3950/Last Woman Standing

Last Woman Standing
Date of Scene:	27 March 2016
Location:	Void - Deeper Void (North)
Synopsis:	Kazuko Kawakami'll fight anyone. She'll kick your fish's ass. She'll kick your bird's ass. She'll kick... her own ass? Just what kind of jungle did we end up in?
Cast of Characters:	165, 942

---

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Sometimes, warp gates are blocked due to dangerous atmospheric conditions or space storms that make the location inaccessible to even the hardiest of research probes the Union possesses.

    When these storms clear, however, it's usually safe to send in a couple of Elites to check the place hasn't been destroyed or befallen some sort of huge space cataclysm. Which brings us to today!

    

    Welcome to the golden jungle of Fulvous Planet- entirely uninhabited, totally peaceful and completely safe! Or so it would seem.

    Ren loves places like these, so he has of course signed up to check nothing scorched it to the bedrock from orbit recently. He arrives, strolling in from the silvery pool of a 'stargate' style standing warpgate on a stone island surrounded by a warm mudpool.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
It's time for an exploraiton mission! Kazuko's been in a bit of a slump lately, focusing only on her training, schoolwork, and guard work. It's been a while since she's actually left Kawakami City on a proper mission, but she's looking well enough for it. Arriving out of the warp gate with a blade naginata in tow, she glances around a few times to get her bearings straight before spotting Ren.

     "Hi, Ren! So. What's the job for today?" She sounds excited enoguh, at least, starting to glance around rapidly after a few seconds to try and take in more of the sights around her.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Not an awful lot!" Ren replies, waving her over. "This looks like a pretty nice place, doesn't it?"

    He's got a little piece of Union tricorder-esque technology. "Well, we can breathe, so it's safe to say that the atmosphere still exists. We basically need to scout out about a mile or two around this warpgate, see if we can contact any intelligent native life to be sure, and then just submit whatever this tablet phone records when we get back."

    "And enjoy ourselves while we're at it, although I wouldn't eat any fruit while we're here just to be safe."

    It could be that reversed-chirality stuff.

    He looks up. "But if you wanted to take a picture of that planet up there, I'd do it now, because there's clouds on the horizon."

    The planet is certainly incredible- the view of a huge ringed planet is the least of it. There are glowing flowers and flowing rivers trickling off of rock formations, butterflies and snails, incredible giant tree roots and more.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"It does... It kinda looks like the forests back home." Kazuko comments with an inquisitive tone, poking at a few flowers idly before peering at that tricorder-like object. Some of that talk of atmospheres and submitting records goes right over the martial artist's head, but the mission objective sounds simple enough!

     "Contact natives, eat fruit, take pictures. Got it!" Two out of three isn't that bad, right?

     Taking a small disposable camera out of her pocket, Kazuko peers up at the planet Ren points out to her, and she just gawks at it for a little while before starting to snap pictures of it. "Cooool... Hey, do you think the rain here's normal? Ooh, what if it's /acid rain/?"

     Why does she sounds excited about that?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Really?" Ren asks, sort of thrown for a loop. "When was the last time you visited a rainforest?"

    "See, there were storms in space," he tries to explain, with all the air of the class nerd realizing he's said something that's gone over someone's head and trying to ratchet it down. "There, uh, things like waves of energy or magnetism... no, let's stick with energy. Sometimes they can blow all the atmos... all the air off of a planet, or worse things, but it looks like nothing like that's happened here."

    "Acid rain... ah, the plants might not like it. Probably just regular rain here. It does rain very heavy in climates like this... well, nothing's certain. This isn't a planet we know much about. We do have emergency protection if it does happen, but we shouldn't stray more than a few miles from the warp gate, much as I'd like to wander off and get lost here."

    Pause.
    Pause again.

    "I'll race you to the top of that spire," he says quickly.

    And off he runs, laughing!

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko taps a finger to her chin. "Well.. It's not really a rain forest, but there's forests! And it rains there sometimes." That counts, right? Right.

     Now that Ren's dumbing down that explanation for her, the martial artist oohs and aahs, actually seeming to understand what he was trying to explain the first time around. "Huuuuh. So if the atmosphere was gone, does that mean we wouldn't be able to breathe when we came here?" That'd certainly be an experience. Showing up, not being able to breathe, floating off into the endless void of space... It's a little scary to think about, and Kazuko lets out a relieved sigh once she realizes that that's not an issue they have to worry about now.

     "Not too far, then... Eh? Oh, a race? You're not gonna beat me!" Grinning widely as Ren takes off, Kazuko straightens out the strap holding her naginata to her back, then takes off at a rapid clip! She's not bouncing off any trees yet, thankfully, but she is moving quickly. A little too quickly, perhaps?

     Surely nothing could go wrong with that.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Surely not.

    Ren takes off as well, and he's not bouncing off any trees either but he does make a point of splashing through puddles and rivers and disturbing a flock of butterflies and just generally having a jolly good time of things. Eventually he's going to have to start hopping over rocks and roots, though, and soon there might be jumping off of big stable leaves.

    Eventually, he's going to have to stop for what might be a mutually agreeable rest, let's say? Next to another one of those little waterfalls.

    "...this is a great way to spend a weekend, at least," he laughs, out of breath.

    Looks over to Kazuko. "So how have you been lately, anyway? I haven't seen you since we got ice cream with Zephyr."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko's got quite a lot of energy to spare even with as far as they've gone, and she still looks ready to go even when they stop at the waterfall. "Hmm... We've gotta get you in better shape. You should come training with me in the morning and afternoon."

     Why does she sounds so certain that's going to happen already? She's... Going to drag him out running with her one day, isn't she?

     There's a bit of an awkward pause when Ren asks that question, and she doesn't answer right away despite the grin on her face. "Eh? Oh. Aah.. You know. I've been training a lot like usual. And... Uh. A few missions here and there." Another pause, then a strained chuckle. "They coulda gone better, but we stopped the bad guys, so... That's good, right?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Hey now!" Ren replies, pouting. "I've got lots of energy! I just... wanted to stop to look at this waterfall," he replies. Although part of him does know that he hasn't been wandering openly night and day, as he has before- perhaps it's because recently he's had to keep bouncing back and forth to the same place, and eventually he had walked every street in Amarillo and it got boring, not to mention he knows a lot of Njorun by now. "But hey, sure, I'd be up for it."

    It starts to rain.

    Ren listens to Kazuko, nodding in places. He's already picked it up, though. "Yeah, sounds good to me. As long as you're doing your best, anyway."

    It's raining. "Something on your mind, though? You seem a little off."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Uhuh. If you say so. There's no shame in working your way up, though!" Kazuko gives Ren a grin of encouragement at that pout, although she's back to looking somewhat distant as the rain begins to fall. She goes quiet again as he asks about her, not answering immediately while just stepping around and letting the rain hit her.

     "Mm... Have you ever done anything where your best wasn't good enough?" She takes her naginata off her back to inspect the handle, turning it over once before looking back over at Ren. "I've just been thinking... How do you get through that?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Rain: not acid.

    Ren leans there for a moment, thoughtful, casting his mind back. He doesn't know about what Kazuko is alluding to: neither does he think of a situation he'd be willing to admit where he felt the way she does. It's not typical for someone like him to perform any less than perfectly.

    So, natually, he lies.

