DGS4 Phase 2-8 -- The Caverns

[Travis Touchdown]

Travis has been through a lot of shit and pain in the past. Electrocuted, shot at, sliced, blown up by mines and grenades, and despite all of that he was able to come out somewhat intact. Yet now he’s not this story's main character, and that comes with consequences. Consequences such as getting your arm blown off and a broken leg. This is the worst pain he has ever felt in his life. Still, he hobbled along thanks to Leonidas's help carrying him forward.

Majima looked at Travis’ broken body. And couldn’t help but be curious about what exactly he faced to mess him up so much.

“So what exactly was it that you ran into?” Majima asked.

“Well the best I could describe her was a gothic Amazon barbarian woman with a giant axe dressed like a Valkyrie.” Travis described.

“Dressed like a Valkyrie you say? In my experience, they are not to be trifled with,” Leonidas said.

“So how big are talking exactly?” Majima asked.

“Probably close to ten feet tall but she was fast despite her size. I managed to bury her in rubble and pin her down but she threw an axe at me while I was retreating and well that’s why I got messed up,” Travis said.

Majima then went wide-eyed. That was not great news.

“So you mean to tell me that thing is still alive?” Majima nervously asked.

“Possibly, which is why we need to haul ass and get out of this cavern before she catches up,” Travis said.

And with that, the group began to move even faster upon learning this terrifying information. Not wanting to wait for Subject E to catch up. Still, Travis couldn’t help but dwell on what he faced. What he faced was once human. Altered to the point she was nothing more than a mindless beast.

She probably once had a name, a life, a family. All that was taken away from her. And for what? Just to be an obstacle in a sick and twisted game for other people’s amusement. One that’s being televised across the galaxy?

“I dunno how I am going to do it but I am going to punch that smug mask-wearing mofo in the face and burn this whole facility down and end these Death Games once and for all,” Travis thought.

As he was hopping along with one leg while Leonidas was carrying him. He found himself more determined than ever to see this game through but with a new purpose. This just wasn’t about himself or winning anymore. Still, though he can’t help but feel like he’s a liability to these people now. With a broken leg and one arm, he might as well be a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, which in this case might be literal.

He remembered that woman he met Rebecca Chambers who said she was a doctor. Hopefully, they can meet up with her soon. Maybe some medical attention is just what he needs so he isn’t useless. Unless of course one of the Carnivale employees happened to have a medkit or anything. He remembered those strange pills that came with the survival gear but he wasn't sure if he was willing to risk taking one of them considering one of them could have been a cyanide pill.

Maybe he can ask the employees.

"Hey, you guys work for that masked bastard, what do the black and white pills do?" Travis asked them.

Party: Travis Touchdown, Leonidas, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Moving with the group. Thinking about things. And asking the employees on what the pills do.
Focus: 1/1
Inventory: Survival Gear

 

[Ridley]

Flak gave a sigh as the run continued, and the group found themselves standing in a new area. Leonidas’s “oomph” had disappeared, but the idea of their current hunter catching up wasn’t a great one either. Assuming Travis hadn’t taken the big scary thing down with something Flak hadn’t seen coming, but with how much heat that thing was packing there wasn’t a man in his group he saw coming out ahead in a toe to toe there.

Though - a tank, that could’ve done it. Or like, a bomber. Maybe a good set of anti-air guns…

“...or maybe like, a really big truck…” Flak mumbled aloud, getting side-eyed from the japanese guy - wait a minute.

“...Think I remember ya.” Flak spoke up after a moment, as he gets a good look at the guy - eyepatch, shirtless in direct defiance of everyone else’s winter clothing, Wiry - like a really big kitty cat. Cool tats too.


The guy looked Flak up and down and finally spoke up. “Oh yeah, you were there last year. Pillow fight guy, right? Name’s Majima.”

Flak just gave a prideful nod. “Flak. And yeah. I captured the hell out that piller fort!”

Something flashed in Majima’s eyes at that, but Flak couldn’t get anything out of that given how flashy everything else about Majima was.

Leonidas spoke up at this. “I have caught my breath! We should get moving before the enemy catches theirs!”

One of the carnivale employees under Flak’s shoulders spoke up. “Yeah, I’m not about to go get myself murdered by whoever that is. And if the assassin caught up to us, it can’t be that far behi-”

A loud roar shook the earth under the metal beneath their feet, as the ground quaked with it’s raw power, vibrating Flak’s teeth in their sockets.

Flak tried to scratch his chin, but the protesting of these dang carnivalers simply made it too hard as he considered the options, so he opted for giving out a very smart sounding

“Hmmm!! HmmmMMM!”
..But where the hell do we go? We keep running into turrets and whatevers, and none of ‘em are friendly! Leonidas doesn’t have his god-juice, Travis is looking like my brother after that trip to the owlery, and It’s hard to fight with this many dudes under my arms.”

“Then put us down!”

“No! Then I’d have to pick you back up later!”

Majima’s thoughts turned to confusion, then to acceptance, as Leonidas simply harrumphed.

“But the point is I don’t know where-”

Another Roars hook the metal of the small Hub they were in, causing the gratings in the room to the right to shudder and shake.

“...Okay, I got an idea.”

Elena spoke up before Flak could get his word out. “...are you Sure, Flak?” She asked, looking a mixture of concern and very amused.

“So hear me out!” Flak would say, as Leonidas, knowing Flak best of those assembled, started to get the hint.

“I don’t think this is wise, Flak.”

“Hear me out! Hear me out!” Flak spoke up, looking to the rest of them with silence for a second, as the remainder of the employees looked up in a mixture of irritation, and fear that they would be the next to be claimed as Flak’s hood ornament.

“...Maybe, maybe, it’s friendly!”

Travis snorted, pushing a hand against his nose as he choked down derision. “...maybe it’s friendly?!”

“...You still want to go after the noise?!” Majima asked, looking him dead in the eyes.

“I want to find out if, Maybe, It’s friendly! And see if it’ll eat this other thing for us!” Flak insisted, jiggling his Carnivalers.

The collected sighs and “ughs” from the room were palpable, as were the forehead slappings going on.

“So hear me out!” Flak Insists, a tinge of anger filling his voice. “The big thing that makes the big noise is much harder to move! That’s how logistics works!”

Flak began to pace as he spoke. “Which means he’s either supposed to be here because the Big Red man put him here! Or! He’s supposed to be here because he lives here!”

Leonidas looked up, speaking with intelligence. “I am sure the wolves here are also supposed to be here, Flak. this is their hunting grounds. But they view us as prey, as well, and to them, that is natural.”

