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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 1, 2011 17:38:27 GMT -5
...And with that, the race was over.
The two shot past the finish line, Michael snapping a picture of the exact moment they crossed. "Hah! Good to see my camera skills haven't diminished."
Aya screeched to a stop, her one-tooth geta making effective brakes. Practically launching herself at him, Aya said, "So?! Who won?!"
Michael checked the spellcircle's record... and stood with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. He then checked the photo-finish shot. His jaw dropped.
"Whoa... how... a tie?!"
Aya's jaw dropped slightly in surprise; she said, "Really?!"
Michael responded, "The spell circle does not lie. Neither does the picture. You tied."
Aya walked over to where Michael had set out the foodstuffs and sat down, sweat starting to drip. "Haaah... haaah... what a rush! And to think, I've finally met my match in speed! Whew..." Aya popped the cap off of a bottle of water and took a large drink from it. "Haaah... hahahaha!" Aya started laughing. "That was a hell of a race! Well? C'mon over here!" She motioned towards Rainbow.
Michael said, "I've got plenty of food here. Water too; that race looked pretty taxing to me."
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 1, 2011 23:59:51 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt. Noting Aya had walked over to the cameraman to figure out who won, she clopped on over. But at hearing the word tie, she took on a sort of blank look. "A tie?" Well she couldn't be too upset. A tie was a step above losing, though some would consider it worse, unlike her. However, it still wasn't winning. And that's what got to her. She didn't win. Curses! Oh well. Apparantly these two were ok, though Aya used a word that caused her to twitch, including her eye. Hell? Whatever that word meant, it sounded horrible. But she came over anyway, grinning ear to ear. Oh well. Free food and water. "That was awesome! You really are the fastest in Ge... Ge..." She couldn't pronounce the name. "Whatever... you must be the fastest there if you can match me."
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 2, 2011 0:34:40 GMT -5
Michael took the time to thwack Aya with his index and middle fingers (a la Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures). "Aya! Don't swear in front of the guest!" He then turned towards Rainbow. "That was an incredible race, still. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day where someone could match Aya's speed. ...Well, c'mon; I've got some sandwiches and salad packed, I brought plenty. Eat up."
Aya then pulled out a dish and a small bottle. She poured some for herself then held the bottle out. "Say, Dash, wanna-"
Michael snatched the bottle from Aya's hands. "No, Aya! No *bleep*ing way. Do not get the pony drunk, I don't need to be able to see the future to know that that's a bad idea." Michael bleeped his swear word, having noticed Rainbow's reaction to Aya's use of the word 'hell.' After putting it away, Michael sat down with a cup of tea, picked up a mushroom-and-swiss sandwich, and started to eat.
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 2, 2011 1:05:49 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash may've been a pony, but there must've been a difference biologically between the ponies from Equestria and real life ponies. For starters, she could eat cake and not get sick. These actually healthy treats, such as sandwiches and salads, would be good for her composed to what she usually ate. And, as a pony, she naturally did enjoy a good salad. Problem was she couldn't just get herself some. Unlike the older cartoons, the ponies like Rainbow Dash couldn't pick things up with their hooves, so they naturally used their teeth. As a result, Rainbow Dash had to bend over and pick a sandwich up before chewing into it. Somehow she managed to keep the food in her mouth, but that was how it was.
Michael was also adament about her not getting... drunk? What did it mean to be drunk? See, the ponies, while peaceful, were almost kinda sheltered. They weren't exposed yet to adult things, such as alcohol, over-the-top violence, and definently not sex. It was kinda sad, but at the same time, it made sense. She came from a world made for children, so she wasn't supposed to know about such things. She'd adapt... eventually. "Drunk? What do you mean don't get the pony drunk?" She had to know what it meant. Her curiosity demanded it.
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 2, 2011 1:48:44 GMT -5
Michael sweatdropped. "Hoo boy... never thought I'd have to explain this in a million years. Well, first off-" Michael pulled the bottle back out. "This is... wait a minute. Aya; I thought this was sake, where did you get the Applejack from? ...It doesn't matter. Anyway, this is alcohol; a really strong drink that often makes the drinker kinda tipsy. That is one of the side-effects of that; another being an extremely nasty headache the next day and sickness. Believe me, you don't want to drink this; it'll mess with your flying until your body disperses the alcohol. A lot of deaths in my world are caused because of irresponsible use of this stuff..." Michael's expression turned downcast for a moment.
Aya said, "I'm assuming your world is pretty sheltered from stuff like this? 'Cause alcohol is a constant in pretty much every other world."