    "A few times. It usually made me think, if the way I did things didn't get the outcome I wanted, was there another direction to approach it from that could have had a better one?"

    There's a rumble of thunder from the clouds above, which makes him look up really curiously for a second. The rain is getting harder, so he beckons her under one of the big platform leaves next to a rock. "If you can't climb the mountain, look for a different side."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Luckily for Ren, Kazuko doesn't seem to catch on to that lie. She just looks... Well, distracted. Troubled, even. Not so distracted that she doesn't at least take cover under the giant leaf, but enough that she's still not responding right away.

     "A different side... Hmm. I guess I just gotta do that, then, huh?" She chuckles, but it still seems a little distant. Detached, perhaps? Or... Not entirely convinced about something. She peers out at the rain from under the leaf, nudging the edge of it up a bit with her naginata to get a better look at what's ahead of them. It's probably still hard to see even with the rain coming down, but it's... Some sort of improvement! Maybe.

     "Say... How far do you think we've gone already? Couldn't have been that far, but... Um. Hmm. You think there's anyone else even out here besides us?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Two miles away...

    A gelid, multi-fronded organism like a roper spits blobs of matter at a dwindling party of three. Unsuspecting of their true nature, one is taken by surprise when the nematocyst pierces his light body armor, destroying his body with neurotoxin. The other hacks vertically at the giant organism, until it falls apart unable to support itself.

    ---

    "About a mile?" Ren replies, guesstimating. "They'd have to have arrived here by a spaceship or some other warp gate somewhere else on the planet, and that could be anywhere. I don't see why anyone would want to, unless they're tourists..."

    The rain's not getting any easier. In fact, it only seems to be getting harder. "Oh, the weather really has turned. This isn't anywhere near as fun, maybe we should head back..."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Sooo... Kinda like what we're doing, then?" Kazuko chimes in, a thoughtful hum escaping her. "I mean, if there's stuff to find out here, maybe there's other people doing the same job we're doing. Or..." What other explanations for people coming out here would make sense? The forest looks inviting enough, but there has to be some other reason people would come out here, right?

     "... Maybe there's a shadowy cult out here. One that wants to talk over a world!" Specifically a world. There's too many places in the Multiverse to just label it as 'the world'! Furrowing her brow (and getting distracted from what was bothering her before, Kazuko, nudges that leaf up before peering at the base. "Maybe we can take one of these with us. We've already come this far out, right?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    A flash of lightning again.

    "...yeah, kind of like what we were doing." Past tense important, of course.

    Ren's already rooting up the plant after Kazuko suggests it, because yeah, an umbrella would probably be useful after all. "Why does it have to be a shadowy cult?" he asks, suddenly curious. "I don't think there's be many subjects to rule here short of monkeys banging rocks together, even if there's that. I mean I don't tend to disagree right out, but I don't know what could bring anyone else here."

    Two miles away, the two frustrated, angry humanoids stalk their way back to their ship- just in time to see one of the huge jungle redwoods topple directly onto it, sending shards of metal, blue fluids and greebles flying in all directions. The two of them look at each other in shock, one of them pulling off his helmet to throw it to the ground in frustration.

    Cut back to Ren and Kazuko, who are heading further out with their umbrella. The rain is driving now, the ground even shaking a little from the force of this sudden storm. They're on that spire, not running though. "Maybe they were doing a rain dance and got a little over-enthusiastic," he comments, sardonic, before there's another rumble.

    Now, if you'll look to your left, you'll see the stargate they came in through about a mile off in the distance, subsiding, tilting over as the metal covering begins to iris shut.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Yeah, exactly! But if they're not explorers, then the only other explanation is a cult." Why? Because! Kazuko hums softly as she mulls over how to put her thoughts into words, cringing visibly as the thunder hits her ears. It takes her a moment, but she does eventually manages to speak up again while helping with removing that plant.

     "Well, there was this lady me and Yang and this little white dinosaur found, right? She was getting chased by these weird tiny people with masks, so maybe whoever's out here might be trying to use the natives here like test subjects." It's... Logic. Not the soundest logic, but logic nonetheless.

     AS they continue along to the spire, Kazuko's looking a little less certain than she did before. Not of her theory, but of being here in general. She's not a fan of the thunder, apparently! "Nnn... Why would they want to do a rain dance out here? Why not in a desert or something instead?" She whines quietly, hunkering under that plantbrella and using her naginata to keep her footing a little steadier. "But they've gotta be close by now, right?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Sometimes I wonder how your mind works," Ren wonders, prompting Kazuko to give her handy explanation of things. Well, if there are other people on the planet, then that COULD be a reason for them to be here, but let's let it slide for now. Mudslide, in fact.

    "We don't even know if they exist," Ren replies with a sort of bewildered tone. "Look, I don't know about space storms, but I've had enough of this rainstorm. Kazuko, let's just... say 'afternoon in the jungle called because of rain' and head back to the warpgate, alright? I'll make it up to you later."

    They'll make it back through the (much, much wetter, and seemingly so much more hostile-seeming than before) jungle just in time to see the stargate sinking out of sight, in what is now a huge bubbling lake of mud.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"My mind is like a funnel! Or... Something." Kazuko sounds a little prouder of that, at least, even though the constant downpour of rain is putting a damper even on her. It takes a while for her to finally relent, stretching her neck from side to side before letting out a sigh.

     "Okay... We can come back when it's not so rainy or something. This weather sucks too much to keep going." How disappointing. Another sigh, and Kazuko goes with Ren back to the gate! The gate that's... In the ground now.

     "Awawa.... H-hey! That's our gate!" Strapping the naginata to her back again, Kazuko wastes little time in dashing out from under the cover of the plantbrella to start tugging on the gate. No, really.

     She's trying to pull it back out of the mud.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Going into the mud before Ren even has a chance to stop her... well, that's just Kazuko being Kazuko, but...

    She may rapidly realize that this was, shall we say... a bad idea. I may even go so far as to say a /dangerous/ idea.

    For starters, it seems as if the best explanation for this is that it's a geothermal mud pool, which was set off by the rumbling- which may be some sort of tectonic activity rather than just rainwater shaking the ground. This means three things- the most obvious 1) is these two have apparently just so happened to walk onto this world right in time for a devastating environmental shift, and the more pressing ones are 2) this is some pretty hot mud and 3) some pretty thick mud.

    Uncomfortably hot, in fact, and dangerously thick, such that by the time you get close enough to try dragging .. the gate out, all you're succeeding in doing is probably /pushing/ yourself in-

    And that's when the sinking feeling starts and the difficulty of moving, and the sucking sensation, and the being dragged down, and the /heat/, and--

    And *gloop*




    And there's Ren, trying to grab- just about anything of Kazuko he can, and fighting like an elephant, and pulling and thrashing and dragging, and--

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
It's just the walking that's got her feet that warm. And... Come to think of it, Kazuko's never touched a warp gate directly before, has she? It's probably supposed to be pretty warm, right? Sure, maybe it and the mud shouldn't be /this/ warm, but...

     No, something's wrong. Something's very wrong. By the time the martial artist notices that things are starting to go south, she's already got her legs halfway in that muck, and it's only with Ren's intervention that she's not up to her waist already!

