So it happened as Kris was waiting in the tutor program after school. No students were coming in, so Kris on a whim browsed through different local networks to look for Duel Avatars to fight. He instead found an ongoing Duel: Magenta Reaper vs. 3 ???. Interesting, Kris thought, it appears plenty of people share the same mindset as I do when it comes to Brain Burst. Along with his backdoor, Kris had prepared another program when it came to spying on Duels: a modified sound recorder that would pick up and isolate voices. With a tap of the "Spectate" button, and a whispered "Burst Link", he dived in.

Kris immediately activated his Like Wind Limited Activation ability, and hid among the layer of sand as he watched. The battle was...one sided. Kris couldn't understand why a single Duel Avatar would dare challenge 3 others, overconfidence being an obvious factor. So the 3 are probably lower lev - wait, why can't I see their stats? Kris was perplexed; even with measures in place to hide your identity from being listed in Brain Burst, all Duel Avatars would be revealed the instant they join a match, even a spectator like Kris could be identified if the combatants had time to pull up the list of spectators for that match and find his Avatar, Gun-Metal Fog, among them.

...So either blackmail, or some very serious hackers. Kris crept as close as the boundary lines permitted to the battle, and spotted a purple, spiky Avatar retreating while swinging a scythe from a red lion Avatar, while in the distance he could make out 2 more red Avatars firing away at Magenta Reaper. Not even going to attack, Kris wondered, something's definitely wrong with this picture. Normally, a Battle Royal/Tag Team style Duel involves all Avatars agreeing beforehand to the conditions, and seeing Magenta Reaper by itself on the defense doesn't suggest the conditions were favorable in the first place. Kris left the Duel as soon as it came to a close, and the instant he emerged, hastily reset his countermeasures.

Lily was walking home from school. She didn't have her link on, not wanting to be approached for a battle when she knew she wasn't ready, just yet. It took her moments to get home, and she caught an excited Moe, lifting the puppy up. He wriggled and licked her face, and Lily laughed, grabbing his leash, she put her back pack down, and put the leash on the frantic Moe. She tied her hair back once more, and grabbing her jacket, she headed outside again, Moe tugging on his leash happily.

Another reason she didn't have her link on, she didn't want to risk Moe being hurt because of her carelessness. She did risk sending a message to Angelo, saying she would go online later, when she didn't have to worry about Moe being hit by a car, and started to her aunts, humming to herself. A dog, a nice day, a walk. What more could she want in life?

Her thoughts went back to lunch, and she frowned. I should have taken him up on his offer, rather then delay it. Did I just make him more suspicious? she didn't know what to think. She bit her lip, stopping when Moe stopped to sniff around. It didn't matter. It wasn't like he could find out for sure who their avatars were, could he? lily just wanted something where she could be herself, without worrying too much about making a fool of herself. And so far, the accel world was just that.

Disturbed, she called her aunt, telling her, not untruthfully, that she had a lot of homework to do, and that she'd come around tomorrow night instead for dinner, trying not to sound guilty. She never blew off her Aunt. One time couldn't hurt, could it? Unsure, she returned home, letting Moe out to romp in the back yard, concerned that Angelo hadn't yet replied. He was normally quick at responding. Had something happened?

She didn't want to log on without knowing. Something didn't seem right. Hesitating, she glanced at the time again, and checking Moe's water and food, she headed back to the school. She could see if something had happened to Angelo, and maybe get Kristopher off their trail. So she headed to the tutor program, hesitating before entering the room, seeing Kris hastily doing something, she cleared her throat to announce her presence.

Kris glimpsed a familiar face through the lines of code running across his screen, as he put his backdoor program through a routine (emergency) diagnosis to determine any faults that a hacker could exploit. With a few more frenzied taps with his right hand, and a clean swipe with his left, he put the program on standby in order to receive his (un)expected guest. Kris got to his feet and strode to the entrance, waving off the head tutor also rising from his seat to greet Lily.

"Good afternoon, Ms. King. And as to what service may our humble tutor service bestow upon you?" spoke Kris, as he matched a mocking half-bow with a relaxed grin this time around. "If memory serves me correctly, I do believe you came in last for help with - math?"

