LucidRain

Kalva nodded in thanks, though it was hard to tell as he barely took the time to run in the general direction, along the glassy white corridors until he ran headfirst into Ray. He was about to apologize and pass on by in the rush when he took a second to recognize who he had bumped into. Kalva's concerned and apologetic face broke into a relieved smile at the familiar face. Ray was one of the Operators (or manager, at least? He had seen her in the hologram at least), so surely she would know where they went! "sorry i need to find someone have you seen Betani pass by with a hospital bed" He messaged her, then felt Quina stirring on the hoodie behind him. She must be waking back up, but still very weak.

"Smhanks!" Axel said, already having stuffed his mouth with the chips. The fish and chips disappeared at a frightening pace as Axel nearly inhaled his dish. After gulping down much more than what seemed possible for someone of such a short stature, he replied, "Sure thing~. After all, you did give me dinner. What kinda art gallery is it though? I never really understood contemporary art to be honest. Though I do like whats-his-name, that guy with the melting clocks."

Julius I actually got the message across! She did reject my offer though - w-was it a rejection? Oh god I was rejected! I knew I was gonna be rejected! Aaaah! Julius' face went through a hundred different motions at once, each pulling his mouth at different angles. He did in the end manage to align them into a semblance of an awkward smile. It would be apparent to anyone that he was too incompetent and awkward to be lying, or scheming anything in particular. "Err, yeap! Sure thing! Yeah! Good idea! Err - yeah - um - bye!" Julius backed off from the console, and exhaled all the breath that he had been holding, kneeing becoming suddenly weak. "Uhh," he said shakily and sniffing a little, "t-that's enough talking for today..." Julius fell on his bottom and then crawled his way back to his books. "I-er, yeah...books are nice." He mumbled, opening the book upside-down again. Visrii Ashnard's blows were fierce, giving little time for Visrii to move freely before another swipe or thrust forced Visrii back into the defence. However, as much as Ashnard's onslaught rained down attacks on Visrii, the werewolf's claws would find only a scrape of Visrii's armor before being blocked or deflected off. With a now unparalleled speed and now a boosted strength, he manoeuvred even in the confines of the cage to find a defence. Some of the attacks did leave their marks. The roses and crest of the armor was slashed with scrapes everywhere - even with the best defense, the cage did not allow Visrii to mitigate all damage. Visrii shifted sideways and with precise timing punted the gut thrust sideways - another large scrape appeared on Visrii's side, but no blood was drawn. Delaying is most likely beneficial. So far little damage.

"i promise" Kalva tried to run in the general direction of where Betani had went, but soon realized that with so many possible paths outside the medbay, there was little to no chance he was going to pick the right one. If only Quina was at full strength, she would have been able to track Betani down...she's too weak right now. He ran a little awkwardly to minimise shaking the hoodie up and down. Quina had fallen back to sleep, and without her gripping unto the hoodie she might fall out if he wasn't careful. He approached one of the Aether employees as they passed by, typing up a message on his A-Comm and showing the screen to him. "hooded woman with blue haired woman pass by do you know where they went"

Axel's face split with a wide grin, apparently not noticing the forced smile. "Man, I didn't know British people were this generous! Thanks!" As the man turned to guide Axel, Mirona whispered in a barely audible volume. "Axel, I don't think-" Axel guffawed, interrupting her. "Yeah, yeah. Don't do this, don't do that." He brought up her pad and waved it around. "C'mon! Life's about doing things, not not doing things! Meeting new friends, like this gentleman here!" After his quite loud proclamation, he beamed at the man again. He stuffed the pad back in his pocket again - though it didn't quite fit, so he made a show of pushing it down. "Hey, that DOES remind me - I've never asked your name. Mine's Axel, by the way." Axel put out his hand and offered a handshake. At this point Mirona would have pointed out the man's obviously suspicious behavior, had she noticed Axel's thumb on the pad moving in a very distinct pattern she recognized, hidden by Axel's outwardly goofy behavior. Maybe he's not as dense - still, reckless. Knowing full well this may be a very dangerous area and still going for it anyway. Silently, Mirona prepared a message to send forward to Midori along with a record of their present position to alert her at a moment's notice of trouble. Plus, records show he was saying it was going to be a 'fun trip?'

