[IC Board] All the World's a Game - Season II

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Inside the wrapped gifts, everyone would find pretty much th exact same thing. A can of spaghetti and a niftly little action figure of either Papyrus or MetatonEX (letting everyone pick which one they get)

The skeleton somehow managed to blush despite not having any skin over his cheek bones. all the nice things everyone was saying about him, it really touched his heart. He ever teared up a little as he turned around to answer Toriel. "Nyahaha! You're all very kind, but don't worry. I, The Great papyrus, do not require any meterial gifts." He said, keeping his composure up to that point... "Because you guys.." he sniffled holding back tears of pure joy. "You guys have already made me the happiest skeleton in the world!!"

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Seeing Papyrus all happy made Palutena quite happy despite barely knowing him. Sans though as his brother was really pleased with how happy Papyrus was. After all they haven't seen each other in so long. However when Sans heard Papyrus talking about not wanting any material possessions, Sans' eyes widened in shock as he realized something. "oh snap forgot somethin' bro!" Sans said as he got up out of the chair in the dining room before leaving the apartment. Quickly teleporting into his bedroom the second he closed the door behind him.

It took about 10 minutes for Sans to find what he was looking for. By the time he found it he left his room in their apartment. After closing the door to his room he immediately had used one of his 'shortcuts' to enter Palutena's apartment again. This time back in his blue jacket, black shorts, and slippers he closed the door to Palutena's apartment as he came back in. This time with a messily wrapped rectangle shaped package that was poorly wrapped in brown package paper and scotch tape.

It was then he walked up to Papyrus and handed the small package to him. "here ya go bro. was intendin' on sendin this to ya but was to lazy to ya know? guess my laziness finally paid off for once cause i get to give this to the 'best bro in the world' now huh?"





Outskirts of D.C

Meanwhile on the far end of the city on the bare outskirts a gathering was happening. A gathering of what looks to be skeletons, zombies, and demons all gathered in a clearing as a suddenly a scythe materialized in the air in the center of the crowd. The scythe then turned upright as a tall skeletal figure in a dark purple robe and a few will-o-wisp type spirit flames surrounded him appeared holding the scythe...


"Finally... I have gathered enough dark energies to begin the spell. Once this spell has been casted... we will be able to begin the true process in resurrecting our Dark Lord. Now kneel before Death and lend me your energy...!" Death spoke as he held out his empty hand into the air, palm opened. The second he did this all the evil beings below knelt before him as their own power was beginning to be drained from them, with the drained energy beginning to gather up in a dark cluster in the air above Death.


Meanwhile...


Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Meanwhile in Palutena's apartment, as everyone was enjoying the festivities... Palutena... detected something... A very large spike of dark magical power. Feeling this... power she slowly walked over to the kitchen window and looked out at the city quietly with a... worried expression on her face. However from her apartment's window it was impossible to see what was going on at the outskirts of the city due to how far away it was happening.

As this happened Sans began to feel it as well indicated by his nervous expression as he completely froze. One eye socket was normal with one simple white pupil, but the other had his typical glowing blue eye. All the while he had what looked to be sweat forming on his skull as he stood there a bit... frozen at the power he's beginning to feel.


Julius though,despite being unable to sense it directly was able to at least feel the dark power that was beginning to befall the city. The Vampire Killer whip on the other hand was feeling... heavier.


It was clear that something big was happening. Even if everyone in the apartment couldn't feel it.

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment


The twili could feel the extreme magical surge on the far away area and was about to comment it when she noticed the others were having similar reactions, yet were stuck like statues "All eight, since most around here are petrified by the magical surge, might as well check what that undead freak is trying to summon, and by the pull of magic that can be filled from goddesses know" She stretched her arm "It will be quite the sight"

Near Command Bridge - Pillar of Autumn - Henir's Time and Space


"see what I mean? something out of this universe" Nera pointed out to the disturbing canine which made the other auras get more active "Heads up folks, we will get company in any moment" she said raising her paws and ready to fight"

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

As Palutena was patiently waiting out the window she overheard Midna's words. Hearing it the goddess turned to face Midna before replying.

"Midna I'm sorry but we cannot simply go out there and check. I have tried sending some scouts however, but... what they saw... Hundreds. If not thousands of the enemy at once, and if I recall their leader was Death...?"
Palutena asked as she turned to Julius who was now deep in thought about... something. Upon hearing Palutena speak up to him he turned to her and spoke.

"Huh? Oh. Yes... Death was the one leading those demons we faced out on the streets earlier. However we did not see him physically. Only his scythe." Julius spoke as he went back into thought. This is when Palutena spoke up again.

"Exactly. As much I'd hate to just sit back and interfere. It's far too dangerous as of this moment to go in and check. The scouts I sent, even though they were on the outer edge of the location had fallen to the power. Whatever is going on, it's not normal dark energy. It's demonic. More so than before. Significantly more. I... I feel as if something is being pulled from... some other realm. Like a tear is forming in this world."

Hearing that the Vampire Hunter who was deep in thought had opened his eyes wide in shock as he could only think of one thing.

"Of course... how could I not see that coming? I'll be back." Julius spoke in a rather serious tone of voice as he left Palutena's apartment. By the look on his face, it was obvious to both the Twili and Goddes of what he was thinking of doing despite the goddesses words. Seeing this Palutena simply sighed and looked at Midna and whispered.

"Midna. You go with Julius. I'll be preparing for the inevitable. It looks like I'll actually have to step in myself this time." Palutena spoke as she left the dining room for the main hallway of her apartment. Using her magic a door opened up. A door that had a bright light emitting from it. She then turned to face Pit.

"Pit. Please come with me. Toriel, Sans, Papyrus. You could chose to follow me, Julius, or go someplace safe. Something big is happening." Saying that Pit who who was enjoying the figure Papyrus gave him, due to how well the figure was made, quickly stopped and hopped off the couch and ran after Palutena without saying a thing.

