Hackers (Sidequest, Tron and Felix)

[boss]

Program City was still immensely dark, even after the Users and Tron left after defeating the villains and Heartless in this world. It was like a large metropolis at night, but everything was streamlined in futuristic neon lights, and the streets were sparse, save for a few light cycles and the foot traffic of individual program humanoids. This was the area that Sora and Tron explored together during the Organization's first reign, and also the area chosen by a group of unknown users hacking into the system to place their towers. Two towers had already been placed in the area of the Canyon to download the remaining data of the MCP, or Master Control Program. If Tron could remember his encounters with the Master Control Program, this was far from good.

One tower had been placed in the central circular area, where the walkway was boxed around it that went to the upper level. This was the enclosed side-room Sora had been in with Tron once before, to locate and install an energy cell, so they could power up the console back in the Pit Cell. The other tower was placed up and above the first tower on the higher level, visable from the opening one could climb up to from the area of the first tower by use of crudely stacked containers making stairs, and before the entrances which lead to both the Dataspace and the I/O Tower: Hallway. Thankfully the tower had not been placed in the Dataspace directly, for both had to be shut down at the same time from two remote users if they wished to stop the download, and this way both Tron and Felix would be able to communicate visually as well as verbally and perhaps work together as a team. However, things were never as easy as they seemed, and shadows started to emerge out of the deep darkness surrounding both neon towers as they thrummed coming online.

In front of each tower, Heartless began to form and pop out of their own small Corridors to Darkness. First was a lone Strafer Heartless in front of each tower, flapping it's limbs around in it's quick robotic manner. Next those lone Strafers were joined by two Magnum Loaders as they raced in, swatting at each other with their engine-like arms. Last of all to appear in each group was a single Devastator, in it's 'tank' mode, twisting and swiveling around it's turret as it looked for something to shoot at.

Suddenly, there was a loud klaxon alarm sound, followed by the following final security routine annoucement from each tower console:

"MCP DOWNLOAD INITCIATED. TO CANCEL, POWER ENERGY CELL TO UNLOCK AND HIT SHUTDOWN KEY. TIME UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: FIVE CYCLES. WARNING! YOU WILL BE DE-REZZED."

---

(OOC: Okay, I thought of a fun way to do this, so let me explain. Each tower needs two energy cells powered up, and you get that power to filter into the cells by making a successful hit which drops orbs off your enemy, with each hit filling up one cell. Once you have gathered enough energy and can safely power down each tower at the same time without being interupted, you can move on to the last two towers. Between four towers altogether, that's eight cells, and eight successful hits you need to make to power the towers down over five cycles/turns. However, your hits will be judged by realism and creativity, and if you fail to power up the cells and shut down the towers in time, the MCP will go online and you'll fail the sidequest. So try to be fair and original in your battles, if you have questions PM Vincent, and let's have fun with this!)

---

Round One:
First Tower (enclosed side-room): 0/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

x1 Strafer
x2 Magnum Loader
x1 Devastator

Second Tower (upper level): 0/2 Energy Cells charged, status ONLINE

x1 Strafer
x2 Magnum Loader
x1 Devastator

[deshitana4]

((Excellent. ^_^))

The quiet warrior was making his usual rounds around the typically peaceful pathways of Program City. While the city was constantly covered by dark skies and the occasional flash of light from surges of information, there nothing to be afraid of in this world unless you did something to trigger the system into become hostile towards you.

In any case, the security program was making his way towards the Canyon when unexpectedly, a security alarm was triggered and a message began to play. Due to how close the program was to the area that had been attacked, he heard the message loud and clear.

"MCP DOWNLOAD INITCIATED. TO CANCEL, POWER ENERGY CELL TO UNLOCK AND HIT SHUTDOWN KEY. TIME UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: FIVE CYCLES. WARNING! YOU WILL BE DE-REZZED."

The message made the program frown a bit. MCP download? MCP…why was that…

A brief surge of information stunned the quiet warrior for a second as an image of a particular reddish orange program came to mind. A program that had at one point caused problems on the Grid…no had taken over, making the place a nightmare to live in… That program…Master…Control…Program. MCP!

The surge lasted for a second, but it was enough to jog the program’s foggy memory and with it being jogged the program began to hurry to the area that was being hit. There was no way he was going to let the User get away with such an action!

Rounding a corner and finally coming to the source of the problem, the program slid to a brief halt as he took in the situation. A tower…no wait. The program looked up towards the upper level to see the edge of a second tower. It rest directly above the first. The tower before him seemed to be run by two cells and if the tower above was identical, he could assume two cells were above also. While the positioning made the pair seem like one tower, the program was not quite sure yet if the towers could be taken out one by one. In any case, the program observation of them ended as the dark creatures began to appear in the area. There were four before him and from the sounds from above four more above.

8 enemies, 4 cells to be powered, and the time limit of 5 light cycles. That was not very long. He needed to shut the towers down and fast. Pulling his trademark disc from his back, he grasped the disc in both hands for a second before making a slight twisting movement, unlocking the hidden second disc. Armed with his dual blades, he moved forward to meet the enemies moving about.

[Felix]

OOC: Not sure how else I can get into Space Paranoids but I'm going to use my "EyePhone" to do so here since it's about the only way I can think that Felix might get thrown in there XD! At any rate I'll take care of the higher up tower ^_^!

IC:"Hey there," the red-headed freelancer spoke as he walked over to the counter of a cafe he quite often frequented. Behind the counter was a newbie to the business, a pretty blonde that had just been hired recently and was on her second week. He quickly gave her his order, Hazelnut Coffee with a bit of whip cream as he chatted her up a tad, not one to turn down an opportunity to get a hottie's digits. All was going well, getting easy laughs out of her as he made fun of her boss, an irritating man from what the freelancer had experienced when he was taking his order. Soon enough his hazelnut coffee came, his right hand reaching toward his back pocket for his wallet, but a sudden tone came from his smartphone.

