[IC] BNWL Day 2: Trails Ablaze

[IntSys]

OOC Thread.

 

Day 1: Traces of Petrol

 

 

-

July 10th, 7:00 AM, Den Airport

 

You made it in time, just before the rush hour. The weather was sunny.

 

A woman stood in the middle of the lobby. Short, black-haired, looked more like a tennis player than anything else. Though, she had a long flag in her right hand. It was a green flag with a minimalist image of a sheep on it, colored in white. The flag matched the logo attached to the ticket, so there could only be one reasonable guess: She was your tour guide.

She held up a wonderful smile all the way until everyone in the group arrived.

"Goooood morning, everyone! I'm your tour guide, Hirano Midori! Nice to meet you!" Her elongated "oo" felt like it could make you suffocate if you had to listen to two more seconds of it.

"I am very excited to take everyone to Europe. It's just so different from Japan... Food, people, buildings, scenery... O-Oh, anyway. We're taking Air Japan's plane today, which will leave in two hours. Before we go through the check-in and the customs, let's get to know each other first, shall we? We'll be like family for these twenty days after all~"

-

Ayano
 

Ayano thought for a second. Midori didn't seem to aware of how much was on the line here at all. If it were an act, then it was top-tier. Now, it's not like she was afraid of more competition or anything, just that it would be quite annoying if the person taking care of them ended up getting involved. Unfair advantage and all.

She decided to play along. "My name is Yoshizawa Ayano, soon-to-be the greatest Netbattler in Japan, so watch out!" She grinned, as her eyes scanned the others.

 

Kenji

 

"Right," Kenji muttered as he skimmed through the daily news on his PET. He seriously doubted if this "friend" of the anonymous would be unaware of the situation, though bursting the bubble right now would be a needless stunt. Maybe she's here to moderate them. Who knows? He followed suit regardless, offering a decent amount of formality. "I'm Uesugi Kenji. Nice to meet you all."

 

(Introduce yourselves and chat with each other.)

[Chevaleresse]

"Tsukuda Mitsuru, good to meet you. We'll see about the whole 'greatest Netbattler' thing, though." He was genuinely happy to be there, and excited to go on this trip. Mysterious e-mails and terrorist NetNavis aside, it was a fantastic opportunity - and Score was good at handling herself. He glanced down at his PET; running diagnostics, as usual. Mitsuru wondered how the Navi was able to withstand being such a worrywart. At least she hadn't sent him a reminder to pack clean underwear at 7AM sharp this time (or 7:01, despite the fact that she knew damn well what he meant the first time.) 

[Strider]

Hina rolled her eyes at the guide's exaggerated introduction. Too damn loud. It was seven in the morning, and the guide was practically shouting as she introduced herself. Hina joylessly recalled the old corporate meetings that had much the same unbalanced energy far too early in the morning. Well, if this was anything like those meetings, you had to make an impression at the beginning, and not as the exhausted grump.

 

Hina shifted her small suitcase to her left hand, and gave a small wave with her right hand. "Hi. I'm Kurosawa Hina. Nice to meet you all." She gave a slightly transparent smile, and the perceptive would notice that it started out somewhat fake, but became more genuine as she continued speaking. "Greatest net-battler in Japan, huh? That's a bit of a tame goal, don't you think? You should be aiming for greatest in the world. Or do you doubt your own ability? I'm never going to let you beat me like that."

[IntSys]

Ayano

 

"!!!... W-Well! Everyone needs to start from SOMEWHERE," Ayano was visibly surprised by the response, "but that's why I'm here! Hehe, I'd say we are aiming for the same height here!" She pointed straight at Hina's face with confidence, "I'll take you on any day!"

[Yours Truly]

Vlastimir idly checked his PET's internal clock just after the tour guide introduced herself to everyone, and he smiled warmly at the excitable young woman as he looked up from his PET and introduced himself with a curt. "My name is Vlastimir Brankovich, pleased to meet." He placed his PET into a pocket hidden somewhere inside of his coat, as he gently dropped his rather heavy looking duffel bag down on the floor. He then wiped just a tiny bit of sweat from his brow before he said "And yes Europe different from Japan, food is more salty, people less nice, but buildings and scenery still beautiful outside of inner city, which is why hope get see Eiffel tower at some point.". 

