The golden main gates opened to admit yet another arrival, the erotic embrace of the carved figures parting as the doors opened. JaggedWing walked in unhappily.

The lobby of the RLD was a large, grand affair. It gave the feeling of being a spherical structure despite having a level floor. A two level floor actually, the first ground floor and then a balcony the ringed it. The central point of interest of the room was the main desk, a curved ultramodern design that sat just in front of a massive collum of crystal. A fluid bubbled through the hollow collum, giving the place a restful feeling. Two curved rampways reached down from behind and above the desk, letting one ascend to the upper floor balcony.

There was no one source of light, though some points shined brighter than others, such as the domed roofing. Mostly it was a soft comfortable light, kept dim to reduce the shin of all surfaces. Everything appeared to be made of polished and tinted glass or crystal. Every surface tried to gleam, and only managed to brighten the room to the point of standard illumination.

Almost every surface of course. The main double golden doors were their own material, and the potted plants on the outer side of the ramps were made of their own material. The plants were miniture trees, mostly curved and gnarled wood that took on it's own sheen to the point it looked more like tanned and oiled human musculature. The curves and roundness making the trees take on a feminine shape. The standard doors, one placed on each side of the room, past the trees and ringing the upper balcony, were their own material. Some sort of bluish green layered curtain that seemed to shine as if wet in it's own right.

Behind the desk could be seen another gently sloping ramp leading up into daylight. From this ramp a series of large blocky shapes were marching.

"Chirp?" One of them said, it's voice much like an electronic attempt to mimic fingernails across a chalkboard. One couldn't be sure where the voice came from, as the whole shape appeared to be a square block in dark greens with a yellow under half, supported by three sets dark brown armored legs. A pronged beetle horn extended from what it apparently considered it's front.

These were "hugg beatles". The RLD's current security system. Easier to swarm the whole place with hostile life forms than put a lock on the door it seemed. Even then people managed to slip in. The other day JaggedWing had found a mangled Canadian flag. He didn't know how to explain that one.

"Chirp?" The Hugg Beatle wondered if this new arrival was food, or prospective mate. It didn't look like food. JaggedWing ignored it's hungry stare however, walking behind the main desk and sitting down.

"Time to start this thing up I guess." He muttered, making no sudden motion or flared display to the mecha beatle. His hand tapped the surface of the desk, and a holographic display came up, including an illusionary keyboard.

"Chirp." One of the massive creatures climbed behind the desk and prodded him in the shoulder with it's horn. He glanced over and clicked a command into the central system.

"Why don't you slip into something more comfortable?" JaggedWing suggested. The Hugg Beatle looked ill for a moment, then it's armor plating started to split apart and fall off. From out of the wreckage, like some kind of butterfly emerging from a coccoon a decidedly feminine figure emerged, stretching her shoulders, arms and neck. Her back arched and her long flowing hair cascaded down over her shoulders.

"Mmm? Chirp?" She said with a smile, coiling herself around him with her soft body.

"Your voice should be working just fine now." He said, turning back to his display.

"Maybe you should check to be sure." She suggested.

"I've had a long day, and I'm returning all your brothers and sisters to normal, I'm not sure I have time to explore your mouth. Particularly since it's working fine."

"There's always time." She pouted. "But if you've had a long day..." Her hands dug into the musculature of his shoulders and he started to relax with a groan.

The other Hugg Beatles reformed themselves. There was a short blonde boy with a cybernetic arm and leg, a woman with blue hair wearing nothing but strips of white fur, a girl with short blonde hair wearing bright red hotpants, and a large man with long black hair in a red suit. All trade marked figures of course, their images and minds duplicated to the best effect for the clintels enjoyment. The rest of the hugg beatles, and there was a huge swarm throughout the facility, took their proper forms as well.

"I assume the doors are officially open." The girl in the hotpants said. "Guess that means it's time to get to work." She gave a smirk. "Pity. I kinda liked having a six foot long... drill horn."

"Afraid so." JaggedWing leaned his head back to enjoy the neck rub while the blue haired catgirl took over the front desk. The RLD was back in business again.

The door opened an odd senses of vertigo stretching across infinty before collapsing back in on itself and stabilizing. Dreadnought shook his head with a light sigh of relief as normalization was achieved. "I forgot how rough thread-transition can be, it's been a long while since I've done it."

"Right on schedule," noted JW% his head tilted back and his voice wafting from his throat in a fasion that said, 'I'm REALLY enjoying this.'

Dreadnought chukled as he approached the desk, he looked about to say something and shook his head. "At some point we're gonna have to sit down at a dinner so you can explain to me YOUR side of what happened in 'Newcomers to Roo'tah.' 'Till then, just enjoy it."

JaggedWingPercentile had the commanding share of the RLD, but Dreadnought was not just a frequent customer but a major share holder and investor. Thus it wasn't odd for him to lean forward eever so sligtly and set his fingers dancing on the surface of the desk as though he were punching in commands on a keyboard. The Emperor waited exactly one second before turning to his left and walking up to one of the smooth crystal walls.

The wall opened, splitting and folding in an organic fashion to allow the emperors entrence.

***

The place was musty and dim, dimmer then most parts of the RLD to give the illusion of some seedy unkempt environment. Bodies pressed in all over forcing Dreadnough to push through the crowd of people shouting and racing about like traders on the stock floor. However this was no stock-floor it was a betting stadium. A vast chalk board spead across the rear wall with ratios and sub-headings spaced evenly about it. At the very top it said "Quest For The Holy Tail". The sub headings were all kinds of things, the biggest draw, of course, being "Who will get the cheese" with varrying odds placed on each contestant. However, this was the RLD and there were bets on EVERYTHING. How many times will BMS be hit on, who will spot cheese first, how many time periods will the thread cut through, which Transfandomers will show up in the course of the adventure, how many times will The Rod be pimp-slapped, etc etc. Dread quirked his lips 'Who would ACTUALLY get Holy Tail?', besides Danielle who was sleeping with a monk so ALWAYS getting 'holly tail.' Of course each participant was banned from betting on certain aspects, like Dread couldn't bet on how many times he, specifically, would hit on BMS but most of the board was free reign.

"Well we got the man himself!" called one of the board-walkers pointing out the Emperor in the crowd as a spotlight descended on him from above.

Dread smiled, placed several bets and strode through the crowd to another door that shouldn't have existed and strode out onto the sandy shores of a beach. Of white sand streatched from coast to coast and water as blue as saphire streatched out as far as the eye could see. The sun played upon the water making it appear as though diamonds were dancing in the ocean as waves crested high into the air to guid surfers back to the shore. Somewhere between the leader0board and the beach Dread had lost his armor and shirt, standing on the warm dunes in red trunks and allowing his dark skin to soak in the rays. A pair of dark wrap around sunglasses guarded his eyes and his crown still poked up through his unrully hair.

