Hello everyone. Try as I might, it seems I won't be able to escape the two weeks between uploads. My schedule doesn't lend me a lot of time for writing, but I will at least try to keep the two week upload time.
"Talking"
Thoughts
'Mental Communication or using a magic item'
[Debuffs]
Skills/Systems
Chapter 21 – R&R
May 25, 2044
Clock Tower Headquarters, Dryfe
"Come on Crescent!" a woman with dark blue hair wearing a lilac jacket with several bandoleers overlaying it cried as she tried to pull her 'friend' from the doorway by one of her legs.
"No, I'm so close to finishing it, I know it."
Kelly grabbed the other leg, "Come on, Cres, you've been cooped up in the lab too much. Come out and smell the virtual air."
To the side" Wotan was cuddling Punga, Kelly's Embryo. The mechanical chameleon was looking on at its master's antics with what was probably the closest it could come to smiling.
"Well, I haven't logged in since we fought Crimson Nova, so we are going to go out and have fun."
"No, my baby needs me-"
"Master," Wotan said, smiling in a way that did not meet her eyes, um eye.
Her voice was smooth, but it carried a coldness that made even JAnz and Kelly freeze in surprise.
Even Punga, who was a literal machine seemed somewhat intimidated.
"You have been locking yourself in the lab every day you log in, not going out, and worst of all, you've been obsessing about this project so much that you aren't taking proper care of yourself in real life." Wotan sniffled, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.
Crescent looked at her Embryo's saddened expression and felt her heart drop. She had been so obsessed with making the Blooming Rose System that she had even skipped a few classes and that wasn't even counting the fact she had been primarily subsisting off of ramen noodle packets.
Heck, even her game avatar had developed bags under her eyes and was starting to become malnourished.
Despite being only about a week since they defeated Crimson Nova IRL, in Dendrogram that was nearly three weeks – minus three days due to the login ban - worth of accumulated mental and possibly physical stress.
Heck, she had stressed over the Blooming Rose System even on her day off.
All the stress accumulated from real life and game life. This might actually explain how she accidentally blew herself up.
Sighing, she knew she was beaten.
"Okay, you're right."
Wotan continued without really hearing her. "If necessary, I will tickle you until you pee yourself."
"Wotan, I said I'm going."
"And if you don't come with us, I tell everyone what you do to me when we're alone at night."
"WOTAN!" Crescent shouted, face beet red.
"I said I'm going!"
"Oh." Was all her Embryo replied with.
Crescent then turned, realizing that Kelly and JAnz were still holding her legs.
"It's not what it sounds like." She tried to wave defensively only for the parts of her not being held up to fall to the ground.
"She is right." Wotan said causing Crescent to look up at her Embryo, while her friends still held onto her legs for some reason, "She puts her hands on every warm spot and buries her face in every fold of my body."
The purple and blue-haired women looked at her with a mix of scandal, surprise, concern, and wondering if they should call either a therapist or the police.
"She's talking about her suit; I like to cuddle with her while she's in her suit at night."
"Isn't that what I said?" the wolf/raven girl teased with an oh-so-innocent smile.
"I believe you were actually insinuating that Crescent Rose was having sexual relationships with you at night." Someone spoke.
All heads turned towards the newcomer. She was a young woman with curly orange hair down to her waist. She was wearing what looked like a green and black leotard with her arms and legs completely bare save for a pair of fingerless gloves and a gold ankle bracelet with an emerald on it on her right leg.
For some reason, she was holding onto the same leg as JAnz.
Crescent had seen her around the clan a few times. The only thing she could remember about her was that she was the girl who usually ate over fifty plates of food at the cafeteria in one sitting.
"Uh…" Wotan looked to Crescent for help, not sure where to take this conversation.
However, probably because Wotan was her Embryo, Crescent saw a different type of confusion towards the newcomer. One she hadn't seen in her Embryo before.
"Wotan was just teasing me." Crescent said, "Also, can you guys let me go, please."
The three released her legs and she made her way back onto her own feet.
