World Tree MUSH

This world looks like a lot of other Earth-like planets. It has blue oceans, green continents, white clouds, blue skies, and that's where the similarities end. The levels of its oceans are much higher than other such worlds, and its poles are no longer frozen in ice. Those were melted many years ago thanks to a runaway greenhouse effect.

There are vestiges of civilization on its landmasses, but they're centuries old and defunct. Humanity no longer exists on this world, having destroyed itself centuries ago. Their shadow lingers still.

Over a ragged bay lined with rusting and silent machinery, a place that looks almost like some kind of mining or processing facility filled with things that seem related to metallurgy, a dense fog hangs. Small creatures are audible in the underbrush, but for the most part, animals and vegetation have reasserted their authority on these places that once belonged to Man.

The bay itself is deep and its waters clouded. A polluted fog hangs over the breakwater, smelling faintly terrible; lasting reminders of humanity's foolishness and egocentrism. The atmosphere isn't irrepairable, but even after five centuries of absence, time isn't enough to reverse the damage.

Something streaks through the water, cutting like a knife through rough-capped wavelets; something grey, and a faint glint of metal. After another series of low leaps, the shape spears straight up, breaking the surface in a trail of water thrown from the sleek form.

A dolphin, faintly blue of its sleek hide, and wearing some kind of faint, delicate harness. It looks metallic. Some kind of technology from this world? No, probably not; it's much more refined than the clunky mining machinery that surrounds the bay.

What a strange sight. Those waters look like they're half dead.

After splashing back down, the dolphin's head pokes up over the water's surface again, and the creature surges up out of the water, tail churning the water into faintly greenish froth to stay upright -- but not the usual sort of play by such creatures.

Nope. This one's studying the surrounding bay. Not just the water, but the dolphin's got an eye cocked towards land, too.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Stupid vines. Whatever they are. Because, a hazel-eyed young human just got deposited on the beach. She coughs a bit...ugh, the air here is NOT very clear.

    <== TWO HOURS AGO

"WHAT?!" Josuke exclaimed. "No way! That stuff looks like toxic waste! No way I'm swimming in that!"

The white-clad man stated flatly, "That world looks like all projections of what ours will look like with continued human interference. The Speedwagon Foundation intends to present data that human activity is actively harming the planet. And that world is the perfect place to get it."

Josuke pouted. "But don't I have to get certified or something?"

"The SPW equipment is easy enough to use that there's no need," Jotaro replied. "Goggles and a rebreather, you should be fine. It's too dangerous for a regular agent. We don't know what's out there."

...And right there. Jotaro knew how to manipulate Josuke -- telling him a regular agent would be in danger about does it. "Nnnngh... fine," Josuke agreed grumpily. "You're buying me lunch tomorrow, though."

    <== HERE AND NOW

There's something else in the water besides Ecco... something swimming awkwardly (likely so to Ecco, at least), leaving a weird sort of... wiggly wake. And it's heading for the beach -- where Ace is. Eventually it gets into shallow enough water to rise from the water.

It's a humanoid figure, tall and broad of shoulders. Looks male. Clad head to toe in a purple wetsuit and green swim flippers, black hair hanging over his face in a seaweed-like configuration. A pair of bulbous goggles hide its eyes, and below that, a device that looks like a chemical mask hides his nose and mouth. There's an echoing of harsh breathing from behind it.

Whoever -- or WHATever -- it is... it's heading right for Ace...

Ace acks. Backpedals, and pulls a baseball bat out of her backpack. It was only half IN the backpack mind. Dropping the backpack, she sets the baseball bat up between her for a mighty swing, and if the figure comes any closer, she'll *make* that swing, with the intent of clobeering the poor guy back into the water. Fortunately for him, she does hesitate.

The water is polluted, but it's still saltwater, which means that it still follows the same rules. Sound still carries the same way through it. High frequencies are lost, but low frequencies can carry for hundreds of miles, although here in the bay, the roar of the surf drowns out the nuances.

At least, to human ears.

Up above, the dolphin cocks his head slightly to one side; an affected gesture that most wild animals wouldn't use. It's also something unique to his species. The bigger cetaceans' necks aren't quite so flexible. His head turns toward the shape of Ace on the shore, and his body swings around to follow, before with a great arch of his spine he flips neatly back into the water.

