Torchman
MMM Member
Guardian Of The Galaxy
ZA WARUDO
Posts: 151
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Post by Torchman on Jul 8, 2014 12:43:38 GMT -8
So close, yet so, so far. Nidhiki was limping out of the tunnel, hindered by the up hill slope and an injured leg. He could hear the crazed navi behind him, mocking Resonance before taking off after him, footsteps echoing off the walls. 'I need to get out of here! It's clear he won't stop until I'm dead! But he needed to buy time, until he could recover enough to get his log out function working again.
Leaning over to avoid a low hanging stalagmite, he was reminded of an earlier event, which gave him an idea. 'If I cave in the tunnel behind me, I may be able to buy some time from both him and his boss!' Yes it meant leaving Resonance, but right now the odds were not in his favor. He raised both arms outwards, forming a V, two rockets appearing from within, firing at the tunnels ceiling. Best case scenario, the entire ceiling collapsed, making it near impossible for Fasilli to continue his pursuit. Worst case scenario, the stalagmites fell, causing some minor to major obstacles and hazards for the psycho navi.
'I'm here!' Quo thought triumphantly, standing at the tunnel entrance. 'Now to find him an-' His train of thought was cut off by a myriad of sounds from within the cave. One time stop later, he was crouched beside, poking his head in, unable to see anything. Explosions, laughing, heavy footsteps... Something was kicking off in the cave 'Someone found him already.' He thought grimly. Had someone from the Shell network followed him here? Did Resonance himself turn on him? 'But without knowing who or what's in there it's too risky, especially if it's Resonance.'
However, it sounded like it was heading towards him. So far now, he'd wait, observing the situation as it developed before taking action.
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Post by Mega on Jul 8, 2014 13:16:23 GMT -8
"Ollie ollie ocks and free!" Fasilli called out, not even bothering to hide. Why did he need to hide? He was afterall the seeker, and it would be terribly rude to hide when one was seeking. It was also as if he was trying to bait Nidhiki to try and ambush him. The bells on his hat jingled and jangled with each skip, further implying his intentions.
But then a familiar sound made his heart sink. NOOOO! He wanted to be the one to cause a cave in! Fasilli broke into a made sprint, with his special boots. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to sprint across ice. He was greeted by the cave in finishing up. As if to spite Nid, Fasilli threw a sword (yes a sword) with unerring accuracy at Nid's head... which was caught in the cave in in a way that the tip of the blade was sticking out. Fasilli then howled, blinded by unbridled rage as he bashed against the obstruction with a large mace.
When this proved futile, he finally calmed down and had a good look at the thing in his path. He couldn't find a gap small enough to squeeze through the debris. So, the only way was to go through it. Well, that was easily arranged. Pulling out a scary looking object from thin air, Fasilli stabbed it into around the center of the debris and calmly walked away to a semi-safe distance. And then it exploded!
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Post by Longinus on Jul 8, 2014 16:55:28 GMT -8
*-bbzzzztt*
FOOM-CRRCK
Suddenly, a small earthquake seemed to come out of nowhere as a large chunk of the cave was blown away from the outside, turning the "cave" now into a "tunnel" through the mountain. Nidhiki was dangerously close to that exposed hole now, but it was clear that the shot was not aimed at him but rather to give him an opening on the other side of the mountain, where his pursuers were gone from. Energy sparked and danced around the clean, circular hole in the mountain that was just created in the cave wall, and the net was visibly hot and steaming from where the impact hit.
From the outside, it would have looked as if a massive bolt of lightning had just blown a crater into the side of the mountain, not large enough to be permanent, but large enough to easily accommodate a navi walking through it.
A short-range message suddenly was went to Nidhiki, on a private channel:
Nidhiki could now see a white flash of light on the other side of the tunnel, brighter than just the light of the exit. It was very far away, but looked like some kind of ball of energy that was growing larger by the second. It looked... powerful.
Much further away from the tunnel exit, Longinus stood on a vantage point, on top of a nearby hill, with his cannon pointed squarely at the entrance of the tunnel. The light buzzing noise that could be heard at the entrance of the tunnel was, next to Longinus, a deafening crackling of energy accompanied with blinding energy. His entire left side was dominated by this massive weapon, armor and shielding covering the remainder of his body as he stood, rooted into the ground. From his calves, two spikes dug into the net behind him to steady his aim and reduce the recoil caused by holding such immense charge. The second a navi made their presence, he could charge up and fire and there'd be almost no way to survive. Because this was no ordinary cannon: it was likely to leave a hole in the side of the mountain when fired. This was the Particle Wave Cannon, a weapon designed to wipe out navis in one hit at the cost of all else. If there were 20 normal navis all crowded inside that tunnel, when he fired, 20 normal navis would disappear.
