<(Note: given Phreeze's absence, I request he be set to Autododge unless he responds.)>
[Who are we?]
[[size=50]....[/size]]
[Why are we here?]
[[size=50]P..n[/size]]
[Why do we exist?]
[[size=50]Pa.n[/size]]
[To know you is suffering. We want to forget you, separate from you, but we cannot.]
[[size=50]Pain[/size]]
[Please, get away from us; you are destroying us.]
[Pain]
[...Who are you?]
[PAIN]
Hex was drowning in himself. Two blades biting deep into his rotten shell-bodies, an explosion pulping his legs...that was more than enough to disturb the surface of that massive sea within the Navi, and awaken what lay at the bottom of it. As his standard functions began shutting down in some vain attempt to conserve power, body falling apart and splashing to the ground, inwardly whatever passed for Hex's consciousness was being dragged down, deep down into some eldritch space-between-space that seemed to violate everything he knew about the Net. He felt icy terror, stark contrast to the blank numbness that usually pervaded him, and wondered what, if anything at all, awaited him beyond that void.
To Arch, it looked as though his Navi had just passed out, or whatever the Navi equivalent was; he didn't know what exactly had happened, because he was pretty sure that getting knocked down to 10 HP didn't suddenly make a Navi combat-nonviable, but at this point he didn't care. Muttering, "Come on, Hex, don't keel over on me," he opened a diagnostics window on his laptop, and stared hard at the mammoth streams of bugged code that was Hex. He hardly knew the first place to start, until a pop-up window from earlier caught his attention: the rejected Recov30. Stretching his fingers, he set to work attempting to resuscitate his Navi...
...And somehow, it worked. Owing to Arch using the chip as a makeshift adrenaline shot, and brute-forcing a soft-reboot, Hex found himself rising out of the mind-rift like a shot, and surfaced back into the real world. Every processor was screaming in protest, every fibre of his being pulsing with agony, but he was awake, and he could still fight. The two Miners were within arm's reach, albeit one of them petrified from an earlier glitch. The other, though, could be worked with.
Hex's RageClaw was lying in the midst of the pool at his feet; by virtue of the chip data stabilizing it, it hadn't disappeared. A tendril rose from the pool and flooded the arm, an errant twitch of claws indicating it was active again. Bare but for the one arm, Hex formed a body, legless in favour of simply rising out of his pool, an androgynous body shape forming. He could barely move in this situation, due to both his current body and the inordinate pain crippling him, but with the Miners so close, he would not need to. Drawing the arm back and locking his eyeless gaze on the viruses, Hex brought the RageClaw down upon the Miner, claws grasping in every direction as they prepared to maim and tear.
Just as the Navi was about to bring his arm down again, everything from the shoulder down on his RageClaw-loaded arm began to warp. His graphic model attempted to load the glitch as skin bubbling and melting away from the arm, before failing and simply appearing as static noise, spreading from the arm to slowly encapsulate most of his upper body. Undeterred, Hex continued his swing anyway, attempting to do as much raw damage to the virus as possible.
Turning, he made to call out to his busting partner. After wrestling with his vocal processors, he managed to get them running just long enough to call out, "D-D-DOwNPOur! Requesting assistance!" His processors crashed again almost immediately after, and he could do nothing anyway, not with Downpour still occupied with the Swordy several paces away from him. All that could be done was to stand his ground, not move for fear of triggering another mine, and attempt to deal with the viruses as they came.
-Turn Summary-
1. Recov30 [30 Healing, Self]
2. RageClaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (3/6 uses)
3. Rageclaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (2/6 uses)
*Passive: Hack [Add Glitch to Rageclaw1]
ACDC Glitchfest
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Downpour's face went from melancholy to rage-filled, in an instant, he had apparently experienced a connection error with Jackson...
"-our! Downpour! Do you copy?!" "Jackie, send me a big gun, I wanna hurt something." "Downpour?" "Now."
As the Dog-Navi got his response, a RageClaw materialized, his rage at a peak...
"GET BACK BUDDY! I CAN DO THIS!"
Downpour barreled past Hex, whether if he was shoved or not, Downpour did not care, his vision was red and all he could see was that freaking Swordy...
He wanted datashed...
"RAAAAGH!"
In a giant overhead swing, Downpour slammed the RageClaw down as fast as he could, trying to crush the Swordy underneath an intense blow, offering it another attack by swinging upward, hoping to delete it in a flurry of rage...
"-our! Downpour! Do you copy?!" "Jackie, send me a big gun, I wanna hurt something." "Downpour?" "Now."
