Re: ~Crossover Chronicles (Thread 5)~

[Swallowfeather]

(Now seems perfectly fine, I think.)

The girl slightly dipped her head in response when she was thanked by Callie. She listened carefully as the friendly, squidlike sort of person introduced herself, nodding gently in acknowledgement. Then, after a brief silence, she suddenly joined in. "... I'm Leaf," she began, speaking very softly, then motioned to the pink creature beside her, "and... this is Clefairy."
Clefairy waved to Callie as her trainer introduced her. "Clefairy!" she greeted in a somewhat melodic manner, with a big smile on her little face.
Leaf giggled quietly when Clefairy chimed in with such cheer. "... Nice to meet you, Callie," she finished, still speaking just as quietly as she began, with a gentle, friendly smile.

[Tornadostorm]

Flint nodded to the group, sighing, in relief mostly. Turned, and started walking. He crossed his arms, making his way towards the front of the group. He stared at the ground in front of him. Seeming lost in thought. He walked in silence. Wings once again calmly folded on his back.

Mintpaw whined when she heard Marie's warning. But she tried to say nothing, and stuck close to Lucina as the group set off.

[Stealthy]

Slowly, ominously....a town loomed into view. The sign in front of it had a portion missing, and simply read, "TOWN".

Tiny pieces of wood, dirt, cobble, and.....some grotesque fleshy substance floated up into the sky from the town like inverted snowflakes.

The gate was huge and stood tightly shut, with the top part totally missing--seemingly eaten away, with bits of wood floating off the top of it.

To the right of the gate sat a pile of worn armor.

To the left, a shaking armored guard, wearing his own red-feathered helmet, and holding another helmet with a blue feather.

He stared at the helmet, violently shaking, muttering incomprehensible gibberish to himself. He didn't see the party coming.

[Mistystar]

When a town slowly began coming into view, Pit squinted his eyes against the harsh sunlight to get a better look. "Oh...! Looks like something's ahead!" he noted, perking up hopefully. As they got closer, however, his excitement slowly began transforming into unease when he noticed the ominous atmosphere surrounding it.

As the group approached the unsettling entrance to the town, Lucina slowly and warily gazed around. "Hm..." she murmured, gasping very quietly when she suddenly spotted the violently shaking guard.

-------

"Nice to meet you, too!" Callie chirped in response to both Leaf and Clefairy, giving her head a bob in greeting. "... Oh yeah," she suddenly continued after a brief pause. "This is kinda random, but... do you know where we are, exactly?" the Inkling asked, her head subtly tilting to one side. "'Cause I'm totally lost..."

[Swallowfeather]

Robin was deeply unsettled upon seeing the town, and even more so when he noticed the guard. There's... something very wrong going on with this place, he commented mentally. Even the very air feels... off. I... I can't help feeling like there's some sort of horrific, malevolent force at play... Slowly, carefully, he approached the seemingly-traumatized guard. "Er... Excuse me...?" he began trying to speak with him, being sure to keep his tone calm.

"Whoaaaaaa..." Cookie, feeling sort of overwhelmed, warily stared at the numerous particles rising from the great, wooden gate and the town that lay behind it. "What happened here...?!" she asked nobody in particular.

After a while of swimming after the others, Marie emerged from her ink trail, transforming into humanoid form again. She uneasily looked around at the surroundings she was greeted with upon doing so this time. "... Wow... This place is really... messed-up," she remarked, shrinking down a little and holding her Charger at the ready. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, really.

----------

Leaf slowly, and somewhat sadly, shook her head in response to Callie's question. The truth was, back in her homeworld, she was simply walking down a route she had taken many times before. Then, all of a sudden, she found herself in an entirely unfamiliar forest, with no clue whatsoever as to how she ended up there. Hearing her new friend's uncertainty about where exactly she was, as well, made her wonder if she experienced a similar event, too.

[Tornadostorm]

Flint watched the town a thoughtful expression on his face as he examined it. He lifted his wings slightly in uncertainty.

The feel around the place reminded him faintly of something... That's right... His dream... He wasn't sure what... But this had a similar atmosphere to the surroundings in his dreams lately. The connection was probably only mental, though, as most dreams have no connection to reality, and Flint therefore shoved the thought away. 

