[Manwol's not familiar with virtual reality -- she's only from like 2019, but seeing as nothing is immediately attacking all of them... She's still tense, blurred vision flickering back and forth.
She's too colorblind to realize exactly what she's seeing, but for Manwol, she sees the very fancy grand foyer of what looks like a hotel. It's so familiar to her that she doesn't even need her vision to really recognize it. This is her hotel, and now she's nervous because there's no reason she should be seeing it here,]
[ well, malik's memory is swiss cheese, so that leaves some limited options-- he sees a dark corridor, made entirely of stone. it's all fairly nondescript, and given the lack of light - there's some candles along the walls here and there - it doesn't really matter that he can't see in color either. he knows this place. and while there's nothing too sinister about an ancient stone hallway, he still looks like he's going to have a panic attack. and nothing is even happening yet. so that's cool! ]
[the images are worth looking at even if he can't quite make out all of them, but even without his full vision it's impossible for him not to recognize something so important to him. the digital world will always be a place that matters, and like the others, he's not sure why this is showing up.]
["Well, this is taking a bit-- oh, but we didn't check in with your opponents! While you were playing your bonus round game, they were facing the challenge you gave them! Now, let's take a look."
One of the walls becomes a screen displaying one of those factory rooms, the upgraded one they saw vanish when the liches changed the scenery before. And in that room, they see... Lucretia, Claude, Yamato, and Maya. Maya is collapsed on the ground, bleeding and motionless; Lucretia has Maya's head resting on her lap, looking down in her general direction worriedly (but unfocused enough that they can tell she just can't see) while Claude tries to help deal with Maya's wounds. He looks older, too, grey streaking his hair in a couple of places, and he's bleeding from a few wounds. Yamato is with them, still missing an eye, but now he's also missing one of his arms; he's slumped against the wall, head in his remaining hand, an arrow sticking out of his side.
Claude just gives them a horrified, betrayed look as he glances up-- and then the screen fades.]
[manwol is a blind binch but she's not totally blind and it's not like the screen is that far away so,
she'll get to see! this! group of four people -- all of whom she recognizes, and all of them who she likes! her eyes zero in on Maya, Lucretia -- Yamato, and then Claude, and as soon as his gaze meets her --]
-- This isn't happening.
[but her gaze is riveted to the screen before them as the image fades. she thinks about how they never know who else is on an adventure with them. she thinks about how relieved they'd all been to know that the group against them had hit trust, because that meant they wouldn't have to yet again struggle against nightmares of their own mind.
but it's not real. it can't be. She turns into the direction of where Cam is, her voice rising]
[ malik is expecting this to be a trick. more people he doesn't know. but he takes the time to focus on the screen, squinting at the figures. with his vision partially repaired, it doesn't take long for the scene to sink in.
he still wants it to be a trick. the last group clearly was. but this-- these are all people they know. his thoughts are mercifully interrupted before he can delve too far into his navelgazing. thank you, manwol. ]
I.. it's not real. Like the last group. We all know it isn't real, it's just an illusion. You can't really trust this place to be truthful, can you?!
[rita tenses, gaze fixed on the screen. unfortunately for cam, he's getting squeezed while she takes this in. she can't even bring herself to flinch when manwol yells in their direction.]
It... it's not...
They can't really be...
[but she isn't sure, and that's the problem. lucretia, yamato, maya... it's not them. they didn't do this to them.
[wow! terrible! exceptionally terrible when three of those people are some of his closest friends and the fourth is someone he likes well enough and mostly respects. the grip on the sword tightens as he stares at the screen, whirling around to face malik specifically.]
You better hope it's not real. [there's...no mistaking the threat in his tone. this is why they should have talked about it as a group like they did the first time. now...]
What now? [this is to the voices because again, wow! terrible! he would love to figure out a way into that factory to save all of those people.]
[There is so much smoke in here now, y'all. It does the same thing where it floats up into the ceiling and disappears, and Cam winces both at Manwol's question and the way he's being squeezed like a damn cantaloupe. "I'm sorry, but yeah, of course it's real-- people did the same thing to you, right? There's just, uh, no way of telling who else is gonna be in here, but Wonderland's still a popular place."
