Futuristic Territory 6

[White Masquerade]

Little City Regional (Airport)​

Spoiler: Inside

Little City Regional! An airport! The largest in all of floor 1, they represent a vital and very important part of the digital world. As it is widely known, this digital reality consists of 100 floors stacked one on top of the other, layer after layer. While smaller hangars, plane-yards, and thin airstrips let citizens travel to other cities on the same floor, only by megaports like LCR (Little City Regional) are people able to fly to new ones altogether. One central megaport per floor, the one in Little City handles the duty of taking those who want to jump layers to their final destinations. And it is a sight to behold. Watching a plane take off, tip straight up and wine into the sky never gets old for people watching below. After a certain height, the plane would seize, shimmer, and disappear as programming takes it into the realm of the next floor. Looking out the window is one of the rare instances something mysterious could be glimpsed. A sea of code, swirling to gyrate and contort the skies, fills the view as the plane sits among twinkling gems in what looks like the cold deep of space...

Notable Locations:
Arrival / Departure Zone

Atmosphere:
Bustling with people hung out in every direction. Whether to another city or another floor, LCR is mostly concerned with trying to keep everything ordered, in the right place, and out on-time.

Attendee Size:
Varies from sparse to full.

Little City North Exit - To Outside Zones​

Spoiler: Into The Mount

​

Has one ever wondered where Little City stops and the wilderness begins? There's so much talk about travelling outside the city. It being dangerous to go by yourself. Taking a risk without the sight of a Codebreaker. Okay. But how exactly would one get there? Well, Little City has quite a few exits leading out into the land and the one to the North is the most famous of them all. Moving to that edge of the city, snooping beyond its boundaries where no one dares go, the forests and hills eventually give way to compelling mountains. With only a small river brave enough to cut through, it is within these mountains where one can find the exit they're looking for: the exit to the outside world. If one is not deterred by the words of those sitting at the edge and forges ahead into the hushing mists, they will come across something beautiful. A glistening blue portal that towers for nearly a mile.

Notable Locations:
IWA Outpost
North Portal Exit

Atmosphere:
Silent, vast, and cold.

Attendee Size:
Empty except for the occasional traveler trying to see the outside world.

Outside Zone - Pendeji Plains​

​

A zone outside the city. The first sequence a person sees after going through Little City's Northern Exit, it's a breath-taking piece of environment people rarely get to glimpse. Open to the world and free from Codebreaking eyes, it is a place that takes the weight off one's soul and fills them with awe. Yet within the vast expanse creators took time to craft, there is a subtle danger that lies in the surface just below. A "Wild West" of sorts, it's heart-stopping locales like this that leave those present within the most vulnerable. There is an untamed experience, a palpable lawlessness that governs this world, and setting foot anywhere outside a city, it can be immediately felt. Along with undesirables who choose not follow the rule of law, the oft forgotten second inhabitants of Earth roam too. Animals routinely comb the countryside, plodding and going about their life. Places like these, so arresting, so pleasing to the heart and eye...surely despite all the talk of oddities springing up like flies, it would be something to try to see. Even just once.

Notable Locations:
None

Atmosphere:
Looming...yet strangely calming and puts those there in a soft, pensive mood.

Attendee Size:
None. Rarely anyone attempts to come here.

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains

Kesi Kimura
5 Days Before Introductions.
​

"It's just like, trash though. You set a few fires, tag a few buildings, everyone's out to get you. It's not like I killed anybody, nobody got hurt... Well, pride got hurt, and I racked that one rent-a-bobby, but that's not that bad. Bunch of bitches, you know what I mean little dude?" Kesi ranted to no human in particular.

In stead she directed her rhetorical queries down at a scuttling Anklebiter. The crustacean in question was giving Kesi a quarrelsome course of curriculum in correctly catching its clasping claws on a crooked branch of crude cedar. To goal of course, once she'd managed to finally get it to grab the branch with both pincers, was to smile succinctly as she sequestered a cigarette securely in the little creatures mouth. Using one hand to continue to hold the branch in place, ergo holding the somewhat irritated crab in place, Kesi used her other hand to pull her lit, half smoked cigarette from her mouth and use it to light up the smoke she'd managed to get the crab to bite down on.

Lifting her own back to her lips, Kesi took a drag off of it, subtly revelling in the craftmanship. They really did manage to get just about everything right, all the way down to the finest details like taste and texture. Even better was that they were programmed outright to induce relaxation, and there apparently had never been a racial or special limiter put in place. Guess they never figured someone would give one to a crab for company. After a minute of chilling, she noticed her temporary companion seemed to have finally calmed down, settling on the rocks under him as his pincers laid out to his sides. The crustacean blinked sluggishly and Kesi reached down and pat it on the shell idly as it proved to her that it had started caring about things about as much as she had.

Lying on the rocks with her 'friend' Kesi let silence rule as she watched the clouds pass by above. Minutes passed as she watched the fluffy white creations above list past, leaving her somewhat jealous of their ability to float away from it all. In her fugue state the girl almost didn't notice as a large bird came swooping down, alighting away with her temporary companion, the relaxation crustacean. Watching as the poor thing was carried away into the sky, likely to meet it's death at the beak of the predatory bird, Kesi sat up and put a hand to her forehead sighing.

"What a fucking drag."

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains

Kesi Kimura
4 Days Before Introductions.
​

Be it fighting, travelling, practising her mobility, anything, it was always important to try to garner new perspectives on the world. Vital for her, even, as she was a bit of a shut away from people. Not that anything was wrong with most people-

106​

-but she had grown up, and tired, of having always to impress and impose upon others her... 'regality'... if that was even a word.

107​

She was always fair certain her father had made it up. It seemed like something he would do, always fussing over public appearances. Of course she didn't have to worry about that now-

108​

-as impressing anyone was hard to do when you disappear from you bunker and your father reports you've died. No more media, no more people begging for autographs or bullshitting for attention and hopes to one day become part of the family. Like she would-

109​

-ever let that happen anyhow. She as an abnormality amongst the standard that most people held themselves too, that most programmes even held themselves to, save for a few. She was a lone wolf... or wastehound may have been a more apt analogy at the moment.

110​

On her dip towards the earth, Kesi let her eyes stray up towards her brows so that as her lowest she could catch a glimpse of the stubborn beast as it lunged. Of course, that wasn't a worry as-

111​

-she was secured quite well up a tree. She'd locked her knees around one branch and hooked her ankles to the another branch, keeping her from falling as she-

112​

-set her core on fire with a regiment of inverted sit ups. Helped keep her mind focused while relaxing her nerves, even if she flirted with death on every set. Still, it was only one wastehound, presumably cast-

113​

-out of its group for the same reason she had been. It was different. Or at least it's what she wanted to believe. Truth was the beast likely had a coding issue somewhere. It would die, or maybe someone would take pity and fix it. No, it would most certainly-

114​

-die. It was already borderline worn out trying to catch her alone. It was another interest of hers too, watching as the beasts laboured breathing sets its sides heaving in and out heavily. It was clear-

115​

-a lot of work had been put into them, and she couldn't help but wonder what their creator might have thought seeing the creature struggle now. This clearly hadn't been it's intended function. Perhaps-

116​

-that was why her father had always been so angry with her. She wasn't fulfilling his intended purpose. Mother always said he cared in his own way. Mayhaps the bastard just didn't want her wearing herself out, or more likely he was just a bastard and she knew it. A muffled thump drew her attention downwards towards the base of the tree, to she that the exhausted wastehound had finally given up on trying to get her. In fact it looked like it had given up on life itself, struggling to move at all as it lay on its side.

"117," she declared as she pulled herself up one more time, "I feel like I could save the galaxy after that."

Holding the branch with her right hand, Kesi unhooked her feet and untied her braid from her waist, letting gravity pull it back down towards the earth. Finally she let go of the branch and let gravity take hold of her too, as she alighted to the ground, landing airily as if she hadn't just dropped almost ten whole feet.

Next to her, the wastehound struggled to rise, but Kesi sat on her knees behind it's shoulders and put her hand down at the back of its ear, holding it's head down as it tried vainly to attack or defend itself. Whatever was going through its mind. Accessing her inventory, she pulled forth a bottle of water and placed it down before carefully reaching over the beast's muzzle and furrowing the earth with her fingers, putting a divot before the beast where she then poured the liquid.

"There you go fuckhead, just try to remember that the next arsehole to catch you alone won't be so nice."

Rising to her feet, Kesi turned her back on the animal and set her hands behind her head, both to sigh and to stretch out her core a bit. Whistling as she walked way, Kesi continued forward, blazing her own trail and forging on ahead, a lone wastehound against the world. Eventually she knew she'd reach Little City, that would come in time, but what she didn't know was how she was going to change to survive there.

She was tired of being run out of each city, and it would be nice to finally settle somewhere. Find a place to be as it were. She really just needed to stop being so antisocial, avoiding people and starting fights. That was her nature though, to avoid, to stir up trouble and run. Fighting people and beasts was easy too, but how easy could it be to fight nature? Like the fuckhead from a few minutes prior, trying to eat her time after time and failing time after time. The dumb animal just couldn't figure it out.

Resigning herself to the idea that Little City was only going to be a temporary abode, Kesi planned out where she'd want to set up shop for while she was there, and started formulating plans should she start trouble too soon. Casting an errant glance back at the animal one last time before she lost view of it over the ridge, Kesi saw it was laying on it's belly like a normal hound, still panting slightly in between drinks. As if sensing her gaze, it too looked up at her but made no moves to rise and follow, instead staying by it's puddle of water.

"Huh."

Shrugging, Kesi continued along her path.

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

To Anubis

Walking through the wilds of the Pendeji plains...

Who is that fine piece of Egyptian code breaking in all the right places? It's Kesi Kimura, code-named Anubis, terror of the 1st floor. On her way to the bounds of yet another town to vandalize - in this case, the big city of Little City- not only does she have strangers in her sights, but strangers taker her in theirs too.

Ding!

Ding!​

And in that moment a strange thing occurred. Receiving two messages simultaneously inside a odd thing marked Code Academy, even stranger were the details displayed:

You Have Received A Private Message From Unknown

You have recieved a message from a sender that has been blocked. Anubis, would you like to open?

You Have Received A Private Message From Unknown

You have recieved a message from a sender that has been blocked. Anubis, would you like to open?

One message is weird enough...but two??

What?

Game Break! Kesi Kimura! A decisions awaits! You have received two messages, both from senders going so far as to block their trail and names! How do you respond? Will you open the 1st one? Open the 2nd? Open both!? None at all!?? OH MY GOD! What will you do!!!???​

​

Pequeno Burraidh

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains

Kesi Kimura
​

Kesi couldn't keep the smile off her face as she saw that she finally had the border of Little City in her sight. It was still a long ways away, of course, but it was a welcome sight to be certain. She had to be honest with herself after all, and while she did prefer to be by herself, she liked having the option of interaction should she choose it. The wilds didn't come with much in the ways of options, but it did have the isolation in spades. Part of why she was looking forward to getting to Little City. A foray into a dive bar was always worth the trip and filled the quota she wanted for interaction. The alcohol was never anything to complain about either.

As she continued along the path Kesi heard her inbox chime at her, calling for her attention with it's subtle and airy chimes. As she moved to open her interface she suddenly found herself light headed. The feeling didn't pass quickly either, and Kesi let out a mixture of a curse in pain and a scream of agony as she clutched her chest. She may have had her pain receptors modified just a little, but this was... gods she felt like she'd been stabbed clean through the chest.

Falling to her knees, Kesi desperately waited for the torturous pain to stop, but instead was greeted with a followup feeling. Her head was wracked in agony be a feeling she could only describe as someone trying to rip her brain out trough her skull. The horrors weren't over either, as the next beast to overcome was a sensation of fire and burning mixed with the agony of feeling like your joints were being screwed into place like someone was trying to poorly put her back together.

