FRINGE PERFECT

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Mountain-Top Peak; November 23rd, 4:04 PM

"Fuck it's cold..." Vex grumbled uncomfortably, his arms crossed over his chest while his breath was clearly visible. Looking down from the mountain top he was standing on, he couldn't see anyone in the clearing or the forest at the bottom of the mountain, and sighed.

"Humph... Where is everyone, they were just around..." Vex grumbled, "looks like I'll have to go find them..."

He began to take a step forward, as if his intent were to walk across the air, only to disappear in a flash before he even began to fall, the same instant he appeared in the clearing at the bottom of the mountain, completing his step as he appeared as the same flash of light died in his new location.


City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Roi looked up when the flash of light appeared, alerting him to Vex's presence. He quickly moved into the dark shadows of the trees, where his dark clothing helped him to totally fade into the shadows. He watched the other combatant silently, thoughtlessly for a few short moments before deciding to pull the opening punch.

He reached down and grabbed one of his kunai, spun it in his hand and threw it at Vex, at the same time diving into the shadows on the tree trunk.

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Derik cursed to himself as he looked at his watch. Sure, having a watch that got it's time straight from Dead Net was good, but for some reason he felt like something went wrong. The time was entirely wrong. There was no fucking way it was that many years ago. According to the year, he'd still be in his teens. Something really odd must've been happening, or one of Terref's runic spells went all crazy and teleported him to the middle of a forest...and fucked with his watch.

Well, from what he could tell, there were some people around here. Maybe he'd get a fight. Pushing his way through the brush, he made his way over to where he thought were other fighters. Maybe.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Roi was surprised, when he exited his destination shadow, to notice a new combatant had entered the area. It was odd - there had been no sign of the man before, but there he was, standing directly beneath the tree whose branch he was now perched atop. The man was about as tall and young as he himself was, but had white hair. The man's sleeveless shirt and pants - as well as their flamboyant designs - suggested a crude personality, not unlike that of Vex, come to think of it.

It mattered not - it simply meant there was another target whose neck to bury his kunai in.

Slowly, silently, Roi reached down to the holster on his leg, and slid his finger into the hook of a kunai. The carbon nano-rod blade, its edge refined to a molecular sharpness, made no sound as he retrieved it. He slowly brought his arm back, ready to let loose the deadly weapon the instant he could.

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Derik's wolfish ears twitched, picking up sounds from all over the area. Most of the sounds came from the rustling of leaves, but there was another sound he couldn't quite place. Still, given that this was a battle ground he should really be on his guard. Battles were fun, but being sneaked up on was not high on his list. Usually was his forte when he resorted to his totem.

The wolfman cracked his neck, and stretched his arms a bit. "It's been a while since I've been involved in some free for all battles. I'm tired of that war crap anyways."

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

It was as the man stretched is arms that Roi's arm rocketed forward and the blade flew free of his grasp, straight at the newcomer's neck!

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

It was then that Derik decided to switch to stretching his legs, immediately dropping to the ground on his rear. The Kunai, originally aimed at his neck, instead plummeted straight into his hard as iron hair. However, being such a sharp blade, was able to cut quite a bit through, and ended up poking his skull, just enough to make it hurt and bleed.

"What the hell?!" The wolfman yelled. Attempting to reach into his spiky hair, he found not only that a few strands were cut out and that there was definitely a weapon of some sort. He could feel the hook, and with a forced of strength, pulled it out. What he found in his hands was probably one of the worst things he could find.

A kunai. A kunai he recognized. It looked almost exactly like the one Leone's Ninja contact had shown him. That could only mean that the Ninja clan had found him. Given how the war was going, they probably had control of dead net in the area too, so that when he was killed, he'd be sent somewhere he wouldn't be found. He was part of Leone Esposito's team, after all. The largest thorn in Kume's plans.

"The ninja clan found me. Crap." He cursed before he began a dead sprint, off into some random direction. Without any back up, he'd be screwed if he ran into more.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Roi watched, only slightly surprised, as his target fled. It was rare that an opponent in this "game" would try to flee, but the man may have recognized his weapon as the same kind used by Kazue. But if the fool thought he'd get away that easily, then he had another thing coming. The ninja quickly gave chase, leaping into the shadows from which he'd emerged only to appear in another behind the man, where he threw another Kunai at his target's back, one that would connect if the man kept running as he was.

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Marianne Adalicia Rebecca Sieglinde Lyonette Dawne Hilaire frowned.

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. She'd just been killed nigh instantly on the plains by some strange suave looking guy, and she'd just respawned... but she didn't recognize the immediate area.

'Great, where am I now?'

She sighed, but resolved to find her way home. She'd had enough of this stupid game for today. Possibly forever, given the amount of pain it allowed her to experience. She picked a random direction and started walking, only to hear rapid footsteps, at which point she looked up and saw a tall man with silly clothes running at her as if the hounds of hell were on his heels.

'Huh?'

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Ena looked around, slightly confused, as she walked. She'd been talking with Lucien and that strangely intelligent (and extremely impudent) stick of his, when there had been an explosion, and now she was in some kind of forest.