"We don't really deal in illusions here," says the male voice. "I assure you, this place might be our creation, but it certainly isn't fake. All your sacrifices are real too, aren't they? It's all just a part of the game!"
The screens seem to be done calibrating, settling on Manwol's hotel to begin with, but nothing happens immediately because I'm giving you a round to deal with this situation first.]
[with the blessings of the group chat, we are temporarily breaking tag order for taichi to suddenly whirl around. you'd think maybe he was the clone given how he seemingly teleports across the room, free hand grabbing a fistful of malik's shirt and kind of lifting him off of the ground to slam him into the wall behind them instead.]
You should have talked to us before choosing forsake! [just so we're clear about why he's angry, apparently.] There was no telling if it was real or not when Beau was right there! And now because of that choice four of our friends are suffering for it! We don't even know if Maya's alive, Claude and Lucretia are blind, aged and bleeding and Yamato--[he lifts him a little higher to slam him into the wall? really glad that malik's also probably blurry while he's doing this.]
[ there's fear as taichi lunges at him, but by the time he's getting verbally ripped into, his expression is blunted by a sort of glazed over look in his eyes. like he's tapped out of the conversation. in a way, he has. this isn't anything new. this has happened before. he remembers that much. and he has to push those feelings down, down, down to protect himself. but it's not as easy as he wants it to be, even with unfortunate experience at doing so. ]
Because it was the right choice, Taichi! The stupid head all you like even said you, so don't blame me when you would have chosen it anyway if he told you to!
[ anger is always the default option. lash out. fight back. he's gripping onto taichi's wrist, even if it's not going to do anything. he can't break free, but that doesn't mean he's not going just take it. ]
The first image was a fake. Those people weren't real. You really do believe anything that you're told, right?! This is a lie too, and you know it is, so don't blame me for a choice you would have made!
[at this point it's not hard to tell that all this black smoke is heading over to the lichs so they can suck up all this tasty suffering, but Manwol's attention is immediately diverted by Taichi slamming Malik up against the wall,
neither of them are wrong, even though I want them to be -- she thinks, cam's reply and the voices talking about how they don't do illusions ringing through her mind. the only reason she doesn't immediately push herself between them is because she's distracted by the image of her hotel flickering back into view -- what now?]
The both of you need to stop. This isn't over -- and we can't do anything about this place if we're fighting each other.
[her blurry gaze is riveted on the screen -- why the hotel? there's nothing there -- there's no one there she particularly cares about or misses, and none of the ghosts there are volatile or violent,]
[rita's still staring at where the screen had shown her friends just moments ago, even with everything happening around her, and even as the screen shifts to display manwol's hotel.
... it takes a while, but she finally snaps out of it. she sucks in a breath... and brings herself back into the present.]
... She's right. We can beat the crap out of each other later. Right now, we're getting out of this together, like it or not.
[she'll give the hotel setting a wary look...] What is this place, anyway?
["Uh, look, for the record, I had no way of knowing these were apparently people you knew when I said that?" Cam says, with a grimace. "You made the best decision at the time, probably."
But while all this is going on, the floor and ceiling also flick on, showing they're screens, too. They're surrounded by the scenery of Manwol's hotel, and then... a figure made of black smoke slowly pulls itself up from the floor.
That figure resolves into a woman, standing before them, and on one of the screen across from the group, they see the following words.
shit. Manwol blinks disbelievingly as the figure rises and forms a shape she knows so well -- for almost a thousand years -- and for a moment she wants to laugh. of course it would be this particular version of Mago, a god with twelve forms. it can't be the first merciful form or the third gentle form -- it has to be the fourth. filled with vengeance and justice, and little love for spirits and humans.
She hefts her staff up and staggers forward, the poison making her steps stilted and slow, and it's difficult to pick out the god when everything's grayscale, bur]
Taichi -- forget Malik and protect Rita! She can teleport -- and she'll burn your bodies to dust if she grabs you!
[she'll lunge forward anyway, stabbing forward with Tsuyukusa's staff in an attempt to distract Mago from the others, but honestly she's poisoned and she can barely see, so what's that gonna do. rita's their best chance, then taichi and then malik, who's still poisoned like her. oh god they're all gonna get fcked up aren't they]
oh. it's this. mago is here and manwol is yelling and great we're all gonna fight again. ]
Does she have any weaknesses?! A counter-element?
