Decode Cipher [IC | PG-16]

[VCR_CAT]

[OOC | Database]

Downtown Denko

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/cipher

 

The sun was setting over the ocean's horizon, casting a warm orange glow that reflected brightly off the tall, glass skylines of Denko City. A sprawling metropolis built on a platform of steel and concrete, Denko City stood as a shining beacon of humanity's future in a world scarred by disaster. Downtown was bustling this evening. Situated just south of the city's center where the great Administration building stood tallest of them all, the Central Plaza was full of people. Large screens were projected in front of the many buildings, floating in mid-air and seemingly created by magic, these screens all displayed the same image: the pre-show for the finals of the Breaker Invitational for the Denko Network Melee League.

 

Two Network users were seated in front of a desk; one whose avatar was depicted as a flamboyant robot; dressed in gaudy and flashing clothing and sleek, shining design reminding many of those from science fiction comics of the '60's and '70's. Beside him was the avatar of a woman, who, in comparison, sported a simple design. However, simple only described her facial appearance, which while attractive, appeared rather normal. Everything from her hair to her clothing looked nowhere near out of place when put next to her co-host's design.

 

"...And what an exciting line-up we have here tonight, folks!" The robot exclaimed enthusiastically.

 

"That's right, Mic! Tonight's match for the Breaker Invitational finals is one for the record books indeed! From the qualifiers to a long and grueling round-robin, ending in the nail-biting final brackets, we find ourselves with the grand finals between the seasoned veteran Katana and the rising star Nova_MK!" The girl quipped back at Mic.

 

"I'm excited for this match! It's not often you get to see such a stark difference in style and strategy; between Nova's hard-hitting style and Katana's precision! We're sure in for a treat tonight!"

 

"Now what has me most excited is how Nova's strategies often..."

 

The two commentators went on for some time, discussing the ins and outs of each contender and their respective styles when approaching the ring. Main people were gathered in the central square in town to watch the match play out; food trucks were set up with customers bustling around near their open windows.

 

At the head of the block was the city-sanctioned Network Uplink Center; a secured building where many people went to log into the ARC Network with a secure connection and wouldn't have to worry about anyone taking advantage of their unconscious bodies. Several police officers were stationed guard outside this building. While the security didn't normally need to be as tight as it was this evening, the city leadership did not want to take any chances with such a popular event going on.

 

 

ARC Network - Central

 

The Network saw a similar situation, if not magnified to a great degree in its central plaza. What was normally a large, open square with a large fountain in the center was now full of a colorful array of different avatars and individuals. The sleek, reflective black floor was covered with feet as far as the eye could see. Large, black, monolithic buildings surrounded the plaza with the same black marble appearance, their corners and edges covered with bright, neon lights segmenting the buildings in a variety of different ways. In the center of the plaza was the fountain; a large decoration where the water refused to obey the normal laws of physics and coiled around a statue in the center like a celestial snake. Projected on the buildings and around the fountain were the same screens as seen in Downtown, and just a few blocks away the roar of an audience from a large stadium could be heard.

 

Through the thick of the crowd a short avatar covered in what appeared to be ancient, traditional robes and wearing a mask was attempting to squeeze his way through.

 

"Excuse me, pardon me!" Aaron stuttered out as he was shoved about through the crowd. "Coming through!" 

 

"Hey, watch it, kid!" An angry voice bellowed somewhere above Aaron.

 

"Sorry, I was jus- OOF," Something hit Aaron in the side; either an elbow, or even the knee of someone much taller, he couldn't tell. The small avatar was sent practically flying through the crowd, finally hitting a solid object; another user. The two of them went tumbling to the ground with a loud thud. Aaron groaned as he got up to his feet, before realizing what had happened and frantically got to his feet and helped the other person up. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Someone just bumped into me, and I couldn't see where I was going! Are you all right?"

 

 

[spoiler=OOC]

This is where you can introduce your characters! They can be milling about in these crowds for a variety of reasons; either to see the fight, or maybe they're going through the Network or Downtown for their own reasons. Aaron could be bumping into your character! If you want that to be them, just say so in the skype or be the first one to have in their post!

 

If you want something to happen or are unsure of an aspect of what's going on, feel free to ask me any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dad]

Michelle groaned, trying to fumble her way through the crowd.  " 'Scuse me, pardon me," she almost whispered.  "Mm, I need to get to the stooooore," she whined.  "I need milk and honey for my tea.  Can't have tea without milk n' honey," she said, shoving past another on looker.  In a simple t-shirt and jeans, with fluffy pink bunny flip-flops, Michelle dared to cross the city by her lonesome.

 

Downtown was packed today.  But being the oblivious dork that she is, Michelle had no idea what was going on.  No poster or television ad, nor shouting fan could seem to get her attention.  She had to have her milk and honey, or her day would go completely wrong.  "What's the bother about today, anyway?" she moaned.  "Can't a girl just relax and mooch off her parents without gettin' bumped and jimmied.  Bunch of monkeys these people are."  Having made her way through the downtown crowd at last, Michelle arrived on the outskirts of the downtown Denko business district, just a block or two away from a local grocer.  "There's the bloody market," she said with sigh of relief.  But before she could take a step forwards, Michelle was jolted backwards by a rush of rowdy boys, clamoring over some kind of 'fight'.  "Don't go rushin' to get your arses beat," she said softly, as they shoved her aside, and jostled Michelle like she was a rag doll.

 

Regaining her composure, Michelle straightened her hair and looked up to the street.  She carefully looked both ways before crossing, and calmly moved past the intersection.

 

Inside, Michelle made her way to the confectioner's isle, where she located a simple jar of classic honey.  "That's the stuff," she said, with her baggy eyes blinking.  "Now where's the cold stuff?" she yawned.  She dragged her feet lazily over to the freezer section, where she shuffled past cold cuts, local ales, and cheeses, to the dairy area.  She carefully reviewed the date on a half-gallon of skim milk, and when she was satisfied, nestled it with her cheek.  "Ah, you feel nice against my skin," she said softly aloud.

 

Michelle lowered the milk, when she noticed a peculiar sticker on the front of it.

 

"Nova_MK versus Katana?  Huh.  Could be interestin'.  Let's see, that's--huh.  That's today," Michelle noted, making her way to the check out isle.   As her milk and honey were rang up, Michelle took the appropriate funds from her tiny pockets, and handed them to the clerk at the register.  "Thanks love," she said softly, politely, as she made her way to the exit.

 

It wasn't until Michelle was crossing the intersection to head back home when she realized that the fight was in the Network, and that it was going to be a big showdown.

 

". . .Wait.  IT'S TODAY!?" she screamed aloud, causing a half-dozen people to turn their heads to face her.  "CHRIST ON A CRACKER!  Good thing I have my milk and honey," she said, calming down.  "I should've just taken a taxi here," she said, now yawning again.  She turned back to face the intersection, and waved down local transport.  "Taxi!  Taxi!  I gotta get home.  Tea's a waitin'."  She jumped into the rear of a cab, and gave directions for her mother's home.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Great work today, Sisco. I'm going to be expecting the same results and attentiveness from you tomorrow."

 

"Of course sir!" Lance Sisco replied on the other end of the phone, just after getting home. "I'll be up in the computer lab bright and earlier tomorrow."

 

"Fantastic! I'll let you go. And remember, don't just stay up all night playing on ARC."

