Submersion

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

Fly! This one was the equivalent of a mental shout, out of excitement and exasperation.

Kyotei had been thrown three feet up from the gust, which would help with an evasion. Using his innate in an instant, he beat his wings powerfully to catch a sudden and very powerful updraft, trying to bring his legs up and out of the range. The beams traveled very quickly, however, and the fringe of them landed a glancing hit as he evaded, singing his pants.

Too close, he thought.

The gust struck Mystral, causing significant concussive damage. The blast was shot from a slightly upward angle, however, and so would more knock her down than back. That said, the remainder of the blast naturally hit the area around her... which just so happened to be sand. A huge cloud of it was flung up around the ice DaCre, obscuring her vision. Kyotei appeared to vanish. With the discharges of data from both parties and the disorientation caused by the gust, it would be difficult to use any data-sensing ability to yield his location. As far as she knew, he had been obliterated by the blast.

Kyotei intended to use this surprise to his advantage. Now about eight feet away from Mystral and still in the air, he launched another air cutter at where he judged she should be, using his own perspective on her location and Alphonse's to triangulate a location and gauging the effect his gust should have had based on its strength and angle.

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Out of the dust, Kyotei would have to deal with a rapid fire, randomly aimed series of ice knives. There was little power in each knife, likely incapable of dealing lethal damage even to a human, unless they somehow managed to strike a critical vein or something.

As it cleared, it would be revealed that her reaction to being knocked down was to roll, creating an armor of ice to dig into the sand and gain traction, and move quickly, while fling up ice knives. This roll handily dodged the attack aimed at her.

For Alphonse, a nice little message would be displayed.

Continued exposure of your DaCre's moves to the enemy may result in a disadvantage. Continue Yes/No?

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:26 pm

Well, this was disconcerting. A practical ominous man in a dreary, off-the-grid building behind curtains, asking for assistance without even introducing himself first?

At his brevity, Alice's eyes narrowed to a sharp gaze. Just what was this person after? Moreover, why did he only regard Roeh's existence?

"Alice." Roeh, far more calm than the DaCre in the room, merely called out her name to draw her attention and to bring her back to the situation at hand. There was no reason to freak out about all this, especially when this man at least wanted to act as an ally.

The cyborg DaCre's hand twitched near her gun, before relenting. Roeh stepped forward, keeping more-or-less an even expression on his face. Just what was this 'person' after?

"I'll help, but I want to know just one thing... how do you know about me?" Roeh's question was sternly asked: "You also know about Exemplar, a rather ancient DaCre by current times... just what is your role in all this?"

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"Hmph." The voice said it in a tone where it might be mistaken for a "heh".

"While you've covered your tracks well in this world, you weren't exactly subtle in the other. The memories of Exemplar's descendants are long, and you and your power were well known to her."

"Satisfied?" The head tilted slightly.

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As soon as the shards emerged, Kyotei launched himself forward, impatient with the current pace of battle. The ice shards on course were blown off course by his innate, given they were weak physical projectiles. Attacks of that nature could never touch him. The girl was rolling on the ground, and therefore disoriented and quite unable to coordinate a stronger attack in the next few seconds. He drew back his arm, muscles tensing, clearly about to launch some form of attack. It was possible that, in the rolling action, or at least as she finished rolling, she would be oblivious to her surroundings, especially given the likelihood of sand being in her eyes. If she reacted in some way to his approach, however, he was ready to respond...

Subject: Re: Submersion Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:51 pm

"Hmph. If by satisfied, you mean 'I know that's all I'll get out of you', then yes, I am. Pointless detour..."

Well, this entire meeting did nothing more than to feed Alice's suspicions. It didn't take them long to make their way out of the building again, Roeh stretching out into a yawn as the paid made their way to cross the street, back to their vehicle, Alice once again naturally taking the driver's seat.

"Well-"

"If the CDC has set up a barrier, going up front and showing your FBI identification is only going to make them suspicious of our activities." Roeh preempted Alice's point, closing the door to the passenger's side. "We rush into this, we're not going to get out of this as we want to..."

Alice glanced over towards Roeh, analyzing his expression. Currently, he was thinking, a clear posture by a thumb pressed against the bottom of his chin.

"At least on the economic front the CDC is public and with employees for the benefit of making a profit... if we can appear as any sort of legitimate vendor to either market their product or for something as stupid as office chairs, as long as I can get a moment's access to anything in the facility, we should be set. We'll need to change outfits, though that's just a small detour back home. Oh..."

