[IC] Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

[ERode]

One-two one-two, her fists went in and out, striking an enemy that existed only in her mind.

One-two one-two, she swayed from side to side, dodging invisible blows that sought to take her head off if it landed cleanly.

One-two one-two, she stepped in and out, imagining the range of her foe’s arms, magenta eyes flickering about.

It was all image training, and the cold autumn wind made things so much more unpleasant, but Moe didn’t care. Nor did she care about all the strange looks she got from other students passing by, who’d turn and scurry away the moment they entered her field of vision. She cared about none of this crap, because, for the past week or so, everyone in her class was talking about DGO. Oh, boohoo, adults didn’t give a shit. Oh, boohoo, Masks took advantage of the lack of shits given and kicked your ass. Did they enjoy their little self-pity party? Did it make them feel them better about their otherwise pathetic lives?

The atmosphere was stifling, irritating, and, more than that, absolutely GARBAGE.

Sweat, no, rain dripped from her brow, the pink-haired girl picking up the pace, pummeling the foe that only she could see. As if she could clear this depressing atmosphere that those glass-jawed babies created just by punching shit.

A final strike towards nothingness ended her routine, and she brought her fists to her sides, letting out a deep breath. This…was enough for now.

White mist escaped her lips, the warmth of her own blood preventing her from feeling the chill that the weather would cause to her core. She looked at her fingers, clammy and red from how cold it was and grimaced. Pissed her off way too much. Moe shook some life into her fingers, hid them in the sleeves of her raincoat, before stomping off the muddy fields. She smirked at a passing couple, huddled together like a bunch of hobos too poor to purchase two umbrellas.

Heh, dependent weaklings.

As if to drive in the point, she walked through the same puddle that they avoided.

Small things like that really did make her feel better, huh?

[Scarifar]

Stinging Butterfly

EXP: 10,140

Exp gain

Dissolution: 10
Level 4 Outlaw Rogue: 400x5(Outlaw bonus)=2000

Total: 2010

Will change if I did my math wrong.

And again! Butterfly thought, thrusting his rapier into a Dissolution, killing it. After gathering what little EXP crystals he earned, Carnel sighed. Simply killing the weak mobs was not enough to even be considered training. Their movements were too slow, too predictable. He had to find stronger opponents, that was for sure. The only problem was where and how. After the battle, things were rather slow and unorganized, and it was a bit more difficult to find a suitable job. Butterfly didn't really know the details to the problems within the Guild, but there were certainly rumors floating around. Stuff about how the Blue King never showed up in the war and stuff, etc. He considered it a shame to see the Cobalt Bruisers fall this much; he actually enjoyed their services.

As Butterfly began to sheathe his weapon and leave, he heard a noise. It was faint, almost unnoticeable, but enough to catch his attention and make him hesitate. He paused for a second, then began scanning the area. It was enough to make a nearby Outlaw Rogue rush out of hiding, appearing as if trying to flee. Fast, Carnel noted as he watched the Outlaw. But perhaps I can catch up. Creating a [Bouncer] Square just behind his right foot, Butterfly got into position and used the square to launch himself towards the fleeing Rogue. The Rogue took a moment to look back, and appeared shocked to see Stinging Butterfly chasing him. A newbie Outlaw? Carnel thought to himself. Doesn't matter, I'll still kill him.

Butterfly readied his rapier and [Rush]ed him, intending to give him as quick a death as possible. As he did so, however, the Rogue drew his weapons, dual knives, and turned to face him. With a few swift motions, the Rogue managed to deflect Butterfly's rapier and deliver a thrust of his own, using Butterfly's own momentum to slide the blade along Butterfly's chest, dealing a surprising amount of damage. Caught off guard, Butterfly nearly missed the timing to land properly, but was fortunately able to recover from the shock and land decently on his feet. Butterfly turned back to face the Rogue, only to see the Outlaw already in his face, a wide sadistic grin on the Rogue's face as he delivered a backhand thrust with both hands at Butterfly. Butterfly barely managed to bend backwards to dodge the blow, then used a [Bouncer] square to gain some distance. The Rogue was not giving up the assault just yet, however, as he threw the other dagger towards Butterfly, who blocked it with his rapier.

This is no newbie, Butterfly thought to himself, getting into a defensive stance. That was just an act to lure me in, and I fell for it. The Rogue finally stopped trying to attack, standing up straight as he flipped a knife in the air with his right hand. "The fact that you survived that means you're not just some common prey," the Rogue said. "That's fine, I'll still kill you anyway." Butterfly said nothing, merely glaring as he maintained his position, ready for any further assaults.

Without another word, the Rogue's silhouette turned dark before disappearing completely. Butterfly grimaced. He was not particularly fond of facing those who could use invisibility, whether it be from an item or their own Ability. The area was quiet now. Butterfly's eyes darted left and right, trying to determine where the Rogue would appear from. Then Butterfly had an idea. He began to turn around, as if looking behind him, while bringing his rapier back as well. Barely even a moment later, a dark patch of shadow appeared in front of Butterfly, the complete opposite direction from where Butterfly was turning towards. The rogue jumped out of the shadow to strike with a reverse-handed swing.

