Hacker: Renegade

[Reynald]

- Think .Hack only more futuristic. Pm me if you want to join, I'm working on a story so if you have ideas lemme know. Run what your character can do and stuff by me heh though I doubt it'll be a problem ^ ^ -

"Renegade" - A popular massively multiplayer online game. So popular in fact that nearly everybody on the internet plays it or has played it at some point in time. The game centers around letting players do what they want in a open ended world Complete with different races, completely customizable characters, cities, dungeons, anything and everything that could be thought up. That combined with amazing graphics and a surprisingly unique way of controlling the character, allowing the player to quite literally do whatever they thought up, was cause for the game's great success. It quickly developed it's own social environment. People talking with one another, developing relationships, completing quests or just free running throughout the cities.

Yet like with many games hackers, viruses, glitches, and bugs almost ruined the game. The company's head programmers couldn't find an answer to the players' cries for help. Eventually, the company gave up on the game and left it to evolve and survive on its own. The cries were answered however. Players who understood the game and even some hackers themselves became sort of a vigilante force to fight and clean up the game. They called themselves the "Hackers" because of their need to break the game's rules in order to protect it.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ian yawned and brushed his sandy blond hair out of his royal blue eyes. He was sitting on the top of one of the many sky scrapers in Barestol. The city was built around the town center where most of the players logged in before roaming around. The city maintained its integrity all the way out to the wall surrounding the town. Beyond the city was an endless field of grass. A single road left the north, south, east, and west sides. Ian knew the layout pretty well, for being a Hacker for only a few months. He hadn't left the city in a long while.

Ian was twenty years old, or at least his character was. In the real world he was nineteen. His character stood a staggering five feet and ten inches tall and weighed a whopping one hundred and seventy-five pounds. He had been playing the game for nearly two years before the game's errors and such aggravated him to the point of becoming a Hacker. From what he knew, there weren't many left. Most had either been deleted or just stopped playing, dooming the game to extinction.

"Might as well look around town..."

Ian stood up and pulled his gloved hands out of his jacket, brushing them off on his jeans. He pulled his sleeve up on his right arm and looked at the screen on his forearm. His arm was cybernetic from the elbow down, his character had lost it before he became a Hacker.

"four thousand on...wow...I'm surprised the game can handle this number without crashing or some glitch to fight..." Ian sighed and tapped a few buttons. Taking a step forward, Ian began walking down the building, his tennis shoes barely making a sound as he reached the bottom. A passing character, a cat girl carrying a fairly large sword, gave him an odd glance before catching up with her friends.

Ian shrugged, Hackers were supposed to be discrete. But there was an item in the game that allowed that kind of thing so he didn't think it was that big of a deal. At least there's no pvp right now...otherwise the city MIGHT crash He thought and chucked slightly before taking a seat on a bench, his eyes scanning the players as they walked by.

Suddenly, the entire city twitched and shifted. Ian fell to the ground as the bench he was sitting in was suddenly five feet behind him. The clouds turned dark gray over the city and a distant rumbled could be heard followed closely by a flash of white lightning. Ian stood up and looked at the clouds as heavy rain fell down onto the city. "Ok...Since when does the game's weather system cause a malfunction?" Ian said quietly as players pulled out umbrellas or rushed into buildings, leaving him quite alone in the town center. The screen on his arm flashed a warning. Ian looked down at his arm when a bolt of lightning struck not two feet from where he was standing.

"Ok...that's not normal..." He muttered as the info on his screen popped up over his eyes. "Hacker...evading my tracking...nice...Initiating weapon program..." The ports on his fingerless gloves glowed and data flowed into his grip, forming into twin desert eagles. Ian's eyes turned red as he scanned for his attacker.

 

[Brendan Savem]

(thanks for the invite, I have to say, this is a great idea for a first RP)

Not too far out of Barestol, an expansive jungle served home to many players exploring, training, or just passing through. One of them was a cheetah dressed in a combat jacket, with no shirt, and pants. He was standing between four identical trees with a large-barreled pistol, standing pretty much. His boots had incredibly thick soles that gave him an extra inch in height. Seven small canisters lined his belt, each one with a little surprise package. On the tree to his top left, a leaf fell down; he spotted it when it was halfway to the ground. Whipping out the pistol, he pressed the trigger three times; the gun responded by firing three short laser bursts that rocketed through the air at the single leaf. Two missed entirely, but one grazed the leaf slightly as it touched the ground. 'Not bad at all' the cheetah said, holding the pistol down; waiting for the next leaf. This was a bizarre way of training, since it did not boost his player stats at all, but it still gave him some real-life reflex training. Blake had been doing this for maybe two hours now; probably a waste of game time, but nevertheless, he was occupied by it.

Suddenly, Blake heard a fast rustle behind him; he quickly jumped to the side as a missile zoomed past. He looked behind him, but could only see trees, but the angle of the missile indicated that the attacker came from above the treetops. Looking ahead again, Blake saw the missile turn around and aim at him again; guided missiles! Knowing that dodging would only work but a short time, he rolled away from the missile, and took out one of his canisters, setting off a five-second timer.

Five…

He dodged the missile a third time, and then stood ready with his canister.

