Chronology: Ultimate

[Thepotatogod]

--Hiryu Kakogawa || Whisper The Wolf--
Interaction: thatguyinthestore

"I see...Then I'm betting that in order to find our kidnapped guys, we'll need to catch them in the act." Hiryu rubbed his chin, trying to think. "If we could, that is. For all we know, the conductor's in on this." He said, before eating more of his rice and fish.

 

[Crow]

"I've got a few ideas. Should I make sure we have eyes everywhere, in every cabin, to catch them in the act, or should I sniff our missing guys out directly?" Ben asks as he takes a bite of his buttered bread.

"Well, how does this kidnapper operate? Does he strike when his prey is alone, or does he not care about crowds?" the Agent asks. "Is it one of those things where the lights go out before he acts?"

P PopcornPie marc122 FactionGuerrilla P PopcornPie Thepotatogod quadraxis201 Zamasu DerpyCarp Atomic Chucklenuts Laix_Lake QizPizza Lazaro1505 thatguyinthestore​

 

[ConnorOfficials]

Lilith

Lilith turns off the tv to further invest herself into the situation, it seems that random people have been disappearing around restaurant. She get's up from the couch and looks over to Pennington. "Sound pretty serious, do you know who's doing all of this?"

Interactions:
thatguyinthestore (Pennington)​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Cheerful, Observant, Tense
Tags:

thatguyinthestore

(Leo, GM)

QizPizza

-Art Credits--
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, minimally tweaked

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

Despite the rough start, it turned out facing that which he had wanted to avoid had gone, surprisingly well. if anything, it had just served to make their relationship closer and more certain. It had reinforced that sensation of safety that he felt near Alexis, while also providing him with yet, another important lesson to keep. He had started this adventure with merely two, and now the pyromancer carried more three that he had never expected to end up with. It really made one wonder, just how many more things would he learn until the end?

Honestly, the hardest part from there on would have been to explain Leo just what they had been even talking about, in case he had asked. If yes, Sage would have taken a new deep breath, laying it down it as straight and quick as possible with 'She tried to share a bathtub with me and it went as badly as you're probably imagining...' followed by 'I accidentally set the whole bathroom on fire' and a defeated sigh.

It wouldn't be long before sleepiness would begin to set in again, he had already been feeling it previous to the whole discussion after all and his usual bedtime was around 5 to 7 PM depending on the day and amount of Clan chores to assist with. As with every religion, there were spiritual holidays, celebrations and overall gatherings to be managed! ...Even if he was technically not part of them and allowed to participate the same way, he still lived there. It was the least he could do to repay for it; Other than trying not to cause trouble.

Nonetheless, due to the touchy complicated conversation, the young man had stayed up notably later than he was used to and in return, --summed to all of the day's happenings--, sleep had hammered extra heavy this time. Dozing off in the middle of sentences eventually to even forgetting what he wanted to say altogether, there was no resisting it, not that he wanted to. If anything, natural sleep was very appreciated to have. Alexis made sure to tuck him in which, was weird and the pyromancer would probably have tried to deny if he hadn't been so tired. Instead, he just accepted it, giggling mildly flushed while absolutely drunk on sleep. All word filters were gone at this point...

"Night 'Lexis~! Night Leo~! Gods, I love you guys soooooo much!", he had shared under yawns, and it kept going a bit longer, "You know, I've been exploded, and burnt, and had my leg crushed and stuff, but this... This is still probably one of the best days in my life ever~", more sleepy chuckles, "I can't wait to see what comes next!! It's been... just- amaziiiiing~", and the end faded in a new yawn as he had fallen asleep for good.

.

.

Tonight too, Sage would find himself back in a very familiar room
and an equally familiar scenario.​

It was a room about the same size as his own, almost cubicle-like in nature, oriental aesthetic. The floor, an interesting match of wood planks in slightly variating shades; The walls, all except for one which was plain wood, were slideable paper doors, neatly framed in square sections. There wasn't a lot in there, other for some ambiance decor hanging down from the corners and things in the shelves. It was divided by an stage-like elevation, just a step higher and on that step rested a little table and several candles. Some lit, some perhaps, about to be lit.

