now. There's a pounding, clanging noise, like a factory's hanging out right inside my ears. Ah stand up, feeling a bit like a pillow that's sprouted limbs and a head. Ah turn to the other two, fixing them with a scowl.

"Say anything an' you'll catch a fist to the kisser. There's nothin' here worth the time to dig up, We should get moving. Ah'd say up into the caves. Don't fancy running into anything that would be wandering about in a storm like this."

"Fair enough." Kevin agrees, "Assuming it wasn't dumb luck that landed us down here, there should be something worth seeing in there. There's a decent chance it turns out to be the lair of some monster that we'll find later, but it might also be a way out of the canyon."

Shadow glances away with a small huff but nods in agreement.

"Good enough for me then." Ah shoulder my survival bag and start to march through the snow towards one of the cliff walls. "Hope you boys aren't adverse to a little spot of climbing!"

"Please." Shadow wastes no time, moving up the cliffside so fast he's practically a blur. In the time it takes Kevin an' ah to get to the edge of the cliff he's already at the top, turning to look down at us.

"...Right." Ah grunt, and the two of us start to follow a bit more carefully.

Party: Kevin, Rogue, Shadow
Location: Cabin crash site -> Western Caves
Action: climbing the cliff to enter the cave mouth in the western side of the canyon.

 

[Gizmo Gear]

Travis unfortunately couldn’t find anything of use. Not a scrap of food that hasn’t been flung around or already a stain on the floor/walls. There are not even any mixed nuts from the bar they can use. Then he got out to hear someone get punched he looked out to see a big pink pain in the ass. One he is too familiar with.

Now Travis Touchdown respects Toriyama as an artist but hasn’t gotten through Dragon Ball due to some of the more problematic moments. So he never watched the full series but he knows well enough that this guy is trouble. And he wasn’t the redeemed version either cause he just out of nowhere punched a dude dead for no reason.

He then approaches Majima.

“Can you tell me how the train crashed?” Travis asked.

“The storm got out of control, I had to drift the train to slow it down as best as I could,” Majima said.

“Hey don’t sweat it, you tried your best that’s all we can ask as a conductor. After all without you we would be all dead,” Travis said.

“Hey, why are you being so kind to me anyway?” Majima asked.

“Let’s just say I know of you and your exploits and you’re a man worthy of my respect. Travis Touchdown,” Travis said offering a handshake.

Majima takes out his hand and grabs Travis’s.

“Goro Majima,” he says back.

Travis then looked around and did a headcount, and noticed an alarming number of missing people. Including the nice lady who offered him a drink at the bar. Of course, they split up. In this type of horror movie cliche scenario, they split up from the rest of the group. At least their numbers aren’t too thin but still.

And he was busy searching for the train so he is not sure if they went to the caves on the cliffs or the emergency lights. He then climbs up on top of the train wreckage. And he faces everyone in the group. Possibly the worst person to act as the team leader but better than no one.

“Alright listen up, apparently some people thought it was a good idea to leave without telling anyone where they’re going. Staying here is not a viable option. Either the weather kills us or that train above us falls and crushes us all. So I say we put it to a vote, either we go to the caves on the cliffs, or we go south to where those lights are shining.” Travis said.

“Personally, I would go South, those lights probably lead to somewhere that can shelter us from this storm. I am not against democracy and willing to listen to what you all have to say so vote.” Travis said.

He then pointed towards Majin Buu

“And you, you better come along with us as well. Who knows what we’re dealing with? We’re probably in for a Hell of a time no matter which option we take. So is everyone with me so far?” Travis asked.

Majima steps forward to speak.

"I also think we should go south," Majima said.

He then waited for everyone else's responses.

Party: Travis Touchdown, Majima
Location: Cabin crash site
Focus: 1/1
Action: Voting for where to go next. 2 votes for South to emergency lights.
Inventory: Full Green Mode 1 use

 

[Ridley]

Flak was beyond furious as he pulled himself out of the snow, popping out of a snow dune with a brief snow beard as he gave an animalistic growl.

“I liked that Train! I liked the milkshakes on that train! I was gonna steal that Train when we were done here! Because it was a great fubbing train! So whatever numbnuts out there decided to go ahead and break my train is about to find out how a real man breaks things! Grahhhhhh!”

The barbaric brute stepped up onto his feet while pounding his chest furiously like a gorilla, Full of rage.

“And why the heck didn’t anyone tell me to pack a scarf! My chin’s gettin’ cold! This trip’s way worse than last Deathgame!”

Animalistically, the Brute looked around, trying to find someone to vent his rage on. Instead, he saw Elise and a dead guy, the woman looking distraught. And Elise just didn’t feel too punchable to him as a friend of Shinku’s.


“Grr…”

Flak just walked over to Elise. “Looks like you made it out in one piece. Where’s the rest?”

Elise looked up to him brightly. “Flak! You’re alright! I was just looking for him myself.”

Flak just nodded. “I got stuck in the snow. But there ain’t no snow stronger than me!”

Elise’s response was a look of concern, followed by a nod. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Please be careful, though!”