Remembering something, Roeh reached into his pocket, pulling out a DaCre game device, black in color, holding it out towards Alice. The cyborg gave a smirk: "Its come to this, already?"

"Heh." The tamer gave a smirk: "Being connected to Daegor has lost its purpose long ago. If we run into anything, it'll be much smoother if we can act as partners."

"Very well, then." Interlocking her hand over the device, a brief 'glow' occurred at the point of contact, bonding the two together as partners.

It would be just under half an hour, before they would be at the front door of the CDC...

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There was no sand in her eyes, however, she still had to take a moment to collect herself.
As she stopped, her back to the sand, her armor covered her whole body, and she reached her hands out towards Kyotei. That was her defensive position, as she seemingly played for time.

~~

((Possible CDC post..))

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Kyotei wasted no time. He started bombarding the prone figure with gust after gust. At point blank range, there would be no dodging. The magnetic field wouldn't able to deter the attack, given its physical non-data nature. The force of the attack would, given her prone position, most likely push her down into the ground and slightly forward, given the angle of attack, preventing her from rising up or rolling away and flooring her hands, thus preventing most of her attacks. No electricity, magnetic field, or aura beam attacks for this lady. The force itself would deal massive concussive damage as she was unable to be blown away, sand flying up, armor shattering into ice crystal-ettes that, given the increased surface area, would quickly melt.

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Fortunately for Mystral, she didn't need her hands or anything else but her will for her innate, which he had wandered into range for.

~frozen burst~ was her thought, as she expended the energy glyph that had just been created.

All around Kyotei ice materialized, from points all around his body*, spiking inward. A GE-220% attack from all sides and above and below.

*arms not included.

She relied on her armor to weather the first blow and retain consciousness. She hoped she could cut short any successive attacks with this last gasp.

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Kyotei's innate was certainly no GE 220 attack, but it was significant at 120. When Alphonse saw the ice materialize, he acted quickly, sending near-instantaneous mental commands to the otherwise distracted Kyotei. In this respect, a tamer DaCre had an advantage over a DaCre operating purely from AI -- it was harder to distract and surprise the pair than the latter.

A wild burst of wind innate raged into existence around him, pushing the tips of the spears slightly off course. Certainly it couldn't shove them away, but redirecting attacks took much less force. Even so, he took many gouges on his sides as they thrust past him. The manipulation would hardly stop at that one attack, however, so as the spears thrust past him, Kyotei would launch one more gust at the prone figure, his passive ability allowing him to thrust his arms out with unreasonable speed, a finishing blow.

Were the innate unsuccessful in completely redirecting the spears, however, it would still be likely they would be guided away from the most critical organs. Regardless, he would launch one final attack before succumbing to the injuries, conscious and very much in pain, but unable to continue fighting.

Either a victory or a draw. The success of the innate defense would determine which would follow.

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Kyotei, Parquis/Floppity, Felix, and Mystral all faded away as their respective battles ended in the eyes of the various systems.

"Uh.. So, uhm.. Wow." Allie commented as the fight finished. What was there to say to that? Thinking it over for a moment, she addressed something that had been bothering her.

"You seem a lot more active than me in DaCre fights.. How do you keep up with it all as it's happening?"

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Allie's question wasn't answered for a long moment however, as Petra instead stared in horror at the spot where her DaCre had been just a second ago. Parquis and Floppity had disappeared even more suddenly than they appeared, and the shock of seeing them skewered by a smooth-talking, dice-rolling skunk and then vanishing made it feel as if she'd had a good friend killed right in front of her without even a chance to really talk. And, being the emotional gal she was, this made Petra more than a little upset.

"Where are they be going!?" Petra had already run toward the spot of the fight, and actually swiped at the air where Parquis had been, half-scared out of her wits, and as if simply whacking the space might somehow bring the sisters back into play. "You are not thinking they are dead, no!?"

She wasn't trying to, but the reaction itself was almost an answer to Allie's question. Petra was clearly much more emotionally involved in the fight than the other, relatively unfazed girl. In fact, she had even been miming some of the movements her DaCre did- except, of course, for the spinning around until absurdly dizzy bit. Because unlike her DaCre, that would have probably made Petra hurl.

Seeing Allie so calm was enough to drag Petra back into reality a bit though, and the Tamer cleared her throat, the realization arriving that this must have been similar to net battles, in which her DaCre simply returned to her own JK Dot, the hologram fading out. And that meant Parquis and Floppity were still alive... Right?

"That is..." Petra cleared her throat again, and flexed one arm nonchalantly behind her head, trying not to stare back where Parquis had been. "I are being boxer back in the College place. If I can not be using instincts to guess opponents move, I would not be having such pretty face, eh? Eheh."