Flak just gives a shake. “Listen, I’m real Edjamacated in Birology! Lash got me to watch animal planet sometimes! And When it comes to real big things, people ain’t food! We taste terrible! So worst comes to worst it’s probably not gonna eat us! We aren’t nutritious and we’re too small anyways! So the giant monster is probably friendly. And wherever it is it’s not getting attacked by no stealthy scary psycho killer! Better yet, it might even be linked to where we was supposed to go on the train! And if it’s bringing us to the normal death island, that’s hella good!”

“Why is that?” Leonidas spoke up, now interested, though Majima seemed to follow Flak’s train of thought.

“...Dunno how they were doing weapons this year, but if there’s any pending deliveries or whatever… maybe we can find ‘em somewhere along the way!” Flak volunteers.

Majima hears the plan, thinking on it for a moment. “...This entire plan sounds completely insane. I’m in!”

Flak gave a grin. “Who’s with me?”

One of the employees started to put up his hand, shyly, before Flak started to lumber towards him with the eyes of someone who just got a good pull in a gacha game. Then he lowered it like his hand was on fire! The rest seemed to be some mix of resigned or excited at the prospect.

“Alright, men! Let’s head on down! To Roarin’ gorge!!”

Party: Travis touchdown, Leonidas, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Going farther down to the caverns to whatever Flak calls Roarin' Gorge actually is.
Focus: 5/5
Inventory: survival gear, Makeshift spear, steadily growing map, Haunch of wolf meat, Black Hole Belt

 

[The Man in Red]

Moving with the group. Thinking about things. And asking the employees on what the pills do.

"Oh, um...the pills?" one of the workers stammered, looking decidedly uncomfortable about the prospect. "They were...originally a gimmick from a previous game. The boss presented a choice to a group that was pal-ing around real hard. Bowls full of those things; one type would just kill them on the spot, the other would make them go all psycho murder-rage monster."

"The idea was they'd all die, whether from poison or something, or from tearing each other and themselves apart," another one cut in, adjusting his mask. "But, uh...they turned out to just be a fake. Bowls full of mint and candy and junk. It was a real nasty test he cooked up to see if they were willing to stick together even in a situation like that."

"These, uh...." The first one spoke up again. "....we don't really know if they're...also fake, though. They could be the real deal."

 

[The Man in Red]

As the motley group started forward with a fresh (albeit incredibly insane) new objective in mind, something far behind them in the tunnels let loose a horrific, angry shriek, accompanied by the distant sound of grinding stone.

"Oh, fucking hell," Travis slapped his remaining hand against his face. "Of course. Of course she's still alive! Why would it be any different?!"

Just ahead, the path opened up into a much larger chamber. The air was hazy, rippling and swimming with a shimmering haze of heat and shot through with swirling clouds of smoke and ash, rising up on strong currents from somewhere below. The pathways gave way from solid ones carved and built through the rock to industrial construction, grates and platforms and walkways built out into the void over a gaping chamber, plunging who could see how far down to glowing pools of magma below.

The sound of machinery at work was deafening, and shook the entire chamber, making any loose bit of anything rattle ominously and in a manner most unsettling. Said machinery lined the walls, massive banks and rows of holding tanks, pipes plunging down into the molten earth below, and snaking further up the walls to whatever lay above. There were other things about, heat-resistant terminals and computers for monitoring something, no doubt, along with stacks upon stacks and rows upon rows of other machinery, storage containers, and who knew what else.

On the far side, there was a large industrial looking elevator and lift, though...the platform was nowhere in sight, likely sitting on whatever floor far above it connected to.

The more pressing element of the situation at hand, however, was the absolutely massive behemoth of a creature hunkered down in an alcove smashed out of the rock. Covered in scales of a deep emerald that reflected and shone in the light suffusing the chamber, and even curled in on itself in a manner not unlike a giant cat, its size was gargantuan, big enough to make any one of the interloping party look like nothing more than a mouse.

"Do you think that thing is the source of all the noise we've been hearing down here?" Leonidas grunted, eyeing the thing warily.

Almost as if in response, the emerald behemoth shuddered, sucking in a deep snoring breath with a flexing of claws the size of swords, and the entire alcove it was in shuddered and trembled, splinters of rock bursting off as the pipes snaking along the wall rattled and banged around.

"Probably," Majima muttered, the mad dog clearly less than enthused about this entire thing. "I'll say though. You were right about one thing. That's a bigass lizard, and it looks like it lives here, for sure."

"And it's definitely big enough to eat the other thing chasin' us!" Flak finished.

 

[Ridley]

Flak hadn’t quite thought this part of the plan through - this part would just fall into place, he was pretty sure. At least, why wouldn’t it?

…Well, standing in front of the big green thing, it felt kinda off at the moment, as he walked forward, holding all the meat his men (and woman) had put together… which was a hell of a pain to balance on the employees under his arms.

“Alright, I’m gonna have to put ya down here in case I need to get to wrasslin’ a lizard.” Flak told the carnivalers beneath him, to the cries of “oh thank god!” and the immediate squirming.

“Hehe! That tickles!” The brute said aloud, before dropping the employees firmly on their asses.

Flak didn’t look up, due to his spiky helmet, but addressed Elena all the same. “...and my shoulders are gonna need a couple minutes rest, Kiddo.”

“Darnit!” Elena muttered, but she hopped off without any complaint as Flak stepped forward.

Amidst the terminals and corridors, the beast lay, snoring, sleeping.

Flak hoped this would work, as he stood in front of the great beast, and threw the meat forward now with a resounding ‘plop’. He wasn’t about to hand feed something with that many teeth. Or that little worry about his fingies.

“Alright, big guy! I’m Flak! Big ol’ friend-shaped guy. I wanna make friends and give ya food, but there’s someone else comin’, and they ain’t so nice, so I’m a little strapped for time. S’why I’m waking ya up from your nap, since otherwise, I wouldn’t interrupt someone sleepin’ so peaceful! How about ya come and be friendsies?” Flak asked, standing in front of the Emerald behemoth.

The response was wary, growling, as one eye finally snapped open, and Flak… started to reconsider his idea.

“...I give good hugs too! Well-trained!”

“You Moron! You tellin’ me this is the best you got for this after draggin’ us all the way out here? You’re damn lucky I came prepared!”

Flak turned around, about ready to lay some fists on the dissenter within the ranks as he saw Majima stepping forward, and some strange equipment set up around him. A portable screen, a couple microphones…

Music began to blast, as Travis and Leonidas both gaped for different reasons - for Leonidas, his surprise at a mechanical instrument. For Travis, his complete and utter loss as to what the plot even was now.

“Just follow my lead!”