"A drink sir?" asked a soft feminine voice to Dreads' right. The emperor turned, ever so slightly and released a long whistle as he drank in her near nude form. He had no idea what universe the RLD reploid was copied from or if she was just a random generation and in truth he didn't care. She was well tanned, like a woman who'd grown up on the equator with hair the color of spun gold, large orange eyes appraised him over small dark freckles. A friendly though lopsided grin curled her thin violet lips. She was thin, though not un pleasently so, and wearing a thin golden two-piece that matched her hair, in her hands was a silver tray with two fruity drinks on it.

Dreadnought grinned as he regained his composure, "I'll have a drink of that." He took a glass and left his card before letting her wander off to continue serving. Plopping down on an empty towel that seemed to have been left there just for him he began to sip.

//Dread to launch Nexus//

//Here sir//

//Aye sir//

//I read you Dad//

//Open the attached file...//

There was a moment as three minds read over the information.

//Really?//

//That could be troublesome//

//What's our next move//

//I'M sitting this one out// began Dread. //I'm charging you with finding it, and the both of you to protect and aid her//

//Wah, why? I don't need...//

//I am a being of true order, a tool of entropy might give you the edge you need to kill me, if nothing else look at it as a learning experience...//

//Fine. Aye, sir I'm on my way//

//As am I//

//I'll be there boss//

Dread took another sip of his drink and somewhere some one won ALOT of money, the Pantheon of Dreadnought had entered the Quest for Holy Tail.

((Dread...I love you man ^^))

((can i get in on this?))

((no, you're too young )) ;)

[The RLD spans all tastes for all peoples, Hell PrettyArr who is functionally 12 WORKS in the RLD. Yes DM, you can "get in on this" have fun, just keep it PG13. :party: So everyone stop yammering and join the fun!]

((Yes, go ahead and add to this, like you would any other. Having your character in both stories at once is encouraged. Mind you, we might push things past PG13 a bit, but do try not to get to graphic, lest we move this elsewhere with limited participation.))

Lobby

JaggedWing called up a map of the RLD from his position at the front desk. The hands working his shoulders felt quite delicious, and he was unaware that he was releasing a trilling purr even though it sent vibrations back through her hands.

Assuming that whoever entered was facing north, something it was best not to assume as there were no magnetic poles here, to the east was the 'Arcade' complete with casino and betting pool, and other rooms. To the west was the bar and dance club. North past the desk was the simulated outdoor enviroments, including idelic parks, forested areas, mountains with streaming waterfalls, various bodies of water for swimming, and of course the beach. The upper floor consisted if fantasy rooms each with their own theme to play out. One of the wonderful things about the RLD was that almost everywhere would lead to everywhere else soon enough if you wandered long enough. Wandering was encouraged. Of course, finding a nice semi-secluded spot with a partner of three of your choice was even more encouraged.

"Hey, Jaggie!" PrettySparrow chirped, the top of her head visible over the edge of the front desk. "The cleaning crew is all online 'gain. Can I go play now?"

JaggedWing reguarded this suggestion for a moment, then the fingers massaging his shoulders got help from a pair of lips working his neck. "Mmmkay." He answered. "Go ahead have fun and go play."

After all... what harm could THAT do?

The chaos angel looked around before sneaking into the RLD. She was technically underage, so she couldn't be here. However, curiosity had gotten the better of her because technically, she didn't really have a gender, she only assumed the mantle of a female. Looking around, she finally walked inside, not knowing what to expect.

"Sneaking around, I see," said a young man. She froze. Had she been caught? She turned around and saw a somewhat short blond-haired boy with metal limbs, his right arm and left leg, to be more precise. Blushing lightly, she nodded. He was very attractive, and some part of her, possibly influenced by her current form, desired him. He approached her, a seductive grin on his lips. Unsure of how to react, she backed away. "Relax," he crooned as he kept walking toward her. "I'm not going to hurt you. I bet you're gonna love what I can do."

((there you go, kradia's learning about human sexuality right there. oh, and by the way, for some reason, i guessed that the boy with the cyborg limbs had to be edward elric from fullmetal alchemist, or some variation of him, so, that's who's approaching my character))

((Yep, it was Edward Elric, or a reasonable replication of him. I'm not giving any bonus points for media referances, they're to be scattered all throughout.))

The RLD, while being a realm unto itself really, did have many similarities to a dreamscape. The Reploids, Replicants, Pleasurebots, or whatever you wanted to call them at any moment, worked primarily on this principle.

Which means the dashing cyborg blonde boy who was now sneaking Dark Mousette into one of the Fantasy Rooms was doing so because that's what she either wanted, or expected. Not always were those two compatible, so the RLD wasn't a perfect system.

Still, the fact that DarkMousette had snuck in at all could have been somewhat disturbing. There was, after all, only one viable entrance, covered by the front desk. And JaggedWing was behind that desk. Of course, he was laying down behind it, snoozing contentedly, and there was some debate as to what to do with him. It certainly wouldn't do to just leave him laying on the floor there, but he'd probably wake up if anyone tried to move him, and the RLD staff had taken a vote and decided that waking him up fit in the catagory of 'bad thing'. The white furred and blue haired catwoman was the one actually watching the entrance so everything was covered.

There was a list, a very short list, of those who had to be kept out of the RLD. Usually they were on the list for attempted destruction of the RLD(on numerous occasions) which had either succeeded and caused that method to be invalidated for their subsequent attempts, or failed and just annoyed everyone. Transmutate was on the top of that list at the moment, and should he enter all efforts would be made to isolate and/or eject him. Hugg Beatles would certainly become involved.

DarkMousette was on the list too. The staff just hadn't been informed of this addition however, and was treating her like any other guest.

For her part, she was learing that it was amazing how sensitive automail prosetics could be in delievering a massage or other gentle tactile stimulations. We'll not dwell on that. In fact, let's look away from that room, and away from the Fantasy Rooms in general. They had closed doors for a reason after all. Let's move down to the Arcade.

The Arcade had dealing tables for various games, both of skill and chance. You were just as apt to find a hand of poker as you were a round of chess in this room. More to the point, you could also place wagers on these matters, or if you prefered, subject yourself to various electronic simulations. In short, video games. PrettySparrow was wandering through the forest of happily bleeping closets and consoles, each trying to draw attention to themselves. She was having none of it however. She was looking for something a little more dramatic.

Progressing further through the Arcade, with that happy little skipping that she did, PrettySparrow started coming into more advanced simulators. Holographic fields, virtual reality, photonic matrixies, sensory replication booths, and so on. Finally the little vacationing transmetal girl found her way to a station that looked like nothing more than a gateway built into a wall. A woman lounged in her opperating chair beside it, purple skinned and bright orange hair that seemed to sparkle.

"Hiya Mouse!" PrettySparrow chirped.

"Hi ya yourself short stuff." Mouse replied with her southern drawl. "Whatcha look'n for?"

"Jaggie said that I can take a break, so I'm gonna vacation in Paragon City."

