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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 18, 2020 14:19:11 GMT -8
There are many legends in the deserts and wastes of the Southlands. Though one might imagine from afar that this blasted and harsh terrain would swallow all those who enter them, the truth is that the harsh sands only serve to grind down the weak and the feeble. Those who are strong, who have power, purpose, and the will to see it done? They are tempered by the forge-fire heat of the South. They may enter weak, but by the time they leave this hellish terrain, they have been alloyed with some part of the unforgiving land and made all the stronger for it.
One of those, they say, is Djirodoo.
A Namekian of such steadfast power that he was able to shake the control of King Piccolo. A man who has made it his personal mission in life to obliterate any warlord who comes too close to exerting control over the entire Southlands. Why does he do this? Is it maintain some ephemeral balance? Is it in worship of the eternal chaos and struggle that makes this land so invaluable for the training of hardened warriors? Does he just hate bullies?
Who can say.
What is beyond a shadow of a doubt is that, wherever he chooses to make his home, it is extremely well hidden. There are few people in the world who could say that they have more enemies than Djirodoo, and whilst he might well be able to best an army in one on one combat and strike down even the most awe-inspiring assassin who has been sent to stick a dagger through his heart, he clearly gets tired of doing so because his building is totally unlisted. He doesn’t even have a public telephone number. It’s really quite massively inconvenient.
“My Queen, I really don’t think, we’re going to find, anyone out here…”
Taras’ eyelid twitched as, yet again, Katsu dared to question her. She could hear the chattering of his teeth, the way he was trembling and shaking even though he was bundled up as warmly as he could. That was the funny thing about the desert. Everyone knew about the heat, but when the sun went down, it only took moments for the chill to settle in its place. It was even enough to bother her, but that was why she had brought such excellent mittens with her!
“Now listen up!” She barked, “I’m not going over this again! This Doodoo guy is supposed to be the strongest person in a THOUSAND MILES. That means he’s going to have the best CANDY in a thousand miles. And what do I always say?!”
The poor man was turning blue. They’d been walking for so long that he couldn’t even feel his feet any more. He just hoped that nothing had snapped off.
“A Queen deserves the best candy…”
“A QUEEN DESERVES THE BEST CANDY!”
She snorted, brief puffs of fire licking out from her nostrils into the gloom of the night. He was just making a fuss. He’d been through worse – she knew that, she’d done it to him – he just thought that if he looked all dejected she’d feel sorry for him and give him permission to go home. No chance. By the time they were done tracking this guy and shaking him down for candy, she wasn’t going to settle for anything less than a literal ton. She’d need all the help getting that back to base that she could!
It honestly didn’t seem to occur to her that she was making so much noise, and even giving off a little light, so that everyone in that thousand mile radius was more than likely aware that she was there. The twinkling stars above gave enough light to see a surprising distance, but the puffs of fire were unmistakable, and the rolling dunes did little to hide the approach of the diminutive dragon woman and her put-upon bandit-slash-butler ally.
Thankfully, the Wild Dragons were probably so small time that they weren’t likely to even be on Djirodoo’s radar yet, but the deserts hid all manner of dangerous people, not all of whom were likely to appreciate a loud young woman blundering around screaming about candy in the middle of the night.
They’re oddly unaccepting of Halloween traditions in these parts, as a rule.
(Current PL: 63) (Wordcount: 742)
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Post by Clove on Nov 18, 2020 23:23:31 GMT -8
After spending a couple of days training in Satan City, Clove decided to survey the desert for potential areas to open the next chain of her specialty drink restaurants, she figured she needed a niche location, possibly even Cat’s Paw Casino in Oasis City would allow her to set up a vending booth of alcoholic drinks. The Tea princess wanted to be sure she explored all her options before committing to the locations she set her eyes on. Dressed in her usual designer kimono with a shortened hemline, she flew high in the cloudless sky she flew over petrified forest of mushroom trees, reaching a particularly red desert, and then a namekian punching an unsuspecting herd of innocent camels across the red sand dunes. If Zam was around, it would break her heart to see this strong Namekian hurting innocent animals, Clove was disgusted by the sign of strength he was inhibiting, that she nose dived to take the second hit, then she punched him into the mushroom forest knocking a few stalks that were in the trajectory. Blood began to drip down from a cut on her temple profusely, in which she realized that he was not nearly utilizing his full power, and before she could examine her head wound she was met with retaliation.
The sound of a metal baseball bat hitting the ball echoed throughout the entire southern demon lands desert, as Clove who held a significant power level was punched so hard she crashed into rocky plateau that protruded thirty meters from the ground turning into a pile of rubble as it caught her from flying off the entire planet. Any buildings within a ten mile radius that possessed any fragile objects had been knocked over from the pressure of the blast like an earthquake. Anyone nearby who observed the source of the quake would assume it was impossible for anyone to survive that magnitude of raw power. In the seconds that followed, the Namekian flew over using the sky dance art towards the rubble, patiently waiting for the Tea Princess to emerge from her grave site as he could still detect her life force. After Clove recovered from the concussion, she did not dare to move a single inch, she had little time to formulate a plan on how to handle a powerful opponent, and she was running out of options. [391] Queen Taras Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) @inx [1,133/14,000]
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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 19, 2020 0:05:53 GMT -8
KABOOM!
The earth shook and a sudden sandstorm erupted out of nowhere around the struggling Katsu and Taras. Katsu frantically threw himself to the ground and pulled his scarf around his nose and mouth. Taras wasn’t dressed for this kind of weather. Lacerating sand and impossible, wild winds raged all around her. It was all she could do to maintain her feet steady beneath her and squint into the night. Nope. Even her bestial eyes weren’t much help when the dim light of the moon was completely obscured by the raging sandstorm.
“WE HAVE TO GO BACK, TARAS!”
Katsu was shouting as loud as he could and it was still barely audible to her in the chaos and confusion of the natural disaster. Nevertheless, her nostrils flared with anger, and she let out a low growl.
“No!” She shouted back, even though it clogged her mouth up with sand, “I didn’t come all this way to fail!!”
Katsu stared up at his leader with wild eyes. This was crazy! Whatever had caused this sudden detonation was clearly far too much for them to deal with. And as he stared in horror and confusion, the spikes across Taras’ back began to glow with a brilliant white light. Oh no.
“I’ll meet you back at camp!” He squealed as he ran, and the moment he did the secondary wave, as the rocks that Clove had been punched into collapsed to the ground, hit the pair. He was immediately swept off his feet and sent hurtling into the desert.
Taras ducked her head down lower and braced against the storm as she filled her lungs with fire. When she roared, the deafening noise of the explosion was, pleasingly, matched by her own thunderous cry.
“GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Flames burst from her lips and she convulsed as she vomited the wave of fire forth. The flames licked and curled, blown back around her by the force of the storm. Nevertheless, she persisted. For a few beautiful moments, the desert was lit with the incandescent inferno, the tiny figure at its centre hunched, refusing to be bowed!
When, at last, the explosion had passed over her, she was left spitting up little globs of molten glass, the ground around her smattered with it. Bleck. Sand really was the worst. She’d be getting it out of her dress and shoes for weeks! But all of that only made her more determined to press on.
