From Victory to Oblivion: 365 Days to Live [IC Thread] [PG-16]

[Chaotic Angel]

James stopped fighting as he saw the odd replica walk away from the fight. He shrugged it off, with nothing to say and went back to camp. When he came back, he saw Meguri, then looked at the camp now in cinders. "Where are we gonna sleep tonight then?" he asked, stating the obvious. Meguri looked back at James and responded: "Ask your master. He's the one that caused all of this. It was my fault for summoning him in the first place..." then she picked up her supplies and slept outside of camp. "Good night, James. I'm tired. See you in the morning." she muttered, trying to sleep whilst the ground was still wet. James followed on and tried to get sleep too. "Four in the morning. We had a pretty long day, let's face it... Shit!" James whispered, whilst looking at his hand, it was basically covered in mud and dog shit. Not a very nice texture to finish up, I must say. "Fuck, now that's gonna take forever... And my sister's asleep." he concluded.

 

Back in Meguri and James' homeworld, Ron, James' master and one of the toughest cyborgs in his city was up against over 300 thousand replicas. "These guys have got to give it a rest! My hands are feeling numb!" he said, slicing off replicas one by one for the last two hours. Then, one of the replicas, the Remorseless Key came rushing over to him and stabs him at the very heart of his core. "Ngh! Fuck off will you!" Ron screamed, forcing the replica back out of him and taking the replicated Keyblade out of him. Although the core cracked, it was much to even Ron's surprise that he still survived. "Well... That lasted long, didn't it?" he said, removing the core from his heart to reveal his insides and replaced it with a new one, plugging it back in.

 

Back in camp...

 

Whilst Meguri was still asleep, James took the time to wash the poo and mud away from his hands, using the water bottle that he had. An hour in, with hands cleaned off, he took out his rations, started the fire and cooks it up for five minutes, after which the rations are ready to eat. "Blergh. It's bland." he muttered, eating away at his limited supplies, then going back to sleep with his stomach still growling, hours on end.

 

"That dinner wasn't very nice..."

 

"Perhaps it will be better on the second day..."

 

"The... Second... Day..."

 

DAY 2

 

Providing all the replicas have been finished off by Talen and Tes, the second day was imminent. The sun started blazing across James and Meguri's eyes and they woke. "Morning... Hey, James. Have you been eating into your own supplies whilst I was asleep!" Meguri questioned, but shrugged it off anyway. "Don't worry about it. I'll eat my breakfast..." she concluded, taking out a pack of rationed, but naked beef burger and cooks it up on open flame for several minutes. Yes, the same fire that James started last night. After which, she opened the film lid and grabs a fork from her bag, then starts chowing down on the bland beef burger. "Yeah, bland. Holy shit, do they not do the seasoning in this survival camp?" Meguri started to wander, but realises in the end that seasoning was also a contraband during this dangerous journey.

 

"There's something odd about the Estranged Assassin last night... I wonder what it must have been..." James thought, whist figuring out the strategy for when the next set of replicas appear.

[Self-Destruct Button]

"It's my brother. I'm worried about what he might do.", Peter said, and it seemed to Sophia as if he tried to smile, but didn't quite make it. She noticed his failed attempt, and responded with a smile of herself. "Want to talk about it?"

Sophia didn't know if it was the right choice to ask further. Last time, it didn't end that well for both of them, so she told herself to be more careful this time, and leave it up to him to tell whatever he wishes to. Noticing his look wandering from her lips to her eyes, Sophia couldn't help but feel his look had a purpose. What purpose though? She couldn't tell.

 "Not really. But-I suppose it would be beneficial to know he's a psychopath. Are you sure you want to know exactly what he did? I can tell you... But, you might be better off with what you can imagine opposed to the reality."

Thinking what do respond, Sophia glanced to the horizon absent-minded. "Leave the decision to him... it's better that way.", the young woman figured. 

"I am not sure, to be honest. If you want to tell the story, then so be it, I'm sure I can take it."

Peter bit his lip, seemingly in pain."He..." A deep breath interrupted the sentence. It wasn't easy to say for him, as it seemed.

"He killed my girlfriend and her brother because I ran away. And it gets worse."

Sophia couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and didn't really know what to do. She wanted to sit closer to him, though she didn't know why, as there was no way to comfort him as it seemed. "I can't imagine anything worse...", she quickly responded, and it was actually the truth. She never heard of anything like it, not even when she was around the worst of criminals in her world. Not even when her father died. Her thoughts were interrupted by Peter, as he moved a little closer to Sophia, she figured he saw her gesture earlier.

"It hurts to remember... but for a little while it was just me and my brother. He convinced me that someone killed our grandarents... and mother and father."

In this very moment, so many thoughs ran through Sopias mind. If his brother did all this, why didn't Peter just run off and kill him? Was he stronger, faster, more dangerous than Peter? Even so, he could at least try. She remembered her feelings when she realized what happened to her father. When she realized who was responsible for his deah. She remembered her long journey to murder who him away from her - and her success. And everything that came afterwards - the strange feeling of fire and heat spread across her entire body, the complete lack of any pain. She remembers being happy in that moment. Though, what happened to her? That day changed her life, from a quest to kill to a quest to live. 

"I can imagine that it hurts... all this from your own brother... I'm sorry to ask this but... did you ever feel... the desire for revenge? I was driven by it for quite a while. In fact, it led me to... this." 

Sophia dragged her hair out of the way for a brief moment so that Peter could see her scar in its entirety. She had never shown it to anyone before. It felt awkward. Taking a deep breath, she let her hair fall back.

[color=#800080]"You don't have to answer. I understand how much of a burden the memory alone is... let alone the fact that he is here right now. May I ask though... if you know what led him to do all this?" [/color]

Staring straight into his eyes, she tried to figure out how he would react. She couldn't tell.

[Tesability Black]

With a powerful blast did the dragon at least scare off this wave of replicas for the time being, turning just barely in time to see one take a blocked swing at her partner before backing off into the darkness.

 

"Tawen," Tesability called out, taking a glare at one that tried to sneak up on her and failed, causing it to back away for the time being. "Yu awite?"

 

"...yeah, I think I'll be fine." Standing her staff upon the ground, she looked towards her black colored partner with a slight grin after being sure the odd replica was gone for now. "Let's get back into camp, it's food time."

 

"...yu no tewl me wha fud ish," the dragon quipped before walking back towards the camp beside her partner...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"My backpack better not be in that fire or I'm gonna kill someone!" Talen was not happy to see the inferno that the camp had become, the dragon looking at her weirdly.

 

"Ai cin putsh dem owt," Tesability commented before flying up and beginning to flap her wings harder and harder in the air. After a few minutes of the flames getting larger at first, the fire finally put itself out, overwhelmed by the air that was striking it. "Shee?"

 

The woman in black was silent for a moment before walking up toward her backpack and supplies, double-checking them all for integrity. "Alright, good, they're all okay..."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Day Two

 

Unlike the others, whom were complaining about the blandness of the food provided, Tesability was just staring at the food everyone had, her stomach grumbling a bit. Talen smirked at the curious dragon before taking the last bite of her own burger and wincing at the blandness before getting up and reaching into the strange backpack on Tesability's back. "Lemme see here..."

 

"Wha yu duin'," the black dragon with gold underwings asked, raising a grey leaf-like ear in curiosity at her partner's actions.

 

"Getting you something to eat. Apparently, your transfer here from the Internet has given you a digestive system, meaning you need food as well to keep going."

 

The dragon simply blinked in confusion.

 

"Oy, vey...wait, that feels like...that should work." Pulling out what looked like a wrapped up steak that wasn't exactly top-dollar quality, Talen sadly nodded before trying to remove the plastic. As soon as the plastic was open, however, a pleasant smell hit the dragon's nose.

 

Tesability began to sniff the air, unsure of what it was, though she followed it to the red slab in Talen's hands. "Dat shmewls gud." Once it was unwrapped, the human woman looked up towards the Great-Dane-sized dragon, back at the meat, then back at the dragon.

