Torrent struggled with the wires that had ensnared her, passing harmlessly through her bubble to grapple her. It seemed whenever she managed to rip a limb free from the sparking vines, some other part of her had become captured in the wily embrace. “Can- can you not?!” She complained, wrenching her foot free. “It’s like every aunt and uncle in the world wants to give me a birthday hug!” She yelped as a wire caught a backpack hose and pulled her backwards unbalancing her. She twisted to grab the vine, but ended up falling flat on her face. “I bet this kind of thing wouldn’t happen to Blitz.” She muttered, half-muffled into the floor.
An electric shock surged through her, rippling the surface of her body like a ragged scanline. Torrent gasped, then hiccuped, a wisp of smoke billowing out of her mouth. “Oooh… I think I have heartburn…”
<<Woah, that’s not normal!>> Hippie fussed with her PET, gasping at what she saw. <<That’s definitely not good. You alright, Torry?>>
Torrent blinked, feeling a lightness that wasn’t present before. “Yeah… Actually, I feel…” She belched, surprising herself. “...Great?” The electric vines loosened their grip and she leapt to her feet, balling her fists, full of energy. “I feel like a billion zenny!”
Her thrill turned to firepower as she channeled an electrified bubble into her palm. Pulling back the skin of the orb, she aimed it at the horse and released the film, snapping it out of her grasp with an intense velocity. It spiraled over the flailing sea of wires, electricity crackling between them. “Eat this, horse!”
<<Wait, hold the fire, Torry.>> Hippie interrupted. <<I think this dark horse is the program that checks for errors. Something must have corrupted it! That’s why this robot is full of viruses!>>
“Oh man, oh jeez!” Torry panicked, her positive energy winking out like a particularly drunk stripper, “If I kill this horse, the waiter robot will be a breeding ground for viruses! That’s the worst thing I could possibly do!”
<<But we can’t just leave it like this, either!>>
They stewed in worried contemplation, before Hippie broke the silence.
<<I’ve got an idea! That column in the centre is the access port, right? Get it open! We’ll transfer that horse into your PET!>>
Torrent blanched. “Ew! No wait! That’s where I live!”
<<There’s no time!>> Hippie mewled. <<It’s do or delete, Torry!>>
Torrent relented, scanning the consoles on the wall, hoping that something would be able to give her a clue as to how the port opened. One of the consoles looked significantly different from the rest, and she waded over as quick as she could, fighting the swarming vines that grasped and groped. Since she was neither a Prog nor a certified access port technician, Torrent planned to press every button, flip every switch and shake every proffered hand she could on the dashboard.
She knew she wouldn’t be fast enough to escape the wrath of Haywire though. The electrified dome of her personal shield appearing on her hand, the protective film of her bubble barrier encasing it.
---TORRENT'S TURN SUMMARY---
[1]:{Sig, 1TCD} Spiral Splash (40dmg Shot-Type) -> HayWyre
[2]: Activate the consoles! (Movement)
[3]: Shield
Waiter! There's a Virus in my Battle!
last edited by
The waving field of vine-like cables continued to surround and pay at torrent even as the wild beast across from her snorted one more time and charged. Torrent herself was full of momentary enthusiasm and met the charge head on with a potent blast of her own, but though it battered through the horse's defences, it didn't manage to slow the wild stallion from bearing down on her. The blur around it dissipated entirely as it charged closer, the glassy transparency on its remaining armour reverting to opaque metals while it shrugged off the attack.
A moment later, a whole lot of horse power crashed directly into torrent, driving her back against the central column with a crushing force that was prevented from being worse by the navigator's protective barrier; it recoiled with a discharge that threw the attacking creature back off her again and it staggered, dropping to its knees with a dazed whiny. Cables from the mass of swaying tendrils lanced into the creature from different sides while it wavered and rocked, filling in the gaps to its damaged body and repairing it, after a fashion, though the program itself didn't seem to happy about what was going on.
Torrent was able to shake off the fierce blow from before and pull herself up to the central console, beginning to look for something that was still working correctly. An odd warmth was flooding through her body, making her skin tingle and her head swim. A peculiar Synesthesic reaction was making her eyes tell her mind that the control console tasted like sugar... except that one switch, which, according to her vision, tasted like lemons. A glance back; the cable forest all tasked like chocolate, and that was somehow... bad? Something wasn't processing right. Sugar wasn't helpful. Citrus was what was needed. Her eyes picked out two buttons that tasted like orange, and a second lemon-lever.
Behind her, as she readied her shield just in case, HayWyre brayed with furious energy again and struggled up, tearing loose vines and cables until a crackling mass of electrified feelers waved about from its mane and body.
“All Lies!!” The metallic voice grated between blasts of steamy breath. “Food is Broken! Too Hungry! Consume Lies! Consume Hunger! Broken and Destroyed! All Broken! Break the lies!! Break Hunger!!” It began to lash out, thrashing and rearing at everything around it. Its hooves flashed, and as it pranced in a circle, assaulting the vines around it, Torrent found herself the victim of its wild strikes as well; two hoof strikes broke through her shield, before, as it turned around and slammed its fore-hooves down again, a brutal kick from both its hind legs slammed her back against the pillar a second time, now with no other defences to keep her from harm.
Even so, she was able to work with what her distorted senses wee telling her and after a few frantic pushes an pulls on different controls, the whole column shifted and turned. Several spreading cables were cut off in the process, but it began to open up, panels expanding away from the core to reveal a more stable central core, with a light beam that would likely allow easier transfers out of the machine for non-navigators. Probably. Her synesthesic vision faded away a moment later, and her other senses all returned to normal as well, and the subtle energy surge she'd been feeling from before grew a little stronger. HayWyre didn't seem to be focused on Torrent herself at this point; it mostly looked to be lashing out at whatever it viewed as broken or in error, which, given the state of the chamber, was most things.
-=Hungry Horse=-
HayWyre.CHK: 300Hp [Casing (10Hp)][Floating Point (0): 0% increased miss chance][Metal, beside torrent]
-=Proggy Protector=-
Torrent.Exe: 70Hp [Glitches: Stability Cascade(Tier 2)(-)][Metal, by central column]
-=Hay-field Havoc=-
100% Metal
Room is large and circular, about two movements in length across, with low consoles on the outer edge. A large column sits in the centre, partially obscuring view.
Central column is now open and activated, allowing easier transfers and other utility functions.
The floor, parts of the walls, all of the consoles and the central column are all sprouting a large volume of wires and cables that wave and lash about wildly, about two feet in length. These slow down movement and impair dodges slightly, but have no other averse effects.