[Hal Henderics]

"Brock Bragburg, I'm glad to meet y'all."

 

"Looks like there's a lot of competition already, I better keep on my toes then, heh."  He says, smiling innocently.

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsuru drew his head back and blinked a couple times. "Shit, Brock, that's you? I didn't even realize you were here, how have you been? It's been ages." He was somewhat surprised to see his cousin here, though not that he'd accepted the invitation; it seemed like something he'd do. 

 

Meanwhile, someone else had apparently noticed his presence as well; the dialog box indicating the progress of Score's diagnostics had frozen where it was at the mention of the name.

[Hal Henderics]

"Well if it isn't Mitsuru, I've been great, got invited to some kind of weird contest." He comments, shrugging with a wink.

[Chevaleresse]

"Is that so? Well, hopefully there's a good prize involved, eh?" He stretched a bit, yawning at the same time. This was a bit early for him, and he'd been up late as usual. "I've been alright, myself. Anything else new?"

[Hal Henderics]

"Just my Netnavi's new and improved Charge Attack.  I never thought I'd get it working, even if they WEREN'T being a big baby about it! Brock says with a specific intonation as he laughs.

[Strider]

In response to the girl's exclamation, Hina stated undaunted, "You're right, you need to start somewhere, but that's simply a stepping stone. If greatest in japan was all you were reaching for, I'd have been disappointed. Alright, let's do that some time. I look forward to it." The woman dipped her head as a sort of agreement, then turned towards the two young men talking excitedly.

 

"So, you two know each other then? Neat coincidence." She watched their faces carefully as she said this, careful not to betray any expressions of her own. If two of the people knew each other, that might indicate some connection to the anonymous contact, or a possible alliance in the future. Both things that would be a nuisance, and that she needed to be on the look out for.

[LucidRain]

Axel arrived in on the tour group, bit later than everyone. His bag was shabby and a weird rectangular lump stuck out on top of the it.

"Yep-yep! I'm here!" He yelled, bounding up and down and waving to make sure that they weren't leaving without him. "Axel Erikson, the greatest NetBattler to be!" He proclaimed loud with a confident smile.

I'm not just late, I'm fashionably late! Like all heroes are!

"Nice to meet you all!"

[Chevaleresse]

"Huh? Yeah, Brock's my cousin. Wouldn't call it much of a coincidence, heh. Though I guess it's not that common, being as we're from different countries and all." He turned back to Brock for a moment. "So what, Vile was being a pain? Doesn't seem like him, really. Then again, I'd be nervous around you if I were a Navi." He chuckled, letting Brock know he meant nothing by it. The diagnostics on his PET seemed to have unfrozen themselves at this point, but he got a distinct feeling of. . . irritation? If a set of dialog boxes and status indicators could look irritable, anyway; Score wasn't actually onscreen at the moment.

[IntSys]

Ayano

 

Ayano turned to her new 'rival,' another guy who wanted to be the greatest netbattler. "We'll see about that!" 

 

-

"Wonderful! Now, next stop - London! See you then!" Midori declared. She stayed behind, making sure that people were heading the right way.

The flight took about thirteen hours in total, with everyone having breakfast and lunch on board. Plane food was unsurprisingly mediocre. 

 

-

 

2:00 PM (local time), Heathrow Airport (LHR), London

 

Of course it was raining. And heavily, too.

 

Midori reminded you again that you're stuck with her for the next twenty days with her sheer presence at the end of the connecting bridge. She made sure that everyone made it to the lobby and rounded everyone up.

 

"Alright so- We're going to see the London Dungeon today. More on that later. I've already arranged a tour bus for us, which is almost here. So, let's get going!"

 

The said tour bus arrived just as promised. It was colored in a light yellow.

 

-

 

[Tour Phase, Start!]

 

"The London Dungeon is basically a series of shows and rides about London's past. They have 16 shows and rides in total, and we're going to see ALL of them. Well, hopefully, because some of the rides aren't for the lighthearted," Midori took out her PET, "SheepMan, send the pamphlets to our guests, please~"

 

[FROM: Midori] [SUBJECT: The London Dungeon]

https://www.thedungeons.com/london/en/what-is-the-dungeon/

 

 

"And... As you can see, the Dungeon's not for the fainthearted~ Anyway, we'll get there in about 45 minutes. Any questions?"

