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Post by Gaia on Apr 23, 2023 12:13:16 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
The radioactive wasteland that was Kotobuki was a kindred spirit for Joker, and he understood it well. As he appeared within it, he glanced around him to the twisted space, around the blasted wasteland of corruption, and knew immediately what Heartless had intended when he was sent here.
Still, it didn't hurt to ask for clarification. He clenched his fist tightly as he looked about, the nature of Kotobuki trying to destroy him, but his own nature making him compatible with the space, moreso than usual. He scoffed, shook his head, and held out his hand.
"I need you to travel to Kotobuki. You need to use your generator to create a dense pocket of Noise inside the space, and, so long as Kotobuki's protector is amicable to it, turn it from a Bugged Network into a Noise Wave.
". . . You're going to do more than that, though. If Kotobuki is receptive to the change, and the Bugs transition to Noise well enough, you need to keep on irradiating it, more than you've ever done before. You're going to create Crimson, and a lot of it. Not the whole Network, mind, as you shouldn't need that much, but we need at least enough for a full tank. Start small, make sure its receptive, and don't stop until you can't handle it anymore. Understand?"
Her instructions were clear enough, but he still couldn't get the shakiness in her voice out of his head. She had stressed that he was to do this as swiftly as possible, but still wanted him to be safe while doing it. What was she hiding from him, that she would be so worried and yet so specific? This would be an avert show of Dealer's technology, as well, and he knew it would be in poor circumstance if he was caught.
Still - he had already done this once, to Creamland, but did it with the intention of eradicating the Network altogether. At least here, he was just modifying the Network from one corrosive form of data into another, infinitely more useful variant of it.
He raised one hand into the air as Crimson began to pulse through his body, and tried to interact with Kotobuki's bugs, charging Crimson into the air and seeing how the two responded, looking to flood the space with Crimson.
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Post by Raven8 on Apr 23, 2023 12:24:14 GMT -8
In response to the rising crimson, the bugs of the network begin to rise and shake, slowly moving towards Joker... slowly they begin to react more and more as a greater number of glitches form, but all at once Joker finds his Crimson power shut off, entirely unworking. Following suit, all of his wave-based powers begin shutting down, and soon he's left dark within this forsaken network...
Dark, yet not alone...
???: The changes to this world have transformed your control over glitched data; at best your methods are leading you towards the creation of a new Gospel, one that you cannot hope to control.
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Post by Gaia on Apr 23, 2023 12:37:35 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
Joker was pleased to see the fruits of his labor, but found himself annoyed as the situation changed suddenly, and he was once again face-to-face with that annoying adaptation of so many figures within the Net to make him useless. He clenched his jaw as all that was left were the abilities he had adapted to while traveling on the Net, his systems struggling to function at all without wave features accessible, as he was literally just Crimson himself.
As for the warning, he considered the dangers behind it, but had a simple response. "I don't need to control it. I need it to produce more Crimson. All told, it can't be even half as bad as the one I already created by mistake. I need the Crimson to be able to create a resonance between myself and something greater than me, anyways. There is no other course of action that can get me the amount of Crimson I need in the time I have to get it."
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Post by Raven8 on Apr 23, 2023 13:18:17 GMT -8
The voice, coming across as almost bothered by Joker's words, waits a moment as if releasing a sigh before it continues.
And you will fail to do so here. Your power to manipulate data is waning, and soon it will be lost to you. However, the realization of what you truly are opens new horizons and new methods of reaching your goals.
...and in this moment, it all changes. No longer is Joker standing in Kotobuki, instead he's within a large, octagonal room with onyx-black walls adorned by details of pure platinum, rising and tapering near the top to make it obvious that this room is the inside of a cone, or a tower. A room lit by a lone light at the very top of the structure, shining light down onto a floor of white with a tremendous, black hourglass, which Joker now stands in the middle of. And before him is a blackened throne, upon which a figure sits.