 

With a shared laugh, the call was disconnected, before Lance, better known as Lan, shook his head and looked over at his ARC computer system. It was booted up and ready to go. "Don't stay up all night, huh? Yeeeeaaaaah...that ain't gonna happen." he said, tossing his phone over on the bed and instantly sitting in his chair. With a crack of his knuckles, Lan tossed on a pair of glasses and then a headset. Now...let's hope that nothing crazy happens out there today... he thought, as he watched the login screen boot up.

 

Login

UserID: Bl00dYGudTim3

Password: ***********

 

With that bit finished, Lan was logged in...it was showtime.

 

 

 

 

-BGM-

 

With a quick flash of zeroes and ones (or whatever would signify the arrival of an avatar), Lan's ARC avatar, an elvish looking young man stood the large fountain in Central. With a quick stretch, Bl00dyGudTim3, was up and running properly.

 

He could hear a loud roaring of cheers coming from the large stadium. He knew good and well what was going on over there. It was something he was looking forward to for quite a bit of time. The Breaker Invitational Finals. He had been following the matches throughout, but this one...this one was the biggest one fight out of them all.

 

A match between Katana, a seasoned veteran who had an amazing precision in combat, and the newcomer, Nova_MK. This newcomer was quite the showstopper, in his honest opinion. Even though it was obvious this individual was just a hard-hitter when it came to fighting. Nevertheless, it was something that he was quite impressed with. Not so much for the fact that it was a mecha avatar that was the design...but the prowess they showed. It only made him think of his OTHER activity he enjoyed around ARC.

 

Won't lie...that Nova_MK might make a pretty good ally to work with. If they meet up with CrimsonRiot...it maaaaay be interesting. he thought, making his way to the stadium.

 

There was no way he was going to miss this!!

[Durandamon]

Alexis_Slugfest

 

Amongst the crowd, with everybody struggling to catch a gimpse of the fight, pushing and hitting each other, nobody'd notice a small mosquito-like bite on their arm, nor the tiny slugs trickling down their arms, sliding on the floor towards a certain pink-haired young girl, who cupped them in her hands. The fact that ARC Network digitizes the entirety of the user's mental data meant that Alexis could 'hack' into anybody's mind through her Cipher, randomly getting tidbits of information from them. This meant that she needed to steal a lot of data before hitting something useful.

 

As the leeches re-entered Alexis' body, random stolen memories flooded her brain; 'Mother's birthday was yesterday'...'My feet hurt'...'I should go, I've got that meeting with that Redline big shot today...'

 

As that final thought piqued her interest, Alexis started looking around, anxiously until her eyes found the business-suited individual whose thought she had stolen. Makinhg an effort to get through the crowd, and to produce a bigger slug to get more data, Alexis inched towards the unsuspecting man. She was so close! Her hand stretched out to him, teeth protuding from them as a leech started pouring out. Any information on Redline was crucial, and to think she'd have the luck of finding out where they were! Her hand brushed against the back of the businessman's neck and...

 

THUD! 

 

Before she knew what happened, Alexis was tackled to the ground, hitting her head against the hard cyber-concrete, "O-Owie..."

 

Alexis sighed, not even bothering to check for her already-gone target as she took the boy's hand and produced a leech from her wrist, which latched onto his robe's arm, just in case, "I'm fwine!" Alexis chimed, producing twin peace signs with her hands and sticking her tongue out playfully, "I'm tougher than I look, mister! Tee hee! I'm Alexis~ What's your name?" The small avatar had cost Alexis her target, so she'd settle for this one's data instead. After all, he might have something interesting to share. The leech started climbing the robe, making an effort to not be noticed.

 

 

GoldFlurry

 

"Boy oh boy, it looks like it's gonna start any moment now!" Gold sat atop one of the tall black monoliths that surrounded the Plaza which provided him and his subscribers the best view possible, "If you're just now tuning in to the stream, here's what's going on: after this morning's package opening stream, we've had a fun afternoon climbing this building from the outside, and now we have first-class tickets to the Denko Network Melee League finals! With such a huge turnout, we can expect a chase from the Denko Authority anytime soon! I'll do my best to give everybody a top-notch view of the fight before that happens, tho. Remember, if you donate anything over a dollar during the chase, I'll yell whatever you want at the cops! Your support is what makes this stream possible! Let's give a big golden hug to BillyYumYum2x2, our newest subscriber!..." Gold kept rambling on like that, getting anxious as he inevitably expected somebody to notice him up on the roof. 

[Yui]

---

Username: Reiko_Nagatani

Password: *********

Welcome!

Loading...

The sensation of logging in to the ARC Network was one Reiko was still getting used to. She hadn't been a member very long after all, and it probably showed. Her avatar was nearly a perfect replica of herself. Today, however, she had a certain goal in mind when logging in. Today was the finals of the Breaker Invitationals. Reiko, plain and simple, did a lot of fighting, both on the network and in real life. Naturally, she liked to watch others fight, and perhaps try to use some of the better techniques she saw for herself in the future. It was like an odd form of studying to her. She didn't really want to root for one side or the other, because she didn't really care who won.

 

All that mattered right now was getting there in time. Reiko closed in on the plaza... and stopped. Something about one of the monoliths was off. Reiko's eyes turned directly toward it. Toward the top. Up there, somebody was perched up there. Was that even allowed? How was she supposed to get him down if it wasn't? If she kicked the thing at its base, would he feel it up there? ...worth a shot. And so, Reiko kept her eyes on the figure perched atop a monolith, before stepping up to it, lifting a foot into the air, and slamming it into the pillar with all she had. That ought to get the attention of whoever was up there, right?

---

[CatmanDaGamer]

Helena ripped off her name tag and apron in a frenzy, and rushed to the restroom to wash the flour and sugar off her hands. She'd just begged her parents to let her take the rest of the day off of work, as the Breaker Invitational Finals pre-show will begin soon.

 

I hope that I'm not too late... she thought.

 

Helena hurried to her room, and rapidly logged onto the ARC Network.

 

Username: TinyBeats1898

Password: **********

Initializing Servers...

Logging In...

01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000

01010011 01100101 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110100 00100000

01110100 01101111 00100000 01000101 01110110 01100101 01110010

01111001 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00100001

 

 

TinyBeats1898, Helena's avatar, opened her eyes, and in front of her was a very large crowd of avatars. As Helena's avatar is quite short, she couldn't see far beyond them.

 

"Ugh! Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. She really wanted to see the fight in person, and even try to get to talk to the one and only Nova_MK! So she began to shove her way through the crowd.

 

...only to be shoved right back out.

 

"Okay then... Plan B."

She got on her hands and knees and tried to crawl through the legs of the crowd. "Wow, this was easier than I thou-" WHAM!

 

An avatar that looked like a combination of a basketball player and a kangaroo kicked Tiny in the face, sending her flying. She fell hard on her back outside of the crowd.

 

She sat up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Ouch, you big meanie! That hurt y'know!" No one heard her voice however, over the roar of the crowd. The fight was going to begin very soon.

 

Tiny stood up and regained her composure. She looked around for a way to get past the crowd.

 

"Hm," she smiled mischievously, "Aha! It's time for a little bit of climbing!"

 

Tiny began to scale up the nearest structure...

[VCR_CAT]

ARC Network - Central

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/explanations

 

"I'm fwine!" The other user spoke enthusiastically, Aaron blinking a few times, taken aback by her energetic attitude. "I'm tougher than I look, mister! Tee hee! I'm Alexis~ What's your name?"