Music started up, leaving everyone bewildered as Majima stood ahead of the group, microphone in hand.

“Kuso Mitei e na jinsei…
Zetsubou ni Zetsubou wo Kasanete iku teru…”


The song picked up, as some of the employees blinked, some visibly panicking, others at this point struck with numbness as the blonde Flak had previously picked up just sighed and leaned back against a wall.

“We’re all going to die.”

“Boys and Girls Yo!”

The screen display was working, as Flak looked to Majima, then the machine, then the monster ahead of them, who for the moment just seemed… entirely confused.

A microphone was placed in his hands, as Majima glared as hard as he could into Flak’s goggled eyes, a challenge - one of singing, rather than combat, but one just as serious as any duel.

One of the employees barked up. “Dude, have you seen this guy?! No way he’s able to sing.”

Travis put up his one good arm. “No worries, I can sub in-ack!” The Assassin whined, stumbling as Leonidas’s arm came behind him, and stopped a nasty fall.

Flak didn’t pay any attention to this, of course. Flak simply snatched the microphone, and took a deep breath, a grin slowly coming to life as he understood what this guy was doing.

Yellow comet music wasn’t normally his style, but hell, it was some rockin’ beats!

“Ore wa Ichinenjuu! Ore Jishin ni zetsubouchuu!
Go ri mu Chuu wo Keizokuchuu!”

Flak’s voice rang out with none of it’s usual grit or swagger, but at it’s absolute deepest limits, the power in his voice ringing out with an unusual clarity.

“What the fuck?!”

“He’s good!”

“Where are we?!”

Leonidas smiled amidst the clamor. This plan was unusual - ridiculous, even - but he’d known the tales of many greeks using music to conquer when force failed. Majima was no Jason and Flak was no Appolo, but the plan did made a crazy sort of sense.

“...they’re both good. Very, very good.” Leonidas spoke up.

The music continued blaring as the two continued to sing.

“Kimi wa do i ki run da!” Flak blared out.

“Hey boy! Get up Fuckers!” Majima sang with. The two’s synchronicity wasn’t perfect, but Majima was a skilled hand, and Flak was far from a novice himself - so it was no big task for the Mad Dog of Shimano to synchronize with the oaf.

“Where’d he learn to do this anyways?” Travis spoke up, which just got a giggle from Elena.

“Oh, he has a bunch of sisters, and they all love Karaoke. Flak’s a softie when it comes to girls.” She explains with a smirk, as they continue to sing.

“Do you think this plan will work?” Leonidas eventually asked the young girl.

“Oh, not a clue! But it’s a good performance, don’t you think?” Elena asked with an ever widening smile.

“Jonetsu no akuseri fumikonde”

“Pride! Pride! Pride! Pride!”

Travis just gave a wistful sigh. “...At least I’m about to die to a kickin’ soundtrack. Could be a hell of a lot worse."

 

[John Connor]

Looks like everyone was in between a rock and a hard place…

Leonidas looked frustrated and noticed the elevator in the far place “Anyone mind telling me what the hell is an elevator?!”

An employee looked gobsmacked that the ancient man had no idea what an elevator is “Now’s not the time, but uh it’s a series of levers that takes people up and down.”

Leonidas sighed “Better. But how the hell do we get there from here?”

The roar from behind them seemed to get closer.

But something was weird.

The employees and everyone just literally seemed to stop for an impromptu karaoke session in a foreign language.

“Oh for the love of the gods!” Leonidas could of facepalmed at that very moment.

Leonidas said something that probably could equate to a record scratch. “What the hell is .. karaoke?”

The Greeks had their music, but never like this.

The monsters seemed utterly distracted at least, right?

Flak looked up singing more of the delightfully interesting karaoke song.

Leonidas was conflicted, should he take advantage of the distraction while the group had fun with karaoke or should he wait?

Travis sighed “Oh come on, Leo, give us time to relax. We haven’t had a good time .”

Leonidas' gaze hardened as he gritted his teeth as he searched the area for a walkway to the elevator. But things couldn’t be that easy.

Leonidas wanted to get the hell out of here but he couldn’t yet he couldn’t risk the monsters not being distracted.

The seasoned warrior King growled, not sure what compelled him to do such a thing. “Fuck, why am I doing this.... FINE! Give me that thing.”

The duo suddenly became a trio and therefore could become some sort of rock band.

“Ares, whatever the hell you are doing out there, hope to hell this works.”

The King sighed, reluctant to embarrass himself to live but he’d do it just because the others were up there.

The employees were cheering, rather confused but decided to play along.

Leonidas just thought this karaoke was some callout song to distract, not the other way around.

But the second the song ends, all of them need to be gone and toward the path.

A war chant wouldn’t be necessary, he had hoped to get everyone across by then.

Elena grinned, the adrenaline still coursing through her veins. "Well, when in doubt, rock out, right?"

Flak raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips. "I must say, Leonidas, you have quite the talent for metal Spartan chants."

Leonidas blinked, a temporary lapse of memory loss. “What Spartan metal chants?”

An employee groaned and sighed “Well, uh never mind.”

Leonidas or someone else would have to help Travis go across the bridge. Everyone was already steps ahead and the King barked out more orders “Keep moving. Keep the monsters two steps behind.”

Leonidas muttered in Greek, mostly English once he reached the other side with Travis. “Let’s… never do that again.”

The Yazuka rolled his eyes “But hey, you sing pretty well too, for a warrior.”

Leonidas gave a gruff chuckle, a rare display of amusement amidst the chaos surrounding them. "I prefer battle cries over ballads, but I suppose it did the trick this time."

Party: Leonidas, Travis touchdown, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Singing Karaoke, and then using the distraction to run to the elevator, hoping to hell it comes down in time.
Focus: 3/3
Inventory: survival gear, other things, Multi-use Astis Shield

 

[The Man in Red]

The noise and music had managed to awaken the sleeping beast well and truly. Slowly, it unfolded, ponderously and with much creaking and cracking of stone. Emerald scales shone in the glow of boiling magma, and ivory-white claws and teeth glimmered wickedly as a low, snarling hiss escaped its maw. It blinked once, eyes spreading wide to reveal angry bloodshot, golden-yellow eyes with pupils slit to a razor thin line.

Even someone with only a basic understanding of an animal's body language would be able to tell you: it was absolutely pissed off.

As the group all turned tail and ran for the elevator, it let loose a quite literally earth-shaking roar, sending out plumes of scalding steam thick enough to blast chunks out of the rock and hot enough to turn those chunks into half-melted slag as they burst in every which way. Methodically, the creature undulated and half-slithered half-crawled its way out of the alcove in which it laired, sinuously weaving among the rocky outcroppings and ledges and pipes with a practiced ease. Steam flared and hissed from its nostrils and mouth as it rushed after the intruding gang of noisemakers in its lair.

