Varin shook her head at Virulinas actions before turning back to Harlock with a sigh and readjusted her left hand inadvertently letting a bit of the robotic nature of it be able to be seen for a moment.


"As I said, you and your friend probably know more about whats going on, then I do, how ever I'm fairly sure if we allow your friend to continue as she has been we might get answers if anyone reports her behavior to the authorities, but that could also cause further complications to matters."

"When was seeking a hero deemed a criminal deed?  I'm merely trying to expedite things..."

Virulina scowled when the latest citizen she had been hounding... slipped away.  What soured her mood further, was the suspicion that finding Stage would only get them looking for someone (or something) else.  She'd had enough games from Merklyn... to not want more of the same.  However she gave a resigned sigh.

"If it makes you two feel better, I will be 'nicer'."

As for the next person that Virulina tried to seek help from, she smiled and adopted a most earnest expression.  She even let her eyes water a bit.

"Ahem, please citizen... we seek Karmen Rider Stage to aid our noble quest.  Our world is in peril.  Any help you can give would be appreciated... think of the children."

"Karmen Rider? Oh you meant Kamen Rider Stage!" the young man in casual clothes replied after some thought, trying to catch up with what Virulina said, "I'd really like to, but even I don't know much about the city's hero."

"He shows up whenever there's a monster attack," the youth added after apologizing, "It's cool really, the emergency alarm goes off and alerts us of the monster attack, signs direct people to safety and clear out the area for Stage to fight the monster without worrying about casualties!"

As if on cue, the alarms rang overhead. Street signs and digital billboards changed into public service guides leading people to the nearest shelters in the vicinity. PA systems also keep people calm and give clear instructions on what must be done.

"Ah, there it is - you should also follow! It's not safe to stay out here while monsters are abound!" the young man said, going ahead to join the others for shelter. There's a timer counting down on the estimated arrival of the monster - about 13 minutes and counting.

After the more helpful youth had scurried off, Virulina turned to the others.

"Clearly we're going to stick around to participate, correct?"

Staying near the statue in open ground had its appeal, but she looked for other areas that might make equally suitable battlegrounds.

Varin shook her head as Virulina seemed to misunderstand what she had really meant but when the alarms started going off and Virulina had turned back to them and asked about them participating, there was a subtle change in how Varin bore herself and made it obvious to those that knew what to look for that Varin was a professional.

"Of Course, though I wish they would say where this monster was most likely to show up so that we could head there before hand to hopefully get into a tactically advantageous position."

As Varin spoke she intentionally pulled her left hand out of her coat pocket revealing it's robotic nature as she used her left hand to readjust her hat before leaving it at her side.

Harlock listened to the man Viriluna stopped to "ask" about Sage and he heard his talk of a monster attack. Harlock was curious about what this monster attack entailed - was it a single creature? An army of beasts? Also this Sage must be powerful to defeat such a foe or force.



"We will not seek shelter if that is what you mean", Harlock said to Viriluna.

Seeing the other woman he was talking to earlier expose a cybernetic appendage, Harlock raised an eyebrow but merely said. "Let us find a less exposed position - if we are to encounter 'Monsters', let us be on the move - with me."

Harlock pulled out his Cosmo Gun and Gravity Saber and began walking at a brisk pace to be less of a target and if need be, look for a position where he and the others could defend themselves if they should encounter these monsters.

The billboards have shown that civilians have cleared the area. A strange marking then appeared on the city map a few blocks north of the park with a timer counting down.

Alert - multiple intruders approaching in sector N-8.
ETA is five minutes and counting...
Kamen Rider Stage has deployed and is now headed to the scene.

A figure bearing the same features as the statue rode down the clear streets on a motorcycle, rushing quickly towards the identified location.

Lets see if I can find some suitable terrain in this Sector N-8  She thought to herself.

Virulina's idea of suitable was a body of water... a fountain, pool, or shoreline.  It would limit her tactics to those of defense, but she could utilize her totem... IF such area existed.  Otherwise she would make do as she always did.  Virulina set off for Sector N-8 with all due haste.  If the ETA countdown was accurate, she had five minutes.

