Let Me Go Gravity - The Reaper's Game CYOA

Sparkles turned and threw up her hands. "Well I'm gonna do it! Imprinting...you use the player pin?"

Jesus raised a finger, then thought about it, and dropped it with an eye roll. Maybe he figured he couldn't pose an argument in sign language? They walked over to the Victoria's Secret entrance, and soon the blue fuzzies of Player Pin use were surrounding her and Jesus.

Chris looked at her with a sort of scowl. So-yeon tugged on his arm, but he shook his head. "No. If we start a fight, they'll get dragged in. And they didn't sign up for that."

"What do you have against...imprinting? Was it?" Zachi asked.

"It messes with my head that we can mess with heads. Like uh...have you ever been inspired? What if it's just some Reaper putting thoughts into our heads?"

Huh...well isn't he deep?

Mike was still holding his phone, and noticed that it was flashing. He checked text messages...and there were three of them.

From So-yeon, sent 1:25
lol funny funny ^_^ I meant entry fees tho. 

...

From So-yeon, sent 1:38
You there?

...

From So-yeon sent 1:45
Never mind. You must be busy.

I guess that's...considerate?

Mike looked up and So-yeon was typing on her phone as they spoke. They being Zachi and Chris.

"So only one word commands?"

"It's not commands...it's like an idea. Single word idea."

Meanwhile Sparkles shouted over her shoulder. "I don't get it! Any tips?"

A) Go help Sparkles and Jesus
B) Join Zachi and Chris's discussion
C) Talk to So-yeon

1) Text So-yeon back anyways
2) Don't bother texting her back

B2

I sunk your battleship.

Why would ya'll talk via text to someone you're already talking to?!

Beer last text, she seemed a bit upset. So comedy.

*tap tap tap*

Well sorry. I was kind of fighting for my afterlife.

*tap*

Mike looked up, and So-yeon was talking slow steps away to distance herself from the others. She was still definitely putting her thumbs to work typing on her phone though. Mike saw it rumble.

She looked up at him.

"Hey." Mike said.

She looked down quickly and began furiously typing again. This led to Mike walking over to where she was heading, ignoring Zachi and Chris's conversation which was going along the lines of "What's so bad about this imprinting thing anyways?"

Mike's phone went off, still in his hand. He checked it.

Please don't talk to me. I can't talk back.

He thought about that and looked up at her to find her looking up at him...kind of. Her face below her eyes was hidden behind her phone, which was one of those abnormally large things that were just too small to be a mini tablet, so it did a good job of hiding her. It was also in a pink plastic case, but that observation came second.

"Why not?"

He took a step forward. She took a step back. So he stopped walking. Behind him he heard Chris say something about "You can't really say any inspiration you have is yours anymore" as he checked his phone to receive another text message. He wondered for a bit how texting plans worked in the Game, but then actually read the message.

They took my voice. Just keep texting me please ^^

...*tap tap tap*

Can I talk and you text back then?

*tap*

She looked down, then shook her head.

It's better this way. Please just trust me.

Mike was part way through texting the person he was face-to-face with, when another text from So-yeon interrupted him.

I don't care about sign language.

...*tap tap tap*

Ok...fine. Whatever suits you.

*tap*

Thank you! <3

"I got it!"

Everyone was interrupted and looked up at Sparkles, who was pointing at a woman Jesus was dashing towards. The woman seemed to be fumbling trying to get her phone out

"I put the word "phone" in her head," Sparkles said quite happy with herself, "And she thought it went off, haha! Watch her dance."

That's certainly a nice thing to say.

As the woman fiddled with the bags on her arms, she ultimately had to put them down to get to her phone in her purse. Jesus was right behind her and once the bag hit the ground, he reached down and...his hand passed right through the bag.

"Uh oh." Zachi said.

"That's new to me." Chris added.

"Lobster candy!" Jesus hissed in frustration, flailing his arms through the bag to no avail.

Mike heard a disgruntled snort and was reminded that Xavier was still sitting against the corner with his nose in a sketchbook.

"Oh snap. Now what?" Mike called to the others. There weren't any immediate responses because it was at this moment that a rather haggard man approached the woman.

He looked disheveled...alright that was being nice. He looked homeless. But Mike also thought he looked strangely familiar. "Hey ma'am," he said in a gruff voice, "If you like it, throw something my way!"

