Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[TheAdept]

Clayton's current form made it impossible to communicate with the others. His teeth were so big, sharp, and crowded he couldn't even close his mouth all the way. As he listened to the others talked, he let out the occasional grunt or growl, sounding just like an angry rottweiler as he plummeted.

His survival was already secured, however. Here he was facing his personal issues, including dealing with being a monster; a monster that was a pain in the ass and a whole lotta ammo to kill. In his mind, the fall would hurt, but he would live.

He hit the ground at deadly speed, but not deadly for him. He landed on his side. The fall hurt, but he lived. Of course, this didn't mean he didn't let out a loud angry...roar when he landed. His bones were still in tact, and he quickly got over the pain, but just how much was he beast and how much man in this world?

 

[GamerCarrot]

Vivian felt the air rush past her as she fell closer and closer to the ground, looking at everyone safely landing and Owl basically shouting at them all to think illogically. She glanced down and saw the floor getting closer to her, she was scared even though she knew this world couldn't hurt her. Closing her eyes she imagined a giant pillow underneath her, it was a simple imagination but if it kept her alive she didn't care. The pillow grew larger until it was large enough for her to land on comfortably, she opened her eyes and saw feathers all over her. Stumbling to get off the pillow she fell onto the ground and stood up. Dusting the numerous feathers off of her and looking around at the rest of the group to see if they were okay before quickly looking around the village "Where are we?" She asked the group trying to figure out where they were other than the sand lands they were in earlier.

 

[mmarage]

The twins had looked down at their inevitable fall, and seemed to merely shrug at one another. They knew that this was all in their heads. They knew that they weren't really puppets, they were really made of flesh and blood... even if it was ultimately artificial, everything in this world was merely a figment of their imagination. Their real bodies were perfectly safe. They had both simply lied back, put their wooden, broken hands behind their heads and waited to land on the sand beneath them. Then they felt the whips around their waists and were then in the arms of Kotsu. They both looked up at him and rolled their eyes, in 01's case, eye. "Our hero." They said sarcastically in unison, they both had remained quite calm during the ordeal.

They both stood up as they were set down gently. "Thanks for the assist, Kotsu." 01 said as he began to survey the area, but he knew he ought to allow 02 to take that job. After all, he was the one with the enhanced vision.

02 nodded in agreement. "Yeah, thanks." He said as he too began to look around.

 

[Darkling0096]

When the ground gave way, Sam's armor kicked in. The thrusters stabilized her fall into a slow descent, and some redirected power turned it into an even slower climb. This world was weird.

"I remember why I hated desert missions," she grunted as she touched down. "Halo, wake up your brother."

"Yes, Ms. Adams," Halo chimed. There was a ticking noise before Halo's soft, definitely female voice, was replaced with an agitated male voice, the projected image switched from the blonde angel to a scrappy redhead who looked like he wanted to stab everything with a spoon.

"What? Ciara and I were on game 32145735912 of rock, paper, scissors, we were almost breaking the tie!"

"Kai, I need you to find a pattern in this hellhole. I wanna know the timing for the bullshit, an idea of what can happen, and a corrective program for the GPS. Got it?"

"..."

"Kai."

"Yes, mom."

"Good boy." The hologram flickered out and Halo returned.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu stared at the the Finder twins, lit cigarette in mouth, a smile formed across his lips as they thanked him and he heard their sarcasm. "If I'm a hero, then this world is fucked." Kotsu said, laughing hard. His horns responded by flaring up to take a more evident ethereal form. Kotsu's attention was gained by falling feathers tickling his nose and making him sneeze. "Man y'all got some interesting mentalities. But who'da thought that Denton's a fan of Peter Pan?" Kotsu said laughing harder. He turned to look at Clayton and sucked his teeth seeing his rough landing. "Dude, you okay? That ain't look very comfortable." Kotsu paused as he spoke and fixed his mannerisms. "What I meant to say was, that didn't look like a pleasant fall. Please do be careful." Kotsu was ready to catch Bickle out of the air with his whips if he failed to catch himself, Owl seemed to be fine but he was ready to catch her as well if need be.

 

[Exzalia]

Anyone who wasn't caught or helped by an ally lands on Owls whoopee cushion which announces their arrival with the mother of all fart jokes, ripping through the atmosphere with the force of a hurricane. Owl is dying...of laughter she floats down clutching her belly rolling over at the glorious sound. Her merriment seems to effect the weather it's self and the sun come out parting the clouds and revealing a blue sky.

"That's funny! everyone alright? I think we all landed, oh no someone else is falling...Denton watch out!"