-=Glitch Record=-
(New glitches will be marked in bold)
Stability Cascade (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim regains 1 Hp at the beginning of each of their turns, and sheds one negative status ailment at the end of each of their turns. This glitch is highly mutable and prone to increasing in severity; it has a chance to do so any time any of its effects occur. It can grow up to five stages. At second stage, the healing pulse increases to 5 Hp. At third stage, the shedding of status ailments becomes a free action status cure that the victim can use once per turn. At third stage, the pulse also restores Hp to any active barriers or casings as well. At 4th stage, the victim becomes immune to most status ailments (and retains the status cure ability). At 5th stage, the pulse becomes Regen (5), occurring once per action of the victim (restoration of defences still only happens once per turn). Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
A moment later, a whole lot of horse power crashed directly into torrent, driving her back against the central column with a crushing force that was prevented from being worse by the navigator's protective barrier; it recoiled with a discharge that threw the attacking creature back off her again and it staggered, dropping to its knees with a dazed whiny. Cables from the mass of swaying tendrils lanced into the creature from different sides while it wavered and rocked, filling in the gaps to its damaged body and repairing it, after a fashion, though the program itself didn't seem to happy about what was going on.
Torrent was able to shake off the fierce blow from before and pull herself up to the central console, beginning to look for something that was still working correctly. An odd warmth was flooding through her body, making her skin tingle and her head swim. A peculiar Synesthesic reaction was making her eyes tell her mind that the control console tasted like sugar... except that one switch, which, according to her vision, tasted like lemons. A glance back; the cable forest all tasked like chocolate, and that was somehow... bad? Something wasn't processing right. Sugar wasn't helpful. Citrus was what was needed. Her eyes picked out two buttons that tasted like orange, and a second lemon-lever.
Behind her, as she readied her shield just in case, HayWyre brayed with furious energy again and struggled up, tearing loose vines and cables until a crackling mass of electrified feelers waved about from its mane and body.
“All Lies!!” The metallic voice grated between blasts of steamy breath. “Food is Broken! Too Hungry! Consume Lies! Consume Hunger! Broken and Destroyed! All Broken! Break the lies!! Break Hunger!!” It began to lash out, thrashing and rearing at everything around it. Its hooves flashed, and as it pranced in a circle, assaulting the vines around it, Torrent found herself the victim of its wild strikes as well; two hoof strikes broke through her shield, before, as it turned around and slammed its fore-hooves down again, a brutal kick from both its hind legs slammed her back against the pillar a second time, now with no other defences to keep her from harm.
Even so, she was able to work with what her distorted senses wee telling her and after a few frantic pushes an pulls on different controls, the whole column shifted and turned. Several spreading cables were cut off in the process, but it began to open up, panels expanding away from the core to reveal a more stable central core, with a light beam that would likely allow easier transfers out of the machine for non-navigators. Probably. Her synesthesic vision faded away a moment later, and her other senses all returned to normal as well, and the subtle energy surge she'd been feeling from before grew a little stronger. HayWyre didn't seem to be focused on Torrent herself at this point; it mostly looked to be lashing out at whatever it viewed as broken or in error, which, given the state of the chamber, was most things.
-=Hungry Horse=-
HayWyre.CHK: 300Hp [Casing (10Hp)][Floating Point (0): 0% increased miss chance][Metal, beside torrent]
-=Proggy Protector=-
Torrent.Exe: 70Hp [Glitches: Stability Cascade(Tier 2)(-)][Metal, by central column]
-=Hay-field Havoc=-
100% Metal
- Cannot be Broken or Cracked except with Geddon/PanelShot, cannot be Burrowed into.
- Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
- 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Cracked.
- 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Furnace.
- PanelShot: Imbue Elec + Break.
Room is large and circular, about two movements in length across, with low consoles on the outer edge. A large column sits in the centre, partially obscuring view.
Central column is now open and activated, allowing easier transfers and other utility functions.
The floor, parts of the walls, all of the consoles and the central column are all sprouting a large volume of wires and cables that wave and lash about wildly, about two feet in length. These slow down movement and impair dodges slightly, but have no other averse effects.
-=Glitch Record=-
(New glitches will be marked in bold)
Stability Cascade (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim regains 1 Hp at the beginning of each of their turns, and sheds one negative status ailment at the end of each of their turns. This glitch is highly mutable and prone to increasing in severity; it has a chance to do so any time any of its effects occur. It can grow up to five stages. At second stage, the healing pulse increases to 5 Hp. At third stage, the shedding of status ailments becomes a free action status cure that the victim can use once per turn. At third stage, the pulse also restores Hp to any active barriers or casings as well. At 4th stage, the victim becomes immune to most status ailments (and retains the status cure ability). At 5th stage, the pulse becomes Regen (5), occurring once per action of the victim (restoration of defences still only happens once per turn). Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Glitch History
Dead Still (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a permanent Hold effect, preventing movement. Teleports and other forms of forced movement still work. The victim loses all feeling and sensation from the middle down, and loses the ability to stand upright. Glitch lasts 2 turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Pain Catalyst (Negative Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers immediate damage equal to twenty percent of their current hit points, as well as a temporary debilitating effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.
Transparent Armour (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's armour, including cloth, leather and metal clothing as well as casings, but not including barriers or wielded shields, turns transparent and looks glassy or ethereal. This has not negative impact on its protective capabilities. This glitch can be affected by other glitches. Lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Razor-glass Armour (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a conflict that causes the forming of defences or other protective measures to harm them in the process. Any time the victim creates a defence or assumes a protective body effect, they immediately take 10 null damage which cannot be reduced. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Chip Limiter (Negative Glitch): Part of the victim's processing space for handling and processing battle Chips has become corrupted and no longer functional. As a result, No more than 2 battle chips can be used per turn. This glitch has no effect on carriers or targets that cannot access battle chips. Lasts 2 turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Charge Limiter (Negative Glitch): The victim cannot charge their buster at all, and cannot use any signature abilities or chips that require buster charges. This also blocks signatures with the Charge Burner nerf. This Glitch has no effect on victims who do not possess a normal Buster. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
SAS Wild (Balance Glitch): The victim suffers random instances of Sig Chill and Sig Burn each turn. Each turn, two of the victim's signatures will gain an additional turn of cool down, or be forced onto cool down as though they had been used, and they will receive two instances of Sig Chill to allocate to signatures already on cooldown. SPs with this glitch may allocate their Sig Chill to their navi, though the Sig Burn aspect will only take effect on signatures customised for the SP specifically. All instances of Sig Chill and Sig Burn created by this glitch may stack with each other on the same signature, increasing or decreasing the active cool down appropriately. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Auto-Custom (Balance Glitch): The victim's navi customiser automatically re-purposes itself; they lose 40 points worth of NC space, but each turn may reduce one of their active signatures on cooldown by one turn, as per the Custom+1 NCP. Lost NC space may result in the deactivation of other NC parts – the victim may choose which ones if so. This glitch has no effect on viruses or Support Programs, who simply act as carriers. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Buster Crasher (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a short duration Buster Crash, as per the effect. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Pain Catalyst (Negative Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers immediate damage equal to twenty percent of their current hit points, as well as a temporary debilitating effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.