"City of Heroes, eh? Can't say I enjoy the place myself. More to Bobs taste. Me, I prefer the Rogue Isles if you get my drift." Mouse kept pleasant small talk going as she set things up. "Alright, installing now."

An omnipresent narrator voice intoned: "Warning, Incomming Game" and a flickering purple cube seemed to descend through the ceiling to line up with the gate.

"Thankies!" PrettySparrow chirped, and entered.

She was in the middle of a riot. Some fool had unleashed Rikti mutagens and sold it as a designer drug, now The Contaminated were trying to tear the city apart and the Paragon Police Department was doing their best to hold things at bay.

"Reboot!" PrettySparrow declared, her form changing only slightly into that of a Claws/SuperReflexes Scrapper with the Flight power pool. From there she proceeded to quell the Outbreak, and once past the tutorial started in on making the city safe from psionically controlled clockwork robots and demon whorshiping gangbangers.

And that was just the starter zone.

((lemme see if i can identify some of the people, since i got ed.
blue haired girl w/blue fur strips=either ryoko(tenchi) or felicia(darkstalkers)
man w/long black hair and a red suit=either alucard(hellsing) or vincent valentine(final fantasy)))

***Beach***

He didn't know WHEN he'd dozed off but he certainly must have been sleeping because he was awaoken by a sweet femine voice. Blinking his eyes under dark shades Dreadnought sat up, leaning back on his elbows he hunted out the source of the voice to note a young woman in a sun dress to his right. Her large green eyes showed insterest as though it were awaiting a response. "Sorry, excuse me," began Dread. "What was that."

"You paid for an update clause in your wagering sir," the woman said in an even measured voice that sound formal yet sweet.

"Mmm, oh yes," recalled Dread with a yawn. "Did I loose or win?"

"Both, as is usually the case in such matters. Your wager on "first new poster" was in correct, however your wager that Stingray would join was."

Dread whistled, that'd been a long shot actually and he was happy he did. His lips quikly rippled into a smile, now that Stingray had officially joined the Quest for Holy Tail it opened up other betting ratios which he'd preemptivly wagered on, things were looking quite lucrative. "Why thank you Ms...?"

"Starsmoore," offered the young woman. "Is there anything else you want?"

'Yes.'

"No Ms. Starsmore, though I would request that you be the one to keep me updated if that is all possible."

"Certainly sir," said the woman with a short bow before waving and turning to walk off.

Dreadnought admired her departure for a moment before rising to his feet, "poor woman, she's going to be seeing alot of me today."

An oddly serious expression crossed the emperors face as he scanned the horizon, "I should check in on that projeect shouldn't I?" Saying no more Dread simply walked to the right...

The front door opened, and Virus hopped through lightly. He appeared as usual at first, in his black gi, but without his sword. That didn't last long, as he rapidly shifted into a taller, slightly more debonair figure with a long coat. He casually walked up to the desk, and smiled at the conveniently furred young woman behind the desk. He glanced down at Jaggedwing, but had no interest in disturbing the sleeping creature. "Helloooo, my dear," Virus greeted Felicia happily, smiling. His solid black eyes seemed to twinkle a bit. "I was wondering if you could set something up for me today?"

The Chaos Angel was downright confused as the Edward Elric Hugg-Beetle walked toward her, a playful smirk on his lips. She found herself against the wall, overcome by a strange feeling. Her cheeks felt hot, and there was a strange tingling in a certain part of her body. Also, she could feel her pulse race as she looked at him. Dark Mousette winced lightly as he got close to her, lightly placing his hand on her chest. She had no idea that what was going on inside her adopted form was normal for a human. She was shaking, unable to react as the Pleasurebot looked her over.

Little did she know that this would be her first lesson about humans and one particular function they, like other living creatures, had: the desire to procreate.

Lobby

"That all depends on what you'd like to have set up." The receptionist on duty said. There were warnings listed on dealing with him as well.

It was hard to tell if, behind the lobby desk, JaggedWing was still sleeping, or just enjoying laying there in the lap of the woman who gave him the massage. She at least didn't seem to have anywhere to go, and had been reading a book when Virus came in.

Fantasy Room

"Are you alright?" The pleasurebot who had assigned himself to DarkMousette asked. "We could go slower if you want..."

Fantasy Room(one room over)

The swirling portal was not from outside the RLD. It was, infact, merely transporting one person from one room of the RLD into another unused room. However, it would easily be mistaken for an outsider, particularly since the figure who fell into the room was not a known RLD employee. He was, in fact, an unknown one.

Standing easily 15 foot tall, and made of rusty material that seemed to be stuck onto his bulky robot body at random, his most dominate feature was his head. Or rather the glass jar with a brain and two eyeballs floating in it that served as his head.

"Where? Where am I?" The Clockwork King asked through the speaker just below the jar.

Virus smiled at the woman reading her book with Jaggedwing curled up in her lap, then focused back on the receptionist. "Yes! Of course. I'd like to dance you see. I'd like a partner with style, ready to enjoy herself, but I don't think someone too rambunctious would get along very well with me. I'd also love to be surprised. I rarely get surprised," he added with a little pout. "As for the music. hmm... Not quite classic, bit more lively than that, but not too fast. I'm not in the mood to bounce off the walls, just have a pleasant time with a lovely woman. I hope that's not too simple?"

"I-I don't know..." She looked at the pleasurebot as he resumed pleasuring her.((sorry, i got nothing))

[JW%, awesome insanity by dragging out the Clockwork King, I'll have to do something equally cooky, eventually.]

It was hard to identify the scent that wafted through the air, it wasn't quite sterile but it wasn't unpleasent. "Clean" was probably the closest a human psyche could come to identifying it. A thin trace of ionization drifted through the air, the chill causing goosbumps to prikle the emperors' flesh as he strode inside his bare feet barely making a sound as he crossed the metal decking. "How goes it?"

"Slowly," came a crisp feminine voice with a slight bitter edge to it. She appeared to be bundled in a cross between a labcoat and winter vest. Her eyes were protected by large wrap around glasses that served both to reduce glare and displayed additional information. Her fingers poked out from the large puffy ends of her sleeves to poke at the keyboard. She sat bundled in the chair, her legs pulled up into her coat leaving the bottoms of her shoes just barely visible on the large cushy chair. The woman turned to view the Emperor as he strode in. "Sometimes I hate you."

Dread looked at the woman quizzically as he circled the large spacious lab to observe the equipment all centered about a large glass tube that stretched from floor to cieling that seemed to be filled with a luminescent golden fluid. "Oh, what'd I do this time?"

"This equipment is held at absolute zero and the room is barely beyond. However YOU are walking around like it's a nippy sixty degrees," growsed the woman.

Dreadnought chukleed as he strode over to the woman and wrapped her in a loose hug. She seemed to mellow as she leaned into him with a contented sigh. "Brought ya something," he whispered in her ear.

"Me?" she asked glancing to the tube at the rooms center. "Or him?"

