Scene #7417: The Vulgarity

Owner	Pose
Vergil	The sun burns hot overhead, and yet the air about the dense woods is bone-chilling. Gnarled leafless trees with exposed roots choke the ground, their branches sagging to expose their pointed tips at head height. The soil is crumbling, perfectly prone to shifting underfoot and making you slip, if the roots don't get you first. Paper wards and thick ropes have been draped across the outermost trees, with myriad signs pounded into the ground in multiple languages. They advise that a quirk of the forest means that wind blowing through the trees can create sounds akin to human voices, but underline that the forest is dangerous and no one would be in there. "Lumberjacking isn't really my scene," Tony Redgrave says, clad in his red coat with his gothic greatsword on his shoulder. "Well, unfortunately brother, unless you make it your 'scene,' said 'scene' will become homelessness," Vergil comments dryly as he advances on the ropes and slashes them apart with a summoned sword. "Besides, can't you smell it?" "Smell what?" Tony asks, raising an arm to sniff the underside. "Demon blood. Ancient, dried. A great battle happened here. This is no mere forest." And with that, he vanishes under the shadows of the trees.
Xion	Some missions you take for money, and others simply for the solemnity with which you agree with their purpose. A haunted forest was one thing - something Xion sympathized with, even - but a killer siren song trap for the wistfully wanting was unacceptable. <J-IC-Scene> Tony Redgrave says, "Thanks for the backup everyone. This one is easily the weirdest I've ever been asked to do." Xion, in her normal black hooded coat, marches along in Dante and Vergil's wake, the fist-swaying stride of someone who's swagger-marching towards a bully in a cartoon. "Huh? There's really no need to thank me. These sorts of places are just bad. People who don't exist shouldn't lure people who do down to their level. If you want to not exist, don't exist. If you want to live, live. That's how I live my life!" Xion pops a bright smile and a thumbs-up held near the side of her head. "Plus, your brother's power is awesome." Xion adds, making a two-fisted grabbyhands motion and a flash of a 'ehehehee' Buster User :Drooling: expression.
Shinnosuke Tomari	There's a detective joining the fray this time. If people are going missing in a horrible possibly demon-infested forest, Shinnosuke Tomari is going to get to the bottom of it. While the sun is hot and out, he's brought a flashlight anyways, and Mr. Belt, silver with a red-patterned faceplate, has been set to his waist. The flashlight is angled forward into any dark areas, as he moves up towards Xion, gives her a light wave, and then speaks to Dante and Vergil while walking. "How many have gone missing so far? Do we know how recently the last one was?" One-track mind, it seems.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Resolve TABOO QUEST Arthur isn't familiar with the Super Sparda Bros or their work beyond one very distant encounter a long, long time ago, but quests are straightforward and simple to approach, no need to be familiar. That doesn't stop Arthur from being too familiar in a very different way: Hassling. "What up, Tony the Triggerman?" He harasses the guy's hand with too many coolkid handshake gestures, an excess of bumps and pounds. "Don't gotta LUMBERJACK if you find the ROOT, then you just gotta GRIP IT AND RIP IT. I mean, I don't know anything about FORESTRY, but damn, gotta be SOMETHIN' IN THE LAND if it's makin' TREES like this." He's gonna head inside too. Best thing to do? Figure out where and how people are disappearing. That'll help him find out the best place to start solving this, because he has no other ideas besides wandering in as well and provoking whatever supernatural mechanism of disappearance is already in action.
Cantio	Donning a wide sunhat to block out some of the heat, Cantio's dressed in her summer finest today! It's the same thing she usually wears sans sleeves, and she's got her hair tied up in a tight bun to avid getting it snagged on any inconvenient branches or bushes. Her hands are free this time around, although she's careful not to touch the wards as she inspects them and reads the signs as their little group pushes through the woods. "False human voices... Hm. That could be useful for the end of the year." She murmurs with mild amusement, pulling a drone out of nowhere and tossing it up, the small machine floating beside her. It remains on standby for now, prepared to start recording once those strange voices start sounding off. "Miss Xion's right. It is rather spooky here. All the more reason we should stick together." She puts on a brave smile, but there's definitely an underlying anxiety, especially when Vergil pulls ahead and causes her to hurry up her own pace. "Wait up! We'll... Oh dear. W-well, he'll be fine. Mister Vergil is rather strong, so I'm sure he'll be..." She trails off, nearly jumping out of her skin when Shinnosuke's flashlight shines past her. "Good idea... Er. Right, that's a good point. If there were any recently, we might be able to get some clues from the survivors if we're fast enough. And then..." Arthur gives her an idea! Cantio pulls out another thin thing that looks kind of like a handle to... Something? Definitely not a sword made of a lasers. "This should work, too. No gripping or ripping needed!"