And then he hears that wiggly wake as much as feels it. Ecco can't frown, but he can stare very intently at that weird trail. A firm push of his flukes sends him after it, keeping pace just behind the bizarre creature.

Josuke might hear an equally bizarre sound in the water behind him; a regular, almost rhythmic sort of clicking. He might even feel the sound as the sonar sweeps past him; through him. Ecco corkscrews around until he can come up below the weird alien creature, but the weird alien creature is already toward the shallows and climbing out of the water.

Ecco clicks to himself thoughtfully, although the sound can't be heard beyond the water. It's definitely some kind of weird alien. No men, here. But...

Josuke rises up behind Ace, rebreather rasping. And a streamlined, gray-blue shape rears up behind Josuke.

It clicks; it chatters and whistles. It's also staring very intently at Josuke.

It's making words. Those bizarre, high-pitched sounds actually resolve themselves into coherent sounds. The voice is reedy and a bit stuttery, but they're clearly understandable.

"If you're one of the Foe, I swear I'm going to ram you into next week." One dark eye cocks towards Ace, who is now suddenly armed with a baseball bat. He rears back a little in the surf, tail churning the surf into green froth to keep himself upright, more to put space between himself and the bat than anything else. Ecco gives a faint little 'squee-ee' whistle of surprise. "Whoa. You might want to put that down."

Right now, he's still in the water, though he's still got himself upright, tail churning to keep an eye on the gathering. Must be strong, to thrash around like that and not get tired.

If Josuke felt or heard anything under the water, he didn't seem to react to it. Which might have been weird enough -- if it was something nasty, wouldn't it have sensed Ecco immediately and then turned to confront him? If anything, the 'creature' only swam faster. On the bright side that means he got a good look at it on the way to the beach.

When Ace makes to knock him out of the park, the wetsuit-clad figure holds up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, wait!" he calls out, the words muffled. He takes a few steps back and pulls the goggles up and the mask down. He looks human underneath it. Probably Asian, if Ace is familiar with Earth nationalities. Letting the goggles rest on his forehead and the mask around his neck, the Asian guy calls out, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."

Suddenly he becomes aware of the shape, and turns... and his eyes widen. "What the...?!" And suddenly he's getting between Ecco and the looming dolphin, as if to protect her from it. The looming, TALKING dolphin, Josuke realizes a moment later. His eyes go wide again. "Wait... you can talk...?!"

Ace is from London, so no problems with Earth ethnicities. She blinks, then sticks the bat back into its kind of holder on the backpack. "Okay, talking dolphin, guy in scuba gear. Sorry, you startled me." She's a bit on edge, with all the dimension storms and random transportation. Just...a tiny bit on edge.

The looming, talking dolphin stands on his tail again with a great churning of the greenish water, pivoting in place as though to look behind himself in confusion. Is there another talking dolphin around here? Did one of his friends from this world follow him to the surface? No?

Ecco turns to face Josuke and Ace again, clapping his jaws shut in a gesture that could be either acknowledgement or exasperation. Maybe a little of both. It's loud, too. "Isss that-t really so sssurprising...?" Everyone always acts so surprised. Is it something he says?!

He slides back into the water, keeping his head poked above the surface so he can see the others. "Are you lossst-t?" Some of his consonants are a little sketchy, stuttery or sort of fizzy by turn, and some of the weird high-pitched noises are audible even through the words, but the words themselves are perfectly understandable. "You both look human enough. Well. Maybe you look like you belong here, sort-t of," Ecco stutters thoughtfully, swinging his head toward Josuke. "You're at-t least equipped for this place. But you aren't-t." His head swings back to Ace. "Do you need help finding a vine back out-t...?"

"Yeah." Josuke nods at the observation of just being a guy in scuba gear. "Got sent out to get some pictures." He indicates the small waterproof camera hanging from his belt. He does have a belt on, and there's a few things hanging from it aside from the camera. He pauses, to remove the swimming fins from his feet... or, well... the actual 'fin' part. It looks like the actual swimming surface is just attached to the pair of rubber shoes he's wearing.

