Everything Changes

Koudo touched the ground running, feelings if anger and uncertainty welling up in him. This were never good emotions to channel, especially not for him. The sapphire of his eyes dimmed to a deeper, dark blue and his pupils became more reptilian while his skin shimmered with a glittery shine when the light of Champion's sign passed over him.

What was going on? It didn't make sense! "Champion is never empty." His eyes darted back and forth across the front wall of the building. To the unknowing, it would looking like he was a crazy just raging at a wall, but he could perceive inside from here just as clearly as he could being inside and there were no people. He didn't register any lifeforms at all, and that wasn't good.

"Has it been abandoned?" It couldn't be the case, not if there were still people in Valparaiso... Champion was a staple of the little culture that they had. If it had been abandoned, then something had definitely changed. He gritted his teeth. "Of course it's empty. Why wouldn't it be? Everything is different!"

Koudo wiped his eyes, took deep breaths and tried to regulate himself back to a state of calm. He was never in a perpetually calm state, not without being connected to Odea, but it took a bit to get him so riled up that all of his dragonic features were flaring up. He didn't hide them out of shame, not like he used too. Instead, it had just become such a habit that he defaulted to it.  

He ran his hands down his face, breath a final sigh of relief. His eyes regained their sapphire color while his pupils returned to normal. The tiny protrusions poking out of the sides of his forehead retreated as the shimmer of his diamond scales vanished from his mahogany skin. He shook his head and began pacing. "This doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense." It was impossible for him to fathom that Champion would be closed, but that was because he wasn't putting all the pieces together.

The buildings, the emptier than normal streets, and Champion... Champion being empty when that never happened. People may not be fighting on a certain night, but the club was never empty. All these unusual things just confirmed to him how different everything was.


Nostalgia blinded him. Taking a quick glance around showed him just how different the city looked. The Crows remained, but they weren't the group he created because he didn't recognize their leader and she didn't recognize him. The citizens he had seen seemed the same, but he couldn't identify the gang they were probably affiliated with and they were much more hostile to strangers than residents usually were.

This was not his Valparaiso.

"A robot..." He whispered quietly to himself as he stopped his anxious pacing, "Where!" He yelled, rushing to Chita. He placed his hands firmly on her arms, unintentionally squeezing with all of his strength, "Where!" He roared! There was something wicked going on here after all, and not in the usual sense for the Valparaiso that he remembered either. He didn't like it, and while hearing about a stray robot wasn't an unusual thing, tonight, it was the most unusual thing in the world.

Just then, the shadow of a man stepped forth from out of the cover of the buildings, from out of the alley beside them. He overheard their conversation and spoke to them with a rough, tired tone. "... So you've seen it too, eh...?" he groaned, a cigarette in his mouth. His face was still hidden by the shadow of the building, but the lower part of his body could be seen. "...Wouldn't take it anyone not of the town would be so devastated." Ashes fell from the tip of the cig, and a puff of smoke billowed before them. "... Ain't what she used to be, right?" He closed his eyes and shook his head.

There it was again.

He thought he had a handle on this. He thought all the meditation and carefree living was working, but he couldn't help flying off the handle. He quivered with a primal rage, the previously undone changes to his physical form coming back in full force. It was a never ending struggle for him to maintain any semblance of control. An everlasting conflict. An eternal fight. I constant war within.

He felt Chita's muscles tense in his hands. He hadn't meant to grab her so firmly, but he wanted the information that she had. He wanted to know where she'd seen the robot. Base instinct too over from there, to show aggression. He knew you weren't suppose to manhandle your friends.

He weathered her spontaneous combustion, the intense burst of super heated air washing over him like a pleasant breeze, if nothing else. He recoiled inwardly, gritting his sharpening fangs as he reached out and grabbed hold of imaginary space with his right hand. When it got this bad, there was only one person that could help. A proper sedative, forced upon him to keep him in line and focused.

"Odeeeeaa..." He whispered quietly to himself through bass growls rumbling out from the pit of his stomach. His right hand glittered with the silvery blue indication of his intent. He swiped his hand across the air in front of him and a woman appeared, seemingly out of thin air.