 

(Aside from asking about the London Dungeon, feel free to do whatever.)

-

[Yours Truly]

Vlastimir was still feeling a little jet lagged when he slowly raised a hand up to get Midori's attention and said "Excuse, but will we get chance to explore rest of London alone later? Or will we be spending whole trip with you always watching like distant friend's cousin's great uncle Grigori say secret police do?." And with his other hand he gently turned his PET on once more, causing a rather sudden exclamation of 'Cheeki Breeki!' to be heard as the tour guide's message finally arrived.

[IntSys]

"Of course! We'll go to the hotel for dinner, and after that you're free to explore London at night," somehow, Midori did not take offense to the secret police remark. Either that or she just intentionally ignored everything beyond the 'Or.'

[Hal Henderics]

"Anyway, Heck yeah Vile was being a pain, remember when he wanted his buster to be shoulder mounted? And it took me weeks to make the custom positional data?  Well, the Charge Attack is not even in the buster, it's mounted on the other shoulder.  I swear, he's going to throw his back out one of these days."  Brock says, shaking his head.

[Chevaleresse]

"I dunno man, I dunno." SheepMan? That's. . . well, no accounting for taste. "Hey, Score, you should bring up that pamphlet, let's see what we're signed up for." 

 

"Understood." The NetNavi appeared onscreen for a brief moment before being replaced by the site; it was some sort of educational thriller/horror tour, he guessed? Bit of an odd choice, though he guessed it set the mood for tangling with Omega and whatnot. 

 

"Huh. Guess we're in for an interesting show."

[Strider]

Hina on the other hand had no qualms about inquiring as to the guide's NetNavi. "Why SheepMan? Kind of a weird name. Anyway, we're seeing all the shows, huh? Won't that be kind of long? After that flight especially." She could handle it of course; she was more of an evening person, and generally did okay with jetlag on the occasional business trips. But sixteen shows still promised to be exhausting.

[IntSys]

Midori just smiled at the remark on SheepMan's name and said "Because that's what he is! A Sheep-Man," before getting to the real question. "The whole tour will take about an hour and a half. If you ask me, it's not that long - time flies when you're having fun, after all! And, I figured that you'd want a bit more thrill after a long flight~"

[LucidRain]

"Sheep-Man? That's much more creative than mine! My Navi's name is Mirona, though she kinda more or less named herself that after a book character."

From his backpack, a faintly French accented voice leaked through. "It was much better than DESTROYER OF WORLDS or MEGA BLASTA, or the other 17 different names you suggested."

"You have no taste," Axel waved the accusation off. "Anyways, I'm ready to move along when you are!" He put up two finger guns for some reason.

[Yours Truly]

Vlastimir absentmindedly nodded at the tour guide's general direction as he perused the pamphlet her NetNavi had kindly sent to him, and he looked up from his PET just after she had finished speaking before he said. "And if ride too boring, I can always entertain with accordion playing and stories of old country." He then put his PET back into his pocket before he continued with, "Also Midori's reason for giving name to NetNavi better than mine, just used anagram site to make name of program Orenucu based on sound like name." As he said this his PET buzzed a little as a message stating that his message has been successfully sent to [Midori] appeared for just a moment before it was suddenly deleted.

 

[FROM:Vlastimir][SUBJECT: readme]

SheepMan.EXE
ShamePen.EXE
ShapeMan.EXE
NamSheep.EXE

PhaseMen.EXE
Hem as Pen

Midori

Idiom

Mirid

Dorm

Hello.

 

[IntSys]

"ShamePen? What's his deal... " SheepMan grumbled as he deleted the mail.

 

"What's wrong, SheepMan?" Midori asked. "Just spam. From Vlastimir," SheepMan quickly responded. Midori turned back to Vlastimir, giving him the 'I have no idea what you just said but I'm going to pretend that I understand' face.

 

-

Ayano

 

Ayano was reading the pamphlet with interest, though Hotshot kept reminding her that she needed to be on the watch out for the NetNavis on the list. 

 

"Aren't you a killjoy. You're making it like we'll have to deal with that mess while having our tour," Ayano complained to Hotshot in a low voice - low enough for their guide not to hear it, who then answered "well we can't rule that out either!" 