Vision blurring, the last thing Kesi saw before her eyes blacked out was the ground rushing to meet her face.

_______

"Fucking hell..."

Memories of her torture fresh in her mind, Kesi struggled to get her consciousness through the fog and mire that seemed to slow her processing and send such obnoxious ringing through her ears. Her eyelids felt like lead as she forced them open, immediately regretting the decision as light flooded into them. Pushing against the dirt with her hands, Kesi struggled to h right herself, though she stopped once she managed to get herself onto her hands and knees.

"What in the hell was that? Some sort of glitch in the system?" she bemoaned aloud to herself as she tried to gather her thoughts after the ordeal, "What gods that rule life does some poor bastard have to piss the fuck off to suffer that."

It was a rhetoric of course. It was, likely, a system error. She had, after all, had her skin illegally modified to allow for her scarification, and had also seen to it that she had her pain threshold altered. Most people, the standard kind, kept it set to zero. Others, like her uncle, believed pain made sure you kept from your mistakes. He always had his set to ten. Always said it was a good way to reinforce his careful behaviours at all times given his real world profession.

For Kesi, she revelled in all sensations. Reminded her that she was alive. Thought whatever had just happened was pushing it. It felt like she'd been stabbed, torn apart and then put back together again, definitely not what she'd signed on for. Pinching herself for good measure, she made sure everything was set back to where it needed to be, and only when she was sitisfied with her answer did her mind finally register the crunching of dirt off to her right, and a low moan.

Looking to her right she saw blackened feet, scorched and taut against the bone that lay underneath the charred hide. Pushing off to her left Kesi stumbled trying to get to her feet and fell to her side. As she rolled she finally caught full view of what had approached her. It was a Shambler.

The things almost petrified mouth cracked horribly as it twisted into a disturbingly content smile. As it did so fire began to wick out from the obsidian shadows of it's scoured form. It seconds a conflagration had over taken it as it reached out to embrace Kesi.

Seconds before it was to fall upon her, Kesi was shocked as something slammed into the Shambler, sending both rolling away. An inhuman shriek tore from the Shambler's throat as it rolled away from whatever had impacted it, its right arm a flame wreathed, sickening stump as it struggled to rise.

Just a metre away a Wastehound shook its head ferociously before throwing the object locked in its jaws to the side. It landed just next to her, so Kesi looked down at it, quickly identifying it as the missing chunk of the Shambler's arm. Pushing herself to her feet, she watched in awe as the Shambler and Wastehound launched themselves at each other. The fight didn't last long either. With its heat reflective scales and tough hide, it took a score of seconds for the Wastehound to tear the Shambler to pieces.

Taking a wary step back as the Wastehound turned away from the corpse of its prey, Kesi's couldn't help but question whether or not she was about to figure out the 'torn apart' sentiment in the physical plain as the beast locked eyes with her. Instead it just blinked lazily and dug a small furrow into the earth, looking at it, then at her, then back to the scoured divot in the earth, and back to her again.

Kesi, to be honest, couldn't believe it, "No shit! Fuckhead!"

Piecing together what was expected of her quickly, mostly so she didn't wind up like the Shambler, Kesi retrieved a bottle of water from her inventory and poured it into the earthen bowl. Content, the Wastehound laid down and began to drink, mind already clear of any thoughts it may have had about Kesi. Kesi, on the other hand, was ten shades of pleased as she realised that the stupid thing must have followed her after she'd helped it. Taking a moments reprieve, Kesi too drank some water before remembering that she needed to get to town.

"Well fuckhead, its been real. Why don't you go find yourself a nice partner fuckhead and have a bunch of fuckhead babies, you deserve it."

Letting out a relieved sigh as she walked away, she was pleased to know that it wasn't making any moves to follow her. She certainly wasn't going to curse the beast or anything, and she appreciated the help, but she did not need a pet following her around. Besides, they never lived as long as she wanted them to, and didn't want to go through the process of losing them. It wasn't until the Wastehound was a good thrity minutes walk back the ways that she remembered the messages that had chimed.

Pulling open her interface, Kesi looked at both of them, sent to Anubis of course, and quickly clicked to open both. They were probably some new spam for how to digitally lengthen the size of your pride for the women or some other rubbish like that.

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains

Kesi Kimura
2 Days Before Introductions.

​

Idling about just outside of a grove of trees, Kesi took in the rich scent of the woods, revelling in the wild smell. Looking out over the plain she couldn't help but admire how carefully crafted every facet of the virtual world was. To capture every animal, every noise, every sound, to fake the rotation of the earth to programme winds, tides, a false sun and moon and even stars and constellations. All just to give them a feel for what they could all hope to see one day in real life.

Personally, she'd already seen enough of the real world. A sand and sun blasted wasteland, the only things she'd seen that would even survive it long term were the simulated creatures made by her old friend's father. Keep in mind, she only meant survive it. She doubted even they would want to live there.

There was more to be found only anyhow, and here she knew she could exercise her strengths a fair bit better. And speaking of exercise, there was a series of chimes as Kesi filtered through her menu. Where was it, where was it.... Ah, yes, a martial training simulator. Essentially a nifty device that formed a group of standard human holograms used for sparring. Not built to be registered online as enemies, but rather objects, they kept any systems from freaking out about 'hostiles' when in city bounds, and served their purpose well.

Pulling the emitter out and adjusting the settings to have it recognise voice commands, Kesi placed it down on a stone and stepped away as the device began to power up, humming melodically as it lit up and an automated voice rang out.

"Good Evening *Scanning* Ma'am. Welcome to Kimura Corporations Combat Simulator. To obtain instructions as to the operation of this device, say '1'. To Obtain further information on Kimura Corporation, say '2'. To find out about upcoming deals or pro-"

"Twelve, twelve, for fuck's sake, twelve you piece of shit."

It didn't matter how many times she'd powered up the thing, it always had the same twelve prompts, and of course the first eleven were all irrelevant to the actual operation of the device. God her father was an arrogant self bloated prick.

"You have selected option twelve, start simulation. Kimura Corporation would like you for choosing our Kimura Corporation Combat Simulation device as you choice of combat simulation devices, before you start, would you like to hear about any related Kimura Corporation bra-"

Tuning the device out as part of her mind started an instinctual count down, the other half pulled a pair of excess cloths from her waist, starting to wrap them both around her knuckles, hands and wrists as she prepared for the spar. That and hell if this device didn't piss her off more every time she listened to it. Put her in even more a mood to thrash someone.

Convenient.

"No."

"Thank you for your consideration, please input-"

"Solo fight."

"Understood, spawning matched par-"

"Increase height, average human."

"Increasing height from 'Below Substandard' to 'Average'."

"Below substandard my fucking arse," Kesi mumbled, "Sync to my speed, match."

Throwing a few jabs and sidesteps around as the device scanned her, she watched as her soon to be opponent likewise copied her moves, shadowboxing alongside her slow at first, but she couldn't help but grin as it picked up speed to match her. Once satisfied, Kesi stepped away from the facsimile humanoid and spoke up.

"Start match, style: defensive."

Stepping forward, Kesi watched as her opponent raised its hands up, standing in a fairly solid guard, but it was also a standard guard. Throwing out a simple right jab, Kesi watched as the dummy made to push it away with its left arm. When it did so she reached in with her left, grabbed its other arm and brought herself in to knee it in the stomach. She then dropped the raised leg down, planting her foot firmly and twisted, using her free right hand to grip the front of the dummy while her left stayed on its arm. The result was an off balance that toppled the opponent easily.

"Round one, point: User."

"Of course. Start round 2, style: balanced."

"Starting round 2, style: balanced. Three, two, one, start."

Watching as the facsimile disappeared the reappeared in front of her, she grinned in anticipation as it took up a more forward stance. As soon as the 'go' was stated she watched as it came forward slowly, obviously testing her reactions. Nothing. She didn't move anything but her eyes as she stood in a right side leading stance, waiting. Finally done testing, the facsimile launched a left jab that she dodged easily simply by ducking.

Driving an elbow into its chest, she watched the dummy step back and drew its arms in tighter. Waiting a bit, the facsimile opted again to make the first move, a left feint followed with a right hook. Stepping to the left of the feint, it put her in line with the hook, but it wasn't anything she hadn't been prepared for. Reaching out with her lead hand, she grabbed its wrist and pulled down while throwing her left hand over both of their right arms, catching the facsimile in the nose.

They both stepped back, but Kesi knew her move would have ruined the day of anyone with an actual nose. Instead of waiting for the next attack, though, Kesi pressed forward, throwing a slow left. Watching as it reached forward with its right arm to catch her left, she rolled her left at the elbow, watching as the grab missed. At the same time her right arm came up and grabbed the groping hand of her opponent whilst her left left moved forward to plant itself at outside her opponent's right leg. With her left arm still outstretched and now over their right arm and across their chest, she grabbed their left shoulder firmly and pushed left hard, toppling the facsimile over her left leg and rolling it onto its stomach. With a twist she 'dislocated' its elbow and rose, eyeing the device.

"Round two, point: User."

"Damn right. Fuckin' easy, " she jibed, almost sad her opponent wouldn't be able to be riled up, "Spawn secondary fighter, set height: average, set style: defensive. Primary fighter, set style: aggressive."

Taking up position, she listened as the device announced the start of round three and began the countdown. Her current time for a twofer was forty-three seconds. She wanted to beat that. If not, well, three-fer was the obvious answer.

"Start."

As soon as the round started up the primary ran forward with a right hook. Leaping forward, Kesi went under the primary's arm and tucked into a roll, coming up just in front of the secondary. Slamming a fist into the secondary's gut, she watched as it doubled over, and she rose quickly to deliver and brutal elbow to the back of its head, immediately putting it down. Befor she could respond she felt a fist slam across her jaw and send her spinning away as she put ground between herself and the primary.

Letting the primary charge again, she dropped to a knee as it closed and slammed her right fist into its left knee. Watching the knee buckle in satisfaction, she caught its left wrist in her left hand and put her right against its elbow. Using the new leverage, she pushed the primary to its stomach in front of her before pushing just a bit more until she felt a satisfied jerk. Rising up from the primary, its left arm now bent the wrong way at the elbow, she looked to the device in satisfaction.

"Round three, point: User."

"Round three time?"

"Time of round three duration: Forty-four seconds."

"Damn."

None too pleased with her own results, Kesi balled up her fists as the pair of facsimiles behind her dissipated. She could have done better, and if she hadn't let herself get hit she would have saved a solid three seconds minimum. Taking in a breath, she summoned forth a bottle of water from her inventory and took a few solid dregs.

"Right, Match restart. Set for one round. Primary fighter, height: average, style: gradient, sub-style three opponents: cautious, sub-style two opponents: modular, sub-style one opponent: aggressive. Secondary fighter, height: average, style: match primary fighter. Spawn tertiary fighter, height: average, style: match primary fighter." she stated clearly before tacking on, "Set match type: elimination."

"Warning, Kimura Corporation does not advi-"

"Override combatant numbers safety protocol."

"Understood, Kimura Corporation will not be held liable fo-"

"Agreed."

"You have agreed to Kimura Corporation Liability Release form. Match will start after this message from our sponsors, the wonderful minds of Kimura Corporation. Kimura Corporation, the forefront of technological marvels, ensuring that all your wants are at your fingerti-"

"Every day I think I can't hate the arrogant bastard any fucking more." growled Kesi as she tried to tune out the advertisement for her fathers company. Thankfully he didn't make everything in the virtual world, but he made enough hot commodities that he was close to becoming an international name. Her name, was close to being an international name. She neither needed nor wanted that much attention. Pulling open her menu again, she quickly sifted through her options before she reached her saved music and clicked on one of the titles.

"Match two, round one. Three, two, one, start."