Four…

The missile began turning once again

Three…

The missile aimed at him and began gathering speed as it moved in a straight path

Two…

Blake drew his hand back, ready to toss the canister

One…

He tossed the canister at the oncoming missile and just before they made contact,

Zero

The canister opened up a crack and a white shield instantly formed in a flat sheet facing the missile, which in turn came into contact with the shield and exploded in an orange ball of fire. The shield prevented any of the blast going past it for its initial target. As soon as the evidence of the missile disappeared, the shield collapsed and the canister fell to the ground, this gave Blake an idea of how powerful the missile was; enough to do some nasty damage to one character. Blake then hid behind a tree as he heard a noise similar to that of a jet turbine. He hid behind a tree and watched as what appeared to be Samus in green and white hovering with jets on his or her back. The Samus rip-off landed on the ground and surveyed the scene. Suddenly the person was in a sort of stance that involved him on one knee and his hand to his head, one of the many poses someone could use to indicate the person was in private chat. This could be something interesting for Blake, he opened up a hack screen

"Set conversation interception." Blake whispered as he typed down the appropriate code, he was now listening to whatever this guy was saying or listening to.


"Has the target been destroyed?" A tiny voice asked,

"I doubt that, the place looks deserted" a man's voice answered, this one sentence told Blake that this was no normal situation. A glitch shouldn't be able to speak; this had to be a player. His assimilator stopped his chat momentarily to pick up the canister Blake just used. "And I found a used reflect capsule, is this what you're looking for?" the voice continued,

"This guy's an idiot…" Blake whispered, but if this power-suited assassinator was after a reflector capsule, it was to be seen that this would not be going with him. He exited the chat in secret, took out his pistol and hammered the barrel with his hand/paw. The barrel came up until it was linear to the handle, a beam a meter long came out and held, forming a laser sword.

"That was one of the things we were looking for," the other person continued, unknown to Blake, "We need a copy every famed gadget in this game if we're to-" the voice on the other end started. That was when a groaning could be heard and the Samus rip-off looked up to see a huge tree fall down on top of him. Blake, who had cut the tree down in the first place, stepped forward to confirm his surprise attack.

(the longness...)

 

[Reynald]

OOC: I have been waiting on Chadwyk to reply. But I'm not going to be able to access the internet this weekend so I'm going to post. Brendan you can too and if anyone else wants to join all the y have to do is message me. Back to Ian's fight.

IC:

Ian dived and swerved as lightning struck closer and closer to him. Whoever this guy is...He's getting better. The hacker still was not revealing himself and using a cloaking program to evade Ian's tracking. He was running out of time. Soon, one of those bolts was going to...

CRACK!

A bolt struck down right in front of him, making Ian stagger backwards...

CRACK! CRACK!

Two more bolts struck behind and to Ian's side, making him stop completely.

"I'm in trouble..."Ian said allowed as he looked up at the clouds. Just as he thought, they were boiling over him. The clouds becoming darker and darker, building up a bolt to end his life. Ian's blood red eyes darted down to his arm monitor as he began typing rapidly. "Starting hack...enabling brute force program...bypass game restriction...C'mon...c'mon...bringing field online...now!"
Ian closed his eyes as a hum of data swirled around him, becoming a field of energy. It popped up just as the final lightning bolt crashed down on top of him, sending Ian flying into a nearby building. Ian coughed and looked up. The ground where he was standing was completely blasted to bits, rubble lying everywhere.Luckily there were so many people on...the game didn't expect a brute hack in all this mess...My luck won't last much longer, counter hack programs are coming online... Ian thought as his screen fed him information. Hacking was risky, if the game had caught him he would be nothing but bits of destroyed data. Hopefully, that was about to happen to his enemy.

Immediately, the games counter hacking kicked in and cleared up the sky. Now the clouds were simple rain clouds. They still poured down rain onto the city, just no more lightning attacking players. Towards the north side of town a figure appeared. His cloaking turned off before the programs got him. The man stood about six feet tall and looked roughly like another Sephiroth knock off, except his hair was much shorter, only came to his shoulders, and his clothes were different. The man wore a dark t-shirt with gun holsters strapped to his sides. His pants where black tactical pants tucked into combat boots. On his belt, which was covered in a multitude of packs, were a blade handle sticking out each side from behind him. The man wore cut off biker gloves with a hacking screen on the back of the right hand. The man's eyes faded from dark red, indicating he was hacking, to a platinum silver. The man drew his guns, Twin Beretta 93R Automatic Pistols with extended clips, and fired immediately at Ian while running off down an alleyway.

"Ah hell!" Ian dived behind the town squares fountain to dodge the bullets. When he popped his head and guns over the rim, the man was gone. "Just my luck..." Ian muttered as he pounded down the center and turned into the alleyway, guns drawn. The man was no where to be seen. "Where the heck did he go..."

 

[Brendan Savem]

(time to virtualize!)

Blake rolled over the tree slightly to see what he caught. There wasn't a player underneath, but just a helmet, body, legs, and arm cannon of the Samus suit. This went to prove that Blake's assaulter was a human player who was defeated and sent to his selected spawn point and dropped his worn items along the way. That meant the person wasn't going to be tracked now since Blake didn't know what his basic clothing was. Looking closer, Blake saw that the person failed to put the used capsule into an inventory in time, as it too was sitting with the suit. He picked it up and opened up a hacker window,

"Cut decomposer time to five seconds…" he murmured as he typed down the according code, he put the capsule down in front of him and stepped back. Five seconds later, the used capsule faded into the ground and out of existence of the game. He then looked back at the suit equipment still sitting there. It wasn't anything he saw before, sure there was Samus suit armor available easily in the game, but it was a different color scheme, and this one looked more high-tech. That just goes to show that hacking had to be involved. For a guy that didn't watch his step, it must have taken him a while to come up with all the right codes. Nevertheless, the hacking he could see involved was rather crude, a basic form of hacking. Even then, he picked up the suit equipment for a status overview later.