Dreadnought chukled nuzzling her cheek. "Both," he admitted. His right hand turned over to reveal a small rectangle of metal. "This, is for him."

"Is that Imperial-Steel?" asked the woman with a definitive note of surprise in her voice.

"Yesss..."

"H-Hot or...or c-cold?"

"Hot."

The young woman took the block reverently, "this must have cost you a fortune in resources."

Dread nodded, "I want it integrated into his endostructure."

"That will be difficult, especially at this stage of development..."

"Are you up for it?"

"I..." she paused as she turned to look up at Dread. "Of course."

"That's my girl," Dread said with a smile as he dropped a peck on her cheek. "This, however, is for you."

In Dreadnoughts' left hand was suspended a small puft of blue flame that seemed suspennded in time.

"What is it?"

"Nothing much, just phoenix fire."

"..."

Dread smiled placing it in the scientists hand. "Do with it what you will; after you integrate the Imperial Steel."

Over awed and lost in thought the young woman didn't notice and probably didn't care when Dread left...

((I'm going to assume that lab is not in the RLD. Not that it couldn't be, but just making that assumption.))

((Plus, the ClockWork King is just the tip of this bit, which isn't insane at all! Or at the very least it doesn't think it's insane. You know what that means.))

Lobby

The catgirl gave Virus a big smile, her nose wrinkling slightly. "There is a dancefloor and live music through past the bar." She pointed to the door to her left, the 'eastern' door in the lobby. "We try to mix up our songs and artists, so if you don't like what's playing, sit that dance out and enjoy a refreshment from the bar. There should be a more than suitable number of dance partners availible."

"Oooor..." She purred, still smiling but with her eyes half closed as she looked at him. "If you prefer a more private dance, we have a few fantasy rooms availible with that kind of theme. We could design you a specific partner, but then that would spoil the surprise you wanted, wouldn't it?"

Fantasy Room: Alchemists Bedroom

Edward Elric, which was as good a name for him as any given that it was the form he held and the personality he was imitating, paused again at her reactions.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He had spotted her sneaking around, which usually meant she'd want privacy. She'd reacted well to him up until this point, now she seemed more confused at her bodies own reactions than anything else. That was confusing to him as well, and it started to worry him. "We don't have to, if you don't feel like it. I just want you to relax..."

After one unfortunately overeager femmebot had crushed JaggedWings hips with her thighs, the RLD had some pretty strict regulations on when an employee should back down. Little Kradia was sending mixed messages in that reguard.

"You know, I could always..." Just then the bolts on his automail started popping off. He had barely a moment to glance at them then look at Dark Mousette. "Help..." He said, his leg and arm falling apart into a small pile of scrap and his body falling onto hers.

Fantasy Room: Clockwork Dungeon

The Clockwork King focused his mind on the project at hand. Materials scavenged from all around the room had been gathered into a pile, and now he started picking up small parts and fitting them together. Alternately he would pick up an object from the pile and concentrate his will on it. His robotic body would energize, magnetically disassymbling the object so he would have parts to work with.

The little gears and pannels of scrap he then stuck together, holding them in place magnetically while he fit gears and other parts until the little robot was completed. The fact that he didn't bother meshing the gears together, and that he was using materials that were not magnetic didn't seem to enter into his mind as he created his minions.

The first ClockWork Prince stood up and looked about. It let out a little buzzing noise and then performed a regal bow before it's King. Together the two of them started working on more soliders for the Clockwork Army...

The Beach

The RLD beach was hard to describe in terms of illusion or reality. Certainly it looked like a sandy tropical beach, and it stretched for what seemed like miles in any direction, but how far did it really go? The RLD wasn't actually on a planet after all, and despite all the attempts to make it seem otherwise, it was still an enclosed enviroment. The stars that dotted the sky during the moonlight beach walks were fake. They had to be. There certainly was no outerspace up there, no real stars.

So when a shooting star streaked across the fake sky, it wasn't all that noteworthy. The RLD was designed to have shooting stars do just that sort of thing at the most oppertune or romantic moments. Which meant usually at random. When the meteorite roared down from the sky, skipped off the sea twice, and imbedded itself in the sandy beach however, that was entirely unusual, unheard of, and quite nearly impossible.

Still, nobody of any major importance was around at the time, and the meteor just sat there cooling and glowing an unearthly, infact unholy, green.

((No, the meteor on the beach is in no way related to the Unholy Block of Cheese. It does have a very strong resemblance to that artifact however, so make of that what you will.))

She blushed hard as she caught him, her hand glowing as she managed to repair his arm and leg. "No, I don't want to stop...please, continue. It's just...it's my first time." A small smile forms on his lips as he tries out his arm and leg, making sure that they work properly before resuming his pleasuring. He had no idea that it was literally her first time. Before she wandered into the RLD. she had absolutely no idea about what humans were capable of.

Virus leaned onto the counter with a little purr of his own, grinning. "A more private environment would be ideal, and yes, please do surprise me. Not that it would be surprising for any of the staff to be freely available for such a thing, but I'd only ask that it's someone sincerely... interested in spending some time with me. I'd feel awfully rude forcing myself on someone, even if it was their job, you see? I'm sure there can be a mutually assured pleasure in the dancing."

A gasp escaped her lips as the pleasurebot started groping her. As he worked, a second pleasurebot, this one bearing the appearance of a man with white hair and a cocky smirk on his lips, had somehow gotten in.



"Move aside, pipsqueak, I bet I can take care of her better than you can." The Edward Elric pleasurebot sighed and moved over, letting the new one in. "Name's Dante. Trust me, when I'm done, you're gonna be wanting more." Needless to say, the young woman soon learned a few more things about lust when the Ed Elric pleasurebot and the Dante pleasurebot giving her mind-blowing ecstasy.

Lobby

Felicia smiled and purred. "Interested in the dancing, hrm... well, I like to dance as much as the next..." She tilted her head, and her tounge stuck out felineishly. "But I'm busy at the moment. Take the ramp up and sixth door on your right." A beam of light appeared on the floor guiding him to the proper room. He of course, didn't have to follow it, but it wasn't as if he would be able to lose count or turn the wrong way without knowing it.

The beam of light also served a second purpose of giving Cheetback a track for his train as he rode about the RLD, but Cheetback and his cheesecake wern't present at the moment.

Fantasy Room: "Sixth door On Your Right"

Aya Fujii took a deep breath and looked at herself in the wall length mirror of the dance studio. She was in her dance leotard, stretching a warmup, her long straight blonde hair tied back. Thirteen years of classical training, another five of modern dance... then she'd hurt her foot while rehersing. She'd recovered just before her troupe had performed, but while she was able to dance, psychologically when she went on stage her injury was all she could think about. Even fully recovered she'd imagine the pain and couldn't stand, let alone dance.

She'd quit her troupe, leaving ballet, but she dearly loved to dance and to perform. She still had her skills, she was breathtakingly flexible and agile, but the stage fright effect kept her from performing. All she needed was the right partner to enjoy herself once more...