'Oh dead-net, will wonders never cease?'

Ah well, first thing's first; find Lucien again, and then find out who'd so cheaply killed them and deliver upon said person payback.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Above the dense treetops a hovering figure seemed to pop into existence in the clear blue sky. Casting a glance around, light glinting off the sweeping red spikes of the person's helmet, a puzzled pout of a frown formed on their face. Was this some kind of trick her opponent had cooked up? She fancied herself the strongest psychic around and the person she had been fighting hadn't displayed abilities even close to hers, much less capable of an elaborate illusion like this. She wasn't even detecting any psychic energy at all, either, and there was no way to really hide it in something like this that well.

Nymt's puzzled frown deepened as she realized she was a sitting duck in her confusion. Against the bright blue sky, her armor might as well be a giant beacon. A gray bodysuit that was perhaps more snug than it was intended to be would stand out enough on it's own. The heavy black armored helmet, chestplate, gauntlets and greaves certainly didn't help. The thing that really made it so even a blind person could spot her was that the psionic-enhancing Z-Exo's attachments were a bright crimson red and only added to the bulk of the already heavy armor. Were it not for the fact she was using her psionic power to do so, she'd hardly be able to move.

Deciding to find a place to lay low for a moment, she gracefully flipped upside down and a small burst of psychic energy from the Z-Exo's jet system propelled her down into the trees with only a slight rustling of the branches and leaves betraying her presence.

[VexTheWarlord]

City 1438 Outskirts; Mountain-Top Peak; November 23rd, 4:06PM

"Stupid game... Give me a fucking line block once and while..." Vex muttered, clearly frustrated as he stared at the small electronic device held in his hands. After a moment he just sighed and pocketed it once more. He didn't pull his hand back out of his pocket afterward however, taking a moment to look around the area, chewing idly on the handle of the Kunai that Roi had thrown at him just a minute or two ago.

...Did Roi seriously think that was going to work?

He snickered, ah well... there seemed to be plenty of activity now. So... He grinned, hands sliding back out of his pockets as he crouched down, muscles tightening.

It was time to have some fun.

...and with that, and another flash of light. He was gone.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Mountain-Top Peak; November 23rd, 4:06PM

Ena blinked as she happened upon a young man who was staring at a small electronic device in his hands.

"Stupid game... Give me a fucking line block once and while..."

She blinked. Tetris? She loved tetris! Clearly this guy had his head in the right place. He didn't seem like the type to just randomly ambush two people in mid-conversation.

As she approached him to ask where they were, however, he pocketed the device and disappeared in a flash of light.

She stared after him for a moment, then sighed.

Perhaps if she could simply get an aerial view, she'd be able to figure out exactly where she was.

And with that she crouched low, before leaping up past the tree tops, high into the sky.

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:06 PM

Derik was in a panicking state, but he knew what the ninja's could do, and so he payed close attention to the sounds around him as he ran. He knew that the ninja's would use shadows to move around, and that the Ninja would probably sneak up behind or in front of him. It wasn't the first time. His ears twitched, hearing another distinct sound that was not the leaves rustling. Whatever it was, it was behind him.

The wolfman kicked of the ground, spinning midair to kick the kunai out of the air behind him, which then buried itself in a nearby tree. As he landed, sliding on the ground until he eventually stopped, he took in a deep breath before letting out a bestial roar, sending a shockwave back at the ninja chasing him.

There was only one ninja after him from what he could tell, but there were probably more. He couldn't afford to be caught at this point. With that he decided it was time to change strategies, being engulfed in a flash of light. When it died down, there was nothing of the man that used to stand there.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

Roi blinked as the man... simply vanished, in a flash of light. He immediately halted his chase in the shadow of a tree as he looked around, wondering where this strange foe could have gotten off too. Was the man gone, or simply invisible?

Roi frowned. If his opponent could teleport, then he'd have done so earlier, unless it took more effort than it was worth. Which left the possible scenario of stealth of some sort, as well as the possibility that the man had been an illusion to begin with.

Well, that didn't give him too many options. Of course, if the man thought he could go stealth against a ninja, he had another thing coming. The Shadow Ninja slowly sank into a nearby shadow, to re-emerge from one in the trees above where his target had last been. Carefully, he looked around, watching everything, waiting for that tale-tell sound or otherwise that would give away the position of his opponent - whether it was some sort of illusionist or a stealthed fighter in silly clothing.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

Nymt's dive below the treetops halted with a graceful, telekinetic flip to right herself in a hover a little over ten feet above the ground. She cast another glance around, spotting not sign of anybody. Not that that meant anything. Focusing inwardly, she cast out a small wave of psionic energy that would resonate with any sentient creature nearby. She had heard such tasks were more difficult for people imbued with psychic abilities, but for Saegin it was one of their most basic techniques. Two minds flared out as bright as beacons, both nearby. One was lurking amongst the trees while the other was supposed out in the open below her, an almost primal hunters focus bleeding through the brief momentary connection.