Cresting another dune, Taras could see the cause of the devastation. Over in the distance she could just about make out the collapsed rock pile that had been sheltering the Red Mice Gang. Apparently, they’d managed to piss off this badass guy? Unless there was someone else who had the power to crush mountains into dust running around the desert, which didn’t seem super likely. Then there was the mushroom forest. She knew that place well, too; petrified mushroom wasn’t the most nutritious foodstuff going, but if you couldn’t find anything else, it could make a passable soup.
Now a bunch of those lay in devastation as well. This couldn’t be a coincidence! She was definitely on the right track here.
She was about to head down into the mushroom forest to investigate further when her toe snagged against something in the desert sands. When she tugged it upwards, she found herself confronted with a half-buried and very dead camel. Now that was confusing. For a few moments she just stared at the beast, then, slowly, Taras looked around. Katsu was definitely gone. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in her immediate vicinity…
So she opened her mouth inhumanly wide and began cramming the beast into her gullet. It might not be candy, but it’d sure help with the sand taste and she could really use the snack before she found this guy if he was as strong as it seemed he might be! Never look a gift camel in the mouth.
[671] [Total Combined Wordcount: 1804]
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Post by Clove on Nov 19, 2020 15:20:19 GMT -8
It did matter to the namekian that the significantly weak onlookers were destroyed, as he had no desire for a bounty on his head, no matter how insignificant their power levels were, so he blasted the red sand dune that Queen Tara and the android were standing on with a ki blast that turned the sand into a sculpture of glass.
Clove was running out time under the rubble as her formidable opponent waited, she detected one additional ki signature nearby, unable to detect the android unless it flared up its power level. With a few calculated breaths, Clove injected herself with a stim pack, and popped open a DynoCapsule containing her chichi battle armor changing into the metal bikini in one swift movement inside an open space of the rubble.
Once she was in the armor, she punched her way out of the rubble and upper cut the namekian into the air, blasting off after him. To the naked eye of the onlookers, if they survived the blast, they would be unable to see the sheer speed of the brawl between the pink helmet woman wearing a metal bikini, and the brown skinned namekian high up in the cloudless sky.
The moisture of the arid air turned into clouds of pressure in the wake of being mid air, Clove was dodging most his punches, while absorbing a few that triggered her bristling defenses back at him forming tiny cuts into his firsts, oozing purple blood briefly until he regenerated due to his Namekian physiology. Across the red desert, craters were left from the pressure of their punches, soon enough the Tea Princess would run out of ki, she was still formulating a plan in her head on the options of survival.
One strong kick to the abdomen, winded her as she crash landed into the red sand with an echoing force, like a thunderclap in the horizon. Rapid movement was costing her a fortune of her ki pool, Clove was running out of time, as her martial artist counterpart was not nearly exasperated, the mushroom forest was her only option to escape, she had to use the cover of the petrified tree stalks, until she could suppress her ki signature to zero, then find an underground cavern in the hopes of being successful in escaping the mysterious namekian.
However, this escape plan now included innocent bystanders, so it was a rescue operation, unless they used every ounce of their ki to escape before they were killed in the nearly speed of light dogfight in the horizon above. [428] [2,492/14,000] Queen Taras @inx Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK)
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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 19, 2020 23:48:09 GMT -8
It is hard to imagine that there are many people with higher bounties on their heads than Djirodoo. The man has more enemies in the Southlands and beyond than he can count. It is also not a particularly subtle manoeuvre. From his position in the sky, he unleashes a bolt of crackling ki in the dead of night, and the entire desert lights up as though the sun had risen hours early. Perhaps he had instead thought that the two other people down there – weaker by far than he and the demon, but stronger than the average human – were more assassins sent to finish the job.
That had to be what was going on here, right? Because he had just been hunting camels for his dinner when the bizarre woman had attacked him out of nowhere with no words and no explanation. It wasn’t as though this was a particularly unusual sequence of events, though ordinarily someone of that kind of power would have more impressive backup. Nevertheless, the stray blast of energy would at least force them to show their true strength if they were holding anything back, and that was enough at this stage.
As it turned out – for Taras at least – she definitely wasn’t.
She did have an amazing survival instinct, though, and the namekian was very far away when he unleashed his casual attack upon her and the person she hasn’t even noticed yet. She leapt from the dune, the tail of the camel still dangling from her lips, and flailed her hands around wildly as the ground where she had been standing becomes a molten, shimmering mass of glass. When she landed again within the soft sand, the Queen adjusted her crown with one hand, slurped up the tail, and glared up at the sky, shaking her fist at distant Djirodoo.
“HEY! WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA YOU JERK?!”
The echoing sound of destruction in the sky above was not, apparently, enough to dissuade Taras from taking the Namekian to task in her own inimitable way. And then, quite suddenly, the warrior of legend was in front of her.
The Fist of the South Star. He was a tall man, perhaps six and a half feet, his body heavily scarred with the evidence of a thousand battles. He looked down on Taras both literally and figuratively; the diminutive, self-proclaimed Queen was so far beneath his notice that ordinarily he would not bother to mince words with her. Clearly, she was just another lunatic in this desert of madness.
“Your ally is retreating.” He rumbled, “Tell me where she is going.”
“Ally?” Taras frowned, “… She?” There weren’t any other women in the Wild Dragons, that was something that annoyed her on a near-daily basis.
“NOW HANG ON JUST A MINUTE!” She shouted again, her foot stamping down into the sand, “You almost KILLED me! I don’t care if you ARE the Fist of the South Star, that’s NO way to treat a lady, I want an apology RIGHT NOW!”
Her hands went to her hips, and she stared expectantly up at the big man who… actually looked a little bewildered. His face lit by the sullen glow of the devastation he had wrought. It was, perhaps, starting to dawn on him that he had made a mistake here. He wasn’t some malevolent machine of destruction out to slay every person who crossed his path; the woman who had introduced herself by punching him in the face? Yes, she was certainly a threat, but the other two…
“Where is your friend?” He asked, looking around the dune for any sign of IX. But of course, Taras couldn’t read his mind, and was still completely unaware of IX’s presence.
“I just told you! I don’t have ANYTHING to say to you until I get my apology! And a BIG bag of candy. It’s HALLOWEEN you know! I demand TREATS!”
[Wordcount: 662]
[Overall Count: 3,154]
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Post by Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) on Nov 20, 2020 15:52:28 GMT -8
The old man's jalopy had taken them quite far. It burped and rattled and released thick clouds of black smoke from its exhaust pipe. It made noises that anyone else would have considered somewhat troubling, as if the car were falling into a million tiny pieces. Yet, it kept going, it kept trudging along, traveling at a modest pace down the road flanked by miles of desert.
How long had it been since the old man picked the young strange looking blonde up from the side of the road? Had it been a few hours now? Yes. And yet, in that entire time, the only sound that had filled the cabin was the sound of the car; the shaking, the trembling, the sound of the car's chassis shuddering as the car's four black wheels drove over the cracked asphalt of the road. The young blonde man, or at least the young looking blonde man, had not really spoken much. The last thing he had said before he went silent, upon entering the car, had been thank you. He was so polite too; he had bowed rather low then slid into the car and told him where he needed to go; to the Southlands. He did not have a real specific location - well, that wasn't true. He had a location but there was nothing there.
