Past or Future? [Private] [CLOSED]

[Nightshade]

Thorn's attitude could be described as playful mischievousness alright. The tall lizard slowly paced around Legacy, pleasantly surprised by his abilities.

"...I go by many names. Thorn.tx is one of them. Most people though, call me the Poison Dragon or the Pure Poison Navi. In short, I am not a chameleon and I am...well I can control most if not all Poison Data within the net."

Once again, Legacy found himself face to face with the dragon. "Heheh...you seem to have interesting quirks youself, Legacy.exe. I like it. I take you do not appreciate hugs?"

[Blazewind]

"Hoh, quite the ability." Legacy glanced the poison chameleon dragon over, finding his design most unusual. While Legacy's own design was abnormally mechanical for a navi, this one was by far more animal than humanoid other than its ability to stand and talk. Legacy had to wonder if Thorn did that tongue thing snakes and lizards did.

"As I mentioned, because of my inexperience, that was not entirely of my control. Perhaps it is my 'legacy' software if you will, my own energy sometimes intervenes when I do not react to things. Ka-ka." Legacy laughed with a hint of self ridicule at his lack of control and pun. Well, it was accurate at least.

"And so, what of you? Come to join a city tour?"

[Nightshade]

"I was checking on Nighty here and found him pestering you. I would hope he was not of nuisance to you." Thorn replied calmly and politely. Sure enough, he did the "tongue thing" Legacy was thinking about albet it seemed a little forced. With a grin, Thorn gave away his façade. The purple colored navi has seemed to understand what Legacy was thinking about. It wasn't probably the first time people though that about him.

The dragon recalled all the poison in the area towards him, as to not drag too much attention. It was at that moment that the poison navi finally took his definitive shape. From his knees down his legs seemed to simply melt into the poison around him until now, now they turned in a pair of solid three toed digitigrade feet.

"And I heard about something like Code upgrades and fighting as well, if I am not mistaken. Do excuse my eavesdropping, by the way."

[Blazewind]

"Umu. Nightshade mentioned there 'Arcades' which seems most intriguing. A place that one can fight all sorts of navis in... I like it! Ka-Ka-Ka!" Legacy found the prospect exciting, he seemed to recall at one point that Netbattling other than virus busting was prohibited without a license. He was glad they got over nanny-ing phase.

"Well, I still have some updates to go through. Much of my data is still outdated, and incompatibility errors would be terrible! For today at least, I shall have to show some restraint." Legacy crossed his arms with an air of "can't be helped". "In the mean time, I shall content myself growing knowledge rather than strength."

[Nightshade]

Thorn looked at Legacy with his smug, cocky and mischievous smirk on his face. "Is that so? My my, Nighty. You really find all the weird types do ya?"

There was something in that crap eating grin Thorn was giving that just made the cat navi uncomfortable. Nightshade hopped over to Thorn's side, highlighting the difference in height between the two. "Don't tell me YOU want to fight him?"

"Ah, Nighty Nighty Nighty~" Thorn casually yet theatrically replied inching closer to Legacy and using his left claw to pat at his shoulder while still facing the black and green navi. "The question isn't why as much as it is why not? Or perhaps would you rather show him your...AMAZING...cybeast powers? I never knew you became such a showoff as of late."

Nightshade shrunk down, his right paw kicking the dirt and scratching the ground. "No, it's not that. I didn't say we would fight and-"

"Well then, how about you leave him to me to do the derusting proceadure hm?"

"I guess there would be nothing wrong but you have to as-"

"Splendid!" The dragon exclaimed, now standing face to face with Legacy. "You would not mind a gentleman's challenge, do ya?"

[Blazewind]

Legacy watched the exchanged amused. Thorn seemed to be the "my pace only" sort, and Nightshade seemed to have some difficulty dealing with him. He ignored the bit about "weird types" however, seeing as Legacy was a bit unusual, even if it were a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

"Ka-ka, as interesting as it sounds, I shall have to refrain today. If my hand if forced, I can defend myself a bit, but my condition as it stands is far from ideal."  Legacy clenched a fist, still feeling a bit rusty from being recently reactivated. "Of course, as it stands ... As we are now, were I foolhardy enough to challenge either of you, no death would be more swift or certain. It would be the height of foolishness." Legacy's eyes glowed slightly more brightly as he scanned over the two navis in front of him. He didn't need any special programming to tell their somewhat flippant attitudes hid large amounts of battle experience and power. Instinct was enough to tell him that much.

Legacy could also feel that the Sefirot Cloud took more to maintain than he was ready for on such a short notice. He cursed the self activation of his defense systems internally.

[Nightshade]

"Dear Dear~ now you're just flattering us..." the purple dragon replied, withthe hue of his scales turning a more evil, darker looking purple. The ground beneath Thorn's clawed feet shattered by the sheer pressure of his DarkSoul manifesting. "And while is it true that we both could kill you in seconds I don't really see any reason for that particular kind of tasteless sensless slaughter. Despicable even."

Thorn would let out a muffled chuckle and use his tail to coil himself around Legacy once more. "Besides, I like to have fun. I like to take it slooow and painful."