Stuck like a deer caught in headlights was a little apprehensive pyromancer, not much older than seven, dressed in matching aesthetic clothing. An oriental oriented shirt with the embroidery of feathers on the shoulders almost if hugging them, lounge-esque loose pants in a flowery gold pattern, all rather plain and pleasing colors and plain brown sandals. No matter why he was there or what the odd's room function even was, the tiny frightened boy could only tremble in place as he remembered exactly what was about to happen.

This was when everything started going wrong.

As if on cue, a stray ember would come to life, almost in mid-air, catching the paper door on fire. Others soon followed, little by little filling the environment in chaotically dancing flames more and more until there was basically nothing else to be yet set aflame, the roar of the fire was impossible to ignore no matter how much he tried, crumbling to his knees and covering his ears, it didn't work. It never did.

Like every time, like the actual time, he was forced to watch it all burn out of form powerless to stop it, trembling and crying for help that'd never come, scrambling desperately into a corner and holding himself into a ball as if to hide. And as if that wasn't bad enough on its own, they'd begin to shout from outside. Names, labels, curses and hurtful things as it if was his fault, as if he had meant it to happen.

Normally, this was all there was to it. Watching everything in the room melt and burn until there was nothing left; Until it resembled the one that existed, kept in its barebones destroyed state to this day. As a reminder. But this time, it went a bit different. This time the door actually opened... It shed the light of the corridor into the room, --whose lamp had already exploded, once casting it in darkness--, and like a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel seemed to beckon him outside. Wanting no more than to be free of the raging inferno, Sage obliged making a sprint for it as if his life depended on it-

Only to be sent somewhere even worse.

Suddenly his current self, the vision that greeted him was the cruellest slap that reality, --or rather nightmare land--, could have provided him. A recently visited office with a recently met man had been what awaited beyond the door. This was Ruby's death all over again. Except, that he now was seeing it from outside, like an observer. The exact moment he had given in to rage, his despaired screams and hostile threats were even tougher to swallow from there...

The pyromancer tried to step in, he had to stop himself from acting rashly, the flames in the office were no longer safe!! And, he couldn't.
He couldn't go anywhere, as if glued to the ground; His words also reached nobody, once more he was only expected to watch.

Not much longer, the events would start playing just slightly differently too. Alexis would get hit with something so strong that she'd be knocked out almost instantly, Leo... had done the same as Ruby, pulling Jason out of the way and his other self was so caught up with the feeling of revenge that he kept going all out without regard for anything else... There was no one to stop him, and worse, with Orbeck busy with his own fight for survival there was no one to stop the Take-Over either... Because no one else knew.

And when he thought that it was over, when he has already beaten down on the floor and lost the energy even to scream or cry, or watch as they all died, It had shown up in the aftermath of everything to torture him even more.
Hearing his own voice taking delight in the chaos had instantly sent a shiver down his spine. But more than that, It could actually see him; This him, currently stuck as an observer. Standing tall, It eyed the tormented young man with contempt in Its burning blue gaze but also some, pleasure. Pleasure to see him suffer, in a mix of a taunt and a challenge.

It let out a grin, as if to drive in the point of that he had allowed this to occur further, then hopped out of the destroyed office window to begin Its unstoppable rampage across Atlas... Completely broken, Sage had been left behind to once more, just watch, however not for long as a pain deeper than his previously shattered leg would start in one violent go. Of course, if It was free then he didn't have much time left...

Collapsing to the ground it was as if his very being, his very existence was being torn apart. He burned from the inside out as his very Soul was being spent as fuel, the pain increasing to a crushing intensity that didn't even him let him breathe, his body growing gradually see-through in the process. In his last moments, the pyromancer screamed the names of everyone he had ever known just hoping that someone, anyone could do something but this was it. He was alone and he had lost everything, robbed of even his right to live...

Only when he was nearly gone is that he'd finally wake up.

.

.

Understandably, Sage had almost hopped out of bed with a gasp as he was suddenly jolted awake back from the horrible nightmare; His chest feeling tight to physically painful amounts due to the armlet runes trying extra hard to keep him from setting the cabin aflame during that whole thing. The sound of footsteps outside indicated that someone had just left, and to judge by the empty solo bed, he had just missed Alexis. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing...

Well for starters, he had to calm down; Inhaling and exhaling, rhythmically and repeatedly.