 

"O-oh, I'm A-" Aaron started, remembering to introduce by his screen-name first when it came to strangers. "I-I'm Lore-Caster." You just had to pick a username THAT dumb, huh. "B-but yeah, excuse me. Sorry about that." Aaron was already starting to feel like he would be sweating if this was all real, but thankfully Redline hadn't covered that feature when they made this program. Aaron quickly looked around the crowd, and remembered what he was doing. "Oh! Have you seen a player around, he has kind of a ninja-like avatar, y'know like those old shows that sometimes play. Looks a little like a superhero or something, got a lot of green and a big flashy crest on his helmet?" This is telling her nothing, she probably doesn't know what Sentai is. Hardly anyone did. "I was supposed to be meet him for this match, but I can't find him anywhere and he's not answering any of my PM's..."

 

 

ARC Network - Stadium

 

Nova stood in the Green Room, pacing around. Most fights were a breeze, but most fights were ladder matches or exhibitions; the Breaker Invitation was Ai's first real tournament. The tournament had gone smoothly so far, but no singular match was easy and Ai didn't have the benefit of losing this time around. Oh god there are so many fans expecting so much of me... Ai thought nervously. Katana was somewhat of a legend for these tournaments. The Breaker Invitational wasn't as big as the Denko Championship, but it was big enough that it could make or break Nova's fighting career. Yeah, no pressure.

 

Nova walked over to the screen given to her in the green room, showing the commentators discussing the match. It would be a first-to-seven-wins match; a longer format than other tournaments were known for, but for giving newer fighters a chance this tournament wanted sponsors to get a good idea of how fighters were and how well they may do in bigger tournaments. Bigger professionals like Katana were only hired to provide a better lens of reference for how well a new fighter would do in bigger tournaments. Yeah, a good 'frame of reference' my ass. Sure, give the pros a low-stakes fun pub-stomping romp and have the new guys sweat out their only chance at the Big Leagues. Real accurate frame of reference.

 

A small sprite-like avatar poked its head into the green room. "You're on, si-, ma-," the aide stuttered, clearing his throat. "You're on, Nova."

 

Nova followed the aide down a hallway, walking through a threshold gate into the stadium.

 

"AND ON THIS SIDE, YOUR ROOKIE CHALLENGER, NOVA_MK!!"

 

Large stands rose high above containing numerous fans cheering loudly, circling the central ring; a plain, octagonal, dark-indigo platform suspended over a flat, brightly-glowing red plane below. Nova stepped onto a bridge of stairs that connected the walls of the stadium to the center platform, walking to her end of the arena. Large screens floated around the ring, giving fans a good view of what was going on. Nova's frame was big, and each step carried a loud weight as she moved to her side, crossing her arms.

 

"AND INTRODUCING, RETURNING CHAMPION FROM LAST YEAR'S INVITATIONAL, KATANA!"

 

The crowd erupted in an equally loud chorus of applause as Nova's challenger approached the ring. Katana's avatar was simple, and Ai wasn't sure if she thought it looked cool or very dumb. Katana looked almost like a ninja encased is bright yellow and black armor, like a bee, with a rigid hood framing an almost featureless purple face, save for solid red shapes representing his eyes. His suit was sleek and fancy, but the outlying feature were the weapons he always had equipped for each fight: very large boomerang-shaped blades mounted on his arms jutting out from where his hands would perpendicularly. As both fighters entered the ring, the stairway bridges vanished and the two were stranded on the ring.

 

"Hope I don't scratch your pretty suit too badly, Gundam," Katana taunted, taking a fighting stance.

 

"Hope I don't dent you too badly, Power Ranger," Nova shot right back, doing the same.

 

 

ARC Network - Stadium Exterior

 

Network Officials encircled the stadium on a strict patrol; appearing as futuristic policemen in fancy suits. One officer patrolled up a raised catwalk connecting two streets near the stadium, looking around the streets and alleys.

 

"All clear on this end," he sent the private message to the Network Authority's command. This final match was big, and every year it seemed like there was some fancy cipher that wanted to show off in front of a big crowd. It was a nuisance, but they needed to be ready for anything. The agent looked around, and noticed something out of the corner of his eye; a figure perched on top one of the buildings. "Hold on, I got something."

 

"What is it, 156?" The message responded.

 

The official looked through a magnification. "Looks like a user just... hanging out on top of one of the buildings."

 

"Can you confirm if it's a cipher?"

 

"Negative. Just looks like someone wanting to get a good view of the fight without any tickets."

 

"Keep an eye on them. We need you near the stadium; no use chasing after something that might be trivial."

 

"Understood. I'll keep you posted."

 

Hopefully everything went smoothly this evening. Big events like this were magnets for trouble.

 

 

Downtown Denko

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/security-room

 

The crowd was big, and bustling. While it was perfect cover, the police had a close eye on this area, and had officers posted periodically around the main square. Anyone who had plans to hit the people in this area would have a hard time trying anything, though pick-pockets may still have their fun in the sun. Two gentlemen, one tall and one much shorter, knew how to dress appropriately for such a situation, and despite the police presence, still opted to have their hoods drawn on their different hoodies. The tall one wore a garish pink and yellow striped hoodie, masking various different piercings on the right ear of his long face, while the shorter one wore a black zip-up hoodie with a band's logo plastered on the back, his hood loose around a round and rather young-looking face.

 

"You know what time it is?" The shorter one asked the taller.

 

"Close to eight. We should head in soon." The taller one replied discreetly.

 

"You got it."

 

A girl carrying various groceries ran past and bumped into the taller one, close to dropping her purchases as she made her way to a taxi. She made a quick apology, but the taller man stopped her with his hand. He stooped down to her eye level.

 

"Watch where you're going miss, you ought to be more careful," he said in a calm, quiet tone that came across unintentionally intimidating. The girl looked surprised and afraid, and to avoid calling police attention he let her go. "My apologies." He turned to move back in the direction he was going. "Come on Mike, we don't want to miss the match. It's going to be an important one."

 

The shorter one called Mike gave the girl a weird look and caught up, smacking the taller one on the back. "Whaddya doin' you lug, I told ya to lay low!"

 

"My apologies. I wanted to make sure she wasn't hurt."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Bl00dYGudTim3 made it into the stadium just in time, as he found himself a seat and took it, only to hear the announcer speak. The event was finally underway!

 

"AND ON THIS SIDE, YOUR ROOKIE CHALLENGER, NOVA_MK!!"

 

True to what he had read and heard, Nova_MK was straight up a mecha based Avatar. There was a little bit of jealousy that he could feel after looking at this user. The Gundam and just generalized mecha design and even color design on it was quite intricate, at least in his opinion.

 

"Wow. It's obvious a lot of thought went into the design of that Avatar." Bl00dY mumbled to himself, getting himself hyped up at this point.

 

"AND INTRODUCING, RETURNING CHAMPION FROM LAST YEAR'S INVITATIONAL, KATANA!"

 

Now Katana was a different story. Bl00dY had seen Katana in action quite a few times in a few tournaments and events and he truly enjoyed staring at the design choice this individual chose to use. It was VERY Tokusatsu and it strongly mirrored the designs of the Super Sentai, even more than his own CrimsonRiot appearance did. Then again...he always thought of CrimsonRiot to seem more of a Kamen Rider style, but it didn't matter.

 

"So mecha versus Tokusatsu..." he chuckled, watching intently as the fight was finally about to get underway. Both competitors were out on the field...this was going to happen. "I guess it's time to find out which of these two things that Japan excels in is truly the best!"