"I don't think we've formally met. I'm Crescent Rose." Crescent offered her hand only for the other woman to take it in a death grip that literally gave her the [Broken Finger] debuff THREE times.
"Salutations, I'm P-M374, but my daddy calls me Meta."
"Daddy?" Crescent asked taking out and downing a Potion.
"Doc Cricket."
"As in the clan owner of the Clock Tower?"
"Exactly." She smiled, "He's my daddy and he gives me all the metals I want just for having fun."
"Oh, but he told me not to tell anyone, so can you please keep it a secret?"
All four other girls and even the mechanical chameleon stared at her mouths agape. They, and pretty much all of Dryfe, thought very highly of Doc Cricket. Despite his…unique fashion sense, he was a kind-hearted soul.
He helped clan members with their projects, performed performances with customized Marshall IIs free of charge for children, and treated his tian employees like they were full clan members. And the list just went on and on.
No one would have thought him capable of exploiting a young girl, her attitude and mannerisms couldn't be from anything else, in exchange for metals in a game.
Well, it might not have been outside the game they were having "fun", Dendro was real like that, but still. To abuse his position in exchange for metals?!
As if designed to happen by the brother gods themselves, Doc Cricket, in his typical black whale costume with a large mechanical-looking book strapped to his hip, happened to show up.
"Hello girls, having a whale of a good day I presume?"
As one, all but Meta turned their heads looking at him with something resembling the cold cutting force of a blizzard-propelled dagger.
"Wh-whale are you girls looking?" he asked, his voice a mix of confusion and concern as he looked behind himself to make sure someone hadn't broken into the clan or something.
"Clan owner?" Janz asked, her voice colder than Mantle during a snowstorm.
"Yes?" he asked taking a cautious step back.
"You wouldn't be doing anything inappropriate with this sweet girl, would you?" she asked placing an arm around Meta with her other hand resting on one of her MVP special reward pistols.
While his costume didn't blink, they could almost imagine his avatar blinking in confusion.
Before he could even finish processing what was asked, let alone respond, it was Kelly who rushed him and grabbed him by his costume.
"Tell us, old man, are you playing sugar daddy with this sweet naïve young girl?"
"What?"
"So you admit it!"
"I-"
"Wotan, attack plan alpha!" Crescent shouted as he equipped her Magingear. It was a standard Marshall II. It had fewer equipment options than the MG-250, but it had been on sale and she was still customizing it.
When Wotan's red energy cape flared to life, she leveled her gun at Doc Cricket's head.
She respected him as both a player and an inventor, but she would not let anyone take advantage of an innocent young girl.
"Now hold on." He tried to wave his hands for them to stop only for Janz to draw both pistols on him. Her sights locked onto his head.
"Why are attacking my father?" Penny asked innocently.
The three girls blinked.
"Father?"
"Yes, he's my daddy."
"Oh…" the bluenette began, "He's your father, like married to the woman who gave birth to you?"
That seemed to put a complex expression on Meta's face. "I don't have a mother." She said casually.
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It's the truth." Meta replied matter of factly.
JAnz looked to the man whom she just had her guns leveled on his head for help.
"Pe-I mean Meta is my daughter and the light of my life." He began as Kelly let him go and Crescent stopped pointing her gun at him. "She's lived a… sheltered life -in no small part due to my overprotectiveness, I'll admit-, but I wanted to give her a chance to make friends, even if virtually. I invited her to join my clan when she started playing."
"What about that stuff about exchanging metals for 'fun'?" JAnz asked still somewhat suspicious.
He gave a tired sigh, "Meta keeps wanting to stick around me and the clan. So, I give her some rare metals in exchange for her going out and doing things herself."
So rather than a gamer using his status for…naughty -she blushed just thinking about it- favors, he was a parent bribing their kid to get out of the house.
Crescent, still inside her Magingear, scratched the back of her head awkwardly. Her Dad and uncle had done something like that to her before as well.
Only instead of metals, it was cookies.