Denton stands up, only to be struck on the head by some upward force, knocking him flat. Had he seen what it was before hand it probably would have killed him. But you can't believe your going to die if you don't know whats coming. Everyone spins to find that an extra body had fallen from the sky.

It was Owl , but not their Owl.

This Owl was older, and wore a blue cloak that covered her body, she was beautiful, dark, mysterious and dead. It was the thing that tripped Denton in the sand lands, another Owl accept her eyes were closed and her chest was still and her head was shattered open. No blood or brain matter instead the missing piece of her head was like literal glass, as if she were made of precious pearls with some of it smashed off and taken away.

"Hey it's me!" Yellow Owl exclaims floating up to blue Owl. "Whats wrong with me?"

Bickle pulls out his mage book. "This is the version of you that was destroyed by Andros. I suppose both you and your memories were sent to the same place, damn we were so close what happened?"

Owl turns to Quentin. "He happened." She says pointing. "Tell us Quentin what is it about this memory that is so potent it caused the entire dream scape to change into it's image?"


AbatedBigfoot

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Q laughed at every they dug up. All his cares were gone, he was enjoying himself and then the sand started to move and before he knew it, he was swallowed up and was sucked into the sand. "This is NOT what I had in mind!" He saw the landscape change and he was now in the air falling. "What in the hell?". He was smart enough to not fall that fierce. He didn't hit the ground that hard but it wasn't very graceful either.

His heart sank. He knew exactly where he was. "No, this can't be." He looked around recognizing every detail.

"Tell us Quentin..."

At this moment everything for him stopped and tears began to glow out like a fountain. "I know where we are" he sniffled "And I don't want to be here. This can't be happening. This isn't REAL" he started to become angry. Almost hostile towards Owl. He turned her direction and changed towards her. His goal was to push her away but lost his balance and tripped over the same rock he tripped over every. Damn. Day. When he was younger. On the ground in a low quite shaky voice he looked at her, "please owl don't make me relive this, don't make me watch my parents die a second time." He hunched over and started to cry.

Exzalia

 

[Exzalia]

"I'm not doing this Quentin, you are." Owl says softly floating by him and patting him on his back. "You're own mind is creating this, I have no power to stop it. You are doing this to your self. All I can do is try to support you through this all. Maybe, if we resolve the underlying mental issues you have this will all go away."

"Guys, villagers are coming." Bickle points to a crowd of curious people making there way to the group.

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

"Guys, villagers are coming"

Q looks as he wipes his tears away, he recognized the villagers coming and told everyone that there was no need to worry. They were nice people and everyone in his village was friendly.
Quentin greeted them and told them they were on an adventure and stumbled apon the village. The villagers noted for them to follow and led them to a small building and gave them all a spot to sit and some water.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu's reaction upon seeing Owl's body wrapped in a blue cloak, was the opposite of what everyone expected. He just stood there, motionless. His eyes completely red again and were unwavering while staring at her corpse. The screaming faces in the horns he had grew more restless as he kept staring at her body, shifting at rapid rates now. His nails were digging into the palms of his hands to keep his mind from wandering. He couldn't afford to think about anything in this place. This place made thoughts into a reality. If that wasn't evident before by digging up kittens in a desert, it was made more apparent by the fact they were in Quentin's village. Kotsu's cigarette burned down to the filter as he stared at Owl's body and didn't realize it until the filter was almost gone and burnt his lips. Even then, he only barely registered it was no longer there. He stayed firm when Quentin and the rest tried to get him to move from his spot to follow the villagers.

 

[Exzalia]

"Bring blue owl." Bickle says. "I believe if we restore her memories than this Owl should in theory recover."

Yellow Owl levitates blue Owl taking her with them to the small settlement when she gets there she stares at her older self thoughtfully.

"So this is me huh? Older me, it's strange she doesn't feel familiar at all. Like I'm staring at a stranger and not my self."

While owl muses over her other self the others were getting acquainted with the villagers. They had been taken to a humble inn on the outskirts of the village which was small, only a couple dozen huts with one central house in the middle. Though the people were from medieval china, in the dream world language was no barrier and the crowd the group about them curiously.

Mothers keep their little ones away from the scarier looking members, village priestesses marvel at Samantha thinking her some metal deity, men raise their pitch forks wary but not aggressive asking each other what they were looking at.

"Quentin?" A tall strong man parts the crowds approaching the group, he is old with a fancy hat and a long robes; the elder of the village he seems to know Quentin. "Child, what are you doing there? who are these people?"

