It had been quite a while since Hay Lin had spent quality time with Sasami, the younger girl usually off with her boyfriend on some adventure or another. As for the older girl, she'd been on the bus except for those times which she'd found herself in a particular maze of sorts.

Now that she had signed up to take a martial arts class at the behest of a new friend, that's what Hay Lin had requested the sensoriums to look like for the day she arrived with Sasami in tow.

"So, mei-mei...what'd you think of Happy Happy Fun World~?"

"Welcome-a to Videoland!" tells you an animatronic, rusted and chipping man. "My name is-a Somari the Spaceman! It's-a very good to see you, woohoo, ha ha!!" Next to him a green (also chipped and rusted) fat Hedgehog statue dressed in green and with a leather outfit stands close doing a peace sign. "And I'm his good buddy, Scory the Porcupine! Welcome to Videolang Buddy!"

Ahh Videoland! Popular no less than ten years ago, it has began a recent decline compared to the other parts of Happy Happy Land due to most of their clientele simply growing too old for it and going off to the other parts of the planet. Still waiting for a new deal with a game provider to use their licenses, it becomes older and more jaded, still trying to have the same magic as a while ago, but the dream being long gone. The world is now a dangerous combination of video games bordering bootleg and strange creatures and things that are just the right amount off not to be written as simple copied parodies. Costumed men and women wear the suits of the mascots, and a few pretty girls wearing the Princess Lana, Ruler of Videoland™ costume don't look as bright and cheerful as they should be. Every four hours, there's a Captain N: The Gamemaster show, with the typical theme park overacting and asking kids questions as anagrammatic versions of Mother Brains, Eggplant Wizard & King D'ippo capture her and have to be saved by Rock N' Rollman, Solomon Belmont, Kid Icarus and, of course, Captain N, the Game Master.

Everything seems sort of wrong. Like a marketing gimmick that caught on. The annoying young kids seem to like the show, mind you.

However if you're not here to watch terrible theater productions, the park is divided into six subsections, accessible by a monorail. Well, when the monorail is working anyway (and it is today! LUCKY YOU!) When you arrive you are standing near the Palace of Power, large, impressive (and pink) castle that apparently belongs to Princess Lana.

( KONGOLAND! Where arcades and tropical food reigns. )

( SPACEPIRATE LAND! Your Horror XTREME!!! COME GET YOUR HOROSCOPE. )

( MEGALAND, Futuristic theme part of rides and booths...available TODAY! )

( MOUNT ICARUS....LAND! It's where the kids go while their parents go elsewhere )

( CASTLEVANIALAND! The medieval land of horror, magic and the biggest coaster! )

With all these sections it might take a while! Or you'll just run off in horror to another park and never, ever look back.

Following the battle on Lirath, it seemed that six people had disappeared and was missing through a lot of the stuff afterwards, such as Superman's funeral. Over the rooftops of the City, a portal opened up and spat out six people as if it wanted to be a practical joker.

In quick succession, some of those six sprang into action so that they didn't end up going splat on the floor. Young mages Vivio Takamachi and Sakura Kinomoto used their flying spells to stop their fall, Sonic the Hedgehog gathered the still bruised and battered body of Sasami Masaki Jurai and used some of the rooftops to bounce to the bottom. Finally, the elder Spider-Man used a number of web lines to catch himself and the other with him, the long missing Lowe Guele.

"Sheesh, can't even catch a break without being slung into some other mess!" Sonic griped, setting Sasami to her feet.

"Sounds like you guys had a real blast." Lowe said as Spidey sat him down.

"It's... a long story." Vivio said, returning to her child form.

"Right now... I think a bit of rest'll do us good." Sasami said.

(OoC: I'll set up individual posts so you can tag into any of my guys if you want to!

EDIT: Take your pick! I'll have Lowe's up once his journal's reapproved)

It had been a while since Hay Lin had made her way to the sensoriums, but at a time like this she felt it was necessary. Matt and Irma had both left, and she hadn't spent as much time with Will as she could've. As she flew through the simulated night sky toward a rock cliff overlooking the ocean, she silently told herself to rectify that as soon as possible.