'Damn them and their impossibly good baking skills.' Part of her almost wished her mother hadn't taught them her secret cookie recipe.
Almost.
As she exited and stored her Magingear in her inventory, Crescent noticed JAnz's expression.
She had the same expression Yang did whenever she tricked Dad into buying her extra expensive shampoo.
"I see, it was a misunderstanding on our part," JAnz said as she wrapped her arm around the whale man, moving a little away from their group.
This is too much like Yang and Dad.
Wotan, who apparently had better hearing than she did because…Wotan, mentally provided what they were discussing. 'She's trying to get some Ancient Legendary or even Mythical metals from her for the group in exchange for taking Meta with us to the Founding Festival.'
Crescent's mental reply was slightly unexpected, 'Founding Festival?'
'The thing JAnz and Kelly were trying to drag you to.'
'Ooooh.'
Wotan ignored her Master for a moment and instead looked back at JAnz talking out of everyone, but her own, hearing range.
'Should we stop her?'
Crescent examined a strand of her red hair with blonde tips for a moment in thought, 'I think it might do her some good.'
'You just want to get some stronger metals for your Magingear, don't you?' the wolf/raven girl psychically deadpanned.
'That's…only partially true.' Was her Master's reply. 'Besides, we kind of DO need something as strong as Mithril to handle your skills.'
'Fair point.'
After a few moments, the two walked back with Doc seeming down.
"Alright girls," JAnz began walking over to Meta and placing her hand on her shoulder, "Meta here, will be accompanying us to the Found Festival."
"I am, really?" the orange-haired girl asked.
"Yep." The blue-haired girl nodded.
"Sensational!" she cheered.
Before either Kelly or Crescent could ask, she turned and whispered, "Go with it and we each get six ingots of Orichalcum."
That had them quite down.
Orichalcum was a Legendary-ranked metal. While high-quality Mithril cost about 20,000 lir per kg, Orichalcum of the same amount was nearly double the cost.
While getting someone to handle a Legendary metal was hard, Crescent did know someone good with those types of metals, Bun-Bun. Dryfe's number one on the Kill Rankings and unofficially most deadly PK'ing maid.
What surprised Crescent was that Bun-Bun wasn't Dryfe's only PK'ing maid.
"Well, let's get to it friend," Crescent said absentmindedly.
Meta froze in place before someone moved between the gaps in their limbs like flowing rivers of some tanned substance before congealing back to her normal form in front of them.
Meta leaned in real close to Crescent, their noses nearly touching, "You called me friend! Am I really your friend?"
"Y-yes…?"
After a seemingly pregnant few moments Meta jumped for joy, "Father, I made a friend!" she shouted.
She then grabbed Crescent by her shoulders and lifted her, "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!",
Crescent couldn't help but sweat drop.
If her dad, uncle, and sister were afraid she would end up like this, then maybe them pressuring her to make friends might not have been as mean-spirited as she once thought.
As Meta whirled around with her held off the ground, she was beginning to think she should probably do something nice for them when she next got the chance.
\-\
Founding Festival, Vandelheim, Dryfe
The usually busy streets of Vandelheim were even busier as stands lined each street and people, tian, Masters, and Embryos, crowded every available space.
"There are so many people here," Crescent said aloud.
"You said it, Master." Chirped Wotan, arms full.
Crescent felt her eye twitch.
In Wotan's arms were Punga – Kelly's Embryo -, a small pink lizard she knew to be Salamander, a clan member's Embryo, a small teal humanoid with big black eyes and mouth – another clan member Embryo she knew as Doppel-, and two Embryos she didn't recognize.
At least she prayed they were Embryos. Crescent couldn't take it if it was another abducted child.
The first clearly wasn't as it was a small green and white cow no bigger than her Corgi Zwei while the other was a small young boy, who looked around to be about five. He wore what looked to be a black sphere-like outfit.
It kind of made him look like he was being sucked into a black hole from those space movies her dad liked to watch.
"Um, Wotan?"
"Yes Master?" she smiled, angling her hand, which was for some reason holding an empty ice cream cone in front of the little cow.
