ya_assemble | [LN] Dangerously Genre-Savvy [closed to Nico]

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[LN] Dangerously Genre-Savvy [closed to Nico]

"Inspector!" Rafa cried out, as the Inspector's ship crash landed in the purple jungles of Khalafross. Clad in his traditional animal skins, he was an imposing figure, even despite the fact that the Inspector was taller than him. "The danger light blinks! Rafa can see with the eyes of the ship! Our most hated enemy comes for us: Blorgons!"

Native to the planet Tumantis, Rafa was one of the Tessujex, a subgroup of the people known as the Suveteem. In the Inspector's adventures, he had discovered that the Suvateem were actually descendant of a crashed space exploration survey team. (Their name, in fact, was what "survey team" had devolved into over the centuries). The Tessujex had evolved from the animals on board that had accidentally been exposed to mutagens during the crash and developed human intelligence. (Hence the name Tessujex, a twisted version of the words "test subjects.")

After the Tessujex were used as slave labor for centuries, the Inspector was responsible for making the Suveteem realize that the humanoids among them were not the superior species they'd once thought they were and that their claim that they were descended from the gods was false, the Tessujex finally had a chance of being treated equal in their society. After that, Rafa, one of the Tessujex's most noble warriors and resistance fighters had declared that he would follow the Inspector to the end of time until the debt could be repaid, especially if it meant the Inspector could teach him the ways of peace after a lifetime of battle.

"We must leave! Quickly! And fight them in the jungle. Rafa knows the way!"

They had no way of defending themselves on the ship and there was no way to repair it while the Blorgons were on board.

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Nearby, the mound of ninjas was moving but Raph was having a little trouble climbing out of it.

The grumbling sounds at least made it clear he was probably okay.

What the...

Nico shook off her confusion. She could either chase after that guy and risk leaving Raph behind in this reality, or she could help Raph out of that pile of ninjas and hope they could catch up. She went with the latter, wading gingerly into the mess of ~~blood and~~ bodies and trying to move them aside. At least most of them were sleeping.

Most of them.

"Raph, you okay? I saw the guy, he was wearing a turtle costume and babbled something about crossovers and big companies verses little companies before he ran off, come on!"

Raph popped out between two Foot clan ninjas like a daisy, looking extremely affronted, sais in his hands as he awkwardly tried to force his way free.

To his credit, despite the blood bath of earlier, he wasn't stabbing anyone while they were down. Apparently that'd been fully reserved for that specific moment of being in deep deep sewer runoff.

"A turtle costume!" If he sounded pissed it was because he was pissed. And still breathing raggedly, what with all the fighting and such. "Like it's aaall fun and games!"

This guy was running around talking about comic book crossovers while we're stuck dodging ninjas and nearly drowning."

He stumbled the rest of the way out and joined Nico's side, following wherever she was running off to.

"What is that?" he said, the moment he saw the hole. The paper hole. In a brick wall. Whatever was beyond it was brightly colored, a stark contrast to the grim black and white world they were in, as if they were in one half of the Wizard of Oz movie and about to step into the other half.

Edited 2015-01-06 23:41 (UTC)

"That is..." Nico frowned at the hole, then scooped up a piece of trash out of a nearby bin and lobbed it through. The wadded up piece of paper immediately took on cleaner, crisper lines and the colors of the stains on it became less muddied and dark. "...really weird. Maybe now that we're aware of this being a weird situation, he had to tear his way through?"

Because really, they were chasing after a guy who was pretty much warping reality around them. There was no way that he wasn't responsible for this hole.

"Let's go, we don't want to lose him!"

"I've got a feeling that if we want any answers we're going to have to shake 'em out of the guy," Raph said, his voice a near growl as the two of them barreled through the hole. He snagged her sleeve as they did it, just to make sure they went through together. He didn't trust this place with its near-drownings, mind-fuckery, and paper holes in brick walls.

The moment they were on the other side, Nico would find herself in a very strange yet familiar world. They were in another New York City and not far off in the distance Stilt-Man was trying to make a getaway, bags of cash in his hands. He was being fought by Spider-Man and a rather deranged looking Deadpool, who was shimmying up one of his massive legs. Spider-Man looked as annoyed as someone could look when covered head to toe in spandex, which, surprisingly, was pretty annoyed, but hey, not surprising when Deadpool was there.

The people in the street were either filming the fight on their phones or grumbling about rush hour traffic as they tried to trot out of the way.

Everything was brightly colored with crisp outlines.

But that wasn't the thing that had caught Raph's attention.

"What am I wearing?"

The second he'd popped through the portal, his clothes had changed. Most significantly, he actually had clothes instead of his very utilitarian wraps and belt and elbow and knee pads. Instead of dressing like an actual ninja, wearing what was most suitable for fighting, he was wearing what a superhero ninja might wear.

