Aimless Journey to the Abandoned Station [Ally/Holly/Mission

[Layla Amare]

The layout of the old abandoned terminal was now very familiar to Layla, for having been through it many times now. But even so, it was very rare that she actually stayed there long enough to look around on her trips into and out of the outer circle. A train car showing up out of nowhere was something she could have easily missed, if not for the fact that a mission posting had pointed it out. And sure enough, there it was, sitting in the station as though it had always been there.

Of course, Layla had accepted the mission. She had no idea what to expect from it (even the blonde lady seemed to have no information), but that was part of what made it fun. A journey into completely unknown territory, where anything wonderful or horrible could happen...that was something worth doing. That was something worth living for. Heck, that was even something worth waiting on. So that's what Layla was doing. Waiting, in the abandoned station, for the others who had accepted the mission to show up.

[Alouette Pendleton]

Alouette gave a long, drawn-out yawn as she walked through the terminal leading to the outer circle. There were shadows about, sure. But were any of them really any match for her? Not here, at least. Rubbing her eyes a bit, she headed for the meeting spot where she would be grouping up with the other people who took the mission.

The spot was by the train car that they would be inspecting. The mission itself was rather vague on the details. All she knew was that they needed to board the car to see what would happen. As she arrived at the mission location, she saw that someone was already there. Likely, one of the other party members. She simply looked over the girl for a moment before nodding at her. She was hoping to keep this mission brief given she didn't expect it to take long. Of course, she still needed to wait for player three to make an appearance. And so, the girl simply remained on standby for the time being.

[Holly Mason]

Whims were dangerous things.  They could make a person do something they'd regret, and Holly regretted the decision to take this job almost immediately after she did.  Honestly, she had no idea what she was thinking, taking a job with no information.  Perhaps she was just curious, perhaps she was bored, perhaps she was just trying to forget everything that was happening.  She had no idea at this point.  Regardless, this would definitely be the last time she took any job from the strange blonde woman.  Definitely, for real this time!

As always, Holly arrived at the meeting spot about five minutes after the scheduled meeting time.  She didn't want to have to wait for everyone to show up, she wanted to get to the action immediately.  It looked like everyone was here too, excellent.  Layla she recognized immediately.  The other girl looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she met her before.  It probably wasn't that important anyway  She confidently strode over to where the group was and waved.  

"Looks like this is everyone.  Let's get moving."

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the three of you now here, the shady train car rests before you. Nothing seems out of the ordinary yet. All you have to do is board the cart and report your findings. However, before you really get a chance to do anything, the door of the cart slowly slides open revealing the insides. It looked like just a normal cart. However, a moment later, the three of you feel yourselves being pulled into the cart by an unknown force!

A moment later, you find yourselves jumbled into the cart before the door slams itself shut and you hear the sounds of some sort of motor. Well, that doesn't sound too good. Outside the cart windows, all you see is some sort of vortex, of which you seem to be inside now. This persists for about ten seconds before you feel an extremely abrupt stop followed by the opening of the door. The three of you are ejected immediately.

Outside, you seem to be in some sort of station. Only, something is different. You are clearly not in Mosaic. All you see before you is a path leading to a rather large, rather ominous-looking castle. The door to the castle seems to be wide open. Around the castle, you see strange statues of tiny creatures. they don't look like humans, nor do that look like any shadow. Just what kind of place is this? Looking back, you notice that the train cart had immediately shut its door upon ejecting you before zooming off somewhere else. Well. . . there goes your ride back. Looks like you should do some exploring.

[ ] Explore the castle. Try to find a way back.

[Layla Amare]

"Well said," Layla said, nodding to Holly as she arrived. Waiting for the others to arrive was one thing, but now that they were here she didn't want to put off this adventure any more than she had to. Wasted time was time she didn't have anymore, after all. She pushed herself off the wall...only for the train car door to open before she could approach it, and suck all three of them inside. The car took off on its own soon after. Layla managed to untangle herself from Holly and the other girl, then peered outside. Rather than the inside of ruined subway tunnels, she was now staring at a vortex of some sort. Or rather, the inside of a vortex of some sort, since it seemed to be all around them. But even that only lasted for a few seconds before the car stopped, the door opened, and the three of them were forced out.