Slowly but surely, the pain would subside, and though still shaken he had managed to work out the fear to milder levels. With a glance upwards, it seemed that Leo was still asleep and hopefully having a much better time with his dream than the pyromancer had. Normally, he'd just get out of bed as soon as he was awake, liking to start the day early on a good note but, this time he felt like staying under the covers for a couple of hours longer. Not back to sleep, obviously, but perhaps to properly wind down and think stuff through.

It just felt a lot safer in there. A small moment of reprieve before things went inevitably bad again...

He watched as the room became brighter as the sun moved higher up in the sky, until he decided there had been enough time to regain some stability. He got up, neatly making the bed and then moved into the matter of changing clothing which, was a bit complicated. Sage was attached to his clothes, immensely, but his jacket had been through some abuse and the pants were more to half shorts at this point. Surely, Alexis would throw a fit if he tried keeping it all as it was. After much deliberation and some emotional turmoil, he had settled for keeping the jacket but unfortunately not the pants, instead picking a similar pair in black to wear, out of the drawer. He bid the old one goodbye with the Sign of the Heart, placing it folded right on top of the dresser just in case someone else found a use for the fabric and only then actually changed himself. New pair of pants, old everything else, then the armlet on top.

For the entirety of that and walking to the restaurant, the Descendant was repeating the usual mantra under his breath, trying to convince himself that everything was fine and to let every lingering tension, thought and emotion go. By the time he had stopped by the entrance of the next room, there wasn't much left of them and with a deep breath, he had stepped in.

"Oh hey, you're up early too! Cool!", the pyromancer had cheerfully greeted his Kitsune friend with a raised arm, joining her at the table and seating himself rather delicately, "I thought everyone else would be asleep for longer, like around 9 or 10... This is a nice surprise~"

Picking up the breakfast menu, he'd be greeted with a list of typically American food items and sadly not much else. It was disappointing to not see rice bowls, fish dishes or types of dumplings in there and yet, he couldn't say that he was entirely surprised by the lack of them. Oh well, guess an Occidental breakfast was in order, not that he didn't like it too, it was just unusual. The young man ended up going for the oatmeal and a juice blend of carrots and oranges. If there was a light salad option, he'd have picked that one too.

As he waited for the order to arrive, Sage would glance around looking for Megumin, --thought she was still busy with her own friends at her own table--, who he still had to ask for a marker, and Leo, to greet him too whenever he showed up. Inevitably his mind would drift back to the nightmare but, only the important part. If there was anything urgent to be gathered out of that mess was the fact that he should let all the others know about the Take-Over, as soon as possible. If not before they went to play detective with these missing cases, then at the beginning of whichever next tough situation they'd be thrown at. He would do it right now, but it would be disrespectful towards the meal itself, not to mention everybody both needed and deserved to have an enjoyable chill downtime as well.

 

[PopcornPie]

"What about the kidnapped people?" Lucky raised his nub. "What did they look like? I mean, come on, this is a train. We are literally on a moving hallway. There aren't a lot of places for hidin' kidnapped folk."

Megumin's eyes lit up when Pennington revealed the new information. "Important items? In that case, what if we baited them with something of ours?" She pulled the ToolGun out of her hat. "If nobody's willing to give something up, I can spawn something! Let me see...Oooh, I think this is a diamond. What kidnapper/thief wouldn't go for a freshly planted diamond?"

"Uh, hey, Lassie?" Lucky gestured all around the room. "The kidnapper could be listening to us."

thatguyinthestore

 

[DerpyCarp]

Lealan swallows a large bite of food. "It's very possible the victim are being stored in a cargo or luggage car of some sort, where there are plenty of nooks, crannies, and boxes to store them. That is, if they have one attached to this train. I'll go looking for one of those once I'm done eating." Lealan goes back to devouring her food with gusto.
thatguyinthestore

 

[thatguyinthestore]

"Are you suggesting that we enact a classic coup d'etat on our proud conductor?" Pennington would ask Hiryu with a slightly raised brow, before turning to face Ben. "Hm.... I think in our case, it would be more beneficial to sniff them out. Time is of the essence, after all," Pennington replied before he had his attention stolen away by The Agent. He brought his glass of orange juice up to his beak and took a sip before placing it down on the table in front of him and replying, "Both, my feathered friend," Pennington would explain. "Two of our victims went missing in their cabins, while the other two went missing amongst large crowds. He appears to not have a specific modus operandi, which makes him a bit more bothersome to hunt, I'm afraid..."