     "What the...? Ren, there's something weird about this mud!" She calls out, starting to struggle and trying to escape without the warpgate this time, pushing down and trying to just brute force her way through. As she sinks in more, she even starts focusing her ki to try and give herself extra pulling power! Or pushing. It's hard to tell with this sort of thing.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"KAZUKO!" Ren shouts, and he's clearly ... actually really genuinely panicking. "KAZUKO, STOP!"

    He tries to reach for one of her hands and wrench it away from the warpgate, but she's probably already forcing herself in deep already. If it's not already started, whatever force that's pulling the warpgate down is going to start doing the same to /her/ too.

    And then the gate itself shifts, and Kazuko is entirely pulled under in one hideous bloop.

    It happens so incredibly suddenly. Mud encases your chest, your arms. It swallows you. Sound cannot leave your mouth. The sounds of the jungle and the rain and the Ren abruptly and completely cease.

    There is only the sound of your heartbeat.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Ren! Get...!" Before Kazuko can finish that sentence, she's already in too deep. She coughs out a mouthful of heated mud and sputters, yanking her hand out of the muck one last time before she's swallowed up.

     Okay. This is a pretty bad situation, but Kazuko's been in pinches before! Maybe not geology-related ones, but still. Sure, it doesn't help that she's never been all that great with science or anything in school without cramming sessions, but...

     But... Crap. This really is bad, isn't it? At least it's nice and quiet, even if every part of her wants to keep thrashing and making as much noise as possible.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Five seconds pass.

    Then, seven.

    And then another seven.

    Oh no. This could be bad.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Is this how it ends? Not in a glorious fight with an unfortunate acident near the end, not in a one vs. many scenario, and not fighting some kind of psychotic space warlord as the last defender of humanity. No, Kazuko's going to die in a freaking hole in the ground, covered in hot wet muck that she can only hope is mud.

     It's hard to really do anything about it physically, no matter how hard she's trying to force her way out. She's still trying, of course, but it's getting harder and harder to even stay conscious with that distinct lack of air getting to her.

     What's she supposed to do now? She's not as strong as her sister, as fast as... Also her sister, not even close to being as developed emotionally or physically as her sister... So on and so forth. Kazuko's actually starting to regret coming here now!

     Shit.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    And then just when it seemed like it was a sure thing, certain death becomes uncertain as the spectacular sound of what sounds like the earth being torn open by an industrial vehicle blasts its way through the mud.

    And then there's sound again! Massive, deafening sound (it's only as loud as it was before), crashing rain, crackling and rumbling.

    And if Kazuko opens her eyes she will see Ren a short distance away from her, gasping on his hands and knees, golden sigil on his forehead and anima nimbus surrounding him, sucking in breath (a luxury she can allow herself once again) as the rain continues to fall around them.

    The warpgate is gone. There may be no other way off this planet. But you're alive, at least.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Ren looks up at Kazuko, his face half horror, half incredible relief... And that's when the giant bird shape drops out of the clouds like a meteor and grabs him and swoops back up again and

    And it's gone.

    No way off of this planet, and now, alone.

    Yeah, maybe coming here may have been a bad idea.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Last time, on Multiverse Crisis...

    Ren Tanaka drags Kazuko out of the furious geothermal mudpool, the rain still crashing down on both of them. Placing her next to her naginata, he wipes her face and checks to make sure she's still breathing, then crawls about a foot away to actually get his own breath back. As Kazuko opens her eyes, Ren begins to say something- only for a huge bird to swoop out of the clouds and grab him, disappearing in a burst of speed.

    -------

    PART 2

    The rain begins to subside, leaving Kazuko to process what just happened. She's got a weapon, sure, but she's also lost the only method of leaving Fulvous Planet and the person who came here with her. She's also got a theory about some sort of rain-making cult, but it's entirely possible that that might just be in her head. What do you do next, Kazuko?

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     PREVIOUSLY

     Kazuko gasps for air as she's dug out of that pit, scrambling to get back onto dry-ish (or at least not super killing dangerous) land. Luckily, it doesn't look like she swallowed too much of that mud, although she does look like shit. "Th... Thanks, Re-" And then a bird happened. Well, CRAP.

NOW

     This is quite the pickle Kazuko's gotten herself into, isn't it? She hasn't even had much of a chance to catch her breath, but she's already back on her feet. What was supposed to be a simple recon mission turned into this!

     First things first: Trying to find clues of where Ren and the bird have gone. With the rain subsiding, it'll be easier for her to rely on her ears to try and listen for something, but...

     Well, it won't help if she's not in the right place. Plus, she's got her eyes and nose to work with, too! Thus, it's time to start looking for something high up to get a better vantage point from. A tree, a mountain, maybe that spire... Anywhere's better than here, at least!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Ren evidently had the good sense to attempt to fight this rather unpleasant bird that took off with him: there are, although hard to notice until you get the hang of it, a series of fallen feathers leaving a sort of breadcrumb trail for Kazuko. Once she's got a good impression of what these things look like (they're blue and ribbony), she can probably check into a tree- something good and tall, with plenty of red vines to get a foothold on- try to climb it and see if she can find more. The falling rain might mess with her sense of smell, but combine the two and she could still get a decent sense of how to follow that big bird.

    Wait, did I say red vines? I meant red whips. Whips which may be getting a hold of her foot.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
The good: Finding those feathers! Even those little bits of fluff are enough for Kazuko to follow, even taking refuge in a tree to see where they lead (and to keep an eye out for more dumb mud pits). She'd probably be admiring those feathers if not for the situation she's in, but right now? She's got PRIORITIES. Her naginata at her side, she's about ready to climb back down when...

     Red vines! Whips. Whichever. Whatever they are, the martial artist isn't foolish enough to just let them take her where they please, and she digs her feet in before stabbing at them with her trusty blade! "Eh? Get off me, you stupid things! I don't have time for this!" She's not stabbing too close to where her legs are, of course, but enough that even if she gets yanked abruptly, she should have some wiggle room to avoid stabbing herself.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJJaZajUP-E
    The Mine Car Chase - John Williams
    Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 1984

    http://tinyurl.com/hvy9hzg

    The end of one of the whips comes away with an abrupt snap as Kazuko cuts it off, and it snaps back into the ground- only seconds before a 'trapdoor' opens up, and a large, centipede-like creature shoves its way out to ram the base of the tree! It's about the size of a car, and it's- wounded?!

    Yes, apparently so! Already inside the trapdoor and shoved out alongside it, a humanoid figure comes out, who was evidently grappling with the insect inside its hole.

    The tree holds firm, only losing a couple of leaves. Will you attempt to escape as it climbs up, or will you help out the other person?

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko lets out a startled shriek as the giant centipede emerges from its hiding place, and she scrambles back up the tree just in time for it to ram the tree. It seems like a sound strategic decision at first, but she does eventually realize...

     Don't insects usually climb trees, anyway? This probably isn't the best spot for her to be, all things considered. Her thinking is further reinforced when the human-shaped thing comes out of that centipede's hole, and... Well.

     She's not the type to just leave someone to their fate, even if it involves giant scary insects. Steeling herself for the battle to come, Kazuko tightens her grip on the naginata before launching herself right off the tree at the centipede's center, aiming to land right on top of it with a powerful slash of her naginata! She can try to identify the person /after/ this thing's taken down.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Thankfully, although we've used a couple of video game conceits so far like platform-esque leaves and a reasonably visible trail of feathers to follow, this centipede does /not/ split in two when Kazuko leaps down and stabs right through the middle of it. Actually, it's more of a millepede, isn't it? Yeah, it's a millipede.