Spoiler

Watching the three fighters start to fan out around her, Kesi kept light on her feet and moved back, ensuring they all stayed in front of her. When their virtual intelligence system decided she wasn't going to let herself get surrounded, secondary stepped forward and took a light swing, but stayed defensive. It was enough of a tell that Kesi, who was about to turn to face secondary, leapt back just as primary came in with a hook, having tried catching her distracted.

Tertiary took the chance to press the attack and leaped forth, but Kesi stepped into it rather than away and drove her shoulder into its chest. The force sent tertiary spinning off to the side as he hit the ground. She'd deal with tertiary later. Returning her focus to primary and secondary, she watched as they came in together, clearly aiming at working together to bring her down.

Delivering opposite jabs, Kesi dodged right to keep out of primary's reach, and pushed secondary's jab away to the left, hoping to imbalance it and try to topple it . When she saw it kept its balance, she jumped up quickly and kicked out with both feet. Hitting it in the side, she used the momentum to land in a roll off to the right as primary and secondary collided. Pressing the advantage, she went after tertiary alone. No contest, she caught a left hook and drove her knee into its groin, followed up with a hit to its right knee. Once it dropped low enough she got behind it before wrapping her arms around its head and twisting.

"Tertiary fighter, eliminated."

Letting the facsimile dissipate, Kesi let her attention fall onto the next two as they changed stances. Unsure which would attack first, she was surprised when they instead opted to press forward at the exact same time. Guess the computer really did learn after a while. Falling back on the defensive, Kesi worked hard to block or dodge the incoming barrage all while letting herself get pushed back. She knew it would only be so long before one of them made an error in judgement.

It wasn't too long before primary overreached either. Using primary's overextended arm, she levered herself up and kicked out at secondary, catching its chin. She then twisted about and put a foot in the small of primary's back while one hand held its arm, and the other found purchase around its neck. Programmed to respond as human avatars would, it didn't take long for the pressure at its throat and carotids caused it to drop to its knees, and when it did Kesi dropped off of it as well. Stepping around primary quickly, she drove her palm into its nose, jerking its head back and toppling it once and for all.

"Primary fighter, eliminated."

Without even having time to turn around, Kesi was caught off guard as secondary slammed into her in a full fledged tackle. Impressively, it wasn't a move she'd experienced from the device before. Knowing that getting pinned couldn't be an option for someone her size, she twisted with the landing and both she and secondary rolled as they hit the earth. Coming to a stop not far from each other at all, Kesi put her parkour and dancing skills to the test as she planted her hands and spun her legs around, lashing out enough to have secondary roll backwards rather than press forward. Happy for the extra space, Kesi continued the spin, using the momentum to rise to her feet.

As soon as she was up secondary was in with a strong right hook. Knowing she wasn't balanced enough to dodge either way, she instead ducked down, catching her shoulders across secondary's stomach and wrapping her left arm under its leg through the groin. Using its own momentum, Kesi launched secondary right over her, but was surprised when it came out of the fall in a roll. She knew these devices learned, but not this fast. Someone was manually inputting data into her fight!

Sparing but a glance at the Kimura Corporation Combat Simulator, she saw that its 'Connected' light was on, meaning someone had tapped into it. She had a guess who, just no proof.

Attention back on secondary, she watched as it lifted a large branch off the ground and brandished it.

Complaining felt to be a fair response right about now, and Kesi complied with her feeling, "Fuck me, now would be a really nice time for this to be a real fight..."

Casting her eyes about quickly, she spotted a branch about her height and somewhat thick, attached to a nearby log. Rushing over to it as secondary made its way towards her slowly, she applied just enough leverage to break the branch free and turned just in time to catch secondary's swing on her impromptu pugil stick. Pushing back, she swung the bottom end of her branch up and caught secondary in the side, but secondary didn't even flinch as it tore into a barrage of swings, all intending on crushing Kesi's defence.

Doubting her ability to win this fight, Kesi started trying to back her way towards the simulator and shut it down, her hope being that it would be her best bet. On probably the thirtieth hit secondary's branch suddenly snapped in half, and Kesi was all for pressing the sudden advantage, but secondary immediately slammed an elbow into the middle of her own branch, ensuring it suffered the same fate before throwing a jab at her. Rather than block it, Kesi took the hit full on while taking the opportunity to lash out with the piece of branch she'd held on to, breaking it further over the facsimile's head. Throwing out another swing at the stunned dummy, she struck it in the right side with a hook, following it with a kick to get some space between her and secondary.

Taking relief in the moment long respite Kesi was already throwing up and block as secondary came forward, not needing or wanting any breaks like she may have. Its left hook having failed, it came around with a right hook instead. Blocking with her left forearm, Kesi threw a right jab in and quickly followed it up with a left cross. Pulling back as if to throw another right, she watched as the v.i. brought up both arms in a cross to block the blow, so she instead brought her arm under for an uppercut. As she swung she was dismayed as it pulled its arms to the side and leaned back, causing her slice to miss. Thinking quickly, however, Kesi reached up and grabbed her fist with her left hand before using the downward momentum as well as some extra power from her left arm to drive her right elbow into the secondary's chest.

The facsimile fell quickly, it's form wavering slightly as the back of its neck landed harshly on a stone. Stepping around its prone form, Kesi brought her left leg up, holding it in the air just long enough to stare into the 'eyes' of her opponent before bringing down a ruthless axe kick. Her heel sank right through the secondary and smashed the simulator that had been on the stone under it's head, causing the device to sputter and repeat its last words pitifully before it petered off into silence.

Falling straight back, Kesi let out a long and winded sigh as she landed on her back, absolutely worn out after that fight. Finding herself looking up at the clouds once more, her mind went back to the relaxation crustacean she'd met a couple of days earlier and decided to take from his example. Enjoy a damn good smoke after a fight, cos you never know if it'll be your last one. Pulling one of the cigarettes out of her inventory, she dragged its tip across a the nearest rock, lighting it easily with it's self lighting ability before taking a long drag.

"Kimura products fucking suck."

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

To Anubis

Private Message #1

Heyo~ and buenas noches to you Kesi Kimura; friend of Chandrakanta Rahatan, guard of the preserve. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Edge La: penny-pinching, money-hoarding, end-meeting leader of the Codebreaking guild, Pwnies. First off, I'd like to welcome you to Little City my dear. Based on your current trajectory, you look to be hitting us here soon. Though there's something that must be discussed. Very important that needs to be addressed soon. Here's the thing Kimura. We have an issue. A big one. You see, I've heard about you. Lots and lots of stories from citizens of other cities saying how you rob them, fool them, and are just a general menace. A certain group with which I work has even named you the scourge of Floor 1. Kesi. Let me tell you something. If you plan to bring that to Little City, you wipe the thought. If you think you're going to come to this town and cause trouble, you are dead wrong. This is my city and you will not burn it to the ground. Headed to you now as you read, are a few members of my guild. Once they reach where you are, they are going to ask you to join the guild. You are going to yes. If you say no...ah. Well. I think you're smart enough to not do that. I look forward to meeting face-to-face Kimura. You're going to love it with us. Let's try not to add another sour relation to the list, kay?

With Love,

Edge La

The Rest

Spoiler: the second message

Private Message #2

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00101110 00100000 01010111 01100101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01101111 01101111 01101011 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101111 01101011 01100101 01110010 00101110 00100000 01010111 01100101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110011 01100001 01110110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01101111 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110 00100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01100001 01100011 01110100 00101110 00101110 00101110 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01000101 01101110 01101010 01101111 01111001 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100110 01110010 01100101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110010 01101111 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01001011 01100101 01110011 01101001 00101110 00100000 01010111 01100101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110

​

...

What?​

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!​

Cutting through the plains, a howl rang out.

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!​

In response another banged. Like an echo they reverberated off the rocks, yet scanning the vista, thank goodness, not a soul could be found.

Pequeno Burraidh

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains​

Reading her first message with mild irritation, it always irritated Kesi how easily personal information could be tracked in the online era. There were methods of keeping most of her information exceedingly private, but she lost that when she cut herself off from her family. It usually didn't bother her too much, but she didn't like it when people thought they knew her, or who she was.

Bringing up her reply bar, she quickly typed out a response to the first message she'd opened the one from one Edgy Mccreepsabout.

~Congratulations on being a successful stalker. You don't know me, you don't use my real name. Your other cities are full of shite and you sound like it too. They're all general bitches, and I will make my own decisions. Fuck you.~

Honestly, she didn't care much that her own information was out there, as most people didn't ever make the connections between her and being the ex-heiress to the Kimura Corporation. What did bother her, however, was that this person more than likely had, because they had knowledge of something most didn't. Her relationship with Seekay, and that she was the guardian of the preserve.

That's what bothered her, honestly it pissed her off. Who ever the fuck she was dealing with, she didn't need them digging into her personal life like that and then acting like they were going to be all buddy buddy best mates after the fact. What an arrogant prick this Edge La-de-dah was.

Spitting as she pulled a cigarette out and lit it, she set in between her lips and took a drag as she closed out the first message and opened the second. It didn't take her more than a second to recognise the code everything was based off of. Sure, she didn't know how to read it personally, but there was a universal language translator built into all communications for a reason.

Reading through the secondary message as it slowly decoded before her eyes, she felt her heart flutter somewhat erratically as her eyes took on an odd light. Licking her lips, either out of anticipation or nervousness, she read through the message again, and then once more, wanting to make sure she was truly seeing what was before her.

That she was understanding that someone would actually have sent this, and that she wasn't seeing anything.

Adrenaline pumping but from simply imagining the potential threat, Kesi summoned up the virtual keyboard and used a shaky hand to reply quickly.

~01000001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101110 01101011 01110011 00101100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100110 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01100110 01100001 01110110 01101111 01110101 01110010 01101001 01110100 01100101 00101110 00100000 01001101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110010 01101001 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100011 01110010 01101111 01110000 00101100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01100011 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01110111 01100101 01101100 01101100 00101100 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01100011 01110101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100011 01101001 01100110 01101001 01100011 01110011 00100000 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110010 00101100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101000 00101100 00100000 01101101 01100001 01110100 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100001 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00100000 01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101100 01101001 01100101 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01100101 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101011 01100101 01100101 01110000 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101001 01110010 00101110 00100000 00001010 00001010 01000011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00101110 00001010 00001010 01010111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 00100000 01100001 01101110 01110100 01101001 01100011 01101001 01110000 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101100 00001010 01000001 01101110 01110101 01100010 01101001 01110011 00101110 ~

Laughing so hard by the time she finished the message, Kesi struggled to keep a proper hold of her cigarette and had to reach up to take it in her hand just so she could catch her breath from laughing so hard. Likely she'd gotten the message from some whiny punk she'd met either in a concert, or club, or had a fling with, that hadn't been happy about getting left behind when she moved on. That or some punk kid heard tell of her and wanted to seem like a bad-arse.

She personally hoped for the letter, just to imagine the look on their face when they decoded that. Bringing her cigarette back up to her lips, Kesi stopped mid drag when she heard the howl tear through the plains. Casting a glance around, the woman didn't see anything, exhaled her half drag and took in another one, full this time, as the second howl didn't give her pause like the first had.

"That sounds like fun." she mused to herself as she looked out towards the city, catching glimpse of a dusty cloud far in the distance, likely caused by a vehicle, or more specifically likely by miss La-de-dah's cohorts. Finding a rock nearby to lie across, Kesi finished her cigarette and lit a second off the smouldering remains of the first as she opened up a music player and set the audio to all, blasting some music to enjoy as waited.

Spoiler

"Lots of fun indeed..."