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"Wow, you were a boxer?" Allie said, eyebrows raising in surprise. Then her eyebrows came down as she nodded, knowingly, before smiling."Guess that explains it. By the way, I'm Allie, and I suppose we will be testing this expansion together? From what they've already done, it was amazing. Felix and .... Parquis, was it? they did amazing."

~Once you get past the enthusiasm and oddities, she doesn't seem too bad.~

Subject: Re: Submersion Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:25 pm

This wasn't adding up at all. At first Matthew had though the design team was merely taking a unique approach to the process. However, after being greeted by a blank desert and a rather chaotic duel he could only assume he'd missed something. However there seemed to be one other less perturbed by these events.

It was difficult to tell if he was worn by some sort of excursion or merely a bit tense. One way or another his attention had clearly been focused on the battle and only recently broken from it. He seemed the only one Matthew could currently approach. As he drew closer, Matthew noted the other youth was rather shorter than he, albeit better built. Long hours of study and discussion had left little time for food or exercise.

"Excuse me." he waved two fingers in Alphonse's direction, much as if he were trying to flag down a car, "I'm a bit lost at the moment. I'm supposed to be interning with the Design Coordination Team. I uh...don't suppose you're with them?"

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"I is still a boxer. In the spirits." Petra pounded on her chest once, to emphasize the point. Then, her face grew almost comically serious; she was trying to scrunch up her face to seem forceful, but it came out as if she had eaten something sour instead. "And Parquis is being with Floppity! Do not be forgetting my Floppity!"

Petra settled back with a longing sigh, but she seemed equally pleased with the initial test fight they had just had. Past the horror-inspiring ending. "She is design after stuffie I had as small child. It is being... 'Super Cool' to see them like this, yes? And I am being most curiousness about this human part of testing. I was not wanting to be sudden, since is first meeting... But..."

Petra frowned, and then crouched down, seeming suddenly fascinated with the trim of Allie's shirt.

""Poooooke!" With a small grin, Petra poked Allie in the stomach with her finger, pulling it back slowly and looking up to gauge her reaction, her grin mixed with a look of curiosity "Are you being feel that?"

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"GAIEEEEHEE!" Allie jumped. Or rather, her bottom half jumped while her top half came down, and she effectively scrunched up around the poke. Petra would have to deal with an unintentional headbutt just as she looked up. Assuming the boxer didn't do something to intervene, this wouldn't be too much of a blow to either of them, but it wouldn't exactly be comfy. Allie'd barely land on her feet.

"DON'T... DO... That.." Her voice slowly calmed down. She covered herself with her arms, as she turned away from Petra slightly and drew back defensively. "I've always hated being poked." She furrowed her brow as she looked at Petra in slight fear.

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

The impact of Allie's head fazed Petra slightly but, as a boxer, she was at least somewhat used to being conked on the noggin, and seemed more amused than pained by the developments. Staying crouched for a moment, Petra made a delighted squel of her own in response to Allie's very overzealous reaction.

"But you are be making such cute noises when I do!" Petra giggled. "Is like Pastry Boy on the televisions!"

Though she seemed incredibly tempted to continue however, Petra stood and stepped back, still chuckling. "But this are be confirming my theory. We are being physical here. We might even be able to be helping our DaCre in literals."

"...Some of us more than others," Petra remarked, jokingly, and faking as if to poke Allie again.

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"DON'T!" Allie jumped back, despite the obvious distance between them. "It's cruel to take advantage of someone's weak points like that!"

"And.. I don't think it'd be fair if we were allowed to help our DaCre.. I mean, then people like you'd always win against people like me."

Posts : 45 Join date : 2012-03-24

Petra shrugged. "Eh, is opinion. But be thinking of it this way. If you care enough to be leaping to your DaCre's aid... Is that not meaning you care more about winning?"

"But eh, I will tease you no more. For the now, anywho." Petra was still flowing from serious to amused with the same ease that she slipped into her rages at court. Some people suggested controlling that sort of thing. Heh.

"But I am thinking we are not only ones here. I would like to be seeing if this desert is infinite for serious." Petra looked down at her jersey, covered in sand now, and generally not very appropriate for the desert either. A beach, maybe. "And they were be talking about a dress-up program, yes? I am curious what they are be having there." She held her fingers up in a picture-frame shape that had Allie at its center. "I is thinking... string-bikini and spiky metal gauntlets! Is matching eyes."

