"I can only hold Taubitha back for a few more mere moments," declared the Supreme Time Protector with stress as they flexed their gloved fingers and braced themselves as the captive tauman struggled forcefully against their energetic grasp. "Her system is far more powerful than I'd expect from someone who's just barely a level 30. But her [class] supersedes all that at this moment, much like your own [class], Kahli, grants you abilities that similar taumans of your own level might not yet have."
"I feel like that might be a bit of a false equivalency," interjected Kahli with a hint of irritation in her voice. "After all, my [skill] [Seismic Sense] already granted me the power of entering these [checkpoints], the very [checkpoints] that we met during, the very [checkpoints] that allowed me to gain my [class] of [Time Manipulator], and indeed the very [checkpoints] that have allowed me to, time and time again, defeat Taubitha. With that, I really don't think that her [class] is at all comparable, even if it has allowed her to come here into my [checkpoint]."
The Supreme Time Protector sighed, but they did not waver for a moment in their station of sustaining a hold over Taubitha. "Kahli, I understand where you're coming from here, but the functional why regarding the cause of Taubitha's [class] is, at this point, irrelevant. You need to realize with absolute certainty that her power is, at this point, immense. By nature of her [class] and its [attributes], in many ways she has more direct access to power now than you do through your [class], and by extension if she were to but apply even a fraction of intellect towards devising a way to destroy you, then-"
"That's exactly what I mean," interrupted Kahli with a sigh. "She's not going to apply any intellect of any kind towards trying to kill me. Just you watch, Supreme Time Protector. Just you watch."
Froufrou squelched in the affirmative. She would've been more concerned if both Taubitha and Princess were there in the [checkpoint], but indeed it seemed that the vile fony had been at this point evaded. With that, they were thankfully in a situation wherein it was only Taubitha that they had to evade. And Froufrou had seen enough of Taubitha to feel very strongly, including with inferences from her own heightened [INT], that Kahli was indeed right.
"Alright," said the Supreme Time Protector. "Stand back, I'm releasing her!"
Kahli had a moment where she wondered whether it ought to be prudent to go ahead and launch into a scenario. Then again, she felt confident that she could fool Taubitha either way. With that, she decided to trust herself, and she waited, allowing her evil ex-friend to be released from the energetic stronghold of the Supreme Time Protector.
"Like, oh my gods! I'm finally out of that stranglehold!" spat Taubitha as she clenched her fists and stumbled through the void, awkwardly ambling forth and then landing on her knees right at Kahli's feet. She looked up at her old friend for a moment, doe eyed, then she stood up and glared at her with scorn through her glowing amber eyes. "Kahli, like, what in the fucking fuck is going on, you twat?"
Kahli frowned. "Don't talk to me like that, Taubitha." Then, she cleared her throat. It was time to let [Tale Teller] truly shine. If Taubitha had no idea what Kahli's [class] was, well, then Kahli wasn't about to give it away without a fight. Or, ideally, the absence of a fight. "I have no idea what's going on, for your information. I was just about to ask you the same exact thing."
Taubitha frowned and exhaled with an angry, open mouthed gasp. "You've got to be, like, totally kidding me! That's mega sketchy, Kahli."
"Is it?" said Kahli with an eyebrow raise that, she noted, pained the new splotches of living wood on her face ever so slightly. "I don't really think of it that way. After all, from my perspective, all that happened was you invaded my system while I was leveling up, somehow, and then soon after I found myself here, in this weird empty space with this creepy cloaked figure!" Kahli gestured her living wood hand to the Supreme Time Protector for effect.
"Creepy?!" blurted the Supreme Time Protector, with genuine hurt in their tone. "Strange I would understand, it's not like many normal taumans see cloaked figures going around in the day to day. But creepy? Really?"
"Ignore them," said Kahli with a sigh to Taubitha. "I still can't figure out what their deal is, or why it was that they had you kind of bound by all that golden energy a few moments ago. I think maybe they were, um, trying to give you a massage?" Kahli winced a little as she said that. It was, by far, one of the more bogus fabrications she'd dreamed up.
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Taubitha just kind of stared blankly at the Supreme Time Protector for a moment, and then at Kahli, and then back at the Supreme Time Protector. All the while, her mind seemed almost entirely blank, vacant, empty. It was truly a sight to behold, and Froufrou specifically found it a bit disturbing - although she was sure to show the utmost discretion in order to assure she did not interrupt Kahli's method and indeed did not even so much as let loose a squelch of emotional response.