Legacy found himself in yet another tight huggle, courtesy of the lizard like navi. However, he couldn't feel a speck of malevolence in either of them. Thorn's especially. The dark energy he emanated was calm and controlled. It circled around Legacy as if it wished to protect him, as if it was calling to him, telling him to let go and allow himself to be consumed and reborn in darkness. In the end, it all came back to the beginning: Thorn's mischievous yet playful friendly attitude. The Darkloid seemed completely addicted to his dark powers, but he had complete control over them.

The Poison Dragon chuckled and started laughing. "No okay,I can't. I really can't for the life of me play bad guy. Sorry. But the look on your face is pure, unadulterated, gold. Boy ya look like you've been spooked by a ghost or something."

[Blazewind]

"Oh-ho... So this is Dark power? An interesting sensation. I can sense there's powers yet to be unleashed as well. Ka-KA! Most intriguing! A large world this is indeed!" Oblivious to Thorn's acting and more fascinated by the transformation, Legacy began to wonder how the power of Darkloids would react in combination with his Sefirot Reactor. Then again, there was also Light power which had something called Hyper Modes. Perhaps Legacy was a bit greedy, but he wanted to experience it all.

"Ah, t'is a shame I've yet to see a Hyper Mode! Darkloids,
Dark Chips, Hyper Modes, mayhaps I too shall have these in my arsenal one day.
The blood boils at the thought!" Legacy seemed gleeful at the possibility.

"Ka-ka! Friend Thorn, you do tease so. Perhaps I might have believed you about my expression if I had a face to make one! Quite the contrary however, you've only shown me new heights that I may one day reach!"

[Nightshade]

"I can show you the wooooorlllld..." Thorn began singing, making Nighthsade facepalm. 

"Could you stop making us look ridiculous?"

"Why it's not like he would live long enough to say a thing..."

"Thorn. It's getting old."

"Pfffft alright. I'll cease."

For the first time since their meeting, the dragon's expression turned from his constant smug grin to genuine surprise. "You've never seen a Hyper? We'd better change that!" he replied as Legacy told him about his new goals.

"Even further beyond?"

"We are not doing even further beyond again."

"Aw come on it will be fun!"

"No."

"Too late doing it anyway!"

And that was the moment where the poisonous dragon was sent flying through a wall by one of Nightshade's clawed kicks. He moved so fast it almost seemed to be teleporting around. The cat navi still seemed to be holding back, and cursed himself for putting that much force into his blow. Somewhat heavy thumping could be heard as Thorn walked back towads the two unscathed.

"As you can see, every form has its pros and cons. Darkloids can count on their Dark Souls to make them virtually immune to damage. And I can assure you I can resist way heavier hits." 

The dragon stopped right to Legacy's side. "Although it allow us to survive even situations that would normally kill anyone else, Dark Souls are incredibly hard to master. For once, mantaining control of yourself is a thing, second, they are extremely addictive. You will crave more and more dark power the more you go down the rabbit hole. Not many come back up, but let me tell ya, it feels sooooooo gooood you cannot believe."

As Thorn stated, he seemed to be enjoying his form a little too much. it almost looked like he was constantly in a state of pure bliss.

"Hypers are instead more offensive oriented. In short, they won't let you live through stuff like DarkSoul, but the burst of power they are able to give is immense...and then there is that other thing above them too." He winked at the cat navi and nudged him twice with his elbow.

Nightshade let out a long sigh. "What you see now is my normal state."

Suddenly, a small shockwave exploded from Nightshade as his appereance changed into something very weird looking and his power skyrocketed by fifty to a hunderd times what was before. "This is a Hyper mode. And this..."

Just like Thorn, the floor beneath the cat navi's paws cracked as he changed appereance once again, with his powers increasing another time on top of the already immense strength. Cracks ran across the ground way further than what Thorn's power had displayed. "...is a Hyper that goes past a normal Hyper. People call it Hyper Fusion. When you can use more than one Hyper at the same time. Technically, this would be about the maximum power any normal navi could squeeze out. However, if you are fighting against one of the two navis in the entire net that have it..."

The ground began to quake, craking even more. A purple aura enveloped Nightshade and exploded in a pillar of purple light, parting the clouds as it dispersed itself in the sky. When everything settled down, Nightshade appereance had altered once again, but this time the design was way more recognizable than anything else before. The amount of power he was displaying was off the charts, ipposible to quantify by normal means and had a very different feeling than anything up to that moment. Feral, aggressive, destructive. Even Thorn, who had probably seen it in action a couple of times seemed to pale lightly.

"You REALLY don't want to know what this does."

[Blazewind]

Legacy watched the demonstration wondering if it was okay to do this sort of thing in a public area. Still, Legacy asked for it, so he supposed he should keep quiet and just enjoy the learning experience. He did some research before on both systems, but it was, again, quite different experiencing the results in front of him. He did feel it was a pity that he had neither, but he faulted his own weakness for that.