Axel whistled cheerily as he saw the collage of both gothic, ancient churches and the modern skyscrapers of London pass by in a slow blur when the tram. Man, all these sights he would have never have seen back in the apartment in Japan. He put a hand on the glass and blew on it, making a ghostly trace of his hand on the glass with the fog and watched the city's slowly emerging nightscape through it as the train slowed to a stop. It was terribly difficult to quit all those part times and scrooge up enough money to create an emergency fund for this trip, but something told him that even just this little trip in London would make it all worthwhile. He hopped off the Tube and made a list of things he wanted to do. If he was honest with himself, food was a higher priority than it really should be, but he was looking forward to the English Breakfast everyone was chatting about on the net. He'd go take a quick tour in the Museum before getting dinner. "...and if the nightlife is cool I'll-" "No." Mirona growled. "But clubbing and-" "No." "I'm sure I'll be fine-" "No." Mirona sighed. "Last records tell me you were not in fact, 'fine'. More appropriate descriptions would be "smashed" or "regretful"." "Riiight, thanks, Mom." He replied, sticking his tongue out at Mirona's avatar, who didn't respond. Axel headed down to the Museum and met the very not strange stranger who was offering him 'art'. Last time he went to an art gallery he nearly got kicked out for staring at paintings too closely and being too loud. Plus, who wanted to go to some gallery at this hour? He wanted some more exciting stuff! Like food! "Aw shucks. Oh well, thank you for the offer, but I gotta go eat food and stuff." He politely declined. It's a blessing that Axel's so dense. Mirona thought. Or not, depending on the situation. "Alright, English Breakfast, here I come!" He declared loudly. "No." "What now?" "You're asking for breakfast. At night." "This a problem?" "Think it through. I'll time you." After a few moments, Axel got it. "Oh." He puffed out his cheeks (making him look surprisingly like a squirrel). "Could have told me that earlier." "You were very enthusiastic about it, so I hated to break it to you. And, new record." Mirona said with a smirk. Axel huffed with annoyance at Mirona's mockery. Mirona smiled with amusement. Rarely did she tease Axel, but it was so rewarding. "I guess I'll settle for fish n chips. Actually," Axel went back to the blond Briton. "Hey, do you know a good restaurant around here?"

Kalva finished feeding Quina the golden liquid and replied, "yes i think the other cadets have it" He carefully put Quina in his hoodie, who fell back to sleep right away. So it was Betani...I'm sure that she won't put the woman in danger, at the very least not from dying. But why would she take the woman away from the medbay? He couldn't risk running anywhere far away from the medbay, in case Quina's condition turned for the worse. But neither could he just let someone in medical danger be taken away so freely. Oh! Wasn't the woman with Emmanuel? Surely he will help! He took out his A-Comm and messaged Emmanuel, "betani just took away blue haired woman from medbay blue haired woman still in danger of dying" He didn't know much, so it was hard to message a meaningful phrase. But at least Emmanuel would now know. Kalva got up, and returned the towel to where it was. He then approached Terry, holding his hand tightly in genuine thanks. Then he let go, turning to pursue Betani. As he walked towards where Betani would have went, he got up the A-Comm and messaged Terry. "thank you terry you are a good person"

Julius W-whaat?! Julius stared at Proditor in disbelief. Me? D-diplomacy? What do you mean? He cautiously approached the monitor, though his whole body was leaned away, attempting to reject the monitor's vicinity. Through it, he saw a brown-haired woman, looking up at the monitor, looking at him. And it's a girl! I-I can't even talk to you properly! He glanced back at Proditor, who had floated away. He felt like a fish out of water. No, more like a fish in space. And he felt so much like a fish in space that he looked like one, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to formulate a greeting. Mentally, he wrote thousands of drafts. I come in peace! (That's for aliens, not people) Hello there! (General Kenobi) Nice hair! (Compliment is nice, but sounds creepy) I have no clue what I am doing, please help. (Probably not the best first impression) I have a freaking alien for a Servant! (Sounds like a total nerd) After what seemed like a thousand years to Julius (actually 3 seconds, but time is relevistic), he finally decided to simply open the floodgates. "Hey my name is Julius and I would like to propose to you an alliance because it would increase the chances of us winning the war together and you seem like a pretty cool person thank you!" Visrii Lightning cage. Movement limited. Halberd swing range limited. Visrii's mind whirred as it processed the new developments, trying to find the best possible route. Admittedly, he had not expected the Beast to be able to cast, let alone synthesize the cage and his situation was certainly disadvantageous. He didn't have to to counter efficiently enough. He pulled up a defensive stance, designed to deflect as much of Ashnard's attack power as possible. Though it was going to hurt, there was no room for counter. Time was still on his side - his opponent's Master was surely running out with the inefficiency of this Beast. He either had to defend until the opponent's Master ran out, or he had to look for rooms to counter attack. Master, I'm sorry - the opponent is much tougher than expected. He reported.