Vergil	"You said it kid," Tony says to Xion, in a tone that implies he tuned out halfway through due to not getting what she was saying. Though when she comments that Vergil's powers are cool, he immediately says, "Mine's cooler," in a slightly petulant way. "Uh, let's see," the red-clad man says to Shinnosuke, producing a notepad from his coat and looking through it. "A lot, over the centuries. This place has had a bad rep as far back as oral records go. They set up the signs and stuff just short of a century ago, but not a year goes by without someone vanishing. Most recent one was a couple... weeks ago? It's the last straw for the local council, so that's why I'm here. But I doubt anyone could survive in there that long." Tony engages with Arthur's coolkid handslaps with his own, actually keeping up rather well. "The root huh? Well, if Verge has the right of it, it's the blood-sodden ground, and not the trees. But demons are weird, there might be more to it. Though, things like that will still come in handy," he says, cocking his head at Cantio's laser blade. And with that, he begins to lead the way after Vergil. "Watch your step," he calls back, taking great steps over the curling, exposed roots. The daylight almost immediately vanishes, the branches coiling amongst themselves to block it out. They reach down to nick and tear at skin and clothes, ensuring every step forward is a challenge. And then Tony cocks his head. "Do you... hear that?" He begins to do those Tricks, moving quickly towards something unheard, and swiftly vanishing out of sight. There is no sound, save the collected breaths and heartbeats of everyone.
Cantio	"That would make sense. So many deaths concentrated in one location... That would make this the ideal place for ghosts to gather, wouldn't it?" Cantio murmurs with a growing dread in her tone, trying not to let it show on her face (and failing terribly). They wouldn't even have to move very far before finding more of each other. But what'll happen when there's too many of them in one place?" Before the job's even started, she's already scaring herself out of her wits. If nothing else, though, that does help her maintain her footing with how on edge she is, and the laser blade helps cut through some of the overhanging branches while (hopefully) leaving an obvious enough path of broken branches to follow once it's time to leave. "Hear what? Ah... Where-" And then Tony's gone. That just means Cantio's going to stick to Arthur, Shinnosuke, and Xion, her drone buzzing along quietly overhead. The silence has her fidgeting anxiously, and she calls out after only a few moments. "What did you hear?" She's not expecting an answer, but she can hope. "Let's stick together, everyone. I think he went that way...?" With considerable uncertainty, Cantio keeps moving in the direction she last saw Tony headed, still chopping away at branches in her way to keep the path visible.
Shinnosuke Tomari	Tony Redgrave splits off, after giving Shinnosuke a grim answer - there's probably no survivors. That means they need to cleanse this forest of whatever's causing the disappearances, fast. As the branches scratch at legs and try to rip Shinnosuke's pants, he gives them a solid kick until they stop or snap off, pushing them aside with his meaty tallboy arms. He grabs a sample, if he gets a chance, in case the branches seem wrong or demon-infested or something. To find Tony, though, he doesn't just go in the path he last saw him. Taking that flashlight and using detective insight, he begins looking for footprints, especially where they may be misleading or have split off, and tries to triangulate a path back to Tony. "He can probably handle himself - but if we find what he's listening for, we might find the root of the problem sooner."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Listen Arthur can't hear anything significant. >Arthur: Listen closely Arthur can't see a Closely to listen to. >Arthur: Hear the sound What sound do you want Arthur to hear? >Arthur: Okay, fine. ==> Arthur spends a bit of time seeming to do nothing much at all, looking after Tony in a rather confused way, before shaking his head and trying to clear it. "Yeah, STICKIN' TOGETHER'S best. They said the TREES make LOVED-ONE SOUNDS? And he HEARD SOMETHIN' NOBODY ELSE CAN HEAR. Issue's gotta be a SONIC issue. Like, SOUND, I mean. SOMEONE ELSE gotta handle that SOUND ISSUE, for real." >Arthur: Can you obscure the sound? Arthur has spent unthinkable amounts of time getting tricked into tempting lotus-eater machines, so when he starts thinking there's a sound issue and that it leads people off, he immediately retrieves his PHONE and a set of HEADPHONES, with which to play obnoxiously loud music at volumes that the others can clearly hear through his thick headphones. You'll have to communicate with him through the radio! "Y'all better ODYSSEUS this motherfucker with a RIGID AS HELL SKULL if you ain't on LISTENING DUTY, yo." He pulls his battle-broom from his Strife Deck, just in case.