She gave a smirk, knowing full well whoever it was down there must be invisible. Raising both her arms out, one aimed down below and the other towards the treetops, she paused only for a moment to make sure she had the location of those minds correct. A small humming whirl of energy was the only warning sound as an almost glass-like manifestation of raw psychic energy blasted from her palms and rocketed towards their respective targets. She was hardly going all out with either, but there was enough kinetic force packed into the basketball sized attacks to rival being hit by a large truck.

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

Derik, currently in his invisible Kizeriub and currently watching he could without moving for any signs of ninja's. They weren't dumb enough to leave just because he seemed to disappear. Hell, he expected some of them to have heat vision goggles or something. It wouldn't be the first time.

His ears picked up a humming sound from above and he looked up to see a floating woman. A woman decked out in a tight bodysuit and heavy armor. It was a wonder that she could fly with with that heavy equipment, unless she had booster jets...or very high psychic powers. If anyone could see him, they'd see that he was smiling a wolfish smile. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to do anything as the ball launched. Instinctively he launched forward again, just barely avoiding the blast. In fact the shockwave pushed him more forward. Jeez. To think such a small ball could deal that much damage.

Given that she was also firing on the Ninja that was attacking them, he wasn't part of Kume's crew. Strangely, he wasn't feeling worried about getting caught. With another combatant that was not from either side, it was likely this wasn't a secret operation and that it was just a normal free for all in the wilderness. Well then, time to have some fun. He really didn't want to fight that ninja anyways.

'HEY! You seem like a pretty powerful psychic. Let's say you and me turn this into a 1 on 1. Forget the ninja. That is if you think you can keep up.'

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

"Wha...Where the hell am I!" Sarah yelled, whipping her head back and forth. She was definitely not in a forested area last she checked. Her black and red tail wagged back and forth in excitement despite the pressing issue of suddenly appearing else where. She had important things to do...like make that flight to meet up with Lucien and the others.

"Well...crap."

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

Roi's ear straining paid off when he heard the sound of humming, and he quickly turned to see a floating woman clad in gaudy armor and a snug gray bodysuit. She had a rather chunky build, and was holding two floating, whirling, nigh-transparent spheres of... if he had to guess, some kind of pure kinetic energy?

And then in an instant the whirling spheres were loosed, flying quickly at him and the likely invisible man. He quickly sank into the shadows of the tree branches, emerging in the shadow of a tree near the newcomer. Immediately he lashed out with a massive spike of shadow energy, sending it flying straight at her like a bullet, as the tree he'd been in mere instants before exploded into so much firewood.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:07 PM

Nymt's eyes narrowed as she felt the tree-lurking mind briefly pop out of existence before appearing safely out of the way. She blinked in surprise as the calculated observation from the illusive combatant was picked up across her attempts to keep a psychic lock on him, and offended huff escaping her lips. She was hardly chunky! She was curvaceous, more so than the average person to be sure, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with her figure! Locking her forearms together in front of her, a glassy field of psychic energy formed a barrier that intercepted the shadowy spike. Focusing intensely, the shield shimmered brightly along with a rapid hum as the spike attempted to force it's way through before the person-sized collection of energy blasted across the same trajectory the elemental attack had come from, unraveling it as it went.

She let out a small puff of exertion. Even with the boost the Z-Exo gave her, something like that would be difficult to pull off on a regular basis. The familiar tingling of thoughts directed at her caught her attention, drawing her focus back to the presumably invisible opponent. A challenge? A confident smile formed on her face, the 'ninja' forgotten for the moment, putting her hands on her hips as she faced where she was sure the combatant was after dodging her attack.

"I'm one of the strongest psychics around." She replied telepathically, the smug and playful tone coming through clearly. "Better hope you can put your money where your mouth is."

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:08 PM

Derik laughed inside his head, completely forgetting about his fear from a minute or so ago. Psychic's were always so confident, with their ability to read minds and what not. What a joke. He forced his thoughts his thoughts into her head with an amused, invisible grin.

'Sure I can. I expect some interesting tactics here, as I've dealt with many psychics in the past.'

With that said, the large Kizeriub beast sprinted off, heading for a less densely packed, and less populated by other fighters. He wanted to play with this girl for a bit, and that's no fun with others interfering.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:08 PM

Sarah Wiolt sighed as she realized she was in the perfect, and yet worse place for her to be. A forest. A very dense forest area. One use of her blinking ability and she'd start the mother of all forest fires. It was her fastest way of travel too, and she could cross quite a large distance in a matter of seconds. Sure, she wouldn't know where to go, but she could easily figure that out if she was to get high...enough.

"That's it!" She yelled triumphantly, snapping her fingers. Leaping as high as she could into the air, in order to avoid lighting the grassy field on fire, the young woman then disappeared in a burst of fire, only to reappear in another burst of fire higher up. This process repeated a number of times until she felt she was high enough to get a good view of the area. She could see a city in the distance, thankfully, so she wasn't that lost.

"Alright, well...No to just poof back to the ground. I don't really feel like killing myself this time."

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:08 PM

As Ena floated in the air, she noticed the distant form of... some kind of fire, rapidly appearing and re-appearing, but it was too small to make out. After a second they disappeared altogether.

