"Oh my gods, you've, like, totally got to be kidding me!" shouted Taubitha with anger brewing over her face, and indeed building as she continued to pulsate between tauman and beast form in a nauseating disarray of bodily figures and forms. She pointed again at the Supreme Time Protector in disgust, and then glared at Kahli with all her presently terrifying might. "Do you think I'm, like, totally stupid or something? This weird, cloaked figure definitely has something to do with what's happening here!!"
"Less than you'd think," said Kahli under her breath as she activated the scenario.
[Now viewing scenario 1]
The laws of physics had begun to deny themselves through the sinister torment of Princess' evil eye contact with Froufrou. However, regardless, Kahli found herself quickly released from the grasping clasp of Taubitha's clenching fist.
"Like, oh my gods! What in the fucking fuck is going on?" Taubitha was completely confused. She had no idea what was happening, that much was clear.
With that, Kahli grinned inwardly. Taubitha was confused, but she wasn't. With that, and indeed without missing a beat, Kahli snatched Froufrou out of the air and summoned a big rock under her left foot. Then, she kicked that rock as far away as possible, and promptly launched into using her [scalped] [skill] [Barrage of Blows] to promptly kick and punch at Taubitha in such a fashion that not much damage was dealt to her, but indeed that she promptly became stunned.
Froufrou spotted Princess preparing to attack and quickly squelched onto Kahli's face, worn almost like a writhing, squelchy mask in order to protect her [paired] companion. As the fony fluttered towards them in a glittery yet menacing fashion, Froufrou released a blast of [Putrefy], which immediately blasted a wide putrification ray at Princess that stopped the fony in her tracks and coated her in a thick, green goo.
"Nice one, Froufrou!" said Kahli with a little bit of difficulty through Froufrou's writhing tendrils. Froufrou squelched with an appropriate amount of glee and satisfaction for this situation.
"AAAGH! NO! NOOOOO!" screamed Taubitha. Suddenly, she started to morph and transform into her beast shape. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TAKE THAT, BITCH!!"
[Attack blocked]
[Attack blocked]
Kahli gasped in realization. She couldn't keep Taubitha stunned when she was in this form!
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Taubitha laughed. Her voice was ten octaves deeper than it was normally, a harsh contrast from the whiny nasal timbre that she often adopted. "You are, like, totally nothing but a mega foolish fool, Kahli! You'll, like, totally never beat me!!"
However, as Taubitha gloated, Kahli noticed something that her ex-friend clearly had not. See, her big rock had started its arc back home to her big left foot. Presently, it was picking up speed, and indeed it had caught a brilliant pink flame that was promptly igniting all over its surface. Recognizing this, all Kahli had to do was ensure Taubitha kept talking and did not once look to her left. Which was easy enough, as Taubitha loved to hear herself speak, even indeed if her voice was several octaves lower than normal.
"I am the greatest, most powerful tauman that ever existed! Kahli, you are dwarfed by my prowess!" blathered Taubitha.
Kahli just groaned. Taubitha was obviously blowing smoke. Kahli had read records of taumans [paired] with dragons. There was no wayTaubitha was the most powerful tauman ever, [class] notwithstanding. Yet, on she allowed her ex-friend to drone about greatness and power and all sort of unbearably egotistical delusions until it was so that her big, flaming rock was nearly upon them. With that, Kahli adeptly pivoted on her big left foot and moved just out of the way of her rock's arc, resulting in it slamming beautifully into Taubitha's engorged, muscular chest.
[Critical hit]
"AAAAAAAGH!" cried Taubitha as she stumbled, tumbling backwards and landing on the side of G'athoong. As her huge wings - grown even larger by the utilization of her beast form - flapped and flittered, she found herself tumbling, stumbling, rumbling off the side of the dragon and soon sailing down the air.
"Hah!" said Kahli with a smile. But then, she turned to see that Princess was upon her and her [paired] companion. And although the fony was covered in the green goo of Froufrou's [Putrefy], she looking absolutely glistening and sparkling with a sinister power that-
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[End scenario]
Kahli caught herself mid groan. She'd been about to audibly complain about how disappointing it had been to get that scenario cut off before seeing all of the action play out. Then again, there had been an awful lot going on. All that said, as she had guessed, Taubitha was still there in the [checkpoint], and this of course complicated things greatly.
"Like, oh my gods!!" said Taubitha, noticing at once that she was back in the void and in her tauman form. She looked to the Supreme Time Protector, who floated in their brilliant white robes. "What the fuck is this shit? Like, seriously, what the fuck is going on? Why are we back here?"