"Ah one second gotta get that," he stated as his hand instead went to his front pocket and pulled out his phone. It was good timing to since he was going to ask for her number anyway so after checking the email he got (which was hopefully business related), he could proceed to the more pressing matter. Regardless, he quickly glanced over the email, a bit perplexed by it's wording.

"Dear User,

Please open the attachment in this email," was all it said, the red-head scoffing at the lame attempt to try and give him a virus. Thing was though, with his EyePhone he didn't need to worry about viruses and felt safe opening the attachment since it wouldn't make a lick of difference... how wrong he was. Suddenly, his phone's frontal camera shot out a strange beam of light, starting from his head and moving downward. Slowly his body turned into binary, the freelancer barely getting out the words "What the hell?!" before suddenly being transported into a new world. His body now donned an odd suit, dark green lines emerging all over the suit in a pattern of some sort. His right hand smacked lightly against his face, more than annoyed by this recent turn of events.

"Right when I'm about to get her number right?" he complained, shaking his head. His eyes began to wander though, wondering where he was exactly. Everything that surrounded him looked strangely familiar, the freelancer scratching his head in thought.

"This is really weird am I inside my EyePhone?" he asked no one in particular, finally noticing that his environment looked oddly similar to a motherboard you might find in a PC or something akin to it. It was hard to believe that he was inside a computer though, logic dictating that such a thing was impossible.

"Then again, that same logic says that Heartless, Nobodies, and every other monster out there shouldn't be possible either," he explained, his head shaking left to right as a sigh escaped his lips. No sooner than that breath had left his lungs though, a voice suddenly began talking, it's announcement not sounding very pleasant.

"MCP DOWNLOAD INITCIATED. TO CANCEL, POWER ENERGY CELL TO UNLOCK AND HIT SHUTDOWN KEY. TIME UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: FIVE CYCLES. WARNING! YOU WILL BE DE-REZZED," it alarmed, the freelancer not enjoying the sound of being "DE-REZZED" all that much. His right hand soon went to his katana, withdrawing it from it's scabbard as Heartless suddenly appeared, four of them the likes of which this warrior had never had the pleasure of destroying. His eyes soon glanced over the features, wanting to get a better grasp on how his opponents might fight.

The two red ones had wheels for legs, more than likely meaning they would be rather fast and probably not all that strong. The skinny one stained yellow and blue, seemed like it would be rather useless as well, it's blows probably very easy for the freelancer to ignore if hit. His eyes than traveled to the bigger of the four, not particularly fond of what seemed to be a cannon on it's front. A smirk quickly curved against his lips though as he pointed toward them with his katana, his introduction about to be shouted off.

"Alright you piles of scrap, time for you learn why you don't interrupt the #1 freelancer, Felix Maximilian when he's flirting with a blonde bombshell! I hope you guys enjoy electricity because you're about to taste some!" he yelled loudly, easily audible to anyone below him as he sprinted toward the Devastator. His body soon began to coat itself in electricity, his Lightning Manipulator being activated as he approached the Heartless with astounding speed. Once within range, the freelancer's feet would push off the ground into a jump, just high enough to get above the Devastator. He did this not only to avoid any attack that may have been coming at him at the time, but to also plunge his sword deep into the creature. If successful, lightning would surge through his blade, conducting rather nicely with the monster, more than likely destroying it with the powerful blow. Regardless, the freelancer would soon jump backward to move onto the other Heartless, his Orthadox Thai stance falling into place as he awaited what came next.

Lightning Manipulator: Two Post Duration (First Post)

[boss]

(OOC: Hah, EyePhone, Futurama reference. Love it.)

As Tron prepared his Dual Disks, and failed to attack the Heartless... that would cost them some time. Immidately they swarmed towards him, the first being the Magnum Loader pair of Heartless, the fastest of the Heartless, who assaulted the Program with Somerault in the form of flipping towards him and kicking with the tyre half of their body one after the other. Next came the Strafer, trying to get in a shot, and fired a short-range Laser at Tron once the Magnum Loaders had passed. Finally the Devastator Heartless, the slowest but most powerful to re-act, started marching towards Tron as it fired three homing energy blasts from it's canon in the form of Proto Canon.

Felix was a bit luckier though as he powered up and made a run-and-hit manuver, striking his slow Devastator Heartless with his sword. Energy orbs cascaded off the large Heartless and were absorbed into one of the power cells of his tower, charging the shut-down sequence half-way, but the Heartless quite literally being a tank meant it still had half it's HP remaining. The Magnum Loader twins were first to mobilize, in perfect sequence like Tron's, racing towards Felix as soon as they spotted him. They lost him for a moment as he moved into high-speed, but re-calculated and moved with perfect precision as he slowed down to attack the Devastator, and homed in on him using Spike Charge as they attempted to ram him with their spiked turbine arms outstretched at high speed. Next to move was the Strafer, performing a move called Lariat, which involved spinning it's long bladed arms around itself as it also rolled out to attack Felix after the circling Magnum Loaders. Last but not least the Devastator activated it's close-range mechanism, Transform, retracting it's canon and legs as it floated into the air and tried to zap Felix with a sharp intense blast of purple electricity that surged in a similar aura around it's body as Felix's Lightning Manipulator.

On the terminal screen at Felix's tower, the bar was half-full at fifty per cent to show his progress, whereas Tron's still remained at zero. A timer ticking down on the screen indicated a cycle of time had already passed, the program's measurement of time within this world, and now they only had four cycles remaining. They were going to need to pick up the slack if they wanted to make up for lost time, but also preserve their powers for the fights that were up ahead. They also needed to keep in mind that as well as gathering enough energy dropped by the Heartless, they were going to need to defeat them or find a way to prevent attacking them for a turn, so both of them could concurrently shut down the towers. And that was if they both even recognized the other being was present...