"Uh!" the woman stammered, taking a step back. She reached down towards her pink lingerie bag but the homeless man seemed to intercept her, kicking the bag aside.

"C'mon lady. Got some change? Pretty please?"

The woman took another step back. And suddenly Jesus managed to get his hands on the bag. Dispite his surprise that for some reason he made contact, he quickly reached inside and pulled out a few boxes. He was just in time for the woman to rush around the homeless man, pass right through Jesus like he was a ghost, and grab her bag out of his non-corporeal hand to rush off in a huff. She didn't seem to notice it was empty. She was too distracted by the man calling out "Fine! Be that way!"

...That was way too convenient.

Mike looked at the homeless man and swore that he winked before turning and shuffling away somewhere. He also saw Xavier giving the man a really nasty look. Further thought was interrupted by Zachi saying "That warrants more study..." and Chris and Sparkles simultaneously telling Jesus to "Open them!"

First box open. Purple lingerie set. Next box open, Red. Last box, Black. Mike didn't know enough about sizing to have any other thoughts besides "small".

"I don't think I'll fit in that." Chris was heard muttering.

"Yeah same here." Zachi replied.

Mike looked at So-yeon, who looked even more mortified than usual, then quickly looked back to Sparkles who was holding the bras up against herself.

Mike called at her "Girl, we don't have time for fashion! Just everyone...suit up. Yeah."

Jesus shook his head and took things into his own hands. And literally too, since he quickly just wrapped one of the panties around his arm like a wrist band and walked over to Xavier. He pointed at the garment, pointed inside, and waited for the Reaper to slowly roll his eyes and snap his fingers, allowing him to finally enter the store.

It's like cheating but I'll take it.

"Pass!"

Sparkles tossed a box at each of the other pairs...except the pairs were currently Chris standing next to Zachi, and Mike standing with So-yeon. The shy asian girl did her absolute utmost to make eye contact with nobody as she took the black bra and tied it around her arm with absolutely no respect for the garment's extravagantly expensive craftsmanship. By the time she looked up, Mike and Zachi had already run inside the store, and Chris was waiting for her at the entrance.

---

The players had hit their Pins, and were surveying the multitude of small orange sigils floating around. There were at least a dozen of them.

"Time?" Sparkles asked.

"About half an hour." Zachi replied.

"All at once then." Chris said, engaging one immediately.

"Shouldn't we think about this?!" Mike shouted, but was quickly interrupted by the wooshing of swarming sigils and soon after, the croaking of fourteen frogs. All purple ones. Purple bouncy ones.

Chris extended the blades from his arms, and was about to dive in before Zachi yelled "Stop!"

He stopped.

"If you hit them they'll start bouncing all over the place!" Zachi continued.

"That's the only way to beat them!" Chris yelled back. "Bounce them into each other!"

"No, we do this smart." Zachi insisted. "In this space we'd get torn to shreds."

"They'd tear each other up first!" Chris argued back. "Just follow my lead."

"Unless they start doing formation attacks." Mike added.

The Bubgumfrogs got tired of waiting and started spraying walls of bubbles upon the players.

"Oh screw this!" Sparkles yelled, teleporting behind the wall and lighting one up under her red light. Jesus quickly dragged two mannequins in front of himself as a shield.

A) Follow Zachi's lead
B) Follow Chris's lead
C) Take initiative for yourself
D) Screw it, free for all

A

The A.

Mike jumped in front of the pack, and what bubbles Jesus hadn't stopped with his mannequins Mike intercepted with a Shred Rubber force field.

"Zachi! A plan!?" He called out.

"Passive aggression. So-yeon, tornadoes! Sparkles," She checked over her shoulder and saw that her red-light-of-death Akari was inflicting damage without triggering the frog's bubbles, "Keep doing that to any stragglers you can find!"

So-yeon blew into her microphone and one of her Breathtaker tornado peeled out, just as Mike dove out of the way from a handful of frogs pouncing on him. Jesus intercepted them with the mannequins, but this action was enough to set the bubbles off. The Bubgum Frogs encased themselves in their billiard ball force fields and ricocheted away, unaffected by the tornado meant to catch them.