Xion	"It is cool!" Xion agrees, cheerfully, at Tony Redgrave's mildly-petulant insistence. "They're both good. Yours is better with others, and his is better alone!" Her observations are cut short as she moves from 'hold forward to Disney Stride in the direction' to a series of short hops along the gnarled branches and monkey-bar swings from low-hanging gnarled branches. Then, Dante Non-Party-Member's off into the distance. "Hey wait!" Xion spins gymnastically in a 'ready to leap' idle animation. "We shouldn't... Yeah, we shouldn't split up. I guess Dante and Vergil will be OK, but..." Xion's rotationally distorted speech ends as her hands tighten around the branch, stopping her while vertical and allowing her to hop off the branch and back to the forest floor. "If it's finding the heart, it's--" Xion's keyblade 'shwink'-s into her hand, blade-down in her grip. "This-a-way! Don't worry: I'm ab-solutely sure I want to be alive." Dowsing outward, Xion lets her blade point at the very center of the area and start following! Surely, surely nothing bad will come from listening to this! Her confidence is well-placed.
Vergil	Darkness. Silence. Arthur tries to drown it out with loud music, and it does seem effective. Xion puts faith in herself and advances in a random direction. Shinnosuke stomps on the roots and grabs a sample. Immediately, the blood-red sap seems a major red flag. Cantio gets a face-full of it as she hacks a path forward. And then, suddenly. "Hello?! Is anyone out there?!" Shinnosuke hears. A voice he doesn't recognize. "I've been stuck in here for weeks! HELP!" Cantio hears a familiar voice. "Sister, is that you?!" Saltavi calls. "Please help me! You're the only one who can!" "Xion! Help!" The Nobody hears the voice of Roxas. "He's here! He's going to make me not exist!" As for Arthur, light catches his eyes. A candelabra, bearing candles burning with flame, teeming with frost, arcing with electricity. And another one, further in the distance.
Xion	"OH NO ROXAS IS IN TROUBLE!" Is Xion's first response to her Keyblade dowsing out a break in the trees. A slightly-brighter hole, though the light is pale. There's an oddness, the strange 'he' that Xion can't put her finger on. An unease. Which he? The person that Roxas was... before? Xion's eyes narrow. "You won't make Roxas wear those clown shoes again." She growls, sprinting and traversing off towards the voice.
Cantio	Arthur's reference goes right over Cantio's head. "Is that another mythology thing? It doesn't involve weird trees or anything, does it?" She really hopes it doesn't. "If the forest is making people hear their loved ones, then... Yes, they must be hearing someone or something completely different from all of us." Following Xion for a while, she laughs lightly at her confidence while mulling over Arthur's suggestion. "It might even be throwing out a massive amount of sounds, knowing that we'll just home in on the ones we recognize..." Cantio murmurs, almost sounding impressed as she strokes her chin in thought. "And if the forest can simulate that many variants of the sounds at once, it's bound to catch people splitting up. So if one of us hears something like that, then..." She nods at Shinnosuke. "We should be able to track down the cause easier that way. but one of us will have to be the bait if we're not..." Cantio stops. "S... Sis? Is that... Where are you?!" She breaks into a brisk walk, still carving through whatever foliage is in her way as she heads straight for the source of her sister's voice. There's some concern evident in her voice, but there's also a strong tone of exasperation. "Of course you'd be checking this out... This kind of thing practically screams 'main character rescue party'. But really, did you have to do this without bringing anyone?!"
Shinnosuke Tomari	As Shinnosuke gets that branch with the blood red sap, he moves to hover it in front of his belt. "Mr. Belt, if you could please." "Of course, Shinnosuke." The belt's intelligence begins scanning over the sap, looking to determine mainly the composition and use of the substance his partner's found. Is it the cause of the voices? And then, Shinnosuke hears a voice himself. "Where are you? Help's on the way!" The belt frowns, and then realizes something. "Shinnosuke, wait- it's a trap!" "We don't know that it is!" Before Mr. Belt can get another word in edgewise, Shinnosuke's already splitting off from the group if they're not following him, rushing towards the person in danger! This can't go poorly, can it?
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Explain myth "NAW BRO, it's from that mothafuckin' ILIAD, YO. The bit 'bout those SIRENS. They'd SING SONGS to TEMPT DUDES and make 'em fuckin' WRECK THEIR SHIPS and shit." Arthur rambles to Cantio -- only having heard her over the radio, it looks like. >Arthur: Captchalogue CANDLESTICK Arthur almost immediately moves toward the light. "Hey, y'all see this? Wait-- holy shit, no fuckin' way!" He breaks into a pseudogravity-assisted dash, literally just falling through the forest straight towards the candelabra. He's gotta pick it up and examine it thoroughly to try to determine if this is what he thinks it is! He's gotta find those telltale engravings and stylings from the old castle this comes from. "Hey, remember that stickin' together!" He absentmindedly calls back to the others, while he moves for the first breadcrumb of the trail -- seemingly assuming the others can see it as well. Gotta get that in his inventory at least! A captchalogue and quick examination should also assuage the-- >Arthur: STOP >Arthur: YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING >Arthur: DON'T INDULGE THE INANE TEMPTATIONS OF THIS PARADIGM >Arthur: YOU ARE SUPERIOR TO IT --doubts pestering in the back of his brain, something he can't put his finger on entirely.