---

Round One:
First Tower (enclosed side-room): 0/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

x1 Strafer (click)
x2 Magnum Loader (click)
x1 Devastator(click)

(no change as of yet)

Second Tower (upper level): 1/2 Energy Cells charged, status ONLINE

x1 Strafer (click)
x2 Magnum Loader (click)
x1 Devastator(click) (half HP)

[deshitana4]

While the timer went down, the enemies came towards him. As they swarmed him with multiple attacks, the program reacted. To the two Magnum Loaders, he dodge the first tyre and blocked the second tyre with the side of his arm as the attacks came in quick session. Unfortunately, the Strafer’s laser was able to hit. In response to the strike, the warrior stepped forward, closing the distance between them and swiped out horizontally at the creature, hoping to slice the weaker creature to bits; however, the program did not have time to see what damage was done as the largest of the creature attacked, forcing the program back as he tried not to get hit by the blasts.

As he did this, he could hear words coming from above him, but over the noise of the blasts, he did not understand what was said. In any case, the small distraction almost got the program hit by the final blast that landed inches from him. Refocusing on the battle at hand, he took another step back and threw both disc at the larger creature, hoping that the twin attack would damage the beast severely.

As the discs flew, the program briefly looked up to the upper section as a sudden burst of movement caught his attention.

The creatures are reacting to something, but what? the program thought briefly before turning his attention back to his own battle. He'd have to worry about the what later....

[Felix]

OOC: Y’know I was wondering if that was going to slip by undetected or if someone would catch that XD! I’m glad my reference didn’t go to waste ^_^!

IC: With his rather successful attack, the freelancer didn’t have much time to analyze the situation as within seconds of his landing and adopting his Thai Stance, the two Magnum Loaders were already hot on his heels, both attempting a clothesline it seemed. Either that or they were planning on leaving some nasty gashes on his sides that would certainly ruin his new attire that he was sporting. Unfortunately this just wasn’t an option for the freelancer and he’d make sure the two Heartless would regret attacking him for the last brief moment they had to live. As they had approached him in unison, the lightning charged freelancer would suddenly dip down extremely low, both spikes passing over his head with ease. Not content on just dodging the blow though, as he had done this evasive maneuver he had pivoted and spun around, his right elbow on a course to smash into the Heartless in a hook like fashion. The other Magnum Loader would also be in for a world of hurt, his left elbow spinning around with him and aimed at its face. With the lightning charged attacks, it would be easy to fell these creatures with a single blow, the warrior noticing the Strafer fast approaching thanks to the security in his mind that they'd be dead. Regardless, he'd quickly began to jump back, figuring the best way to attack the creature would be from above but before he could stop jumping back, another attack came his way. The Devastator that he had hoped had been felled by his earlier blow was still alive and well, and pissed from the looks of it. The blast did not hit directly but the freelancer was blown back none the less from the shockwave and damaged a fair amount as he slid against the ground. He groaned lightly as his eyes refocused, spotting another fight going on not too far from him, and what seemed to be another tower similar to the one he had seen these Heartless guarding.

‘Gotta think fast,’ the freelancer began mentally as he picked himself up from the ground, ‘that announcement said we had to power down something… I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that these towers are said something since they’re heavily guarded. I better get up there fast then… and I got just the idea to do so,’ the freelancer had finished spieling as he had gotten back to his feet, his signature grin returning to his face. With lightning still cackling around his body, the freelancer sprinted off toward the Strafer that had attempted to attack him earlier. Without hesitation, the freelancer would grab the Strafer as he tossed it in the air like a fish, soon jumping up after it. His feet would land on its body, now using it as a pseudo platform to jump even higher.

‘This is a real pain without using Mass Manipulator,’ the redhead complained as he went higher, now above the Devastator. Upon this creature though his feet would slam hard, something that while normally would be rather irrelevant, was far more detrimental with what little remained of his Lightning Manipulator. By hitting the Devastator directly with his feet, not only would he deal a bit more damage to the monstrosity, but it would be hit by a convenient little confusion side-effect that would leave it incapacitated for a moment. The Strafer he used as a platform on the other hand would not receive any damage nor the status effect. It was of little consequence though for the freelancer heavily doubted the Heartless could follow him up to the heightened platform and, even if it did, he could easily dispatch it. Regardless, he quickly retrieved his katana as he jumped up once more, noticing the two power cells already charged and ready for a shut down. He wanted to shut them down immediately, but he had bought himself some time and could communicate with the warrior down below. After all, it was a bit fishy that there were two towers and he had been asked to come here to help at all. Getting up to the other tower and taking out the Heartless would not be an easy task for one man but could be done. So why was the freelancer specifically summoned here, and no less near the other tower? While it was just circumstantial evidence to use to draw his conclusion, it seemed way too coincidental to brush off.

“Hey you whatever your name is!” he shouted, his voice hopefully reaching the man below over the sound of battle, “I got a feeling this isn’t as easy as us just shutting them down one at a time and we’ll have to do this simultaneously! I don’t feel like getting de-rezzed so you better get up to your tower within a minute because I am going to be flipping this switch in precisely one minute!” he explained, his Lightning Manipulator now falling off. A small sigh escaped his lips, his head shaking in irritation,

‘This really blows,’ he whined mentally, ‘he’s totally going to screw up.’

Lightning Manipulator: Duration finished/3 post cooldown started

[boss]

(OOC: It didn't but Felix, but from your quote after you attacked the Heartless, please don't jump ahead and assume that you've accomplished your goal by saying both energy cells are already charged. You may already have it, but don't get ahead of yourself.)

Tron's Magnum Loaders missed and were blocked respectively, and passed the program warrior, both landing on their tyres and speeding past to circle around and use Spin on Tron which compromised their top half spinning around with their spiked arms outstreched. The Strafer was ready after it had struck the dual-disk wielder with it's laser, but since Tron dodged and guarded against the Magnum Loaders, the disk came at a faster spin than anticipated and cut into the Heartless. It was destroyed completely, and it's data along with the residual energy fell off in orbs and was absorbed into one of the tower's energy cells, with a low hum and some flashing lights to indicate the progress the tower showed on it's display screen one of the cells was charged up. There was still the Devastator to deal with, and from missing it's shots towards it's target, it began to mobilize to hit Tron quickly with it's melee attacks. But before it could Tron's dual disks shot out, the Devastator moved to the side and evaded both of them, but before it could lay a leg on Tron it was unaware the disks acted like a boomerang. It had it's energy data added to charge the second energy cell after it was instantly de-rezzed.

