Twilight of the Gods

Ginjo<Alright, now let me out.>

Riruka<Sorry, Ginjo, no can do.>

Ginjo<Excuse me?>

*Riruka pulls a weird-looking bulbous pink gun with a face & little wings out of her backpack & points it at Noctis. Moe cracks his knuckles & Jackie puts a hand on her shoulder, frowning at her sympathetically.*

Jackie<Noct...I know we're not exactly the best of friends, but we have to talk about this problem you have with Giriko.>
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*Senthose opens a Garganta into Noctale's living room.*

"God damn it, why are they never home?! Why aren't they in the bedroom? When I needed to get them OUT of the house, they wouldn't STOP fucking each other!"
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*Daisythulhu.*

<Senthose Rasheverek has betrayed Captain Tsukishima.>

"Ah, Mortal, you are a bit late but I am very glad to have you here," Astarte smiled across the room at Mortal, but suddenly frowned when she saw Eduj step in behind her. "What is he doing here?
"This isn't good," Eduj whispered to Mortal. "We should not have come directly here."

"Is this where Mortal lives?" Hector asked, taking a brief look around the room.

Mortal raised an eyebrow, "Captain Tsukishima?" Mortal shook her head, "There was no Captain by that name, unless he is new, and either way, what does Senthose betraying him have to do with anything?" She then looked at Astarte, "What exactly... oh shit." Mortal backed out of the garganta as realization washed over her. Mortal searched the area for spiritual pressure and found Senthose at Noctale's house.

"What is going on?" Sab asked.

"The mind altering human must have hit Las Noches, everything is fucked up," Mortal said, opening a garganta to Noctale's, "C'mon." She stepped through, and Sab followed.

--

Noct let out a sigh, "Oh, this is bullshit..." Noct creates a shadow clone next to all of the Fullbringers, "You can't outnumber me. Now, I would put that gun down, girl, and Jackie, step away from me."

Atae put her hands on her Zanpakuto, ready to draw and attack.

"What? No, why the Hell would I be looking for her? This is where the lesbians live. Or mate, to be more accurate."
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Riruka<We don't have to outnumber you, we just have to defeat the original.>

"Not that we want it to come to that. Please, Noctis, just listen to yourself--Giriko helped found Xcution, why do you want to hunt him down?"
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"Wait, he actually ran them out of Hueco Mundo? You can't be serious."

*Aroma follows.*

"Mortal, wait!" Astarte sped over to the Garganta, but did not catch either Mortal or Eduj. "Please, do not turn against us as well! Damn it..."

"That could have been a problem, please do not be reckless," Eduj said, following after Mortal. "This is not a fight you can win by being hot blooded."
He turned his eyeless face to Aroma when she spoke, "Did you not hear what I said earlier? Lilith, Astarte, Daisy and the Hollows are all our enemies now."

"Because he hurt my friends," Noct said, "That is reason enough. And you don't compare to the 'original' even en masse, so I suggest you all back off before I start putting holes in people."

--

Mortal sees Hector and Senthose, and furrows her brow, "Well, you really fucked up in Las Noches. Why are we in the humans' house?"

*Euryale puts her hands on Noctis's shoulders.*

"Noct, I think you're confused. Giriko didn't attack John & the others. Senthose did. He showed us the marks from the tentacles, remember?"
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A"That's...I mean, that's bad, but I can understand it, if there's some guy going around altering peoples' minds. But I can't believe he took over Hueco Mundo."

S"I was looking for them, obviously. Nice bathing suits."

A"Is that really important right now?"

S"Yes."

"What are you talking about," Noct asked, "I was there, I saw the damage, it wasn't done with tentacles. What's gotten into you?"

Atae nodded, "She is wrong, Noctis, there were no tentacle marks. Something is going on here, we should go."

--

Mortal folded her arms, "Quit ogling Sab and Aroma, and focus. This is a royal fuck up, what are we going to do?"

"If Mortal has turned against us as well, I suppose that makes me... Queen?" Astarte whispered to herself. She did not like it. She turned to Daisy and raised her voice to something more audible. "Secure the castle, Daisy. Any and all who support Senthose Rasheverek must be brought to me, here. All other Hollows are to be on guard and go about their business."

Hector could hardly help staring at the bathing suits from under his messy fringe. He shifted slightly on the spot before speaking, "Eduj, you can seal your power for now."
Eduj nodded and opened his mouth. The two halves of his body- clothes included- were regurgitated and fixed themselves back to him. He stretched his arms and blinked a few times, re accustoming himself to sight.

"I was also talking to you. The one time I give you a compliment, & you take it worse than I take your godawful tentacle rape jokes."

*He looks at Eduj.*

"Well, you & Daisy will have to have a Freak-Off once this is all over, won't you?"
=====================================
"Guys...you're obviously confused. Just let us help you. Please. You're scaring me."

"I do not understand," Eduj said. "I thought she was an enemy."
Hector grinned, still trying to avoid obviously staring at the scantily dressed women.

Mortal folded her arms, "Please, if it was only me you would have said something like, 'good, if you're into that sort of thing'."

"Mortal, focus," Sab said.

"Right, so, what do we do now?" Mortal asked, "Lord knows I'm always up for kicking down the front door and cutting everyone in half assuming I don't eat them first, but there are two people there I'd rather not see hurt."