"Like, oh my gods, that's, like, so totally crazy! It's, like, mega crazy is what it is," said Taubitha with enthusiasm. "Like, I'm still going to totally destroy you, Kahli, but like, what the fuck is this weird hooded skank's deal?"
"N-now Taubitha," said Kahli with a sigh and raised hands, "We don't necessarily know if they're a skank or anything, and-"
"Like, oh my gods, Kahli! Stop trying to, like, totally play speech police! If my fony were here I'd totally have her, like, blow your head up with her [skill]!"
Kahli gasped. Froufrou squelched. The Supreme Time Protector groaned.
"Look, Taubitha, look," Kahli took a deep breath, "Let's try and level here."
"Like, EW! Oh my gods, Kahli, I would like, totally never level with you if you were the, like, total last tauman on the face of Nomachiato!" Taubitha looked around the void and made a little mouselike squeak. "Um, we are like, totally still on the face of Nomachiato. Right?"
"I genuinely have no idea," said Kahli, relieved not to have to lie for a moment. She'd never fully ascertained where it was that the void was located. In fact, she hadn't even thought about it for such a long time, just assuming the void as an inevitability instead of a novel thing, that indeed she hadn't considered asking the Supreme Time Protector. Maybe they knew more about the void than the cruel jellyfish that had originally inhabited the space alongside herself and Froufrou. "That being said, if I had to hazard a guess, Taubitha, I'd say we might not be. Regardless, though, I'd strongly consider the option that we're trapped here by, uh, unforeseen forces."
"Like, oh my gods, what does that mean?"
Kahli slapped her forehead with her living wood hand. She knew Taubitha wasn't very smart, but was she really admitting that she didn't even understand what Kahli had just said to her? Kahli had to step back and take a deep breath before continuing. "I'm saying that something deep and mysterious has grabbed us and taken us out of where we were and put us in this strange... this strange empty space, this, this void... This, um, this void of doom!" Kahli waved her hands around for effect.
Froufrou let loose a loud, warbling squelch with a plentiful helping of vibrato for enhanced emphasis.
"Like, oh my gods, doom?" Taubitha scoffed with a smirk. "That's, like, so totally wild. If this is some sort of a doom scenario, like, I'm so totally sad Princess isn't here. Princess, like, totally loves doom. But, like, what do you mean by something deep and mysterious? Like, isn't it obvious why we're all here?"
Kahli's eyes shot wide, and she could feel her hearts beating faster and faster. She took a deep breath before answering. "...No?"
Taubitha looked to the Supreme Time Protector with a vicious determination. "Like, it's totally them, whoever they are! Like, oh my gods, Kahli, are you like aloof as a brick or something? They are like, so obviously the cause of this! I bet it's because, like, they want to sap our system energy or something because we're both [paired] to creatures with systems!"
It took Kahli a moment to process all of this, mainly because she was mentally doubling over Taubitha's assertion that she was the stupid one. Regardless, at least the majority of Kahli's plan had worked out - she was, seemingly, in the clear for Taubitha realizing that this was all happening due to her [skill] [Seismic Sense]'s ability to allow her to control the branching and flow of time through [checkpoints]. At the same time, it seemed that it had somewhat backfired in that Taubitha was now transforming into her beast form in full preparation to launch an attack on the Supreme Time Protector. She couldn't have that - the Supreme Time Protector, while they seemed quite powerful enough on their own, also had a bit of a habit of dying in Kahli's experience. Seeing as they were the mentor that had bestowed the [Time Manipulator] [class] on her and Froufrou, Kahli didn't really like the idea of allowing that to proceed. So, she tried again to redirect her ex-friend.
"Taubitha! Wait!" Kahli held out a hand.
"Like, oh my gods! WHAT, Kahli?!" Taubitha's voice was filled with a deep, venomous hatred. "Do you really think I'm messing around here? Like, if I got totally kidnapped, then I'm going to fight my way out of it!"
"But, uh, but how do we know they had anything to do with this?" asked Kahli anxiously.
"What do you mean?" Taubitha's face was frozen into a scowl. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that the sole stranger here in this weird, empty plane has nothing to do with the fact that we're seemingly trapped here?!"
Kahli nodded slowly, feeling incredibly uncomfortable in this moment. "Yes?"
Taubitha opened her mouth and took a deep breath, doubtlessly preparing to say something uncouth. However, Kahli was over trying to play ball. It was time, in her mind, to cut her losses and try to get through this [checkpoint] somehow. With that, she glanced quickly down at her big foot and beheld the first scenario.
"Let's go for it, Froufrou," she whispered.