Layla got to her feet, taking in the place where they had ended up. They were at a station, but it was an open-air station with nothing around but a path leading up to an ominous castle. There were statues scattered around, but not of anything that Layla recognized. As for the castle...it certainly wasn't anything she'd ever seen in Mosaic. And she'd been just about everywhere by now. No, this was somewhere else.

Oh, and the train car was already gone.

"Well, no way back and only one way forward. No sense sitting around here. Let's go exploring," Layla said, gesturing towards her two companions and starting off towards and into the castle.

[Alouette Pendleton]

The last member of their group finally arrived few moments later, allowing them to finally continue the mission. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long. But just as she had that thought, the car door opened, sucking everyone inside. Ally felt herself being jumbled up with the other two girls before she scrambled up to her feet to see what just happened. Looking out the windows of the car, all she could see was some sort of vortex that they were going through. The only thought going through the girl's head: This is going to be a long mission.

Not more than a few seconds later, the girl felt the car push all of them out of the car in a similar manner that they entered. Falling face first onto the ground, the small blonde got up and rubbed her forehead which was now slightly bleeding. Luckily, her hair covered up most of it. Looking around her, the girl noticed nothing but a strange looking castle that had an almost welcoming entrance. Truthfully, Alouette did not want to explore it nor did she want to go any farther. Their mission was finished. But they needed to get back to actually collect the reward. Turning around to return to the car, the girl noticed that it was already on its way out. With a sigh, Ally decided to go along with the dark-skinned girl's idea. After all, there didn't seem like anything else she could do at the time.

Moving forward, she took in the details of the castle as the moved closer. Slowly, even the minuscule details of the building came into vision. She wasn't sure if exploring this place would even help their case, but it seemed like their best bet. She had a feeling that the car wasn't coming back.

[Holly Mason]

These missions were never straight forward.  Never.  Why she continued taking them she had no idea.  There were some useful rewards, and they did tend to be exciting, but that woman was just so irritating to work for.  While Holly couldn't say she expected to be sucked into the train car they were supposed to investigate and then be transported to some random castle.  It didn't look like the mysterious floating castle she was familiar with either.  As irritating missions from the blonde woman go this one was actually okay so far.  She nodded at Layla.

"Well, that was quite the adventure.  I've been in the castle in the Shadowlands, but I haven't seen a place like this."

Holly walked forward, assuming everyone else would follow her.  The statues made her uneasy because of the guardian shadow she fought in the aforementioned castle, but she was pretty sure they wouldn't be stronger than that one.  Those shadows did tend to be very strong after all.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

You all pass by the numerous statues on the way to the castle entrance, noting odd little sayings on each one. Most of them are completely random and seem to have no significance whatsoever. Though, neither do these statues it seems.

As you enter the castle, you look around to find a rather elaborate looking set up with a staircase directly in front of you and doors all around. Before you can really make much thought of this, the doorway behind you slams shut. Upon checking, one would notice that it is completely sealed. And then, numerous little yellow creatures begin to swarm you all from the doors. The little creatures seem to be no bigger than two feet or so and all look identical. Grouped up, they stand in front of you while one of the speaks. Mogugugu. Cute school girls~ The creatures begin to pant heavily as they look at you all with. . . questionable expressions. Let's have some fun. And then, the large mass of strange creatures begins to assault you!

[ ] Find an escape route while plowing through the strange creatures! Use one of the doors to escape!

[Layla Amare]

Layla noted some of the phrases inscribed on the statues, trying to make sense out of some of them. But to say they were random and seemingly meaningless was an understatement. Even Zen Buddhist koan, which were intentionally designed to make no sense from a normal perspective and to trick a practitioner into thinking differently, made more sense than some of what she was seeing written on the statues. Much like the statues themselves, they seemed to be meaningless.