We're friends, and...we're all each other has at this point. she thought, touching ground while staring as the tide started to come in. Matt's been repodded, and so has Irma - but at least we're still here.

Hay Lin hadn't been to the Observation deck in a long while. (Wasn't the last time she was here when people were being unpodded? She couldn't quite recall.)

Much as she would've loved to head back to the Sensoriums, the Guardian felt like she needed a breather from the place just for a brief time. And what better place to be at than at a seemingly deserted area of the ship!

Smiling happily, she stuck out her arms and...appeared to float in midair within seconds! Her way of using her powers while at the same time able to quickly land back on her feet if someone were to creep up on her unawares.

Still...can't shake the fact that something's amiss... the girl thought to herself, closing her eyes and feeling the air around her at the same time.

She sneezed and the fishing rod in her hands briefly jumped in her grasp.

Astrid huffed out a grunt, a hand relinquishing hold on the line as she indignantly rubbed under her stubby nose with the back of her finger while her blue eyes dully leered at nothing in particular off-screen.

That sneeze. Someone talking smack about her?

Disregarding this fleeting suspicion, she shrugged it off, merely readjusting her grip on the handle, and settled posterior more comfortably on the moss-covered boulder beneath her.

Within the encompassing towering stone walls of what appears to be a lost oasis, Astrid engaged in fishing on these familiar grounds taken from her memory of a memorable location somewhere on the outskirts of the Viking's home village -- the exact place she stealthily pursued after Hiccup and discovered Toothless subsequently. 'Course, for Hiccup and his dragon, this secret watering hole served as a base where they established their bond as well.

Today, though it just served as a relaxing getaway for one of the female's less than energy draining hobbies. Or so she thought? There's a sudden reflection of a figure on the waters pristine surface and it was impossible not to notice she now has company.

Astrid blinked a moment, then pursed her lips and turned her head to look up sidelong at whoever approached her with a stare clearly of "Hey, don't scare the fish."

Being a kid was something Negi Springfield was incredibly bad at, but even he had his fandoms. One of them was the popular series Kamen Rider Ryuki. Ever since he discovered about the adventures of the Riders, he always wanted to be one. And in one brief moment, he had been.

It didn't turn out so well.

But here he was in the sensoriums, feeling rather good and deciding that he wanted to have some fun once in a while, although his idea of fun was to beat on something that didn't exist. Calling up a image of a random city, the cars, buildings and the world winked to life around him.

He had chosen at random of who he would emulate for this battle, and had taken the age candy just to make sure he wouldn't be found out and laughed at if he revealed his identity.

If one of his friends passed by, then fine. It was okay with him. If an adult passed by, well, hopefully they won't laugh too hard at a kid just being a kid.

In a flash of light, several monsters pulled themselves out of the reflective surfaces as Negi called up a simulation of a Advent Deck. He would have gone Double for this, but if Devlin wandered by, he wanted to have fun with that later on instead of being stuffed under a table.

A belt formed out of nowhere and attached itself to his middle as the monsters advanced. And in a smooth motion, he thrust his hand out.

"Henshin!" proclaimed Negi as he slid the deck in and three reflective surfaces appeared on his body as red and silver armor appeared. He hoped Ren wasn't too unhappy with his choice of Riders to emulate, since Ryuki had always been his favorite out of the show. Drawing his sword, he couldn't help but use Phillip's line. "Now then, count up your sins." And with that, the faux-Ryuki laid into the monsters.

It was playtime. And Negi was spending it the best way he knew how.

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

Someone on the omnicoms had seen that according to the calendar set up on the ship for all this time, it was nearing Christmas. Christmas had only been a couple of months ago by Ren's personal calendar, dated to when he'd left, and it had been a bittersweet affair, with him and Shinji forced to watch as Yui began to fade away.

Call him a Scrooge, but Ren was feeling rather "bah humbug" about the holiday right now. Still, there were cake ingredients that hadn't been used yet for Yui's birthday, and he had a feeling that if he was going to mope about Yui, then she'd at least want him to remember her over the cake she'd never gotten the chance to eat.

He lit a candle and placed it in the center of the frosted cake, watching it burn out for Yui. The door to Atori was open, since if there was anything Ren had noticed over his past few months here, it was that people tended to drop by when he had something cooking.