White Masquerade

 

[Refaulted]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit​

Stein
Shunjiro Miyata
Current Location: On His Way Out Of The Little City North Exit, Territory 6, Little City

HP: 5/5
HP Recovery: 2 per post
PP: 3/3
PP Recovery: 1 per post
VIT: 2
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
N/A
Items:
-200 Kirito
Equipment:
N/A

Stein stared out the window of the car, watching the terrain pass by him. It all seemed blurry, so he couldn't make out clearly what he was seeing from his perspective. It reminded of when he was still in school, and how his friends had all gotten their driving permits so they could get their own virtual cars to drive around in. Stein had also gotten his driver's permit, he hadn't bothered to purchase his own car. He found it to be a waste of money, and he wanted every Kirito he could save up. Thus, he had very minimal experience driving, so he had not spoken up about driving the car Edge La had lent them for their mission. A sigh escaped the man's thin lips, and he spoke in a hushed tone. "'Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees...The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves...'”

Stein turned from the blurred lines of green and brown, with the occasional blue, and looked around at his comrades, pulling up his notes on the guild members as he did so. He first gazed at Yung Icarus, who had decided to be their designated driver. He had seemed rather ambitious at the meeting, challenging Edge La on beating her and becoming the best. They were brave words, but Stein felt like they were foolish words as well. Stein himeslf wouldn't have dared say anything like that to his new guild master when he first met her. With what he knew of the Codebreakers, he wasn't sure of the extent of their leader's powers, and Stein enjoyed being as healthy as possible for their current mission.

Next was the woman, Lahz Cho. She had seemed very formal and well-kept, and seemed to be able to control herself. She definitely seemed like she belonged in a higher society than Stein himself, since all the man had was his extreme love for books. He wondered about her past, but knew it would be wrong to ask about it, since they had only just met, and he doubted she even recognized him.

Lastly was the younger of the two women, Trouble. At least, she seemed to be the younger one. To be frank, Stein sometimes struggled with the ages of other people, women more than men. This sometimes came back to bite him in the ass, but nothing he couldn't handle. She seemed very free-spirited and...a little out there? She had seemed to be the last person to arrive on the scene back at Gili's. He wrote down a few notes about her before closing his notes and opening his messages. Still nothing back from Morio, so Stein simply guessed he wasn't needed by his brother for the rest of the day.

He closed his interface and let out a deep sigh, slouching down further in his seat. He stole a glance at each of his comrades again, and felt the silence begin to become a bit awkward. He wasn't sure of a good way to break the ice, however...

"So, uh...has anyone ever read 'The Count of Monte Cristo'? Amazing literary work, in my opinion..." Stein looked around for a moment before letting his voice dwindle out, facing the back of the seat in front of him. "Nevermind." Stein drummed his fingers on his knee, and then sat up straight. "Ah! I, uh, didn't introduce myself, did I? Back at the meeting. I'm Stein. I'm an Internet Explorer. I want to understand what makes us Codebreakers. Like, why we exist, and the like. So...a pleasure to meet you all."

White Masquerade
Kalin Scarlet
The Suspicious Eye
Pequeno Burraidh

(Let me know if I need to change anything, or I am missing anyone. Sorry to be a bother.)

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit​

Lahz Cho

New Party Member

Cobolt has joined the party.

Face leaned against the window, Lahz was taken aback at the notification that filled her ears - it was quite convenient changing that setting from tactile to aural buzz - so drumming up the app to check claim and veracity...there the bling was indeed: Cobolt and Black Gold; an army of two.

"Huh."

Not recalling an invite sent, Lahz chalked it up to a slip of the hand, probably while scrolling through the guild of who to choose when deciding on Rhyme. Come to think of it, besides Axis Mundus, Cobolt was another she did consider. Tracing to a new message in her inbox now, upon seeing who it was from, Cho was not mad in the slightest. As anticipating before, she was waiting for him to approach. He was an interesting man - more at least than the other kids that now called Pwnies home.

Possibly typing a little more giddily than her demeanor'd let on, Lahz checked her reply, careful to not make any mistake:

Message Sent to Cobolt

Yes. That woman Katsura is certainly a devil isn't she? Fortunately, the virtual doesn't affect the real so I was able to clean it up without much effort. Though, I am hoping most other members aren't as disrespectful as her. Mahy issues would arise if they were. But on that note, thank you for your message and the well wishes. Whichever job you happened to take, I hope it goes well for you too. We'll see each other around, Cobolt.

And hitting send, Lahz closed out her app, eyes flashing to the mirror in the car to see if someone by the name of Trouble, was peeking. Upon settling on Trouble's face through the glass, Cho took in the perpetual grin that seemed stuck to the youth's face. Suffice to say, the Internet Explorer was wary of this one. Walking up with a long, steel pipe toward the 3 at Gili's Automotive, it was hard to accept someone so uncultured, so...wild was in the guild. Edga La certainly looked to have an eclectic bunch enter the rank of her new organization.

To let in hoodlums like that, Lahz thought. She must really be desperate.

The earring to the tilted hat, to the tanktop that might well have shown everything below her chest, the Pwnie spiraled into increasing thoughts of how Trouble probably didn't have a father or at least a mom that knew how to discipline their child. It would be Stein's interjection in that moment that kept her from sinking into the deepest hells of her probing mind.

"So, uh...has anyone ever read 'The Count of Monte Cristo'? Amazing literary work, in my opinion..."

[...]

[...]

[...]

"Ah! I, uh, didn't introduce myself, did I? Back at the meeting. I'm Stein. I'm an Internet Explorer. I want to understand what makes us Codebreakers. Like, why we exist, and the like. So...a pleasure to meet you all."
​

Moving pupils reflect off the mirror to fall on Stein, both narrowed for a min. Studying him - facial hair, tone of voice, quality of the skin and all, she judged after a moment that he should have been around her age and decided it was then fair to be addressed by and answer him. She could see by the direction of his muse, it wasn't going to end up about something stupid like the latest boy bands or something sexist inevitably leading to whether she was open to "bang".

Hmf.

Then in that case, to this, she was quite open.

"Yes...the count," she began, settling back into her seat a little more relaxed. "Yes. I have read The Count of Monte Cristo. Not a book I particularly enjoyed, but looking at it as art, I can recognize it as a great work in its chosen form."

Following in, "And that line from earlier, the one about nature's peace, John Muir isn't it? I remember it plays during the intro to the Life Of The Times show at the Griffiths Observatory in Territory 7. Happens to be one of my favorite lines. Makes you wonder just how beautiful the world outside really was huh? They say that virtual reality is the same, but in the back of my head, I ponder if maybe it gave you a feeling...some kind of emotion that's missing all this tech just can never hope to recreate."

And in her eyes, the surroundings changed as if right on cue. Exiting from the rural roads of the city, a vast vista graced the crew as Icarus drove on through. The world of men gave way to the universe of nature. Those mountains, the river, the round sloping hills. She imagined. Would they have awed her in any way different if she were to experience them in real life?

"Lahz Cho," the woman offered, still staring out the window to her side. Sitting up to tug on the seat-belt and bring her body around full to face Stein, a neutral look was on her face.

"It is a pleasure, Stein. As you may already know, I'm an Internet Explorer too. Can't say I've wondered much about why I'm a Codebreaker or why I can do the things that I'm able to do. It came relatively late to me. While I was in my end-teens. Started seeing numbers float around. Peoples' names above their heads before I even met them. Weird things would happen when I touched the numbers and explored, so left them alone. Didn't really come back to my skills until something personal happened. Never used them to get a leg up. Just investigated a bit more what I'd be able to do. Coming to Pwnies...I guess that's another reason why I'm here: to find out how far they go."

Letting the word sit in the air, Lahz wished there was something else she could add to at least help the boy, give him on something to chew, but her codebreaking was simply something she did not explore early - her mind was focused on...other things.

"Though," she continued, finally turning to look Trouble in the face, "These two might be able to shine some light. So how about it then, Tro-Tr-Trouble (god that name was so dumb!)? How did your powers manifest? And you Yu-Yung Ica..rus (god that was so dumb too!)? How did yours come about?"

Refaulted
Kalin Scarlet
The Suspicious Eye
clarinetti

 

[Refaulted]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit
​

Stein
Shunjiro Miyata
Current Location: On His Way Out Of The Little City North Exit, Territory 6, Little City

HP: 5/5
HP Recovery: 2 per post
PP: 3/3
PP Recovery: 1 per post
VIT: 2
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
N/A
Items:
-200 Kirito
Equipment:
N/A

Stein's mouth broke into a tiny smile as Lahz responded to him. Honestly, she was the one in the car who made him feel the most insecure, so to have her compliment one of his more favorite books, he felt like there may be some similarities between them. He adjusted himself so he could face his comrade better. "Yes, yes. It was one of the first renowned literary works I ever picked up when I was younger. Though, I do understand that I can be...not difficult, but different to read? If that makes sense. It was one of the first publications I ever picked up...here." Stein gestured widely, trying to get across his point of meaning the virtual world.

"As for that quote, indeed, it is John Muir. However, while you may remember it from the Life Of The Times show, I saw it in a library in Little City in a book back from the beginning of the twentieth century that he wrote called Our National Parks, which featured illustrations of nature in it's purest. However, unlike you, I don't think I can properly appreciate the beauty of the brush strokes like you can, Cho-san-I mean, Miss Cho." Stein leaned back slightly as he placed a fingernail against the glass of the car. "I do know that Mr. Muir was an avid appreciator of nature and all it's encapsulating beauty. Another quote you may know is 'When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty'. This was from one of his publications when he visited the American state Alaska and spent his time in it's nearly never-ending wilderness." Stein shrugged his shoulders as he took a quick look out the window. "I wonder what Mr. Muir would think of this world we live in today? Would he still find the beauty in all of it's ugly cracks? Or would he feel sick to his core from the scene before him?"

Stein realized he was rambling, and cut himself off with a nervous laugh. "Apologies. I don't have many of these conversations since my days of college." He pulled off his glasses and scratched the bridge of his nose quickly, before looking back to the rest of the group. "I see. So you never had much interaction with the code." Stein put his glasses back on and began to adjust them. "Well, you have more experience with it than myself. I realized I had this ability right after the day of my twentieth birthday, so I was a 'late-bloomer' as well. I only know what I know due to speaking with a few Codebreakers I managed to meet before I was contacted by La-sens...Miss Edge La. And, while I am still interested in the powers I have, I would much rather get a deeper understanding than anything the Code Academy can give me. And one of my theories is that being a Codebreaker goes past a simple 'awakening', as we may call it. Is it something an individual is born with? Or must something in their real life trigger a change in their psyche? Is it socilogical? is it psychological? Maybe it is biological. Maybe it is all some government conspiracy." Stein smiled in excitement as he looked to Yung Icarus and Trouble. "So, by observation and investigation, I hope to figure out this all, as it may end up being important history to the future generations. Oh! But, please, I don't want to get in the way of any of you. I'm sure you all have your own goals." Stein leaned forward, looking out to the stretching road in front of them. "I wonder how much farther we have to go?"

As Stein asked his question, a message notification popped up in front of him. Startled, he checked who the sender was, and seeing the familiar name, he let out a huff of breath as he opened up Morio's message.

Message From: Morio

Hey, Shunjiro. Your two friends (the Russian guy and the British girl?) stopped by my office to see you. I told them you weren't here, but you gotta tell them they can't just loiter around looking for you. It bothers some of my patients. Not trying to get on your case, but please, before they end up sending one of them over the edge. Thanks, Shun-Shun.

Stein scowled, and quickly began to type up a reply.

Message To: Morio

Sorry they bothered you. I'm sure they wanted to just surprise me. I'll talk to them, so don't worry about it. And never call me Shun-Shun again. I know where you sleep. And don't use those stupid emoticons. You're a thirty-year-old professional psychologist. Grow up. And she's Australian, not British.

Stein sent the message, and immediately started a new one. He looked to his guild mates. "Apologies. One moment."

Message To: King Caffiene

Phil. You can't just show up at my workplace looking for me. If you want to find me, just send me a message. I'll stop by the store when I have a chance, but that may not be today.

As he sent this message, he received another message from Morio. Stein rolled his eyes, but was surprised his brother had responded so quickly.

