Cross Effects 3.0 - June 23, 2016—April 02, 2018

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

The mall had plenty of things going on, plenty of capitalism fluttered in the air, that and food. But whatever tranquil life the people under its roof was blown apart with the door. A fiery comet had smashed into it and exploded it before crashing in the main hall. Was it a bird, was it a plane? No! It was a giant burning ship!

"H-hello? Is this thing working? *tap tap* AAH, OKAY! MUCH BETTER!! SALUTATIONS GENTLEMEN!!" A voice suddenly roared, and someone jumped out of the main deck. Phew, all that smoke made it kinda hard to see, and breathe, and live! Well, he wasn't actually alive but...

Aargh, all this thinking gave him a headache. A bad maneuver had him crash in here, and he honestly didn't know where he was. In situations like this, the first step is always to assert your dominance and be confident! Showing weakness would be unacceptable. Looking around like he totally wasn't lost and just crashed by accident, he assumed this was a market of sorts. Perfect! He could easily turn this around.

He wiped the dust off his third fancy coat and tipped the fourth hat he had stacked on his head. Jewels, bracelets, rings, he had it all covered! For you see, he had managed to acquire a large sum of money through a small loan with a bank! A generous sum of 10000 dollars for nothing more than his soul! Now if that wasn't a good deal, he didn't know what was.

To be fair, he felt kinda bad for cheating, having one of his familiars hidden in the fire of his hand so it would sign for him. Well, not really. It wasn't cheating if he didn't get caught, bwahahaha!

He had proceeded to spend it all down to the single coin on the most fabulous of garments and decorations which he proceeded to wear at once by stacking the on top of each other. That, and a large quantity of wine kegs! After all, how can one call himself a leader if he can't look like one, or party like one!?

He needed about 72 coats. Well he had already 3 of them, which meant 72 minus three, carry the one... aargh, he really was thinking too much! Who cares. If he wanted something, he'd take it! But of course, before that, he had just one problem to take care of.

Rent. He still hadn't paid it. If his landlady caught him late again, he'd be double dead. He felt a bit bad for the people there, but this was for his sake and well being. Incurring her wrath was the last thing he wanted, so he walked in the middle of the market, everyone around practically frozen in stupor.

He held out the strange thingamajing he had fetched from a crier in the street, some sort of magic device that enhanced your voice. People called it a megaphone.

"NOW, YOU MAY BE WONDERING, OH MY LORD, WHAT IS A BURNING SHIP DOING IN A MARKET! WHY IS A BURNING SKELETON YELLING OUT OF HIS LUNGS?!! WELL, IT IS ONLY SO I, LORENZO REMEI, CAN GATHER YOUR ATTENTION OF COURSE! DON'T WORRY, I'LL HAVE THE DOOR FIXED! NOW THEN, *AHEM* CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE THE JEWELRY SECTION IS!? BECAUSE IF I KNEW WHERE TO STEAL THEM FROM, THAT WOULD BE GREAT!"

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

Well, this was rather disappointing. Another opportunity for productive homicide was about to be discarded by her alleged wielder. What did it truly matter that Mitsuba could not entirely trust her prospective client? The threat was manageable. And by manageable Katase meant that she would cut it down and devour the creepy human's soul as recompense for the treachery. It was only fair.

so this is the extent of your trust

[Umbra of Chaos]

Meti

Her home was burning. It was almost nostalgic. Wandering the burning halls and smokey rooms as she navigated the place. Her eyes stung, she coughed a bit, and her flesh trembled as she felt phantom flame lick her flesh. Just like home.

Then Meti progressed. Past the bodies, and wreckage, and shattered swords to the illustrious dojo. And it was wonderful. Clean and untouched with swords of all sorts as far as the eye could hope to see. But where was hers? Where was her sword?

Her hands curled around something. No. Not something. She saw it, fingers wrapped around empty air like a hilt. Meti had no sword yet... "Exactly." She sounded quite sure of herself. Then she lifted that naked, unbound blade overhead and brought it down. The world split in two, and Meti woke up.

And immediately covered her chest and crossed her legs. "W-what are you doing?!"