For the first time in, well... ever, Sasami had seemed to be happy. Or at the very least, relaxed. Since the whole Punishment thing, she had started to try to prioritize everything around her. Her talk with Alessa and her time with Hay Lin made her realize that trying to be a grown up was probably not the best thing at all.

Even if, as Hit-Girl once pointed out, she had her foot in the inner workings of the Command.

At the moment, though, Sasami had opted to spend some time in the sensoriums, recreating a simple lake scene and just using this area to relax. Anyone who would walk in would probably spot her resting by a tree, her hair down and draped over her body somewhat...

...and a big, happy smile on her face.

Hay Lin could tell that despite the confident tone Matt might have had with her earlier, finding out about what had happened really hurt. So, when he invited her to the study for tea she decided that would be the best time to grill him ask him about it.

Besides she thought excitedly while knocking on the door to the study, it's not every day you get to have tea on a bus!

"Knock, knock! Anybody home~?"

Sasami regretted going down to the Observation Deck. Oh, HOW she regretted it. She shouldn't of seen that, but her childish curiosity got the better of her. However, when the Punishment had started, Sasami ended up turning and running. It wasn't enough - she heard Big Zero's screams of pain and horror down the halls.

And that's what haunted Sasami at the moment. Huddled up near the base of her tree palace, Sasami shuddered as Big Zero's screams echoed through her head, the brief image of Stacy's tendrils starting to penetrate the meta wandering through her head... and her imagination running wild as to what may have happened.

"I hate this... I-I wanna go home..." Sasami uttered, pulling her legs close and hugging them, resting her forehead on her knees.

Oh, she was going to have nightmares for awhile.

Matt had exited as quickly as he had attended the brutality.

He stalked the halls quickly, moving to the Sensoriums, the only place in the world that would be safe from his wrath.

Locking the door, or so he thought, he strode into the room as it changed from stark white to a city.

Perfect.

"PERFECT SHI SHI HOKODAN!

The cityscape lit up with a giant dark blue mushroom cloud.

When it settled, Matt stood there, icy cold winds boiling off his body as he fired another depression wave into the city. And another. And another.

Blast after blast rocketed through the sky and slammed through buildings. Simulated people were vaporized instantly.

And holding up his hands to the sky, a enormous energy ball formed and rocketed upwards.

Roaring Lion Bullet. A attack filled on depression.

Well, Matt certainly had enough heavy chi to do this right now.

The ball came down, bathing the ruined landscape in a mushroom cloud.

Irma's mind was too busy racing through everything to really focus on one thing. Her encounter with that beast had shaken her up greatly and she couldn't understand why. She faced much greater threats before, so why did this one affect her so badly?

Wandering into the observation deck, she sat down and for the first time since the crisis ended, finally started to relax. Or to the best of her ability. As she did, she finally took the time to think it over and finally realize why she seemed so frightened - she was used to having her friends by her side. She wasn't used to hard-headed kids thinking they were heroes. And she wasn't used to feeling powerless... or at the very least, thinking she was powerless.

Letting out a sigh, she laid back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling as she rubbed her face.

"...I need to toughen up. Or start smacking kids when they don't listen." Irma muttered.

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.

"REAL BEAAAAAAAAAAACH!" Irma said, having dragged Hay Lin to a nearby shore. While the sensorium beaches were nice, nothing beat a REAL LIFE BEACH. "Oh, my god, this is just great!" She turned back to face the dark-haired girl she just so happened to drag with her.

"Not only do I get my best friend back, but we got a vacation! A real life vacation! With real food and real clothes and..." Irma said, getting more excited. "I don't know how this could get any better!"

She looked down at the fact that she was still sporting those ridiculous plantsuits.

"Swimsuits."

Stacy's voice speaks over the whole of the ship. What she has to say has become very familiar over the the podlings have spent here.

||Pod Release Protocols Initiating,|| she says. ||Please proceed to the Observation Deck to meet your new crew mates.||

Those crew members that don't head to the Obs Deck on their own are hurried there via gentle but insistent tentacles. A few people stop by Engineering to help bring and pass out omnicoms and comm rings to the new crew members as well.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]