It was then

He caught notice...

of the floating pieces of what appeared to be flesh.

A low growl emanated from his throat.

What was going on here? What could cause all this stuff to just float there...?? Why was this place so off to him? He saw the guard and decided he'd get his answers there. "Hey. You. What's wrong with your town? I mean... Seriously? Floating...Anything... isn't very..." He hesitated as he noticed how stressed the guard was, and the collapsed armor next to him. "...Well this is just great! Tell us what happened." He growled, adding to Robin's former question

Mintpaw didn't know the town was there. The only clues that something was going on for her was the fact she was starting to feel the tension between her comrades and the fact she faintly smelled something... Very off... It burned her sensitive nose ever so slightly "Um..." Was all she mustered.

[Stealthy]

The guard stood there shaking, not looking up.....then, after a pause, a delayed reaction came to Flint and Robin's inquiries. He screamed, dropped the helmet, and pointed his sword. The words FLOODED out of his mouth, and their owner couldn't seem to put any logic to them.....or keep his cracking, shaking, sobbing voice in check.

"AAAHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH WHO GOES THERE WHAT ARE YOU WHO ARE YOU. WHAT. WHAAAAAA WHY."

He cried a little behind his helmet.

"HAVE YOU COME FOR THE REST? THEEE REST OF US? LIKE......I GET IT I'M STUPID OR SOMETHING BUT WHAT ARE YOU HU-HUNGRY AGAIN??"

He sobbed once more. He sniffed.

"WHY DID HE TAKE HIM AND LEAVE THE ARMOR?? WH--you wouldn't know. YOU WOULDN'T KNOW!!! AHHH BUT I WANNA KNOW WHY DID HE TAKE THE MAN AND LEAVE THE ARMOR. WHY!?!?"

He swung the sword around at them and then dropped it. Before they had a chance to answer he continued.

"TOOK--TOOK THE MAN AND LEFT THE THING...THEEE....THE THING THAT SYMBOLIZES WHAT HE WAS. WHAT.

SOLDIER. GUARDIAN. B-BIG.....BIG BROTHER. BIG............B.........

WHY WOULD HE TAKE THE MAN AND LEAVE THE ARMO-HO-HO-HO-OR-R-R-R-R!?!?!?"

Finally the helmeted guard fell to his knees and sobbed, holding the blue-feathered helmet once more.

[Tornadostorm]

Flint's eyes grew wide, and he froze for a moment, not even flinching when the sword came inches from his chest, even slicing a few strands of his particularly long chest fur off. His ears drooped, and wings sagged. All anger seemingly gone "I...I'm so... Urgh.." He rested his hand on his face, between his eyes, and let it slide until it was partly on his nose, then let his hand fall to his side again. He crouched down to the man's level, and spoke somewhat comfortingly, given his slightly gruff tone

"L..Listen... I...I get it." He closed his eyes and in almost a whisper continued "I...I've lost people too... I know what it's like." 

He looked up at the town once more. Seeing it still in disarray, yet not as unnerved by it as before, now that the main emotion he felt was sympathy.... Surprisingly. 

"And I know it's hard for you... Man, believe me, I know.... But you've got to tell us what happened? Who took him? What happened to the town?"

Mintpaw gasped as she heard the guard's ramblings. She pawed for a poppy seed for shock. Finding some, she nosed them towards him "Hey... Take some of these Poppy Seeds... They'll help you feel better... Though they may make you a little sleepy.

(I won't let her give it to him until/unless everyone's good with it)

[Stealthy]

(I am. I think it'd help move the story well. But I wanna let everybody get a chance to reply if they wish XD)

[Swallowfeather]

"AGH!" Robin took a step back when the guard suddenly drew his sword, and his frantic torrent of words sort of took him by surprise. Quickly, however, he regained composure, and backed off to give him and Flint some space to talk. Hopefully, his ally would be able to get a clearer answer out of him this time.

[Stealthy]

The guard took the seeds hesitantly. "Poppy....seeds?"

"They'll just help you calm down," Torsolus clarified. "Take all the time you need."

"Thanks...." He lifted his visor tentatively and swallowed the seeds whole. His exposed face revealed his condition. He was exhausted, dirty, covered in sweat and tears but no blood, and also no facial hair. This man was only about 18.