Transparent Armour (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's armour, including cloth, leather and metal clothing as well as casings, but not including barriers or wielded shields, turns transparent and looks glassy or ethereal. This has not negative impact on its protective capabilities. This glitch can be affected by other glitches. Lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Razor-glass Armour (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a conflict that causes the forming of defences or other protective measures to harm them in the process. Any time the victim creates a defence or assumes a protective body effect, they immediately take 10 null damage which cannot be reduced. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Chip Limiter (Negative Glitch): Part of the victim's processing space for handling and processing battle Chips has become corrupted and no longer functional. As a result, No more than 2 battle chips can be used per turn. This glitch has no effect on carriers or targets that cannot access battle chips. Lasts 2 turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Charge Limiter (Negative Glitch): The victim cannot charge their buster at all, and cannot use any signature abilities or chips that require buster charges. This also blocks signatures with the Charge Burner nerf. This Glitch has no effect on victims who do not possess a normal Buster. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
SAS Wild (Balance Glitch): The victim suffers random instances of Sig Chill and Sig Burn each turn. Each turn, two of the victim's signatures will gain an additional turn of cool down, or be forced onto cool down as though they had been used, and they will receive two instances of Sig Chill to allocate to signatures already on cooldown. SPs with this glitch may allocate their Sig Chill to their navi, though the Sig Burn aspect will only take effect on signatures customised for the SP specifically. All instances of Sig Chill and Sig Burn created by this glitch may stack with each other on the same signature, increasing or decreasing the active cool down appropriately. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Auto-Custom (Balance Glitch): The victim's navi customiser automatically re-purposes itself; they lose 40 points worth of NC space, but each turn may reduce one of their active signatures on cooldown by one turn, as per the Custom+1 NCP. Lost NC space may result in the deactivation of other NC parts – the victim may choose which ones if so. This glitch has no effect on viruses or Support Programs, who simply act as carriers. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
Buster Crasher (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a short duration Buster Crash, as per the effect. Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
last edited by Von Dare
Smashed into the central pillar, Torrent's body warped and crackled as it took the impact from HayWyre's enraged kicks. She slumped to the ground, the pain and shock hitting her system like a rampaging horse. A cold dread followed as she looked down and saw two fragmenting craters in her stomach. She coughed wetly, spitting out a wad of pixelated data, low-res bytes dribbling down her jaw.
<<Torry!>> The bubblegum shrieked. <<Are you apricot?>>
"...Wha...?" Torrent's senses felt screwy... Chewy, even. This was more than a concussion. She could smell the tang of subroutines and the spicy aroma of subsurface polynomials. "What... did you whey?"
Something was wrong with her head. Something must have gotten into it... infected her... The thought was terrifying, which sharpened her senses slightly. Everything now blistered with smells. Her hand smelled like sherbert. The tentacles like chocolate, and she salivated data at the thought of chomping down on the flailing appendages. There was a war going on in her head. The bad things smelled good... while the good things smelled... like citrus. The horse itself smelled doughy and... bitter. And like mango? Fried fish? Every waft had a different scent to it, like the smell couldn't make up its mind. Like it was confused.
She shook her head, buffering through the programmatical hiccup. The intense smells and flavours faded, faintly lingering on the edges of her perception. "Holy cheesecakes." Torrent massaged the temples of her head. "If that's what it's been seeing this whole time... No wonder it's mad." Torrent shivered, watching the horse rip up and chew the cables. "That's... awful...!"
Behind her, the internet transmit hub of the waiter robot pulsed neutrally, though its connection to the internet was currently severed. <<Torry>> Hippie called again. <<I've plugged in the PET to the jack! I'm all ready on this end!>>
Torrent gingerly picked herself up from the floor. If she hadn't had both her shields active she would've been mincemeat by now. Her brain was both too slow and running around screaming for her to get any coherent thoughts lined up. "Hippie. What should I do?"
Torrent could feel a surge of chip data pouring into her. Weirdly, she could feel it most strongly from the portal. <<That horse is too fast and beefy to wrassle. We need to use ice physics!>> A bubble grew in her palm, blue and cold, frosting over with ice.
"Hey, Lembas b-bread!" Torrent called out. "You want s-something to chew on!?"
She dunked the IceBomb onto the floor in front of her to create a patch of delicious frosting. No, wait, ice. ...Cream?
"C-come and get it!" She all but shrieked, her palm glowing with monochrome energy, pointing her hand at the wayward beast. Torrent pulled back the film of the concrete-grey bubble inflating in her hand. The surface of the sphere bulged with small mounds, as though there were dozens of smaller balls inside. She aimed the bubble at HayWyre, seeing the mad horse through the transparent film, and released it. The bubble snapped out of her palm, rocketing over the field of tendrils; and about half-way to its target, the bubble popped, firing forward a barrage of smaller pellets.
Hoping that she had the horse's attention, Torrent stood her ground, positioning herself with the portal just behind her and the small pool of ice in front of her. With the forest of tendrils in the way, HayWyre might not notice the patch in time. Though in it's horrific state of mind, she wasn't sure it'd care if it did notice. She trembled, waiting for the mad horse to come her way, as it tended to do when it remembered she existed.
<<You can do this, Torry!>> Hippie cheered, her voice echoing from the beam behind her. <<Just time it right, and you can win!>>
Torrent grit her teeth, clenching her stomach, feeling the data of the last chip inside her. If the plan worked and HayWyre did in fact try to chase her across the ice, she'd flip that inner switch, activating the Mole chip. With any luck, the horse would pass right over her head as she sequestered herself safely underground. And if they could remove the horse from this room, it'd give her and the progs time to clean up. She just hoped HayWyre didn't wreck her home too much.
"I-if you f-fall off that h-horse..." Torrent qualed on the spot, digital sweat beading on her forehead and hair pipes. "...you get b-back up a-and eat that h-horse!"
---TORRENT'S TURN SUMMARY---
[1]: IceBall1 (120dmg + Break + Small Ice Terrain Change, C)-> Floor in front of Torrent and the central core.
[2]: Shotgun (60 dmg + Spread1, A) -> HayWyre
[2+]: Marksmanship (+1 Shot Accuracy)
[3]: Mole1 (Conditional Burrow / Submerge, 1-Turn)-> Torrent, if HayWyre charges at Torrent.
[Cooling] Spiral Splash, Ready Next Turn!