 

Won't lie though...I really wish I could join the fray. I always did want to know how I'd fair against someone like Katana. Bl00dY thought, shaking his head. It was a crazy thought, but one that he knew would have some pretty interesting results.

[CatmanDaGamer]

---

Tiny grunted as she made her way up the monolith. “Man, this thing is huge…” she mumbled as she lifted herself up on top of the large structure. She looked out towards the stadium, as countless avatars took their seats at the stadium. Her jaw dropped at the sheer amount of people in the arena “Wow! I’ve never seen this many people in one place!” Tiny yelled in amazement. She sat cross-legged at the edge on the monolith, excited for the upcoming match.
 

"AND ON THIS SIDE, YOUR ROOKIE CHALLENGER, NOVA_MK!!"

A roar of applause erupted from the stadium at the appearance of the large mech. Tiny shuddered with anticipation. She’d been watching of all of Nova’s previous Breaker Invitational matches, and fell in love with their fighting style. Honestly, I wonder how they do it, how did they ascended the ranks so quickly? Do they have a Cipher Ability? Or is it just plain skill? Either way, they’re still my fav- Tiny’s thoughts were cut off by the announcer.
 

"AND INTRODUCING, RETURNING CHAMPION FROM LAST YEAR'S INVITATIONAL, KATANA!"

Another deafening roar erupted from the fans at the arrival of Katana.

And here we have the previous champ. I hope Nova has what it takes to beat him…

It was then that Tiny realized that there was another avatar standing on the other side of the monolith, talking to himself for some reason. “Hey mister,” she called, “Whatcha doing over there?”

[Dad]

Michelle sat in the comfort of her over-sized recliner, and lifted the foot-rest.  She carefully stirred her tea, having added just the right amount of milk and honey.  Unsurprisingly, she had forgotten about the match between Nova and Katana.  Instead, she wondered why that strange man she bumped into was talking to her at all.  No one talked to Michelle.  Her mother barely talked to her.  "Was he flirting with me?" Michelle asked aloud, lazily.  "What's the point of flirting?  We're all gonna die anyway," she said with a shrug.  "But at least I have my tea."  With a big, satisfied smile, Michelle took a slow, careful sip of her tea.  Slurping with all the powers contained in her lips, Michelle audibly sighed, with great satisfaction.  "Ah, it's a lovely day," she said aloud to herself.

 

It was still relatively early, and Michelle had only taken three naps today.  She yawned, fiddling with the pink bunny watch on her wrist.  "Hmm.  Is it time for my next nap yet?"

 

Taking another sip of her tea, Michelle then sat her cup down.  "Maybe I'll take a pre-nap nap, and then follow up on my regularly scheduled naps," she said to herself.  

 

But before she could close her eyes, Michelle received a notification on her ARC device.  She sighed, lowering the foot-rest, and walking over to the ARC Station and settling herself in.  "May as well see what all the fuss is about."

 

---

 

After a successful login, Michelle--er, Cup'a T.--was greeted with a sizeable amount of players.  On her H.U.D., notification of the brawl between Nova_MK and Katana was highlighted.  Cup'a sighed, and prepared to logoff again.  "I left my tea behind for this?  Bugger off.  I'll watch the recaps some other day.  Or week.  Or maybe next year.  Bah," she said, disappearing out of the network as fast as she entered.

[Durandamon]

Alexis_Slugfest

 

Alexis could tell the other user, Lore Caster, was nervous. She sighed internally, this must be just a kid's avatar, so she wouldn't get a lot of information. She giggled when he introduced himself, "That's a weird~ name mister Lore Caster! I like it!" As she spoke, Alexis made sure to draw as much attention to herself as possible through her tone of voice, mannerisms and so on, as to avoid Lore Caster noticing the leech crawling up his arm, getting ready to bite. It was too small to notice anyways, but you never know.

 

"Oh! Have you seen a player around, he has kind of a ninja-like avatar, y'know like those old shows that sometimes play. Looks a little like a superhero or something, got a lot of green and a big flashy crest on his helmet? I was supposed to be meet him for this match, but I can't find him anywhere and he's not answering any of my PM's..."

 

Alexis perked up her ears at the description, giving a warm, fatherly smile, "That sounds like one of 'em Super Hentai shows Alexis used to watch..." she mumbled to herself, breaking character for a second before snapping back to reality, "I-I mean...Alexis hasn't seen anybody like that, nya~!" She held her hands up like cat paws and winked, "But Alexis can help you look for them~! After all, Alexis would be very, very bored alone!" 

 

 

GoldFlurry

 

A loud thud shook the monolith, interrupting Gold's streaming monologue and forcing him to grip the edges of the structure as to not fall. Looking down, Gold saw multiple events taking place at the same time; a young girl kicking the monolith, trying to catch his attention, and another one behind him, "Well, seems like we've got a couple of fans here! Which one of you guys took the effort to leave the stream and come meet me face to face, huh?" Gold directed his voice at the stream, ignoring the girls present. He did arch an eyebrow when the youngest of them, who had managed to climb up to the monolith, asked what he was doing, "Aren't you familiar with the great GoldFlurry, kid?" Gold smirked. On his chat display, he could see his viewers spamming comments like 'Show her the arms!', 'Go Cipher!' and 'Kappa', "Well, you're lucky the fans are on your side. You've both earned yourself an introduction!" 

 

Gold stood up, placing his hands on the sides of his body, where two numeric panels protuded, obscured by his shirt. Punching in the code '0000', a pair of cybernetic arms emerged from his sides, which he proceeded to flex, "This goes to both of you and, if we're lucky, any Authority that might be watching!" punching in another code, this time '6995'. A loud beep signaled that a correct code had been input, as a pair of long exhaust pipes manifested from Gold's elbows. He then motioned with his hands in the same way as one would accelerate a bike, which caused the pipes to erupt into flames, creating two intertwining blasts of heat above their heads, "I'm GoldFlurry! Number 1 streamer in Twotch.tv! ARC Network's one and only Daredevil Cipher! Denko Authority's biggest nightmare! The Four-Armed Menace and, of course...there may be other secret names that you do not know yet!" He finished his introduction, puffing his chest out in pride and looking for a reaction in the faces of both the angry girl below, and the younger one above.

[Yui]

---

"This goes to both of you and, if we're lucky, any Authority that might be watching! I'm GoldFlurry! Number 1 streamer in Twotch.tv! ARC Network's one and only Daredevil Cipher! Denko Authority's biggest nightmare! The Four-Armed Menace and, of course...there may be other secret names that you do not know yet!"

 

Reiko could feel her eyebrow twitching. This guy had a lot of balls, and not in a good way. Was he trying to get on the law's bad side? And who went around calling themselves the Four-Armed Menace so proudly, or any sort of menace for that matter? Reiko could already tell. Whoever this ball of hot air called GoldFlurry was, she was not getting along with him. Just the way he talked and carried himself made Reiko's skin crawl. Even if it didn't, she'd come here to get him off that monolith, and she wasn't leaving until the job was done, one way or the other.

 

"Yeah? Good for you," Reiko called up. She then kicked the base of the monolith a second time, before adding "Now get down from there. If this turns into a chase between you and the Authority, you'll end up regretting it. If they don't catch you, I will, and I think you'd rather deal with them at that point."

---

[VCR_CAT]

ARC Network - Central

 

"That sounds like one of 'em Super Hentai shows Alexis used to watch..." Alexis mumbled quietly to herself.