His voice cracked on the last word; the tension from the Duel he'd just witnessed still hadn't worn off, plus he'd forgotten to draw a breath before continuing with his second sentence, a self-conscious desire to impress Lily...

Angelo groaned hitting the floor hating what he just went through then he realized that lily was in danger and soon enough he got an email from her Angelo quickly wrote back telling her to stay at her home and stay offline no matter what. Angelo hated sounding as if he was in a panic when really he was just angry that some hacker bastard was able to force him into an unfair match.

Unknowingly to Angelo the process had already started the hacker was getting into both kris and lily's screens showing them they were online, they were being challenged, they accepted the challenge, they accept unfair advantage to the challengers, and forced to burst link all in the scope of a few seconds before they could even touch their cancel screens to stop the match thankfully they were both pulled into the same fight, against 4 opponents 2 on 1 disadvantage to both of them.

they were then forced into a frozen wasteland map
both of their opponents were different the ones ready to attack lily were a blue type and a red type both would keep her at a distance but also force her into close combat to keep her still normally a hard situation for any green defense type.
As for kris he was facing off against a a yellow jammer type and a a ice elemental type which had the advantage in this cold weather and against his fog abilities making it hard for him to completely avoid attacks all together.
Soon the announcer called out FIGHT! and soon they all charged them to attack

Lily rolled her eyes at Kristopher's mocking attitude, and waited for him to finish, ending on a crack. She raised an eyebrow, but decided not to say anything about it. "Yes, as you very well know seeing as you offered to help me" She said patiently watching him. Krisopher seemed tense about something, and Lily wondered why. She wasn't going to as, she promised her self that.

Which didn't mean that she didn't want to ask. She was about to say something, when she blinked as her link went online, without her doing anything. Her eyes went wide, and deciding she didn't care if Kristopher saw, she moved her right hand to her left, fast wanting to turn it off line. She wasn't ready for any battle, certainly not here.

but she was too slow, letting out a yelp as she found herself in an icey land. Facing two opponents. A blue, and a red. She swallowed, stumbling back. She couldn't fight them both! She could barely fight Angelo!> And then she got control of herself. blue, close combat specialists. Keep at a distance. Red, long distance combat specialists. Great. Both types. Fabulous, how can I battle both of them at once? She bit her lip worriedly.

You're green. Use your defense. Angelo said you should have an advantage on them both. So just try.

Clear headed now, she studied the situation.

The first reaction of an ordinary Burst Linker, when faced with a Duel at the wrong place & time, is to turn their Neuro Linker offline. However, Kris had trained himself in another reflexive action - he snapped his fingers. Along with his backdoor & recorder programs, he had one last trick in his repertoire: a voice changer. These three programs, the third of which he'd set a shortcut beforehand, made up his Brain Burst strategy: seek, scout, and secure the kill. Whether it had any use on the defense, or was even preferable over attempting to shut off his connection became moot, when he found himself surrounded by ice and driving snow the next second. He shivered and sneezed; as a child he'd never liked the cold as it meant catching one.

Kris turned his attention to the two Duel Avatars facing him, a yellow Avatar & a strange crystalline one. He glanced to his left & right, and to his surprise, he found Green Deer facing off against 2 of its own opponents. Well, her, opponents, he corrected himself...oh crap. It wasn't that Kris knew he was fighting with Lily, or even vice-versa, he had the voice changer to thank for that. It was whatever happened after the Duel he was worried about; whether win or lose, they would emerge out of Augemented Reality feeling like shit (especially after a Duel this scale), and being dazed or even collapsing on the floor could give away each other's identities (not to mention unnecessary for onlookers). Besides, Kris couldn't afford to lose, calculating the number of opponents vs. Kris/Lily meant more than 25 BP was at stake!

FIGHT! I need more time!, Kris thought furiously, "Like Wind." Kris grimaced at his modified voice; he'd forgotten to lower the pitch last time he was messing with it, resulting in something you'd hear from a Chipmunk/Nightcore version of online videos. His right half-body melted away into the snow, and he attempted to ride the swirling wind with difficulty; it was going to be painful if he was stopped or got stuck.

If one looked close enough all their eye colors were the same white glow meaning that they had no will of their own...