<<Torry!>> The bubblegum shrieked. <<Are you apricot?>>
"...Wha...?" Torrent's senses felt screwy... Chewy, even. This was more than a concussion. She could smell the tang of subroutines and the spicy aroma of subsurface polynomials. "What... did you whey?"
Something was wrong with her head. Something must have gotten into it... infected her... The thought was terrifying, which sharpened her senses slightly. Everything now blistered with smells. Her hand smelled like sherbert. The tentacles like chocolate, and she salivated data at the thought of chomping down on the flailing appendages. There was a war going on in her head. The bad things smelled good... while the good things smelled... like citrus. The horse itself smelled doughy and... bitter. And like mango? Fried fish? Every waft had a different scent to it, like the smell couldn't make up its mind. Like it was confused.
She shook her head, buffering through the programmatical hiccup. The intense smells and flavours faded, faintly lingering on the edges of her perception. "Holy cheesecakes." Torrent massaged the temples of her head. "If that's what it's been seeing this whole time... No wonder it's mad." Torrent shivered, watching the horse rip up and chew the cables. "That's... awful...!"
Behind her, the internet transmit hub of the waiter robot pulsed neutrally, though its connection to the internet was currently severed. <<Torry>> Hippie called again. <<I've plugged in the PET to the jack! I'm all ready on this end!>>
Torrent gingerly picked herself up from the floor. If she hadn't had both her shields active she would've been mincemeat by now. Her brain was both too slow and running around screaming for her to get any coherent thoughts lined up. "Hippie. What should I do?"
Torrent could feel a surge of chip data pouring into her. Weirdly, she could feel it most strongly from the portal. <<That horse is too fast and beefy to wrassle. We need to use ice physics!>> A bubble grew in her palm, blue and cold, frosting over with ice.
"Hey, Lembas b-bread!" Torrent called out. "You want s-something to chew on!?"
She dunked the IceBomb onto the floor in front of her to create a patch of delicious frosting. No, wait, ice. ...Cream?
"C-come and get it!" She all but shrieked, her palm glowing with monochrome energy, pointing her hand at the wayward beast. Torrent pulled back the film of the concrete-grey bubble inflating in her hand. The surface of the sphere bulged with small mounds, as though there were dozens of smaller balls inside. She aimed the bubble at HayWyre, seeing the mad horse through the transparent film, and released it. The bubble snapped out of her palm, rocketing over the field of tendrils; and about half-way to its target, the bubble popped, firing forward a barrage of smaller pellets.
Hoping that she had the horse's attention, Torrent stood her ground, positioning herself with the portal just behind her and the small pool of ice in front of her. With the forest of tendrils in the way, HayWyre might not notice the patch in time. Though in it's horrific state of mind, she wasn't sure it'd care if it did notice. She trembled, waiting for the mad horse to come her way, as it tended to do when it remembered she existed.
<<You can do this, Torry!>> Hippie cheered, her voice echoing from the beam behind her. <<Just time it right, and you can win!>>
Torrent grit her teeth, clenching her stomach, feeling the data of the last chip inside her. If the plan worked and HayWyre did in fact try to chase her across the ice, she'd flip that inner switch, activating the Mole chip. With any luck, the horse would pass right over her head as she sequestered herself safely underground. And if they could remove the horse from this room, it'd give her and the progs time to clean up. She just hoped HayWyre didn't wreck her home too much.
"I-if you f-fall off that h-horse..." Torrent qualed on the spot, digital sweat beading on her forehead and hair pipes. "...you get b-back up a-and eat that h-horse!"
---TORRENT'S TURN SUMMARY---
[1]: IceBall1 (120dmg + Break + Small Ice Terrain Change, C)-> Floor in front of Torrent and the central core.
[2]: Shotgun (60 dmg + Spread1, A) -> HayWyre
[2+]: Marksmanship (+1 Shot Accuracy)
[3]: Mole1 (Conditional Burrow / Submerge, 1-Turn)-> Torrent, if HayWyre charges at Torrent.
[Cooling] Spiral Splash, Ready Next Turn!
last edited by
While her mechanical opponent raged and thrashed, Torrent felt the peculiar pulse of stabilising energy healing to keep her focus on track. Some of the damage she'd received began to patch up, gradually while they quickly made a plan to get the violent horse program out of the control chamber and stop it room doing any more harm. Hippie was ready to receive the damaged program, and thankfully or them both, your average PET was far better equipped for glitch removal and program restoration than the waiter-bot.
HayWyre continued to snort and tear tat hte wires around it, whinnying and making inarticulate accusations to the air around itself, though more concerning was the rate at which its various defences were already reforming; the beast would be very difficult to compromise normally, which was probably the idea, though it was doing Torrent no favours now.
She quickly set up her plan to trick and trip the program into the central column and get it out, spreading ice on the metal floor between the horse and the column – it froze to the smooth surface almost invisibly after a moment or two, which only left getting the creature's attention. Torrent made her play, blasting it with a scattering of bubbles. The horse was already thoroughly enraged, and it tossed its head as it reared and turned in her direction; as the timid navi might have expected, the blast hadn't been able to really do much to it, and only really seemed to get its attention – though it had certainly done that. Another loud bray and snort was followed by the horse stamping a hoof and lowering its head; its plough-like shielding clanged back into place ahead of it. A moment alter it was chagrin towards her, and the central column at her back.
At the last moment, Torrent activated her chip... only to feel the effects of it slide across the impermeable metal beneath her feet, unable to take a hold of the reinforced panelling. No saving hole opened up for the navi, though she only had a split second to process this unwelcome realisation. The horse hit the slick ice, and continued forward at pace; its hooves slid and skidded, and it seemed to flinch as it ran, trying to catch itself, to no avail. Torrent felt the impact of it slamming into her, though it was only a glancing blow, and she was thrown roughly to the side and against the control panel while the horse itself, unable to stop, crashed into the console, overbalanced, and tumbled over itself into the light beam. A crash of sparks and smoke erupted from the console a moment later, and the opened conduit light flickered and shut off but torrent was left to pick herself up, while the mass of exposed wire tendrils and cables settled down and dropped into an inert, if messy, mass across the control room.
The navi was left in darkness and quiet; the room was empty, it seemed, and the danger had passed. Hippie would find that the program had arrived safely enough, and would most likely be able to quarantine it in her PET until it could be repaired... though from Torrent's perspective, things were still a bit of a mess.
-=Hungry Horse=-
HayWyre.CHK: EXTRACTED!