Then, he looked at Lilith, and shook his head. "No.... that's what we're discussing..." Pennington replied. "It's as I said, they all look about the same," He explained to Lucky, before he looked at Megumin. He then smiled at both her and Lealan's respective ideas. "Both of those are tremendous ideas! In fact, it gives me an idea of my own..." Pennington would roll up his newspaper and set it down on the table, before clearing his throat to gather the attention of everyone else in the train cart. "I say that we sabotage this scandalous sinner with our wits and Megumin's Tool Gun, and while we catch our caper, some of the others go snooping around the train for the missing passengers!" Pennington would exclaim, before laughing to himself. "Pennington, old fellow, you've done it again, you big-brained penguin, you!"

Crow P PopcornPie DerpyCarp ConnorOfficials Thepotatogod Necessity4Fun QizPizza StaidFoal jigglesworth Zamasu Laix_Lake Venom Snake marc122 FactionGuerrilla quadraxis201 Atomic Chucklenuts Lazaro1505​

 

[PopcornPie]

Megumin would not sit and listen to Pennington taking credit for her contributions. "Hey! The baiting was my idea!" She retorted, but she otherwise trilled with pride. "It doesn't seem that the killer has much preference, however, because I don't see much connection between the stolen items..."

"I can help with the snoopin'." Lucky offered. "Me nose may be small, but we rabbits boast incredible smell. Not to mention how easily I can creep into small spaces. Ask the former Red Team about it sometime." He jabbed the air towards Rex, Megumin, and Sora.

"...What does the weapon look like?" Megumin raised her hand. "Maybe they're trying to make some kind of toothpaste launcher."

thatguyinthestore

 

[TheElenaFisher]

ℭ𝔦𝔯𝔦
——————«•»——————
From what he had told them, they were taken inside their train cars, whatever that was, one thing was taken from each of the four missing people, and that they each disappeared around noon over the course of the past four days before they had gotten there. Megumin then suggested to use something as bait and it was a good idea. However, the items were only taken along with the person, so if they wanted to do that plan, whoever offered up their item would also be the one offering themselves to be kidnapped.

"Megumin, that's a good idea. Back home, whenever a case like this would happen, we would have to use someone or something taken from someone as bait. If we want to use your idea, since the items were taken along with the person, they would need to also be taken along with it as well."

Pennington then took credit for Megumin's idea and she looked at him. "Are you really taking credit for her idea?"

thatguyinthestore , P PopcornPie ​

 

[Thepotatogod]

--Hiryu Kakogawa || Whisper The Wolf--
Interaction: thatguyinthestore

"That's basically what...You know what, fine." Hiryu shrugged as he finished his fish, "That works for me. Should we group uo then?" Hiryu asks, "One group works on the trap while the other looks for the missing people?"

 

[PopcornPie]

"Oh! Um..." Megumin drummed her fingers on her staff. "Back home, Aqua was usually the one to play the damsel in distress. I never thought I would actually need to copy her someday...Chomusuke?"

"Hell no! I don't want to be stuffed in a luggage compartment!" The rabbit protested. "I want to help build the trap. Can we make it so it pumps the kidnapper full of lead?"

"Wait...didn't you say that you wanted to help look for the missing persons?"

"Hm...well, that would still let me plug the kidnapper full of holes, should we run into him." He drummed his nubs on the table. The last time he'd played it safe, everyone else got to fight fucking Lobo. Why would he not have wanted that glory? Who knows, maybe another enemy of old was behind this string of stealing? "Eh, I should at least stake out across this train."

TheElenaFisher thatguyinthestore

 

[thatguyinthestore]

"It's a big ray gun that shoots ice!" Pennington would exclaim in response to Lucky, while he would ignore anyone pointing out that he had stolen Megumin's idea. Instead, he merely turned to face Hiryu. "indeed. Using my brilliant and original idea that I had of splitting up into groups, we shall trap them and capture them, while also saving the victims along the way!" Pennington would exclaim triumphantly, placing his flippers on his shoulders in the meantime.

P PopcornPie Thepotatogod TheElenaFisher​

 

[PopcornPie]

"Who the fuck brings an ice beam onto a train?!" Lucky's collar fur bristled. "Shit, they probably want to force us to be actors in a live-action remake of 'The Polar Express'!" His tail swished back and forth. "Fuck, why didn't you say it from the offset! We gotta stop 'em! Ganondorf isn't gonna fuckin' die if we let this asshole turn us into those ice statues snobby people use in their stupid overglorified barbecues!" He started galloping for the train car behind them.