Butterfly immediately turned back to face the Rogue, a grin of triumph appearing on Butterfly's face as he pointed his rapier, which he had actually just drawn back for just such a scenario, at the Outlaw Rogue and thrusted it. The Rogue's face turned to one of surprise as he was struck directly in the chest. Butterfly pressed the attack as he [Rush]ed, making use of the extra attack speed to deliver as many blows as possible, driving the Rogue into the ground. It wasn't long before the Rogue lost all his HP and died, turning into a pile of EXP crystals. Butterfly sighed in relief. The Rogue had been Level 4, which made for a decent reward. All in all, despite his kill, he still didn't feel like he made any progress towards his goal: Eclipse Princess. He had to get stronger.

[Lucius Cypher]

ASAHI GOROSHI

For the past few days, Asahi has been oddly quiet. Anyone who kept up with Arms Slave has vague idea of what he’s been up to, but oddly enough it had nothing to do with the Ebony Strykers. Every time someone caught up to him and asked him what he was doing, he’d tell them he was “training”, but so far he hasn’t gone up a single level. But he was training alright. Asahi was still in this fight.

For the past few days Asahi has been fighting both in DGO and in real life. Like it or not, the Sweepers weren’t done yet, they made that abundantly clear. Asahi hide it well but he was covered in wounds. After and sometimes even during school hours he’d get into fights with random kids, other Sweeper agents sent by the cleaners or Erasers. After hours Asahi would head into the city and take down old contracts and even a few former allies. It was messy business, but it was necessary. In DGO, Asahi simply trained. He fought against Dissolutions and other players carefully; while his archtype tank usually meant he was suppose to take hits, he instead trained differently. He needed to be faster.

Before he took solace in the fact he was the strongest in his little circle, and generally fought against opponents who couldn’t do any meaningful harm to him. But the reality was that before, he was a big fish in a small pond. Among the Sweepers he might have been a big name, but in DGO he was just another punk with more HP than skills. So he’s been training, using his abilities to their fullest instead of just how he usually used them. Increase his spread, his mobility, his flexibility. Rely less on weapons and unique items, and more on skills and predicting his enemy. Admittedly when Asahi first started out he did horribly; he could have just overwhelmed some of his foes with a relentless amount of blows and sucked up a few hits. But that wouldn’t make him better.

Right now Asahi sat waiting in a park. This was the regular meeting place with another mark of his. By now he would know that someone was after them, so no doubt he’ll have protection. The last guys had a couple of kids with guns, but they were obviously bustas. They didn’t know how to shoot straight and only succeeded in damaging Asahi’s glasses. Who knows what this one might bring, but during the day like this Asahi doubted they’d be packing heat. But they would be watching for him. Tapping the baseball in his hands, Asahi waited.

---

RETSU GOROSHI

If there was one thing Retsu learned, it’s that the Erasers were no more. She had no idea how it happened. She had half thought that they were the root of her problems. But these past few days Retsu has been investigating what had happened to her Sweepers and why everything was in such disarray. But now she knew. The Red Eraser was dead. Retsu followed on his trail and found his corpse rotting in a landfill. Blue Eraser was hospitalized. The doctors wouldn’t let Retsu see him, but he was suffering from heavy blunt trauma to the back of the head. The Green King fell to their own civil war, but this time the Eraser didn’t come out on top. Now the Fanged Rangers lost their Sweeper support, though most of them just assimilated back into the rangers anyways with everyone else going wayward. Only the White Eraser Retsu had no detail on. But then again, she never operated in a big group anyways. The only thing Retsu did know was that the White Guild Sweepers was left without leadership. Without their Eraser, most either assimilated into the Ivory Masks or went their own way.

And just like that, the Sweepers were no more. Not with a big war or even a declaration. Their key leaders were either dead or removed from power, and without even so much as a single battle to decide things. Retsu felt… Oddly relieved. The Sweepers had originally been a means to build power in DGO to eventually gain followers and shut down the game, but now it’s been twisted into just another tool used to maintain the status quo. Perhaps now that Retsu’s time wasn’t being wasted micromanaging blood thirsty peons, she could actually get some work done. For starters, she took back the powers the the other Erasers once had. The Red King was easiest, and there were enough turncoats from the Green Guild for Retsu to get a working base off of. The only ones she couldn’t take is the Blue and the White, but they’ll be hers soon enough.

Outside of DGO however, Retsu has been very quiet. With Yoshino’s admittance to a hospital, Retsu hasn’t seen Yoshino in quite some time. Her feelings about the girl rather conflicted. As much as she hates to admit this, Retsu had been blinded by teenage love for Yoshino. Her feelings are muddled in emotions, but Retsu knew this much: regardless of who Yoshino is, Retsu was going to fulfill her goal and destroy DGO. With or without Yoshino’s help. And to that end, Retsu needed to know more about who was truly behind the massive multiplayer game.