Ecco's question of talking dolphins gets a blink. "Well, uh. There aren't any talking dolphins in my world," he notes. "Though Jotaro always tells me they're smart enough to. Maybe they're just smart enough NOT to," he reasons. A nod, then. "Yeah, I'm human," he confirms.

As for Ace not being equipped for the water? "I noticed that," Josuke replies. "There isn't a lot of land in this world. It looks like the ocean just swallowed up everything here. I mean... if this world is like mine." Yeah, he figures she's here accidentally.

Oh but he forgot! "Oh, right!" He nods politely. "My name's Josuke Higashikata," he offers.

A little too quickly, "Yeah, I'm human. But not dressed for water, no." She grins a bit lopsidedly. "Ace," she introduces. NOt answering the question about going to a Vine just yet...she's curious!

"Picturesss?" Ecco tilts his head, edging a little further out of the water to take a closer look.

The weak sunlight glints off the harness that circles his torso. It doesn't seem to have any identifying marks. It's made of some kind of metal, but nothing readily identifiable. Its surface is almost opalescent, shifting colors every time the light changes or the dolphin moves.

He lifts himself even higher, with an effortless flick of his tail--

--and actually breaks the surface of the water, but not in a leap. He drifts, as though he were still in the water. Amazing! Maybe that's the purpose of that harness?

Twisting, he corkscrews around Josuke, rolling to face his belly to the 'diver' and fix one dark eye on him, studying. This close, Josuke might hear and feel the clicking. It's a little thinner and harder to hear in the air, instead of the water, but it's noticeable, this close.

"They t-talk," Ecco states patiently. "They sssing. And they also pilot-t spaceshipsss. My aunt-t was trained to pilot, but she asked to stay on Earth before all thisss mess."

Twisting, he gestures to the polluted bay with a flick of his flukes. "Thisss isn't-t Earth. It also isss. My oceansss were blue and clear and clean. Thisss is an alternate history. One where dolphinsss didn't have the intellect-t to choose their own fatesss. Barely sentient-t. They were enslaved by Man, and when Man destroyed himself, they were left-t behind. There are dolphins down there. My... kin, in a manner of ssspeaking. But they're different-t."

He turns, levelling an eye at Ace. "No. I wouldn't go in like that-t."

Oh, right, introductions. The dolphin produces a complicated series of clicks, whistles, and bizarre groaning sounds. Maybe it's supposed to be a name...

"...But I don't-t think you can make those sssounds. So you can call me Ecco. We always have two namesss. One for usss... and one for humansss. Some men choose to take dolphin RNA. Gene-crafted. They sssay it helps them work with us better, but sssome of them I think prefer choosing to be different-t." He turns again, lazily corkscrewing around the pair as he eyes them. "Whatever floatsss their boatsss, I guess, but it doesn't-t matter now. They're... well. They're not-t gone, but they're not here, either."

He sighs, a puff of air from his blowhole, hot enough to fog in the cool, damp air. "I should ssstart-t at the beginning," he adds, with another one of those impossibly high-pitched squee-ee' whistles. "Earth was attacked by an alien we call the Foe. Original, yesss, I know. The Foe managed to shatter Earth's timestream. Earth is now two very different-t planets. You're lucky," he adds, pulling himself upright into high-body stance, looking down at Ace. "If you wound up in the other part-t, you might be in danger."

"Here is what-t I like to call Man's Nightmare. He fell into corruption and enslaved his friendsss, the dolphins, and then destroyed himself. What-t you see are the thingsss he left behind. Machinery. The dolphinsss were meant to operate underwater mining machinery. Harvesting ores from deep below the sssurface." Ecco turns to roll on his axis the other way. "Now the waters are poisoned. Even the air isss, but not like it-t was. Man is gone. His cities and his thingsss remain, and my dim-witted kin -- my not-kin -- await-t his return, even though he'll never be back. They've taken a superstitiousss view. Like religious awe. I think I've got-t them to understand that people from the vinesss aren't the men who they worked for..."