Lucy

"Alright Lap Pillow Emily." Messengers were useful at times like this. If Emily didn't intellectually like her new nickname she would just have to deal with that slight happy buzz she would get. Almost as if someone she actually cared for gave her a perfectly fine pet name.

Then Lucy poked her cheek. "Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Ooh, interesting. So that is her wish.

Just as he was about to delve deeper inside her, he noticed her twitch. So it was success after all, not that he expected any differently from her. He had put his faith in her for a reason, the mere notion of his hopes being misplaced was such an absurdity, he did not even dare ponder on it. His will was absolute, there was no room for mistakes any longer.

The girl opened her eyes and immediately covered herself. How curious, did she really have room for pride and shame now of all times? He did not think a sword would show such traits, though he supposed that was why he took a liking to her in the first place. If it were sheep or puppets he needed, there were more than plenty in this city. He looked down at her without breaking is hard expression.

"Ah, you've awakened. How are you feeling?"

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

To Sakura's relief, the combination of her attack and Julius' caused the demon to shriek and, then, explode, letting out a shockwave which buffeted the magus as she reinforced herself to stay in place. By now, she was exhausted from the effort, visably sweating and somewhat weak from using her magical energy so quickly. As Paladin stood up, his armour smoking, Sakura responded to him.

"No, it wasn't", she said, panting and visably exhausted from her efforts and the mana drain.

"Still, it's dead now, it can't harm anyone else", she added. "We should be glad of that."

[SINIB]

William

"You were saying?"

The dark mage of darkness had already finished two of the double chocolate-mocha milkshakes in the blink of an eye before the girl had even finished her question. How he'd performed such a feat was a complete mystery, maybe he cheated or....he was just that good.

"There's far too much chocolate here, it looks like a drink made for teenaagers with a diabetes wish. Do you seriously drink this every day? A healthy body and a healthy mind requires a steady dose of healthy food." His tone was harsh as it seemed he was scolding her.

"Disappointing."

IRON=SAKURA

Sakura, to her credit, hadn't been deterred at all by William's show of blinding speed. She didn't even respond to his tone, so focused she was on winning this contest. In fact, it had only served to egg her on to try even harder. With one swift motion of her jaw, she unhinged it and leaned her head back, picking up all three of her milkshakes at the same time and pouring them into her mouth, swallowing the massive amount of liquid as it entered her maw.

Would William be able to use his blinding speed once again to snatch victory from her fingertips? The anticipation was making her quiver.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The sauce and the soap was a clever move from her progeny but she needed to have some thorough instruction it seemed. "Oh distractions how clever of you, however your thinking is far too 2 dimensional." And with that black wings burst out from the blondes back and she took the skies, easily avoiding the soap all together as she then intercepted the sauce and caught it before anything was spilt. She was just about to return the favour when something unexpected happened. No unexpected would be selling it short, it was nothing but outright bizarre.

The doors to the mall had given in to make room for a giant ship, a giant burning flying ship. A man jumped out on the deck, no through her vampire senses she could percieve what it truly was through all of the smoke. It was a skeleton. A walking talking pirate skeleton.

She quickly flew over as he made his wild speech about robbing the jewelry stores with a megaphone he had procured....somehow.

"I may not have any jewels on me, but I do have have some sauce for this barbeque you have going here." Her wings made a final flap as she landed on the deck and held out said bottle to him.

[Panda]

Michael

In spite of himself, Michael couldn't help a chuckle as Meti's first words upon waking up reminded her that she still was as close to a normal girl of her age as you could get from someone like her, aside from the oddly precocious perspective the heights she'd reached brought her. Of course, he'd already stripped the clothes from her old body and folded them up neatly, and it was this neat pile of clothing that he handed her, along with her swords, without nary a word spoken.

That aside, the immortal didn't bother turning around, finding himself a little curious as to whether she could handle her new body just as easily as her old one or if there would be a period of acclimatization needed.


Emily

The changeling frowned at the nickname she now found herself saddled with, though she supposed there were worse things to end up with. A slight buzz caught her off guard, Emily deciding that it wasn't so bad after all and leaving it be. Of course, the question was more interesting by far. It tugged at her, urging her on, almost.

