World Tree MUSH

    Welcome to Gameindustri, a large continent, trisected by large mountain ranges with passes between into the three large Civilisations. To the southwest is Planeptune, a free spirited region, to the north is Lowee, the oldest and covered in snow almost year-round, and the focus of the day, is Lastation in the east, a built-up urban zone with open fields surrounding it.

    Unfortunately, the Vine deposits arrivals in the middle of an apparent warzone. Citizens man barricades made of fallen building rubble, men in black armour fire lasers over these barricades at greyish purple alien looking creatures who grunt and skid backward from the impacts, some falling over and 'bwipping' out in a flash of bluewhite light. "Has anyone made contact with Lady Black Heart yet?! We're being overrun in sector seven!" cries one man, wearing captain bars with a more ornate helmet.

    Talia's spent most of her life in shithole warzones and places where corruption was thickest, be it in the slums or in the midst of the Senate where politicians played with the lives of countless beings. Thus, she was due for a change in surroundings, to explore this new multiverse of vines and branches and the like. Thane can handle the homefront on Balmorra for a time, right?

    It's in Gameindustri that the Jedi finds herself, hoping to have a day with her own thoughts.

    That didn't work out at all, as she's jarred from her meditation by distant explosions. "Dank Farrik..." She hisses, before grabbing her cloak and belt, dashing toward the sound of chaos. Her lightsaber flashes to life with that trademark hum-hiss, a green blade blocking some energy blasts as she leaps up to slash one of the floating creatures in two.

    The Captain will find Talia easily enough, batting away laser blasts with her weapon. "I don't know that name, but how may I be of aid?" She asks politely enough, despite the chaos.

>> SUMMARY[Talia Kyras] >> And it was on my kriffing vacation, too.

"Why is it always chaos and violence when I decide to explore?" Misaki asks out loud as she notices her surroundings after coming through that Vine. She immediately transforms, and spots Talia. "Hey, do you know what's going on, ma'am?" She summons her guns and takes a few pot shots at the monsters.

    Aurelia emerges from the vine, gracelessly. With a wail of surprise, the gold-clad girl is unceremoniously dumped to the ground of Gameindustri. With a start, she realizes that she's in the middle of danger and scrambles towards the human agents, taking hits from the eight-bit aliens that both hurt and scatter into dazzling light displays off the sunset-colored armor. 
    "Ow. Ow. Ow." Finally she gets behind cover and takes a deep breath. "I'd like to know what's going on too!", echoing Misaki's question.

    Talia's arrival, unexpected or not, is appreciated as she manages to push the Malvaders back. The little alien-like creatures buzz and fizzle in some kind of language, firing little laser bolts back as they scitter back to hide behind some other former barricades. "Much obliged ma'am, sector seven's gettin' hit hard, it's just over thatta way. Heard they have an Ancient Dragon in with the Malvaders. We've been fending these little buggers off for weeks now, and noone can get in touch with the Basilicom. Lady Black Heart, Lady Black Sister and Miss Kei are completely incommunicado, and we're getting worried."

    Misaki and Aurelia get the same talk from nearby soldiers, but less eloquent and more clipped as they pop up and take potshots at the now retreating Malvaders. "We've been taking raids on and off for weeks. These things are called Malvaders, they're weak individually, but in large groups they can be a real handful. If the Goddess was here, she'd make short work of them."

    Jedi are hardly ones to arrive when expected. Talia absorbs the information with a nod. "I'll see what I can offer that sector." She says, before taking off toward where the soldier directs. The fighting is thick there, and brutal. Perfect for a heroic entry. Jumping across debris and leaping towards one of the floating beings, Talia splits the creature in twain with her lightsaber. It's strange, these digital beings are quite solid. And they're also vulnerable to what usually ails the physical. Grabbing some junk with the Force, Talia flings it towards more of the Malvaders as that captain called them. "I haven't the foggiest idea." She answers Misaki, recognizing her from the forest. The other one in gold she doesn't recognize. This might be an interesting little affair.