    Our secondary figure has a weapon- a sort of pistol-sized gun, but with an impressive caliber, as you can see from the pretty sharp barking blast it emits when the person fires it at the part Kazuko stabbed, ruining most of the back half and blowing it off completely.

    Now it's down to half size, and as it turns around you can see that impressively vile leech-like mouth and the remaining whips. But it proceeds to dig them into the ground, twanging them like guitar strings to create a nauseating sub-sonic vibration.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
A gun and a bladed stick. A good combination, if that chunk of the centimillipede getting blown off is any indication! Although Kazuko does recoil a bit at the explosive blast from the pistol, she does manage to keep herself together and keep her spirits up with the fight appearing to go her and the stranger's way.

     "Let's finish it off!" She calls out rather confidently, chasing after the millipede as it digs into the ground, getting an earful of those vibrations. The martial artist cringes again as she fights off the wave of nausea hitting her, staggering for a moment to get her bearings straight. Once she does, however, she launches herself right back on the attack! This time, however, she's aiming for the whips themselves to try and 'disarm' the centipede rather than just slashing into its...

     Wherever its face is. She can leave that to the other guy!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    A simple but effective plan! Kazuko manages to cut the creature's strings- snapping each of them off in broad strokes while the other figure behind her takes cover behind the tree and opens fire. Eventually one shot (key word: eventually) gets it right in the face, blowing its head end up and causing the entire thing to collapse.

    Once that's done, the figure walks out from behind the three, and Kazuko is finally able to get a good look at him. He's only partially armored, having seemingly lost parts of it already- the armor is light with overlapping, samurai-like plated greaves and pauldrons. Underneath the armor his skin is a sallow greenish-yellow, muscular but with an oily sheen to it. He has no helmet- his head is avian in shape, but with assorted swept-back quills at the back of his head, and a prominent underbite.

    "...so, there is another sentient species on this planet," he says to Kazuko. "Do you understand me? Do you have name? I am Rayje. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
The beast is slain! It's messy, but at least Kazuko's still looking mostly fine! The mud's still probably everywhere and on everything, and she's got countless scratches and cuts on her, but that's really from the mud than this, isn't it?

     Panting lightly as the adrenaline wears off, she turns to the stranger and stares at him blankly as she takes in the sight of... "... Bird head."

     Truly a credit to the human race. "Ah... Yeah! My name's Kazuko. Er... Sentient whatnow?" Still giving Rayje that blank stare, the martial artist snaps out of her curiousity-fueled daze to start looking around rapidly again.

     She still needs to find Ren and the bird! "Hey! Um.. Rayje, right? You didn't happen to see a big blue bird around, did you? Carrying another guy with red hair and... Er. One that looks more like me than you?" Kazuko's already preparing to climb up that tree again, although remembering which way the feathers were leading means... She could probably just start following them now and talk on the way if he follows her, right?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Rayje stands there for a moment to think. He looks Kazuko up and down. "Someone... hmm. I will admit, I was kind of... occupied with that insectoid, but I saw a large bird creature heading south from here."

    "Rayje? Rayje, were you able to free yourself?" calls a feminine voice from a short distance away. Emerging from the bush comes a second alien- fully armored in cobalt blue, she wears a face-concealing helmet that only opens at the back to allow the spines to be visible.

    "I was! And I found another sentient," he says.

    "Did I hear you say you were trying to find another person?" she asks Kazuko, following a few steps behind her as she climbs the tree. She picks up some of the blue feathers.

    "I am Wuri. We are two ... expeditioners from a nearby planet. If you are capable of leading us through the jungle, I can use my DNA scanner to efficiently track this bird and take us to other person like you."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"South. South...." Judging from the feathery trail, Kazuko can only guess that that's the way south, but she waits until she comes back down from the tree before addressing the second newcomer and looking them both over briefly.

     "What's a...? Oh! Yeah, I'm looking for my friend. He got taken by the bird with those feathers." She gestures at the feathers in Wuri's hand while strapping that naginata to her back once more, looking somewhat rejuvenated when she mentions being able to track the bird more effectively.

     "That'd be perfect! Yeah, I'll lead you through this place, and then we can find Ren, and then..." She pauses. "... So you're not from around here, either? Then the rain..." That could still be the work of the cult! "We'll need to be careful, then. Just tell me where to go, and I'll lead us through it."

     Rather confident, isn't she?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "The rain began after we landed," Rayje says.
    "It was quite spectacular, wasn't it?" Wuri adds. "And the rumbling ground... it sounds like there's an environmental upheaval here. I expect a lot of jungle beasts will be rather agitated."
    "Agitated enough to make them very interesting. I'd like to bring ten or twenty more men to this planet to make use of them."

    When you're the one with a blade, you automatically become the pathfinder through a dense jungle. Interestingly, none of what they're saying behind Kazuko necessarily deconfirms her idea of some sort of cult, does it? She'd best cut a confident figure as she moves up ahead of them- if nothing else, being the person they're relying on might do something for Kazuko's self-esteem.

    Less than ten minutes of trekking south (and following feathers and scent trails) later, and the three of them come across...

    Huh.

    It seems to be a small lake, with an island right in the centre. A somewhat disused but intact ship (still looks like a boat) with deactivated solar sails stands in the middle of it.

    Does this seem familiar?

    "Ah!" says Rayje. "A ship! I'll secure it and see if I can hack it active so that we can use it to escape here later on."

    And sure enough, he begins to wade straight into the water, completely ignorant of the random ripples and bubbles that are elsewhere in the lake...

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
If nothing else, Kazuko's at least thankful that those two can't see her face while she takes the lead. Are these the leaders of the cult? Is that why they want to bring extra men: To colonize this place? Alas, they're her best shot at finding Ren, so she'll just have to figure out how to extract herself and him from the situation afterwards. For now...

     It's time to get a cutting. The good thing about a naginata is that you don't need to be close to what you're cutting, so there's less risk of getting tangled up or sprayed with mysterious gas! Once they reach the lake, however, Kazuko's attention shifts to that ship.

     "Hacking it? But it's... A boat, right? Uh. Well..." That's just raising more questions. They're questions she doesn't even know how to ask, but still! Noticing those ripples, however, Kazuko calls out to Rayje while getting her naginata prepared once more. "Hey, get out of there! There's something int he water!"

     Never let it be said that Kazuko doesn't learn her lessons once in a while.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    ARE THEY? Maybe! Danger makes for strange bedfellows, nonetheless.

    It's interesting to note that while a lot of the plants that Kazuko passes by are certainly impressive, none of /them/ are immediately dangerous. There are some beautiful flowers- some are large, some of them glow, and some of them even have some jewel-like fruit to admire, but none of them sprout teeth or try to close on her or spray her with pollen or anything like that.

    When they get to the lake, however, that's where the danger happens, sure.

    https://gyazo.com/2b42f0a55beba5fe62e153bafb596b84

    Fish! Rather angular fish with large toothy mouths and overlapping plated scales and fins. One of them jumps out of the water, followed by bizarre combinations of fish interlocked or stacked together vertically or horizontally. Wuri stands and watches as Rayje jumps and turns backwards, only to be bodied by one of the fishstacks. Yes, he's got himself in trouble again.