Vergil	Xion sprints through the trees, branches ripping and tearing at her as she approaches the source of Roxas' voice. The sound of mystical metal clashing rings in her ears, getting louder and louder as she approaches. And then she sees them. Too little too late. A dark figure with burning white eyes, dark tendrils whisping from their form stands over Roxas. The Nobody's two Keyblades are clutched in the figure's hands. And they have used them to carve an X into Roxas' torso, his form fading into nothingness before Xion's eyes. Cantio charges off, her drone getting tangled in branches as she approaches Saltavi. The goddess is in a small clearing, her form leaking data. "Cantio! You're here, thank goodness..." She approaches, her arms spread as if seeking a hug. "I can fix this place. I can fix everything. But I'm running out of strength, I can't transform into my Goddess form..." Her eyes are wide, and blank, her smile cold and hollow. "I need you Cantio. Sacrifice your life for me. You've done so much. What's this extra step?" Shinnosuke rushes for the cry of help, the branches constantly snagging his legs and waist, as if trying to separate he and Mr. Belt. But soon he finds the missing person. A backpacker, leaning over a bloody corpse. "Oh! Are you here to save me? I've been stuck out here for months..." Months? "I just... I got so hungry that I... I had to eat this corpse I found..." Upon closer inspection, the corpse is Shinnosuke's father, with bruised-toned skin and empty eyes. Arthur follows the lights, and finds a small cabin. One room, with one occupant. "Arthur? Is that you?..." Valentine Turner asks, looking haggared and exhausted. "Oh, thank goodness... everything fell apart for me after we won the game... but it's okay. With your help, we can fix that..." She holds up a CD case, that bears the title 'SBURB.' "We can start again." Everyone hears a voice. "Do not look away. But pay it no mind. Eyes ahead, walk backwards."
Shinnosuke Tomari	"Shinnosuke, I can't get a reading on that sap with how fast you're moving!" Mr. Belt says, before a branch rips him off. The rider pays him no mind, as he reaches the backpacker. "Are you alright-" And then, despite hearing the words, his face goes hollow as he glances at the corpse. His father. "Dad...DAD!" Shinnosuke's about to run forward, be likely lost to everyone, when suddenly, a toy-sized red car with white stripes launches itself out of his jacket, floats up with the aesthetic of a miniature road forming underneath, and beans him in the face. He doesn't lose sight ahead of him, but he's certainly distracted. "SHINNOSUKE!" Mr. Belt's voice cries out of the car. "Your father has been dead since you were a child!" "Mr. Belt, this is-" "No, listen! You're being fooled! It must be the sap, when you were all hit by branches! A backpacker couldn't possibly have been here for months, could they?" A normal person would reject the toy car for the 'reality' in front of them. That was his father, and that was a backpacker who ate them, right? But...Shinnosuke Tomari isn't normal. He has an iron will, and the ability to listen in the face of madness. As the voice echoes out, telling him to walk backwards, even with the anguish on his face, he starts doing so. Shinnosuke's hand moves to grab Mr. Belt before the branches can fling him away, and reattach him to his waist. "It all comes together. The sap's altering our perception of reality, isn't it? If we can get back to it, we can grab a sample, and find a way to make sure nobody gets affected again." He straightens his tie, even as he's suppressing the urge to kneel down in shock. "Let's hope the others listen, too, Mr. Belt." If they can get some of that sap and truly analyze it, then maybe...
Cantio	Finally, Cantio's found her 'sister'! Breathing a heavy sigh of relief and paying her drone no mind, she retracts the blade into its hilt before tossing it into the ether, approaching 'Saltavi' with a weary smile. "Sis, what's gotten into you? I knew you were reckless, but even this is just..." She reaches for the figure's hand, but stops once she sees that hollow expression. "My...? What are you saying?" Her expression drops, but she doesn't back away. There's a clear hesitation in Cantio's tone and on her face, struggling to process this as she is. Really, is any of that wrong? Her life for her sister's, to preserve the leader necessary to lead her people into prosperity. Granted, her sister isn't exactly an ideal leader, but she is at least someone their people would follow to the ends of the earth. It should be a simple trade, and Cantio knows it. 'Saltavi' knows it. If Cantio was in her place with anyone else, she'd do exactly the same thing, so it only makes sense. "Wh... What's gotten into you?" Cantio pulls away and starts backing up slowly, only partially heeding the advice of that voice. "You also said you were the 'main character'. The hero that everyone needs. Trying to make a trade like that so carelessly..." A beat. "... Well, okay, you /would/ make a trade like that carelessly, but only the other way around." Cantio sighs, then laughs weakly with her voice cracking as she keeps stepping backwards. Although she's unable to tear her eyes away from the leaking figure of her 'sister', she does manage to pull a sword out of her digital inventory once she bumps into a tree and stops backpedaling. "You wouldn't do something like this. No 'hero' would. I know you, and... You of all people would be better than that." "You're not supposed to be me."