Green deer opponents:
The red avatar got out its machine gun and got into a stance to prepare itself to fire and soon the blue one started its charge as a close combatant the blue avatar had a set of spiked knuckles meant to pummel an opponent at close range as it charged. Once the blue avatar got into range the red avatar started its machine gun and started to fire at her through the blue avatar obviously having no intelligence in aiming but it was also a fact that green deer couldn't move away from the blue avatar or it would be attacked by a hail of bullets...

Gun-metal fog opponents:
First it was the yellow type avatar who went on the move as it used its ability and used a jamming technique forcing gun-metal to stop in mid mist once it was performed the ice avatar took advantage of its surroundings and attacked the now stunned body of gun-metal holding its hand out and shooting ice bolts at his physical form

Angelo:
Angelo groaned loudly and soon went to look for lily but it was apparent that they may already be in a fight so Angelo decided he needed to go in and become a spectator. Angelo turned on his link and immediately went through the list of fights happening and saw green deer fighting so he went in and became a spectator making sure to use his spectator avatar which only looked like a baby reaper short in form with a little black scythe no bigger then 3 feet Angelo wished he was able to switch places with her or help her in some way, she wasn't ready to fight like this especially a fixed fight...

Lily shuddered, not wanting to panic, but not being able to stop herself from breathing faster. She wasn't ready for this, she knew it. But she couldn't just stand here an let herself be taken down. She wasn't the only one fighting here, and her eyes flickered to the other battle, but she didn't spare much thought as The blue Avatar chargd her, to get in close. And the red started to fire. [i]think Lily, think!{/i] She shouted at herself in her mind.

She stood frozen, as the blue avatar got closer. And Closer. And closer. not yet....not yet....not y-NOW! She fell to the ground, pushing herself along, between the blue Avatars legs, and pulled it down as she went through, rolling away and trusting the Red Avatars poor aim to miss her.

Lily snatched up a piece of ice, and threw it towards the Red Avatar, darted to the side, and keeping herself behind some ice, her eyes darting towards the blue avatar as well as the Red to see what her moves had done. jeez, I'm really not ready for this

Kris clenched his teeth and tried not to scream, as he felt the individual particles of his body be tossed around by the burning, radioactive waves. His Avatar maybe unique in disassembling and reassembling his molecular structure, but he knew it was its weakness; transforming in the midst of battle was always risky, especially against Yellow Avatars. Fortunately, the ice attacks passed through him harmlessly, as his right half had just decomposed before jamming it.

It also didn't affect his left half as much, being that is was already in a gaseous form. With extreme concentration & effort, Kris gathered enough particles together to form "Nightfall," his dubbed Hazy Clone of Daybreak. He aimed at the Yellow Avatar, sacrificed 15% of his HP for one shot, and pulled the trigger, hoping to land a head or torso shot to stun or knock him out.

Angelo could only stand back and watch as a spectator hoping that green deer gets out okay...

health bar:
Kris= -------------------------------------------------------------- -20
yellow beetle= ------------------------------------ chest shot -40
ice maiden= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- no hit -0
Special gauge:
Kris= ----------------- hit +30

With the fight with gun-metal fog he got a direct hit against the yellow jammer type making it blow away from the force of its blow then it seemed that the ice type charged at him turning its arms into ice blades to attack him directly, even if in gaseous form the ice type would still be able to attack the half of gun-metals body that didn't turn into fog for some damage

health bar:
lily= --------------------------------------------------------------------- -0
blue brawler= ------------------------------------------------ -30 for friendly fire
scarlet gunner= ------------------------------------------------------------- -10 for ice block throw

special gauge=
lily= +0

With lily's fight she was lucky as she was able to dodge the blue avatar before it was able to land a punch on her and the red avatar was close to hitting her with its machine gun but the ice block to the face made it stumble back and miss. However that didn't last long as they repeated this tactic however now the red avatar was only aiming at lily while the blue avatar was charging in from the side to try and flank her

Lily let out a frustrated sound, pondering what to do now. She bit her lip in thought. She couldn't help but think that this fight was rigged. She risked a glance from around her ice bouldering, cursing under her breath. Well, she couldn't stay where she was. As the bullets thundered into the ice.

No definitely she couldn't stay here.