Fantasy: Alchemists Bedroom

"Who are you calling pipsqueak? And don't you have your own room and guest?" Ed sighed, with a slight edge.

"Oh no, no guest to entertain." Dante gave a devilish smile as Kradia happily gasped for breath.

"Fine then..." Ed crawled into the tangle, "But I'm not letting you have all the fun." The two pleasurebots gave each other a passionate kiss right before the Chaos Angels eyes, before they went back to enjoying her.

Nobody in the room noticed that Eds pocketwatch had dissassymbled itself, just as his auto-mail had. The watch however had not been subjected to Dark Mousettes chaos energies, and had completed its transformation. Now it stood as a small robot, gears within it not quite meshing as the rotated about, clicking steadily like a small watch should.

More than that, everything in the room, metal or easily mistaken for metal, had done the same. Sometimes several objects at once had needed to combine before enough mass was availible to create the Clockwork. Dante's pistols were had been rebuilt, various beltbuckles, straps, pocket knife, just about everything.

The small army of robots glanced around, for a moment watching the scene, then, embarrased, they tried to sneak out.

Virus gave Felicia a bright smile as she explained everything to him. He showed only pleasure at the idea of her being his possible partner, and gave a little pout when she explained she was unavailable. He followed the offered light, as it made everything so much more convenient, and he was, after all, trying not to think about everything too much. He wanted a surprise... as close as he ever got to one, at least.

When he reached the door, he paused for a moment. He couldn't be sure, by normal means, if the RLD would have his partner in there already, or if he would wait a psychological perfect amount of time for her. Well, hopefully it was her. A practical joke wasn't out of bounds for requesting a 'surprise' after all.

Chuckling at that idea, he decided to err on the side of politeness, and knocked on the door first. To his pleasure, a lovely voice called back through the door, "Yes?"

Smiling so his voice would reflect it, he answered, "May I come in?"

A moment later, the door pulled open to reveal Aya herself, flushed from her stretching, but entirely lovely. In fact, seeing a woman who clearly enjoyed herself so freely was entirely more attractive for its sincerity.

Virus brightened his smile for her. "Hello. I'm Virus. May I ask your name?"

"...Aya. Did you want to use the dance room?"

He grinned warmly. "Very much so."

Aya smiled back, but seemed a bit awkward. "Would you mind giving me a few moments to finish up, and it's all yours?"

He pouted. "Oh, you wouldn't like a partner for your practice?"

She blinked. "...I... hadn't thought about it."

"May I be so forward as to request it?"

"...Sure," she decided with a little smile. "Come in."

Virus stepped inside with her, letting his coat down on the floor without care. It left him in loose-fitting pants and a simple shirt. Not exactly dance clothing, but it wouldn't restrict his movement. His shoes changed automatically to proper dancing footwear.

Aya turned to him in the center of the room, giving her hair a little toss. "What did you have in mind?"

Virus smiled, giving her a playful bow. "Whatever you prefer, Aya."

Kradia was lost in the sheer ecstasy of her first threesome. She had no idea that humans took so much pleasure in things like this. She had seen this occur before, when she was an androgynous Chaos Angel but she couldn't understand why the humans did such things so often. Now, she knew. It had to be the physical pleasure they got out of it. She was jolted out of her thoughts when she felt one of them push into her. A twinge of pain racked her body, causing her to wince and cling to the pleasurebot who had taken her. She had no idea what it meant, but she dared not ask.

(hope that wasn't too graphic. i was focusing more on what was going through kradia's mind than the action)

***Return To The Beach***

The sun was setting casting the sky in deep washes of orange and and reds while making the sea itself appear to be made of liquid gold. It was a truly enchanting scene, the kind that made the heart swell and swept people up in a rush of heady emotion and romantic intent. Normally, at this time, most of the denizens of the beach would be wrapped about one another in a loving embrace or moving off to places more private. Thusky it was odd, to Dread, that most of them seemed to be gathered about a smoldering green crater looking on in awe.

"This...is unisual..." noted the Emperor as he strode over to the gaggle of people.

Fantasy Room: Forbidden Dance

Aya studied Virus as he walked across the dance studio.

He certainly didn't look like much of a dance partner. The way he was dressed looked more like he'd have prefered a martial arts match than a dance.

"Why don't we start off with what I was practicing?" Aya asked, shifting her weight. "There's going to be a competion..." and she trailed off, embarrased about wanting to enter without partner, and with stage fright that would make her fall down the moment the audience set eyes on her. "How about it? Feel like joining me in the Samba?"

Fantasy: Alchemists Bedroom

Darkmousette and her two new boy toys were about to really get it hot and heavy when they were interupted. Primarily because if they wern't being interupted this would have been happening off camera.

"Bzt." One of the clockwork army declared, clearing it's nonexistant throat. They had found the door locked as they'd tried to exit through it's fleshy curtains. The doors were surprisingly solid when locked, despite their usual pliant, almost anatomical, appearance. "The. Master. Calls. Collect."

"What in the..." Dante started, only to have an electrical bolt from one of the mid sized clockworks, dubbed a Tesla Knight, throw him off of the bed and off of Dark Mousette. The electrical energy continued to arc around him, throwing his body into painful spasms and seemed to hold him upside down against the ceiling.

"Uh..." Ed said, little Sprocket clockworks grabbed his mechanical arm and started trying to take it apart. He shook them off. "You could have warned us you wanted a little bondage play with your first time..."

"Th... that...t...t... th... th...ing...ng...ng...ng isssss... Dead!" Dante managed to hiss between his teeth as his whole body continued to spasm through his electrocution.

The Beach

Dreadnought was just approaching the group of people and grouping of people when it happened. One moment he studying the green glow wondering what kind of unholy :cheese: mess would cause such an interest and what would glow like that, the next he was skimming though damage readouts.

That had been a nasty shockwave. Dangerously high radiation. Minor shrapnel damage to his outer layers. Took a pretty big hit to his shoulder too, something was embedded in his armor.

He looked over at once of the beach goers struggling to their feet and saw they had taken the hit much harder. One of them had a massive chunk of the asteroid embedded in her chest. She managed to get to her feet and threw her head back in a scream, but the only sound was a hissing as her flesh and clothing burned away. The chunks of the meteorite were highly radioactive. Worse yet, the rock seemed to bleed out this transparent blueish protoplasm that poured over her body, swallowing her up in a massive glob. In moments all that was left was her skeleton, the green glowing chunk of space rock embedded in her ribcage like some kind of groteque heart. It pulsed and throbbed, the blue blob taking on a shambling humanoid shape around the skeleton. The bones seemed to be reshaped, with no feet, but the hands turning into three diget claws that extended out of the fat limb that would be called an arm simply because of it's location on the body. Spines extended out of the creatures back, looking almost like feathers. The whole body glowed that sickly green, even seen through the sky blue gel and the blackened space rock and bone bits of it.