Now that just left the question of what next. It was clear that the attacker was trying to obtain a capsule, possibly take him out when it was attached to his belt instead of the safety of his inventory. So that meant he needed to cut the amount of capsules he has out with him. He quickly did so and was now left with two on his belt in places a bit difficult to see. He then heard some sort of noise, it was sort of like thunder. He scrambled up a tree and saw a thick blanket of clouds covering Barestrol, rain and lighting poured down onto the town and everyone inside. It didn't look too natural, not one bit. Blake instinctively hopped back down and began dashing towards the massive city.

 

[Reynald]

Ian's screen flashed a warning, directly behind him. Turning swiftly, He saw the man rushing at him. He had two straight blades drawn and in mid-swing. The distance was too close to fire; If this hacker deflected the shots they could come right back at him. And he had no time to switch his equipment. Hellfire! Ian screamed in his head as he thought quickly. The hacker swung diagonally with his right hand and stabbed low with his left. Ian twisted the gun in his left hand, the barrel now pointing down his arm, and deflected the first attack. He was a bit slower with his other hand and ended up deflecting the blade into his shoulder.

Ian yelled in pain and quickly snapped up his right hand to fire at the hacker. The hacker spun to the left and deflected Ian's shots. Ian wasted no time, he back pedaled and fired his guns, looking for a way out. The Hacker deflected his shots before one hit him in the left leg and then in the arm, causing him to dive behind the fountain. The chambers on Ian's Eagles snapped open as the last rounds left the barrels. "See ya..." Ian muttered as he pulled a small grenade out of his jacket. He set the timer to one second and threw it at the fountain. A bright flash filled the town square as the grenade went off and Ian ran down a street, wincing and holding his bloody shoulder. His screen flashed warnings and damages to his character. Luckily the game didn't run on Health Points. If your shot in the arm, you can't use the arm. If your head is chopped off, or your crushed, or anything that would kill a person were to happen...you'd die and respawn, leaving any gear you had equipped and not in an inventory. The game wanted a better sense of realism that simply Health Points.

Let's see if I can get some intel on this guy...Ian thought as he turned into an alley and worked his way back to the square, keeping himself hidden. The hacker was talking in an ear piece, his other hand holding his pistol and scanning the center. Ian looked down to his screen and pulled up a hacking window. He whispered, since he couldn't use his other arm, to input his hack, "Locate signal...bypass firewall...enable ghost and link it to router 4572...feed on screen..." Suddenly the hacker's voice and one other whispered from his moniter.

"Did you get the target?"

The hacker scowled, "No. For a new Hacker he is very resourceful. He got away. Were the others successful?"

The voice sounded irritated, "Yes, the others were successful. All the Hackers have been taken care of and their items taken. We just need that one and a few others."

The hacker cursed quietly, "Affirmative. What is the status on Amus?"

The voice was quiet for awhile, "He is currently respawning. He failed to get the item and take care of the Hacker as well. We need ALL the hackers gone so we can freely enact our plans. Yours and his failure is going to cost us greatly. Return to base, Talon. Out."

Talon tapped a few buttons on his glove, "Affirmative, returning to base. Out." A warp point opened up at Talon's feet and he vanished, follow closely by the warp point. Ian stared, dumbfounded by what he had heard. The others...dead?! How did they get the list of us... Ian thought furiously as he brought up the list himself. It looked normal, until Ian updated the list. All the names suddenly became slashed out and vanished, except for his and one other name he didn't recognize, Blake. "What the hell! Who has the power to take out all of them?!" Ian exclaimed as he looked at the time of deletion for each character. All were within the past ten minutes, when he was fighting Talon. Someone coordinated ALL these attacks at once!? What is going on! Ian thought as his shoulder gave a painful throb. The rain continued to pour down as Ian moved to a bench and sat down. He pulled out a medical kit from his inventory and quickly applied the contents to his arm. The game gave a healing time based on the extent of the injury, to compensate for the time it takes to heal in the real world. It wasn't as long, like weeks and months, but it could still hinder a character. His screen popped up a time or thirty minutes. Ian layed his head back and sighed as the rain came down, suddenly feeling very alone.

 

[Brendan Savem]

(a major writer's block... either way, my post switches between reality and the game itself. So the text in italics takes place in the reality)

Blake ran through the jungle, and eventually a plain, which provided a clear view of the city. The main cloud had broken down into smaller clouds and was slowly fading away. If there were something wrong there, one of the other Hackers would have taken care of it. Blake was about to turn around and head back to his jungle when…

A beep came from the computer. Blake checked the desktop and found an e-mail had just come from Craig; one of Blake's fellow Hackers. He opened it up and read it, it was written hastily and had quite a few spelling errors in it,

"Blake" the message read, "We have a problem on the game, all the hackers, including myself, that were online just now have been attacked and defeated by surprise. Instead of re-spawning, we have been somehow locked from entering the server for a week. Hacking has to be involved, if you can, log on and investigate immediately. Craig"

Blake considered what was just said, someone or something had coordinated players to knock out the Hackers and use hacking to keep them off the game. He was also supposed to share that fate, but was able to score lucky. From what he had found out earlier, it was clear that the Samus guy was looking for his reflector capsules, but for what?

Back on the game, Blake continued on his way towards the massive city, sure that this would be the best place to look for clues.

In Barestrol, Blake looked around at the remains of scorch marks all over the city. Items from defeat drops appeared every now and then, all of it of low quality. To have a massacre like this in a starting city was extremely rare. Blake took out a small handheld console and started it up, what he was holding at that time was a standard issue 'Hacker Tracker', used so Hackers could link up with each other. Sure enough, there was one idle near the center of town. The color of the dot on the map on the screen indicated that this was a low ranked hacker, possibly the latest recruit. That just left the question on whether he had experienced the sudden attack. This Hacker was actually close by, about three blocks ahead and at the next left. Keeping his eyes on the console, he walked forward, watching as the dot came closer to the white dot at the center of the screen, which was he. When the two dots were only a street apart, Blake looked up and saw a player leaned up on a building cradling a wounded arm. Carefully, as if this player could attack if he startled him, he walked over towards the wounded Hacker.