-=Proggy Protector=-
Torrent.Exe: 55Hp [Glitches: Stability Cascade(Tier 2)(-)][Metal, by central column]
-=Hay-field Havoc=-
100% Metal
-=Battle 5, Victory!=-
Spoils: 2100z, 
SolarShield1Effect: (1 Hit Shield) + (Counter Fire/Elec (50 Fire Shot + Piercing + Solar Terrain Boost 50): On-Hit)
Accuracy: A
Description: Creates a solid solar panel shield. When hit by an attack that produces light, the shield will reflect back the attack with a powerful solar beam. The effect is powered up if standing on solar panels. Impact will stop the counter.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: D
HayWyre continued to snort and tear tat hte wires around it, whinnying and making inarticulate accusations to the air around itself, though more concerning was the rate at which its various defences were already reforming; the beast would be very difficult to compromise normally, which was probably the idea, though it was doing Torrent no favours now.
She quickly set up her plan to trick and trip the program into the central column and get it out, spreading ice on the metal floor between the horse and the column – it froze to the smooth surface almost invisibly after a moment or two, which only left getting the creature's attention. Torrent made her play, blasting it with a scattering of bubbles. The horse was already thoroughly enraged, and it tossed its head as it reared and turned in her direction; as the timid navi might have expected, the blast hadn't been able to really do much to it, and only really seemed to get its attention – though it had certainly done that. Another loud bray and snort was followed by the horse stamping a hoof and lowering its head; its plough-like shielding clanged back into place ahead of it. A moment alter it was chagrin towards her, and the central column at her back.
At the last moment, Torrent activated her chip... only to feel the effects of it slide across the impermeable metal beneath her feet, unable to take a hold of the reinforced panelling. No saving hole opened up for the navi, though she only had a split second to process this unwelcome realisation. The horse hit the slick ice, and continued forward at pace; its hooves slid and skidded, and it seemed to flinch as it ran, trying to catch itself, to no avail. Torrent felt the impact of it slamming into her, though it was only a glancing blow, and she was thrown roughly to the side and against the control panel while the horse itself, unable to stop, crashed into the console, overbalanced, and tumbled over itself into the light beam. A crash of sparks and smoke erupted from the console a moment later, and the opened conduit light flickered and shut off but torrent was left to pick herself up, while the mass of exposed wire tendrils and cables settled down and dropped into an inert, if messy, mass across the control room.
The navi was left in darkness and quiet; the room was empty, it seemed, and the danger had passed. Hippie would find that the program had arrived safely enough, and would most likely be able to quarantine it in her PET until it could be repaired... though from Torrent's perspective, things were still a bit of a mess.
-=Hungry Horse=-
HayWyre.CHK: EXTRACTED!
-=Proggy Protector=-
Torrent.Exe: 55Hp [Glitches: Stability Cascade(Tier 2)(-)][Metal, by central column]
-=Hay-field Havoc=-
100% Metal
- Cannot be Broken or Cracked except with Geddon/PanelShot, cannot be Burrowed into.
- Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
- 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Cracked.
- 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Furnace.
- PanelShot: Imbue Elec + Break.
-=Battle 5, Victory!=-
Spoils: 2100
SolarShield1Effect: (1 Hit Shield) + (Counter Fire/Elec (50 Fire Shot + Piercing + Solar Terrain Boost 50): On-Hit)Accuracy: A
Description: Creates a solid solar panel shield. When hit by an attack that produces light, the shield will reflect back the attack with a powerful solar beam. The effect is powered up if standing on solar panels. Impact will stop the counter.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: D
last edited by Von Dare
Torrent quailed before HayWyre’s furious charge. Time seemed to slow, stretching the space between certain death and almost-certain safety. She longed to activate the Mole chip and disappear underground. She held off, sweat bytes beading on her forehead, the angry horse filling her vision. She had to wait until it was as big as a watermelon, or the whole plan would go kaput.
Almost…
....Almost…!
HayWyre’s front hooves touched down on the slippery ice surface.
Now!
“……………….....Eh?”
Nothing happened. She remained where she was, completely exposed, the rampaging horse sailing uncontrollably towards her.
“Eh!?”
With a terrible crunch, HayWyre bowled into Torrent like fat motorbike, knocking her into the air. For a long, painful moment she twirled in the air, then splatted onto the floor in a dazed tangle.
Torrent slowly opened her eyes, her breathing ragged. The beam flashed, indicating a successful jack out. Not a horse in sight. She sagged with relief, an exasperated smile smushing her face. “...Horse… ...eaten…”
<<...Tor… It… orse… ...ur roo…>>
“Hippie?” Torrent called out. There was no response. She closed her eyes again, fearing a new headache was about to rear its ugly, horse-shaped head.
Torrent groped against the wall, gingerly pulling herself to her feet. “Ow. Ow ow ow owowowow…” She limped over to the room’s entrance, sludging through the mess of cables on the floor. She was shaking as she walked, her steps slow and heavy. Just as she reached the door a few of the cables became tangled with her leg. “Stupid... things…” She reached down to grab a handful and free herself, simultaneously pawing for the door’s open switch. Getting nowhere with either task, Torrent grew frustrated and snarled, wrenching the cables out of the ground and slapping the button.
The doorway opened, the electric smoke that had been cooped up spilled out. Torrent stood in the doorway, the glow of the teleporter silhouetting her. She panted heavily, pixelated blood on her chest and covered in bruises. In her fist she held a palmful of dead cables, faint sparks failing out of them like escaping fleas.
The gaggle of Progs awaiting at the bottom of the staircase stared up at her with something akin to awe. Then the Chez Prog floated forward. “YOU LOOK TERRIBLE.”
Torrent blinked in the bright light outside the connection room. “There’s, uh, well, it’s safe in here? I guess?”
“WOW! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT?” The Progs began nattering to themselves, and Torrent thought she saw zenny passing between them. They followed the Chez Prog into the room and huddled together for safety. One of them picked up a limp tentacle in its clamp and sniffed it without a nose. The Chez Prog looked very unhappy, despite it’s eternal smile. “THIS IS SIMPLY NOT UP TO CODE. WE’LL LOSE ONE OF OUR STARS IF THE INSPECTOR SEES THIS.” It jumped, beads of data rolling down it’s fat head. “WHAT IF MISS UPDATE SEES THIS!?!” It rounded on the other Progs and began organising cleanup.
“You’re, uh, welcome?”
The Chez Prog waved a claw dismissively at her. “YEAH, YEAH, THANKS FOR THE HELP. SAY HI TO THE BOSS FOR US.”
Torrent sighed, rolling her shoulders in pain, and turned to the beam portal that was connected to her PET. “I guess I’ll see myself out.”
(CONT)
Almost…
....Almost…!
HayWyre’s front hooves touched down on the slippery ice surface.
Now!
“……………….....Eh?”
Nothing happened. She remained where she was, completely exposed, the rampaging horse sailing uncontrollably towards her.
“Eh!?”