    How do you feel about fighting some more monsters, Wanko?

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
What is wrong with this planet? Giant people-kidnapping birds, giant puking-inducing centipedes, and now giant bird-people-eating spike fish?

     Kazuko just can't catch a break today. She can't even run away, either, since her best shot at finding Ren is getting attacked by said fish!

     "Grr... Time to make some sashimi outta these!" Brandishing her naginata once more, the martial artist charges right into that water to start hacking away at those fishstacks. Although she needs to pace herself a little, she does put some ki into her swings to give them a little more oomph, intending to cleave right through them instead of just battering them away or inconveniencing them with cuts.

     They'd be sushi if she actually had rice and seaweed on her.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    An ordinary combatant might find themselves at a significant disadvantage here- even though the fish as individuals are about as dangerous as aggressive dogs, the fact that they can somehow interlock themselves makes this a lot more difficult- even if you manage to kill one, there's at least two more connected to it that will give you problems.

    That is, of course, unless you're Kazuko.

    Armed with her naginata, Kazuko's fight against these becomes more of a test of skill and ki- a challenge to see how successfully she can chain-cleave through each set of fish as they attack her. Granted, if she doesn't want to depopulate the whole lake, she's either going to have to choose to pull Rayje out of the water bodily and abandon it, or find some way of making a bridge to the ship.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Luckily for those fish, Kazuko's aware of the importance of maintaining the ecosystem! Sure, it's a planet she never intends to come back to, but like hell she's going to be the one that's blamed for depopulating a local species of fish!

     Once she spots an opening in chopping the walls of fish apart, Kazuko hurries over to Rayje to try and get him back on his feet, then ushering him towards the shore and/or Wuri (what the hell is she doing, anyway? QUIT STANDING AROUND) before retretaing back to the shore. "Go! We can figure a way out of here after we get Ren!"

     The ship will just have to wait for now since, without being trained as a ninja, Kazuko has no way of making clones of herself to use as a bridge! For now, it's just more chopping and (after a little while) battering. Remember, kids: Don't throw off the balance of nature!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Rrhfhfrf!" Rayje insists. "I could have handled that! They only would have surprised me once!"
    "What if that was all they needed?" Wuri replies, arms folded.
    "Don't sass me! I didn't see you helping, coward!"


    Would you like a montage? I think it's time for a montage.


     http://tinyurl.com/jkucv3q
    http://tinyurl.com/gvzcmwa
    http://tinyurl.com/hj25p72
    It's time to climb onward and upward, because we've got a little more jungle to get through, and then a mountain to climb. It seems as if these are the kind of birds that nest very high up, presumably because their favourite tactic seems to be to divebomb things from a great height and then... fly huge distances... to get back to their nest? These things are weird.

    As a matter of fact, there are a lot of things that are weird here, aren't there? Namely...

    Well, first you found an insect, then a fish. At some point during this trek, you will first encounter these freshwater stingrays, who in addition to leaping out to try using their namesake sting in the tail will try to electrify the entire stream as anyone crosses it. Subsequently mountain climbers will find themselves inconvenienced by the plantlike ribbon snakes who drop down from higher trees above to strangle anyone they can get their coils around. And if that wasn't enough, there will be a small but vicious group of 'horny' toads who pop out of gravel-covered burrows further up the mountain.

    There IS a rather prominent bird's nest in sight once that's all done, but...

At some point, Rayje might even tell Kazuko about the oversized microorganism they first encountered when they started off on the planet, and how frustrated he is by the tendency of many things on this planet to have long, tangling stinging appendages- all things that he loathes. It seems that the creatures are becoming more complex as they go, and most all of them seem to have some means of dinging at a fear or weakness.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Montages are great. So much time condensed into a small package, possibly with a musical accompaniment... Not that there's any to be found right now. It's a trek through an awful planet, not a movie!

     Kazuko's taking it much more seriously than she would if she was in a movie, at least, especially with all the nasty fauna coming out to scare the crap out of her. Thankfully, she's got the naginata with her to make sure those stingrays don't come anywhere near her, and she's even wary enough to stay away from any suspicious (all) water and patches of mud after the last two encounters. The ribbon snakes, meanwhile might just find themselves getting yanked right out of their perches as the martial artist gets more frustrated with the whole place, and by the time those toads show up?

     Well, it's probably a good thing that Kazuko's not worried about getting her clothes dirty. She might just beat the hell out of one of them to set an example instead of cutting it up, though, since she's not here to kill things.

     "This planet really sucks. Nnmm... Are we getting close, at least?" She's practically running on fumes already, not because she's tired, but because everything on this planet is just so... Freaky! There has to be an end to these things eventually, right?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Rrrgfh! Right! You want to make it round fourteen?"

    http://tinyurl.com/hjudhdw

Please find enclosed a picture of what that bird would look like were it currently missing tons of feathers and significantly disfigured and bruised and otherwise injured. "Hello down there! Kazuko!"

    That's Ren doing the talking mind you, not the bird. Ren, who is currently half-way in the bird's nest that is half way up a cliff face, still with that golden mark on his forehead and also looking pretty roughed up, but nowhere near as much as the bird is. "Ah ha! I knew if I was able to outlast this thing you'd find me eventually!"

    Rayje- who, the entire journey there, has startlingly been doing nowhere near as much as Kazuko has, only very very rarely shooting a creature- usually after Kazuko has already fended it off- looks up at Ren, and then Kazuko, and then he does a rather funny thing.

    He cackles.

    "Yes! Very good! I'm amazed at everything you've shown me so far! All of these creatures in this jungle have barely been able to do as much as challenge you, Ka-zu-ko. You are more dangerous than anything else here."

"I insist that you fight me!" he shouts, flipping out a blade on the end of his pistol.

    "...hmm?" Wuri says, tilting her head as she sits on a rock. "Are you sure that you should do such a thing, Rayje?"

    "I'm certain!" he replies. "I can make use of her better than anything else here! I won't take no for an answer!"

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Stupid planet. Stupid mud. Stupid bird. Stupid familiar voice. Wait... Stupid familiar voice? Looking up and blinking slowly, Kazuko's eyes widen when she realizes that Ren's in the bird nest, putting an end to her search! "Ren! H-hey, are you okay? Can you get down here?" She calls out, keeping an eye on that bird and even taking a few swings at it if it decides to actually come down to attack someone else instead of just buggering off somewhere else.

     Ecological balance can screw itself for now. She's tired! "I found some people that can help us get out of here!" Or cultists, but she won't say that to their faces.

     When Rayje starts cackling and issuing his challenge, however, all he gets is a blank stare before she looks towards Wuri just to make sure she's not hearing things.

     "Uh.. A fight? Well... Okay, but can we do it later? This place sucks, Ren's still stuck up there, and I wanna get something to eat." Physically, she looks mostly fine. She's not too injured anywhere, her ki reserves are fine, and the only thing messed up about her is her appearance. Mentally, though? She's...

     ... Aatually starting to understand why her sister gets as cranky as she does sometimes.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Hang on," Ren says, frowning. "I'll be right down."

    And then he proceeds to basically just leap on the bird with both hands out, throttling it briefly, and doing his level best- and, quite frankly, succeeding- at half-shoving, half-riding the huge thing most of the way down the rock face. Granted, for about the last third of the way he's using it as a sled, but at this point we don't really care any more, do we?