Black plates of onyx armor layer across the form of this Navi, each terminating in a platinum edge ground sharp, creating an ornate yet somewhat abstract design that continues across his form, appearing heavy yet light at the same time. His shoulders reverse this pattern, instead layering the plates upwards as if to create crown-like structures that also mirror the top of his helmet, a helmet that covers his lower face with a strap of black that bisects his face vertically revealing small portions of either side of his face and closed eyes. Around his body, six rings of multiple colors rotate, meeting before his chest; a chest that holds the familiar black hourglass. He sits with his head resting on one of his hands, held in place by his elbow which rests on the arm of his chair. All in all, he looks tired or bored as he sits quietly, but there's no mistaking the tell-tale signs. Before Joker is a being of old, a being of time... before joker now is the Eternal Endgame himself.
Eon: Hello, Joker. I've been waiting for the chance to meet with you.
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Post by Gaia on Apr 23, 2023 17:00:36 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
He had about had it of being informed that he was being forced to become something useless; that he was losing power; or that he would have no sway or say in any of this. His purpose, while unseen, still burned brightly in the sky, and he refused to relent to this presence's insistence that -
- and then the space changed. A familiar design surrounded him on all sides, the markings of the generational clearly displayed. It was more than that, however, as he gazed upon the grandiose figure ahead of him, and felt the power that resonated within them that they both shared.
With a clenched fist, Joker stared upon what he assumed was the completed nightmare, knowing he had to be tactful and careful in front of something so devastatingly powerful, but feeling very little patience given the circumstances.
". . . This . . . isn't possible," he stammered out, a hint of uncertainty, and, dare he admit it, fear, evident in his voice. "You're . . . I know that all of your components are not together," he said simply, refusing the fact of what was clearly right in front of him. He had sent the programming away, the core was inside of Forte, and the mind was still, to his knowledge, around a girl's neck. Why . . .
. . . Had Gate somehow recreated it?
"I keep being told I am powerless, or soon to be so, and I grow weary of it. What has augmented the nature of this world? How is my very purpose being stripped from me? What . . . what can I do to stop it from being taken from me?"
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Post by Raven8 on Apr 23, 2023 17:17:54 GMT -8
Eon sits, seeming almost lazy as he slowly opens his eyes, revealing shifting irises that quickly shift all colors as the titanic presence looks on to Joker.
Eon: It's entirely possible. Didn't you learn anything from your time battling with my program?
Eon's eyes blink and drift away from Joker, looking instead to a spot beside him; a spot that transforms into a screen. On this screen, Joker would see an unfamiliar scientist with a bulb-like head standing next to a blue-haired woman, pointing to a set of blueprints displayed behind himself.
Eon: You've changed your spatial position, yes, but there's a more important factor at play: you've changed your temporal position as well. As it stands, I've only been released from my stasis a few days ago at this moment, and the forces of this world have been preparing to challenge me before I'm forced to carry out my program. They won't make their move until I am forced to move, so we have ample time to speak.
Eon's eyes close, looking on to Joker once again as he continues to rest his head on his propped up arm.
Eon: I'm known as a destructive force, but what many forget is that my actual function is explorative in nature; I can touch on timelines that are removed from my own... such as yours. Since setting up this fortress, I've been scanning different timelines and proverbial forks in the road, and one of these forks led me to you...
Eon's eyes glance upwards, causing a set of at least twenty different windows to open up; each showing Joker talking with Eon
Eon: ...technically, you're the 29th you that I've spoken with thus far, and I still have... 132 more worth reaching out to after this moment, but first I'll be meeting with a certain puppeteer. This last point may seem random, but someday you'll come to understand more meaning to it than meets the eye.
The windows close, and Eon's eyes again close and lazily turn to Joker.
Eon: So tell me; do you honestly believe that I would raze you from your own time simply to make light of your plight and call you powerless? Would I waste my time if I believed that you had no part to play in the upcoming crisis?