As the Dog-Navi got his response, a RageClaw materialized, his rage at a peak...
"GET BACK BUDDY! I CAN DO THIS!"
Downpour barreled past Hex, whether if he was shoved or not, Downpour did not care, his vision was red and all he could see was that freaking Swordy...
He wanted datashed...
"RAAAAGH!"
In a giant overhead swing, Downpour slammed the RageClaw down as fast as he could, trying to crush the Swordy underneath an intense blow, offering it another attack by swinging upward, hoping to delete it in a flurry of rage...
TURN SUMMARY!
Attack Swordy with RageClaw[40 Null {B}, Slashing]
Attack again with RageClaw[40 Null {B}, Slashing]
Dodge
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Hexadecimal restored some of his health with a healing chip and then proceeded to slash some Miner. The Miner ducked the first attack as it sank into the ground to deposit more mines. However when it returned, the second slash of Hex's Glitch-enhanced RageClaw1 slashed right through its programming, causing the virus' colors to turn pastel.
Meanwhile, Downpour and the Swordy traded blows with sharp blades. The Swordy missed its target, while Downpour hit and then missed with his dual slashes. Thankfully, Downpour's fancy footwork did not make him step on a mine this time. Hex's strategy of not attempting to move helped him as well from dealing with the literal minefield beneath his feet.
-Viruses-
MinerA: 90HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 50HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
65% Normal
5% Cracked
30% Minefield
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1: 2/6] [Normal] [Near Miners]
Meanwhile, Downpour and the Swordy traded blows with sharp blades. The Swordy missed its target, while Downpour hit and then missed with his dual slashes. Thankfully, Downpour's fancy footwork did not make him step on a mine this time. Hex's strategy of not attempting to move helped him as well from dealing with the literal minefield beneath his feet.
-Viruses-
MinerA: 90HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 50HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
65% Normal
5% Cracked
30% Minefield
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1: 2/6] [Normal] [Near Miners]
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As Hex fought, Arch continued to watch as he had been, taking stock of the two Navis. When the other Navi had used Hex as a meat shield and utterly failed to provide any sort of cover (though the point had been moot, as Hex had blown up anyway), his heart had sunk into his shoes; had the other guy fumbled his chips and not had them ready? Was he trying to get Hex killed? Whatever conclusion the paranoia was rapidly drawing him towards, it was resolved when Downpour finally leaped into action and got to work on that one lone virus. With the situation under control, Arch turned his attention back towards his own Navi. "Just keep this up, Hex, and you'll be back in the PET in no time," he muttered. There were no more chips he could give to Hex, no more aid he could give except hope.
Said Navi was still wracked in the kind of mind-numbing pain that should have paralyzed him by all rights. More than likely, it was only due to Hex's faulty coding that had him continuing on, stuck somewhere between a quantum AI with all the faculties of a human, and a mindless computer that didn't know how to feel pain. He continued regardless, drawing his arm back for another strike of the RageClaw. Anyone could tell the arm was weakening rapidly, cracks forming in the armour with every swing, but there was no time for care or hesitation. The recoloured Miner was his target, and it needed to be eliminated.
Pushing through the pain as though wading through chest-deep water, Hex drew his arm back once again, claws reaching out independent of the body. As he wound up for the swing, an ominous creak sounded off from the arm; Hex steadfastly ignored the noise and the alarms sounding off, and followed through to swipe once more at the newly-pastel Miner. Rotating in place to compensate for the momentum, he finally looked at the readouts: the arm only had enough left in it for one more hit before it would break.
Instead of going for another strike with the RageClaw, Hex brought up his other, naked arm, even as he continued to twist on the spot. Finally he got a hold of his body and tensed enough to halt, protoplasmic body twisted at the waist like a piece of wrung-out laundry. His arm began to mutate, fingers warping and melting together, coalescing into a single sharp tendril. Physics chose that moment to kick in, and like a wind-up toy, Hex spun back around with explosive force. The moment he was properly aligned, his body immediately tensed again, halting his momentum. Inertia kicked in, and his arm continued on the same path he'd set it on, stretching out and firing at the Miner with a crack like a bullet.
If the numbers added up correctly, the combined damage from the two-pronged assault would be enough to destroy one of the Miners. With that thought in mind, Hex turned, body spinning on the spot to face the second virus. The systems that normally targeted viruses for busting were shot, and all Hex had to rely on were his bugged optics. Trying his best to focus, his arm came up once more, protoplasm seeping from cracks in his arm, and brought the RageClaw down in a vicious overhand. Finally at its limit, the arm shattered like glass, breaking along the cracks and falling in shards; the pool at his feet accepted the offering as the pieces disappeared into the unknown depths.