Lily gathered her nerves, and she sprange towards the blue avatar as it charged her, she tackled it and she wrapped her arms and legs around it, forgetting any fighting style as she rolled to put the blue avatar between herself and the Reds bullets, knowing she'd do better if she could only have one opponent

Kris, finally free of the jamming waves, reverted to his original form. He had just drawn "Daybreak" as the Ice Avatar charged towards him, and extended the blades on his two pistol swords, before clashing with his opponent's arm blades. His swordplay was admittedly unsatisfactory, though it had been a long time since Kris had faced someone of equal or greater skill than him. He resorted to blocking & pushing with his right arm, and deflecting & parrying with his left. Eventually the two locked weapons, and it gave Kris time to think.

By checking the health bars of all participants, and confirming that Deer/Lily was on his side, he realized that they could win by time out as long as they played defensively. However, the Yellow Avatar still posed a problem, as the color was essentially designed to counter such stratagem through indirect attacks; plus it was the biggest thorn in Fog's side at the moment. The Ice Avatar either did not or had not yet exhibited similar powers such as freezing, and physical attacks were not a problem to deal with.

Kris sidestepped the Ice Avatar, broke off contact, and made his own charge at the Yellow Avatar. He threw out his Avatar's left side as he ran, which billowed forth its namesake. An idea had already formed in his head, one parts inspired by the jamming he'd been through, and also by a physics demonstration he'd once witnessed. "Materialize," said Kris, but he had more than just body parts to form. By partially forming and deposing his fog in constant motion, it began to circle in front of him. And by forming a high pressure pocket of circulating gas within a low pressure system such as the battlefield's conditions, it should create a miniature cyclone and propel Kris forward, as the demonstration had shown. Sure enough, his body was launched forward, behind a spiral of warm air and condensation that showered hail behind him.

health bar:
Kris= -------------------------------------------------------------- -20
yellow beetle= ------------------------------------ chest shot -40
ice maiden= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- no hit -0
Special gauge:
Kris= ----------------- hit +30

The ice avatar kept attacking gun-metal trying to take him down but when he sidestepped the avatar kept chasing him as fast as it could but when it saw him propel himself forward like that the ice avatar was forced to run faster since it had no special mobile ability like gun-metal did with turning into fog. the yellow avatar had finally gotten up from the blow that gun-metal dished out earlier and now it was back into the fight. now however since its special move was used up and cant be used for the rest of the fight it was forced into using other means to fight and instead used the already falling snow to turn into ice shards and propel them at gun-metal to cause constant damage...

health bar:
lily= --------------------------------------------------------------------- -0
blue brawler= ----------------------- -60 for forced friendly fire
scarlet gunner= -------------------------------------------------------------

special gauge=
lily= -----------+20

The red avatar obviously not thinking just kept firing in whatever area that green deer happened to go towards and as such was again using friendly fire against the blue avatar as it got pounded with bullets but obviously the blue avatar she was hanging onto was struggling hard to get out of the firing zone as it tried to constantly punch green deer and force her to drop him so he could gain some distance away from the machine gun of the red avatar.

All I could do was watch from a distance Green deer! the red avatar is meant for long range battle if you get in close you can take it out easy! Find a shield and use it to get in close! Angelo called out hoping he could help even in this situation

Kris laughed gleefully as he zoomed towards the Yellow Avatar, which came out rather creepily because of the voice changer. The thrown ice shards deflected off his cyclone, and he only increased speed. Nightfall was still Materialized, and Kris knew firing through a vacuum such as the eye of a tornado would increase a bullet's velocity by neglecting air resistance, not to mention the spiraling winds affected it like throwing a football. This time Kris took careful aim at the Yellow Avatar's head, straightening his cyclone so the tip pointed right on target. He once again sacrificed 30% of his total health, and pulled the trigger.

"I know!" Lily shouted, "Just let me kill this one, and I'll continue with the red!" She said, mildly annoyed. She was trying her best here in a battle she wasn't prepared for, and she thought she was doing okay. She held tight to the Blue Avatar as it tried to throw her off.

And then she remembered that she had her swords. She let out a small sound, as she shifted one arm, still holding onto the Blue Avatar, and as soon as she hand one sword in hand, she shifted her grip, so she could get her other sword.