Then, as they entered the castle, they only had a few seconds to look around at the stairway and numerous doors around the entrance before the door they just passed through slammed shut. Layla instinctively turned back to find that there was no possible way to open it. She turned back around, to find a bunch of small yellow creatures pouring out of the doors in front of them. ...Yellow creatures with lewd words and questionable intentions.

"Not a schoolgirl!" Layla protested. She was still in school, yes, but she was a college student now. 'Schoolgirl' usually referred to someone younger. But...they didn't seem to be in a mind to listen, and instead all charged at the three of them at once. Fine, if it was cute young girls they wanted, then what Layla was about to do was just about the opposite. The power of the heart, as she sometimes heard it called, welled up inside her and burst forth, materializing as the 34-armed, eight-faced, bull-headed figure of Vajrabhairava Yamantaka. Its arms spread wide then, at Layla's direction, dropped a massive bolt of lightning on the creatures. She had aimed at the thinnest section of the mass of creatures she could find, creating an opening between the three of them and one of the doors.

"Guess we're cutting through these guys," Layla said. She didn't sound particularly bothered by the prospect. Rather, she was having a hard time containing her excitement at the chance for a desperate escape. Rather than waste more time talking, though, she made a break for the opening she'd created, drawing her otta and swinging it in snapping motions at anything that got between her and the door.

[Alouette Pendleton]

Ally didn't pay much attention to the details around the castle. She passed by the statues, completely ignoring them and the silly sayings on each of them. Instead, she simply strolled right into the building while wondering what she was going to have for dinner later today. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't be too late getting home. Yippa needed to eat too.

As she entered the castle, she looked around, noticing how large the building was. Various doors, even more statues, and a staircase. She was just gonna let one of the other two lead for now. She didn't feel like dealing with this. But when the door closed and the one girl attempted to open it, the girl's expression changed slightly. It changed from a look or sheer boredom to a look of slight annoyance. In other words, not much of a difference. What happened next, caused her eyes to go wide though.

Little creatures began to swarm them from all doors and began to say a bunch of questionable things. School girls? She didn't like where these things' conversation was going. Sorry. I'm a drop-out. I'll give you a little consolation prize though. The girl tossed a few bombs on the ground that exploded shortly after, blasting a good deal of the little creatures away. Though, their numbers were far too much. The dark-skinned girl seemed to have the same idea.

Heading through the door, Ally waited for the both of them to get through the entrance before placing a few detonating bombs at the doorway. After that, she made a break for it with the others. Ally was beginning to get the feeling that she would not be getting home in a timely fashion.

[Holly Mason]

Looked like these statues weren't alive.  Holly wasn't about to complain.  They were decorative, and they had some strange words written underneath them.  She didn't understand it at all.  About the only thing it said was that whoever built, and possibly lived in, this castle was very strange.  With a shrug, she continued on her way, through the doors and into the castle.  Before she could take in the sights, she heard the doors slam shut behind her.  The other girls beat her to checking out the door, and unless they were completely incompetent (unlikely from what she had seen from Layla at least) they were probably stuck.  Strange creatures started to surround them too.  Unlike her partners, she wasn't about to dignify anything they said or did with a response.

Holly darted off towards one of the other doors and her auto-buffs activated making all of her allies stronger faster and tougher.  That should help beat through these things and escape as quickly as possible.  She also cast one stack of Debilitate in order to slow down the little guys and make them easier to stab.  That was probably the best she could do against so many targets since she didn't have a way to attack them all at once, but more than one stack of Debilitate just seemed like overkill.  She'd spend the rest of the time throwing knives into as many as she could hit in an attempt to clear a path ahead.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

As you run through the hallway, escaping the seemingly endless hordes of small creatures, you look behind you to notice that they are still coming. Despite the large efforts that you have gone through to get away, these strange things persist. This is, all while they shout lewd and somewhat vulgar things with an uneasy breathing pattern. All you know is that you have no intention of letting them catch up to you.