    Wuri just strums her fingers against her knee, her masked face betraying literally no emotion about the current situation. "I'll allow it."

    Ren walks across to Kazuko. "Probably about as drained as you are, relatively speaking, but two against two is probably a little better," he says, side-eyeing the beaten up giant bluebird.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko actually seems a lot calmer while she's watching Ren birdsled down the mountain. Mostly from not having to actually search for him any more, but also... It means finally being able to look for a way off this planet!

     When Wuri speaks, however, Kazuko gets another confused look on her face. "Allow what...?" And then Ren's comment draws an audible "huh?" from the brunette. She looks betewen her three companions here now, then at the bird, then back in the direction they had come from.

     She really hopes that ship is still out there. It's only then that she realizes they're talking about a fight, and there's an uncertain hum from the girl. "We can do that later, right? After we get somewhere not... Here first?" It's not quite clear whether she's prioritizing or just delaying the inevitable, although the notion of a two on two fight might just be dredging up some painful memories for her as well.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Yeah, probably," Ren replies. Wuri continues to sit there, tapping her finger, looking curiously out of the corner of her eye at Rayje, who isn't doing anything yet. Neither is the bird. It's this bizarre sort of mexican standoff.

    Naturally, Ren is only too happy to ignore this.

    "So what have you been up to anyway?" he asks Kazuko, hands behind his back. "You look like you've been busy." Sniff. "Something like... millipedes, piranhas, snakes, things like that? I've got a good sense of smell, before you ask. Any luck finding something like another way off the planet? I mean, I don't know what part of the multiverse we're even in, but I guess we can sort that out once we get going. Failing that, find a good cave we could spend the rest of our lives living in? I'm joking on that last part. Mostly."

    Rayje continues to stand there, still pointing his gunblade out. You could almost swear he looks nervous.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Rayje opens his mouth. "I-"
    "CAN'T. YOU SEE. YOU'RE MAKING. THE GIRL. UNCOMFORTABLE?" Ren snaps at him. "Honestly. Some people."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko lets out a relieved sigh at Ren's response, and she's more than happy to take that cue to start heading back towards where that ship was. If there's any way off this planet, that's probably their best bet, right?

     "Um... I ran into a bunch of stuff! Including Rayje and Wuri." She gestures at the two non-humans, giving Rayje a look in particular. It's a mixture of discomfort and irritation, partially due in part to the planet being... THE PLANET, and also just from mental fatigue. Near death experiences'll do that to a person!

     "Big bug-that's where I met them, actually-big fish, big snakes, big frogs... Oh! There was a big ship near the fish, and Wuri said we could use that to leave. But... Er. Big fish."

     Kazuko actually whimpers a bit at the mention of living the rest of their lives here. At this point, she'd even put up with only having that one face-painted asshole as her teacher for the rest of her life if it meant getting out of here.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    At the whimpering: "Right, no time for jokes, right. Now is not a joking time."

    "Where do you think you're going?" Rayje shouts, his voice unintentionally cracking. "I told you to fight me! I demand it! Everything I know about you implies you accept!"

    In the background, the bird begins to slink away, instinct demanding it make tracks away from the superior beings conflict.

    Wuri sighs, the kind of long-suffering, fed-up-with-all-this-shit sigh.

    "Although now I think about it, bug, fish, reptile, bird... it probably would have picked a fight with you if I hadn't done it first... there's definitely a sort of order of superiority there. And you've definitely been led and baited in a certain direction, haven't you?" Ren says. "If I didn't know any better, I would say there really is some sort of bigger intelligence at work here."

    Rayje glances at Wuri as Ren and Kazuko walk away.

    She sighs, and points a finger at the retreating bird- and a tight blue flame streaks from her finger like a laser, deconstructing the blue creature into a framework that's not entirely like a skeleton.

    "Well, it seems like I've got a winner if only because I know who the loser definitely is," Wuri grumbles. "Congratulations, Kazuko. Let's move on, I suppose."

    She snaps her fingers... and the ground irises open under Rayje with a mechanical whirr, dropping out from under him. Likewise, the mountain slope Ren and Kazuko are walking on starts to roll like a conveyor... and a hatch opens at the bottom of it, sending them too down the hatch!

    Wuri strums her fingers again. Then, with a short laugh for herself, her entire body dissolves into a cloud of voxels, and as the rock splits apart, that too disappears into the ground!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Last time on Multiverse Crisis:

    Wuri watches Ren and Kazuko walk away. "Well, it seems like I've got a winner if only because I know who the loser definitely is."

    With a gesture of her hand, she destroys the wounded giant bird, and then the mountain stone clicks open in a swirl of metal to drop Rayje to an uncertain fate. Likewise, the slope Ren and Kazuko are walking on transforms into a conveyer belt, sending them down a newly appeared mechanical hatch! Then, with a laugh, she transforms into a cloud of voxels and disappears!

    -------

    PART 3

    Once again, Kazuko is in darkness, but this time she'll find she can breathe at least. She doesn't have her weapon, and nobody is nearby- in fact, 'nearby' is a very narrow term indeed, as she seems to be surrounded on all sides by... something. In fact, the only thing that's definite is Wuri's voice.

    "Congratulations to the most recent winner of the last-man-standing selection program."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
PREVIOUSLY: Kazuko needs food badly! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0W2yK9WRUk )

NOW

     Kazuko's tense. Kazuko's very, very tense. Not because it's dark or because she's in another small space, but because she's a little...

     Angry. No, very. "Wuri? Hey, let us otuta here! I told you, if you wanted a fight, then we can do it later!"

     She didn't notice what happened to Rayje, did she? She feels around slowly, trying to find something that's not... Whatever she's feeling, eventually sighing before giving the surface a kick. "Where's Ren? And my stuff?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "I'm not interested in fighting you, Kazuko. In fact, I don't have anything to fight you with."

    A screen clicks on a few feet in front of her- the image is slightly distorted from the curvature of the glass tube she will realize she's inside. On the screen is... in a remakable coincidence, the icon of a raindrop, underneath an eight-pointed north star. Apparently, this is the reason why Wuri never engaged any of the animals... well, aside from the fact she was apparently in control of them. She wasn't a physical being.

    "The other two are elsewhere in this underground facility, being repurposed in the body forges. Your weapon I have here, as you may still need it."

    "I have a question I'm going to ask you, Kazuko, but first, let me introduce you to where we are and what's been happening."

    The icon shrinks into the corner of the screen, before bringing up wireframe images of several of the animals she encountered so far.

    "You've managed to make your way past an extensive assortment of created creatures chosen specifically to exploit various fears drawn from the minds on this planet, including your own. By conquering them, you have proven yourself their superior, and stronger- an 'apex predator' of this small jungle bauble."

    Images of each creature's habitat are connected to the creature pictures by lines, which then join an even larger map of the route she explored. Then, like a Google Maps street shot, the map zooms out - and out, and out, and out, revealing that the 'jungle', massive though it is, is inside a huge forcefield dome on an otherwise barren continent.

    "The strongest creature in this little oasis on Fulvous Planet, tested to the limits and perfected for the benefit of the Imperirarchy."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"... Oh. Then why-" Kazuko quiets down as that screen turns on, letting out a quiet 'ooh' because... Hey! Shiny TV. Not that she really knows what that symbol is that she's looking at, but still. Shiny! Her awe disappears quickly as she uts on her game face again, however, turning every now and then to try and figure out where she's even supposed to be focusing (other than the screen).

