.hack//DIVERGENCE Main

[Bane]

With the gauntlets broken and the shrub showing its true form, it gave the party two potential targets. The wolf elemental seemed to be the more nimbler of the two opponents, but as far as Maoh could gather, not originally part of the intended face-off. It was his turn again, feeling the capacity to move returning to him after seeing the others move. He could focus on continuing his assault against the Willow Man or turn his attention to the wolf. The phrase 'go for the eyes' seemed to resonate through his head as he spied those pink flowers. If they were anything like the pink flowers from before, then damaging those could be its weakness; although in doing so may trigger harmful effects to the party.

That said, one opponent is better than two, and dispatching the additional target sooner rather than later seemed like a solid plan to mitigate harm to the rest of the team. Pushing off from his spot in the lineup, he made for the wolf, blades drawn. Stopping short of the wolf, he poised his blades and began hacking away at it with Thunder Dance, aiming for the eyes.

[Nighthand]

In The World, most skills were fixed in their animations. Once initiated, it was hard or impossible to move or cancel out of them. Maoh's basic skills were no exception, and Thunder Dance locked him in once he began to attack. This would not be interesting in any way, if not for the fact that his odd hacker-installed armband beeped with each strike. Beeped, in fact, with increasing urgency. Like a warning. His final strike landed, the shrubwolf taking the attack just as the Willowman would, the flowery eyes ripped apart with seemingly no effort. Leaves were shredded, branches broken, but it hardly seemed to faze the elemental.

Maoh's bracelet continued to beep alarmingly as the vine took control and forced him to walk back to his spot in the lineup. Halfway there, however, the beep turned into a single long tone. Unable to do anything but watch, everyone in the room watched as purple smoke began to hiss from the bracelet. It formed a dense but localized cloud around Maoh's body. His twin blades clanged against the ground and bounced out of the smoke, his hands no longer able to hold them.

When the smoke cleared, what remained was Maoh, but not. He was decidedly no longer human. Instead, his body had been transformed into that of a large cat, smaller -- but only by inches-- than Shadow. Black and white furred, left wearing what remained of Maoh's former outfit, he was given no choice but to walk back to his place in line. No moment of grace to adapt to the new form, no chance to recover the blade he could no longer hold.

Next up: Nall

Demorian, Nall, and Maoh himself noticed the other change; Maoh was no longer a Twin Blade. The transformation had warped him into a Fist Fighter, presumably the only class capable of making use of a cat's claws as a weapon. At least the hack bomb had seen fit to give him a weapon; the Phoenix Wrist.

On her throne, Xenobia smirked, obviously amused. The bracelet was not her doing; some underling, perhaps? Or maybe some other denizen of Yamiyo had attempted to traverse her tower to leave this experiment as an offering, but left. She neither knew nor cared; it was amusing, and the feline obviously had a place in this particular band of misfits. She locked eyes with Nall for a moment, her lips twitching in a faint smile, as if to say oh the dregs you scrape up.

Next up: Canti and Shadow

[Lord Canti]

(Well, that happened quickly. Shortly after Shadow exposing the shrub as a wolf-weed, the thing was brought into turn-based-itis and then it was Maoh's turn...where he attacked it and then...uhhh... Well, pardon the expression, but Meow The Fuck? What is this? The guy beeped and then transformed into a cat!)

Canti: I have the weirdest feeling that we'll need to find his Truth, Form, and Regret to turn him back.

(But that's perhaps a story for another time. What we have right now is the latest in Canti's turns.)

Canti: Okay, so we have one mook-shrub, right?

Shadow: Right.

Canti: And we know already that it's fast, right?

Shadow: Right.

Canti: Sooo...how's about we switch opponents for a bit?

Shadow: You mean, I attack the tree and you umm...?

Canti: Pull out the weed whacker, yeah.

(Actually, he had a slightly better idea than that. Maoh might've been half his level, but the mook-shrub didn't seem like it was exactly harmed the way it should be. So, while Shadow did his impression of Blanka's rolling battering ram attack on the Willowman, Canti went and cast MeRai Don on the Shrubby.)