That meant spandex. Clingy uncomfortable spandex, bright colors, and a dragon design on his front.

"I want to beat myself up for my own lunch money."

Edited 2015-01-07 01:22 (UTC)

"Ugh, I said I didn't want to go back to my New York!"

Nico glared at Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Stilt-Man as if they were to blame for this predicament before glancing around at Raph.

"...That really does look terrible."

She, meanwhile, was back in something much more familiar: A white and purple shirt modified to reveal more of the neckline of the lavender long-sleeved T-shirt she wore underneath it, a long black skirt, and stompy boots. She pressed a hand to her throat, finding a black choker with a silver cross hanging from it.

"And I haven't seen this outfit since I caved our Hostel in on the LAPD."

"I don't think this is your New York." He pointed up at a giant narration box over their heads that read 'MEANWHILE.' "A comic-booky version of your New York, maybe. Which makes sense when you're from a world of superheroes."

Raph looked around. Costume-man was nowhere to be found.

"That's it. Instead of being one step behind everything, we need to get a better view of this whole thing."

Which meant getting out of this little scenario and up to a better vantage point. That was why Raph walked over to a nearby white space next to the comic panel they were in and started kicking it as hard as he could.

Not far off, Deadpool called out helpfully, "If you want to break the fourth wall, you've gotta put a little more oomph into it!"

"Didn't ask you!" Raph shouted back, as the panel started to crack.

Edited 2015-01-07 02:05 (UTC)

"Today is just getting weirder and weirder," Nico said, looking around for the Staff of One so she could help Raph with the...fourth wall, apparently.

She hadn't left it in the pile of ninjas back in the last weird comic book, but it couldn't have already gone back into her chest, could it?

The paper hole back to the other reality had sealed over though, so after a few minutes of aggravated searching, she joined Raph in kicking the edge of the panel.

Eventually the thing finally snapped, making it so they could on out to...well. Whatever was out there.

"Woo! Well done!" called out Deadpool.

Raph rolled his eyes and then turned to Nico and held out his hand.

It was risky, what they were about to do. He wanted to make sure they stayed together.

"Ready?"

"Let's just get out of here before this universe decides it wants to keep me," Nico said, taking Raph's hand. She peered through the hole to try and get some idea of what they were about to step into.

"It doesn't look dangerous," she said with a frown. "There's some kind of wooden platform we can step onto, so we're not taking a leap of faith here. And I see light, but it doesn't really look like daylight..."

Raph's hand unconsciously tightened around Nico's when she talked about her universe trying to keep her.

Then he stepped out slowly, testing the platform, and seeing what was out there.

"It's a book shelf," he said flatly. "We're on a shelf. In a comic book store."

He added, "Could this get any weirder?"

He felt strangely...two-dimensional.

"Yes." Nico wasn't sure how it could get weirder, but she was sure it could. "Don't jinx us."

She tightened her grip on his hand and peered around. They were definitely in a comic shop -- not that she had particular first-hand experience with such places, but it was pretty easy to tell. Shelves of books, both bright- and muddily-colored images on the displayed covers, posters and symbols everywhere...

"So how are we going to find this guy?"

Raph squinted as he looked around. Then his eyes widened.

"There!"

On another shelf perpendicular to theirs was a comic book with a man in a green spandex superhero outfit on the front, wielding a glowing green ring. In the background another figure moved - the same man they'd seen before, wearing a similar spandex suit, wielding his own ring.

Raph tugged her along.

"Come on! Before we lose him again!"

Nico was accustomed to running in heels. Not so much on platforms with no guard rails, but if she stayed closer to the book spines she shouldn't have too much trouble. She didn't let go of Raph's hand though -- if she did fall, she wanted to be pulled back up!

Ugh, they were going to have to deal with super heroes again.

They made it over to the comic and Raph let go of her hand to grab the edges of the cover, pulling it backward so the comic opened up.

"Help me get this stupid thing open."

Once it was opened up, they could punch their way in through a panel and then try to find the guy.

Nico looked around to make sure that no one noticed a tiny witch and a tiny ninja turtle pawing their way through a comic book before squeezing behind Raph so that she could push the cover open from the inside.

"Of course it's -- nfff -- easier to get out than it is to get in," she muttered sarcastically to herself, bracing a foot against the title page to get a bit more traction. "It just wouldn't make sense otherwise."

Edited 2015-01-15 07:01 (UTC)

They finally got it open and Raph immediately set himself to work kicking the panel in. Now that he was closer to getting to the bottom of things, his drive to finish this thing meant he made short work of the comics panel.

Beyond it was a strange and beautiful world made of green buildings and structures everywhere, with strange aliens in green uniforms milling around all over, many of them flying in the air. At the center of it all was a massive green construct that looked like a lantern, beaming out green light from its openings.

"Guess we're going sci fi again." A pause. "At least I'll fit in. Same color scheme even."