With a terrible crunch, HayWyre bowled into Torrent like fat motorbike, knocking her into the air. For a long, painful moment she twirled in the air, then splatted onto the floor in a dazed tangle.
Torrent slowly opened her eyes, her breathing ragged. The beam flashed, indicating a successful jack out. Not a horse in sight. She sagged with relief, an exasperated smile smushing her face. “...Horse… ...eaten…”
<<...Tor… It… orse… ...ur roo…>>
“Hippie?” Torrent called out. There was no response. She closed her eyes again, fearing a new headache was about to rear its ugly, horse-shaped head.
Torrent groped against the wall, gingerly pulling herself to her feet. “Ow. Ow ow ow owowowow…” She limped over to the room’s entrance, sludging through the mess of cables on the floor. She was shaking as she walked, her steps slow and heavy. Just as she reached the door a few of the cables became tangled with her leg. “Stupid... things…” She reached down to grab a handful and free herself, simultaneously pawing for the door’s open switch. Getting nowhere with either task, Torrent grew frustrated and snarled, wrenching the cables out of the ground and slapping the button.
The doorway opened, the electric smoke that had been cooped up spilled out. Torrent stood in the doorway, the glow of the teleporter silhouetting her. She panted heavily, pixelated blood on her chest and covered in bruises. In her fist she held a palmful of dead cables, faint sparks failing out of them like escaping fleas.
The gaggle of Progs awaiting at the bottom of the staircase stared up at her with something akin to awe. Then the Chez Prog floated forward. “YOU LOOK TERRIBLE.”
Torrent blinked in the bright light outside the connection room. “There’s, uh, well, it’s safe in here? I guess?”
“WOW! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT?” The Progs began nattering to themselves, and Torrent thought she saw zenny passing between them. They followed the Chez Prog into the room and huddled together for safety. One of them picked up a limp tentacle in its clamp and sniffed it without a nose. The Chez Prog looked very unhappy, despite it’s eternal smile. “THIS IS SIMPLY NOT UP TO CODE. WE’LL LOSE ONE OF OUR STARS IF THE INSPECTOR SEES THIS.” It jumped, beads of data rolling down it’s fat head. “WHAT IF MISS UPDATE SEES THIS!?!” It rounded on the other Progs and began organising cleanup.
“You’re, uh, welcome?”
The Chez Prog waved a claw dismissively at her. “YEAH, YEAH, THANKS FOR THE HELP. SAY HI TO THE BOSS FOR US.”
Torrent sighed, rolling her shoulders in pain, and turned to the beam portal that was connected to her PET. “I guess I’ll see myself out.”
(CONT)
last edited by Von Dare
Torrent floated within an ocean of electrical water. It was a safe and comforting feeling, like being wrapped in warm blankets. The pain of the day washed away as her program defragged and cleansed itself of latent viral data. The lights of the surface drew closer, the pull of buoyancy dragging her forward.
She broke the surface, stepping forward onto dry land, the electric ocean rising up behind her like a still waterfall. Translucent pipes and tubing poked out of the cylindrical wall of water, twisting, joining and splitting as they emerged and submerged from the vertical sea. Torrent bounced forward, feeling strong and light within the world of her PET, passing under the forest of tangled pipes, like a canopy of rushing water. The imaginary sun overhead mingled with the pipe canopy to create a vista of rippling shadows that pleased Torrent to watch. She passed through the glade and into a large clearing at the centre of the ring of water. Her positive comfort shattered as reality asserted itself.
“Oh, come on!” Torrent gaped at the mess all around her home. It was a three-tiered structure, with three plateaus curving up a central spine, like a cake stand. The highest tier was tall enough to overlook the wall of water and featured a sunbed and viewscreen. There were no connecting pathways between the tiers, Torrent being light enough in her realm to leap easily between them. The ground beneath the structure was made of soft golden sand, the forest of pipes ending at the edge of the clearing, burrowing into the earth, leaving the sand mostly free from tripping hazards.
Mostly, because a few of the pipes had been broken, pieces of them scattered about and greenish liquid spilling out of them. The lowest tier of the structure was tilted at an absurd angle, spilling its contents onto the floor. She kept trinkets and mementos on that tier, things that she’d found interesting or earned. But now they were scattered about like a hurricane had come through.
Torrent gingerly stepped over the debris and knelt at the pile of stuff. Among the things were an autographed plate from the heroic SolarMan, her third-place trophy for Intermediate Liquid Navigation and a black chip that turned out to be mostly garbage data, but was admittedly cool to look at. She gathered them all up and placed them on top of an upturned box. “It’s going to take me all day to clean this up…”
A strange rhythmic sound drew her attention to the other side of the bent tier. Her inner pump doubled it’s output as she tiptoed around the structure. The horse from the Auto-Waiter had its head bowed at one of the broken pipes, lapping up the liquid electricity that poured out. The machinery and mechanical parts of it had calmed somewhat, the wild anger and jitteriness somehow assuaged.
Torrent swallowed her fear and licked her lips. “Um, h-hello?”
The horse ignored her, focused solely on drinking.
Torrent inched closer. “Are you… feeling better now?” The hope in her voice faded as the horse remained silent. She drew closer. “I don’t know how healthy that is to dri-”
The horse bucked backwards, catching her in the chest. The blow felt soft, like she had a layer of padding, yet still the force caught her by surprise and she stumbled back. The horse slowly lifted its head and looked sideways at her, the gleaming light of its yellow eye peering at her. “...Hungry…”
“Ah… aha… still, uh, still on about that, huh?” Torrent’s grin was tight and shaky. “M-maybe I can get the boss to whip something up for you, huh?”
“...Food?” The horse asked, turning its whole body around to face her. A small tendril poked out from a hoofprint in the sand, wiggling and sparking.
“Nope! Nope nope nope!” Torrent inflated a bubble in her hand and pressed it into the tentacle, scooping it up with a pop. It wriggled, contained within the green-yellow sphere. “We’ll have none of that in here!”
The horse approached the bubble in her palm and sniffed it. “Food?”
Torrent held the bubble away at arm's length. “Oooh no. This isn’t for you.” She pulled down the bottom edge of the bubble and launched it onto the top of the structure where it would be out of reach. The horse watched it fly away, then followed it, trying to climb onto the tipped tier. “Wait, stop!” Torrent grabbed onto the horse and struggled to keep it still. “That’s MY house!”
A face peered over the other side of the horse. “Tsk tsk. Viruses in your own PET?” The voice was smarmy and confident. “What would the kids think?” A hot thundercrack blasted through the small world, and the horse went soaring into the air, a charred, smoking wound in its side. It crashed into the canopy of pipes and disappeared into the shade.