     "So... You made me fight scary stuff to see which one's the strongest for... What?" She hasn't quite made that mental connection yet despite all the implications and the diagrams. The dome around the forest on the map does draw a confused look from the martial artist, though, so it's not as if all of this is going over her head!

     "And what's this repurposing thing you're talking about? If you let Ren and what's-his-name out now and we leave, I won't have to kick your butt when I find you!" And as if to demonstrate, she promptly slams her foot right into the glass tube in a straight kick! Application of more force usually works, right?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    The tube rattles. It's actually a lot closer to breaking from just that one blow than Wuri can actually notice- Kazuko can see the hairline cracks since she has, you know, eyes, and there aren't anything like sensors lining the tube.

    "Kazuko, you don't understand. I'm not upset, though: intelligence wasn't a necessary criteria for your selection. You cannot physically harm the control centre that runs this jungle."

     "You have come out on top in a massive contest of strength, versatility, ability to survive and conquer various terrain, and the combat skills to outperform an exceptional amount of engineered, constructed predators /and/ your own instinctive fears, scanned from your own mind! You are, in short, the ultimate warrior, superior to everything this facility has created. However, this is a ship in a bottle."

    Small sparkling motes begin drifting down from the top of the tube. "So I'm going to give you a choice. As the ultimate end product of the program, you will be mass produced for later collection as the ultimate army of golem fighting troops. Nothing and no-one else is necessary for my creators. If you agree to live these nanogenes will augment your intelligence and program your mind for loyalty to your owner. If your morals as I understand them consider this an affront, then tell me that you do not wish to see your likeness used in this way. The nanogenes will execute and disassemble you, as is about to happen to the others, so I can make alternative use of your parts."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Spotting those cracks, Kazuko keeps kicking away at that glass enclosure, and she's only partially listening to what Wuri's saying. She's even nodding and going 'uhuh' every now and then! "Strength tests, huh? Shoulda... Gotten my sister or someone if you wanted someone really strong. But... Hah... It's a lot easier to conquer your fears when..."

     More kicks. Rapid kicks. Ki-infused kicks. ALL OF THE KICKS. "... It's easier when you can just beat it up!" EVEN MORE KICKING. The 'offer' given to her does make her pause for a moment, however, and the motes catch her attention fairly easily. She draws away from them and keeps focusing her kicks on that one spot, although a hum escapes her after that ultimatum.

     "So..." Kick. "You want to mess with my head and make some kinda clone army with me, or you're gonna blow me up?!" Still more kicking. "It's a really tough choice, you know? I mean... It's hard to think without a full stomach." Constant kicking. "Maybe if you get me something to eat first..." She's just stalling for time, isn't she? Any second now, that glass is gonna break, and she can grab her naginata and make her escape! Maybe.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Yes, that's essentially it. 'Strength tests'," Wuri replies. The comment about Kazuko's sister goes uncommented on because she's probably incapable of processing the idea of something that all of her test results indicate is the apex strongest.

    "Technically, I'm capable of making golems of you using the facilities here already. In fact, they're currently in production. The choice is between remaining alive to direct your copies, because you know yourself better than I do without invasive brain deconstruction, or, well, invasive brain deconstruction. Among other things."

    "And believe me, this is the only choice you have, because despite all of your talents, you are incapable of-"

    KER-SHATTER

    "Oh."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Never underestimate the power humans, you dumb... Whatever you are!" Eloquent as always, Kazuko grabs her naginata in that darkened room before making a break for it, trying to ignore the glass shards in her leg and the multitude of cuts from kicking a glass enclosure open for the time being. Her priority is in escaping, after all, and she needs to find Ren and Randy before she can do that!

     First thing's first: Finding an actual exit. Or door. Doors are good! Probably. "If you don't want me kicking your butt on the way out, you better tell me where my friend is! And... That other guy, I guess." She punctuates that by ramming into the door with her shoulder, keeping the naginata pointed safely away and at the ground just in case she falls through and faceplants or something. Safety first, even when you're escaping from a deranged clone army initiative!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Djinn, is the word," Wuri states. Wait, what?

    "And as for your friend, he-"

    And that is the exact moment that the feed flickers and freezes for a second, as Kazuko SLAMS through the door to the room she was held in.

    Now she's outside...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_4FY3KzzUU
    Spirit Temple - Koji Kondo
    Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time - 1998

    The architecture of this place has a distinctive appearence, one

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
that is simultaneously familiar- in an archetypical sense- and weird. In many respects, it resembles the depths of a classic arabian temple, in the 'Arabian Nights' fantasy style. The walls are hung with silk banners and intricately carved figures, the floors are mosaic'ed. Water runs freely from shaped outlets into huge, square pools set in the floor. Pillars appear carved from exotic marble, and everything is toned in sandy orange stone, wine-red and green.

However, there is no question about it that this is a complex laboratory of the distant future. The doors are sealed by automatic metal irises, and tron lines of energy embedded in glass glow on every seam and edge. Crystal plating clinks underfoot as one walks. The statues have camera eyes. Water pools shimmer by embedded lights, pillars frame flatscreen computers, and huge holographic displays appear from flickering torches in altars... as Ren might say, "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."

    What he says instead, from far away, is "yahoooooo!"

    Well, looks like he had the same idea as you did, 'break out'.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Staggering as she gets through the door, Kazuko keeps herself moving to not let that surge of adrenaline wear off again. She needs to find Ren, then Randolph, then-Oh, those are some nice banners. And that water looks really good, too, considering how much shit she's been wading through prior to showing up in...

     Wait. How did someone hide all /this/ under a freaking jungle? Whoever built this place must have had a lot of money to throw around, but not enough to keep her nor Ren inside.

     ... Oh. Right. Ren. That makes her job easier. "Ren! Didja find what's-his name yet? Rico?" She hurries over to regroup with Ren, keeping her naginata close as she scans the area for signs of other doors to break through. "Or exits? Because... I mean, I wanna get outta here, but... You think we can bring some of this stuff back with us?"

     Priorities.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "HOLD THAT THOUGHT!"

    Ren's voice is getting closer! That's good! Granted, Kazuko might have to get past some swinging pendulum traps or some other persian prince-menacing defences, but-

    ohgoshthat'sabiganimal

    http://tinyurl.com/zpx3kzp

    Riding on the back of a huge, loping orange-furred creature- and with Rayje clinging on with as little dignity as possible to the back- it's Ren! He aims to scoop her up as the animal gets close.

    "Hello! Look what I found. Easy to drive if you know what you're doing."

    "Rayje is behind me, it's understandable if you didn't see him since he's making himself so small-"
    "I am not! I'm preparing for an ambush, I will leap out when we encounter-"
    "It's OK, mate, you don't have to keep trying any more. Really."

    He looks at Kazuko weirdly. "What kind of stuff did you want to bring back with you? Most of the things in here are- well."

    "That djinn said it was part of something called the 'Imperirarchy'. That's a faction in this part of space that is about as dead as these animal golems are inside. Build a soldier factory then put a nice jungle in the middle of a desert on top! Lures all sorts of things in. Must be the last survivor of whatever empire they had... cut off by the space storms."

