Submersion

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2012-03-26

"Alright, Allie, now, just lay down here."

Allie laid down on the couch. It looked... Normal. She for starters couldn't find any reason why this couch could have VR application of any kind. It wouldn't look out of place in a furniture store.

"Clearly enunciate in your head 'Log in to DaCre Test Server Alpha' and then 'User: 1' and 'Password Signature Fishines Distract Cold'."*

She blinked for a moment. Seriously? But as she thought about the ridiculousness of this, mulling over each phrase she was supposed to think about, she found herself falling away from the white ceiling above her.

~~

~To have come this far in the creation of another world...~ A tiny pulse went out through both worlds.. A small encoded message, capable of being picked up by beings with the ability to read and see through data signals.. Most DaCre would barely notice it, such as the brushing up against another Data Signal of a long distant DaCre, somewhat noticeable for human world DaCre, but not for DaCre world DaCre. Those with incredibly acute senses would be able to locate its origin, Kairik or another world. Roeh could read it.

It was followed by coordinates. Roeh might recognize them as the location of the battle against the Angel who had acquired many forms.**

~~

Welcome to the DaCre Test Server Alpha.

Allie glanced at the words. Wait a second? She looked hard at them. She suddenly couldn't tell whether she was seeing them or imagining them, like those phantom splotches you get when you close your eyes.

They disappeared, and she glanced about.

A desert? Sandy place. Everything felt a little off, like she wasn't sure whether she was feeling or imagining it. But.. Wow.

Second tester logging in now. Upon determination of the match terms, your DaCre will materialize.

*Each user's password will be a different combination of four words that are suitably random and do not need to make grammatical sense. Or technically be words.

**I intend to involve PIT through Roeh, if Roeh is the type to inform PIT of the disturbance, if he is asked to. If not, I'll figure something else out.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

"Why are there being so many people in suits?" Petra was certainly not the kind of person who cared about looking silly, but even she was beginning to doubt that a "Kairik Bunny-Zombies" basketball jersey, black jeans, and green shutter-shades (she had seen them in a funny movie on the internets) were the right choice for her first day on the job.

"Oh, it's just Casual Friday," Nate comfortingly joked, trying to lead her out of the hallway and into the testing grounds. The joke was apparently not picked up by Petra, who simply stared at Nate for a moment. As far as she could tell, their version of "Casual Fridays" and hers were very, veeeery different.

"I can be changing and coming back," Petra offered.

"Really, it's fine. You'll be glad you wore something comfy, in fact. And, we're here!" Nate almost had to wave her through the door, but didn't let it sour his day. In fact, he was pretty sure her ridiculous clothes had actually made the day of some of the people they'd passed. Staring at a computer screen could get old really fast around the CDC.

"Is this the waiting room?" Petra stared at the couches around her. It looked like the stuff she saw in the windows at big furniture stores. Annoyingly one-colored and boring, but at the same time with the unspoken promise that sitting on it would be the defining moment of her tush's sitting career. In fact, someone was already asleep on one of the couches. This was a very strange company: everyone wore suits, but they still had slackers that napped in the middle of the day.

Nate cleared his throat. "No, this is the actual room. We can moniter your progress from outside, but, this is it." Nate gestured around. "You just have to lay on one of these, and then recite, in your head 'Log in to DaCre Test Server Alpha'. Then 'User: 2' and 'Password Signature: Kitty Litter Party Palace.' Can you remember all that?"

"Yes, Premier General!" Petra offered a salute, and sat on one of the benches. "Oh, and... I is sorry for ruckus at door. I did not wish to draw you from the busy work."

"That's just fine, Miss Giovanna. I'm sure where you're from it's normal to... Punch your guide in the head until he loses conciousness, when you greet him." Nate offered a hopefully convincing smile, but when Petra simply nodded gravely at this statement, he began to wonder if Advancted Tester and not their Soldier program was the right department for this girl... Oh well. Done was done.

As Nate filed out of the room, Petra took the time to poke the other sleeping woman once first. She truly did seem out of it. Shrugging, Petra laid back on her own assigned bench, removed her silly sunglasses, and recited in her head the phrase she had been given.

~What kind of password is Kitty Litter Party Palace any-~

* * *

Welcome to the DaCre Test Server Alpha.

"Is FULL of kitty litter!?" Petra blinked, swatting the words in front of her face as they faded to get a better view of what looked like an infinite expanse of kitty litter in front of her. But a second glance proved that it was, in fact, normal sand, and she calmed back down. This was the "V of R" thing they mentioned to her in their initial message. It really did feel like she was in a desert too... Too hot, and with a constant feeling of sand going into her tennis shoes.