'Lucy?' She wondered idly. She was too far to tell, really. 'Let's get a little closer.'

And then she threw a powerful punch in the direction the flames had been, multiplying the momentum of the swing enough to switch what direction she was flying in.

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:08 PM

Roi watched in momentary shock as the woman's psychic blast casually pushed his spike of darkness aside, as if it were a limp noodle. He was clearly underestimating her. He quickly dove back into the shadow realm, again mere instants before the tree was utterly demolished by her psychic might.

'Not bad at all. I can take this one seriously.' He thought as he floated through the sea of shadows to another exit point. As he did so, he retrieved the two handguns holstered on his hips, and when he came out of the shadows once more, he quickly spotted the woman, who was apparently looking for the invisible combatant.

With that he raised his handgun and pulled the trigger, and with a crack of thunder, a single explosive round screamed through the air at her head. Even as he fired, he was already sinking back into the shadow realm, to seek a new position to fire upon her from.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:08 PM

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be quite interesting for you."

Nymt replied, the mental emphasis on "you" making the playful taunt clear. With an amused smirk the pudgy woman tilted forward, a small burst of psychic energy propelling her after the invisible wolfman. If he wished to get his butt whooped in private, she had no problem obliging and it was simple enough to follow his mind. It was lucky that she did, as a loud thunderous bang sounded out followed near instantly by the screaming of a bullet tearing through the air where her had had been moment prior. Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized she'd forgotten about the "ninja" that was still present. Whoever it was possessed some method of teleportation, which was always annoying. She could pick up their mind as easily as always, but the use of such abilities always made her lose track momentarily. It also made them irritating to finish off, always vanishing out of the way of her attacks. Luckily she knew just the trick for that type of opponent.

"Ah, one moment." Nymt mentally called out, swiveling around to face the precise location of the hidden ninja. The exposed teal crystal on her forehead and along her collarbone both began to glow as she focused intently on the mind of her target. The hum of the Z-Exo began once more, though no outward energy appeared this time.

For a single instant, her physical senses were swallowed up by her mental ones. She focused her thoughts and energies on crafting a hellish "sound", sending it burrowing across the unfortunate man's psyche. People were far more accustomed to the "manipulating the physical" type of psychic, so she doubted this random person would have the ability to put up much resistance to her mental assault.

Then her awareness snapped back to normal and she once more aimed her palms towards the no-doubt writhing man. With a slight huff of exertion, she rapidly discharged several psionic bolts. Each was only about the size of a baseball, but numbered at about a dozen and easily capable of shredding a small swath out of the forest in their way. The strain of attempting to incapacitate opponents while outwardly attacking them at the same time was always a difficult feat, even with the help of the Z-Exo.

"That should take care of that." The Saegin noted lightly, as if she had simply paused to fix her hair. The hum and glow dying off, she zipped off after her soon-to-be-defeated challenger.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Heavily forested area; November 23rd, 4:08 PM


Roi burst out of another shadow at enough speed that would carry him into another, while firing upon the floating woman. However, in the mere span of time it took for him to pull each trigger twice, he was assaulted by this utterly terriblesound, and his eyes widened and he let out a silent gasp of pain. Even as he cradled his head, his momentum carried him into the tree whose shadow he'd been planning to re-enter, but he simply crashed into it and fell down to the ground, some ten feet below. He winced and sat up, trying to focus despite the phantom raucous he was hearing. Though she'd caught him by complete surprise with that maneuver, he'd had enough mental conditioning to at least function while under such blatant psychic, and outright ignore attacks from lesser mentalists.

As the sound ended, he fell into the shadow of the tree he'd crashed into, not wanting to fall victim to a repeat of that attack.

In the realm of darkness he floated, almost almost aimlessly, towards another entryway to the material world.

'She must be extremely powerful if she can use such different powers to that sort of extent,' He thought, wincing. Most psions, as far as he knew, liked to specialize. That she had the kind of kinetic power she'd shown earlier in addition to whatever she'd just used showed that she was no slouch.

Instants later he emerged in the shadows of shrubbery and looked up, but couldn't see the floating woman, and damned if he knew where his original target was. His entry into the shadow realm had been less than stellar and he hadn't had time to see where he'd be coming out.

'Damn,' He frowned. 'There's no telling if either of them knows where I am... I'll have to keep moving until I find something,'

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Derik made it to the open field, noting that there were a few trees, a few large rocks, but nothing else to really get in his way. It would do as a nice dueling ground. In a flash of light he shifted back to his humanoid form, and stood waiting. She was probably a pretty damn powerful psychic. He was pretty sure he could handle it though. Not many psychics actually know how to deal with constant barrage of fake plans planted into their heads.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

As she fell a bit, Sarah noticed a dot in the distance move extremely fast. Not only that, it was heading straight towards her. "That's not a good sign," she muttered before making the series of blinks to the floor. It looked like she was going to have a fight on her hands in a moment. Best to be prepared. Given the speed it was moving, it reminded her of Lucien's one friend. She just forgot her name.