The mercenary known as Felix seemed to be having a harder time with the Heartless though, as the Magnum Loaders raced passed him and he pulled off his evade and counter attack, it had been done with precision timing but both Heartless were struck with the helicopter blade-like spin of his elbows outstretched. The Heartless impacting into both his elbows at such a speed would leave some bruising, but since he had been the one to excert force behind his martial-art like movement, both Heartless were knocked back and bowled over from their original trajectories. Orbs fell off their body thanks to Lightning Manipulator, and added to the lone uncharged energy cell of the tower, which made a loud hum to indicate both cells were charged. The Strafer was dodged and thrown into the air like a stone, becoming a stepping stone as Felix pushed off it, shooting after him with Homing Beam in the form of a slow-moving ring projectile that had a homing effect as it came after him. The Devastator got a hit in with it's transformation, but was ultimately destroyed with the remainder of Lightning Manipulator, turning into fragmented data and adding it's energy orbs to the stockpile.

With both tower's shutdown generators now powered up and ready for cancelation, the green light on the monitor turned to red, and 'ABORT?' flickered on the screen. A large red button emerged from the console if it wasn't obvious enough already, but also optionally a touch-screen button was available as well. "ETA UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: THREE CYCLES." the computerized voice announcement came, reminding the warriors how much time they had left. They would need to keep the Heartless of them so both of them could shutdown the towers in synchronicity. Could they manage, and what was coming next?

---

Hint: Keep the Heartless distracted while shutting down the towers, as they are still attacking!

Round One:
First Tower (enclosed side-room): 2/2 Energy Cells Charged, status STANDBY

x1 Strafer (click) (defeated)
x2 Magnum Loader (click) (still active)
x1 Devastator(click) (defeated)

Second Tower (upper level): 2/2 Energy Cells charged, status STANDBY

x1 Strafer (click) (still active)
x2 Magnum Loader (click) (defeated)
x1 Devastator(click) (defeated)

[deshitana4]

As the situation unfolded, the program was able to take in most of what was going on by sound and sight. The familiar sound of the dark creature fading back into darkness, let the program know that the Strafer had been destroyed, despite the larger creature blocking the view. There was a distinct hum from behind that the warrior assumed was the tower activating. As for the larger creature’s first attack, while it had missed with its blasts, it did push the warrior closer to the Magnum Loaders that had now begun to come back towards the warrior spinning; however, he did not notice this at first as the larger creature dodge his discs and proceed to come forward.

Perhaps it was the sound of the creatures’ spinning that made the program turn or perhaps it was some form “instinct” built within the program. In any case, at the last minute, the quiet warrior turned to see the twins upon him. Not having time to guard against the first spin attack, the warrior tried to move back, but was still hit in the chest by the blow, causing him to stumble slightly. Not a heavy blow, but annoying nonetheless. The second spin he was a bit more prepared for and dropped to the ground, sweeping his leg out in a circular motion, hoping to trip up the second one and also the first one as he continued the motion until he had made a circle. After the action was completed, the program got to his feet and turned away from his opponents. He moved between them and set off towards the tower once more at a quick pace.

As he did so, his discs returned to him, destroying the larger creature. As the battle above got quieter, he heard the voice above him speaking once more. With less commotion about, he heard the words loud and clear.

Shut the towers down at once? That seemed logical enough. As if to back up the other's comment, the tower’s screen before him turned red as the word 'abort' flashed across the screen. Shortly after this message, the computer announced the time left. Three light cycles…this was going to be tough.

“Affirmative. I’ll be there,” the program responded loud enough for his ally to hear. Hoping his earlier action would buy him some time, he picked up speed to reach the tower at the same time his ally did…provided the other could take care of whatever was left of his own battle.

((Just a side note I thought I should mention just in case what I did is unclear. When Felix pushes the button Tron would do the same at the same time.))

[Felix]

OOC: Alright just want to say sorry this took me a while, been busy as of late so I haven’t had the time to knuckle down and get writing as of late. I’ve had the thought of what to do for quite some time but never got a chance to put it to paper (or rather Microsoft Word but I digress) but now I shall and hopefully not disappoint XD! Also I will add the color later, had to do this on my phone T_T!
 
IC: Soon after the freelancer had yelled, a notice on confirmation reached his ears from the other warrior down below, giving his word that he’d be there in time. Five seconds had already passed from the aforementioned minute, the freelancer now having time to wait for his friend to get to the tower and check up on the Heartless he had left behind, or lack of Heartless had it been destroyed by the fall. As luck would have it, that was not the case and the Heartless had shot what seemed to be hoops of energy from the distance, very slow moving but headed straight toward the freelancer. He sighed lightly as the ten second mark passed, his eyes traveling around the platform he was upon as he looked for anything seemingly unrelated to the shut-down process. The reason being was if the Heartless could continue shooting these attacks from afar, it stood to reason that he had to get rid of it quickly and without getting off the tower or face dire consequences. As the fifteen second mark passed and the hoops inched closer and closer, his eyes fell upon the extra monitors upon the tower that looked easy enough to remove. Not only that, but they were just monitors so they weren’t integral and he could press that shut down button with or without them. Swiftly he used his blade to separate it from its former position, hoisting it above his head as he whipped it toward the Heartless. With twenty seconds passed, the threat of the hoop of energy was still apparent and now within actual inches from its target.
 
