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Morty knows he shouldn't be screwing around with multidimensional shit. It's dangerous, it's impractical, it's blah blah blah. But it's a potential key to unlimited energy, how does nobody see that? He's built a dimensional siphon (it kind of looks like a cardboard box with a funnel and a TI-84 taped to it, but it damn well works), keyed in the dimensional coordinates to a random plane, and by God he's going to use it.
He flips the switch and waits for the energy bar to fill up.
It does! It fills up very rapidly. Then it explodes, along with the box. There's rather more smoke than there should be, and once the smoke clears someone is standing there.
"Oh dear," Morty says faintly.
Flicker at Whateley
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point_b
"Mm-hm, bye."
Bella pops into her room to peer at textbooks and investigate the contents of the internet and eventually go to bed.
Bella pops into her room to peer at textbooks and investigate the contents of the internet and eventually go to bed.
The next morning, some enterprising soul has shoved a fold-out flyer for the Combat Arena under her door. It contains a calendar of scheduled matches.
Today's is circled. "3-4 PM, Arena 99: STAR FORCE versus THE ALPHAS! Team leaders: STORMHAMMER and SILVERTONGUE! Power level: HIGH!"
point_b
Well, if this is the campus entertainment and Ariel's in it maybe she should actually go. She doesn't have a class then and her magic supervisor won't be handy. She locates an intersection near the venue on her campus map.
Breakfast econ lunch history STAR FORCE VERSUS THE ALPHAS!
in-like-a
The arena is pretty packed. Not wall-to-wall, but there aren't many good seats left; these teams are high-powered and have serious beef with each other, it's gonna be flashy.
Before the match, the teams enter the field. First come, apparently, the Alphas, greeted with equal parts enthusiasm and hatred. At their head marches an implausibly gorgeous woman wearing an outfit that looks straight out of a low-budget fantasy video game, heavy on the iron and silk. She's followed by another beauty, this one in a more standard super-suit, and an equally beautiful man wearing... stretchy hotpants and a cheap t-shirt?
After him come three seriously fucked-up-looking specimens. One is a shirtless gentleman who appears to have turned into an eagle from the shoulders up, with an imp of some kind perched on one wing. The next, some kind of frog-woman, holds a crystal ball and smiles enigmatically. Finally, out walks a stereotypical demonic-looking person; black scales, digitigrade hooved legs, bat wings, the works. They exhale a curlicue of smoke, to scattered applause.
Their ostensible leader bows, exposing a truly ridiculous amount of cleavage and earning some wolf-whistles. Her less scantily-clad subordinate rolls her eyes.
Before the match, the teams enter the field. First come, apparently, the Alphas, greeted with equal parts enthusiasm and hatred. At their head marches an implausibly gorgeous woman wearing an outfit that looks straight out of a low-budget fantasy video game, heavy on the iron and silk. She's followed by another beauty, this one in a more standard super-suit, and an equally beautiful man wearing... stretchy hotpants and a cheap t-shirt?
After him come three seriously fucked-up-looking specimens. One is a shirtless gentleman who appears to have turned into an eagle from the shoulders up, with an imp of some kind perched on one wing. The next, some kind of frog-woman, holds a crystal ball and smiles enigmatically. Finally, out walks a stereotypical demonic-looking person; black scales, digitigrade hooved legs, bat wings, the works. They exhale a curlicue of smoke, to scattered applause.
Their ostensible leader bows, exposing a truly ridiculous amount of cleavage and earning some wolf-whistles. Her less scantily-clad subordinate rolls her eyes.
point_b
Bella finds the best seat left and teleports directly into it rather than jostle past people, and watches. Wow, people can wind up with some truly inconvenient-looking physical features in this world.
in-like-a
Well, they seem to be doing alright by it.
Star Force rolls out, all in flight. First is Ariel, shiny chainmail and shiny tabard and great big hammer and all. Xan and Leo fly out after her, on wings of blood and shadow respectively. Sally rides on Xan's back, apparently lacking her own mode of flight. And their final member, a sexless marble angel in golden plate armor, swoops in bearing a pair of scimitars.
They are way too shiny. Sally's creations may be incredibly powerful, but she should probably take a design class at some point.
Ariel looks around at the audience, then waves excitedly at Bella.
Star Force rolls out, all in flight. First is Ariel, shiny chainmail and shiny tabard and great big hammer and all. Xan and Leo fly out after her, on wings of blood and shadow respectively. Sally rides on Xan's back, apparently lacking her own mode of flight. And their final member, a sexless marble angel in golden plate armor, swoops in bearing a pair of scimitars.
They are way too shiny. Sally's creations may be incredibly powerful, but she should probably take a design class at some point.
Ariel looks around at the audience, then waves excitedly at Bella.
in-like-a
A booming voice counts down. A split-second after the last number fades, Ariel blasts Impractical Armor Girl with a crackling blue wave of power. It goes straight through her, and after a moment, the Alphas flicker and vanish, leaving behind a swarm of tiny hologram-projecting robots. Ariel swears loudly, just as a blazing white spear slams into her from above. The battle begins in earnest.