[Nighthand]

Shadow's attacks on the Willowman had the same effect they typically did; deep rends in his wooden flesh and armor, with no outward sign of retaliation. Meanwhile, Canti's lightning spell penetrated and blew apart the shrubbery wolf. The wolf was certainly harmed by the blast, but it fairly quickly pulled itself back together. Some leaves were scorched, some flowers wilted, damage clearly dealt, but the creature was an elemental; it would take more than a little "distributed corporeality" to take it down.

As the vine tightened back on Canti and Shadow, one of his ever-useful buffs wore off; this time the Vital Target, the Yamiyo buff that granted him automatic critical hits. Canti would have to use another, or watch his damage fall.

Next up: Willowman

The Willowman was torn, when his turn rolled around. There were so many delicious targets. Would he attack Talal, the woman using the invisible power to shatter his crystals? Would he attack Canti, that annoyingly fast thorn in his side? Would he assault Sheena, the obvious powerhouse? Would he go in an unexpected direction and murder one of the other players?

The answer, as it turned out, was Canti. He and his dog had simply done too much, too often, to be allowed to live. The debuffs, the damage, the annoyance; it was all too much.

The Willowman eschewed his wider-area attacks in favor of one of his most powerful, direct, no-frills full-body punches directly into Canti's face. Each hit took ~20% off Canti's HP bar, and Shadow, linked as they were, felt every blow. Five hits -- and a sixth for good measure -- killed the twin blade where he stood. Smirking down at the fallen Twin Blade as he ghosted, the Willowman turned and calmly walked back to his place.

Hey, maybe his party members would resurrect him nearly instantly, but that didn't matter. Vengeance felt good.

Next up: Shrubwolf

As the Willowman returned to his spot, the semi-feral shrub wolf was given free reign. Unlike Canti and Shadow or Takua and Vesica, the Willowman and the Wolf were not linked. They had separate turns and separate health totals.

Canti was ghosted, as was Shadow, so the elemental searched for a new target. What it found was Maoh, the new feline form in the ranks. The elemental ran and pounced on the cat, but rather than the claws and teeth Maoh expected, it exploded into a flurry of wood-elemental energy. It was the equivalent of a tier-3 wood Tornado, and it was wide enough to affect Sekai, Takua and Talal as well. Razor leaves, sharp thorns and heavy branches whacked and scraped and slashed at the four, before the attack ran its course and the wolf returned to form back at the Willowman's side. When all was said and done, the cat was as ghosted as Canti and Shadow, and the others suffered from numerous wounds.

Next up: Baron

Current Status:

Canti and Shadow: Dead
Maoh: Dead
Sekai: 80% HP Remaining
Takua: 65% HP Remaining
Talal: 40% HP Remaining

[Locke]

Ugh... my head. Someone get the number of that truck...

Silver eyes slowly opened as Baron finally came to, feeling like a mass of pins and needles. Every part of him felt sore as he pushed himself up off of the floor, at least up into a sitting position. The Twin Blade's head throbbed, and his vision was a bit blurry as he regained consciousness, looking around. Where was he? Oh, right, the Juk Tower. Xenobia's tower. Another groan, and Baron pushed himself up to his feet, staggering slightly as he regained his balance. A glance over his body showed no physical damage, no injuries, and his health bar was full; why did he feel so off? It was almost like when you slept wrong, and all parts of your body felt fuzzy and numbed after you awoke; that was probably the most accurate way Baron could describe how his body felt. Not much pain, but more the ache of sleeping on the floor.

“Oof... I feel like I've slept for a year, and a mattress of roots is hardly a comfortable one...”

“Oh, you're awake.” Baron turned as the sound of footsteps came from across the room. A shadowed figure dressed in black came into sight, but the Twin Blade's blurry vision left him confused until he recognize the gold-decorated eyepatch over the man's left eye. Higure, his lupine companion, was projecting his human form; whether it was as a means of disguise or he just felt like it, Baron never knew, but nonetheless it was at least good to see a familiar face after waking up. Why had he been out in the first place, anyway? The question was quickly directed to the wolf even as Baron stretched out his arms and legs, trying to work out some of the stiffness in his joints.