And so Sarah waited. She was kind of curious anyway, her tail once again wagging in excitement. She personally blamed Cody.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Ena watched as the person she was talking to blinked back down to the ground. To her sped up perception, it was in slow motion, however, and she was easily able to see that it was not Lucien. Though the person had not opened fire or anything, there was no reason to not approach more cautiously. She slowed down her flight, and allowed gravity to take its hold on her once again, quickly falling down towards the ground. As she neared the forest floor, however, she looked down in time to see a tall, colorful girl walking through her landing zone. She almost instinctively cried out a warning to the poor girl, but then remembered where she was.

For her part, the tall girl on the ground - whose hair really made her look rather clownish - turned around and looked up at her in time to get that panicked expression on her face, but Ena plowed... through her, bleeding off as much momentum as possible at the very last second. As she landed, bloody chunks of girl rained down on her, before it all vanished in a flash of light.

She stood up, and looked around, none the worse for the wear.

"Oh well. Free kill!"

And then she began walking, carefully, to seek out the person she'd seen earlier.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Marianne respawned in a flash of light, a look of terror etched on her features. She immediately cried out, and fell to her knees as the phantom pain of her rather messy end wracked her body. Tears dropped out of her eyes as she hugged herself tightly and fell to the ground, where she rocked back and forth in agony. She could distinctly remember feeling her rectum widen as her bowels had emptied themselves. Luckily she had not re-spawned with a mess in her pants.

After a moment she regained her composure, and she remembered the form of the one who'd killed her. It'd happened too quickly for her to really get a good look; all she'd seen was that it was a flying girl.

She growled and sat up.

'You fucking slut,' She thought, climbing up to her feet. 'I'm gonna kill you! Man, why does everyone want to kill ME so much!?'

And then she started running, rather pissed off, and wholly determined to murder the next woman she came across.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Nymt zipped in just behind her opponent, pulling to a stop and hovering in place as a flash of light revealed the form of the formerly invisible combatant. He was certainly tall. Though in this day and age far from the tallest person she had seen, he was still held a decently impressive stature. The wild mess he called hair and relaxed, grinning demeanor he carried himself with exuded the same cockiness he displayed in his challenge to her. She doubted she even needed to be psychic to figure that part of the man's personality out just from her brief interaction with him already. His invisibility was apparently a result of having picked a union as the source of his abilities, if the ears, eyes, slightly wolfish tone to miscellaneous other features, and most obviously tail were any indication. Which meant he likely had some other tricks that came with the package instead of being a one-tricky pony.

"Not bad," The Saegin summed up coyly, crossing her arms loosely. Extremely loosely, in fact, because of the bulkiness of her suits chestplate and gauntlets getting in the way. "It's almost a shame I'll have to wipe that cute smirk off your face along with the rest of it."

She had not had a chance to read his mind much at all, and so was not yet aware of anything he could or couldn't do, but she doubted it would be anything she couldn't handle. She did know he was at least quick enough to avoid her attacks, but despite his invisibility it'd be infinitely easier to deal with that than that obnoxious teleporting ninja. Who, she noted with annoyance, had managed to get a couple of light shots in during her brief moment of unawareness. Not enough to get through her suit, but she definitely had a bruise or two. The jerk was probably dead or ran away by now anyways, so she put it out of mind.

"I'll let you start," Nymt offered, the mental tone to her psychic words showing the apparent silliness of her following statement was not lost on her. "Give you a chance to try and surprise me."

[JSB]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

"Give you a chance to try and surprise me."

Derik smirked. Oh these psychics say the darndest things. If she was as good as she claimed she was, he'd have his ass handed to him pretty quickly. If not, he'd have some nice fun. He took a long easy breath in, spreading out into a fighting stance, and closed his eyes. He really needed to have full focus if he wanted to pull this off. Declaring one thought while doing something else was a very hard task. He had to rely entirely on instinct while his mind focused on thinking falsehoods. And so he attempted to empty his mind.

'So, you think you are so great to give me first strike huh? Alright then. He's a warning. I'm attacking on your right.' Derik said telepathically to her, before sprinting towards her. In a split second he changed directions, moving towards her right. And disappeared with a small mutter of "Sonic Move". However, throughout this time, he constantly repeated the same line of 'I'm attacking on your right' in his mind.

An instant later, he was above her, his steel plated fist aiming for her spiky helmeted head.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Sarah grinned to herself. She'd recognize that maneuvering anywhere. Reckless and damaging to anyone and anything but the girl herself. Clearly it was that girl that was always all over Lucien when she had the chance to. What was her name?

"Lucy?" She said out loud, seeing how it felt. No, that was just her nickname for Lucien. Ah, whatever, it's not like it really mattered. The Unioned girl decided to address her with the only thing she cared to remember.

"Oi! Purple-skin! Get over here!" She yelled, grinning with excitement. It had been a damn long since she had fought her.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Nymt gave a confident smirk as the man vanished, a conical blade of glassy energy generated by her gauntlets forming around her hands. She swung her arm out, expecting to intercept him, but the blade caught nothing but air. Instantly warning bells went off as she caught the slightest waver of thought betraying his true intent moments before a steel plated fist slammed heavily into her helmet. She pitched forward, as if stumbling in mid air, and narrowed her eyes. This guy was definitely clever, if a jackass for taking such a cheap shot like that. Well, she mused as a determined smirk formed on her lips, she'd just have to take him slightly more seriously then.