"We're...friends. From far away you are?" Bickle answers bowing

The man bows, "I am Shen hu elder of this humble village I did not know Quentin had these kinds of friends, but friends of his are friends of ours. Welcome to our village, you wouldn't happen to be demon hunters would you?"

Bickle shakes his head, The elder looks relieved. "Good, they have been causing all kinds of trouble lately."

"How so?" Bickle asks.

An old woman steps forward. "Well they come looking for demons to slay, the local lord pays them quiet well for it. But they have been known to falsely accuse people of being demon possessed and killing them for the reward. The local Lord is paranoid you see and cares not if innocents die in his quest to purge the lands of demons."

The elder nods. "He targets those that look unusual so he will most certainly target you folk. Don't fear we don't allow his thugs to trample about unchallenged, and we have that boys father to thank for it." The elder points to Quentin and smiles.

"We owe him a great deal. You should be proud of your father boy."

"Where is his father?" Bickle asks.

"Patrolling with the other men, but his mother is at the edge of the village on a little hill. You are welcome to stay all of you."

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

"Don't thank me. I'm just following the order." Aria shook her head at Denton's words. It's true, didn't mean she wouldn't help Denton if he ever needs it but the reason why she actively trying to protect Denton was because of the order. She deserve no thanks for that.

After that it was revealed that the current place was Quentin's village in the past. She was wondering why they're here. Was the memory shard somewhere nearby? She really didn't know how this world work, huh.

She was going to follow the villagers and the group to wherever they're going to go but she noticed Kotsu didn't move an inch and just stared at the glass Owl. She approached him and waved in front of his face. He was so engrossed in his own thought that he didn't even realize the cigarette has burned his lips. So when the small Owl brought the glass Owl with her Aria decided to picked Kotsu up and carry him to like a sack of potato.

"It's not real, Kotsu. It's not real." She tried to reassure him.

She felt a bit of deja vu.

 

[KotaKotsu]

"Easy for you to say, Aria. You didn't fail everyone... You weren't the reason why she's dead. And she's a child now. Slowly regressing beyond..." Kotsu retorted half heartedly.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria felt like she understand where Kotsu was coming from, blaming yourself was a really easy thing to do if you couldn't forgive yourself. Afterall, she was also in somewhat similar state of mind right now. She couldn't think of anything that can make Kotsu regain his peace of mind.

"That's why we are here." She put Kotsu down after they arrived at their destination, an inn in the village's outskirt. "Let's just.. look for our redemption together." She gave Kotsu a weak smile.

 

[mmarage]

The twins looked at Kotsu, noticing how he looked. "...Well, we're here to fix that." They said simply as they walked alongside Aria. "She'll be fine, don't worry." 01 said, trying to give him a reassuring smile... despite the horrific visage he now possessed.

The twins paid little mind to how the villagers treated them. They knew how they look, they knew how disturbing they looked... but... they were all figments of Quentin's mind. Hopefully... that didn't mean that a piece of Owl was residing in their own memories. They'd... really rather not have everyone know about what they truly were. The two just hung back for now, listening to the elder and looking between the 'dead' blue Owl and the living yellow Owl. They wondered what aspect the blue Owl would give back to the yellow Owl... would she get older? Would she just remember some things she's forgotten...? They shrugged internally. They were just there to get the mission over and done with. This... would likely be their last after all, they weren't going to sweat the small details until such a time that they'd have to. So long as they succeeded, whatever happened in the middle, aside from their friend's and ally's deaths, and their secret being discovered, they didn't really mind.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu stared at her, deep in her eyes. And one of his regular eyes came back as he stared at her. He looked at the twins and his other eye returned back to normal, but his teeth and horns were still present. A stain of his own crimes. "You guys... You guys are the best." Kotsu pulled all three of them in for a hug. "Yeah... Yeah we could look for redemption, can't we?" Kotsu inquired, more to himself than to Aria. "Hey Aria? Are we friends?" Kotsu asked, his expression softening from his stiff demeanor that he displayed upon seeing Owl's body, and his lip healed from the burn of the cigarette from earlier.

 

[Freikugel]

Fizzy knew bunny died...

Fizzy stoos quietly most of the time, asserting the situation. Was it a good thing for Owl to recover her memory?

He patted Denton at the shoulder and asked him "Why so keen on recovering that women's memory?, I heard from Kotsu you shot her because she peeked in your mind." DEATH

"She knows something and yet you try for her to recover, is a contradictory behaviour "

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Quentin's memory were unexpected to say the least. Well, not completely. His file did say he was rather old in the grand scheme of things, but seeing it up close was a different story. Villagers from some bygone era.