“As far as I can tell, something interfered with your data transfer through the teleporters. Whether it was an issue with your data or simply a lone bug, a glitch in the system, it was enough to knock you out completely and destabilize your data temporarily.” Higure let out a sigh as he shook his head, annoyed by the delay. “It's pretty much repaired itself by now, but that's why you feel out of sorts. You should be fine, with no further damage or alterations. You've just got to... wake up, so to speak. Like getting out of bed and being groggy in the morning, you'll eventually get to full alertness and be right as rain. So get up, the others are far ahead of us.”

No punches pulled, as always... Higure shot Baron a knowing look at the Twin Blade's thoughts, reminding the boy that his companion was part of his head now, as well as an ally. Shrugging it off, Baron stretched his arms out, rotating them at the shoulder to ease out some of the stiffness. As he did so, the boy looked around the room, trying to get a feel for where he was. After a moment he finally placed it; he was back at the entrance! That last teleporter must have been another reset, go figure. However, the Freedom Fighters that had been hanging around the entrance were no longer present; it seemed that in the time that Baron had been unconscious, everyone had moved on. Oh dear.

Fortunately, Demorian's automatically-updated map provided a clear path to follow. Ironically enough, with the map up, the paths were in a straight line; somehow all of their explorations had gotten them off on side routes. Oh well, at least it was easy, and Baron practically dashed through them in order to catch up with the others, reading through his list of flashmails—and boy, there was a long list!—to try and figure out what was going on. Willowman, probably some sort of enemy boss, and something about crystals. Always crystals in video games, wasn't it? Status ailments, Sekai on her expected healing role, that only warned Baron to expect debuffs. Well, that was a gimme with a lot of big boss enemies.

Flipping the bird at the ghosted RogueBane as he passed through the room and getting a wave of disapproval from Higure for doing so, Baron continued to scan through the list. Canti was the “lightning rod of hate”? Sounded like his fellow Twin Blade, causing trouble for himself. Takua blowing things up, check, Talal babysitting, check. Canti doing something stupid? Not a chance that could be prevented, as it seemed Twin Blades were just trouble magnets, at least as far as Baron and Canti were concerned. Finally, the last one mentioning growing gauntlets. Baron wasn't really sure what a lot of the information given to him meant, but he set it aside in case it became immediately useful. The time stamps on the flashmails were not far from his current time; it was likely that the battle was still on.

Reaching the stairway and taking them two at a time, Baron prepared himself for battle immediately. Higure's EX ability, Soul of Darkness, was immediately activated. Pet and player fused together, a dark aura surrounding the Twin Blade as an eyepatch with an eye design in gold appeared over his left eye. The technique gave him boosts roughly equivalent to Ap Do, Ap Corv, Ap Anid, and added some evasion to boot. Plus, they were stackable, as an Ap Do and an Ap Corv from Baron's hastily swapped Time Sandals and Mountain Boots further increased his damage potential. Talk about lightning-fast death potential!

Entering the room with his newly boosted speed, Baron practically seemed to explode outwards from the staircase with what a rather Dynamic Entry. Raikoumaru drawn, the Twin Blade darted at the first large figure that looked less human than the rest, which vaguely resembled a tree at his speed. Hopefully it was actually a monster and not a tree, or it would ruin his entrance. “Tempest Strike!” The spinning lightning attack would only improve his arrival that much more, especially with two different attack bonuses stacking to increase the damage. Top that off with two speed bonuses for some serious high-speed spinning, and that was a deadly chainsaw of electrical Twin Blade death! It also made Baron severely dizzy, but hopefully the effect was worth it as he staggered back out of range.

Still dazed, Baron gave a grin and a thumbs up to the rest of his party. “Sorry I'm late; you miss me?” He did note that many of them were in pretty sorry shape, with three ghosts—one unfamiliar—and some moderately low HP levels. Sekai was probably the only one of them aside from Sheena and the other high-level hackers who was in good condition, so Baron decided to play one of his trump cards. Literally. Drawing The World from his item stock, the Twin Blade tossed his hacked tarot card out and let it take effect, reviving all of the ghosts and restoring full HP and SP to all those present. Well, to the ghosts, apparently; the card didn't work like Baron thought to restore the whole party. Whoops, that might have been a waste!