As she noticed the sand, Petra also noticed the presense of the other woman from the couch-chamber, and her expression brightened. "And you are being the sleepy lady, yes?" Petra extended her hand for a shake to the other arrival, making sure to wave it once first in her face to make sure her companion was equally awake. "I am Petra Giovanna. I will be doing the DaCre with you here, yes?"

Admin Posts : 37 Join date : 2012-03-23

Log in to DaCre Test Server Alpha... User: 3... Password Fractured Underlying Attack Quill.

Welcome to the DaCre Test Server Alpha.

Alphonse blinked, rubbing his eyes, trying ineffectually to focus on the words. Their presence regardless of whether his eyes were open or closed was... annoying, to say the least. Then again, it was probably safer to have it that way, in case someone had to close their eyes for some reason during some crucial message. They faded away in a moment anyway, making his concern redundant.

Looking around, he let out a whistle. A wide expanse of desert stretched out around him as far as he could see, the air above the golden sand shimmering in front of the clear blue sky. This was... beautiful. It wasn't often he got to see a dynamic landscape like this, and to have one just open up in front of him like this... He felt as though he should say something to commemorate the occasion.

"Desert, desert, everywhere,
And not a drop to drink.
But were beauty counted the same,
I would have an ocean."

Alphonse paused. "Not my best work... at least, not that last line... Still, not bad for an on-the-spot thing."

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Allie's response was to meet Petra's hand as she was waving it, pull it down and give her as firm handshake as she could manage, while saying "I sincerely hope not." This was said with cheery tone, smile, and eyes that were mismatched with a completely incredulous set of eyebrows.

"So... The thingie said something about match terms.. So.. Basic, 0 point fight?"

~~

User 3, there is a delay in User 4's login, would you like to fight a stock DaCre? Please specify a point level for both DaCre.

Admin Posts : 37 Join date : 2012-03-23

Alphonse moaned, shaking his head around in futility, rubbing his eyes. He really hoped this text wouldn't be a reoccurring thing after these initial things. He read the text after a moment, though, and pondered. He actually didn't remember what any of the point values were. They affected rank, he recalled, but... he couldn't remember how. That... might not be a good thing.

"Um... ten?" he said hesitantly, picking the number at random and crossing his fingers.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

Petra frowned. "If we are be fighting to zero points, how would we be deciding victor? I would have to be punching pretty hard to knock out sleeping girl."

The realization that this was not in fact, a martial arts match in which points were taken, reminded Petra that she was here for her DaCre to fight- not to spar with the other tamer. They had mentioned Tamers getting involved to her, but this was probably not the way they meant. With this, she made a foolish grin and nodded in consent.

"Ah... Eh, yes. We can be starting with that." Petra stepped what seemed a respectable distance away, trying to picture in her head where the DaCre might appear between them. When nothing immediately happened, Petra offered, to no one in particular: "Umm... Go-go Gadget D-Rank DaCre?"

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Go-Go Gadget D-Rank Activated.

Between the pair of them, a two legged silver pocket watch, with eyes on it's face and a hat suitable for the inspector atop the nub where you would attach the chain, materialized into existence about two inches from the ground, where it promptly fell into the sand and struggled to get up.

A vague voice could be heard "Damn it, Huxley!"

A few moments passed, before suddenly, their respective DaCres materialized into existence, a striped skunk featuring the card symbol for spades between his eyes and bearing a tiny fedora hat upon his head for Allie, and for Petra... *insert Ark's stuff about the materialization here chronologically *

"Why, hello, my lovely ladies." Felix declared, as he gave his cheesiest, sleaziest grin and wink.

~~

Mystral Endellion materialized, a human DaCre. Her hair was a pale blue, that almost looked white where light shone upon it the brightest. Her skin was a extremely pale and unblemished and her eyes a silvery gray. Her hairstyle was non-symmetrical with two buns, the one on the right smaller and slightly farther forward, with two slightly pale purple icicles to affix her hair in place with a white stripe around them. The other, larger bun, had a single matching icicle, but had a white ribbon was tied around it, and it fell almost to her shoulders. Finally, on the subject of hair, she had her part on the left side, and her long but sparse bangs were pushed to the side, slightly over her right eye, and to a point halfway down her neck. She stood at 5'7", with a thin, but still slightly curvy, well endowed for her size build.