His most recent assignment was set to acquire Nidhiki - not for the points, but for the position he provided. At the very least, his client wanted this navi, for some reason, alive and well.
With the cave in, Nidhiki would have just a few precious moments to leave the cave before his pursuers no doubt caught up, and it was just enough time for Longinus to prepare a second shot.
He'll likely only get one clean shot at the tunnel entrance before whomever he needs to strike got out, so he was counting on Nidhiki to trust his words and lead the enemy through the tunnel to its exit on the other side of the mountain.
As he waited, Longinus's head had felt foggy. It was becoming common, at least for the last few days. Still, it bothered him that he couldn't remember much of the last week, and that he was no longer receiving priority missions. His operator had yet to speak to him for this week either, which was also a bad sign that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, however...
He shook his head and focused his attention again, as a aiming sight moved in front of his helmet, attaching to it and plugging into two ports in the back of his head to provide the aiming mechanism for the cannon. This next shot would need to be a bit more accurate, as he had to shoot through the hole he had just made, and make sure not to hit Nidhiki at the same time.
The cooling fins on his back glowed white-hot as he began to charge up for a second shot now, this time aiming for full power. The heat was incredible, and the lightning that arced off of his cannon was wild and uncontrolled. Certainly a spectacle, at least.
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Post by notegg on Jul 9, 2014 15:02:26 GMT -8
"Nidhiki." A familiar, friendly voice. All too friendly.
"Recognize you not the masterpiece jewel in your hands? It is exclusive to you, your endowment, derived of the heavens. Use the gem's power."
The stone began to glow... <Activate Mysterious Gem>? |
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Torchman
MMM Member
Guardian Of The Galaxy
ZA WARUDO
Posts: 151
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Post by Torchman on Jul 9, 2014 15:29:45 GMT -8
His mind told him not to activate it, to smash it to pieces. He didn't know its origins, but it sure as hell sounded like Juno was talking to him. Yet at the same time, it seemed like it was his only hope. A psycho clown navi and his boss were behind him, another navi was here to 'protect him', possibly just so his employer could delete him and take the points, and he was too damaged to get far enough away, let alone log out of the network. He held the jewel in his hands, the perfection of it drawing him in...
A shiver ran down Quo's spine as the tunnel wall collapsed, revealing a navi with a crazed look upon his face chasing... an extremely injured Nidhiki who was holding a jewel similar to the one that housed Juno. His eyes widened. It had seemed bad enough with just Juno's game going on, but if another being like Juno got loose and started another, or even warred with Juno... Things would go down hill quickly.
"Stop! Don't do it you fool! You know what will happen!" He proclaimed, emerging from his hiding spot at the tunnel entrance, running towards Nidhiki at full tilt, a bubble of time being frozen expanding from him...
Quo's appearance startled Nidhiki. He wasn't expecting him here either, having last seen him in Shell... unless... And in that moment, Nidhiki made up his mind. "Mystery gem, activate!" There was no one he could trust it seemed, no one to help him in his time of need. Except for the friendly presence of Juno, the very being who had managed to get him into that spot.
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Post by Longinus on Jul 9, 2014 15:41:56 GMT -8
With the wall crumbled, and the other two navis revealed, Longinus now had clear targets.
"Keep him safe. Let him activate it. The Client wants to see the power it holds for themselves."
Came his operator's voice, the first time Longinus had heard it in over a week. Longinus saw, through his sight, the motions of the other navi going through the motions of activating the stone. He tensed up, wary of what was going to happen next, and wondering if that stone had anything to do with his mission to protect Nidhiki. A weapon? Some protection? What is he going to do next...?
"Got it." Said Longinus in response, quietly, as he took aim at the other navis, the energy in his cannon continually grew in strength as he prepared to shoot down any navi that got close to Nidhiki. Whatever was going to happen next, Longinus had to ensure it wouldn't be stopped by anyone else. As his charge reached its peak again, he took aim squarely at Fasilli now. The radiator fins on his back were glowing white-hot with energy and lightning continually arced off of his armor. He kept his sight on Fasilli, but knew that his cannon was powerful enough to blow down multiple navis at once.
If the stone was some kind of weapon, Longinus was far enough away he should be able to leave in advance.... but doing so would mean failing his mission. And that would mean a fate worse than deletion for him. He stayed, ready to face off anything, no matter the cost, to complete his mission, because deletion at the hands of another navi was nothing compared to the horrors that his operator was ready to commit if he failed.
At the very least, Fasilli had a few seconds to get out of there before Longinus turned everything near Nidhiki into a pool of plasma.