"Pleased to meet you!" Josuke offers to Ace -- and to Ecco, he's not going to be rude! Though when the dolphin's edging in to look at the pictures, Josuke turns the camera's viewfinder towards Ecco to show him some of the stuff he got pictures of. Mainly it's just the horrible, polluted quality of the water he was just in, though there's also a few pictures of the water level from land -- probably to show how much deeper it is.

When Ecco actually 'swims' through the air, Josuke's eyes go wide again. "Oh wow!" he interjects. "That's awesome! I've never seen a dolphin that could swim on land! Though... that's probably the thing you're wearing. But it's still <<great>>!"

Though the explanation of Ecco's world's problem is... that gets a thoughtful look. "Man. That's messed up..." He shakes his head. "But hey, that means this place stands as a good analogue for what's going on with my world, right? This same thing will happen if my world doesn't get its act together." So the trip wasn't wasted! Jotaro would get SUCH a knock on the head if he made Josuke mess his hair up for nothing.

Speaking of his hair, Josuke pushes the goggles back a bit more, so they push his hair back out of his face. Due to his usual preferred hairstyle, he wears his hair long in the front, so it's kind of annoying. Now his face is more visible.

The problem is soon figured out, and Josuke offers, "I don't know if I could fix the water, but I might be able to fix some of this stuff." He looks around at the broken machinery. "Not to get it working again, but to get the bits and pieces out of the ocean, you know?"

Ace frowns a little bit. "I think this place is trying to tell me something. This is the third post-apocalyptic Earth I've been dropped on." Maybe it's going to send her home with a nice list of All The Ways Humanity Can Screw Up And Avoid Their Ultimate Fate. She glances at Ecco. "People will worship all kinds of things. People from other places, machines, the sun, the moon, predatory animals." She checks them off. Sounds like she's been a lot of places and seen a lot of things for a girl who can't be much past twenty. The broken machinery gets a look as Josuke makes his offer. "I'd...help, but I really don't have gear for swimming in toxic water."

"I got-t lucky when all of this happened. I was caught-t up in the wake of the time vortex, so I was spared its effectsss." Ecco tosses his head. "It'sss up to me to fix this mess, while there's still t-time."

"When the Foe attacked, they ssstole the Five Noble T-Traits from my people: Ambition, Compassion, Intelligence, Humility, and Wisdom. The dolphins of Man'sss Nightmare have none of those qualities. The onesss in Dolphin's Nightmare have Ambition and Intelligence. They're aggressive, cunning, xenophobic, and above all, they're dangerousss. Especially to offworldersss."

Twisting again, he fixes his eye on Josuke. "That'sss right-t; it's the harness. It-t lets me 'swim' on land. A woman named Athena made it-t for me. I owe her a great debt-t."

He turns, clicking, sweeping Josuke with a spray of inquisitive sonar. The sounds can be felt as much as heard, even in the thinner medium of the atmosphere. "Pollution? Seemsss to be a common problem. You humans, you never know when to quit-t." Ecco claps his jaw in loud affirmative. "You're right-t. This will get worse if you let it go. Better pass that on in your report-t."

He tilts his head a little, eyeing Josuke when the young man pushes his hair out of his face. Better, but his sonar still paints a more complete picture than vision ever could. "You mean to clean it-t up? You can. I won't ssstop you. But this place is not t-true. This is not-t my Earth. And it might-t well go away when I fix this mess."

That dark eye tilts to regard Ace, and Ecco 'swims' over, circling her and fixing her with a spray of curious sonar. It's harder to hear the actual clicking in the thinner medium of the atmosphere, but the sounds are palpable; they can be felt throughout the body. Almost ticklish, but not quite, like the equivalent of a buzz on the very edge of one's hearing.

He continues to click to himself even after he's inspected her to his satisfaction. It must be some kind of reflexive thing; a symptom of living in places where vision isn't quite so useful, maybe.

He sighs through his blowhole, breath a plume of fog in the cold air. "Aren't-t you the lucky one, then?" Ecco says, to Ace. If this one is any judge, dolphins are smart-alecks, just a little. "At-t least the vine didn't let-t you off underwater. The pressure wouldn't-t do you any favors... or the pollution. Never mind that you humansss can't-t breathe down there."

