Lightning-Charged Offensive: Part One - The Obsession.
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:21 pm
OOC: This is after Nall's answer to Canti, before the mission to the other Hub. Canti's side-story here is in slow-time, meaning that regardless of how long it takes me to write it, it's a slice-of-life piece of work made to fit in the parameters stated.
Terrain Type: Top of the black tower, a circular open roof-type area with a mile-high drop. It's dark and forboding. Think the Tenim-Ne-Gru from DMC3.
Weather: There's a thunder storm overhead, rumbling away, with perhaps sparse amounts of rain.
Element: Despite its dark appearance, this is a Rai zone, though it would not be unreassonable to have Ani bleed from the shadows.
Monsters You Want: Just one - A Suraisu Doppelganger to suit the specifications made IC-wise.
Who Is In The Thread: This is a duel, so just Canti.
Raine: No heals or resurrections. Canti will handle his own heals by way of Repth spells and such.
Canti: ......Shit.
(After his stint in the meeting, we find Canti looking very agitated about something. Every fiber of his being feels wrong about this whole situation, all because of Nall's answer to his question back at the meeting. It wasn't that the guy had somehow disappointed him by confessing that he too was in the dark, but the fact of the matter was...his lack of information seemed to confirm in Canti's mind what the Twin Blade had suspected. Picture a scene from hell... In the bowels of a dark tower, there is a battle between Nall and another player. The player is a hacker, a lightly-colored Fist-Fighter who can also use Twin Blade weapons. In that battle, somethign causes the whole tower to start collapsing. What Nall said was that he had to leave that tower or be crushed under it. He defeated the hacker, Suraisu, but killed him? It seemed as though Nall didn't actually finish him off personally. Nall said that he was as good as dead, possibly buried underneath that tower. Canti doubted it, and that was the source of his troubled thoughts. He went down to the training room door and immediately Raine's image appeared before him. Canti didn't look that well, even for Canti. He felt nervous, like The World was hiding something more terrible than he could ever imagine.)
"Are you alright?"
Canti: I'm fine, I guess... Listen, I need a solo training room...
(The Twin Blade rattled on the specifications of the 'arena' involved. They should've had a record of the dark tower, anyway.The ironic part was that the place he chose was at the top of the tower, which was actually one of the safer 'puzzle lock' places, which would unlock heaven to the ones who solved it. In the timeline of the trek through the tenebrous tower, this was just shortly after the battle with the lightning-squid-abomination, whose final attack before death had been blocked by a certain someone...)
"And what monsters will you be fighting?"
Canti: Just one. Can you make a doppelganger? A copy of original players?
"It can be done, though they're no more than custom monsters."
Canti: It'll do. Make me a clone of the lightning-hacker, Suraisu. He's a pretty high level, but I'm okay with that.
(He described the Rai-fighter for Raine and she was able to call up a record of him. For all intents and purposes, Canti wanted a fight against what he deemed to be the regular Suraisu, rather than the one that he, Zhao, and Dien had had to struggle against before coming here. His reasons were vague and questionable, but Raine didn't say anything. If he wanted a fake Fist Fighter made to look, act, and fight like the Elite hacker, that was his business. Once Canti had filled in the rest of the blanks that needed to be inputted, the area was ready. The door opened with a hiss...and Canti stepped into a memory from the recent past. A tall tower...storms raging above. A circular arena... It was a good mock-up, although it obviously wasn't fully-interactive. No matter. It didn't need to be. It looked like an open area, more so once the doors closed behind him. He was standing on top of the tower...)
Canti: I could never forget this place, the terror that gripped me here more than I'd ever felt in my life. The squid-thing, the Demon of Fear, horrible freakish golems of flesh... A run like no other...trying to prove myself despite a low level. Well, I'm a bit stronger now...
(He'd been looking over an edge, but turned now as he heard the sound of something 'gating in'. This was how the doppelganger of Suraisu was brought into the field. It would start its attack as soon as Canti made his first move. Just looking at him made Canti grit his teeth. Every time he thought of Suraisu, he didn't know WHAT to make of him. Was he a total bastard of a hacker? Was he a victim half-caught in a web? Where did he really stand, with his conflicting actions and his strange attitude? Canti's fists began to shake with rage as his black eyes focused on the doppelganger.)