Varin looked up at the displays before heading off towards sector n-8 but as she got outside the park she jumped and climbed up ontop of the nearest building before heading towards the sector along to roofs, but taking it easy incase Harlock decided to try and follow her.

Upon seeing the Billboards as they went and seeing Virulina making to this sector N-8 noted on them at a very quick pace, he followed her now. He saw her eagerness and almost an abandonment of caution from her and hoped whatever they encountered wasn't anything that they could not handle.

Seeing the other woman take to the rooftops, he looked up at her for a moment as she also was more than meets the eye and continued on.

As the trio arrive at the sector they find the city's hero standing on the middle of the wide street. The open space before him was warping, taking humanoid shapes before assuming a more recognizable form for Varin and Virulina. There were about ten similar figures standing at the front resembling a cross between a mummy and a zombie with a round glass eye on its face. Behind these foot soldiers was an impeccably-dressed old man in white and red accompanied by a man-sized bat monster and a lion man with cannons on its back.

"To think we have to bring a larger force in order to bring you down means a lot, traitor," the old man called out at the Kamen Rider as the minions start circling around him, "But the Leader is still a merciful man - surrender now and we will make sure your death is swift and painless!"

The surrounded fighter remained silent, assuming a fighting stance as he studied the invaders. It was clear that surrender was not in his mind.

"No? Then we'll just have to beat the life out of you before bringing you back to the Leader!" the old man declared as the mummy-like zombies shuffled towards the Kamen Rider. The lone fighter employed exceptional fighting skills, managing to keep these many minions from landing a hit on him despite their numbers by moving about with dodges and parries before delivering punches and kicks at minions that got too close to him.

The bat and lion monsters moved to opposite sides of the road, observing the Kamen Rider as he fended off these weaker foot soldiers.

"The clock needs adjusting..."  Grumbled Virulina.

So instead of preparing the site for an attack, the Darkling Lord had to jump in and tilt the battle in Stage's favor... but how to best do that?  The mummy minions were probably a waste of time, so that left the Bat or the Lion.  The former seemed more to her liking (no guns).  The man in white/red probably wouldn't fight... at least not initially.  And if that other woman (Varin) was around, she could always have a go at the leader.

"Captain, can you duel the Lion?  I've got the Bat."

Drawing her 'sword', Virulina ran towards the Bat creature, weaving to the left and right.  She exchanged a few blows to measure it's strength and speed.  Maybe it was a worthy dagger target...

Harlock nodded an affirmative to Virulina and moved to intercept the lion man. Facing him, Harlock drew his Cosmo Gun & Gravity Saber, holding the saber in a defensive position before him.

"In my experience, those that need to outnumber their opponents either do so out of lack of skill or fear...Which one do you ascribe to i wonder?", Harlock said, addressing the Lion man.

Varin crouched on a roof top watching events unfold, she knew she had her .50 caliber five shot revolver with three speed clips for a total of 20 rounds, her .357 magnum  with three speed clips for 24 total rounds and finally her 9mm with three clips for a total of 80 rounds. but the .50 cal was already loaded with a mix of armor piercing and hollow points and had the greater power and range so she pulled that out first and watched as Virulina went after the bat creature and Harlock for the lion creature and decided to go for the head honcho and aimed for the man that had been doing all the talking, but she didn't aim to kill, for now just to maim as she aimed for his knee's and taking advantage of her cybernetic body and strength and fired off a shot for each of the mans knee's one shot being a hollow point which would obliterate normal bone and joints on impact, the other round was armor piercing and even if the man had harder then normal bones or was even a cyborg the round would still at least lodge in the joint disabling the knee if not pass through completely and still disable the knee.

once she fired though she quickly ducked down and moved as the two shots even though fired rapidly the noise alone would guarantee her position was revealed as there was no way of masking the cannon like sound of the revolver.

--Varin--

"Who are you!? You're not even - gaah!!?" the man in white and red was not even able to complete his question as he received a heavy blow to each knee, causing him to collapse in agony. Unintelligible curses were muttered under his breath as he struggled to cope with the pain.

