At the very end of the Casino Net, the lights are dimmer as the neon sign lights, advertisements, all the flare of the Casinos are far behind. In the end lies a giant security cube with an equally sized Heelnavi standing as a bouncer, wryly staring at anyone who dares to come near him. Everyone else who happens to come their way across this are usually scared off by the bouncer, except few, fancy navis who fearlessly approach the cube.
"Za Keeis?"
Even the trembling voice would be enough to scare a few weak heart navi or two, but the invited navis continue as they show the Key data. "...Velcome to de Festival de Fortune" The entirety of the security cube begins to collapse outwards after the Heelnavi swiped the keys, letting out golden light brighter than the NetVegas' best casino's sign can offer. As soon as the guests got in, the cube appeared again and the once warm light simply vanished...
The Heelnavi continued to stand his post till the next guests have arrived.
"Za Keeis?"
Festival de Fortune
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((Arriving from Netsquare))
Ante had seen a net casino or two before in her lifetime. This was the first time she'd ever seen one sealed by a security cube, however, let alone one of this size. She also didn't realize that HeelNavis came in other shapes or sizes, but she guessed it made sense. There were other types of non-customized navis out there, after all.
The novelty of all of this was lost, however, in Ante's mind, thanks to the dim eeriness of the Casino Net. "This must really be a shady sort of place we're going to, if they don't feel the need to advertise themselves with bright lights. It felt as though that was a common theme in all casinos, but I guess not," she admitted. She'd been hoping to battle earlier, but thinking about the crowd that was likely inside, she realized that she'd be much happier if they simply got in and out without getting mugged.
"Pssst, Ante," Teruko whispered into her PET, interrupting her navi's thoughts. "What's going on? Is he saying 'the kiss?' You don't have to kiss him to get in, do you?"
"No, I'm fairly certain he's saying 'the keys,'" Ante answered, unsure of whether her operator was picking on her or had actually misinterpreted events in such a grievous fashion. "Regardless, we were given the key data earlier. That should let Dare and I in safely."
"Shouldn't you guys prepare some disguises or something? What do you think?" Teruko asked, hoping Ante would want a disguise. That'd make things much more exciting in the long run.
"We aren't exactly sure how the other guests will want to attire themselves. If we stand out, then a fitting costume change might be appropriate. If there's a heterogeneous mix, there's not much reason to swap," Ante explained. "Let's go ahead with our key. Dare, please follow along," she spoke to her ally.
Stepping up to the tall HeelNavi with a gentle clap of her boots against net tiling, Ante held up her key, hoping that would be enough to let them through. She was looking forward to getting inside, if only to rid herself of the encroaching darkness that nearly suffocated anyone standing around this net area.
Ante had seen a net casino or two before in her lifetime. This was the first time she'd ever seen one sealed by a security cube, however, let alone one of this size. She also didn't realize that HeelNavis came in other shapes or sizes, but she guessed it made sense. There were other types of non-customized navis out there, after all.
The novelty of all of this was lost, however, in Ante's mind, thanks to the dim eeriness of the Casino Net. "This must really be a shady sort of place we're going to, if they don't feel the need to advertise themselves with bright lights. It felt as though that was a common theme in all casinos, but I guess not," she admitted. She'd been hoping to battle earlier, but thinking about the crowd that was likely inside, she realized that she'd be much happier if they simply got in and out without getting mugged.
"Pssst, Ante," Teruko whispered into her PET, interrupting her navi's thoughts. "What's going on? Is he saying 'the kiss?' You don't have to kiss him to get in, do you?"
"No, I'm fairly certain he's saying 'the keys,'" Ante answered, unsure of whether her operator was picking on her or had actually misinterpreted events in such a grievous fashion. "Regardless, we were given the key data earlier. That should let Dare and I in safely."
"Shouldn't you guys prepare some disguises or something? What do you think?" Teruko asked, hoping Ante would want a disguise. That'd make things much more exciting in the long run.
"We aren't exactly sure how the other guests will want to attire themselves. If we stand out, then a fitting costume change might be appropriate. If there's a heterogeneous mix, there's not much reason to swap," Ante explained. "Let's go ahead with our key. Dare, please follow along," she spoke to her ally.
Stepping up to the tall HeelNavi with a gentle clap of her boots against net tiling, Ante held up her key, hoping that would be enough to let them through. She was looking forward to getting inside, if only to rid herself of the encroaching darkness that nearly suffocated anyone standing around this net area.
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<<BelfastAvatarsRedPartyDress9.GMO equipped>>
Dare had followed along behind Ante, still trying to get used to the foreign footwear accompanying her new outfit. She wanted to complain that Ante should have given her a chance to get used to it, but she sort of felt that her partner might be trying to simply move through this as quickly as possible. Thinking of it as a time trial, Dare realized she couldn't be the one complaining about needing to take practice steps like an old woman.
In any case, Dare was just as excited if not moreso to find that the area looked shady and dangerous. She wanted to challenge the big doorman herself, but she kept reminding herself that the real goal was to keep low-profile. Anyway, she was looking forward to seeing what was in that brightly-lit room. New experiences like that were her life blood.
Dare handed her key forward in unison with Ante, smiling at the doorman as she did. "Hey, you want to swipe these or are you going to make a couple of ladies do it themselves?"
Dare had followed along behind Ante, still trying to get used to the foreign footwear accompanying her new outfit. She wanted to complain that Ante should have given her a chance to get used to it, but she sort of felt that her partner might be trying to simply move through this as quickly as possible. Thinking of it as a time trial, Dare realized she couldn't be the one complaining about needing to take practice steps like an old woman.
In any case, Dare was just as excited if not moreso to find that the area looked shady and dangerous. She wanted to challenge the big doorman herself, but she kept reminding herself that the real goal was to keep low-profile. Anyway, she was looking forward to seeing what was in that brightly-lit room. New experiences like that were her life blood.
Dare handed her key forward in unison with Ante, smiling at the doorman as she did. "Hey, you want to swipe these or are you going to make a couple of ladies do it themselves?"
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The bouncer HeelNavi had his eyes intimidatingly staring down at the two navis, but gently took the key from Dare's hand and swiped it down on the security cube.
"...Velcome to de Festival, Ladiss."
The cube collapsed outwards once again and the source of the bright light was finally revealed to Ante and Dare. Golden chandeliers with innumerable crystals hanging down from it, slot machines all decorated with flashing lights as far as the eyes can see, gold trimmed poker and roulette tables with dealers all wearing technicolor vests, live musics played at every other section of the casino, and all the gamblers present seemed like they could easily shrug off a few hundred thousand zennies or two. Suffice it to say, there wasn't any other casino like this in the NetVegas Network.
As Dare and Ante stepped into the casino, a red carpet suddenly appeared from underneath, creating a pathway across the endless casino. If things didn't get any stranger, a NormalNavi dressed in the technicolor vest approached them, greeting them with a humble bow. "Ms. Ante and Ms. Dare...I welcome you to the Fortune Casino." He straightened up and pointed his hand towards the red carpet path. "The Festival de Fortune will start soon. I can explain the rules of the competition you will be participating as we go along."
The NormalNavi clapped his hands, causing the entire carpet to start moving like a horizontal escalator. "Both of you will participate in three events, all of which is randomly selected among the variety of games we have provided." The navi continued the explanation by first starting how they are selected and how they are created, but all his words was blocked off by the noises from the Casino. The mixture of both live music and the screams of both success and failure was a sure combination of muting one's ear. "...So that's how we do things here at Fortune Casino. Any questions? Good, now let me go over the basic rule of the games."
After realizing that the noise was too much, the navi activated some sort of noise-barrier around them as he explained the important rules. "You will be going against three teams, but all of the game will be strictly...non-lethal." said the navi as he averted his eyes from Ante and Dare. "Depending on how well you do, you gain points depending on your position. First place gets 3 points, second 2 points, third 1 point, and the last place gets 0." On the side of the moving red carpet, a fight just broke out between a dealer and a gambler as they began to swing their fists against one another till a giant Mr.Prog appeared from mid air, apprehending both of them and flying away in a flash...
The navi seemed completely unfazed by the strange occurrence as he continued the rule. "Depending on how much response you gain from the audience, you may have a chance to gain an extra point, regardless of what position you got from the game. Remember, it's the response, not the overall quality of how you won that gets the extra point." Finally, the carpet stopped moving as it arrived at its destination...A door on the wall of the casino. "Please proceed inside the locker room till you are notified in about 10 minutes." With another humble bow, the NormalNavi opened the door to a regular locker room...
"...Or do you have any other questions you would like to ask?"
"...Velcome to de Festival, Ladiss."
The cube collapsed outwards once again and the source of the bright light was finally revealed to Ante and Dare. Golden chandeliers with innumerable crystals hanging down from it, slot machines all decorated with flashing lights as far as the eyes can see, gold trimmed poker and roulette tables with dealers all wearing technicolor vests, live musics played at every other section of the casino, and all the gamblers present seemed like they could easily shrug off a few hundred thousand zennies or two. Suffice it to say, there wasn't any other casino like this in the NetVegas Network.
As Dare and Ante stepped into the casino, a red carpet suddenly appeared from underneath, creating a pathway across the endless casino. If things didn't get any stranger, a NormalNavi dressed in the technicolor vest approached them, greeting them with a humble bow. "Ms. Ante and Ms. Dare...I welcome you to the Fortune Casino." He straightened up and pointed his hand towards the red carpet path. "The Festival de Fortune will start soon. I can explain the rules of the competition you will be participating as we go along."
The NormalNavi clapped his hands, causing the entire carpet to start moving like a horizontal escalator. "Both of you will participate in three events, all of which is randomly selected among the variety of games we have provided." The navi continued the explanation by first starting how they are selected and how they are created, but all his words was blocked off by the noises from the Casino. The mixture of both live music and the screams of both success and failure was a sure combination of muting one's ear. "...So that's how we do things here at Fortune Casino. Any questions? Good, now let me go over the basic rule of the games."
After realizing that the noise was too much, the navi activated some sort of noise-barrier around them as he explained the important rules. "You will be going against three teams, but all of the game will be strictly...non-lethal." said the navi as he averted his eyes from Ante and Dare. "Depending on how well you do, you gain points depending on your position. First place gets 3 points, second 2 points, third 1 point, and the last place gets 0." On the side of the moving red carpet, a fight just broke out between a dealer and a gambler as they began to swing their fists against one another till a giant Mr.Prog appeared from mid air, apprehending both of them and flying away in a flash...
The navi seemed completely unfazed by the strange occurrence as he continued the rule. "Depending on how much response you gain from the audience, you may have a chance to gain an extra point, regardless of what position you got from the game. Remember, it's the response, not the overall quality of how you won that gets the extra point." Finally, the carpet stopped moving as it arrived at its destination...A door on the wall of the casino. "Please proceed inside the locker room till you are notified in about 10 minutes." With another humble bow, the NormalNavi opened the door to a regular locker room...
"...Or do you have any other questions you would like to ask?"
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Ante turned to Dare with an approving smile. "What a lovely dress. Mr. Shiner seems to have excellent taste," she started, then blanked as she saw the large, smoking exhaust pipes sticking out from Dare's shoes. "And it still retains some of your... personality," she coughed, focusing back on the task at hand.
Being unusually prone to headaches, Ante was unhappy to enter the awful din of the casino. She considering turning the muffling effect of her earguards on briefly before a navi showed up to explain things to them. She struggled to hear for a while, just smiling and nodding, until he put up a barrier to save them from the noise. "Thank you very much, sir," she sighed, resting her hands at her lap.
Ante had been surprised to hear that the worker navi knew their names, but then realized that the keys they produced earlier may have identified them to the staff. She was even more surprised to hear the term "non-lethal" come up. While non-lethal was a positive phrase, nobody would ever hear a game show described as "non-lethal;" that was more for excessive dosages of drugs or gunshots meant to take down culprits. One would never describe something as non-lethal unless there was a danger that it could indeed be lethal.
Still, she'd come mentally prepared, so she was less nervous than curious. What kind of games could they be walking in to?
