Log: RollerClow? pt 1
WHO: Sakura Kinomoto, Li Syaoran, Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Mr. Nobody, The Quiz, Envy as both Roy Mustang and Disco King Armstrong, Buttercup, Balrog, Bloo, Shinji Ikari, and a bunch of Imaginary Friends.
WHERE: A rollerskating rink in Chicago.
WHEN: 1976, man.
WHAT: A hangout at a 1970s-era rollerskating rink gets a little crazy when The Dash materializes in the rink.
WATCH FOR: Fighting metahumans, Ichigo getting puked on by a box, The Secretary of America, and 8-track tapes.
Mundane Sector
Explorers from the Mundane Sector were the first to stumble upon the Hub, which is ironic considering the nature of their worlds; they are the least likely to harbor such seemingly fantastic elements as the Terminus. The category encompasses a number of planes governed by strict, scientifically comprehensible physical laws, excluding that which would normally be considered 'supernatural' forces, such as magic or psychic manifestations. Technology in the Mundane Sector ranges from more primitive forms in realms less far along their timelines to that of the majority of the planes in this category, that which most of the Mundane Sector considers 'modern day' technology: cell phones, SUVs, tall office buildings, and the Internet. The Mundane Sector, despite its name, however, is by no means boring; these are planes which have seen, and in many cases are currently seeing, war, plague, and crime, as well as peace and prosperity.
The multiverse is a strange thing. There are Earths of all different time periods. Through the wonders of Gates, one can visit Ancient Egypt, the far future, the old city of Edo, or if you so desire...
"Hoppin' Times Rollerama" in 1976 Chicago. In fact, if a male teen with a habit of working everywhere were so inclined, he could even get a job there and use a Gate to go home at night.
Yep, that's 17 year old Touya Kinomoto working the concession stand, muttering to himself as lights swirl, "Dancing Queen" plays, and folks in bellbottoms whirl around in the inner rink. But, as he tells himself regularly, a job is a job.
The added benefit includes free passes for his little sister and her friends, and unlike her cynical older brother, Sakura thinks this place is, as they say, groovy. "Hold on! Let me strap on my skates." She pauses to tie the laces on pink rollerskates, while Tomoyo lingers nearby and fiddles with her camera.
Today was the not-first-date, but seriously we all know what it really is. True to form, considering Ichigo was being pretty stand-offish about the entire 'revealing your bad mojo to your peeps', Rukia in those rare moments of actually giving a crap had Yuzu pack them a picnic basket, and then got the great idea of just randomly hopping on the train with it without looking at the destination and just...take off for the day.
Unfortunately en route, a hobo decided to 'take off' with said picnic basket when Rukia had set it down momentarily to adjust her shoes. It was an episode of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, Bleach style, and true to form despite the yelling, the chasing, any potential romantic moments absolutely -ruined-, both Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki have managed to lose the picnic basket entirely. The teenaged female herself looked pretty winded, leaning onto the nearest wall with an arm braced against it, panting...coincidentally next to the sparkly 1970s rolling rink.
Give her time to notice the bright lights and doom Ichigo into yet another experience he doesn't want.
"...that...was pathetic..." she wheezes.
Lockheed is an unhappy dragon. Kitty is actually having fun WITHOUT him - or more to the point, he fell asleep on the way, so the little dragon is currently curled up in a basket near where the young mutant is lacing up her skates. And believe it or not, she's even dressing the part, her fashion sense taking a nosedive to the 70s. What? She doesn't dress like this ALL the time.
She hasn't been skating in so long, she's rather looking forward to it. Just as she finishes lacing up the skate on her right foot, she leans over to check on her dragon, who is still sleeping soundly after the exercise she gave him earlier. Meh, well, he'll be fine on his own won't he? She probably won't be too long.
Standing, she skates forward a few paces experimentally, casting a glance around. Not too crowded to boot! Just the way she likes it (because frankly, she doubts people would like her accidentally phasing through them to avoid collisions).
Li Syaoran SO does not want to be here. He is currently sitting on a bench within glaring distance of Sakura, lacing on a pair of old-fashioned roller skates. The entire experience strikes him as stupid - the music is loud and retarded, the lights are flashing and bright, and nobody skates on /four/ wheels any more. So why, one might ask, is he here?
The answer comes sailing past the group, arms flailing wildly. "Syaaaaoraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" shouts the young Chinese girl as she sails by. "I can't....sto.....HELP! I think it's broken!"
Li sighs the sigh of the long-suffering and slowly starts pushing his way toward the skating floor. It is going to be a long night.
The small wonder's taller companion, true to his form, grunts noncommitally. "I don't even think there's a word for how bad that was," he mutters, only sounding a little winded.
Being ridiculously strong has benefits.
The ornge haired teenager shoves his hands in his pockets and looks up, blanching at the glitzy lights and bright colors. Suddenly, he gets this vision of the future, maybe it's leftover tempral energy from his battle with Shadow the other day, maybe it's from the spirits from beyond life. Or maybe he just knows Rukia far too well. This vision is of him on the inside, repeatedly careening into walls facefirst and falling flat on his behind.
Screw you, fate, for bringing hm here.
The lights, the music, the women... The perfect place for our next contestant in this intradimensional coincidental collision to pick up a few dates. Colonel Roy Mustang, however, has found himself confounded by two things: That with his silk suit and fedora, he's dressed like he just stepped out of a sixty-year old Rudolph Valentino film, and that he has never encountered anything quite like the roller skate before.
(There's also the fact that he's not really Mustang, but instead a really bored Envy in disguise, but we'll get to that part later.)
Roller disco is completely out.
In other words, it's perfect.
Mr. Nobody is dressed as gaudily as he feels, a white suit with flared sleeves and bell bottoms, touched up here and there with a star-studded shining field of blue and some red stripes. The President of the United States needs to keep some sense of dignity of office, after all. He's got the skates, of course, albeit he's not out on the floor at the moment - rather, he's rolling down the halls and rooms around the dance floor, carrying a flask containing some sort of translucent fluid. And freaking people out in the process.
Balrog does stand out a bit here. Of course, ever since the Gates opened, strange happenings have become more common, even in the mundane sector. He is currently getting an extra large pair of roller skates strapped to his feet by a roller rink attendant. Once the the skates are on, Balrog stands and rushes out into the Roller Rink. He flies through at high speeds, narrowly avoiding the wall by turning at the last minute. "Huzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" He's a natural at this. The rectangular form makes it easy to keep balance.
Mundane Sector
A small, localized, intensely patriotic tornado is spinning about in one of the roller rink's backrooms, freaking out nearby rink staff. Well, that's what it /looks/ like at first glance; after a moment of spinning, it slows down enough to reveal its true nature--a figure in some kind of hazard suit. It's colored red, white and blue, and some sort of clunky filtration assembly is attached to the front.
Hey, being a US Secretary has its perks, and it's not like the Quiz could roller-skate in the green getup.
The woman bows for the terrified employees, and nimbly skates out the door, down the hallway, and onto the main rink, moving far too fast for an indoor environment. The Quiz comes to a dead stop at the very edge of the rink, folds her arms across her chest, and takes a moment to people-watch.