In fact every one of the victims was suffering a similar conversion. And what's worse, the meteorite was regrowing from the explosion. The rocks within the creatures growing as well, though slower, while the main chunk seemed to have already restored all the lost mass. It glowed a malevolent green as if hungering for more to slay.

Dreadnought knew what these creatures were. They were the harbringer of the destroyer of worlds. They were the Shivan. He started to take a step back and then, on instinct, turned and looked. There were more Shivan, exploding out from the sand. He was surrounded by these creatures, who's touch would burn, who could irradiate you with a blow, or a gaze.

Then Dreadnought glanced at his shoulder, where the meteorite fragment had imbedded itself into his body. It was glowing angrily and the blue ooze started to pour out to envelope him.

The Arcade

"Why howdy there." Mouse said glancing at the new arrivals. They were dressed in bright colors of circus or carnival performers. What disturbed her the most however was that each of them was wearing a white delicate porcelain mask. This all looked very farmilar to her. "Can I do anything for you?"

"Oh... we were just looking for the dance floor." One of the Ring Mistresses of the Carnival of Shadows said sweetly, a carved smile on her mask. "Through this way?"

"Yeah..." Mouse answered.

The Park

The ground seemed to tremble and shift. A huge shape, like that of an egg, pushed it's way from the earthy womb out into the air. Made of dull grey stone, the egg looked ultimately dull, if not for the three limbs that pushed it forward. These three legs could have been tree trunks, gnarled like roots and growing thorns as they lifted the egg shaped stone higher into the air.

Swift growing thorny vines seemed to sprout from the egg shape, wrapping themselves around the legs and burrowing into the ground. As the vines grew they pulled the egg apart, revealing the crystal interior and a pulsing red glow like the heartbeat of something primordial.

Yes my children. The world is ours to devour... Hamidon said as his birthing chambers started to come alive...

The Lobby

"What's going on in here!" JaggedWing snapped, sitting up from behind the desk. He'd lost his pleasantly restful female pillow and knew something was happening. Particularly when she seemed to be assuming a fighting stance in support of the other receptionist on duty.

"A minor disagreement with these gentlemen." Felicia said. She was being held off the ground by a massively clawed hand, and looked for the moment like a fluffy kitten being carried around.

One of the assymbled men burst out laughing, his numerous body peircings and one cybernetic arm showing signs of rust and infection from where his body was refusing the graft. "She called us Gentle Men." He laughed.

The figure holding Felicia stood a good fifteen foot tall, counting the spikes that jutted from his back and shoulders for no good reason other than it had looked cool to wield them on there. He was best described as layers on layers of armor plating, with only a stubby bald head with tattoos poking out from an armored collar. This was a FreakShow Tank. He also had a four slices across his chest, three inches into the battleship armor plating he wore there. Felicias handiwork no doubt.

"|\|1C3 P74c3." The Tank 'said' if one could decribe that as speaking.

"The bar is through that door." JaggedWing said, pointing to his left. "Leave the receptionist in the lobby and you and your boys can have a drink."

"S\/\/337 FR33 B33R!!1!" The tank declared, and lumbered for the door with the rest of the Freakshow who had arrived. He just sort of lost interest in the catgirl and dropped Felicia. She fell into a crouch, standing on top of the main desk, and hissed at them.

"Okay, now somebody tell me why the RLD generated those boys, and why they are wandering around like that?" JaggedWing asked.

"They're not guests?" She'd been reading a book with his head on her lap the entire time, but it was a good question.

"Did they come through the main gate?"

"No." Felicia said, still crouched on the desk, the holographic monitor splayed across her inner thigh. "Came down from one of the fantasy rooms."

"Then they're our boys. Question is who ordered them, and to do what." JW% declared.

Just then, from the door to the park behind the main desk a group of men wearing tattered homespun clothing walked in, each holding cardboard signs with some variation of "We are generaly discontent with our current situation & would like to show our discontentiveness publicly! (If that's OK with you)" written poor on them. The group started chanting and marching around the lobby.

"Luddites I see." JaggedWing muttered. "I thought we'd solved this problem already..."

*Dance Room*

Virus flashed a bright smile. "The Samba sounds delightful!" He let Aya start the music, and joined her smoothly in the lively music.

It was a bit of an odd cycle the two went through. The RLD detected what Virus wanted, which was to do what Aya wanted, who wanted to Samba. Finding the simplest method to allow this, the RLD simply 'got out of the way', and let Virus perfectly match to Aya's preferred motions and sequence. If she reached, he was there. If she spun, he caught. If she pulled away, he matched her motions like a mirror.

"You practically sing with your body," Virus commented pleasantly when they were close enough to warrant it. "Such talent is a work of art itself. Tell me, do you dance professionally, or is it your hobby?"

***Beach***

"Who the f#ck do you think you're dealing with," Dreadnought growled at the fragment inbeded in his shoulder. There was a sizzle and a pop the bloo ooze filling with a deep crimson fluid as though it was drawing on his blood. There was a shriek like a small animal being twisted in a vice before the fragment began top wither as if acid was slowly filltering through it. There was a final pop and sizel as the fragment disolved into nothingness.

Dreadnought rotated his lewft wrist, notting he still had motor-control but his entire arm felt numb and tingly. With the destruction of the shard the other Shivan rounded on Dread, they're attention drawn by the destruction of the shard. An odd hiss rose into the air as the sarounding creatures rose their arms in the air to draw radioactive energy into their claws.

"And me without my armor," noted the emperor as he leapt into the air just barely avoiding the first wash of firepower. He landed hard in the sand his trunks slighly singed from the near miss. A sphere of energy came hurtling towards him and erupted in a wash of light as Dreadnought sword bisected it. He sighed as he took a moment to consider the master-crafted weapon that rested in his hand. "Of all weapons to save me."

Armed with nothing but swim trunks and a sword crafted by Cyrex Dreadnought dashed pff, leading the shivan to the right and towards the RLD jungles and hunting grounds. "You want to take the RLD, come get it!"

Fantasy Room: Forbidden Dance

((Yes, the character herein is loosely based on the heroine of the Manga Forbidden Dance... and yes, she's taking a strongly divergent developement in this))

If Virus thought he was messing with the RLDs programming by being passive, or at most blank, he was mistaken. That particular tactic had already been tried, and a successful countermeasure was in place. Aya herself found his antics somewhat annoying, though more as a side effect than through any direct knowlege of his attempts. He not only hadn't dressed to dance, but he also was far to timid in leading the dance. Almost as if he was trying to do this to match her prefered motions and sequence, rather than creating a motion and sequence for them both to perform. She was starting to think he'd need her to give him lessons when he made his comment.

"Professionally..." She said, then blushed, looking down. "At least... I'm trained to... I... haven't actually... " She composed her thoughts and locked eyes with him. "It's more than a hobby. It's my life."

And with just weeks away from RLD Dancing With The Stars...