And that brings Retsu to now. Throughout her investigation of the Erasers one thing always came up: Corpse Collector. Initially just an infamous figure that Retsu had dismissed as a hacker with a grudge, however constant trail with these Erasers made Retsu think she wasn’t just a rogue agent. While Cleaners acting on their own or having vendettas were not unusual, none has ever gotten this close to the Erasers before. The possibility that Corpse Collector had something to do with their predicament wasn’t something that Retsu could ignore. But she had no leads on Corpse Collector. None except one. Retsu went up to a large gate and pressed on the doorbell.

”Hello, this is Retsu Goroshi. May I speak to Hibiki Toho?”

[KoL]

EINS REINHARDT/ARGENT MAIDEN
Eris' Apartment

"That day will be alright. Proceed as planned, everyone," Argent Maiden said as she finished laying out the strategy for the current battle to the avatars who would take part on it.

This time the Ivory Masks had two distinct objectives once more: secure the ground they have already won and so the power of the Scarlet Harleys. The first would be achieved by protecting the Assembly Cliffs, the area where the fallen Blue City is located, from being retaken by the enemy. The second objective would be achieved by taking over Silicon Ravine or destroying the power cables that pass through it, cutting the power of the Red City and making it a sitting duck.

"I don't think that I need to remember you that the fate of our Guild lies on that mission. Let's do our best out there, people!"

After this rousing speech, Maiden logged out to take care of a few issues. Laying on bed as she got back from the frantic world of Deep Ground, Eins couldn't help but recall the experience she had yesterday right after Eris went to sleep. The Older Reinhart Twin shook her head, trying to clear the sudden heat that rose to her pale cheeks.

Eins got up and went to get a drink right about the time when Cassandra's feet brought her to Eris' doorstep. Eins though really hard about playing a prank on the redhead, but gave up on out in the last moment. Instead, she answered the door normally, before beckoning Cassandra in.

"You must be Cassandra, right? Sis isn't home right now, but you can wait for her inside. If you don't mind my company," she said.

@Caits

ITSUKO KANZAKI/RAMPAGING TIGER
Deep Ground: The Faded City

BGM

"Well, I guess things ain't going as good as they should," Tiger said to herself, complaining that she hadn't found a single soul to brawl against in half an hour or so. "Maybe I should get Moe or Hibiki to come in? I don't know Moe's avatar, maybe she's even an enemy and we can duke it? Heh, that should do i—"

Before Tiger could say anything else, she heard the loud crashes and clanks of a fight happening nearby. "What do we have here?" she said, parking her vehicle behind a nearby building as she observed a duelist named Stinging Butterfly beat a duo of Outlaws. "This ain't the best of the odds for my style, but... beggars can't be choosers, right?"

Tiger quickly escalated a nearby building, reaching the second floor and sneaked her way to the scene of the fight. Once she reached there Butterfly had already taken care of the Outlaws. The golden-haired Berserker was quick to take the opportunity to get the jump on him, aiming a drop kick trying to hit Butterfly from an overhead angle.

"Take this, Tiger Kiiiiick!" Rampaging Tiger couldn't help but shout as she came down on him.

@Scarifar

EMMA FUJIOKA/BURNING BLOSSOM
Deep Ground: Network Forest

BGM

Reodath would find very fast that he and his newly made friend weren't alone at the forest at all. In fact, an individual very well known to the Cryo Knight would announce her presence by zapping a tree closest to him with a Lightning Bolt, before raising her voice to say. "So we meet again, eh? Did ya come all this way just to see me? Oh," Burning Blossom's lips curled into a teasing smirk as she noticed the girl behind the Ranger Berserker, "Oh, I see if now. Fufufu~ Did I walk into something private here? If ya wanna, I can give time for your girlfriend to get to somewhere safe. It's no fun to kick a beaten puppy, after all?"

"Wad'ya say, Popsicle?" Blossom said, narrowing her eyes while resting her gauntleted hand on her hips.

@Awesomoman64

Kanna/Icy Mint
Computer Research Society Club Room

Kanbaru's call would be answered by a softspoken voice from inside the Computer Club Room, "Yes, this is the correct location," a girl with a seemeingly not very enthused expression on her face said as she opened the door and beckoned Kanbaru in. "I'm Kanna, the Society's President. Come in."

"I'm surprised Eins talked about our extracurricular activities to an outsider," Kanna said as she reached for a small fridge sitting at the corner of the room, producing a bottle of tea from its icy innards. "But I guess you aren't so much of an outsider, now, are you, Broker-san?" the lavender-haired girl said, placing the bottle, a pack of Doritos and a couple of glasses over the long table that occupied the center of the room, before sitting and gesturing for Kanbaru to do the same.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, or are you here just because of what Eins told you? If it's the later, I guess we can arrange it as long as you join the club. We can't risk spilling our secrets to the rest of the Academy, you know?" Kanna said, relaying their rules for Kanbaru. "Though, I guess we can give you a trial run if you are indecisive."

@Lonewolf685

[Lonewolf685]

R u f u s

The bathroom door was thrown open and deadly weapons were brandished by a rightfully upset tenant, only to stare upon a svelte silhouette hidden behind fogged glass. The lithe form seemed to turn in alarm, long hair whirling amidst the shower's cascade to settle in a mild mess obscuring Rufus ever more.