"Who the hell gets mugged for a picnic basket?" Rukia grates, looking irritated as all hell, stomping her foot once and crossing her arms over her chest, her eyebrows twitching just a little bit. Oh wait, that's right, -she- was. Well, there goes Operation: Cheer Up Ichigo. It wasn't bound to work anyways, he'll just be as surly as ever.
And then, she catches sight of the bright, glittering lights. Just as he was getting his glimpse of his bound-to-be-retarded near-future, her fingers reach up to tug absently on his sleeve, and points to the structure.
"What is that? Another arcade?" It DID light up like one.
And then, she gets that look. That look that she just sensed something weird in the area. Who knows, it could be their hobo.
"Meiling-chan! Hold your hands out a little, it'll help you balance!" Sakura offers advice to her Chinese classmate as she moves out onto the skating rink, moving quite naturally as soon as she's there. Rollerskating isn't a long stretch from rollerblading, and here they have rainbow-colored lights and a glowing floor with star-shaped patterns! Even the music is catchy. Li has no idea what he's talking about.
"-Oh, wow!" Her eyes don't exactly catch sight of Mr. Nobody and The Quiz. They look at The Quiz, and then...avert from Mr. Nobody, nearly causing her to veer into one of the corners. "It's the President I saw on TV! Um, hi, Mr. President Nobody!" The United States is such a weird country.
The pigtailed one starts looping around on the rink, waving to those she recognizes along the way. "Hi, Mr. Strawberry! Hi, Miss Rukia! Hi...bento box person?...Dragon...hoee..." The rather odd crowd distracts her from the little zip of magic that briefly swirls into the corner of the rink.
Ichigo swallows thickly, grimacing in distaste. This is going to /suck/. "It's a skating rink." Time for the next lesson of Being Alive 101. "You've seen people rolling around back home in skates, well...people used to come to places like this. Mostly years and years ago." He pauses, furrowing his brow and looking around.
"What /year/ is it here?" Ichigo shakes his head and continues, "Anyway, people come to these things for fun. I've never been to one before, but it's probably la--interesting." And there are kids here too. Greaaaaaat. Ichigo manages to look a touch less surly at Sakura's greeting. He's such a damn softy.
Ah, and here comes the crowd! Kitty lifts a hand to her head, brushing back a loose strand of hair that didn't get fastened into the ponytail, making a face. Most of the people looked remarkably norm... blink. Kitty glances at Mr. Nobody, trying to convince her eyes on focusing on the man directly, even though she keeps wanting to turn her head away. She finally gives up the ghost, so to speak, when she feels a vague pressure, like the beginnings of a headache.
Very odd.
And then a box on rollerskates zooms by.
Okay, -THAT- was even odder. YOu can practically see the dot - dot - dot of Kitty's response when she looks in the direction Balrog flies in. "Huh." She grants after a moment, "And I was worried about having Lockheed with me." Speaking of which! Kitty glances around until she spots the culprit - or at least she spots Lockheed, awake from his nap. She lifts an arm for the dragon to land and edge his way up to her shoulder. "Don't complain at me because you were sleeping." The girl warns, "It's not my fault you missed out on everything. At least she won't be tripping over her own two feet and embarassing herself horribly out here.
Li Syaoran slowly skates toward Meiling. Skating on wood, with wheels, is much easier than the icy version. Way ore balance, and not as much slippery. He sighs and lifts his cousin-slash-fiancee (they're nobility, it's technically less icky) up off the floor gently. "Are you all r--AUGH!" Li's inquiry is cut off by Meiling's arms, which are wrapped tightly around his neck. She presses her cheek up against his and wails.
"Syaoraaan!" she says, smiling and hopping backward - showing no sign of the previous lack of control. Li frowns. Tricksy girls. "Skate with me!" she says, beaming.
Li sighs. "As you wish," he says, holding out his arm, which she gleefully accepts. The pair begins slowly doing a turn around the rink, moving past the group that includes Sakura and.....Li's eyes narrow as he spots the Shinigami, and he growls low in his throat.
"...Syaoran? Why are you staring at that girl?"
"I see dead people."
Blink. "Nani?"
"Never mind. I'll explain later."
Several "No thanks, pops", "What year are -you- from", and "Duuuuuude" remarks later, Colonel Mustang remains alone and somewhat frustrated at the edge of the rink. "Of all the zones to randomly choose, I pick the one with the local attire on drugs. Eh, when in Rome," he sighs, skating over in the direction of the men's restroom. He was able to figure out the skates, however, and being as nimble as Envy is, it didn't take him too long to get the hang of that. Which comes in very handy, for shortly after Colonel Mustang disappears into the bathroom, out emerges...
"BEHOLD THE BEAUTY AND PERFECTION OF THIS SUPERBLY TRAINED BODY!!!"
And all the ladies gasp at once. It's Alex Louis Armstrong, DISCO KING! He's traded in his military uniform for a glittery white leisure suit (100 polyester) and his spitcurl for a humongous blonde afro! "Can you dig it, ladies?"
There's no shirt under the suit either. Which is fine, for his curly blonde chest hair is just as glittery!
The Quiz takes a small, careful step onto the rink, holding out her arms so as to catch her balance. Then another step--she is now standing on the skating surface proper, looking for a clear opening.
And then she is off like a shot, zipping around the rink at speed-skater velocity, nimbly dodging out of the way of the other rink patrons. She is gaining on Balrog, and the box will have very little warning--when the Quiz is about five feet behind him, she leaps into the air, executing a perfect corkscrew spin as she flies overhead. She lands just off to the side, in a graceful figure-skater pose.
Hey, if you've got the power-set she does, you'd show off like that, too.
"So all they do is roll back and forth that big circle? So it's not an arcade?" The shinigami squints at the venue, inclining her head just a little bit. Finally, she nods decisively, grabbing Ichigo's wrist and tugging him closer to his doom. "I want to try it. It can't be too hard, right? It looks easy."
And then, a familiar looking little girl drifts past, as if she were born on skates. She pauses, blinking just a little bit at the sight of someone whom she hasn't seen in a while. "Sakura-san!" Rukia waves cheerfully in that sparkly They-Don't-Know-What-A-Monster-I-Am facade, she even looks the part with the demure, white sundress and the little hat on her head.
Oh. That other one was here too. She waves at Li. For he sees dead people. The sight of Armstrong doesn't even faze her....she's seen worse freaks in Sereitei (ie. Mayuri).
Totally Groovin' Armstrong is clearly Cool As Ice in the eyes of the disco-goers, as a spotlight shines right on him and the DJ starts up "Macho Man." Clearly, they want a show from the shapeshifter-in-stylish-disguise!
Meanwhile, Sakura's skating around happily, while Tomoyo films from the sidelines. Mostly Tomoyo is filming Sakura, which should come as no surprise. "Hi, Li! Meiling! What do you think? It's fun, isn't it? People are wearing clothes from the pictures my dad has of when he was a kid! -Oh!" She waves to Rukia, grinning brightly and trying to do a little twirl in an attempt to mimic the graceful Quiz. It's partially successful, but not nearly as pretty. "She's so nice, isn't she?"
Meanwhile, a little green fuzzy creature starts darting in-between skaters, going mostly unnoticed due to the fact that it's moving almost lightning-fast. Strangely, the skaters who do occasionally come in contact with it don't notice the little creature, but do start moving about twice as fast, whether they want to or not. This causes a slight increase in clumsiness around the rink.