Message From: Morio

Stein groaned, and closed his interface, leaning back in his seat.

White Masquerade
Kalin Scarlet
The Suspicious Eye

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains​

To Anubis

HP: 3/3
(Recover 1 HP at start of posts)
VIT: 0
NRV: 0
AGI: 1
PROW: 2

Thing One

Tearing up a path through the Pendeji Plains, or maybe more so at an intent trot, a wily creature whose long distance kin had no doubt been the focus of study by the prodigious Ashleigh Price, winds its down the nooks buried in the lands. It had come a long way; a fair bit of distance from the eyes of its master...yet at its core felt an odd sense of feral pride in the mission had now. Given extra treats, given extra chances to be pet, and graced with the lush cooing voice of the one it served, the animal knew it was set to be loosed on something very important.

Over the past few days its master had been pacing. Initiating numerous calls. Punching many walls. Screaming many instances. Sighing more times the canine could count. Throwing up their hands in protest. Stamping their feet in maddened tirade one after another. Swallows, bellows, and curses ten different occasions towards the skies. It was safe to say that something heavy weighed on their mind. Even throughout a period of nearly no contact or movement from within the hideout, the hound stayed alert knowing that at a moment's notice the situation could change and it'd be called upon to do its work...which wasn't a bad thing at all. Being taken care of in the lap of luxury with the utmost care and respect, life had been good staying in the compound - almost made the hound restless eating the purest of foods while being petted, watched after and doing nothing at all.

Satisfied in its eyes, when the call was eventually made, when the master's shoes came to a stop in front of its paws, the dog would have grinned if it could.

"Alright now, Thing One," the voice said seemingly dropping from on high to seep close. "Have some good news. It seems some work has finally come your way. You have a job to do." And a strong hand easing out to rub its chin, the voice sheened with delight at the next words spoke.

"You probably cannot understand what I'm telling you friend, but...Kesi Kimura. She is an interesting one. I find her interesting, my pet. I certainly would like to have that girl for my own. With her ties to the guardian of the Preserve, I think she'd be someone beneficial to have on call. The Rahatan Preserve...wouldn't it be a joy if a place such as that were to come under our control? We would have quite the unique piece; be in a good position to move things along then wouldn't we, my friend?"

Laughing quiet to the self, the master stroked the fur of the dog from front to black, their caress lengthening just as long as the berth of their smile.

"Test her skills my friend," the voice said once more. "You may very well die in the process, but think of your life as a small dip in the stream feeding the river of my goals. Do not think for a second that you would be a waste. On the contrary, your knowledge would be forever solidified in the wisdom I use to make decisions from here. Yes my friend. Even in death, your deceased life would yet hold a vibrant, continuing legacy to the end of time adorned me. You and I will in a very real sense..would truly become one. My pet...how does that sound?"

"..."

Responding with a raise of the head and a shake of its front, a long and languid turn to the master was all that was needed to convey it understood. Accepted too. What other purpose was there to its life other than to serve the master? Master's word was law: the only commandments worth their salt in listening to in this virtual world. Not that it knew its existence was a sham in the first place. Simply that it had a lord and any order given by them, it would take it. No questions asked.

"Grr!!"

So after traversing large craters, squads of clickers, and ledges that nearly gave way to the slightest of touch, Thing One circled as it came cross' the query of who it was given the name: Kesi Kimura. Watching the prone body lay on the ground with smoke wafting from their lips, the trained hound crouched...then prowled close. Unperturbed by the loud music cutting up the air, it took that advantage to sneak up as close as it possible to the girl. The co-ordinates of the master planted into its head felt so close now - this child had to be the one.

"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"​

Sounding finally its approach in bone-chilling blare, the hound lunged at Kesi Kimura, teeth bared. Jaw opening wide, the hound wasted no time moving to rip off the skin of her neck. If this was ordered by the master, then it would play no games.

​

AWOO!

Hot! Beast! Action! COMBAT!!Kesi Kimura! It is clear you are the target and focus of a mysterious, concerted effort. However, only one creature, an Anubis Hound has been sent your way! Me-oh-my. How do you feel about being a pawn in someone else's game, Kesi Kimura!? Send them a message with this!

Pequeno Burraidh

 

[The Suspicious Eye]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit
​

Trouble

Current Location: Out Of The Little City via North Exit, Territory 6, Little City

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 3/3 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 4/4
VIT: 0
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Looking around at the others she had to say she was pretty excited. Sure she hated the virtual world, and all of it's constant data streaming around her, but right now she was enjoying it. Leaning against the cool car door she rolled down the window, closed her eyes and felt the air on her face. Her hat flapped against the wind, but was held in place thanks to her pony tail. Smiling her mind processed what was going on. Codebreakers, good and bad, the hunt for power. Regardless of how annoying it is to be in a guild I gotta say these missions where we get to travel are pretty cool. I could get used to this. It was too exciting she could barely keep herself contained. How this turns outs I hope it'll be fun.

Head still out the window she didn't even hear Stien's quiet little blurb. Looking back at the others she noticed that they were talking and pulled her head back in. Rolling up the window she managed to catch Ms. Picture Perfect asked her and Creeper-face a question. Not really sure when, Trouble had to think about it for a moment. Luckily Nerd Brain...Ugh I need a better nickname for him....But he's so nerdy...What's his name again? Steve? Stein? Stein! Listening to Stein prattle on like a boring professor she smiled. Well let's pull out the elementary school name calling skills, DorkenStein it is. Feeling proud with her new name when he finally shut up she stared at the older guy for a moment before laughing loudly and slapping him on the shoulder. "You really are a brainiac aren't you DorkenStein? Observation and investigation on what makes oh you are going to be a riot aren't you?" Looking at the guy she nodded, I like this guy. I'll have fun messing with this one. Waving away any annoying retort it was finally Trouble's time to shine.

Kicking her feet up against the seat in front of her she made herself comfortable as she began to tell her tale. "As for me my tale is a dull one. Ever since I logged on to this thing for my mandatory therapy when I was a kid I could see the code floating around everyone and everything. Of course no one believed me when I told them. It was just part of my crazy hallucinations." She raised her hands up shaking them for emphasis, annoyed she crossed her arms still sore about the situation. Sighing she gave a disinterested shrug, "anyways after about ten years I got fed up with the code always in my face and was motivated to mess with it. From there it's all the usual stuff. Code breakers blah, blah, blah and now I'm here." Tipping her hat she smiled at the others, "as for why I'm here I want to learn more about what I can do. Be the best I can, and to do that I have to learn from the best out there."

Tapping her foot she smiled, used to giving the sure I'm crazy but that's not the point talk. Rest assured she'd have it sometime soon again. 'You know I think this group will be a lot of fun. You got the uptight duo and nerdy figure here. But do you really plan on playing it as the dumb bad kid?' Her red-haired imaginary friend asked as she appeared out of nowhere between Stein and Trouble. Trouble closed her eyes and nodded, "yup." Not really acknowledging R.E.D, but answering her all the same. Looking back at the others she added, "It's pretty simple as that I wanna be the very best. That no one ever was." Humming the rest of the song she looked back out the window excited to see what comes when they arrive. "....I know it's my destiny..."

Meanwhile R.E.D was hopping up and down in the middle seat nearly screaming the song. 'POKEMON! OHHHHHHHH YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND IN A WORLD WE MUST DEFEND!!' One does not simply half heartedly sing the Pokemon intro.

(I'll probably edit this later, but I'm about to pass out)
Kalin Scarlet
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh
White Masquerade

(I know that we talked about the code so here it is!)

Spoiler: Code for Side

[side=left][border=5px Double white][bg=Orange][IMG]
Current Location:

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 3/3 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 4/4
VIT: 0
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-
[/bg][/border][/Side]

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

Despite the music playing as Kesi relaxed on the stone, enjoying the sun and the tunes both washing over her, she was far from lost in her head. With her history, one should have known that she wasn't easy to sneak up on, constantly on the run as she was, so even when it seemed like she was out of it, you had to be extra careful. The mistake of who or whatever was stalking up on her now was that it was upwind of her and smelled like it'd been stuck in a hole in the ground and left there for a touch too long.

Spoiler

Right, well, I had initial planned on doing a butte tonne load of rolls for the combat, and at the end of the day the ending of this post was and is always going to be a stalemate due to levels. That being said, I am not, repeat, am not, linking or copy pasting over twenty rolls for the sake of a long post. Rolls were done, neither party is currently ever going to lose, i even tried, ergo rolls no longer matter for the duration of this post.

Keeping alert to her peripherals, Kesi could only curse when an Anubis Hound came bounding out of the brush, lunging at her with a snarl. As opposed to the norm, where most would shy away from the lunge, Kesi instead rolled towards it. When it landed it's mouth was too far the way she came, and she tripped it up as its front legs landed on her rolling body. Both she and the dog rolled to their feet quickly and stared each other down.

The hound snapped and snarled viciously as their eyes remained locked, both waiting for the other to make the next move as two pack alphas were wont to do. Something that Kesi did find disconcerting, though, was that this hound was targeting her. She knew damn well there were plenty of easy prey for a hound to go after. Anubis Hounds were designer creatures after all, and they were not designed to roam the wastes trying to hunt for humans. Smiling fondly at the thought that even now her old friends rants about animals were still proving useful, Kesi knew someone was having a game at her expense.

Perhaps one of the two message senders, perhaps someone else. It didn't matter, it got her blood pumping, it got her heart beating,.. this was making her fucking day! With a brash laugh, Kesi lunged forward at the hound as it did the same, matching her movements and ready for a fight. Watching her hands carefully, she managed to reach just past the hound's snout and push forcefully on the side of it's head mid lunge causing it to fly past her, paws scrabbling at the dirt as it rounded for another lunge.

Repeating the movement, Kesi let the dog go past her, only this time giving it a more forceful shove and forcing it to take longer to recover. Using this time to her advantage, she readied herself for its next lunge. Planting her right foot firmly, as the hound arced through the air she lashed out, striking it with a vicious kick. The hound gave a yelp as it was sent tumbling to the side and gave Kesi another bout of time to catch her breath

But damn if the system wasn't working against her.

From a certain perspective, the 'combat' system they put in the game was perfect. It made sure that unless someone managed to just vastly out class an opponent, it was made for maximum survivability. If this hound was a simple dog, she would have snapped its neck ages ago, but even the programmes had been inundated with this 'skill'. The result was a stalemate. Sure, she'd fucked with the Wastehound, but it had never been able to initiate combat with her, not like this Anubis hound had.

Watching as the hound stood back up, and it's health went back up a tick to maximum, Kesi cursed angrily. It was probably the first time she'd wanted to just stomp on a dogs neck until it stopped moving. She then cursed again, backpedalling as she realised she'd lost her train of thought. Dodging the first lunge from the hound, she tripped on a loose stone, falling on her back roughly. Knowing she didn't have a chance in hell at moving this time, she watched the gaping maw of the hound loomed closer. Raising her hands, she caught the upper jaw in her left and the lower jaw in her right, doing her best to thread her fingers through the crevices between the canine's canines.

The pair struggled for a solid minute, the hound either trying to break free of her grip or snap shut on her fingers, and Kesi doing everything in her power to avoid both those scenarios. Still, being on bottom meant the dog had the weight advantage, and her arms were beginning to tire. Just as she swore she was going to have to give up there was a flash of slate grey that smashed into the black above her.

Honestly, the girl wasn't even surprised as she flexed her sore fingers, watching as a Wastehound tackled the Anubis Hound and the two began to fight. There was something that immediately caught her attention though, something she hadn't paid heed to when she had been the one fighting the hound. Sure, her Wastehound stalker was a fine specimen, lean, well built for his species, a prime specimen if any experts were around to call him such. That said, he didn't stand up well to the solidly built, easily five plus foot Anubis Hound that had clearly been trained for this sort of thing.