Also, in a place full of aliens, it wasn't the turtle guy that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Edited 2015-01-15 07:50 (UTC)

"Must be human-breathable alien planet, or else our buddy wouldn't have gotten very far," Nico said. She crouched down and peered through the hole into the world inside the comic. "I think if we duck through here, we can run and take cover behind that wall before anyone sees us."

She began worrying a fingernail with her teeth -- after hopping between imaginary realities from one conflict into another, she wanted to be ready to bring the Staff of One to bear as soon as she set foot in the comic.

"Any suggestions for locator spells? I want to get out of this before the inevitable conflict, if we can."

"Can you do some kind of summoning spell first?" Raph said, as he watched all the people flying around all over - and sometimes creating constructs - and noticed the one thing they all had in common. "I have an idea. One that may involve larceny."

If she could do it it'd probably make things a whole lot easier for them.

Nico followed his gaze and smirked around her fingernail.

"I'm sure I can think of something. But I want to get in there before I summon the Staff of One, just in case it resets when I cross boundaries like this. Cover me?"

Always.

...No no no no no, he had to get those stupid thoughts out of his head.

"Got you covered."

He jumped through the hole, sais drawn, movements fluid in a way that would hopefully keep him from being noticed, planning on guarding her as they made their way to that cover she'd pointed out before.

Nico took a deep breath and followed him, though she was much less graceful. The rocky ground wasn't really meant for high heels. But no one seemed to have spotted her yet -- so far, so good. She chewed her nail as they went until she finally tasted blood just as they reached cover.

"When blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge."

Of course now she actually had to come up with wording for the spell. She went with the first thing that came to mind.

"With this ring."

Fortunately, the summoning spell didn't result in two of these people falling to their deaths as their magic rings whipped off their fingers. Unfortunately, they had two utterly bewildered people suddenly flying toward them.

"Oops."

Raph didn't have time to have weird feelings over Nico saying something that was said during weddings because they had two aliens rocketing towards them.

"Uh oh."

The two Green Lanterns came flying down towards them and Raph jumped up in the air as they did, landing with a foot on each of their backs, making them divebomb to the ground with loud flumps. They hit hard enough to be dazed, their green auras temporarily disappearing due to the spell.

"Grab a ring!" Raph cried, putting his sais back in their holsters and yanking one of them off the alien's finger.

For a moment, it tried to move in his hand, as if trying to zip back to its owner, but then as the spell took hold, and the fantasy of the place accepted the two of them in, the ring chirped:

[ Raphael Hamato, of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps. ]

The ring expanded and flew onto his finger, and all of a sudden, his appearance was transformed. His mask turned a bright green, a few shades lighter than his skin, and the eyes of his mask turned white, as if some kind of see-through fabric was obscuring them. His belt and his elbow and knee pads all turned that same light shade of a green. Where his belt buckle was, there now appeared a symbol that looked like a lantern. Only his arm and foot wraps stayed the same dingy brown and his hand wraps stayed dingy white.

Oh, and also he floated a few feet up in the air, a green aura surrounding him.

"Heck yeah! I'm think these things can do whatever you think."

Edited 2015-01-18 00:30 (UTC)

Having someone around to take care of the punching definitely made things easier. Nico balanced the Staff awkwardly in the crook of her arm and pulled off the other alien's ring with a bit of struggle. It went on her own finger about as easily, with the bonus sensation of an oncoming headache.

[ Nico Minoru, of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps. ]

She got a mask not unlike Raph's, and a unitard with leggings in place of her blouse and skirt. That would at least make flying less awkward. Most of her new outfit stayed black though, just with glowing green lines spiraling out from the odd lantern symbol on her chest and wrapping around her body. The lines wound more and more closely together as they traveled down her arms and legs until they formed gloves and boots.

Her head still ached a bit, but the glowing after-images when she moved her hands were kind of cool.

"This is really weird."

As far as Raph was concerned, Nico just really, really needed to stop being pretty sometimes soon.

"Yeah. Weird."

They had a weird tall guy to go clobber, though. That was enough of a distraction to get his brain off Nico's outfit (one in a line of several interesting outfits so far).

"But useful. Let's go find that weird tall guy and make him tell us what's going on."

The ring seemed like it could do anything so Raph decided to just ask it for help.

"Hey, we're looking for a tall guy with a big nose. Maybe middle-eastern? Has one of these rings. Can you help us find him?"

[ Searching...Search complete. ]

The ring projected an image of the man they'd seen, wearing a uniform like they were, a ring on his finger.

[ Locating Green Lantern Abed Nadir... Green Lantern Abed Nadir is currently on patrol. Initiating wormhole travel to his location. ]

A the ring projected a big green vortex in front of them.

"Let's go give this guy a piece of our mind." A pause. "And possibly a few pieces of our fists."

He reached out his hand for Nico's.

Edited 2015-01-18 01:50 (UTC)

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