 

"Now that I think about it...you might not need to cook this." Holding it up towards Tesability's mouth, Talen braced herself for unpleasantness. "Open your muzzle, let me put this in it, close your mouth and chew this, then swallow it."

 

A few moments passed with Tesability looking up in confusion before finally opening her mouth, revealing quite a few teeth, at least two rows of them, minus the primary enlonged fangs. Talen placed the meat in her mouth and quickly pulled her hands back before the dragon began chomping, learning quickly one thing about this slab of red.

 

Whatever this sensation was on her tongue, she liked it. After a few moments did she finally swallow, the edge on the feeling in her stomach starting to pass little by little. "Hay...mai middwe nu huwtsh enimow..."

[Chaotic Angel]

Since James went ahead first,  he approaches Tes and Talen. "Hey ladies. Hmm?" he said, paying his attention to a rather eerie orb that appeared behind him. He goes ahead and touches it, but when Meguri caught up, it was already too late. "James, you dick head! What did you do?" Meguri shouted, only to be surrounded by new species of replicas. Twenty Nightmare Gunbladers and four Rebellious Archers. "Are you fucking serious..." she complained. A few seconds after, the orb exploded, revealing the first boss. It looked like Ron, James' teacher, but then his body turned black. "Master? Oh wait, no he ain't. En garde, people!" James instructed, with the barrier set up within the black being, James, Meguri, Tes, Talen and the twenty-four replicas that appeared prior to the boss' arrival.

 

Nightmare Gunbladers are replicas of Lucy Moase, Ron's sister-in-law. She never had the chance to take the limelight, but she is very quick and has strong firepower. She doesn't have elemental resistances, but she does have physical resistance. That meaning she takes half the damage compared to normal replicas.

 

Rebellious Archers are replicas of Chloe Sweeting, another one of Ron's old friends. Again, she never took the limelight, but her archery skills are second to none, as well as her martial art skills. When this particular replica separates from her bow, she will resort to close combat and use fists. Rebellious Archers are immune to Earth based attacks.

 

Finally, Ron's Lingering Will. This person is the hardest amongst the group. You will fight this boss again in 5 days time. With normal resistances, this guy would be dead in five to six shots, but no. He has every resistance possible. 200% resistance to physical attacks and 175% resistance to magic attacks. This is the possible equivalent of just 1-3 damage at best.

 

Ron's Lingering Will HP: 500

 

"Hmm... That looks hard." Meguri said, looking at the statistics. Ron's Lingering Will started approaching her and she quickly took the hit, injuring herself.

 

"Shit, seriously?" James barked, tending to his sister at once. When he took the time to cast a healing spell, the Lingering Will approached James at a quick pace and started slicing him up. When James touched back down, he hit the ground so hard his organs started going dysfunctional. "Argh, that hurt, you motherfucker!" he said, but not before the Lingering Will started charging in at him. He took his weapon out, dropped it into the ground and used the hidden cord to throw the weapon at James, knocking him straight out.

 

"James!"

 

"Fuck you, arsehole. Fuck you!"

 

"Meg, take it easy... You're hurt as well... Tes! Help us for a bit, will ya! Let us heal up first!" James instructed, trying to relax, but not before he realised he dislocated his left leg. "Oh, shit. Is there a medic in camp? I think I may have dislocated a joint on my leg!" James said, asking for help from the outside world. But there's a problem, an invisible barrier was set prior to the battle so no one from the outside world except for Peter or Sophia can come and assist.

 

"I just realised something as well.. We haven't made a scratch yet..." Meguri says, questioning their ability to fight a boss such as their master's Lingering Will.

 

"I guess it's up to Talen and Tes then... Let's see what they can do..." James instructed, watching the fight as the siblings heal up.

[Tesability Black]

"Arceus-dammit, not again," Talen remarked upon seeing the swarm of foes, nodding silently in response to the request to stay back and heal up.

"Hoosh Awshayush," the NetMonster asked before the human waved her off.

"Never mind, blast these down with Enraged Gu---"

"Oh, s***. Is there a medic in camp? I think I may have dislocated a joint on my leg!"

"---usts. You're on your own, I gotta go digging in my bag for my first-aid kit!"

And with that, the human and NetMonster parted for opposing directions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talen's POV

And the first thing she did was beeline for her backpack, digging through it to reveal a whole lot of stuff geared for survival in a situation like this...

"Are you f***ing kidding me," a scream belted out while her head was still in the bag with her arms before pulling it out. "Out of all the things me and Chris put in this bag, we both forgot First-Aid kits?!" Letting out a groan, she pulled out from the bottom a small, white and yellow laptop designed for effective use in such a setting, efficient in energy use and at least resistant to most things that would harm a normal laptop.

She pulled up various articles and sources of information stored on it about various leg injuries, a variety she would narrow down soon after getting more information about what's going on.

"Alright," she said as she knelt down beside Meg and James, looking more towards James at the moment. "I may not be a medic, but I'm probably the closest you're gonna get to non-magical medical help. Where exactly does it hurt?"

And in the distance, the strange Estranged Assassin from before began to rub its chin in thought while remaining cloaked in invisible form...

(I have an entire bug-out bag list saved on my desktop for this RP and stupid me left out the first-aid kits...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tesability's POV

Wings outstretched, the air around the black dragon spun around her as if a God of the Winds had heralded her as a furious agent of destruction. Even if there were those who resisted the damaging power of the Enraged Gusts couldn't help but find themselves frequently being sent flying towards varying directions, causing the many replicas to impact into various spots.

It wouldn't matter if you had resistances to every damned thing in the world, damage from your own impact against the ground is going to at least sting!

Maintaining the vicious winds around her as an unforgiving AOE, Tesability let loose a thick string of electricity from her maw, a mix of Breath and Lightning Spew with the latter filling the space of the former as a template, towards a large group of the replicas that landed together.

And then, something impacted the back of her noggin, spiraling the dragon multiple times over herself and headfirst into a foot of dirt, limbs flailing around a moment helplessly and in a cute way before finally managing to plant them on the ground and pull her head out of it. "Owwiesh..."

Looking up towards where she had been before the sudden spin, she spotted with her solid-black eyes was one particular replica that was now looking back at her, eyes locking together. The others suddenly felt the need to back away from the pair, content to watch as they formed a ring around the duo, the dragon ready to pounce and the replica ready to strike.

Tesability Black vs Ron's Lingering Will

Stretching out her wings, Tesability summoned more of the raging winds around her, hoping that she can use them in a way to strike her foe multiple times at once...

[Chaotic Angel]

Reacting to Tesability's attack, the Lingering Will jumps in the air and avoids the attack, then buries itself to the ground in order to try and attack Talen. As soon as it does, Meguri could pick it up straight away. "There!" she shouted, stabbing the ground with her knives but unfortunately, it missed. "Talen, it's heading for you!" she continued, signalling her to fall back before the Lingering Will jumps back up from underground. Asking where James had dislocated his leg, he simply answered: "Near the ankle bone... No pain at the moment, but it will get to me. I need a while before I can cast my magic..." but that doesn't stop him from seeing the Lingering Will from the same spot as well. "Talen, look out!" James shouted, echoing Meguri's reaction, but then he heard a click near his ankle bone.

"Shit. That hurt."

The Lingering Will heads straight for Talen and jumps up from above and starts attacking. James however, was willing to endure the pain and help fend it's attacks. Although the blocks were successful, James did take a few severe hits... The Lingering Will then approaches Meguri, grabs her shirt and throws her around. Meguri gets up immediately and spars with him, the Lingering Will fights back to the best of his ability until the former starts making a scratch on him... Though that didn't hurt him one little bit. "Are you serious right now!" Meguri shouted, then a total of 100 arrows from all four Rebellious Archers start forcing themselves in on her. "Fuck, fuck, fuck off!" she said, slashing the arrows away one by one.