She was somewhat disturbed to hear crowd reactions would play into the score. Her mind switched from gladiator shows, to on-stage comedy routines, and finally to raunchy strip shows. She had many good qualities, she secretly thought, but being a show-stopper/ spotlight-grabber had never been one of them. On the other hand, her partner seemed just right for doing that sort of thing. He could imagine her holding up well in any one of those three hypothetical instances.
"Very well; I have no questions, personally. I'm assuming we'll learn more about the rules of the specific game at the same time everyone else does," she nodded, heading on into the locker room. What could a locker room be for, anyways? Most navis tended to change with the simple activation of a .GMO. Maybe it was just to support the "game" feel.
"You're excited, aren't you? It sounds like you're getting just what you wanted," Ante chuckled, trying to remove butterflies from her stomach as she conversed with her partner. "I hope our fellow players have better tempers than that patron we saw earlier."
She figured it went without saying that the objective of winning the games was inseparably tied to meeting Shwindle. Big players would definitely take notice of them if they were winning, especially by a significant margin.
Being unusually prone to headaches, Ante was unhappy to enter the awful din of the casino. She considering turning the muffling effect of her earguards on briefly before a navi showed up to explain things to them. She struggled to hear for a while, just smiling and nodding, until he put up a barrier to save them from the noise. "Thank you very much, sir," she sighed, resting her hands at her lap.
Ante had been surprised to hear that the worker navi knew their names, but then realized that the keys they produced earlier may have identified them to the staff. She was even more surprised to hear the term "non-lethal" come up. While non-lethal was a positive phrase, nobody would ever hear a game show described as "non-lethal;" that was more for excessive dosages of drugs or gunshots meant to take down culprits. One would never describe something as non-lethal unless there was a danger that it could indeed be lethal.
Still, she'd come mentally prepared, so she was less nervous than curious. What kind of games could they be walking in to?
She was somewhat disturbed to hear crowd reactions would play into the score. Her mind switched from gladiator shows, to on-stage comedy routines, and finally to raunchy strip shows. She had many good qualities, she secretly thought, but being a show-stopper/ spotlight-grabber had never been one of them. On the other hand, her partner seemed just right for doing that sort of thing. He could imagine her holding up well in any one of those three hypothetical instances.
"Very well; I have no questions, personally. I'm assuming we'll learn more about the rules of the specific game at the same time everyone else does," she nodded, heading on into the locker room. What could a locker room be for, anyways? Most navis tended to change with the simple activation of a .GMO. Maybe it was just to support the "game" feel.
"You're excited, aren't you? It sounds like you're getting just what you wanted," Ante chuckled, trying to remove butterflies from her stomach as she conversed with her partner. "I hope our fellow players have better tempers than that patron we saw earlier."
She figured it went without saying that the objective of winning the games was inseparably tied to meeting Shwindle. Big players would definitely take notice of them if they were winning, especially by a significant margin.
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"Thanks!" Dare replied to Ante. "I'm kinda surprised it worked out as well as it did! It's not really comfortable to move around in, though," she commented, shifting her weight on her uncomfortable feet as she spoke.
Realizing that she couldn't hear the speaker when he arrived, she basically ignored his initial explanation while walking along and taking in the sights. "This place is amazing... the opulence that suggests unlimited payoff for the savvy risk-taker, it's really my kind of place!" Dare spoke mostly to herself.
The Navi noticed an altercation break out and get dealt with immediately: she surmised from this that if it came to blows when they found Schwindle, they'd probably be dealt with quickly in some fashion. They probably wouldn't have a chance to get him after that. Dare put that information on file before turning back to the attendant.
"I didn't catch a lot of what you said, but basically there are these challenges we have to win while pleasing the audience, right? Well, nothing's more exciting than me, so that shouldn't be any trouble! The two of us will capture four points every round!" Hearing Ante speak to her, Dare listened and smiled, but shrugged. "I hope they've got tempers and that it fires them up! They'll need the motivation to even keep me interested."
There was no doubt that she was excited, as she deflated a little bit at being told there would be even a ten minute wait. "Well, that's all right, man, we'll go ahead..." She started to follow the carpet forward, before turning. "Oh! I do have a question," she asked suddenly. "Can you give us any info on who our competition's going to be, or do we have to wait and see?"
Realizing that she couldn't hear the speaker when he arrived, she basically ignored his initial explanation while walking along and taking in the sights. "This place is amazing... the opulence that suggests unlimited payoff for the savvy risk-taker, it's really my kind of place!" Dare spoke mostly to herself.
The Navi noticed an altercation break out and get dealt with immediately: she surmised from this that if it came to blows when they found Schwindle, they'd probably be dealt with quickly in some fashion. They probably wouldn't have a chance to get him after that. Dare put that information on file before turning back to the attendant.
"I didn't catch a lot of what you said, but basically there are these challenges we have to win while pleasing the audience, right? Well, nothing's more exciting than me, so that shouldn't be any trouble! The two of us will capture four points every round!" Hearing Ante speak to her, Dare listened and smiled, but shrugged. "I hope they've got tempers and that it fires them up! They'll need the motivation to even keep me interested."
There was no doubt that she was excited, as she deflated a little bit at being told there would be even a ten minute wait. "Well, that's all right, man, we'll go ahead..." She started to follow the carpet forward, before turning. "Oh! I do have a question," she asked suddenly. "Can you give us any info on who our competition's going to be, or do we have to wait and see?"
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"Yes, the rules will be explained before the start of the competition and no one except the announcer will know about them prior to the start of it." The NormalNavi then turned towards Dare and began to answer her question. "Again, you won't be able to know till the Festival has begun. I apologize for the inconvenience."
After bowing his head as a farewell, the NormalNavi took off with the carpet as it began to fold by itself, leaving Dare and Ante behind in the locker room. For the first few minutes, the blaring noise of the casino was muffled through the walls of the room, but it soon turned dead silent when an enigmatic voice began to speak over the overhead speakers.
"Ladies and Gentleman...I would personally like to welcome you to the annual Festival de Fortune!!"
The holo-screen showing a darkened arena was shown inside Ante/Dare's locker room, depicting the same NormalNavi who directed them standing on the center spotlight. "Tonight, we shall have the time of our lives as these contestants will be challenged with rigorous competitions for fame and glory!" The silence was instantly broken with the roaring yelling of cheers. The yelling didn't stop for almost a full minute till the navi stretched both hands out to silence the crowds.
"I shall be the host of the Festival, yours truly..." The navi grabbed hold of his technicolor vest and, for some odd, world-defying reason, was able to stretch it to the point where it covered his body momentarily to reveal what looked like a completely different navi. Wearing a giant, golden musketeers hat with a peacock feather as long as his arm, this navi was also dressed in a golden tuxedo and ditched his bland NormalNavi apperance with humanistic features. "...Mr. Gold! The owner of this wonderful Fortune Casino!!"
The audience's response didn't seem as energized as it was before, but nonetheless, it was still loud as ever. As the lights began to turn on one by one, lighting the arena in its entirety to reveal four sections divided by see-through barriers. Only thing that actually stood out of the arena was the separate color scheme the floors had, nothing that hinted the contestants of their games. "Now! We will announce the contestants...in a few minutes as they prepare! So sit tight and enjoy the show!"
As Mr. Gold began to drop down on the stage via a hidden elevator, the over-head speaker in Ante/Dare's locker began to ring out. "Testing, testing, one two three... It sounded like the same Mr. Gold who was just on the arena. "Am I connected?...Alright then...*Ahem*. Contestants, please proceed to the platform that will appear on the side of the room you are currently in when you are ready. There's no need to dress up fancy or dress prepared, just come naturally as you are...That is all!"
And would you know, as soon as the announcement was over, a wall slid out from the locker room's side and a glowing, circular platform was ready on the floor...
After bowing his head as a farewell, the NormalNavi took off with the carpet as it began to fold by itself, leaving Dare and Ante behind in the locker room. For the first few minutes, the blaring noise of the casino was muffled through the walls of the room, but it soon turned dead silent when an enigmatic voice began to speak over the overhead speakers.
"Ladies and Gentleman...I would personally like to welcome you to the annual Festival de Fortune!!"
The holo-screen showing a darkened arena was shown inside Ante/Dare's locker room, depicting the same NormalNavi who directed them standing on the center spotlight. "Tonight, we shall have the time of our lives as these contestants will be challenged with rigorous competitions for fame and glory!" The silence was instantly broken with the roaring yelling of cheers. The yelling didn't stop for almost a full minute till the navi stretched both hands out to silence the crowds.
"I shall be the host of the Festival, yours truly..." The navi grabbed hold of his technicolor vest and, for some odd, world-defying reason, was able to stretch it to the point where it covered his body momentarily to reveal what looked like a completely different navi. Wearing a giant, golden musketeers hat with a peacock feather as long as his arm, this navi was also dressed in a golden tuxedo and ditched his bland NormalNavi apperance with humanistic features. "...Mr. Gold! The owner of this wonderful Fortune Casino!!"
The audience's response didn't seem as energized as it was before, but nonetheless, it was still loud as ever. As the lights began to turn on one by one, lighting the arena in its entirety to reveal four sections divided by see-through barriers. Only thing that actually stood out of the arena was the separate color scheme the floors had, nothing that hinted the contestants of their games. "Now! We will announce the contestants...in a few minutes as they prepare! So sit tight and enjoy the show!"
As Mr. Gold began to drop down on the stage via a hidden elevator, the over-head speaker in Ante/Dare's locker began to ring out. "Testing, testing, one two three... It sounded like the same Mr. Gold who was just on the arena. "Am I connected?...Alright then...*Ahem*. Contestants, please proceed to the platform that will appear on the side of the room you are currently in when you are ready. There's no need to dress up fancy or dress prepared, just come naturally as you are...That is all!"
And would you know, as soon as the announcement was over, a wall slid out from the locker room's side and a glowing, circular platform was ready on the floor...
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Dare hadn't really expected they'd learn anything about who their opponents would be, but she felt it wouldn't hurt to ask. After all, they expected Schwindle to be using some kind of disguise to participate in the festival. It would be a good idea to start looking out for anyone suspicious.
Regardless, Dare's mind immediately left the criminal they were supposed to help apprehend when she got a good look at the ring of competition. The excitement she'd already been feeling doubled when she saw the audience they'd be playing to. "Wow, Ante, this Mr. Gold seems like he has a good thing going here! He sure has gotten a lot of Navis together here for whatever event he has planned..."
The Navi's anticipation was so great that she was outraged at the thought of having to wait even a few more minutes. "I don't get it! He talks to the audience like we have to prepare, he has these rooms set up, and he gives us time... and then we walk onto some silly platform? Agh, I can't wait any longer!" In spite of her words, Dare waited a moment for Ante before stepping onto the platform, making she she didn't have any kind of insight or strategy she would want to know before they were in the thick of it.
Regardless, Dare's mind immediately left the criminal they were supposed to help apprehend when she got a good look at the ring of competition. The excitement she'd already been feeling doubled when she saw the audience they'd be playing to. "Wow, Ante, this Mr. Gold seems like he has a good thing going here! He sure has gotten a lot of Navis together here for whatever event he has planned..."
The Navi's anticipation was so great that she was outraged at the thought of having to wait even a few more minutes. "I don't get it! He talks to the audience like we have to prepare, he has these rooms set up, and he gives us time... and then we walk onto some silly platform? Agh, I can't wait any longer!" In spite of her words, Dare waited a moment for Ante before stepping onto the platform, making she she didn't have any kind of insight or strategy she would want to know before they were in the thick of it.
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Ante watched the navi transform with a skeptical look on her face. "I have no doubt that he has the money. My question is how he earns it. An honest casino earns no money. A dishonest one does. A dishonest one that's a front for another operation... that's where a casino mogul really acquires his cash," she theorized. "It's not a bad hat though," she admitted, smiling and admiring their host's flamboyant cap.
She continued listening in, wondering what the host meant by rigorous competitions. She also noticed that the fabulous "Mr. Gold" hadn't identified himself as Shwindle. She couldn't help but wonder whether their observation target was going to end up being a megalomaniac or more of a cunning adversary. In this environment she'd expected egos all around, so she'd half expected the host to announce himself as Shwindle then and there. "Remember, the games are important, but so is keeping an eye on our target," she whispered to Dare, unsure if the radio in their locker room worked two ways.