"Soy sauce!" Jesus shouted, apologetically.

"I got them!" Chris shouted, before jumping on top of one with his Judgement dive-bomb attack. Zachi nodded in approval.

"Mike! Defense. Only hit ones already bubbled"

Easier said than done ma'am!

Mike gave a semi-sarcastic salute before his Velocity Attack carried him around Jesus, Sparkles, So-yeon, and Zachi to neutralize oncoming bubbles. He stopped briefly and shouted "Come at me frogs!" Trying to taunt them his way. It wasn't working yet. He added the "yet" part hopefully.

So-yeon's tornado sucked up a couple of frogs, who ended up floating in the air helplessly. The other frogs immediately gave it a wide berth.

"Can you move that twister?" Zachi asked So-yeon.

She shook her head. Zachi immediately switched gears.

"Jesus. I'm inking tiles. Use them like fly paper. Mike! Taunt them into-"

"INCOMING!"

Chris shouted just as a bubbled frog ripped towards the group. Mike saw it and intercepted with a Rushdown swing of his bat...and so it flew away to bounce off the nearest wall and back directly into Mike. He wasn't hurt since his force field came up in time, but the frog continued to bounce into the group, and everyone was forced to hit the deck.

Well, everyone except Jesus. He wasn't fast enough and ended up getting slammed into a wall.

"Dude!" Sparkles yelled, immediately teleporting to his side for heals.

Mike glanced at the frog Sparkles was previously burning, and saw that it was limp, but not dead yet. He also glanced at the trajectory of the other currently bubbled frog. He rushed over and picked up the limp one, yelled "Chris! Batter up!" and whacked it with his bat in the other man's direction. Having just impaled two others, he used the same tactic to secure these two. His Light Riser spears shot up from the ground to send them on a vertical trajectory, bouncing between floor and ceiling. He then crossed the two's paths together in a single slice, popped the bubbles, and followed up by impaling them shish-kabob style.

Zachi and So-yeon got to their feet. "You ok?" Zachi called to Jesus. In response some floor tiles floated up next to her.

"Cucumber." He said determinedly.

Zachi dictated her next set of commands as she coated the floating tiles with PN-D ink. "So-yeon, another twister and then give them a flip. Jesus, flypaper. Sparkles, teleport into the dying tornado and move them to the new one."

"You want me to...TOUCH them? Ew!" Sparkles said recoiling.

Zachi gave her the stare she used to give Mike goosebumps. Coincidentally, Mike dashed past them at this moment to intercept a bubble attack and thought he felt a chill.

"...ok fine." Sparkles corrected, despite shuddering.

Zachi pointed and So-yeon blew into her mic again, forming a new tornado. She followed up by loosing a Showstopper earthquake attack, sending a rippling pulse through the ground. Any frogs that weren't quickenough to jump out of the way were flipped helplessly into the air, but not violently enough to bubble them. They gently touched down onto the inked tiles Jesus had ushered in beneath them, and they were tossed into the tornado to join the two Sparkles had just thrown in.

Sparkles reappeared next to Zachi wringing her hands as if they were infected. Zachi rolled her eyes before hitting her C4 trigger, and blew the tiles in the tornado up, taking five helpless frogs with them.

Unfortunately, the remaining six frogs managed to hop into the force of the explosion, and succeeded in bubbling themselves up as a result. The whooshing noise of the frogs converging on the group would have covered up any swears Zachi could potentially utter. The noise was also loud enough to alert Mike in time for him to trigger his force field, which sprung up around Zachi to protect the group. The group of six frogs hit, bounced off, and ricocheted off towards Mike and Chris, beginning to spiral into a helix formation.

Oh I hate it when they do that.

Mike easily dashed out of the way, but he saw Chris take a defensive stance.

"Dude! Get out of there!"

"Get away! I got this!"

Three nearly killed me last time. And that's six of them in there!

Mike gritted his teeth, and he wasn't the only one concerned. His gaze met the others. So-yeon was looking at him, Zachi was looking at Sparkles, and Jesus was in the middle of flinging a cabinet towards the frogs to intercept. It wouldn't make it in time though.

A) Get away and let Chris get this.
B) Have Mike rush in and shield.
C) Get Sparkles to Teleport in and grab him.

Let's trust our bud. A.