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Valentine watched from his hidden position, fear gripping his mind, he didn't know what to do at this moment he didn't truly have any offensive options so what help would he be able to offer? He watched as the mechs were making their way toward Sami, their machinery at work as they began to attack. Valentine couldn't wait any longer, it had to be now or never, but as to what he was going to do, even he didn't know. Valentine instead wracked his brain for anything possible, anything he could do to try and split the focus of those creatures from Sami, especially as they encircled him. [break][break]

Valentine's thoughts flew in every direction, wondering if he could astral project, to potentially see if the creatures, had any weaknesses from afar, but he also realized that astral projection would do nothing but keep Sami as a target, even if he could get information on the creatures from afar what could he do with it now when his only party member was already in the middle of the fray? Valentine looked around for anything he could find, anything he could use to perhaps give him even the slightest advantage.[break][break]

Unfortunately for him, all he could find were power cords on the ground ones that ran to and from the arcade machines that littered the neon buildings' halls. He ran over toward the mechs, hoping to stay out of their view as they were distracted by Sami who was fighting back for all he had.[break][break]

Valentine grabbed the nearest cord toward him, one that seemed long and would have some leeway in order to pull further, he followed the cord as he ran, letting one finger drape over it as he moved, the creatures were attempting to deliver attacks to Sami, Sami of who was fighting back. Then Valentine saw holographic screams appear around Sami, a skill of some sort went off, at least he thinks it did, considering the ominous aura that circulated outward.[break][break]

Valentine ran forward, his heart thundering in his chest, as he gripped the cord within his hands, folding one hand of cord over the other he attempted to make a simple circle of cord, enough to try and lasso a limb if at all possible. H dipped down slightly leaning forward he attempted to drive his right shoulder into the mech that wasn't being aimed at by Sami, hoping to split their attention. Trying to knock it off balance with every bit of speed and force he could muster into his meager tackle. [break][break]

Though he had always been a man based on self-preservation. Valentine in good conscious couldn't leave Sami to get attacked on his own, especially when he was only here to uphold his deal of helping him look for his sister. Taking the cord and swinging it outward Valentine would attempt to lasso one of the mechs extremities. Though he had no idea how little this gamble would work if it all, he felt he couldn't leave Sami to attack the creatures all by his lonesome, he had no plan, for now, simply reacting on instincts of what he thought would be best. [break][break]

Summary:

[attr="class","landtag2"]Sami[TAGGED]

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Valentine listened intently sneaking through the arcade, then his eyes went wide as his own voice could be heard playing in his ears, what the hell? Those creatures, those mechs, were now broadcasting Valentine's voice, the entirety of the place itself, either way, he knew something could hear him, and if it was coming from the speakers from the mechs that meant they could hear them, connecting the obvious points, Valentine knew they were essentially screwed. Hiding, trying to make it to higher ground those theories seemed to fly out the window. There wasn't much they could do now besides try and take them head-on. Valentine glanced around looking for any kind of weapon or item he could use to try and attack these creatures.[break][break]

Regardless, he would find that he would have no choice but to act, as Sami began to throw himself from under the arcade machine, watching as Sami began to look around, he moved with the taser in hand, Valentine watched as Sami moved to try and attack the mech raptor, but for the time being he stayed put, he still needed to find a weapon and even more so, he needed to wait, for the right opportunity to intervene, the mech was likely far stronger than either of them, but that didn't change the fact that there were two of them, perhaps Sami would be able to attack and take down one, but that all went to shit if he was to get pincered between the two. No, Valentine had to wait, for the other to show up, then he could try and split their focus, even if it meant using himself as bait.
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[attr="class","landtag2"]Sami [TAGGED]