Diving forward into her mid-air stumble, despite the slight ringing in her ears, the psionic jets in her greaves pulsed as she swiftly arced towards the ground. That small moment of forewarning hadn't been enough to get a true barrier up in time to intercept, but it'd certainly softened the blow and kept her from being knocked senseless. At least the helmet was actually good as a helmet instead of just a psychic aid, a mistake weaker and stupider psionic types made all the time, she mused. Gracefully she curved across the ground before bursting back up to complete her impromptu loop with an extra dash of speed, arms at the ready to try and cut the man in half before he could land or pull something else.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Roi surfaced beside a rock, looking around. There wasn't a sign of either the psychic woman or the illusionary man - whom he suspected may have even been a vision the psychic had sent to him as a lure (though it didn't fit in with her sending out two attacks at the start of her appearance). Regardless, he was probably safe now, which would give him some time to set traps in this place. Though it wasn't as good an ambush point as anywhere in the forest, no one expected to be taken by surprise in a place like this, thus his ability to hide in the shadows themselves would help immensely.

'Hmm... I'll set some mines around here, then get ready for-'

And suddenly the psychic woman dipped down into his field of vision, not five feet away, curving along the ground in a graceful arc before shooting upwards once again. He followed her path with wide eyed surprise and immediately brought his pistols to bear, which he fired at her in a panic.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest Clearing; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Ena raised an eyebrow at the overly-familiar girl's shout. Purple skin? It was true she had purple skin, but no one had ever thought to call her out by that before. With a frown she approached the girl, whom she recognized as the girl she'd just met an hour or so ago.

"Eh? What, you wanna fight or something?" She asked, scratching her head. Most people didn't call out to whoever they were fighting - they just charged at you and in some cases ambushed you with stealth. This was... certainly a bit different.

City 1438; Random Battle Channel HQ; November 23rd, 4:10 PM

A skinny, pale-glasses wearing woman stared at several screens, bored; each one was a shot of a forest, with battles between extremely low-level combatants taking place. There was nothing interesting going on in any of them; no flashy explosions, no bizarre magic spells, no unfair noob-slaughtering going on... or anything of the sort.

"Ugh... are all the fighters in this city pansies?" She grumbled, stuffing her face with chili-cheese fries. She swallowed them whole and slurped from a humongous soda bottle, before grabbing a nearby cheeseburger and cramming it down her throat. "They're all lightweights! Where's any action? The public demands action! We need someone like... that Vex guy, or his ninja friend, or better yet, that ridiculously busty super-perverted ninja girl... She always makes headlines..."

She let out a massive belch, and sighed as she input some commands on a holographic keyboard before her, and the cameras began moving, when she heard a strange beeping sound.

"Hmm? What's this?" She raised an eyebrow and looked over at it. "New combatants... have entered the area? And some of them are high level?!" she input some commands into the machine and images of profiles and people she'd never seen before appeared. She studied them for a minute, then frowned. "Data conflict? What's the deal here...? Hmm... I'll look these guys up, see what the 'conflict' is... "

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:09 PM

Marianne shambled out of the forest, looking around a bit, trying to get her bearings. There was an open area - not too big; it was surrounded on all sides by forest - but still quite expansive, at least as big as two Ultimate Deathmatch stadiums. Immediately she saw two people - a man in all black pointing a gun up, and a woman floating in the air, and she growled.

'Let's see how you jerkoffs like being randomly attacked!' She thought with a growl.

[Lathis]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:11 PM

Lucien reappeared in standard Dead-Net fashion, not exactly certain just what it was that had caused him to disappear in the first place.  Giving his head a shake, the red headed youth scanned his surroundings, trying to figure out just where it was that he'd popped back in.

'Man, what was I doing again?' he wondered silently.

'My sensors indicated a massive energy spike prior to your dematerialization.  The attack was too sudden for a proper scan, source unknown,' came the familiar reply of his Artificial Lifeform partner, Lilith.  As usual, she communicated via her technopathic connection with the the few implants in his brain designed to maximize the efficiency of their synergy.

'Quite embarassing, one would say,' chimed in another, more guttural voice.  'One of the most advanced machines of war on the planet... caught off guard while our host whiled away his time conversing with a delectable female?'

Unlike Lilith, whose voice emanated from outside of his mind, like a direct link via radio, this other voice, the voice of Bhaal, resonated from the dark depths of his mind, buried beneath numerous layers of mystical and psychic barriers.  As usual, the deamonic being had nothing particularly useful, or supportive, to say.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lucien muttered under his breath.  "We'd barely even made it onto the field.  I didn't even have time to get my guard up, let alone let it down."  He turned to the burnished gold sphere which floated patiently beside him.  "Now, can you tell us just where the heck we are and where anyone else is?  I don't wanna get sucker punched... or blasted again."