When the cow's udders produced what was strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips, Wotan handed the finished product to her Master.
It was a trick to distract her.
But she wouldn't fall for it.
She was only taking time to eat the, admittedly very delicious, ice cream because it was a crime to waste good ice cream.
Yeah, that's it.
"Wotan, where did you get all those Embryos, please tell me that isn't a tian child," JAnz asked while Wotan handed ice cream to the whole group. The child included.
"He's Dys." Wotan chirped.
"Power of a Star, Dyson Sphere. Type Apostle" *Slurp* "with Calculator" *Slurp* "Gear" the boy spoke in between fervently enjoying his ice cream.
"Type: Apostle?" Crescent asked having never heard the term.
Surprisingly, it was Meta who answered, "It's one of the three rarest types of Embryo. Third place goes to Maidens, then Apostles, and then Type: Body being the rarest."
"Does that mean there are a lot more Type: Maidens than Wotan?"
Meta seemed to think a little, "From what I know, every starting country has at least one Type: Maiden."
"Really?" Wotan asked invested in the conversation.
"Yes, though with the influx of players from Tenchi, Huang He has two Type: Maidens."
"Two!" Wotan practically squealed.
"Do you want to meet other Maidens?" Crescent asked her Embryo. She had never considered whether Wotan wanted to see other Maiden Embryos or if it was like seeing someone from your hometown. Or something like that.
"Of course. How could I not want to cuddle a Type: Maiden." She beamed.
Crescent wasn't sure why she hadn't seen that coming, but somehow she felt like she should have expected this from her cuddle fiend Embryo.
"Master. Let's go to Huang He immediately."
"Wotan, we're not leaving for Huang He right this second."
"Especially when you can cuddle a Type: Maiden a lot closer," Meta added, not even batting an eye at Wotan's desire to cuddle another Embryo.
That drew both Wotan and her Master's curiosity.
"There's one closer?"
"Yes. Though Dryfe may have a Type: Maiden I am unaware of, I know for a fact there is one in the Kingdom of Altar."
"Oh yeah." Crescent nodded remembering Tinker had told her about a Type: Maiden that liked to steal her Master's food.
"What I want to know", Crescent chimed in before Wotan could suggest they make a mad dash for the Southern Kingdom. "Is what makes an Apostle and Type: Body so special?"
"Easy." Said Dyson Sphere, riding in Wotan's arms. "Like Maidens, but male."
"No status corrections, but domination instead of giant slaying." He explained in a taciturn manner.
"So, unlike Maidens that punch up, you punch down?" JAnz summarized.
"Yes." The boy shrugged while eating another ice cream cone.
Crescent had given Wotan her own inventory, but she couldn't for the life of her, remember when they got ice cream cones.
Meta then added in, "While not fully proven, some people theorize that Type: Apostles come from Masters who don't like Infinite Dendrogram."
The girls looked at Dyson Sphere, "Is that true?" Crescent couldn't fathom why someone wouldn't like such an amazing game. She knew there would always be those who opposed trends, but when a game had literal infinite possibilities, how could you not find something to like?
"Somewhat", he shrugged, "Master, luck of the draw."
Surprisingly JAnz added to the conversation, "I've heard that Caldina has three Type: Apostles, and one of them is a Superior."
"That's right," Meta confirmed.
"Oh. Now that is interesting."
Kelly finally spoke up, "And who is your Master little dude?"
He looked at her confused for a brief moment, "Should know. Does kid's show."
"He's in our clan?"
"Yes." Was all he replied with, seeming to think that was all that needed to be said.
"So are you going to tell us his name?" JAnz prompted.
"Hailstorm."
"The Shinemancer?"
"Yes." He replied, starting on his third ice cream cone.
Throughout the conversation, Wotan had been constantly refilling ice cream cones. It seemed the little cow Embryo was focused on ice cream production.
"And he's okay with you being away from him?"
Dyson Sphere just shrugged again, "He said have fun, this is fun." He replied, snuggling back into Wotan's embrace.
