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Post by Gaia on Sept 14, 2020 8:38:35 GMT -8
Joker.DB
Joker, Merril, and Lalonia exited out at the center of the Giga City, next to a giant tear in the fabric of the Net that oozed out mixtures of white and black data, like a bleeding scar. The whole of the metropolis spiraled out around it, but Joker recognized it almost immediately, and it would be correct to assume that he missed the forest for the stream.
He had to pull himself away from it, though, remembering that he had set himself to a mission - so long as he possessed that purpose, he had direction, and losing that was to lose sight of what he was seeking after. He took a quick scan around the city, his eyes searching for any signs of an altercation while paying attention to the readings of the energy in the air to try and pinpoint where the action might be happening. His satellite server being gone made this process a little longer than normal, but even now he was noticing that the discrepancy was only in seconds.
Searching for obvious signs of conflict, spiking energy fluctuations, destroyed surroundings, or even just an obvious sign of something being amiss in the Network - aside from their sudden arrival - seemed to be their best course of action. Whatever would come next would be the result of those efforts, and how the rest of them decided to use the information he gathered.
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Post by Xypher on Sept 17, 2020 12:46:50 GMT -8
Despite walking into the portal first, Merrill appeared to float through, feet scraping the ground next to Joker.
He turned and looked at the scar next to him, and the hair on the back of his head raised for just a moment.
"... What is that from? I don't remember that being here the last time I passed through."
He then noticed that Joker. had already begun doing his tracking. He figured that he should do the same. Different methods may yield different results. But it gave the group more opportunities to figure out what was going on. Just as Joker. began scanning the area and making calculations, Merrill leaned down, placing his hand against the ground. A faint trickle of life energy pulsed outward as he stood. He took a deep breath, and began allowing his senses to flow outward, focusing on all of the lives in the city around them. As well as the forces of death and the dying...
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Post by xoDeathy on Oct 12, 2020 6:28:15 GMT -8
Lalonia finally made it through as the last one to the trio, the remaining of the large force they once had. It still bothered her, how were they to face such ominous threats split up? All of them? Their exhibition of strength was massive, yet she still couldn't help but worry. Maybe it was just in her nature, but she couldn't shake the feeling.
She walked up next to Merrill and Joker. Taking in the view, she really wished she was visiting this place on different circumstances. A beautiful city in danger of ruin.. can we save this one?
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Post by Zane on Dec 16, 2020 11:16:45 GMT -8
With his readings, Joker was able to notice something as well as Merrill. Merrill would catch that the signs of life from the city were... not quite as they should be. But rather than being able to spot it directly, it was as if something was interfering with his search. It wasn't interfering aggressively so if he pushed hard enough he could very well find that he could get past it, but likely not without alerting whatever it was that was blocking him as well.
For Joker he could catch signs that a conflict had happened. Signs showed that something or someone had been thrown from a tower with extreme force. They had lost a battle high up in the sky it would appear, while his analytics would notice a few black spots here and there as well. Though he could catch sight of a strange... obstacle of a sorts? Not too far from their current location if they moved about enough would be what appeared to be a mirror just sitting out here for no reason at all...
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Post by Gaia on Dec 17, 2020 11:28:34 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/300844483715792896/739306056626339881/GenerationalJoker~png
Joker.DB
Joker was altogether too immersed in his analytical search to even pay credence to Merrill's question. As he traced his vision across the skyline he saw that a fight had occurred - an altercation on high, from which something - or someone - had been flung from by another being with extreme power. There were also a few black spots within his analytics that he couldn't make any sense of. The sheer amount of power from the fight he could see from down here was astounding.
"I can sense the results of a fight from above. Something very powerful was bested in the air by another being of great strength - it was thrown from the sky, but I can't quite tell where it landed," Joker reported what he had found, as he turned and walked towards the curious mirror. "There is also this," he continued, as he knelt down and looked closer at it. After the mirrors from their previous encounter, he was much wearier of it, and was reluctant to just give into his baser instinct to simply smash it. He wasn't sure what it was there for, but it seemed to stand as some sort of obstacle between them and the altercation above, despite not being very large.