"Too slow!"

Those were few of the only words the Lingering Will actually says. To be fair though, not many Lingering Will says much in fact, a large majority says nothing at all.

"Pathetic!"

It taunted, diverting its attention away from Meguri and directs its attacks at Tes, throwing its weapon at it, slices at her and retracts the weapon with its hidden cord. After which, the Lingering Will starts morphing its weapon. He throws his weapon in the air, and from there, creates one large great blade that he can wield. Ron's Lingering Will then approaches Meguri again and starts slamming it on the ground like there's no tomorrow. "A... ARGH!" it screamed as it slams the weapon on the ground.

"This thing is going apeshit. I gotta try and dodge all of his attacks then try and attack him from behind!"

And so, Meguri does just that. She waits for the Lingering Will to approach her, then she dodges from underneath and slices him from behind multiples times. The damage was minimal, a total of just fifteen points of health taken off. But at least it hit the Lingering Will, mind you. We have more difficult bosses coming up as well. "Finally! Let's keep to that strategy! James, Talen... Let's fight! Salvation!" Meguri said, merging her weapons with her left hand before burying it to the ground, the same manner as if the Lingering Will buries himself in. After a while, the left hand becomes one giant gauntlet and massages James and Talen's wounds... Even though Talen isn't known to have any, she may as well just get one. The wounds her allies have inflicted heals in just seconds, before Meguri pulls her gauntlet from the ground and turns her hand back to normal.

"Now, let's morph!"

"Morph!"

The siblings morph their weapons into a giant shuriken and a fenrir respectively. Meguri takes control of her shuriken and starts throwing it at different angles and directions whilst James' fenrir appears next to him, awaiting his command. James gets up from his injuries, assuming Talen had patched him up prior to Meguri's healing technique.

"Alright, grind the bastard! Show the bullshitter what we can do!" he instructed, allowing the fenrir to attack the Lingering Will at its own accord, though with not much success as the Lingering Will took only two points of damage in just ten hits.

"Hmm... Meguri, your cue!" he shouted.

"Impulse....!"

Meguri merges her weapons again, but this time with her right hand. She buries her hand to the ground and after a while, a darkness gauntlet appears pops out from a mile away. Though it initially misses, the hand follows the Lingering Will and grabs just before he is about to evade for the second time.

"Hell yeah! Crush him!"

And those words inflicted only three points of damage, despite Meguri's high hopes. She pulls her hand back up from the ground and turns it to normal. "Ah well, there's plenty of opportunities..." she said, focusing on the fight at hand with her weapon at stance.

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 480

[ZeRainbowDash]

Faye sat on a tree branch and studied the pair fighting below. They seemed to be holding rather well, so she saw no reason to get herself involved. She had been tailing the group since yesterday when she had woken up in this strange place. She had put all of the stuff from her survival stuff into her bag that had come with her. She'd fallen asleep on the bus home and woken up here, with a letter in her pocket reading:

[spoiler=To Whom it may concern,]

To whoever reads this letter, I have a quest for you.

To think that we're alone in our world. Yeah, it's grim. Correct? I thought so. What if you only have 365 days to live? That's another question you really should be asking yourself.

 

Why did we have to come so far, only to think that we only have a year exactly to live. What would you do then? What could you do to overcome such hardships? If something like that is something you doubt after all this time then I don't know how I can help.

Here's the deal. I want to know if you can overcome a year's worth of supplies and live past the time limit. You have nothing to live for. Just yourself, and rationed food. Oh, and bring a weapon and a camping kit... It's going to be dangerous.

 

You will see characters that have been in YCM in the past, but they don't recognise you. If you see your family amongst them, don't be alarmed. They probably won't recognise you either. If you can fight against them with ease, I will commend you. But it's far from simple. Someone hacked into the computer system in my office and overpowered everyone by 6000%, replicas, families, friends, the lot. I don't even know how they got to these kind of statistics, but they're powered at such a high rate, so here we go.

 

You're in a barren world that has already been eaten up by the shadows, by darkness and the burdens that we bear, that has gone out of control. I'm only a lingering spirit that has gone through the hell you are about to go through. There are only rubble, used cars that have been blown up, wilted trees and the winds that make you step back and think 'what the hell am I doing in this world?' There is no technology in this world. Just you, and everyone else that are willing to go on this boring, long journey with you. It's like a graveyard, you don't even wanna think about it.

 

Let's ask ourselves once again then. Are we prepared to go to this desolate world? Or are we ready to witness you chicken out?"

[/spoiler]

 

She had no idea why she'd been selected, but she had to stay alive. She wouldn't die. Faye drew Iustitia and Vindicta and looked at the blades. Iustitia, the blade of justice; long, amber in color and a straight blade and Vindicta, the blade of vengeance. Longer than her sister Justice, the blade was black, along with the hilt. A fire opal adorned the hilt. These blades were marks of her promise, along with the scars on each of her forearms to mark the contract with Invidia. She continued studying the battle below, then noticed a lone Disconnected Bouquet creeping towards them, completely unnoticed. She hesitated for a moment, then decided she should at least try to make allies, though not necessarily friends.

Faye leapt off the tree branch, landing lightly on her feet and smoothly flowing into a run, heading down towards it. "Invidia, lend me your power" She muttered. Her eyes tinged red, along with Vindicta, whereas Iustitia grew a white aura. She drew nearer and prepared for cobat, remembering all her master had taught her.

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

Talen scrambled to get the hell out of further swinging range, her quarterstaff raised to try and hopefully block off some of the lighter attacks that may come her way. A twinge of guilt hit her as she saw James getting between where she once was and the foe that could have easily slain her, taking quite a bit more damage in the process for her sake.

It became clear to her real quick that she was a liability in combat, so she hoped that what all she did bring with her made her less of such outside of when fighting was happening.

Slamming shut the top of her laptop to flatten it, she did her best to hide from view, even though there wasn't much way to hide anywhere. "I hate being useless in a fight," she muttered to herself as the madness of combat happened around her...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Tesability's POV~

When a NetMonster is in combat, something you don't do is break up the fight it's in. Unfortunately, that's exactly what just happened as the Lingering Will moved away from her and towards the others, a growl now coming out of the black dragon-like creature's throat.

"Grrr... MAI PWAY!"

With that did she launch herself towards the Lingering Will, electrified claws ready to rake over the damned thing, even if she had to swing a million-and-one times with breakneck speeds to do so.

She was not gonna let her prey leave that easily...

[Chaotic Angel]

The Lingering Will took some damage in the process... Only to have its attention diverted to Tesability again...

 

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 480/500

 

The Lingering Will goes straight ahead, buries itself again and heads for Tesability. "We have to assist Tes... James, Talen. Stop the bastard on its tracks before it reaches Tes!" Meguri instructed. Or, so she says. By the time she almost reaches Tes, it was too late. The Lingering Will was miles ahead, jumps up and stabs its weapon on the ground, tearing the vicinity up in the process, revealing five more new replicas: Eastern Sinners.

 

Eastern Sinners are replicas of Tetsuya Kousaka, a newcomer and native to this barren world. Tetsuya has no affiliation with James or Meguri, so to them, he may be a stranger. This replica is immune to water, but is very much vulnerable to Lightning, Tes' forte so this more or less should be easy to defeat if we say so ourselves. "Wait, how many replicas now? 29? It's okay, I'll cut them down myself. Focus on the Lingering Will, Meg!" James said, casting his healing spell to heal up any injuries around his vicinity. However, Meguri had a better idea and took out the weapon belonging to her brother's teacher and starts hacking away at the Lingering Will. "No problem James, I got this. Hey, Talen. You might just be useful for combat. Here!" Meguri said, beginning to chant the spell that would enhance combat skills.