"What about Type: Body?" Crescent asked, already somewhat used to Wotan's near-compulsive abduction-
'You mean cuddling, right?' Wotan mentally warned.
'Right, yes. Cuddling, of course, that's what I meant.'
Of other people's Embryos and their apparent desire to remain in her embrace as long as possible.
Not that she could fault them. She sometimes found herself not wanting to wake up if it meant leaving that soft cuddle.
"Type: Body Embryos are the rarest." Said Meta, seeming more confident about her answer.
"As far as I know only I and the King of Agitation in the Kingdom of Altar have that type of Embryo."
"Wow, you and Altar's lone Superior…wait, you have a Type: Body?!" Crescent blurted out, looking a little embarrassed as everyone turned to look at her.
'You have a Type: Body Embryo?" She asked in a quieter voice.
Meta for her part smiled as she held up her hand…which melted into a brow substance before changing its shape to look like Crescent's head, and then onto Wotan and so on until she moved through their entire group.
"Cuddled" Embryos included.
"As you can see, my Embryo replaces my entire avatar, unlike certain Type: Arms which can replace parts of the body like the heart, arms, or skeleton." (1)
"What else can it do?" Crescent asked excitedly.
Upon seeing a pie-eating competition, Meta smiled, "Watch and learn good friend, Crescent."
She walked up to the competition, which was just starting, paid the entry fee, and as the signal to start began…her body burst in a wave of a tanned clay-like substance and devoured all the pies on the table.
Even other contestants' pies and the pies held off to the side for reverses.
"W-winner…P-M374." The man, he didn't have a crest so he was a tian, said still somewhat in shock at what just happened.
By Crescent's estimation, she had just eaten around two hundred pies in less than three seconds.
As she took the trophy and walked back, Meta smiled at them as though it was nothing new.
"You're the Eater Princess, aren't you?" JAnz asked drawing their group's attention.
"Yes, how did you know?"
The bluenette for her part seemed more nervous, even sweating a little.
Crescent was sure she heard that job somewhere before, but couldn't recall where.
"You're the one who fought Endless Armory to a standstill."
That had her attention. Crescent had seen firsthand Bun-Bun obliterate Earth Dragons like they were nothing. How could Meta fight HER of all people?
"Oh, you mean Bun-Bun. That was before I got an item to change my appearance to a look humanoid, back then she mistook me for a monster and I mistook her for someone offering free samples."
…
…
"I'm sorry Meta, I think I may have misheard you." Crescent began, still not fully understanding what she had just heard.
"Did you say you thought Bun-Bun was offering you free samples?" she asked with as much disbelief as her body could muster.
However, her consternation over the incongruity of her statement seemed to completely go over Meta's head.
"Oh yes. Her Legendary metal buzz saws were delicious."
Crescent looked to JAnz for an explanation.
"Eater Princess is a Superior Job that focuses on, you guessed it, eating. If I had to guess, you're Embryo lets you dissolve or consume an object based on its END and the Archetype System counts it as 'eating' right?"
"Sensational friend JAnz, that's exactly right." She beamed.
"Wait, does that mean Body Embryos focus on eating? Or is it more like aspects of bodily functions?" Crescent asked, her inner nerd trying to claw its way out and run rampant.
"No, well maybe. I only know of one other Type: Body, but his ability is related to aggro management. The only things we have in common is our Embryos replace our entire avatars and we get negative stat growth."
"Negative stat growth?"
"Yes. Most Embryos, excluding Apostles, tend to give some kind of positive stat growth, baring hyper-specialized Embryos. However, Type: Body Embryos give negative stat growth to all or one specific stat in exchange for being very powerful."
"And your power is, what? Eating?"
"That is partially correct, My Embryo allows me to be classified as an Elemental. A Clay Elemental to be precise. And it subtracts by END multiplied by five from whatever I touch every second before absorbing the substance, be it monster or material, into my body, converting it into the volume of clay."
"The volume acts as my HP."