"Oh no, I understand," Josuke notes to Ace's mention of not being kitted out to help. "It's pretty nasty down there, and in all fairness I wouldn't have been down there if I hadn't been forced to." He makes a face. Not at how nasty it is down there, but at basically having to be forced to dive down there.

Josuke blinks a bit at the explanation of the aliens stealing 'Traits' from the Dolphins. Which yes, he does think of with a capital 'D', because dolphins don't talk -- Dolphins do. Apparently. "How do you... STEAL something like intelligence, or compassion?" he wonders. "Was it like a thing that represented those qualities and was destroyed?" That makes more logical sense to him.

Then again he comes from a world where a hundred year old vampire who hijacked the body of his great grandfather tried to kill his now 30-year old nephew, and people semi-regularly have brain-ghosts that sometimes kill them. So perhaps logic isn't his world's strength either.

Though the mention that this world might disappear if Ecco fixes it, Josuke blinks at that. "Oh, yeah... you said your world got split into two timelines, right? This is the 'wrong' one, I guess. Still, really good for illustrating the Speedwagon Foundation's point. I just hope the pictures don't disappear like in that old movie where the teenager goes back in time and screws with things."

While Ecco is circling Ace, Josuke brings his camera up to take a couple of pictures. They're not underwater, but the camera works either way. Besides, if he tells anybody back home about a talking, land-swimming dolphin, unless he comes back with proof, they're gonna think he's lost his mind. Once he's got the pictures, he notes to Ecco's mention of Ace being dumped on the beach instead of a less hospitable place, "Yeah... that would have sucked. It's good you're reasonably safe though. I guess the Vine knew what it was doing."

"Seems that way. But I think I'm going to try and find a vine to somewhere a little more...hospitable. And the water would have ruined my jacket," Ace adds to the dolphin. She doesn't seem bothered by the scan...she kind of accepts it the way one might accept a dog sniffing one all over. It won't show up anything *that* unusual. "I'll...I have a *feeling* I'll see you around." Snag is, she does, and ugh, it's probably one of those feelings which means she will. NOt that the two don't seem nice, but...where's that ice cream parlor?

"Don't-t look at me. How should I know? All I know is they did it-t, and now Earth is in shamblesss." Ecco's statement sounds almost sour. "The Foe is more t-technologically advanced than we are. I don't-t even know how their shipsss work, although I'm not a pilot-t, either. That'sss to other podmatesss. My background is in something else."

He turns, slightly, clapping his jaw again in assent at Josuke. "They're both the 'wrong' onesss. Two pieces of a whole. Splintersss. Yesss. Your picturesss should stay. I think." Ecco pauses. "Maybe."

Welp. Only time will tell that one.

"The vinesss always seem to know what-t they're doing, even if they don't-t always make sense. Actually... they usually don't-t make sense," Ecco concedes, with a sigh. "Oh. You're leaving. All right-t, then. Stay sssafe," he adds, to Ace.

Ecco turns his focus back to Josuke, parting his jaws slightly. It's just enough to bare needle-sharp teeth, but all he does is rotate the point of his lower jaw in tiny circles. It's like the equivalent of a man rubbing his chin in thought. "Ssso... what-t will you do now, Josuke? T-take your evidence back to your world? I wish I could go with you, but I'd better do a little more searching. Make sssure the nativesss don't-t get restless. Offworldersss have a way of spooking them, sometimes."

Josuke nods to Ace's words. "I think there was another Vine on the other side of the beach. Pretty sure it was above water," he directs. "See ya! Be careful, OK?" He offers a wave as Ace departs.

Ecco gets his attention again, with the explanation. Not having any way to get the Traits back, that makes Josuke wonder if he can somehow... 'fix' them back? He CAN 'fix' energy and return it where he came from. He suddenly takes on a thoughtful look. But... well, he doesn't want to get Ecco's hopes up if he can't. Besides, those are important things. It might look like he was just trying to get his hands on them. Instead he notes, "Geez... aliens."