“I’m glad this attack is incredibly slow,” the freelancer commented before making a small step back and slicing the beam of energy with his blade. His back then turned, not too sure if the monitor had hit its target but none the less not all that concerned. While it would be pleasant if that threat was eliminated, it didn’t mean much since any further attacks could be dealt with much the same way and with his position now behind the tower’s terminal where the shutdown button was located, it was unlikely he’d get hit by any further attacks. Now thirty seconds had passed and his eyes began to wander once more, now having a moment to check out the scenery a bit more. Unknown to most people, this warrior was not just brawn but as also a rather intelligent fellow when he wanted to be especially in the field of technology. While he wasn’t an IT god, he knew well enough what the inside of a computer looked like and could set up a network if he wished. Now that he was able to see it from the inside, it was quite frankly… fascinating. Binary, circuits, hexadecimal code, information traveling on what looked like fiber cabling, and many other things were all going on inside what seemed to be either his EyePhone or something on an even grander scale than that of his smartphone. It was breathtaking to see it all and from the distance he could see another tower that looked very similar to the one he was on right now.

‘Are we going to have to do this with more towers? If there’s more than two exactly how many are there?’ he asked himself as he turned to his front once more, now another twenty seconds having passed and down to the last ten. He smirked lightly as he put his sword back into its sheathe, not looking over to the other warrior but instead just focusing on the terminal and the his immediate surroundings,

“Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one!” he counted down as he pressed the shutdown button, now waiting for the other man to say something or even that other voice that had been making the announcements up until now. In case anything were to attack or if they had more towers to shut down, the freelancer preemptively activated his Mass Manipulator, his mass being reduced to 1/20th as he got ready for whatever came next.

[boss2]

Tripping up the Magnum Loader Heartless was a smart idea executed by Tron – the Heartless depended on their singular wheel to stay upright, and it was easier to knock them over while they were standing still – not to mention it was hard for the Heartless to right themselves again with their stubby arms. Nether the less, while they were straightening themselves, it gave Tron the valuable time he needed to shut down the tower on his end. Felix’s idea to cut the projectile ring in half worked out well enough, as while it was not possible to do so when the ring seemed to pass through the blade, it disappeared on it’s own accord when it reached maximum range. As he pressed the button at the same time as Tron, both towers ceased their loud humming as they shut down, the fluorescent lights on the towers blinking out one by one. The remaining Heartless that had failed to de-rezz their target disappeared into their own small Corridors of Darkness, leaving only a blinking diagram left on the screen as one of the only sources of sentient life remaining in this sector.

On closer inspection, the diagram looked like a circuit board of four towers; two of them were red and hollowed, showing they were shut down. But there were two others still active, and if one interpreted the circuit board as a map, the other two towers were active in another sector of the city close by. Strangely enough, the two towers were clustered together, in a sector north of the first two tower’s position, beyond the north entrance of the current area in a place called the IO Tower: Hallway. They were not spaced apart from each other, and in fact were on the north and south walls of a large circular room, that if Tron could access his memory was the exact location he and the Sora-user fought the Hostile Program.

In the other part of the city, two figures awaited the interlopers that had shut down the first two towers, their faces not being seen at first. However, it was alarming that the two figures had woven into their bodysuits the color of orange neon, indicating the corrupt virus that had infected the two antagonists. ”So if you help me resurrect the MCP, then we will find a means to transport your data to the outside world.” the cruel overseer known as Sark told the other program, who had his back turned to him, getting out his duel disk from his back. The other figure chuckled darkly, his back turned to Sark as he retrieved his own Duel Disk. ”We have a deal. It’s a whole new world up there… and I will not let some rogue users and programs stop me.” the man replied as he turned around to reveal his face, identifying him as Clu, the commander that had taken over Space Paranoids in Sark’s absence once before.

”Come, Tron and user, we have some unfinished business!” he called out to the arriving heroes he could sense coming, as both he and Sark prepared for battle to protect the towers.

---

Hint: You don’t need to defeat the bosses, as time runs short, try to make a creative hit to power the cells!

Round One:

Results:

First Tower (enclosed side-room): 2/2 Energy Cells Charged, status SHUTDOWN

Second Tower (upper level): 2/2 Energy Cells charged, status SHUTDOWN

Final Round:

Third Tower (I/O Tower Hallway, North Wall): 0/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

Sark (boss)

Fourth Tower (I/O Tower Hallway, South Wall): 0/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

Clu (boss)

[LT:BBS Soundtrack - The Encounter]

[deshitana4]

With the two Heartless knocked over, the program was able to reach the button without a problem and press it down. As the towers stopped humming and shut down, the program closed his eyes, relieved for a second; however, the program did not linger in victory for long. Reopening his eyes, he turned slightly to see the dark creatures disappearing, hopefully for good long while. With the threat gone, the program looked at the display before him.

To the untrained eye, the display appeared to be a circuit board displaying the towers, four in all, but to the program this diagram held loads of information. For starters, the two towers that he and the User had just shut down were hollow and red—inactive—but there were still two others glowing brightly and from the looks of things they were a set just like the first two had been. Scanning the display carefully, the program was able to kiss the location of the next two towers—the IO Tower: Hallway. Like all of the Grid, the program knew the location of the area; however, anything that may have happened within the place in past was a blank in the program’s memory. In any case, time was short for the program and the User. So wasting no more time with the diagram, he looked up to where he had heard the voice.

“Come with me. I can get us to the next set of towers,” the program called to his ally and then headed out of the room quickly. He had no doubt that his ally would follow. After traveling to the IO Tower: Hallway, the program paused for a moment as he scanned the area for threats. Within seconds, he found the towers just as the diagram had shown—one to the north and the other to the south—and also…the problem.

Standing between them and the towers were two program colored neon orange, an automatic sign that the programs were corrupted and dangerous. Despite a foggy memory, the program was able to recognize one of the corrupt programs almost instantly.
Even as the evil program called out to them and called the warrior by his name, the grip upon the two discs he held was tightening as a single name escaped his lips.

“Clu,” the warrior muttered loud enough for the User to hear, not hiding his dislike for the program. Clu had ruined the Grid before just like the MCP had done so long ago and even though the program hated to admit, Tron vaguely remembered that he had helped the cursed program do it, but under another name that he could not recall at the moment. In any case, the corrupted program had somehow been wiped from the system. The exact way how remained a blur in the program’s mind, but he could guess the towers had brought the program back. Moving his glare from Clue, Tron turned his attention to the other program for a moment.