Canti: Suraisu...
(He reached for his knives, Dante's Blades to be precise...)
Canti: Just what the hell are you?!
(A mad dash, and then a leap at the Fist Fighter, who took that moment to draw his metallic fans just as Canti was performing a fly-by-slice. There was a certain metal-grinding sound as the two weapons hit each other. Canti landed and turned to defend against the doppelganger now, who used the fan-weapons with great expertise. No special attack yet, but lightning blazes against Canti's blades as the two weapons struck again and again caught his attention. That was something in common... Their elements were emulated through like elemental weapons. Canti leapt back, towards one of the protruding spires shortly before lightning struck it. He vaulted off of it only a couple of seconds before lightning coursed through the whole of the architecture. The Twin Blade had both knives thrusted in a stabbing motion to try and use his velocity to stike and pin the Fist Fighter, but he moved...quickly. Canti smashed a chunk of stone instead, and flung himself out of the way of a lightning blast from Suraisu's clone. Rai Kruz was it? Yeah. The ion field felt about right. Fact is, those who either emulate or weaken in the presence of lightning know it well. Canti landed in the middle of the arena now, with his opponent not too far off.)
Canti: You were the one who told me about darker things in The World... You warned me, told me so I'd keep from thinking this was just a fucking game...
(The doppelganger pointed a hand, causing several Rai Don attacks to fire from above Canti's head. He noticed them, and used Twin Blade agility to avoid them, sidling and sliding this way and that, avoiding them because they were pinpoint attacks, level one spells. His black eyes never left their focus on Suraisu. It was only attacking him because it was a monster in his form, programmed to use spells at a distance.)
Canti: If I was just suppose to die and become a slave, why'd you even bother?!
(Another rush, straight at the Fist Fighter, Twin Darkness a'blazing free from his knives. Metal grinds against fan-blades, but some of the attack gets through, doing...an amount of damage. However, in retaliation, the Suraisu clone attempted to slice open Canti's mid-section with a quick swipe. Parrying it brought it down to a glancing blow at the hip, but there was still damage, and the Twin Blade was then kicked across the area, tumbling to a stop some seven feat from the edge. The clone pursued, swiping its Dragon Fans at him, whipping them like rotating sawblades. Canti was glanced by a couple of these strikes, but then he caught both blades in between the gaps of Dante's Blades, stopping the motion for a moment.)
Canti: Bastard! Stop stealing my moves!
(Obviously, the doppelganger wasn't going to listen to a word he said, or stop fighting, so instead, it let go of the fans for a moment and pounded forcefully into Canti's stomach. The Twin Blade was thrusted back by this attack, a large chunk of HP taken from him on top of everything else. He casted Repth spells as Suraisu reclaimed his fans from mid-air. Canti was at the edge now. He didn't look back. He only looked forward. Even if this were a monster, Suraisu wasn't dumb enough to charge right off of the tower. That was ridiculous. Instead, a Rai rune appeared over Canti's head.)
Canti: Oh, you fucker...
(He'd been given no choice. To avoid the sudden Rai Rom attack, he had to charge, and the Fist Fighter was waiting for that. However, Canti leapt much higher than anticipated. monsters did not take un-World-like attributes into account, usually. A wing-assisted jump enhanced the dark Twin Blade's agility, and he met Suraisu's blades in a clash that gave him the greater leverage. When Canti landed and turned, he found that the doppelganger had attained a cut on its forehead.)
Canti: I'm not the Canti you took a hit for back then. You knew what would happen, didn't you? You talk about dark things in The World...
(Canti spread his raven-like wings and rose from the ground, arms spread out with Dante's Blades grasped in them. Darkness bled from the blades and wrapped around Canti himself, as well as an aura of fire...)
Canti: I AM the dark side of The World!
(With great aerodynamic speed all of a sudden, Canti flew up and around in the arena, swooping down to strike are Suraisu with great force that was equally capable of damaging him and avoiding a number of strikes himself. His battle-concentration was focus completely...though to a fault. This had become an obsession for him. He saw only Suraisu, and paid little attention to anything else. He didn't buy that the lightning hacker was dead, so he had to be prepared... Prepared for the eventual possibilty that he might return...)