That was when Subject E made her return, barging through the tunnels leading into the chamber and stomping one boot down, with a shrieking yell of challenge of her own. It made several of the carnivale workers flinch and wail in despair, as they shouted and cried about how "now there's two of them!" and "we're all going to die, aren't we?"

Elena was completely unperturbed as she skipped along with the others, smiling blithely. "They're not going to fight each other, you know," she announced in an ever so slightly sing-song manner. "But as long as we don't do anything stupid, only a few of the redshirts will die."

"What the fuck?" Travis seethed through clenched teeth, whether out of anger or because of his grisly injuries. "How can you just say that like it's—"

Elena's eyes shone brightly as she slowly turned to look up at the assassin. "Don't make me break your other leg. Acting like a self-righteous jerk counts as 'something stupid'." All the childishness and humor was gone from her voice, as if she had suddenly aged thirty years.

In spite of himself, Travis recoiled slightly, reaching up to adjust his glasses with fumbling fingers. "Yeah, whatever....damn creepy-ass kids...."

"As long as we're on the same page!" she said, her cheery demeanor returning instantly, as if a switch were flipped.

The rampage of the steaming dragon reached the platform they were on, and almost instantly a set of claws the size of broadswords swept about in an emerald blur and impaled one of the carnivale staff, curling in to wrap the poor man into a bone-crunching grasp and drag him back from the rest of the group with a bloody scream.

They stumbled and ran across the bridge to the elevator, Flak practically punching the elevator's call button as he reached it. "Okay, now all we gotta do is hang tight here for a minute until the elevator shows up!"

"We really shoulda sent somebody over here to get this thing started down before we started the racket," Majima grumbled. "I know it was my bright idea, but sheesh....talk about bad timing!"

Subject E came crashing down on one side of the landing, as the dragon slowly lumbered toward the bridge, puffing steam and smoke from its jaws. With a grimace, Majima and Leonidas shared a brief look.

"Try not to die too quick, would ya, old man?" the mad dog snarled as he whipped out a dagger from behind his back. "We gotta buy these idiots at least a little time."

"Ha! Speak for yourself, cyclops!" Leonidas roared, hefting the shield from his back. "As if a spartan would die before a dog!"

In unison, with a nearly-matched battle yell, the two unlikely allies of circumstance leaped into the fray. Majima practically slid across the platform in a blur toward Subject E, shadowy after images in his wake, as Leonidas thundered forward in a charge against the dragon, his immense shield held up to block the withering torrent of steam blasting his way.

"Is this also 'something stupid', according to you?" Travis snapped, looking down at Elena.

"Oh, this isn't just stupid," she mused. "This is....very, very stupid." She laughed, with genuine amusement. "If they'd fought together, rather than splitting up....they probably could've overwhelmed one of them. But one on one, like this? Their odds aren't very good!"

"C'mon, now! That's lame-o talk!" Flak snorted, stomping up to butt in on the conversation. "Not very good still ain't zero, right? And you can never account for luck on the battlefield!"

"Hmm...." Elena lifted a finger to her chin, as if thinking. "You might be right. It isn't like they're both guaranteed to die....they did at least manage to pick the more favorable matchup, if nothing else. If they can last about, oh...." She tilted her head back, looking up overhead. "....a minute and a half for the elevator to make it down here, we should be able to make it out of here without anyone else dying."

"Then we should help!" Travis snarled, clenching his remaining hand into a fist.

"Not so fast, captain blood loss!" Flak clonked the assassin on the head. "You need to pull back and find a base somewhere to get patched up before you go jumping into the fight again!"

"Tch...." Travis grimaced, clutching at where his arm used to be. "Don't tell me shit I already know."

Anyone who wants to in the group can opt to write for the current confrontation against the dragon and Subject E, or choose not to at their discretion. It will have some impact on the outcome.

 

[Travis Touchdown]

While he had faith in Majima’s plan and enjoyed the live rendition of that song. It seemed to have backfired as they were now pinned against two monsters. And all Travis can do is sit on the sidelines with a broken leg. As he laid against the railing he looked at the various Carnivale Rosa employees that were still with them.

“Hey do any of you redshirts know how to help with a broken leg?” Travis asked.

“I do have some minor medical supplies, I can provide a cast but that’s about it,” one of them said.

After a bit of work, Travis gritted his teeth through the pain. A cast on his leg was made to prevent further damage. Then he felt that he was in pain no more as he saw Elena Rosa holding her hand up towards him before putting it down.

“What was that?” Travis asked.

“What was what?” Elena asked back.

“That, did you just use psychic powers to make my pain go away?” Travis asked.

“I used them to turn off the pain receptors in your brain so you would stop whining like a little bitch but yeah,” Elena said.

“If you had psychic powers how come you didn’t help me with that monster from a while back?!” he angrily questioned.

Elena shrugs.

“I just wanted to ride on Flak’s shoulders,” she answered.

After getting up using his Beam Katana as a crutch/cane he then looks around at everyone. Especially the employees.

“Alright, so how exactly do you deal with the Man in Red’s bullshit? When this guy doesn’t care about the lives of others?” he asked.

“To be fair we are not even supposed to be a part of these games usually the crash was not planned remember?” an employee chimed out.

“Plus he’s my daddy and I asked to be here?” Elena mentioned.

That revelation was certainly shocking to Travis. Not sure if it was because he let his daughter into the Death Games or that that masked bastard lost his virginity. People seem to be drawn to crazy in this dimension or whatever.

“And besides some of us have death insurance so we can probably come back with new bodies or as cyborgs or whatever.” one employee said.

“Yeah death is not that much of an issue in the Crossroads most of the time is it?” another member chimed in.

“I wonder if anyone has ever been like, reincarnated into an animal or another person like one of those isekais.” one more member said.

Travis didn’t know their names but didn’t bother to know or ask because he didn’t want to get too attached to them. Yet they’re still people all the same. He can’t tell if they’re in denial or just at the acceptance part of the grieving stage yet. It’s then he got an idea.

“Hey, Daddy’s Little Girl, can you use your psychic powers to mind control the beast to fight that bitch over there?” Travis asked.

“I probably can but that just depends,” Elena said.

“Depends on what? Even if death doesn’t matter here in this place you don’t want to experience it. Trust me I’ve been dead before it sucks. Not to mention the pain I felt before I died. Don’t you have any sort of self-preservation?” Travis asked.

“What did I tell you about acting like a self-righteous jerk?” Elena noted.