Michael then said, "Can you tell me a bit about your world, Rainbow?" Michael knew quite a bit about it, of course, but he figured he'd reveal how he knew that stuff a little later.
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 2, 2011 5:14:18 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash blinked. This alcohol sounded dangerous. Really dangerous. Sure she was risky, but Michael went on to say people died. Well if people died, why did it exist then? Shouldn't they be rid of it? Now as peaceful as Equestria was, everything died. No one she knew of had died, but she was old enough to know the term, so if something could kill, shouldn't it just be taken away? Before she could respond, however, Aya called her sheltered. Sheltered?! Who did she think she was?! Rainbow calmed herself. Different worlds... it was an oddity in and of itsself, but different worlds, different rules. Maybe these creatures, whatever they were, thrived off of this alcohol stuff. It was Michael who knew her well. Get her talking about her home. And of course she'd want to.
"My world's a great place to live. Everything's peaceful and stuff thanks to Princess Celestia, but that doesn't mean there's not a cool adventure to go on from time to time. And while Ponyville's a nice town to live in, I come from Cloudsdale, the greatest place in Equestria. Many of the pegasus ponies such as myself come from there and..." She pointed a hoof at Aya. "... with your speed, I bet you'd fit right in."
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 2, 2011 11:07:55 GMT -5
Aya took a drink of the Applejack, enjoying the taste. She then said, "Alrighty, since you told us a bit about your world, we'll tell you a bit about ours."
Taking a minute to think it through, Aya finally said, "Okay; Gensokyo is a mystical world. Gensokyo itself means 'Land of Illusion' in a different language; it was sequestered from Michael's world roughly 300 years ago. There's a barrier that keeps Gensokyo separate from Mike's world, upkept by a girl named Reimu Hakurei. Now, while Gensokyo is pretty peaceful most of the time, Incidents do happen. Usually when that happens, someone goes to resolve it; ...and by that, I mean 'beat the tar out of the one responsible.' Usually, it's that girl, Reimu, or another girl, a witch named Marisa, who does so."
Michael interjected, "Don't forget about me, Aya. We worked together to resolve one once. I've resolved a couple myself, too! Don't forget about that one time Patchouli fought, also; she took on Suika without flinching."
Aya said, "Oh, yeah! I had almost forgotten about that!" Grabbing two pictures, she held them out to Rainbow, one with a small Oni swaying and another with a purple pajama-clad girl reading a book. Aya pointed to the first one and said "This is Suika. She is perpetually drunk... don't worry, she isn't really affected because of her species. She's insanely strong, physically, but this girl," Aya pointed to the other picture, "is a powerful magician. She lives in a fancy mansion owned by a vampire girl... to be specific, she lives in its library. Her health isn't the best, so she spends most of her time cooped up in there."
Michael took the time to add "Just about everyone in Gensokyo has a special power. Even though I wasn't born there, I developed one of my own when I was abducted to Gensokyo. Also, combat in Gensokyo is very different from pretty much any other world. We fight using Danmaku; non-fatal shots. If you want to fight in Gensokyo, you have to learn to dodge really quickly. Would you like to see?"
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 2, 2011 12:35:13 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash wasn't one to turn down a good story. She plopped right on her haunches and looked at the two with that adorable smile on her face. And thus the explanation began. Dash had to admit that Gensokyo sounded a lot more interesting then Equestria. Their issues were frequent enough to be described as incidents? They had to have their own personal incident resolver? That sounded pretty awesome, to be sure. Rainbow had wondered what kind of adventures she could have if she ventured beyond Cloudsdale and Ponyville, but she would never abandon her friends, after all. Still, if every day was an adventure, that sounded real awesome. She remembered her visit to Applelusa. Now that was an adventure. Everypony in the town had to defend themselves against the buffalo, who had rightfully felt violated and infringed upon when the settlers planted their orchard trees all willy nilly on their stampeding grounds. Of course, once the buffalo realized their apple pies tasted delicious, a nice agreement was made and peace was once again restored.
And then Michael proceeded to show her two of his friends. One, Suika, looked weird to Dash. Michael described her as being constantly drunk and it definently showed. It was as if she were ready to tip over at any minute. Those horns on her head didn't help much either, she was sure. Dash was familiar with unicorn horns, but those in themselves didn't look natural on her at all. An Oni? What was an Oni? However, before she could muse on this, Dash saw Patchouli next. And what she saw made her eyes wide. The color scheme, combined with the description... what a coincidence! "Oh wow! A powerful magician with little health who spends most of her time shut up in her library home?! She sounds exactly like my best Twilight Sparkle! She... She even looks like her, with all that purple on her!"