 

"Don't be such a worrywart. We're on vacation! We'll just go on the UK net once we get to the hotel and search for leads then."


Kenji

Kenji read the pamphlet in silence. He had low expectations, honestly. But then again, it'd probably beat every other site in the city. He slowly drifted into sleep.

[IntSys]

3:00 PM, The London Dungeon

 

Enter at Your Peril

 

Those stylized crimson letters right on top of the dungeon's entrance were the first thing you noticed upon arriving. Midori stayed in the lobby and watched as you all board the Descent and enter the depths of the Dungeon.

The experience wasn't all that bad. You were accompanied by men and women dressed up as centuries-old English figures, telling you stories as you step through scenic rooms one after another. The occasional light shows and broadcast sound effects set the mood appropriately.

Oh, and you may have heard one too many pie puns.

 

 

Your tour was coming to an end with the Drop Dead: Drop Ride. You were forcibly reminded of the sound of a snapping neck before you were strapped onto the ominous bench.
 

And then, something went wrong. The lights just went off, and the lift wouldn't move. In just a few seconds, backup red lights went up, and you heard a somewhat comforting broadcast.

"We're experiencing technical difficulties. It'll take a few minutes to resolve, so please bear with us. Sorry for the inconvenience."

... And after ten minutes, it became apparent that the wait was getting nowhere. On the brighter note, you noticed a jack-in port right behind you, possibly for maintenance use. You could take the matter to your own hands. But, would you? You did have Midori's contact, maybe you could call her for help?

[Race Phase, Start!]

 

Spoiler

DungeonMaintNet1
 

Legends:
Red Four-pointed Star: Everyone's current location (This will be replaced by Navi initials once everyone's no longer on the same tile)
Cyan Circle: Terminal (The entrance of the cyberspace. You start from here, and if you step into its center again, you'll jack out.)

Black Tiles: Void
Gray Tiles: Path
Green Tiles: Passage to other areas (indicated by their numbers)
Green Diamonds: Green Mystery Data (Low-tier loots inside! Move over one to collect. Each can be collected up to one time per Navi.)

Black Blobs: Oil Devils [Stage Gimmick: Moves 5 panels per turn, leaves a trail of slippery oil in its wake. If you're caught by one, you'll have to fight it, and in addition you won't be able to move next turn.]

 

Rules:

1. Everyone starts at the Terminal.
2. You may take ten steps per turn. (Up/Down/Left/Right) The players' moves are processed simultaneously, and then the moves of non-players. (in this case, the Oil Devils)
3. Virus encounter rate is set at once per 10 steps. (This can be tampered with in the future)

4. If two or more players come in contact with the Oil Devil, each player will be fighting a copy. As long as one player beats it, the Oil Devil will be deleted from the map.
5. If your HP hits 0, your next two turns will be skipped, with the third turn restoring 50% of your HP and allowing you to move again.

6. You may either type out the sequence of your movement or just use Paint to illustrate it.

 

-

 

Ayano

 

Ayano sighed before taking out her PET. Something was up, and, well, she had to do something now. The others might've caught on sooner or later anyway. "Jack in! Hotshot.EXE, execute!" She swiftly took the first place and sent her Navi in.

 

"Gosh, it's dark here. I'm seeing two black blobs far ahead. Talk about fitting," Hotshot let a gentle blaze out of her buster, before making a beeline for the southeastern passage.

[Right x5 / Down / Right / Down x3]

 

[Battle Start!]  (Feat. Tutorial)

Spoiler

[Custom Screen]

(The green four-pointed star represents your Navi)

HP Status:
Hotshot: 300/300
Mettaur A: 40/40
Mettaur B: 40/40
Mettaur C: 40/40

Queue:
Sword L | Tornado D | Air Shot * | Attack +10 * | Spreader C
 

(Your queue starts with 5 chips. This may be increased up to 10 chips by discarding chips, with each discarded chip increasing the queue's size by 1.)

-

 

[Selected: Sword L | Air Shot *]

 

[Mode: Observation]

(Asterisk-coded chips are wildcards, which is why in this case it can be selected with Sword L. Keep in mind that the order matters, as you can only use chips in the order you selected them.)