 

"Combat Cry, Faith, Fortress, Magic Barrier!" Meguri chants these four spells and gives them to Talen, strengthening her in every possible way. Her Offense, Magic Offense, Defense, and Magic Defense soured. Then, Meguri took off her backpack, opening it and gave out a few spellbooks to help Talen. The spellbooks are Thunder, Thundara and Thundaga for the moment, which blends in well with Tesability and in order to assist her as well as the two siblings. Of course, it was okay to manipulate these lightning spells and make them her own, if need be. "It's okay, I'm a cardinal back in my home world. I give support to people like you, especially with little combat ability. Now, fight with me and don't get lost!" Meguri said, as the Lingering Will starts burying itself again and now it goes around in circles, poking its weapon upwards every five seconds. Meguri tries her best to dodge those attacks and tries to hit it, but very little damage was taken. When the Lingering Will's sword pokes out for the third time, Meguri drops her weapon and grabs onto his. She yanks the Lingering Will out and throws it back underground, dealing a fair amount of damage.

 

"Finally, we're getting there! Tes, it's your cue. Give this thing your best shot!" Meguri commanded, signaling teamwork from every camp mate.

 

Then, in James' point of view, he had defeated all of the Rebellious Archers and all of the Eastern Sinners. All he had left is to defeat sixteen Nightmare Gunbladers, which tells us that only four of them had been taken down. 

 

"Hmm... These guys are no pushover... There we have Meg, Talen and Tes focusing on the Lingering Will.. The bastard can't take much damage... Good luck, ladies..." he thought, going back to the fight at hand.

 

Some time has passed, assuming Tesabillity has made her move, the Lingering Will was yet to take enough damage to go to Desperation Mode. As soon as it jumps up, Meguri grabs its weapon once again and throws him back down, prompting him to move around in circles underground, waiting for the right moment to poke its weapon back out.

 

"This motherfucker is getting more annoying. Girls, en garde!"

 

Meguri was once again in a position of stance, allowing her to prepare herself for the Lingering Will's next move.

 

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 430/500

[Yami Zero]

Luke falls down from thin air infront of the Lingering Will "Ow! The Hell?!?! What the FU-" He then sees them fighting as he quickly grabs his handgun and aims it at the Lingering Will. "Who are you? Where am I? And why the hell does this look like the world got destroyed then got remade just to be destroyed again?" Luke then puts away his gun and calms himself. "Ok Luke, calm down. Just calm down." He then grabbed his gun and looked at Meguri and asked her "Ok first of all which of you is the enemy? I know from all my training one of you isn't good. Oh and by the way." He quickly criples the Lingering Will by shooting it in the leg multiple times. Luke then shows to the others (a.k.a. Meguri, James and Tesability) that his gun had no rounds left. He then puts his gun back in it's holster, considering that they probably could kill him, since they look like they have been here for a while. "Sorry about that but hey, I don't even know what in the freaking hell is happening."

 

Luke then just grabs his backpack and walks towards James. "Hey So I'm lost. can someone please explain? Do you know where Gunville is? Do you atleast know how to get to Gaia Forest?" He looks at them while eating a candy bar.

[ZeRainbowDash]

Faye leaped, landing behind the Disconnected Bouquet and struck with Vindicta, aiming for the back of it's neck, then jumped back as it turned and struck at her, slashing at her chest. She stepped around the next attack and buried Iustitia in the Replica's side, then gritted her teeth as its plade nicked her calf, sending a small trickle of blood down her leg. Faye swung Vindicta around and stabbed the Replica in the throat, then checked her leg. The cut wasn't deep, but it bled a fair amount. The Replica fell to the ground dead. The glows on her blades and in her eyes faded, and the screaming in her mind subsided. She headed to the camp, hesitant before entering. Steeling herself, she forced herself to enter. "Do any of you have a needle and thread?" She asked.

[Chaotic Angel]

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 430/500

 

Just as Meguri was about to attack, the voice started to make a sound...

 

"Camp mates. I have just received warning that a foreign object has appeared in camp. Please obliterate it immediately! Failure to do so will result in punishment for the whole camp!"

 

Of course, Meguri had to do the job. She approached Luke who was eating a candy bar and said: "Excuse me, but why do you even have a candy bar at camp? You should have a supply box with your name on it! But this will have to wait, it is survival grounds however so we'll have to leave it at that!" before taking the candy bar from Luke assuming he agrees to give it up. Of course, if he was reluctant to do so, then the whole camp will have a third of its supplies taken away and of course, both James and Meguri would be infuriated. Then, James realised there's a new camp mate that broke through the barrier. He approaches the new guy and says something also. "Quietly give the candy to my sister and we'll talk..." he said, asking the same thing as his sister from him. Assuming that Luke has finished following Meguri's orders, James then steps up and explains everything. "You're in camp, new boy. You should have read the letter concerning this, so you should know something about what you're letting yourself in for. However, you don't. So this puts me and my sister in a tough spot. Enemies here are overpowered by 6000% according to the letter and we have a year to survive here. With the supplies we have, we don't have long. Three weeks at best unless we hunt for the shit around here." he explains, then Meguri continues and says: "Gunville, Gaia Forest? Sorry mate. It's not around here. So yeah, you're probably trapped here for under a year. Let's kill what's in front of us and you'll be led to the supplies... Sorry Talen, sorry Tes! Let's do this!" before the Lingering Will jumps back up and before it lands again, Meguri grabs its weapon and this time throws the Lingering Will at Tes' direction allowing her to make an attack on it.

 

"Combat Cry, Faith, Fortress, Magic Barrier!"

 

Those four spells are casted again, twice. This time round, it reaches herself and James. Then she casts a new set of spells for Luke.

 

"Accuracy, Evasive Step!"

 

This allows Luke's gunshots to become more powerful and himself to evade most hits. Then, five more Eastern Sinners appear behind Tesability and started ramming themselves onto her, alongside the Lingering Will. James, focusing on the Nightmare Gunbladers after his lecture with Luke, turns his back and saw the Eastern Sinners appear and said: "Whose replicas are they? They keep appearing! Come at me, sons of bitches!" taunting the new replicas to attack him. "Ugh, this is getting annoying! When will this stop!" he said, decimating at least two more Nightmare Gunbladers.

 

However...

 

An unknown camp mate swims underwater, just below the fight scene. He himself sees two Isolated Emperors and two Eastern Sinners. "Well, well.. This has become even more interesting. Think you guys can fight underwater? Try me!" he said, drawing out his weapons and began fighting. Within two slashes however, all the replicas were decimated, but then they are followed by four more Isolated Emperors , four more Eastern Sinners and three Desolate Empresses.

 

"I guess these guys aren't ready to give up yet..."

 

"Oh well, I'll give them a piece of my mind..."

 

The slight sound of blades clashing underneath can be heard on land as well.

 

"Huh? Who the fuck's that fighting underwater? I hope I'm not thinking about things..." Meguri wondered, timing her every step to ensure the Lingering Will reaches her after Tes' attack.

[Yami Zero]

 Luke gives up his candy and thinks to himself "What in the motherfucking hell is happening here?" He then puts his backpack down and runs over to the fighting area as he puts on his earbuds, looks at the Eastern Sinners and stabs it with his arms energy blade only to miss by an inch "Damn! Oh wait!" He then pulls out his Springfield and shoots them continuously. "God what are these things? Why won't they just leave I have better things to do than be here killing these noobs." He turns around walks back a couple feet then aims at the remaining Eastern Sinners as he shoots them with his arm rockets and machine guns. Luke then walks towards the Lingering Will fight out of being bored and grabs said Lingering Will with his gravity gloves and makes it stay above the ground, just so he can't move. He then looks over at Meguri "Hey what in the god forsaken fuck is this thing?"

[Chaotic Angel]

New Campmate's POV

 

Some time has passed and so far, the new campmate managed to kill the only one Desolate Empress. The rest of the replicas, four Eastern Sinners, four Isolated Emperors and the two Desolate Empresses came charging at him and what does he know? He became outnumbered, took several fatal hits and got thrown out of the water by an Isolated Emperor, taking a scar on his back and produced a large gash on his right arm and leg. He then lands behind the waterfalls in the rest of the campmates' next location, Singing Waterfalls and lies there, screaming in agony and pain.