"What can you see?" he asked Merrill, who he noticed was looking for signs of his own. "If we were looking for somewhere to go, I'd suggest the direction of the potential conflict. This mirror concerns me, considering our most recent endeavor involving a mirror, but it only briefly stands in our way."
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Post by Xypher on Dec 18, 2020 21:30:47 GMT -8
Merrill tensed as his senses shifted around the city. He followed the energy as it slowly emanated along the ground. He could tell something was off. The life forces of those living in the city were... different? Altered?
"Be careful. Something is very off... Their life forces are... different. We shouldn't force the issue too hard."
"... Even the dying have are... distasteful..."
There was some sort of haze-like static that was palpable. It was distracting and made it hard to pinpoint what was messing with the life forces he was sensing. He stood up as Lalonia arrived, and as Joker spoke to him.
"I can sense that there's something off about the people here. But unfortunately I can't quite put my finger on it. Something is interfering with my sense. It's not exactly what I'd call blocking it, but it's interfering with the way I feel the flow of life energy. I can't tell the difference if it is weakening these people, corrupting them or what."
His face became thoughtful for a second.
"I could try a stronger flow, and infuse some life energy of my own. This would make the effect much stronger, but the downside is I expose my position and lose any surprise we may have. If someone is out there that has the direct ability to disrupt sensing abilities, especially ones of such essences like life energy on such a small level..."
He trailed off, crossing his arms, looking down. Even if he focused on one specific area close by, trying to sense with extreme intensity in a small location, he was fairly confident that he might get caught.
"Joker, what do you think? What kind of calculations can you make based off of that information?"
Turning to miss Lalonia, he could sense her worry at the choices the group had made. To an extent, he agreed with her worry. But despite that, he forced himself to keep calm as he spoke again.
"What do you think, miss Lalonia? Do you have any sensing, tracking type skills we could utilize?"
After speaking, he too, noticed the mirror on the ground by Joker. But he kept his distance, standing more of a protective posture next to Lalonia.
"So powerful fighters from the sky, with one being thrown to who knows where. Lovely. Can you tell where the fight originated from?"
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Post by xoDeathy on Dec 25, 2020 5:49:46 GMT -8
"No," she quickly responded, "I apologize. I am not skilled in investigation. I can decent at reading others, but aside from healing that's as much as I've got."
She paused and thought for a moment.
"Although, maybe I can activate my wings to see perhaps where it lead to."
With that, Lalonia engaged a burst of Holy Data, causing her wings to cascade with a shifting rainbow pattern. She knelt before launching high up, seeing if the path of carnage was visible.
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Post by Gaia on Dec 29, 2020 0:21:20 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/300844483715792896/739306056626339881/GenerationalJoker~png
Joker.DB
Joker's perpetual scowl did not improve as Merrill reported his share. He hefted himself up from his kneel in front of the mirror and considered the air above, tracing the lines of the flowing power back to a large tower in the distance.
"There. That tower was the origination of the altercation - and where the being was thrown from." Joker points ahead, looking down at the Mirror in front of him. "Still, I don't think we should just ignore this. It isn't here by chance, surely . . ."
Joker takes a few steps back and releases a small flow of crimson from his finger tips to see if the Mirror responded to any sense of danger, while he considered Merrill's words. "Life energy is a strange data to analyze - different Navis handle their essential processes in different ways. Especially with the issue of permanent deletion, the forces of life itself could be very out of sync here. There is no telling, to be truthful - I am no expert on that form of data collection."