Getting to her feet and getting herself a quick drink as she watched the two animals duke it out, Kesi quickly put together that the Wastehound wasn't going to win this fight. Watching the Anubis hound overpower him and drive his to the ground, it wasn't until Kesi realised that she should do something that she moved. Scrambling forward as the Anubis hound circled the Wastehound, drawing nearer with each pass, Kesi was only just able to interpose herself over the Wastehound and raise her arm when the Anubis hound sturck, biting deep into her right forearm.

Without hissing, wincing or crying out once, Kesi accepted the bite with a growing, near manic grin that spread across her face even as crimson spread from the bite on her arm. And yes, it was indeed crimson. Pulling her head back, Kesi drove it forward, laughing as her forhead cracked sharply on the space in between the hound's eyes. Feeling the jaws loosened, she wrenched her arm free, grabbed the front of the hound and threw it away from her as she stood, red rivulets running down her forearm as she pulled up her music interface.

​

"Oh, okay, now.... now it is a fucking party!"

Lunging forward, she rapped her left knuckles across the dog's face as its claws caught at her leg, drawing light lines down her leg that sported red in a few places. Rather than back off, she threw herself forward, ignoring its teeth as they gouged into her arm from the side of it's mouth. Forcing the hound off balance, she slammed it down into the ground and rolled away, coming to a stop in a crouch as her eyes met with the hounds once again.

This time, it was different, even the hound seemed to know it. This wasn't a beast sent after some random human. No, just like with the Wastehound, now injured a metre away, the hound found itself facing an Anubis alpha of its own.

Time seemed to freeze for the longest time before both leapt forth in unison. Putting herself off to the side, Kesi curved her right arm down, catching her hand at the under side of its neck as she tried to headlock it, then utilising her weight and her left arm to try to topple the beast. Rather than simply let itself be felled, and knowing it couldn't stop her with the angle, the dog rolled with Kesi's push causing the girl to be pulled right over the top of the dog rather than stop on top of it. In the process the hound's legs lashed out and it scoured a number of furrows into Kesi's side and stomach.

Not one to simple lay back and take a hit Kesi pulled her arm free from around the hound and punched it harshly in the shoulder. Unphased, the hound rounded on her and sank its teeth into her left arm, just below the shoulder. Reaching up to grab the top of the hounds muzzle with her left hand, even as it's teeth pierced her skin, Kesi only showed enthusiasm with energetic eyes and flashing teeth behind an alarmingly authentic smile. Grabbing it's throat behind its jaw with her right hand. Tightening her grip until the hound hacked and let go of her shoulder Kesi made to pull away but the dog's quick reflexes brought its jaws around the hand that had just been at its throat.

Rather than let it bite down, she shoved her palm down on the teeth of its lower jaw, keeping it from biting down properly. With a quick tug and a couple nicks from the teeth Kesi got her hand back just fine. Taking the chance to tackle it, Kesi held the hound down with a forearm to its neck as she laid into its face with her left fist, hoping to achieve anything. Instead the hound simply managed to manoeuvre its legs underneath it,the four powerful limbs pulling it free of Kesi's hold as it back off momentarily to regain its bearings.

Likewise Kesi found herself standing up, chest heaving in unison with her opponent as fatigue showed to be catching up to both of them. Grunting in mild irritation as she watched both hers and the hounds health bars filter back to full, the only thing that drew their eyes from one another was when the Wastehound tried to get back up, growling at the Anubis it didn't know. As the larger hound growled back and readied to pounce Kesi too lunged forward, tackling the hound from mid air with a shout.

"Leave him alone!"

The pair came down in an undignified heap, neither really having an advantage in landing, just recovery, and that advantage was to the hound. Leaping upon Kesi once again, she realised she couldn't keep using her right arm as a bite block, and instead held up her left arm, facing her wrist towards the back of the dogs throat as she pushed her arm to the back of its mouth. Despite the bite clearly drawing blood, she wrapped her hand around the side of the hounds head and reinforced her push with her right hand, slamming it's head into the stone they were on.

While it let go of her wrist, it didn't get off from on top of her, and the hound's better size and weight meant that Kesi was going nowhere with it as stabilised as it was. Instead, in the brief, tooth-reprieve that she had, she drew a strip of cloth from her waist and wrapped its end around both fists. Then, when the hound lunged at her face, she wrapped the slack in the middle around the upper half of its muzzle. It struggled for a moment, first attempting to push through it, then to pull from it, and now satisfied with gnawing at it as he continued to hold her pinned under his watch and weight while she kept his powerful jaws from her.

After minutes of being stuck in the predicament, Kesi let her head rest on the stone under her and sighed.Casting her eyes up towards her forehead, she caught sight of a cloud of dust and noticed the car from earlier seemed to have drawn closer. Looking back up at the angry Anubis hound lightheartedly, Kesi shrugged.

"You know, I think I know your problem, dog. Your mum was a bitch, wasn't she?"

Snickering at her own joke, the lighthearted Anubis rested her head back on the stone even as her arms remained taut against the angrier Anubis' pull.

Kalin Scarlet
Refaulted
White Masquerade
The Suspicious Eye

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit

Yung Icarus​

Current Location:

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 2/2 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: 0
NRV: 0
AGI: 2
PROW: 5
Skills:
-

Items:
- 250 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Icarus tapped the wheel, groaning as he glanced into the rearview mirror, examining the dull bruise dead center on his forehead. As he remembered the way he was embarrassed by that jerk mechanic and his throwing arm, Icarus squeezed the wheel tightly in irritation. Icarus glanced at Cho, the woman sitting in the seat beside him, and as his eye twitched, he realized that he wasn't getting any more cheerful on this trip. Stuck with a bookworm, a crazy person- a pretty interesting person but crazy nonetheless- and worst of all, 'Miss' Cho.

More like miss 'choke on something so that I don't have to hear another bitchy sentence come out of your mouth'. Tch...Such a haughty old lady. She thinks a couple of years more living makes her better than anybody else? I don't care how hot you think you are, jerkass...You'll get left in the dust with the rest when I'm done.

Icarus cracked his neck gently as the two older passengers start to talk about an old novel he never felt the need to read. He pressed the gas a bit harder, eyes focused on the road ahead.

"Sigh. Please just call me Icarus. And I got my powers some time ago. It sort of just...happened. I never really questioned it when I started to mess with the code, though. These powers are a gift, to me. A pretty awesome perk in this crazy new world. And like the detached girl sitting next to you, Mr. college graduate, I'm trying to see just how far I can push myself."


holding his hand out, Icarus waited for a moment as a small circle of runes formed above his palm, humming softly with energy. The runes glowed as from their center, a thin, diamond shaped machine formed, the gadget not much larger than his hand.

"And I'm gonna prove myself by shoving one of these straight into the resident angel's..."

Icarus paused and twisted the wheel, causing the car to skid to a stop. He pointed a hand out of the window, observing a curious sight before him.

"Hey...do you think that's who we're looking for?" He asked, watching as the woman outside held off the beast on top of her with a makeshift muzzle. Leaning out of the window, Icarus tapped his small machine against the side of the car. "Hey! You need a hand there?"

Pequeno Burraidh
White Masquerade
Refaulted
The Suspicious Eye

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

Both Anubis and Anubis froze from their stalemate as the car slid to a halt and a voice rang out, asking if she needed aid. And did she? Yes. Did she want to admit that she did despite not wanting to? Probably. Was it already bothering her? Possibly. Blinking away her thoughts as she suddenly realised the fool Anubis had stopped focusing on her, she quickly pulled one hand free of the extra cloth, making sure she caught the free piece in the hand still holding the once white strap.

With her other hand she rolled and pushed the hound from atop her, then, with a grunt of effort, grabbed the strip of cloth in both hands and pulled hard, managing to get the hound airborne just long enough to swing it in a semi circle and toss it a ways from her. As it came down and then just as quickly rose, hackles raised as it looked between the car of new comers and its rival alpha, Anubis took the reprieve to walk over to the Wastehound that was attempting to rise before putting a hand down firmly on its shoulders, pushing it back down on its belly. The subordinate beast accepted the command and stayed still as Kesi took a defensive stance over him.

Casting a curious glance at the vehicle and its passengers, Kesi raised an eyebrow as she watched the opposite Anubis for movement in her peripherals.

"Depends, which Anubis are you offering to help, the irrational and violent arsehole Anubis, or that Anubis dog over there?" she responded lightly, her hand fiddling with a modified menu. As she finished speaking her form shimmered and reset to its standard state, rips in her clothes and wounds gone as her 'pristine' scarified form reasserted itself. Raising her hands in an innocent shrug coupled with a cocky grin, she continued, "Because the dog started it this time, I swear."

White Masquerade
Refaulted
The Suspicious Eye
Kalin Scarlet

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Little City North Exit --> Pendeji Plains​

Lahz Cho

"Heh. Is that so?"

Smiling as she turned around to face Stein, Missus Cho was taken by a feeling that it was enjoyable speaking to him. Sitting listening to him talk about the books he read with such fervor; it wasn't something she particularly adored, but the enthusiasm radiating off of him when explaining how he came to find the words by John Muir was infectious. Mouth open and eyebrows down, she was taken aback by the tidbits he was able to provide. She had no idea the phrase was taken from an actual book. Let alone the date of when it was written. Stein was a..pretty cool guy. The second line he offered was one she didn't know the origin of either, but solely from the way Stein spoke, it made her want to get to know more.

"I honestly think Mr. Muir would be running back to lie in his own grave, if he were to see what a mess we've gotten ourselves," the girl said quietly in response to his thoughtful question. And moving into hearing his story on becoming a Codebreaker himself, it forced to blonde to ponder a deeper question herself: what exactly did make them Codebreakers? Arms crossed contemplating the issues Stein brought up, it was a question many did thrust when talking about the more popular coders like Schweinsteiger and Edge La. Yeah. They could do wonderful things - absolutely amazing! But...why? Was it something you were born with? Something in real life triggering a change in their psyche? Sociological? Psychological? Biological? Or maybe a little mix of them all?

Absentmindedly drawn out of the window, she thought surely when they got back, it would be something to ask Edge La. If there was anyone who could enlighten them to more of what purpose their abilities held, it would be the one doing it for years.

*Fshh*​

Eyes glowing blue and fingertips lighting up, her skin turned dark from the tip of an index to the base of a wrist and she wondered why she was able to do this. The change of skin stopped and her eyes changed to normal once Stein began to type away on several messages. Hm. In a way he was right. It certainly may end up being important history for generations to come. However, for now, they'd just have to make do until the answer was found.

*Bzzt*​

Alerted to a message blinking in her display, Lahz opened Code Academy miniature to check who it was: JinX the brown-haired Trojan Horse. Reading the message, Lahz's typical demeanor'd descend into something a little less dense.

Private message From JinX

Thank you. You seem like a decent person yourself, Missus Cho. Art is something I can appreciate. I wish you the best. If you need any help, for any reason at all, feel free to contact me. Us guild members should stick together.

Feeling warm, Lahz smirked toward the message. It was nice. Guess that girl was one of the good ones. Cho had probably been a bit too forward in her actions at the guild introductions. How rude she must have come off. Closing the message, the Explorer resolved to make amends next time they met. Apologize and maybe take her out for some coffee.

Yeah. She does seem like a good kid. Ughk. I feel so bad..

Then definitely coffee. It was a date.

This was when one of the occupants, the hoodlum Lahz tagged as hooligan before, began to tell her side of things - and boy was The Internet Explorer surprised. Trouble did look like a handful, even resorted to calling Stein by elementary-level names, but underneath that crass exterior, she could see someone who had a brain. Lahz herself had told no one of her ability, so was disappointed to hear of it went for someone who did. It made sense that because others couldn't see what a Codebreaker did, they'd call her crazed. Listening, it was strange. Something about how Trouble carried herself belied what was seemingly a delinquent child. She seemed to have goals and a direction. Still, Lahz thought, watching the tomboy lounge her feet up on the chairs, she doesn't quite give a damn. The song she hummed after finishing was weirder still. Looking one more time at Trouble, Cho questioned whether she really did see something intelligent under that exterior after all.