 

[Reynald]

Ian ran a hand through his hair as he rested his head on the desk. All gone... he thought quietly. Sitting back up, he quickly pulled out his laptop and went to the Hacker Forum. The site was used so Hackers could pass information between each other. It was password protected and had so many firewalls it made the governments look like childs play. As soon as he logged in, Ian could see the multitude of new topics. The chat was buzzing with people trying to figure out what happened. Ian quietly read all the information he could, which was very little.

A small beep tore his concentration from his laptop to his pc. Someone was approaching. Ian whirled to his keyboard and prepared himself.

Ian opened his eyes and turned his head to the right, his hand setting to draw his pistol. The man was approaching Ian cautiously, holding a small screen in his hand. His forearm beeped and fed information to Ian. Oh...so this is the other Hacker who made it... Ian grimaced as he pushed off the wall and stood. Ian looked around before speaking cautiously, "Looks like you and I are left. Any ideas on what the hell is going on?"

The clouds finally cleared overhead and players began milling about the town as if nothing had happened. A few players eyed the burn marks and new players ran about picking up the drops. A large ping appeared over everyone's head. An automatic voice announced, "The server is currently experiencing some difficulties. All players who are logged on may stay logged on, but the server is being locked until problems can be resolved. Have a good day." Ian groaned and muttered "Looks like if we log out we are stuck for awhile."

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake nodded when the other Hacker commented on the attack, before he could say anything, the warning about logging out boomed through the game. That meant if he logged out, he would be stuck offline like his comrades. Moreover, that also meant nobody else will be able to log in now, that meant any Hacker that wasn't involved in the apparent crisis wouldn't be able to log on and respond for the others. Unless others were able to parry the sudden attack, it was just him and this guy.

Blake went to the Hacker forums, went through all the passwords, and opened up a file that provided a list of all hackers in chronicle order, passing. Each name provided a small picture showing the character that Hacker uses. All the way at the bottom, passing his own name quite close to the top along the way, Blake saw the name 'Ian' next to a picture of a character that matched that of the one he encountered just now. That meant this was the latest member of the group

Back on the game, Blake finally made his reply.

"So you must be Ian. Name's Blake; a regular around here. I presume you were around during the storm here just now." Blake introduced, and then looked both ways to make sure the street was clear. "I don't know much right now, I was in the jungles a while ago when some guy with a Samus-getup attacked me, apparently he was looking for something I have. I took him out quite easily and," Blake then took out the helmet of his attacker, "picked up a souvenir." Blake returned the helmet to its inventory. "How about you, anything interesting happened in the storm just now. I came here when I saw it appear." Blake asked.

 

[PokemonDP]

(Thanks so much for letting me join!)

Alyssa yawned and carried her cereal up to her room. She was always a late sleeper. Booting up her laptop, she acsessed the Hacker fourms. There was a huge buzz over some crisis that wasd happening in the game. She read a couple messages, than decided to log on.


Alyssa's character looked like her, tall, exceptionally pretty, with flowing, blonde hair that reached down to the center of her back and dark green eyes. She was wearing dark gray pants with armor on the knees and a tank top that bared her naval. A strange device attached to her right ear and curled around to her left eye. The device allowed her to scan items and players. In this world, in Renegade's world, she was the strategist, always knowing how to get extra out of items and who was weak to what. She used those weaknesses to defend her neck of the woods, the Fire Plains. They were, obviously, on fire, each blade of grass set ablaze with red and yellow sparks. Today, Alssa decided, I'll go pay a visit to Barestol.

After a couple mile trek to Barestol, Alyssa looked around. Bare. The large city was never bare. Wait. Alyssa thought, recognizing two human-like shapes. "DarCom," She instructed the device, "Scan."
Suddenly, the device whirred to life, and Alyssa watched through a small, lens like, screen as the DarCom scanned the human's DNA stuctures, items, and weaknesses.
"Alyssa." The DarCom's robotic Female voice hummed. "These forms pose no threat. I would keep your hand on the taser, just in case."
"Thanks, Dar." Alyssa sighed. "Shut down. Security mode."
"As you wish." The device stopped whirring and the screen dissapeared.

Alyssa put her hand on her taser and walked towards the two males.

 

[Reynald]

Ian nodded as Blake introduced himself and asked what had happened. He rubbed a hand over his eyes before he spoke, "Something similar to what happened to you. Only this guy was a bit more excessive. He hacked into the game and produced that storm. Luckily, the games anti-hack got to him before he could fry me. I managed to injure him, after he tore up my arm, and he gated out. Here, I have a video log." Ian opened his hand and tapped a few buttons on his arm-screen. A small device materialized out of his glove. It was round with a small glass orb in the center and an array of buttons along the outer rim. Ian tapped one and the orb glowed before projecting a holo screen.

The screen displayed what Ian had seen and heard through his eyes, showing the tail end of his fight with Talon and the information he had gleamed. It also displayed subtitles in case the voice was too hard to hear. When he was done, Ian pressed another button to shut the device off and replace it into his inventory. It was a nifty item one of the Hackers had invented. Ian shrugged his good shoulder and looked around Barestol, and saw a girl approaching. She was a bit taller than him and definitely attractive, but that was not what caught Ian's attention. Her hand was on a weapon at her side. Is she with the group that killed off the Hackers? Ian thought as his good hand dipped to his Desert Eagle.