It was far ahead in the desert. The old man knew the area relatively well; he avoided most of it, for various reasons, but there was nothing out there that he knew of. So why would this strange young man want to stop there? It made no sense.
"I was surprised to have found you wandering out here," The old man began speaking, attempting to spark some kind of conversation between himself and his silent passenger. He appeared to be focused on something, deep in his own thoughts, but he couldn't figure out just what he was thinking.
"I was heading down to Southlands on a business trip," The old man continued, keeping his eyes on the road ahead, though he did sneak peeks at the blonde passenger from the corner of his eyes in his peripheral vision, seeing that he was seated there, strapped in with his seat belt, but not speaking. Did he hear what the old man was saying?
"Was it hot out when you started on your trip?"
"It was a modest temperature." The blonde cyborg replied, so he was listening, he just was focused on something, thinking about something, considering something, but what?
"Did you want something to drink? I don't know how long you were walking through the desert heat, I don't need you passing out on me, you know." The old man piped up, wriggling the fluffy caterpillar of a mustache over his nose with a little harumph as he grinned at his silent blonde passenger.
DECRYPTING FILES... STATUS...66%...68%...70%...
It was taking its time; but this was one particularly large file. This one was larger than the previous files that he had attempted to open up for his curious eyes. This one had to hold the location to the lab down in the Southlands. It had to. This file had been mentioned several times in one of the previous files he decrypted while wandering down the seemingly endless road to the Southlands.
Only part of the file had been successfully unencrypted. It was a lot of information to take in, to scan through, but it was proving to be quite fruitful. There were mentions of some kind of facility, but it wasn't giving information as to the exact location of said lab. It mentioned it was in the Southlands, somewhere down there. But just where exactly was it?
"No, thank you. I do not need refreshment. Being a cyborg, I have no need for food or drink. It is optional for me to eat or drink, but not necessary. I also do not grow fatigued."
"Oh? Is that what you are? Hm, I did notice you looked different. Still, that sounds very convenient."
His HUD was working on files as he sat back in his seat. He had not spoken much since he politely accepted the old man's assistance and accepted the ride. His eyes were looking straight forward, peering into the middle distance, as his bright golden irises appeared to swirl and spin inside of the black sclera pools in which they resided.
DECRYPTING FILE... STATUS... 75%...76%...77%...
"Why are you out here in the desert? I never asked you that before," The old man's voice was distant, at first it sounded as if he were shouting through the din of a storm, attempting to get the cyborg's attention. "Did you have something important to do out here?" Then the voice became clearer.
The old man peered over at his blonde passenger, his thick furry eyebrows raising in curiosity. He didn't even look to be breathing. The old man peered closely at him and then he cleared his throat.
"Oi, boy, you alright over there? You look to have gone deep inside of yourself?"
STATUS...88%...89%...90%...
Vidar peered over at the older man. "I'm searching for something in the desert. I heard a rumor that what I am looking for could possibly be down here, in the Southlands."
"You heard a rumor?" The old man sounded skeptical. He looked ahead at the stretch of road before them, it continued to wind through the desert, a black snake.
"Robots in the desert, machines of a bygone age; something that connects me to my creator. I need to find those robots. If they truly exist, they'll take me to my creator's secondary lab; one of many that had been hidden across the world. Once I locate it, I can upgrade myself, and then I can fulfill his vision properly."
"Uh, what is that vision?" The old man questioned, somewhat nervous.
"To protect the Earth and all that inhabit it."
"That's what you were built for?" The old man appeared to relax a bit, breathing a soft sigh of relief.
"Yes. Doctor Kringle wanted to protect the Earth from the likes of Piccolo Daimao. Unfortunately, he died before he could see his vision made reality. Furthermore, I am not strong enough to perform my function. As you can see, I am missing an arm," He peered over at his shoulder, the empty shoulder socket where his arm should be, "I was not strong enough. I need to upgrade my systems from the ground up, but in order to do so I need to find the labs that my creator hid around the world. They are well hidden, but I will not rest until I find them all and I extract the knowledge that I require."
An alarm went off. There was a sudden tremor. It was minor, but he felt it. Even sitting there in the passenger seat. The road before them trembled and the old man perked up in his seat. He felt that too and he almost hit the brakes as he looked around.
"What was that? Was that some kind of earthquake?"
"No, I think it was something else; something equally as dangerous," What had that been? It hadn't been an earthquake, although it had felt like one. No, it was something else; he felt power.
"We should keep going, there could be more tremors."
"No," Vidar shook his head, "Up ahead, leave me there. Then continue on your way; this area won't be safe much longer."
"Are you sure about that? The sun has set, it's going to get cold." The old man peered out of the window as he neared the spot that the blonde cyborg had pointed out earlier.
"I am fine. Park over there, and I'll get out. The place I am searching for is nearby, and I want to investigate the source of that tremor. I am curious as to the origin."
The old man sat quiet for a moment and then made his way over to where the blonde cyborg told him to go and slowed to a halt. Once he stopped, he peered over at the young man, turning off the engine to his jalopy.
"It's going to get cold out there, you know? The desert is a dangerous place both in the day and at night; the temperature will drop to unbearable levels soon."
The old man left him where he told him to leave him. "I will be fine. The cold does not affect me." He thanked the old man and watched as the jalopy drove away, sputtering and shaking until it disappeared in the distance. The temperature around him was dropping as the sun had gone down. There was a strong cold wind sweeping through the area. His sensors picked it up. But it did little to him. He turned away from the road and began to walk across the desert. His feet trudged through the sand as he walked up sand dunes then back down again.
Where would this lab be hidden out in the desert? It would be a good place to hide a lab; a place barely hospitable for life, difficult to traverse by day or night. It had to be out there somewhere.
The ground underneath him shook. It trembled rather harshly and he stopped in his tracks. Something was happening. He felt power. He felt lots of it. His sensors were beeping and screaming alarms in his head. His eyes glowed bright gold in the dark as he turned in the direction of the tremors and the source of the tremendous power.
DETECTING ENERGY... SCANNING POWER LEVEL...
The numbers made no sense. The readings didn't just skyrocket. It kept rising. It did not appear to stop rising.
It was rising on and on. Whoever it was that was the owner of such power, they were a frightening individual; he could feel that fear in the pit of his stomach. But he grit his teeth and steeled himself.
There were others there, as well. He did not know who they were, but they were in danger. Whoever the source of this tremendous power was, he or it was the source of the destruction his sensors were detecting.
"I cannot just stand by and do nothing." His eyes glowed softly as he took off in the direction of the battle, shooting across the distance that separated Vidar and the others in relatively quick order.
The Fist of the South Star was being annoyed by a pair of people; one of them was Clove. He could recognize her energy from the time he ran into the young woman whilst searching the ocean depths for some missing lures. He recalled that she was a decent individual; she was fast too, and from the power she was putting out, he could tell she was strong too.