Xion	Xion doesn't skid so much as slide into the clearing with the dark figure, arms windmilling. There's no comedy to her motions. A desperate glide across the terrain to change direction and lunge into the fight-- "I won't LET YOU!" She screams, blade swinging out with all her might at -- Empty air. He's gone. And so is Roxas. Nothing brakes her fall but the ground, rolling once before coming to a stop in a heap on the rooty, clammy ground and sob once. Her keyblade continues on for two rotations before clattering and chiming loudly into a treetrunk and disappearing in a defeated twinkle. Xion rolls onto her back, pulling her hood down with both fists. "I don't have the power to not feel this... I don't want to feel this... I hate this... Hate it..." Xion sobs, bitterly, the bases of her wrists pushing divots into her cheeks. The Antiform is still there, but she doesn't want to get up. She doesn't want to do anything. Doesn't-- Rolling back, Xion's legs come up and then swing down as she kips herself back off the ground, seven lights spinning around her in a ring. She reaches out to grasp a pale-blue one, which re-forms into a medallion bearing Vergil's face. "Guess I'm going it alone on this one." Xion whispers, eyes hooded. Swinging the medallion up, a single chop tears a blue-white distortion into the air, which she reaches through and pulls a long-hilted katana-like Keyblade, with 'action line' like flared crown-teeth at the top. Under her hood, her hair bleaches out to a Sin City White. "All I have to do is tear the heart back out of you, right? Then I'll get Roxas back. With this power--" Xion lunges, and the keytana carries her forward on a gale of dark wind to execute a drilling Stinger-alike. "--I'll take it from you!"
Arthur Lowell	>[S] Arthur: Replay Hold on. Wait. No. Arthur approaches, ripping his headphones off, taking a few deep breaths. "God, yeah, same." He mutters. "Shit's not been... makin' sense. It's been gettin' worse." Something catches in his breath. "We can--" >[S] Arthur: REPLAY >Arthur: BACK AWAY His entire body clenches up. His heart pounds in his chest. This is the third time. The third time he's seen her since the final day of the Black King's war. And both other times, he remembers, were false. Fakery. This-- Pay it no mind. Eyes ahead, walk backwards. >Arthur: Do not look away. But pay it no mind. Eyes ahead, walk backwards. "It's been gettin' a lot worse." He whispers through a clenched grin that threatens to strain and rip the muscles in his jaw. "I wonder if it's been this bad for you, too. I hope you've been lastin' a little better than I been." He takes a few steps backwards, out of the cabin, giving it a fresh look while he closes the door. He mutters, "'Cause I dunno how much time I got left." Focus. Look at the space and the magic here. Is there something in this cabin, something magical afoot, that he can trace? Anything exotic about the geometry that caused the disappearances? He needs to find the root of this -- or at least where he left his friends. Getting out his cellphone again, he replaces his headphones, and uses the phone camera to manage perspectives while he walks. Maybe follow those candles back?
Vergil	"Wait, where are you going? You can't leave me here! Aren't you supposed to protect and serve?! DON'T LEAVE ME!" the backpacker screams, their jaw unhinging to show a hollow cavity within their mouth, their eyes going black as pitch. But they offer no pursuit as Shinnosuke backs away. Branches stab at them, roots nip at their heels. "That's it. Keep moving back. I know it hurts. This place is like a mouth. Designed to keep you moving deeper, and to prevent escape. If you turn around, it'll have you." The voice, gravelly and rough, continues to encourage the Rider to back up. "Okay, you're here. I need you to do this for me. Behind you is the source of all this. You need to, in the same moment, turn around and stike with all your strength. Can you do this?" Cantio draws her blade, and her sister sneers. "Really? You would challenge me? I am a leader, the goddess of your land. You're the silver medal, second best. Even like this, I could kill you with a sneeze. Just surrender little sister." In contrary to her previous words, in a brilliant flash of light she assumes her Goddess form. "No, don't engage," the voice hisses to Cantio. "Move backwards, while looking forwards." Saltavi lunges, when suddenly, Tony is launched through the trees. "Ahhh, dammit! Oh that's splinters for sure," he groans. Heavy footsteps approach... "Where are you going Arthur?" Valentine asks, her voice going cold. "You're not going to leave me again, are you? Arthur, come back here. ARTHUR." He reaches out with his spatial sense, and realises something. The air, the branches... they just clip through the cabin. Through Valentine. The candles aren't there, they never were. And neither was she. He also realises that the forest is far smaller than he though. It's perfectly circular, and he can sense someone approaching the centre. Xion's slender Keyblade drills against the pair stolen from Roxas. The shadow figure slashes at her, both alike how Roxas would, and not at all. "Don't fight back! It can't hurt you unless you struggle against it!" the voice yells at her as the Antiform blurs, dancing among the trees. A blue blur cuts through them, landing besides Xion. "Blast..." Vergil hisses, regaining his footing as he stands up."