This program was something he did not recognize, but at the same had a strange feeling had seen it before, but where? In any case, the scan lasted a second before Tron spoke to the User.

“Two towers just like last time and assuming they follow the same pattern as the other pair, they’ll need to be shut down at the same time. I’ll take care of this unknown program and the tower it is guarding,” Tron said as he gestured slightly at the somewhat familiar and unwelcomed program. “I’ll trust you to handle Clu and the other tower,” and then looking briefly at his ally. “Be careful, User.”

With that said, Tron turned away from his alley and headed towards the north tower where the unknown program was. As he looked upon the program and saw its face, a brief surge of images came to him. The reddish orange MCP and a program that protected it…he and another were trying to stop the pair…a User with a strange weapon…

The program shook his head trying to push the images away, but they still lingered at the edge of his mind. What caused these scattered memories to come forth was beyond the program. Perhaps it was the room they were in or perhaps it was the program before him. In any case, the memories had chosen an inconvenient time to come flooding back.

As the program threw his dual discs towards the unknown program, one was on target, but the other was off a bit, making it easy to dodge; however, if luck favored him maybe the off track disc would be useful and hit one of the power cells of the north tower as it curved to return to its owner…

[Felix]

With both towers shut down, the freelancer breathed a sigh of relief that they had managed to shut the towers down at the same time. While he was sure that the “program” down below would have an easy time synching up with him, he had no idea about its fighting prowess. Fortunately, that “program” was no slouch and at least knew how to deal with opponents with more than brute force.

“Heh maybe he’s Hitman Pro 3.5 or Malware Bytes,” he joked as the terminal behind him suddenly flashed and displayed what seemed to be a diagram. Much like Tron, Felix wasn’t an idiot and he could tell what the four spots on the monitor were representing, the towers they needed to shut down, two of which they had already taken care of. What he didn’t know was what way to go since he hadn’t ever had a chance to explore this world as much as I wish he had beforehand. With that noted, his eyes traveled toward the other warrior assisting him in this endeavor of shutting down the four towers, fairly certain he’d know the way.

“Come with me. I can get us to the next set of towers,” the “program” shouted before Felix could even hope to ask. He smirked lightly with a quick nod and followed after him, giving him a moment to get ahead since he was currently using Mass Manipulator anyway. Within moments they had reached their destination, his eyes quickly noting the two other “prog-“… no malware. Malware is what they had to be, or at least it helped Felix make sense of everything better since he was considering Tron a virus checker after all. He chuckled lightly at his own musings, knowing he was taking this change of environment a bit too well.

“I swear if I wasn’t a tech savvy guy right now I think a normal person would have lost it right about now,” he whispered to himself as Tron had noted the name of the more human looking of the two opponents, Clu. The way he did though was a bit strange though, anger evident in his voice which seemed rather surprising for what he was considering to be a mere virus scanner. Indeed, displaying emotion wasn’t something the freelancer thought possible from your average virus scanner which made him question what exactly his ally was. Now that he had decided to entertain the thought, it was odd that he embodied a human form, likewise with the two “Viruses” they were about to fight. Certainly that wouldn’t be necessary, and, if anything, they should have looked much like the Heartless had more so than humans. Yet the fact remained and as the saying goes, if it walks like a human, and talks like a human, then odds are its human. This realization only lead to more questions but before he could use his keen intellect to perhaps unravel any more of the mystery behind his current circumstances, Tron had spoken once more,

“Two towers just like last time and assuming they follow the same pattern as the other pair, they’ll need to be shut down at the same time. I’ll take care of this unknown program and the tower it is guarding… be careful, User,” he warned before rushing off to battle. The freelancer bit his thumb as his smirk replaced the “thinking” face he had just moments before… why was he wasting his time asking questions when he could be fighting? Indeed, if there was one thing that the freelancer enjoyed more than solving mysteries, it was fighting and his ally had left the other opponent to him, seemingly confident in Felix’s ability to take care of Clu. He turned toward that man, walking ever so slowly toward him as his eyes made a quick survey of the area before resting upon his opponent.

“You know I’m not getting paid for this but…” the red-head began as he unsheathed his blade once more, tossing it lightly by the hilt up and down, “when someone puts their faith in my I can’t go disappointing, it’s just bad rep. Sorry to say but it’s time for you to get quarantined bub!” he shouted as his body shook, his blood pumping and his breath excited. Regardless, the katana he was tossing up and down would suddenly be thrown very much like a dart and now traveling very quickly toward one of the energy cells… and would be part of a very quickly thought out attack on the basis that the opponent before him was human.

Indeed, if his opponent was human, odds are that when he had begun tossing his katana up and down, Clu’s attention would have averted to that as opposed to Felix as a whole. After all, most humans fear sharp objects and when someone begins to toss said object like a tennis ball, it was fairly natural to be a tad concerned and focus on it. That was what Felix would hope for and when tossing it he was certain that Clu, the man attempting to prevent him from charging those power cells, would try to prevent the blade from hitting it whatsoever. Whether it was by the use of the dual disk in his hand, or stepping over to it to swipe it down, didn’t matter to the freelancer. While he did want it to hit the power cell it was aimed for, that wasn’t the ultimate goal of his plan. No the ultimate goal was to hit Clu with a punch, a punch that had twenty times his mass behind it.

That being noted, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Felix rush in with blinding speed toward his opponent, reaching him as the katana would pass by his head if not dealt with before. It would be within that moment of opportunity that Felix would dip down, using the momentum behind his dash to wind up for a left hook that was aimed for Clu’s stomach. If this thing were human like the freelancer thought, then he’d be seeing his lunch again with this punch for as his left foot pivoted to get his body weight into the punch, his mass would multiply to twenty times the normal amount as the point of impact was mere inches away. The force behind his punch would be incredible, easily blowing away his opponent if it landed. As faith would have it as well, if hit by this punch, Clu’s body would crash into one of the power cells surely giving it the hit required to charge it whether the katana had managed to hit it or not… and that would be the end of the attack, Felix quickly releasing his anvil like mass as he would take a step back, falling into his Orthodox Thai stance. He wasn’t going to rush this fight, no quite the opposite he would attempt to extend its duration. After all, assuming his opponent didn’t go down with one blow (as mighty as it may be if it indeed met its mark), time was still on his side and he could enjoy this fight.