Her arms were covered in an underlayer of an almost bodysuit like very light gray, which had stiff, rigid, possibly reinforced plates of darker grey cloth attached, almost like an armor, mostly on the forearms and shoulders, with a flange to cover the back of the hands. The flanges that covered the shoulders met around the back, but left her chest and neck open. Around her neck, a wide collar of some dark grey metal with a difficult to make out symbol on it. Around her chest, there were more of these plates, forming almost corset like around her chest, and more around her breasts, which, while covering almost all of them, were of debatable modesty, as she had a very deep and wide neckline, her armpits almost visible.

She wore a skirt that went about 3/5ths of the way to her knees, belted with a large belt that was only slightly visible below her upper garments, and from this belt, another piece of fabric hung over the skirt, which covered her sides and back almost down to her boots, but left the front open. Her boots, of similar composition to her "gloves", went about 2/3rds of the way to her knees.

In her right hand, she carried a deep blue object that kind of resembled a cross between a wand, and an axe designed to look like a horse head, all made out of pieces of crystal that weren't exactly touching each other. Around her at about waist height floated a white misty glyph.

"Ready?" She asked in a cold manner, but non-dismissive manner, as Alphonse's own DaCre had by now materialized in C rank.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

"Awwww," Petra's face lit up at the sight of Felix. "Is being cute-smelly thing they have in forest! And he thinks he is sailor!"

Though she didn't seem to grasp the hat's actual origins, there was no doubt that Petra was positively squealing over the small, suddenly realistic animal. Her own DaCre's appearance however, brought her to a complete halt, a frozen, indecipherable look on her face.

"Ow! Wait, wait I've got..." The two-headed DaCre fell with much less poise into position, one head ending up flat on the ground while the other, Parquis, with her proper thorny shawl, stayed up top. The one protesting, Floppity, was flailing with her arms to remain upright, but instead of landing neatly, she only managed to flip them over in the oppositre direction, taking a relieved sigh as Parquis squirmed in the sand.

"Ptew!" Finally rolling to land squarely onto her feet, Parquis scowled, looking over her shoulder at her sister. "You absolutely covered me in sand! It's even in my shawl! What did I tell you about my shawl?"

Floppity shuffled her hoof in the sand. "Not to get it dirty."

"Not to get it dirty!" Parquis grumbled, but then relented, reaching up their rear hoof to pat her sister on the head. "Now, now, don't make that face. Presentable, Floppity. Ten-hut!"

Floppity popped up, squared her back, and put her nose slightly in the air, a smile on her face. "Presentable!"

"That's right, now-"

The words were blown right out of her mouth as Parquis felt arms wrap around her form and squeezing. Petra had caught them both in a bear hug, and was now poking the sheepony's face with her finger, as if to make sure what she was seeing was really there and not an illusion.

"It is being more perfect than I imagined!" Confident in it's existence, Petra swung her DaCre back and forth, before setting the pair down again and looking at Parquis, then Floppity in turn. "You are be being so cute! And so with the fluffy-ness!"

Floppity blushed and grinned excitedly at the praise, but Parquis, noticing their company, only balked at the sudden outpour of affection. This was not what proper pony DaCre did when meeting a guest! Gently putting her hoof on Petra's head, Parquis shifted her view to the other DaCre-Tamer pair.

"Darling, remember your priorities here. A lady, does not get down in dirt and leave her guests waiting." Her tone seemed to calm Floppity down too, the sheepony and their Tamer looking downright... well... Sheepish at being called out.

"Okay." Petra nodded, and then let out a small giggle and pinched Parquis's cheek anyway. The sheepony only glared, and, at last, her Tamer stood back to face Allie.

"Okay, now okay for real. I is not wanting to make you wait while I is having life-changing moment with favorite-since childhood companion."

"Awww, that's so sweet." Floppity offered truthfully, but another glare from Parquis silenced her once again.

"We should be waiting no longer then, yes?" Squaring her footing as if she was about to have a boxing match, Petra clenched both her fists and shouted. "Let's begin! Parquis, Thorn Spike!"

The prim DaCre braced herself, and one of the long, thick thorns on the left side of her shawl went shooting out, a long string following it straight towards the small skunk. They had no way of telling what the other DaCre might try for its first move, but keeping it on its toes was always a good start!

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"Aw, you didn't have to stop your life-changing moment for me, I'm a patient skunk." Felix tilted his head down to let himself slyly peer from underneath his fedora at the trio.

At "Let's Begin", Felix pulled his right forepaw, up and across his other, and then batted it out, backhanded, scattering twelve dice into the desert, and steadying himself onto the sand.