 

"Shit, I sure did take a really good beating... Ungrateful twats, I'll make them pay the next time I'm in the water!"

 

The replicas underwater took a break and swam off. It would only be a matter of time before Meguri and James meets with the new campmate. They are half way through the second day and they are still fighting the Lingering Will...

 

But, before we get to the scene, the new campmate saw Faye from the distance. He, in pain slowly crawls to her and simply hands her the thread and needle. Unfortunately, the campmate was too much in pain to talk further, plus he was drenched from being thrown from underwater so it would only make matters worse. "Urgh... What's... Your... Name...?" he asked the woman, one word at a time, but he would stop talking for a several minutes before the scar on his back became worse.

 

The Siblings' POV

 

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 430/500

 

Meguri leans back and heard an agonising scream from several metres away. "Oh, that can't be good. We have someone in trouble, I'm not sure if that's a new campmate or not!" she said, but then looks at Luke who tries to pin down the Lingering Will, but the latter was too quick to be able to take a hit. When the Lingering Will was about to be grabbed, he immediately let go and chipped Luke's glove, then carries on making its way to Tesability with Meguri chasing after it. "Oh, hell. Tes! React, now! Luke, take that thing off, it's useless now! The Lingering Will is too quick for you, so find another strategy!" Meguri shouted, before morphing her weapon and throwing it at the Lingering Will causing it to take further damage. The Lingering Will touches down, ending its move abruptly and turns its weapon back to normal. Not long afterwards, it starts shooting off black flames in all directions and slashes it with its weapon, causing it to burst out everywhere and burning the place down.

 

"You're FUCKING kidding me! Hurry up and save my ass over here, someone?" James shouted, knocking off the replicas one at a time. After thirty slashes from him in total, all of the Nightmare Gunbladers were wiped out, leaving just the Eastern Sinners to deal with. "This is taking too long! We've been here for half a day and we're fighting the same fucking thing. I've had enough!" he shouted, concluding his complaint.

 

"James, man up! You know this is only gonna get tougher!"

 

Meguri tells James to bring himself together and get a grip. Surely she must want him to continue fighting. The Lingering Will morphs its weapon into a hoverboard now and blades appeared from outside, then it rides on the weapon and rammed it straight onto Meguri, taking the hit and hitting hard on the ground, bleeding. "Ugh, this thing never gives up now, does it?" she said, shutting her eyes and chanting a summon spell...

 

Or, so she thinks. A weapon set appears in front of her instead so she took it and uses it temporarily. It was a Berserker's Hammer so she waits for the right moment and as soon as the Lingering Will approaches her, she slams him straight underground, starting the phase again from where it wanders around in circles and jabbing its weapon.

 

"Yeah, that's right, stay down! Ugh..." Meguri said, now agonising in pain also due to the generous amount of blood lost.

 

In James' point of view though, he manages to taunt the Eastern Sinners into attacking him, and so he initiates his fight with them. All five of them approaches James and charges straight at him to the point where he morphs his weapon into a fenrir, allowing its soul to appear and fights alongside James. He begins a fist fight with half the amount of replicas whilst the fenrir charges and jumps onto the other half, dealing quite a fair bit of damage to all five of them. "I hope Meg's alright, I don't want any more casualties than we have to!" and before we knew it, James had managed to send the five replicas in question into cinders, allowing him to focus solely on the Lingering Will...

 

However,

 

The Lingering Will isn't done just yet. Just when James sighs from relief that he has less jobs to do, an Oblivious Cardinal appears behind the Lingering Will. "Meg's replica? C'mon!" James said. Thank god there was only one of them...

 

The Oblivious Cardinal is a replica of our Meguri Nightingale. There's nothing obvious to explain here, other than the fact that it's quick and has high strength. It has no other resistances to anything, so it should be easily killed and so James quickly finishes it off and focuses on the Lingering Will, for once. More Oblivious Cardinals will appear later, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

When the Lingering Will jumps up and shows off his weapon, James follows it upwards and grabs his weapon. Soon afterwards, he throws it back down again. Then the Lingering Will goes to the point where it is underneath Tes, and waits for its moment to jump up. The only consequence from now on is that everyone loses a bit of health every second due to the black flame. The Lingering Will was included in the consequence, so really, it was jokes on him.

 

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 380/500

[Tesability Black]

~Tesability's POV~

The dragon...

...had gone berzerk from the flame.

Her body surrounded with electricity, she flew forwards towards the Lingering Will, slashing, biting, clawing, and slamming away at the persistant foe at a speed so fast, her limbs and tail couldn't be seen at all and her wings were a blur  from movement as she stayed up in the air with them.

"DiediediediEDIEDIE!" She was enraged at this damned thing, wanting it to be gone so she could get back to not fighting for once.

At the speed she was going...she could have very-easily wreck the Lingering Will's health with physical damage alone, but she was also dealing electrical damage as well...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Talen's POV~

"Sh*t!"

Remembering quickly a trick she once figured out on her own when caught in a blaze, Talen took the staff in her hand and held it at one end before beginning to spin it as fast as she could in front of herself. While it didn't completely allow her to avoid the effects of the flame, she did now have a safe area around her now. As long as she didn't enter the black flames around her, she'd be alrig---

"DiediediediEDIEDIE!"

---ght.

The human of the duo spotted Tesability's increased speed after hearing the repeated word, swearing up and down under her breath as she tried to fan away the black flames around her to try and get out of the electrical dragon's line of fire. "Guys, get out of her way, Tesability's swinging blindly!"

[Chaotic Angel]

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 290/500 (Due to the black flames and Tesability intervening)

With just over half the amount of HP left, the Lingering Will finishes its attacks, and whilst Tesability rams it several times, it starts to take in some real damage and now it enters Desperation Mode. Then it was heard that Tesability would be speeding through the fight, with the same hopes as James that it would end quicker. Instead of dodging Tesability, James heads straight on and stands in the middle of Tesability, ensuring he would catch her.

"Sorry, Talen. Saving lives is first priority!"
 

Yep, what an idiot. James gets hit whilst Tesability rams blindly but the former wasn't majorly hurt, so he carries on as usual, heading straight for the Lingering Will next.

 

Meguri however, due to the generous amount of blood lost, breaks the barrier open and pulls out of the fight and runs into the next location. By then, the sky became dusk and the third day was imminent. Quite surprisingly though, the fight was still not over...

DAY 3

Ron's Lingering Will's HP: 80/500

James or Meguri hadn't eaten anything all night except for breakfast and the fight with Ron's Lingering Will was still going. With James fighting the Lingering Will alongside Talen and Tesability, he apparently had tricks up his sleeve. The Lingering Will breaks itself up and scatters everywhere, then there's blades raining down. James manages to dodge every one of them, but it was the flames that got into him. "Shit, my sister pulled from here? Oh yeah, she got hurt so badly, I don't see why we had to blame her..." he said. When one of the orbs the Lingering Will scattered approaches James, he catches it and breaks it up, causing the Lingering Will to become whole again. The former's stomach also began to rumble due to the amount of hunger. At that rate, he could die from starvation so the best he could do is finish the fight. The Lingering Will wasn't ready to give up, however. It starts bloating itself, shoots off and rams at Tesability, then back at James and repeats the process faster than Tesability can continue ramming back at the Lingering Will. At that rate, they would clash.

"Shit, they're gonna clash. Tes! I'll deal with it! Hey, Lingering Will! Come at me!"

Quite surprisingly, the taunt worked. The Lingering Will stops its current action, aimed itself back at James and tries to ram at him though, unsuccessful. James hits back at it and starts shaking it before slamming it down underground. James follows it down under and fought it with his fists.

Well, you say that, James. An unknown familiar appeared from underground and caught the Lingering Will with its mouth, bit onto it and slamming it straight back on the ground, leaving James and the others to finish it off completely. The unknown familiar disappears straight afterwards.