 

"Let's go! Cut that Mettaur, and knock the second one back with an Air Shot!"

Action Sequence:
[Move: Right] (1 hs)
[Use Sword L] (1 hs)
[Move: Down] (1 hs)
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Use Charge Shot: Hot Air] (3 hs)
[Move: Up] (1 hs)
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Use Charge Shot: Hot Air] (3 hs)

(While the actions themselves may be executed within the timeframe given by the mode, the cooldown can extend beyond that. Just keep the cooldown in mind when you input your next Action Sequence!)

-

Mettaur A's Action Sequence:
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Use Shockwave] (1 hs Warmup / 3 hs cooldown / 2 hs/panel)
[Deleted]

Mettaur B's Action Sequence:
[Wait 2 hs] (2 hs)
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Move: Down-Down] (2 hs)
[Use Shockwave] (4 hs)
[Move: Up] (1 hs)

Mettaur C's Action Sequence:
[Wait 10 hs] (10 hs)
 

Timestamps: (This primarily includes field changes, damage, and HP restoration. Everything omitted likely means that it just missed.)
2 hs: Mettaur A took 80 damage and was deleted.
5 hs: Mettaur B took 20 damage from Hot Air. (Cannot be pushed back because Mettaur C is in the way)

10 hs: Mettaur B took 20 damage from Hot Air. Mettaur B was deleted!

Pattern Analysis: (This only takes place if Observation Mode is selected)

• Mettaurs wait 1 hs before they move in consideration to your current location
• Mettaurs always attempts to move into your row. They can only move up and down.
• Mettaurs will keep waiting until the Mettaur before them is either done attacking or deleted.
• Mettaurs use Shockwave once they share the same row as you. It's probably never going to hit anyway, with how slow it is.

 

-

HP Status:
Hotshot: 300/300
Mettaur C: 40/40
 

[Mode: Observation] (You can change modes outside of the Custom Screen. Ayano here just decides not to)

"Still as easy as it has always been. I got this."

Action Sequence:
[Hot Air's remaining cooldown] (2 hs)

[Move: Left-Left] (2 hs)
[Use Charge Shot: Hot Air] (3 hs)
[Move: Down] (1 hs)
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Use Charge Shot: Hot Air] (3 hs)

-

 

Mettaur C's Action Sequence:
[Wait 1 hs] (1 hs)
[Move: Up] (1 hs)
[Use Shockwave] (4 hs)
[Use Shockwave] (4 hs)

Timestamps:
5 hs: Mettaur C took 20 damage from Hot Air.
10 hs: Mettaur C took 20 damage from Hot Air. Mettaur C was deleted!

 

 

Enemy Deleted!

Delete Time: 20 hs

Busting Level: 8 (This is graded on a scale of 1 to 10 + S as one grade above 10. In general, you'd want to delete the viruses as fast as possible, take as little damage as possible, and perform multiple deletions at the same time to achieve a high level)

Get Data: Shockwave J (You may get Zenny or Chips from a successful deletion, depending on your Busting Level)

Kenji

 

"And so the race begins. GatlingMan, you're up." Kenji muttered before sending his Navi in.

"I can already see Mettaurs hiding in the shadows. Do we deal with the black... thing, as well?" GatlingMan inquired his operator. "Don't waste your time, like whoever supposed to fix this wasted ours," Kenji replied.

"Understood."
 

[Right x5 / Up / Right / Up x2 / Left]

(Gets Shockwave R from deleting a set of 3 Mettaurs!)


NetNavi Status:
Score: 300/300
Buzzkill: 300/300
Mirona: 300/300
Vile: 300/300
Orenucu: 300/300

[Strider]

"Technical difficulties? Are they serious? They should have better systems for rides like these." Hina scowled under the red lights, and then watched silently as Ayano plugged in her Navi. Hina shrugged, then followed suit. No use in just complaining without investigating. "Buzzkill, get in there."

 

"Aye aye cap. Sounds like Mettaurs and weird black blobs." After entering, Buzzkill took a glance around, then headed forward. Hina meanwhile pulled out her PET, and set about contacting Midori. "Midori, you there? We're stuck on the ride right now. They said they're working on the problem, just wanted to let you know."

(Right x7 / Down x1 / Left x1 / Down x1)