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Post by notegg on Jul 9, 2014 17:06:30 GMT -8
Ye who're squeamish stay away. Nidhiki stared into the gem. The gem stared back. It was amorphous, changing sizes from large enough to be held in one's hand, shrinking down to the size of a small eye. That's what it was, was it not? And it began to float, of it's own accord. A little fire began to burn, an extreme heat, Nidhiki would feel pain just standing near to it. And it accelerated toward's Nidhiki's skull. Embedding itself in his face, dislodging his old eye - and replacing it anew. The pain was unbearable. ~SURGE OF POWER~Albeit temporary. In moments, pain turned to power, the Reaver's Eye merging it's eldritchian machinery into Nidhiki's own nanomachines. A machination of pure power, Nidhiki's regeneration was set to full spin, as were all of his systems, sub-systems and weapons. And in Nid's new-found few on life, he could see it. Elysium. The perfect garden, for people like him, thousands of peaceful reavers, all behaving as told. This was his ticket in. A gift from Juno....? All contained in a single Jewel. Reaver's Eye  Crest ?????????? Truth. - ???????? "Noise Meter" ????????? 100% ????? - ??????????????????????? Meter ????????????? - ??????? 50% Noise, ????????????????????? -5% ????????? - ?????? 50% ???????????????????? Surge ???? - ????????????????????????????????? Gauge to ?????? Burst ????? CURSED || CANNOT BE UNEQUIPPED What is this? Seek out the truth, and ye shall find. |
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Post by B.o.B. on Jul 9, 2014 17:39:28 GMT -8
A searing pain engulfed the fragments of Src that had clung to Nidhiki's body. A shimmering goop could be seen jumping off of Nidhiki in that moment. The goop quickly retreating towards the opening of the tunnel, merging with a larger flow of Src fragments coming from deeper down. Src had decided to hitch a ride on the navi's in the cave earlier and Nidhiki had been the one to try and escape first. However now that Src had regrouped they wondered if they might have been better off remaining in the cave with the other intruders...
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Post by Longinus on Jul 9, 2014 17:53:36 GMT -8
KAFOOM-CRASH!
A bolt of blue energy shot right through the fragments of Src as they manifested. the blast was in a huge range, huge enough that even navis not close to it would be harmed. The explosion was deafening, and blew an even larger hole into the side of the mountain. Rocks fell from the top of the mountain as it began to lose stability as the cave's walls were being torn down one at a time. Src, Fasilli, and Quo would all need to react to this massive blast, the splash explosion of impact enough to hurt the latter two, but only Src's fragments were in its direct crosshairs.
Longinus's cannon barrel smoked, electricity discharging through the ground beneath him as he finished yet another shot out at the mountain, this time aiming directly for the creatures that came off of Nidhiki. He would eliminate any navis that interfered with Nidhiki's actions, no matter what their position was right now. He shuffled his knee into place, keeping his shields up, as he felt the cannon cool off from his massive discharge.
He was far enough away from the battle that he had nothing to fear of enemies coming close enough to harm him, no one with a weapon that could reach that far away had the damage output equivalent to his. In fact, almost no weapons held by normal navis could reach the output of this highly specialized cannon. Evidence of this power, the net immediately around the cannon was now razed and melted. Not from imapct, but from the discharged energy from firing. There was a scorch mark on the network between himself at the mountain's open wounds where the blast had done damage to the very net itself as it passed overhead.
Longinus repostioned himself, and looked through his sight at the damage he had wrought with his lightning, ready to charge and fire again if need be.
Another message was sent to Nidhiki, in hopes that he might reconsider his position.
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Post by B.o.B. on Jul 9, 2014 18:03:10 GMT -8
...there was a massive disturbance in the force net as if thousands of tiny voices cried out and then were silenced. Src was absorbed in a bright flash of light and there was no means of reacting. It was quick and painless as each bit of Src disintegrated from the blast of the wave cannon. The only thought that they all shared as they felt themselves be deleted was "no...not...like...this...want...to...live..."S.r.c.C.o.d.e. Deleted...? |
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Post by notegg on Jul 9, 2014 19:09:34 GMT -8
"I'll save you little buddy! desu!" from literally about nowhere, an adorable pink figure appeared within the cave, scooping up little src code buddies as she went along and tucking them safely in her pockets and hoodie. This little girl, who looked so defenceless, was a strange contrast to the barren war-zone all around her.
BUT SHE WOULD SAVE THE ADORABLE LITTLE BUDDIES, OR HER NAME WASN'T NOAL!
Giggling all the while.