The other person. His eyes zoomed in, he saw her, even from a distance. Strange. She was strange. He couldn't tell who she was, or what she was, but he could tell something about her, the air around her was hot. Hotter than it would be around a normal person.
It did not matter. She too was being targeted by this individual. He did not know who that one was; his eyes fell onto the Fist of the South Star.
He couldn't be detected. That was to Vidar's advantage. He moved swiftly, using the Fist of the South Star's distraction, watching and stalking the dragon woman, demanding to know the location of her partner, or the person he believed was her partner.
He had a shot, one shot, and he wasn't about to throw away that chance. He skidded to a stop atop a sand dune not far away from the pair, and dropped his body somewhat, his hand moving to his side as he allowed energy to collect, coalescing in one spot as he grit his teeth. His glowing golden eyes had locked onto the Fist of the South Star and as the Namekian hovered in the air, preparing his next attack, he turned and Vidar unleashed his attack. It was a massive wall of energy and flames, charging forth with a dragon's roar as energy crackled all over his body and raced through the wall of fire that surged towards the Fist of the South Star.
Would it hit him? The cyborg could only hope that his targeting systems were on point this time and the namek was engulfed.
WC: 2,085 Mission WC: 5,725 Starting PL: 26,067
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Post by Clove on Nov 20, 2020 22:16:36 GMT -8
OOC: Okay he is found but if you wish to fight him you have to do a seperate bounty thread to battle him, otherwise the mission prompt is fulfilled, and we should step back from controlling the npc given its a lore npc and we are seven posts into this so we can focus on the stronghold aspect.
FIST OF THE SOUTH STAR | 7 Star Mission (14000 words requirement)- It is said that there is a great warrior in the Southlands, a thorn in the side of the Demons, Namekians, and Human would-be warlords who he encountered. Whenever he faced an army, he destroyed it. This man or woman is known as the FIST OF THE SOUTH STAR, and you, yes you, might have what it takes to train under them. Find Djirodoo, the Demon Clan Namekian known as the FIST OF THE SOUTH STAR. Rewards: Home in the Mountains: You gain a rank 1 Stronghold in the Southlands for free. This special rank 1 stronghold can only be used by one person but can have TWO add-ons. Training coupon: This provides you a free 2 week discount to training, once, and a 1 MP discount to training techniques, once.
Clove recovered from her injuries long enough to notice Vidar arrive at the scene, rather than ask questions, he was quick to send a surge of ki energy directed at Djirodoo with one palm of his hand, she flew right next to the one armed android then reached out with both her hands to create combination attack against their opponent to increase the power of the blast. The Namekian was skyrocketed out of the desert, knocking over a radio tower in Satan City’s skyline along the way, and continued towards the open ocean, blasting him miles away. The first of the south star was more than capable of surviving the blast, his regenerative abilities would allow him to make a swift recovery, but it would take him some time perhaps even thirty minutes to return. “It was sheer luck for us to meet again in the middle of the desert, Vidar-san…” The demoness fainted into the sand, she used up the last of her ki to blast that strong namekian, the pink helmet of her Chichi battle armor rolled away. After a minute she opened her eyes again quickly getting up on her feet and recovered the helmet. Just to make certain, she suppressed her power level back to 0 to avoid being found in retaliation, it was unlike her to do so but she had no choice this round. “I have no idea who that was, he is the strongest Namekian I have ever fought, I was certain I would die out here.”Crimson eyes looked over to the top of a nearby red sand dune, where Queen Taras, along with a child looking android who narrowly avoided an energy blast from Djirodoo, the adjacent sand dune was turned into a massive glass sculpture of epic proportions. “Ah, you two survived, good. It was unfortunate about the camels, only a few survived to make their escape, do you wanna see something cool? I found an underground hatch in the mushroom forest, there might be treasure, or a way to get out of this area before that namekian finds us here.” After recalling what the blonde monster woman’s voracious appetite, she pulled out a different DynoCapsule, it contained candy from Majin Moos, “I have that candy you wanted, too.” The Candy was for Majin Zam but they needed to leave the area promptly, preferably under the cover of the underground facility to keep them safe from a second battle, they were strangers but she was compelled to keep them out of danger. The hatch was partially covered in sand, at the base of a petrified mushroom stalk, and it was locked. Clove walked over to it, motioning for the others to follow after her, there was a keypad for the combination to the hatch. After encountering tuffle bunkers in the southern islands, she did avoid making any attempt to unlock it, and left it alone. “We have to be careful, I am not tech savvy, but if this is a tuffle bunker those tend to explode without having a key. I mean, I have been able to force one open with my sword, but there has to be a safer way, right?” [532] [6,257/14,000] @inx Queen Taras Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK)
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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 21, 2020 0:50:17 GMT -8
Frankly, the Fist of the South Star was flustered. Not an experience that he was used to, either. Most people were overawed to be in his presence, either as a legendary martial artist or a mythical destroyer of people like them. “Halloween?” He asked the diminutive woman, “Candy? What is wrong with you? I don’t have any-“
And then there was another, demanding to know where the destruction had come from. His brow furrowed and he turned slightly to face him.
He would, probably, have continued to defend himself against this onslaught of entitled words, except that it was at that moment his senses made him aware of the overwhelming wave of power that was now bearing down on him. Damnit! He’d let himself be distracted!
He flung his arms across his body a split second before the energy could smash into him. His roar of pain and defiance echoed through the entire desert as he carved a brilliant trail across it, the blast of power slashing the horizon in two as he became the South Star, burning its way across the sky.
Which left Taras standing there with her mouth open as a beam of coherent power far in excess of anything she had ever seen before tore within an inch of her face, whipping wildly at her hair and clothes. By the time it was finally past her, the Monster Queen’s face and arms had been rendered a sunburned pink – not an experience the desert-born creature had ever experienced before – and her ears were ringing with the deafening whoosh all that power had left in its wake.
She found herself instead staring at IX. She honestly had no idea what the guy was about. He was wet, but she wasn’t sure why, and for a full minute it is just her and IX up there on the glassy dune.
“Did you have something to do with that?!” She blustered, “Why is everyone choosing TONIGHT to try and kill the Fist of the South Star?! It’s HALLOWEEN! That’s a sacred trust! The one night of the year we can go to each other’s houses and ransack them for candy in PEACE, and you choose that night of the year to try and murder him?!”
Thankfully, the android did not need to deal with the fury of Taras alone for long, because they are soon approached by Clove. She regarded the much taller woman with some scepticism. “Something cool?” She repeated, “I don’t know who you people think you are, but so far it just seems like you’re determined to destroy my entire desert! Don't you know there's people trying to trick or treat out here?!”
She eyed the candy capsule, but ultimately it was Clove’s outfit which convinced her to cool down. Nobody who could pull off such an impressive Halloween costume in the middle of the freezing cold desert night should be taken lightly. Taras wasn’t completely sure how Clove’s various bits hadn’t frozen straight off, but it at least put her at a similar level of power to the Fist of the South Star in the young Queen’s mind.