Walking quickly, she lifted her skirt and moved over to the floor markings, which she assumed were teleporter or elevator pads.
She continued listening in, wondering what the host meant by rigorous competitions. She also noticed that the fabulous "Mr. Gold" hadn't identified himself as Shwindle. She couldn't help but wonder whether their observation target was going to end up being a megalomaniac or more of a cunning adversary. In this environment she'd expected egos all around, so she'd half expected the host to announce himself as Shwindle then and there. "Remember, the games are important, but so is keeping an eye on our target," she whispered to Dare, unsure if the radio in their locker room worked two ways.
Walking quickly, she lifted her skirt and moved over to the floor markings, which she assumed were teleporter or elevator pads.
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"Now, ladies and gentleman..." Mr. Gold's voice began to echo through the casino as he reappeared at the center of the arena from the same hidden elevator. "Let us start by introducing our wonderful contestants!!" Everyone was dead silent as they patiently waited for the grand reveal.
"First! He's a fierce competitor who's looking to be the best of the best!" A spotlight shined down at the red part of the arena as the center floor opened up. "A hot blooded man who will settle for nothing else! NekketsuMan!!" All of a sudden, a giant explosion erupted out from the opening and a navi jumped out from within, landing on the arena while the smoke was still hiding his presence. "Yosha!! Listen to my burning soul as it cries for victory!!" As the billowing smoke began to fade away, it revealed a robotic navi with uncountable rivets covering his skins. He wore a long black jacket with a flame design at the very end, only wearing it over him so his bare, metal chest was revealed along with his emblem literally burning every so fiercely like his spirit. NekketsuMan finished his little get up with a long red bandana and giant black, steel sideburn that was long enough to reach down to his chest.
"Next! We have this lovely couple who will fight to keep their relationship truer than ever..." This time, the spotlight swapped colors into a painfully bright pink and sky blue light. "Please welcome their desire to ascend from mere sport navis into stars, Advant and Love!!" Unlike the last entrance made by NekketsuMan, two navis, a male and a female, wore a pair of matching tennis shoes, shorts, t-shirts, headbands, and tennis racquets. "Oh darling~ I think this is just too much with this many people watching..." quietly muttered the girl navi. "Ahaha! Don't you sweat it, Love, my love. We'll be known throughout the net and, with your help, we can be STARS!" said the male navi as he closely hugged Love. "Oh Advant, I'll stay with you till end~"
"And now! Please welcome the Festival de Fortune's infamous regular..." Even before Mr. Gold could finish his sentence, the crowds began to boo as they began to throw whatever they had in their hands, only for it to be blocked off by an invisible barrier. "The one and only...Crystal Roy!!" When the navi was finally revealed, one couldn't understand why a man looking this classy would be hated so fiercely. Wearing a stylish combination of white dress shirts with a black vest worn over, wearing a perfectly creased pants that would most likely be capable of cutting through solid rock, and a pair of freshly scrubbed boots glimmering under the spotlight. To top it off, he even had a completely respectable mustache...However, if there was one thing that was off about "Crystal Roy" was that his entire skin was indeed clear as a crystal and his eyes was lit up in blood red. "...Hmph."
"Finally! Please give a warm welcome to our last-minute participants!" Mr. Gold's words immediately prompted the elevator beneath Ante and Dare's foots to go up, slowly building anticipation for the two undercover navis. "Here they are! The dynamic duo! Ante and Dare!!" The two finally got to the epicenter of their mission, staring face to face with their possible suspects. The crowd went wild as they couldn't wait for the competition to start off, cheering on while screaming the names of each contestants.
"NEKKETSUMAN! MOEAGARE!!"
"CRYSTAL ROY, NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!"
"LETS GO, ADVANT, LETS GO! LETS GO, LOVE, LETS GO!"
Everyone seemed to be cheering on...except for Ante and Dare...
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
"First! He's a fierce competitor who's looking to be the best of the best!" A spotlight shined down at the red part of the arena as the center floor opened up. "A hot blooded man who will settle for nothing else! NekketsuMan!!" All of a sudden, a giant explosion erupted out from the opening and a navi jumped out from within, landing on the arena while the smoke was still hiding his presence. "Yosha!! Listen to my burning soul as it cries for victory!!" As the billowing smoke began to fade away, it revealed a robotic navi with uncountable rivets covering his skins. He wore a long black jacket with a flame design at the very end, only wearing it over him so his bare, metal chest was revealed along with his emblem literally burning every so fiercely like his spirit. NekketsuMan finished his little get up with a long red bandana and giant black, steel sideburn that was long enough to reach down to his chest.
"Next! We have this lovely couple who will fight to keep their relationship truer than ever..." This time, the spotlight swapped colors into a painfully bright pink and sky blue light. "Please welcome their desire to ascend from mere sport navis into stars, Advant and Love!!" Unlike the last entrance made by NekketsuMan, two navis, a male and a female, wore a pair of matching tennis shoes, shorts, t-shirts, headbands, and tennis racquets. "Oh darling~ I think this is just too much with this many people watching..." quietly muttered the girl navi. "Ahaha! Don't you sweat it, Love, my love. We'll be known throughout the net and, with your help, we can be STARS!" said the male navi as he closely hugged Love. "Oh Advant, I'll stay with you till end~"
"And now! Please welcome the Festival de Fortune's infamous regular..." Even before Mr. Gold could finish his sentence, the crowds began to boo as they began to throw whatever they had in their hands, only for it to be blocked off by an invisible barrier. "The one and only...Crystal Roy!!" When the navi was finally revealed, one couldn't understand why a man looking this classy would be hated so fiercely. Wearing a stylish combination of white dress shirts with a black vest worn over, wearing a perfectly creased pants that would most likely be capable of cutting through solid rock, and a pair of freshly scrubbed boots glimmering under the spotlight. To top it off, he even had a completely respectable mustache...However, if there was one thing that was off about "Crystal Roy" was that his entire skin was indeed clear as a crystal and his eyes was lit up in blood red. "...Hmph."
"Finally! Please give a warm welcome to our last-minute participants!" Mr. Gold's words immediately prompted the elevator beneath Ante and Dare's foots to go up, slowly building anticipation for the two undercover navis. "Here they are! The dynamic duo! Ante and Dare!!" The two finally got to the epicenter of their mission, staring face to face with their possible suspects. The crowd went wild as they couldn't wait for the competition to start off, cheering on while screaming the names of each contestants.
"NEKKETSUMAN! MOEAGARE!!"
"CRYSTAL ROY, NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!"
"LETS GO, ADVANT, LETS GO! LETS GO, LOVE, LETS GO!"
Everyone seemed to be cheering on...except for Ante and Dare...
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
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"Keep your eyes on us, everyone! Don't blink or you'll miss us leaving here with everything!" Dare shouted the words as loudly as she could, unsure as to whether her voice would carry without any kind of microphone. The platform had risen, though, and she was disappointed that she didn't get any kind of pyrotechnics like NekketsuMan, so she was attempting to make the biggest splash she could.
Her grin remained steady, but her shades hid the hurt displayed in her eyes. "Hey, Ante, this isn't fair, is it? All the other competitors are getting cheers and it's like they don't even know who we are! We didn't even get to come up with a ring call-in, we're just 'the dynamic duo!'" Dare crossed her arms and stamped a foot in indignation. "Whatever. I bet some of those losers placed bets, and I hope they left themselves enough to eat on for a week! I won't feel any pity for them when we, the Dark Horses of Blackjack, turn up the surprise victors!"
The Navi clenched her hands repeatedly while seeming frozen in a runner's start position. She didn't have any indication she was going to have to run anywhere, of course, but her body was expressing her anticipation naturally. "I don't doubt you've got the goods, Ante, but be warned: I won't let you hold me back! If I don't at least beat Roy the Red-Eyed Wonder Douche over there, I'll never forgive you!"
Her grin remained steady, but her shades hid the hurt displayed in her eyes. "Hey, Ante, this isn't fair, is it? All the other competitors are getting cheers and it's like they don't even know who we are! We didn't even get to come up with a ring call-in, we're just 'the dynamic duo!'" Dare crossed her arms and stamped a foot in indignation. "Whatever. I bet some of those losers placed bets, and I hope they left themselves enough to eat on for a week! I won't feel any pity for them when we, the Dark Horses of Blackjack, turn up the surprise victors!"
The Navi clenched her hands repeatedly while seeming frozen in a runner's start position. She didn't have any indication she was going to have to run anywhere, of course, but her body was expressing her anticipation naturally. "I don't doubt you've got the goods, Ante, but be warned: I won't let you hold me back! If I don't at least beat Roy the Red-Eyed Wonder Douche over there, I'll never forgive you!"
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Ante felt more comfortable than she would have with a flashy announcement, almost appreciative that she'd been spared a good portion of spotlight. "Dark Horses of Blackjack you say? That's quite an interesting name you've come up with," she muttered in response to Dare, keeping her voice low. "Seldom do you hear knights referred to as horses." Crossing her arms, she added "Or ladies, for that matter" as a mental footnote.
"I can't help but wonder what sort of abilities our opponents have... Especially considering some were allowed to enter this contest solo. That's really highly irregular in terms of any competitive sports or games," she mentioned, regarding Crystal Roy with a suspicious glance. Slowly, it dawned upon the gray-skinned navi that she might be in trouble. If the competition ended up being a battle, she'd slowly lose her attire as usual, thanks to her internal glitch. Silently, she prayed that they'd be participating in a riveting game of Frisbee golf or laser tag.
"The advantage is ours, however, Dare," she spoke in a whisper, moving close enough to speak to her ally privately. "As the 'dark horses,' we'll be the least ostensible worry in this first round. That should give us time to figure out how to follow the rules of the game," she mentioned. "... On the other hand, this also means we'll be easy targets to eliminate if they happen to go the route of picking off newbies first. Let's be cautious."
"I can't help but wonder what sort of abilities our opponents have... Especially considering some were allowed to enter this contest solo. That's really highly irregular in terms of any competitive sports or games," she mentioned, regarding Crystal Roy with a suspicious glance. Slowly, it dawned upon the gray-skinned navi that she might be in trouble. If the competition ended up being a battle, she'd slowly lose her attire as usual, thanks to her internal glitch. Silently, she prayed that they'd be participating in a riveting game of Frisbee golf or laser tag.
"The advantage is ours, however, Dare," she spoke in a whisper, moving close enough to speak to her ally privately. "As the 'dark horses,' we'll be the least ostensible worry in this first round. That should give us time to figure out how to follow the rules of the game," she mentioned. "... On the other hand, this also means we'll be easy targets to eliminate if they happen to go the route of picking off newbies first. Let's be cautious."
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"Now, ladies and gentleman...Let us start the Festival with our first game!!"
Mr. Gold promptly turned around and pointed his hand towards a giant roulette that literally appeared with a puff of colorful smoke, showing various names etched on each of the roulette's panels. "Let's take a spin!!" The navi threw a single steel ball into the roulette, causing everyone in the audience to stay dead silent as they closely watched the holo-screen showing the roulette spin. The steel ball rolled along the side and slowly began to slip down, shortly tripping along the wedges of the panels till it finally landed on one.
"There we have it, folks! Our first game will be 'The Grand Showstopper'!!"
As soon as the name of the game was released, the audience erupted once more in a blast of screams and cheers. The other four contestants stood quietly as they accessed their own situation. "Showstopper, huh? Perfect! Sounds like my victory is already set in stone!!" yelled NekketsuMan, acting as if he knows what the game was all about. "...This one again? What a bore." said Crystal Roy, actually sounding like he knew and played the game before. "A showstopper? Sounds like fun! Lets win this together, kay sweetum?" said Love as she gently pressed her back against Advant's chest. "Oh? Now you're getting in the mood? Why weren't you like this a little earlier?" Love and Advant seemed rather unfocused at the game as they continued to flirt with one another...
"Now! Let me explain this game for everyone!"