[ because this is yugioh where everyone is element-aligned, even gods. but as a good, god-fearing mortal, malik can't help but think oh we're screwed. ]
[well, this looks like danger. since rita's new outfit has a conveniently long scarf, she quickly ties it into a sling to stick cam into, letting him hang on her back so her arms can be free. but manwol's words of warning bring a look of alarm to her face.]
She'll what!?
[yeah she doesn't need any more warning than that, she's backing up closer to taichi.]
My last two spells... Tidal Wave and Levitation. That's all I've got for however many enemies we've still got to face.
[the good news: malik is set down because they have bigger issues to tackle! the bad news: they have bigger issues to tackle.
but he hears manwol's warnings and he's moving to flank rita's side, sword at the ready and holding his ground to fend off anything that gets too close to either of them.]
Well rush isn't that encouraging. I've still got a fireball, too. Be my eyes for me, okay?
[if this bitch can teleport they're all in trouble. again. he can only hope that malik's able to move and help manwol in any way he can, even if it's just to help her see while the staff goes flying toward the woman.]
[She sure can teleport! Manwol manages to strike at her with the staff and do a little damage, which she seems largely unimpressed by; she teleports closer to grab at Manwol's arm. Luckily, it doesn't turn her into dust, but it's going to be a pretty nasty burn.
The next time she's struck at, though, she's going to teleport over to a different target, most likely Taichi and Rita-- the bosses here aren't as fixated as the factory opponents.]
[Manwol is very fortunate to have just her right arm burned, true. Manwol staggers back, dropping Tsuyukusa's staff out of pained surprise, and then lashes out with her arms to just -- sucker punch her or something, but then Mago teleports and now she has a very bad feeling
is there anything else in the room that could help them? is it just her hotel on the screen and Mago in the room with them?]
You stupid old hag -- you promised to destroy me!
[COME BACK BINCH AND FACE HER WITH HER IMPAIRED VISION]
[ manwol we'll have to unpack your existential angst later.
for now, since taichi released him and seems to be bait for this angry god, malik tries to find somewhere to hide. this is so much worse than the factory. he can't even run now without waves of nausea rolling over him and his lungs trying to close up, so he has to try to hide carefully and slowly.
he has to do something. someone has to do something! he takes out his phobe and-- sure, mago is a god, and malik is well aware that sometimes gods are mean and fickle and they'll get up in your business and there's nothing you can do except wait for them to get bored and leave. maybe they could get mago drunk like sekhmet?
no time to dwell on that. he has his phone, and it may not be much, but he is hoping that it does something when he summons lighting to try and hit mago with it.
[rita nods at taichi's words, and it isn't long until she has to use those eyes. the woman reappears close by.]
Behind us!
[rita turns to face the enemy and backs away, but instead of a smooth backstep, her feet move sluggishly, and she can't make much distance between them.
she hears a familiar crackle of magic in the air and sees what malik's doing in her periphery.]
[we're gonna talk about manwol's issues later. taichi finds himself listening to his surroundings more closely now that his vision's out and progressively getting harder to actually deal with, so when he hears rita he turns.
granted, he also hears the crackle and hears the warning.]
Shit!
[and so, he's immediately grabbing rita instead to tackle her out of the way to dodge the lightning, hitting the ground a little hard and rolling out of the way. as you do. they're not staying on the ground for long though in case they need to bolt again.]
[A stray arc of lightning catches Rita and Taichi, but most of it does hit Mago... and black smoke emanates from her where she's struck, her form becoming unstable.
"Guys, listen, we never got to this room on our trip through, she bailed on me before this point so I don't know how rough this is gonna get," Cam warns.
The black smoke resolves into this, the screens changing to Malik's scenery-- and as it blinks toward him, emanating heat, it's immediately clear that it kept a thing or two from its previous form.]
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She's too colorblind to realize exactly what she's seeing, but for Manwol, she sees the very fancy grand foyer of what looks like a hotel. It's so familiar to her that she doesn't even need her vision to really recognize it. This is her hotel, and now she's nervous because there's no reason she should be seeing it here,]
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Aspio...? Why...