Julius Oh yeah - reading minds! Right! Err, sorry 'bout that... Julius cautiously peered at Proditor. Betrayed his own race? Well, there's got to be some reasoning behind it, huh? People were often too busy burning traitors at stakes to actually look around and understand why they had done so. Though admittedly, Julius wasn't particularly reassured that his Servant had betrayed once before, Julius resolved to trust in the Servant. After all, if he didn't trust in his own Servant, then who else? Julius was about to ask the Servant what his name was before he was named 'Proditor', before Proditor spoke up about the approaching Master. A Master without a Servant? Already? Julius bit down on his thumb, nervous at their first encounter with another Master. Did they have to kill another person? Julius wasn't quite prepared to make that call. Julius hid a sigh of relief when Proditor suggested to ally with her instead. "Y-yeah! Ally with them! Err, because more the merrier, right?" Julius said. "Plus, um, I'm pretty sure if they're a threat, we can uhh, eliminate them." Julius nodded reassuringly, though he wasn't sure who he was reassuring. "Yeah, let's do that. Uh, is there any way to contact them from here though?" Visrii A moment before the Berserker charged, mana surged around Visrii. Imperceptibly, lightning arcing on Axiom's blade turned into deep purple before disintegrating into a violet smoke. Got you. Instead of the throat, the maw would bite down on the Axiom's shaft, Visrii already having manoeuvred to counter the charge. In the split second of impact, pain shocked Visrii's arms - the bite alone shook the knight's stance. But Visrii was not done; raw strength could slay thousands, but it alone would not be enough to outplay one who had spent his life in combat with beasts and men. Visrii slipped underneath the charging werewolf, using Axiom to keep the beast's momentum through. He had baited the werewolf to charge - now he just had to let the beast going, straight to the trap behind him. A shock imploded behind them, a purple singularity violently ripping into existence. The miniature black hole was positioned exactly within the Beast's trajectory, light, buildings and debri crumbling and flying towards it as the void tore its surroundings towards itself.

Axel checked his balance again. Besides his most essential emergency funds, he had 3400Z to spare. Though he probably should have saved some for when he returned back to Japan, hey, part of the fun in travelling was not caring about money afterwards, right? He checked out the British Battlenet, hanging around with online dealers and buying some chips: 600Z: Chip Collector (Size: 3 MB - Boosts your odds of getting rare chips from viruses and Green Mystery Data, and lowers the Busting Level requirement to get a chip at all by 2.) 800Z: Attack+1 (Size: 1 MB) 400Z: Speed+1 (Size: 1 MB) 400Z: Barrier R / - / 10 MB / Instant / Instant / - / Protects you with a 10 HP Barrier. He also passed by the Chip Trader, quickly putting in the 3 chips he thought he didn't need. Sword L, Slow Gauge C and Tornado D "Whelp, that's shopping done! Now time to explore the spooky city!" He merrily (ignoring Mirona's protests about the dangers of guns), went out to ride the Tube to the center of the city, looking for more sights to see. After all, it was today or never he got to ride the thing!

If only I had not performed so horribly against basic viruses, we would have been the first to obtain the key. Mirona thought bitterly, performing simulations in her head and marking faults in her tactics. "Hey, now!" Axel patted the pad after he jacked her out. Though he couldn't hear Mirona's thoughts, he knew her well enough to tell. "It wasn't so bad, we got some cool loot and -" "That wasn't the objective, Axel." Mirona's voice volume dropped to a whisper, but it still carried an annoyed tone. "We have no clue what these other Battlers want from the Ghost Navi. We need to get the keys first for ourselves." Axel sniffled, obviously not convinced. "Well, they don't look half bad!" He said aloud with a broad smile. "Anyway, point is - you've done remarkably well, and we still had a fun time, right? Plus, I'm sure we'll get the next one - we're gonna be like, the best after all!" "I - very well." Mirona responded with a huff of resignation. Her criticality was no match for Axel's naive enthusiasm. "Okey, let's go then~!"