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest; November 23rd, 4:11 PM

Kazue Isozaki frowned as she walked amongst the forest, wearing confusion plain on her face. She had just obtained her combat license and profile in the Dead-Net, when all of a sudden there had been a great flash of blue light and she'd blacked out. The next thing she knew she was here, in this forest, with no real idea of what was going on.

She adjusted her shirt with a frown; her breasts had grown again recently, and 40P-Cup was just too small. Likewise the fabric of her pants were dangerously stretched over her butt. She jiggled with each step as she slowly walked around, surveying the area.

As a ninja, she was prepared for the unexpected. Already she had formed a plan in her mind to figure out where she was, how she had gotten there, and how to get back to where she belonged, in that order. As far as she could see she was still on the same planet, and there was a distinct impression that this wasn't some sort of illusion or vision.

Silently she crept through the woods, hoping to encounter a familiar area or landmark that might tell her she was close to her home in city 292.

[Xero]

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest; November 23rd, 4:11 PM

The tale tell flash of light from DeadNet's systems flared once again, depositing a young woman with tanned skin and a limber frame into the formerly empty space on the forest floor. Purple eyes curiously looked around, not a hint of unease or alarm. Her hair matched her eyes, all but unruly bangs pulled back into a ponytail that dangled down to the small of her back. The theme did not end there, a purple t-shirt adding color to the white jacket and denim pants; entirely non-combat designed sneakers, white and purple, adorned her feet and completely the excessively casual outfit.

Did you blink in the middle of a Light Dive again?

The question resonated not from nearby nor the depths of her mind, but from an intangible location that could not be equated to any physical location. The words, for there was not even a voice attached to them, simply were and she simply understood them.

"Did I even Dive?" She thought to herself, mentally forming the thoughts into pronounced words by habit as she tried to remember what had happened immediately before with her arms crossed over her chest and lips pursed in confusion.

You were complaining about the line only a minute ago.

She sheepishly scratched her head, giving a chuckle of admittance to the implied accusation.

"People are just way too slow in lines..." She gave a mental sigh. She was extremely prone to skipping the "line" part of things out of impatience. She paid whatever for the entry, so why should she have to hang around while people took a million years to shuffle ten feet? She shook her head after a moment as something came to her attention, frowning as she murmured her thoughts out loud. "Wait, nothings messed up. Not even a little. I couldn't have accidentally dove here."

Then something else is going on.

Purple eyes narrowed and the light snapping of her knuckles being cracked sounded as she contemplated that.

"Then it's time for Xanthariel to kick some ass!" A mental fist-pump accompanied the thought.

Sariel... We're still not the same person... Were the words capable of giving off a tone, it was likely they would be sighing in resignation.

"Well the name is awesome, so zip it." She mentally stuck out her tongue, the ensuing moment of silence confirming her victory in the briefly lived debate.

[Lathis]

City 1438 Outskirts; Open field; November 23rd, 4:16 PM

A massive explosion rocked the landscape, the swirling sphere of expanding hellfire incinerating the scant shrubbery and reducing soil to filthy blackened glass.  It was a testament to the pyrokinetic warrior whom had created the fiery assault, such power usually possessed only by those reckless combatants willing to bind their very souls to inhuman elemental beings.

The glowing white Glaive which exploded from the heart of the conflagration did not care to offer any congratulations on the achievement.  A crack of thunder split the air as Lilith shattered the sound barrier in her self propelled flight, her gleaming blade white hot with her own inner fire.  A second later, her target vanished in a flash of light, her steaming entrails vanishing along with her, leaving the cybernetic organism that was Lilith conveniently clean once more.

Taking a quick scan of her surroundings, Lilith then dismissed her combat frame, leaving only the floating orb of orange, cyber-optic crystal which was her main core, behind.

'No other registered combatants within immediate vicinity,' she lamented.  If anything, the born and bred (figuratively speaking), felt cheated at their first opponent of the day.  Fighting a fire user was almost like cheating, and no real threat to her at all.

A hacking cough drew her attention back to the still burning crater where her partner stumbled forward.  Hastily waving his hands before his face, a few small puffs of black smoke wafting out of his mouth as he walked in her direction.

"Speak for yourself, Lil."  Lucien brushed a hand across his shoulder, only for his Warco jacket to disintegrate into ash and drift down to the ground.  Only his specially designed bodysuit remained after that last attack, which, while incredibly temperature resistant, was only nominally resistant to gunfire and the like (his jacket had been more heavily armored, but wasn't nearly as flame proof).  The red headed youth also looked a little red in the face himself, though he was recovering rapidly.

"Even with you shielding me, and with my own resistance, that hurt like hell.  Whoever that chick was, she was hot."

Lilith's coloring deepened to a dark, burnished gold as she scoffed at the very notion.  Not only had the female been utterly unimpressive, she offered absolutely nothing in regards to an efficient partnership, merely matching their abilities, rather than complementing them, as a true comrade should.

Of course, that was one of the last thing on the living computer's infinitely powerful mind.  Even as she had been battling, her perception of time several hundred times that of most squishy brained organics, there was something else she had noted of interest.