Ichigo sees worse freaks than Leisure Suit Armstrong daily.
We won't talk about the Kurosaki Family Trip to the beach. There are children present.
In any case, Ichigo lets himself be dragged behind, looking /horribly/ out of place in the baggy olive colored pants, modern sneakers and maroon t-shirt with '96' emblazoned on the front in navy. Even as he's dragged, Ichigo reaches into his pocket with his free hand and grabs his wallet, knowing that he's going to have to pay. Then again, what else is new?
Balrog zooms across the rink, having the time of his life. When The Quiz jumps over him, he freaks. "AAAAAAAGH!" Despite the fact that The Quiz lands clear of Balrog's path, he loses control and crashes into the wall ahead of him. However, instead of just stopping, he ricochets. He also gains some spin. He is now flying across the rink like a pinball. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGH!"
Meiling grins happily. "Hai, Kinomoto-san!" she says pleasantly, all the while tightening her grip on Li's arm. At least she's not giving her her typical, suspicious 'get away from my man' glare. She must be having fun. "This is a wonderful place! So pretty! ne, Syaoran?"
Li blinks and looks back over at the girl on his arm. "Huh?" he says expressively. She pokes him in return. "Sorry," he says, blinking and looking back at Armstrong again. "How does he fit so much of him into that tiny jumpsuit?" Li mutters.
Meiling gives him another pull. "Syaoran! No being spacey. Go buy us drinks."
Li frowns instinctively and nods, skating away. "Orange for Meiling," he says absently, skating away. "What do you two WaaaAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
The scream is the result of a tiny creature hopping over his skates, which suddenly take off, sending the young boy sailing into the air, cartwheeling as he flies right toward....somebody.
Ah, an adoring crowd. Disco King Armstrong flexes several times before boldly skating over to the rink. Had this been a Hanataro showing, its obvious who would've been flattened by a speeding Balrog, but Envy has more grace and wits than that, and he nimbly slides out of the way.
And the crowd goes "Ooooooooh."
The Disco King winks playfully and flexes again, sparkling in the spotlight. It's good to be the king. And now its time to survey his domain aprovingly: Girl with an out of place videocamera - that is so not a Super 8, Tomoyo. Kids, more kids, kid with a dragon, Kurosaki and Kuchiki, even more kids- Wait. Backup. Armstrong lowers his Lennon glasses to take a second look. Aw crap, even in a godforsaken cultural hellhole like this, he can't escape Karakura!
Someone was screaming. Rukia blinks in that direction. The barechested dude was screaming. It would be funny, if it didn't look so urgent. Plus he reminded her, strangely, disturbingly of Ichigo's dad. "....he's not an uncle, is he?" she asks, glancing sidelong at Ichigo. Aw, look, he hates it, but he's willing to pay. He's so sweet.
And then, things get weird on the rink. "...Ichigo..." she says, pausing. "....you -sure- people do this for fun? Things look like they're going too fast for their own good all of a sudden."
Li Syaoran successfully targets Envy with his I Tire Of Waiting! The Number Was Three! Catch Me, Manbeef! action.
Whoops. The Quiz was not counting on Balrog suddenly turning into a squarish pinball, but she can work with this. As the box on wheels flies towards her again, she does another jump, this time spinning with one leg out. This causes her to miss the little greenish creature, as well--it speeds right past her. Perhaps it's for the best.
"Oh? I'll have a malt milkshake an-LI WATCH OOOUT!" Sakura thought he was a good skater! She dashes after him to try to soften his fall, though how she'd do that without The Float is anyone's guess. Unfortunately, before she can get very far, a BIG BENTO ON WHEELS in the form of Balrog zips in her way! "Waaaah!"
She's able to 'break' on her skates only for a moment, glancing around and shooting to the left. "Something's really weird right nooooooooooooooooooowwwwwaaaagh!" One zippy green creature later and she's careening, on her feet, towards poor Ichigo. Or the wall.
You get a glancing blow on Ichigo Kurosaki with your FLYING SAKURA feint.
Ichigo stops when Rukia does and looks out again, grimacing at Beefy McNoshirt, the speedy flailing and...the box on wheels. "Yeah. They used to. I mean, there's not a place like this in Karakura, but people rollerblade, which is kinda the same." Something's not right. That must be the sense of impending ten year old. Luckily for Sakura, Ichigo is really hard to knock over. Unluckily for him, Sakura's going really fast, so he stumbles a bit backwards as he's rammed into. "Gah!"
He looks down, almost ready to rip into her, but he doesnt. Instead he says, "You alright? You were goin' pretty fast there." At least Yuzu's not here to further ruin his reputation as a hardass.
"Ichigo!" The name. Said in that tone. But seeing Ichi really isn't in any immediate danger, as he manages to STAY UP despite the Sakura rocket that slammed into him. She winces. "Sakura-san, are you alright? You should be careful with those things....they look dangerous if you lose control." That didn't fit....the girl was gliding in a way that said, to her, that Sakura had experience with the things. Maybe skates really were trickier than they were on first glance.
Balrog spins spins spins through the rink, getting quite a few glances from the skaters. He starts to finally lose momentum when the green thing zooms by and sets him off again. He begins to blur as he careens through the rink. Of course, at this speed and with a crowd like this, he's not going to stay safe for long. Sure enough, after bouncing off a wall for umpteenth time, Balrog is sent spinning towards Rukia, with no way of stopping.
Envy switches armor modes to Big Form.
Balrog gets a glancing blow on Rukia Kuchiki with his Spinning Box feint.
Between posing for the crowd and double-taking at the happy shinigami couple, Envy doesn't notice something small green and really fast flying by and brushing past his bellbottoms.
And
suddenly
everything
slows
down.
To everyone else, though Disco King Armstrong is posing and twirling about like he's on speed, his baritone voice having been replaced by Alvin or one of the other Chipmunks. "WatchtheamazingskatingtechniquepasseddownthroughgenerationsoftheArmstrongfamily!"
Hrm, that's weird. The Quiz is not using the Power to Jinx People, the Power to Speed Things up, or anything remotely similar--so why has everyone started crashing around the rink? Of course, it takes her a second to notice this; she has to dodge a few skaters sent spinning her way by a chain-reaction collision. This she does nimbly enough, and she ends up standing at the edge of the rink, not far from Sakura, Ichigo and pals. From her fairly safe position, she watches people careen around the rink, wondering what could've touched this off.
And just as she asks Sakura if she's alright, Rukia gets hit by a bus. Well, it might as WELL be a bus. But thankfully she seems to sense the danger looming and moves away from Balrog...but not completely. She's clipped, and her being clipped causes her to spin around and THUMP on the floor. On her rear. She isn't even wearing skates.
Buttercup has partially disconnected.
Li Syaoran faceplants into the wall.
It's not pretty.
"Itai..." he groans, getting slowly to his feet. Meiling rushes over to help. "Syaoran! Are you all right? Is it...." she looks around quickly. "....too many people here."
Li grunts and looks around. "Yeah. I can feel it. It's definitely a Clow Card." Damn it, there /are/ a lot of people here. Some of them are freaks like the dead people, so it's probably not a big deal to show off their magic. But the others... "What should I....oy! Meiling!"
"Don't worry, Syaoraaaaaaaaan!" she says with a smile as she hops through the gate and makes toward the wall. Giving a girlish smile, she reaches out....and yanks on the fire alarm.