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Alphonse was taken aback as Kyotei vanished after his elegant victory, again as if on the wind. The battle had given him such a rush, and it had ended so abruptly... He stared at the spot where the two DaCre had last been as the dust settled, and grinned after a moment.

That was amazing! It was like I was really a part of the battle... Well, I guess I was, heh. But this feels much more real than it did on my handheld... I guess that's the whole point of VR, though.

He turned around as Mathew spoke, sizing up the newcomer. He seemed harmless enough, judging from his uncomfortable demeanor and lax figure. He smiled, listening to the stranger's plight.

"Um... I... I'm here to test the system. I guess I'm kinda helping out with the design process, but I can't say I know anything much about what's going on around here."

He shrugged helplessly, trying to seem sympathetic and understanding with his expression.

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"EH? Come on.. That'd only be appropriate if this were some kind of ridiculous fantasy setting!" Allie was now regretting her earlier analysis of Petra. Her expression was exasperated and amazed at how inappropriate Petra was being.

"And.. Since when has wanting to win been a good reason for an unfair advantage? Emotions and desires come and go." She shrugged and rolled her eyes, her palms raised towards the sky, almost to shoulder level, for a moment.

"There hasn't been a message for awhile.. Maybe the guys back at CDC have a delay seeing what goes on here? What are we supposed to do now?" Allie shielded her eyes with one hand and tried to look around.

Subject: Re: Submersion Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:57 pm

"Testing the system?" a faint twitch briefly played on Matthew's eyes, "That...doesn't sound right. At least...I don't think it sounds right. This all sounds more like volunteer work to me."

~Did I sign the wrong paper or something?~

"Oh well, thanks anyways. If you're not sure I guess I'll just ask someone else. How the heck do I get out of here? Do I jack out or something? Not very familiar with this technology."

Matthew gazed expectantly at Alphonse, the possibility the he two was stuck here presently never really crossing his mind.

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Alphonse frowned sympathetically, and shrugged. "I'm not sure," he said. "Your guess is as good as mine, I'm afraid. I'm sure the researchers are paying attention, though... They usually are. I mean, we're getting all these messages. Maybe if you started shouting they'd pay attention to you and take you out? Or... if you started acting strangely maybe they'd check to make sure you were alright?"

Then again, maybe it's all automated... Well, either it's the researchers and he has a chance of getting out, or it's automated and he's going to make a fool of himself. Either way, I come out ahead.

Alphonse smiled slightly, enjoying picking on the newcomer slightly. He was just that kind of person.

Subject: Re: Submersion Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:48 pm

Matthew nibbled on his lip a bit at Alphonse's recommendations. The last time he'd tried to play sick was with an old fashioned thermometer and an electric heater. It...hadn't ended well. He wasn't really up for trying to play tricks to get the researcher's attention. Besides, the odds of him being able to deceive a program which was likely monitoring his vitals even now wasn't likely. Made more sense to try the direct approach.

"Okay thanks, I'll give it a shot."

Stepping a few feet away, Matthew cupped his hands and shouted upwards.

"Hello?! Can anyone hear me?! It's me! Bellspring, Matthew A! I uh...may have signed the wrong form! Is there anyway you guys can pull me out of here the guys in the Coordination Team are probably wondering where I am!"

He waited patiently for some sort of response, craning his neck upwards so he might hear better.

"Anything?"

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"Uhm.. One sec." A voice, for once, came out.

"Wait for it..."

"Oh, right. You're Matthew Bellspring? You expressed a desire to join the Virtual Architecture department as an intern, right? Well, records say we offered you the next position available for internship there, if in the meantime you'd take on an Alpha Tester role. We can't exactly get started on designing the architecture in this place till we're absolutely sure we've got things like gravity and tensile strength of materials right."

"However, I'm not sure, maybe that got buried in the fine print somewhere, in which case I'm really sorry. Do you want out of the program?"

"On another note, we've decided to try out our "Lord Raid" system, where players can team up against a very strong AI. Just take a step in any direction and you'll be there. Warning, League Stepping, as some in CDC are calling it, might be a little disconcerting."

This last part was audible to Allie and Petra as well.

~~

Back in CDC.

"Yeah.. So for some reason, our Exemplar AI just popped up."

"What?"

"Well, it's probably a bug some where in our spawning code, like what happened with the gadget watch. This thing is dang complex. I mean, we've had a spontaneous volcano erupt in the middle of sector 11, and it's snowing in sector 5. We're working it out as we speak. Meanwhile, might as well start the anti-Lord testing."

"... Fine. Give me line by line reports of any errors, every minute.

"Uh.. Ok?"