The comparison was too good for her to pass up, even if the other two didn't know who Twilight was, and one of them already did, but he had to play dumb lest he be seen as some sort of interdimensional stalker. The last bit of knowledge intrigued her. Combat? Combat had never been done in Equestria really. After all, blah blah peace blah blah, so she was definently intrigued in this supposed fighting style. There was karate, of course, and the usual equine arts, but this was the first time she heard of a style called danmaku. "Sure! I bet this'll be awesome."
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 2, 2011 13:18:09 GMT -5
Michael laughed at Rainbow's reaction to Patchouli. "That's really funny. Okay; Aya, let's put on a good show for Rainbow, alright?!"
Aya leapt up, wings flaring. "Yeah! Okay, Dash; here's a few details about how Danmaku fighting works. As said, Danmaku is non-fatal; getting hit with a shot is like getting pelted with a ball. We have these things called "Spellcards" that are like super-attacks. ...I noticed the look you gave me when I grazed through the branches in our race; learning how to dodge with minimal movement is key to Danmaku."
Michael then said, "Alright, we're gonna do this a little differently than typical; Rhapsody style, Aya?"
Aya responded, "Sure." She then pulled her Maple Leaf Fan and held it, blowing a gentle breeze (Her idle stance from SWR). "Whenever you're ready."
Michael dropped down into his own stance and snapped his fingers. A song started to play, seemingly coming from nowhere. "This is my power, Rainbow; manipulation of sound."
Michael and Aya then shouted in unison, "BORDER OF DUEL! ROUND ONE... FIGHT!" and launched towards each other, Michael's fist meeting Aya's.
After the initial clash, Michael jumped back and launched a wave of Danmaku bullets at Aya. Aya grazed her way through them and activated a Spellcard at close range. "Rotation Sign: Demon-Killling Fan!"
Aya spun and flipped in place, striking Michael with several wind slicers. Michael recovered in the air and activated one of his own. "Sound Sign: Subsonic Backblast!" Michael's signature Spellcard; he struck an air-guitar chord and Aya was blown backwards by a concentrated sound wave.
Aya shot two wind slicers at Michael and Michael countered with two Noteburst Danmaku (Notebursts are shaped like musical notes and burst into smaller notes when they collide) Michael and Aya then dashed towards each other and traded blows for a bit before they both jumped back.
Aya activated another Spellcard. "Squall: Sarutahiko's Guidance!" Michael barely had time to say "Oh, sh-" before Aya barreled through him, sending him flipping skyward. Michael landed hard on his back with an "Oof!" Slowly pulling himself up, Michael said, "Guess I should probably try the new one out..."
Michael activated a Spellcard "Staccato Sign: Danmaku Gunfire!" Holding his hands skyward, two ephemeral handguns appeared in his hands. One was cyan in color with multiple colors adorning the barrel, and the other was a darker blue with a yellow lightning bolt marking on the grip (No cookies for guessing what those represented). Michael twirled them into a grip like Dante's from MVC3. He then started firing , taking different stances as he did so. "Go, go, go!" He finished with a large burst shot, shouting, "Yahoo!" Aya took several hits, but was blown back by the finish.
The handguns vanished as the Spellcard finished. Michael and Aya then shook hands; both had had quite a bit of fun in the match.
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 2, 2011 16:47:32 GMT -5
Well Rainbow Dash did listen to everything that Aya had to say, it was kinda important to think about for future races perhaps, but if she was dozing off at any point during that little lecture upon danmaku, she'd wake up for sure when Michael's powers kicked in a stunningly fitting battle song out of nowhere, causing her eyes to widen as the two went into battle. And from then on, to Rainbow Dash's eyes, it was a flurry of coolness and awesomeness the likes of which she had never seen in Equestria. These two knew they didn't have anything to worry about, so they gave it their all and didn't leave anything to be interpreted; Aya was shooting waves of wind and Michael was shooting out actual musical notes. And then there were all the different effects they were doing. It was spectacular.
Needless to say, by the end of the fight, Rainbow Dash looked to be in awe. "That... was..." She didn't draw it out as long as her friends might. Pinkie Pie, for instance, had a habit of drawing things out to the point of making one uncomfortable. "That was awesome! Oh man, I thought you were fast, but then you can literally fight people using the wind! And you fight people with music! How cool is that?!" Spoken like a true newbie to the wonders of Gensokyo's descendants.
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 2, 2011 18:11:04 GMT -5
Aya and Michael walked over towards Rainbow. Aya flashed her a smile and thumbs-up, saying "Isn't it, though?! Battle in Gensokyo is as much of an art as it is a sport. Mix in a whole crowd of people with a whole bunch of different styles, and it never gets old!"