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Valentine paused to think about what St. Claire had mentioned, what was going to happen next. If that was the tutorial does that mean the game had truly begun? Or were these just the first few levels? The beginning stages? Valentine didn't know how bad it would get, but if the tutorial was any indicator he could imagine shit would hit the fan fairly quickly. The truth of the matter was, was the time they spent looking for their sister, was something they'd be able to do in small bursts. Searching here and there, but they'd have to level up while doing so. If they were to abandon everything else and make only looking for her their main concern they would be dead before the day's end. They had to do things smartly, and they had to progress.[break][break]

"Honestly, I'm not sure what's going to happen next, but I doubt it'll be something good. We'll have to make sure we're prepared and can handle it when that time comes. I'm sure if we keep getting stronger we'll be fine, but we can't stagnate, not even for a moment. Unless we want to end up dead," Valentine said, though he knew the words he was speaking were for his own benefit, his own ease of mind, as he was sure St. Claire had already known everything he said was true. [break][break]

Valentine chuckled at Saint Claire's words, Val could tell that he wasn't fully buying the facts he had put out, though he didn't mind, after all, if he couldn't even be vain around his brother who could he be honest with? Valentine moved to pick up the body after wrapping it in the hideous dresses that he had seen. [break][break]

As they were moving the body, Valentine took the lead, letting Saint Claire simply hold and follow, after all, thanks to his class he had better knowledge of his surroundings. Valentine could easily maneuver around everything, not even the slightest brush against a pair of clothes as he moved. Valentine's eyes glanced across each garment that they passed. Valentine spoke up and answered Saint Claire's question. "When I scoped the place out they had some in the employee area, they look untouched," Valentine said with a smile, there were three he had seen, one with drinks, another with candy and pastry snacks, and one with chips. [break][break]

Valentine would move toward the largest trash can he could find, removing the lid it thankfully seemed like it had been cleared out, thankfully the employees that were working here kept the area pretty clean, sans a few coffee cups. Valentine lowered the head into a small trash can, before moving toward a window. He lifted his portion of the body out the window. [break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire [TAGGED]

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Valentine figured that now was better than never to tell Sami about his abilities, after all, at this point when he had attacked someone to keep them both safe, he figured the least he could do was trust him. Even if Sami's actions seemed to be directed by self-preservation, Valentine preferred that especially because that was the same moral guideline in which he often decided who to work with himself. All this damn world going to shit had done was further push him to display such qualities openly and without shame.[break][break]

"My class allows me to teleport... Sort of," Valentine said, scratching the back of his head as he moved to pick up the bat putting it into his inventory with quick haste just in case any of these guys were sturdier than what they appeared to be. Valentine then watched as Sami began to take the leaders outfit, the color scheme was okay, and from what Valentine could see the leader and Sami seemed to be around the same size, the outfit wasn't bad either, plus it fit the color scheme he would've liked for Sami, it was subtle, but still had a bit of its own uniqueness to it with the skull motif. Not to mention it was like a tracksuit which meant that it would be good for moving around in, allowing for freedom of movement, and would be good in city terrains like they were currently in. He had no objections to it. Valentine turned to give Sami some privacy while he changed. [break][break]

"Haha, thanks, that taser of yours is damn powerful, to think it could knock a whole grown man out with just a tap. Wow," Valentine said, perhaps this taser was designed to be used on monsters rather than people. Valentine scratched the back of his head blushing as he spoke once more, "my class planeswalker lets me enter different realms, I can astral project, as well as enter a digital realm of sorts," he said testing the waters as he let some facts about his abilities out into the open for Sami to hear.[break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]Sami [TAGGED]

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"Yeah I understand, me too," were the words that came from Valentine as Saint Claire spoke about wanting all of this to be over with, Valentine could fully understand his brother's sentiment, he wanted it to be over as well, he wanted to just go home and lay in bed, but he knew that wouldn't be possible, so instead he moved on, going forward with their plane, their safety in mind...[break][break]