"Ka-ka! It seems friend Thorn is not the only one fond of putting on a show. That seemed too well rehearsed to be ad libbed." Legacy remarked as he watched the different levels of Hyper Form. It did seem a little weird that navis could have more than one hyper form, and yet he could feel something a bit different each time, as if it wasn't only Nightshade's power being displayed. One of the forms he changed into even looked and felt like Thorn's power. "Oho... It seems like a borrowed power, but greater than the sum. It may not be the strength I seek however." Legacy noted that it may have been a poor match-up for his individualist personality. Perhaps he would find an alternative in his Sefirot Particles as he grew. This pondering however, ceased on Nightshade's last transformation.

"Hoh... That transformation, by all of my sensors reads to be the most dangerous by far. The heat of this wild energy... It feels like it could swallow one whole if they weren't prepared for it... With that said, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to transform in a place less public?" Perhaps the fact that Legacy remained relatively calm stemmed from his age, or perhaps it came from his sheer interest in the power. The same however, could not be said of the bystanders. Some were frozen, some ran, made rather loud noises. He wasn't sure if Darkloids were... Frowned upon in public like they were before, but Thorn's transformation also wasn't helping.

[Nightshade]

Nightshade released his power and returned to normal. Thorn did the same soon after.

"Nah. No worries. People overreact to anything." Thorn simply replied at Legacy's question. "Well then, off we go to the training center then. This way."

Nightshade hopped over to Legacy. "Look, Thorn's is someone you don't beat with power. The only way to best him is with cunning intellect. I'm telling you just in case he really's going to try and fight you. As you can see, he is one stubborn lizard. If he wants to do something, he will do that no matter who or what tells him not to."

[Blazewind]

Legacy shrugged with both hands out to Thorn's response to the rather large commotion they caused. He wasn't exactly sure if it could be called an over reaction, but everything was subjective he supposed. He was at least glad since the gazes of fear (although not at him) was becoming a bit painful, blissfully unaware that even without all that raw power radiating out of him, Legacy might have been the most frightening looking one of them normally.

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious. While I look forward to seeing this Training Center or Arcade, today I must be prudent and make sure I shall be ready for the eventual fight." Legacy followed along, however the choice on whether to fight or not was long made before then. Perhaps it was boring of him to refuse Thorn's challenge, but accepting a futile fight was the mark of a fool, and to the best of his abilities, Legacy wanted to keep his own foolish behavior in check. "Although admittedly, I too wish for a chance to show off one day. Ka-Ka! Onwards then!"

[Nightshade]

The little cat seemed to be liking Legacy. He hopped a little closer to him. "Well, you are wise. That's for sure. But don't count yourself out just yet. The Arcade is a place where you can fight almost anyone. While into an arena, your and your opponent's powers are equalized. In short, if your attacks were to clash against my own while inside there, they would cancel eachother out. As per the damage thing  there Are alot of recovery chips you can use to patch yourself up afterwards."

As the two were talking, they finally arrived to the Arcade. The building itself was fairly small and plain. Nothing stood out about it. Once inside however, it reavealed a catwalk suspended on the roof, while many transportation plates led navis to one of the many arenas around. Some of them where for 1v1 fights, some had some sort of Boss Battle inside, other had virus busting...the place was jam packed with things to do.

Thorn stopped walking and instead opted to curl himself around Nightshade, who seemingly enjoyed hugs. "Well then, here we are. Don't worry about the entry fees. It's on us. If you see anything you would like to do, go for it. Unless you really want to chicken out on my challenge."

[Blazewind]

Legacy followed the pair, continuing to observe his surroundings while occasionally taking interest in something they passed by, and also continued to listen to Nightshade's explanations. "Oh? So these arcade fights are far more game than they are duels. An interesting way of fighting! Perhaps it would make for an interesting way to study tactics and gather information." Legacy mused, rather interested in the point of a equalized fight. Certainly, Legacy could be quite proud of his own power, but in a situation where an outside influence forced equality, it would be a battle of the mind instead.

He observed the arcade intently, interested in the forms of games that were offered. He wasn't entirely sure why they needed a simulator for Virus Busting considering the last time he checked, the internet was positively teeming with the little nuisances, but he supposed it was for the less battle inclined navis to play around with in a safe environment. He took particular interest in the Boss Battles however, because presumably it was a simulator against particularly powerful navis. "Ka-Ka-Ka! These bosses... I presume they were quite famous navis to be made into a challenge. How amusing! I too wish to be immortalized in such an interesting way!" Legacy laughed, somewhat ignoring that Navis didn't really have a lifespan as such.

"Well, I am indeed grateful of your generosity! Mayhaps I shall try a round of Virus Busting and work my way up! Rusty I may be, I hope the viruses can provide a challenge!"

[Nightshade]

Nightshade shoved Thorn out of the way and motioned for Legacy to enter an empty arena. "Show us what you got."

The purple dragon was faught up in some friend of his and could be heard mischievously teasing a very embarassed female navi. The poor girl was red as a tomato and her friends were laughing their ass off. Nightshade swiped a card into a console and a ding confirmed the rental fee transaction...rather, there seemed to be no transaction at all. *Welcome back, Nightshade.rx* the machine said, *please select your  preferred activity.*

"Alright, all set!" He chimed. "Good luck! I'll be watching up here. Unless you want me to help you."