As the spike neared him, he grinned, letting it come close, before he disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared, at the site of one of his scattered dice, having just closed about half the distance between them forward, but was now one quarter of the distance they were originally away from each other to the left.

"Course, that don't mean I'm slow." He pulled his left paw up to the fedora and gave it a tip. He had retained his original orientation, so he could glance sidelong slightly at Parquis and Floppity with his right eye, even when the hat tipped.

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:17 am

To anyone else in the city, it might as well have been an irrelevant radio wave; just a minor electrical surge that could have been caused by any amount of solar or cosmic sources constantly bombarding the planet on a regular basis. For those that had the ability to translate this code, however, it was a frightening proposition... an entirely new digital plane being made, somewhere between the fabric of the real world and the DaCre one?

Ah, but I get ahead of myself. Roeh Toruga's story here begins in the suburbs of Kairik City, in one of those expensive-looking houses in the middle of the woods that so-often get overlooked. After all, for one so good at rigging slot machines, digital poker, and even high-stakes Keno, being under the radar was usually the best way to go. The only way anyone would ever be able to find him, was to track a massive amount of underground supercomputers, shielded by Roeh's own design, giving a constant analysis of the events of the DaCre plane: an endless stream of encrypted data only a select few could ever hope to make sense of.

"I've already told you, you're probably overreacting, Alice. This whole thing seems as harmless as a game of laser tag."

Roeh had a rather persistent visitor at the time, a C-ranked android by the name of 'Alice'. She was currently facing Roeh's back, giving a sigh as the man in his late 20s continued to type away on a computer, 'looking' at a world whose door had long gone away.

"Really? A program to 'enhance' the DaCre experience-"

"-Every sanctioned tournament has had its own terminal, and the DaCre plane isn't aware of those. How can this be any different then-"

At once, Roeh grasped his head... just what was this 'signal'? It was weak, a pulse, and yet it had vivid words to it... some kind of 'coordination'?

"Well?" Alice crossed her arms, looking smartly down at the boy. "Believe me now?"

__________________________

"Sheesh, you felt the signal too... and do you honestly think that just the two of us should be investigating this?"

They had left the expensive house quickly enough, now in one of Roeh's cars, Alice driving. If they were looking to be undetected, perhaps they shouldn't have gone with his black BMW, but it was the only thing with an engine not obnoxious enough for Alice to drive.

"Oh, lighten up... I have equal status with the FBI, and you're a god of security and data transmissions. Anyone who looks like a DaCre is only going to draw attention to themselves... besides, Arthur and Lily are in Europe anyway."

"Well, whatever... take a left here, it should be at our right. Shall we try the front door, first?"

"... With this security..."

Parking at the curb, a parking meter across the street, Roeh stepped out as Alice locked up. Not wanting to blow his cover if it was in question, instead of convincing the meter that he had 16 hours on a 2 hour limit, he simply just slid quarters into the slot, before looking back over the building in question.

Standing back, Alice pressed the button for the intercom: "Excuse me, we're here to ask a few questions about your project."

Flashing her FBI badge to the security camera, she hoped that it was enough to be given access to the building.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

"Oh, heavens no. Just confident." Parquis said it as a legitimate compliment, but at the same time had a sly smile on her face. Echoing her own thoughts, Petra shouted out.

"Whip it, and be spanking it!" Petra punched the air. "Floppity: Munch-Cannon!"

Parquis spun around, pedalling in a half circle as she whipping the thorn on its thread so that the area around the middle of the sticky thread'ss length would (if it hit) strike Felix around the midriff, while Floppity became the head facing the tiny skunk.

As they spun, Parquis (with a look of utter disgust running across her face), scooped up a mouthful of sand in her mouth and swallowed, and Floppity almost immediately opened her own mouth and fired off their round. The sand had now been compacted into a sturdy, easily form holding ball of hard sand, and was aimed not for Felix himself but directly above him. The obvious dodge for their earlier spike would be to simply jump, and if he did, they'd be nailing him right in the kisser.

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Kyotei formed as if from the breeze, facing Mystral. His clothing consisted of tight black pants and an equally form-fitting shirt with holes in the back to allow for his wings. Anything loose or baggy could create unnecessary air resistance. A gentle breeze tousled his short cyan hair, a gust of sand swirling in between them.

His face was impassive, cyan blue eyes surveying the battlefield briefly. Mostly flat, lots of sand, and lots of heat. Should make flight easy, he thought to himself, as well as some other things... He flipped off a two-fingered mock salute. "Yes, quite. Then let's begin."

