WEEK 2 DAY 2: MISSION

[wonderful_mods]

Mission: "Make the mall rats batty."
Time Limit: Short
Noise Plane: Solo
Wall Instructions: Around Julius Mall; must be required to defeat noise
Wall Rewards: Mystery Pin
Reaped Rewards: Lolita Bat
Mission Rewards: 500 leu



[Interestingly enough, it seems the mission takes place inside a mall full of Reaper Decal'd buildings. Assuming the so-called 'mall rats' are in fact RGers, this should make your job quite easy.

But don't these mystery pins look kinda sketchy and bootleg? Plus if you put one on, it slows your movements. ... And may also kind of make you feel like eating some rare steak. Odd indeed.]

Comments

[juuichi_yosamu]

[While everyone else is harrying, Grovyle has set up a wall in a rather obvious place - right in front of the food court. Yeah, there's stalls and vendors strewn throughout the mall, but if you want to get to where most of the RGers are, you'll have to go through him.

Besides, this way he could still do his job of keeping an eye on Kreutzer while she harries. Make sure she doesn't explode anything else.]

[tamedhollow]

Oi. [have an Ichigo] How's it going? [smalltalk blah blah. He has other questions, but they can wait]

[juuichi_yosamu]

You tell me. Seems like there's fewer players this time around. Meaning Reapers really got their act together yesterday [Ha. Ha ha.] or there's fewer than we ended up with at the end of the first week.

[He's not going to talk about the wall duty, because it's a wall. If you love it so much, why don't you man it.]

[tamedhollow]

There does seem to be fewer. [he frowns and looks around the mall] ... And a bunch of the same ones as before. Which seems real fair. [he looks at the Pokémon] Do you have any clue what today's mission is about?

[juuichi_yosamu]

Life isn't any fairer than death. That's why we're given the strength to persevere. Should be even stronger here in this place, since we don't have our original bodies to hold us back.

...besides. If just anybody could come back to life, nobody would ever die.

[He headshakes. He gets the feeling he won't quite convince anyone of his way of seeing things.]

I have no idea... just that I've been told to give players these. [He holds out a handful of the strange bat pins, looking at them.] And that I'm supposed to send out noise to get people to clear the wall... apparently there were one too many reapers yesterday more interested in a warm cup of coffee than actually challenging the players.

[Was that a jab at you? Potentially.]

[tamedhollow]

[Ichigo rolls his eyes a bit] You are way more philosophical than any leaf lizard has any right to be, you know that? This Game is still a weird way to deal with souls. Period.

[It's different when you have nothing to go back to, Grovyle. Ichigo has a family, a girlfriend, a life. ]

Those are weird. They look... well they look kind of crappy. Like, cheap. [seriously, look at all the JPEG artifacts in that image.

If it's a jab, Ichigo doesn't seem to care. He waves a hand] It was the first day. Can't make it too hard on the first day. Some of them are playing for the first time, after all.

[juuichi_yosamu]

[Before he came here, Ichigo, he didn't think souls existed outside of their bodies, so... yeah, you get a shrug. He kind of wishes he could see his girlfriend, too.]

They certainly don't seem like they'd be of any use to players. I guess they're supposed to do something with them for the humans on the living side.

And I agree. At the same time, you can't exactly have people casually strolling through days three and four. I was hunted on day two and then barely saw a reaper at all until you came at me with that box... somehow, I don't think the GM expected that day to be a free ride, so much as a trap that nobody bothered to spring.

[tamedhollow]

The RGers? [Ichigo looks at the people milling around the mall, paying absolutely zero attention to the Players and Reapers running around the mall] That doesn't make any sense. The RGers can't see us. Unless there's a medium out there, somewhere. Urgghhh. [so frustrating!!]

[Ichigo frowns, folding his arms and continuing to look off into the crowd] ... I was still feeling out the Game, then. What I could do. What I could get away with. Or, rather, get away with not doing. They keep a closer eye on us than I thought. Rules can always be bent. I wanted to see how far. If I'm going to change this crap and get us all home, I have to learn everything I can.

[juuichi_yosamu]

...Do you need to change it?

To get home, I mean.

[After all, the way Grovyle sees it, things work just fine here, in their own stilted way... except for the "pulling people from other worlds" thing.]

Maybe it's more important to find a stone out of place than to tear down the whole wall.

[tamedhollow]

I think I do. Or maybe if I get up high enough, I can send myself home. And get the others home, too. I can't just... stay here forever.

[juuichi_yosamu]

I'm not arguing the "getting you home" part. You keep talking like you didn't sign up for this like I did, and I believe it.

But I don't think it's the system itself that's making things so screwed up. If it was, they'd try to lull you into complacency. After all, who wants a game run by a bunch of headless torchics?

[tamedhollow]

I "signed up" to be a Reaper when I got here because they gave me two choices. Player, or Reaper. I thought that being a Reaper would be like being a Shinigami... it's not. And you know, this game WOULD work if they weren't pulling people in from different worlds.