“Oh, bunkers like this are all over the place out here.” She said, “My Father used to tell me stories about them. This one looks quite rusted, so it has probably been here for a few hundred years.” She squinted at it, and then leaned in closer to lick the ancient metal.
“Nope. This wasn’t made by my people.” She said, “We can either figure out the code, or try and pop it open, but if we do that then DooDoo is just gonna spot it. Assuming he doesn’t blow up the entire forest anyway out of spite!”
She didn’t think he would have normally, but after taking a hit like that he’s probably going to be super pissed off. Sigh. She should probably stick with these people now, because there’s no way in hell that she’d believe that she wasn’t involved in this ambush if she was in his shoes. The plan had never been to try and take him out, just to take his candy!
Her assessment of the bunker given, she then held her hand up to Clove for the capsule. “You can give me that now. We’ll call it the tribute for you and these other people stomping around in my territory, blowing everything up. Hmph!”
Wordcount: 754 Total Thread Wordcount: 7,011
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Post by Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) on Nov 23, 2020 5:55:14 GMT -8
What a strange turn of events. No matter where he went, he always managed to find trouble; or trouble managed to find him. This time, it was the former. Who would have guessed that following some rumor of androids in the Southlands would lead to Vidar running into a seemingly all powerful Namekian in the desert? And on top of that, the strange coincidence of running into someone he actually knew. He didn't know Taras, nor did he know the young looking man that was with her - the one with the glasses - but he knew Clove. He had met her before. He recalled her face back when he took a fishing job - not that fishing job, the one where he met Riku, but the other fishing job - where he was tasked with finding some fishing lures, there were giant eels involved, it was not a fun time for everyone. But, there she was, joining him in blasting the Namek away from them all, out of sight.
As his attack died down, his bright glowing eyes returned to normal, heat radiated off his open palm as he breathed heavily. He had not expected any of this. Electricity raced up and down his one good arm and he peered over at the angry Taras, the bespectacled boy nearby, and then over at Clove.
He had so many questions. Like, why were they all convening in the middle of a desert in the Southlands? He had a reason to be there, he wanted to find a hidden lab. But why were they there? Had they gone there specifically to find this Namekian? With the amount of power he had, and the amount of power they lacked, that would have been certifiable, verifiable, suicide.
"Not that I am not excited to have run into a familiar face," Vidar questioned, turning to look at Clove, "But...why are you in the middle of the desert... wearing that....fighting a final Boss?" He questioned, calling the Namekian a final boss akin to a video game character.
He did take note of the massive sand dune which had been reduced to a massive but frighteningly beautiful glass sculpture, possibly caused by the over powered Namekian. But, it wasn't alone. The fiery heat of his attack had caused the sand beneath it to become glistening glass, a smooth slide of it down the side of the sand dune which caught the light of the moon up above them. It really almost looked as if it were diamond encrusted.
Whatever the reason, it appeared that Clove too found it to be sheer luck for them to have run into each other like that. Luck? At that point, he was beginning to question the mathematical probability of such strange levels of luck; to run into a familiar face in such a remote location had such low chances, it bordered almost on the unreal. Either way, whether luck or fate, there they were.
The others were fine, Clove seemed to acknowledge that. They were alive. That was good. Then she commented about a hatch. "You found a hatch?" That caught his attention. His curiosity was piqued. In fact, one could actually see something that could be described as the beginning of an excited smile crossing his face. He was not very expressive, Vidar, he wasn't very good at showing his emotions or expressing them. But now, he felt actual jubilation. His search for the lab had paid off? They had found it?
He followed along, wondering just where it could have been hidden, and then he saw the hatch. She theorized it could be a Tuffle Bunker, "It could be one of Doctor Kringle's labs..." That was his theory, a hopeful one at that. He forgot about the Tuffles. They too were a technologically capable race. And they too had bunkers littering the planet, for reasons. But he could only hope that this was not a Tuffle bunker and was, instead, Doctor Kringle's Southland lab.
Clove appeared hesitant to try and open it - apparently Tuffle bunkers were rigged to explode if one failed to open the hatch with the correct numerical password. She gave the idea to either try the passcode input or just tear the hatch off - which could, theoretically also cause the thing to explode. That and if that Namek showed up again, it would be a dead giveaway as to their location. The bespectacled boy on the other hand looked at the numbers and randomly spouted out 5,7,9, and 0, whilst questioning whether the Namek was a threat or not.
"That Namek was far more powerful than anything I had encountered so far," Vidar spoke whilst stepping forward, kneeling beside the hatch and looking over the keypad. His eyes took on a bright golden hue, glowing in the darkened area as his scanners flashed to life.
As his scanners swept over the keypad, he did note that the numbers that IX had mentioned before had been worn down. But this hatch had been left untouched for so long, all the numbers looked somewhat worn. Still, those did look the most used.
CALCULATING POSSIBLE PASSCODE COMBINATIONS...
Oh there were many of them. As his HUD got to work his fingers hovered over the keypad as he canted his head in curiosity, thinking over whether this was, in fact, a Kringle lab or not.
He looked odd, kneeling there, head tilted in curiosity, eyes glowing, irises almost swirling inside of the ocean of black sclera that were his eyes.
"I would suggest moving back. I believe this combination lock would allow for multiple attempts; it would be counterproductive for the designer of this locking mechanism to allow only for one error as that would compromise the security of their bunker should someone forget the password or imput the wrong code by mistake. However, it would still behoove you to put some space between it and myself and yourself as I attempt to crack this passcode. Those numbers you mentioned were the most used here, so I am under the impression that this passcode has to include those particular numbers."
If they took his advice and moved away, his fingers began their little dance, working among the numerical buttons on the keypad as he attempted the first passcode that his HUD brought up.
The light on the keypad buzzed red and a small warning appeared on the tiny screen, he did not have many attempts left. But, as he had theorized, the bunker did not explode upon the first failed attempt. Good. He then tried another code.
Once again the light on the keypad buzzed red, and this time the warning explicitly stated he had one less attempt to unlock the hatch with the correct password. He had not yet reached the end but he was getting closer, one misstep at a time.
One more time, his fingers moved quickly across the keypad and that time, as he input the final digit, the light rather than flash red gave off a soft ding and flashed green. There was a grating sound beneath his feet; aged gears and mechanisms coming to life and then he saw the round handle of the hatch, akin to a vault's, spin before he stepped back and saw the hatch swing open.
"Positive, we did not explode," He peered over. "However, I am still unsure if this is a Tuffle Bunker or Doctor Kringle's lab. Only upon entering and looking around will we find out."
WC: 1,250 | 3,335 Mission WC: 8,521 | 14,000
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Post by Clove on Nov 23, 2020 23:21:57 GMT -8
“Fist of the South star?” Clove tilted her head at Queen Taras, then she recounted that she had heard of him in Satan City hotel while casually TV channel surfing, “I have heard of that legend, no one actually knows what he looks like, so are you sure that was him? Did he say that was his name??”
The monster woman reached out for a capsule full of candy, claiming it was the toll to pay for fighting in her red sand dune territory, and Clove placed it in her hand with a shrug. While she heard of First of the South star, she never heard of a Queen ruling this side of the desert in her survey report by the World Government, in order to build her next restaurant in the area. “Well, you should register your territory with the World Government, and make it official since I was incidentally scoping out the land in this area to purchase with zeni.”