‘Show me what you got.’

OOC: Forgot to mention it in previous post but cooldowns are now as such,

Lightning Manipulator: 1 Post Cooldown left

Mass Manipulator: 2 Post Duration left / 3 Switches. Current Mass = Normal

[boss2]

"Here they come. I detest having to deal with these... vaccines." Sark remarked to Clu, as the User and Tron entered the I/O Tower: Hallway, and retrieved his Duel Disk from his back. In contrast to his strict and serious attitude, Clu barked a cold, calculated laugh at Tron, upon the program hearing and recognizing him. "Oh, come now Tron, you and I are old friends." he darkly chided. He wouldn't allude to the user how he knew Tron, or what it meant that he worked for him... at least, not yet. Instead, both corrupted programs stepped forward to engage their opponents, as if they were dueling in the Gaming Grid.

Sark immediately began to change his own mass, but in a different way than Felix did. Instead he grew twice as large as he was, including his Duel Disk, to represent his physical strength. "TIME UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: TWO CYCLES." the autonomous female voice warned, and that seemed to be the signal for the battle to begin, as both villains attacked simultaneously. As Tron threw his first Duel Disk at him, he attempted to block with his own disk, and did so successfully because of it's size. Tron's second Duel Disk was thrown at the energy cell, but it simply rebounded off the power-absorbing device, and at this Sark looked unamused. "Ignoramus. If you had learned anything from attacking the Heartless, you would know that the energy needed for termination is inputted from the siphoning of collateral energy accumulated from your opponents. Your resistance is futile, and you are already too late, nothing will stop the Master Control Program from coming online and taking over the Grid." he snarled as he threw his large Duel Disk, passing Tron and ricochet off the walls near Clu and Felix, to strike Tron's back with it's boomerang effect as Tron's would...

Meanwhile, as Felix threw his sword at the other tower's energy cells in the same attempt as Tron did, the result would be the same. Clu knowing as such, his optics only followed Felix's katana enough to see if it was returnable like a dueling disk, and returned them back to Felix to scoff at the pathetic display. Except he took them off long enough for Felix to use his Mass Manipulator, coming at him with lessened mass for intense speed one moment, then ducking down to punch him in the stomach the next. Enery fluctuated off his form and was drained into the power cell of the fourth tower behind him, obtaining half the energy needed to power down. Clu staggered back, but chuckled roughly, reasserting his balance and immediately rushing forward with his duel disk in his hand. With Felix still crouched down and taunting him after his sucker-punch, he punched straight down onto the red-haired head of the user, his Duel Disk multiplying the strength of the punch as it was used like a crude knuckle-duster. Glancing triumphantly at Tron for a moment, this was a similar brutal attack the 'virus-scanner' would be familiar with. And if that wasn't enough, he then threw his disk directly at Felix to strike him in the side of the neck as it whizzed past, regardless of if it hit or not it would bounce off the wall behind Tron and Sark to ricochet instantaneously into Felix's ankle upon returning.

"Heh, this one's got a tone to him as well as a bit of a kick." he remarked snidely, looking down on him in victory as the autonomous voice announced the time left once more. "TIME UNTIL MCP IS ONLINE: ONE CYCLE LEFT. WARNING! YOU WILL BE DE-REZZED." Even if the attack had somehow been negated, the force of the impact was enough to crack the coding of the floor below, and Codified Likeness Utility made a confident grin.

"Your move, User."

---

Hint: Remember, it's damaging your opponents that will power the energy cells, not damaging the cells directly. Team up and co-ordinate your attacks to win! Remember you can use two powers at a time, and the Duel Disks can rebound off surfaces...


Final Round:

Third Tower (I/O Tower Hallway, North Wall): 0/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

Sark (boss)

Fourth Tower (I/O Tower Hallway, South Wall): 1/2 Energy Cells Charged, status ONLINE

Clu (boss)
[LT:BBS Soundtrack - The Encounter]

[deshitana4]

Before battle, Tron had heard Clu’s remark about being old ‘friends’. It was a comment that made the lighting on the program’s suit glow brightly for a second as the anger level rose in the program. Perhaps it was anger at Clu or perhaps just at himself…or maybe it both that made the comment sting so badly. Whatever the case was Tron was not going to say and thankfully, Clu decided not to pursue the comment further.

In any case, when the memories came and the battle started anger was forgotten as the program did his best to regain his focus. The first attempt to attack the unknown program was useless as the program unexpectedly grew larger and blocked the first disc with the larger disc he now wielded. The scene triggered another series of images. The first was of an area with heavily cracked floors…Tron was alone and this unknown program before him was down due to a crack in its head. How the crack got there, the program did not know. In any case, the orange-red MCP was the focus of Tron’s next attacks, but the program was protecting itself and whispering a name…Sark. That’s right! He was the MCP’s loyal servant and bodyguard. Back then he had grown into a giant, but had fallen once the MCP was destroyed….

Fast forward time. Once again, the MCP was back and causing trouble, but unlike last time, the warrior was not alone. Not only was Sark back and a giant once more, but a kid with a strange weapon and two others were with Tron. The group was working together to take MCP down, but more importantly Sark, who was in their way. They attacked the lower leg and foot area, bringing the giant program to its knees and then….the memories ended. Unconsciously, Tron caught the first disc that had been reflected by the giant, but he was far from focused.

Dazed from the second round of memories, Tron barely heard the computer’s countdown or Sark’s words, but he did pick out few things such as: two light cycle and that damaging the opponent was the only way to charge up the power cells…and that there was no way he could stop the MCP from coming back and taking over. While the program might’ve processed this data in some way, it made no logical sense to him in the jumbled fog that his mind was currently in. Another thing, the program did not notice was that the second disc that had gone off target, bounced off the power cell. The bounce had caused it to come whizzing back towards Sark’s lower leg. Whether the disc would hit or not was yet to be seen….

