Jay's eyes blinked weakly, her ears ringing as if they had been blown out by a grenade. Her shouting comrades were reduced to background noise, and she felt herself losing consciousness, slipping out of Hyper Zero Fantasy World, the fire eating away at the sliver of health she had left.
But at that moment, the entire world froze. Lerry's shots stopped midair, Raigh stopped midsentence, and Falcon stopped midway to Allie. Jay, too, must have been in the middle of something, perhaps in Purgatory, on her way back to Hell from whence all succubi came. This was no longer the consciousness that she was losing, but an alternate one entirely. Jay could see everything clearly now: Swirl's face twisted into a smirk, Rairah's eyes narrowed in suspicion, Eriz pulling out his Big Iron.
No... that was Lerry. Her vision must still have been a little blurry, because Jay couldn't fathom how she got that wrong. The robot had decided to keep his clothes on, after all.
Clearer than anything, however, was the misty white silhouette of a woman standing before her.
"...Hello?" asked a bewildered Jay. She had so many questions, from the most basic to the most complex. Was she still in the game? What was this place? How, in this motionless realm, in any realm, was a phantom the only sign of life? But the succubus doubted that she would get any answers from a featureless apparition.
"..."
"Well, this is awkwar-"
"Yeah, I heard you. I was just being edgy and staying silent, because that's what ghosts are supposed to do. I'm sticking to my character here! Unlike you... that 'hello' was a lot less bold and flirty than usual, Jay," the misty woman spoke.
"Well, I don't really swing that way, but if you want the flirty me, then... how do you know me? Because I'd like to get to know you better~" the succubus replied, mustering enough confidence through all her confusion.
"Eh, good enough. But to answer your question, all you need to know is that I'm here to warn you of something sinister," the figure began. "For this is divine intervention."
Jay didn't know how to respond. She had a second round of questions in her head now. Was this a glitch? An Easter egg? A moderator contacting her? The in-game deity of Hyper Zero Fantasy World?
"I'm none of those, sweetie," the woman read her mind. "I am one of the many gods that control your actions and those of your teammates. Right now, the Sirius Crusaders are in grave danger, worse than anything that the Three-Horned Dragon can do."
"I... okay, I don't know what some of that even means and I'm sure the answer is a total mindfuck, so just tell me this: what danger are you talking about?"
"Straight to the point. Just like everyone's manhood as soon as they lay eyes on you..." the apparition smirked. "...So I'll be straight with you. You and your teammates are stuck in the Loop."
"The Loop?"
"Yes, the Loop. It is a phenomenon in which RPers are stuck at some point in the story, making the same kinds of posts over and over, not really getting anywhere, until there's nothing new to add. Then they lose interest, and the replies stop coming. The situation you're in right now is a perfect example of that. All of you have just been hitting the dragon over and over, doing little damage but sustaining little yourselves, so this fight has dragged on with no progression in either direction. I mean, you don't really have a choice; you can't make your attacks do a lot, or else the Three-Horned would be too easy. You also don't want to take too much damage yourselves, because you're trying not to look weak. So you're stuck in this limbo, forced to attack it endlessly, accomplishing nothing and eventually boring yourselves out of posting... That, Jay, is the Loop."
The succubus felt as if her brain was being sucked into Swirl's U.N.I.T. Pipe.
She was usually the one giving brain (she's very smart), getting piped (her dad is a plumber), and doing the sucking (she sucks in battle), so this was the most unbearable sensation she'd ever experienced. It was as if she were spiraling along the nine circles of Hell down to the very bottom, unable to wrap her head around anything that the phantom was saying with quite the same circularity.
"I don't understand any of it! What the hell is an RPer?! We're fighting as hard as we can! Of course we don't want to take damage!"
"Sigh... let me give you another example. A dance at a romantic power high school that drags on and on with no climax, no unifying event that brings the characters together. So the kids continue to dance aimlessly, the posts becoming shorter and shorter, doing little to move the plot along. They're trying to make the event last long enough for the plot, but posts with no progression will never fill that void, no matter how many more there are. Quality over quantity. A few replies that actually get the ball rolling will make the dance a much more complete arc. Alas, these poor children are stuck in the Loop, and the RP has slowed considerably. You never want to stay in the same place or do the same thing for too long, because repetition leads to boredom."
"Like your long-winded explanations?"
"Fuck you."
"Yeah, I know time is frozen and all, but I don't have all day. I'm being serious with you, not the way I am around my teammates, so I'd appreciate it if you got to the point and dumbed it down even more."
"Fine! You want dumb? I'll give you dumb! Think of the Loop as a dark spell! You fight using dark spells, right? Great, now I'm speaking your language! The Demon Lord of Hyper Zero Fantasy World has cast a spell of increasing boredom over all of cyberspace! So you'll have to defeat the Three-Horned while afflicted by this omnipresent curse! Quickly, or you'll succumb!"
"I usually swallow it whole, but whatever."
"Haha, very funny," the ghosted woman replied unenthusiastically. "But you need to do something! Break the Loop! Continue the story! Your teammates are counting on you right now! You told them you had a plan! They don't know what they're doing without you, so get in there!"
"I barely have any health left! I'm powerless!" Jay cried.
"Sometimes," the apparition reflected, "RP's are powerless, too. Even when there's still interest, even when there's no Loop, they can die simply because the people involved are no longer active on the site. But we have to rise again, Jay. Rise like a phoenix, whose fire burns so brightly that it consumes the flames that cloak the enemy before you. You haven't lost until you've given up."
"I still don't know what half of that means, but... you're right. Somehow," the succubus conceded.
"Glad we're finally on the same page. Now, when I snap my fingers, the world will start moving again. And the Three-Horned's tail will be smacking Raigh from behind, into Rairah so that they kiss, because I shipped them in the discussion. Now, I can't write that in myself; I can only set it in motion, or else it would be a forced hit. Next, a stalactite will be falling on Lerry's head," concluded the phantom. "Now I must be going."
"Wait! Will I see you again?" Jay asked.
"Only when you're in serious danger. But if you level up your Lipstick as high as it can go, you just might be able to summon me..." the ghost answered vaguely. "Now get going! I'm pretty sure I have no friends left after talking all that shit! I'll tag all of them real quick in case they lost notifications
@_obsequious @kyuukestu @Rohan Kishibe @Captain Cardboard @SoulDemon @Not Gyro Zeppeli @Retro Master @ThatJustin’sASpy! @Nebulix ! Anyway, you still have friends, and they need you!"
"One last thing! Who are you...?"
"Yo mama, bitch. Now get back in there!"
With a snap of the phantom's fingers, the cyberspace unfroze, and Jay worked her way out of the wall with a renewed determination to do battle. The flames were no longer eating away at her health, but one more hit would do her in.
"Raigh! Lerry! Watch out! Everyone else, cover me!" she yelled. "I don't mean get on top of me! I mean make sure I don't get hit! And try not to hit me yourselves, though I know you all want to~"
The smirk never faded from Jay's face as she took off and flew toward the nearest marked stalactite.
"Hokus Pokus Rollus Dopus Blastus Focus Lokus Mochus EveryonestandbackcauseI'mbouttalickthisdragonharderthan
@Rohan Kishibe'sprofilepic-us!"
When she recited the incantation, the stone vanished into thin air. She needed to go around and store each of the buried spikes in a pocket dimension. But holding all of them in that alternate space would put enormous pressure on her mind, reducing her movements to a crawl.
Keeping one contained already slowed her significantly. So Jay didn't know if she would be able to dodge the dragon's massive claw, which was bearing down on her right then.