“Well, uh... hopefully that makes up for being late to the party? So, who wants to fill me in on the strategy? And... well, everything else I've missed?”

[Nighthand]

Baron's unexpected entry, after the elemental wolf and Maoh's cat transformation, allowed the pet-infused twin blade enough time to get a serious hit in and more than the single action. For a brief moment, he was free, capable of using his time to the utmost. He popped out one of the ever-powerful Yamiyo Tarot cards to revitalize Canti, Shadow and Maoh, before squandering his remaining moments with a quip. Of course. If the party was capable of flinching and face-palming, they surely would have. Xenobia's vine snaked around his ankle and dug into his data, cutting him off at "everything else" and forcing him to march to a place in line. For a moment, Xenobia wondered if she would have to seal off the room to prevent more interruptions.

Status: Canti, Shadow and Maoh revived with full HP and SP
Sekai: 80% HP Remaining
Takua: 65% HP Remaining
Talal: 40% HP Remaining

Next up: Sekai

[Sekai]

Thick, noxious smoke erupted after a steady beeping that gave Sekai far, far too many memories of long weeks spent in the sterile "comfort" of a hospital room. The droning tone was enough to set her to starting, the root about her ankle tightening in warning, letting her know she would not be freed even to aide her ally. Honey colored eyes watched helplessly, her expression one of shock and wary distress as the smoke encased Maoh and his blades slid through nerveless fingers.

What emerged after the smoke cleared, however, was more shocking yet.

As always, Kira was the first to comment, finally finding her voice after the initial shock hit all four of them wore off. Well, ain't that some shit. She sounded about as amused as one could be, trying to stave off the puzzlement and disdain for outright tampering with someone else's data- and thus existence. ...might need to tell the bag of fleas over by Takua that he's off limits and probably not her type anyway.

Their newcomer wasn't so impressed, more spooked than anything else and her tirade ended with a final question when Kira's implication finally hit home. We got all this shit to worry 'bout, an' the likes of your ass is worried about the fuckin' cats goin' into heat 'round each other? You high right now? She demanded, the impression of dusky hands on leather clad hips clear in Sekai's mind.

Ooh boy.

Sekai winced, feeling each and ever sting, cut, and prick of the bladed leaves, sharpened twigs, and thorns that ripped and tore at her skin. It... was odd, however, the damage almost seemed less than it should have been. Perhaps being in tune with the same element as the Willowman, and thus Xenobia, by default had something to do with a bit of elemental resistance?

It mattered little, the two not even able to get started before another unexpected event came crash-landing in after two devastating attacks.

And then there's this asshole, Kira lamented with a groan, scowling darkly in the recesses of Sekai's mind.

The white haired girl just stared, shocked at the arrival of an ally long since vanished. Who next...? Did... how did... when did...? ...did... did he really just ask, aloud, for an explanation of the strategy they were using and anything else of importance right in front of someone who wasn't even their... well, 'ally' yet?

Kira groaned, face buried in her hands, and raking through her long pewter colored hair in the next instant. Welp, negotiations're officially off the table now that this guy's here. Consider us officially boned.

December's disapproval was clear, though there was more than a trace of doubt within her melodic voice. Come now, he can't be that bad.

If he fucks it up, all the better for me. Hope y'all get wrecked. Newcomer snapped, rather pleased by the dismay of those whose thoughts and feelings she unwillingly had access to.

Kira snorted, waving a hand dismissively with a one fingered salute in the black clad woman's direction. Go choke on a biscotti. We get wrecked, you get wrecked with us, so fuck you twice.

Sekai's head hurt. She'd need to find a way to keep them either out permanently, or silence spell them, or otherwise find the mute button so her thoughts could be her own again. "Ola Repth!" she called out, centering the spell off of Talal iin hopes it would completely fill the Twin Blade and Wavemaster's HP back up to normal, less worrying levels.

Flashmail!
To: Baron
From: Sekai
Subject: Plan

Um... the very short version is, Xenobia is making us prove ourselves in an old style turn based strategy 'boss' fight so that she may decide whether or not to engage negotiation of a potential alliance with us.