"Well, we have someone to thank later, then. DIE, motherfucker!" James said, grabbing his blade and finishes the Lingering Will off. Of course, we can't forget the after-effects of the black flame. The Lingering Will starts to dissipate slowly along with the black flames that appeared half way through the fight, then the barrier disappeared. James looks around at the Dark Forest now and thought to himself: "What the fuck just happened?"

"We almost got killed back there! Meguri especially. Let's go and tend to her. Good work, Talen, Tes, Luke..." he said, walking to the next location whilst the Lingering Will slowly withers away.

The Singing Waterfalls

"Oh. My. Fucking. GOD! This place is beautiful!"

There's a proper grill, fresh water, a large area for animal hunting, plant picking... We got the lot! First, I gotta heal. Damn, that fight was painful..." Meguri said, then the new campmate, in pain calls over to her.

"Excuse.... Me...."

"Hey, you must be the new campmate that screamed for help? Here, lemme give you a hand..."

Meguri begins the healing process by merging her weapon with her left hand and buries it underground. Two gauntlets came and starts massaging the wounds of the injured pair and from there, it starts healing. When Meguri and the new campmate gets healed, the latter stands up and gives out his gratitude.

"Thank you so much. These spells aren't natural though, did you teach yourself this?" he said. "Yeah, I taught myself. My brother though, he got taught by a teacher in our home world. Meguri replies.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tetsuya Kousaka."

The new campmate introduces himself. Then, Meguri does the same in return as James is arriving with Talen, Tes and Luke. This is assuming they have finished their actions prior to the third day beginning. "I'm Meguri Nightingale, and this is my idiot brother, James Barker." she replied. "Seems like you're healed now, I guess? I better grab something to eat. I haven't eaten since breakfast last night..." James said, taking out some dried spaghetti from his backpack, opens the barbeque grill and places the food packet in. "I gotta say, this place looks nice. We don't have to worry about replicas here!" James said, but Tetsuya intervenes.

"Yeah, this is where you're wrong. I've fought replicas underwater and I just got my ass beat. Worry about that when you fight with me whilst swimming!" he warns. James looked like he had been warned and seems worried already. "Are, you saying I gotta swim to fight those replicas? Yeah, sure. But, Meg...?" he said, looking very reluctant. "Fighting underwater? New experience, but I'll try it. I'm swimming first though, in my bathing suit." Meguri replies, not even the slightest bit worried.

Meguri hides behind the waterfalls and changes into her swimming suit down there. After a while, she comes back out fully changed and dives straight into the sea, trying to have some long-awaited fun. I wonder how Talen, Tes and Luke would feel when they get down here?

"Try not to have too much fun, Meg. You got more wounds to heal in a second..." James said, setting up mattresses and hammocks all over the Singing Waterfalls and when he finishes, he immediately takes out his food from the grill, sits on one of the hammocks he set up and starts eating. "The fuck! That's ghastly! What the hell did these people give us?" James shouted, spitting out his food, signalling it had tasted far worse than when he first got to camp. He then hovers his eyes over the supply boxes belonging to Luke Reapur, Tetsuya Kousaka and Faye Memory respectively though the second box looks like it had already been opened. "Ahh, supplies, eh... Let's see how Luke and the new girl likes the supplies of thirty beef burger patties and thirty dried spaghetti pastas... Of course, the Asian guy opened his and took it already..." he thought, whilst he eats his long awaited meal despite the aftertaste.

[Yami Zero]

Luke walks up towards at James. "Hey James is there any pizza he- oh right apocalyptic wasteland." He then prepares a campfire and sets up his huge tent. He looks over at Meguri, asking "Hey James, I've had a little question since I got here. What the HELL is happening here? I just got here and I don't know where I am or who you people are." He then grabs his knife and makes a small target and shoots it multiple times as he tries to release the anger left within him from being trapped in this wasteland hell hole. "Well? Can you answer me uhm... James was it?" He turns around and walks over to his tent and begins to fix his broken glove.

[Tesability Black]

It is halfway amusing to see a black dragon about the size of a Great Dane sniffing around at anything and everything in this new place, the dragon's nose filled with all sorts of various scents, even having to fly up to some of the many flowers in the higher places...

 

...only to launch herself backwards a little bit as she started sneezing en-masse.

 

"Wai doesh mai nowsh teekwl," Tesability managed to say before she sneezed yet again, this time into a wall of stone covered in dried moss. "Owiesh..."

 

"Careful, girl, one need not launch thyself into the starry night," the lone true normal human of the group spoke with a slight giggle as she approached the new location herself, pulling behind her the rolling backpack filled with both things she brought with her to this world plus what was supplied at the beginning of this hellish trip as she pushed herself forward with ornate staff of wood and metal in her hand. "Well, this is a pretty place indeed. Severely doubt we can stay long enough for me to start growing stuff, though..."

 

Hearing the introduction of the new underwater fighter of the group, Talen laid down her black 'pack flat against the ground, though the staff remained in hand as she approached James and Tetsuya. "Interesting name," she remarked before bringing her free hand over her chest. "I go by the name of Talen Ava---"

 

Another sneeze followed by a thud became heard as the dragon of the group sneezed herself into yet another wall. "---lon. And...that goofball sneezing her tail off in the air is my Champion, Tesability Black."

 

Yet another sneeze flew out of her nose, though this one came with a string of electricity shooting out towards the small group by mistake. "Duck!" Though she lacked the proper strength to do so, Talen tried to pull down the group around her so that the flying 'bolt could be avoided.

 

"...something tells me she's allergic to some of the plantlife here..."

[Christian Exodia]

I bite into the rations that I gave myself for this day. I had kept a jar of jam in my Medigun pack, and this was as good a time as any to use a little bit of it. I spread a little bit onto the burger I was given and drink a little from the canteen I found. I would need to, soon, refill this canteen. 

 

"Mmm. Boysenberry." Are the words that escape my lips as I finish the jam burger and a little bit of dried spaghetti. "All of College has prepared me for that." Still, I gag a little as I swallow the dry spaghetti. When I finish this little meal, sighing at the lack of company except the voices in my head, I continue on towards a surprisingly lush, green environment.

 

Overwhelmed by the new environment I have found myself in, I simply hack and slash through the undergrowth. Surprised to not have seen any of those ghastly beings in a while, I begin to lower my guard to some extent, only using the Heavenly Dancer as a clearing tool and seldom as a weapon since traversing this area. All that has come to my attention as a living animal were bugs that could be simply squashed underfoot. 

 

"'Tis the Last Rose of Summer... Left blooming alone..." I begin to sing, trying to keep my cool and not send me into a tizzy as all of the scents begin to further overwhelm my senses of taste and smell. "It feels weird to not hear the voices of my friends surrounding me. It feels like so long since I heard the cries of them... silenced... No. I must not think about th-" I then hear the crashing cry of a waterfall. I perk up in delight, but then sneeze.

 

"Ugh. Pollen. At least there is rushing water. Always good to have a water source that can be kept free of the algae of stagnant sources." Curious to this water source and sudden abundance of plant life, I begin to cut even faster, ever desiring to reach the water source and taste cool water. The undergrowth is tough, but nothing Heavenly Dancer cannot handle. It annoys me, however, to have the Medigun pack jingling with the rations and resources within. It is a minor annoyance, but one nonetheless. Soon, I begin to see the rushing water, but also hear voices.

 

"Darn it! People are already here. Hopefully they're friendly." If his hacking and slashing did not take away his cover, his voice carrying across the area of a waterfall certainly does.

[Chaotic Angel]

James finishes his lunch, before realising Luke had trouble inhabiting himself with the rest of the camp. "Yeah, I'm James... Look, Luke. Your supplies are in the box opposite me, it should have your name on it." James said, trying to answer Luke's question.