And hanging besides the towel rack was his waiting choice of attire, the maid outfit he'd kept from his stint at the ivory mask cafe and was intending to use as his lounge clothes while the rest ran a cycle or two in Jiro's washer and dryer. Why hadn't he ditched the outfit? Well it was a quality uniform for one, and if he kept it in good condition then odds were good he could find some work at an actual maid cafe to fund his curiosity driven ventures.

With Jiro only seeing an effeminate silhouette and a maidenly choice of attire laid out, assumptions would have to be maid on the fly and no doubt leave a red blooded man, or more appropriately, a hormonal teenager in the process of maturing and still flustered around the prospect of girls, rather flat footed.

"H...hello?" A frightened, mousy voice uttered from behind the shower door, sending a shudder down the silhouette as 'she' reeled from the armed and violent man coming to assail and violate her.

@Mega Birb

---

Kanbaru Otoko

"Well things tend to slip out when German Beer gets involved, and Eins-chan can be rather adorable when she's flustered, though you already know that yourself, Mint-san." Kanbaru said with a small, content smile nestled among her features as she settled at the table with Kanna. The tea was readilly taken and sipped, its cool taste preferred over the Doritos she left be.

"Membership? Hmm, I see what you mean but I really never considered it. Sorry to say I don't actually know too well what the day to day activities of this club is." And more importantly, Kanbaru didn't know what she would gain from it. A secretive poker game was nice and all, but she wasn't looking to have all her time eaten up like the newspaper club was.

Though her concerns weren't enough to dismiss the offer out of hand.

"Let's go for the trial run. It would be untoward of me to join only for the fringe benefits and neglect the club itself, so any information to help me decide on membership would be appreciated."

@KoL

[Mega Birb]

Jiro Katsurou

Jiro calmed down for a moment as he noticed it was merely some vagrant using his shower for one reason or another, not really a threat to his life, but possibly one to his health. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, seeing straight through the glass to a certain organ hanging between the "girl's" legs. Last he checked, the only place those actually existed was in explicit novels and stories people got carried away with, so it must've been a guy in there despite the mousy voice and maid outfit on the counter. Definitely an interesting one, if nothing else. He sighed, then, "Look, I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? Come out when you're ready and I'll cook something, long as you don't run. Okay?" he finished, stepping out and setting the frying pan on the stove. Shaking his head and mumbling in his native tongue, he started to dig through his groceries to find some ingredients to scratch up some miso soup.

Soon enough, the delicious scent of shipjack tuna getting smoked would permeate the dormitory, like it was working to draw out the terrified Rufus.

@Lonewolf685

---

---

Aderyn Finch

"Oh, sorry, it's Aderyn. Ya've prolly seen me on these blasted things fer tha last week 'er so." Aderyn took a moment to pat the side of her left crutch, looking down as she shifted her weight to the other one. "But still, 'ave ya seen her anywhere? I've been plannin' somethin' fer her, just a small thanks fer helping me fer so long." For one reason or another, it was becoming quite clear that she wasn't as fatalistic as usual, maybe even eager for something besides coffee for once.

Needless to say, Tom's help would be very much appreciated, though maybe through the cracks he'd be able to see a hint of malevolence, given his ambitions as a reporter. For what, though, was a mystery.

[Lord of Evil]

"Hey, wait a second." Thomas said.
He covered his mouth as he began digging through his mind for a person called "Masae". A girl from his year level, he remembered, but she wasn't someone he could even call an acquaintance. He knew that she worked the sound desk at the auditorium, but not much else.
"Masae Kanegawa? She should be in the sound booth... I think. I wouldn't really know." Thomas told her.
That would be it normally, but what did the girl mean when she said that it'd been a while? He was sure that they had never met properly, or else he'd have remembered her. But he didn't, and adding in the fact that she'd asked about someone he hardly knew of, it was starting to sound like some sort of scam. Although, considering recent events, it could turn out to be something worse.

Thomas opened his eyes and inspected the crutch-bearing girl. She was short (or maybe average height), and had glasses as well as a relatively innocent expression, but looks could be deceiving.
"...Why don't you ask one of her classmates?" Thomas said after a pause. "They'd know more about her than me."

@Mega Birb

[ERode]

“I’m home.”

No, she wasn’t.

A small suite with a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom wasn’t a home. It was just a temporary abode for Moe to crash in. Discarding her raincoat, she shook the water off it outside, before hanging it on a coatrack. Spare droplets still dripped down onto the linoleum floor, but the pink-haired girl didn’t pay much attention to that. Her barefeet slapped against the wooden boards as she strode over to the refrigerator. Power drinks and ingredients for sandwiches welcomed her, as well as a bag of frozen mandarins.

The girl closed her eyes, imagining how tasty last week’s ramen was, before shaking those delusions away. Food was tasty. She needed to stop dawdling about and learn how to cook for herself. Ramen wasn’t even that hard to make. Just the soup base and then noodles, at the very base.