--Virulina--

The bat monster let out a shriek of pain as Virulina's sword landed both cuts successfully against its chest. The Darkling Lord was quick to notice how tough the creature's hide was - the weapon managing shallow cuts against the bat's tough hide.

"You cur! How dare you interfere with us!" the monster spoke in comprehensible human tongue, albeit guttural in tone as it sized Virulina up, "I, the fearsome Bat Man will make you regret that!"

The bat monster then took to the air with a quick flap of its winged arms, diving towards Virulina at high speeds with knife-like claws prepared to rake at her.

--Capt Harlock--

"You look to be a promising opponent, will you be able to give me a good fight?" the lion humanoid asked as a grin showed rows of sharp teeth within his mouth. He then flexed his body and positioned himself into a fighting stance, motioning to Harlock to fight him, "Come! You can be appetizer before I move on to defeat that Kamen Rider!"

--Tristram, a few minutes before--

After checking his surroundings once more, Tristram could assure himself that he was no longer in Chicago. The buildings here were tall, the roads were wide, and immediately after the announcement every person have went into hiding. So he was left alone to ponder on what to do next when an armored figure on a motorcycle sped past him along the road. With no other leads left the young man followed at the direction where the motorcycle headed for.

There were loud cracks of gunfire echoing in the air up ahead when Tristram finally caught up, seeing the scene before him.

----

"Who are you people?" the Kamen Rider asked as he started subduing the mummy creatures and rendered them immobile on the ground, "It's dangerous here, I can handle this!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:51, Thu 20 Aug 2020.

"Where exactly is 'here'? I could have sworn I was at the bus stop a second ago," Tristram said, scratching his head. "And what are you wearing? You look like a power ranger."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Thu 20 Aug 2020.

"Interesting, it talks..."

Virulina spoke in the most condescending tone possible, hoping to bait the Bat Creature into an unthinking rage.  When it flew upwards and lunged back down, she readied herself and took a large breath.  The next part was all about timing.  As the beast came in low, Virulina's chest plate glowed green and her form morphed into a HUGE translucent green shark.  Before 'Batman' could put on the breaks or veer away, she dived forward to clamp her jaws over his head and torso.

If she didn't kill the beast outright, Virulina would try to pin him to the ground and further savage the monster.

Harlock remembered the words of Milos, his old fencing teacher...

When facing an unknown opponent Phantom, gauge his abilities - launch a series of thrusts & cuts & see how he defends, see how he reacts, their stance - these tells will give you advantages on the field of battle.

...Raising his Gravity Saber in salute, he went at his opponent, launching into a series of thrusts, cuts & swings, looking for any weaknesses or openings in his fighting style to exploit.

Upon seeing that Harlock and Virulina where keeping the only other heavy hitters occupied Varin slowly stepped out of cover on the roof and hearing the riders question she smiles as she calls out while approaching the edge of the roof.

"We can handle things like this so no worries, and why deny potential allies in a fight of any kind."

As she finished Varin, walked off the edge of the roof and falling with her trench coat billowing around her to the pavement where she landed on her feet and continued towards the rider almost as if she had not just stepped off the roof of a several story building. As she approached though she took out her 9mm pistol and started knee capping any of the other creatures that got too close to her or the others.

"I'll rip you to shreds!" the bat monster shrieked as it dived at Virulina at its full speed, displaying superhuman speeds but unfortunately not intellect or reflexes as it found itself head first into the jaws of a glowing verdant shark. It shrieked in annoyance as razor-sharp teeth tore its tough hide, the monster struggling wildly in an attempt to pry itself free from Virulina's bite.


ooc: due to GM oversight. The monster Capt Harlock is fighting is not a lion creature but rather a tiger creature. The GM profusely apologizes for this mistake and promises to check before posting further.

"Come! I, Tigeroid shall ensure your defeat!" the tiger monster declared as he leaped forward to meet the veteran captain head-on in combat. Tigeroid moved swiftly despite his size, using his toughness in combination with this speed to minimize the blows he received to cuts and bruises while attempting to rake Harlock with his clawed fingers.