***The Park***

Dreadnought dove into the forested area that began as the sandy beach ended. The horde of Shivans seemed mostly to ignore him now. They had been aggressive while he was in their midst, and certainly while he was battling his assymelation, but they were nearsighted creatures, possibly with no senses as a human mind would think of them at all, and rather lumbering.

Only one of them trailed after Dreadnought, and it was doing so with a slow plodding pace and a gradual loss of interest in the subject. What it did however was send some parting shots towards Dreadnought. High powered Xasers from the eye sockets of the once human skull within the Shivan sliced apart foliage and neatly nicked into Dreadnoughts other arm before he realised he was even under attack. He, after all, wasn't moving at the speed of Xrays.

The leaves and brush started to wilt and turn first orange, then brown, then black as the Shivan neared the tree line, but by now Dreadnought had more than enough range on it. He wasn't even sure it was still following him.

Further back on the beach some of the Shivan seemed to start caring for the meteor, while others burrowed underground to spring an ambush on future attackers.

Dreadnought however had something else to distract him. His tactical withdrawl into the wilderness had led him to one of the many convinent open areas. There was the ruin of what could have been a gazeebo and picnic table, but by now had a tree growing through it and roots had torn any kind of construction apart. More prominately, there were two egg shaped stones, mounted on three warped and thorny legs, that looked to be filled with glowing red crystals.

Most prominately however, and the first thing that drew his attention as he entered this small glade, was that there were vaugely humanoid shaped creatures, that looked to be made out of thin branches or roots, their body filled in with leaves or fungal growth, who were alternately patrolling the area, or kneeling near some fresh dirt and aparently encouraging the growth of flowers.

A large pile of rocks off to his left side suddenly animated, the rocks sliding against each other until the large boulder was the chest while long ape like arms ending in three blunt claws made of rounded stones hung from shoulders. There was not really a head so much as the pile of rocks had cast a shadow that could have implied a face.

The Devouring Earth minions looked at him curiously, making strange sounds like rustling leaves. The tree creatures saw his sword, and did not like a stranger brandishing bladed weapons in their home. The word was quickly passed to the rest of them that this was a threat that had to be dealt with.

"I didn't do a damn thing!" She glared at the Tesla Knight and looked like she was about to crush the little robot under her foot(which was still covered, since the only flesh exposed was due to her pants and underwear being pulled down) or do something else that was fueled by her anger at not being satisfied. Sighing, she threw a pillow at the Tesla Knight which was shocking the Dante pleasurebot. "Guess you two should head off and see your master," she said as she got her clothes fixed up.

[[none of it means anything to me, JW%. She may as well be a wholly original creation of yours.]]

"Your life? Exquisite. You certainly express yourself from your heart." His motions became a bit more direct, sensing her frustration with his lack of lead. He'd wanted her to lead... but he'd ask for surprises, after all.

They twisted, snapping steps, and then he pulled her into a closer-contact series of gestures, their arms trailing out together. It put his lips near her ear, but he kept his tone light, friendly. "I see you, feel you, in every step. You know what you're doing... it comes with ease... but also..." She performed a few exquisite steps, and twisted to face him, their hands clasping. He paused his words, looking into her eyes for a moment. "You hold so much back."

He gently pushed her into a spin, and she went with it flawlessly, rolling around him, along his back briefly, and into his other hand. "Are you afraid of something? Forgive me, but I felt compelled to ask..."

Fantasy Room: Forbidden Dance

((Just explaining the Fantasy Rooms title is all))

"I could say the same of you." She replied, performing several steps that, had she been wearing a show dress rather than a practice leotard, would have caused it to swirl about in a most enticing manner. "Look, do you want me to lead, or start giving you lessons on how to properly lead? It's the mans role to take the lead in this dance, but wouldn't be the first time I've taken that role."

Fantasy Room: Full Metal Bedroom

"It's not our master! I don't even know what these things are." Ed snapped, throwing a punch at one of the little mechanical creatures with his metal arm that they kept trying to steal. It ran an electromagnetic charge along it's body, and thus his arm, and he pulled back in pain. His automail started to fall apart again. "How are they doing that?"

Dante still writhered in the Tesla Cage, trapped and spasming. He wouldn't be any help for a few more seconds.

The Tesla Knight choose that moment to strike, silently and without warning, slamming it's weapon full force into the back of DarkMousettes neck with a blow that would have put her under instantly... had he not been hitting her with a soft fluffy pillow.

Lobby

The golden doors opened again and JaggedWing looked up, over the protest signs.

The girls didn't just flounce in, they made an art of walking with a mindless expression and a wiggle and bounce of their body made everyone else not look at their faces in the first place. The male on the other hand had a feral prowl to him that oozed danger and intrigue.

As for their descriptions, well, they were all well known figures around these parts. The two girls were standard BeastWars era body types in Honey Bee and Pteradactyl, while the one in the center was a transmetal black feline. The girls were diametrically opposite of one another, the bee being short and rounded with soft curves on every surface, while her girlfriend was tall and slim. Placing him in the middle gave them a symetrical appearance, with his broad shoulders and mechanized musculature.

"Ah, Jagged." The black cat boomed with a thick europian accent. "Is good to see you. Feeling well, yes?"

"Hiya Jaggie." The red 'dactyl girl smiled.

"Like, what's up?" The yellow and black bee girl smiled as well. "You've got, like, a buncha guys here with signs, y'know?"

"Jaguar." JaggedWing raised a hand in greeting to the feline, the son of the Decepticon Ravage. "Lazorbeak, BuzzSaw. Glad you could make it."

"Well, y'know, it's not, like, every day that you, y'know, call in one of the favors we, like, owe ya." BuzzSaw practically gushed. Both girls had quickly moved to surround him and Jaguar clamped onto his hand with a steel crushing handshake.

"Best to be talking in private?" Jaguar asked.

"Of course." JW% nodded. "But first I need to deal with this little distraction." He gestured to the luddite protestors.

"Is easy enough." Jaguar cross drew his two pistols, and both BuzzSaw and Lazorbeak drew their own weapons.

The next five minutes the lobby was filled with carnage and violence. The Luddites prooved surprisingly adept at combat, wielding primative yet effective weaponry while throwing themselves into the fray with the wild abandon of a zealot.

JaggedWing sat behind the desk with his head in his hands looking around. The two receptionists had joined the 'fun'. "This is why the lobby doesn't have carpeting." JW% muttered, already sending for a cleaning crew.

Virus smiled at her firmer tone. Apparently he was pleased. "I would love to learn. I thought the more experienced dancer should lead, simply Tell me what to do?"

Obliging him with a great deal of patience at this point, she started to give him simple instructions as they danced. Each remark she made caused a distinct shift in how he moved, better fitted to leading and to what she wanted to do with the dance.

As they spread apart for one move, Virus said, "Simply entrancing. I would love to see you perform."

