“So this is what being a bus is loik!” MidKnight cheered as the transit walkway sped her through the internet. Sights and sounds passed her by as she zoomed along the road. It started off pretty jarring, but now she found a good pace to walk without unbalancing herself.

That was before the transit walkway suddenly gave out. MidKnight tumbled head over heels as her momentum carried her off the roadway, her face slamming into the ground. Good thing she was wearing her helmet.

<<Hey! Why’d you stop?>> Orion grilled. <<You should almost be at the next stop by now!>>

“Wum shekkond, mlm…” MidKnight peeled herself off the floor.

She hopped to her feet, massaging her face, and took a look around. The transit path continued onwards, but the reason for the sudden acceleration became immediately apparent. “That’s a heffer alright.” MidKnight whistled, taking in the immense bulk of a massive bear-shaped virus. It slept soundly in the middle of the rode, and she briefly wondered if she’d need some sort of instrument to wake it up.

<<What on earth is that?>> Orion demanded.

MidKnight regarded the bear with a fond smile. “Just an ol’ bear gettin’ some shut eye, m’oim. It ain’t ‘armin nuffin.”

Orion huffed with impatience. <<Sleeping or not, it's a bloody nuisance. Get rid of it.>>

“Alright, m’oim.” MidKnight pondered to herself. “Now ‘ow exactly am oi gonna shift this geezer wivvout a crane…?”

Her answer came when a small ghost visited her from beyond the realm of spirits. It gave no advice from the other side, instead slapping the bear awake and running for cover.

“Oh,” MidKnight deflated, craning her neck backwards as the towering teddy lumbered to its paws, “well that’s roight unfair, that is.” A small blush invaded her cheeks as the bear flexed its mighty stuffing-arms. “Now what would it feel loik to get hit by that…?”

Only if Midknight had been some sort of omnipresent, all-powerful being could she have seen Orion rolling her eyes like the wheels on a bus that go round and round. <<Look, here’s a gun. Do something!>>

“Yes, m’oim!”

Eager for interaction, Midknight rushed towards the Teddy, feeling the thrum of energy ignite within her weapon. Yelling some manner of Cockney-stained battle cry, she thrust the sword at the Teddy’s belly like an incensed janitor with a mop soaked in gunpowder. The shot went off, the orb blasting between the twin blades with all the strength of a raging fire. Hopefully, if the shot was true, it would catch more than just the Teddy within its sights.

Aware that the Teddy may not take kindly to having its personal space invaded, Midknight brought her blade up to protect herself from attack, keeping on her toes for a potential threat from the viruses that were not giant bears.

Suddenly there were! What she had assumed were simple bollards to prevent an unfortunate accident, turned out to be cannons in disguise! Finding herself surrounded, a jolt of excitement ran through her like a fork in an electrical socket. Her blade hummed as she swung it like an amateur hammer thrower, spinning in place, attempting to gain some space and inconveniencing anything that refused to give it to her.

<<This is taking too long!>> Orion grumbled, feeling like a year had slipped by in the short time she hadn't spoken. <<Take everything we’ve got!>>

Midknight’s blade thrummed with power as two battlechips surged into its processes. Midknight queued up the first, a Guard shield, waiting and watching for the next enemy to make a move. If they did, she’d swing her weapon to deflect it, and hopefully return the damage in kind. Seeing the clash on her blade, she felt somewhat jealous of her sword.

Energy swelled within the blade once more, the orb at the center glowing bright blue. Aiming down its sights, the orb ejected, flashing forward full of destructive energy.