Opting to start things off cautiously, not liking the looks of the glyph around his opponent, he walked towards her, tense, ready to spring into action. It seemed he was permitting her the first move...

Alphonse stared at Kyotei, his DaCre brought to life. This was incredible... but he had a battle to fight. He pondered, trying to think of some strategies to employ...

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"Come in. I'm reasonably certain I left the door unlocked, and if not, I don't mind terribly if you dismantle it, even in a permanent manner, in order to enter. Just make sure the majority of its mass is on site." A voice called out in answer. It seemed slightly weary, and masculine. There were no data signals to be sensed inside the building, so, it didn't seem like there was a DaCre inside. Still, it was an odd way of speaking.

~~

Felix's dodge was to let the whipping thread come close, before teleporting to one of his dice that the thread had already passed, which were slowly making a circle with Parquis and Floppity at the center. He did not move closer to Parquis and Floppity with this movement, it was only lateral. It was his go-to dodging method until he figured out his enemy's attacks, and his face had momentarily showed his utter confusion at the words "Munch-Cannon". This movement threw off the Munch-Cannon follow up attack.

"Stop being so polite to the ladies, and attack! Yatzhee!" Allie cried out, a bit frustrated that Felix was on the complete defensive.

With another toss of the dice, the five black dice were flung to form a pentagram, one point facing towards Felix, with Parquis and Floppity at the center of the formation.

"Sorry, gals." Felix looked down, almost genuinely sorry sounding, as he triggered the attack. In one sense, this was almost sweet. On the other hand, it amply demonstrated that nigh narcissistic confidence.

~~

Opening her left palm towards the sky, she glanced sunward for a moment before a crackling ball of "electricity" appeared in her palm. She gently pulled her hand back for a moment before whipping her hand forward, sending the ball crackling towards Kyotei.

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:56 am

[blockquote]"Understood."

Well, it wasn't the CDC building... could there have been a chance that this was an entirely unrelated incident? Stowing away her badge, Alice took a brief step back, glancing over to Roeh. He was currently looking near-absentmindedly back towards the road... so much destruction that many years ago. Even now, Kairik was still stuck in the process of rebuilding this business area:

"Fond memories, huh?"

"Oh, shove it." Alice gripped the doorknob and turned: even if it was locked, it would have broken under the android's force. Slowly, she stepped inside. Alice didn't draw her weapon, but kept her hands near-enough to them just in case they became relevant. Still, something was off:

"No data signal here." Roeh's comment was brief, glancing around the place. "What do you make of it?"

"Like it matters. Just keep up your guard."

"Roger..."

This could very well be a trap. But if it is, who are they trying to target... me, or PIT?

Where are you...

[/blockquote]

Admin Posts : 37 Join date : 2012-03-23

Kyotei, dodge it and get to close range!

Kyotei as she threw the ball, ducking under it with inhuman speed. He was enhanced not only with his passive ability, but also manipulated the wind with his innate to speed his movements, pushing and pulling him in his intended direction. The sand around him kicked up slightly, and trailed behind him as he sped towards Mystral, one arm drawn back slightly, palm forward, the other held off to the side slightly, arm equally tense and ready.

Alphonse was equally tense, waiting for the right moment...

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

The expression on Felix's face when the two sisters used their Munch-Cannon and whip combo (or perhaps it was simply the lady-like finesse with which Parquis performed her part) was quite the confidence builder. Such a confidence builder that they decided there was little reason to change most of their tactics- And those dice being thrown everywhere, offering him more and more teleporting space, were not helping matters.

So Parquis decided not to stop spinning her Thorn Spike at all. Instead, she started spinning even faster and, when her Tamer realized her intent, shouted out again.

"Thorn Spike!"

Parquis fired a second thorn spike from her right side, the direction this time barely even relevent to her, though it was opposite that of the original and between it and her original they, deftly, knocked far away the freshest wave of the annoying little dice with a spinning-thread cyclone of considerable reach. She was only so tall, and tumbling-in-air dice were not the fastest objects around, their descent easily slow enough for the twin-threads to whip them good.

The spikes had stopped getting farther away from Parquis at this point- At the edge of their rope, so to speak. But at this range they were able to do more than just swat falling dice. Parquis had begun staggering closer to the small skunk, and Felix himself was in imminent danger of being "webbed". Even some of his already placed teleporting dice were effectively unuseable- The moment he teleported to the dice directly to the left or right of his current position he'd just be forced to dodge immediately again as the threads came along for another round. It wasn't fast... But she was finding out his strategies too. And he wasn't going to be able to run nearly so well the more she did.