Denton did not consider himself a judgmental man, in fact quite the opposite in the grand scheme of things. It did nobody any good to go around mocking or holding preconceived notions. Bad for forming relationships, connections. You had your use no matter where you came from.

He liked the vibe the village was putting out, very retro. Denton felt a small form of envy at Quentin's home. A place without electricity, cars, internet. Nothing. The majority of these people likely never even left here, never saw more, but they looked so happy. Free from whatever plague technology had cast over the human race.

Denton shrugged. Okay, a little too romantic perhaps? They were still talking of demons here as they in the present, and it was Quentin's memory. This could easily be rose tinted glasses.

There were emotional reactions all around, Quentin's disbelief, plenty of sharing, Kotsu being Kotsu. He ignored it, approaching the villagers. Denton wondered just how much they could influnece these memories? Were they set in stone?

"Excuse me, tell me more of this Lord?" He asked. "And, if you don't mind me asking, what's the most common form of demon you all deal with?"

Fizzy Roy patted him on the shoulder.

"Why so keen on recovering that women's memory?, I heard from Kotsu you shot her because she peeked in your mind."

"She knows something and yet you try for her to recover, is a contradictory behaviour "

"I did shoot her," Denton said. "I am a man of my word, though. I said I would help. So I am. Also this place is uncharted territory. You think HQ would really expend resources to help with the Pods and manpower like this just go on some rescue missions. Deals had to be made. Agreements. We want to know how this place works, if it can be used. I'm sure you understand." He smiled at Fizzy...or his mask did. It kept smiling. The Mask of Comedy. "Odd form you took buddy. The rabbit mean something special?"

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

"Yes, Kotsu. We are friend." She replied to Kotsu, her smile was brighter this time. Unlike before, she could answer this with confidence.

"I'm curious, Kotsu, but who are those people?" Aria pointed at the faces in Kotsu's horns. She didn't think having horns was strange, but those wriggling faces? It reminded her of Alucard's shadow.

 

[Freikugel]

"Odd form you took buddy. The rabbit mean something special?"

"The rabbit?" replied Fizzy seemingly confused

He means bunny, the BUNNY, dENton (DEATH!) means Bunny (GUILT!)....

Fizzy pressed his forehead..

"Oh you mean the Bunny", said as he took the stuffed animal and glanced at it.
"I'm very confused about what's this thing supposed to be, somehow I feel I need to hold onto it. But so far it doesn't have much meaning to me"

That's a lie, yOU're lying, Frizt, the pop, the fizzy stop lyiNG, You know thaS BunNy for.
LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR!

STOP LYING FIZZY ROY!

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Exclaimed Fizzy Roy as he stood up suddenly, he was sure everyone noticed it. Bunny noticed it

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu hesitated. "I uh..." Kotsu said, not sure how to justify the atrocities he's committed. "I took on some jobs..." Kotsu wasn't lying but he didn't know how to explain cannibalism. Kotsu thought hard about his next words. "I... I fed on many vampires." He wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the truth either. "I took them out as well. Maybe they're haunting me." Kotsu said to Aria so that he wouldn't be completely lying to her but neither was he telling the truth.

Spoiled Bread

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria tilted her head hearing Kotsu's answer. He had been feeding on vampires?

"Why?" Aria was confused that a question mark literally grew on her head. She didn't notice this though.

"If you want the fresh blood sensation right from the source it's better to feed on human. They're more delicious and easier to handle. Also if you want to reduce the guilt you should knock them out before the feeding and avoid making contact with their eyes."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu looked at the question mark on Aria's head and ordinarily would have laughed. He stared Aria into her eyes before sucking in a deep breath. "I can't hurt humans because of my own policy, Aria. But... I didn't just feed... I ate them..." Kotsu whispered the last part so only Aria would hear.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

"Policy, hmm." Aria looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess we vampires have our own principles so its okay. Still..."

"You eat... that?!" Aria shook her head. "You should not do that Kotsu. We can't even eat a properly cooked meat, else a raw one. You can get stomachache. Who know what kind of curse they're having in their body?" Aria pointed at Kotsu with a serious face.

"You should stop the eating part, understand? If you really want to eat something solid then I will teach you how to make blood tofu." Aria told Kotsu in a somewhat lecturing tone. Like a parent telling their kid not to accept candy from stranger.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu's face became impassive again as he hit his chest hard enough to force an echo off of it, and it didn't leave a mark on his chest. "I seem to have become stronger from it, but... I feel unlike myself at times..." Kotsu admitted. "I just need power... To protect you all..."