“I am not being self-righteous I am using common sense. How about this, if we all make out of this alive I can share my consolation prize with you, heck help Flak win, and he can give you the grand prize,” Travis said.

“Hmm, no, I’m already rich, I am just here for fun,” Elena said.

It seemed she was hard to budge, but then he had to resort to more humiliating methods. He then goes onto his hands and knees and starts begging harder than he has ever begged for his life. It was demeaning to do this to ask a little girl of all people for help. Yet she’s probably the best chance they got to get out of this alive. Hopefully, it doesn't end up going like Akira though.

Party: Travis Touchdown, Leonidas, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Getting his leg into a cast, and trying to convince Elena Rosa to use her psychic powers to help them.
Focus: 1/1
Inventory: Survival Gear

 

[John Connor]

Goro’s shadow clones were all over the place carrying a purplish aura around his dagger as they separated into two groups, one group playing offense for cutting down Subject E, while the other half played defense with Leonidas.

With Goro’s multiple shadow clones helping each side, the grizzled Spartan used his shield as a deflection as the Spartan and the mad dog did a tag team dance while together. The Yazuka’s demon dagger and Leonidas’ battle skills were useful in a fight.

“YAHAHAHAH!” echoed through the canyons as demon daggers slammed into the dragon over and over, while war cries from the lone Spartan cried out “AWOOOOO!”

If at once, two echoes of the Spartan and the Yazuka mad dog combined into one fierce defensive and offensive combo.

“Leonidas…. SAN! “Wh-?”

“OUWAHHHHH!!!!!”

He squeezed the shark tooth on his necklace.

The clash between Goro's shadow clones and the formidable duo of Subject E and Leonidas intensified as the purplish aura around the demon dagger grew brighter with each strike. The combined force of the Yazuka and the Spartan was a sight to behold, a dance of calculated offense and impenetrable defense.

As Subject E lunged forward with ferocity, Goro's shadow clones swarmed around him like a whirlwind, their movements synchronized in a deadly ballet of blades. Leonidas, with his shield raised high, stood his ground against the onslaught, his war cries reverberating through the canyons like thunder.

In a moment of perfect unity, the Spartan King and the Yazuka mad dog moved as one, their attacks seamlessly merging into a relentless barrage against their formidable opponent. The air crackled with energy as the clash of steel echoed through the canyon, each strike bringing them closer to victory.

And then, in a sudden burst of determination, Leonidas reached for his shark tooth necklace and growled “Let’s show them what a combo of a Yazuka and Spartan can do!”

“Right, Leo-San”

At that moment, Leonidas crouched into a Majima like pose and smirked “Let’s do it! AWOOOOOWH!”

Leonidas sighed “Don’t call me Leo-Chan for crying out loud!”

Majima’s shadow clones were all over, giving Leonidas the boost he needed to read one of his attacks.

They backed up to each other and the Spartan finally lifted his shield yelling “Phalanx Asanatos”

With Goro using the shields as some sort of surfing attack, The clones used Leonidas’s varied attack to appear to surf the shields. The Attack flew hard at the dragon, while one of the Yazuma clones slammed the underbelly of the dragon as he got his chance, as Leonida’s shield were being used by many Yazuma clones as his shield appeared in many different places at once, like a combo aftereffect Goro combo.

It was no Majima/Goro combo, but it gave Leonidas the determination he needed to give the others time.

In a split-second decision, Leonidas yelled, "Goro! Trust me!", as he thrust his shield towards Goro's direction. Without hesitation, Goro leaped onto the shield and propelled himself towards Subject E with an unmatched speed. As the Yazuka soared through the air, his purplish aura intensified, surrounding him in an ethereal glow. With a primal roar, he brought his demon dagger down in a swift and precise strike towards Subject E.

Subject E, caught off guard by the unexpected maneuver, attempted to block the attack with all her might. The clash of their weapons sent shockwaves through the battlefield, shaking the ground they stood upon.

Travis gritted his teeth, this was hard to watch. Why?! Why were they giving them time?”

Flak sighed and blinked “Hold on a second, I’m going to help them.”

With an alert on everyone’s thing, Travis looked over.

Best to keep Majima, his buddy was eliminated away from notice for the time being right?

A yell that sounded like an ape as he bangs his chest “GWAHHHHHHH! Barbaric Blow”!

“What the hell is..”

“Gah, Flak… what are you..”

[Using focus to help Goro with a extremely powerful attack]

Party: Leonidas, Travis Touchdown, Goro, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Helping Goro with the fight then making sure to cause a stir enough to get to the elevator
Focus: 2/3
Inventory: Survival Gear

 

[Ridley]

Flak stepped forward, big feet stamping as he saw the two Leonidas and Majima fighting, giving a frown as he shook the earth but a little, compared to the two titans. They were putting up a fight, but they were still humans, and they were getting tired. The enemy was strong, and surprisingly coordinated, but they lacked something important in any military engagement, and as Flak briefly popped his collar, and black chaos energy burning around him, he announced that fact in one yell.

“Gwahhhhhh! Barbaric Blow!”

Dark energy infused everyone - The employees, Leonidas, Majima, Elena and Travis, as chaotic power infused Leonidas, the man yelling at the top of his lungs as he stabbed his spear into an exposed arm of the Green drake.

And did absolutely no damage, the spear bouncing off like it was made of rubber.

“Ehhh…” Leonidas stuttered.

“Bad roll!” Flak called out, as the emerald beast turned to strike Majima, the man going for a desperate strike to the nose in an attempt to fend the monster off….

Only to feel cartilage breaking behind his surprisingly straight punch, the mad Dog of Shimano staring at his fist and blinking… before grinning.

Flak headed to charge in, before hearing Travis’s groan - not of pain, but of anger.

“Sup dude?” Flak called out, rolling up his sleeves.

“I can’t do a damn thing to fight this with my injuries, but if they go down we’re all dragon chow anyway. I didn’t come here to be a goddamn damsel in distress!”

Flak thought about that for a moment. “Hey, I got an idea. C’mere. Turn on your saber.”

Elena looked to Flak for a moment, and held in a laugh for about 2 seconds before it came out with a high volume and a small amount of spit, putting a hand to her mouth to hold herself in check.

“Boy, that inspires confidence!”

“Man, I’ve taken over entire countries!” Flak yelled, which is also true. “Just trust me on this!”

“Fine. But I’m not doing a piggy-back ride!”

Flak just shook his head. “Come on now, that’d be stupid.” He spoke up, as Travis ignited his saber.

“Good. Now hold it straight up.”

Travis furrowed his brow, but with a sigh, held up the weapon. “Like this.”