"Blake. Heads up!" He said urgently as he drew his pistol and steadied it. He called out to the girl, "Get your hand off the weapon, Miss." He muttered back to Blake, "Any idea on who she is? Think she's with the group that attacked us? I didn't see her on The Roster, though I could have missed it."

 

[PokemonDP]

"No thanks." Alyssa said, tightening her grip on the taser and holding it up. "I'm not stupid. I'm here to fix this mess. You can't stop me." Turning her head back slightly, she whispered, "DarCom, boot up."

"Just a minute please... Just a minute please. Hello, Alyssa." The robotic voice crackled.

"Dar, scan the life form's weapon." Alyssa instructed. "I think you missed it last scan."

"Sure, Alyssa..." Dar said, then went silent. "It's just a pistol. Nothing special about it."

"Oh. Right. DarCom, standby mode."


The wirring slowed down and the screen dissapeared. Alyssa kept her taser up as she slowly walked towards the others. "I don't know what you're trying to do to this game..." Alyssa called, "But you're not going to get away with it, you hear?"

 

[Brendan Savem]

When Ian dealt with the introductions, Blake stayed the way he stood with his back turned and arms folded. However, he was secretly inputting a hack targeted at the scanner the new arrival had. Unfortunately, if only he had been paying better attention to what she said, he might have been able to figure out that they were on the same side. Nevertheless, Blake finished the hack and was now set for action.

"Something tells me you don't realize what you're dealing with, missy" Blake spoke, looking over his shoulder with a mocking grin. It wasn't how he would normally act, but he had to get her to scan him for the hack to work. Sure enough, she took out the scanner a third time and began scanning him, although he couldn't hear what the scanner told its owner, he knew exactly what the words were,

"This one is probably beyond pathetic, his stats are beyond low and he is even unarmed. Yet his confidence is great. If you were to strike now when he is unprepared, you should be able to take him out with one blow." That was what Blake had forced the scanner to say. Now he just had to hope she would take the bait.

 

[Reynald]

Ian's arm-screen quietly beeped a warning of a hack. The warning was directed at Blake, who had his back to him. Ian smirked slightly Looks like he has a surprise in store. and lowered his gun slightly, keeping it aimed at her feet. She confused when she addressed him and Blake. Something about the way she spoke made Ian pause. He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, his eyes turning dark red, "Listen, We didn't screw this game up. Would I really stay in the place I tried to destroy when I know a Hacker would have responded to a lightning storm like that? And I'm injured, which wouldn't make me much use in a fight right now would it?" His arm only had a few minutes left, he was hoping to buy some time for whatever Blake had planned and so he could at least move better.

He smiled slightly, "And a taser isn't exactly threatening. My name is Ian, I'm a Hacker. And from what you have said I'm guessing you are too. Now please, put down the weapon. We have a major problem and could use all the help we can get." He shifted his stance and his weapons digitized back into his gloves. Ian kept his hands out of his pockets to show he wasn't going to pull any tricks, though he could easily re-summon any weapon if he wanted to. The empty streets were unsettling to Ian. What happened to everyone in town? Did they log off? His eyes scanned the surrounding area. Something wasn't right about this...Are they trying to trap us? This soon? How many guys does this organization have...

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake studied the girl, she was quite tall, had long flowing blonde hair, armored pants, a small tank top, and the scanner was visible over her left eye. He could have been interested in a little chat if it wasn't for the conditions of the meeting. He watched the hand with the taser and saw the index finger slowly caress the trigger. He was getting her just where he wanted her. He was standing at an angle that hid his pistol and capsules from her eyes. Very slowly, he rolled his folded arms, as if trying to get comfortable. As the left one approached his hip, he inconspicuously picked up a reflector capsule with two fingers. In a swift motion, he flicked his fingers so that the capsule was hidden in his hand, and then dug the hand into his armpit. He watched the girl and waited, nothing interesting happened; she didn't notice. Everything was set for a surprise attack, now he just needed to tap the seesaw, then things will fall the rest of the way.

"I'm sure you can try and stop us foil those plans you have for us. However, we have everything set for you and your organization. Lets not forget your jungle friend; it only took a tree trunk to finish that poor chap off. And that junk on him could be put to good use later on." Blake mocked. Intending for it to look like he was referring to the suit of the Samus-suited attacker, which Blake actually could break down into data to track its source. However, this would also create the illusion that he was the attacker and that he had nicked that person's items for whatever purpose this new group wanted them for. Nevertheless, it was guaranteed to make the same effect.

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa cocked an eyebrow. "Don't try to confuse me now. I'm not stupid, like I've said before." She kept her eyes on the Cheetah-looking thing, he seemed the most dangerous. "I'm not falling for your trap. I've scanned you once before, remember? I know what you're capable of." She brought her other arm around, and pointed at Blake. Trying to keep a level head, she thought her strategy through. These two weren't probable to be the "Give up easy" type. She could throw a smoke bomb, but that would be whimping out. The cheetah had hacked her DarCom, and it wasn't working properly, so she couldn't telll whose side they were on. Ah, Alyssa thought, squinting, This is a real head-scratcher.

Pushing her taser back into its holdster, she rummaged around in her pack and found a confuse bomb. This should have them walking sideways until I can find some evidence. Alyssa thought, redying the bomb.

 

[Reynald]

OOC: It is still open to join! You don't have to start out as a Hacker, though it is not hard to add you in. Time for some action! Btw guys keep in mind what everyone is saying, that way we don't miss things like people talking.