Come on.
Edge La

"Yoohoo! Buenas Noches, everyone!" Spoke a voice, inexplicably coming from a station on the radio that was not on.

"So. I hope everybody is getting along well. Two Internet Explorers, a Trojan and a Deviant Artist. I have to say I like the composition. Shouldn't be hard to bring Kesi back to the guild with that. Well not much out of my mouth this time. Just have one thing to say. If anybody or anything tries to slow you down...just keep driving. Oh and please. Don't wreck my car yeah? I don't want to have to take it out of your paychecks."

And cutting off the line, Lahz's eyes immediately fell outside passing a castle as they headed onto a trail near the river running to the heart of the mountains. Not wholly certain, she swore seeing someone in the rear-view trying to flag them down but the gangly mists of the oncoming terrain quickly swallowed whatever she could make out. The outside got ominous and cold with the air getting heavy while the car drove by slippery peaks. Darker and darker it got as they went deeper into the mount and it seemed like Stein's question of how much longer it would take to get there would be answered fast.

"Sigh. Please just call me Icarus..."

Turning left, Yung Icarus, the winner of Edge La's guild meeting prize would finally speak. Calling the powers an awesome perk in this crazy new world, she got the impression his mind was somewhere different than the 3 of them all. Cho only meant to discover the extent of what she could do. Trouble seemed to only be in this for fun. Stein yearned to know why it was possible doing any of this at all. Yet Yung Icarus. He was..serious.

A small device produced in his hand, it hummed with a tacit energy. Eerie lights glowing from symbols floating above his hand, in the center was where the contraption in a beautiful shape took form. Recognizing it as an ability not unlike her own, the woman stared at him when his desire to shove it into Edge La's ... was announced.

"Her where?" She about to say as a large portal, maybe a mile tall came into view. Choking the words about to leave her lips, she winced as the vehicle'd shift a higher gear and drive right through it, strong. Feeling an odd sensation wash over her back, it felt hot, then cold and sharp, then round and soft as the entrance to the Pendeji Plains transplanted their code. World shrouded in black for the better part of the ordeal, it soon came to bare the barren location she had heard so much about.

​

Spoiler: The Long-Fated Arrival!

SKKKKRRRRRR!!​

The car suddenly skidding to a halt, she ducked down into her chair cautiously trying to see what was going on. Were they already being attacked??

"Hey...do you think that's who we're looking for?"

Confused, Lahz rose to full height and came upon a curious sight. Out on the ground in front of them was a small girl pinned beneath a large hound with her arm tucked into its mouth.

"Oh my..Oh my god," she struggled to let out. "We have to help."

Pushing her own door, the woman swiped open the back handle so Trouble and Stein could get out too while Icarus leaned out his side. Looking at the beast and getting an understanding of its size, Lahz realized this was the first time she was seeing a monster in real life. There was no such thing in the world outside - not even close. Swallowing, she steadied her breath coming to grips she would be in actual combat. It was baffling. For the first two decades of her life she had lived as a ordinary person doing ordinary things and now here she was...standing face-to-face with a dog that could tear her arm clean off.

Whoo.

Eyes glazing over, she shook from her seizure as the girl pinned quickly pushed out of the position and ran toward another creature lying on the ground.

What the..

Standing defensively in front of it, the girl advised they were both Anubis. Seeing that familiar Academy menu pop up in front of her face, there was no doubt the one they were talking to was in fact the Kesi Kimura. She did sound as vibrant as Edge La made her out to be. However, the issue of escort would have to come second. They had a monster to take care of. Backing away and towards her own group of Icarus, Trouble, and Stein; Lahz looked to the Deviant Artist to start issuing orders. If he wanted to prove so darn much, then by all means, he could go ahead and lead them all; she would be right behind.

Pulling up a menu and locking onto the party of her own, she invited Yung Icarus, Anubis, Trouble, and Stein. Sure this was getting a little too friendly, a little too close for her taste, but if they were going to do this, then it was best that they did this together.

"Kesi..? You are Kesi Kimura, right?"

Anubis

Taking the moments reprieve to address the newcomers, Kesi gave a glare as the alert for a party came up. With a noncommital grunt, she accepted the invite before speaking up.

"You don't know me, you'll call me Anubis."

Waving a hand to call the newcomers forward, Kesi once again superimposed herself between her other and her hound. She owed the Wastehound as much after all.

"Let's finish this then, I'd love for a trip to a pub after this, sooner the better."

QuirkyAngel
The Suspicious Eye
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh
Kalin Scarlet

 

[White Masquerade]

(DECEASED)

0/3
(+1 HP Per Post)

AGI:
1

PROW:
2
​

​

Anubis Hound (Thing One)

Trouble
Lv.1

.

Trojan Horse

HP: 4/4 (+1 per post)
PP: 3/3 (+1 per post)
CDR: 4/4
VIT: 0
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Anubis
Lv.1

.

Edge Lord

HP: 5/5 (+2 per post)
PP: 2/2 (+1 per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: 2
NRV: -
AGI: 2
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- Self-lighting cigarettes.

Armor / Equipment:
-

* Black Gold
Lv.1

.

Internet Explorer

HP: 4/4 (+2 per post)
PP: 3/3 (+1 per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: 1
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 4
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Yung Icarus
Lv.1

.

Deviant Artist

HP: 4/4 (+1 per post)
PP: 2/2 (+1 per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: -
NRV: -
AGI: 2
PROW: 5
Skills:
Perfection

Items:
- 150 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Stein
Lv.1

.

Internet Explorer

HP: 5/5 (+2 per post)
PP: 3/3 (+1 per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: 2
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Welcome To The Party! As the title says, "Welcome To the Party!" You have just been introduced to the party screen for the Codebreakers RP. When playing in parties against certain enemies, most notably a boss, you will be able to take a look at a screen like this. It shows everybody in the party, party leader, and all relevant information on them. During specific situations, the colors under each person may change. Such as if a party member is killed, the box will be turned red signifying their death. The boss'/monster's stats will be shown and their HP adjusted whenever they are hit. As you roleplay through a battle, always keep an eye on this screen to see the status of your party and fight. May this add more flair to the MMO-vibe when taking on especially hard enemies or grand monsters! Feel free to make your posts as long or as short as you want. This is a battle; no need to write seven paragraphs. Now say it with me! PAAAAAAAARTYYYY UP!

The Suspicious Eye
Pequeno Burraidh
Refaulted
Kalin Scarlet

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains​

Anubis Hound

Thing One

Down on its haunches, head lowered to the ground, the Hound breathes out a low snarl that washes over the dirt in gentle haze. This wasn't quite what it was expecting nor what its master told it to do. It had been commanded to test Kesi Kimura and her worth, which it found -- lacking. Uncertain of whether to stay or run, it made an executive decision. This was not in the plan. It was heavily outnumbered. Yet the goal was to be killed by Kesi, or kill her itself. Shifting gaze from the boy in the car to Kimura, the Anubis closed its eyes. Lifting its nostril into the air, it took a good, long sniff. Wafting on the light breeze curving the land, it could tell Thing Two and Thing Three were on the way...which meant master was already privy to what was going on. So the plan was to continue; new enemies or not. Very well. It was spoiling for a fight. Just a minute and reinforcements would arrive. Just one minute: that's all it had to hold out for.

Raising onto all fours, the Anubis opened its mouth and howled wide.

"GAAAAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"​

Sharing its jaw, drool dripped from serrations that ran its jagged mouth. Flexing its fore-paws, it dared any one of the humans to attack.

Attack! You get the odd feeling the Anubis is waiting for something. Why is it just standing there? Attack! Why..? Because if it survives Round 1, reinforcements will arrive! Take it out before then!​

​

Pequeno Burraidh
Refaulted
The Suspicious Eye
Kalin Scarlet

 

[The Suspicious Eye]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

Current Location: Territory 6, Little City

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 3/3 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 4/4
VIT: 0
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

TroubleTrouble was a girl who lived up to her name, not by causing it more being the focal point of most trouble around her. Some say this is due to bad luck while others say it is due to negligence, for Trouble, it's a bit of both. As the car suddenly stopped Trouble, who hadn't put on a seat belt, went flying face first into the seat in front of her. "Ow! What the hell Creeper Face!!" Besode her on the seat R.E.D was laughing her ass off pointing down at Trouble. 'Buwahahahahahahaaaa!! You looked so stupid!! I can't! Hahahahahahaaaaaaa!!' As her imaginary friend was rolling around with laughter, Trouble grew even more annoyed at the whole situation. Hearing the dead man driving call out to someone Trouble looked out to see a girl fighting a pack of black creepy shadow dogs. For a moment she thought she was hallucinating, but nope this was real.

"Depends, which Anubis are you offering to help, the irrational and violent arsehole Anubis, or that Anubis dog over there? Because the dog started it this time, I swear."

Raising a eyebrow at the tan girl's snarky comment Trouble smiled. "I like this girl." R.E.D leaned over and looked out the window too grinning. 'I bet it's because you both share the same word color. That won't get confusing at allll.' Trouble glanced over at R.E.D, "what?" R.E.D shrugged, 'nothing. Just some meta shit. Now go get out there and help!' With that R.E.D opened the car door causing Trouble to tumble out. Holding her hand out stopping herself from having a close relationship with the ground she pushed herself up to her feet and sighed. Looking back to R.E.D she glared, "you are a ass." R.E.D grinned, 'I'm your psychosis so what does that say about you?'

Rolling her eyes she looked over her shoulder and pointed to Stein, "you! DorkenStein! Don't let me die." Placing her hands on her hips she smirked, "It would seriously put a damper on my day." Facing back at Anubis and Anubis she'd have to think of a good nickname for Scooby and Scrappy Doom over there. Pulling out the metal pipe she had grabbed from Gil's Automotive from the car she twirled it around herself before charging forward. A girl of action she wasn't going to wait for orders to be given by Creeper Face. Running towards the dog she turned her shoulder raised the pipe up ready to swing like a back. "Hey doggie. Here's a bone for you" and swings.

​

Kalin Scarlet
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh
White Masquerade
(I hope this is alright)

 

[White Masquerade]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains​

Anubis Hound

Thing One

"You! DorkenStein! Don't let me die. It would seriously put a damper on my day."

Ears perked picking up sound, vision soon followed after as in the way of the noise, there was a slight rustle of movement. Heavy walking and then...running!!

!!!

There!

To the left!

Eyes and head both snapping, the hound's upper body ripped towards the girl with the hat. It would have to keep watch on Anubis later. Eyes penetrating, they dilated, zooming in on the paths of her footsteps. In her hand was something shiny. What looked to be a long steel bar. Licking its lips, the hound studied the way her body moved and positioned itself in response. She was a fool for attacking head on and would pay for it.

Tensing tight as she'd draw ever close, the hound finally sprung when she was in range. Bursting from the power of muscle upon layer of muscle, it rocketed forward with snout hung open going for the neck. Yet,

CRACK!!

In a rapid change of pace, the pipe came down like a monster. The amount of torque. The accelerated pivot contained within the swing; it happened in an instant. How could a human move...so fast?

Blinded for the moment with one eye broken in, the hound stayed low close to the ground turning every which way clearly on the defensive. Taking the blurred vision into account, how could it not? With one blow from a girl, a little child, it already felt like it was about to go.

The Suspicious Eye
Kalin Scarlet
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh

(Lost 2 HP )​

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains

Yung Icarus​

Current Location:

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 2/2 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 2/2
VIT: 0
NRV: 0
AGI: 2
PROW: 5
Skills:
-Perfection

Items:
- 150 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

Following after Cho, Icarus climbed out of the car, eyeing the beast as Anubis pushed it away. The Deviant Artist cracked his arm, relieving it of the tension from holding the wheel forever. Glancing towards the girl, Icarus smirked.