Anything else will need to wait until after... please don't say or do anything terribly rash like last time. This is very, very important... you'll know why later.

She fired the message off and waited, compliant with the vine's restrictive grip around her ankle. Unlike the others, she'd not done anything to try and wrench herself free, and seemed willing to go along with the rules of Xenobia's game.

Her newcomer had the last word, however, in a rather puzzled voice that echoed her uncertainty as to whether or not she should be more pissed off about Kira's suggestion, or morbidly curious as to what the unfamiliar thing was instead....the fuck's a biscotti?

Curiosity almost always won out.

[Nighthand]

Sekai's turns lasted no longer than any other, though to her they must be agony, as the control vine failed to silence or control the voices in her head. Even so, she held to her self-appointed role as healer and support, her Repth variant healing the damage done to her allies and all of what had landed on herself.

Sekai, Takua, Talal: Full HP

Next up: Canti and Shadow

[Lord Canti]

(You don't want to know how Canti and Shadow both felt about that. The ghost of Canti managed to pipe in "Asshole." at the Willowman's back as he returned to his place. Maoh-kitty was also killed as Mr. Shrubs Juk'd the hell out of people. Suddenly, though, there was a new arrival! Baron came in, swinging and reviving, putting people back to full all of a sudden! The dark Twin Blade and his dog were alive, as was the cat-dude.)

Canti: Well, Shadow. How was your first time dead?

Shadow: That was terrible. What if I'd been gone for good?

Canti: Then, I would've been extremely cross. I don't deal with things like that well.

(Bling! And after a turn from Sekai, it was their turn again.)

Canti: You know what, Shadow? I think we need to do something differently. C'mere.

(He whispered in the demon dog's ear and... Have you ever seen a monster dog GRIN before? So, Canti activated a Speed Charm on himself, and Shadow...cast Ap Do on Sheena. After all, she was a Fist Fighter, an upgraded Twin Blade. She would levy heavy hits onto the Willowman at a faster rate, and in the meantime Canti would instigate Phase Two of his new evil plan.)

[Nighthand]

Enhancing his own speed was to be expected, and taking advantage of having two actions in a turn was equally expected. What made Canti's decision excellent from a tactical standpoint was enhancing Sheena's speed. Her turns would come up more often, allowing her to put her insane power to use and hopefully cut dozens of turns off of this boss.

Next up: Talal

[Talal]

The battle was certainly proving to be mind boggling at times. Just when she thought they were making progress, another setback would occur. The surprise arrival of Baron back to the fold as it were could have been used to their advantage if anyone had kept closer tabs on his status and whereabouts, Talal included as she silently cursed herself for her lack of effort. Still they were up one more member again so that was good...right? Could it be considered better odds in a turn based system? Even then, it seemed things were happening quickly and Talal found herself trying to keep up. It appeared the group was holding their own, Sekai still on healing to which the twin blade was forever thankful. The Willowman's last attack leaving Talal cut up, in pain, and low on the HP totem pole. But the archer's turn came first and the young brunette gave the amber eyed girl a nod of thanks.

She knew her best efforts were still spent on getting rid of the crystals. It seemed she was the only one tht could damage them when they were invisible. If she could free all the stronger members than they would be ready to negotiate. When the vines loosened their grip of her form, Talal started working the sound in the room again. Her eyes focusing on the waves she was beginning to notice within her sight. New aspect of her skill? Perhaps. Helps to be able to see what you are trying to move around but the lines were soft and vague so she would still have to rely on her other senses to tell her when it was time. Hopefully, the Willowman wouldn't get another turn before she was able to release another wave. The girl shuddering at the thought of what might happen if she were attacked while controlling a slow build up of sound, contemplating asking everyone if they had earplugs in their inventory.

[Nighthand]

With the invisible crystals moving around, Talal would find it much harder to pinpoint one when the time came to fire off her sound wave. Still, wasn't she bound to try? Her power was one of the most useful in this situation, capable of circumventing the whole "hit the boss until its weak point is revealed" aspect of the fight without actually breaking Xenobia's rules. Even the fact that, when the vine tightened down, she was still active, still gathering a sound pulse, was implicit approval of her actions. Xenobia could have just as easily forced her to stop between turns, destroying any chance she had to build up a significant burst.