 

He continues with this statement though: "For the billionth fucking time, big boy... Nothing's happening here. We just need to survive a whole year with limited supplies and materials. We have to be prepared to die, and be prepared for surprises. No one is gonna help you, and no one ever will. The only help you're gonna get is guidance from the camp's voice, myself and Meguri. The latter two doesn't have a clue either." he concluded.

 

Then James gets himself off his hammock and looks over to Tes, who is sneezing her ass off over the wild plants that can be used for eating and begins bumping over walls. When Talen prompted the group to duck down, James immediately does so and pulls Tetsuya down with him. The pair gets back up not long after. "Yeah, it would probably need more diagnosis but Tesability may be allergic to them. I'll probably need a sample to send off to my teacher later." he said to Talen, laying on the hammock once again, relaxing on his back.

 

"Talen and Tesability, right? The dragon seems to be the funny one, bumping itself absent-mindedly over walls... Hey, dragon... Are you alright over there?" Tetsuya asked. But assuming Tes is alright, he jumps over, diving into the sea as well.

 

"Well, Meguri. Let's train ourselves underwater..."

 

"Who's coming along?" Tetsuya shouted, plummeting himself underwater with Meguri following shortly afterwards.

 

"Yeah, think I'll pass, Tetsuya... I need rest, man..."

 

The Singing Waterfalls, Underwater

 

"How are you coping under there?" Tetsuya asked, making sure Meguri gets used to swimming underwater. "I'm doing alright, actually... The whole atmosphere seems smooth and... Nothing to worry about, hey. I don't remember replicas over here!" Meguri replied, seeing the replicas that thrown Tetsuya on land as well as two new ones: Blasphemous Shadows. These are replicas of the dragon that accompanies us in camp, Tesability Black. It absorbs Thunder and has maxed out resistance to Dark. It also has high Magical Resistance so using magic against it would be useless. "These are the replicas that beat my ass! Except for the two balls of shadow... They're new. But, I'll get back at them this time! Face the revenge of Tetsuya Kousaka!" Tetsuya shouted, preparing himself for the fight ahead.

 

Meguri starts first by calling out for her dual knives and swimming behind the two Blasphemous Shadows, before she started slashing at them. They immediately dodged, however.

 

"Fuck!"

 

The next thing she could see is her bikini loosening up in front of Tetsuya. "Pervert! Don't look!" she said, dropping her knives and doing her bikini back up before continuing. "The fuck is going on? It's not like you. Get a grip, Meguri!" but the fight continues a little later... Let's see how the people on land are doing...

 

Meanwhile, back on land...

 

"Campmates. Welcome to the Singing Waterfalls... A place where birds are singing, flowers are blooming and where you'll be able to sleep in hammocks or beds every night, so tents are not necessary. There will also be an opportunity for you to hunt wildlife and pick up shrubs and wild plants for consumption to increase your lifespan. In a few days, you will be proceeding to your next location, but you are allowed to come back here every now and then should you call things a day. Enjoy the rest of the year in camp and I hope this will be an experience to remember... Oh, and a warning to Luke Reapur... You will only be allowed to snack on beef burger patties, dried spaghetti pastas, the animals you hunt yourself and the plants you pick. That is all, goodbye."

 

"Ugh, way to go, Luke. Well, at least we're able to go back here when we need to." James said, but he heard screaming from underwater. "Did Tetsuya and Meguri wander off underwater again?" he thought, loud that Talen and Tesability could hear what he is saying, at least.

 

Not long afterwards, he noticed a being from behind the waterfalls as well.

 

"Are you a new campmate? Show yourself, I know you're behind there!"

 

He prompts the new campmate to reveal himself from behind the waterfalls, it certainly looks like he's a shy being so James waits a while and hangs around Talen for the time being. It's not known when Tes is going to be alright from all the sneezing around the new campsite.

[Christian Exodia]

I hear the beckoning, and slowly, but cautiously approach the campsite and the waterfalls. I take light but quick steps, letting my thoughts ease and calm as I take in the language that they speak. They said 'campmate', so I assume they mean I am an ally. I look at the waterfall, and hear its roar and let it ease my troubled soul.

 

"Je suis ici. I am here." I accidentally spoke in French, and quickly righted myself. I only spoke once I was within the range of their sight, showing my short and lanky self, letting the guard on Heavenly Dancer loosen. I carefully maneuver downwards towards the group itself, and sheath it, taking care not to let it touch the ground. "I guess I was lucky to find people this quickly in." I chuckle as I approach James, holding the Medigun hose outwards and aiming it away from anyone. I get near him and sit on a rock, making myself at home. 

 

"I am..." I realize that this is a time that I could name myself whatever I want to be. What to be... what to be... I try to make it seem like I faltered in my speech rather than simply not caring about how I am.

 

"Sorry. Spaced out for a moment. I am Exodia." Yes, good. I smile at him to make it seem like I am friendly... well, I am, but I am happy that I gave myself a name choice that I liked.

[Chaotic Angel]

James looks back at the new campmate, who somehow introduced himself as Exodia... What an exotic name...

 

"Exodia, eh...? 'Tis a pretty interesting name... I'm James Barker. The first thing you should do as a latecomer to camp, is look for a supply box with your name on it. It should contain thirty beef burger patties, thirty dried spaghetti pastas, a map, a torch that lasts for only an hour and a sleeping bag but I doubt you need the latter any more... We have beds and hammocks! Don't get confused though, these boxes are labeled with one's real given name used to apply to come here." James said, introducing himself in the process and talking to Exodia about the basics around camp.

 

Then he turns his head to the sea and reminiscing the sounds of the waves that pulls towards him. More screams are then heard from the distance.

 

"Fucking great. I only had a few minutes nap and it looks like people are in trouble underwater. Pleased to meet you though.... Exodia, is it?"

 

James blurts out that statement as he runs towards the sea and dives straight into it. These Blasphemous Shadows don't look too happy, they look like they're gonna sap the supplies of water within a matter of seconds.

 

Underwater

 

"Tetsuya, Meg! I'll finish those guys off! Get back on land!" James warned, bringing his already morphed weapon in the fray.

 

"James, what the fuck! Don't scare me like that... Fine, Tetsuya, we're going! Don't get hurt out there..." Meguri replied, swimming out of the water and back onto the land, with Tetsuya following her. "Maybe James is just trying to protect you... I dunno. You did well fighting underwater though." Tetsuya said to Meguri, giving his feedback on her first time underwater performance.

 

Back on land

 

A few moments later, Meguri eyes the new campmate and approaches him. "You must be the new campmate... I'm Meguri Nightingale. A cardinal in my home world, so not only do I support but I also act as a fighter." Meguri said, introducing herself to Exodia. She then saw Tetsuya wandering off behind the waterfalls and straight through where Exodia had entered camp. "Excuse him... The guy that walked past you just now, he's Tetsuya Kousaka. He's a native in this world and also the person who's capable of fighting underwater..." Meguri continued. It looks to us that Tetsuya is ready to hunt for animals, and so he signals Talen to come along. "Wanna hunt for some food to eat? The meat of animals that roam around here are succulent after being cooked. The larger ones in particular lasts you for over a week providing you control how much you hunt and bring to camp." Tetsuya said, teaching Talen the basics of animal hunting around the Singing Waterfalls.

 

To be fair, hunting fields aren't common in this area but also shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

Back underwater though...

 

James also struggles to fight underwater. There are in total, two Desolate Empresses, four Isolated Emperors, four Eastern Sinners and two Blasphemous Shadows. He fails to dodge to of the replicas' attacks, taking some hits and as soon as glass particles are separated from each Desolate Empress' excaliburs, that is when James should have ran.

 

Well, in actual fact, he didn't and James took a huge blow around his chest as a consequence. "Shit! Someone, help me!" he shouted from the top of his head, but then he took more hits from the Isolated Emperor and after the seventh hit from both the Desolate Empress and the Isolated Emperor, one of each... James was just lying underwater, knocked out and awaiting medical attention.