Flak just grumbled something incoherently in response, before looking around. “Where is the big king guy anyways! Or at least his cheese. I’m hungry as hell!”

“Over here.” A gritty, weather-worn voice spoke up. “Looks like you survived too.” The king noticed with a bored tone. His hands held a makeshift spear - some wood that survived the crash, held together with leather Flak didn’t know how he found and some spare metal from the crash. He threw one to Elise and the other to Flak.

“Heh. Pokey-pokey!” Flak called out, as he took the weapon. “Guess it’s better than nothin’, least the nothin’ I got without popping off my collar.” Flak rambled, testing the weapon with a few experimental stabs in the air.

“...You clearly lack the skill with the weapon of a trained soldier. But we don’t have the time to correct that. Staying out in the cold will lead to our death, by wolves, hunger or chill.” Leonidas spoke up, placing a hand to his chin as he looked around. “And I doubt there’s much more to scavenge from these cars.”

“Caves!” Flak yelled out. “I vote caves!”

Elise and Leonidas both looked straight at him, as the woman spoke up.

“Caves? I actually noticed a few of the others going that way, ignoring the emergency lights. Do you think they’re more survivable?”

Flak shook his head. “Nah! There’s going to be monsters or some crap there, probably. Definitely less hospitable than whatever we’re supposed to go to is.”

Elise’s look turned to confusion, as did the King’s, though the flash of amusement in his smile seemed to indicate he was more curious than bothered.

Flak just looked to the two of them as though he’d said the most obvious thing in the world. “...It’s called deathgame! Not try and stay alive game! How’m I supposed to enjoy my fun vacation where I get to beat the stuffin’ out of weird monsters and weirder people if I don’t go in the direction of the danger at least a little!” The brute called out. “If we go towards the emergency lights, mark my words, there’s going to be talky stuff! If we go into the caves, if this goes like I think it’s s’posed ta, We’ll go in, fight some cool things, take their stuff, and come out with some cool scars! Or as women!”

Flak looked over to Elise. “...Oh hey! you’re already ahead of the competition! Good job! Just be careful with the fire breath!”

Elise opened her mouth to say something, the sheer incomprehensibility of the statement taking the air from her lungs briefly as she held up a finger to try and ask what Flak meant… and allowed it to hang, instead, thinking better of it.

Leonidas just gave a full-throated laugh. “You talk in a strange manner, friend, but that is an answer worthy of a spartan! We do not hide from our enemies, we meet them head-on! Fine then, I accept your proposal! We go together!”

Perfect! Now let’s get going! My jeans are getting starchy!” Flak spoke up, already bounding through the snow and towards the cave with a limber step more befitting of a rabbit than a man.

party: Flak, Leonidas, Elise
location: Cabin Crash site
Action: CAVE HO!
Focus: 5/5
Inventory:
Makeshift spears
Black Hole Belt

 

[John Connor]

The King of the Spartans nodded “It’s better than nothing right now and if we run into a food source, we can make minced meat from it.”

He turned from Flak and Elise for a second and frowned, watching Travis trying and almost failing to hold the remaining group together.

Αυτό δεν θα τελειώσει καλά (This won’t end well.)

He could at least feel an air of tension around Travis, deciding to trust the weird suited man over him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, starting to make his way toward the caves with Elise and Flak, silently trusting the Gods would look over the rest of the train. But he could do nothing more for the group himself and resigned to the fact these three had to survive.

His Spartan brethren depended on him to return home.

But no matter how much he longed to protect, these three relied on each other and himself to survive.

He almost imagined Elise and Flak as Spartans themselves with weight on their shoulders.

Elise with the strength and poise of someone of his wife’s demeanor and Flak, a big Spartan with muscles and training almost befitting the King himself.
This time, Leonidas had to smile lightly in spite of different faces, different places.

Funny how times change and you could think of the two with you with the unity of a Spartan Phalanx.

Where others thought he made a mistake of his own, he saw this group as truly someone else.

With that, the self proclaimed God King took the risk with his new allies up the hill toward the caves.

He held everything in his hand, both makeshift spear and Asistis shield on his back, using his own Spartan training to climb the hill. No snow was going to stop this King from achieving greatness.


The cold didn’t matter to the fearless Spartan leader now as Flak and Leonidas used whatever they had to climb the caves. Elise followed them with a fierce determination.

Who knows,maybe they’d find others from the train.

For here there was no war, no battlefield but another challenge that laid ahead.

Flak was still goofy while trying to make the climb as lighthearted as possible. “Wonder who and what we’d find up there, guys?”

Taking a cold breath, Leonidas sighed as he hoped everyone in his group made it up the cliff toward the caves. Moving toward the caves, Leonidas kept quiet as he heard muttering and voices from what appeared to be other survivors from the train.

“... Flak, Elise, there are others up here!”

“We should rest for now, warm up and try to get to know each other before we move out.”

Eying the cave entrance, he nodded to Elise and Flak.

Leonidas eyed the cave, finding a place to sit for now.