With a click of his gloved finger, the roulette puffed into smokes and was replaced with three navi-like dummies that stood perfectly still. "The objective of this game is simple, but at the same time, hard to perfectly grasp." The navi pointed his finger towards Ante and Dare, for no particular reason, and began to explain the rules. "Grand Showstopper is all about style, majestic flares, heart pounding actions...Simply put, you'll be 'fighting' against these dummies and your job is to make the battle as entertaining as you can." Mr. Gold held his hand out as it changed into a regular buster and aimed it towards one of the dummies. "The arena all you contestants are standing on are supported by the latest VR enhancers...Meaning that, you can generate just about anything as long as you desire it. For example..." When the navi fired his buster, it let off a gigantic explosion that engulfed Mr. Gold along with it and the bullet created a path of golden glitters behind. As the bullet hit against the dummy, the ground beneath the dummy began to crack as if he was being pushed down by a giant force...but in the end, it looked like the dummy sustained minimal damage despite all the flares.
"You can enhance your attacks visually to your wildest dream. You may also create props, stages, anything you wish, for the sake of grabbing the most attention from the audience and...me, your judge." As soon as the navi finished his explanation, a small screen appeared before all the contestants, along with the three identical dummies that stood a good distance away. "Take your time reading through the detailed rules if you need, but as soon as you're ready...LET'S GET THIS SHOW OOOOOOONNNN THE ROAD!!!"
DummyA: 150 HP
DummyB: 150 HP
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 3
-GAME ONE, START!-
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
Mr. Gold promptly turned around and pointed his hand towards a giant roulette that literally appeared with a puff of colorful smoke, showing various names etched on each of the roulette's panels. "Let's take a spin!!" The navi threw a single steel ball into the roulette, causing everyone in the audience to stay dead silent as they closely watched the holo-screen showing the roulette spin. The steel ball rolled along the side and slowly began to slip down, shortly tripping along the wedges of the panels till it finally landed on one.
"There we have it, folks! Our first game will be 'The Grand Showstopper'!!"
As soon as the name of the game was released, the audience erupted once more in a blast of screams and cheers. The other four contestants stood quietly as they accessed their own situation. "Showstopper, huh? Perfect! Sounds like my victory is already set in stone!!" yelled NekketsuMan, acting as if he knows what the game was all about. "...This one again? What a bore." said Crystal Roy, actually sounding like he knew and played the game before. "A showstopper? Sounds like fun! Lets win this together, kay sweetum?" said Love as she gently pressed her back against Advant's chest. "Oh? Now you're getting in the mood? Why weren't you like this a little earlier?" Love and Advant seemed rather unfocused at the game as they continued to flirt with one another...
"Now! Let me explain this game for everyone!"
With a click of his gloved finger, the roulette puffed into smokes and was replaced with three navi-like dummies that stood perfectly still. "The objective of this game is simple, but at the same time, hard to perfectly grasp." The navi pointed his finger towards Ante and Dare, for no particular reason, and began to explain the rules. "Grand Showstopper is all about style, majestic flares, heart pounding actions...Simply put, you'll be 'fighting' against these dummies and your job is to make the battle as entertaining as you can." Mr. Gold held his hand out as it changed into a regular buster and aimed it towards one of the dummies. "The arena all you contestants are standing on are supported by the latest VR enhancers...Meaning that, you can generate just about anything as long as you desire it. For example..." When the navi fired his buster, it let off a gigantic explosion that engulfed Mr. Gold along with it and the bullet created a path of golden glitters behind. As the bullet hit against the dummy, the ground beneath the dummy began to crack as if he was being pushed down by a giant force...but in the end, it looked like the dummy sustained minimal damage despite all the flares.
"You can enhance your attacks visually to your wildest dream. You may also create props, stages, anything you wish, for the sake of grabbing the most attention from the audience and...me, your judge." As soon as the navi finished his explanation, a small screen appeared before all the contestants, along with the three identical dummies that stood a good distance away. "Take your time reading through the detailed rules if you need, but as soon as you're ready...LET'S GET THIS SHOW OOOOOOONNNN THE ROAD!!!"
Game:
The Grand Showstopper
Rules:
- Each contestants must achieve the most attention from both the audience and the judge(s) through their battle against the dummies.
- With the help of the VR Enhancer, the contestant can create virtually anything they wish for within their own vicinity in the arena. This is not limited to creating physical props, altering the arena into different settings, or even change the contestant's own appearance.
- One limit of the VR Enhancer is it cannot physically harm anything, despite being able to create physical objects. All attacks against the dummies has to be provided by the contestants themselves, but even these attacks can be visually altered on their own ways.
- The dummies, though they are usually on standby, can move by the contestant's order. As long as they are given commands they are able to capable of doing, such as running, attacking, or even defending, they will follow the contestant's orders in order to achieve entertaining battles.
- Contestants are given a time limit of 3 minutes (3 Turns).
- There is no consequence if the contestant isn't able to delete all the dummies within the allotted time. But please be in mind of the audience and the judge.DummyA: 150 HP
DummyB: 150 HP
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 3
-GAME ONE, START!-
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
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"'Grand Showstopper...?' Dare said, looking suddenly shocked and silent. She kept her head tilted down for just a moment, a gesture which might have been mistaken for nervousness or a stomach cramp.
"Ante..." Dare said, turning to her ally. "Why..." The Navi put both of her hands on Ante's shoulders, her head still downcast. "Why... DO THEY HAVE A CHALLENGE NAMED AFTER ME?" The Navi's voice boomed with enthusiasm, and her eyes sparkled visibly even behind her shades. She began shaking her ally by the shoulders, babbling on in barely coherent speech. "Ohmygawd I can't believe I get this kind of opportunity in my first mission I mean I was planned to come here and have to pretend I was a spy or something stupid or maybe win some gambling games and I was worried because I don't really know how or how to battle if we had to battle but really it's like this challenge was hand-picked for me ohmygawd I can't believe it wait- Battling. Agh, I knew I was forgetting something! Ante-"
"Hold up, Dare, we've got that covered," Bruce chimed in. "I'll give you the highlights of our talk: You're gonna handle the costumes, your effects, the scenarios, etc., and we'll give you some stunt rigging like I use to let you 'defy gravity.' You'll be playing the hero. Ante, meanwhile, is gonna play the villain and make those dummies do kung-fu, or uh... something. I'll leave it to you."
"Got it, thanks Bruce! You'll be the behind-the-scenes man that makes it all happen!" Dare told him with a wink.
"Yeah, anyway, get this. Teruko called me 'lamer than lame!' Can you believe it? I'm the coolest guy you know, right?"
"I'll get back to you on that," Dare responded, tuning out her operator as she began her plotting out her grand plans. Her mind was racing, but she knew time was of the essence. She felt they had a few advantages here they'd have to play to. One of those was the fact that since the two of them were new and the others apparently were not, they were the ones people would check first. She also knew that if she and Ante set the impression they were going to be boring, most people would just stop watch something else. She could be doing naked cartwheels and not get so much as a nod if that happened. She'd have to set up fast.
"All right, Ante, I have it all planned out. We're going to play to our strengths, have a blast, and come out on top. I've got some cool ideas, but we've gotta move fast. I'm just gonna do stuff and you're going to have to go along. All improvised, spontaneous, fast and furious! Cool? Cool, here comes your costume. I'd let you design it yourself, but you seem like you could be a little... eh, stingy?" Dare's words spilled out with no breaths to punctuate them, and she had whipped up their costumes before Ante could likely figure out what was happening.
Dare's own new costume appeared around her in a flash of flames (unnecessary, but Dare didn't want it to be boring for anyone who might already be watching). The main garb was a tight red racing suit with a sleek design, decorated with a solid black fill encompassing the neck down to the shoulder blades. Dark stripes also extended down the outer arms and the sides of her body, terminating at the black boots. The zipper on the front was undone partway, exposing a generous portion of cleavage. Her hands were garbed in black biker's gloves that peeked from beneath her racer's jacket sleeves. The head was helmetless and ultimately almost identical to her regular appearance: she had for some reason opted to make the shades black instead of red in this costume.
While designing the get-up, Dare had also come up with a motorcycle concept, and this appeared in a burst of flames and an amplified burst of engine noise immediately after the outfit. The design was sleek and futuristic, with very few displayed working parts on its chassis. The primary colors were red, chrome, and black rubber. The rider was intentionally left quite open to the eye, with no bulk built around the seat. Of course, she had no practical knowledge on designing motorcycles, so beneath the hood it would probably be all blank space, and there was no telling if it would even stand up in real world practice. She thought it looked cool here, though, and that was what really mattered.
Completely invisible, rigging wiring was now attached all around Dare. She knew the objects of this VR could defy gravity, but she had no idea if the players themselves could. Rather than waste time trying it, Dare figured she could recreate the excitement of real-life action movies with this. Nevermind what the rigging system was connected to: like the bike, she had only a vague idea of the mechanics, and she'd made it completely invisible. It didn't have to obey real-world concepts, so long as it got the job done.
Ante, in the meanwhile, had been given quite a derivative number, which appeared in an ominous burst of purple flares and smoke. Dare was trying to think of how to design a costume for Ante that was sexy and allowed for her to look like she might control a bike gang, even though she might have no knowledge of riding them at all. In the end, her mind settled not on a Von Derzel flick, but instead on a film she'd peeked at once when Bruce had asked her to download it (before politely realizing it was 'private-time' fare and minding her own business). The outfit consisted of a black leather bustier and short shorts, held up by a thick black belt with a heavy silver buckle. Her hat had been replaced by something that looked like a police cap, bearing a silver spade-shaped badge on the front. She had long gloves and thick-soled boots, both in black leather. A few small chains served as some sort of jewelery. To make Ante's face more menacing but still sensual, Dare had applied some heavy makeup, particularly dark eyeliner and scary purple facepaint in the shape of a spade over her right eye paired with classic red lipstick. Ante's hair was different, probably owing less to a design decision and more to the fact that Dare had never actually seen her ally's hair beneath her hood. The new do featured an expensive-yet-tasteless deep violet short perm, wildly curled and shining. A short leather whip was holstered at the hip until Ante found an occasion to use it.
The dummies had also been transformed, each into its own personality with a separate motorcyle. The overall motif was HeelNavis in biker jackets, two silver-armored and one black, because Dare felt that this way the audience would understand and identify them as bad guys quickly by sight.
The first silver-armored Navi was average size and had a red diamond on the back of his dark grey jacket. His outfit was entirely grey-tone except for conspicuous red-painted metal detailing on articles such as his buckles and studs. A black glass shade visor covered the usual eye-slit of a HeelNavi's helmet. In his standing position, he had a bad slouch but kept his head tilted up. He had an intentionally weathered automatic shotgun strapped across his back. This character's bike looked more like a real-world bike, to the point that it might have been based on a classic from an action movie. It had a glaring front headlight and wide chrome handles. Its overall paint scheme was black, but it had white diamonds painted on some parts.
His partner (Dare had made the second dummy move closer to the first to drive this home) was a skinnier silver-armored Navi with a similar jacket, bearing a red heart instead. He had an extension built onto his helmet, making it look as though he was wearing an oversized riding cap with a visor hiding his eyes in shadow. He made constant twitchy movements, in contrast to his stiff partner. He had a satchel slung over his shoulder which might contain anything, but to offer a hint, Dare had put what looked like a pipebomb in his hand. This character's bike had a similar design to the first's but looked more trashy and poorly-kempt, and of course had white hearts instead of diamonds where the design hadn't been scratched away. The bike looked the right size for his pal, but made this guy look kind of undersized.
The final dummy was huge, almost seeming top-heavy, and wore dark armor with a purple biker's outfit. The jacket bore a large black club on the back. Oddly, he wore tiny purple-tinted shades with gold rims that didn't seem to fit over a HeelNavis' helmet. The rest of his metal details were gold as well. A thick gold scarf, which looked like some attempt at fashion, adorned his neck and fell a short distance over his shoulders. He had a length of gold chain held between his hands, which had a mysteriously ornate-looking gold club head on one end, turning it into a kind of flail. He stood completely still and bland, with his huge hands holding onto the chain almost daintily. His bike was similar in color scheme to that of the others, but was much bigger and certainly looked more high-powered. The others had looked badass in a human way, but this one appeared souped up with action flick-grade pipes that suggested blazing down the highway at high speed and high noise cops would be afraid to approach. White clubs adorned it, looking fresh and new.