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Post by Zane on Dec 29, 2020 1:21:57 GMT -8
Joker was right to take a few steps back, as when the small flow of crimson began to get closer did several flashes occur in less than a second's time. The crimson had been erased by whatever attack had been unleashed down to its roots as the lasers followed a strange trajectory before they were no longer in sight for a moment, only to return in a moment's notice back to the Mirror itself that had spawned them, adding to the idea that it was certainly placed here with purpose, but what that purpose was still being an unknown.
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Post by Xypher on Jan 3, 2021 10:54:55 GMT -8
Merrill took a step back of his own, able to register that the mirror did something. However, it created more questions than it answered.
Turning to verify what Lalonia was up to, he saw her wings unfurl as she sent her body skyward. The rainbow hue of color was slightly mesmerizing, and he was caught up in it for a moment, staring. He felt his heart skip beat. He quickly recovered however, showing almost no sign of his slight embarrassment for staring, instead focusing on his task at hand.
For safety, he did tether a band of life energy between them, out concern. He connected a second tether between him and Joker, so he would be able to assist healing a wound at a moment's notice, lest they be caught unaware.
"I wonder if it's a defensive measure to limit the energy contained within the city beyond that point? combined with what we know, something strange is going on."
Then he had an idea. Without asking, and to confirm a question of his own, he reached down like before, he sent a tendril of life energy down in the ground under the mirror. Additionally, he sent one above the mirror. The one above the mirror shimmered very lightly, giving it a physical form. He then focused, trying to see what would happen if he had the energies collide against the mirror. He kept the energy that connected him to the mirror to a minimum, and made sure that the energy couldn't spread beyond him, pending there was a backlash of some kind.
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Post by xoDeathy on Jan 5, 2021 21:06:17 GMT -8
Gliding back down, Lalonia dematerializes her wings and brushes back her hair as she stands.
"So then, Joker, what part do you believe this mirror plays, after that experiment?"
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Post by Gaia on Feb 21, 2021 11:12:17 GMT -8
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/300844483715792896/739306056626339881/GenerationalJoker~png
Joker.DB
Joker's hand barely had the time to release the crimson from it before the Mirror practically consumed it in its entirety. As the mirror consumed the energy, it released an array of lasers that darted past Joker, fading into the distance, and then rapidly returned.
It absorbed the energy and repurposed it. It sent out a laser, but the laser itself didn't seem with the intent to harm - it was almost as if the laser were scouting for something, and returning to the mirror allowed it to relay some sort of information.
Joker kept his thoughts to himself, for a moment longer, as Merrill had put something into motion without asking them for their opinion on the matter. He wanted to see what fruits this experiment would yield, and if similar results would repeat themselves.
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Post by Warrior on Feb 22, 2021 14:45:05 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png
" I wouldn't mess with that. "
Returning through the Undimension from his brief detour with Hollow and Xion, Warrior could hear some of the conversation that was being had concerning the mirror, and could even see some of the scene playing out, as had been the case earlier when he saw Feint and Burai through the portal Xion had created to begin with.
" Earlier, I mentioned that there was an informative stranger that I met in Sharo. What I didn't say was that we ended up trading blows, and during our fight he used mirrors much like this one to augment his attacks. "
Merrill's tendrils would likely meet the same fate as Joker's attempt to interact with the mirror: like any other attack made against it, its owner could neutralize any but the strongest of blows if he so willed it. And even if he didn't, the mirrors were quite durable -- the effort it would take to break them, combined with the amount that it would take to overpower Zaven's counteroffensive should he choose to utilize it, would be more than this network could handle.
The Endless Abyss -- formerly known as the Arbor Woods -- was evidence of that.
" I didn't get his name, but he'd be too much for us to fight if we drew him out. For as much as my reputation holds, I didn't scratch him. It would take more than a Network Buster to challenge him, and I'd prefer a conflict of that magnitude not to take place in the heart of my own soil. "
Warrior looked directly into the mirror, confident that Zaven would be able to see him right now through the contraption. There was more conviction in his eyes this time, showing his alignment in this chapter was beginning to shift toward a side he would fight on, but it was still not fully set on where it was drifting toward (as it rarely ever made it as far).