“No, wait!” Torrent picked herself up from the sand and thrust her arms to the side. “It’s not a virus, Blitz!”
BlitzMan shrugged, the huge turbine engines on his shoulders crackling with electricity. His white-gloved fist smoked and sparked from his attack. “I heard you were in trouble, so I thought I’d pop along and help out my junior co-worker.” He flicked his slick, light-brown, thunderbolt-shaped hair. “No need to thank me.”
Torrent felt small around Blitz, the more experienced navi looked down on her from the lofty peaks of his ego. He was clad in an orange, red and black leather jacket, opened to show a muscular chest, and red jean-shorts. His legs from the knees down were bare, aside from the red and yellow sneakers on his feet.
“Good job on the Auto-Waiter. Of course, I could have cleaned it out in a fraction of the time… but still, I’m impressed.” BlitzMan straightened his jacket, dusting sand from it. “Impressed you didn’t run away for once.”
“I… I haven’t r-run away-”
“Well, whatever,” BlitzMan shrugged, gazing around at the scenery, “As long as you don’t give the shop a bad rep, you can play at being a virus buster all you want.”
Torrent curled her hands into fists and took a deep breath. “I’m not p-playing!”
“Really?” BlitzMan brushed his thunderbolt hair and smarmed, showing his teeth. “I always assumed everything you do is a joke.”
Torrent flustered. “How did you even get in here?”
<<Sorry, Torry.>> Hippie piped in with a distracted note, her voice no longer garbled. <<A.K.'s being a jerk!>>
”LIES!”A horrible tin-shredding whinny echoed through the realm. HayWire exploded out of the pipe forest, steel and glass shattering around it. It’s machinery rippled and pistoned as it stormed towards BlitzMan.
“Ooh, a toughie!”Blitz flashed his pearly whites, revving his shoulder engines to a hot whine. Crackling fire blossomed on his fists, the heat causing Torrent to recoil. “I think I’ll have to melt this one!”
“Nope!” Torrent jumped between them and took a deep breath. With her PET’s energy flowing through her, she blew through all of her nozzles, inflating a massive green-ish bubble all around her that swelled to a massive size. It caught both the horse and Blitzman within its watery field, halting the horse’s momentum and snuffing out Blitz’s fire.
Torrent pushed Blitz out of the bubble, letting him drop to the floor. With the power of the PET, she shrank the bubble so that HayWyre remained inside. The horse fought and thrashed against the liquid, but a deep lethargy overtook it. It’s movements slowed and stilled, the creature curling slightly into a twitchy slumber.
BlitzMan nodded in approval. “Nice, now you can crush it with water pressure.”
“I’m not deleting it!” Torrent snapped. “I’m… I’m going to help it…”
BlitzMan looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. “...What…?”
“It’s…” Torrent bit her lip and looked back at the horse. “It’s just sick. I can…”
“Make it better?” BlitzMan finished for her, following a burst of laughter. “I think you’ve forgotten what we are. Listen, Li’l T, our purpose is to protect the net worlds from viruses.” He lectured, slowly approaching her. Out of habit, she shrank back. “And I know you’re new to all this, especially compared to me. So I’ll fill you in on what you seem to be missing. We’re not here to help viruses. Or infected programs.” His engines revved up to a whine. “Our operators aren’t doctors, and we aren’t surgeon’s knives. We don’t cut out the infection…” Orange-red lightning crackled on the tip of his finger, which he pointed at the suspended HayWyre. “We exterminate them.”
A superheated thunderbolt cracked out of his finger, the world glowing hot and red. Lightning sparked and snapped on impact, tendrils of red energy shocking pieces of sand into glass spires.
The storm died almost as soon as it had appeared. HayWyre remained untouched, a full third of the bubble evaporated to it’s side. Torrent floated between the bubble and BlitzMan, a chunk of her stomach missing. Tears of pain and anger welled in her eyes, even as the PET’s energy immediately began restoring her code. A great shadow drew across Blitz, and he looked up to see the surrounding ocean walls closing in and blotting out the sunlight.
“GET OUT!” The walls broke and tonnes of liquid electricity crashed down onto BlitzMan, completely submerging him. Glass and paraphernalia were picked up and carried along by the rushing tide. The walls built themselves back up along the perimeter of the realm, the water draining back to the ocean. BlitzMan was gone, ejected back into his own PET.
Torrent let herself sit down on the sand, sniffing. She drew her knees into her chest, holding them. For a long while she sat, her bottom lip soured and trembling. The sounds of the ocean, calm and serene, didn't soothe her as well as they usually did. The sunlight did its best to warm her, but it went unnoticed.
Today had been stressful, and all she wanted was to take a nice, long defrag. Torrent looked up at the iron horse, floating listlessly within the orb of water. “S-sometimes,” she told the horse, her voice quiet and fragile, “I r-really hate that guy...”
((TOPIC END))
She broke the surface, stepping forward onto dry land, the electric ocean rising up behind her like a still waterfall. Translucent pipes and tubing poked out of the cylindrical wall of water, twisting, joining and splitting as they emerged and submerged from the vertical sea. Torrent bounced forward, feeling strong and light within the world of her PET, passing under the forest of tangled pipes, like a canopy of rushing water. The imaginary sun overhead mingled with the pipe canopy to create a vista of rippling shadows that pleased Torrent to watch. She passed through the glade and into a large clearing at the centre of the ring of water. Her positive comfort shattered as reality asserted itself.
“Oh, come on!” Torrent gaped at the mess all around her home. It was a three-tiered structure, with three plateaus curving up a central spine, like a cake stand. The highest tier was tall enough to overlook the wall of water and featured a sunbed and viewscreen. There were no connecting pathways between the tiers, Torrent being light enough in her realm to leap easily between them. The ground beneath the structure was made of soft golden sand, the forest of pipes ending at the edge of the clearing, burrowing into the earth, leaving the sand mostly free from tripping hazards.
Mostly, because a few of the pipes had been broken, pieces of them scattered about and greenish liquid spilling out of them. The lowest tier of the structure was tilted at an absurd angle, spilling its contents onto the floor. She kept trinkets and mementos on that tier, things that she’d found interesting or earned. But now they were scattered about like a hurricane had come through.
Torrent gingerly stepped over the debris and knelt at the pile of stuff. Among the things were an autographed plate from the heroic SolarMan, her third-place trophy for Intermediate Liquid Navigation and a black chip that turned out to be mostly garbage data, but was admittedly cool to look at. She gathered them all up and placed them on top of an upturned box. “It’s going to take me all day to clean this up…”
A strange rhythmic sound drew her attention to the other side of the bent tier. Her inner pump doubled it’s output as she tiptoed around the structure. The horse from the Auto-Waiter had its head bowed at one of the broken pipes, lapping up the liquid electricity that poured out. The machinery and mechanical parts of it had calmed somewhat, the wild anger and jitteriness somehow assuaged.