While others might have been stopping to take this in, Dare was crafting the area around them. She seemed to have some sort of desecrated urban theme in mind, as twisting roads first rose and then crumbled around them, popping up one after another as if some transportation engineer with unlimited resources and time just couldn't make up his mind. This happened in the perimeter around them, but the area inside seemed to sink. It became quickly apparent it was cratering in, turning into a barren (but tactically still somewhat smooth) surface. For effect, Dare had the sky first cloudless and blue, and gradually cloud over. What looked like rain clouds came and began to pass, leaving a dusty yellow cloudscape that let a few beams stray through. The result might look like a disaster zone at first, but to a clever eye and thrill-seeking eye it was rife with objects to use as ramps and half-formed highways to vault off of.
Dare stopped to catch her breath as though she'd been talking non-stop. Turning to Ante, she tried to give the short and skinny explanation. "You're the Queen of Spades of the High Aces, and these are your cronies: Diamond Rough, Hearts, and Club Man. I'm the hero, the daring dare!" She was trying to keep her explanation brief, but somehow Dare seemed to dwell on the fact that she'd left her name unchanged with pride. "I'll control all the bikes and you control the fighting. Try and make them do cool stuff, too, give them some personality! And most importantly, you need to be a good bad guy, and be sexy: I'm going to be the action-packed one, but the other teams will probably have that as well. You've got to use your sex appeal to your advantage!"
Dare hopped on her bike, looking back at Ante as she did. "We've got to get into character quickly, we've already used too much time, but is there anything you need or any changes you need to make? Please please please make this work out! I'll love you and Bruce and Teruko if she helps forever, and I'll even give you all kisses if you want if you can make this happen. Okay?"
"Ante..." Dare said, turning to her ally. "Why..." The Navi put both of her hands on Ante's shoulders, her head still downcast. "Why... DO THEY HAVE A CHALLENGE NAMED AFTER ME?" The Navi's voice boomed with enthusiasm, and her eyes sparkled visibly even behind her shades. She began shaking her ally by the shoulders, babbling on in barely coherent speech. "Ohmygawd I can't believe I get this kind of opportunity in my first mission I mean I was planned to come here and have to pretend I was a spy or something stupid or maybe win some gambling games and I was worried because I don't really know how or how to battle if we had to battle but really it's like this challenge was hand-picked for me ohmygawd I can't believe it wait- Battling. Agh, I knew I was forgetting something! Ante-"
"Hold up, Dare, we've got that covered," Bruce chimed in. "I'll give you the highlights of our talk: You're gonna handle the costumes, your effects, the scenarios, etc., and we'll give you some stunt rigging like I use to let you 'defy gravity.' You'll be playing the hero. Ante, meanwhile, is gonna play the villain and make those dummies do kung-fu, or uh... something. I'll leave it to you."
"Got it, thanks Bruce! You'll be the behind-the-scenes man that makes it all happen!" Dare told him with a wink.
"Yeah, anyway, get this. Teruko called me 'lamer than lame!' Can you believe it? I'm the coolest guy you know, right?"
"I'll get back to you on that," Dare responded, tuning out her operator as she began her plotting out her grand plans. Her mind was racing, but she knew time was of the essence. She felt they had a few advantages here they'd have to play to. One of those was the fact that since the two of them were new and the others apparently were not, they were the ones people would check first. She also knew that if she and Ante set the impression they were going to be boring, most people would just stop watch something else. She could be doing naked cartwheels and not get so much as a nod if that happened. She'd have to set up fast.
"All right, Ante, I have it all planned out. We're going to play to our strengths, have a blast, and come out on top. I've got some cool ideas, but we've gotta move fast. I'm just gonna do stuff and you're going to have to go along. All improvised, spontaneous, fast and furious! Cool? Cool, here comes your costume. I'd let you design it yourself, but you seem like you could be a little... eh, stingy?" Dare's words spilled out with no breaths to punctuate them, and she had whipped up their costumes before Ante could likely figure out what was happening.
Dare's own new costume appeared around her in a flash of flames (unnecessary, but Dare didn't want it to be boring for anyone who might already be watching). The main garb was a tight red racing suit with a sleek design, decorated with a solid black fill encompassing the neck down to the shoulder blades. Dark stripes also extended down the outer arms and the sides of her body, terminating at the black boots. The zipper on the front was undone partway, exposing a generous portion of cleavage. Her hands were garbed in black biker's gloves that peeked from beneath her racer's jacket sleeves. The head was helmetless and ultimately almost identical to her regular appearance: she had for some reason opted to make the shades black instead of red in this costume.
While designing the get-up, Dare had also come up with a motorcycle concept, and this appeared in a burst of flames and an amplified burst of engine noise immediately after the outfit. The design was sleek and futuristic, with very few displayed working parts on its chassis. The primary colors were red, chrome, and black rubber. The rider was intentionally left quite open to the eye, with no bulk built around the seat. Of course, she had no practical knowledge on designing motorcycles, so beneath the hood it would probably be all blank space, and there was no telling if it would even stand up in real world practice. She thought it looked cool here, though, and that was what really mattered.
Completely invisible, rigging wiring was now attached all around Dare. She knew the objects of this VR could defy gravity, but she had no idea if the players themselves could. Rather than waste time trying it, Dare figured she could recreate the excitement of real-life action movies with this. Nevermind what the rigging system was connected to: like the bike, she had only a vague idea of the mechanics, and she'd made it completely invisible. It didn't have to obey real-world concepts, so long as it got the job done.
Ante, in the meanwhile, had been given quite a derivative number, which appeared in an ominous burst of purple flares and smoke. Dare was trying to think of how to design a costume for Ante that was sexy and allowed for her to look like she might control a bike gang, even though she might have no knowledge of riding them at all. In the end, her mind settled not on a Von Derzel flick, but instead on a film she'd peeked at once when Bruce had asked her to download it (before politely realizing it was 'private-time' fare and minding her own business). The outfit consisted of a black leather bustier and short shorts, held up by a thick black belt with a heavy silver buckle. Her hat had been replaced by something that looked like a police cap, bearing a silver spade-shaped badge on the front. She had long gloves and thick-soled boots, both in black leather. A few small chains served as some sort of jewelery. To make Ante's face more menacing but still sensual, Dare had applied some heavy makeup, particularly dark eyeliner and scary purple facepaint in the shape of a spade over her right eye paired with classic red lipstick. Ante's hair was different, probably owing less to a design decision and more to the fact that Dare had never actually seen her ally's hair beneath her hood. The new do featured an expensive-yet-tasteless deep violet short perm, wildly curled and shining. A short leather whip was holstered at the hip until Ante found an occasion to use it.
The dummies had also been transformed, each into its own personality with a separate motorcyle. The overall motif was HeelNavis in biker jackets, two silver-armored and one black, because Dare felt that this way the audience would understand and identify them as bad guys quickly by sight.
The first silver-armored Navi was average size and had a red diamond on the back of his dark grey jacket. His outfit was entirely grey-tone except for conspicuous red-painted metal detailing on articles such as his buckles and studs. A black glass shade visor covered the usual eye-slit of a HeelNavi's helmet. In his standing position, he had a bad slouch but kept his head tilted up. He had an intentionally weathered automatic shotgun strapped across his back. This character's bike looked more like a real-world bike, to the point that it might have been based on a classic from an action movie. It had a glaring front headlight and wide chrome handles. Its overall paint scheme was black, but it had white diamonds painted on some parts.
His partner (Dare had made the second dummy move closer to the first to drive this home) was a skinnier silver-armored Navi with a similar jacket, bearing a red heart instead. He had an extension built onto his helmet, making it look as though he was wearing an oversized riding cap with a visor hiding his eyes in shadow. He made constant twitchy movements, in contrast to his stiff partner. He had a satchel slung over his shoulder which might contain anything, but to offer a hint, Dare had put what looked like a pipebomb in his hand. This character's bike had a similar design to the first's but looked more trashy and poorly-kempt, and of course had white hearts instead of diamonds where the design hadn't been scratched away. The bike looked the right size for his pal, but made this guy look kind of undersized.
The final dummy was huge, almost seeming top-heavy, and wore dark armor with a purple biker's outfit. The jacket bore a large black club on the back. Oddly, he wore tiny purple-tinted shades with gold rims that didn't seem to fit over a HeelNavis' helmet. The rest of his metal details were gold as well. A thick gold scarf, which looked like some attempt at fashion, adorned his neck and fell a short distance over his shoulders. He had a length of gold chain held between his hands, which had a mysteriously ornate-looking gold club head on one end, turning it into a kind of flail. He stood completely still and bland, with his huge hands holding onto the chain almost daintily. His bike was similar in color scheme to that of the others, but was much bigger and certainly looked more high-powered. The others had looked badass in a human way, but this one appeared souped up with action flick-grade pipes that suggested blazing down the highway at high speed and high noise cops would be afraid to approach. White clubs adorned it, looking fresh and new.
While others might have been stopping to take this in, Dare was crafting the area around them. She seemed to have some sort of desecrated urban theme in mind, as twisting roads first rose and then crumbled around them, popping up one after another as if some transportation engineer with unlimited resources and time just couldn't make up his mind. This happened in the perimeter around them, but the area inside seemed to sink. It became quickly apparent it was cratering in, turning into a barren (but tactically still somewhat smooth) surface. For effect, Dare had the sky first cloudless and blue, and gradually cloud over. What looked like rain clouds came and began to pass, leaving a dusty yellow cloudscape that let a few beams stray through. The result might look like a disaster zone at first, but to a clever eye and thrill-seeking eye it was rife with objects to use as ramps and half-formed highways to vault off of.
Dare stopped to catch her breath as though she'd been talking non-stop. Turning to Ante, she tried to give the short and skinny explanation. "You're the Queen of Spades of the High Aces, and these are your cronies: Diamond Rough, Hearts, and Club Man. I'm the hero, the daring dare!" She was trying to keep her explanation brief, but somehow Dare seemed to dwell on the fact that she'd left her name unchanged with pride. "I'll control all the bikes and you control the fighting. Try and make them do cool stuff, too, give them some personality! And most importantly, you need to be a good bad guy, and be sexy: I'm going to be the action-packed one, but the other teams will probably have that as well. You've got to use your sex appeal to your advantage!"
Dare hopped on her bike, looking back at Ante as she did. "We've got to get into character quickly, we've already used too much time, but is there anything you need or any changes you need to make? Please please please make this work out! I'll love you and Bruce and Teruko if she helps forever, and I'll even give you all kisses if you want if you can make this happen. Okay?"
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Ante chuckled, giving her ally an encouraging smile. It was nice to see that Dare was getting to do something she enjoyed... even if it wasn't Ante's bag. Really not Ante's bag at all. "I've never been one for such exhibitionist activities," she thought to herself, remembering some instances in her past where she'd had to speak in front of an audience or perform in exhibition matches for large crowds. Still, Dare was probably a natural, so she'd be a helpful guide for her uncomfortable ally.
She was a little surprised to hear Dare call her stingy so quickly, however. "Well, I wouldn't say that... I think I just have more of a classical view of what women ought to appropriately wear in public," she professed, remembering the showy outfit of the club-going girl she'd seen earlier. "Wearing something like that in front of so many people is just embarrassing. One shouldn't debase oneself with such exposure," she reminded herself with an approving nod, closing her eyes briefly.
As she opened her eyes back up, Ante was immediately greeted by the now-open zipper of Dare's new suit. Gasping, she stepped back in shock and looked around anxiously. "Dare, you should be careful! People don't want to see women degrade themselves with promiscuous outfits like that," she scolded her ally in a hushed whisper.
"Look who's talking!" Teruko giggled, pointing at Ante's new outfit with a big grin.
Looking down, Ante suddenly realized that her voluptuous (if gray) body was now only sparingly covered by a black S&M-ish biker suit. Dare had undershot her proportions a bit too, thanks to the fact that Ante usually wore a mostly unnecessary girdle, so the outfit was tight everywhere. "She even changed my hair? Well, I suppose I wasn't really looking the part of a villain," she thought with a sigh. She was looking grumpy enough to be a villain, but the red lighting up the pale skin of her face wasn't really in vogue for the part.