"Black Sister? She's from here?" Misaki's face takes on a look of determination, "I still owe her, so I guess that's another reason to help out." She twirls Marvelous while taking another pot shot at one of the retreating Malvaders. "Hello miss Kyras. Shall we go fight a dragon?" The Senshi takes a look at Aurelia, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Misaki Sakai."

    Keeping her helmeted head down, Aurelia hurriedly introduces herself to Misaki by her first name. A loud pop is heard as she produces a full helm from nowhere, the faceplate that of a stern goddess. 
    "A dragon? Haven't fought one yet." She takes a deep breath and puts the helmet on. "Yeah, let's go fight one, Misaki and... Miss Kyras?" The only dragon Aurelia's actually heard of is the one that threatened to burn the world before it was sealed away, so she felt no small amount of trepidation. 
    "A dragon..." she mutters.

    Sector seven, this area is torn up worse than the area of entry, a large crater bisects the street, with malvaders pouring through it and climbing like a sea of buzzing pixel art. The Lieutenant is shouting orders, firing a pistol at the advancing waves while his other arm hands limp and useless. "Concentrate fire, pick your targets and don't let them break through. Reinforcements are on the way!"

    Talia comes through, and breaks the advance with some expertly tossed debris, allowing the defenders to drop down, cycle their guns and vent heat from the glowing barrels. "Am I glad to see you. That Ancient Dragon keeps assaulting our position and I don't know if we can... INCOMING!"

    A large chunk of what used to be a building slams into the barricade, crushing it and leaving a gap, though the malvaders are not in a position to exploit this hole. A bellowing roar comes from a large reptilian humanoid with proportionally small wings. It's challenging the new arrivals, claws spread wide as he steps clean over the gap in the road.

    About then is when a loud gunshot rings out, and the Ancient Dragon staggers back with a new, glowing red wound mark. Anyone turning eyes toward where the shot came from would see the black-dressed, red-eyed girl from out in the Tree. "Sorry I'm late, I only just received the distress call. CPU Candidate Uni is back on the scene!"

>> SUMMARY[Uni] >> It's like World War Z, but with buzzy pixel art come to life. Also there's a 10 foot tall dragon man coming this way. Oh hey, there's Uni.

    "You're welcome. I-" Talia grabs the lieutenant and pulls him out of harm's way as they duck behind cover. "I was in the area. I take it that beast is the dragon?" She says, observing the massive creature, just as someone makes a dramatic arrival. "Ahh, hello there! It's nice to meet you, Lady Uni." She bobs her head, in a nod. "Talia Kyras, Jedi Knight. Misaki and Aurellia you seem to already know." She introduces herself, before taking off toward the draconic being, cutting down malvaders left and right.

    Using chunks of debris as stepping stones, Talia tries to take the high road with nimble maneuvers, swiftly hurrying across gap after gap as she nears the dragon. At least they're not fighting a krayt dragon, that would be a step above even the Force, Talia thinks to herself.

    Jumping off the roof, she descends onto the Ancient Dragon, striking at it with her lightsaber.

>> SUMMARY[Talia Kyras] >> I'm gonna have to run a Krayt Dragon scene at some point, aren't I?

"You call that a dragon?" Misaki sounds kind of disappointed, "That's more like an undersized kaiju than a dragon." Doesn't stop her from leaping upwards to a nearby building, inhaling deeply, and then sending a bright cone of red-orange light out of her mouth.

It doesn't do anything beyond being blindingly bright, but it could blind the dragon, or at least distract it. "Hey miss Uni, glad you could make it!"

    Aurelia sighs in relief. It's not like the titanic cthonic elemental beast that Orania described. With a thundercrack, a gladius with a glittering diamond blade appears in her hand and the short knight is off to help deal with the dragon. She goes for the legs while Talia goes high, diving under Misaki's fiery breath to deliver an orichalcum-shod kick to the shin.