OOC: This is only part of the battle, however... I haven't done nearly as much as this doppelganger COULD be doing, but it's in the right style of the opponent, I think.
Terrain Type: Top of the black tower, a circular open roof-type area with a mile-high drop. It's dark and forboding. Think the Tenim-Ne-Gru from DMC3.
Weather: There's a thunder storm overhead, rumbling away, with perhaps sparse amounts of rain.
Element: Despite its dark appearance, this is a Rai zone, though it would not be unreassonable to have Ani bleed from the shadows.
Monsters You Want: Just one - A Suraisu Doppelganger to suit the specifications made IC-wise.
Who Is In The Thread: This is a duel, so just Canti.
Raine: No heals or resurrections. Canti will handle his own heals by way of Repth spells and such.
Canti: ......Shit.
(After his stint in the meeting, we find Canti looking very agitated about something. Every fiber of his being feels wrong about this whole situation, all because of Nall's answer to his question back at the meeting. It wasn't that the guy had somehow disappointed him by confessing that he too was in the dark, but the fact of the matter was...his lack of information seemed to confirm in Canti's mind what the Twin Blade had suspected. Picture a scene from hell... In the bowels of a dark tower, there is a battle between Nall and another player. The player is a hacker, a lightly-colored Fist-Fighter who can also use Twin Blade weapons. In that battle, somethign causes the whole tower to start collapsing. What Nall said was that he had to leave that tower or be crushed under it. He defeated the hacker, Suraisu, but killed him? It seemed as though Nall didn't actually finish him off personally. Nall said that he was as good as dead, possibly buried underneath that tower. Canti doubted it, and that was the source of his troubled thoughts. He went down to the training room door and immediately Raine's image appeared before him. Canti didn't look that well, even for Canti. He felt nervous, like The World was hiding something more terrible than he could ever imagine.)
"Are you alright?"
Canti: I'm fine, I guess... Listen, I need a solo training room...
(The Twin Blade rattled on the specifications of the 'arena' involved. They should've had a record of the dark tower, anyway.The ironic part was that the place he chose was at the top of the tower, which was actually one of the safer 'puzzle lock' places, which would unlock heaven to the ones who solved it. In the timeline of the trek through the tenebrous tower, this was just shortly after the battle with the lightning-squid-abomination, whose final attack before death had been blocked by a certain someone...)
"And what monsters will you be fighting?"
Canti: Just one. Can you make a doppelganger? A copy of original players?
"It can be done, though they're no more than custom monsters."
Canti: It'll do. Make me a clone of the lightning-hacker, Suraisu. He's a pretty high level, but I'm okay with that.
(He described the Rai-fighter for Raine and she was able to call up a record of him. For all intents and purposes, Canti wanted a fight against what he deemed to be the regular Suraisu, rather than the one that he, Zhao, and Dien had had to struggle against before coming here. His reasons were vague and questionable, but Raine didn't say anything. If he wanted a fake Fist Fighter made to look, act, and fight like the Elite hacker, that was his business. Once Canti had filled in the rest of the blanks that needed to be inputted, the area was ready. The door opened with a hiss...and Canti stepped into a memory from the recent past. A tall tower...storms raging above. A circular arena... It was a good mock-up, although it obviously wasn't fully-interactive. No matter. It didn't need to be. It looked like an open area, more so once the doors closed behind him. He was standing on top of the tower...)
Canti: I could never forget this place, the terror that gripped me here more than I'd ever felt in my life. The squid-thing, the Demon of Fear, horrible freakish golems of flesh... A run like no other...trying to prove myself despite a low level. Well, I'm a bit stronger now...
(He'd been looking over an edge, but turned now as he heard the sound of something 'gating in'. This was how the doppelganger of Suraisu was brought into the field. It would start its attack as soon as Canti made his first move. Just looking at him made Canti grit his teeth. Every time he thought of Suraisu, he didn't know WHAT to make of him. Was he a total bastard of a hacker? Was he a victim half-caught in a web? Where did he really stand, with his conflicting actions and his strange attitude? Canti's fists began to shake with rage as his black eyes focused on the doppelganger.)
Canti: Suraisu...
(He reached for his knives, Dante's Blades to be precise...)
