Elbrus Range, the Northern Peaks.

[Kman]

The vast, lonely expanse of endless winter night was empty. There was not a soul that stirred within that glorious, frozen tundra. The mountains were empty, a cold sky against the icy ground, and not the permafrost nor the sub-zero temperatures made any indication that there could be life, here.

And then, a howl.

Beautiful, melodious and deadly. The sound drifted across the plains, rampant, unending. It was the howl of a hunter. A cry of endless hunger, as one that would devour all life, all things. Anything that stood against it would fall into the endless void of its stomach.

The howl ended, then. The music from it vanished from the pass, from the winds, from everything, and the silence was just as loud as it was before the howl shattered it. For the briefest of moments, a form was visible through the ice and snow, a lupine figure, outlined against the moon, before it was gone, once again.

[Raven8]

*some time after the lupine figure appears and vanishes, another, somewhat more familiar sight appears; that of a worn out miner pushing his cart from the caves up the mountain. Slowly but surely he walks, making his way along the winding, rocky path, keeping his cart steady the entire time as he toils in silence*

[Vilicious]

Wind envelops the stark peaks, whipping their eternal coat of white into an unseasonal frenzy of a storm. The highest paths here, those no longer passes but solely challenges for thrill-seekers or lost souls, total escapes from the stone spires that this particular mount left far below... those suffer the worst.

The zero visibility mated with inhospitable temperatures and impossible cliffs which then turn to sheer drops on the other side and an open faced torment from further biting winds all blast on one of the last members of an entirely different venture who now finds himself trudging, crawling, and falling to the nearest safe ground with no purpose, no sense of direction, and no idea that he's been traveling the wrong way for what must have been days already.

His internal clock tells him it's been a year since last he checked the time, but that's as impossible as this situation into which he had lost himself. Why was he here? Where was he going? What WAS the past year? Where? The path ends. The rest of the towering mountain terminates just to his left in a final indomitable piece of rock, still stories above where he kneels now. There is no vista. Another fruitless journey. More times passes, he falls forward and to the ground a final time, eyes locked on the endless or unknowable sky ahead...

...and a shape appears. Another mountain? No. Mirage? It moves. Approaches, lands, pads, watches/waits. Step step step step, crunch crunch crunch faint on the wind. Wings. Wolfish head. No arms? No, four legs. Old reports come to mind, another snow mirage that disappeared. It grabs the lost navi, half buried in snow, flings it by the tattered remains of its cloak to the abyss. This was its territory, and it wasn't hungry.

Much later a similar figure, now clad in the darkness (his friend) slinks, stumbles, limps from the ever-frozen snowmelt trails below to other lands... he knows where it is he wishes to go, and the shorter ways there. At least he knows that much.

<To the Undernet and beyond>

[Genesis]

*And just like he had appeared in the same vibrant display of blue in the frozen and unforgiving lands of Sharo. But despite this he was okay with the place, visor assisting him where his vision would likely normally have trouble aiding him in. Zero visibility, inhospitable temperatures, large cliffs... fit the place well. But he had arrived pretty close to where he needed to be actually. The worst of them all as it would happen: the tallest mountain. He had to hike for a bit, but it hadn't taken him long to find his destination. A home crafted within these harsh and unforgiving lands. Many would only come this far just to prove themselves and suffer the worst for it.*

*But he was here for a purpose other than just proving himself. He didn't say any words nor did his smile leave his face given the circumstances that he was in. He checked the door first before resorting to his other options. It was unlocked, somewhat surprisingly. That saved him some minor trouble. He entered without a fuss then, knowing what he was here for already. He moved in a bit and after a short search picked it up, the dark green mystery data in hand now. And with that his work here was done too. He walked back out of the house curtly, even closed the door behind him as he left. And with that he was gone, vanishing in another beam of blue light for whatever his next destination happened to be.*

[Torchman]

Coming From: Shell Network

Nidhiki landed in the network in a swarm of nanomachines, reforming moments upon reaching ground level. And taking Quo's advice into mind, he ran, heading towards the mountain at full tilt, legs scrambling for purchase, kicking up snow in all purpose.

"Why me?" He thought, the mountains growing larger and larger by the second, towering over him. "Was it because I was the first one to ask questions? Because he has a sick sense of humor? I looked like good entertainment? I just don't understand!"

He was now at the base of the peaks, not stopping as he ran full tilt up a less worn path towards a small cave hidden among the many boulders and snow piles of the mountain. The caves were famous for having a huge network of tunnels under the mountains, and Nidhiki intended to use them to hide.