    Doors and walls are beginning to open as they go by- and pouring out come an assortment of creatures from up above. Millipedes, toads, smaller versions of the furry orange mammals- and even copies of Kazuko, their eyes black and lifeless and hands fused to their naginatas.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka says, "You're not allowed to bring any of those back, before you ask."

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Gyah! Wha... R-Ren?! What..." That's probably the loudest screech Kazuko's let out this entire time. She's almost ready to bolt when she actually puts two and two together, catching Ren's hand and getting hoisted up onto the back of the giant animal before spotting Rayje. "Oh! Hi, Regis. We're getting out of here!"

A pause. "... Should we go kick Wuri's butt first? YEah, she said she was a Djinn, so... Um. I dunno what that means." Not that that'll stop her (probably). Kazuko looks ready and raring for a fight now! She does simmer down some when Ren explains the situation, a troubled frown crossing her face after a few moments.

     "Wait, so if she's the last one... Uhh. Then we shouldn't... Beat her up? Or should we beat her up even harder for doing all this..." She gestures at those animals and odd creatures coming out from everywhere, an uncomfortable whine leaving the martial artist after a moment. "I don't wanna bring those back. Those banners look like they'd be really good blankets, though..."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka shrugs. As for Wuri: "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." Hey, what did I tell ya?

    Rayje just grumbles.

    "Kazuko, as much as endearing as that desire for justice is, she's probably an intelligence that controls everything in this lab without any real central... thing you could beat up."

    "I am!" shouts a voice from the roaring blue torches. "I advise you to stop running and surrender immediately! If you do, I will still completely reprogram your minds but I will leave your bodies reasonably intact!"

    "I may even give you food as well!"

    Well, never let it be said that she didn't learn.

    "...we need to concentrate on finding a way out of here. I've got a hunch, but I'm going to need to rely on you, Kazuko. Possibly twice over," Ren says.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Ren's got a point there. Even Kazuko's not dumb enough to try and fight something that doesn't have a body! She even shivers a bit at the thought of facing soemthing that she can't fight directly. How do you punch that which has no body?

     Now she knows how her sister feels.

     "The brain reprogramming is the worst part, you stupid computer... Brain ghost!" Kazuko shouts in retort, adjusting her hold on the naginata in case she needs to do any drive-by cutting. It's a position she's already gotten used to, albeit not on top of an animal's back yet.

     "Yeah, let's get outta here. We got here, so if we can just get out... We can get someone else to blow this place up later! Just point me where you need me to hit things." She says with a grin at Ren, although RAyje also gets a brief look as well.

     "... Hey, you got that gun thing, right? We might need you to blow some stuff up, too." In a few senses, she does pity the guy, but at the same time... That gun /was/ kinda cool. Who knows when that could come in handy?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "That's the plan," Ren says. "Discretion is the better part of valor."
"I will gladly unload the full fury of my blast pistol into the heads of your facsimiles! It will be most satisfying!" Rayje assures them.
    "I can push you off," Ren grumbles. Rayje grumbles back.

    Ren wiggles with his overjacket, getting an arm out of the sleeve. There's still mud inside from the geothermal pool.

    "OK, Kazuko, I need you to smell it. Seriously, smell this for me."

    "If the facility is under the jungle, and the jungle was created for the purposes of the facility, then the warpgate was probably lowered into the facility by some sort of winch. If you can sniff out that mud when we're close enough, then we find where the warpgate is."

    It all seems pretty simple, doesn't it?

    Begin montage sequence 2!

    The problem is that every hallway that they're going to need to explore during this, dodging laser gates and flamethrowers as they go, is also filling up with monsters and Kazuclones. Grabbing a tapestry or something as they go is easy enough and hey, maybe they could even be used as weapons, but there's practically an endless stream of them here in the place they're made. Combine being a monster jockey with mounted fighting, searching, and occasional looting...

    And this is gonna be one heck of a hectic escape sequence.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko's not sure whether to feel good about Rayje's enthusiasm or not. It's probably not too surprising that she's going to be a liiiittle wary of him sitting behind herself and Ren as long as they're on that beast they're riding.

     "Smell...? UH. Okay." She shrugs lightly before sniffing at that mud (and gagging just a bit), then wipes he rnose off before sniffing the air. As those gates, flamethrowers, monsters, and clones come by, the real Kazuko is hard at work alternating between sniffing the air for traces of mud, and chopping at whatever gets too close to their ride!

     Of course she's taking some of those tapestries. A few to wipe excess gunk off with, some to use as blankets back home, a few extras just because... But that big ol' beast they're riding on can take the weight, right? Right!

     "We're getting closer! It smells more like... Mud! And... Other things." Internal crying. Having a strong nose isn't all it's cracked up to be when it comes to scents like this!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Did I ever tell you how /absolutely fantastic/ you are?!" Ren says somewhere along the line, as this merry train of mayhem keeps on rolling along. He's got very little experience with riding animals, especially with three people on it- inside buildings- while riding down hordes of creatures- but hey, he's got enough essence left to compensate for it, even if it causes his anima aura to light right back up very soon enough.

    "GET BACK HERE!" Wuri insists- albeit helplessly, as the one disadvantage to all of this is, well, it's already been proven that Kazuko knows how to handle any of these creatures- and she never had a body to provide any different challenge to the mix. She can rage all she wants, but at the end of the day she's just a fancy light projection.

    "I can't understand! I HATE YOU! You're a false positive! But the greatest predator I've ever encountered! You defeated every creature! But you were so stupid! You almost drowned at the very start! You threw everything out of order!"

    A computer that's spent far too long treating people as just another animal and sentience as an optional extra for the 'perfect apex predator' can't hope to keep up with this kind of thing- and when you spend too much time mixing and blending genetic traits all the time, you forget how to make anything new.

    The orange lopebeast smashes through a stone-and-brass gateway with its claws, and hardly stops as it stampedes towards the stargate, muddy but perfectly intact in a room full of drained mud. With a dozen Kazuclones on their heels, it goes right for it-!

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko grins broadly at the compliment, sniffing the air again to confirm that they're still going the right way. "It's getting stronger here... Nnh. We're not gonna have to swim /through/ it, are we?" Alas, that grin's gone almost as quickly as it came at that thought, although something else has her smiling soon enough.

     Namely, Wuri's indignation. "Even stupid people can succeed if they work hard enough! And since we're beating you at this whole... This, then you know what that means?" Dramatic pause. "Then you're even dumber than we are!"

     That should be a triumphant moment, but it still feels just a little pathetic. Oh well.

     As the orange beast gets closer and closer to their gate, the martial artist ducks back down and holds her naginata in as she braces for re-entry. Or just entry/ Whatever. "Hold on, everyone!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    With a rush and a whoosh, all four beings rush through the stargate and disappear with a BLORP. One cross-universal jaunt later, and about two more people than the Union expected to crash into their warpgate sector appear with a mighty crash! It's a moment later and they hastily block the gate, trapping Wuri once again in her empty lab- filled with mindless golems, waiting for an empire that has long since collapsed.

    "Ah... we made it..."

    Ren sighs happily... and then remembers something...

    He pulls out the tricorder they had to take in the first place. Mud drips off of it.

    "Oh, bother. Guess we'll have to go back."

    He'll probably have to make sure he doesn't get hit with that naginata...!