RageClaw broken, Hex only had his own innate abilities left to win the fight with. His arms, buzzing with static, both split along the middle, doubling the number of limbs available to him. His skin pulsed like a beating heart, but no glitches erupted of their own accord; it was all he could do in the moment to just keep himself stable enough to keep busting.
-Turn Summary-
1. RageClaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (1/6 uses)
2. Hex Buster: MinerB [10 Null {A}]
3. RageClaw1: MinerA [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (RageClaw broken)
Said Navi was still wracked in the kind of mind-numbing pain that should have paralyzed him by all rights. More than likely, it was only due to Hex's faulty coding that had him continuing on, stuck somewhere between a quantum AI with all the faculties of a human, and a mindless computer that didn't know how to feel pain. He continued regardless, drawing his arm back for another strike of the RageClaw. Anyone could tell the arm was weakening rapidly, cracks forming in the armour with every swing, but there was no time for care or hesitation. The recoloured Miner was his target, and it needed to be eliminated.
Pushing through the pain as though wading through chest-deep water, Hex drew his arm back once again, claws reaching out independent of the body. As he wound up for the swing, an ominous creak sounded off from the arm; Hex steadfastly ignored the noise and the alarms sounding off, and followed through to swipe once more at the newly-pastel Miner. Rotating in place to compensate for the momentum, he finally looked at the readouts: the arm only had enough left in it for one more hit before it would break.
Instead of going for another strike with the RageClaw, Hex brought up his other, naked arm, even as he continued to twist on the spot. Finally he got a hold of his body and tensed enough to halt, protoplasmic body twisted at the waist like a piece of wrung-out laundry. His arm began to mutate, fingers warping and melting together, coalescing into a single sharp tendril. Physics chose that moment to kick in, and like a wind-up toy, Hex spun back around with explosive force. The moment he was properly aligned, his body immediately tensed again, halting his momentum. Inertia kicked in, and his arm continued on the same path he'd set it on, stretching out and firing at the Miner with a crack like a bullet.
If the numbers added up correctly, the combined damage from the two-pronged assault would be enough to destroy one of the Miners. With that thought in mind, Hex turned, body spinning on the spot to face the second virus. The systems that normally targeted viruses for busting were shot, and all Hex had to rely on were his bugged optics. Trying his best to focus, his arm came up once more, protoplasm seeping from cracks in his arm, and brought the RageClaw down in a vicious overhand. Finally at its limit, the arm shattered like glass, breaking along the cracks and falling in shards; the pool at his feet accepted the offering as the pieces disappeared into the unknown depths.
RageClaw broken, Hex only had his own innate abilities left to win the fight with. His arms, buzzing with static, both split along the middle, doubling the number of limbs available to him. His skin pulsed like a beating heart, but no glitches erupted of their own accord; it was all he could do in the moment to just keep himself stable enough to keep busting.
-Turn Summary-
1. RageClaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (1/6 uses)
2. Hex Buster: MinerB [10 Null {A}]
3. RageClaw1: MinerA [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (RageClaw broken)
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<(Seeing as how it's been four days, I'd like to put Phreeze back on autododge; following the next mod, if he doesn't post within three days, I'd like to request he be ejected from the fight.)>
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[Note: Your request has been noted.]
The Miners retreated into the ground again after the pastel-colored Miner was slashed by Hexidecimal's claw. The ground concealed it for Hex's blast. But when they re-emerged, the second Miner took a claw to the face.
Meanwhile, the Swordy and Downpour continued to dance among the minefield. The virus was unsuccessful in striking the Aqua Navi and the Aqua Navi was also unsuccessful in stepping on a mine.
So nothing really happened to change the face of the battlefield, except for the fact there were more mines.
-Viruses-
MinerA: 50HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 10HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
55% Normal
5% Cracked
40% Minefield
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1 Broken!] [Normal] [Near Miners]
The Miners retreated into the ground again after the pastel-colored Miner was slashed by Hexidecimal's claw. The ground concealed it for Hex's blast. But when they re-emerged, the second Miner took a claw to the face.
Meanwhile, the Swordy and Downpour continued to dance among the minefield. The virus was unsuccessful in striking the Aqua Navi and the Aqua Navi was also unsuccessful in stepping on a mine.