[1]: Repositioning (Movement -> Towards Teddy)
[2]: ShotgunDamage: 50 + Spread 1
Accuracy: A
Description: A gun whose shot penetrates an enemy to hit another one directly behind it.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: E: 50 + Spread 1 (Acc: A) (50 dmg + Spread 1, A) -> Teddy
[3]: Juke and Parry (Dodge)
[3+]: Riposte(Auto Counter, 40dmg + Slashing, A) -> Teddy (Or Nearby Attacker)
[4]:{Sig, 2TCD} Roundo Rondo ((60dmg + Slashing) -> Teddyif Alive or Spooky (If Nearby)
[5]: Guard1Effect: (1 Hit Shield) + (Reflect(up to 60 + Piercing + Line Attack): On Hit)
Accuracy: S
Description: Generates a 1-Hit Shield upon activation. When this shield blocks one hit from a non-Break attack, it responds with a hyper-fast damage ray.
Duration: Until broken or overridden.
Element: Null
Special: Negated by Break. Ignores Impact.
Special: Reflect: Damage returned is equal to the damage of the attack blocked or the damage cap listed, whichever comes first. Reflect is not subject to negation by Impact.
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: E: (1 Hit Shield) + (Reflect(up to 60 + Piercing + Line Attack): On Hit) (Acc: S)(1 Hit Shield + On Hit: (Reflect up to 60dmg + Piercing + Line Attack, S)) -> Teddyif Alive or CannonDumb A
[6]: CannonDamage: 60 + Knockback
Accuracy: A
Description: A decent sized cannon with a single shot.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: E: 60 + Knockback (Acc: A) (60 dmg + Knockback, A) -> Spookyif Alive or CannonDumb B

“By lummy, that’s a treasure an’ an ‘alf!” MidKnight stuck her arm into the zenny, absorbing all the condensed data. “Oi could get me a noice upgrade for me noggin with that.”

<<I yearn for the days when I didn’t have to scrounge in the internet’s trashcans for money.>> Orion groused.

“Don’t worry, m’oim!” MidKnight beamed, crumpling the shell of the GMO into a small ball and tossing it in her mouth. “You’ve got me to do the scroungin’.”

She chewed distractedly for a moment, before remembering what she was doing before the trouble with the triple. The bus stop sign that had been gnawed on (and slightly shotgunned) flickered as it begun to repair itself. “Now lessee… This is the stop that Orion’s at now…” She examined the floor tiles; several glowed with chevrons, pointing out a route that passed by the stop sign. “Oi bet the bus program comes through ‘ere…”

<<Well, what are you waiting for? A bus?>> Orion butted in. <<Follow it!>>

“Yes, m’oim!” MidKnight turned on a heel and marched down the road in the opposite direction of the chevrons. The sooner she could locate the bus, the sooner she could soothe Orion’s mounting fury.

-------------------------------
((VIRUS BUSTING, BATTLE 3 READY))
-------------------------------

Upon finding her final foe already vanquished, MidKnight let the etheric glow drain from her sword. She breathed in deeply, drawing the viruses' fragmented data into her where it could be bitcrushed into Zenny.

A green light reflected off her armour, and she turned to find a shiny green data node just sitting there for her to crack open.

((Open GMD: Y))

“Wot in tha…” MidKnight looked up from her terminal as someone went screaming past her. There was a commotion nearby; a trio of viruses were causing havoc around an innocent bus stop sign.

“Mind handin’ me some guns, m’oim?” MidKnight adjusted her helmet before drawing her sword again. “Feelin’ a wee bit outgunned at the moment.”

<<Yeah, yeah. I’ve got what you need.>> Orion already had her chips ready before MidKnight had even asked; Orion might be a lot to handle, but was thankfully no slouch in a netbattle. She smiled with pride, feeling a slight shudder from the connection she had to her PET, like a spider on a distant web. She darted forward, her metal boots thonking loudly, taking up position behind the hiding Metool.

Energy coalesced within the circular ring of MidKnight’s blade, the cannon battlechip manifesting as a silver orb. She waited for the Powie to leap into the air, above any sort of cover, before thrusting the sword towards the virus. The steel of the sword glowed silver and the cannon bullet fired out from between the twin blades like a railgun, a trail of light following like a fan desperate for an autograph.