"I'll tell you about it if you let me escort you around the town. It's just sorta the rules," he panted, setting the blue feather helmet next to the rest of its armor. "Gotta make sure you don't get into trouble and all.....eheh....plus you look....I mean, you look FINE. But like, y--if you need supplies or anything our Gilbert's 4-Star Bar would be happy to offer stuff. Seriously...the amount of food still intact for some reason is...I THINK....kind of amazing."

[Tornadostorm]

Flint gave a soft nod "Yeah. Sure, you can escort us..." He gave a slightly forced smile, and stood. "Do you really think whoever owns that bar would be into selling after what happened??" He inquired, only a hint of snark in his tone.

Mintpaw sighed in relief when she heard him swallow them. She was glad to help this man calm down after what happened. She followed the others with a contented smile. Still mostly unaware of the condition of the town, due to her lack of eyesight.

[Mistystar]

"You're not sure either, huh?" Callie replied in a disappointed but sympathetic tone when she saw Leaf shake her head, beginning to assume that they were, in fact, in the exact same situation as each other. Then, after a brief moment of thought, her face suddenly lit up with an idea. "Hey, in that case... How about we team up?" she suggested, a friendly grin once again spreading across her face. "Maybe we can figure things out together!"

[Stealthy]

"I--I'm pretty sure. I dunno. Gilbert told me 'Advertise us to any visitors, any time,' when I got the job. Plus, I imagine the profits will help repair the bar. Here...c-come on in."

He opened the gate and walked in ahead of them. He breathed heavily, like he wasn't sure how to be acting, or if he should let these travelers see his home.


The town was in a bizarre state of dissaray. It seemed to have been like this for about a day or two.

The buildings had big chunks missing in their sides and roofs, and various pieces of material constantly detached themselves from the hole sites and floated up into the sky. A hot, dry wind blew through the town but the paths of the pieces continued straight up.

One building to the right, still mostly intact, eminated banging sounds and faint, unearthly screeches; from THIS building, strange fleshy pieces floated up and out. At close inspection, the floating flesh itself was unidentifiable. But it certainly appeared organic.

Link was thoroughly put off, and an uneasy feeling came back over Torsolus.

"Oh, d-don't mind that building, please..." The guard urged. "We only just got them in there. If they're let out now.....well, never mind. Uh...d-don't touch the floaty bits. Or the spots the floaty bits come from."

Torsolus was in visible discomfort, but he breathed to calm himself. "Floating pieces. PIECES. That's new. That's quite new, yes it is."

A dog ran alone anxiously barking all over town, as though searching for someone.

A three year old girl ran onto the streets calling in every direction, "MAMA?? MAMA--!" When a man (presumably her father) picked her up and carried her back inside.

An elderly woman with a heavy misshapen stone beside her feebly dug a hole at the end of town. Someone's grave.


"What happened...?" Torsolus finally asked, with a deep, steely voice.

"Big monster came..." The guard mumbled. "Big dragon wings and weird tendrils. Ate some of us, left others. It ate my brother out of his armor." He took a second to breathe. "I asked it to eat me instead. He said 'No, your mind is too small. Your soul is too simple. You have no potential to become complex enough to fill me.' And then he made our houses explode. Pieces still fly off them. We don't touch the pieces. No.....never touch the pieces."

[Guest]

Threads of wind wove their way around each individual feather and strand of fur on the hippogriff in an embracement. Ember gently flapped her grand wings as she glided in the murky sky, basking in the currents in a soothing manner. She closed her eyes against the vague, dark images of last night's incidence as they flashed across her mind and softly squawked. An unwelcome, demonic-like visitor had encroached the town a couple hours ago and had pulverized nearly everything in its path. She didn't have much knowledge herself about the event, for she was coming back from visiting a friend and only had a bird's eye view. However, the dominant feature of the scene that she glimpsed was a pair of gigantic leather wings.

She sighed in sympathy for the troubled ones, little flames of fire licking the air from her beak, as she slowed down and lowered herself back inside the town. When she landed, Ember folded her beautiful wings against her sides. She took in the depressing sights of the demolished town she dearly loved and felt her healing tears trickle onto the feathers under her eyes. With a last glancing sweep, she trotted to a small nearby cottage that was lacking a roof.