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Pay no attention to the man behind the curtains.

Or rather, pay a lot of attention to him.

There was a figure standing between and behind two bunched up curtains in the otherwise abandoned building. It had walls, ceiling, floors, and that was pretty much it. No internal security cameras. The curtains and their strings still swayed, as though they had just been pulled, to reveal the figure as they entered.

The figure was either a robot of significant stature or heavily, heavily armored.

The armor had a white base color, and perky green for highlights. The body had such thick armor plates, that were applied over lighter plates that covered the joints, that it was hard to say whether it was armor or its own entity. It had a strong Japanese Anime vibe, almost like one of the darker super-sentai style robots. There was of course, a completely concealing mask.

Around the shoulders there was a brown cape, currently pulled back as to not obscure, but the bunches showed that it could normally be pulled over and around to conceal the armor, though it wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous in Kairik except at cosplay conventions.

"I've come to speak you about what's going on in the CDC building and the DaCre world. I don't know why, but whatever server they are setting up has attracted the attention of someone with clout with Exemplar's descendents. They're aiming to do something to it, and I've already spotted signals of it, though I haven't a clue what they're doing. However, I also spotted some sort of shielding they're doing to their actions. Whoever is doing it, knows about you and is trying to keep you from realizing they're doing something. Thus, I figured the best way to thwart them, was to inform you."

He turned, halfway, away from them.

"That's all I think I've got to say. Speak now, or go.

~~

Mystral's eyes widened for a moment as Kyotei's speed was suddenly displayed, then she visibly gritted her teeth and her brow furrowed slightly as she turned. She slid her left foot forward, digging her heels and hunching slightly as if bracing for impact..

Her left hand crackled with slight bursts of energy, as she hoped to distract him from the ice she was subtly sending out below as a sheet to make him loose his footing as he came close.

~~

"Crap.."

As he saw the incoming attacks, one of his dice shot back and up, and he teleported to it, though it was slower than his normal attacks, though, and as he arrived at the die, a pile of earth was under him and his elevated position, which he used to jump further up and back, beyond the thorn whip's current range..

"DaaaAAAAaaahmmm... You're a tough act to follow, ladies, and I'm the one who can disappear." Felix seemed worried.

Allie facepalmed, whatever they had done with the AI for these things was over the top. "Stop complimenting the enemy and think of a way to attack the enemy..."

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Alphonse took note of the crackling energy, but it didn't deter him. He trusted Kyotei to be able to avoid an attack. The plan was about to reach fruition, it seemed...

Kyotei never reached the ice, since it was only reaching out three feet from her (assuming the sheet of ice wasn't incredibly slowed by the heat of the desert) and his closest range of attack was effectively seven. His left arm swept in front of him in a slicing motion as he became about eight feet from her, top right to bottom left, but with no visible effect. His air cutter was a focused attack, not really disturbing the air around him, and therefore not disturbing the sands. As he did so, he briefly stopped manipulating the air around him, slowing slightly, legs tensing as if about to leap. His right arm tensed as well, clearly readying for some sort of sharp movement.

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:50 am

"Are you nervous? That's normal. You may have a slight dizziness from the vertigo, but it doesn't last very long." The attendant seemed nice enough, albeit he was quite naturally misinterpreting the reasons behind Matthew's twitching motions.

Eager for the stimuli, the young boy quickly picked up on the potential for talk. The moment he started so did the rest of him, his arms making wide gestures to convey his words.

"O-oh no I'm not nervous, why would I be nervous I'm elated. I'm really eager to see the designs and input built into the worlds. I'm an architectural design major, did I mention that. Yeah, here on an internship. 'So' excited to see all the planning that went into this so I'm really really fine so if we can get this show on the road I'm all set just plug me in yessire I am ready!"

...

"Thaaaat's great sir, but I can't really do that if you don't-lay-still."

"Eh? Ah! Ohkay...yeah."

"Right then just think to yourself 'Log into DaCre Test Server Alpha' along with 'User 4' and finally your passcode, 'Death by Text Books'.

"B-by what? Can't I change that last bit? I don't really go for cruel irony."

"...ummm, no."

"Awwww, fine."

-----------------------------------

"Seriously whoever 'actually' died by-"

Before the text could even fade from his vision, before a bolt of electricity and a blur of feathers blasted before him. Matthew stumbled backwards in a combination of surprise and the forewarned vertigo. As things began to focus, he slowly got a firmer grasp of the situation.

"W-wha?! Okay 'seriously' designers?! You put me in a perilous scenario right from the start, and as if that isn't enough NO ARCHITECTURE! What exactly am I supposed to do now?"

