Let Me Go Gravity - The Reaper's Game CYOA

Mike thought for a moment that he was going to say something to Spencer. Zachi did too, hence why she pulled him away while saying "Let's go. Have fun CC." a bit louder than what was absolutely necessary. Mike was curious but didn't complain.

Once they were out of ear shot, on their way out of the mall, Mike decided to ask what that was all about.

"What was that all about?" Mike asked.

"CC said they're trying to leave downtown." Zachi replied.

Mike thought for a bit. He did so while unhooking his bike from the rack and jumping on.

"So you wanted them to be your lab rats. See how far they get."

Zachi nodded. "Basically. I mean, I'd do it myself if I had time."

Mike shrugged. He guessed that's something worth investigating. The downside was that Spencer and CC were probably the best fighters he had met so far...figures.

"Alright. Neat. Jump on." he said to Zachi, gesturing to the rear wheels of the bike. Zachi just looked blankly, and Mike realized it might be one of the few times he could explain something to her. "You stand on the pegs," he said with a smile, "grab my shoulders to stay stable. Faster this way."

"Oh I knew that." Zachi replied, rather quickly, "but I'm assessing your competence and estimating my chance of injury."

Mike looked down at a watch he didn't have. "Well...tick tock. Mission and all."

Zachi jumped on. Well, less jumped and more gingerly and measurably stepped up and grabbed Mike tightly for balance.

"If you think you're gonna fall, scream."

"...not funny." Zachi said. She was probably making one of those faces that used to make Mike cringe.

Regardless, Mike thought it was kind of funny, and took off towards their destination.

---

Luckily, there were no Reapers blocking off streets. Even more luckily, as Mike arrived at the massive multi-level Victoria's Secret store, he saw four familiar faces hovering outside. Sparkles and Jesus were there, and to Mike's surprise, so were Chris and So-yeon. Seeing Chris with everyone else really put them into perspective. Jesus was just barely taller than Mike, but even he only came up to Chris's beard. Sparkles and So-yeon only came up to his chest. As usual, So-yeon was keeping off to the side. Jesus stood with Sparkles despite not having much to say.

"There he is!" Sparkles called out seeing him approach. Zachi's stomach did a flip when Mike raised a hand off the handlebars to wave back. She was very thankful when Mike pulled over and stopped to let her down.

"Hey!" Mike said, walking over, "Glad to see you're alive." He said to Chris and So-yeon.

"Likewise." Chris said. So-yeon opted to give a thumbs up.

"What makes you so sure this is the place?" Mike continued.

"Well if you-" Sparkles started to say.

"Well for one, him." Chris interrupted, jabbing his thumb at the entryway.

Mike looked and saw some kid sitting cross-legged in front of the doors, looking all kinds of bored with his head resting on his hands, elbows on his knees. She...wait, he? Maybe? Let's go with he. He had blue hair (obviously dyed), but was dressed too sharply to get a punk look. He looked like an anime prep student if anything else. The attention grabbers though, were the black Reaper wings on his back. He seemed to be just staring steadfastly at the street artist working on the sidewalk opposite him, who seemed to be chalking up some sort of street-graffiti design.

"A guard." Zachi stated, and Chris nodded.

Sparkles cleared her throat for attention, "But more importantly, if you look at the Mission text, "his master's voice" abbreviates to HMV. You know, like the music and movies store. Like the kind that used to be here before the lingerie shop bought them out. So you could say they fell. To the Angels, of course being the Victoria's Secret models."

Zachi didn't like the fact Sparkles had figured that out first. Mike was wondering how anyone was supposed to have come to that conclusion.

"Oooor," Chris insisted, "you look for where the Reapers don't want you to go, and you just go there. I mean, we are playing a Game."

Sparkles didn't like the fact Chris seemed to be one-upping her. Mike was wondering why the Mission wasn't done already if they both already knew the answers.

"Great!" Mike said, "so we just gotta fight some Noise right? Should be easy together."

"Not out here," Sparkles said, pointing inside the store, "In there."

Mike saw that the store did have a red sigil outside, which meant that it was open for business. He'd also be visible inside. Inside the lingerie store. Visible...

"And the guard has a wall up. Naturally." Zachi continued, "So what's the catch?"

"You're only allowed inside if you're wearing D+B brand lingerie." Chris answered.

Mike made a strange noise somewhere between a cough and a laugh. Whatever it was, it was drowned out by a very noticeable irritated groaning from behind him. It came from the Reaper who was apparently sitting guard. It didn't seem to phase Zachi all that much though.

"Oh don't mind him," Chris waved the Reaper away, "He's a bit insufferable. I don't suggest talking to him."

Zachi sighed. "I'm guessing nobody here happens to be wearing any?"

"Do we look like we are?" Sparkles said, rolling her eyes, before looking down at herself, "Actually, I do. But you get my point."

Mike looked at the two players he was less familiar with. Chris was wearing a plain white button-up shirt that almost looked like a dress shirt. It was too wrinkled for that though, and he wore it with jeans and black loafers for shoes. So-yeon was wearing an over-sized baggy pink kangaroo pouch hoodie with a heart logo on it that basically obscured her whole body. He knew that she was wearing black leggings though, with styled pink and grey runners. Mike almost caught So-yeon's gaze with his, but she was too fast for that. Though she wasn't fast enough to catch herself from blushing slightly.