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Just as the man with the whip left the room, he was replaced by a small child with a striped shirt. She was rubbing her sleepy eyes and her hair was bessy and uncombed. It appeared she had just gotten out of bed. She was able to enter the room mostly noticed due to the commotion ow going on in the room with the strange. dark presence that some of the people inside seemed to be able to feel. Frisk couldn't feel this herself, but she could tell something was going on due to how everyone was acting. She sat down next to Midna casually and watched what everyone was doing while eating some of the pie.

Papyrus, sensing adventure in the air was all too eager to have a little fun. He removed his Santa suit to reveal his usual clothing underneath, complete with the armor and red scarf. "NYAHAHAHA! DON'T WORRY, I'LL MAKE SURE HE'S SAFE.YOU CAN COUNT ON ME!" he said before quickly exiting the room and catching up to him as quickly as he could.

When Palutena was giving out orders, Frisk finally made her presence more obvious by hugging onto Midna's leg. Frisk was short so her head only went up to about where her butt was. "I wanna go with the cute one!" she said in her most innocent voice possible.

Washington D.C | Apartment Complex


As Julius was already making his way down the stairwell of the apartment he heard someone following down below him. Instinctively Julius turned around to face who it was that came down after him, only to find that it was Papyrus.

"Oh. It's you. Whatever it is you want. I thank you for the gifts, but please take into mind that I need to confront the situation on my own. I fear the worst would happen if... You were to join me." Julius spoke before turning around, preparing to head back down the stairs.

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment


Toriel nodded at Palutena´s offer "I will do what my abilities and knowledge can do" she spoke in a more professional tone, the goat monster knew that the energy surge was massive and from what she could hear from the others, Toriel had to do something about it.

"All right, an important thing that we need to know is if the magical air is normal or corruptive, I may have something for tha-" she stopped in her tracks when she felt something hugging her leg and her rear was being touched, the twili was about to punch whoever was on her leg when she spotted a little girl "Uh, would someone take this little bugger away from me?" she asked obviously bothered, and she raised an eyebrow at Toriel´s pale expression.

The goat monster was stuck on her place for some seconds as she had flashes of blood and fire, she took some breaths to calm down and closed her eyes.

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Frisk knew the look on Midna's face well. It was the face people made when they didnt' want to be hugged. She had encountered this face before in her travels in the underground. Luckily she knew exactly what to do. *Frisk selects ACT. Frisk selects unhug* The girl let go of the girl's leg, but knowing that Midna might reject her, It filled her with determination. *Frisk selects ACT. Frisk selects flirt* the small child wiggled her hips and winked at the Twili to impress her.

Washington D.C | Apartment Complex

The great papyrus caught up to the man quickly enough. Hearing the man's concern for his safety was touching, but Papyrus wasn't worried. "Nyaha! Theres no need worry human. The Great Papyrus was one head of the royal guard... For a whole day before Frisk reset the game and got another ending.... BUT HEY! Papyrus still has a few tricks up his sleeves.... I'm not wearing sleeves. Maybe i should put on a sweater before coming with you."

Washington D.C | Palutena's Apartment

Seeing everything going on in her own living room from the hall before she entered the light filled door, Palutena sighed. They don't have time for this kind of stuff. Thankfully though Sans stepped in as he heard Frisk. Walking up to the young girl and placed a skeletal hand on her shoulder.

"come on kid. leave the woman alone. now's not the uh... time." Sans spoke in a rather firm, but not all too serious tone as he looked at Frisk.



Washington D.C | Apartment Complex

Julius didn't seem to respond anymore. He remained quiet as he continued to walk down the stairs, and was even more quiet until he got down to the main lobby of the apartment building. In fact Julius remained quiet until they were outside and at his car. A rather older looking car, but looks like it was kept in good shape. He then turned to Papyrus.

"Hop in. You're riding shotgun."

(FREEDOM! NGAHHH!!!)
Training Room - Sector 4, Prometheus Labs - London

---

Flandre giggled gleefully. The thought of playing with more and more SPARTANs had Flandre excited. If only one SPARTAN could put up such a fight, Flandre couldn't even begin to fathom how playing with a squad would be like. That said, in Flandre's mind, more toys always meant more fun. So, surely playing with more SPARTANs couldn't go wrong at all! Right?
Nodding her head in response, Flandre stuck close by Alice as she lead the way to the Observation Deck where Cole was laid to rest.

As merry and glee as Flandre was, Cole on the other hand felt like he was recovering from a hangover. Clutching his head in both disappointment and shame, Cole begrudgingly rose up and started stretching his arms.
"What the hell did I do to get in this mess...?" Cole mumbled as he mulled over the past 24 hours. His escape, several near-death experiences, and now he's head-deep in some conspiracy with nowhere to go except down. To be frank, this was no different than his time in Empire City, back in his game. Cole just wished that he would at least be given one moment of peace in this new-found world of chaos and havoc.

That said; despite all the trouble the conduit landed himself in, he had to give props to Flandre's reflexes and reactions earlier. Were it not for her, Cole would have either murdered countless innocent people over the sake of a grudge or he would be dead. And better yet, Flandre's actions were rather clean and accurate. A quick and non-lethal strike to the back of the head, just like in some of the movies he used to watch. Even if Cole was knocked out, he didn't feel any broken bones, any nerve damage, or anything. While Cole never did doubt Flandre's strength, he never did account for something like that. She may be child-like but she definitely was more than just a child.

Still recovering, Cole kept to himself in the Observation Deck and waited. Chances are, Flandre would eventually return to him or some SPARTAN would find him and the madness would continue. It was just a matter of who and when, not if.