 

"H-huh?" Aaron said in surprise.

 

"I-I mean...Alexis hasn't seen anybody like that, nya~!" She held her hands up like cat paws and winked. Aaron's avatar didn't convey much in the way of facial expression, but his body language betrayed a strange mix of confusion and discomfort. "But Alexis can help you look for them~! After all, Alexis would be very, very bored alone!" 

 

"Th-thanks! He should be pretty easy to find, I mean, it doesn't look like there are too many green-coloured avatars around, so-"

 

"...AND INTRODUCING, RETURNING CHAMPION FROM LAST YEAR'S INVITATIONAL, KATANA!" rang throughout the plaza, causing Aaron to jump again.

 

"Sh-shoot! It's already starting, well uhhh... I mean, I guess we'll have to look for him at the arena! Shouldn't be too hard, but I don't wanna miss any of this!"

 

Aaron ran off in the direction of the stadium, Alexis in close pursuit.

 

 

ARC Network - Stadium

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/hit-the-deck

 

"...IN THREE... TWO... ONE... FIGHT!" The announcer blared over the roar of the crowd, a horn blasting at the start of the round. The neon lights lining the arena the two fighters stood on flashed brightly and settled on a candy red colour, painting the stadium with a subtle hue. True to his reputation, Katana was the first to sprint forwards, arms extended and blades glinting with the same bright red that gleamed from the edges of the arena. Nova played it safe to begin with, pointing her arm at Katana. A small compartment opened on the side and a missile extended, firing in the direction of her opponent. Katana leaped out of the way with a dramatic flip, a burst of fire and light in his wake.

 

"My my, breaking out the special moves already? But we're just getting warmed up!" Katana taunted, landing lightly on his feet and continuing to rush at Nova.

 

"Now I never said I would take it easy," Nova returned, another compartment opening on the wrist of her other arm and dispensing a small metal ball. "Where's the fun in that?!" Nova threw the ball on the ground towards Katana's feet, dispensing another and repeating the same. Katana began to hop and skip around, each ball flashing red lights repeatedly before exploding again.

 

"Oh come on, you can do better than these amateur-hour tricks!" Katana laughed. "Did you think I haven't seen you fight before?"

 

By now he had gotten close, something Nova planned to put off as long as she could. Katana lunged forward with both of his blades, swinging each in a scissor motion, aiming for Nova's midsection. Keep him at a distance, and whittle down his health with ranged pokes... that's all I need to do... Nova planted her feet, and soon burst into the air with short bursts from jets on her feet and back, landing some distance back. Katana's attack had missed.

 

"Keeping at a ranged game, huh? That's annoying."

 

"It wasn't my fault you maxed out on a close-range melee game!"

 

"That's what you think?"

 

Katana spun in the air, his blades dancing, and in doing so a bright glow appeared on the tip of one arm. Once his rotation was finished, a burst of fire was flung from one blade, arcing through the air in Nova's direction. Nova growled under her breath, forced to receive the brunt of the attack. He's never used that before!

 

"Figured I might switch up my strategy a bit for the newbies, whaddya think?" Katana said, striking a pose with his blades.

 

"I think it's time I did the same!" Nova fired back, rushing forward with her fist drawn back.

 

 

ARC Network - Stadium (Stands)

 

Aaron and Alexis finally made their way into the stands and were looking around the crowd. Truth be told the search was going slow, but that was partly due to Aaron spending more time watching the fight than actually looking for his brother. However, it wasn't long until Aaron felt a hand on his back.

 

"Hey, lookin' for me, bro?" Aaron's brother said from behind, standing nimbly on a railing by the stairs running up and down the stands. "Who's the girl? You pick up a new friend?"

 

Of course, in response to this Aaron became much more flustered.

 

 

 

ARC Network

BGM: https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/ghost-ship

 

When Michelle attempted to log out, she couldn't.

 

Nobody could.

 

There was no notice of failure, no wait; simply nothing happened as she tried. Public chatrooms across the board slowly lit up with this issue. Some thought the servers were simply lagging, some thought it might be an error. But with each passing second, more people noticed this issue, and more people began to voice their concerns.

 

Concerned voices began to rumble through crowds in the plaza; in the stadium itself. Network authorities began to move, yet it wasn't to address the two individuals crowded on the tower they weren't supposed to be on top of. Some people were getting upset.

 

Some were panicking.

 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Straight out of the gate, Bl00dY's eyes were glued to this intense fight. Katana moved in for the first attack, but Nova countered with their own rebuttal of attacks. It was intense and at this point, Bl00dY was already at the edge of his seat...and the fight had just begun!!

 

"Oh man...this is intense!" he mumbled, watching intently as the two kept striking at one another. This was becoming more and more amazing by the second!

 

However...that's when Bl00dY began to take notice about the rumbles and worried tones in the people's voices around him. There was legit panic for one reason: people couldn't log out.

 

Can't log out? he thought, immediately pulling up the usual window prompts, which in ARC seemed like small holographic windows. With a quick flick of his wrists, he began to check out public chatrooms first. To his surprise, the chatrooms were filled to the brim with individuals complaining and raging on the fact of not being able to log out. Finally, Bl00dY attempted to log out himself. And it was to no avail...he couldn't log out.

 

The Log Out feature was still around, but no one was able to log out, so this wasn't like some cliché anime moment where people were trapped in a virtual system where there wasn't a Log Out option. No...this seemed a bit more...malicious.

 

Guess that means someone around here is being quite the hacker... Bl00dY thought, closing out his windows and immediately getting up. Its obvious the fight would still be on, but right now...something crazy was afoot, and someone needed to get to the bottom of this. Leaving the stands and making his way to find a secluded area, he opened another prompt and began to get to work.

 

Now if this person is just a hacker...that makes things easier...but if its the work of a Cipher...then I'll definitely be jumping into action. he thought, before opening another window with a small loadout option for his ARC Avatar. With a quick scan of the area around him, he touched the loadout option.

 

-BGM-

 

In a quick flash, Bl00dYGudTim3's normal Avatar appearance had drastically changed to the loadout he selected, it only being named "CrimsonRiot". Crimson red armor covered his body as a strange helmet appeared and covered his face, the golden visor springing to life. Now...Bl00dYGudTim3 was put on the shelf...now...now it was time for CrimsonRiot to play!

 

 

 

 

"Alright. Now let's see if we can get a better vantage point." CrimsonRiot nodded, opening a small prompt to view the schematics of the stadium. "Best vantage point, stadium wise, is literally going to be the top of the building. Let's start there."

 

With a slight exhale, CrimsonRiot turned around and prepared himself. "Overclock..." he simply muttered, before literally zooming out from his secluded area and did his best to race out to the top of the stadium. Ordinarily, he would be worried about the Network Authorities trying to stop him, but with an epidemic like this causing a stir, he figured that they'd be busy with this. Running his way up towards the roof of the stadium, Crimson Riot stopped and crouched down to look around.

 

Alright then, hacker...where are you? he thought, doing his best to scan the given area.

[Dad]

No Tea?  No Bloody Tea!?  Well Then!