5'11' and curvaceous, with sepia colored skin and white hair with just a tiny splash of purple tint, dressed in an elegant gown of pale yellow-brown color. Odea... didn't look surprised, but she was quite puzzled with how she had gotten here, floating on air in a land that she could not remember. She didn't have time to think on it, when she dropped into the out stretched arms of Koudo who looked like a mess. Recognition of the area could wait, remedy for Koudo's condition was the first priority.

Koudo tried his best to put on a controlled face, even forced a smile and asked, "Sword... please?" as nicely as he could. Just having Odea close was enough for her passively calming aura to sedate him to a level where he could regain cognitive faculties and register that there was another new energy signature in the area, besides Odea's.

Odea assumed sword form, a katana that Koudo never really drew anymore sheathed in an black scabbard with ornate rose gold scripts of a long dead language, without a delay on a solitary word. She had inherited Naina's wordless obedience when situations were dire, but would communicate with Koudo as much as Maina would telepathically while he handle his situation.

He took a deep breath, sliding Odea into the belt around his waist so that the sheath was underneath the fur drape he wore. "That's the understatement of the century, man. What the hell is going on around here?" Koudo was finally able to manage, as he turned around and all his features regressed to their default form. He couldn't make out who this man was at all, not with all the shadows that cloaked him, but it didn't matter. As long as there was someone, anyone, that knew shit around here was drastically different than it used to be.

The man of shadows looked on from the corner of his eye at the strange outlander taking things to heart that didn't seem quite natural for one that wasn't from here. He had a history, no doubt, and despite his strange appearance, this man had seen far stranger and far uglier mugs around Valparaiso during his whole life of being here; before and after the shift. "The robots..." he said, nearly with a scoff, flicking the butt of his cigarette off into the street; waaaay way far off away from either of them. "... They came outta nowhere one day, sometime recently, actually." Before he knew it, another cig was already to his lips, with the faint light of his lighter just barely illuminating his face in the darkness.

His hair was long and haggard, the same as his voice; drawn out and tired. His clothes looked like they'd once been both fashionable and rather pristine, but were now just remnants of an old time. Sloppy, dirty and somewhat torn, yet still worn with professionalism, in spite of the clear carelessness that came with the overall appearance. He sighed heavily; long and drawn out, with a puff of smoke wafting out just the same. He shook his head. "... Ran us out of town... Or, most of us, anyway. Prolly the ones yer looking for." He shook his head once more, the memories flashing before his eyes, which narrowed with frustration. "See, we were all carrying on as we were, doing exactly what you'd expect us to be, since you seem to know the landmark and the area quite well... Ya know, carrying on with the normal ways of Valparaiso. Day just like any other." He lifted his hand up and wiped it in front of him, as if illustrating a sentiment that was fond to him.

He plucked his cig with his other hand, lowering it to his side and lightly tapping the ash off with his fingertip as he went on, "Me and the boys were in the Hotel, as I figure you must know about, if you know about this here building. Strange kid walks in, looking tough and smug, trying not to show weakness or fear. 'Course, we could smell it on him even if he tried putting up a front, but no one payed the young pup any mind beyond his mouth." The man chuckled, lifting his cigarette back up to inhale, almost like he needed the intake before he spoke again; damn near like he was taking a normal breath before speaking again. "The boys and I get a hoot out of it, find it all pretty damn good a show. He had balls on him, I'll tell ya that. But after he came, things got real strange real quick..." The man lowered his head, shaking it again. "... Whole flood of em. Out of nowhere. Robots. Mindlessly trying to kill everything in sight. Owner gets up and does his thing, knocks em dead and clears the way, but our little canary round the parts; Hobo Joe, up and come tell us that the city's being overthrown." The next inhale and puff of smoke came from a deep, depressing sigh, and a long, somber pause.

"... Next thing ya know, we're high-tailing it outta Valparaiso." Ash fell to the ground.

Koudo had never been to the hotel that this guy was talking about, but he knew of it. Usually that's where most of the prostitutes did their work. He never needed to pay for sex, so there was never a need for him to make a personal visit there. He had never been hired for security detail either because a lot of the top fighters from Champion were either hired as bouncers or where frequenters themselves.