The robot boy with glasses spoke up clearly, sharing some crucial information, and asking a series of questions that caught the demoness’ attention.
“Tuffles.” Clove repeated, this time she was certain she said it right, instead of calling a technological race of people mushrooms, but it was strange in the first place to correct an android. When asked if the Namekian was a threat, she arched a brow, and she figured the boy was unfamiliar with power balance.
“The strong do not prey on the weak. True strength requires the willpower to be responsible with the power they possess. The herd of camels have a right to live just as we all do in the world. If a weaker being must be killed for substance, that’s just the law of the jungle, but if life is taken for no other reason then hopefully there are people nearby to bring justice. Which is what I have done with Vidar-san just now.” Clove realized she did not know their names, “It is nice to meet you both, my name is Clove Tea. Are you together? What are your names?”
Clove’s crimson eyes narrowed when Vidar questioned what she was wearing, which was strange given he had seen her in a thin bikini which left even less for the imagination compared to the battle bikini, and she rolled her eyes at the cold statement.
“This is an armored relic of a famous female fighter in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, although she did not actually wear this outfit, Chi-chi wore a cheongsam from the Eastern lands, I felt it matched my tastes. I initially had my personal designer create something from the design the Ox King had commissioned, he discovered the battle armor existed, so this is the real deal. It gives me an edge in battle, the reinforced steel is capable of injuring yourself on impact, and gives me the freedom of movement to sustain more damage.” Clove crossed her arms, stepping away as Vidar warned the hatch could explode if he tried the passcode incorrectly too many times, after the android boy advised the possible numeric sequence, and after a few tries he opened it.
“Alright everyone get inside quickly before the Fist of the South Star comes back, I cannot guarantee we will be so lucky a second time, so we should take cover. I do not care who made this, it is ours now.” Clove waved her pink gloved hands for Queen Taras and the android to go in first, she would follow after them, and she would look at Vidar’s glowing golden eyes with black sclera, “See if you could lock it after everyone is safely inside, Vidar-san.” [610] [9,131/14,000] Queen Taras@inx Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK)
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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 24, 2020 1:38:26 GMT -8
Taras gave a sharp nod to Clove. “He didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to. Trust me. We might not see his face, but those of us who live out here know where the Fist is. He leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, and that makes it easy to tell roughly where he is. He’s not a subtle man! Besides, there’s no way there’s TWO of him out here.”
She was happy to leave the others to deal with the business of getting the door open. It wasn’t the kind of work that a Queen was well-suited to at any rate. She just stepped back and away from the door when the warning was given; the last thing she wanted was to get blown up after expending so much effort just to survive the collateral damage of the fight. Honestly, she was surprised that the woman had been able to walk away from all that. Even if she hadn’t done so unscathed, just getting away from him was a feat worthy of some respect.
Unfortunately, Clove then had to go and mention the World Government.
“I don’t accept that pack of traitorous dogs!” Taras shouted, jabbing her clawed thumb into her own chest, she puffed herself up to be as tall as possible – which, admittedly, isn’t very tall at all. “I am Queen Taras. The rightful ruler of this world! Thousands of years ago my people ruled this whole planet, and then it was stolen from us, but it is still mine! We were here first! THEY can fill out paperwork to ME!”
This definitely seems to be a point of contention with her. There’s something just very endearing about the earnestness with which she stakes her claim, though. This isn’t just the ravings of an entitled brat – she truly believes that her people have had their world stolen away from them and that she has the right to claim it back.
Whether or not anyone was listening to her ranting, Taras is left red-faced and furious – and then, quite suddenly, she snapped her head around.
It was rare for her instincts to kick in so completely, but she could feel that. Her distant ancestors had felt the same thing when the meteor descended from the heavens and truly put an end to the reign of the dinosaurs. That sudden sense of impending extinction sent shivers down her spine.
At the moment, the Fist of the South Star was just a tiny glowing dot on the horizon, but the waves of malevolence pouring off him as he tore his way back across the sky towards the group were palpable. Whatever hope there might have been to talk him down previously has clearly been squandered. For Taras, it was a dawning awareness that a true alpha, top of the food chain, predator was bearing down upon them and for all her arrogance and pride, she was not foolish enough to think she stood even a shadow of a chance.
Her pupils shrank down to tiny pinpricks and she immediately threw herself through the open door. “Out of the way!” She shouted, “Queens and Royal Personages first!”
The hatch, it turned out, gave way into a very long drop. To her credit, Taras didn’t scream, even after the first thirty seconds of freefall. After that, though, she realised just how far down she was going. What followed was a lot of VERY un-Queenly swearing as she grabbed the ladder set into the side of the descent. The rung tore out immediately in a shower of rust, and she squealed as she bounced into the side of the wall.
Bang CRASH BANG bang THUD!
Hopefully that sequence of echoing noises will serve as adequate warning to the rest of the motley group above about the dangers of just diving in headfirst. When they follow her down there to find out what they’re looking at, it seems like this is definitely one of the more elaborate and expansive complex setups.
It also seems like it is in a state of some disrepair. Weak emergency lighting is flickering on to illuminate a vast and open space. The metal of the walls has started to corrode in several places, and sand has trickled in – though the more technically-minded folks will probably realise pretty quickly that there must be some form of working, and quite impressive, filtration system or this whole space would have filled up long ago.
There’s also something unusual about the metal. Depending on how long people waited upstairs, and how much attention they are paying, it seems that it absorbs energy signatures – because whilst Taras can be sensed easily enough when they follow her, from the outside, that power signature of hers is completely obscured. Whoever built this really does know how to keep things hidden.
(820 / 9,951)
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Post by Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) on Nov 27, 2020 6:29:36 GMT -8
There was quite a lot happening at the same time, and Vidar was attempting to process it all. That over powered Namekian that they had just faced, had a name? And a strange name it was; who names their offspring 'Fist of the South Star' ? He looked up at the sky as he heard the name and wondered if the South Star was up there somewhere. His bright yellow irises took on a bright golden hue as he attempted to scan the sky for it, though he was then brought back to the conversation as he heard Clove comment about the world government.
He knew little about the World Government, having lived underground for most of his life, and having even less knowledge of his life prior to the lab. But, hearing the title alone gave him an image of a cabal of leaders, politicians, and those with great vast amounts of wealth capable of commanding and controlling the world from wherever they sat upon their thrones.
Her reaction to his rather commonplace question left him somewhat perplexed. Any other person would have found the eye narrowing and the eye rolling to be rather rude, but he just stood there in mild visible confusion as he looked at the outfit that she had worn. It was not really the outfit itself; he did not really care about the appearance of it in the fact that he had seen the woman in a bikini before. When they had gone deep diving for the missing lures, he had seen her in a similar albeit somehow - if that were possible - more revealing bikini. But, there was a difference between that Bikini and this particular bikini.
That difference was the setting in which they wore it. One bikini was worn in what amounted to a tropical climate. People wore such clothing to the beach, for swimming, though thinking back on it, in hindsight, wearing such a thin revealing outfit to go deep sea diving had been questionable then too. But, even then, that was an entirely different environment.