 

Michelle--rather, Cup'a--had just become irate.  As she tried her damnedest to log out of the Arc system, she found that to be quite impossible.  "But...my tea.  My God damn tea!" she belted out.  "I'm gonna go find meself an Admin.  Someone's gonna fix this or so help me, I'll make sure mum get's everyone's jobs!  No one interrupts tea time!!" she screeched in the middle of the crowd.  She shoved past anyone in her way, making a beeline for the outskirts of the crowd.  Her first thought was to contact security to see just what in the seven hells was going on with the Arc system.  But then she quickly recalled the current events between two people she didn't know or care about.  Some sort of fight or something.  That meant that security would be occupied with protecting the event participants, and of course the stars.  

 

"Oh, great.  I've gotta miss my tea because of two giant head-butting idiots.  If I ever meet one of 'em IRL I swear I'm gonna write so many angry letters to their employers!" she said, attaching an angry face to her current in-game status.  She followed her in-game status with a quick status update that read simply, "Piss Off!"  Setting her status to 'Do Not Disturb', Cup'a began her angry march to find the persons responsible for preventing her logging out.  Or, in her most hopeful case, to find an online administrator or moderator who could at the very least inform her of what the hold up was.  She was, to say the least, not pleased to miss her tea time.  It was quickly getting cold in real time, her poor tea.  And if she had to make another cup, she was going to be very irate.

 

"I spent all day napping and preparing for this tea.  If I miss it, I swear on Rudolph the Red Nose Troll, I'm never loggin' inta the Arc-net again!  DAMN IT ALL!"

[VCR_CAT]

ARC Network - Stadium

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/emergency-procurement

 

One minute, the stadium was filled with the noise of an angry, panicking crowd wondering why they couldn't log out.

 

The next, it was filled with the noise of a deafening explosion.

 

One of the back walls of the stadium was engulfed in digital flames, bits of the polygons floating away and disappearing as the system deleted the extraneous geometry. Crowds of people screamed and ran away from the carnage, scrambling to reach the emergency exits as soon as they can.

 

"What the hell is going on?!" Nova yelled, staring intently at the explosion to figure out what's going on.

 

"I don't know, but I'd put a lotta money that some punk-ass Cipher is behind this," Katana growled, readying himself for battle. From the smoke of the ruined wall, three objects burst into the air leaving their own trails of smoke. Three small cones flew threw the air with a gentle arc, bright spots glowing at their flat ends. In the air, they turned and all three pointed their way down at Katana. In a flash and with a bang, the three missiles burst through the air in Katana's direction. There was no time; immediately the fighter was engulfed in another explosion. Nova could feel the arena's platform shake beneath her feet.

 

"Hey! Are you okay?!" Nova shouted as they moved over, reaching an arm into the cloud of smoke left behind.

 

And found nothing. Where Katana once stood, three texture-less craters remained.

 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Didya see the way that arse went up?! HAHAHA FUCKIN' FINALLY SOMEONE PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE!!" 

 

Nova whipped around to see where the voice came from. Standing on the stadium's wall were two individuals, one short and the other very tall. The short one appeared to be who yelled, his avatar being a scrawny man wearing a large, domed chest piece that appeared more like he was wearing the torso of a much larger robot as armor, his face just barely peaking out over the neck hole of the chest-piece. The short man wore two large gauntlets that appeared like two large, cartoonish drills split in half to make room for his arms and his over-sized gloves.

 

"Will you just shut the hell up and do your job, Bit? Christ I swear you always gotta make a scene with everything," The taller one responded; his avatar being lanky, almost fluid-like and an opaque, dark-purple colour with two, bright yellow shapes that appeared as his eyes.

 

"Oi, lighten up will ya for once, Slick? The boss said to make a statement and I'M MAKIN' A STATEMENT!"

 

"HEY, bastards," Nova shouted, stepping forward. "Who do you think you are interrupting my match?!"

 

"Awwww the lil' robot is angry!" Bit cackled. "Well I got some bad news for ya, lil' guy!" Bit's face turned completely serious and his tone dropped to a low, yet loud growl. "You're in our way."

 

Bit raised his arms in the air, and in their place expanded another cone-shaped needle-missile, many times the size of his own body. Only, now the details became much more clear; the cone was nothing more than a large, cartoon-ish drill with an engine stuck on the rear. With a yell, Bit through the drill in Nova's direction, the engine bursting into life. Nova ran in the opposite direction as the large missile screamed in her direction, blasting into the arena's floor and tossing the fighter head-over-heels to the edge of the combat space. However, there was no explosion; the drill stood stuck at an angle on the arena floor, its engines roaring with an angry flame.
 

 

ARC Network - Stadium (Stands)

 

It was chaos in the stands, nobody could make sense of what was happening. One minute there was an explosion, the next everyone was running for their lives. Aaron stared across the arena at the culprits, and was stuck in place.

 

"Ciphers?!" Aaron gasped, but was soon hit to the ground. When he managed to get to his feet, his brother was gone. "Hey, Ch-Chris!" Aaron called out, panicking as he searched for his brother.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Like clockwork, CrimsonRiot watched the back walls of the stadium was engulfed in digital flames, bits of the polygons floating away and disappearing as the system deleted the extraneous geometry. This definitely seemed like the workings of a hacker. What was more, he watched as three strange cone devices shot out from the wall and struck at Katana and with another explosion...was gone.

 

Damn...they got Katana. Show yourself already. he thought, until he finally got what he was looking for. Two Avatars: one scrawny, short drill guy and a tall, lanky fluid looking guy. And we have a winner.

 

CrimsonRiot finally stood up from his kneeling position on the stadium roof and watched the drill just stuck in the arena with its engine roaring with an angry flame. With a deep breath, he took a running leap off the roof. "STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" he shouted, before landing in the arena.

 

-BGM-

 

Once he landed, he slowly stood up and posed in a normal fashion...well, normal fashion for a hero. "Hacker scum! You have incurred the wrath of ARC's Protector: CRIMSONRIOT!!" he said, before lowering his arms and pointing at the two hackers. "Do your evil deeds know no bounds? To interrupt such a marvelous bout for your sick kicks!!"

 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, ANOTHER ONE eh? Well, at least that means more fun for me!" Bit said, before firing off three more drill missiles towards CrimsonRiot.

 

"Excellent. Record..." CrimsonRiot said to himself, analyzing the move and mentally storing the move. "FIREWALL!!" he shouted, holding a hand out and creating a literal wall of fire in front of him in order to stop the drill missiles from striking him, the explosion occurring when it hit the firewall. Once the drills were neutralized, the firewall came down and CrimsonRiot stared at the two. "Quite the neat trick. Let's see if it looks just as amazing when a hero of justice uses it! PLAYBACK: DRILL RUSH!" As he shouted this, in his hands code began to form and three wireframe constructs appeared, resembling drills. Quickly throwing them back towards the hackers, the wireframe drill missiles flew towards their intended target.

 

"Hold on there, pal." Slick simply said, before spitting out a total of three globs of what seemed to be himself that caught the missiles and had them blow up.

 

"Another cipher, eh? Well, if the boss wants us to make a statement we'll make it LOUD AND CLEAR NOW!" Bit could only say, throwing in a laugh.

 

"You were going to make it loud and clear anyways."

 

"I KNOW!!!"

 

Spitting out globs of liquid, huh? Looks like I may have to Record that one too...just once the two minutes are up, that is. CrimsonRiot thought, before reaching his hand out and constructing a sword's hilt, before having it spring to life as a laser katana blade. Holding Alt Delete at his side, CrimsonRiot only looked up at the two hackers and spoke. "If this is as much as you both can do, you may just want to give up now."