Still, Moe didn’t feel like trying anything today, and the rain hadn’t let up at all from her trip back home. Twisting open the cap of a fruity power drink, she guzzled down the entire bottle before pulling a few pieces of ham to jam in her mouth. Settling down on her comfy bed, Moe closed her eyes. She’d get fat from this, eating and then sleeping, but…

…she still had steam to release.

Stepping into the other side of the world, where datastreams were made visible and everything was controlled by ones and zeroes, Mauve Night stared up at the dark skies, feeling the abnormal sensation of simulated wind. The Faded City was as gloomy and cyberpunk-esque as ever, and as she closed her eyes, she could hear scraps of combat throughout the expansive landscape. Her buddies from the Reds had been rather needy recently, always wanting to drag her along for Dissolution-hunting missions like a bunch of White wannabes, and thus, she found herself looking at the neon lights of the Faded Spires more often.

Goddamn weaklings. If they wanted to git gud and crack open masked heads, they should be fighting people, not monsters.

Another unpleasant memory replayed in her head, and the red-eyed Avatar’s grip tightened. There was combat somewhere, and she was particularly interested in stress relief.

Time to go a-hunting.

[Scarifar]

Stinging Butterfly

EXP: 12,150

@KoL

Butterfly opened the menu to take a look at his EXP progress, then sighed when he saw that he was still nowhere near Level 4 yet. I still have a ways to go... Butterfly thought. Right after he had closed the menu and began to go find something to kill, he heard a yell from above. When he turned upwards to look, he was greeted with the surprising sight of someone trying to get the jump on him. "Jesus!" Butterfly couldn't help but yell as he desperately threw himself forwards to just narrowly avoid the attack.

Rolling back onto his feet and getting back up from a crouching position, Butterfly wasted no time readying his rapier and launching a counterattack, using [Rush] to quickly shorten the gap between him and Tiger. Stinging Butterfly followed up by crouching downwards to twist his blade upwards and thrusting towards Tiger's face, then pulled his arm back to deliver another thrust at her chest.

[MarshiestMallow]

Cassandra

@KoL
Cassandra looked up as she reached Eris's apartment, the familiar place...well a comfort even if she did waiver on the doorstep a moment, before going to knock. Despite the fact she had a key, it seemed...rude to walk right in. Something had changed, although Cassie wasn't sure what. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Eris family was around. Maybe it was the fact that...they hadn't seemed to be together recently. Cassie didn't know, but she knew...that she either had to change or be left behind. She always seemed to be struggling to keep up with everyone. She blinked as the door opened, seeing that it wasn't Eris, despite the fact it could be.

“You're her sister” Cassandra said softly, managing to give Eins a smile, “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Even if Eins hadn’t made it clear she wasn’t Eris, there was just something...different. Or maybe it was simply because...Cassandra knew Eris, not Eins. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, before nodding. “I’d like that, thank you” She couldn’t think where else to go, and this way, she knew that Eris would eventually be home.

She stepped inside, hesitating again before she unwound the scarf, carefully folding it up and shrugging out of her jacket, hugging it too her, glancing about, she looked back to Eins. "It is Eins right?" she asked, "Eris mentioned you"

[KoL]

ERIS REINHARDT
^{Murasaki City General Hospital}

Eris was so distracted in her conversation with Yoshino, as well as with feeding the other girl the treats she brought, that she took a few moments to notice a boy soaked to the bones standing on the half-open door. As soon as the realization that they were being observed (by someone she didn't knew, on top of that) hit Eris, her face got about as red as her eyes.

The young German girl's hand froze in the air for an instant as she was about to deliver another apple bunny to Yoshino. However, the sudden shock didn't last for long and soon enough she turned to the newcomer. "Apologies for not noticing your presence before. Is there anything we can do for you?" Eris said, setting the apples on the counter beside Yoshino's bed.

@TheWindel @Mega Birb

YUUNO KUROGAMI
^{Hibiki's House}

"Hmm... I hope this is really the right place," Yuuno said as she hopped off the nearest bus station, making her way to Hibiki's house, despite the rain pattering her umbrella relentlessly.

"To say the truth, I feel like I should be visiting Shino again but I have to help Bel-sama too. It's... really hard to choose what to do when all those things are happening at once. At least I hope this will help me find an answer since I could never get in contact with that Retsu person." Yuuno was completely lost in her thoughts as she reached the front door of the house of the only person she could find in Purple Crown's archives that could get her a hint about what to do to revert Maribel's situation.

In fact, Yuuno was so lost in her own musings that she didn't even noticed that there was someone else in front of the same door. "Ouch!" she exclaimed after bumping into said person. "I—I'm sorry. I wasn't paying atten— What the? How come you of all people be here?" Yuuno practically yelled when a twist of weird fate made her find none but Retsu Goroshi in the last place she thought she would.

@Ryonara @Lucius Cypher

[Awesomoman64]

Reothadh

The second the lightning hit the tree, Reothadh knew exactly who was there. He had expected other players would be lurking around, but he wasn’t expecting this one specifically. Immediately he looked to the Ivory mage and told her, ”You need to run, lass. Now.” There was a slight moment of hesitation, but ultimately the mage nodded before sprinting off full speed.