Turning her attention to the Metool, MidKnight waited for the virus to make its move; attacking the helmet was a useless endeavor, a lesson that all navis learn very quickly into their careers. This one was new to her, though. It had a cool fin on it’s helm that MidKnight definitely wasn’t jealous of. It also carried a mean-looking shotgun with it; she’d never seen a Metool with a gun. Was someone supplying these creatures with illegal firearms, or was it just a natural advancement of their code-eat-code evolution?

Whatever the reason, MidKnight prepared to sidestep the Met’s nasty shottie, and kept her sword on hand to deliver a swift, and deadly rebuttal.

<<Another shot, coming in hot.>> Orion warned. The battlechip surged through MidKnight, traveling into her sword to begin its short life as an orb of dark grey energy. The blades of the sword turned outwards at the tip, like water coming out of a cartoon whale. She aimed her sword at the bus stop, firing the spread of buckshot at whatever was in front, or behind, it.

MidKnight crouched, the heels of her boots blazing as the thrusters activated. Smoke billowed out behind her like a genie late for his train. Or bus, in this case. She rocketed forward, her sword lagging behind as she charged shoulder first. The blade lit up, glowing like a full moon. As she reached her target MidKnight swung, a full bodied pirouette that carved light into the air. If someone had been watching from above, they’d have sworne a moon had been briefly present.

[1]: Repositioning (Movement -> Behind Metool)
[2]: CannonDamage: 60 + Knockback
Accuracy: A
Description: A decent sized cannon with a single shot.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: E: 60 + Knockback (Acc: A) -> Powie
[3]: Sidestep (Dodge)
[3+]: Riposte(Auto Counter, 40dmg + Slashing, A) -> NeoMetool
[4]: ShotgunDamage: 50 + Spread 1
Accuracy: A
Description: A gun whose shot penetrates an enemy to hit another one directly behind it.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: E: 50 + Spread 1 (Acc: A) -> NeoMetool if Alive, Else -> BusStop.Sign
[5]: ROCKET (Feint -> Towards Shrubby)
[6]:{Sig, 2TCD} Roundo Rondo ((60dmg + Slashing) -> Shrubby if Alive

MidKnight exhaled and relaxed, dismissing her sword. The skirmish was over, ending with a complete victory for her. Of course, it didn’t take much to fight Metools, they basically fell over in a stiff breeze, but there was a certain sort of satisfaction to it. She put her fists on her hips and surveyed the aftermath. “Charmin’ li’l things, aren’t they?”

<<Haha, yesss! I could watch that all day~>> Orion slurred through her hate/misery-fueled malaise, drunk with the mild relief that only the slaughter of tiny programs could bring. <<Ahhh, good stuff.>>

“Glad t’be of sahvice, m’oim.” MidKnight beamed at a job well done, standing upright and dusting herself off.

One of the Metool’s helmets clattered to the ground, the beak-mache still attached. MidKnight bent down to look at it, picking it up by the rim. “Ow in the ‘ell did they make these wivvout ‘ands, anyway?” She glanced around furtively, before stuffing the helmet inside her storage. “Oi’m keepin’ this.”

It only took a moment for Orion’s naturally sour disposition to reassert itself. <<Ugh. This bus is taking forever to get here! Go find out what’s happened to it, will you?>>

“On it, m’oim.” MidKnight shaded her eyes with her hand, searching the area with an exaggerated scan. There were a handful of navis and programs dotted about, as well as information terminals. She jogged over to the nearest one, her armour clanking, and accessed the info for Orion’s bus. True enough, the bus was late, but there was no announcement as to why. “Wonder what’s going on ‘ere, then?”

She was about to access the bus route map, when...

-------------------------------
((VIRUS BUSTING, BATTLE 2 READY))
-------------------------------

True to Orion’s words, it didn’t take long for some ‘filthy’ viruses to show up. However, their arts-and-crafts project had involuntarily caused MidKnight’s heart to swell to dangerous levels.