"We were hoping you had some ideas." Sparkles said, silently noting that Mike was staring at who he was staring at.

"You have any so far?" Zachi asked.

A) "Steal from someone leaving the store. Seems most straight forward." Sparkles suggested.
B) "Or we could find another store and come back," Chris said, "We have just over two hours left."
C) ...Maybe...CC...? Or Spence might know something. The Reaper might be worth talking to?
D) Zachi didn't like the options available. "I think we should brainstorm some more then."
E) Other

B. What's the worse that could happen? The ladies wear lingerie, and the males get to cross dress. Win-win.

This.

And we shoulda got CC and Spencer to come. I bet CC is wearing what we need...

Ah, Lapin Angelique. The stupid(awesome)est brand, as far as effects go.

A.

A is for AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So that's what I'm voting for.

Alright, chums, let's do this.
A-RO-O-O-O-O-O-OY! JENKINS!

Mike grabbed his bat.

"I'll scout ahead." he said.

"Then I'm going with you." Zachi replied, picking her bat up as well.

"That...kind of defeats the purpose of scouting ahead."

"Shut up and help you not die." Zachi snapped back, before hitting her Player Pin.

Mike rolled his eyes, and followed suit. He braced himself for to be greeted by a bunch of stranger's thoughts, but instead he and Zachi were greeted by a couple of giant spiders lunging for their faces and knocking them onto their backs.

AAAAAAHHHHHH!

A couple of things passed through Mike's head. Surprise, for one. The spider's fangs, for another. Revulsion, pain, concern for Zachi, all in there somewhere. What didn't pass through his head was a command for Shred Rubber to emit a forceful pulse to knock the spiders off of the two player's bodies. But it happened anyways. The fact that Mike's pin created a second shield for Zachi was ignored entirely.

"...you can't be serious."

Mike's head pounded, but at least his vision was alright. He lifted his head, first to see Zachi pulling herself to her knees, and then to see his assailants. Before him were three spiders the size of a large dog...with wolf heads where the spider heads should be, legs ending in claws, and a sharp ridge of horns between their eyes. Their mouths were open and panting, with small bursts of fire shooting from their mouths each breath. And they weren't alone. The reason they weren't currently pouncing on their prey was because a Reaper was holding them back on glowing leashes.

"Get up plebeians!"

Hovering above the players, holding the leash on the Noise, was what looked like the blue-haired Reaper sitting outside the Victoria's Secret entrance. It wasn't him (or her) though. It was more like...his (her) Shadow. It was a dark reflection with glowing red eyes.

"I said get up!" the Reaper's Shadow yelled, tone in his more disappointed than commanding. The wolf-spiders snarled. Mike jumped up, a firm grip on his bat, but Zachi stayed low.

"Why?" the girl said.

The Reaper hung his head. "Dear lord this is pathetic" he muttered, before looking at the players again, "You are to look upon my work and tremble in awe. Though I doubt degenerates like you could even appreciate an iota of my art."

A hissing caught both Mike's attention, and his eyes darted over to the sigil on the sidewalk. Under the (same?) Reaper's stare, another wolf-spider Noise climbed out of the ground. With a howl, it wasted no time in charging directly at Zachi, but the Reaper Shadow shot out another chain to hold it back.

"You made those monsters?" Mike called out, head still throbbing, but able to follow along.

The Reaper's eye twitched. He seemed offended.

"They're visual puns," Zachi said plainly, getting to her feet, "hardly a work of genius!"

Another twitch.

"Yeah seriously, 'wolf spider'? It's been done." Mike said, deciding to take Zachi's lead.

Zachi carefully nodded in agreement, "And why do they breathe fire? Seems a bit superfluous."

"They're basically Frankenstien's monsters," Mike continued, "Can we call you Frankie?"

"SHUT UP! ...Gah!" The Reaper yelled, as the Shadow split into four. Each one held one of the wolf Spider's leashes, and they quickly tugged the Noise to surround Mike and Zachi on all sides. His (her) voice rung from all four at once.

"Filthy animals. You're no better than the proletarian perverts forced on my company! I designed the Alterna Lycos TODAY to encapsulate the degradation I've been dragged through, and the way I'm about to erase you plebeian Players."

The Reaper materialized some kind of gadgety paintbrush in his (her) hand before swirling it a few times, painting a perfect picture of Mike's Shred Rubber pin in the air. With a flourish, he flipped the brush around as it transformed into a gun, and he shot the image of the pin, slathering it in black paint. Mike felt a coinciding impact hit his chest, and when he looked down he found that his Shred Rubber had turned black and dull as well.

"My name is Xavier Ross. It has not been a pleasure speaking with you!"

Mike took a battle stance, bracing himself for a pounce in any direction...

...

"No really why do they breathe fire?" Zachi blurted out, just before the Shadows loosened their grip in the leashes. "Is...is it to show that they're...they're...

"Born from...passion?" Mike yelled out, randomly.

"Uh...yes. Kind of." Xavier said bluntly, not really expecting that. "Actually no. No, it's way more complicated. You plebeians wouldn't understand."

"We might." Zachi said.

"Try us!" Mike said.

"...no, I think I'm Erasing you now." Xavier said.

A) Keep talking
B) Attack mode
C) Defense mode

B.