[Dad]

Bloody Hell

 

"Was that a bomb?  Did I just hear a freakin' bomb go off?" Cup'a asked aloud to no one in particular as she turned around.  An enormous hole had appeared nearby in the arena walls, and it just so happened that some super important fight between two people she didn't know or care enough about to research, were duking it out.  "If this has anything to do with those two chuckleheads, I'm gonna be seriously steamed!" she exclaimed.  This was not Cup'a's idea of a good time.  She only logged into the Arc Network casually, even if she was a filthy Cip--

 

"What on earth?" she asked aloud as a cackling metal dwarf and a lanky, bulgy-eyed clown emerged beside the main stage.  She could see them from a distance.  They looked utterly ridiculous.  "I realize the game's cosmetic options aren't the best but are they even trying?  Honestly."  Cup'a was busy shaking her head when the smaller of the two antagonists fired on one of the two contestants on stage.  The next thing she knew, Cup'a could not see one of the contestants.  They had disappeared in an explosion as a missile fired upon them.  "That's. . . not supposed to happen like that, is it?" she wondered aloud again.

 

The remaining contestant was filled with bravado and decided to foolishly get involved in the matter (not that they had a choice considering they were inches away from the 'bad guys').  And what was worse was that they all had really big, loud mouths.  They were probably descendants of Americans.  Annnnnnd there was another missile.  "So.  In-game terrorists.  Got it.  Right.  Can't log out.  Okay.  Alrighty then.  I've figured it all out.  The developers are getting back at their God-awful player base for making too many complaints. . . by offing them.  That seems like a reasonable assumption," she said, rolling her eyes.  "Oh, God.  What am I gonna do?  Blast it all!" she groaned.  Cup'a may have been a Cipher but she wasn't about to play hero.  Even if there was another crusader joining the fray, by the screen name of 'CrimsonRiot'.

 

"You poor fool," she thought aloud, turning to run to save her own life.  "I'm not about to get involved in this.  I didn't even get to finish my bloody tea!  Screw that!"  Without another word, Cup'a began sprinting in the direction the crowd was running to escape.  She bunched herself up with others to make sure she wasn't a target.

[Yui]

---

The fight was starting. The "four-armed menace" up there either wasn't listening to Reiko, or was just too stupid to care. Delivering a third kick to the base of the monolith for good measure, she called out to the annoying guy, "Alright, not my problem if you fall and break all your bones." Reiko had come here to watch a fight, and wasn't about to miss it over some babbling idiot. Reiko made her way into the stadium.

 

Of course, she didn't have much time to admire the fight before people started freaking out. Something about not being able to log out. Was this one of those cheap tricks? Like asking how to do a key feature in a game and being answered with "Hit Alt-F4"? Reiko wasn't falling for that one again. She kept her attention on the fight before her, until suddenly, it was interrupted. Explosions, and two odd-looking figures. Some man in a red suit jumping down to fight them, crowds running out of the stadium. Yup. This was some sort of attack. Reiko wasn't going to stand for this.

 

"Alright, Reiko," she muttered to herself, working her way down the seats in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowds. "Let's beat these good-for-nothings into the dirt, see if we can't find Katana, then go home and get Wander's lunch ready. I should have some leftovers from dinner last night, so that might work." Reiko nodded lightly to herself in approval of her course of action. Then, finally at the front row of seats, she hopped over the rails and down into the fighting grounds, where that red person was squaring off with those good-for-nothings.

 

She stepped up toward the red one's side, looking over the two opponents. One shot drills or something. The other fired off those globs of liquid. Reiko fancied her odds against the liquid one. Nudging the red guy with her elbow, Reiko pointed at the two baddies and asked "Oi, Cipher, which one you want? I'm beating the snot out of the one you don't pick."

---

[VCR_CAT]

ARC Network - Stadium

BGM:https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/apollo-battle

 

"If this is as much as you both can do, you may just want to give up now." CrimsonRiot proclaimed, standing in the way of the two Ciphers that opposed him.

 

"Oi, Cipher, which one you want? I'm beating the snot out of the one you don't pick," Someone who appeared to be a normal girl had jumped into the fray, standing next to CrimsonRiot.

 

"You two, you need to get out of here, now," NovaMK warned both CrimsonRiot and the newcomer as they slowly got back up.

 

"Ooooohhh, you're really askin' for it now, kiddos! I'm gonna make a nice mince meat outta your carcasses once I'm--" Bit yelled, quite graphically, before Slick shut him down immediately.

 

"Look kids, I don't know who you are, but you're in our way. So unless you wanna find out what happens when we forcibly log you out in combat when you can't log out, I suggest you walk away and forge-"

 

"No no no, you idiot! We're supposed to make a STATEMENT!"

 

Slick sighed. "Fine. That you walk away and tell all your friends."

 

"ALRIGHT, THEN LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!" Bit snapped his fingers, and the engine stuck on the back of the giant drill missile stuck in the middle of the arena fired up again, and the drill that acted as the rest of the missile began to spin very quickly.  Immediately around the missile, the map's geometry began to distort and bend; as if being forced aside crudely as the missile began to dig deep into the arena, into whatever was below it.

 

"As for you two, playing hero," Slick said, directing his attention to CrimsonRiot and the girl. "Let's just say you made the wrong choice." Slick swung his arms wide, launching a wide volley of slime balls once more. Only this time, the slime appeared as an inky black colour, and as they would impact against the arena or any player, they would stick with an unbearable force, present a startling weight, and inflate as time went on until they reached double their size. As Slick continued to attacked, both him and Bit had leaped down into the arena to get a closer bead on them.

 

Up in the stands, a large black glob of slime thrown by Slick would find its way arcing a bit too high, landing in the middle of the crowd as it attempted to escape and began to inflate, effectively clogging up a certain exit as the Network Authorities attempted to get into the arena.

[Dad]

Boysenberry Betrayal

 

There she was, fleeing for her life.  Cup'a had taken the effort to conceal herself in the crowd and attempt to escape, but suddenly, she was trapped.  A loud squish rained down from the sky, blocking her only exit.  Yet, Cup'a's curiosity got the best of her.  "Is that jam?" she wondered aloud, scratching her head.  She liked to have a bit of jam and biscuits with her tea.  Her favorites were blackberry, blueberry, and boysenberry jams.  Judging by the composition of this giant, sticky monstrosity, Cup'a was secretly hoping it was boysenberry.  She carefully prodded the sticky blob with just her pinky from her right hand.  It stuck right to her finger as she withdrew her hand.  It certainly felt like jam, based on its consistency.

 

Now, Cup'a was imagining having her tea, biscuits, and jam.  How she craved them so!  She sniffed the sticky black and blueish blob on her hand.  There was no scent.  Curious.  Without hesitation, Cup'a stuck her entire pinky in her mouth and instantly regretted her decision.

 

"Ugh!  Blech!  This tastes awful!  That's not boysenberry!  It's...just gunk!" she cried out.

 

Cup'a was irate.  Boysenberry was her favorite of all jams, and she felt deceived and tricked.  Tea and biscuits was a sacred time that she valued only above napping with her pet cat, Sugar.  Someone had made a mockery of her most precious moments.  She wouldn't stand for such a thing!  "Now boysenberry will never taste the same!" she squealed.

 

Fists clenched, Cup'a turned around to see more black and blue-ish blobs being flung around the main stage.  "I'm gonna give someone a piece of my mind," she mumbled angrily.  She rolled up her metaphorical sleeves, balled her fist, and pulled the lever on the side of her suit.  "No one ruins tea time," she said through clenched teeth.  Marching through the crowd as the slots on her suit began to spin the slots.  It was time for some good ol' fashioned British payback.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Oi, Cipher, which one you want? I'm beating the snot out of the one you don't pick."