"To be perfectly honest," Emily admitted after a few moments, her blush brightening a little, "I'm more used to being on the other end of this sort of thing. I Guess I've still got a fair bit to learn about desire."

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

"Tch" Medaka expected Shinobu to dodge both the soap and the sauce but her sprouting wings presented a new problem.  Even so, it no longer mattered.  Just as the blond got ready to retaliate, a crashing sound could be heard, accompanied by the sight of a familiar ship plowing through the mall walls.  An equally familiar voice echoed through the building.

"H-hello? Is this thing working? *tap tap* AAH, OKAY! MUCH BETTER!! SALUTATIONS GENTLEMEN!!" The familar voice.  Medaka came to an abrupt halt, staring at the flaming ship in the distance.  "That ship.....," she muttered to herself as she gazed upon the helm.  The voice took on form as a shadow hopped off the ship's deck.  It continued.

"NOW, YOU MAY BE WONDERING, OH MY LORD, WHAT IS A BURNING SHIP DOING IN A MARKET! WHY IS A BURNING SKELETON YELLING OUT OF HIS LUNGS?!! WELL, IT IS ONLY SO I, LORENZO REMEI, CAN GATHER YOUR ATTENTION OF COURSE! DON'T WORRY, I'LL HAVE THE DOOR FIXED! NOW THEN, *AHEM* CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE THE JEWELRY SECTION IS!? BECAUSE IF I KNEW WHERE TO STEAL THEM FROM, THAT WOULD BE GREAT!"

Impossible.  This had to be a trick, an impostor.

Medaka started running again, somehow moving even faster than before.  Her figure became blurry as she approached the two.  When she stopped a small gust of wind brushed the two standing there.  Even so, Shinobu arrived first, seeing as she was already moving faster and had an ahead start.  The young vampire stared helplessly at what looked like an zombiefied version of her fallen comrade. 

"Lor...Lorenzo?"

[Thedoctor]

William

The foolish girl supassed his expectations as she picked up all three milkshakes at once and drank them. That was the signal that it was time to go, this place wasn't what he was looking for and if she was so into this competition he could let her pay fo it. William abruptly stood up and made his way out, intent on ignoring the girl he'd just met.

There were other matters to attend to now after all. He was actually getting a bit annoyed that his new servant hadn't reported in yet. The mage had made no attempts to hide himself, quite the contrary he'd been rather overt so she should have been able to find him considering her skill at that.

The dark mage walked out through the door, he would find his lazy servant, it was only a matter of time.

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

Sakura giggled at the two. Ron for his stupidity, and Rider for her reaction. She had absolutely no idea why Ron had made that leap of logic, but it was funny and cute. She liked him.

"So, um, when should we meet up?" Sakura said as she stood up with a bit of difficulty, using the table to lift herself up. She didn't ask for any help though, she didn't want it.

After she got up, the girl extended her hand to Ron. "I really hope you'll take me up on my offer."

Ron

Well, I certainly made a good impression here. Insert uncertainty here. In any case, he had a thing to do. "Well, if you're still going to be around for a while then I guess we could meet up in... let's say a couple of hours? That way I can do what I said I'd do first."

He didn't insult her by offering any help. The predator in him would have balked at receiving that kind of offer given to him, so of course he wouldn't be a hypocrite about it.

Ron smiled and accepted her hand, shaking firmly. "I don't really doubt that I will. So whether we meet up again soon or not, you'll be hearing from me about that."

Sakura Matou

A Few Hours Later…

After Ron left, Sakura and Rider had gone home. Sakura had given Rider the vulgar man, who had then gone off to do unspeakable things to him. She had then gone off to lay around and nap on her couch, awaiting the phone call from Ron. After a while, the call had arrived, and Sakura had gone out to meet up with him at their designated place, which she arrived at after a short ride.


As she was driven around by her driver, Sakura looked out the window, looking for Ron. As soon as she spotten him, she opened her window, and waved. "Hey, get in the car~" She called out to him cheerfully.