    The Dragon recovers, then gets blinded by the laser show... Covering its eyes with one claw, it scrabbles at the ground, and hucks a chunk of the street itself at the magical girl, a blind throw to try and disrupt her footing or at least make her react to disrupt the lasers. Talia comes down on top after the throw, piercing the beast with her lightsaber... She earns a grab from that claw near its face in response, aiming to grab and hurl the Jedi away from it. This thing is tough stuff.

    Aurelia comes in low, aiming for the legs and manages to sweep one of them, bringing it to a knee, though it then looks down at her, opening its maw as flames lick at the edges. A moment later, a gout of flame erupts and bathes the knight in oricalcum armour in dragon fire... though it is hurting itself from the combined efforts.

    "Aim for the center mass, it doesn't have any real weakspots so just hit it with the hardest attacks you have!" called Uni, cycling her rifle and then causes the barrel to split open. "I don't have time to go easy on you! EX MULTIBLASTER! MODE EMPRESS!" she calls, firing off a concentrated beam of golden light to unbalance the draconic creature.

    Talia strikes true, but the creature's hide is too strong to cut with just one blow. She struggles in its grip, trying to grip her blaster before she realizes her lightsaber is still free, and she throws it to the Dragon's chest to impale it, trying to wriggle free, only to be tossed away. She lands on her feet, graceful as a cat, skidding across the ground. Drawing her blaster pistol, the Jedi then opens fire on the creature.

Misaki is fast enough that the big chunk of street only manages to throw her aside and to the ground... and a few bruises and scrapes. She is undeterred, and gets up to push both her guns together for a combined beam of energy, doing her best to match Uni's golden light.

>> GAME >> Aurelia Argent spends an Edge for: Regenerating from being on -Fire-

    Aurelia's armor itself does not seem impacted by the dragon fire, though the person within clearly is, crumpling to her knees. Eyes squeezed shut from the agony, Aurelia grits her teeth as she forces her magic to heal the cracked and burnt flesh, reminded of something from a movie her dad used to watch with her.
    "Cut well, old friend." Aurelia whispers through cracked lips.
    The young woman manages to stagger back to her feet, then she brings the crystal sword back and hurls it at the dragon's chest. She guides it with magic, aiming for where she assumes the heart is. Regardless whether it was a telling blow, she falls to one knee after the throw.

    The dragon staggers again as the torrent of golden light slams into it, followed by a second beam from Misaki. It roars in agony, blue hexcagonal panels appearing, then shattering as its defenses finally fail.

    That's when Aurelia and Talia throw their swords, both blades piercing into the now completely unshielded chest and cutting deep. It bellows, staggers and then crumples onto its back before it begins to 'deresolve' turning into motes of golden light that waft away before winking out.

    The Malvaders buzz in alarm, and then turn to flee as their leader falls.

    Talia recoils from the bright flash, and reaches to retrieve her lightsaber's hilt. It flies to her hand, and she catches it in her grip before stuffing it in her belt, her blaster pistol entering its holster. The beast is slain and the malvaders retreat. "Seems that was their ringer." She muses, then offers Aurelia a grin. "Nice throw."

Misaki jumps back down and walks towards the others. She drops her transformation and immediately winces, "Oof, that smarts." She doesn't seem too bothered, "To be honest, I was expecting something more threatening when I heard ancient dragon."

    Aurelia also untransforms, waving away the steam coming off from under her clothes. She looks like she's gotten an intense sunburn, even as her pale hair and eyebrows start regrowing. "Me too." She runs a hand over her emerging hair. Something she hopes to never get used to. Her skin goes from burnt red to pink to tan as one looks.
    Aurelia nods to Talia and Misaki. "But what's next? There's always somebody behind this stuff right?" Then she looks to Uni to see if the black-haired girl has any answers.