'Lucien, I am detecting... anomalous readings within the Dead Net system.  I am also having difficulty making a proper connection to perform a more in depth diagnosis.

Lucien, a frail, eggheaded researcher thrust into the center of a triumvirate composed of two ruthless warriors, perked up at her report.  It often frustrated Lilith that her 'host' was so much more  interested in his studies than in battle... but then again, he served as little more than a meaty buffer between herself and her true partner... the Daemon Baal.

"Hmm, something off about DeadNet?  Could be serious.  Maybe we should get out of the killing field... and try to warn anyone else we run into.  If there is anything wrong with the system, I don't want to risk not being able to re-instate."

She bobbed in agreement.  As powerful as they were, they were, unfortunately, still very much a work in progress, and there were several individuals within the region ranked far higher than themselves.  Caution was the best course.

"Alright, let's get outta here.  See if you can get a hold of Ena, too, if she's still anywhere in the area, and let her know something odd is up."

Her coloration deepening again, Lilith did not vocalize her annoyance at the request, but she did grudgingly comply.

[Author Roy]

City 1438; Random Battle Channel HQ; November 23rd, 4:15 PM

"That's... very weird..." The skinny woman in the studio murmured as she stared at the data on her screen. Several of the combatants who'd just entered the area had obviously glitched profiles, because the dates of their joining were weird.

She'd been happy when Kazue showed up, thinking she would get some comedic one-woman-army reels, but... the woman had yet to do anything. Indeed, she was simply stalking around, apparently trying to stake out the competition and avoiding direct conflict, as one might expect a ninja to - decidedly unlike her.

The sounds of an explosion caught her attention and she whipped her head over to look at a floating image, where she saw that female flame elementalist standing victoriously... for an audible shockwave to ripple out as one of the newcomer's weapons flew from the center of the roiling flames, glowing like a miniature sun, and through the elementalist, scattering her innards through the air. Mere instants after disembowelment Dead-Net kicked in and the woman vanished, leaving only the weapon.

She turned her attention to the flames, where the weapon's owner had to have been. He stumbled forward, looking not at all like he'd just managed that ridiculously powerful flame-lit throw, and coughed as part of his protective suit fell away, destroyed by the conflagration. That the man himself had survived the fire okay was surprising, if not at all impressive. She glanced at his profile and frowned, though. No search engine found the kid or any mention of him, not even his combatant persona.

The same was true for most of the other newcomers.

"I'll have to see what I can find of their public records..." she mumbled, deciding to aim her efforts elsewhere as she turned and picked up a steaming pizza - unsliced - and began to swallow it whole.

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest; November 23rd, 4:15 PM

Lyn floated through the woods with nary a sound, carefully any presences she sensed. The last thing she remembered was standing in that disgusting smelling underbelly of a destroyed manor, trying to make sense of what had just happened, when suddenly she had appeared in this place.

It'd only taken an instant for her to attempt uplink with the Dead-Net satellites and figure out just what the hell was going on. What she'd found after several minutes of looking around... was disturbing. Frightening, even.

Since there was every indication that she had suddenly and unceremoniously been dropped into the past, and she had no idea why or how.

She knew where she was, and that she wasn't anywhere close to City 1985, or even 292. She was near the place she'd lived as a younger teen, before any involvement with WarCorp. or the ninjas, and she had no idea whether or not she was alone, or if others had been pulled along with her.

Suddenly the sounds of a nearby explosion gripped her and she turned, looking in the direction of the explosion. Her mind raced to find out if there were any other high-level combatants in the area through its connection to the dead-net satellites. Instants later she had downloaded live map of the area which told her exactly where the explosion had occurred. Attempts to connect with the Random Battle Spotter Cameras via the Dead-Net failed; logically, she supposed, in the past their security settings were different. Using her technopathy on one was also out since they were designed by the very best to be fully combatant proof.

As the results from her uplink to the Dead-Net came back, she blinked. There were a surprising number of familiar people in the area, yet... something was odd about a few of them. The dates on their profiles were jumbled and mis-matched, as if... most of them had been dragged from different points in time, as she just had. The only one that seemed consistent with the rest of the world was Roi.

Somehow, despite her familiarity with them, this only served to unsettle her even more. As she began floating towards the explosion, hoping to find someone who wouldn't kill her on sight, her mind worked furiously to uncover what the hell was going on.

[Author Roy]

City 1438 Outskirts; Forest; November 23rd, 4:17 PM

Albrecht Ridere sighed in contentment as his massive Gigas-Omega Class Tactical War Suit strode the land, unchallenged. A minute ago he had been somewhere else, but now he was here. He didn't care why or how, as it didn't change what he was about to do.

"Time to melt some faces," He said to himself with a decisive chuckle.

And as he stepped out into the clearing area, he firing all manner of weapon. Lasers, Hadrons, Gauss machine gun rounds, grenades and supercooled plasma cut a swath of destruction ahead of him in a straight line for several kilometers.

After it was finished he engaged his cloaking system and waited. Now that he had announced his presence, surely someone would come to find out what had caused such a ruckus.

Right?