So nothing really happened to change the face of the battlefield, except for the fact there were more mines.
-Viruses-
MinerA: 50HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 10HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
55% Normal
5% Cracked
40% Minefield
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1 Broken!] [Normal] [Near Miners]
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" was all Arch heard from his Navi's feed. Putting aside the ear-piercing tone, he couldn't tell if Hex's voice had bugged again...or if he was just screaming. There was nothing he could do but listen; he could mute the feed and cut out the shriek, but some loyal part of him cringed at the idea of figuratively sticking a sock in Hex's mouth while he suffered. So, on the off-chance that Hex's voice would fix itself and let him say what he needed to say, he continued listening and watching.
As it stood, the dilapidated Navi wasn't trying to say anything at all. Rather, what Arch was hearing was little more than a primal scream as Hex's code began to rebel against him. Without any control over his form, he started to mutate, humanoid form twisting and writhing in what looked eerily like agony as it disintegrated. A myriad of tendrils shot up from the opaque protoplasm, coiling and binding with one another into a twisted stalk, white surface marred by cancerous patches of static. The top of the tall stem bloomed several branches, themselves sprouting tentacles that hung limp from the main body; only once the mutation was complete did Hex finally stop screaming, vocal processors well and truly burnt-out.
The mutated Navi, now looking more like some manner of tree than anything humanoid, immediately started to writhe and twist. Optics, spread in a dizzying array throughout the branches, attempted to find the viruses relative to Hex's body, but found themselves lost in a 360-perspective that the body couldn't handle. All the while, the twisted mess of branches shook as though caught in a breeze, hanging tentacles swaying and pulsing. Finally, focusing all of its attention on one side, the Hex-thing stretched out towards the first Miner, still painted in pastel shades from the earlier glitch. A single tendril hanging from the peak untangled itself from the protoplasmic mass, stretching out towards the virus. The tip bloomed into a hand, grasping blindly at the air as it prepared to bury into the Miner and tear it apart.
Another hand bloomed just as the first had, stretching down from the hanging branch and growing a crudely-shaped hand. The appendage halted for a moment while the rest of the body caught up to it, optics spreading into the branch and focusing on the other Miner. Just like the first, the tendril reached out towards the virus, primed to rip and tear with blunt, misshapen fingers. Lacking a voice any longer, Hex sent a message aimed at the viruses the only way he could: a series of binary pings, almost like Morse code for Navis. The voiceless message echoed through the area, in a language only the digital beings could immediately comprehend.
The tree-mutation split along the stem, a vertically-aligned maw opening up in the middle of the trunk. Still repeating the binary message like a mantra of the insane, the yawning void expelled a messy, knotted heap of tendrils that twisted through the air, headed straight for the same Miner. Once a collision was detected, Miner or no, and the tendrils had been retracted, Hex went still; if not for the slight pulsing that reverberated throughout the twisted trunk and swayed the hanging tentacles, he might have passed for a modern art placement. There was no longer any reason behind the Hex's actions that Arch could see, merely a heap of glitches that operated on a primal instinct not unlike a virus'. Yet again, he wondered where the Navi had come from, to be such a fundamentally-broken digital being.
-Turn Summary-
*Passive: Hack [Glitch to self]
1. Hex Buster: MinerB [10 Null {A}]
2. Hex Buster: MinerA [10 Null {A}]
3. Infect: MinerA [40 Null {A}, Glitch]
As it stood, the dilapidated Navi wasn't trying to say anything at all. Rather, what Arch was hearing was little more than a primal scream as Hex's code began to rebel against him. Without any control over his form, he started to mutate, humanoid form twisting and writhing in what looked eerily like agony as it disintegrated. A myriad of tendrils shot up from the opaque protoplasm, coiling and binding with one another into a twisted stalk, white surface marred by cancerous patches of static. The top of the tall stem bloomed several branches, themselves sprouting tentacles that hung limp from the main body; only once the mutation was complete did Hex finally stop screaming, vocal processors well and truly burnt-out.
The mutated Navi, now looking more like some manner of tree than anything humanoid, immediately started to writhe and twist. Optics, spread in a dizzying array throughout the branches, attempted to find the viruses relative to Hex's body, but found themselves lost in a 360-perspective that the body couldn't handle. All the while, the twisted mess of branches shook as though caught in a breeze, hanging tentacles swaying and pulsing. Finally, focusing all of its attention on one side, the Hex-thing stretched out towards the first Miner, still painted in pastel shades from the earlier glitch. A single tendril hanging from the peak untangled itself from the protoplasmic mass, stretching out towards the virus. The tip bloomed into a hand, grasping blindly at the air as it prepared to bury into the Miner and tear it apart.