One could only hope it would work again.

Next up: Demorian

Demorian didn't have much to think about this time around. Any calculations he might have performed were done. He couldn't attack. His turns came and went placidly; no sense in struggling against the vines.

Next up: Takua and Vesica

[Takua]

Two things became quite clear in short order. First, breaking apart the bracers had just given the damn Willowman a new friend, and that new friend was unhappy with their continued status of “Alive and whole”. Second, the Willowman was just as willing and capable of changing that status to “Broken and bloody” in a single turn, annihilating Canti with only a few powerful hits.

That all was pretty much expected from the boss. Baron's sudden arrival was not, and although Takua wanted to slam the palm of his right hand onto his forehead, Xenobia's control made that quite impossible. The other unexpected thing was Maoh's abrupt transformation...something that had Takua quite convinced he was hallucinating. But even Vesica was tracking the new cat and-

Absolutely not.

”Spoil sport, you should let her! She was captured, she could use a bit of...rest and relaxation, right?”

I do what I please.

Ignoring that statement and hoping that she wasn't speaking literally, Takua refocused. Things had changed, especially with the shrub-like wolf capable of launching some serious hurt through its spells. Unfortunately, Takua's speed had just dropped, the Ap Do wearing off of him. That was...problematic. Canti clearly had a good head on his shoulders though, and had done what Takua should have done last turn by hastening Sheena.

A swift check of his SP revealed that he still had some more before he'd have to take other measures. The question was now, hasten his next turn or strike the wolf, and the Willowman, while he could? Killing the shrub would keep their survivability higher, but casting Ap Do would make him a greater threat over a longer period.

...of course, dying would erase that buff.

Which meant that Takua needed to be the biggest threat this round to keep the heat off of everyone else.

The staff in his hand swapped out in a flash, revealing a blazing red slab of rock and wood that was smoldering in his grip. Turning toward the wolf, he called out his attack as Vesica summoned up another spear of blue-white ice from between her jaws. “PhaVak Don.” Four burning meteors dropped out of the sky, aimed directly for the new threat just as Vesica's overdrive tore through the air separating the snow leopard and the elemental.

[Nighthand]

Takua was one of the heavy artillery, at least among those not bound up by vines, and when his spells went off, they had some serious power behind them. Nighthand was surely torn between glaring at Xenobia for her past abuse of his power, and yearning to amplify those spells to finish the battle all the faster. Unfortunately, even had his powers been unfettered and his actions free, the turn-based format would have kept him from doing anything.

The meteors from on high exploded around the two wooden foes, singeing and smouldering what they caught, leaving scorch marks on the wooden floor as well as the opponents. As before, the sound of the explosion was altogether unimpressive as Talal siphoned off as much of it as she could for another attack on the invisible crystals. Vesica's icy spear seemed unhindered by the flames, piercing them and the leafy elemental with no issue. In fact, the javelin continued past the elemental, to smash against the wall only a scant two yards from Xenobia's throne.

Next up: Canti and Shadow

[Lord Canti]

(Well now, that certainly happened. Sheena was going to be able to hit hard and his more often, thanks to him. Meanwhile, Talal was still doing the super-sonic thing that she was doing. This appeared to be her focus for the moment, which was fine. Takua and Vesica lashed out next. You could always count on the Wavemaster to create a torrent of destruction. Actually, it was a bombardment, but who's counting? This left it with him again. Canti wondered when Sheena was going to attack, because he was bringing out another new installment to the battle plan. This seemed to be the right time to pull it out. They had a...number of players here, now. Canti reached into his yag-bag and pulled out...Unity!)

Canti: I'm fairly-certain that this is gonna rock.

(He used the Yamiyo item to bring up everybody's stats. It was based upon how many their were in here, which he frankly hoped included the big guns who were still caught in the vines. Even with those who were able to take turns, it would be significant. And now, Shadow launched himself at the Willowman's face and mauled at him before returning to his place!)