Cautiously, she peered into a splintered window and was astonished to find all of the furniture shattered and the tables turned over, missing legs here and there. A sensation of pity washed over her as she slowly entered inside, bowing her head to fit through the door.

Ember's talons and hooves clicked against the polished wood floor as she scrutinized the home more clearly. Paintings on the wall had deep slashes through them, and glass window fragments sprinkled the floor. Suddenly, the ground felt uneven under her hoof. She proceeded forward and turned around, bringing herself eye level to the object, an inspective look etched on her face. It was a gigantic hollow tooth, twice the size of her large body. The cottage was too dim for her to notice it from outside, but now, she had a look at something that might be a clue to what the monster was. Gingerly picking up the surprisingly light tooth with her beak, she cantered outside into the sunshine and with a huge whoosh of her wings, was off into the air to trek home in the ancient forest.

[Tornadostorm]

Flint looked around, feeling progressively more weary "what happens when you touch the peices?" He inquired using a gruff tone "they don't LOOK dangerous." Something in him told him he was stupid for asking this, but his curiosity won him over and he didn't back off his question.
He gently walked along side the groups escort, arms crossed. If he had had pockets, that's where his hands would be.

Mintpaw was finally catching on that something was up more then this man's brothers death. "Peices? What do you mean?" She asked wearily

[Guest]

It was a short flight, for the forest was nested behind the town. Ember skillfully and artistically swooped between the towering trees and gently landed onto the ground. Fallen, crisp leaves crunched underneath her claws and hooves as she swiftly cantered to a sequoia tree dotted with glowing and giggling fairies.

“Welcome back, Ember!” a tiny blue fairy squeaked in delight; “Yay!! Welcome home!!” another pink fairy squealed. She dropped the tooth onto the ground. “Heya! Thanks for the intro Disiri and Abrasia” Ember chortled, “but I found this tooth back in the town and you must of seen what happened…” Her voice trailed off as she recalled the vague image of the wings and felt her anger begin to boil. “Here, take this and keep it safe and hidden for now in my tree (her home)… I’ll see you guys soon…I hope…” Ember was now fueled with fury as she whirled around, the delayed feelings of threat sinking in, and galloped full speed across the forest, hooves and claws thudding against the ground, eyes ablaze. She slid to a stop in the heart of the forest and reared, flaring her wings and emitting a piercing eagle screech that shook the nearby trees and scared mystical creatures into hiding spots.

[Stealthy]

Torsolus quietly explained the scene to Mintpaw, about pieces flying off the damaged buildings.

The guard answered Flint's question with a firm voice.
"You just don't. Ok? You DO NOT. Basically....like, ok. We have a Bandersnatch that guards the town with us normally. But lately he's had to take care of everyone who's touched the pieces, and the places the pieces float from. Poor buddy's already lost a tooth in action, and he himself might have touched a few too many pieces...."

The guard cleared his throat.

"If you touch a piece...or a spot a piece came from...."

He pointed at the building from which the fleshy bits rose.

"You get put in there. With the Bandersnatch."

The screeches seemed to grow louder right on cue, as though the creature was responding to its own name.

"Just don't ask any more questions about it, ok? Look--Gilbert's bar is right there." He pointed to a building with a large portion of its roof corner missing and floating off in pieces. "Gilbert's daughter is in there. She'd be happy to serve you."

[Tornadostorm]

Flint nodded thoughtfully. His eyes constantly examining his surroundings. When Gilbert's Bar was pointed out to them, Flint gave a vaguely annoyed sigh, gathering supplies didn't interest him as much as it had when he was a child. But if there was anything he could do to better prepare his friends and allies for any battles ahead, (even against himself) then by all means he wasn't about to stop them

Mintpaw listened to Torsolus. Her expression twisting more and more in horror with every word. "I.. I... Oh my gosh.... This is... horrible..." She whispered. Inwardly hoping that whatever did this wouldn't return. 
She gently sighed. "...Ri..Right.... I... I... I'm not sure..." She admitted sorrowfully. "What should we do...? What CAN we do?" She looked towards Torsolus anxiously

[Stealthy]

"Just....." Torsolus inhaled sharply through his invisible nose. "...don't touch the pieces. I'll help you not."

He sounded like he was holding his breath, and was very tense.