Torrent swallowed her fear and licked her lips. “Um, h-hello?”
The horse ignored her, focused solely on drinking.
Torrent inched closer. “Are you… feeling better now?” The hope in her voice faded as the horse remained silent. She drew closer. “I don’t know how healthy that is to dri-”
The horse bucked backwards, catching her in the chest. The blow felt soft, like she had a layer of padding, yet still the force caught her by surprise and she stumbled back. The horse slowly lifted its head and looked sideways at her, the gleaming light of its yellow eye peering at her. “...Hungry…”
“Ah… aha… still, uh, still on about that, huh?” Torrent’s grin was tight and shaky. “M-maybe I can get the boss to whip something up for you, huh?”
“...Food?” The horse asked, turning its whole body around to face her. A small tendril poked out from a hoofprint in the sand, wiggling and sparking.
“Nope! Nope nope nope!” Torrent inflated a bubble in her hand and pressed it into the tentacle, scooping it up with a pop. It wriggled, contained within the green-yellow sphere. “We’ll have none of that in here!”
The horse approached the bubble in her palm and sniffed it. “Food?”
Torrent held the bubble away at arm's length. “Oooh no. This isn’t for you.” She pulled down the bottom edge of the bubble and launched it onto the top of the structure where it would be out of reach. The horse watched it fly away, then followed it, trying to climb onto the tipped tier. “Wait, stop!” Torrent grabbed onto the horse and struggled to keep it still. “That’s MY house!”
A face peered over the other side of the horse. “Tsk tsk. Viruses in your own PET?” The voice was smarmy and confident. “What would the kids think?” A hot thundercrack blasted through the small world, and the horse went soaring into the air, a charred, smoking wound in its side. It crashed into the canopy of pipes and disappeared into the shade.
“No, wait!” Torrent picked herself up from the sand and thrust her arms to the side. “It’s not a virus, Blitz!”
BlitzMan shrugged, the huge turbine engines on his shoulders crackling with electricity. His white-gloved fist smoked and sparked from his attack. “I heard you were in trouble, so I thought I’d pop along and help out my junior co-worker.” He flicked his slick, light-brown, thunderbolt-shaped hair. “No need to thank me.”
Torrent felt small around Blitz, the more experienced navi looked down on her from the lofty peaks of his ego. He was clad in an orange, red and black leather jacket, opened to show a muscular chest, and red jean-shorts. His legs from the knees down were bare, aside from the red and yellow sneakers on his feet.
“Good job on the Auto-Waiter. Of course, I could have cleaned it out in a fraction of the time… but still, I’m impressed.” BlitzMan straightened his jacket, dusting sand from it. “Impressed you didn’t run away for once.”
“I… I haven’t r-run away-”
“Well, whatever,” BlitzMan shrugged, gazing around at the scenery, “As long as you don’t give the shop a bad rep, you can play at being a virus buster all you want.”
Torrent curled her hands into fists and took a deep breath. “I’m not p-playing!”
“Really?” BlitzMan brushed his thunderbolt hair and smarmed, showing his teeth. “I always assumed everything you do is a joke.”
Torrent flustered. “How did you even get in here?”
<<Sorry, Torry.>> Hippie piped in with a distracted note, her voice no longer garbled. <<A.K.'s being a jerk!>>
”LIES!”A horrible tin-shredding whinny echoed through the realm. HayWire exploded out of the pipe forest, steel and glass shattering around it. It’s machinery rippled and pistoned as it stormed towards BlitzMan.
“Ooh, a toughie!”Blitz flashed his pearly whites, revving his shoulder engines to a hot whine. Crackling fire blossomed on his fists, the heat causing Torrent to recoil. “I think I’ll have to melt this one!”
“Nope!” Torrent jumped between them and took a deep breath. With her PET’s energy flowing through her, she blew through all of her nozzles, inflating a massive green-ish bubble all around her that swelled to a massive size. It caught both the horse and Blitzman within its watery field, halting the horse’s momentum and snuffing out Blitz’s fire.
Torrent pushed Blitz out of the bubble, letting him drop to the floor. With the power of the PET, she shrank the bubble so that HayWyre remained inside. The horse fought and thrashed against the liquid, but a deep lethargy overtook it. It’s movements slowed and stilled, the creature curling slightly into a twitchy slumber.
BlitzMan nodded in approval. “Nice, now you can crush it with water pressure.”
“I’m not deleting it!” Torrent snapped. “I’m… I’m going to help it…”
BlitzMan looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. “...What…?”
“It’s…” Torrent bit her lip and looked back at the horse. “It’s just sick. I can…”
“Make it better?” BlitzMan finished for her, following a burst of laughter. “I think you’ve forgotten what we are. Listen, Li’l T, our purpose is to protect the net worlds from viruses.” He lectured, slowly approaching her. Out of habit, she shrank back. “And I know you’re new to all this, especially compared to me. So I’ll fill you in on what you seem to be missing. We’re not here to help viruses. Or infected programs.” His engines revved up to a whine. “Our operators aren’t doctors, and we aren’t surgeon’s knives. We don’t cut out the infection…” Orange-red lightning crackled on the tip of his finger, which he pointed at the suspended HayWyre. “We exterminate them.”
A superheated thunderbolt cracked out of his finger, the world glowing hot and red. Lightning sparked and snapped on impact, tendrils of red energy shocking pieces of sand into glass spires.
The storm died almost as soon as it had appeared. HayWyre remained untouched, a full third of the bubble evaporated to it’s side. Torrent floated between the bubble and BlitzMan, a chunk of her stomach missing. Tears of pain and anger welled in her eyes, even as the PET’s energy immediately began restoring her code. A great shadow drew across Blitz, and he looked up to see the surrounding ocean walls closing in and blotting out the sunlight.
“GET OUT!” The walls broke and tonnes of liquid electricity crashed down onto BlitzMan, completely submerging him. Glass and paraphernalia were picked up and carried along by the rushing tide. The walls built themselves back up along the perimeter of the realm, the water draining back to the ocean. BlitzMan was gone, ejected back into his own PET.
Torrent let herself sit down on the sand, sniffing. She drew her knees into her chest, holding them. For a long while she sat, her bottom lip soured and trembling. The sounds of the ocean, calm and serene, didn't soothe her as well as they usually did. The sunlight did its best to warm her, but it went unnoticed.
Today had been stressful, and all she wanted was to take a nice, long defrag. Torrent looked up at the iron horse, floating listlessly within the orb of water. “S-sometimes,” she told the horse, her voice quiet and fragile, “I r-really hate that guy...”
((TOPIC END))