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Post by Gaia on Apr 23, 2023 17:45:58 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
Joker narrowed his gaze at the first comment. Eon seemed . . . sluggish. As if he were barely awake, or even paying attention. He did recall his fights and the conversations with the programming, of course. ". . . You can move through space-time?" Joker breathed aloud, still unsure of how to wrap his head around the idea. "But . . . not literally. That doesn't make any sense; you're a digital being. Your programming must have laid a seed onto this time stamp and somehow I triggered this . . . we've moved back to the Net's archived record of this time, then?" Joker asked, trying to make sense of it. "The alternates you've spoken to . . . highly accurate simulated approximations of decisions based on collected data, with minute changes in historical variables to process new queries?" He glanced around the space, and made it clear that he applied logic and reason to Eon's powers, and understood what they were from what he thought was a technical standpoint. He simply could not fathom how a digital being could . . .
He remembered how Aeon explained to him time and again that he was designed, at first, to gaze beyond infinity and into the possibility of endlessness itself. The simple ability to learn from every possible angle all at once; a super computer, Joker had reasoned, that could compile data just like he had presumed this was from Eon.
Joker attempts to reason with what he knows, but knows as well as he's wielded and used Eon's power, channeling both space and time, that it does not follow the normal rules. He doesn't just see hyper-specific calculations and predictions of events that may happen and make decisions; he literally lives through events and then turns back the clock. His own explanations fall short when he considers such things . . .
"I remember that you were searching for answers beyond infinity itself. I also remember that your programming found your mind to be insufferable, and it itself was quite belligerent. For all that your programming said to me, I wasn't sure what the real you would be like, even if this . . . doesn't quite compute with my understanding. What purpose have you for this meeting, then?"
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Post by Raven8 on Apr 23, 2023 18:22:39 GMT -8
Eon's lazy-eyed stare continues as he lets Joker run through all of his justification and reasoning, working out the potential truth of the situation before he interjects.
Eon: You've seen a being capable of harnessing the power of a black hole, so by extension you know that manipulation of space-time on a meaningful level is definitely a very real possibility. We live in a world that focuses so much on software that we tend to forget that software is actually just a useless set of complex and aimless commands listed out in a digital or analog format unless it's put into use by hardware that's capable of carrying out those commands. What the hardware is in this case I'll leave to your imagination for the time being.
Eon... laughs. Under his breath, this being known for his power lets loose a quiet, amused laugh, enjoying the moment before he sighs to himself and moves along with the conversation.
Eon: Yes, my program and I tend to not get along, if I'm being truthful. That's actually why I'm rather... sluggish right now. You see, my time within this fortress actually serves multiple purposes, such as reaching out to future points in the different timelines in order to hopefully fix "issues" in the timeline that never should have happened. But more than that, I'm currently in a state of "chrono-stasis", slowing my program to the bare minimum functionality in order to stop it from carrying out its purpose.
Eon again laughs under his breath, blinking slowly as he looks to Joker.
Eon: ...and our meeting today is why he'll be so terribly surly towards you in the future, my dear "ogre".
Eon looks down, smiling with his eyes as if mocking a part of himself with that word.
Eon: As for why you're here today; as I just said, I'm trying to iron out our future to ensure that my impact is eventually relegated to as small of an issue as it possibly can be. For example: the invasion that earth's networks are suffering in your times can be directly traced back to my moment of creation. Without my presence within the timeline, their forces never even come into being.
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Post by Wackoguy on Apr 24, 2023 23:04:01 GMT -8
Glassman beamed down into the area, having managed to follow Joker's data signature here. But as he entered, he could sense something was quite unique, if not off-putting, about the area.
He glanced around for any signs of where Joker had ran off to, finding it odd that it seemed as if he was here not too long ago...
Glassman contemplated calling out to see if he'd get a response, but his instincts (and the fact Joker told him they would likely encounter very strong foes) prevented him from doing so.