Canti: Just what the hell are you?!
(A mad dash, and then a leap at the Fist Fighter, who took that moment to draw his metallic fans just as Canti was performing a fly-by-slice. There was a certain metal-grinding sound as the two weapons hit each other. Canti landed and turned to defend against the doppelganger now, who used the fan-weapons with great expertise. No special attack yet, but lightning blazes against Canti's blades as the two weapons struck again and again caught his attention. That was something in common... Their elements were emulated through like elemental weapons. Canti leapt back, towards one of the protruding spires shortly before lightning struck it. He vaulted off of it only a couple of seconds before lightning coursed through the whole of the architecture. The Twin Blade had both knives thrusted in a stabbing motion to try and use his velocity to stike and pin the Fist Fighter, but he moved...quickly. Canti smashed a chunk of stone instead, and flung himself out of the way of a lightning blast from Suraisu's clone. Rai Kruz was it? Yeah. The ion field felt about right. Fact is, those who either emulate or weaken in the presence of lightning know it well. Canti landed in the middle of the arena now, with his opponent not too far off.)
Canti: You were the one who told me about darker things in The World... You warned me, told me so I'd keep from thinking this was just a fucking game...
(The doppelganger pointed a hand, causing several Rai Don attacks to fire from above Canti's head. He noticed them, and used Twin Blade agility to avoid them, sidling and sliding this way and that, avoiding them because they were pinpoint attacks, level one spells. His black eyes never left their focus on Suraisu. It was only attacking him because it was a monster in his form, programmed to use spells at a distance.)
Canti: If I was just suppose to die and become a slave, why'd you even bother?!
(Another rush, straight at the Fist Fighter, Twin Darkness a'blazing free from his knives. Metal grinds against fan-blades, but some of the attack gets through, doing...an amount of damage. However, in retaliation, the Suraisu clone attempted to slice open Canti's mid-section with a quick swipe. Parrying it brought it down to a glancing blow at the hip, but there was still damage, and the Twin Blade was then kicked across the area, tumbling to a stop some seven feat from the edge. The clone pursued, swiping its Dragon Fans at him, whipping them like rotating sawblades. Canti was glanced by a couple of these strikes, but then he caught both blades in between the gaps of Dante's Blades, stopping the motion for a moment.)
Canti: Bastard! Stop stealing my moves!
(Obviously, the doppelganger wasn't going to listen to a word he said, or stop fighting, so instead, it let go of the fans for a moment and pounded forcefully into Canti's stomach. The Twin Blade was thrusted back by this attack, a large chunk of HP taken from him on top of everything else. He casted Repth spells as Suraisu reclaimed his fans from mid-air. Canti was at the edge now. He didn't look back. He only looked forward. Even if this were a monster, Suraisu wasn't dumb enough to charge right off of the tower. That was ridiculous. Instead, a Rai rune appeared over Canti's head.)
Canti: Oh, you fucker...
(He'd been given no choice. To avoid the sudden Rai Rom attack, he had to charge, and the Fist Fighter was waiting for that. However, Canti leapt much higher than anticipated. monsters did not take un-World-like attributes into account, usually. A wing-assisted jump enhanced the dark Twin Blade's agility, and he met Suraisu's blades in a clash that gave him the greater leverage. When Canti landed and turned, he found that the doppelganger had attained a cut on its forehead.)
Canti: I'm not the Canti you took a hit for back then. You knew what would happen, didn't you? You talk about dark things in The World...
(Canti spread his raven-like wings and rose from the ground, arms spread out with Dante's Blades grasped in them. Darkness bled from the blades and wrapped around Canti himself, as well as an aura of fire...)
Canti: I AM the dark side of The World!
(With great aerodynamic speed all of a sudden, Canti flew up and around in the arena, swooping down to strike are Suraisu with great force that was equally capable of damaging him and avoiding a number of strikes himself. His battle-concentration was focus completely...though to a fault. This had become an obsession for him. He saw only Suraisu, and paid little attention to anything else. He didn't buy that the lightning hacker was dead, so he had to be prepared... Prepared for the eventual possibilty that he might return...)
OOC: This is only part of the battle, however... I haven't done nearly as much as this doppelganger COULD be doing, but it's in the right style of the opponent, I think.