As you escape through another door, you find yourself in a strange room that doesn't seem to have any visible floor or walls. All you see is a vast mess of red and black that almost resembles blood. You quickly cross this room and enter another door that seems very large and made of stone. As the door quickly closes behind you, a strange figure appears in front of you. A strange girl that resembles those creatures looks at you with a questionably happy expression. Oh my. Toys. Well, I can't exactly let you guys run around like this. Better take off those legs of yours. And then, the girl pulls out a large cleaver and begins to swing at you!

Luckily, you managed to dodge it with your speed active!

Running past her, you find a large door with strange symbols all over it. Its made of metal and seems quite sturdy, however, you can sense a strong presence behind it. Looking back, that girl is walking towards you all. And the strange creatures from before? They caught up. Seems there's only one way to go now.

[ ] Break down that door while holding back the enemies!

[Layla Amare]

Whatever these things were, they weren't giving up. Not in chasing them, and not in shouting perversities at them either. But, Layla wasn't getting tired anytime soon, and it didn't seem like Holly or the other girl were either. And...then they ended up in a room with no floor. Or walls. Or at least, there didn't seem to be any, but as Layla tested the space where it would normally be, the apparent nothingness held her weight. So there was a floor, but it wasn't visible. And then...a girl. With a cleaver.

Yeah, one monstrous cleaver girl was enough for one lifetime. Layla wasn't going to stick around and deal with this one. But as they got past her, they ran into a locked metal door.

"You, you've got bombs, right?" Layla asked, gesturing at the girl whose name she didn't know. "Can you break this thing down? I'll try to hold them off." She figured that Holly would do the same, since support was more of her thing anyway. Turning back towards the approaching cleaver girl, Layla summoned her Persona again and dropped a large column of light on her. As she did, the other weird creatures showed up and started pouring in from the door they'd just come in through. "Oh, and we're on a time limit. What else is new," Layla added dryly, before throwing some more light blasts out into the gathering mass.

[Alouette Pendleton]

Ally continued to run down the hall, all while dropping bombs behind her to slow the progress of the incoming horde of strange creatures. Eventually, the girl passed through another door leading to a surreal, bloody room that seemed to lack sound. Passing through that room as well, The girl found herself in another room containing some strange looking girl. After speaking some nonsense, she began to attack, which Ally was thankfully able to dodge and run past.

She continued to run away from the girl until confronted with a large metal door. Upon realizing that they were blocked in, Ally looked back at what was behind them. The girl from before as well as the horde of strange creatures. The dark skinned girl suggested that she blow the door down. With a nod, Ally began to set some bombs down on the door in a quick fashion. Alright, you gals might wanna move back a bit. Quickly setting up the bombs while ignoring what was behind to as to keep focused, the girl set up the charge to detonate everything. Get back. She waited a moment while the other girls moved back to keep out of the explosion. Ally didn't bother moving, since the bombs would not affect her. And with a loud bang, she detonated all the bombs at once in hopes of breaking down the door.

[Holly Mason]

This place was even stranger than the castle she had been exploring regularly.  Once they escaped from the horde, they came across a silent room that she just couldn't make much sense of.  There wasn't much time to think about it, and she honestly didn't want to think about what the stuff on the ground was or where it came from.  The sound of the horde wasn't stopping, so there was no time to relax yet.  The next room had another one of those strange creatures, even if this one was a little different.  Great.  Holly was rather fond of her legs, so she ran with the rest of the group as fast as they would take her.  The oddly familiar girl was going to blow up the door, that was probably their best bet.  With a nod, Holly took a few steps forward to get away from the door and cast another stack of Debilitate on the horde just in case there were any new faces since last time.  After that, she helped Layla fight them off as best she could.  She may not have had any multitarget attacks, but her knives were still pretty strong.