"From there, I can either alter my body to mimic a substance I have consumed or use my ultimate skill to create independent items such as simple weapons or even ingots of powerful metals."
"Wait, if you can make metals, then why do you seem so excited to get them from your dad?"
"I need to use my own volume, or HP, to make them, but consuming existing metals tastes better and raises my volume and gives me a chance to increase my stock of materials to select from."
"You're not a Superior are you?"
"No, my Embryo is only up to its fifth form." She smiled as they walked along the stand, Meta stretching her fingers from her body which broke into numerous tentacles as she exchanged lir for snacks which her finger-tentacle -things(?) consumed while she talked.
"You're Embryo is so cool." Crescent squalled…before Wotan shot her a frosty glare.
'But I have the coolest Embryo.' She was mentally reassured with which Wotan nodded as it was the natural order of things.
/-/
Random Roof Top in Vandelheim
A black-haired man in a mint-colored outfit watched from up high as a certain Master with red hair ending in blonde tips was chatting with her friends about things he couldn't hear.
A black and white cat, divided perfectly down the middle save for its eyes being the opposite of that side's color, standing on its hind legs was busy getting drunk on its fifth beer staggered next to him.
"You do realize," said a man with wild green hair and glasses who slowly walked behind him, "that Atlas has an entire division devoted to finding people like you, 4-Leaf."
"What's that mean?" he growled at DGE.
Sighing, "I mean that you are a grown man, effectively stalking, a young girl online."
"She's, my niece."
"That doesn't make your argument any better. If anything, it makes it worse." He dryly chuckled.
"I just want to make sure she's having fun and is safe. A lot of weirdos in this game."
DGE rolled his eyes at the irony of that statement. However, his old friend wasn't exactly wrong on that end. Legendaria had a dominatrix for a Demon Lord, Huang He had a hat-wearing megalomaniacal dictator wannabe doing battle with a man in a dragon costume, Altar had the King of Sculptures who supposedly created a labyrinth of statues for his wife, and another Pre-Superior known for making horror movies look euphoric by comparison, Granvalao had UFO Invasion and the Building Princess and her fish tanks fetish – a harsh, but accurate descriptor-, Tenchi had its White Fang furries, and the less said about Minos and him having his Embryo crossdressing as the target of his online stalking or the nightmare fuel that was Alf when he's feeling "creative" the better.
Now that he thought of it, Dryfe seemed to be the only place without an insane or otherwise mentally unstable Master of note.
Unless you counted a grown man dressing as a whale and making whale puns or a killer rabbit faunus maid.
"While I somewhat agree with that, you do remember she is part of Dryfe's top-ranked clan and the Master of a Maiden Embryo. A Maiden Embryo capable of amplifying damage fivefold, need I remind you."
Speaking of Superiors and the top of the rankings, they saw the group of girls go into a fenced-off area full of small cat-like monsters run by Drfye's Top of the Duel Rankings; Jenny Frame.
He could hear them squealing with joy as his niece's Embryo began trying to grab hold of as many of the small monsters as she could. Eventually being buried by the little critters.
"I know how you feel after Summer-"
"Don't say it." 4-Leaf (Qrow) interrupted. "Please."
"Alright." The lean man in glasses said.
Sighing, 4-Leaf got up to leave, "We've got a job to do, so we might as well do it."
"About that." DGE interrupted.
The black-haired man turned towards the green-haired man, questioning.
"We haven't been assigned a new task and are ordered to head back."
"Head back?" he turned towards him in confusion.
"Tenchi just declared war on Huang He."
/-/
"What do you mean I cheated?!" JAnz yelled as Kelly and Crescent tried to drag her away from the shooting booth.
"There's no way you're able to hit all those targets moving at that speed." The heavy-set tian shot back.
"It's called Sense Skill. Ever heard of it?"
"Yeah, I have and I know Sense Skills when I see 'em and I say you used an Embryo or somethin' similar."
"ATTENTION!" a voice said over the speaker system, "THE CLOCK TOWER'S MECHA BATTLE WILL BEGIN IN TWENTY MINUTES, LAST CALL FOR TICKETS!"