Flak suddenly leaped forward and grabbed Travis’s legs. “Perfect!” The Barbarous brute yelled, before he started to swing

“What the hell are you doooiiiiiiing!” Travis yelled, as Flak instantly began rotating straight towards the combat with the beasts ahead, aiming squarely for the green dragon like the world’s stupidest spinning top.

“Look man, it’s fine. I have perfect controooo-whoa-whoa-whoa!”

The dark energy around flak Coalesced, powering up the spin as he went and leaving it far faster and more impactful than it normally would be… leading to the Black Hole titan suddenly leaving the ground, the Momentum enough to cause the two to start hopping. Flak would have stopped, but…

He realized he didn’t think he could anymore, as the vorpal top started spinning violently, shearing through a layer of the cavern as it caught a glancing blow on the Dragon… and then nearly took Leonidas’s head off as the spin kept going.

“Heeeeellp!!” Came the cries from both Travis and Flak, as a blue beam of death flapped around the room. While mostly aimed at Subject E and the Green drake, no one was safe - and while Flak’s allies immediately respected the danger that was presented, the emerald beast howled at Flak, charging immediately at the two… and then Leaping back as a brilliant trail of blood was sprayed from the Katana’s emitter, the Dragon’s scales doing nothing to stop the spin attack as a great wound appeared across it’s chest.

Not mortal, but enough for the Drake to shrink back in terror and howl, and to respect the new hazard that had entered the stage.

“How’d you talk me into this?!” Flak yelled angrily at Travis, who immediately responded with a scream of.

“You asked me to do this, asshole!”

“Don’t throw your History into this, ‘cause I never went to that class!”

“I’m going to die seasick!”

Flak went to reply, before something filled his lungs. “Urp!”

“What the fuck don’t barf!”

“My stomach’s bad with spinning real fast! I get vertigo!”

“Then why did you do this?!”

“Because it’s aweso… ooo… OHHHH!!!” Flak stammered, the noise leading to a loud burpy "Horf!" that sent a projectile of half-digested cheese curds and wine out, coincidentally, straight at Subject E’s surprised Face.

The Berserker was quick to dodge it, wanting nothing to do with the projectile, before a Laser-fired Katana followed, nearly bisecting the subject…

With a low growl, Subject E dodged backwards, avoiding a fatal blow, but a burning trail across her left abdomen marked the near-death experience.

Focus: 4 / 5
Flak has used barbaric blow! All allies may hit for as much as damage 8 with attacks for this set of posts… or as little as damage 0! Enjoy your inconsistent damage buff!
Party: Leonidas, Majima, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Becoming the ultimate Dreidel
Inventory: Black hole belt, survival gear, Makeshift spear, Travis Touchdown, steadily growing map

 

[The Man in Red]

Among all the fracas, Elena hung back with the gaggle of nondescript employees, observing with no small amount of amusement.

"So you said, um....we shouldn't all die now, right?" one of them tentatively spoke up. They had all learned one way or another that despite her childishness, somehow the little tyke just seemed to know things.

"Not all of us!" she responded cheerfully. "If they can pull off a miracle here, then maybe....only one or two. Probably one of them!"

That got all of them to fidgeting nervously as they resumed observing.

"What the—watch it!" With a surprised yowl, Majima slipped into a twirling powerslide, doing a magnificent pirouette on his knees as he involuntarily limboed under the death dreidel Flak and Travis had become. "Can't ya even aim that thing?!"

"I'm doin the best I caaaaaan!" Flak bellowed, his voice wavering and vibrating like he was shouting through a fan.

"We're outta control!" Travis barked afterward, giving way to a groan.

"If we could find some way to send them right into our enemies...." Leonidas growled, quickly backpedaling out of the reach of their careening comrades. "Even just some way to aim it!"

".....aim it?" the mad dog muttered as he regained his footing, squinting his lone eye slightly. The gears were almost visibly turning in his head as some manner of insanity or other was clearly brewing.

"Ooooh," Elena giggled. "He's about to do something very, very stupid. This should be fun!"

"Holy shit!" Majima's cyclopean gaze nearly bugged out, as his face split wide into a manic grin. "I just got a great fuckin' idea!" He backflipped over a sweeping blow of Subject E's axe, twirling back and out of further immediate reach and tucking his dagger back into his belt. "Oi, Leo-san!" he hollered. "Get ready, old man! Just go with the flow!"

"What?!" The spartan king squinted as he swept his shield about to intercept a blistering wall of steam, the enchanted metal holding against it as if it were a waft of warm air. "The hell are you planning now, boy?!"

"Just go with it!" Majima snarled as he sprinted forward. "Get that giant dinner plate of yours ready!"

Without further ado, the mad dog of shimano dropped into a slide, as if he were about to go crashing into home plate....right under the whirling, buzzing arc of Travis's beam katana. One of his polished, almost needle sharp shoes snaked around, hooking around Flak's leg, and then with a wrenching motion that visibly strained every muscle in his body, he grabbed hold of the ground with both hands and used a kick to fling the contestants-turned-beyblade right at Leonidas.

Chomping down into a snarling grin, the spartan king's expression hardened. "I get it now...." he growled, and planted himself firmly before slimming his shield down, the rim of it digging into the ground, and wrenching it back at an angle.

Like a ramp, the whirling blade of death hit the incline and went right up....just as Leonidas lifted it up with the momentum, turning about in place and raising the shield overhead. Like some kind of ridiculous turntable display, the shield spun on Leonidas's upraised arm as Flak and Travis spun atop it, seeming to somehow build up even further momentum.

"Alright! Here's the kicker!" Majima yowled as he sprang up and dashed forward. Purple flame trailed in his wake, shadowy after images trailing behind him, as he leaped up and whirled around in the air, and time seemed to virtually slow down.

E S S E N C E
O F
B U Z Z S A W​

And he kicked with all he had in him, his steel-toed shoes catching the bladed rim of Leonidas's shield and setting it to spinning so fiercely sparks shot out, and flung off toward the direction of their foes.

In a frenzied, flourishing whirl of blood and gore, the beyblade of death struck the dragon in the side, and flew down its length, leaving a twin pair of gaping wounds; one of them streaming blood from the massive jagged gash in its scales, the other a steaming and bubbling wreck of plasma-sword induced carnage. A horrendous shrieking roar went up, plumes of steam and smoke billowing from the wounded beast's jaws as it thrashed and flung itself about, its tail whipping about to form something almost like a rail for Flak and Travis to roll along....

....and slam directly into Subject E.

For a moment, her sheer mass and strength held out, her axe brought up to block the double-decker onslaught. Sparks flew alongside splinters of metal and bone, alongside shreds and spatters of blood and gore, and her increasingly ruined cloak.