--

Noct gritted her teeth, something was obviously wrong, but with Euryale against her she couldn't really act. Her first instinct was to retreat and regroup. Noct had her shadow clones push everyone off balance, she then snatched the stuffed Ginjo toy, and bringer lighted to Atae, grabbing her collar and instantly sinking into the ground, dragging her along with her.

Noct popped out in her living room and tossed Atae onto the sofa. She shook herself for a second, as if she experienced something nasty, then looked around, "What... the hell is going on here?"

Mortal nodded, "Oh, good, you're here. Where is the other one."

Noct looked upset, "She... I don't know. She isn't thinking clearly."

"Well fuck."

"...I believe introductions are in order..." Hector said, considering the two new arrivals but ignoring the stuffed toy. "I am Hector, and that creep with the butler uniform is my servant, Eduj."

"I cannot begin to describe to you the levels with which I do not care," Noct said, "Something is wrong with Euryale, and I know you people know what."

"We tried to warn you before, but we couldn't find you," Sab said.

"Warn me about what?!"

S"We'll clue you in when we get the chance."

*Senthose strides right up to Noctis, reaches into the toy, & rips Ginjo out of it.*

Ginjo<A Hollow?>

S"No, just an incredible simulation. Now, let's go somewhere else."

A"Oh yeah. If Euryale was hit too, the mind-altering human can find us here, can't he?"

S"And much as I'd like to rip his arm off & play monkey-in-the-middle with it, we can't deal with 2 Arrancar, an army of Menos, a Soul Reaper Captain, half a dozen FullBringers, & who knows what else?"

While Eduj was unaffected, Hector made a 'tsk' sound and began considering the toy. Why was it brought with her? His question was answered when Ginjo was dragged out and he stifled a small laugh.

"This happened in Hueco Mundo too?" The realization hit Noct like a ton of bricks, "Oh my god, Lilith is... who... who did this!?"

"They were talking about some 'Captain Tsukishima', who I can only assume is the human that was wandering around Las Noches," Mortal said, "Some asshole with suspenders."

Noct felt herself boil over with rage, "He... he was in my home. He said he was... that liar. He is- I'm going to kill him."

"I like your game face, tiger, but we don't know where to strike first, so sit on that anger for a bit," She then looked at Senthose, "We could always go to my home. No one has attacked there, I doubt the fullbringers know where it is."

"Astarte knows," Sab said.

"Damn... then where to?"

S"I swore I would never do this. But now I'm left with no choice. I will make sure he suffers for this."

*Senthose tears open a Garganta to some random-ass hill in a forest with a bunch of stray cats sleeping on it. Aroma leans out of it.*

A"What's this?"

S"The location of my old city."

"Cool, whatever," Noct said impatiently, "What now?"

Sab began petting some cats.

"How interesting," Hector mused, stepping out of the Garganta. "The forgotten kingdom of Senthose Rasheverek."
Eduj followed him, eyeing the cats with a mixture of suspicion and affection.

*Sab is petting a black, vaguely wooly cat, that starts purring. Senthose shuts the Garganta. Aroma sits down next to Sab.*

S"There might be the remains of some dwellings carved out in these hills that we can use. Just don't touch any bones. We need to exchange all details of our respective encounters."

*A white cat comes up & rubs on Senthose's leg.*

S"Don't get your hair on my robe, you unrepentant douchebag."

Hector picked up a black cat and stared at it, "These are kind of cute. Can I keep one?"

Sab scoots closer to Aroma, and leans her head on her shoulder.

"Tsukishima came to our home late last night claiming to be Euryale's ex-boyfriend, and she introduced him as such. That asshole did nothing but fucking toy with our heads, he didn't even have anything to gain," Noct clenched her fists, "Before that though Lilith, Euryale, Atae-- Oh, that is Atae," Atae waved, though she already knew some of the arrancar, "Anyway, all of us were walking back home and a man with an eyepatched named Giriko seemed to stop time around us. He claimed to have started the Xcution, our group. He then basically knocked me and Euryale out. When we came to he was gone but his power was still in effect, he called it Time Tells No Lies. Fast forward to today and we get to our little hideout and find everyone royally fucked up, and Ginjo," She points to Ginjo, "Said it was Giriko. I think it might be important to note that apparently Giriko either stole, and destroyed John's fullbring. Anyway, we try to track him down to a park, and then everyone turns on us... Even Euryale."

S"You know precious little more than I do. Daisy came to me telling me about sightings of a human in the castle. Of course, I worked out that he had to have some kind of mind-altering ability, because very few of the Hollows in Las Noches would pass up the chance to devour an intruder. I was waiting for Lilith to come & help me come up with a plan to deal with the bastard, when she stabbed me, babbling on about how I deserved it for 'hurting Captain Tsukishima.' Pretty soon, all of the Hollows started saying similar things. We couldn't beat so many of them. Finally, he attacked us as we were fleeing Hueco Mundo, but he failed to land a blow. From your story, I gather that Giriko and Tsukishima are probably working together, and Tsukishima introduced himself as Giriko to avoid suspicion for a little longer."

*The cat hisses at Hector & takes a swipe at him with its claws.*

S"Cats don't like being picked up."

*Aroma was going to scratch the Sabcat under the chin, but seeing that, she jerked her hand back in horror.*

Sab kept petting it, and took Aroma's hand and brought it to the cats head slowly, "See, it isn't bad if you treat them nicely."

Noct let out a sigh, "Now that we know that we know nothing, what are we going to do about actually fixing this horrible mess?"