It was strange what a coma could do to you. Put you out cold for a certain expanse of time, leaving you to wake up with the most curious feeling that things have passed you by and left you to stumble and figure out for yourself just what has happened. And Ben, while wonderful and incredibly helpful on helping her fill in the blanks on what she'd heard, could only go so far in helping Nura understand things.

The same could be said about the med bay.

Which was why Nura had left immediately that morning.

Now, she was in the hangar, inside the Calnus, with the diagnostic try open in her lap as she sat in the Captain's seat, pouring over the contents. The coma had robbed her of the time she needed to properly study the diagnostic tray. She was sure that Reimi wouldn't test her right after she learned Nura had woken, but still...

"Let's see..." She ran her index finger down the page, eyes going back and forth and she read on and on. "The start-up button would be about..." she raised her other hand's finger above the control panel in front of her. "...here." She pressed her finger down, not realizing that she’d pressed all the way down on the button, activating it.

She turned a page. "And..." Beneath her feet, the ship started to hum. The bit of darkness she was bathed in, excluding the lamp above her, disappeared as a wash of light from above filled the ship. Nura looked up from the book. Her eyes went immediately to the screen, which was now lit, with the readings filing through, telling her that take-off was sound.

"I’m in trouble."

Welcome meatship crewmembers to the instrument of pure silly.

It had been a long period of waiting, but a prank was about to be issued after these dire dark times. As such, tables were set up around the WITCH Bus and other locations, unmanned stands where Lemonade and Brownies were available with the compliments of your friendly companions.

Do you dare risk chocolately goodness or sour-sweetness to discover it's dark delicious secrets?

(ooc: tag around, bug others and feel free to continue to madness. IC duration is about a day. Unless you deliberately take more with you. As a reminder, Lemonade brings you up ages to a good looking adultish level. Brownies turn you into kids. GO NUTS. Refer to the ooc post for details and ask questions there.)

Devlin was feeling a little better--at the very least, he wasn't in a whole lot of pain. His left arm was in a sling, though, and he had pillows around that side as he sat in one of the WITCH bus's many rooms. Nearby, he had his omnicom, where he'd borrowed several songs from the Media Library. What was the best music for getting out of the "My best friend and I did something stupid and because of it, I got hurt and can't do anything for a while?" Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." An oldie (and definitely by his time) but a goodie.

He fished out a piece of fluorite from his pocket and tossed it in the air with his right hand. As he caught it, he absorbed enough crystal to cover his hand, then let go of the absorption to toss it again. Each time he caught it, he absorbed the crystal, slowly but surely improving his reflexes.

((Anyone with healing magic and doctoring types are welcome here! Don't be shy now!

Also, if you're bringing in injured, be sure to be clear about the state of the injuries!))

Sam had made sure that all of the preparations for a large influx of patients was ready. This was the sort of thing he did on a daily basis. And he had every intention of deputizing as nurses anyone that seemed capable as they came in with victims. And he was prepared to quarantine those Dr. Sera had deemed necessary. After seeing the state Nanashi had come back in, he was prepared for anything.

[PLOT POST HERE. Read it!]

As quickly as it had begun, the Tyrant's rampage down in the City was over. He was last seen disappearing into the alleys around Religion Row, where any pursuers were thrown off in the maze of temples and shrines. It was probably better they leave him alone in any case... seeing what had happened to those who didn't.

It had been a few hours. The City was once again quiet, dotted by small areas of destruction and trails of blood where the Tyrant had brawled with crew members. The injured had been gathered and shipped to the Outsider's hotel until they could be moved to medical proper. And though the situation was not over, it was safe enough to go down, survey the damage and start cleaning up.

...Maybe.



A few blocks from the hotel, something was quietly growing in the darkness of a rubble pile.

[ooc: PLOT POST IS HERE! Read it!]

He stalked through the hallways like a shadow, moving too quickly for anyone to keep a bead on him for long. There almost seemed to be a purpose in his movement as he made his way through the dark corridors of the ship, though it was impossible to tell where he was headed. Perhaps the young man whose body had been hijacked was exerting some kind of control, or perhaps Veronica was doing the driving.

Whatever the case, the Tyrant made his way to the City.

He emerged from the tunnels and into the wide open space, at last free of the cramped hallway. He took a few steps into the streets and sniffed the air, smelling human blood. He roared, a horrible and twisted noise, then headed into the streets.

She demanded they all bow to her. They were little more than prey for the Queen in the grand scale of things. These thoughts rang hollow in a primal mind, though, but he knew what he had to do.

They would all die.