"No, c'mon, Ante! Bad girls don't get embarrassed! If you're gonna be a bad girl, you gotta be a whip-cracker!" her operator exclaimed, making some motions with one arm to indicate a side-to-side, relentless whipping motion. Just what did Teruko want her to whip exactly?
"Well, I don't know that I mind the outfit terribly, but did I really have to be the Spade?" she muttered, trying to tug the back of her shorts down discretely to hide her buttocks, but to no avail. "I mean, I've always been more into Hearts..."
"Hearts are too goody-goody. Spades make you look like a villain!" Teruko encouraged her. "Of course, slutty black shorts, lots of cleavage, and heavy makeup will do that too."
"I-It really looks slutty? Maybe we shouldn't do this after all," Ante murmured, wanting her original outfit back.
"Well hey, look at it this way: your bug doesn't seem to be acting up in this form. I guess it's cause they're not your real clothes? So maybe it's counting it like you're actually naked?" Teruko offered. "At least this way you don't get any more naked!"
Ten of Spades --> Three of Clubs
Six of Diamonds
Four of Spades -->Jack of Clubs
Six of Hearts
Queen of Clubs
SWAP TWO!
1 POINT AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 1
RANDOM SELECT: Hat
NO AWARD
Was the glitch really not acting up? Ante had a feeling it was... Still, she wouldn't broadcast the hunch, since she wanted to hide her unfortunate condition from Bruce and Dare as long as possible. For now, the important objective was quickly adopting the villain role and thinking of how to make use of... Diamond Rough, Hearts, and Club Man. Dare also seemed to expect her to take on the role of a sexy villain... which ought to have been obvious from the outfit, she supposed. "I really don't want any kisses, thanks," she sighed, blushing again as she turned to walk away and gain some distance from Dare.
Distance was necessary here, because she figured it'd sort of be ridiculous to start out a motorcycle gig with the hero on the motorcycle right next to their villainous targets. That and the distance would give her the time she needed to adopt her new persona as the Queen of Spades, leader of the High Aces. Slowly, she attempted to turn her disgruntled frown into a disgruntled smile, then an evil smile, then a sexy evil smile.
Ante decided that a good first step would be to make something to amplify her voice. Quickly, she produced a black-handled megaphone with a white, spade-shaped head (she fixed it just in time to avoid giving it her usual heart motif). Hoping her ally was ready, Ante lifted the microphone to her mouth and straddled the back of Club Man's bike. "So, the Cherry Girl's arrived, has she?" she called out, trying to refer to the color of Dare's suit but unfortunately implying something more vulgar.
A quick hitch developed in Ante's plan, however. She suddenly realized that she didn't have any idea how to voice evil henchmen; it just wasn't her area of expertise. Frantically, she hailed her operator privately for advice. "It's okay, Ante! Just have them repeat after me. I know some lines for this type of thing!" Teruko affirmed, pressing one fist proudly to her chest.
With a nod in response, Ante began to feed the lines into her animated dummies, feeling oddly like a ventriloquist as she did so. "The High Aces are out tonight, and we're gonna add another fine, leather-covered ass to our collection!" Hearts announced in a loud voice. All of the enemies unfortunately had a voice that was just a minor variation of the recent enemy, VJ's, own dialect... Except for Club Man. Once he spoke up, it was apparent that Ante was using Bruce's voice to model for him.
"Whatcha say, Queen? Gonna let me have first dibs?" he asked, turning back to Ante briefly.
"Now, now. Let's give the others a chance. I tell you what: Diamond, Hearts, you guys take care of Cherry Girl there and you'll each get a reward tonight. Let's just say Cherry Girl and I will give you each a nice buff and tune-up," Ante chuckled darkly, again, intending to mean what she said literally and unintentionally letting a lewd innuendo slide in.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Hearts proclaimed, swinging his satchel once above his head and then returning it to its place. Diamond Rough nodded in agreement, starting off after their prey.
"Hey, Cherry Girl! I hope you're looking forward to seeing Heart's sack in your face! Tell me how it tastes!" Ante taunted, clutching her arms around Club Man and grinning.
Teruko blinked, then lay her face down against the roof of the cart. "There's... no way that wasn't intentional," the operator muttered, looking baffled. Quickly, however, she realized that Ante would need to send her ally some chips. Slotting them in, she hoped that Dare would even know what to do with them.
Flying towards their target on their mighty hogs, Diamond Rough and Hearts brandished their weapons; the latter gave a mighty yipee-ki-yay as he rounded a stunt bowl built in to the scenery. She and Club Man started moving on his cycle as well, although they only ran a circle around the outskirts of the scenery, glaring watchfully. Ante went ahead and slotted in some chips, then prayed that her ally could use them gracefully without messing up the show.
1) Move away from Dare to other side of area
*) Circle own area with Dummy C
*) Advance Dummy A and B on motorcycles towards Dare.
2) Transfer Shake1 to Dare
3) Transfer Shockwave to Dare
4) Transfer CornShot to Dare
She was a little surprised to hear Dare call her stingy so quickly, however. "Well, I wouldn't say that... I think I just have more of a classical view of what women ought to appropriately wear in public," she professed, remembering the showy outfit of the club-going girl she'd seen earlier. "Wearing something like that in front of so many people is just embarrassing. One shouldn't debase oneself with such exposure," she reminded herself with an approving nod, closing her eyes briefly.
As she opened her eyes back up, Ante was immediately greeted by the now-open zipper of Dare's new suit. Gasping, she stepped back in shock and looked around anxiously. "Dare, you should be careful! People don't want to see women degrade themselves with promiscuous outfits like that," she scolded her ally in a hushed whisper.
"Look who's talking!" Teruko giggled, pointing at Ante's new outfit with a big grin.
Looking down, Ante suddenly realized that her voluptuous (if gray) body was now only sparingly covered by a black S&M-ish biker suit. Dare had undershot her proportions a bit too, thanks to the fact that Ante usually wore a mostly unnecessary girdle, so the outfit was tight everywhere. "She even changed my hair? Well, I suppose I wasn't really looking the part of a villain," she thought with a sigh. She was looking grumpy enough to be a villain, but the red lighting up the pale skin of her face wasn't really in vogue for the part.
"No, c'mon, Ante! Bad girls don't get embarrassed! If you're gonna be a bad girl, you gotta be a whip-cracker!" her operator exclaimed, making some motions with one arm to indicate a side-to-side, relentless whipping motion. Just what did Teruko want her to whip exactly?
"Well, I don't know that I mind the outfit terribly, but did I really have to be the Spade?" she muttered, trying to tug the back of her shorts down discretely to hide her buttocks, but to no avail. "I mean, I've always been more into Hearts..."
"Hearts are too goody-goody. Spades make you look like a villain!" Teruko encouraged her. "Of course, slutty black shorts, lots of cleavage, and heavy makeup will do that too."
"I-It really looks slutty? Maybe we shouldn't do this after all," Ante murmured, wanting her original outfit back.
"Well hey, look at it this way: your bug doesn't seem to be acting up in this form. I guess it's cause they're not your real clothes? So maybe it's counting it like you're actually naked?" Teruko offered. "At least this way you don't get any more naked!"
RANDOM DRAW
Six of Diamonds
Six of Hearts
Queen of Clubs
SWAP TWO!
1 POINT AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 1
RANDOM SELECT: Hat
NO AWARD
Was the glitch really not acting up? Ante had a feeling it was... Still, she wouldn't broadcast the hunch, since she wanted to hide her unfortunate condition from Bruce and Dare as long as possible. For now, the important objective was quickly adopting the villain role and thinking of how to make use of... Diamond Rough, Hearts, and Club Man. Dare also seemed to expect her to take on the role of a sexy villain... which ought to have been obvious from the outfit, she supposed. "I really don't want any kisses, thanks," she sighed, blushing again as she turned to walk away and gain some distance from Dare.
Distance was necessary here, because she figured it'd sort of be ridiculous to start out a motorcycle gig with the hero on the motorcycle right next to their villainous targets. That and the distance would give her the time she needed to adopt her new persona as the Queen of Spades, leader of the High Aces. Slowly, she attempted to turn her disgruntled frown into a disgruntled smile, then an evil smile, then a sexy evil smile.
Ante decided that a good first step would be to make something to amplify her voice. Quickly, she produced a black-handled megaphone with a white, spade-shaped head (she fixed it just in time to avoid giving it her usual heart motif). Hoping her ally was ready, Ante lifted the microphone to her mouth and straddled the back of Club Man's bike. "So, the Cherry Girl's arrived, has she?" she called out, trying to refer to the color of Dare's suit but unfortunately implying something more vulgar.
A quick hitch developed in Ante's plan, however. She suddenly realized that she didn't have any idea how to voice evil henchmen; it just wasn't her area of expertise. Frantically, she hailed her operator privately for advice. "It's okay, Ante! Just have them repeat after me. I know some lines for this type of thing!" Teruko affirmed, pressing one fist proudly to her chest.
With a nod in response, Ante began to feed the lines into her animated dummies, feeling oddly like a ventriloquist as she did so. "The High Aces are out tonight, and we're gonna add another fine, leather-covered ass to our collection!" Hearts announced in a loud voice. All of the enemies unfortunately had a voice that was just a minor variation of the recent enemy, VJ's, own dialect... Except for Club Man. Once he spoke up, it was apparent that Ante was using Bruce's voice to model for him.
"Whatcha say, Queen? Gonna let me have first dibs?" he asked, turning back to Ante briefly.
"Now, now. Let's give the others a chance. I tell you what: Diamond, Hearts, you guys take care of Cherry Girl there and you'll each get a reward tonight. Let's just say Cherry Girl and I will give you each a nice buff and tune-up," Ante chuckled darkly, again, intending to mean what she said literally and unintentionally letting a lewd innuendo slide in.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Hearts proclaimed, swinging his satchel once above his head and then returning it to its place. Diamond Rough nodded in agreement, starting off after their prey.
"Hey, Cherry Girl! I hope you're looking forward to seeing Heart's sack in your face! Tell me how it tastes!" Ante taunted, clutching her arms around Club Man and grinning.
Teruko blinked, then lay her face down against the roof of the cart. "There's... no way that wasn't intentional," the operator muttered, looking baffled. Quickly, however, she realized that Ante would need to send her ally some chips. Slotting them in, she hoped that Dare would even know what to do with them.
Flying towards their target on their mighty hogs, Diamond Rough and Hearts brandished their weapons; the latter gave a mighty yipee-ki-yay as he rounded a stunt bowl built in to the scenery. She and Club Man started moving on his cycle as well, although they only ran a circle around the outskirts of the scenery, glaring watchfully. Ante went ahead and slotted in some chips, then prayed that her ally could use them gracefully without messing up the show.
1) Move away from Dare to other side of area
*) Circle own area with Dummy C
*) Advance Dummy A and B on motorcycles towards Dare.
2) Transfer Shake1 to Dare
3) Transfer Shockwave to Dare
4) Transfer CornShot to Dare
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Dare was happy her ally was going along with her, but for both of their sakes she hoped Ante was wrong about what the audience wanted. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she got the weirdest feeling that something was funny about Ante's villain performance. "The Queen of Spades" was doing just about everything she wanted, though: she was getting herself around and coming up with some appropriately trashy sex jokes. The threatened night of fun Diamond and Hearts were going to have was almost enough for her to really get worried about the dummies.
In a way, Dare was pleased to see Ante was apparently taking care of moving the bikes herself. So far, her ally was pulling her own weight quite well. Now, though, Dare figured she had an even higher bar to reach for if she wanted to steal the show as the hero. "You've got a dirty mouth, Queen!" Dare shouted out. Her line sounded natural, mostly because the loud, attention-demanding voice she was now using was in fact her regular tone. "I guess you won't mind eating my dust, then, before I make you wash it down with some asphalt!"
Revving her machine, Dare quickly blazed forward, quickly making it apparent that her motorcycle was made to outshine those of the henchmen. "Let's see if you jerks can even get close to my ride!" Dare shouted out, her bike beginning to glow pink from the inside and shining from the creases of its chassis.