Bells start going off immediately. "Fire!" she shouts. "Get out! Get out! What do you think youre doing, idiot, MOVE!"
"Hooeee..." Sakura mumbles dizzily to herself, before looking up at Ichigo and bowing. "Oh, excuse me! Excuse me, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to run into you like that! My skates were suddenly going a whole...lot..."
She outright stares at Sped-up Armstrenvy. "...faster. Okay, this is really, really, really weird. I gotta go find Li!" Bracing herself and pushing off of the wall, she shoots off after the Green Blur, just before Balrog crashes into poor Rukia.
The Dash, meanwhile, zips about, occasionally stopping long enough to be made out as a fuzzy, ermine-like creature. It twitches its nose, and then zips back into fullspeed mode, spreading about its chaos. Which is nothing compared to the chaos that erupts when Li cries 'fire' in a crowded roller rink, as /then/ patrons start plowing out through the fire exits, skates and all. All while Sakura's trying to get through the other way.
If the DJ wasn't running out, maybe he'd start playing Benny Hill.
"I'm fine, Ru--Rukia!" Ichigo yelps as the giant box slams into her. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU FRIGGIN' JACKASS! I'll kick your stupid ass!" Ichigo clenches a fist and starts to move towards the box on wheels, looking suddenly /incredibly/ surly.
Isn't it cute how he defends his not-really-girlfriend? Even as Sakura races off, and /everybody else/ crams out in a panic, Ichigo starts after Balrog, oblivious to ambient magic of a Clow Card, more concerned with the metal jerkface who rammed into Rukia.
He doesn't even pause to help her up. The jerk.
What's that?! A fire alarm?! While Buttercup's busy buying belated fathers' day gifts?!
Sigh! "A Puff's work is never done!" *BYEW*
There's a loud sound as a section of roof is smashed in, and the hovering little oddball that is Buttercup hovers in midair above the crowd. This probably does not do much for the Norms' piece of mind. "Never fear, the Powerpuff Girls are here! ...well, one of 'em...What's going on here!?"
This may or may not be audible above people reacting to the combination of a fire alarm and a football-sized little girl hovering about ten feet up in the air who just broke through the roof at high speeds.
"Ichigo, wait! It was an acci..." He was gone. "...dent..." Rukia facepalms from where she is. Goddamnit! Why is it that every time they were out, something always happens that puts Ichigo into Asskicking Mode? HE was getting all the bloody practice. With a huff, she stands up, and dusts her sundress off, retrieving her hat from the ground and planting it on her head.
And then...at the corner of her eye, she manages to catch something flit and vanish in her periphery. She spins around quickly. What the hell was that? And then, there it is, the fire alarms. While she has no idea what they are, they have warning sirens back in Soul Society. What did that mean? Some sort of danger? It must be, look at all the people running out of the rink. She dodges, ducks, dips, dives and....well, dodges, from the frenzied let's-get-out-of-here crowd.
GAME: Save complete.
5tBalrog would apologize if he could! As it is, he's trying desperately to stop spinning. All he can do is flap his flippers, which isn't helping much. He bounces off a few more walls, tripping up fleeing skaters. Ichigo should thing twice about running after the ballistic box. The gods of irony take over, and Balrog is now spinning towards Ichigo.
Balrog misses Ichigo Kurosaki with his Ironic Spinning Box feint.
The Disco King finishes his one-man performance with a bow. "Thank you, thank you, thank-" Something's amiss. Armstrong perks up to notice that his adoring crowd is now adoring the exits. "Fire? Where fire? I don't smell a fire- oshikurosaki!" He speeds right out of Ichigo's way, and discovers why his routine was going so fast. "What the hell... oshiwall-" WHAM.
Li Syaoran gives Meiling a warm smile, and she winks in return as people start rushing out. "That a girl," he says warmly, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a slim kendama. The Chinese boy holds it in front of his head and closes his eyes, focusing quietly. With a surge of magic, a line of ligth emerges from the toy, and the entire thing lengthens and thickens into what eventually becomes a Chinese shortsword, which rattles as he snaps the blade down one-handed.
"OY! YOU! SMALL GREEN GIRL!" Li calls out. He should really make it a point of remembering names. "Quick, get these people out of here!"
The young man starts skating then, trying to angle toward Sakura, his blade tucked up behind his back so it doesn't accidentally impale people who whizzz by him. "Do you sense it?" Li shouts out. "If it's going this fast.....it's probably the DASH card!"
"Hey, Buttercup!" Sakura manages to finally clear herself of the crowd, giving a wave up at the Powerpuff. "We needa get people out of here! There's...yeah, Li, I sense it! It's a Clow Card! Which means..."
She steadies herself in a corner, when she's sure the remaining non-Weirdo people aren't looking, and pulls a key-shaped pendant out as she chants. A glowing magic circle with a moon and sun emblem appear beneath her feet, and the key is surrounded in light and what some might detect as shadow magic.
"O Key that holds the power of the Dark, reveal thyself to me! This I, Sakura, command under contract! RELEASE!"
The key grows in length to a medium-sized staff with a winged "head," and Sakura grabs it in midair before skating up to catch up to Li. "Do you know where it is? This is bad..."
Well, where it is, that ain't hard to figure out. It's zipping away from Envy-Armstrong towards poor Quiz.
The box spins back in his direction, still flailing, and Ichigo stops, prepping himself to counter. He's been in this kind of situation before, thanks to his dad, and Ichigo readies a fist.
That will seem weird, because when Balrog gets close enough, Ichigo kicks the at rolling filing cabinet in an attempt to plant it on its side.
"Oi! You ran into my friend back there and didn't even stop! What kinda asshole are you? Frickin' box."
Ichigo Kurosaki misses Balrog with his Daddy Deflection Technique: Field Goal Kick feint.
The Quiz eyes the Dash as it stops. Clearly, this is no ordinary element of the local nightlife. Balrog catches her attention quickly enough, and she decides to try and neutralize the spinning box thing before he causes any more damage. The Quiz extends a hand, pointing a finger at Balrog--moments later, she uses the Power of Inertial Dampening on him... if it isn't overwhelmed by his momentum, Balrog will slow to a graceful stop. Possibly. It may leave him in range of an irate Ichigo, however.
Then Buttercup makes a new skylight. The Quiz peers up at her--for the record, she is wearing a more conventional red-white-and-blue hazard suit instead of her usual getup. She does get the idea to levitate some distance above the rink, so she doesn't get caught off-guard by the crowds. Unfortunately for her, the Dash gets to her first. The Quiz levitates, all right--but in the process, she nearly creates yet another hole in the roof. As-is, she merely smacks her head on the ceiling. It still hurts like hell, though.
Buttercup floats there. "What -- oh! Hi Sakura! Hi....loudmouthed other guy!" She waves, though from the quirky smile she gives Li his is probably less sincere. She watches Sakura release and is about to go oooh about it when she realizes what she's been requested to do. Well, OK!
"HEY! EVERYBODY!" Pause. Hmm. Oh! She shoots HEAT VISION at the wall. Likie a warning shot! "Run away! There's a -- uhm. Scary person in here!" Pause. Who to blame. She squints at the Quiz as the hazard suited woman smashes her head against the roof, and, with a completely unconvincing tone of voice, jabs a stub at her, shouting, "....THERE! The evil, uhm, er, HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. ....-tron."