"I merely ask because I find the lack of covering of skin to be at odds with the environment in which the outfit is being worn in." He spoke, rather plainly, they were in fact in the middle of a DESERT. One good sandstorm could whip up the sand and that would be like being sand blasted and sand blasting could tear rust off metal let alone flesh off bone. Plus, the metal bikini on naked flesh in the middle of a desert in the middle of the night where the temperature lowered to chilling degrees would also, in his mind, be somewhat uncomfortable to wear.
But, that was taking humans into consideration, and he was not quite so sure that Clove was human, after all. Was she? Well, it did not matter at the moment, what mattered was getting the hatch open. Off in the distance, the Fist of the South Star was being thrust through the air by the combined force of the cyborg and the oddly dressed Clove, and sooner or later, he was bound to break free of the attack's grip and come charging back, and he would be all the more angry about it.
So, getting to work, Vidar worked to open the hatch. It took several tries, but soon it was unlocked.
For the most part, as the blonde cyborg worked on opening the hatch, not intentionally, Vidar had not been paying much attention to the self proclaimed rightful ruler of the world, 'Queen' Taras. In fact, it was as if his mind had auto-tuned the angry woman out of existence for the moment. Why? He was far more preoccupied with other things and that tended to happen when he put all of his focus on one task, though he did try to multi-task so from time to time, he would hear snippets of what she was ranting and raving about off to the side. Such fine examples include '... pack of traitorous dogs' and '...THEY can fill out paperwork to ME!' Without context, all Vidar was left with was a strange image of Queen Taras standing at a desk, attempting to get a pack of dogs to fill out paperwork, only the dogs could not hold their pens in their paws...nor understand her raving instructions about signatures. It was a strange yet humorous image.
The hatch had opened and he could not see inside. Or, at least, he could not see very far inside. It was deep inky blackness within, and as he peered down into the hole, his eyes automatically switched on the low-light sensors, allowing him to see somewhat better into the chasm beyond the threshold. It was deep. How far down did this hatch g-
He did not have time to even think the question when he was unceremoniously shoved aside. 'Queens and Royal Personages first!' the fear that was radiating off her voice was palpable; and he could understand why. His sensors had begun ringing inside of his head. That overwhelming power was beginning to increase once again and it was getting closer and closer. The Fist of the South Star was heading their way, and Vidar was more than sure that he was not in a good mood; as if he was in a good mood before.
"Maybe you shouldn't just j- and there she goes," He had attempted to warn the loud mouthed royal but she appeared more interested in survival than...survival. She leapt head first into the darkness and quickly found out that the chasm was just that, a chasm. The tunnel entrance into the underground bunker was deep and she fell a long way down; he could tell it was deep not just because of his short preliminary inspection but from the sound of her fall. It was as if he had dropped a small pebble down a deep reaching metal pipe; ding, ding, ding, bang, ding, all the way down to the bottom where he heard a distant thud.
"... I'm sure she'll be fine." He stood up and peered over at the others, "Go ahead." He allowed them to go first; once the others had gone in, he also leapt down; however, he was smart enough to fly down rather than fall down the hole and it slowed his descent. Before he went in, however, he grabbed the handle of the hatch and pulled it, sliding the hatch closed. This would ensure that even if the Fist of the South Star were to return, all he would find is.... nothing, they would not be anywhere in sight. It would appear as if nothing had changed.
As soon as he reached the bottom, his eyes glowing brightly in the dark, his HUD activated in his head.
ACTIVATE DARK VISION? Y/N Y ACTIVATING... DARK VISION ACTIVATED.
The world around him flashed, at least to him, and then took on a bright almost neon glow as did everyone around him. He could see perfectly, even in the darkness. No lights appeared to come on, so power down here had been routed to the hatch, or at least he could only assume.
But, as he stepped ahead of the others and looked around, he did spot something, "This bunker, whomever had built it, Doctor Kringle took it for himself." He picked something up off the ground. It was a piece of plastic, some kind of candy wrapper. He did not know if the others could see it, but he made out the details on the wrapper easily. This was a candy that Doctor Kringle developed in his lab, no other company on Earth made something similar, and the wrapper was manufactured in the lab as well.
Doctor Kringle had a bit of a sweet tooth. He preferred to make his own candies than have to send someone out and constantly buy them.
He had found one of Kringle's labs; if this had been a Tuffle Lab, it no longer was now. All he had to do now was find the main lab, and maybe - just maybe - he could upgrade himself and replace his missing arm at last.
WC: 1,365 | 4,700 Mission WC: 11,551 | 14,000
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Post by Clove on Nov 28, 2020 2:44:54 GMT -8
“So he matches the profile but it may not be him unless he says so.” Clove thought out loud, in truth it was reported that he left no one alive which is why no one knew what he looked like, and here they were very much alive. “I am not taking any chances on whether or not he is because I would rather keep my life, Queen Taras-san.”
Vidar clarified his analysis of her battle armor, “Well let me tell you a known secret, people with significant power levels can survive the weather, and I suppose my demon blood has plenty to do with it, Vidar-san.”
The demoness tensed up as a powerful ki signature flared up in the distance, everyone descended down the hatch, and Vidar secured the hatch. The sand outside would eventually cover it as the wind was beginning to pick up in the frigid temperatures of the arid desert. Once they were below they could no longer detect the namekian, which was confirmation that it was once a Tuffle bunker capable of masking energy signatures from above the surface, but the fail safes of autodestruction were disabled by someone else. Vidar confirmed that it was his creator who unlocked the secrets of this underground network years ago, she recalled him looking for his labs in the southern islands, and she wondered how long ago Doctor Kringle was alive.
“IX.” The tea princess repeated, “Like the number nine? In the western lands we say Kyu. Why do you want to learn from the strongest? The stronger you become the easier you become a target and most people are not willing to share their knowledge of how they required their strength. Do you desire to fight the strongest, Kyu-chan?”
The question of their reasoning behind the underground in a colony style bunker raised a brow, “There are several reasons why we are gathered here today. This facility is full of resources that we could use, the technology most of these hidden facilities contained is not known to Capsule Corp or any major tech company. It is old technology yet so advanced it is valuable, in this instance we can split the profits, and build something using whatever we find here. Something to help you become stronger.”
It was rather dark, fortunately they were all the type that were more than capable of seeing in the dark, even the deep sea was visible with her demon eyes that last time she discovered the depths of the ocean with Vidar.
Once they reached the end of a long dimly lit halfway with flickering power reserved, they were met with a grand view of a planetary observatory, the projected planets were not of their solar system, and the holograms flickered in and out from the amount of power this facility required to keep operational. It was a clear indication that it had been quite some time since anyone had been down here, with all the dust, rust, and lack of power in some of the hallways.
What looked to be windows were actually monitors projecting different parts of the milky way; it was a newer room compared to the other foul smelling rusted hallways which did not have such streamline design. Even looking at vidar he appeared more stream line by comparison to this room in particular. Asking who IX was created by seemed rather imposing at this point, most androids were people, especially with an intelligence superior to earthlings.