Kahli wasn't sure how to respond. She worried that anything she said would give away what it was that was going on - namely, that she had a [skill] that allowed her to, essentially, split time into branches and choose the best scenario as she saw fit. And the goal here, of course, was to just leverage [Tale Teller] as much as possible to lie to Taubitha at such caliber that she never grasped what exactly was happening. This was, indeed, the only way to proceed without certain doom - for it had become abundantly clear to Kahli at this point that Taubitha had certain abilities afforded by her new [class] that could certainly spell certain doom for her if she were to misstep and make her aware of what was really happening. Then again, as Kahli had well established, Taubitha was an absolute fool, and as such she had but one course of action that resonated with her - lie boldly forward, and as much as taumanly possible, with the goal of further obfuscating everything from Taubitha.
"What do you mean, back here?" said Kahli dubiously.
Taubitha turned her neck 180 degrees and looked at Kahli with a disgusted and shocked open jaw. "Oh my gods, Klikli, you like, totally cannot be serious with me right now. Are you, like, totally saying that you have, like, totally no idea what's going on? That's, like, so mega insane right now I mean like you cannot be serious, like seriously."
Kahli blinked a few times, a little overwhelmed by Taubitha's babbling word salad. "I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about, Taubitha. I don't know why we're here, but I've certainly never been here before. Are you saying you come here often?"
"Look, Kahli, I have no idea what the fuck is going on here. Are you saying you seriously don't remember being in this weird, empty area before? And with this hooded creep over here who's obviously got something to do with it?" Taubitha pointed an accusatory finger at the Supreme Time Protector.
"Woah! There's another person here?" said Kahli dubiously. "That's crazy, I had no idea, I didn't even notice them."
"Hi there," said the Supreme Time Protector cooly, waving a gloved hand.
"You didn't notice them?!" said Taubitha. Her eyes seemed to be getting wider by the moment. "Klikli, I always knew you were a little aloof, but I didn't know you were, like, totally fucking stupid."
It took everything in Kahli not to burst out laughing at this assertion. Indeed, so it was that Taubitha genuinely believed everything she was saying. It almost was impossible to believe... almost. And yet, here Kahli's ex-friend was, completely convinced that Kahli had no recollection of her own [skill]. What a wild time to be had. Kahli had always wondered what having a system could be like, but she'd never once imagined that it could be anything like this. The irony was not at all lost on her, indeed it was savored to an incredible degree. All that said, Kahli still had work here to do. If she lied successfully enough through [Tale Teller], then by the end of this [checkpoint], Taubitha wouldn't even be sure whether it had happened at all. Kahli wanted to truly grasslight her, make her question her own reality.
"I don't know why not noticing someone when I was suddenly thrown into this strange, empty reality makes me stupid," said Kahli plainly. Playing along, Froufrou released a stinky, affirmative squelch.
Taubitha grimaced and rolled her eyes upwards into her head for a moment, making a soft moaning noise. Kahli knew this look well - this was a bit of an affectation Taubitha employed whenever she was feeling over it while also thinking that everyone around her was dumb.
"Like, oh. My. Gods," said Taubitha with a sigh and a flip of her hair. "I just think that, like, they're totally suspicious. Someone just floating here in this big empty space like they are has to be up to no good."
"Eh, I don't know," said Kahli. "I mean, this is how I see it. Why would someone just kind of floating around be up to no good? They aren't hurting anybody. They're just kind of floating, existing, being. That's hardly cause for alarm, wouldn't you say, Taubitha?"
"Like, I am so totally confused. What the hell are you even saying to me, Kahli?"
Kahli just smiled the fakest grin she could and shook her head. "Look at them, Taubitha." She gestured her living wood hand over to the Supreme Time Protector. "There they are, floating inconspicuously."
"Hi there," replied the Supreme Time Protector with yet another wave.
"Like, oh my gods! Stop saying hi to me!!" said Taubitha with venom. "I know you're up to no good, you... you... YOU!!!" She shook her fist at the Supreme Time Protector impotently.
Kahli snorted a little under her breath, but thankfully it was faint enough that Taubitha took no notice.
"Klikli, this is so fucking weird. It's mega weird is what it is. I just, like, totally can't believe you don't remember being here. Are you trying to trick me or something?"
Kahli felt a tinge of nervousness course through her hearts - even the heart that barely beat ever, at that. With that, she looked to Froufrou, who squelched in the affirmative, and then quickly at the scenario under her big left foot - the scenario that Taubitha had yet still failed to notice.
[Now viewing scenario 2]