She hasn't noticed the box or the shinigami yet. Give it a bit.
WHERE: A rollerskating rink in Chicago.
WHEN: 1976, man.
WHAT: A hangout at a 1970s-era rollerskating rink gets a little crazy when The Dash materializes in the rink.
WATCH FOR: Fighting metahumans, Ichigo getting puked on by a box, The Secretary of America, and 8-track tapes.
Mundane Sector
Explorers from the Mundane Sector were the first to stumble upon the Hub, which is ironic considering the nature of their worlds; they are the least likely to harbor such seemingly fantastic elements as the Terminus. The category encompasses a number of planes governed by strict, scientifically comprehensible physical laws, excluding that which would normally be considered 'supernatural' forces, such as magic or psychic manifestations. Technology in the Mundane Sector ranges from more primitive forms in realms less far along their timelines to that of the majority of the planes in this category, that which most of the Mundane Sector considers 'modern day' technology: cell phones, SUVs, tall office buildings, and the Internet. The Mundane Sector, despite its name, however, is by no means boring; these are planes which have seen, and in many cases are currently seeing, war, plague, and crime, as well as peace and prosperity.
The multiverse is a strange thing. There are Earths of all different time periods. Through the wonders of Gates, one can visit Ancient Egypt, the far future, the old city of Edo, or if you so desire...
"Hoppin' Times Rollerama" in 1976 Chicago. In fact, if a male teen with a habit of working everywhere were so inclined, he could even get a job there and use a Gate to go home at night.
Yep, that's 17 year old Touya Kinomoto working the concession stand, muttering to himself as lights swirl, "Dancing Queen" plays, and folks in bellbottoms whirl around in the inner rink. But, as he tells himself regularly, a job is a job.
The added benefit includes free passes for his little sister and her friends, and unlike her cynical older brother, Sakura thinks this place is, as they say, groovy. "Hold on! Let me strap on my skates." She pauses to tie the laces on pink rollerskates, while Tomoyo lingers nearby and fiddles with her camera.
Today was the not-first-date, but seriously we all know what it really is. True to form, considering Ichigo was being pretty stand-offish about the entire 'revealing your bad mojo to your peeps', Rukia in those rare moments of actually giving a crap had Yuzu pack them a picnic basket, and then got the great idea of just randomly hopping on the train with it without looking at the destination and just...take off for the day.
Unfortunately en route, a hobo decided to 'take off' with said picnic basket when Rukia had set it down momentarily to adjust her shoes. It was an episode of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, Bleach style, and true to form despite the yelling, the chasing, any potential romantic moments absolutely -ruined-, both Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki have managed to lose the picnic basket entirely. The teenaged female herself looked pretty winded, leaning onto the nearest wall with an arm braced against it, panting...coincidentally next to the sparkly 1970s rolling rink.
Give her time to notice the bright lights and doom Ichigo into yet another experience he doesn't want.
"...that...was pathetic..." she wheezes.
Lockheed is an unhappy dragon. Kitty is actually having fun WITHOUT him - or more to the point, he fell asleep on the way, so the little dragon is currently curled up in a basket near where the young mutant is lacing up her skates. And believe it or not, she's even dressing the part, her fashion sense taking a nosedive to the 70s. What? She doesn't dress like this ALL the time.
She hasn't been skating in so long, she's rather looking forward to it. Just as she finishes lacing up the skate on her right foot, she leans over to check on her dragon, who is still sleeping soundly after the exercise she gave him earlier. Meh, well, he'll be fine on his own won't he? She probably won't be too long.
Standing, she skates forward a few paces experimentally, casting a glance around. Not too crowded to boot! Just the way she likes it (because frankly, she doubts people would like her accidentally phasing through them to avoid collisions).
Li Syaoran SO does not want to be here. He is currently sitting on a bench within glaring distance of Sakura, lacing on a pair of old-fashioned roller skates. The entire experience strikes him as stupid - the music is loud and retarded, the lights are flashing and bright, and nobody skates on /four/ wheels any more. So why, one might ask, is he here?
The answer comes sailing past the group, arms flailing wildly. "Syaaaaoraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" shouts the young Chinese girl as she sails by. "I can't....sto.....HELP! I think it's broken!"
Li sighs the sigh of the long-suffering and slowly starts pushing his way toward the skating floor. It is going to be a long night.
The small wonder's taller companion, true to his form, grunts noncommitally. "I don't even think there's a word for how bad that was," he mutters, only sounding a little winded.
Being ridiculously strong has benefits.
The ornge haired teenager shoves his hands in his pockets and looks up, blanching at the glitzy lights and bright colors. Suddenly, he gets this vision of the future, maybe it's leftover tempral energy from his battle with Shadow the other day, maybe it's from the spirits from beyond life. Or maybe he just knows Rukia far too well. This vision is of him on the inside, repeatedly careening into walls facefirst and falling flat on his behind.
Screw you, fate, for bringing hm here.
The lights, the music, the women... The perfect place for our next contestant in this intradimensional coincidental collision to pick up a few dates. Colonel Roy Mustang, however, has found himself confounded by two things: That with his silk suit and fedora, he's dressed like he just stepped out of a sixty-year old Rudolph Valentino film, and that he has never encountered anything quite like the roller skate before.
(There's also the fact that he's not really Mustang, but instead a really bored Envy in disguise, but we'll get to that part later.)
Roller disco is completely out.
In other words, it's perfect.
Mr. Nobody is dressed as gaudily as he feels, a white suit with flared sleeves and bell bottoms, touched up here and there with a star-studded shining field of blue and some red stripes. The President of the United States needs to keep some sense of dignity of office, after all. He's got the skates, of course, albeit he's not out on the floor at the moment - rather, he's rolling down the halls and rooms around the dance floor, carrying a flask containing some sort of translucent fluid. And freaking people out in the process.
Balrog does stand out a bit here. Of course, ever since the Gates opened, strange happenings have become more common, even in the mundane sector. He is currently getting an extra large pair of roller skates strapped to his feet by a roller rink attendant. Once the the skates are on, Balrog stands and rushes out into the Roller Rink. He flies through at high speeds, narrowly avoiding the wall by turning at the last minute. "Huzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" He's a natural at this. The rectangular form makes it easy to keep balance.
Mundane Sector
A small, localized, intensely patriotic tornado is spinning about in one of the roller rink's backrooms, freaking out nearby rink staff. Well, that's what it /looks/ like at first glance; after a moment of spinning, it slows down enough to reveal its true nature--a figure in some kind of hazard suit. It's colored red, white and blue, and some sort of clunky filtration assembly is attached to the front.
Hey, being a US Secretary has its perks, and it's not like the Quiz could roller-skate in the green getup.
The woman bows for the terrified employees, and nimbly skates out the door, down the hallway, and onto the main rink, moving far too fast for an indoor environment. The Quiz comes to a dead stop at the very edge of the rink, folds her arms across her chest, and takes a moment to people-watch.
"Who the hell gets mugged for a picnic basket?" Rukia grates, looking irritated as all hell, stomping her foot once and crossing her arms over her chest, her eyebrows twitching just a little bit. Oh wait, that's right, -she- was. Well, there goes Operation: Cheer Up Ichigo. It wasn't bound to work anyways, he'll just be as surly as ever.
