Step on up!

((bump3))
((Oh my god why am I so lazy))
((Also: PORTALS!))


Valkyrie finds a piece of the dance routine's data in one of the big snow piles.

This one seems to outline the steps for a dance called "The Flaming Guantanamo Bay".

You can't tell if that's more or less unpleasant as a homosexual metaphor rather than as a literal interpretation.

At about the same time, one of the Snowballs implodes to reveal another one of those net-hopping, code-defying vortices. Time to hop in!

(GET: [Dancedata])
- My recently piqued interest in this era of funk has suddenly dropped significantly.
- Hey, if you dance, you may as well go all out in a fiery destruction of seaside property, you know what I mean?
- Look, you know that most people don't destroy buildings while having a good time, right?
- They just don't know how to have a really good time.
-... unlike you.
-Yep.
-Well, I bet there's a pretty dull party waiting just on the other side of that portal, waiting for you to turn the heat up.
- Groovy.

>ENTER PORTAL
Valkyrie goes through the vortex.

It takes her places.
Valkyrie finds herself in a place that is completely unfamiliar; the panels look alien and strange, printed at the corners with small 'Beta' symbols, and give off a sense of being unfinished... the wallpaper, on the other hand, reflects a far starrier sky than any that Valkyrie has ever seen. Planets, galaxies, solar coronas and galactic phenomena light up the night sky with a glittering, glowing brilliance, and it is only after reflecting on these that she realizes where she is.

It's a SPACE NETWORK!

It even has planets!

Wait, is that a planet?

Indeed, floating overhead is a large planetoid; a cursory scan of it reveals the name RockStar. Its' surface is mostly segmented, hexagonal panels split evenly between plain, white, 'normal' panels, but a region near its' northern pole seems to be covered in grass...

As if on cue, some of the panels in front of Valkyrie 'boot' up, transforming into little windows to the cosmos that seem to be launching small stars upward.

Terrain: 98% Beta (?), 2% ???, 30% Normal (The planetoid), 10% grass (The planetoid's northern pole)
-Whoah.
-That's... kinda neat actually.

Valkyrie looked around, marveling at the artificial beauty of this micro-cosm. Reminds you how small you are... but then again, it also reminds you that being at the center is all the matter of perspective. And that from where she's standing, all the stars can be within her grasp. The universe is out there, one just needs to go out and grab it by the throat.

No sign of the data though. Somewhat at a loss at what to do next, Valkyrie tried gingerly touching a rising star...
frzzt The moment Valkyrie touches one of the stars, the panel comes to life, launching her higher and higher and higher into the air-- until at about thirty feet up, she stops... and feels the pull of the planetoid gently, and then swiftly tugging on her as she makes a three-point landing on its' southern pole.

...She can hear a disco boogie from above (below) her.

Terrain: 98% Beta (?), 2% Lo-GravBETA, 30% Normal (The planetoid), 10% grass (The planetoid's northern pole)
- Okay, that was really goddamn neat actually.
-You tell me.

Valkyrie knew what flight was like, but not like this. The landing was soft and floaty, not frantic and, well, destructive like it usually is. Not to mention that it gives her the perfect point to spy on whoever is making the music. Based on recent experiences, things dancing and making music are looking for a fight, and she felt like a good fight would crown the experience right now.

So she walked over to the other side of the planet to look down... err... up... in the general direction of the noise.
She finds a single Boogie, its' afro shagged and thick with curls, dancing on the crested grass panel that sits atop the planetoid she now stands on. As she nears it, it whirls-- more like a dance move than a response-- and pauses to look at her. "Sup gorgey?" The virus says in a smooth accent. "Can I help ya with somethin'?"

Terrain: 98% Beta (?), 2% Lo-GravBETA, 30% Normal (The planetoid), 10% grass (The planetoid's northern pole)
- Actually yes, I'm looking for a fi-...
-Figment of data. Supposed to be dance routines. You don't know anything, perchance?
-Tsk.

Lone guy. On top of a planet. All alone. If this is not a setup for a showdown, she's going to be disappointed. Oh, Sieg may try to weasel themselves out of this, but the slimy little runt can't go against the natural Law.

"Hmm...." The Boogie twirls around for a bit, thinking, then stops while striking a pose. A curl of its' hair extends outward from the afro, holding-- the last Dance Data. "You mean this? Aeeeh, I don't want this ol' thang. You can have it."

The arm bends back, like it's going to toss the data to Valkyrie-- and it does! ...But it goes too far, careens off into the distance, and then, abruptly, tilts downward.

There is a pause before the Boogie catches it as it comes from the far side of the planetoid, then sucks it back into its' afro. "But I don't like givin' stuff away for free, see. Tell you what-- we can have a boogie-off. I win, I get your outta sight afro and you leave me to my dancin'! You win, you get the data."

The Boogie strikes a pose again as the floor lights up. "Deal?"
-Deal!
-Oh god.

Valkyrie struck a pose. She was toyed with. She was riled up. She was going to get that data one way or another.

She really hoped the guy was using boogie as a metaphore for fighting.

-Oh dear god...
"Outta sight, gorgey, outta sight! We're gonna groove our way from here over to there." The Boogie points toward the distance, and Valkyrie notes a loose "path" of planetoids, asteroids, and chunks of floating terrain held up by low gravity panels, all leading to what looks like a dance floor held atop a quartet of RockStars. "First one to boogie on over there wins, you feel me?"

"So without further ado..." He says, afro bobbing about as he strikes a pose, "Let's begin!"

The Boogie-- or Master Boogie, rather, as his readout denotes-- begins by flipping backwards, off of the RockStar, and spinning onto a nearby chunk of floating terrain. He does a twist, and pulls off a subtle little turn as he lands, striking a few poses, then dancingly beckons Valkyrie onward before making the next hop. "And no teleportin'! That just ain't groovy!"

Terrain (All along a path): 10% Grass (You're on this), 20% Asteroid (A couple of small platforms directly in front of you), 20% Normal (The RockStar past those), 30% Normal (The RockStar you are on).

Battle 1...

DANCE!
A race is fine too!

- Say, are you familiar with the expression "gravity sling?"
-Of course.

What a silly thing to ask. Of she wasn't not. Not before Sieg mentioned it anyway. She always liked expressions where you know where you are standing with exactly.

Valkyrie crouched down and leaped, but not in the direction the boogie did. Quite the opposite, in fact. She leaped "down", aiming for the stars, the ones that shot her up here in the first place.

She "fell" accelerating for a while, but when she reached the panels her descend slowed before stopping altogether, until it stopped. And then, much like jumping on a trampoline she shot back up.

Steering with her thrusters she maneuvered around the planetoid (spinning round like a top a few times until she got the hang of low grav thrusting) and sailed through space propelled by momentum alone.

To be fair this little performance probably just barely took less time and effort than worth it, but hell if it wasn't sending a clear message of the game being SO on, mah man Boogieboy!
((You gotta remind me more often when you've been gone a while))

Valkyrie slingshots off of the planetoid as the Master Boogie dances onward, stylishly flipping between the little meteors that form the pathway; It is then that Valkyrie realizes what he is doing, even as she is forced to land a couple of meteors behind him.

Every time the Master Boogie leaps off of a meteor, he gives it a subtle little kick that sends it spinning-- and more importantly, away from the path ahead! Valkyrie will have to keep up if she wants to have any hope of winning this dance-off.

Master Boogie: 12/20 Meteors hopped
Valkyrie: 10/20 Meteors hopped (Hindered: The Master Boogie is making each meteor take longer to get to with his trickery!)