Ascent of Eternity (Swallow and Misty)

PSYCH, this is actually a derpy joke RP

There's this one stage in Castlevania III with this extremely tedious falling-block-tower-climbing segment, and this RP is going to parody that

I'll be playing Trevor and Grant, and Misty has Sypha and Alucard (you can't have all four at once in the game but darnit this is FOR LOLS). We're mostly winging them

*Waves hand*

And go

After defeating a giant bat which was actually a bunch of nasty little bats stuck together, Trevor and company stepped through a door and emerged onto a pile of stone blocks near the base of the Morbid Mountains. More blocks would fall at roughly regular intervals, beginning to gradually build the pile up into a tower.

It looked like a dead end, but then Trevor looked up. There was a ledge with ANOTHER DOOR...

... about ten miles above them.

This was going to take a while.

"All right... This looks fairly simple," Sypha stated rather optimistically. However, she then decided to look up, as well. "... Hm," Just seeing the long stretch ahead was already beginning to bore her. "... Maybe this room's not as tall as it looks..."

Meanwhile, Alucard just stood off to the side, gazing upwards with a serene and deeply thoughtful look.

Trevor couldn't help noticing Alucard's state of deep musing. "What is it, Alucard? Do you have some sort of idea to hasten our ascent?"

"Hey, he can fly as a bat, can't he?" Grant piped up. "Maybe he can carry us up one-by-one! Ha! Problem solved!"

"Oh yes; good idea!" Sypha chimed in, looking at Alucard. "Well? How does that sound, Alucard...?"

Alucard slowly looked towards the other three. "... I'm afraid I cannot," he told them, calmly shaking his head. "It would expend a significant amount of my energy. And we must conserve our strength for more... dire situations than this one."

"Oh..." Sypha murmured in disappointment, once again looking up into the loooooong stretch of space overhead.

"Aww, come on!" Grant groaned at Alucard. "At this rate, those of us who aren't IMMORTAL are all gonna grow old and DIE here! I would think that's pretty darned dire, wouldn't you?!"

Just then, as Trevor was trying to get a good sense of the blocks' falling pattern, one fell directly on his foot. He proceeded to briefly snarl nonsense. "AHHHGHRRGHH! MMPHH! YNNGHFRRRGGHH!" He then took a sharp breath, followed by another very pained noise. "... AAAAAAAHHHHH."

Before Alucard could even begin responding to Grant, Trevor's sudden, nonsensical snarling made it near-impossible to concentrate on anything else. He glanced over at the Belmont with a (subtle, of course) look of confusion. Though he hadn't been watching, however, it only took him a moment to realize what must have happened. While still calm as ever on the outside, he inwardly cringed at the thought.

"OH my," Sypha gasped, rushing to Trevor's side (and just barely dodging another falling block along the way). "Are you OK, Trevor??" she questioned, staring at the foot that had been struck. "That was a direct hit..."

"I'm fine!" Trevor abruptly growled in response to Sypha's question, trying to hide his pain. He then shot (figurative) daggers at the block that had crushed his foot. "Stupid block...! HAH!" Hastily, he kicked the offending object at full force, but this only made things worse for his foot. Once again, he hunched over, inhaled deeply, and breathed out a harsh "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH".

Sypha's eyes widened when she saw Trevor's foot flying at the block. "No, wait! That'll just--"

She was far too late, unfortunately; Trevor's foot had already collided with the block long before she could even finish speaking.

"... Hurt even more," Sypha finished flatly, cringing upon seeing how pained Trevor looked now. At a bit of a loss for words, she just placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it comfortingly and solemnly.

Trevor just continued on doing what he was doing, doubled over his foot.
Deep inhale.
"... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH..."
Repeat.

Grant just stared with a blank, uncomfortable expression for several moments. Then, he quickly turned back to Alucard. "So, back to the bat thing..."

Sypha just continued to pat Trevor's shoulder, wearing a sympathetic expression.

Alucard promptly turned back to Grant when he heard the latter speak. "... My apologies, but the answer is still no," he stated with another shake of his head.

"DANGIT!" Grant exclaimed with a single stomp of his foot. "Alright then, what do YOU think we should do, since you're so brilliant?" he snarkily asked Alucard.

Still appearing quite unruffled, Alucard paused, silently looked up, and then returned his attention to Grant. "... We must remain patient," he finally responded, sounding certain. "For now, I can't see there being any reasonable alternative."

Grant simply let out a long, loud groan in exasperation.