It all really started with an attempted prank war that went bad before it even started. And, well, it wasn't a good idea to steal a Councilperson's towel from the bathroom, forcing him to try to find it all over the WITCH bus while trying to maintain some level of modesty. Once he'd gotten clothed, Matt had put them in the care of Ren Akiyama and Phillip at Atori Teahouse until someone responsible could come pick them up.

And that was where they overheard some things about Phillip's Kamen Rider Double Drivers. Like the fact that they weren't locked to any particular person, and they needed two people to work together in harmony. And given that Negi and Devlin got along well (and Phillip and Ren weren't paying much attention to them or the Drivers), that led to Devlin's brilliant, stupid idea.

They took the briefcase with the Drivers and the Gaia Memories and hightailed it out of there.

"This is going to be great!" Devlin said.

Who knows why the ship was doing this. Maybe it was some kind of social experiment. Maybe Stacy was feeling festive and somewhere, out there, it was Halloween. Maybe the players just wanted to have Halloween fun. No one would ever know, would they.

In any case, what better place for a Halloween dance than a graveyard? In an area in the center, clear of headstones, there was a dance floor, and there were seats and tables with skeletal frames. Somehow grisly carved torches and jack-o-lanterns of varying sizes and shapes, cast enough eerie light to light up the place, despite the fact it was night. There were places to bob for apples, popcorn balls on strings strung up for people to try to eat for games involving that. The food tables will full of Halloweeny snacks and candy.

Far off, there was a haunted house, decrepit and foreboding. It seemed people could look into it if they dared sent down the dark trail to where it was. [ooc: Haunted house post link forthcoming].

Creepy--but danceable music was playing, from nowhere.

Perhaps most notable was the fact that the moment someone entered the Sensorium, they would find themselves in a costume. Sometimes these costumes would be what the character themselves would choose, but sometimes they'd be dressed as something strange, embarrassing, or just something they wouldn't even recognize. Leaving and coming back wouldn't fix the problem, in most cases. The costumes wouldn't change, and if they did, it wasn't guaranteed that they'd change to something better.

Whatever the case, party hard, Meatship. Somebody's got to teach the Vikings, draconians, aliens, and other sundry people to Thriller dance.

If there was one major constant in the universe, it was that Ben Tennyson Has Bad Ideas. It started with the very first time that he got the Omnitrix stuck on his wrist and lit a good chunk of the forest on fire.

The stupid ideas followed in rapid succession up to his teenage years where his latest stunt turned Kevin Ethan Levin into a mutant freak.

Again.

As it stood, Ben had decided that now was the time to do some family bonding with Devlin, and what better way to do that than to teach his kid how to fight the proper Osmosian way? That being said, he had grabbed a ton of things with Humungosaur and had hauled them to a nice open spot in the sensoriums which was made up to look like downtown Bellwood.

"Okay! Osmosian 101, your teacher the famed Ben Tennyson." proclaimed Ben as he turned around to face Devlin. "We're going to get a crash course in matter absorbing."

Since his contagion-induced rampage, Devlin had been torn between wanting to run and wanting to find some form of comfort. He managed to find both in his current hiding place--Ben 10,000's headquarters, in the depths of the City. It was home and it was absolutely nowhere Ben would think to look for him.

Devlin sat practically curled up in a ball against the wall, giving a fearful glance at a vault at the other end of the room--the massive Null Void Chamber, the highest security prison known on his world, reserved for the worst alien criminals to attack the Earth. His biological father included.

Nura's not going to wake up anytime soon, is what has been determined.

She's not going to move from her bed in the Med Bay for some time.

She's not going to.

But the heart monitor that she's connected to says there's definitely hope, as the machines that she's been connected to help keep her breathing and functioning. She lays in the Med Bay bed, unmoving, looking so silent, almost as if she's just sleeping and will soon awake and be laughing and moving again.

But unfortunately, that is not the case.

Devlin was out of control, there was no doubt about it. With the contagion in his system, he couldn't calm down. In his transformed state, he continued to attack Ben, swinging at him with an arm transformed into a crystal blade.

Their battle brought them to the park, but Devlin didn't seem to notice his surroundings. All that mattered was the fight.

[Since it's gotten so big, tagging order from here on out will be May, Devlin, Ben, Nura, Hikari]

The disease spread through the City, and through the City, to the crew. Those who came in contact with the invisible killer would slowly begin to exhibit many of the symptoms of a common flu: nausea, chills, and fever.

But they would not feel lethargic. No, quite the opposite. Their energy and their activity would only increase. And now, so would their aggression and pent-up rage...

...and it would increase very, very quickly. So quickly, that you might almost lose your mind.