For her first move, Dare began drifting the bike back and forth across a segment of pavement she'd driven onto, causing a heavy rumbling that intensified as her wheel reached its farthest position and gradually increasing in general magnitude as she continued. She deployed her Shake chip at about this time, masking it as a segment of pavement that was beginning to bunch up in seismic motion behind her bike. She intended to have the reckless Hearts clipped by it (but still riding steady) and the more clever Diamond Rough avoid it by drifting to a lower segment and ramping it like a wave.
"You're right where I want you," Dare said with a grin, making sure her to give her voice film-like amplification so the casual one-liner would be picked up by the audience. Dare raised the front tire of her bike, popping a wheelie that would defy real-world gravity based on the questionable physics of her bike. Dare leaned her weight back onto the front, driving the bike's wheel back into the pavement with an audible boom! The Shockwave was deployed behind her, taking the effect of a rippling crack down the pavement. Diamond Rough would be unable to avoid it and maintain a steady landing, so he would hit it, sustaining some damage to his bike's tires (and his dummy HP). Hearts, less quick with his bike, would also fail to mind the crack, and his suffering would take the form of a nasty tumble from his bike.
"Poor little guy, you can't keep up with me!" Dare laughed, turning to see Diamond now (intentionally) gaining on her. "Looks like you're a little faster though, eh?" Dare flashed the dummy a flirty grin before arcing forward on her bike and reaching underneath her dashboard. The Navi sat up and drove hands-free for a moment, running her right hand along the side of body and down to her hip. "Why don't you come over here... and get a piece of this!" Dare called suddenly, producing what looked like a sawed-off shotgun in her hidden hand, apparently retrieved from beneath the dash. Dare took a shot to Diamond Rough's bike, intending to damage him (with the cosmetic scuffs that entailed) without throwing him.
All the while, Dare continued her bike steadily along the one solid path she'd cleverly mixed into the ruins of highway scattering the battlefield. Thanks to this VR, Dare could move as quickly as she wanted on top of the object, and thanks to Ante, she could feel her stunts throwing around some very real power. She had to admit, she'd be a little disappointed when she had to leave... it was a strong argument for her to start collecting chips and maybe earn a bike she could take where she wanted.
"Bah, those two are laying it on a little cheesy... I dunno where Dare got that from. Hey, and why does Club Man have my voice?" Bruce piped in, now on mute from his Navi the same as he'd muted her earlier. Bruce wasn't aware he was set on 'ignore,' and was feeling especially bored because his Navi had just dug up the effects of Ante's chips without even letting him look them up for her. This was pretty much Dare's show now, at least as much as she could make it so. "I don't know how I feel about breaking into the voice-acting biz with such a bit role! Do I seem like some kind of creepy sexual predator?" Bruce shouted as he rode along the cart with a hot piece of tail he intended to lure into bed with a high-speed ride on a cart surrounded by dinosaurs.
1) Shake1 to DummyB
2) Shockwave to DummyA and DummyB
3) Cornshot to DummyA
In a way, Dare was pleased to see Ante was apparently taking care of moving the bikes herself. So far, her ally was pulling her own weight quite well. Now, though, Dare figured she had an even higher bar to reach for if she wanted to steal the show as the hero. "You've got a dirty mouth, Queen!" Dare shouted out. Her line sounded natural, mostly because the loud, attention-demanding voice she was now using was in fact her regular tone. "I guess you won't mind eating my dust, then, before I make you wash it down with some asphalt!"
Revving her machine, Dare quickly blazed forward, quickly making it apparent that her motorcycle was made to outshine those of the henchmen. "Let's see if you jerks can even get close to my ride!" Dare shouted out, her bike beginning to glow pink from the inside and shining from the creases of its chassis.
For her first move, Dare began drifting the bike back and forth across a segment of pavement she'd driven onto, causing a heavy rumbling that intensified as her wheel reached its farthest position and gradually increasing in general magnitude as she continued. She deployed her Shake chip at about this time, masking it as a segment of pavement that was beginning to bunch up in seismic motion behind her bike. She intended to have the reckless Hearts clipped by it (but still riding steady) and the more clever Diamond Rough avoid it by drifting to a lower segment and ramping it like a wave.
"You're right where I want you," Dare said with a grin, making sure her to give her voice film-like amplification so the casual one-liner would be picked up by the audience. Dare raised the front tire of her bike, popping a wheelie that would defy real-world gravity based on the questionable physics of her bike. Dare leaned her weight back onto the front, driving the bike's wheel back into the pavement with an audible boom! The Shockwave was deployed behind her, taking the effect of a rippling crack down the pavement. Diamond Rough would be unable to avoid it and maintain a steady landing, so he would hit it, sustaining some damage to his bike's tires (and his dummy HP). Hearts, less quick with his bike, would also fail to mind the crack, and his suffering would take the form of a nasty tumble from his bike.
"Poor little guy, you can't keep up with me!" Dare laughed, turning to see Diamond now (intentionally) gaining on her. "Looks like you're a little faster though, eh?" Dare flashed the dummy a flirty grin before arcing forward on her bike and reaching underneath her dashboard. The Navi sat up and drove hands-free for a moment, running her right hand along the side of body and down to her hip. "Why don't you come over here... and get a piece of this!" Dare called suddenly, producing what looked like a sawed-off shotgun in her hidden hand, apparently retrieved from beneath the dash. Dare took a shot to Diamond Rough's bike, intending to damage him (with the cosmetic scuffs that entailed) without throwing him.
All the while, Dare continued her bike steadily along the one solid path she'd cleverly mixed into the ruins of highway scattering the battlefield. Thanks to this VR, Dare could move as quickly as she wanted on top of the object, and thanks to Ante, she could feel her stunts throwing around some very real power. She had to admit, she'd be a little disappointed when she had to leave... it was a strong argument for her to start collecting chips and maybe earn a bike she could take where she wanted.
"Bah, those two are laying it on a little cheesy... I dunno where Dare got that from. Hey, and why does Club Man have my voice?" Bruce piped in, now on mute from his Navi the same as he'd muted her earlier. Bruce wasn't aware he was set on 'ignore,' and was feeling especially bored because his Navi had just dug up the effects of Ante's chips without even letting him look them up for her. This was pretty much Dare's show now, at least as much as she could make it so. "I don't know how I feel about breaking into the voice-acting biz with such a bit role! Do I seem like some kind of creepy sexual predator?" Bruce shouted as he rode along the cart with a hot piece of tail he intended to lure into bed with a high-speed ride on a cart surrounded by dinosaurs.
1) Shake1 to DummyB
2) Shockwave to DummyA and DummyB
3) Cornshot to DummyA
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"Alright folks, we already have some of our contestants working their way through the battle, starting with our hotheaded, NekketsuMan!!"
The giant screen on the center of the arena focused on the robotic navi, who had his scenery placed on top of an arid cliff with the sun tipping down into the horizon just behind NekketsuMan. The three dummies stood before him with the costumes of typical kung-fu flick goons, nervously standing before the towering navi who stood at the edge of the cliff. "...What are you just standing there for?? Koi!!" The dummies yelled at the top of their lungs as they dove in to begin their fight...
"What a passionate display of manhood! Even when he's cornered, he will never be let down!" said Mr. Gold as he clenched his fist in front of him, fully understanding the action NekketsuMan is showing. However, the majority of the audience seemed uninterested. "Man, this is so cliche!" yelled one audience. "Yea! If I wanted to watch this, I would've watched it at my own homepage!" Suffice it to say, NekketsuMan was at a disadvantage, despite all his efforts...
"Alright, here's the serve, my lovely Love~"
*SMACK*
"Kya! You're so aggressive, Advant!"
*BANG*
The audience's and Mr. Gold's attention turned towards Advant and Love's arena, finding the two navis standing across one another on a plain tennis court. The three dummies, unchanged in their appearance, stood in front of the center net. The two tennis lovers was exchanging the tennis ball with one another at frighteningly loud swings, nearly making the ball blurr into the scenery due to the speed it was going at. "This is remarkable! Rather than the flare they could've prepared, Advant and Love is attempting to grab the audience's attention with their skill alone!...Oh, this is even better! We have confirmed that all those noise was, in fact, not even altered by the VR Enhancer!!" Small smirks rose on both Advant's and Love's mouth as their volley began to pick of speed, scraping against the dummies little by little till one drove straight through the dummie's head clean. "Witness our power...of LOVE!" Compare to NekketsuMan's display, the audience had a rather positive look towards the couple, cheering them on as they continued with their show.
"Now lets turn to our loving, Crystal Ro-...y??" When Mr. Gold tried to turn the attention towards the infamous navi, everyone was practically surprised to see Crystal Roy simply standing with both his arms crossed over his chest. "Hmph. I'm already at a disadvantage with my 'popularity.' I'd rather not try it." the navi coldly responded to everyone as he gave a stern glare at the camera recording him. "Ahah...Well, expected from out beloved Crystal Roy..." said Mr. Gold as he tried to continue with his announcing.
"Oh? Lets have our attention to our new contestants, Ante and Dare!!" The navi waved his hand towards the duo's side of the arena as everyone turned their attention to the screen on the top. "This is unexpected! Rather than teaming with one another, the two navis have decided to role play and assume the role of the hero and the villain! Truly a first in the Festival de Fortune's Grand Showstopper!"
The audience gazed as they watched the surreal bike battle unfold, full with costumes, appealing bike designs, little sub story, and the especially the 'eye candies.' "Hey, those girls ain't that bad." said one of the audience as they began to get into Ante and Dare's performance. "*Whistle*, I wish I joined that bike gang of theirs!"[/color] Soon, the audience began to enjoy what the duo had to offer and the majority of them focusing on Ante and Dare!
DummyA: 60 HP
DummyB: 10 HP
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 2
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
The giant screen on the center of the arena focused on the robotic navi, who had his scenery placed on top of an arid cliff with the sun tipping down into the horizon just behind NekketsuMan. The three dummies stood before him with the costumes of typical kung-fu flick goons, nervously standing before the towering navi who stood at the edge of the cliff. "...What are you just standing there for?? Koi!!" The dummies yelled at the top of their lungs as they dove in to begin their fight...
"What a passionate display of manhood! Even when he's cornered, he will never be let down!" said Mr. Gold as he clenched his fist in front of him, fully understanding the action NekketsuMan is showing. However, the majority of the audience seemed uninterested. "Man, this is so cliche!" yelled one audience. "Yea! If I wanted to watch this, I would've watched it at my own homepage!" Suffice it to say, NekketsuMan was at a disadvantage, despite all his efforts...
"Alright, here's the serve, my lovely Love~"
*SMACK*
"Kya! You're so aggressive, Advant!"
*BANG*
The audience's and Mr. Gold's attention turned towards Advant and Love's arena, finding the two navis standing across one another on a plain tennis court. The three dummies, unchanged in their appearance, stood in front of the center net. The two tennis lovers was exchanging the tennis ball with one another at frighteningly loud swings, nearly making the ball blurr into the scenery due to the speed it was going at. "This is remarkable! Rather than the flare they could've prepared, Advant and Love is attempting to grab the audience's attention with their skill alone!...Oh, this is even better! We have confirmed that all those noise was, in fact, not even altered by the VR Enhancer!!" Small smirks rose on both Advant's and Love's mouth as their volley began to pick of speed, scraping against the dummies little by little till one drove straight through the dummie's head clean. "Witness our power...of LOVE!" Compare to NekketsuMan's display, the audience had a rather positive look towards the couple, cheering them on as they continued with their show.
"Now lets turn to our loving, Crystal Ro-...y??" When Mr. Gold tried to turn the attention towards the infamous navi, everyone was practically surprised to see Crystal Roy simply standing with both his arms crossed over his chest. "Hmph. I'm already at a disadvantage with my 'popularity.' I'd rather not try it." the navi coldly responded to everyone as he gave a stern glare at the camera recording him. "Ahah...Well, expected from out beloved Crystal Roy..." said Mr. Gold as he tried to continue with his announcing.
"Oh? Lets have our attention to our new contestants, Ante and Dare!!" The navi waved his hand towards the duo's side of the arena as everyone turned their attention to the screen on the top. "This is unexpected! Rather than teaming with one another, the two navis have decided to role play and assume the role of the hero and the villain! Truly a first in the Festival de Fortune's Grand Showstopper!"