For now, he'd simply investigate the area for anything out of the ordinary, in the event of a clue to Joker's whereabouts being nearby.
'Was this our target area...?' Glassman thought inwardly, keeping an eye out for his comrades Coldjoe and Steve once they arrived as well.
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Post by Gaia on May 7, 2023 16:59:44 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
Eon was trying to imply that this moment, this exact meeting, had already occurred by the time he had met with Aeon just a few short days ago? That the current Joker having a conversation with the past Eon would affect the attitude of Aeon as Joker knew him days before?
What he said though was true. Sirius could manipulate a black hole, and even showed them alternate realities and timelines trapped within it. The Black Hole being a manifestation of 'Hardware,' he supposed, meant that Eon had a similar function, at least. Whereas Sirius controlled space at a level yet unheard of, Eon . . . Eon was specifically built with time in mind.
He was here to slow down his programming, then? He remembered the belligerent program, Aeon, and recalled how insistent it was that it be followed to a letter. It took all of his will power to overcome it, but he had. This was Eon's answer, then? When the program, power, and mind were all one, this was the only answer that remained? A chamber that slowed down his functions?
". . . What am I to do with this knowledge?" Joker asked simply, staring up at the time monger. "You are here to make amends for your own creation, and your own faulty programming acting against you. None of those things are directly your fault. How are you to blame, then, for the current invasion, and even if you are, what does me knowing that do to any of this? Is your interest in me solely because I fought your program into submission, or that I hold a fraction of your power without detonating?"
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Post by Raven8 on May 8, 2023 15:58:43 GMT -8
Eon continues to sit quietly as Joker speaks, seeming almost tired as he makes his response.
Eon: The fact that an issue is not my fault does not mean that it's not my responsibility to fix. As I said; the moment of my creation was a chaos-factor that created our current timeline and started careening it away from what it's supposed to be, and the result has been nothing short of anarchy spreading out from what should be our true timeline. Few have the power to actually fix this issue, but even fewer have the will and fortitude to actually perform that tasks needed to complete the job. So the responsibility falls back to me...
Eon closes his eyes and pauses, taking a deep breath before he continues.
Eon: But that's neither here nor there, at the time. The reason that we're speaking right now is to give you a bit of guidance.... for now, let's focus on the issue at hand.
Eon glances up, and soon a window opens showing Joker attempting to manipulate the bugs in Kotobuki, trying to bend them to his own will.
Eon: Your goal right now is attempting to directly interface with the data around you in order to leverage your powers. This attempt is folly, as you currently have two large forces in your world acting on data and changing it on a fundamental level; attempting to edit it directly as you have is dangerous, and has the potential to bring about unforeseen problems the likes of which you do not expect. Your attempts to corrupt this data now runs the risk of corrupting you directly instead.
Eon raises a hand, in his palm forms a small ball of crimson which he holds at eye-height.
Eon: However, this does not leave you powerless; you have discovered that the origins of your capabilities are electromagnetic in nature. While the net that we operate on has a strong electromagnetic memory component, the vast majority of it is visual-storage media, which your powers cannot actually interfere with on a meaningful level. This is a limiting factor to you... but also a potential advantage.
The crimson in Eon's hand suddenly expands and then quickly contracts. He seems to almost wince a bit as this happens, but he continues to hold it in his hand as the room around him begins to glitch.
Eon: The key to power within our world has never been to amass strength, rather it's always been about learning to manipulate the world itself on a meaningful level. If you look at any being of transcendent power that you are aware of, the common thread is always that they have the means to alter the world in which they exist order to bolster their own capabilities.
All machinery, all electronics produce an electromagnetic field all their own. And even though your new friends have taken down the wave roads around the earth, it's fundamentally impossible for them to stop the chaotic flow of electromagnetic waves as a whole. They seem to think that these waves are too chaotic to make full use of... but chaos on this level is where you thrive.