Shinnosuke Tomari	Even as the voice taunts Shinnosuke, and as at first he wants to respond, and then freak out a bit as the hollow mouth is revealed, he keeps moving backwards. As the voice encourages him, so does Mr. Belt. "Shinnosuke, I believe in you. Keep moving backwards." When the voice asks him to use his full power... He grabs that red-and-white car that hit him in the face earlier, and places it on a bracer on his wrist. "Mr. Belt, it's time. Henshin." He flicks the brace, twists a switch on the belt, and gestures outwards. But it's not at the backpacker in the distance. A black bodysuit and red armor flare over the rider, with a bug-eyed helmet, as outside the forest, a tire comes flying forward, clamping onto the armor from the left shoulder down diagonally. DRIVE! Type -- Speed! "Alright. All my strength...One...two...three!" As soon as it's time, Kamen Rider Drive pivots on one foot, moves to turn around to the source of the madness, and launch a powerful kick straight towards it, empowered by the Drive armor. He's still shaken, but the least he can do... Is destroy this threat once and for all.
Cantio	"I..." Could she do it? Could Cantio truly draw her blade against her sister, if things came down to it? This would be the ideal opportunity to test herself, but there's too many things wrong with this entire situation. Even with her sister transforming, Cantio manages to laugh, albeit bitterly while she rests her weapon against her shoulder. "You really have some nerve, don't you? Taking that kind of tone with her voice.... It's insulting." Her knuckles turn white with her grip on the sword tightening and the blade shimmering on one end with a single laser lining the edge, and she has to take a moment just to keep her hands from shaking as she focuses on that mysterious voice instead. "Right, I should... Just forget this, and just-" And then Tony comes crashing through the trees. Cantio yelps in surprise, but her attention is finally diverted from anger, rage, and inadequacy. "M-Mister Redgrave! Where'd you-Never mind... I've got this!" She still can't bring herself to back away, but she can still cover Tony if nothing else. Seeing 'Saltavi' lunging at her, Cantio steps sideways to put herself between Tony and her sister, then thrusts her sword forward and slashes upwards in one well-practiced motion to try and split her 'sister' in two.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Keep it together, kid Arthur can't keep it together right now. Instead he slumps to both knees, exhales heavily several times in a shaking, unsteady pace, and holds his own midsection, dry-swallowing. Third time's the charm, Arthur, surely this one will take, you fucking hypocrite. You piece of shit. Talk a big game about "being very human" and the first time you get a chance to interact with a remnant of your actual time as a human, you skip out because you know supernatural secrets, don't you? Sure, that's very human, not divine at all, you fucking empty-rhetoric talking head, you big fucking lean-cuisine microwaveable of morality, you-- >Arthur: Focus >Arthur: Recognize Geometry clipping, now that's something Arthur can recognize. So, too, can he recognize artificially expanded spaces. That's not just a God of Space thing, that's also a gamer thing. He grits his teeth, forces himself back onto his feet, and laser-focuses on the center. Broom out, he flips his smartphone to the hypest jam he can get and pumps the music loud enough to keep out both the temptations and his own thoughts. And he launches himself backwards, eyes still on the cabin, but trying to spiral his way back towards the center. If there's someone deep in the middle, then he needs to either punch them, or save them, but he's going to assume the latter mostly, and arrange himself to gently backwards-clothesline whoever is heading to the middle -- assuming he can escape. Getting out backwards is gonna be tough, but having his phone out means he can use it as a rear-view mirror!
Xion	If he cuts like Roxas would, then-- Xion's blade comes up, a phantom sword flashing into transparent blue reality in her opposite hand to cross in a block. She had felt this press a baker's dozen times. She wanted Roxas so badly that- Vergil chops through the pair, sending Xion staggering back. The phantom blade wavers into a power-mirage as her hand unclenches around it. "Vergil?" Xion sniffs, wiping her eyes with her hand. "I-I have to fight, it's Roxas!" She gasps, before stopping, a blank expression overtaking her. "But Roxas died? NNnnnngh." Her groan continues, a sudden wave of nausea staggering her. Vergil struggles to his feet, though, and Xion extends a hand. "This power is still best 'on its own'. That means, if it's with you...? I'm... way to sick, and confused, and hurt right now to think straight. So let me join your party for a little bit." The bottoms of her hooded eyes shine with moisture. "Please."