“Well, I am not great with technology if it's not modern, we can keep exploring together and find something useful, or we can split up. This place seems huge and it might take hours trying to uncover something in the dark.” [620] [12,171/14,000] @inx Queen Taras Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK)
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Post by Queen Taras on Nov 28, 2020 3:10:49 GMT -8
KRA-THOOM.
The entire bunker shook violently as, far above, the Fist of the South Star vented his frustration. Perhaps he simply assumed that they had been hiding in the mushroom forest. That would have been where he last felt Taras’ energy signature, after all. It was unlikely that an opponent as formidable as he would have let his senses drift from the members of their group that could not hide their power level until they disappeared into this bunker.
Thankfully, all of the members of the group had moved away from the entrance, because the ladder came crashing down behind them. The semi-melted top of it implied that whatever forces the Fist of the South Star had unleashed, the way they had come in was certainly nothing more than slag now. Taras stared at it for several moments, and then she sighed.
“I hope Katsu managed to make it back to safety.” She said, “And I guess we’ll have to find somewhere else for winter rations… tch, what a pain. I suppose I had been thinking of leaving this desert for a while…”
Aside from anything else, sticking around where the Fist of the South Star was when he would, probably, want her head on a stick if he ever saw her again didn’t seem like a good long-term survival plan. Taras had been ‘killed’ in a variety of interesting ways by her rivals over the years, and it was never fun, but she didn’t want to put her incredible capacity for regeneration to the test against a man who was known for killing entire armies extremely dead.
“This is a lot more advanced than the kind of places Goji-sama and I used to live in.” She admitted, eyeing the holograms. Of course, the fact that these are planets at all is totally lost on Taras. With no formal education, they just looked like strange pictures. The fact they were made of light was interesting enough to be of note, though, and she squinted closer at them.
“I’m surprised it is still standing.” She said, thoughtfully. “If that first attack is anything to go by, I’m guessing there’s a lot of molten rock and glass above us right now. Whoever built this place did it to last.”
And, at last, she demonstrated more than just a surprising capacity for arrogance and shouting.
“I think we should probably stick together. There’s no telling what traps are still around here, either from the people who built it or from this Kringle person. And if we open the wrong door and it isn’t as tough as the rest of the place, we could get buried in sand, or worse. If we work together as a team, we can find anything of value, and find an exit together.”
The whole matter of training, the strongest, and so forth… that she was just leaving alone. Right now, her priority was on survival.
“At least it doesn’t seem likely that Fisty the Namekian up there is going to keep coming after us. Even he has to have some kind of limits.”
(Wordcount: 524) (Total Cumulative Wordcount: 12,695)
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Post by Vidar (PROJECT: RAGNAROK) on Dec 2, 2020 14:42:38 GMT -8
He had done it. He had found one of Doctor Kringle's labs; sure, it had been a Tuffle lab at one point - possibly abandoned by the time that the good doctor came along and picked it up and added it to his collection - but it was a Kringle lab now. Or at least, it had been. It appeared that it had been left abandoned once again, not long after Doctor Kringle had taken the place over. There must be something in here that could help him; and if these Tuffles are as technologically advanced as they are made out to be then he could only imagine the treasure trove of technological advancements that were left behind. Especially if the good doctor combined it with his own genius know-how. A mixture of Earth and Tuffle tech, the possibilities were endless. But, what mattered, above all else, is that one, he had found a lab at last, and two, he may have a chance of upgrading himself, at last. He had been desperately needing an upgrade for some time now.
He felt something deep within, growing within his body; it was a powerful sensation. It was elation, jubilation, energy just flowing through him like a mad torrent. A small smile crossed his face as he stood in the darkened, dimly lit, hallway.
"I can't believe I finally did it. I found one of Doctor Kringle's labs," He was speaking to no one in particular, mainly to himself, as he looked at the long abandoned candy wrapper that he had picked up of the ground. He held it in the palm of his hand; it was odd how a discarded piece of trash left behind in a dust lined hall of an abandoned underground secret bunker could bring him such levels of joy.
Looking over at Clove, Vidar stowed the small wrapper of candy in his pocket. "Splitting up could prove dangerous; we are not entirely sure that this lab has been abandoned. If this was, in fact, Kringle's lab, then he would have set up security measures. Those could vary; from simple traps to active security bots. Either way, splitting up would not be the wisest decision. Especially if that individual up there does somehow make his way down here; splitting up would just make it easier for him to pick us off one by one. The best course of action, I do believe, would be to stay together. We do not need to explore this place in its entirety right now. We just need to find the main control center to deactivate the security measures and reroute the power; to see if we can get this bunker fully operational once more."
If they could find the control center of this place and get the place up and running, they would have full control of all of the abandoned technology left there. That would be a grand boon to all of them. "I am sure if we can locate the command center, we can also give the Queen the candy she desires," He peered over at Taras; the command center also controlled the machinery that made all of Doctor Kringle's favorite candies. Though, how long ago had this place been abandoned? Were there any ingredients still left to make those candies? That was the question; but it was a question that they could answer once they got to it, once the bunker was once again theirs to command.
"If we were to separate, I do not mind searching with her Royal Highness," He spoke of Taras, though he was unsure of what Kingdom she ruled over, since she had stated that this area was her territory, then stated that the Earth in its entirety had belonged to her people. Although that had been a long time ago, would she still have claim over the planet even now?
If the royal decided to accompany him, and Clove decided to go with the young Number 9, or IX or whatever his name was - he had introduced himself as IX which, as Clove said was the Roman numeral for Nine - against his better judgement, they would still cover a bit more ground, while still not fully separating the group. If they did run into any problems, they could watch each other's backs to some extent. Although he was unsure of the queen's fighting ability by looking at the horned woman.
So, once the groups were selected and if everyone agreed with it, they would separate and begin their searching of the underground bunker. They had no knowledge of the layout of the place, so they just went in opposite directions at a T junction in the hall.
They searched, Vidar and the Queen, for about an hour or so, finding different rooms, from small labs, to sleeping quarters, to even a library; the tomes in the library were coated with thick layers of dust, which gave him the impression that this place had laid abandoned for quite some time, though he was unsure for exactly how long.
"This is something useful," He found a map in one of the sleeping quarters - which were rather basic, with a simple bed built into the wall, storage built into the wall, a desk, and a private bathroom. Looking over the map, he scanned it into his memory. Oh, this place was large, indeed, and went down even deeper than they had descended. There was, according to the map, an elevator shaft which descended several layers deeper into the earth. There were more labs, more sleeping quarters, and then at the bottom was the command center. "That is where the command center is." He pointed to it on the map. "We should find the others and tell them this information," He looked at the map, his bright yellow eyes glowing softly in the darkened room as he absorbed the info, scanned it and saved it to his data banks, "There's an exit over here too, away from the enraged individual that, I hope, is not still hovering over us just outside of this place. If we follow that escape route, we'll be far enough away that we'll be able to sneak away from him unnoticed." He took the map off the wall, "Let's go find Clove and IX."
WC: 1,049 | 5,749 Mission WC: 14,050 | 14,000
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