And then, she catches sight of the bright, glittering lights. Just as he was getting his glimpse of his bound-to-be-retarded near-future, her fingers reach up to tug absently on his sleeve, and points to the structure.
"What is that? Another arcade?" It DID light up like one.
And then, she gets that look. That look that she just sensed something weird in the area. Who knows, it could be their hobo.
"Meiling-chan! Hold your hands out a little, it'll help you balance!" Sakura offers advice to her Chinese classmate as she moves out onto the skating rink, moving quite naturally as soon as she's there. Rollerskating isn't a long stretch from rollerblading, and here they have rainbow-colored lights and a glowing floor with star-shaped patterns! Even the music is catchy. Li has no idea what he's talking about.
"-Oh, wow!" Her eyes don't exactly catch sight of Mr. Nobody and The Quiz. They look at The Quiz, and then...avert from Mr. Nobody, nearly causing her to veer into one of the corners. "It's the President I saw on TV! Um, hi, Mr. President Nobody!" The United States is such a weird country.
The pigtailed one starts looping around on the rink, waving to those she recognizes along the way. "Hi, Mr. Strawberry! Hi, Miss Rukia! Hi...bento box person?...Dragon...hoee..." The rather odd crowd distracts her from the little zip of magic that briefly swirls into the corner of the rink.
Ichigo swallows thickly, grimacing in distaste. This is going to /suck/. "It's a skating rink." Time for the next lesson of Being Alive 101. "You've seen people rolling around back home in skates, well...people used to come to places like this. Mostly years and years ago." He pauses, furrowing his brow and looking around.
"What /year/ is it here?" Ichigo shakes his head and continues, "Anyway, people come to these things for fun. I've never been to one before, but it's probably la--interesting." And there are kids here too. Greaaaaaat. Ichigo manages to look a touch less surly at Sakura's greeting. He's such a damn softy.
Ah, and here comes the crowd! Kitty lifts a hand to her head, brushing back a loose strand of hair that didn't get fastened into the ponytail, making a face. Most of the people looked remarkably norm... blink. Kitty glances at Mr. Nobody, trying to convince her eyes on focusing on the man directly, even though she keeps wanting to turn her head away. She finally gives up the ghost, so to speak, when she feels a vague pressure, like the beginnings of a headache.
Very odd.
And then a box on rollerskates zooms by.
Okay, -THAT- was even odder. YOu can practically see the dot - dot - dot of Kitty's response when she looks in the direction Balrog flies in. "Huh." She grants after a moment, "And I was worried about having Lockheed with me." Speaking of which! Kitty glances around until she spots the culprit - or at least she spots Lockheed, awake from his nap. She lifts an arm for the dragon to land and edge his way up to her shoulder. "Don't complain at me because you were sleeping." The girl warns, "It's not my fault you missed out on everything. At least she won't be tripping over her own two feet and embarassing herself horribly out here.
Li Syaoran slowly skates toward Meiling. Skating on wood, with wheels, is much easier than the icy version. Way ore balance, and not as much slippery. He sighs and lifts his cousin-slash-fiancee (they're nobility, it's technically less icky) up off the floor gently. "Are you all r--AUGH!" Li's inquiry is cut off by Meiling's arms, which are wrapped tightly around his neck. She presses her cheek up against his and wails.
"Syaoraaan!" she says, smiling and hopping backward - showing no sign of the previous lack of control. Li frowns. Tricksy girls. "Skate with me!" she says, beaming.
Li sighs. "As you wish," he says, holding out his arm, which she gleefully accepts. The pair begins slowly doing a turn around the rink, moving past the group that includes Sakura and.....Li's eyes narrow as he spots the Shinigami, and he growls low in his throat.
"...Syaoran? Why are you staring at that girl?"
"I see dead people."
Blink. "Nani?"
"Never mind. I'll explain later."
Several "No thanks, pops", "What year are -you- from", and "Duuuuuude" remarks later, Colonel Mustang remains alone and somewhat frustrated at the edge of the rink. "Of all the zones to randomly choose, I pick the one with the local attire on drugs. Eh, when in Rome," he sighs, skating over in the direction of the men's restroom. He was able to figure out the skates, however, and being as nimble as Envy is, it didn't take him too long to get the hang of that. Which comes in very handy, for shortly after Colonel Mustang disappears into the bathroom, out emerges...
"BEHOLD THE BEAUTY AND PERFECTION OF THIS SUPERBLY TRAINED BODY!!!"
And all the ladies gasp at once. It's Alex Louis Armstrong, DISCO KING! He's traded in his military uniform for a glittery white leisure suit (100 polyester) and his spitcurl for a humongous blonde afro! "Can you dig it, ladies?"
There's no shirt under the suit either. Which is fine, for his curly blonde chest hair is just as glittery!
The Quiz takes a small, careful step onto the rink, holding out her arms so as to catch her balance. Then another step--she is now standing on the skating surface proper, looking for a clear opening.
And then she is off like a shot, zipping around the rink at speed-skater velocity, nimbly dodging out of the way of the other rink patrons. She is gaining on Balrog, and the box will have very little warning--when the Quiz is about five feet behind him, she leaps into the air, executing a perfect corkscrew spin as she flies overhead. She lands just off to the side, in a graceful figure-skater pose.
Hey, if you've got the power-set she does, you'd show off like that, too.
"So all they do is roll back and forth that big circle? So it's not an arcade?" The shinigami squints at the venue, inclining her head just a little bit. Finally, she nods decisively, grabbing Ichigo's wrist and tugging him closer to his doom. "I want to try it. It can't be too hard, right? It looks easy."
And then, a familiar looking little girl drifts past, as if she were born on skates. She pauses, blinking just a little bit at the sight of someone whom she hasn't seen in a while. "Sakura-san!" Rukia waves cheerfully in that sparkly They-Don't-Know-What-A-Monster-I-Am facade, she even looks the part with the demure, white sundress and the little hat on her head.
Oh. That other one was here too. She waves at Li. For he sees dead people. The sight of Armstrong doesn't even faze her....she's seen worse freaks in Sereitei (ie. Mayuri).
Totally Groovin' Armstrong is clearly Cool As Ice in the eyes of the disco-goers, as a spotlight shines right on him and the DJ starts up "Macho Man." Clearly, they want a show from the shapeshifter-in-stylish-disguise!
Meanwhile, Sakura's skating around happily, while Tomoyo films from the sidelines. Mostly Tomoyo is filming Sakura, which should come as no surprise. "Hi, Li! Meiling! What do you think? It's fun, isn't it? People are wearing clothes from the pictures my dad has of when he was a kid! -Oh!" She waves to Rukia, grinning brightly and trying to do a little twirl in an attempt to mimic the graceful Quiz. It's partially successful, but not nearly as pretty. "She's so nice, isn't she?"
Meanwhile, a little green fuzzy creature starts darting in-between skaters, going mostly unnoticed due to the fact that it's moving almost lightning-fast. Strangely, the skaters who do occasionally come in contact with it don't notice the little creature, but do start moving about twice as fast, whether they want to or not. This causes a slight increase in clumsiness around the rink.
Ichigo sees worse freaks than Leisure Suit Armstrong daily.
We won't talk about the Kurosaki Family Trip to the beach. There are children present.