Ian huffed in annoyance. This was getting annoying. He inhaled sharply and yelled, "HEY! Are both of you not listening?!" Screens flashed over his eyes, invisible to the other two, as he began a scan of the city and of the girl. Immediately, the Hacker database recognized her. She was an old hacker, she had fell off the list when it was re-made. Ian quietly read the information as she drew a grenade from her inventory. Were these two THAT thick headed? Both ignored what the other was saying and assumed the worst.

"Alyssa! Blake! Cool it! The city is empty, something isn't right!" He looked at Alyssa and fed her his hacker information via her DarCom. "I told you I was a Hacker. Now stop aiming that grenade at me!" His arm-screen beeped and his wounded arm un-bandaged, completely healed. He flexed his hand before materializing a short katana and his desert eagle into his hand. He looked pleadingly at Alys, "The Hackers have been attacked. We are the only three left! Now let's work together instead of trying to kill each other!" He wasn't ready to test how well Alys was at fighting.

The city took on a dark overcast and occasionally pieces of the city glitched and twitched. Just what we need... Ian groaned as he looked around the city. Dark figures began milling out of the alleyways. They were entirely black with no features what so ever, except for the occasional one or zero that flitted across their bodies. Anything the creatures touched became corrupted data. More bodies kept milling out of the alley way and into the center of Barestol. Some carried dark, corrupted weapons. Ian faltered and looked at the other two "A virus...Guys...we need to fix this...now..." Ian readied his pistol at the nearest figure.

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake looked at Ian puzzled, then turned to the girl that he had judged as an enemy. If they truly were on the same side, then how was she still online? She didn't seem to know what happened, that pointed that she was a Hacker. But she also didn't seem to have been attacked at all, evidence that pointed towards the other way. Things just didn't seem to work out for what Ian was claiming. Then the viruses appeared, Blake scanned his surroundings with his eyes and saw that there were seven surrounding them, three had come out from an alleyway opposite of the majority. One of them had one of their strange weapons; the other two were armed with sharp claws. In a quick second decision, Blake pressed the button on the reflector hidden in his arm. Three seconds passed as the creatures moved slowly towards them, the armed on behind Blake raised the weapon and aimed at him. A second later, he fired. The projectile that came out was shaped like a bullet, but it was black and occasionally had ones and zeros floating about in it like the creatures that fired it.

Blake had timed the moment just right. He swung around and revealed the capsule as the countdown reached zero. He pointed it at the creatures and the capsule clicked open. A blue shield appeared that had a diameter of about Blake's height, the virus bullet collided and faded on the shield. Had the bullet been more powerful, it might have been able to break the shield down. Taking advantage of the still active shield, Blake lifted his hand off the capsule and quickly delivered a kick directly on the capsule itself, the shield hurled itself into the armed shadow creature and knocked it off its feet as the shield wore off and faded, the capsule landed short of the creature and rolled across the floor. Blake then took out his pistol and hammered the barrel so that the beam appeared from within. He then finished the combo by leaping for the virus. Usually, he would have fallen short by a meter, but by kicking in his jet boots momentarily, he was able to gain an extra moment of airtime. Now, above his prey, he brought his hands up with the beam sword clasped between them. Then, with a cry that sounded like a cross between a human scream and a jungle cat roar, he brought the weapon down and impaled the virus in the chest.

The digits on the virus changed to red and appeared much more frequently; the sign that the virus was weakened enough to be deleted. Blake opened a hack window and pressed three buttons, the anti-virus hack immediately came into play. The black body of the virus faded, leaving the occasionally glowing digits that faded afterwards. "Another one bites the dust." Blake whispered as he pulled out the sword that was left in the ground, and turned towards the other two viruses near him.

(Fun Fact: all of Blake's unique weaponry appears in this post)

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa whipped around and threw a stun bomb at a virus, and it fell to the ground. She finished it off with an electro-blade, a sharp peice of metal that was covered with sparks. It had the same effect as a taser, but was more painful in ways. Alyssa had somehow programmed the blade to go straight at the heart. The virus faltered and dissapeared. Alyssa smirked as another virus snuck up behind her. She stuck her leg out and tripped it, and it also fell to the ground. Blinking down at the virus, she sighed. "How weak can you get? Seriously?" The virus struggled, and Alyssa let it up. It hissed menacingly, and jumped at her. Alyssa sighed and fired a laser at it, and this one faltered and dissapeared too. She laughed, and kicked another one in the stomach.

Turning to Blake, Alyssa smiled. "Need some help?" She asked, kicking the same virus in the stomach.. again.

 

[Reynald]

Ian watched the two jump into the fight and begin tearing Viruses apart. More viruses formed out of the alleyways. These viruses sat and stared at the two combatants, reading their info and adapting, becoming stronger and harder to fight. Ian was about to make a comment when a dark blade stabbed past his right ear. Ian ducked and slashed the Virus with his katana before lifting his Eagle's barrel to the Virus' face. "Computer, enable anti-virus rounds." His screen flashed and his desert eagle changed. Ones and Zeros flowed along the barrel, lengthening it. When the transformation finished, his gun now looked almost like a small, one handed rifle. On each side were two red streaks that pulsed with energy. Ian smirked and pulled the trigger.

A pulse of red energy slammed into the Virus. The red streak along the side of his gun shortened slightly. The code along the virus' body flashed red and faded. The body began to melt and fade into the game's world. One down. Five shots left. Ian thought as he evaded a dark bullet from one of the viruses. He backed up to keep with the other two Hacker's, parrying attacks and trying to evade bullets. He dropped low and tripped one of the viruses and shot over it's falling body into a virus with a gun. He then aimed the gun down and shot the falling virus. Both viruses twitched and melted.Two more shots... He looked over his shoulder, "Guys, We have a few more. They've adapted. Be Careful."