Either way, he didn't like this guy's story. Not because it didn't said legit, but because it sounded dangerously legitimate. There was no way that this place was going to be left alone. Koudo couldn't, necessarily, put a finger on what made his skin crawl about this guy's tale, but the actions that he described had the Tensei name written all over it. Unfortunately, as far as Koudo had been made aware, the three Tensei knuckle heads were in charge of the Veritas now, so there wouldn't be any logical reason for them to care about Valparaiso. While, technically, a part of the Veritas, Valparaiso was its own separate beast entirely, it always had been.  

Koudo folded his arms, unsure about where Chita had gone, but assumed she had simply returned to her post after he'd gotten rough with her. Ultimately, it didn't matter. He owed her an apology, for sure, but she'd get over it. Or she'd hate him forever, he honestly didn't care right now.

"Describe this kid." Where Koudo's next chosen words, Odea's calming aura helping him keep a steady mind, perfect for investigative work. He supposed that if he wanted to understand what was going on, how and why Valparaiso was changed, then finding that kid would be the source. Alternatively, "Or tell me where the robots first showed up." find the robots stronghold was a separate, but equal, option.

What are you investigating for, Koudo? Odea's voice whispered in his head. She sat in her soul room, on an ostentatious throne of her own mental design, with a leg crossed over the other and her hands clasped together neatly in her lap. Just being close to Koudo, connected to him, she could garner the information she needed to understand where they were.

She didn't give him a chance to reply, No matter how you feel about this place. It is a dead world, made from a dead power, in the shape of the dead. It does not matter. She could sense that he planned to fight, hard if necessary, to get to the bottom of whatever had so change this pale imitation of a land he once knew. As far as she was concerned, it didn't matter.

Koudo heard her words. Being that she was something odd thousand or so years older than him, it altered her world view slightly. He understood where she was coming from, understood, exactly, what she meant, but he willingly chose to ignore her words for now. He gave a simple, Trust me, and knew it would satiate her for the time being.

The man remained silent for a bit, but cut Koudo a glare that could pick ice. Words almost left the man's mouth, yet only smoke found its way out of his heavy breath. He closed his eyes, shaking his head one more time. "Robots came one time, and that was it," he said, rather matter-of-fact. "Now, the kid... He looked like he was a rebellious teen. Had this thuggish scowl on his face, like he was against the world. Had some potential, honestly." His eyes opened, only to a narrow squint, as though trying to make out his own torn memories. "Damn, I'd say... He had a jacket with some fur lining it, or something... Hrmm... Hair kinda spiky, like lightning..." The man grunted, a wheezing moan escaping his lungs as he thought. "Mm... That's about all I got. But I do remember he had... A strange power... Over electricity..." Not that people having powers was strange, but that it was a distinguishing feature for this particular person that was being referred to.

"Now, I'll tell ya what..." the man went on, finishing his second smoke, "... I'll show ya which what did this, where the robots are coming from. Or if you really want some info, I can take ya to the owner of the Forbidden Hotel." He flicked his second cig butt into the street, off near where the first one was, and far away from the both of them. "Either or. But I'd keep off the streets, if I were you. Them robots..." Finally, the man lowered his head, as if he'd grown weak just from the mention.

Odea breath, perhaps, the heaviest sigh that she ever had in her many years of living, and the few months she had been reconstituted as a singular being. You only ever say that when you plan to endanger yourself. To leave our charge unattended to for this? Shameful. Certainly she had learned all his mannerisms and his quirks, his silvered tongue and usual cliches, but it never grew on her and it never would. She hadn't quite taken to calling his daughter her child, but she looked after her same as a mother would. It was what she was doing before she was ripped across space and time to settle his tantrum.

As valuable Odea was an asset, a sedative, and a partner was, Koudo wished that she wouldn't speak her harsh truth so callously, but she wouldn't be who she was if she didn't. Her otherworldly view and understanding prevented her from sugarcoating her speech when it came to him, Yui was a different story entirely. No danger. I just want to know. He couldn't lie to her, not for want/lack of trying, but because she saw through it all just like Naina used too. The best he could do, was be as vaguely truthful as possible.

Koudo folded his arms and closed his eyes as he mulled over the description. The child certainly did not sound familiar at all, and his description wasn't that exotic either. Honestly, from Koudo's perspective, he sounded like any normal teenager in Valparaiso that feel in with any number of the regular gangs. The notice of a strange control over electricity was even less remarkable. Koudo decided the kid was a red herring. Just some twerp that happened to be in the wrong place at the right time; unremarkable and highly ordinary.

