The Labyrinth of the New Moon

[bravenewmods]

Most of Union was familiar now with the second world that had so abruptly inserted itself into their lives. They called it the Dream World: a place where fiction became more real than reality and where the imagination knew no bounds. If it weren't quite so intrusive, some might even find it an amusing place to visit - there were secrets to be uncovered here, surely, where the mental barriers of friends and enemies were relaxed, and powers to be taken advantage of. Who wouldn't want to host a pool party every night?

For a week, the people of Union continue to pop in and out of the Dream World until most have grown tired of the seemingly random nature of the disappearances. Low mutterings and disgruntled complaints begin to spread throughout the city, but it seems as if no one truly knows how to stop it. Giant fans to disperse the fog are suggested facetiously once, and a number of Fan Rotoms are seen working hard the next day... But such efforts amount to nothing.

On the night of the seventh day, something changes.

Those who pop into the Dream World tonight will realize immediately - the landscape has changed. Dream mists still swirl and eddy at random intervals, but the Neutral Spaces have grown dark and shadowed. There's no ominous feeling of danger, but rather... alertness. The sense that something unusual is about to happen.

Up in the sky, a shadowed moon gleams with a faint luster. A new moon. ...This is impossible, of course, but then, many things are impossible in this world. And no matter where you head, it seems as if each step takes you closer to that black moon, a gaping maw in the twilit sky... Step forward, retreat backwards, close your eyes and flee. It matters not. One more step and it has devoured you whole.

There is the sensation of falling, of spinning, of coming to an abrupt halt without feeling an impact. But when you open your eyes, you are not alone. Two or three others you may recognize are with you, and a long corridor stretches out before your group with doors dotting each side as far as the eye can see.

Welcome to the Labyrinth of the New Moon.

[OOC: All plot logs for people in the Dream World will occur here. Please make the first post with all the names of the people in your group in the subject line so people know where to post. Mod responses will come about once every 24 hours as long as at least one person has posted.

The group listings are here. We will not be running randomizers anymore, but you may still sign up with a full group of at least three if you can find one and tag in. Keep in mind though that the log may not be finished depending on when it is posted. You may also hop in an existing group as long as all existing group members give permission and the group is not full.]

Comments

Peter, Quinn, and Estelle Bright

[usedstringshot]

Just when you think this place can't get any weirder...You guys okay over there?

[Peter has Gordon and Kit out, the Stoutland and Shiny Ninetales ready for trouble.]

[tagteams]

Despite getting dragged around in between worlds, I'm fine.

[She never really trusted the Dream World since her nightmare situation and it's obvious that even Quinn is a little tired from it. It's just Valor the Rufflet (who is always out with her) and Jasper the Raichu with her out, the other three on standby.]

[brandnewshoes]

[Estelle stands up, dusting herself off; she has Adol the Eevee with her, and Dogi the Golett isn't too far behind, either. He reaches his arms out, cracking his knuckles; Estelle looks back at them, then back to Peter and Quinn.]

Yeah. I'm okay. But... where are we? Did that evil moon seriously just eat us?

[usedstringshot]

[Peter shrugs.!]

Apparently. It's a Dreamworld. It doesn't exactly operate logically.

So, infinite hallway of doors. Anyone besides me curious about what's behind them?

[bravenewmods]

[It's rude to call something evil just because it was dark and scary!

Regardless, it is indeed an endless hallway of doors. As soon as they begin to move down the corridor, they will found that the place they landed has vanished, to be replaced by an infinite hallway of doors stretching in the other direction as well.]

[tagteams]

The Dream World is still pretty unpredictable.

[Like their landing spot is now replaced with another hallway.]

So... Which door should we open first? No way we can go back now.

[brandnewshoes]

This is kinda tough...

[Estelle looks sideways at Quinn, frowning; she looks back at the hallway filled with doors, and then she points at one chosen at random. It seems about the only way to do so.]

...that one? Just a hunch.

[bravenewmods]

[Every door looks exactly the same: wooden, with Gothic iron ornamentation. There doesn't seem to be any other markings on them.

As Estelle randomly guesses, the door she's chosen at random seems to shake slightly.]

[usedstringshot]

Shaking doors. Because that's not ominous or anything.

[Peter takes a deep breath to calm his nerves, queues up Detect, and pushes the door open.]

[brandnewshoes]

Get ready. Just in case.

[Case in point, she swings her staff out, pointing it at the door to be ready. Adol and Dogi take positions on her flanks.]

[bravenewmods]

[Fwoosh! The door swings open! And as it does, a bright light shines forth and expands to consume their group. Detect will protect Peter from the light, but so will standing still and doing nothing since it doesn't seem to be harming them!