In any case, Ichigo lets himself be dragged behind, looking /horribly/ out of place in the baggy olive colored pants, modern sneakers and maroon t-shirt with '96' emblazoned on the front in navy. Even as he's dragged, Ichigo reaches into his pocket with his free hand and grabs his wallet, knowing that he's going to have to pay. Then again, what else is new?
Balrog zooms across the rink, having the time of his life. When The Quiz jumps over him, he freaks. "AAAAAAAGH!" Despite the fact that The Quiz lands clear of Balrog's path, he loses control and crashes into the wall ahead of him. However, instead of just stopping, he ricochets. He also gains some spin. He is now flying across the rink like a pinball. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGH!"
Meiling grins happily. "Hai, Kinomoto-san!" she says pleasantly, all the while tightening her grip on Li's arm. At least she's not giving her her typical, suspicious 'get away from my man' glare. She must be having fun. "This is a wonderful place! So pretty! ne, Syaoran?"
Li blinks and looks back over at the girl on his arm. "Huh?" he says expressively. She pokes him in return. "Sorry," he says, blinking and looking back at Armstrong again. "How does he fit so much of him into that tiny jumpsuit?" Li mutters.
Meiling gives him another pull. "Syaoran! No being spacey. Go buy us drinks."
Li frowns instinctively and nods, skating away. "Orange for Meiling," he says absently, skating away. "What do you two WaaaAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
The scream is the result of a tiny creature hopping over his skates, which suddenly take off, sending the young boy sailing into the air, cartwheeling as he flies right toward....somebody.
Ah, an adoring crowd. Disco King Armstrong flexes several times before boldly skating over to the rink. Had this been a Hanataro showing, its obvious who would've been flattened by a speeding Balrog, but Envy has more grace and wits than that, and he nimbly slides out of the way.
And the crowd goes "Ooooooooh."
The Disco King winks playfully and flexes again, sparkling in the spotlight. It's good to be the king. And now its time to survey his domain aprovingly: Girl with an out of place videocamera - that is so not a Super 8, Tomoyo. Kids, more kids, kid with a dragon, Kurosaki and Kuchiki, even more kids- Wait. Backup. Armstrong lowers his Lennon glasses to take a second look. Aw crap, even in a godforsaken cultural hellhole like this, he can't escape Karakura!
Someone was screaming. Rukia blinks in that direction. The barechested dude was screaming. It would be funny, if it didn't look so urgent. Plus he reminded her, strangely, disturbingly of Ichigo's dad. "....he's not an uncle, is he?" she asks, glancing sidelong at Ichigo. Aw, look, he hates it, but he's willing to pay. He's so sweet.
And then, things get weird on the rink. "...Ichigo..." she says, pausing. "....you -sure- people do this for fun? Things look like they're going too fast for their own good all of a sudden."
Li Syaoran successfully targets Envy with his I Tire Of Waiting! The Number Was Three! Catch Me, Manbeef! action.
Whoops. The Quiz was not counting on Balrog suddenly turning into a squarish pinball, but she can work with this. As the box on wheels flies towards her again, she does another jump, this time spinning with one leg out. This causes her to miss the little greenish creature, as well--it speeds right past her. Perhaps it's for the best.
"Oh? I'll have a malt milkshake an-LI WATCH OOOUT!" Sakura thought he was a good skater! She dashes after him to try to soften his fall, though how she'd do that without The Float is anyone's guess. Unfortunately, before she can get very far, a BIG BENTO ON WHEELS in the form of Balrog zips in her way! "Waaaah!"
She's able to 'break' on her skates only for a moment, glancing around and shooting to the left. "Something's really weird right nooooooooooooooooooowwwwwaaaagh!" One zippy green creature later and she's careening, on her feet, towards poor Ichigo. Or the wall.
You get a glancing blow on Ichigo Kurosaki with your FLYING SAKURA feint.
Ichigo stops when Rukia does and looks out again, grimacing at Beefy McNoshirt, the speedy flailing and...the box on wheels. "Yeah. They used to. I mean, there's not a place like this in Karakura, but people rollerblade, which is kinda the same." Something's not right. That must be the sense of impending ten year old. Luckily for Sakura, Ichigo is really hard to knock over. Unluckily for him, Sakura's going really fast, so he stumbles a bit backwards as he's rammed into. "Gah!"
He looks down, almost ready to rip into her, but he doesnt. Instead he says, "You alright? You were goin' pretty fast there." At least Yuzu's not here to further ruin his reputation as a hardass.
"Ichigo!" The name. Said in that tone. But seeing Ichi really isn't in any immediate danger, as he manages to STAY UP despite the Sakura rocket that slammed into him. She winces. "Sakura-san, are you alright? You should be careful with those things....they look dangerous if you lose control." That didn't fit....the girl was gliding in a way that said, to her, that Sakura had experience with the things. Maybe skates really were trickier than they were on first glance.
Balrog spins spins spins through the rink, getting quite a few glances from the skaters. He starts to finally lose momentum when the green thing zooms by and sets him off again. He begins to blur as he careens through the rink. Of course, at this speed and with a crowd like this, he's not going to stay safe for long. Sure enough, after bouncing off a wall for umpteenth time, Balrog is sent spinning towards Rukia, with no way of stopping.
Envy switches armor modes to Big Form.
Balrog gets a glancing blow on Rukia Kuchiki with his Spinning Box feint.
Between posing for the crowd and double-taking at the happy shinigami couple, Envy doesn't notice something small green and really fast flying by and brushing past his bellbottoms.
And
suddenly
everything
slows
down.
To everyone else, though Disco King Armstrong is posing and twirling about like he's on speed, his baritone voice having been replaced by Alvin or one of the other Chipmunks. "WatchtheamazingskatingtechniquepasseddownthroughgenerationsoftheArmstrongfamily!"
Hrm, that's weird. The Quiz is not using the Power to Jinx People, the Power to Speed Things up, or anything remotely similar--so why has everyone started crashing around the rink? Of course, it takes her a second to notice this; she has to dodge a few skaters sent spinning her way by a chain-reaction collision. This she does nimbly enough, and she ends up standing at the edge of the rink, not far from Sakura, Ichigo and pals. From her fairly safe position, she watches people careen around the rink, wondering what could've touched this off.
And just as she asks Sakura if she's alright, Rukia gets hit by a bus. Well, it might as WELL be a bus. But thankfully she seems to sense the danger looming and moves away from Balrog...but not completely. She's clipped, and her being clipped causes her to spin around and THUMP on the floor. On her rear. She isn't even wearing skates.
Buttercup has partially disconnected.
Li Syaoran faceplants into the wall.
It's not pretty.
"Itai..." he groans, getting slowly to his feet. Meiling rushes over to help. "Syaoran! Are you all right? Is it...." she looks around quickly. "....too many people here."
Li grunts and looks around. "Yeah. I can feel it. It's definitely a Clow Card." Damn it, there /are/ a lot of people here. Some of them are freaks like the dead people, so it's probably not a big deal to show off their magic. But the others... "What should I....oy! Meiling!"
"Don't worry, Syaoraaaaaaaaan!" she says with a smile as she hops through the gate and makes toward the wall. Giving a girlish smile, she reaches out....and yanks on the fire alarm.
Bells start going off immediately. "Fire!" she shouts. "Get out! Get out! What do you think youre doing, idiot, MOVE!"