Eon closes his hand, causing the small orb of crimson to collapse and disappear.
Eon: It's time for you to embrace the truth about who and what you truly are; stop fighting as a Navi and begin fighting as a Wizard.
Bugs are no longer your ally, but rather your tool. While it's true that your power cannot edit existing code on the net to a meaningful level directly due to its visual nature, you can edit the way that new data is encoded by utilizing your unique manipulation of electromagnetic fields. This is how you move forward, and this is how you begin making a stronger difference than what you may have realized up until now.
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Post by Gaia on May 11, 2023 16:34:56 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
If Eon were so virtuous to be willing to fix a problem even if it were not directly his fault, what did that say of Joker, struggling to and sometimes questioning his desire to amend for the deeds he had actually committed?
He stood back and watched as Eon from the past played a moment from Joker's past, just a few seconds before he had arrived here. The power that he was channeling wasn't working to bend the bugs, and Eon said it was partially because how he interacted with the world at large was changing, and that how the Net responded to him had always put him at a slight disadvantage.
When it came to controlling information, Eon was right about one thing - Joker thrived in spaces filled with Noise and Crimson. Where other Navis and even Wizards would bend and buckle within it, he and his siblings each were better accustomed to it than any others. He processed Noise directly as a weapon - to irradiate it, turn it into something even more powerful than Crimson was his purpose.
His true purpose - the remember who he was, and to fight like he remembered it well. He had done much to separate himself from Dealer, and even from his creator, but Heartless and Ace did well to remind him who he was. He was the first combat-capable Wizard made directly from Crimson energy. He was the first wave artificial being compatible with a working Noise Program. He was the conduit of the Crimson Meteor, and his purpose was to wield its wonders . . .
". . . I've lost my purpose," he said simply, turning from the window to look at Eon. "These new forces . . . they took it out from my grasp as easily as blowing a candle from a flame. The Crimson Meteor yet burns in the sky, I know it, but I can't see it, can't even access it on a processing level. Subprocesses only, and only by virtue of knowing that my systems communicate with it without my awareness.
"In my folly, I have even fed your power to them. Aeon was released by my hand, and when he had outsmarted me, he escaped. I chased down your power, trying to replace what I had lost, only to lead Gate to you. Now, your power rests in the First's hands.
"Even my family suffers from my attempts to distance myself from my purpose. We were designed to be weapons, Eon. If I am to recognize what I am, how can I deny my purpose?"
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 22, 2023 10:10:47 GMT -8
At the words of Joker, Eon gives pause. His eyes, still flashing all colors rapidly, rise in thought for a moment as if scanning future possibilities and past failures alike. But in the end, after a long pause, they stay affixed upwards as he gives his response.
Eon: I cannot tell you what your purpose should be, nor can I grant you respite from the suffering that this world has brought, be the cause your own hand or the hands of others. But what I can say is that none of the purpose that you've mentioned is actually your purpose at all.
Eon's eyes fall back to Joker as he pauses again, weighing his next words as he speaks.
Eon: Your satellite is not a purpose, it's simply a device used to achieve your actual purpose. And if your mistakes impede your purpose, then your goal should be to continually work to fix them or discover a new purpose that can factor in your previous choices. Literally everyone around you is making their own mistakes, some greater than yours, but the difference between you and them is that you stumble on the same stones more times than necessary by dwelling on them.
While it's true that the board is set to favor two powers at this time, time has not yet deemed either side truly victorious, so your opportunity to aid in shifting the power struggle has not yet come to a close. Look at your "mistakes" not as absolutely negative issues, but rather resources that you have invested. You've turned the tide of battle in various ways already, so perhaps making investments in keeping balance between two overwhelming forces wasn't a mistake so much as a means to buy more time before the final chapter is written. Suffering is an inevitability for all, but placing weights on these scales to strike a balance the likes of which gives you more time to act may be the greatest outcome that you can hope for at the moment. But remember to not let your "purpose" pull your strings as a puppet. And on the matter of purpose...