Vergil	Cantio lunges at her sister, who laughs. "You think you can protect him?! You can't even protect yourself! And neither can he!" In the pregnant moment within the wring, Cantio can see what hurled Tony. A massive, buglike bipedal demon with great horns and a massive, organic cleaver with a single great eye. "Dante... you have disappointed me for the last time." "Screw you old man," the demon hunter hisses in response, before lunging sword-first. Vergil looks down at Xion, brow furrowed and face terse. He doesn't look wounded, but he is winded. "Fine," he says, sheating Yamato as a woman approaches through the trees, clutching two antique derringers, leaving the two flanked by her and the Antiform. "But I tire of this place. We strike together, and end them both." In a flash of blue, he transforms, and begins rippling with power, preparing to strike with his strongest technique. "3, 2, 1... NOW!" At the moment Cantio strikes, that Tony strikes, that Xion and Vergil strike, Shinnosuke strikes the thing in the centre of the forest. He catches a glimpse of something great and withered pinned to the forest floor by a great stone blade, ever-bleeding. It screams, and Saltavi, Sparda, Antiform, and Eve, all shriek, freezing in place to take incoming blows. In the following moment, Arthur flies at the centre, and slams into the blade's hilt, driving it down and causing it to bisect the great corpse. The forest howls, multiple trees just dissolving into smoke, the antagonists flying apart as blood sap. Immediately, the cloud over everyone's minds clears. Why would Roxas be here? Why would Saltavi be here? The paths clear, the roots and branches becoming far less trecherous. And then everyone realises everyone else is in eyesight. But there's one more person. "You all made it. Thank goodness," speaks the massive demon with a broken horn. Four copies of him meld into his form. "I had come out here to try and deal with this myself, but I see the sons of Sparda beat me to it." "You..." Vergil hisses. "From the monster duel in the cavern." https://puu.sh/HeHni/9485d3f043.png
Shinnosuke Tomari	As Kamen Rider Drive strikes into the thing at the center, and catches that glimpse, something inside him feels sympathy, or perhaps pity. A creature, pierced to the forest. Suffering this whole time. Was that why this was happening? Ever-bleeding... Nice Drive As he returns to his feet, the group together, the trees fading, blood sap spilling about, he coughs, crouches for a moment, and then straightens, a bit shaken but keeping it calm. He turns towards the massive man, Vergil, and Dante as they're all here. "Thank you for your assistance. Kamen Rider Drive, Shinnosuke Tomari. You saved us." He looks at the sap, if any is remaining, and speaks. "That sap - the demon's blood. It affected us because we got it on us thanks to the branches, right? Mr. Belt couldn't hear what I was hearing. We were all in a daze. I was only able to snap out of it thanks to his - and your - assistance." And then, after a few moments to remove the Shift Car from his bracer, detransform, and stretch out, Shinnosuke looks to see if there's any corpses in the area. It's hard to do immediately after that incident shaking him, but if they can recover people, that'd put this whole story to rest.
Cantio	That shriek is going to haunt Cantio for a while. Even if that creature wasn't her sister, it still looked like her, and she still put her sword through it. When the haze clears, she all but drops her sword, and there's a powerful urge to just curl up into a ball and shut down for an hour or five. Alas, there's still work to be done, even if it's just making sure the job is done. "Is... Uh. Is everyone okay?" Cantio asks, still shaking considerably as she pushes herself back up with her sword and glances from person to person. "Did you all see...?" She doesn't finish that question. It's hard enough just thinking about what she had seen moments ago, notwithstanding the strange bug demon that 'Tony' had been facing off against at around the same time. Instead, she turns her attention to the broken-horned demon. "You're..." Cantio squints slightly as she tries to recall the broken-horned demon, looking it over several times. It takes a bit, but she snaps her fingers after a few moments. "Oh! With the thing that had the exploding scales and the other one... Vergil's sword. Yes, I remember. What are you doing here?" She pauses again, but only for a moment before frowning. "If you were thinking about using this one for another contest, please don't. It doesn't seem like it'd do well without that mental influence, anyway."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Land already! Arthur breaks out of his side-saddle flight, flipping and turning dramatically and slamming his heels into the dirt, kicking up a trail. "Woah!" He shouts. "WHAT UP, BIG AN' TALL? Damn, thought I was gonna be the one givin' YOU that RESCUE, seein' ya in the MIDDLE of the shit here." He flicks a pair of sunglasses onto his face. "Or was that someone else? Whatev'. You're the one with the VOICE, yeah? Givin' that HELP? RADICAL. Props." He attempts to approach the massive demon and hassle his hand with coolkid handshakes at significant size disparity. He has to float to do it. >Arthur: Don't tell Cantio the truth "See what? NAW. I saw some DELICIOUS CHIPS, went to go GRAB 'EM. That was basically ALL OF IT." No, no depth here! >Arthur: Is this all settled? "That's it, though, right? No more fuckin'... GROUND POISONING from BONES MCBLEEDS here? That was an absolutely FUCKED kind of FOREST. Motherfucker must'a been DYIN' for FOREVER, damn! When'd this guy get SLIT, the fuckin' STONE AGE?"