Another hand bloomed just as the first had, stretching down from the hanging branch and growing a crudely-shaped hand. The appendage halted for a moment while the rest of the body caught up to it, optics spreading into the branch and focusing on the other Miner. Just like the first, the tendril reached out towards the virus, primed to rip and tear with blunt, misshapen fingers. Lacking a voice any longer, Hex sent a message aimed at the viruses the only way he could: a series of binary pings, almost like Morse code for Navis. The voiceless message echoed through the area, in a language only the digital beings could immediately comprehend.
01000100 01000101 01001100 01000101 01010100 01000101DELETEThe tree-mutation split along the stem, a vertically-aligned maw opening up in the middle of the trunk. Still repeating the binary message like a mantra of the insane, the yawning void expelled a messy, knotted heap of tendrils that twisted through the air, headed straight for the same Miner. Once a collision was detected, Miner or no, and the tendrils had been retracted, Hex went still; if not for the slight pulsing that reverberated throughout the twisted trunk and swayed the hanging tentacles, he might have passed for a modern art placement. There was no longer any reason behind the Hex's actions that Arch could see, merely a heap of glitches that operated on a primal instinct not unlike a virus'. Yet again, he wondered where the Navi had come from, to be such a fundamentally-broken digital being.
-Turn Summary-
*Passive: Hack [Glitch to self]
1. Hex Buster: MinerB [10 Null {A}]
2. Hex Buster: MinerA [10 Null {A}]
3. Infect: MinerA [40 Null {A}, Glitch]
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<(As three days have passed, I officially request that Phreeze be ejected from the battle.
...Off-hand aside: Bump)>
...Off-hand aside: Bump)>
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[Note: Assuming Direct Control! Thankfully everything hit at the end.]
Downpour raged against the Swordy with his claw, slicing the Swordy to ribbons. Meanwhile, Hexadecimal was able to delete the two Miners after a series of blasts and horrible infections. The beeping of the minefield fell to stone silence after the last virus was dispatched. It looks like the two Navis were safe and could collect their spoils. Then Downpour logged out after he got his rewards.
-Viruses-
MinerA: DELETED
MinerB: DELETED
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: DELETED
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
95% Normal
5% Cracked
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 1/6] [Normal]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [Normal]
~Battle 2: Victory!!~
Rewards
Downpour: Mine1 + 270z + 2 FXP
Hexadecimal: Quake1 + 360z + 2 FXP
[Note: Now that the battle has ended, Downpour is logged out after he gets his rewards. Hexadecimal may continue at Battle 3.]
Downpour raged against the Swordy with his claw, slicing the Swordy to ribbons. Meanwhile, Hexadecimal was able to delete the two Miners after a series of blasts and horrible infections. The beeping of the minefield fell to stone silence after the last virus was dispatched. It looks like the two Navis were safe and could collect their spoils. Then Downpour logged out after he got his rewards.
-Viruses-
MinerA: DELETED
MinerB: DELETED
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: DELETED
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED
-Terrain-
95% Normal
5% Cracked
-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 1/6] [Normal]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [Normal]
~Battle 2: Victory!!~
Rewards
Downpour: Mine1 + 270z + 2 FXP
Hexadecimal: Quake1 + 360z + 2 FXP
[Note: Now that the battle has ended, Downpour is logged out after he gets his rewards. Hexadecimal may continue at Battle 3.]
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Hex was blind to the world, frozen by a combination of glitched mobility programs and his own agony. Nothing in him registered the abrupt exodus of his fellow Navi, nor the sudden dearth of ominous beeping; all he had was an ocean of pain for his stunted consciousness to float in, and the void somewhere beneath him to contemplate.
Then, the Navi got an automatic alert from his connection to Arch's PET: [OPERATOR OVERRIDE; COMMENCING JACK-OUT]. The command took hold of Hex, instantly warping him out of the Net in a confusing, blurry haze of static. Arch sighed, puffed his pipe, and looked over the battlefield one last time before clicking the window closed.
<(Jacking out)>
Then, the Navi got an automatic alert from his connection to Arch's PET: [OPERATOR OVERRIDE; COMMENCING JACK-OUT]. The command took hold of Hex, instantly warping him out of the Net in a confusing, blurry haze of static. Arch sighed, puffed his pipe, and looked over the battlefield one last time before clicking the window closed.
<(Jacking out)>