"Hooeee..." Sakura mumbles dizzily to herself, before looking up at Ichigo and bowing. "Oh, excuse me! Excuse me, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to run into you like that! My skates were suddenly going a whole...lot..."
She outright stares at Sped-up Armstrenvy. "...faster. Okay, this is really, really, really weird. I gotta go find Li!" Bracing herself and pushing off of the wall, she shoots off after the Green Blur, just before Balrog crashes into poor Rukia.
The Dash, meanwhile, zips about, occasionally stopping long enough to be made out as a fuzzy, ermine-like creature. It twitches its nose, and then zips back into fullspeed mode, spreading about its chaos. Which is nothing compared to the chaos that erupts when Li cries 'fire' in a crowded roller rink, as /then/ patrons start plowing out through the fire exits, skates and all. All while Sakura's trying to get through the other way.
If the DJ wasn't running out, maybe he'd start playing Benny Hill.
"I'm fine, Ru--Rukia!" Ichigo yelps as the giant box slams into her. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU FRIGGIN' JACKASS! I'll kick your stupid ass!" Ichigo clenches a fist and starts to move towards the box on wheels, looking suddenly /incredibly/ surly.
Isn't it cute how he defends his not-really-girlfriend? Even as Sakura races off, and /everybody else/ crams out in a panic, Ichigo starts after Balrog, oblivious to ambient magic of a Clow Card, more concerned with the metal jerkface who rammed into Rukia.
He doesn't even pause to help her up. The jerk.
What's that?! A fire alarm?! While Buttercup's busy buying belated fathers' day gifts?!
Sigh! "A Puff's work is never done!" *BYEW*
There's a loud sound as a section of roof is smashed in, and the hovering little oddball that is Buttercup hovers in midair above the crowd. This probably does not do much for the Norms' piece of mind. "Never fear, the Powerpuff Girls are here! ...well, one of 'em...What's going on here!?"
This may or may not be audible above people reacting to the combination of a fire alarm and a football-sized little girl hovering about ten feet up in the air who just broke through the roof at high speeds.
"Ichigo, wait! It was an acci..." He was gone. "...dent..." Rukia facepalms from where she is. Goddamnit! Why is it that every time they were out, something always happens that puts Ichigo into Asskicking Mode? HE was getting all the bloody practice. With a huff, she stands up, and dusts her sundress off, retrieving her hat from the ground and planting it on her head.
And then...at the corner of her eye, she manages to catch something flit and vanish in her periphery. She spins around quickly. What the hell was that? And then, there it is, the fire alarms. While she has no idea what they are, they have warning sirens back in Soul Society. What did that mean? Some sort of danger? It must be, look at all the people running out of the rink. She dodges, ducks, dips, dives and....well, dodges, from the frenzied let's-get-out-of-here crowd.
GAME: Save complete.
5tBalrog would apologize if he could! As it is, he's trying desperately to stop spinning. All he can do is flap his flippers, which isn't helping much. He bounces off a few more walls, tripping up fleeing skaters. Ichigo should thing twice about running after the ballistic box. The gods of irony take over, and Balrog is now spinning towards Ichigo.
Balrog misses Ichigo Kurosaki with his Ironic Spinning Box feint.
The Disco King finishes his one-man performance with a bow. "Thank you, thank you, thank-" Something's amiss. Armstrong perks up to notice that his adoring crowd is now adoring the exits. "Fire? Where fire? I don't smell a fire- oshikurosaki!" He speeds right out of Ichigo's way, and discovers why his routine was going so fast. "What the hell... oshiwall-" WHAM.
Li Syaoran gives Meiling a warm smile, and she winks in return as people start rushing out. "That a girl," he says warmly, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a slim kendama. The Chinese boy holds it in front of his head and closes his eyes, focusing quietly. With a surge of magic, a line of ligth emerges from the toy, and the entire thing lengthens and thickens into what eventually becomes a Chinese shortsword, which rattles as he snaps the blade down one-handed.
"OY! YOU! SMALL GREEN GIRL!" Li calls out. He should really make it a point of remembering names. "Quick, get these people out of here!"
The young man starts skating then, trying to angle toward Sakura, his blade tucked up behind his back so it doesn't accidentally impale people who whizzz by him. "Do you sense it?" Li shouts out. "If it's going this fast.....it's probably the DASH card!"
"Hey, Buttercup!" Sakura manages to finally clear herself of the crowd, giving a wave up at the Powerpuff. "We needa get people out of here! There's...yeah, Li, I sense it! It's a Clow Card! Which means..."
She steadies herself in a corner, when she's sure the remaining non-Weirdo people aren't looking, and pulls a key-shaped pendant out as she chants. A glowing magic circle with a moon and sun emblem appear beneath her feet, and the key is surrounded in light and what some might detect as shadow magic.
"O Key that holds the power of the Dark, reveal thyself to me! This I, Sakura, command under contract! RELEASE!"
The key grows in length to a medium-sized staff with a winged "head," and Sakura grabs it in midair before skating up to catch up to Li. "Do you know where it is? This is bad..."
Well, where it is, that ain't hard to figure out. It's zipping away from Envy-Armstrong towards poor Quiz.
The box spins back in his direction, still flailing, and Ichigo stops, prepping himself to counter. He's been in this kind of situation before, thanks to his dad, and Ichigo readies a fist.
That will seem weird, because when Balrog gets close enough, Ichigo kicks the at rolling filing cabinet in an attempt to plant it on its side.
"Oi! You ran into my friend back there and didn't even stop! What kinda asshole are you? Frickin' box."
Ichigo Kurosaki misses Balrog with his Daddy Deflection Technique: Field Goal Kick feint.
The Quiz eyes the Dash as it stops. Clearly, this is no ordinary element of the local nightlife. Balrog catches her attention quickly enough, and she decides to try and neutralize the spinning box thing before he causes any more damage. The Quiz extends a hand, pointing a finger at Balrog--moments later, she uses the Power of Inertial Dampening on him... if it isn't overwhelmed by his momentum, Balrog will slow to a graceful stop. Possibly. It may leave him in range of an irate Ichigo, however.
Then Buttercup makes a new skylight. The Quiz peers up at her--for the record, she is wearing a more conventional red-white-and-blue hazard suit instead of her usual getup. She does get the idea to levitate some distance above the rink, so she doesn't get caught off-guard by the crowds. Unfortunately for her, the Dash gets to her first. The Quiz levitates, all right--but in the process, she nearly creates yet another hole in the roof. As-is, she merely smacks her head on the ceiling. It still hurts like hell, though.
Buttercup floats there. "What -- oh! Hi Sakura! Hi....loudmouthed other guy!" She waves, though from the quirky smile she gives Li his is probably less sincere. She watches Sakura release and is about to go oooh about it when she realizes what she's been requested to do. Well, OK!
"HEY! EVERYBODY!" Pause. Hmm. Oh! She shoots HEAT VISION at the wall. Likie a warning shot! "Run away! There's a -- uhm. Scary person in here!" Pause. Who to blame. She squints at the Quiz as the hazard suited woman smashes her head against the roof, and, with a completely unconvincing tone of voice, jabs a stub at her, shouting, "....THERE! The evil, uhm, er, HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. ....-tron."
She hasn't noticed the box or the shinigami yet. Give it a bit.