And then he heard that word again. ”Girlfriend? Seriously? What is with people suddenly thinking everything I do has romantic intentions.” he grumbled shaking his head as he drew his sword. ”Whatever. I’m not here to fight you, Hothead. But if yer looking to have a round two, I wouldn’t mind evening up the score.” Assuming his battle stance, Reothadh waited to see what Burning Blossom would try first.

@KoL

[KoL]

EINS REINHARDT
^{Eris' Apartment}

"Oh yes, I guess that since you are Sis' friend you can call me that," Eins said as she beckoned Cassandra in. "She talked a lot about you as well. Seems like you have been quite the influence on her life while I was away," the Older Reinhardt Twin added as she retrieved a pair of mugs from the cupboard and set them on the kitchen's counter.

"I may not be as dexterous as Eris, but I'm proud of my coffee," Eins said, as she placed a pot of very dark coffee beside the mugs. She poured some for herself, before offering to fill Cassandra's mug. "If you want some sugar or sweetener, I can get it," the platinum-haired girl said before taking a large gulp of the bitter beverage.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Eins said, breaking the momentary silence that seemed to settle as soon as the two of them were alone. "Your Avatar is a Ranger, right? If that's the case, I can get you a nice position on our plans for the war. Sis said she was looking up to see you on the last battle but for some reason, you never showed up. If you have someone coordinating it, I guess it would be easier for the two of you to meet. Right?"

@Caits

RAMPAGING TIGER
^{Deep Ground: The Faded City}

"Gah!" Tiger groaned as she hit the floor rather ungracefully after her failed maneuver. "Note to self: Don't do this again before hitting level five," she added, jesting as she noticed that she lost a good ten percent of her health from the fall.

She didn't have much time to goof, though as Butterfly followed her attack with a charge of his own, aiming for her chest with a rather stabby blade. "Hey, look where you aim that thing!" Tiger yelled as she rolled to her left, avoiding the gross of the damage even if the blade still glanced her arm.

The additional damage made Tiger's eye's lit up with passion. This wasn't a battle on her favored conditions, but she wasn't going to throw in the towel so easily as well. "Do you even know what cats do to butterflies that fly too low?" the Berserker provoked as she tensed her body, before bursting from her crouching position, aiming a skyward punch at Butterfly's chin. "We eat them!" she shouted before calling the name of her attack with all her might.

"Roariiing Tiger Fist!" She yelled, bursting forth like a feline pouncing at a hapless prey.

@Scarifar

BURNING BLOSSOM
^{Deep Ground: Network Forest}

"Romance? Who talked about that? You guys just want to get laid... ain't that right?" Blossom teased Reodath some more. It looked like the flaming-haired was enjoying the fact that her foe was so easily flustered if she could shake Reodath's composure and induce him to commit a mistake that would be a win-win for Blossom.

"Of course I can dance with ya if you wanna, Ice Boy! Which of the two will win, my Flaming Flamenco or your Icy Waltz?" Blossom flipped her hair, which let out vivid wisps of fiery flames, before assuming a proper stance. "Say what," she said once the fight was about to begin, "how about we make a small bet? If ya beat me here, the winner can ask whatever they want of the loser. Even a date, or... you know what. Is that ok for ya, Ice Boy?"

Of course, Blossom didn't wait for a reply before attacking, casting a duo of Lightning Bolts, the first aimed at Reodath's left and the other at his right, trying to make it as hard to dodge as possible.

@Awesomoman64

KANNA-SAN
^{Computer Research Society Club Room}

"So, you want to know what we do around here?" Kanna asked, as she called on her interface. "Before I tell you that, let me ask you. Do you have an idea of how deeply integrated your chip is to your body? For example," as the lavender-haired girl said so, Kanbaru's would feel her vision for a moment, with pop-up messages and notifications of her interface.

Less than a second later, it was over. Kanna was nowhere to be seen, with a bunny suit-wearing Eins standing in her place. Or at least it looked like it, until she spoke, "did you find it interesting? It's augmented reality, an ancient technology, that's still part of the interface. It's the same thing that allows us to play Deep Ground. It can even," Kanna's voice changed to a perfect copy of Eins' as she continued speaking, "stimulate other senses. But if you touch it, you'll see that it's not there."

The "come on, aren't you gonna try it?" look was evident in Kanna's —or perhaps Eins'— eyes as she thrust her chest forward. A mere touch would reveal that the bust which Kanbaru was acquainted with lacked in volume, covering Kanna's way more modest chest.

"So, what did you think? It's retro technology, but it can be useful for a lot of things... if you know what I'm talking about," Kanna asked, dismissing the illusions and sitting back in her chair. "We have a lot more like that if you want to join. And there are our games too, though I have to say that I never lost to the others." Kanna continued to talk in a completely deadpan voice even as she pointed to an inconspicuous cardboard box at the room's corner, full of the 'loot' she acquired on their club's secret games.