"What are you whining about?!" Trevor suddenly shouted at Grant, apparently having broken out of his cycle of 'AAAHHHH's by now. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think YOUR foot just got crushed by a chunk of solid rock..."

Oh dear. This could escalate very quickly.

"Oh, well excuse me, Mr. 'My Life is Miserable'!" Grant snapped back at Trevor with extreme sarcasm. "I'm sorry for tresspassin' in your special little private whine cellar!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Trevor barked.

"Whaddaya mean, 'what's that s'posed to mean'?" Grant sneered. "You think you got it worse than anybody, so you're the only one allowed to complain! Ain't that it?!"

"Now Grant... To be fair, that block did just fall RIGHT on his foot! It must have hurt terribly," Sypha piped up in Trevor's defense. "... Still, Trevor," She then glanced at Trevor himself, one of her eyebrows going up. "You DO tend to be pretty negative sometimes..."

Trevor scowled a little. "This again?"

"... OH boy. Here we go." Grant raised his hands in the air and backed away, giving Trevor and Sypha some space.

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm not just sunshine-and-rainbows all the time. Do you have ANY idea what sort of burden I'm carrying here?" Trevor retaliated. "Right now, my family is unwelcome in society. Once I slay Dracula, maybe they'll treat us with a little more respect... Not really my main concern, but it would be nice," he remarked with a bit of a scoff.

"Yes... I understand," Spyha breathed a sigh, genuinely sympathetic for her ally. However, at the same time, her persistence only seemed to intensify. "All I'm suggesting, though, is that you try to keep your chin up--even if just a little bit more!" she insisted. "I haven't exactly had the easiest time myself, you know..." she continued, her eyebrow moving back up.

Alucard, meanwhile, stood off towards the edge of the tower. As he silently watched the others, he appeared to be standing as still as physically possible.

It was Trevor's turn to sigh. "I know, I know. People have been despicable to you, too," he responded, respectful of Sypha's own hardships. "... Almost makes you wonder sometimes if fighting for them is even worth it, doesn't it?" he added bitterly with a sneer. "Of course, we have to protect them from this evil, but... face it. Mankind is miserable, and they always will be."

"No... I disagree," Sypha responded with a tone of certainty, giving a shake of her head. "Yes--there are people with questionable morals, even some willing to do terrible things..." she began, sadness crossing her expression for a moment before she continued. "... But even though you just can't seem to realize it, there's also so much good in this world! I believe that mankind is perfectly capable of forming a path towards a brighter future."

"Mmmh..." Alucard suddenly murmured thoughtfully. Though he didn't share Sypha's positive look, the particularly serious expression on his face showed that he wasn't exactly approving of Trevor's comments, either. "... Trevor. Even if we do not particularly trust them... Still, we mustn't judge mankind too harshly," he added. His voice was quite steady and firm, but beneath the surface, it seemed to carry a trace of troubled strain, too.

"You too...?" Trevor responded with a sigh to Alucard when the latter suddenly joined the conversation. He was feeling somewhat outnumbered by now. "Hmph... Well, anyway, if that kind of wishful thinking keeps you going, great," he told Sypha curtly.

All of a sudden, Grant butted in. "Hey, what's goin' on here? We philofomosizin' or something?"

When Grant piped up, Alucard--gaining a rather blank, perhaps slightly baffled look--proceed to fall silent once more as he sank back into the darkness of the corner.

"Wha-..." Sypha turned her attention to Grant, sounding a bit surprised. "... Well... Yeaaah...? I guess you could call it that..." she responded somewhat slowly at first. "... In any case, did you have something to add?" she asked him curiously.

"Well, lessee here... Youze were talkin' about mankind, right?" Grant responded to Sypha, then took a moment to consider his opinion on the matter. After a brief pause, he shrugged. "Eh, they're alright. Can't complain about 'em. I tell ya, they're a heckuva lot better than that rotten, miserable scum we're up against now, for sure."

"Oh, well, I guess that settles it, then!" Trevor interjected sarcastically.

Sypha once again glanced at Trevor, an amusingly wide, satisfied smile spreading across her face. "Yes... Looks like it does," she responded with a large nod, intentionally taking his sarcasm seriously.

"Are you quite finished?" Trevor hissed at Sypha.

Sypha, stifling the remains of a faint chuckle, sighed as her grin faded, regaining a more neutral expression. "Ahhhh... Sorry, Trevor," she apologized. "I'll stop now, yes."