[Guest]

Ember lowered her plumed head and rested it upon an outstretched leg, shutting her eyes against the rage that pounded within her and gritting her beak. She broke into a brisk walk, trying to cool down and clear her mind as her thoughts drifted back towards the discovered tooth. The tooth...the tooth...the hippogriff suddenly snapped out of it as her eyes grew wide and she twisted around and galloped back to the sequoia to discover a scene where Disiri and Abrasia along with other fairies were inspecting the tooth on the ground with horrified expressions.

Ember slowed to a trot as she approached the site and laid down in the leaves, her eagle legs stretched in front of her and her hooves tucked beside her stomach. "What's going on, guys? What's with the bewildered looks?" But before they answered, her eyes fell to the object that laid before them. It wasn't the colossal tooth that petrified them, but what laid inside its hollow... a tendril that looked horrifyingly like... "A human blood vessel!" Disiri exclaimed, horror marking her words. "It looks like it's from a...leg?" a green fairy squeaked, glancing up at Ember.
The hippogriff narrowed her golden eyes that glowed in contrast to the black mask-like feather pattern around them. "I...I believe so...whatever did this...WHOEVER did this shall pay...I will hunt this thing DOWN!" She suddenly leaped up onto all fours and spread her wings, stomping her claw. "I WILL FIND WHO OR WHAT DID THIS TO THE TOWN, AND IT SHALL BE DEMOLISHED WITH MY OWN CLAWS AND BEAK!" The fairies gleefully cheered and whooped. Ember reared friendlily to the fairies. "I hope I will be back soon, and this time, I speak what I mean. I'll be avoiding here as much as I can for your protection as well as the other creatures. Thank you all for being here with me!" She chuckled as the fairies merrily flew around her, giggling, some petting her as they wished her luck.

Once again, with a huge woosh of her wings that overturned the leaves and swayed the trees, Ember was off into the air. She twirled around and squawked a farewell to the forest as she headed back to the town.

[Tornadostorm]

Mintpaw picked up on Torsolus's tension. And she realized she had never seen him this stressed. It worried her. She stayed pressed to his leg. Which made it a little more difficult for presumably both of them to walk, but Mintpaw didn't want to risk wandering away from the group at this point. Even though her nose was quite pin point accurate most of the time, what Torsolus said had put her on edge, and she was worried if she wandered away at all that something would happen to her. Her ears flicked to and fro, using her nose and her ears to locate her friends and allies, as well making sure her fur was brushing against Torsolus' leg the whole time just to be sure. Other then that, she looked as calm as was normal for her.

Flint continued walking up at the front of the group. But his walls were slowly coming back up, having calmed the guard down. And his will to keep conversation going had drained almost all the way away. So he kept walking towards the bar, a distant, stern expression on his face.

(Do they go in yet?)

[Stealthy]

The guard opened the door and gestured them all in. "I'll wait outside for you all." Torsolus looked at him, concerned. "Thank you! Umm....are you ok just standing still out there for a long time?" "Don't worry about it. It's my job." The guard responded with a smile. "Oh! Well....I'll order you something. What do you like?" "I don't need anything." "Come on! What do you like? Tell me." "Uhh....just....like....coffee." "Cream? Sugar? Stuff?" "Just coffee. Blackidy-black black super-coffee." "Cool! No problem!" Torsolus beamed, waiting for the ladies to enter the establishment first.

[Tornadostorm]

Mintpaw decided it'd be easier if she just caught a ride with someone, so she trotted up behind Lucina, and leapt up onto her shoulder, crouching down as to not be thrown off, and carefully adjusting her weight until she was balanced. She decided she'd try to stay on Lucina's shoulder the whole time they were in this human nest.

[Guest]

When she gracefully swopped onto stone pathway, Ember folded her wings to her sides and tossed her head in anger, her long and glossy head feathers bobbing, as she again quickly glanced around at the remnants of her beloved town in crumbles. Her fury soon melted into despair, her golden eyes extinguished from their usual glow, as she lowered her majestic head and dragged towards Gilbert’s bar for a quick bite before her journey.

With a loud clop of her hooves and scuttle of her talons, she suddenly paused behind the group of foreigners she had never seen before as they were conversing with one of the guards who swung the bar door open for them. What are these tourists doing here in this ramshackle town? Ember wondered, tilting her head to one side.

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