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake looked up at the girl he had originally accused of being an enemy when she asked him if he needed help. Despite this, Blake still wasn't too sure what to make of her. If she was here to do what the other two couldn't, then she would probably be looking for the reflector capsules he had, along with something else that Ian had. In response to her question, he simply grinned, showing the sharp teeth underneath,

"That won't be necessary yet," Blake answered, then used the back of his hand to flick the sword so that it was a gun once again. "I would suggest watching your own back first." Blake answered, and then fired the gun, the beam cut through the air towards her… then past her. It slammed into a virus that was training its sights on her and knocked it off its feet. The anti-virus program Blake activated earlier made light work of it.

Without waiting for a comment, be it a thanks or shout of anger, Blake quickly kicked in his hover boots to lift himself onto a balcony two stories up one of the tall skyscrapers, then began sniping at the onslaught of viruses, some of them tried improvise on this tactic by climbing up the wall, leaving themselves exposed to a direct hit. From his viewpoint, the viruses were coming mainly from the east, which meant the source of them would have to be somewhere in that direction. The best course of action now would be to get to the source and block it before the viruses became too strong.

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa shook her head and sent her electro-blade at the Virus Blake had just shot. It fell down and dissappeared. Alyssa coughed as a virus kicked her in the stomach and sent it flying with an electrized punch. She sighed and pushed a button on a small device on her wrist, and her body became covered in steel. She walked through the viruses, throwing random punches and kicks here and there, and throwing the weakened ones back for the other two to finish off. She sneezed suddenly, and the steel dissapated. Panicing for a minute, she hit the button again and the steel materialized again.

 

[Reynald]

Ian turned his head and noticed his "team" was gone. He groaned aloud. what is with these two? They don't bother to help one another and they both act like they are gods... He sighed and finished off a few of the downed foes that Alyssa had knocked down. When did Hackers become this self centered? Ian wondered what would happen when they finally met something too strong for them. He shrugged off the thought and looked up at Blake. He was currently sniping, though the tougher viruses were getting something set up. Blake was firing mostly towards the east. Ian tapped a few keys on his arm and initiated a COM link to Blake and Alyssa. He pressed a hand to his ear, where a headphone materialized, and began speaking.

"Blake, what can you see up there? Where are they coming from?" Ian ducked and straight kicked a virus to back it up. He noticed Alyssa's armor falter and hurried over to her, "Alyssa, We need to stay together. The viruses are adapting and if you keep using all your abilities they are going to figure out ways around them." He directed the last bit to both of the Hackers. Ian looked back up at Blake, "Blake, Give us a location so we can eradicate this thing. We have bigger problems at hand." He kept his back to Alyssa to watch her back as he parried a few more blows from a Virus before expending the last of his anti-virus shots.

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa sighed. "Stop telling me what to do," She said, but knew that Ian was right. She walked back to Ian and pushed the button again, turning back into human-forme. "I've got your back." She told him, and kicked another virus. "Gosh, kicking is sure fun!" Laughing a bit, she turned her head back slightly. "What does Blake say? How many of these are coming? Are they infinite?" She asked, kicking again.

(Sorry about short post.)

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake didn't respond at first, he was too busy trying to clear up some viruses that were on the wall. He only replied after Alyssa asked as well over the com-link.

"They're mainly coming from the east street, then to the right three blocks down, I don't know where to go after that." Blake answered, "I'm still not sure what might have caused the glitch, though the rate of viruses appearing is alarming. I would suggest we plow through before too many show-" Blake was unable to finish, one virus already countered Blake's safe spot by climbing up and over the building on the other side then jumping down from the roof. Blake now found himself on the ground with a virus almost twice the size of the others, wielding what appeared to be a giant hammer. Before Blake could stand, the massive virus swung the hammer with surprising speed, smashing Blake head-on, sending him crashing clean through the rail of the balcony and into the building on the other side of the street.

Blake was damaged and dazed, but he wasn't done yet. He was in the building itself; what turned out to be a dentist's room filled with porcelain, wood, and other debris that once inhabited the wall. He was lying in the chair still standing in the middle of the room; a hole in the wall the size of a beach ball provided a view of the viruses now focusing their attacks on Ian and Alyssa. The giant virus was still on the balcony, either celebrating its attack or waiting for someone else to make a move. Blake considered the situation, the large virus may be more powerful than its lesser selves, but that comes at a cost. The virus has a vital weak spot hidden somewhere on its body, visible as a different colored growth, sometimes even on the hammer. It would only take one hit at that point to make the virus weakened enough for the anti-virus program to take it. Blake couldn't see it on the virus from where he is, so it must be on his back or under his joints. Blake went back onto his com-link to explain the situation.

"We got company, that bruiser on the balcony nearly got me just now. I don't see his weak point, so I would assume that it's on his back somewhere. How's the fight down there anyway?" Blake said.

 

[Reynald]

Ian looked back at Alys. She was enjoying herself by repeatedly kicking the viruses. Luckily, there were no guns on her side. Blake spoke through the COM link, feeding him information. He yelled back to Alys and Blake over the COM, "Alright! We gotta move that way and clear a path till we find the source. Alys, We need..." But his sentence was cut off as a smash vibrated through the COM. Ian looked up just in time to see Blake soar through the air into a nearby building. He was about to ask what happened when Blake answered for himself. "Glad to hear you're ok Blake. We can worry about the Virus later, we need..." Ian turned as a car flew down on of the alleyways and into the center, right at Alys. "Alys! Head's Up!" Ian cried as he saw the source of the destruction.