@Lonewolf685

[Lord of Evil]

SOMEWHERE IN THE FADED CITY

A fist smashed through the head of a dissolution, melting the creature into a small pile of exp crystals. All around were similar piles of small crystals, surrounding the blue fist fighter. Blue Nova was back in action, and more bored than ever.
"Same old, same old." He muttered to himself.
Killing weak dissolutions was no fun. Killed one, killed em all. He kicked a pile of exp crystals over and kept walking. No way small fry would drop anything substantial. As he walked along he thought about what to do about his DGO career. Now that the blue guild wasn't a thing, where would he go? He could always switch guilds again. Maybe go to the green guild for a change. But then again, he was still somewhat bitter about the blue guild losing, so maybe not. He could go back to the red guild for some high octane fights, but he didn't really want to. He didn't really want to switch guilds at all, but he wasn't sure why.

He supposed that there was something bothering him. Thomas had said that Bel was alright now, but why hadn't she gone into deep ground yet? He had been expecting to see here somewhere - a king-level player didn't just disappear all of a sudden. Maybe she just hadn't logged on in the past few days, but if that was the case, why not? Finn wasn't the type of guy to pry into the lives of his friends, and he trusted that whatever he didn't know was stuff he didn't have to know. But being left in the dark like this made him frustrated, and when he was frustrated, he wanted to fight.

As the Blue Nova walked along, more dissolutions spawned in front of him. He didn't even wait for them to come, activating blue shift to close the distance before hitting one with a well placed punch. His fist radiated blue energy and exploded outwards, dissolving the dissolution in an instant.
"Feh. More small fry." He said out loud, before unleashing a roundhouse kick.
He didn't really care about exp, or whether his enemy was a dissolution, he just wanted to swing his fists. And swing he did, clearing the 3 dissolutions in seconds.
"What's it take to get a good fight around here?"
Maybe he could go back farther than when he was in a guild - back when he was a wandering fighter with nothing to his name but fighting spirit. When he didn't care whether he lived or died, or what the pay out would be afterwards, the time when he only cared that he fought, whether he won or lost.
"You know, that's starting to sound pretty good..." He muttered.
Blue Nova walked on, itching for a fight that would satisfy his bloodlust.

[ERode]

Uwah, that was one hell of an edgy bastard. Horribly out of place in the Faded City’s cyberpunk aesthetic was some cartoonish humanoid monster in garishly yellow armor, featuring a single cyclopean eye and hair so spiky that it HAD to be something that was weaponizable. Pink hair and blue skin as well, made him look more like some mid-boss in a JRPG rather than a player, and after watching his salty rampage through a bunch of weakling dissolutions, Mauve Night nodded to herself.

Yup, this guy was good to fight. Same level, from a different guild, and didn’t look like a filthy mage or a cheap-ass speed-spammer. That dash maneuver looked like he may be the bitchy type who’d dash away if things got rough for him, but hey, that was fine! As long as she could land in a couple hits early on, it wouldn’t be difficult at all to land in more hits later, even if he decided to turn and run!

“Yo, porcupine head,” she called out from above, “Grinding for levels? Or are you just salty that the Bruisers got wiped?”

Dropping from two stories above, Mauve Night landed on the dissipating remnants of one of the Dissolutions he had onepunched, and grinned at one-eyed demonic dark elf thing.

“Cause I want to get a fun win, and you look better than the mage-types and speedsters that are popping up these days. So let’s do it! I’ll say…countdown of five seconds before I splatter you in four minutes?”

Was she being a bit aggressive? Probably. But he looked like he was on rageroids already. Surely a light jab like this wasn't going to make him any grouchier than he already was, right?
@Lord of Evil

[Lord of Evil]

Blue Nova slowly turned to face the pink haired girl, inspecting her weapons and her build. She seemed small and was dual wielding, so likely a fast ranged specialist. Could be a better match up, could be worse. Not like he cared, though.
"Five seconds?" Blue Nova said, cracking his knuckles.
Considering her choice of weapons it would've been easy enough to shoot him before declaring her presence, but the fact that she hadn't done that meant that she wanted a duel. He would be happy to oblige a countdown any other time, but now? Not so much. He suddenly sprang off, quickly closing the distance between the two avatars. He wanted to fight on his own terms, to go full tilt from the start.

"HA!"
He swung his fist at the pink haired girl with a defiant roar, intent on bringing her down. If he didn't bring his full strength right from the beginning, it would be disrespectful for his opponent. If anyone wanted a fight, he'd always do his best to give them the full Blue Nova experience.

@ERode

[Lonewolf685]

R u f u s

Rufus was somewhat disappointed his ruse had been seen through, not that Jiro could tell his expression through the fogged glance. He'd have to make sure to cross his legs if he wanted to try that gambit again. Making matters worse was the complete lack of paralysis or explosive anger he could have delighted in reversing upon the law abiding student, robbing the transient of any joy in absconding with that nifty looking frying pan.

"You've made this really awkward, oh ho!" Rufus grumbled as he turned off the water and stepped out to dry himself off. Coarse beige towel were what he'd swiped from Jiro's linens, and it was these he wrapped around his waist and swaddled his hair with when he emerged bare chested into the apartment proper.

