Golden Age: Revival

"Well, that is the best effort I'm willing to give," Noct said with a shrug, "Do we leave him, and hop out the window, or follow after him?"

E"I'm not leaving anyone behind."

N"You're taking the boat with you, aren't you?"

E"Yup."

N"God damn it."

Noct rushed after Roatha, shooting all the fuckers she could see from behind a shadow shield.

*Euryale & Nero follow soon after. Nero much less enthusiastically, kicking things on his way down. Roatha has entered the entrance hall, where there are people shooting at him from behind various corners & pieces of furniture. A few bloody spots on his legs, arms, & sides suggest he's had a few close calls. Laughing like crazy, he aims a lightning bolt at a dresser, exploding it. Euryale grabs him from behind & forces them both to the ground.*

E"What are you, crazy? Get down!"

R"Let go, woman! I'm not done yet!"

Noct, still behind her shield, begins rooting out all the gunman by hunkering down and shooting them whenever they pop their heads out of cover.

R"Let me put this in terms you'll understand: Get off, or I'll electrocute you."

*Euryale looks stunned, but decides she will have none of that shit, & punches Roatha in the face.*

R"ArrrghthePAIN...hey, we're not dead. But we're being shot at, holy shit!"

*He curls up under Euryale. Seemingly as an afterthought, he puts his arm over her head. With his other hand, he touches his face.*

R"...Why do I have a black eye?"

*Nero pokes his head out from the hallway, close to floor-level.*

N"Let's save the stupid questions for now. Can you get us out of here?

R"Not from here. Maybe if we got back to that cave."

Noct continues to shoot fuckers.

*Euryale pulls herself to her feet, holding her bracers near her head. She timidly approaches Noctis.*

E"Noct? We won. We don't have to keep fighting them, we can get away. It's over now."

Noct looks back at her, "Oh, really? I'm sorry, didn't realize. Is Roatha alright?"

E"Yes, he's...acting normally again...at least for now."

R"I am most certainly not all right, I think my eye is swelling shut!"

E"Also, I punched him."

R"You WHAT?!"

"That must have hurt," Noct said matter of factly, "Anyway, what is the plan now?"

E"We're going to retreat to the cave. Roatha says he thinks he can teleport us out, from there."

N"But where are we going?"

E"I honestly hadn't thought that far ahead."

"Don't you guys live in Australia or something?" Noct asked, moving back up the stairs.

*They all look at each other, then look back at Noctis.*

N"...So, like I was saying, where should we go?"

*The soldiers notice they're just being picked off, so they opt to throw caution to the wind & rush the stair case en mass. That, along with an alarm that suddenly goes off, prompts most of the group to retreat.*

Noct spikes her shield, and follows the rest of the group. "Why was that a stupid answer?" Noct asked, "I've been teleported from New York to England, why can't you get from Somalia to Australia?"

R"It's more a question of why we would want to."

N"Obviously, you've never been to Australia."

*Euryale shuts & barricades the bedroom door once they're inside, pushing a dresser over it.*

"We met in--!" Noct shakes her head, "Alright fine, Australia is off the table. What now?"

N"We know the head of the Illuminati is staying in Japan."

"Then Japan it is," Noct said, "I'm not exactly picky here."

E"Can any of us even speak Japan?"

N"Japanese."

E"Whatever."

"Yes, well, a bit..." Noct said.

*After banging on the door proves fruitless, the militia begins shooting wildly into it.*

R"Good enough!"
-------------------------------------
*When they next open their eyes, they're staring at a sign with words in Japanese & English.*

Please reconsider, there are people who can help.

N"...You would take us to the suicide forest."

R"I just picked the closest spot I could find! It isn't an exact science!"

Noct looked around, then frowned deeper, "Well, what now?"

N"I believe self-hanging from the branches is popular."

R"That isn't what she meant & you know it."

N"I don't know, isn't Mt. Fuji near Tokyo, or something?"

"None of this is helping," Noct said, "I meant what do we do now? Not what can we do now, or what is commonly done in this forest."