"A power ranger, what is that?" the armored warrior asked as he produced a short sword that looked to have qualities resembling a gun.

Shooting Sword -Slash Mode-

Stage then used his weapon to cut through the mummy-like creatures within his vicinity, slashing them quickly and causing them to explode. Shattered coin halves drop from where these unusual creatures once stood.

"Nevertheless, do not underestimate them," Stage said as he turned to assess the situation, "These beings have long discarded their humanity!"

The other mummy-like creatures collapsed to the ground from Varin's gunshots, but still attempted to shamble towards her like some unliving creature given life. The old man in white and red let out a pained laugh at the scene before him.

"You speak as if you are innocent of the same thing, traitor!" he coughed and slowly pushed himself up to look at the Kamen Rider, and then to the woman that shot him, "Allies? It looks like you have been busy amassing forces of your own as well!"

"Ok," Tristram said, "I have no idea what is happening, but I'm guessing you're the bad guy."

Then, seeing some of the mummy-like creatures approaching from behind him, he used his stand, Stone Cold, to punch them all, launching them all away, though to everyone else they looked like they were suddenly launched out of a cannon after being looked at.

Virulina the shark kept a hold of 'batman', chewing harder and shaking it around like a rag doll.  The taste was pretty bad, but the taste of victory would compensate for a bad aftertaste.  Virulina's only regret was that she couldn't get in a good taunt.

However her held breath eventually started to wane, so she spat out the batman like a bowling ball, aiming for a few mummies too.  Then the green shark faded to reveal Virulina's true form.

Oh, yes.  I still need to knife someone don't I?  Hmmm...

Drawing the 'magic' dagger from her belt, she signaled Harlock and then threw it to him (underarmed).

"Stick him with this, Captain."

Then Virulina drew her own blade and went to work on some mummies.  If Batman still lived, one of the others could finish him.

The feline creature was fast as well as skilled Harlock noted as he dodged and parried the creature's claws. He holstered his Cosmo Gun as he stepped back and circled his opponent, now getting a sense of the beast's capabilities. He decided to try to slow it down by limiting its mobility.



Catching the dagger with his off-hand, Harlock then launched into an overhead, one handed swing with his Gravity Saber and then stepped back a bit to allow the beast a counter attack which he would follow through with a slash against its leg to impair it and if an opening presented itself, jab with the dagger Virulina had tossed to him.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 34):

As the rider commented about the creatures having given up their humanity she looks at the crawling ones with a hint of pity before she drops the clip that was in her pistol and loads a fresh clip in and almost as fast as the guns design would allow puts a round into the heads of all the creatures she had knee capped before turning to any others that came too close and with no hesitation puts a round in their heads, but when she hears the comment from the robed man she turns to him.

"We all make mistakes but wise is he that learns from them and tries to better themselves. As to amassing forces, I was just wandering around aimlessly when you and these creatures showed up and I have no problem dealing with vermin that think a quick death is a mercy as you implied."


Varin saw the bat creature also go flying through the air and had to admit to herself that Virulina did seem like a formidable individual to fight with that odd shark power, but as she saw her turn to go after the mummy creatures Varin pulled out her .50 cal revolver again and while using the 9mm on any mummies that got too close for comfort kept an eye out for the bat creature and if he made to attack again would use the .50 cal to try and kill the person.

With Tristram and Varin's efforts the mummy-like creatures soon evaporated, each leaving half pieces of coins on the streets. The Bat-Man was still alive despite looking worse for wear from the thrashing it received from Virulina. It stumbled to get back on its feet to see what was going on.

Tigeroid was very confident that he could take on Captain Harlock, sensing the blows from his weapons were not that painful until the dagger the pirate captain jabbed at him plunged deep onto the tiger monster's chest. There was visible surprise on the creature's face as it tried to pull the dagger out with little success.

"What trick is this!?" Tigeroid exclaimed as he struggled to get the unusual weapon off from him, sensing something amiss from within.


The old man was looking at those present, paying attention to their features before finally speaking up.

"Could it be that all of you were displaced from your worlds?" the old man asked as a dark expression showed on his face.