Kalva sat on the floor, placed the towel on his lap and Quina on top of it, so her position was slightly elevated and she wouldn't choke on the Soft-Boiled egg. With uttermost care, Kalva periodically fed her the potion, giving her time to rest. He was in no way a professional, but it was apparent he was quite experienced. He looked up in alarm at the peril the woman was put in. And she was hit directly with the dark wave attack as well! He placed the egg down temporarily to message Terry. "do you know where she is taken to"

Julius "Mright." Julius murmured, hardly paying attention to the drone. His head was buzzing with other thoughts, namely questions about Proditor. Two curious eyes peeked out underneath the book cover, nervous to ask a torrent of questions but too scared to voice them. Momentarily, he forgot about Proditor's psionic abilities. Which planet did he come from? Does it look like Earth? Why did he come to Earth? Did he have a cool spaceship? I thought aliens were meant to be little green men. Is he going to eat my brain? No, that's zombies, not aliens. Why is he named Proditor? Did he do something bad? Is alien society different to ours? Julius' mouth opened and closed silently, unable to articulate the thoughts into questions. But still, Julius' eyes stared with such intense curiosity that even someone without psionic abilities would notice the heat of his gaze. Visrii Master seems to have a deep mana pool. Good. "The enemy seems extremely resilient to my elemental attacks and," Visrii added as he observed the werewolf regenerate its wounds, "it seems to also possess a powerful regenerative ability. This may mean that Reignition might be the only option, however I will delay the use of such technique as long as possible." Extended separation with Master risky. However, enemy seems to be using mana in excess and inefficiently. Longer battle may be beneficial. Visrii continued to analyse the situation methodically as the Berserker continued to speak, namely searching for the enemy Master. Enemy claims their Master is not present. With such collateral, this may indeed be the case. Then Visrii caught sight of a shadow, high up in the rain. A bird? In this rain? And with such shocks, all lifeforms would have normally evacuated by now. There was something about the bird... If the Master had no way of being with the Berserker without being damaged - then it would make sense to either use a familiar to watch from afar. Even if it wasn't the Berserker's Master, it wasn't Visrii's either. Visrii raised his hand up into the air, and with a brilliant flash, lightning struck at the bird's position. With that sorted, Visrii opened his mouth to speak. The longer he pulled the battle, the better - but he needed to balance time and not letting this beast a free pass to his Master. Visrii's calm voice cut through the rain with clarity. "Beast, make no mistake - you are far from the most profane being, and I far from a hero." The blade of Visrii's halberd shone as he brandished it across at his opponent, the crystal hidden within pulsating with malice. "But you have no conviction but your instinct, and you have not sinned for anything but your hatred. You are undeserving of an honorable fight, let alone an honorable death. But if you stand within my duty's way, then so be it." Orbs of seething fire, undeterred by the rain, suddenly gathered itself and erupted around Ashnard, carpeting the area with explosive force.

"Moving to encounter target." [Right x4, Up, Right x2, Up]

-snip-

"Entering a new area." Mirona reported. [Down, Right, Down, Right, Down x 4, Right x 2]

Kalva retracted his hand as Terry edged away. He had seen countless Pokemon do this - but in 02, they were out of fear, trauma from past abusers. Terry was something different. It, too, was fear - but Kalva felt as if it was a fear of oneself. Guilt from a past sin, and fear of doing it again. And now Terry was in a trance. ...if there's a way to break someone out of a trance, there was one thing. Remind them of who they are. He sent a message to Terry's A-Com, then, striding toward to Terry, Kalva gripped Terry's arm tightly and showed him Quina's Aetherball. The message said, "you are a nurse please help me heal her"

Julius "So like a spaceship?" Julius murmured. The room gradually looked like a futuristic alien cruiser, looking strikingly like something that popped right out of a sci-fi book. He looked at Proditor, examining the exotic helmet and robe with intense curiosity. He was rather big for a human as well. Wait - that means... "Y-you're an alien?!" Julius exclaimed, jumping back at little, then realised that he might have offended the Servant. "Err - I mean - there's uh, nothing with that - yeah, just, um - I just never have met an alien - an actual one." He rambled over, trying to emphasize that he didn't mean to come across as rude. Julius hastily got out the book he had intended to read. "I'll just, you know, get to reading." He opened the book (upside down) and buried his face into it.