Koudo nodded his head, opening his eyes now, "I need to see where these robots are coming from." Koudo preferred to avoid the hotel because, honestly, he didn't really see a reason to bother. The robots seemed to be the main source of concern to him and there was nothing that this 'owner of the hotel' could tell him that he couldn't just figure out on his own, especially with Odea along for the ride now.

Odea checked her nails, She expects me when she's up from her nap. She wishes for you as well. Make this quick. Ultimately, nothing you do will matter here. After all, even if Koudo manage to enact some sort of return to the status quo that he remembered, he would still return to his own universe and nothing would stop a regression.

The man looked on from the corner of his eye, getting a really good look at the man who gave him such a request. At the end of the day, there was a certain familiarity as if they'd met before. Certainly, this person, specifically, had been around in the days where this land was connected to the other one. Many may have disregarded it or not remembered, or even been confused... But this person, specifically, remembered seeing the day and experiencing the entire thing. The memories flooded the more he looked at the alleged 'newcomer,' and things were pieced together after he spoke so fondly of Champion. He had been here in the 'before' times. Before the move. Before the shift. Before the change. He was one of them, and that made things very, very, very different.

"..." There was silence for a moment or so, followed by the sound of a very heavy and tired sigh. A light chuckle soon followed, but was just as raspy as could be. The wear and tear from both the transition and the recollection of the before and after weighed heavily on him, perhaps more than others, and it was apparent of his connection. "... Well, if you insist," he finally said, rising up from leaning against the wall, "... Then follow me." If this man had truly been around since the times before, which all of the signs say that he was, then he might actually feel similarly to how those who had been run out after suffering the shift felt. That was all that was really necessary for an unspoken agreement; a bond with the land, itself. The man lifted a hand up and beckoned with a finger, then stepped into the shadows of the alley, knowing that the streets were not the best place to roam openly.

The Mechanica that had cleaned up the bodies down the street would also be the same Mechanica that came and picked up the garbage that littered the streets, which was its primary task and function in the first place. The garbage disposal units would pick up all of the specks of dust from the street's interiors, including the cigarettes that had been hurled into the street. They were ground into Dust, like all the other pieces of 'Flesh' as material objects were known as to machines, which were adorned with more fabricated forms than a human's single layer of skin. Machines, which could wear any form of material or mineral, inclusive to plastic, only saw its own brethrens' 'Flesh' in the streets, along with the meat sacks that were the 'Human Flesh.' They still did not understand that 'Flesh' came in many different forms, and machines already understood how in depth it was. Cleaning up discarded 'Flesh' was the same as picking up a piece of plastic from the street and devouring and digesting it.


Nothing had changed in its original coding since the original Factorial City was created. The Mechanica were still doing the exact same thing they'd been doing when the Factorial City was brought to a halt the first time. Even with the original Core having long been commandeered by a new Mechanica, the same primary Mechanica code for Mechanica's Factorial City was defaulted to its original functionality. The Mechanica would bring the junk to the Factorial City and clean up the streets of the City of Ruin in order to do so. The pieces of trash that were on the ground would be repurposed into creating more Mechanica. The streets would be clean, and the Mechanica could live in their new city in peace, kept nice and clean.

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'The Siren' blared immediately. The Village Hidden in the Machines would suddenly rear up, as if from slumber, instantaneously, like a button had been pushed or a switch had been flipped. The City of Ruin was drenched in blood red immediately as far as the light of the tower of the City would allow.

The Mechanica returned to the Village Hidden in the Machines after it had completed its designated task.

Everything was 'Clear.'

Quote :

The area would suspend itself as a portal into the original area out of the ambiguous undefined energy, and be sustained as that area. Tifaret would immediately be returned to where she was, after having left the Void and seen its light fully. Tifaret would only see glimpses of her blurred vision and remember a dream when she slipped into the new reality as a portal around her. She would not remain in the area, because it was no longer ambiguous chaos, but actually a definite space that created and sustained itself.

Tifaret had no say in the matter and would be expelled prematurely and spontaneously.
*The Sound Of A Bubble Popping*

Meanwhile, the light undulations of the area gently carrying on, the area was encompassed in the fullness of its spectrum upon ignition with the sound of the Void expelling Tifaret back into the area where she was before, as if nothing happened.