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

"It isn't polite to swear in front of a lady. But I appreciate the compliment." Parquis was managing to sound quite composed, considering how dizzy she was going to soon be getting from all this spinning. Having two heads helped however; they were an effectively balanced body, always aware of where they were going from where they were spinning from because of their other head, and unlike humans, naturally suited to switches and reversals. They could be at this for effectively hours, not that they'd need it.

Still, this was reaching it's own dilemma. The skunk had no choice, at the moment, but to stay away from them, out of range, and while they could easily fire at him willy-nilly until something hit, that would probably wear them out before it did him. They were excelling at the moment... Most of his dice were stuck under their spinning attack, and with what was left his supernatural-dodging wouldn't be doing him much good. Which meant they needed to press the offensive.

Petra thought hard. What could a giant fan-like circle of cyclonic fan-like doom do for them besides keeping the enemy away? Sitting there, so fan-like, and like a fan? A fan that would steadily blow outwards, as fans are kin to do, just as it would knock out his dice? A fan that-

"Oh for Salem's sake, darling, ask Floppity to use her innate." Parquis offered the suggestion on her own, and Petra blinked, shocked. She would have gotten around to it herself but for an AI in such a strange situation to be able to think of a plan like that, without her help...

It was, as they called it in this country, "super wicked-rad".

"Floppity, be using your innate!"

The sheepony, looking ecstatic at the option of being useful, took a deep breath- and then started to exhale. And exhale. ...And exhale. There was no, apparent, effect. Though... did the sands smell a bit more like fresh cut roses than a second ago?

The small plume Floppity constantly breathed out was being quickly dispersed across a much bigger range the desert by their makeshift fan. Sure, it wouldn't be a *terribly* fast spread... But Floppity had no reason to stop, and the idea of just staying out of Parquis and Floppity's range had just come to an abrupt halt. The depressing perfume would likely Felix entirely unawares at first and start its work of slowing him, but even once he realized that deserts aren't supposed to smell so flowery, he would be faced with an infinitely billowing wave of the stuff for (assuming their arena wasn't really an infinite space) as far as he could flee.

Parquis, unaffected by anything but the delightful smell itself, thought it was a beautiful, very lady-like way to take an enemy down.

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2012-03-26

Mystral matched the swipe of Kyotei's with her own, vaguely figuring it was an attack, and that if she was wrong, it wouldn't exactly hurt to defend. The wind seemed to hit her, but with all its focus and sharpness lost, it was merely a gust of wind, albeit, strong, and she had just dug herself in and braced for impact, so she was largely unaffected.

Matthew as it happened, was summoned just in position about 10 yards away from Mystral and Kyotei's fight, facing toward their sides. After the "welcome" signal he would get..

Current battle resolving, please standby.

In Alphonse's vision, these words would materialize.

Tamer has arrived, cancel current battle? Yes/No

~~

Felix's disposition darkened, growing grim and serious, as he prepared to finish the battle. He had taken up his trainer's demand to think of a way to attack.

He threw one of his dice high into the air, teleporting to it, then falling directly downwards and toward the fan, suddenly spinning wildly, creating a distortion around himself that defended himself from the breath. Then, just as he was about to hit the fan, he disappeared again, appearing directly underneath Floppity and Parquis, only now going up instead of down. Felix's momentum, highly built up by the fall, was suddenly going up instead of down, aimed at Floppity and Parquis's midsection, and it was focused like a drill by the ability he was using to create the distortion with his spin. He had time to set this up because of the slow nature of the current attack that would likely have been continued forever if Felix didn't do anything.

He could only teleport objects his dice were touching, and somehow he had teleported, earth, not sand underneath himself earlier. That meant he had buried one of his dice in the sand.

If he was still conscious after this maneuver, he'd take a moment* to say, "Think I'll call that one the Fool's Gambit. We're renaming the ability Fool's Gambit. Or at least call the combo of it with the teleportation Fool's Gambit." Allie gasped in wonder as she watched her DaCre used his Defense Roll in a way she'd never imagine.

*He'd also probably take a moment to teleport to a safe distance first as well if Parquis and Floppy were still in the fight.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

Exactly as she planned. When Felix threw his dice into the air, Parquis almost let out a very unlady-like squeal. Of course, the only avenue left to him would be to attack from above. And once he'd restricted himself coming down that way, a shot of Steel Wool would leave him worse than missing- he'd be a tangled, bleeding wreck of a cannonball, trapped by momentum and headed straight for the ground.