It's fast-paced, and it gets hard to track who's doing what and beating whom. Leo gets set on fire; Froggy Lady gets encased in an invisible dome and accidentally blasts herself into unconsciousness with a magical grenade; Angel Girl and Bird Guy, near the ceiling, duel so fast that mortal eyes can't follow them for more than a few seconds. Ariel finds herself occupied with Pretty Boy, who has grown to fifty feet tall and seems to be trying his damnedest to crush her into a gritty paste. She surrounds the area with white fog to make his fists easier to avoid, although the arena seems to have some way of letting the audience see through it.
It's fast-paced, and it gets hard to track who's doing what and beating whom. Leo gets set on fire; Froggy Lady gets encased in an invisible dome and accidentally blasts herself into unconsciousness with a magical grenade; Angel Girl and Bird Guy, near the ceiling, duel so fast that mortal eyes can't follow them for more than a few seconds. Ariel finds herself occupied with Pretty Boy, who has grown to fifty feet tall and seems to be trying his damnedest to crush her into a gritty paste. She surrounds the area with white fog to make his fists easier to avoid, although the arena seems to have some way of letting the audience see through it.
hemomancer
This gives them an excellent view of Xan, cloaked in shadow, using an enormous crystalline sword to cut his throat.
The giant falls.
The giant falls.
point_b
This is almost certainly some kind of mockup, but if it is not, Bella is going to be very irritated later.
in-like-a
Xan takes advantage of the sudden surfeit of blood to encase himself in some kind of fucked-up crystal battle armor, and with him powered up and Ariel freed from having to tank the titan, the rest of the match is mostly hide-and-seek.
"WINNER: STAR FORCE!" booms the PA. "CONGRATULATIONS, STAR FORCE!"
Cheering ensues. The ex-giant is helped to his feet and, despite the fact that his neck is still mostly not a neck, hobbles over to the area designated for obligatory good-game handshakes. Ariel gives him a friendly kiss on the cheek. Xan pokes his gaping wound, instead. Angel Girl slaps his hand away and heals the poor guy.
After all this, and after the crowd has thinned somewhat, Ariel flies up to Bella. "Hey! I didn't know you were gonna come!"
"WINNER: STAR FORCE!" booms the PA. "CONGRATULATIONS, STAR FORCE!"
Cheering ensues. The ex-giant is helped to his feet and, despite the fact that his neck is still mostly not a neck, hobbles over to the area designated for obligatory good-game handshakes. Ariel gives him a friendly kiss on the cheek. Xan pokes his gaping wound, instead. Angel Girl slaps his hand away and heals the poor guy.
After all this, and after the crowd has thinned somewhat, Ariel flies up to Bella. "Hey! I didn't know you were gonna come!"
point_b
"I had nothing else to do and might as well sample the local entertainment, even if it's bloodsport. You looked like you were having a good time."
in-like-a
"I was! Callum's great, it's basically impossible to kill him so even with an arena match we can just beat the shit out of him all we like, plus if he gets me he'll break like every bone in my body so it keeps the fight interesting, usually we wouldn't have gotten away with that ambush maneuver but Sally was keeping Vera and Tessa occupied so his flank was open, and Xan never gets to bring out the Bloodstrider, and-"
She stops to breathe. "Yeah!"
She stops to breathe. "Yeah!"
point_b
"So there's not some kind of effect over the arena to keep everybody alive, that's just you all operating within known-safe parameters?"
in-like-a
"Uh... I mean, there's enchantments and stuff too? People have to keep it nonlethal, and there's, like, luck charms that make it less likely for people to get hurt worse than the healers can handle. And you get a little wristband that teleports you out to the healers if it looks like you're going to die in the next couple of minutes, and they patch you up. Nobody's died in, like, a decade, and that was some kind of sabotage anyway."
point_b
"Okay. Well, it was more tactically interesting than football, certainly."
point_b
"Not unless it's gemini football, but even that is a lot tamer than gladiatorial combat outright."
in-like-a
Hee.
A thought occurs. "Ordinarily I'd have celebratory sex with Callum because we wrecked his shit. How... does that interact with, uh." She gestures vaguely. "This."
A thought occurs. "Ordinarily I'd have celebratory sex with Callum because we wrecked his shit. How... does that interact with, uh." She gestures vaguely. "This."
point_b
"I. Don't know. I mean, the custom I'm working from here says that it's a little early to actually suggest exclusivity but also says that if it's not present in practice something's fishy?"
in-like-a
"I mean... I've never really done exclusivity? I don't think it really makes sense to me to think of it as making the relationship more meaningful, but I'm aware that the idea exists?" She fidgets. "I'd rather not if it can be helped, though. I mean, I'd probably consider being exclusive, if the relationship went really well and poly shit was a total dealbreaker, but... I dunno, it just seems kind of sad. There's so many people, you know?"
point_b
"I'm not sure I'd go as far as 'can't be helped' but it'd be a compromise. Should we be having this conversation in this stadium?"
in-like-a
"Huh? Oh."
She looks around. "Nobody's listening here, but I'm pretty sure the gossip mill has everywhere bugged, so it's a concern if you're concerned. If you care, we could talk in my room?"
She looks around. "Nobody's listening here, but I'm pretty sure the gossip mill has everywhere bugged, so it's a concern if you're concerned. If you care, we could talk in my room?"
in-like-a
Ariel flops onto the ceiling. "So, yeah. What kind of compromise? I mean, like I said, I don't think exclusivity would actually do anything on my end except making me not have sex with people."