Xion	When all is said and done, and Xion sullenly clicks Judgement Cut back into a phantom sheath and a dismissing puff of silver-blue light, the nobody stands in the heart of the forest besides Vergil. And near everyone else! And there's a demon there! Cantio asks a painful question. >"Is... Uh. Is everyone okay?" Xion's mumbled response is a hoarse. "No. Not really. Thanks for asking." She looks up at Vergil, and sniffs once. "And thanks for helping me." Arthur's response, the wall of 'I really don't want to deal with this, please let me not deal with this' is scanned in loud and clear. Xion agrees, no-heartedly. "It was... chips. Yeah. Speaking of, chips sounds great right now. Hey, demon guy, do you want to get chips? I know a pretty good taco shop that does super nachos."
Vergil	The great demon nods at Shinnosuke. "You have the right of it. This demon developed the power of illusions before it was slain here milennia ago. They have clung to the last dredges of life ever since, their blood poisoning the land and expanding their influence. Now that you have ended their life for good, this place will eventually recover." "Didn't see a thing," Tony says quickly to Cantio. Whether that is him covering up what he saw, or covering for her on what she was seeing remains unclear. The demon chuckles and shakes his head. "No contest. This place was a hazard for humans, so I sought to cleanse it." He-Amii, Cantio recalls-looks a little sad. "When I said it wouldn't happen again, I meant our meeting. But I suppose our causes align too often..." Amii struggles to keep up with Arthur's coolkid handsigns, but his big claws make it a little awkward, and possibly painful for the initiator. "'twas I, yes. I am glad that you were able to shake it off." In response to his question, Amii explains, "Less immediate threat, but the land remains tainted. I intend to toil and bury the bloodied ground to nullify what remains." Vergil looks down at Xion and sniffs. "You helped yourself. That stolen power was enough for here. If you don't want to feel like this again, cultivate more power of your own. Or seize far more than what you have." He's staring daggers at Amii, who is doing his best to pretend Vergil isn't. "I appreciate the offer little one, but I must busy myself here. However, I would like to speak with you all again someday, if this is to keep happening." The scales on his arms unfurl, and from them he produces... a folded menu? "How about here, in some weeks from now? They make marvellous steamed buns." It's for a Chinese restaurant. Regardless of answers, he waves everyone off and asks that they make sure no one comes up here, as he intends to trigger landslides over the next few days."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Accept QUEST Arthur captchalogues the MENU, adding it to his quest backlog! "SURE THING, HOMIE. I don't know YOU, but I sure fuckin' know QUESTS." And there he goes, already wandering off!
Xion	"That's probably fair. I've still got room to grow, and still a little room to share." Xion agrees, swiping her sleeve over her face like a pot brush. The black seeps back into her hair like ink soaking up a piece of paper. "I could pick some more things to be amazing at, but I like being the hero of everyone's hearts. It's less lonely. Reliable friends are like adding a whole other person to your power. Together, you can reach amazing heights. Apart, you're deprived a way to grow stronger." Xion accepts a menu as well, tucking it into her inventory. "If Dante were to be killed, suddenly, when you and he still had unfinished business... I bet you'd be angry with whoever took him from you too. Hate them. Hate's one of the few emotions I really get." Xion smiles weakly up at Vergil, unwrapping a chocolate bar. "Could I seize you as a friend, Vergil? Actually--" She holds up both hands, candy bar pinned to her palm with a thumb in a 'hold on, stop' gesture, before gobbling down the whole candy bar, pocketing the wrapper, swallowing firmly, and resetting her face by clapping her cheeks twice with gloved hands. "Vergil, you helped me out, so, if you need something done later, I'll let you borrow my power, since you let me borrow yours today. Okay? Okay." With that, Xion pumps a fist in 'nailed it' victory posture, and chases after Arthur. "Nachos! Your visions were smart and right and now I want gooey cheese and black olives!"