As he went in he slowed, allowing the icy floor to slide him down into the network of tunnels. With the darkness of the tunnels he would attempt to ambush those that would attack him, while hiding until the game was finished. The only real flaw to his plan however, was that the game had to end for it to work.

[Raven8]

*It takes roughly ten minutes for the ONB's servers to line up and track, but eventually they do. There was no beam of light or striking noise to announce the arrival of the Generational, rather a shadow moves and Resonance fades into sight atop the mountain. He looks around the area for a moment, thinking to himself that this might actually be too obvious a choice. Places to go from here were limited, but Resonance knew that Nidhiki would be ready to lash out. It's what he'd want to do if the tables were turned. Resonance didn't want to call out, as it would alert any other Navi in the area to Nidhiki's location, so there was little that he could do now. Raising the scarf that wraps his neck above the lower half of his face to brace against the cold, Resonance walks over and settles down in the mouth of one of the caves; waiting and hoping....

[Torchman]

OOC: Sorry for delay, wanted to see if anyone else would come in, also had a writer's block

BIC

However, Nidhiki had made another oversight in his panic. He had assumed he'd be able to slow to a stop once the drop ended. Instead of a nice clear cavern however, he was sliding into one filled with pillars and icicles at full speed.

'No no no!' He attempted to change his course, but instead ended up falling, his 4 legs collapsing underneath him, unable to pick himself up nor change his direction while in motion on the slippery surface. A scraping of metal on ice could be heard now, as particles of ice flew in all directions, causing very small pings to be heard.

He slammed into a pillar in the middle of the room, the sound of metal colliding with ice covered stone resonating throughout the tunnels. The force of the impact was enough to disturb several icicles on the ceiling, causing them to fall to the ground, smashing to pieces upon impact. If anyone else was in the tunnels, they now had a good idea as to where he was.

'Well...' He thought as he swung a sword into the pillar, using the resulting dent as a support to get himself back on his feet. 'It was great while it lasted.'

[Mega]

If no one knew where Nidhiki was before, they probably still didn't know because the sound would undoubtedly echo. Unfortunately for him, certain... individuals were absolutely relentlessly in their pursuits. Besides Resonance who had been laying in wait, another navi directly followed Nidhiki via cheat codes! Actually, it was a much more clever method that... did involve a degree of hacking that more or less allowed him to "piggy back" another navi. Since this was... the unknownth time this has happened, there was still no way of knowing how far it extended. Sometimes they got dropped off in the wrong place, but MOST of the time it worked. There was of course that one time they got their head stuck in a wall and they had to run around with a pumpkin on their head for a week, but that's totally a worthwhile risk.

There was a small ping sound as a message box commonly associated with mail popped up infront of Nidhiki's face. "Look behind you." Was glowing menacingly on what was an other-wise pitch black screen. Regardless of whether or not he did look, the box would suddenly sprout a pair of arms swinging a pair of giant meat cleavers! And they were aimed for his head!

[B.o.B.]

Src was awakened to a large commotion of noise. Ice was shattered and the sound of metal striking hard against other hard surfaces rang out. Something had entered into Src's nest... Three green eyes would bubble up from what looked like a moving pile of sludge. What they saw was another living being propping itself up with a sword making noises to itself. Src began sliding over and before reaching the other that had entered its home it formed itself up into a shape mimicking that of the new comer. All Src did for the moment was observe the situation waiting to see the response...was this friend of foe? Soon a strangeness appeared from thin air a box that then produced weapons and lashed out at the newcomer. Frightened by this new thing Src retreated a little further into the shadows concealing its location and camouflaging into the walls.

[Torchman]

"Look behind you." Was all the warning Nidhiki needed to move. He dropped, curling his legs inwards as he leaned to the side, allowing the blades to swing overhead. He then kicked back, bucking like a horse in an attempt to push away his unknown assailant.

He grabbed his sword, reverting it to a swarm of nanomachines before it reformed as a scythe. He slammed it into the puller and pulled, using the momentum of the swing and the strength of his own arms to sending him sliding along the ice and away from his assailant.

He held onto the scythe with one arm, using his other to try and grab something to stop his momentum again. This time he was in luck, grabbing onto a thin pillar. He managed to turn himself around, facing where he once was, calling out to his assailant. "Do we really have to do this? You're just going to be a big target if you follow up."

[Deleted]

A late payment is transferred wirelessly to Nidhiki from an unknown source. Evidently it was late compensation for a mission he'd completed a little while ago.