It didn't last, though. Her axe finally gave way, snapping in two under the spinning blades of death and letting them crash into her....and virtually rip her in half in a shower of steaming blood and smoking gore. Charred meat and bits of bone fell to the ground as her two halves toppled over to the ground. Still gasping and choking out frantic breaths in a stubborn refusal to actually die, crawling and dragging herself forward on her arms to grasp for the shattered haft of her axe.

But within mere moments, she choked out a final bloody gasp and breathed her least, slumping over against the metallic platform, a manic grin still plastered on her face.

Just in time for the elevator from above to give a dull chime as it rumbled down into place, and for the ultimate dreidel to slam full on into the wall, the bladed edges of the spartan king's shield digging into metal and stone both and giving enough bite and resistance to finally slow them down to a halt, leaving both of them to topple over and sprawl onto the ground in a dizzy haze.

Subject E has been slain, and the dragon has been driven away successfully!

The elevator to get the hell out of these caves has also finally arrived.

Travis and Flak both will probably be incredibly dizzy and sick for some time to come, but are otherwise mostly fine.

 

[Travis Touchdown]

Well ludicrous plan aside, it managed to work out in the end as the dragon or whatever it was damaged and fled while Subject E was dead. And yet Elena Rosa still didn’t do anything. It’s a wonder she hasn’t been eliminated yet. Nepotism probably considering she’s the daughter of the Man in Red. He wonders if the sadistic freaks at home watching feel the same way. And surprisingly his leg wasn’t hurt further by being grabbed and swung by them.

He then gets up to go to the side of the platform and barfs over the railing as Flak joins him as well. The vomit landed in the lava below and sizzled. He stumbles over to where Subject E is and looks at her with pity. Hell of a way to go, but it perhaps didn’t need to be this way for her, whoever she once was. Flak however looks at his handiwork and then realizes what happened and puts his hands in the air.

“Awesome!” he yelled triumphantly jumping up and down before falling on his face out of dizziness

Travis then stumbles over to Majima his vision still somewhat blurry.

“By the way Majima, but thought I’d let you know that Kiryu is eliminated from the game,” Travis said.

Majima was flabbergasted as he let out a long drawn-out “Ehhhh?!”

He then takes a few seconds to contemplate this.

“Not Kiryu chan, not this early, no way he’d be eliminated this soon, damn judges don’t know talent if they hit them with a baseball bat,” Majima said.

“Yeah, whoever judges this doesn’t seem to be all alright upstairs. I am not sure if they just pick one at random or what. Hell, their boss got eliminated too but that’s because apparently, he died. His daughter sure doesn’t seem to care, though death is a revolving door in this weird place,” Travis said.

“Well yeah, why else would the Death Games and Dante’s Abyss be allowed?” Majima said.

Travis then does a double-take.

“There’s another one of these sadistic game shows? This place is messed up as Hell,” Travis said.

“Buddy you don’t know the half of it, wait until you hear about the Unmaking and Darkseid,” Majima said.

“Fucking what and who?” Travis asked.

“Hey, if you two chucklefucks are done flapping gums we got an elevator to get one,” Leonidas said.

Flak then looked down at the axe's remains and picked some of it up.

“Ah man, that axe was so metal,” he grumbled before tossing the scrap aside.

With that, the rest of the group enters the elevator a button is pressed with a ding as it begins to go up. As Travis leans against one of the walls of the elevator. It was a quiet ride filled with silence for a while. Especially cause there was no elevator music to lighten the mood. A few minutes passed and Travis decided to lighten the mood by asking a question

“So what are some of you guy’s stories? I come from another world before I came to this one but like, is everyone like that?” Travis asked.

“Nah some of us are just born here and always have been a part of the Crossroads. Sometimes others like us exist in other universes, but most of us are just average joes,” one Carnivale employee said.

“Okay some people exist and some of them are weird alternate universe counterparts that just exist here okay then. What about the rest of you?” Travis asked.

“A world with Nintendos, Chili Dogs, and wars all the time!” Flak said.

Party: Travis Touchdown, Leonidas, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Going up the elevator to finally get out of the godforsaken caverns. And shooting the breeze with his teammates.
Focus: 1/1
Inventory: Survival Gear

 

[John Connor]

The ancient king finally took a sigh, glad that the double threat was now dead. Once he caught his breath yet again, he looked over at the elevator. The thing had finally arrived and it was time for their next adventure.

He eyed Travis and Flak who seemed to be a little dizz after they walked to the edge and hurled up any remaining food within their bellies.

Leonidas raised an eyebrow and say “Shit.” He held the two up, walking Flak and Travis to the elevator.

Once everyone was inside and the elevator was moving, Travis asked an interesting question. “Where did they come from? What did they do before they came to the death games?”

The Spartan looked over to the remaining group and blinked “I was the King of Sparta during the Battle of Thermopylae or what most people call the Hot gates. He sighed and looked up “I had three hundred elite Spartans fight in my name with me as we went against 10,000 Persians. He remained silent as he remembered all the Spartans that died in his name, all weighing heavy on him. Imagine if you see arrows blotting out the sun, the defenselessness you had as you faced impossible odds.

“We fought bravely to the end, that’s all I can say.”

But when I woke up in the next world, I was recruited to fight for humanity against the gods. One in particular screwed my people over in the long run when I was alive. Apollo.

Why Apollo, you ask? Well, he alone caused the deaths of every one of my soldiers. He seemed so cocky at putting the oracle in front of me telling my people lies only to get paid off. Why did he make my life so freaking hard?

After he sighed, Leonidas looked up “So what in the gods is a hot dog and hm? You are a soldier from a war-torn world, Flak? How did it lead you here?

Leonidas frowned “These sick games, forced for entertainment in this world? There’s actually two of them? What actually happens to those who.. Don’t make it.”

Leonidas looked up at Travis “I believe you told me you were an assassin in your world, am I right? Getting money to take down enemies with your glowy sword? Travis blinked “It’s more than that, I lost my family when I was young..”

Leonidas was silent and looked up “Wait, you do this to support yourself after your loss of your family?”

The Spartan King was silent “I’m … sorry for your loss, Travis.. I hope you can find a new life through the Crossroads.”

It’s when the man finally spoke up.

The man closed his eyes for a second and sighed “Fine, I shall weave my own tale about my life. I am the King of the Spartans from the famous battle of Themophyties or the Hot gates. I watched my men helplessly get slaughtered by Persian onslaught. We did what we could to fight off 10,000 Persians but I managed to somehow escape before they got me. Call it a twist of fate.