When she had both swords, Lily pushed off the blue Avatar, and with some smooth movements-remembered from the stint of child hood dancing more then anything else, stabbing the Blue Avatar, keeping it between her and the red to try and avoid the gunfire. She pushed the Blue avatar back, using it as a shield, to get closer and closer to the red avatar as well.

health bar:
Kris= ------------------------------- -50
yellow beetle= head shot! -100 DEAD!
ice maiden= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- no hit -0
Special gauge:
Kris= -------------------------------------------------------- headshot hit, dead player +70

With that attack that headshot had taken down the yellow avatar in a flash causing the avatar to burst into pieces signaling that he was dead. Meaning that now the only one left was the ice avatar as it got closer and didn't stop and once again it went and turned its arms into ice blades to combat against him hoping that having his back turned away from it would cause an easy hit and finish the fight...

health bar:
lily= --------------------------------------------------------------------- -0
blue brawler= ---- -90 for forced friendly fire and dropping
scarlet gunner= -------------------------------------------------------------

special gauge=
lily= -----------------------------------+50

the blue avatar was still struggling but with the swords in its back it may as well have been a pointless effort as its hp kept dropping by the second and the red avatar could only keep shooting hoping to get green deer before she got to close and Angelo kept watching and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his protégé for figuring out how to turn the rigged fight around as both the blue avatar and red avatar were starting to loose the fight...

These hackers sure are desperate, thought Kris, challenging a superior opponent while on the verge of losing Brain Burst; even if they have numbers and can force unfair conditions, why not 4v1 then? Kris looked behind him and saw the Ice Avatar still futilely chasing him. And you'd think hackers would be smart enough to understand an in-game advantage, Kris continued, why not attack Deer instead?

Why indeed, am I facing novices, or is something fishy beneath all this? resolved Kris. He considered all the actions done by his opponents so far: the Yellow Avatar jamming him right from the start, a smart move yet almost too perceptive; the Ice Avatar attempting to attack with physical ice, having the opposite effect; hearing no audible reaction by the Yellow Avatar from being shot, though shock is reasonable, it shouldn't have recovered so quickly then; and now this.

Up ahead, Kris finally came across Deer/Lily's battle, and more specifically, coming up behind the Red Avatar firing away. To settle his suspicions once and for all, he propelled himself right next to it. Briefly slowing himself down, he tapped the Red Avatar on the shoulder, and said, "Yo."

The red avatar didn't even register him as he kept firing away at deer while the ice avatar kept trying to catch up him. Obviously the avatars had no free will and were more or less on auto target. Angelo noticed it as well and started to think the same from his own fight before but he had 3 opponents on him so he couldn't check gun metal was doing now

Lily watched the blue avatar, continuing to attack events the red avatar continued to shoot. Every time the blue avatar moved, lily did too, keeping her frame hidden by the avatars.

not yet she thought, pushing the blue avatar back, slashing either swords, light on her feet. She was beginning to loath the sound of gun fire. not yet time was perfect in this. She had to Move at the exact moment that the blue avatar was hit with its final attack.

She drew in a breath. Held it. Let it out. now! she was a flash of movement, running to the side as she finished off the blue avatar, close to the red now, satisfied. She did get hit by a bullet but didn't let that stop her as she darting in close with a zig zag pattern close to the red, until she could hit it and get the gun away from it. And then it was simply, despite the fact there was someone else here they evidently weren't having any effect on the red avatar.

Lily didn't care. She had figured out there wasn't something quite right with this fight. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to do her best to win it, as she stayed in close to the red, using her swords

health bar:
lily= ------------------------------------------------------------- -10 small shots
blue brawler= -100 for forced friendly fire DEAD!
scarlet gunner= -------------------------------------------------------------

special gauge=
lily= -----------------------------------------------+70

As deer got rid of the blue avatar the red avatar kept trying to take her down not bothering with gun-metal at this point as it kept trying to attack her with its machine gun trying to get a clean shot at her before deer got to close for his weapon to be useful...

health bar:
Kris= ------------------------------- -50
ice maiden= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- no hit -0
Special gauge:
Kris= -------------------------------------------------------- headshot hit, dead player +70

As gun-metal tried to talk to the red avatar the ice avatar finally got caught up with him and this time was able to land a direct blow on his shoulder knowing it wouldn't take much more to kill him and win leaving deer with a two on one fight