    Uni dismisses her rifle, salutes to the lieutenant. "Dismissed Lieutenant, go get patched up and have a report on casualties sent to me as soon as it's available... we're going to get to the bottom of this. Black Sister is back in town." She then turns to the others, heaving a sigh. "I finally get home, and the place has fallen apart. I heard on the way in that a Glitch was uncovered outside of the city, and that's apparently where the Malvaders and their leader came from. There's probably a Demon Lord or something in there thinking it's all big and bad."

    She smiles to Misaki, "I'm glad to see you, and you seem to be doing well." To Talia and Aurelia she gives a slight bow. "It's nice to meet you, and thank you for helping my home."

    Talia nods slowly. "Helping others is both a duty and an honor." She says with a smile, "I am all to happy to lend my aid whenever and wherever I go." Despite her ruined vacation, Talia seems to be in pretty good spirits. The day's saved, and the citizens will live to rebuild. She calls that a win.

"I dunno if well is how I'd phrase it." Misaki admits as she finds a spot to sit down, "I'm managing, but uh... it's been a lot ever since that crazy lady tried to kill me. Thanks for saving me." She looks at the surroundings she finds herself in, "So this is your world?"

    Aurelia sits down with a flop on the ground. "Glad to help, even if this isn't where I meant to end up." 
    She looks at Uni, whose world this seems to be. "... Can I get like an ice bucket in thanks?"

    "Well, I'm glad to have you, Miss Kyras. Once we're back on our feet, feel free to come by any time, I'll have a room for you to stay in whenever you need it." replies Uni, then looks over to Misaki. "What's left of it, once I have a tally of what's broken and what's still working, I'll be setting up a raid on that Glitch to clear it out, they need to be patrolled semi regularly, or stuff like this happens."

    Uni makes a gesture, one of the soldiers snaps to attention then scampers off to get Aurelia a bucket, with ice cubes and about half filled with water. Another trooper also brings out a cooler box with drinks packed in ice. They're all cans and bottles with a stylized N on the side, in a purple and black colourscheme. Locally produced, licensed Nepbull. "Make your way to the Basilicom, I'll send word ahead, you can stay there for as long as you like... I hope you'll help us clear out that dungeon."

    Aurelia dumps the entire bucket of ice water over herself, soaking her oversized jean jacket, jeans, and black shirt. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..." There's a look of intense relief on her face.
    "What kind of dungeon is it? Filled with more of those space invaders?"

    "I'd be all to happy to lend my assistance further, Uni." Talia nods. She'll accept a can of Nepbull, taking a sniff before she begins to drink. Stars' End, she's thirsty. Killing weird pixel monsters and a dragon beast works up a thirst alright. "I would imagine, and beasts akin to that dragon being we faced. It's curious, this entire place looks like some kind of computer game."    

Misaki cracks open her drink, "Least I could do to thank you for saving me is to help you out a little, right?" The senshi salutes, and winces. "Though I might need to find something to bribe that manipulative little critter with." She downs her drink in pretty much one go, "So what do we need to know? And please just give it straight, I'm done with lies, half-truths, omissions and so on."

    "More than likely, yes. Probably a much larger one acting as the boss." replies Uni to both Aurelia and Talia. The Goddess Candidate is evasive about Talia's observations. "Don't look too much into it." she suggests, arms folding. Misaki earns a nod. "Right, well, the Glitch is something left over from when Gameindustri was made... well before even Blanc was around. They're often hideouts for unsavory types, monsters, pirates, and the other like, you know." she replies, "The Goddesses, me, my big sister, Neptune and her sister, Blanc and her sisters and Vert, all protect our own cities from thes monsters and undesireables... it just seems that because we 'fell' out of our world, everything started falling apart." she sighs, thena trooper comes up, salutes then whispers something to Uni. "Right, there are rooms available for all of you at the Basilicom, the Corporal will guide you there if you want to take advantage."