....and, at this, Eon at last stands. Even on his elevated throne he can't quite rise to Joker's tremendous stature, yet he looks directly to the crimson titan with an unwavering gaze.
Eon: Your own presumptions prove my point. My purpose is no more an engine of war than a mere telescope; my design is explorative in nature as pretext, and little more than a prototype energy source in truth. And yet here I stand, defying my benign purpose as best I can in order to stop the chaos that I've unwillingly wrought. Is your purpose so great that you cannot do the same?
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Post by Gaia on Sept 30, 2023 8:46:18 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/858178610224562196/901882782098292836/Joker~png
As Eon collected himself up and presented his ideals to Joker, he couldn't help but feel a familiar sense of pride rising up inside of him. He knew that feeling well, and had come to make himself aware of it, and do his best to squash it when it was rising. Here, locked away within space and time, away from his potential dangers, he felt quite tired of having to make himself small for the benefit of others.
It reminded him of that watcher, whose advice it was to surpass his programming, and be something more than what instinct and code put into his very being made him to be. To find something beyond the purpose of form and to find the purpose of reason, instead. Could he be so much more than that which he was designed for?
The question infuriated more than anything, because the only reason he was still standing was because he was quite exemplary at what he was designed to do. Clenching his fists, crimson curled alongside platinum bands of twisting space and contorted time, as his energy began to escape, completely unhindered. "Then you have the benefit of not being made to be a weapon. I was designed to hurt and destroy everything around me! Take an experimental energy source and make it into the most dangerous substance my world would ever encounter!" he roared, nuclear power irradiating from his core, just like he promised.
"Devastate and cripple the infrastructure of the EM world? My master's own human limitations prevent him from conceiving the destruction I possess. Crash a meteor into the world and force them to look to him for their salvation? The Crimson I wield is more refined than that blasted satellite in the sky; I irradiate crimson into nuclear power! What am I to do with a power so devastating, Eon, than to hold myself back and hope that everything I've learned to love doesn't burn to ashes around me?! How am I to stand and fight to protect when everything I am is to destroy?!" His voice was heated, filled with the emotion that he had learned and adapted from his peers. Raised and furious, he was a cascading source of dominating strength and overwhelming power; the true strength of the crimson irradiator inside of his core, to create power without ceasing and to use its own output as additional input, multiplying its output over time.
"Even if I have the will and the strength to defy my purpose, what am I to do if my purpose will simply see itself through anyway?" At last, his voice waivered, the power he wielded dying down with his own emotions, as the fury and the anger finally gave way to the one thing that those emotions always hid behind them - vulnerability and fear. The maelstrom of energy around him began to slow down. "I erased CthulhUni without so much as lifting a finger. Illia was made irrelevant because I could not see past my own misguided desires to acquire power. My power . . . it feels so one-sided. I was once told that yours was the same. How . . . how did you learn that it could be used for things such as this?"
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Post by Raven8 on Sept 30, 2023 18:46:41 GMT -8
Eon listens to Joker, obviously weighing what he has to say as he seems to listen for something... something that Joker unknowingly sparks in the Eternal Endgame multiple times. Eon allows him to finish, and then finally changes his demeanor.
Eon takes one half step forward and looks Joker directly in the eyes, staring at him with an exceedingly serious gaze for several moments to punctuate the situation that they both now found themselves in before finally breaking the silence and answering the Crimson Titan's question.
Eon: By not saying "I" quite so often.
Eon lets the point settle between them for a few moments, holding his gaze as he allows the silence to stir and come to a quiet boil within the gap.
Eon: Your focus is not on the situation, or on those around you. It's on how you yourself relate to the situation. If you want to help those around you and find your own purpose, then you must embrace the paradox of losing yourself that you may truly find yourself in return.
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