"Oh, my, Ciri, now he's stealing your idea." Megumin's brows pinched together. "Pennington, stop it! What kind of detective steals credit from everyone?"

thatguyinthestore

 

[Thepotatogod]

--Hiryu Kakogawa || Whisper The Wolf--
Interaction: thatguyinthestore P PopcornPie

"Good. I'll go snoop around." Hiryu said, "I can have my Another Riders scout the entire train to see if anything's off." He finished his rice, soon placing down his bowl and chopsticks. "So judging by the guys this perp's been kidnapped..." Hiryu turned to Megumin. "Yeah, why don't we put you as bait, Megumin-chan?"

 

[Lazaro1505]

Gretar​

While everyone else was too busy talking about a plan, Gretar was eating his pancakes and eggs right now. It was actually much better than what he had at home, but it can still be better. After finishing, he then looked to see the group to hear them all about groups and stuff, to which he said “Gonna be working with the search team... not good at making traps and stuff.”

Benrey​

Hearing much more ideas and information going around the group, they essentially settled on a trap group, and a search group for maximum efficiency. He nodded and said “Maybe I can be the bait, I have multiple items of value, and I am sure that the kidnapper won’t pass up on having much more weapons to use.” as he took out the Holy Handgrenade he had, and flipped it into the air, before catching it, as he waited for the others to respond.
thatguyinthestore @ Benrey is now a trap

 

[thatguyinthestore]

As Lucky and any Another Riders ran off to the train car behind them, they would find themselves in what looked like an engineer's room.

The room was pretty standard as far as engine rooms go. Gears a-plenty, steel floors, the constant smell of underpaid work forces, and of course the sounds of engines louder than your mom on prom night twisting and turning around you. As you entered, you would find that the room itself was mostly empty, with the only sights and sounds that surrounded you being those that were--

"Whooooo daaaaareeessss disrupt my sluuuuummmmbeeeerrrrr..."

Oh, nevermind.

There's a ghost here.

P PopcornPie Thepotatogod Lazaro1505 @SeacrhTeam


"Nonsense!" Pennington would laugh in response to Megumin. "I know you wish to help out, but taking credit for my ideas will certainly not help anyone!" Pennington exclaimed, and before anyone could argue with him further, he'd already changed subjects. "Anyways... how shall we set these traps, assistants?"

P PopcornPie TheElenaFisher Lazaro1505 Thepotatogod​

 

[PopcornPie]

"Me? You really..." Megumin tugged at her collar. "I'm not sure, playing the damsel in distress is usually an Aqua or Darkness thing." Fortunately, Benrey stepped up to the plate instead. "See? Benrey would make a better distressed damsel than myself..." Then she took the time to study his solid figure. "...Right?"

Pennington's response, meanwhile, had her puckering her lips.

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

"Huh, the restaurant car is close to the engine room?" Lucky sniffed the air, then threw up in his mouth. "How unappetizing." The hefty smell of exhaust disrupted his nose, making it hard to detect the kidnapper's scent. "Ugh, this train needs a fuckin' spring cleaner. Ain't that right, bud?...Bud!?" The realization that Lucky's new acquaintance lacked feet, knees, thighs, anything but a tail that faded into the air, had him doing a double take. "Jesus Christ, this train is fucking haunted!? Um...uh, sorry, bud, didn't mean to disturb your corpse or nothin'. Listen, did you see a guy running around with toothpaste, a sock or two, a diary, and an apparently portable ice beam? We're lookin' for 'im."

thatguyinthestore Thepotatogod Lazaro1505

 

[thatguyinthestore]

Pennington did not kiss Megumin.​

 

[PopcornPie]

Good. Megumin's kisses were reserved for Chomusuke I's soft kitty forehead.

 

[thatguyinthestore]

then

why

did

she

pucker

her

lips

 

[PopcornPie]

An expression of sourness. Even someone as wordy as this narrator fails to come up with the right words sometimes. ^^'

 

[Thepotatogod]

mom, dad, please don't argue in the RP thread

 

[thatguyinthestore]

go back to bed son

 

[PopcornPie]

"I'm a mom!?" This narrator chirped.

 

[thatguyinthestore]

yes.