 

"Citizen! This is not a situation that you need concern yourself with!" CrimsonRiot spoke to the young woman avatar that now stood in the arena near him. "Leave this to me, ARC's Symbol of Justice!" he said, only flashing a thumbs up at the girl.

 

"You two, you need to get out of here, now."

 

"Unfortunately, my chivalry and my sense of justice keep me from that. That and these ne'er-do-wells have interrupted this tournament." he said, glancing over at Nova. "Their villainy can't be ignored." Right now, CrimsonRiot was definitely impressed with himself now. Talking like this to normal players made him feel great, just because he got to release his inner hero.

 

"Ooooohhh, you're really askin' for it now, kiddos! I'm gonna make a nice mince meat outta your carcasses once I'm--"

"Look kids, I don't know who you are, but you're in our way. So unless you wanna find out what happens when we forcibly log you out in combat when you can't log out, I suggest you walk away and forge-"

"No no no, you idiot! We're supposed to make a STATEMENT!"

"Fine. That you walk away and tell all your friends."

"ALRIGHT, THEN LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!"

 

After the two stooges of hackers had their talk, CrimsonRiot watched as the drill guy snapped his fingers and his drill came to life once more, whirling and it's engines springing to life. "We need to take the drill out of commission!" he said, glancing over at Nova. "If you're intent on fighting, take care of the drill first. This is a hazard to the arena and its code!" Meanwhile, he glanced back over at the girl, Reiko, and sighed. "If you're going to help, follow-"

 

"As for you two, playing hero. Let's just say you made the wrong choice."

 

CrimsonRiot watched as the morphological avatar swung its arms out and began to launch a volley of slime balls in their direction. "Firewall!!" he shouted, summoning up his wall of fire once more, to protect him, Reiko, and Nova from the slime balls. Once he had it fade, he saw the slime balls inflating in size, as well as both Bit and Slick enter the arena. Another minute for Record and Playback. he thought, noticing the time limit that was displayed on his helmet's visor. Looks like we're going to push forward. he thought, before glancing at Reiko.

 

"Well citizen, if you're insistent on helping, if you have the slime..." CrimsonRiot began, swinging Alt-Delete in front of him some, before swinging it to his side and staring at Bit. "I'll take his partner." Before Reiko and even Slick had a chance to react, CrimsonRiot was gone in a blur and already clashing his energy blade with a small drill that Bit countered with.

 

"JEEZ! SLICK!! You're supposed to be doing your job, you MORON!!!"

 

"Not his fault...not many can keep up with me." CrimsonRiot spoke, slashing again at Bit, before moving behind him. "So what's the hold up? You finally come to terms with you're evil deeds?"

 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...ahhhh man you funny."

 

"So I've been told." CrimsonRiot spoke, staring at Bit. Now he had Bit focused on him, and Reiko would have Slick focused on her. That left Nova free to try and take out the drill.

[Yui]

---

"Citizen! This is not a situation that you need concern yourself with! Leave this to me, ARC's Symbol of Justice!"

 

"You two, you need to get out of here, now."

 

"Excuse you, but this 'citizen' has probably kicked more asses than both of you combined!" After some bickering between the villains, and a new set of orders coming from ARC's "Symbol of Justice", Reiko's direction was clear.

 

"Well citizen, if you're insistent on helping, if you have the slime... I'll take his partner."

 

"Easy pickings," Reiko grinned, cracking her knuckles before starting forward. Full speed ahead, toward the one shooting the slime at people. She moved straight toward him, until she was at what she'd consider point-blank shooting range, before suddenly jumping to the side. Then spinning a bit. Then her leg came back around, aiming to kick this thug into next week.

 

Teach you to mess with a tournament!

---

[VCR_CAT]

ARC Network - Stadium

BGM: https://benprunty.bandcamp.com/track/apollo-battle

 

"Unfortunately, my chivalry and my sense of justice keep me from that. That and these ne'er-do-wells have interrupted this tournament." CrimsonRiot said, glancing over at Nova. "Their villainy can't be ignored."

 

"Running away is not ignoring!" Nova protested, taking a stance regardless.

 

"Excuse you, but this 'citizen' has probably kicked more asses than both of you combined!" the non-Cipher argued.

 

​"I'm sorry, who's the professional fighter here?!" Nova protested once more, but it didn't seem like either of them were willing to listen.

 

"We need to take the drill out of commission!" CrimsonRiot said, glancing over at Nova. "If you're intent on fighting, take care of the drill first. This is a hazard to the arena and its code!"

 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Bit shouted out. "Not unless you want this whole stadium and everyone in it blowing sky-high!"

 

"Way to show your hand, idiot," Slick sighed.

 

"What, you wanna blow the mission and yourself with it?"

 

"Good point."

 

"The hell am I supposed to do, then?!" Nova yelled at the other two as they rushed forward to deal with the two hackers.

 

CrimsonRiot had sped into the fray, and made to attack Bit, finding him in a clash between swords and drills.

 

"Man, you guys are stupid!" Bit whined at CrimsonRiot as he jumped behind him. "You think these drills are just for show?" Holding two drill missiles in his hands, Bit brought both of them towards the ground, both spinning at high speed. The drills ate right into the arena's floor, and Bit himself dove forwards, tucking and rolling into a standing position worthy of an Olympic gymnast. The drills themselves burst from the arena floor a few feet away from CrimsonRiot, flying high in the air and turning down to face the Cipher dead-on.

 

As Reiko went in to kick Slick, her leg was met with the sudden, gross contact with the slime-body of Slick, the impact spraying slime all over the place in the general direction of the kick. Slick was hit forward and staggered, but the slime was soon encasing around Reiko's leg.

 

"I mean, that hurt, but honestly what did you think was going to happen?" Slick chuckled as Reiko was pulled forward and swung in CrimsonRiot's direction.

[Dad]

Cup'A only marched forwards at first.  She could make out a commotion on the remains of the main stage of what used to be a grand event.  Now, a bunch of people she didn't recognize were at each other's throats.  There was a robot-policeman, a construction man who held drills, and then two other people with the strangest designs she had seen yet.  She didn't know who the bad guys were, and she couldn't make out who the good guys were.  That didn't matter.  Right now, Cup'a needed answers.  Someone had to have answers!  And the only way to find out was to break-up this fight.

 

She broke into a jog, politely excusing herself from the still scrambling crowd.  Then, she began to sprint as she felt the slot machine on her suit stop.  She could see each of the three slots fall into place as she hurried to get into range of the fight.  She had rolled, "I'm Rubber!  You're Glue!"  Her suit began to expand greatly, but she wasn't quite in range yet!  She dove at the stage and forced her way into the very center of each of the combatants.  And just in time too.  Her suit ballooned in density and size, as Cup'a turned into what was basically a giant black rubber ball.  

 

"You chuckle heads!" she said with a thick accent as her suit continued to expand until she was about sixteen feet high and who knows how wide.  "Someone ruined my favorite flavor!" she belted out.  "Who went n' shot off the gunky stuff?  That over there!" she pointed to the blob with which she had so foolishly taste tested.  "Go on then!  Tell me!"

 

She was confident in the density of her suit.  It would take a lot to puncture it.  Like, say, a drill of some kind.  But it would have to be a pretty strong drill.  Right?