⦗Nidhiki got: +230 Exp and +2,450 Zenny⦘

[Mega]

The screen, seeing that it had missed, had enough foresight to anticipate a counter attack and thus reacted accordingly. It changed into a shapeless dark smoke that managed to exist despite the cold environment, evidence that it was far from some smoke. As Nid's bucking hit nothing but air, it quickly darted away and landed on a spot in plain sight of Nid before taking form. "More fun for me," the now fully formed Fasilli rasped with an unnerving giggle.

Nothing about this navi (if he was such a thing) indicated he was sane. There was an oppressive, almost suffocating aura of malice and evil intent that was starting to permeate through their surroundings. Both Src and Nid would be feeling their lives slowly slipping away the longer they remained in this clown's presence. "I do love it when they play hard to get!" Fasilli chortled, a pair of long knives appearing in his hands before he threw them with frightening accuracy.

[B.o.B.]

Src watched the new navi appear from the box...not friendly...Src could feel its hostility. This sent a shiver of spikes to cross down Src's body. Their animal instinct kicking in Src shot out a portion of themselves, intercepting the knives shot out by the evil being. Jumping off the wall and taking the form of a feral beast Src sent out a roar towards its clear enemy. 

[Raven8]

*Accurate or not, as the daggers fly toward their intended target and Src intercepts them, a shadow drops from the cave ceiling between Fasilli and Nidhiki. After a second, the cloak of shadows that had been obscuring him drops to reveal the form of a Navi in dull golden armor, holding a shield embossed with a black hourglass. Returning the shield to his side, the Navi looks to Fasilli and extends a pure white blade of light from the arm not wielding his shield, holding it ready for what was to come next.

My name is Resonance, and I am an ONB commander. This Navi is under my protection, so let me make a recommendation....

As Resonance looks on, a terrific, green aura of chaotic power suddenly rises from his body with an earth-shaking roar. From within this aura, a pair of deep red eyes glare out at Fasilli; the eyes of an apex predator, as malevolent as they are powerful, and as mind-bending as they are terrifying. The raw power erupts into the form of a wolf-like beast surrounding Resonance for a split second before it calms down and recedes back into his body, but the same green glow continues to rise off of Resonance, as if prepared to take over at a moment's notice.

Resonance: ...get out of here before I make you.

[Mega]

Surprise. Then irritation. And then delight! These were Fasilli's first three reactions when Src finally made it's presence finally known. Then surprise, more surprise, and unable to contain excitement was his chain of reactions to Resonance's arrival. Fasilli's eerie grin never faltered, his mouth didn't even twitch as he drank in the wonderful show put on. THAT was new. His own aura only receded briefly for a moment at the presence of such a monstrous force, slowly seeping out of hiding tentatively as if expecting harm.

Fasilli's grin widened slightly, an even less pleasant gesture, if such a thing was graphically possible. A sane person would have taken the offer right there and left. He was clearly out numbered, and outgunned. Staying was... insane. "Well aren't you the gallant knight, coming to the rescue fair maiden," Fasilli replied in a clearly mocking tone, neither showing concern for his situation or hesitance. He just kept going as if this was perfectly normal.

"Before I entertain such an idea- a moment of your time," Fasilli continued, a joke directed toward Resonance specifically. "You claim protection of this worthless trash, but I wonder if that's true," Fasilli went on in a more grave tone of voice. "Ever since that wonderful game started, the entire net's become the personal playground of every psychopath available. Like me!" Fasilli laughed at the end of his sentence.

"From what I know, there is to be a reward for when this game does end. That reward has yet to be announced. But consider this possibility: what if it's something YOU could use against a greater adversary," Fasilli said getting to the point of his rambling. "Something that makes that beast of yours look like a puppy. Wouldn't it be a sick twist of irony for the hero to kill an innocent to stop an even bigger threat?" Fasilli paused with a chuckle. The longer he stalled, the longer his aura (should) would sap their strength. He had no idea how effective it really was right now given his opposition.

"Speaking of that thing... what's a gallant knight like yourself doing with such power?" It was clear now that Fasilli was trying to make Resonance seem... shady. Something that may or may not even work, it didn't matter to him. "Either way, I'm not going anywhere... not until I've had some fun first. Wanna see a Magic Trick?" and with that, Fasilli's body erupted in a dark cloud.

He then reappeared at Nid's back, thrusting a dagger straight into his back while wrapping an arm around his neck in an attempt at keeping Nid infront of himself like a shield. He was outnumbered and outgunned, so he would have to resort to... more underhanded tactics then normal. Like using navis for meat shields!