Kalva stood bewildered at the situation, trying to comprehend all the dialogue being shot back and forth. Take her away? Promotion? Suspended? Kalva half-raised his arm to stop whoever was taking the patient away, but instinct told him that if he ever did - there would be consequences. After all - Quina wasn't with him; and whoever was taking the woman was authorised by the Head of Aether. He helplessly was brushed to the side as the woman walks out of the medbay. Wait - green? "That's why you went here with me. You got a promotion." He turned and tried to find the familiar face under the hood. Betani? But the figure was already gone. Kalva turned to the remaining person in the medbay - Terry. "A trial will await you...we can't let a dangerous person...your past is still with you..." But why? Terry was a good person - he had helped the cadets in the 08 mission, he was a nurse who helped treat Pokemon and he even supported them in the battle with the Core through Clarence. Kalva could tell Terry was agaited. The facial expression, the body language, it signaled desperation, helplessness and perhaps even guilt. Was it because of the same reason as Gina? He approached Terry and gently touched Terry's hand to get his attention. Kalva looked at Terry in a genuinely sympathetic expression. The brown-red eyes told a silent message deeper than words. I trust you. But it also asked the question, What's wrong?

Julius Julius watched in awe, lips slightly parted, as the room shifted and transformed before his eyes. He had seen many different forms of magic on his attempts to find his own element - but nothing looked anything like this, or as powerful as. "Wow, this - this is awesome!" Julius said at length, "how do I learn-" A shimmering orb orbited in front of him as if to remind him of his element. "Err, nevermind." Julius said, pushing away the ether out of his vision. Well, now that they established a base of operations they were playing a more passive approach to this war. Admittedly, he was half-relieved - he wasn't quite looking forward to the possibility that he might have summoned a Berserker and ridden straight to battle, but he had been paired with a more cautious, methodical Servant. It didn't exactly detract from the fact that they were in a WAR, but hey - at least the learning curve wasn't as steep, right? Plus, there was an additional benefit of having time to train. He was just stepping into some more advanced manipulation before coming here, and luckily he did bring along some very old books on ethers. He dropped down the small pack he had carried to take them out, but decided to watch the progress of the room's transformation a bit further first. Visrii Visrii did not waste any time after his blade had first struck. Indeed, his opponent was fast - but Visrii was faster. Still carrying all the momentum from his downwards strike, he used his weapon as a pivot to swerve out of the way of the Beast's thrusting attack to swing around and deliver a swift kick to the head, then phase-stepped away in a flash. Appearing on the roof of a crumbling nearby building, he analysed the reaction of the Beast. Damage minimal. Lightning proving consistently ineffective. Heat suppressed by rain. Standard soldiers would have been effectively ripped apart by the sheer electricity by now, but the Berserker hadn't taken any damage at all. It was either the Berserker had such physical capabilities that it simply overpowered the electricity - or worse, his enemy was also a user of lightning. One of Visrii's elements were resisted and another was less desirable with the heavy rain. Tch. He slain many scores of beasts, but not against one with such resistance to lightning. He could use the Void straight away and power through the battle- but he had to be conservative with mana. Chaos with such power was a powerful mana drain - even during his time as a Champion he had to be precise with its use. "Master, how strong are your mana reserves?" He inquired his Master to gauge the possibility. Visrii's attention shifted to the enemy's Master. If he slayed the Master, then the Servant would be very much weakened. His own Master was evacuated - but where was his opponent's? As he searched for the enemy's Master, Visrii took out yet another crystal - this one sparkling with malice - and affixed a glowing crystal on the Axiom blade, slotting it into the modified groove. This time, he readied himself for the Berserker to rush him down as he continued his survey.

Kalva walked down to the medbay, holding tightly in his hand Quina's Aetherball and looking for the counter. His lack of experiences going medbay nearly got him lost, but following the signs he found his way. As he walked down the white halls, shoes squeaking a little each step, his thoughts drifted to the girl that was attacked during their battle with the core. It only occurred to him now that he never caught her name. She looked like a part of the Aether Foundation but not an operator. Certainly, she helped them during the battle - she was a friend of them, at least. Kalva recalled seeing her being transferred to the medbay along with Terry. Perhaps while he waited for Quina to be treated, he should visit her and Terry to check that they weren't hurt badly? Terry's voice interrupted his thought, making him look up sharply, locating the source as straight ahead, in the medbay. Take her away? Terry's voice sounded urgent, pulling Kalva's walk into a run. Whatever it was, he needed to be there.

-snip-