The mention of 'restless natives' gets a wince. "Yeah, I can understand. I really want to offer to stay and help, but I don't want my presence making things worse. Though given the reaction to when I'm all kitted out in all this underwater stuff, I look suitably inhuman, if that helps." He smirks a little. More seriously, he notes, "Besides, even WITH the rebreather, there's only so far underwater I can go. My suit doesn't do anything for the pressure. And if I dive too deep I have to wait and decompress, or it could be fatal."

The dolphin pulls himself up to a high-body stance again, considering as he tilts his head this way and that, clicking to himself. "Eatees." Ecco's tone is a little disgruntled, as much as he can make it sound. Extraterrestrials. It's not a very politically correct term, but it's one Ecco likes. Precisely because it's not very politically correct.

Ecco twists lazily, drifting in the air. Light glints off his skin as though it were kept wet by the harness, although it doesn't look like he's got enough water left on him to drip any more. His jaw opens, baring twin-vee rows of needle-like teeth and making that thin, reedy chattering again. It's a friendly sort of sound, even if all those teeth might not look too friendly to some people.

"The thought-t is appreciated," the dolphin says simply. "If I'm ever in a position to help you t-too, let-t me know. It's not-t really construct-tive for me to spend all my time here. Besides, it's an excuse to see other worldsss. Hear other songsss." He claps his jaw affirmatively, righting himself with a flick of his powerful flukes.

"Maybe." This, to Josuke's fearsomely inhuman appearance in his underwater kit. "Most-t of them probably don't know what men look-k like, for what-t that'sss worth. They only know what-t they've passed down through the ages. Songsss. Ssstories. Think of... of... oh, of pre-industrial societiesss. When humansss were ssstill hunter-gatherersss. I remember my hissst-tory lessonsss!"

He circles around Josuke, nodding his head thoughtfully. "Yesss, yesss. You'd better not-t go too deep. It's dangerousss, the pressure. And you can't-t sssee, either. Never mind that the deeper you go, the more foul the watersss. It hurtsss even me. These fellowsss are used to it, I guess. Bred for it-t, even, as much as I hate to put-t it that way."

"Even ssso... you'd probably better get back, soon, or your people will be wondering if something nasssty ate you." Ecco claps his jaw, chattering, a little like human laughter. "Go on, then. I hope our pathsss cross again, Josuke! I'd better get back-k below, myself."

With a last chatter, Ecco lurches himself up and backwards into the air, landing past the shallows of the bay with a tremendous splash. He pops up a moment later, breaching and splashing back down with a spray of water; pure acrobatics, until he eventually doesn't come back up again. He must have air pockets to breathe down there, too.

Josuke actually snickers a little at the mention of 'E.T.s'. "There's a guy in my school that says he's an alien," he notes. "He's got some weird abilities, and... there are a couple other weird things about him, but I dunno if I believe he's an alien or not. Nice enough guy, though. Besides, I doubt he really is." The last is added for Ecco's benefit, since all hs prior experience with aliens appears to be negative. He isn't even really sure Mikitaka IS an alien, he'd hate to have someone hate on the guy because he MIGHT be.

The mention of going to other worlds gets a nod. "I think Jotaro especially would like you," he notes. "He's marine biologist, so the ocean and the things that live in it are his bag." Which was also one of the reasons he got pictures of Ecco -- Josuke is totally gonna use them as a 'see what you missed by sending me instead of going yourself'. Hey, just because Josuke's compassionate doesn't mean he's always NICE.

The mention of not knowing what humans look like gets a tilt of his head. "I'd almost say that was sad, but... given what this place looks like, I think they're better off not knowing," he notes. If there's a whole culture down there, there would be hell to pay if they ever found out humans were responsible for their world's predicament. At least partially.

Josuke nods, though, at the words of getting back. "Yeah. It'll be pretty late by the time I get back anyway," he agrees. "You take care too, yeah? Thanks for letting me know what's going on here. I hope this'll be enough for the Speedwagon Foundation to convince people there's a problem in our world. I don't wanna see it get like this."

And of course he watches the acrobatics of the dolphin. Because when DON'T you watch a creature happily playing in their native habitat? How is that NOT the purest thing in ANY world? Even if the place looks like a muclear disaster area. Once Ecco's out of sight, Josuke sighs, and then heads for that Vine, the same one he'd pointed Ace at. Hopefully it's still around...