[she's missed the sight of this place. her home. and yet, nothing about this place can be good...]
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...okay...?
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One of the walls becomes a screen displaying one of those factory rooms, the upgraded one they saw vanish when the liches changed the scenery before. And in that room, they see... Lucretia, Claude, Yamato, and Maya. Maya is collapsed on the ground, bleeding and motionless; Lucretia has Maya's head resting on her lap, looking down in her general direction worriedly (but unfocused enough that they can tell she just can't see) while Claude tries to help deal with Maya's wounds. He looks older, too, grey streaking his hair in a couple of places, and he's bleeding from a few wounds. Yamato is with them, still missing an eye, but now he's also missing one of his arms; he's slumped against the wall, head in his remaining hand, an arrow sticking out of his side.
Claude just gives them a horrified, betrayed look as he glances up-- and then the screen fades.]
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she'll get to see! this! group of four people -- all of whom she recognizes, and all of them who she likes! her eyes zero in on Maya, Lucretia -- Yamato, and then Claude, and as soon as his gaze meets her --]
-- This isn't happening.
[but her gaze is riveted to the screen before them as the image fades. she thinks about how they never know who else is on an adventure with them. she thinks about how relieved they'd all been to know that the group against them had hit trust, because that meant they wouldn't have to yet again struggle against nightmares of their own mind.
but it's not real. it can't be. She turns into the direction of where Cam is, her voice rising]
Tell us if it's real or not!!
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he still wants it to be a trick. the last group clearly was. but this-- these are all people they know. his thoughts are mercifully interrupted before he can delve too far into his navelgazing. thank you, manwol. ]
I.. it's not real. Like the last group. We all know it isn't real, it's just an illusion. You can't really trust this place to be truthful, can you?!
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It... it's not...
They can't really be...
[but she isn't sure, and that's the problem. lucretia, yamato, maya... it's not them. they didn't do this to them.
did they...?]
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You better hope it's not real. [there's...no mistaking the threat in his tone. this is why they should have talked about it as a group like they did the first time. now...]
What now? [this is to the voices because again, wow! terrible! he would love to figure out a way into that factory to save all of those people.]
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"We don't really deal in illusions here," says the male voice. "I assure you, this place might be our creation, but it certainly isn't fake. All your sacrifices are real too, aren't they? It's all just a part of the game!"
The screens seem to be done calibrating, settling on Manwol's hotel to begin with, but nothing happens immediately because I'm giving you a round to deal with this situation first.]
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You should have talked to us before choosing forsake! [just so we're clear about why he's angry, apparently.] There was no telling if it was real or not when Beau was right there! And now because of that choice four of our friends are suffering for it! We don't even know if Maya's alive, Claude and Lucretia are blind, aged and bleeding and Yamato--[he lifts him a little higher to slam him into the wall? really glad that malik's also probably blurry while he's doing this.]
How could you just make that choice so easily!?
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Because it was the right choice, Taichi! The stupid head all you like even said you, so don't blame me when you would have chosen it anyway if he told you to!
[ anger is always the default option. lash out. fight back. he's gripping onto taichi's wrist, even if it's not going to do anything. he can't break free, but that doesn't mean he's not going just take it. ]
The first image was a fake. Those people weren't real. You really do believe anything that you're told, right?! This is a lie too, and you know it is, so don't blame me for a choice you would have made!
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neither of them are wrong, even though I want them to be -- she thinks, cam's reply and the voices talking about how they don't do illusions ringing through her mind. the only reason she doesn't immediately push herself between them is because she's distracted by the image of her hotel flickering back into view -- what now?]
The both of you need to stop. This isn't over -- and we can't do anything about this place if we're fighting each other.
[her blurry gaze is riveted on the screen -- why the hotel? there's nothing there -- there's no one there she particularly cares about or misses, and none of the ghosts there are volatile or violent,]
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... it takes a while, but she finally snaps out of it. she sucks in a breath... and brings herself back into the present.]
... She's right. We can beat the crap out of each other later. Right now, we're getting out of this together, like it or not.
[she'll give the hotel setting a wary look...] What is this place, anyway?