Michael, on the other hand, rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, the embarrassed blush coming back to his face. "Aw... c'mon, Rainbow, you're making me blush. Heheh... too bad Marisa isn't here; if you thought what we did was impressive, you'd love her "Master Spark."
Aya then walked over to the base of one of the trees in the park. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm gonna take a nap; fighting's fun and all, but it wears you out a bit..."
Michael said, "I'm gonna explore a bit; I've never been to this part of Void City before."
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 3, 2011 9:20:10 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash blinked as Michael blushed. Oh yes, he was definently like Fluttershy. All he needed to do was dye that part of him that looked like a mane pink and then he'd be a human... male... varient of her. Aya, on the other hand, seemed a lot more like her. She stood confident and even quite tough as she told Rainbow how the style was like art... up until she decided to take a nap. Well considering how she fought, it wasn't any wonder. It also led to her thinking about those odd weapons that Michael used. One of them was colored kinda like a rainbow while the other... was dark blue with a lightning bolt on it. A coincidence? It had to be because they had never met before, so how would he have known about her? Eventually she'd meet with someone who didn't give a damn about breaking the fourth wall and all would be revealed.
"So how big is this place anyway?" she asked Michael, noting he said he had never seen this place before. "I mean... if you've never been here before, then I guess this isn't a small area." That worried her. If the land was extremely wide, then she might never have been able to find her friends. And that would've been quite a problem for the pony whose entire element embodied outright loyalty.
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 3, 2011 9:35:46 GMT -5
'Keep it together, Neilsen... It's not a good time to reveal your knowledge yet... I bet she's wondering about the guns... Phew! Okay, topic change; I can roll with that...'
"Yeah... this whole place is pretty... well, maybe it'd be best if I just draw it out." Michael knelt down and started drawing images in the ground using a small stick he picked up. "First of all, this place is called Dimensional Island. From what I've heard, this is a place where all worlds meet; y'know, like my world, Gensokyo, Equestria, all sorts of different worlds."
Michael finished his pictures (still not that great) and started pointing to them. "Okay, the part we're in right now is called Void City; it's a sort of... wait, do you have big cities back in your world? ...Anyway, there's a bunch of different places in this one segment of this world. We're on the outskirts of the city itself, in a place called Portal Park; I'm sure you can guess why it's called that." He then pointed to his drawing of the Woods. "These woods here; I and a couple other friends have a house around here."
Michael then pointed to the four other pictures around his drawing of the City. "There are four more areas around the Island; the West, where there's a desert, a ghost town, an industrial park, and a couple other places... no Western town, though; too bad, I always thought those kinds of towns had a lot of charm...
"The East, here, has an Arena and several villages, a mountain, a beautiful waterfall..."
"The North... really really cold; I've only ever heard stories, I've never been up there."
"...And the South. There, there's a city built in the giant trees; there's a huge rainforest there... There are a few places up in the sky, too, but I've heard that some places there are not that nice. ...I think there's an Ocean that wraps around three quarters of the Island, but I've never seen it..."
As Michael talked, he didn't notice something drop out of a portal behind him. Had he known, he would've burned it immediately...
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Post by Felix Falora on Oct 3, 2011 13:03:30 GMT -5
Rainbow Dash watched as he drew the layout of the island. While it was, in no way, correct geographically, it still painted out how vast the land seemed to be. Her heart fell as she realized just how much exploring she'd have to do if she were to find her friends. That being said, the world that met other worlds... it was possible she could get back to Equestria. Maybe she could find them there. Or, much to her horror, they might've been in other worlds. Silently hoping that they would be easy to find, her attention nearly turned back onto the drawing when she noticed something fall from the portal behind him. Curiously, she walked over to it and nudged it lightly, looking to see what it was. "Cu... Cupcakes?"
Meanwhile, in a world of its own, a very irritated looking data being stared down his creator. "Tell me... you fashioned me into a monster, am I right? Yet for all their complaints of me, for all the villanous deeds you've had me do... is there anyone in all of existance who could possibly match what you do even to the characters you supposedly like?"
Michael, an entity different to the Michael who hung out with Aya, grinned lightly at his computer screen and shrugged. "My dear Felix... we may never know. Besides... this is what I live for."
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Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Oct 3, 2011 13:14:44 GMT -5
When Rainbow said "Cupcakes," Michael's eyes shot wide open. Turning around quickly, Michael half-shouted, "Rainbow wait don't open-" ...but he was too late.
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