"Yeah, we do, we can do this guys and gal!" Valentine said, blushing a bit as he looked at Mio, who said nothing in return but did pat him gently on his shoulder with a warm smile of her own, as they stood within the ninth-floor waiting area. It was time to move, time to finish all of this bullshit and just get on with their lives and however much more craziness that would intel, but for this, for now, he wanted to be done with it, he wanted to be over it and finished for good. Whatever awaited them next he wanted to do that, perhaps after he got some more food, rest, and a nap in him. [break][break]

Valentine's plan was working! It really was, it was going exactly as he had planned all except one thing, Mio fell, he came back into the mortal realm, the place he had decided to dub the original world he was in before his skill activated taking him to the self-proclaimed digital world. Only to find that Mio had lost her footing, slipped, hurt herself, and ended up tossing the IV bag across the room, he wasn't angry at this, but he was concerned for his friend. He rushed over careful not to slip himself, picking the petite girl off the ground. "Are you, okay?" He said, gently touching the back of her head. There was no blood thankfully, so it meant that at most she'd probably just have a knot and some soreness. She nodded weakly, between the slip and fall, and the fatigue affecting everyone he was sure she was at her end.[break][break]

Valentine noticed as Saint Claire finished off the boss, using the skill he was talking about, Valentine went and grabbed the IV placing it in his inventory. Seeing the boss lay limp, Valentine didn't trust it, perhaps it was just rage at the situation, perhaps it was just his negative emotions bubbling to the surface, or maybe it was just fear that the boss had gone down much too close to the plan, but he found himself grabbing the fire axe, hefting it up in his hands, placing his foot onto the zombies now a cooling corpse, and pulling it out only to swing it down again, and again, until its brain was nothing more than mush. Wiping the blood from his face, he placed the axe back into his inventory in case he needed it again later.[break][break]

He wasn't sure if this would be the end all be all, so he figured best to have it than not, Valentine looked around at everyone stating, "let's get this shit over with," before walking through the double doors, Mio held onto him for support until they were inside the hospital room. Like the tutorial said the bed had a large red "X" on it. Botan helped Mio to stand while Valentine went over to the bed, placing the IV onto the hooks at the top of the pole, then connected it to the metal tube that went into the patient's skin with what looked like a thick silver needle that was piercing it. [break][break]

Valentine waited for a moment, watching as the silver translucent tube caused the liquid to flow down. The zombie-looking girl jerked around violently, Valentine took out the fire axe from his inventory and hefted it high in case he had to kill her. Then as quickly and violently as it started it faded away to a gentle slumber of the girl, her veins began to change, the magma-like liquid looking as if it was turning green, then a mundane red, and her skin went from soot grey to pale, her emaciated looking body began to bulk up, within moments she looked like a normal human girl as a rosy blush came to her cheeks. The white flowers protruding and growing from her body turned green. The flower buds began to bloom and green pollen spread throughout, not just the room, it burst out everywhere like a canon going off, covering the entirety of the building. "Oh shit!" He screamed unsure of what was going on.[break][break]

In moments all the zombies fell limp the to ground, the claws going away, the shapes of their body turning to normal, leaving them as nothing more than normal corpses, but when the pollen clouds filtered away, the body was gone. Then Valentine heard a "ding" turning around he could see an elevator in the corner of the room, one he hadn't seen before, over top of it read the words "exit" in Japanese kanji. "Woah what the fuck was that?" he questioned only to look down the room door to see the zombie's boss's body looking like that of a normal human corpse. [break][break]

"Um, okay? I guess maybe she was the cure to this whole twisted whatever the fuck," Valentine said with a sigh, then he could hear the voices of people running, the sound of what sounded like people coming down the far end of the hall as they were shouting wondering what was going on. The next thing Valentine knew they had all received a prompt. [break][break]

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Valentine let out a cheer of glee, but as voices could be heard increasing he decided to make his way for the elevator, he could've waited for those other people but he didn't know them, he didn't trust them. In this world, creatures and undead weren't the only monsters, he had seen enough zombie movies to know to be weary of other humans. Besides as exhausted as they all were he didn't want to take the risk of staying here even a single moment later. Moving into the elevator with Saint Claire, Mio, and Botan; Valentine pressed the singular button that read "rooftop".[break][break]