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But while all this is going on, the floor and ceiling also flick on, showing they're screens, too. They're surrounded by the scenery of Manwol's hotel, and then... a figure made of black smoke slowly pulls itself up from the floor.
That figure resolves into a woman, standing before them, and on one of the screen across from the group, they see the following words.
BOSS RUSH: ENGAGE.]
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shit. Manwol blinks disbelievingly as the figure rises and forms a shape she knows so well -- for almost a thousand years -- and for a moment she wants to laugh. of course it would be this particular version of Mago, a god with twelve forms. it can't be the first merciful form or the third gentle form -- it has to be the fourth. filled with vengeance and justice, and little love for spirits and humans.
She hefts her staff up and staggers forward, the poison making her steps stilted and slow, and it's difficult to pick out the god when everything's grayscale, bur]
Taichi -- forget Malik and protect Rita! She can teleport -- and she'll burn your bodies to dust if she grabs you!
[she'll lunge forward anyway, stabbing forward with Tsuyukusa's staff in an attempt to distract Mago from the others, but honestly she's poisoned and she can barely see, so what's that gonna do. rita's their best chance, then taichi and then malik, who's still poisoned like her. oh god they're all gonna get fcked up aren't they]
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oh. it's this. mago is here and manwol is yelling and great we're all gonna fight again. ]
Does she have any weaknesses?! A counter-element?
[ because this is yugioh where everyone is element-aligned, even gods. but as a good, god-fearing mortal, malik can't help but think oh we're screwed. ]
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She'll what!?
[yeah she doesn't need any more warning than that, she's backing up closer to taichi.]
My last two spells... Tidal Wave and Levitation. That's all I've got for however many enemies we've still got to face.
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the bad news: they have bigger issues to tackle.
but he hears manwol's warnings and he's moving to flank rita's side, sword at the ready and holding his ground to fend off anything that gets too close to either of them.]
Well rush isn't that encouraging. I've still got a fireball, too. Be my eyes for me, okay?
[if this bitch can teleport they're all in trouble. again. he can only hope that malik's able to move and help manwol in any way he can, even if it's just to help her see while the staff goes flying toward the woman.]
Don't lose track of her then!
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The next time she's struck at, though, she's going to teleport over to a different target, most likely Taichi and Rita-- the bosses here aren't as fixated as the factory opponents.]
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[Manwol is very fortunate to have just her right arm burned, true. Manwol staggers back, dropping Tsuyukusa's staff out of pained surprise, and then lashes out with her arms to just -- sucker punch her or something, but then Mago teleports and now she has a very bad feeling
is there anything else in the room that could help them? is it just her hotel on the screen and Mago in the room with them?]
You stupid old hag -- you promised to destroy me!
[COME BACK BINCH AND FACE HER WITH HER IMPAIRED VISION]
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for now, since taichi released him and seems to be bait for this angry god, malik tries to find somewhere to hide. this is so much worse than the factory. he can't even run now without waves of nausea rolling over him and his lungs trying to close up, so he has to try to hide carefully and slowly.
he has to do something. someone has to do something! he takes out his phobe and-- sure, mago is a god, and malik is well aware that sometimes gods are mean and fickle and they'll get up in your business and there's nothing you can do except wait for them to get bored and leave. maybe they could get mago drunk like sekhmet?
no time to dwell on that. he has his phone, and it may not be much, but he is hoping that it does something when he summons lighting to try and hit mago with it.
heads up, rita & taichi. ]
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Behind us!
[rita turns to face the enemy and backs away, but instead of a smooth backstep, her feet move sluggishly, and she can't make much distance between them.
she hears a familiar crackle of magic in the air and sees what malik's doing in her periphery.]
--Get down!
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granted, he also hears the crackle and hears the warning.]
Shit!
[and so, he's immediately grabbing rita instead to tackle her out of the way to dodge the lightning, hitting the ground a little hard and rolling out of the way. as you do. they're not staying on the ground for long though in case they need to bolt again.]
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"Guys, listen, we never got to this room on our trip through, she bailed on me before this point so I don't know how rough this is gonna get," Cam warns.
The black smoke resolves into this, the screens changing to Malik's scenery-- and as it blinks toward him, emanating heat, it's immediately clear that it kept a thing or two from its previous form.]
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