I begin to hum a song that reminds me of this same moment.

Never needed any reason to find deliverance
like a cancer running through my veins
Never going to give in
See them march, like lambs to the slaughter
Toy soldiers lined up on the altar
I was never meant to drink that water
They’ll remember me when I’m underground
Heavy is the crown
Never falter
Never let them bleed you out
I’ll still be standing when they try to bring my castle down
I’ll never bow down
Heavy is the crown
With the weight of the world crashing
Closer to the edge
You find a way to get a little bit stronger
to fight off the demons

You see them march, like lambs to the slaughter
Toy soldiers lined up on the alter
I’ll rise hell or high water
You’ll remember me when I’m underground
Everything in this world will fade
Nothing in this world is meant to stay.

(Daughtry- Heavy is the Crown)


He raised his head defiantly, determination shining in his eyes. "No matter what happens, I will not bow down to these false gods," he declared. "Heavy is the crown of a king, but I will never falter."

Leonidas at least enjoyed the time to listen to the other’s stories and truly getting to know each other.

Funny how different times and places bring people together.

The Spartan King looked over at Elena who seemed to be surprisingly resilient of her dad being missing for so long.

Even the longest fights can make warriors think sometimes.

Leonidas frowned “What plans do you have after this?” He wasn’t really sure what to expect but the King would answer his own question mostly. “I plan to find my Spartans and hope they are here for the long haul.”

Flak blinked “How do you know they are here?”

Leonidas smirked “You just have to think positive, you know.”

Party: Leonidas,Travis Touchdown, Majima, Flak, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: Going up the elevator to finally get out of the godforsaken caverns. Getting to truly know his teammates for the short time they are in the elevator
Focus: 2/3
Inventory: Survival Gear, Astis Shield

 

[Ridley]

Flak tapped his helmet, enjoying the musical notes that Leonidas hit. “Damn! Really hittin’ all the notes! Good job, Leo!” Flak volunteered happily. “Great morale for the Army…”

Flak paused before answering the question. “Guy like me doesn’t really roll like that. I got a boss to get back to, but I usually get some time off to cause a little mayhem right after a big thing like this. I can worry about it after the FLEE army…”


Flak paused, thinking about the current situation. “Hmm… doesn’t really seem like the FLEE army works anymore. Gonna have to think about something else for the name.”

“Wha? Flea army?” Travis asked aloud, trying to follow the big man’s newest train of thought.

“Yeah! Flak, Leonidas, Elise, Elena! Plus other guys!” Flak replied. The monkey-tailed employee went to open his mouth - and then thought better of it as the memory of Flak’s vile pit stank flowed through his mind and he realized it’d be better to go unnamed and unnoticed in this instance.

“But now!” Flak continued, tapping at the elevator console. “now, We have Travis and Majima here, so we need to include ‘em in the name. And Buu, god rest his soul.”

“Do you think he had a soul?” One of the employees asked, unheeded by Flak.

“So maybe like… Felmet army? Fleemt? Wait… this don’t need to be no acronym.” Flak realized. “I went with Flavor ‘cause it sounded cool back in the day, but I don’t think I gotta be worried about name combination unless I’m going to fuse with my team to become a hot chick again.”

“You did what?!” Travis exclaimed, before another employee just gave a nod.

“I saw it. Got bowsette’d by the super crown, then did the fusion dance after getting some other crazy power-ups. ‘23 was some weird shit.” the Blonde spoke up.

Travis… didn’t quite seem like he got it, but Flak was ignoring the side-bar entirely as he thought it through.

“Ehh, we’ll think about it.” Flak just threw out, before pushing down another button.

“Flak, what are you doing?” Travis suddenly asked, looking at the big man with concern.

“What?” Flak asked. “Everyone knows when you get into an elevator you push all the buttons! S’called manners!”

The employees just collectively balked, as Elena gave an appreciative giggle. “That sounds like a fun family tradition!”

“Yeah! It is!” Flak announced, as the employees just groaned.

“Flak, you idiot!” The monkey-tailed one snapped. ‘This elevator doesn’t work like normal. It’s not going to open the door until it gets to the last request. At this rate we might actually be here for hours!”

“...huh. I was wondering why it was takin’ so long for this damn thing to open.” Flak noted, looking at the console and it’s several buttons, noticing one had dimmed - likely from them finally having hit that floor - and pushing it, making it all shiny again without a second thought.

“Flak! Nnnnoooo!” Travis yelled out.

Flak folded his arms. “I’m not apologizin’ for class!”

“Everyone! Hold him down!” Leonidas called out, sensing the danger, and quickly the group got into a large wrestling match of “Flak vs. everyone else”, as they tried to hold him down.

“L-leggo…” Flak whined, trapped under a mountain of people and still, desperately, trying to grasp the elevator buttons, before there was a strange noise, the elevator briefly going dark for a moment.

Everyone quieted, as the small lift system went dark… then turned back on, zooming at high speeds to… somewhere else.

The blonde Flak had carted round before spoke up. “Priority override. This elevator’s at the mercy of whoever assumed direct control.”

Flak shrugged. “Well, that’s good.”

“What if it’s someone hostile?”

“Then he’s either sending us away from him, and away from danger, or towards him, and I can get to face punching!” Flak replied, getting up as he slammed his fists together eagerly.

Elena just gave a nonchalant shrug as the elevator finally stopped, it’s doors slowly unsealing, opening to total darkness…

“See! Nothing there… wait, no, it’s just dark!” Flak noted, peering further.

“That’s… disturbing.” Travis spoke up. Almost as if on cure, large floodlights from above turned on, one by one, slowly illuminating a path through the facility. Directing them across steel-tiled floors in what could have been a hospital environment… or a robotics facility. It was clearly built for efficiency over comfort, either way, as Flak stepped forward.

“See, it’s lit now, so it’s not disturbing anymore!” Flak yelled out.

Travis just shook his head. “Nah, actually, this is kinda worse.”

“I Actually agree with Travis here. We’re in someone’s sights, that much is clear. But as friend, foe, or prey…?” Leonidas asked.

Flak just fearlessly walked forward, opening up his survival kit as they spoke. “Reminds me…” The behemoth spoke up, as he stuffed a gourmet morself of Chicken, bacon, and more chicken into his mouth.

“Gobba wash out the wolf meat!” he explained, as he took the opportunity to both eat and lead at once..

Party: Leonidas, Majima, Travis Touchdown, Elena, 6 Carnival employees
Current Location: Caverns
Action: spooky exploring and spookierly eating a double down.
Inventory: Black hole belt, survival gear, Makeshift spear, steadily growing map
Focus: 4 / 5