[SINIB]

Shirou

Shirou sighed at the girl's obivous confusion. Yes, she had explained how to get the Pokemon out of the ball, but he couldn't remember anything about how to get it back in. Still, it seemed simple enough, not that he was inclined to try it right now. After all, his new pet seemed happy enough cooing in his arms as he stroked it lovingly. So, he saw no reason to respond to her.

The next part, though, he did feel he needed to react to. Not knowing when or if their pet would evolve was fine, but he still had no idea how he was supposed to know when he had levelled-up. It's not like a status window appeared in his mind like it had for Saber, after all.  And, there were other things he needed to cover, too.

"OK, but how do I tell if he's levelled-up? Or what level he currently is?" he asked, confused.

"Also, what should I feed him? I have no idea what Pokemon eat. And, is there anything else I need to know about him? I don't want him getting sick or upset because we don't know how to look after him...", he added, genuinely worried for the well-being of their new pet.

After all, the cute creature now relaxing in his arms was their responsibility now, part of their family. Shirou wanted to make sure he had a good, happy life.

Oka Kurosawa

"You don't have a pokedex, so you don't. You just have to get a feel for it." Oka answered sweetly and politely. What was up with all these questions about pokemon levels, anyway. "And as for food, you should just feed him whatever you eat. There are no dietary restrictions whatsoever. Just feel him whatever he seems to like."

[Elf]

Forest of the Past

"You sure you don't want the boomstick?  I can use the pistol just fine," Forest said as she lifted said shot gun.

While waiting for him to answer, she did a deeper probe on one of the minds on the third floor just like he suggested.  She wanted to know if they knew what it was she couldn't read.  Knowing was half the battle after all.


Gabriel

"It is, but it can also be dangerous if my companion ever lets me go," Gabriel said with a grin, "But it can be very useful in my line of work."

He looked into the direction she was looking and giggling. A bubble of his own laughter burst forth as he looked at the object.  "Well, I hope that is here for novelty's sake."


Rin

Rin smiled as she sat in the offered chair, not noting that Joe was checking out her fairly shapely cat-like ass.  She folded her hands and rested them on the table.  "I care about presentation," Rin said with a small shrug.

"So, what about you?  I told you a secret, but I know nothing about you other than you hate your job and you don't work out enough."

She lowered her eyelashes and smiled.

[Aiden]

Neptune

"Bingo. We have a winner here!" Her hands came down to point at the winner. "Behold the grand prize, a million free rides on Neptuneland's greatest attraction: the Nep-train!" She went silent for a second, and another...."How did you know by the way?"

"Dogoo"

The blue monster horde had seemingly multiplied many times over behind her. What had only been a few mere moments ago were now dozens, no scores of the vile beings were congregrating on their position, drawing ever closer.

"They're right behind me aren't they? Hehe, of course they are. Having the thing you're describing appear behind you is a normal plot development in comedies." She turned around to have a look at the situation.

"Whoa there's a whole army here, if only I had my wea-...."

A pair of swords fell from the sky at that moment cleaving the closest dogoo in half as the poor thing exploded into....pixels. The protagonist of protagonists calmly jumped off the bench and walked over to pick up the swords in a way that was totally fitting of the main character. She then immediately lashed out a dogoo that was trying to sneak up on her. "Uselss, Useless, Useless"

Gadreel

With a sigh the fallen angel stood up, and drew his pistol from the interior of his garments. Then Gadreel opened fire on a few of the strange bouncing beasts, pulling the trigger so quickly that the bullets barely had time to reach their proper position in the gun. "You will have to tell me more of this alleged Nep-train when the festivities have concluded."

They did not seem the sort of creatures he should engage with his bare hands, nor did they appear to possess blood that would slake the thirst of Dainsleif. Then again, even if they did he would prefer not to make use of such a thing...

[Panda]

Annabeth

The Hunter's laughter died away after a short while, interrupted by a suppressed hiccup as Annabeth rested her head on Gabe's shoulder, her hand holding onto his other shoulder to keep her upright.

"Either way, it's worth a good laugh," the tanned girl remarked, trailing off for the moment, her balance tipping and swaying as she tried to keep her gaze steady on the strange novelty.