 

The replicas that fought James also legged it for the time being. They seemed disappointed at the fact James Barker was so weak, they couldn't bear it. One of the the Isolated Emperors came back and picked up the decapitated James Barker, swam near the bottom of the land and threw the latter back on the ground. That was exactly what happened to Tetsuya when he was outnumbered and knocked out.

 

Back on land, again...

 

As soon as James was thrown back on the ground, it caught Meguri's attention.

 

"Told the prick not to go on his own..." she said, walking over to James and inspecting his wounds. "Shit, there's glass shards everywhere... What the hell's wrong with these people! The replicas underwater are anything but safe. I'm calling Tetsuya! Tesability! Your turn to go underwater! Tetsuya will be accompanying you!" Meguri instructed as she went to call for Tetsuya.

 

"Hmm? Oh, that motherfucker. He suffered the same consequence as I have. Sorry, Talen. Looks like for the time being, I gotta tend to the guys underwater. They've beaten James' ass I bet... Meg, I want you to accompany Talen with the hunt for food." Tetsuya said, as soon as Meguri was about to call for him and immediately tends for the problem. When he reaches the campsite, all he could see was James flat on the ground.

 

"This is bad. There's glass shards all over his back and around his chest too. There may be some internal damage too! If only there were medical equipments I could use... I would be able to help him..." Tetsuya said, doubting James' life with the state he is in currently.

[Christian Exodia]

"Thank you for welcoming me here." I thank James as he goes down into the deeps. "No point in going there, though. I take it he's going for a swim?" Oblivious to what is in the depths, I start to go away towards my new home's bed.

 

I walk over to my box, which has my real name on it. As I get there, Tetsuya walks past me and I pay it no mind. Maybe he's busy. I turn back to my box, sigh, and open it, taking out the neatly wrapped parcels and rations, placing them into the Medigun box with the Boysenberry Jam. I take an open bed and calmly place all of my stuff onto the bed, save the Medigun. That would be always on my back, except in sleep.

 

"I can count myself lucky that I found this place." Walking back, I see Meguri approach me and greet me. 

 

"I simply call myself Exodia. It's not my actual name, but I prefer it now that I am here. I am mostly a support, and if there was a bad situation, I could easily exemplify my abilities." I then see James' body leave the pool, and I understand that it is a fighting ground. I hear Tetsuya's voice in his condition.

 

"I got this." I pull out my Medigun's hose. "I am a healer. This is my healing tool." I make sure James' body is in a comfortable and easing position, and then I focus the beam on him, not letting go. I sit down next to him. "This may take a few minutes, depending on how severe the injury is." I also take care to remove the glass shards in an efficient manner.

[Tesability Black]

"Eesh dat a Ne'monstew Wegenewatu'," Tesability managed to ask after finally stopping with her massive sneezing fit, a sniffle coming from her nose as she flew up behind the person with the Medigun, a confused and curious look upon her muzzle as the white dots of her solid-black eyes became focused on the 'weapon'.

 

"I severely doubt it works like Doc Boo's Regenerator, Tes," a feminine voice sounded as Talen walked up behind the dragon, petting her on the back of the neck while looking at the newcomer. "And I guess I'm not the only one with a fake name, though I wasn't expecting anyone to take---"

 

"Tesability! Your turn to go underwater!"

 

"---a Duel Monster name." With this did the human click her tongue before placing a hand on her hip and looking towards the dragon that came halfway to her chest with her head. "Tes, go, I can't come with."

 

A whine escaped the muzzle as the black dragon stretched out her wings to reveal the gold underwings. "Bu' wai?!"

 

"I can't swim to save my life, literally." All Talen got from that was a couple of blinks and a blank look, prompting Talen to look up towards the sky in annoyance. "Just get, I'll be alright."

 

Realizing she wasn't getting out of this, the Great-Dane-sized dragonling lowered her wings and whined again before Tesability took a blind dive into the water, the realization that she was completely unaffected by the sudden lack of air not once crossing her...

[Chaotic Angel]

"Dude, I'm leaving James to you... Gotta help Tesability!" Tetsuya instructed Exodia, as he goes over to his bed and leaves one communication device for Talen, then dives underwater with her. He has to be careful, however because water conducts electricity and Tesability's main element is Thunder. To make it interesting though, he takes less damage from the electric shocks than most people and so, he is prepared to put up with the consequences Tesability may impose on him. Assuming Talen can hear Tetsuya through the communication device he planted on his bed:

 

"Talen, I hope you can hear me, the replicas myself and Tesability are about to face... They're the ones that beat both mine and James' ass, once at a time."

 

"I'm gonna plant this communication device on Tesability when I catch up with her, you'll be able to communicate with her that way so you'll be able to give commands to her and shit, but she has to tell you what's going on first to get the full picture."

 

"Don't worry, I'm a native here, so I have all the necessary props needed to survive here."

 

And so, Tetsuya faces off again with three Desolate Empresses, four Isolated Emperors, four Eastern Sinners and two Blasphemous Shadows. "Holy shit... Tes, you're not gonna like this..."

 

When Tetsuya catches up with Tesability, he takes off his communication device, pops his head up near the rocks, cleans it up with a handkerchief and dives back down underwater, planting the device on her. "Here, you'll be able to talk to Talen that way... I figured you won't be able to support yourself without some form of communication. You have to tell Talen everything you see here otherwise she can't help you."

 

After giving Tes what she needs, the replicas started to appear, one type at a time starting with two Blasphemous Shadows. "Fuck off, why do you have to be first! This is embarrassing!" Tetsuya said, unsheathing his two spinners and slashes one of the Blasphemous Shadows aside, leaving him separated from Tesability. Rocks then come crumbling down, trapping him in a confined space and leaving him with limited respiratory rates. "Such claustrophobic area! I very much doubt I'd survive all of this!" he said, facing off with one of the Blasphemous Shadows and starts slashing and hacking away at it. All the latter was good at was dodging all of Tetsuya's attacks, testing his patience.

 

"Die, little one!" 

 

When Tetsuya said that one phrase, he manages to scratch Tesability's replica, but sadly dealing very little damage to her. "Shit... What did James or Meguri say about this particular replica...?" he thought, trying to get the picture of the resistances the Blasphemous Shadow has because so far, she had been taking very little amount of hits.

 

He then peeks over a hole separating him and Tesability and tries talking to the dragon.

 

"Tes, are you alright down there?"

 

"I'm gonna be trapped down there for the time being! If you hear me screaming, you better ram the shithole and break those rocks open for me!"

 

Back on land though...

 

Meguri follows Talen along and approaches the newcomer, Exodia.

 

"James is in severe condition... He's got internal wounds as well as external. You'll need Talen to deal with the internal wounds. I'm gonna see if there's a spare scalpel in the supply box..." she said, as she walks away to the camp's supply box, opens the first aid kit and as she had thought... She found some operating tools, including a scalpel, forceps, disinfectant and a stabiliser medicine to inject onto patients to keep their vitals in line, but there is no anesthesia about so this would make operations slightly harder.

 

Meguri grabs a box of operating tools from the camp's supply box and asks Talen:

 

"Do you know how to use these?"

 

"It's about time you've shown your power..."

 

It would show that Meguri had complete faith in Talen to save James' internal organs. As far as we know, the glass shards around James had been removed from his back and his chest, but there might be a few foreign objects lying around under the skin and into the organs as well...

 

Back underwater...

 

"Shit!"

 

Tetsuya tries to dodge the attacks from one of the Blasphemous Shadows after being separated from Tesability. He does so successfully and fight back at it, slicing away at it every minute to ensure the shadowy replica takes every hit and at a serious rate. Though, not too much success after the replica was too busy whizzing through the confined space like there was no tomorrow.

 

"It's taken far enough, how about I see you dead!"

 

Seems to us, that Tetsuya was ready to grow berserk from being trapped in a confined space... He simply couldn't put up with how strong replicas are going to become, let alone how strong they are now...