If Jiro expected Rufus to hurl himself upon the presented food like a starved dog eager to be saved from the streets, he'd be disappointed with the lackadaisical manner his uninvited guest sat before the table and took a non-plussed bite of the fish.

"By the way, your out of shampoo."

@Mega Birb

---

Kanbaru Otoko

"I can't say I'd ever had the luxury of considering its construction, so no." The bluenette responded honestly, seeing no reason to feign eagerness when she'd already been up front with the icy gambler across from her. There came a twinge in her brow as vision grew briefly bizarre from Kanna's demonstration, and were there not notifacations then she'd certainly have been alarmed to witness a bunny suited Eins across from her.

"Wow, she really does cut a nice figure in that." She blurted out the first thing that came to mind, clearly pleased that reality had lived up to what her imagination had concocted. "Is this augmented reality something you are projecting upon yourself or did you do something that's making me project it upon you?"

Kanna's 'come-hither' look was an invitation Kanbaru wouldn't be passing up, though when her hands passed through the facade she didn't bother to halt her advance and made certain her palms got a feel for the firm chest Kanna supported.

She was asking for it, after all.

"Alright, you have me interested. I haven't the foggiest clue how you pitched this club to the school but I'll jump aboard all the same." Kanbaru said, retracting her hands to down the rest of the tea Kanna had offered her. "Though perhaps we should save the formal activities for later? Servers are up and I get the feeling people are getting a little froggy on DGO. Sooner or later someone's going to jump."

@KoL

[ERode]

“Five seconds,” Mauve Night repeated, purple twintails swaying from side to side. “Feel free to psych yourself all you have to before then, porcupine boy!”

Raising up her hand, all fingers splayed out, the Level 3 Ranger flashed her teeth in a way that could either be a smile or a snarl. “Fi-”

Blue Nova rushed in, the Berserker’s agility stats being put to work as the distance was closed.

“-ve.”

A powerful haymaker rushed in, one that would have been debilitating in real life and would no doubt hurt like a bitch if it landed. But there was too much of a windup, too much of a telegraph, and Mauve Night’s thumb bent inwards, the ‘five’ becoming a ‘four’ as she stepped in, ducking under Blue Nova’s swing. Side-by-side, the Ranger pivoted on her front foot, turning to face the Berserker as her index finger crooked. The second blow was evaded as well, a backstep to barely get out of range of the backhanded slap before she closed the distance once more. The close proximity made that dashing ability pointless as a gap-closer, and while it was mildly uncomfortable…

Mauve Night’s grin widened, finally feeling something other than irritation.

…it was the danger that made this fun.

Flipping backwards, she sprung on one hand before landing three meters away, her ring finger pressed against her thumb.

“Finished warming up?” the gunslinger said, “Feel free to start pulling out your special moves now. I’ll begin reciprocating as well, ok?”

Her pinky folded, left hand clenching into a fist. Like a cowboy from an old-time western, Mauve Night shot from the hip, spraying six bullets into the general area of Blue Nova, unconcerned about whether or not they would actually hit.

Just a greeting, after all.
@Lord of Evil

[Lord of Evil]

"Warming up?" Blue Nova asked.
The rogue's shots went wide, with the Nova only needing to dodge a few of them. A flighty ranged dual-wielding rogue was always annoying but Finn never minded them so much. This time though, he was getting annoyed. Instead of following the rogue he bent down and grabbed a large chunk of debris.
"Why don't you... Take this seriously?!" He yelled, throwing the chunk in her direction.
Despite not being an attack it was probably large enough to do damage, though unlikely to land. But that wasn't the point. Blue Nova ran behind it, keeping with it easily. It was slow but large enough to provide some protection against bullets while small enough to see where the other avatar was going. Closing the distance was easy, closing the distance while not getting hit wasn't.
@ERode

[KoL]

KANNA-SAN
^{Computer Research Society Club Room}

"It's the oldest trick in the book," Kanna said, replying to Kanbaru's question. "All I did was hack into your 'camera'," she pointed to her own eyes. "That's the same system the government uses to issue public messages and that we use during class. Since it's a public network, anyone can get on it and do whatever they want. It's just that people don't care about AR games anymore."

"We are a Society to research backward tech," the lavender haired girl replied to the question about how they got the permission to form that club. "It's just like dad used to play with old PC and mod PS games even when the era of console games had died years ago. Essentially, I guess that you can say that we are a bunch of geeky nerds who like to play with old stuff. The fact that we do extra-extracurricular activities is a something that we like to keep to ourselves."

"I guess you are right. Eins sent a message saying that we should pick between an offensive mission or a defensive one today," Kanna said after being questioned about Deep Ground. "We can either protect the territory we conquered or fight to undermine the Harley resources. You can choose our destination. But, if you don't mind, I'll be going with you. Everyone else is already at their own positions and I'm no good with someone to support."

The club's president verified if there was anyone around the corridor before locking the door and lowering the curtain, shutting the single window that illuminated the room. "We can log in from here after you've made your choice," Kanna said, taking her seat once more after producing a pair of duvets and pillows from a locker, taking one pair for herself and handing the other to Kanbaru.

@Lonewolf685