***Park***

"This," admitted Dreadnought. "Is new to me." Certainly he'd encountered sentient and motive flora, as well as elememntal creatures of a simular sort, but these, his sensors identified as being completely different. Reacting without thought the emperor leaned to his left just barely evading a boulder torn from the earth and hurled bgy one of the hulking rock creatures.

"For Hamidon..." hissed one of the plant like walkers as a swarm of insects flowed from it's body to mass in the air before zooming in on Dreadnought.

Dread rolled aside trying to outrun the mass of flies as he rolled between the legs of some fungoid creature and headed towards the spires of earth and rock that rose from the earth. "That looks like a command chain if I ever saw one."

Holding his sword in both hands Dread rolled forward and slashjed with all his strength. The weapon sliced through the base of the stalk as though it were bisecting air and a moment later the raw kinetic force of the swing caused it to shatter into little more then tinder and stone.

"Ah, sir...duck!"

Having learned long ago to duck when told Dreadnought rolled forward just barelly avoiding a crystal spike aimed for his skull. Rising to his feet Dread looked about, first notting the large grey cryustaline creatures that were moving in on him, then the young woman to his right. "Starsmooore?!?"

"I, ah, came top give you an update," the young woman half stammered as she slowly edged away from the Devouring Earth who seemed less concerned with her then the Emperor. Of course considering that the young woman was actually a natural part of the envorinment that simply LOOKED like a woman in heels carrying a briefcase she was likely scene as a none-issue to them.

"You walked into a battlefield to give me a report?"

"We here at the RLD are dedicated to customer satisfaction," she beamed as some half fungoid hal organic thing uprooted a tree and charged Dreadnought. "Should I...ah...help?"

"No, just start folling me in," responded Dread as he side stepped the tree-club. "And keep up," he added leaping over the "Devoured".

She had had enough of these damn Tesla creatures.
"Don't make me get my beating stick," she snapped at the creatures. Oddly enough, some of them listened and hauled ass. The rest, however, were dispatched by a gigantic broadsword. Dark Mousette was in shock when she saw who had saved them. It was yet another pleasurebot, but this one took on the form of a heavily armored knight, whose armor was covered in crystal and wielded a giant crystalline blade. He had long, blonde hair, striking blue eyes and a scar over his right eye. Blue flames danced around his hands as he continued to dispatch the tiny robots. The Dante pleasurebot, now free, was starting to repair the Ed pleasurebot's arm.

In a nutshell, this third pleasurebot took on the form of Siegfried Schtauffen, or how he would look in Soul Calibur IV

Fantasy Room: Forbidden Dance

The moment Virus mentioned competition Aya's ankle gave out. She stumbled and gave a squeek of pain, but quickly surpressed it. Her face came up to meet his with a smile that was somewhat forced.

"There's a competition happening soon." She said, trying to put the entirely mental pain out of her mind. "I... might join it. That's what I was practicing for."

Fantasy Room: Full Metal Bedroom

The little clockworks scrambled, trying to get out of the room, but Dante had locked the door behind him and they were stuck. Which meant the little robotic vermin were cornered, unable to reach their masters call, and growing desperate. And dangerous. The few DarkMousette had made to flee stopped after trying the door, and then returned to join their brothers in amps.

The rest of the rooms occupants were no better off. Dante had given Ed a cursory inspection and then shrugged. To much mass had been lost to creating more of the litte Clockwork warriors.

"Sorry shrimp." Dante shrugged. "Have to break a few of them first. I'll get to work on it." He then glanced over at Siegfried. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What's it look like? The girls got better taste than the likes of you." The bladesmen snapped.

"Who are you calling shrimp?!" Edward shouted, ready to kick Dante.

Meanwhile the little Clockwork glanced around and decided to up the ante a little. They started firing their Tesla cages not only at the human(shaped) occupants of the room, but at each other. This seemed to magnetize some of them, letting them attach themselves and construct larger robots.

The Park

"And Juggernought, JaggedWing, Stingray, Onslaught, Pinpoint, and PrettySparrow have returned to the Pub. Traveling with them is a wounded companion. They seem to be behind in the race, and odds are being recalculated now should you wish to change your wager. We will offer either the original odds spread, or the new odds spread as you prefer."

Dreadnought fended off the elemental foes that were assaulting him. Small glowing trees had sprouted around the glen, and seemed to be somehow repairing the damage he was doing, while small stones and fungus outcroppings were likewise aiding the Devouring Earth minions, or hindering him in some way. At the very least he was finding it harder to walk with all the crystal shards, thorny branches, and broken rocks that had started to litter the battlefield.

"Wait, you'll offer me either odds spread?"

"Absolutely sir."

"What if the odds change again?"

"We will offer you the option of using that odds spread, or any other previous spread that you betted at."

The conversation was paused as the air filled with fungal spores. One of the giant walking mushrooms had seemed to explode. When they had moved to clearer air it continued.

"But that makes no sense. All I would have to do is make a bet at every change in the odds spread and at least one would win. And I could make my final bet large enough to cover all the losses of my previous bets."

"Of course sir. The more bets you place the better your odds of winning."

"There's something... the RLD takes a cut of every bet placed, charges me for it, right?"

"Certainly. It's a minimal, but scaling, transaction fee, but we are running business after all."

"So if I pay enough for a sure thing, I'm paying you more than I win. If I actually gamble, I might actually come out ahead."

"Ahead sir?" Miss Starsmoore smiled. "Ahead of whom? To your left."

"Myself clearly." Dreadnought groaned and spun to his right, the blade swinging left. Most of the mineral based foes had been shattered, but now miniature versions of themselves were assaulting him. "By now I should know better than to bet against the house."

Virus' arms immediately held fast when she pitched down from her ankle. She would have caught herself, but he kept her from falling any further, his expression sympathetic at her signs of pain. "I'm sure you practice for everything... but are you alright?"

Her emotional strain became a bit more obvious. "Yes... Just a little trip, really. Sorry. I'm trying to keep track of both of us."

"Of course. I'm sorry." Even as he spoke he started to take the lead as they continued to dance. So trained as she was, the proper order of the dance was more natural for her. She didn't have to think about it, and didn't really notice his sudden improvement. "But you're not sure you wish to enter it?"

"No... not yet. I... want to impress the audience, of course. I'm not sure I have a proper choreography for that right now."

Virus took her hand, letting her spin around, out, and then rush back to him, her back to him inside his arms. "You'd impress anyone who watches you perform. You move quite naturally when an obtuse student isn't tripping you up."

"ALL HAIL CANADA!!!!" Mutatescreams, as he runs by with boxers on his head and a Cadadian flag tied around his neck like a cape.

Lobby

A dozen or more Hugg Beetles chase after 'Mutie, hoping to rend violating justice on those who would dishonor the Canadian flag.

Yes, that is not a misspelling. It's not going to be violent, just violating.

All the Chaos Angel could do was crush the tesla bots and relocate the mass to Ed's arm. When that was done, while some of them managed to haul ass, she watched as the two Pleasure drones argued.

Sighing, she muttered, "The client is not amused."