 It was the night of the ball, and Nanashi was in high spirits. She had recreated her castle in it's entirety, though it was devoid of residents. Instead there were several servants, half of them vampires and the other half human. Some of them had the sole purpose of escorting the arriving guests into a sort of small cocktail room. The walls were lined with tables with various dishes- and room for the guests to think up more if they so desired- and plenty of drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Once some people arrived, the double doors were opened to reveal the Grand Hall.

The hall itself was spectacular, rising several stories high with silk tapestries depicting dragons and legendary battles decorating the walls. Every so often along the wall one could find a sculpture, many of them busts of apparently famous people from long ago, others showed more dragons, while some were full-sized and somewhat resembled the great statues of Greece.  Paintings both in oils and in inks could also be found where there were no tapestries. There were large oak tables with intricately carved legs and borders so it almost seemed as if the carved leaves had grown naturally. The tables were, like the ones earlier, covered in finger foods and drinks, while smaller tables were off to the side with more servants standing at wait where one could sit and be served a meal if they so wished. The room was softly lit by a great multitude of blue-flamed candles lining the walls and hanging from crystal and stone chandeliers above. A full orchestra played behind a partition, though clearly it was just a formality, as they somehow played some of the music she heard while wandering Zokez II as well. Another servant sat by the partition and was taking song requests. Above them was a balcony with a staircase that sloped down in such a way that the side closer to the hall curved away from the wall.

Normally, Nanashi would enter from the balcony, but she instead slipped in among the guests, wearing  a white dress with the hem just brushing the ground and a pair of angel wings that looked a lot more realistic with the help of the sensoriums than they would look in her world. She also wore a silver mask to match her wings and dress.

Above even the balcony there was a giant clock that quietly ticked away the minutes. A chime would sound when the hands struck midnight, but hopefully no one would be losing a glass slipper tonight.

Rein had made the announcement. While she had plenty of fabric left, read: enormous piles, she was also excited at the prospect of making outfits for everyone for this event. And also, she had made an extra note that anyone who was participating in Miss Stacy could come get something made up as well.

She was flitting around, carrying stacks of cloth and hoping the first customer would walk in.

It bothers Nura that there are no stars in the sky in the City at night.

She lays out on a bench in the park and stares up at the night sky, wondering to herself when was the last time she'd seen a constellation.

"Well, let's see..carry the two-hundred...add the forty..." she wryly says to herself. "It's been...too damn long." She kicks one leg up, pointing her foot at the sky, tracing the lines of the non-existent stars in a pattern she remembers from childhood. About half-way through the stars that make up the constellation's tail, she lowers her leg and turns her head away from the sky.

"I should have stayed in bed," she softly mutters.

Devlin waited for Hikari, trying not to kick himself for not being able to help in the crisis with Shiva. He knew that he probably wouldn't have been able to do much about the bombs, but when you've got powers and when you can't help in a situation, and especially if you spent the first few minutes panicking, it's not easy to accept. Worse still that somebody had died--two somebodies, in fact.

He shook his head and tried not to think about it too much. He wanted to try and escape the stifling grief for a little while, not add to it.

A man in his mid-twenties was driving around listening to pre-recorded music on his on-board computer, tapping at the steering wheel. His passenger was a twenty-some blonde man with his long hair tied in a ponytail and whistling.

Throwing it into high gear, the pair careened down the highway, taking a turn as Ben threw it into a racing skid, zooming off the offramp at 80 miles an hour and pulling to a direct stop in front of the Mr. Smoothie. "Here we go," said the driver.

"And you dragged me out why?" inquired Ed as he got out, tightening his gloves over his automail.

Ben grinned and shrugged. "You need to relax a little and this is perfect."

"And the age candies?"

"You wanted to be tall right?"

Ed hit Ben with his Automail.

(ooc: call this too lazy to make two separate posts.)

Shiva spoke through the comms (not the omnicomms) directly into the minds of the crew.

«I am Shiva. I am the destroyer of all that you know and the creator of a grand new empire. For months you thought of me as my host, Charles Kawalsky, but now you shall see me in all my glory. I have positioned bombs throughout this vessel, including the pod caverns. I need but press the trigger and they will explode. I also have one hostage of my own, Sheryl. You will not be able to stop me. I am fully equipped with a power dampener, and a forcefield. I am untouchable. You have one hour to surrender yourselves to me and begin your new lives as my slaves.»

His eyes flashed gold and he held his hostage firmly. He did not wish to wait, but if he tired of this he would amend his demands. For now he stayed in one of the areas in the City hidden from Stacy’s view, in the middle of a pile of rubble, with not a landmark in sight.

Still, he knew they would come.

Devlin was in absolutely no way nervous at all about hanging out with Hikari. After all, it was just hanging out, not a date or anything. Even if he really liked her. And she was really cute. He wasn't nervous, no.