When the light has faded, the three of them are standing in an unfamiliar place... It's a city of some sort, surely, but the entire city is in grayscale, as are the people. Even stranger is the fact that everything seems to very... flat.

It's all two dimensional. They seem to have stepped into a drawing.

There is the sound of screams.]

Look! It's Professor Octopus!

[To their right, alarm bells are ringing as an Octillery bursts out of a building and begins to scale a building with its eight paper tentacles.]

He's got an eraser!

[Terrified Bystander #2 speaks the truth. Even as they watch, Professor Octopus swipes across the assembled crowd with a giant eraser, succeeding in removing someone's head and smudging someone's right arm.]

Help us, hexadecimal 24-bit round people! Help us!

[usedstringshot]

...oh gods, why is this my life?

[But fine. He'd sworn to protect others. Admittedly, he hadn't taken people made of pencil drawings in a bizarre dream world into account when he had, but there wasn't any reason he shouldn't help them.]

HEY! Calamari-for-brains! Why don't you try picking on someone your own size?

[tagteams]

[... She isn't going to ask, but people are in danger so she's taking her crossbow out and Jasper's tail is beginning to spark.]

We can figure it out later, let's just save them!

[brandnewshoes]

Th-this is pretty crazy, actually!

[But... being erased is like something from a horror movie. Estelle spins her staff with a flourish, then she points it at the octopus, and yells after Peter; she agrees with Quinn, in this case.]

HEY! DROP THE ERASER!

[bravenewmods]

Our heroes...!

[The headless person runs up to the group and prostrates themselves while someone nearby with a pencil painstakingly works to fill her features back in. They seem to have modeled this new head after Quinn.

This is getting pretty trippy.

Professor Octopus will indeed drop the eraser! It's large enough to comfortably squash all three of them; the 2D people fall flat to the ground in defense.]

Professor Octopus has captured the Spherement of Dimensional Control! If he succeeds, he'll use Spheral energy to make this world three dimensional!

[tagteams]

Uh... Nice look?

[Saying that awkwardly to the headless person who now has her head THIS IS WEIRD. But she notices that eraser incoming and moves out of the way from getting crushed.

Becoming 3D doesn't sound a big threat, but this drawing world is the home of people and of course she will protect them from a terrible destruction.]

Don't worry, we will get the Spherement back! What does it look like?

[brandnewshoes]

[Estelle jumps back quickly from the eraser, barely managing to get away from it. Then she frowns -- hey, she's three-dimensional! -- and nods, quickly. Maybe people shouldn't become three-dimensional until they're ready to.]

[Or maybe applying logic to a dream world is crazy.]

We're on the case!

[usedstringshot]

[Peter himself manages to easily evade the earthbound eraser.]

We got you covered.

[bravenewmods]

[The 2D people stare awkwardly at Quinn for a moment before a little girl helpfully contributes.]

It looks like a sphere.

[An excellent description, no doubt, but Professor Octopus is getting closer and closer to the top of that building. Someone should really try to do something!]

[usedstringshot]

...yeah, that probably should've been obvious. Quinn, Estelle, with Bounce, Agility, and my wallcrawling I've probably got the best chance of catching up to him and getting him back down. See if you can slow him down from here.

[Peter uses Agility, upping his speed as he runs towards the building, where he Bounces to get himself part of the way up, and starts wallcrawling after Professor Octopus.]

[bravenewmods]

We don't know what a sphere is, though, since we can only see flat things.

[The girl continues on cheerfully as Peter begins to scale the building. Seeing that he has company, Professor Octopus glances back and begins to throw what appears to be miniature bombs down the wall.]

[brandnewshoes]

Good work!

[She shoots a thumbs-up at Peter, then she looks at the girl and nods. She sees the bombs coming -- and true to form, being pretty flexible -- she lifts a hand up. A bolt of fire launches through the air, trying a bomb before it gets near Peter.]

I got your back or I guess your top! Don't worry!

[tagteams]

Imagine a 3D circle. That's what a sphere is.

[Forget questions and stuff, it's battle time. She takes her crossbow to shoot the bombs off path while Jasper decides to fling Thunderbolts to distract Professor Octopus from hitting Peter (and avoiding the electrocute Peter of course.)]

We got it down here! Keep going!

[bravenewmods]

[As the race up the building continues, Quinn and Estelle's efforts will indeed distract the octopus creature enough that it fails to hit Peter... But the octopus maintains a strong lead, nonetheless.

Quinn and Estelle may realize something odd. Though it's clear they're running up the building, it doesn't seem as if they actually get any further away once they reach a certain point...

It's an impossible chase.]

[usedstringshot]

[Peter keeps climbing, and climbing, and damnit, he knows he's faster than this. Quickly, he turns on his Warp Band's communicator]

Guys, please tell me I'm only imagining that I'm not actually getting anywhere?