Then what's screwed up, you figure?

[juuichi_yosamu]

Why are other worlds involved at all? This seems like the sort of thing that would work better if the reapers weren't as confused as the players... and it seems like they've even got a few living folk caught up in this.

It's like... a knot in space, or something... except with no Palkia to fix things. Something tells me this isn't how the Game is supposed to be.

[tamedhollow]

Involving other worlds is not only stupid, but dangerous. Worlds are separate for a reason; they have their own pool of souls, their own ways of going about things. You can't just transplant souls, it upsets the balance.

[Ichigo just growls. This whole mess just continues to piss him off] Josh and Neku know about this Game. They both said this is out of the ordinary. Way out of the ordinary.

[juuichi_yosamu]

Meaning something's broken INSIDE the Game, and it's better to figure out what instead of assuming the whole thing's the problem.

I mean, I don't know how that "shinigami" thing works in your world, but I'm sure you'd be incredibly pissed if someone from another world showed up and started changing the rules because he ended up there.

[tamedhollow]

[He grumps. Why you gotta be so logical, man?] ... I guess you're right. I still gotta work my way up, though. They don't pay a lick of attention to low-level Reapers except to tell us we aren't doing enough.

[juuichi_yosamu]

Meaning they pay attention to actions, not to words. You're going to have to really work hard to get where you need to go here.

[A bit of a quiet contemplation, before Grovyle continues]

You've got the right idea, though. If you need any help, I've got your back.

[tamedhollow]

[he gives a wry grin] They were impressed with my box trick. I just have to keep being creative. Plus I think Josh is going to help, as well. Josh... knows more than he says.

[he nods]

I appreciate it, Grovyle. You're a smart guy. It's good to have you as an ally.

[sunnydwithagun]

(Ah, this is a wall just like yesterday. Ryoji isn't anywhere in sight, but if the reapers see it fit to put up a wall here, then there just may be something of significance on the other side. Django makes his approach.)

I must get past this wall.

[juuichi_yosamu]

[Yup, sure is. People are on the other side of the wall. Let's see if Django is smart enough to figure that out.]

If you're that set on it, then wiping out a few noise should be no problem for you.

[Huh... those bat noise weren't lurking around the wall before, were they?]

Wipe out the bats, and I'll let you past.

[There's three groups of three-to-four bats, but they're not aggressive. You can pick them off at your leisure, sun-boy. Just be warned that those groups will go after you when you target them...]

[sunnydwithagun]

(Bats...why must it always be bats? Even back home, they were annoying. Such tiny targets and you could only aim in the eight basic directions...ugh.)

Alright. I'll take care of them.

(He nods. Okay Grovyle; he'll take out the bats. Despite how much they suck, Django at least has a lot of experience shooting them down. It's admittedly easier than trying to slash them up close. Trust.

He's a professional gunslinger, so even with his ranged attacks being limited to a pin, his accuracy is still pretty top notch. With his Cutie Beam pin at the ready, he takes aim and fires several shots.)

[juuichi_yosamu]

[Gabba Bats aren't exactly known for their sturdiness, but Cutie Beam isn't exactly known for its power. It takes about four shots to take down a single bat, so he can ALMOST take out an entire pack before the pin has to recharge.

Almost.

It's not like it's much of a challenge, dodging a single bat... so Grovyle does a bit of shifting of the other Noise - next group he takes on will have twice as many bats in it.]

[sunnydwithagun]

(More bats are always more fun. Except to Django. He's seen the horrors...

But hey, dodging a single bat is still really easy. Waiting until Cutie Beam recharges is just as easy, so he finishes off the last bat with ease.

The next group looks to be more of a challenge. Django won Creepy Weepy Barrier from Ryoji, so he can at least defend himself if they surround him. Until then, he's still going to take down as many as he can before Cutie Beam has to recharge.)

[juuichi_yosamu]

[The five remaining Gabba Bats swarm over to Django as he takes down three of their buddies. It wasn't really that hard of a challenge, even for a new Player, but it'd definitely take some skill - and possibly that new pin - to get through completely unscathed.

As it stands, the pokémon just watches - he gets the feeling that the kid will get past this, so he idly toys with the strange, cheap pin he was told to give out as a reward as he watches.]

[sunnydwithagun]

(He wouldn't really mind the cuts and injuries; Django has come out of plenty of situations clinging desperately to life. Still, he has yet to try out Creepy Weepy Barrier, so he's pretty curious about how it works and if he can use it...

...the dark barrier pushes the the bats off of him and even heals him somewhat. It reminds him of his vampire form and the darkness needed to use it, but as he was once told, "power itself is neither good nor evil." It works well enough while waiting for Cutie Beam to charge.

In other words, keep admiring that strange imitation pin thingy. Django's got this covered.)