" We've got a hundred places to be and not much time to make our rounds. Let's be swift and search for Jax, as Xion requested, and if we're lucky then their discrete agenda will remain just that and we won't end up being painted as Gigamerica's destroyers in a rash attempt at intervention. "
With what happened after the Armored Destroyer and Genesis made their stand at Rammount and at New Life, and with what had become of Joker's own performance in Creamland, or Warrior's stand in Sharo, it was becoming all too clear that this was a lure to provoke the destructive conflict that would bring about their plans without them ever needing to show their hand. The New Forces were collecting Titans, but Warrior wasn't aware of any Titan being held in Gigamerica, which would have provoked more questions concerning his superiors if he had thought further on the matter, this just wasn't the time for that.
" To the Sky Tower, then. "
It was clear he overheard their conversation before arriving to have known that Joker had mentioned the tower earlier. But his eagerness to be quick about it was even more clear: now that he knew Faith was last seen in Sharo, courtesy of Feint, and having overheard the conversation between Xion and Burai in that scene, his sense of urgency was beginning to show as he immediately made his way for the determined destination.
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Post by Zane on Feb 23, 2021 18:46:58 GMT -8
As Merrill made his attempt at the task, the result he garnered differed a little from Joker's own. The flashes occurred as the energy was erased by the unleashed attack, but the attack that had fired out did not return to the mirror as it had the last time with Joker. Wherever it had gone off to from there could be anyone's guess, but it would be safer for them to assume that it was still in flight due to this and given the strange trajectory shown before, could remain a potential threat with all things put together. What destruction could befall Gigamerica given what had happened to Electopia, Netopia, Sharo, and Creamland where their presence had become known and each with incredible ease. Doubtless the same would occur to Gigamerica should such the opportunity present itself. And while Lalonia hadn't been able to see any kind of grand scale carnage to show off the battle that had taken place, the knowledge of where it was still was enough for them to discover what they could be here for.
Whether they would find what was requested of them or cause an even bigger problem as a result would be something that they wouldn't have any trouble discovering sooner rather than later. Their trip to the Sky Tower would prove uneventful outside of events of their own design, as they would have to do the climb up from there to reach the very top. But it would be when they entered the tower that an eerie feeling started to wash over them, as if something not of this world was waiting at the top of the tower. As if something was looming over their shoulders. As if something was breathing down the back of their necks.
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Post by Xypher on Mar 5, 2021 22:15:19 GMT -8
Merrill picked up on Warrior reappearance, despite still focusing on his task. Warrior's words came to late as his energy gently touched the mirror. But unlike the previous energy, after it was released from the mirror, it did not return. He wasn't given much time to really think about it, as Warrior continued to speak.
Knowing that the owner of the mirrors was able to deal with Warrior's attacks and that he didn't land a scratch caused him to raise his eyebrows. His opponent must have incredible defenses to deal with the damage he had seen his friend cause. Standing back up, he turned to face the group, ignoring the mirror.
"... You have a point."
As of late, there seemed to be more fighting, with bigger battles. Knowing that a titan was possibly involved didn't make matters any easier.
They did have a job to do. Two, really. Find this person, and determine if there was a Titan here. He let Warrior finish. But before any of them could speak, he started walking towards the tower. The existences within him stirred. One smirked, the other frowned.
"..."
"..."
Merrill sighed. Looking towards Joker, he shrugged.
"I guess we'll follow your lead."
As with the others, he tethered a small band of energy between himself and Warrior. He kept each link invisible and nearly impossible to detect. He tracked their movements carefully as they approached sky tower. Falling in line with Lalonia.
Whatever awaited them, he did his best to be prepared for. As he entered Sky Tower behind Warrior, he felt uneasy.
"Guard up."
"Be careful."
Even if they hadn't said anything, and even though he couldn't explain it, his body could. Something wasn't right here.
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