The audience gazed as they watched the surreal bike battle unfold, full with costumes, appealing bike designs, little sub story, and the especially the 'eye candies.' "Hey, those girls ain't that bad." said one of the audience as they began to get into Ante and Dare's performance. "*Whistle*, I wish I joined that bike gang of theirs!"[/color] Soon, the audience began to enjoy what the duo had to offer and the majority of them focusing on Ante and Dare!
DummyA: 60 HP
DummyB: 10 HP
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 2
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
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RANDOM DRAW
Jack of Hearts
Nine of Spades
Eight of Diamonds
Ten of Clubs
Ace of Hearts --> Four of Spades
SWAP ONE!
NO POINTS AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 1
RANDOM SELECT: Belt
NO AWARD
Nine of Spades
Eight of Diamonds
Ten of Clubs
SWAP ONE!
NO POINTS AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 1
RANDOM SELECT: Belt
NO AWARD
"Oooh, good going, Ante! It looks like the crowd's loving it!" Teruko exclaimed, ignoring Bruce's disapproval of his break-out voice acting role. "Alright, here's the next lines for those biker guys..."
Ante was still watching Dare intently, but she had not failed to glimpse the happenings of other arenas. Her main concern was Crystal Roy, who didn't seem to give even a hint of concern over his standing in the current competition. This meant to her that the competitor must be so confident in his ability to win the next two that he was willing to entirely forego the pandering of the Grand Showstopper.
"Gah! Screw you, chick! I've got a present that oughta shut that mouth'a yours!" Hearts cried out, reaching into his sack and pulling out a handful of miniature bombs. Leaning into his bike, he flew across the nearest ramp and then slung his bombs outward into Dare's path. "Look out ahead! I think you're in for a nasty surprise!" he chortled.
Diamond remained silent, shaking his head in aggravation from having been caught off guard. Smoke billowed from his ride, which he was now having trouble keeping running in a steady line. Pulling out his shotgun, he watched the moving target that was the back of Dare's bike and took a couple of shots, trying to blow out the tire.
"You must not want it, huh, guys? You guys are letting Cherry Girl make a fool out of you both!" Ante called out from her position circling the ring. "I guess it's true what they say: the bigger the guy, the smaller the... you know," she chuckled, meaning "brain" but implying something different. "Are you ready to prove me wrong, huh?" the Queen asked her subject, squeezing Club Man's chest for emphasis.
"Hell yeah. Course, I'll want both of those saps' cut when I do this," he replied, revving up his hog and switching direction. Heading in Dare's direction, he swung his flail above his head menacingly.
Ante began transferring more chip data to Dare, hoping to give her enough good weaponry to put away both Hearts and Diamond easily, which would allow Dare to move on to Club Man. Dare would also, of course, need to make sure she didn't drive over a whole mess of remote bombs. "I wonder if you can stand up to three guys at once, Cherry Girl? They're going to break you in awfully hard!" she cackled.
*) Converge all dummies and bikes towards Dare
*) Dummy B throws a bomb
*) Dummy A fires a shotgun
1) Transfer Firehit1 to Dare
2) Transfer Wideshot to Dare
3) Transfer Wrecker to Dare
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Unlike that of her ally, Dare's perception of their situation completely disregarded the performance of their opponents. Ordinarily, Dare would have been excited to see NekketsuMan's choreographed fight or even the tennis pair's rally. She considered this performance a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, though, and right now the only barometer she was considering for their success was the buzz of the audience and her own satisfaction.
"Can't keep up with my speed, so you have to slow me down, huh? Poor little guy..." Dare swiveled the bike from side to side as she spoke, teasing it just out of reach of Diamond's shotgun. "If you've got to bring out toys to play with me, little man, I think we'd better cut this short! I'll finish up with you two and give your big, cuddly friend over there some attention..."
Dare began to pop a wheelie on her cycle, leaning over the grip in a move that would have been impossible with a regular bike. Slamming the fist she wasn't holding a gun with onto the dashboard and then holding onto the handlebar for dear life. The button she had supposedly hit on the dashboard rocketed the one-wheeling bike into the air via jets in the back, and by shifting her weight onto the front, she turned the bike into a flaming wheel. Of course, she had temporarily banished her rigging system to make this possible.
"Sayonara for now, boys!" Dare called out, winking behind her shades. Dare shifted her weight backward, somehow stopping the bike's spin in midair. In a single gesture, Dare both sharply flung the shotgun and flicked away flaming bike forward, twisting her hips and releasing her legs. The pose looked awkward, but she though the effect was excellent. She had placed the Wideshot's data in the horizontally-spinning bike headed straight for Diamond, and the Wrecker's data in the thrown gun that was now whistling through the air for Hearts' skull. Diamond would try to swerve low but would be unable to get under the massive projectile, while Hearts would be beaned and effectively taken out. She made a point to give the bike a fabulous explosion.
Dare used the rigging to give herself a little bit of hangtime in the air, putting effort into holding her pose and trying to avoid getting a massive foot cramp. She resumed normal gravity when her attacks connected simultaneously with their targets, backflipping once before landing safely out of the range of Hearts' bombs.
"That was a nice warm-up, but why don't you bring your big boy-toy over here? I'll spank your *ss without a bike or a weapon!" Dare taunted her ally. She was glad that her ally seemed to actually act pretty professionally. It seemed like her seriousness made her put a lot into it, even if it wasn't her natural forte. Dare hoped Ante could keep it up for the coup de grace.
- Wideshot to DummyA [60 AQUA Wide attack]
- Wrecker to DummyB [80 + Break + Panel Break]
- Concentration!
"Can't keep up with my speed, so you have to slow me down, huh? Poor little guy..." Dare swiveled the bike from side to side as she spoke, teasing it just out of reach of Diamond's shotgun. "If you've got to bring out toys to play with me, little man, I think we'd better cut this short! I'll finish up with you two and give your big, cuddly friend over there some attention..."
Dare began to pop a wheelie on her cycle, leaning over the grip in a move that would have been impossible with a regular bike. Slamming the fist she wasn't holding a gun with onto the dashboard and then holding onto the handlebar for dear life. The button she had supposedly hit on the dashboard rocketed the one-wheeling bike into the air via jets in the back, and by shifting her weight onto the front, she turned the bike into a flaming wheel. Of course, she had temporarily banished her rigging system to make this possible.
"Sayonara for now, boys!" Dare called out, winking behind her shades. Dare shifted her weight backward, somehow stopping the bike's spin in midair. In a single gesture, Dare both sharply flung the shotgun and flicked away flaming bike forward, twisting her hips and releasing her legs. The pose looked awkward, but she though the effect was excellent. She had placed the Wideshot's data in the horizontally-spinning bike headed straight for Diamond, and the Wrecker's data in the thrown gun that was now whistling through the air for Hearts' skull. Diamond would try to swerve low but would be unable to get under the massive projectile, while Hearts would be beaned and effectively taken out. She made a point to give the bike a fabulous explosion.
Dare used the rigging to give herself a little bit of hangtime in the air, putting effort into holding her pose and trying to avoid getting a massive foot cramp. She resumed normal gravity when her attacks connected simultaneously with their targets, backflipping once before landing safely out of the range of Hearts' bombs.
"That was a nice warm-up, but why don't you bring your big boy-toy over here? I'll spank your *ss without a bike or a weapon!" Dare taunted her ally. She was glad that her ally seemed to actually act pretty professionally. It seemed like her seriousness made her put a lot into it, even if it wasn't her natural forte. Dare hoped Ante could keep it up for the coup de grace.
- Wideshot to DummyA [60 AQUA Wide attack]
- Wrecker to DummyB [80 + Break + Panel Break]
- Concentration!
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"Oooh! Dare is not only the sexy hero of the show, but also dangerously efficient with whatever she has! How exciting!!" commented Mr. Gold as he pointed towards Ante and Dare's stage. The crowds continued to cheer on to which ever participants took their attentions, but it looked like the dynamic duo was getting the lead in audience's favor. "How will this battle end! Will our 'Cherry Girl' prove victorious in this battle against the Queen of Spades?"
However, the other three participants who were participating wasn't going to give up so easily. The audience's, as well as Mr. Gold's, attention was suddenly shifted towards NekketsuMan's stage as a loud cry reverberated through out the entire arena. "AIBOOOOOOOO!!!!" The center screen switched the spotlight off Dare and Ante towards NekketsuMan, showing the robotic navi on his knees as he cradled a "navi" at his arm in front of the three dummy goons. "Why! Why! You don't have to die like this, Aibo!" The "Aibo" began to whisper something into NekketsuMan's ear as the three goons respectfully stood aside, grasping the audience's attention as they awaited for the drama to unfold.
"...I understand...Your death will not be in vain!" said NekketsuMan as tears ran down his iron cheek, laying down his "Aibo" gently onto the ground. "KISAMA! You will never be forgiven! Not until my weeping fist exacts revenge!!" Like a frenzied bull, the navi rushed straight at the dummies as he began to fight the dummies with his fists only, captivating everyone as they quickly began to cheer towards the navi more.
"Oh my, oh my, what a heart-gripping performance by NekketsuMan! Bringing himself up from the least cheered...well, second-least cheered participant up to a staggering height! Well done!" said Mr. Gold as he swung his cane on his side like a cheerful old gentleman. "Now lets turn towards the other contestants, Advant and Love!"
As Mr. Gold directed the audience like a shepherd with his sheep, the audiences still found the same routine the couple navis were doing just a minute ago. With them keeping things "stale," their popularity was quickly dropped as the audience was captivated between Dare and Ante's performance and NekketsuMan's. "Uh-oh...Not-HAAA!-looking good, sweetie." said Advant as he returned a volley. "D-don't look at-HIYYYAAA!-me. You think of something!" said Love as the two continued their speedy-volley.
Crystal Roy, on the other hand, seemed completely preoccupied with himself, checking under his nails for dirt as he laid back against the arena walls. "...Hmph."
DummyA: DELETED
DummyB: DELETED
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 1
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts
However, the other three participants who were participating wasn't going to give up so easily. The audience's, as well as Mr. Gold's, attention was suddenly shifted towards NekketsuMan's stage as a loud cry reverberated through out the entire arena. "AIBOOOOOOOO!!!!" The center screen switched the spotlight off Dare and Ante towards NekketsuMan, showing the robotic navi on his knees as he cradled a "navi" at his arm in front of the three dummy goons. "Why! Why! You don't have to die like this, Aibo!" The "Aibo" began to whisper something into NekketsuMan's ear as the three goons respectfully stood aside, grasping the audience's attention as they awaited for the drama to unfold.
"...I understand...Your death will not be in vain!" said NekketsuMan as tears ran down his iron cheek, laying down his "Aibo" gently onto the ground. "KISAMA! You will never be forgiven! Not until my weeping fist exacts revenge!!" Like a frenzied bull, the navi rushed straight at the dummies as he began to fight the dummies with his fists only, captivating everyone as they quickly began to cheer towards the navi more.
"Oh my, oh my, what a heart-gripping performance by NekketsuMan! Bringing himself up from the least cheered...well, second-least cheered participant up to a staggering height! Well done!" said Mr. Gold as he swung his cane on his side like a cheerful old gentleman. "Now lets turn towards the other contestants, Advant and Love!"
As Mr. Gold directed the audience like a shepherd with his sheep, the audiences still found the same routine the couple navis were doing just a minute ago. With them keeping things "stale," their popularity was quickly dropped as the audience was captivated between Dare and Ante's performance and NekketsuMan's. "Uh-oh...Not-HAAA!-looking good, sweetie." said Advant as he returned a volley. "D-don't look at-HIYYYAAA!-me. You think of something!" said Love as the two continued their speedy-volley.
Crystal Roy, on the other hand, seemed completely preoccupied with himself, checking under his nails for dirt as he laid back against the arena walls. "...Hmph."
DummyA: DELETED
DummyB: DELETED
DummyC: 150 HP
Turn Limit: 1
-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 pts
Advant / Love: 0 pts
Crystal Roy: 0 pts
Ante / Dare: 0 pts