In any case, Tron saw the giant move, but was still a too dazed to understand what the attack was. About time, the program was able to focus again, the giant disc was nearly upon him. Letting instinct take over, the program dropped quickly to the ground as the giant disc flew inches over him as it returned to its owner. Getting up from the floor, Tron caught the second disc that had finally returned from its off course path back. He took a brief moment to get his baring on the situation once more. One power cell was lit and it seemed that Clu was attempting to take the User out with the same move that he had once used upon himself. A triumphant smile followed the attack, causing the program to narrow his eyes at Clu. As if to make the program even more agitated, Clu threw his disc at the User in an attempt to finish him off.

While Clu was working to agitate him, something had changed within the program. The memories from before…they had triggered something within the program. It was his trust in the Users…something the program almost forgotten he had at one point. It was this trust that allowed the program to calm down and believe the User Clu was fighting would find a way around the taunting program. Slightly, calmer the program’s attention shifted to the User for a second, and if the User paid attention, he would notice a very slight nod from the program. A signal or perhaps a sign he simply trusted the User. It was anyone’s guess. From there, Tron returned his attention to the giant program as the words from earlier finally set in and made sense to the program.

“It’s never too late. You were defeated twice before along with the MCP, Sark. You will be stopped again,” the program replied back to giant as a little part of himself returned with the memories. With that, the program did an unexpected thing. Hurling the right disc as hard as he could towards Clu and Fleix’s battle, the disc whizzed by the pair, ricocheted off the wall, and came towards Clu’s back. Depending on what the User and Clu did, one of three things could happen: 1) The disc would hit Clu; 2) If the User somehow removed Clu from the path, it would head for the User; or 3) the disc would somehow miss both and simply return back. Whatever the case would be, Tron did not stand around to find out.

While the second disc was taking its course of action, Tron had begun to charge towards Sark. As he got closer, he hit the ground allowing the momentum of the charge to carry him under the large program. As he was passing the Sark’s leg, the program let his disc out towards the ankle area of the program, hoping that at such a close range the disc would hit and perhaps cause the giant to go down. As the slid carried him pass the program and into safety, Tron got to his feet and watched to see what would happen.

From his position, he could get to the button on his tower with ease and provided that the User had a plan of his own, maybe both towers would activate and they could be done with this nightmare.

As the computerized voice said there was one light cycle left, Tron could only hope things would work in their favor…

((Again. Whenever the buttons appear, Tron will hit his at the same time as Felix does.))

[Felix]

The voice spoke once again, announcing that they had only one minute left before they were “de-rezzed”, something the freelancer was not looking forward to. In fact, it had distracted him long enough for his opponent to score a blow… and what a blow it was. His head felt like it was going to split open upon impact, his consciousness fading from the attack. He had never been hit that hard before, nor so much so by surprise and the stars were passing by his eyes. Everything was moving in slow motion, the ground getting ever so close as his body fell forward, and his thoughts racing quickly. Why was he falling? Why was he here? Was he going to lose? Was he going… to die?

‘No…’ he said to himself as he fell further and further, ‘No… not yet,’ his thoughts continued, broken up, ‘I won’t lose… not yet!’ he shouted mentally as his right foot stamped forward, keeping his body up. He threw his upper body as he gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain. Upon getting up, his eyes spotted the duel disk headed toward his neck, tilting it to the left to narrowly avoid having another hole to breathe through. The man that threw it though had decided not to step away from Felix which was going to end up being a mistake he’d regret immensely.

Without hesitation, Felix’s right foot would step forward, sliding into a favorable position as his head was launched forward toward Clu’s nose, attempting to wipe that smug look of his face. Yet that wouldn’t be the end of his attack whether he was successful or not, no it was to distract Clu from what his ultimate goal was with that extended arm of his. Utilizing his Martial Arts’ prowess, Felix would move with the attempted head butt as his body slid forward, turning his back to Clu. His hands would then attempt to grab for Clu’s arm, holding it in place as Felix would attempt to throw the virus over his hip. If successful, Clu’s duel disk that was dodged earlier and coming back would dig into Clu’s back as he was slammed into the ground. Whether the attack would put Clu out of commission was beyond Felix at the moment but he certainly hoped it bought him time.

Whatever the case was, Felix knew that he had to get over to his switch to press it, not even aware of whether or not his two cells were charged. He stumbled forward toward the terminal but heard a sudden clang off the wall, his eyes narrowing as they looked toward the source and noticed a duel disk that Tron had thrown, perhaps in attempt to help him out. A small smirk would curve against the freelancer’s lips, crouching down to pick up his katana,

“You know it looks like…” the freelancer began as the disk was coming back to its master and he stood back up. With a sudden show of grace, the freelancer would make a 360 degree spin, dodging the duel disk as his katana came round with him. Using it as a bat, the freelancer would hit the duel disk with the blunt side of his katana as he multiplied its mass by x1000 times, hitting the disk with massive force. Assuming it was made of durable material, the freelancer would make a gamble as he hit the disk, altering its trajectory and attempting to hit the giant Sark. Considering his size and the sudden increase in velocity the disk would receive, he was certain that he’d hit Sark and hopefully… charge up Tron’s last cell. He wasn’t sure if Tron had managed to attack Sark successfully, nor did he want to check as he stumbled back to the terminal. He was already injured and couldn’t waste any more time… all he could do was trust. The freelancer once again fell forward, his hand stretched out as it went to press the switch to shut down the tower. They were out of time and all he could do now was… believe,

“We did it,” he would mumble as he pressed upon the switch, keeping himself up by grabbing onto the terminal... falling over would look way un-#1 Freelancer like.

OOC: Perhaps I'm making it a bit too dramatic? Oh well I figured I'd do it since this is ending soon anyway and it makes me feel cool 8)!

Mass Manipulator: duration 1 Post left/4 switches
Lightning Manipulator: Cooldown over