“Bloimy an’ biscuits!” She nearly dropped her sword from the dangerous levels of cuteness surrounding her. “That’s the most adorable thing oi think oi’ve evah seen!” She squeaked, her voice climbing an octave with every word.

<<What are you oooon about?>> Orion groaned, her headache doubtlessly getting worse for every second a virus wasn’t being smushed.

MidKnight crouched and poked at one of the paper beaks. “They’ve even got the li’l ‘oles an everyfing, bless their infectious ‘earts!”

<<They haven't got hearts! They’re made out of the computer equivalent of hangover vomit.>> Orion’s patience had evidently run out, as MidKnight felt the surge of a battlechip fill her up like warm apple pie. The two ends of her sword bent ninety-degrees, kind of like a forklift, she thought. <<Now smack their smug little faces before they get their, I don’t know, gunk all over you.>>

“Yes, m’oim.” MidKnight sighed. “Sorry ‘bout this, chums.” She stood and gave her sword a test swing. “I love the ‘elmets, really I do. But, the boss, y’know?” She shrugged sadly.

Then she put one foot forward and swung her blade at the Metool to her left. The forks gave the sword an odd weight, as though they were dragging her forward. She tried to correct, rebalance herself, then swung at the Metool that was now behind her.

MidKnight let the momentum swing her around until she had returned to her initial facing, with her sword now held behind her back. With one more heave, she brought the sword arcing down at the Metool in the middle, the forks singing as they curved through the air.

At the end of the day, it may be hard not to have Metool gunk all over her when all is said and done.

---MIDKNIGHT'S TURN SUMMARY---

[1]: Dodge
[2]: RageClaw1 (40dmg + Slashing, B)-> Metool B
[3]: Dodge
[4]: RageClaw1 (40dmg + Slashing, B)-> Metool A
[5]: Dodge
[6]: RageClaw1 (40dmg + Slashing, B)-> Metool C

MidKnight groaned in pain. She dragged herself out of a MidKnight-shaped crater on the ground, shivering slightly with an indulgent grin on her face. "Well j-jacked, m-m'oim!"

<<Can you not?>> Orion bemoaned. <<This is a... ugh, public device, it's bound to be teeming with filthy viruses. Go destroy a few, before I get a migraine from all this rage I'm containing.>>

"Yes, m'oim!" A sly shiver passed through her, leaving a silly smile on her face. MidKnight called her two-handed, tong-shaped sword from her digital storage, the blade manifesting in her hand, and held it before her. It wasn't everyday you had to do some demolition therapy for your operator.

Only most days.

Orion Sinclair stewed in her contempt. She sat in a bus stop in a little podunk town, pondering, not for the first time, how her life had ended up going so wrong.

<<Dawn't worry, m'oim!>> Her hip bleated at her. <<Oi'm sure next toim will be the one for sure!>>

Orion gripped her seat with enough pressure to dent the plastic. "Morons, the lot of them." She fumed to herself. "How could they turn me down? I would be an excellent teacher!" The bus stop bench snapped under her fingers. "Just because I failed that stupid personality test!"

Her PET remained silent in answer, letting the meaning hang in the air like a unclaimed fart. Orion blew out a breath of frustration, then glanced up, scowling at the bus stop information program. The program who managed the time displays was hiding from her just behind the edge of the screen.

"Sinclairs are meant for exotic cars. Sports cars, in a pinch. But not..." She composed herself before uttering those dreaded words, "public transport..."

<<Oi'm afraid you still 'ave negative-thirty points on your loicense, m'oim.>>

"Uggghhhh..." Orion buried her groan in her scarf. She glared at the bus stop screen again, this time noticing the small jack-in port. "Fine. I need to work off my indignation before it gives me a rash." She unclipped her crescent-moon shaped PET from her belt and pointed it at the screen. "Go find something to smash."

A beam of light speared from the device into the screen, following by a distorted: <<Yes, m'oim!>>

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))

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)