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Torchman
MMM Member
Guardian Of The Galaxy
ZA WARUDO
Posts: 151
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Post by Torchman on Jul 9, 2014 19:45:54 GMT -8
Nidhiki went silent, overwhelmed by everything that happened. He felt like he could run the entire nets length and back with energy to spare, bench press the entire mountain... He hadn't felt nearly this good his entire life. 'Perhaps activating the data wasn't so bad afterall...' Although he was curious what the significance of the vision he received was. Was it acceptance by Juno as his servant? A hunt as to where Juno was? This was a mystery he needed to figure out.
The new eye though... that would take getting used to. It currently felt foreign, but with each passing second, it integrated itself into his system more and more, feeling more natural by the moment. He could really get used to this.
He felt sorry for the beings that had been clinging to him. He hadn't noticed them until now, but they hadn't done anything to him as far as he could tell. And it was clear that whoever was sending him the message was responsible for it. 'You claim to be acting in my protection yet you operate to a degree that I don't like.' And with that he ignored the message, more worried about the little navis in pain.
Deletion was never enjoyable, even for the observer, having been responsible for the deletion of many navis over the course of his life. 'Brings back bad memories...' However, their pain brought the arrival of someone else. Someone VERY familiar to Nidhiki.
"Hey I know you..." he began, trying out his fully healed leg while checking his system status. "You're that girl from that mission a while ago. Noal was it?"
Quo saw the attack coming and did the usual. Stop time, and get out of the way. Now that Nidhiki activated the gem, he did not want to be anywhere near him. 'It's clear my presence brought him to activate it. He doesn't trust me, at least, not in the situation he's in right now.' And god knows what the gem was doing to Nidhiki and what the aftereffects would be.
However, he heard noises from inside the cavern. More navis. 'There's no way it's not him.' he thought. 'A navi like him would've locked onto him and followed him here from Shell. There must've been more attackers, and he's fending them off.'
But at the same time he was stuck. The last time stop had nearly drained him, and he couldn't afford to try and avoid another attack of that magnitude. 'Oh of all the days to lose my powers it had to be today...'
So for now he was stuck, silently watching Nidhiki and Noal, out of sight to all in the tunnel.
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Post by B.o.B. on Jul 9, 2014 19:58:48 GMT -8
...Src waited for the eternal darkness that would be deletion, yet it never came. Instead they felt a small and gentle warmth as they were picked up and placed into a pocket of some sorts. Turning on their optical sensors Src examined their would be savior...a small child...Src could feel no malevolence from this being and that comforted them. The bits of Src that she had picked up quickly skittered across her body and gathered into a single pocket. Src assumed the form they thought most appropriate for the moment, a small doll like version of the girl. Src was severely weekend and it would take some time before regaining enough of themselves to be the same size as they were before, but for now all Src could do was snuggle up in this small hero's pocket. Src would never forget this act of kindness, and had learned now that not all other life forms were hostile. |
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Post by Longinus on Jul 9, 2014 20:17:21 GMT -8
Longinus spoke quickly, continuing his message to Nidhiki, as he charged up for a second hit. The net was beginning to grow faint around him, glitching as greater and greater quantities of energy were drawn from it. There was a slight vibration in his aim as the ground shifted beneath him, before steadying back up. His legs were still locked tightly into the net.
He sent his message back to Nidhiki.
Longinus turned his attention away from Noal and now toward Fasilli, waiting for Nidhiki's response before firing again, but prepared for the worst. If responded positively, any enemy that Nidhiki identifies would also appear as an enemy for Longinus.
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Post by Raven8 on Jul 9, 2014 21:21:26 GMT -8
Closer to the mouth of the cave,the battle between Resonance and the master darkloid Xion continues to rage. Falling back from his position, Resonance is engulfed [smear:FFFFFF]by Xion's dark power, causing his silvery white armor to flash and return to its normal dull golden tone.[/smear:666655] To say the least, this does not bode well for the Generational, but at least he'd kept the main threat from going after Nidhiki. For better or for worse, that was Resonance's main goal. However, now his main goal had to shift to surviving; something that he hadn't allowed himself time to think much about.
As Xion moves in behind the blades, Resonance sees and goes on the defensive. Raising his trademark shield, the temporal Navi blocks each blow that comes his way, causing sparks to erupt back to damage Xion with each hit. Keeping his shield primed, Resonance then does his best to keep it between himself and Xion, sliding back on his feet with each blow until the orb of crimson power. Not good. Leaping back, Resonance switches tactics. His body fades away with the darkness and blends into the shadows. Using the nature of his intangible form, he fights back against the force of Xion's attacks, managing to keep from taking damage through it all. Amazingly, Resonance survived the beginnings of this dark onslaught without a scratch. However, he couldn't be sure that this would remain.
Instead of lashing out, Resonance remains silent in the shadows, still invisible and still poised to respond to the next wave of attacks.
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