As one Kelly and JAnz saw Crescent's eyes start lighting up like diamonds in the sky.
"Why didn't you tell me there was going to be a Mecha Battle!"
"We thought you knew." Was Kelly's response.
Meta, who was watching off to the side, compressed into a form making her look like she was five, was sitting next to Dyson Sphere in Wotan's arms, added, "It was in the clan's new letter."
"We have a clan newsletter?"
"No wait" she stuttered, "Wotan, we've gotta get seats." She said running towards the stadium like her life depended on it.
Leaving Kelly to keep JAnz and the tian booth owner from going at it.
/-/
Crescent sat on the bleachers excitedly, nearly bouncing out of her suit due to her sheer excitement.
Wotan, thankfully, had released the Embryos she had been cuddling as neither she, nor Crescent, had the lir to pay for all of those tickets.
Charging for Embryos, that just wasn't fair.
Wotan had taken what lir they had left to see if she could get some snacks.
Admittedly, Crescent wasn't sure if she wanted to compete or not herself.
She knew she was way too late for registration, but at the same time, she also felt she wouldn't be able to do much.
She was still having trouble getting the Blooming Rose System to not…well explode!
She felt like she needed a distraction, so she focused on the first round.
The two opponents were being announced.
"IN THE EAST CORNER, WE HAVE THE DRAGONER AND MASTER OF THE GREATEST OF MECHANICAL BEASTS!" The announcer said, hyping things up so much even Crescent could tell as much.
"BILLY FLAMING JAMES!"
He was a tall young man with tanned skin and six long red dreadlocks tied in a ponytail down to the middle of his back. He was wearing a red pilot's uniform with a dinosaur motif.
He stood, waving, atop a giant mechanical beast that looked like a cross between a bucket-wheel excavator and a tyrannosaurus.
"SO COOOOL!" the silver-eyed Master squealed in delight.
"AND HIS OPPONENT IN THE WEST CORNER."
"THE MASTER OF LIGHT AND THE BEACON OF THE HARSHWINTER MOUNTAINS, HAILSTORM!"
His opponent was a black-haired man who wore an icy-blue pilot suit.
Contrasting Billy's complex and mechanical-looking dinosaur, his mech looked…well it looked like a bowling ball with limbs and a head.
Guess he's a TCG fan. (2)
"This looks like it's going to be a great match." Said someone sitting next to Crescent.
"Oh yeah, I can't wait." She replied excitedly only to realize she didn't know who the woman next to her was. She was rather beautiful with a slender frame and long ringlets in her hair.
"While Billy Flaming James' Odontotyrannos is the larger and more powerful of the two machines, Hailstorm's Magingear is more maneuverable, and his Embryo can pilot it without the need of its Master so he can make full use of his Superior Job without worrying about piloting. It's almost like a tow on one." The new woman said excitedly.
Crescent couldn't recall the announcer saying…well any of that.
Was this woman a big Magingear fan?
"Oh, where are my manners?" she said suddenly. "Here I am talking your ear off without even introducing myself."
She extended her hand, "You can call me Claudiah."
(1) I'm looking at you Figaro, Carbine, and Eldridge.
(2) Thunder Ball from the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game.
Well, it finally happened. Claudiah has finally met Crescent, and Infinite Dendrogram will never be the same.
Or will it?
Regardless, things are about to pick up and I can't wait to get things rolling as our favorite weapon nerd in red gets back on center stage.
Crescent Rose = Ruby Rose
Kelly Hawks = Reese Chloris
JAnz= Nebula Violette
P-M374 (Meta) = Penny Polendina
Doc Cricket = Pietro Polendina
Bun-Bun = Velvet Scarlatina
Hailstorm = Councilman Sleet
Doctor Green Egg = Bartholomew Oobleck
4-Leaf = Qrow Branwen
Jenny Frame = Xanthe Rumpole
Billy Flaming James = Roy Stallion. Guess who just got his Embryo's fourth form?
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