Petra prepped as he soared closer to the fan from above. "Steel-" Wait! Too close! He should've been aiming for Parquis and Floppity. And that meant-

"Wool, Down! Down!"

The command actually caught Parquis by surprise, and she found that she couldn't launch it, too surprised by the moment. Luckily, Floppity had no such qualm, and the massive tangle of Steel Wool, easily larger than the entire skunks body, fired down at him just as he surged up to strike them. The Wool was a terrifying trap, made almost entirely for this purpose: making any and all rushes against Parquis and Floppity into living nightmares for their enemies. The faster and harder they struggled, the tighter and harder the wool would tangle and squeeze- and Felix had been going very, *very* fast.

Though the Wool did its job, it was too much (too little would imply that it hadn't also decimated their enemy completely) too late. Even as it twisted the Wool even tighter around Felix, the skunk's drill pierced through Parquis and Floppity right at the center of their gut, the spot connecting the two. Had he been going any direction but straight up, the odds were that he simply would have cracked a few of their ribs- something very painful but, for a DaCre, still quite manageable. But in their D-rank they were made to fight enemies around them, not below them, and the drill pierced considerably into the weakest part of their system- their midssection filled with all the fluff and organs that made any living creature go- before their natural rubbery bounce knocked them away, Felix's Steel-Wool wrapped body proper impacting with them and knocking them over on their side into the nearby sand.

Without something to hold up the Thorn Spikes, those spinning masses would impact with Felix as well within moments... But that wasn't going to patch the gaping drill-hole in their gut at the moment. Parquis didn't bother flipping them back up. It was un-lady-like to release data, especially from one's guts, and their guts had just been hit by a drill, so she wasn't particularly fond of giving Floppity an eyeful of the damage either.

The blow was definitely a finisher. Though Parquis was, actually, quite certain that if she sat right there as she was, it would be several hours before any semblance of a real defeat took her. Organs were destroyed and failing, but not failed- odds were good she would not recover without a medical DaCre's aid, but unlike Felix she wasn't surrounded by paralysis and death. Were Felix able to pull off another attack, she would be quite unable to dodge it- but, given he would be considered Defeated much sooner than she would, the match was not a loss for her. Just a Draw in her favor.

Floppity whimpered next to her, but Parquis kept her calm as the two lay there, and watched the skunk until something indicated her victory or a tie. If he did try to flee somehow, Parquis was confident that she could still finish him off with a Thorn Spike even while dying herself... but that didn't really seem neccessary right now.

What interested Parquis much more was her trainer. She had managed to think of that move even faster than Parquis had. Now, perhaps Parquis was a sheltered child, but her father, her father was one of the most devastating men to ever walk the... places he walked! And she had learned all of her quick thinking and tactics from him. The ploy with Floppity's innate was a clever one... but if her Tamer was this reliable for her own big ideas... Well, something was brimming inside Parquis (probably not skunk poison), and she wasn't sure if she liked it, or was just afraid.

Admin Posts : 37 Join date : 2012-03-23

Now, Kyotei!

Not waiting to see if the slash had been successful, Kyotei leaped up, thrusting his arms down toward the girl on the ground, sending out a gust attack from two meters away. This gust would prove difficult to deter, given its existence was not data-dependent and its force was considerable, and it was also invisible. The volume of the attack distorted the heat waves slightly, however. The winged man was blown a meter further up into the air, still moving forward it seemed, but at a slower rate.

Alphonse read the option, but digressed. These fights generally didn't last very long. The other tester could wait a moment, surely.

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2012-03-26

As he leaped, Mystral brought up her hands, dropping the wand, wrists together, palms together. A massive data pulse, lasting a bare moment, signifying a truly terrifyingly powerful attack, was the only signal that this was doing anything, until a maelstrom of colors and light materialized in a wide, conical blast of accelerated particles. This happened as the Gust was launched for a simultaneous exchange between the two of them.

The Aurora Borealis blast was triple it's normal potency, from Mystral using the Energy Glyph she had started with, and the one that had just materialized in time.

Assuming Kyotei didn't move except on his present course, it would completely encompass him with about two feet to spare on the legs and head. And the blast was conical, so there would be a lot more extra room on either side.

Of course, accelerated particles and wind don't exactly interact very much, so Kyotei's attack would still land, blasting Mystral back after she fired and inflicting damage. She struggled to keep her eyes on her target, but would have some difficulty with that as she was knocked back. However, her hope was that, due to his wind's non-interaction with her attack, he'd have been utterly annihilated.

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:09 pm