He swore he could hear distinct voices of Shadow, the gruff “Ultimate Lifeform” and Rogue, the strange Southern accent woman and a few others.

Were they too late to follow them?

Flak, Leonidas, Elise
Location: Cabin Crash Site>>> Toward the caves
Focus: 3/3
Inventory:
Makeshift Spears
Astis Shield

 

[The Man in Red]

Persons Present/Remaining:
Majima
Travis Touchdown
Buu
3 generic Carnivale staff members

Overhead, at the top of the canyon, the howling of the wind had grown steadily fiercer over the passing few hours. No snow drifted down into the relative shelter of the frozen cliff walls any longer, at least for the moment. The winds had whipped the air into a nearly solid sheet of white and raging lightning so fierce that nothing could break way to fall down into the canyon, but there was unsettling cracking and splintering noises echoing from higher up, flakes and chunks of ice occasionally breaking away from the ledges overhead.

"Man, if we stick around here much longer, the whole damn place is gonna come down on top of us," Majima grumbled, reluctantly slipping his conductor's jacket back on. If nothing else, it was warmer than his normal duds, though it was about as fashionable as a dead fish if you asked him.

"Alright, tons of fun," Travis spoke up again, shifting his shades as he stared pointedly at Buu. "What's it gonna be? You with us or not?"

Buu just planted his hands petulantly on his hips, his eyes pressed firmly closed as he stared right back with a frown. "Buu not like way you talk!" he snapped. "Maybe Buu just kill you now!"

This drew a series of quite undignified, but not unreasonable, murmurs of distress from the remaining three staff members of this entire affair as they quickly shuffled back to stand well clear of Travis. "Dude, hubba bubba over there punched Rich so hard his face wasn't a face anymore," one whispered. "We are not getting involved with that."

Majima slapped a hand to his face, dragging it down in exasperation. "Oi, oi, oi....c'mon now." He stepped up between the man-child and the child-man, looking from one to the other with a disgruntled grimace. "If y'all are gonna thrown down, put the brakes on for just a second here, okay? I'm as down to bust some kneecaps as anyone else, but let's try and get somewhere outta hell's refrigerator first, why don't we?" He sidled over and nudged Buu in the side. "'Sides. You don't wanna fight anybody while they're all chattering and about to fall over from cold, do ya, big guy? Wouldn't really be any fun if they can't fight back!"

Jay and Civic, y'all are both welcome to do or go wherever you'd like, just lemme know what your plans are.

 

[Gizmo Gear]

And with that, everyone seems to flock to the former Death Game champion's Flak side. Sure he weirdly made some amount of sense. Though he's surprised how so many of them decided to go with him. Now they were split even further than they were before and worse left at the mercy of Buu. This day just keeps getting better.

In his frustration, he let that tons of fun comment slip, and now Buu is angry. Majima luckily manages to make a convincing argument that Travis would support.

"Yeah you may be able to be fine in this cold storm but we're not. If you want to fight us you would want to do so at our best. Besides tons of fun was meant to be a compliment cause you're a fun guy and all" Travis bullshitted.

He really hoped Buu was dumb enough to fall for that. And with the storm raging and how far the lights seemed to be. It seems that the caves are the best option since everyone is going there. The quicker they can get to everyone else the better. He then got down from the top of the train.

"Alright new plan, we're going to follow everyone else into the caves since apparently the lights to civilization are too good for them. The quicker we can reunite with them the better so haul your asses and follow me. I'll lead the way using my Beam Katana as a light." Travis said.

And with that, he marched his way up to the caves above specifically the one Flak and his group went through. Hopefully, Majima and the others will follow him this time. Otherwise, he'd look like an idiot all by himself.
The path was indeed a perilous one. One slip and they could find their way back to the bottom.

Travis wasn’t worried about himself he’s taken worse hits before but he was worried about the normal people with them. Majima comes to Travis’s side to whisper to him. Making sure Buu was out of earshot.

“Hey, are you sure we should have that guy following us? Can’t we just ditch him?” Majima said.

“If we ditched him that would just piss him off and he’d chase after us to kill us. Plus if worse comes to worse he’d make a great meat shield to protect us from whatever life throws our way,” Travis said.

Majima agreed that Buu was strong and could be useful in protecting them from something just as bad if not worse. For how long would Buu do that before getting bored is another question. While scaling the mountain Travis thinks of the other group, particularly Rebecca Chambers and Holmes. The fact that they are stuck with that stitches guy might mean serious trouble for them.

Travis could swear he also smelled the scent of blood on the dude. Like he killed someone very recently. Better to worry about themselves for now since they were at the mercy of someone whose probably worse than Frankenstein’s Mistake. The big pink powerhouse could also turn on them for shits and giggles when they least suspect it. It's a good thing he has a limiter collar on, but the question is just how much of his power is limited.

Party: Travis Touchdown, Majima, 3 Carnival Staff Members, and Buu
Location: Cabin crash site and moving to the caves Flak and friends went to
Focus: 1/1
Action: Moving on up
Inventory: Full Green Mode 1 use