"So long as you're the 'Anubis we were told to pick up, and I'm not positive about that, then we'll help you out. And if not we could always just bring you along as a chew toy for your friend."

Unfortunately, as he accepted the party request from Cho and found the girl had joined as well, he realized his chew toy idea would never be. And worse still, Trouble dove in and tried to take out the enemy first. With a sigh, he raised his hands in defeat.

"Nevermind, then. Let's get this over with."

Icarus' hands erupted in energy, forming a pair of dynamos that proceeded to throw skywards. The machines released a burst of electric energy, firing straight at the Anubis at high speed.




[Perfection Activates!]


Icarus' eyes went wide as his hands started to glow brighter, the same glow enveloping his weapons as they fired at the beast, moving at a speed that he couldn't even track. Only the trail of the energy his dynamos emitted was visible as they destroyed Anubis, turning it into small flowing pixels that disperse into the air around the party.

White Masquerade
The Suspicious Eye
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

Watching as the newcomers took on the beast she'd been manhandling for the past ten minutes or so, she wasn't too surprised when they took it down in just a couple of hits, the safety combat feature suited multiple attackers on one anyhow. Still, the help was nice, in a sense. She'd been getting tired of dealing with the beast anyhow. One thing that did bother her, however, was pulled back to her mind as her eyes cast over the Wastehound, recovering from it's bout with the hound, and as she thought back to when she first met it.

"So the hound clearly wasn't yours unless your boss has a really sick sense of initiation rites. Something isn't right here, see this Wastehound, it's aberrant, coding is wrong. It's a loner despite being a programmed pack animal. A programmed pack animal just like the Anubis hound we just took down... which was also alone."

Eyes scanning the horizon as somewhere in the back of her mind she registered a bit of experience loaded into her system, as well as a bit of money. Still, the back of her mind was where those numbers could stay, they weren't her worry right now. Looking about for any things else, she noted that her eyes didn't catch anything, but the Wastehounds ears pricked up as the faint echoes of twin howls only just reached her ears.

"I see..."

Someone was directing these hounds. One aberrant programmed creature was a fluke, but three? No, she called bullshite on that, the chances were astronomical. About to tell the others it was time to go, she felt the Wastehound prodding her hand with its nose, and she realised what it wanted. Quickly furrowing the ground, she summoned a bottle of water from her inventory and poured its contents into the divot for the beast. As soon as she was done she started walking towards the car.

"We've got more company coming, though I'm not finding myself wanting to meet them. I'd say it's time to leave, no?"

Turning to look to the newcomers for their input, Kesi was instead surprised to see that the Wastehound had followed behind her. Looking at the still full divot in the ground, she pointed at it and spoke.

"Water's there fuckhead. You're not getting me to waste more on your hide."

Instead of turning back to the water, the Wastehound looked at her, then turned, looked over the others, circled her once and seated itself next to her. Looking down at the thick headed beast for a moment, Kesi almost guffawed as she realised what it was doing. Rolling her eyes, she pointed back at the water and spoke out again.

"There. Water. Drink it and fuck off."

Watching as the hound but looked at her quizzically, but remained motionless, Kesi marched over to the water and waited until the Wastehound, unsurprisingly, got up and walked over to her side again. Once there, she pointed at the water once more. Watching as the Wastehound started drinking, Kesi rolled her eyes and scoffed before walking back to the car.

She could only stop, close her eyes, and sigh in irritation as she heard something pad up behind her. Turning around to face the animal a scowl took over her face as she dropped to a knee in front of it, almost wishing it would just bite her face and give her an excuse. Instead it sat too. Giving up, she pulled up her messages and wrote one out for the guild leader.

~Made my own decision Miss Stalkstoomuch. That decision is that if you didn't have an open door policy for pets, there'd better be one by the time we get to the city, otherwise you can blow it all out your arse.~

"Right then fuckhead, looks like you managed to change your ways and find yourself a pack. Can't say I approve, you have fucking bugger all for opinions of a good leader I must say. You're clearly not going to toddle off, and I'm not going to kill you for being friendly either, not after..." suppressing a shudder and shaking her head, a small smile grew on her face and she reached out carefully and managed to lightly ruffle the hound's ear, "You need a name other than fuckhead though, don't you you, fuckhead?"

Standing back up and regarding the people before her, Kesi nodded in satisfaction with her decision and gave the group a small wave and nod before summoning her own bottle of water and taking a heart mouthful before returning it to her inventory.

"Proper greeting I suppose. Thanks for the assist, name's Anubis, and the only reason you know me by anything else is because your boss is too damn nosy. This guy's coming with us by the way, his name's.. hmmm... Mshai. Yea, Mshai'll do nicely. This isn't a debate either, you want me, you get him too. I don't flake on debts, I don't care who, or what, I owe them to. Now, let's go before we get more company."

White Masquerade
Refaulted
The Suspicious Eye
Kalin Scarlet

 

[Refaulted]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains​

Stein
Shunjiro Miyata
Current Location: Pendeji Plains, Territory 6, Little City

HP: 5/5
HP Recovery: 2 per post
PP: 3/3
PP Recovery: 1 per post
VIT: 2
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
N/A
Items:
-200 Kirito
Equipment:
N/A

Stein turned to Trouble, taken slightly aback by her nickname she had given him, as well as the comment that followed. He couldn't tell if the comment was sarcastic or not, or if the name was meant to be an insult to him. Either way, he felt attacked by his comrade, and when he tried to open his mouth to speak, she simply waved away any form of reply he could have given as she explained how she first noticed the code. As Stein listened, he opened up his notes and hastily wrote down what she said under her name, interested at her mention the word 'therapy'. He circled that word a few times so he could remember to compare it to the rest of his notes. He also drew a triangle, with each point having a different word: 'therapy', 'kid', and 'Codebreaker'. When she mentioned her goal, Stein looked up at her and smiled. "A nice goal. Simple and to the point."

When Icarus began to speak, Stein moved to his information on Icarus, and began to jot down what he said as well. It wasn't as descriptive as Trouble, but he noted how Icarus thought of the Codebreaking abilities as a 'gift'. However, when Icarus referred to Stein as a college graduate, he looked up and gave a nervous chuckle. "Ah! Well, uh, see...Actually..." Stein sheepishly stared down at his feet. It was the one subject he always tried to avoid, even with his own family. "Forget about it. I don't think my life story is really important right now."

As Miss Cho referred back to Stein's comments about John Muir, Stein perked up again. "I'd have to agree with you on that. A man who appreciates nature to the extent that he did would surely wallow in an agony akin to the loss of a loved one. At least, that's my thoughts. I don't know exactly what kind of man Mr. Muir was, so he may have a different reaction to it." Stein then noticed Lahz look at her hand, which changed to a dark color, with her fingertips glowing, as well as her eyes. Stein's eyebrows raised, as he hadn't been expecting...that. Was that her form of Codebreaking ability? It was...artistic, in a way. It seemed to fit Lahz's character.

He was about to ask Trouble how her powers worked, since he had seen Icarus summon the tiny machine, but the man suddenly brought the car into a skidding stop. This caused Stein's question to simply come out as a wheeze, as he was flung from the force of the stop. His head whipped to the side, and he yelped in surprise, before Icarus exclaimed something about there being the person they were sent to find.

Stein quickly shook himself out of his minor daze, and saw the notification of Lahz wanting to party up. He accepted with no hesitation, and looked around the car for his glasses while everyone else began to leap into action. His vision wasn't so horrible he needed his glasses, but he felt naked without them, so he reached down and felt around the floor of the car. When he finally found them, he was about to put them on when Trouble jumped out of the car from the door on her side, shouting for Stein to keep her alive. Stein looked up in surprise, and quickly placed his glasses on. "R-right! Yeah, that's my job."

He opened the door on his side of the car and stepped out, staring over the open door to the battle that began in front of him, using the door as a sort of shield. While everyone else went in without hesitation, Stein studied the battle as it went on. If he could, he wanted to figure out the easiest way to deal with it. But, he wouldn't even have a chance to lift a finger. The battle was won easily. Trouble pulled out a pipe, which Stein recognized from Gili's Automotive and brought it down with a vicious swing onto the beast's head, and Icarus followed up with a destructive attack that wiped the creature off the face of the planet.

Stein winced as the beast disappeared. He had done nothing to help. Not even add in a word to help his comrades. Not that it was that bad, since no one in the party seemed to suffer any damage. Stein frowned, and solemnly accepted his lack of participation.

Stein looked at Lahz, since she hadn't had a chance to fight as well. He caught a glimpse of a look of sickness on her face, and Stein assumed it was the scene in front of her. While the situation was horrifying, Stein had mentally prepared himself for whatever trouble they came across. He accepted the fact that being a Codebreaker was going to be dangerous, so seeing the violence in front of him wasn't too intense to digest. Still, it made him feel a tad uncomfortable. He walked from around his door and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. "Are you going to be okay, Miss Cho?" He then turned to Anubis and nodded. "I agree with you, Miss Anubis. I think all introductions can wait until we make sure we are safe from whatever is out here." He turned to the rest of the group. "Any opposed to the idea?"

The Suspicious Eye
Kalin Scarlet
White Masquerade
Pequeno Burraidh

 

[The Suspicious Eye]

Another Codebreaker Quest:
Pendeji Plains
​

Current Location: Territory 6, Little City

HP: 4/4 (Recover 1 HP per post)
PP: 3/3 (Recover 1 PP per post)
CDR: 4/4
VIT: 0
NRV: 1
AGI: 1
PROW: 3
Skills:
-

Items:
- 200 Kirito

Armor / Equipment:
-

TroubleHoly Shit! Jumping back as Icarus shot his attack finished off the poor Anubis. Turning around she shouted, "thanks for the heads up Creeperface!" Trouble flipped him the bird, before scoffing and watching the final blow. She looked at the pixels that was all that was left of the creature. Clenching her shaking fist tightly, she held down her shock at the affect of her swing had on the dog. Trouble felt a bit guilty and much more concerned. Sure she wanted to beat the dog away, but she was aiming for his legs not his head. Hearing snickering beside her she looked over at R.E.D wearing large thick glasses. Raising her shoulders up high she grinned and asked, 'did I do thaaaaatttttttt?' in her best Urkel impression. Narrowing her eyes at her hallucination she frowned, "dick move R.E.D. This is my body." Resting the pipe on her shoulders she shifted her weight, making sure to keep her face hidden as she talked to her imaginary friend.

'Awww come on. I just adjusted your swing a bit. Nothing to freak out about.' R.E.D playfully punched Trouble's arm ash she grinned. Trouble on the other hand was not pleased in the slightest. "Regardless you have to stop. I know you got something planned." Twirling around like a princess R.E.D laughed, 'I have no idea what you are talking about. Besides I'm you. The sooner you admit that the sooner you're going to get betterrrrrr.' Trouble rolled her eyes, "no way. You're not going to trick me. You're real, my resident evil devil and that's that. I'm not falling for your tricks." Trouble tightened her hands around the pipe ready to swing it at R.E.D.

'Yeah yeah, whatever. You're boring when you're serious.' With that R.E.D vanished and Trouble looked back to her team. Putting on a smile Trouble made her way over to the large dog that the girl had. Walking beside the two she kneeled down to the dog and patted his head before sliding her arm around the dog. Struggling a bit she was able to pick up and hold it under her arm. Looking up at Stien she smiled and gave him a quick wink. "No arguments here DorkenStein. Let's make like a tree and leaf. I don't want to deal with any more dog piles today." Opening the car door she slid the dog in and took a step back holding the door wider for Anubis, "I have a reward I want to collect, so get in the car losers, we're going shopping."

​

Kalin Scarlet
Refaulted
Pequeno Burraidh
White Masquerade