The elevator rose before coming to a stop with a dinge, on the top of the rooftop there was a small purple barrier, but as they glanced about, Valentine could see two major things that stood out, the entirety of japan, breaking apart, raising into the sky, some of it being turned into what looked like digital code as it broke apart in pieces, other being rebuilt. It was insanity, and it made his heart sink as he glanced in the direction of his family's home only to see the entirety of the area gone, no longer what it was. "Mom, dad... Aurore," he muttered a tear rolling down his cheek. It was quickly wiped away, as he clenched his fist. He moved toward the other thing he had seen, wondering what the hell it was, then a prompt came up on his menu starting the words "Waygate."[break][break]

"Well if the title of this thing means anything, I guess, this is some kind of gate to another place? Whatever let's, let's just get the fuck out of here already," Valentine said looking to Saint claire, pressing the button that asked him if he wanted to enter it. For now, he would choose to push the thoughts of his family being gone deep down, he still had a little brother to look after, a sister to find, parents he knew were most likely gone but still held up help for anyway, and a new word to discover alongside some new friends. He turned to look at, St. Claire, Mio, and Botan giving a reassuring smile as he pressed the prompt that came up for "Yes" that asked him if he wanted to travel through the waygate. [break][break]


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Information Guide:

[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire [TAGGED]

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Valentine's own smile widened as he saw Elisande do the same, her soft laugh was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise glum time in his life. Considering everything that had happened, he wondered if it was fate that he had stumbled upon someone so light-hearted. Either way, he was thanking the universe that the person that had decided to help him was at the very least kind and stunning to look at. Though Valentine tried not to let Elisande's beauty distract him from the task at hand. The family came first, then perhaps maybe some harmless flirting after.[break][break]

Valentine's eyes widened momentarily as Elisande replied, he blushed slightly as she sighed and continued. It was strange meeting someone so good-willed, most people only did such when they wanted something out of someone else, because of how the mutual relationship benefited each other, or how they could simply use the person before throwing them away. Seeing someone like her, with the mindset that she had after everything he had been through was strange. Especially, when he had found himself leaning toward becoming one of the people that only worked with those who could be mutually beneficial to his own goals. He found himself wondering just when did such a thing change for him? Was it before the earth went to shit? No, it was much before then, all the world going to shit did was make it rise to the surface.[break][break]

He smiled as he blushed, rubbing the back of his head he laughed slightly before speaking, "ah, sorry, sorry, I'm just not used to people doing things out of kindness for the sake of kindness." Valentine glanced over toward her, pausing for a moment before speaking again, "are they missing?" He said, before quickly throwing his hands up trying to follow his words, "sorry I don't mean to pry, it's just if you're willing to help me look for mine, then perhaps I could help you as well."[break][break]

Then she spoke again, Valentine smiled, glancing off the distance to no place in particular, at least not in the physical sense. Where he was gazing only his mind could see it, a memory of him, and his family during the holidays, staring at the night sky as he pointed out constellations to her. "We are," he said pausing momentarily before speaking again, "I'm the oldest, I have a younger brother, and my little sister, well she's the youngest. Though out of all of us she's definitely the smartest, most energetic, and the most stubborn." He said chuckling slightly.[break][break]


When he thought of his sister it brought a smile to his face, she was so much like his mother it was hard to tell them apart sometime, but she had their dad's cool calm anger, much like Valentine had himself. "She's always going on and on about how much she wanted to travel the world, perhaps maybe she found these waygates and did just that, but I just... I just can't imagine her not wanting to reach out to one of us, to see if we're okay. To find my parents." Valentine said, looking away from Elisande, the mention of his parents struck a nerve, especially because deep down, he knew they were most likely dead already.[break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]Elisande Kiaris [TAGGED]