A massive, horribly warped virus roared and charged down the alleyway. It was almost too big to fit. The Virus was built like a gorilla, with a average size lower body but massive forearms. It's eyes glowed an odd color, the weak points. The points where partially covered by the lumpiness of the Virus. It threw viruses aside and kept coming for the Hackers. "Guys! We have a tank coming at us! We need to MOVE! Blake, See if you can get ahead of us from the rooftops. We need to find the source if there is one! Alys, Come On!" Ian ducked under a slash from a Samurai type Virus and swiftly cut it in half. He kept moving towards the east, looking back to see if Alys had made it through.

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa gasped as a Virus knocked her down. She scrambled back up and ran after Ian, but the virus knocked her down again. It made a high-pitched crackling sound, and five other viruses materialized around her. She struggled, but to no avail. God, it's no use. Alyssa thought sadly, as her stuggles grew weaker. A virus pointed a gun at her forehead, and Alyssa closed her eyes. She never heard or felt the shot. When she pried her eyes open, the viruses were staring at her in amazment. One aimed a kick at Alyssa, but it hit an unseeable force. "I'm pretty wonderful, aren't I?" A voice in her ear bragged. "Dar! Oh my gosh, I thought I was dead!"

"And you would've been without me. Bet you never thought of the force field, did you?"

"Nope, you got me alright." Alyssa smiled. "Electrize the force field for me, and be a dear."

"Right oh." Dar crackled.

The force field buzzed to life and sent the viruses flying. Alyssa smiled, brushed herself off, and ran after Ian.

 

[Brendan Savem]

(I can't believe I had the time to get this done, especially with a busted computer)

Blake wasn't too pleased with Ian giving him orders, but he liked them anyway. Blake liked the way Ian was able to handle the pressure of the virus swarm and that there were only three of them to clear them out. If there was one thing Blake knew, Ian's entrance was no fluke. Alyssa was also seemed to have the skills of a Hacker, something about her fighting techniques was quite familiar to be honest. Maybe she and Blake met when the Hackers were beginning.

Blake staggered out of the room and began to climb the emergency stairs on the floor. Each step he took slightly recovered his health, until he was bounding up the stairs like the powerful cat he was. There was a door at the top of the stairs, indicating that he reached the roof. Without checking if the door was locked, he gave it two sharp kicks that sent it clean off its hinges. He looked over the side to see Ian and Alyssa plowing through the viruses as they continued up the road. Blake hopped over the next two buildings and looked down again, this was at the right Blake told Ian to go through earlier. The viruses here were more numerous, and carved a clear path marking the way to their origin. Blake could see it go down ten blocks, then disappear into the left there. At the far back of the road, there were at least twenty viruses crowded in a single block, at least seven of them were armed with more than simple claws. Knowing that Ian and Alyssa would never be able to plow through that many, he reissued directions via com-link.

"Go down the next right immediatly, their numbers are growing fast! Then run down the road twelve blocks, take a left from there, we should be pretty close at that point, I'll join you on the ground then!" Blake instructed, then hopped across the buildings so he was ready to continue the directions.

 

[Reynald]

Ian looked over his shoulder and was relieved that Alys got up and was following him. His "team" was extremely outnumbered and they needed to end this fast. His mind raced as he scanned the alleyways for a way out. His com crackled as Blake called over it, "Go down the next right immediatly, their numbers are growing fast! Then run down the road twelve blocks, take a left from there, we should be pretty close at that point, I'll join you on the ground then!" then the com went dead. Ian tried to think ahead when the Tanks roar behind him made Ian think, Screw it... and he turned around at the corner.

"THIS WAY! Keep moving! That Tank is gaining on you!" He called to Alys as he fired a few rounds over her shoulder. Once she was closer, Ian pounded down the alleyway he was told to and ran. The Tank yelled in frustration, it was too big to fit in the alley, and backed off. There were a few viruses up ahead. Ian hopped deftly onto a car and disposed of them quickly before moving on. I hope Blake knows where he is going... Ian thought grimly as he kept running.

(Sorry for the late post. Been SUPER busy.)

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa cartwheeled and narrowly missed a missile, wich singed her hair. She frowned and landed on her feet. "And she sticks the landing!" She mumbled to no one in particular. She fired a few shots at the tank behind her, doing little to hinder it. Alyssa sighed and kept running. Good thing that she was so fast. For fun, she'd cartwheel every few seconds. "Not a good idea when you're running for your life." Dar nagged, but Alyssa ignored her.

"What's the plan? Just keep running?" She yelled to Ian. "Is that smart?"

 

[Brendan Savem]

(Finally repaired my computer *tosses hammer away* I love my handiwork ;D! *sudden crash*... Sorry sir! :-[)

Blake hopped over the buildings quickly and quietly, putting in too much effort trying to remain inconspicuous to the viruses down below. He soon reached an intersection at the place where Blake instructed Ian and Alyssa to go. Looking over to the southwest, Blake could see what he was looking for. In the middle of the street in that direction, there were more viruses than Blake could count. below their feet, there was what appeared to be a hole into pitch blackness, the familiar ones and zeros flitted through it like it did on the creatures that climbed out. This was the glitch zone. It was now time for the tricky part. Either Blake, Ian, or Alyssa have to get to the glitch zone and put in the appropriate hack, this should be able to send a chain reaction that would destroy all the other viruses that came out, providing more space to delete the glitch zone itself. The problem was reaching it.

Blake set up a map of the area of Barestrol and marked where the glitch zone was. After looking at it for a second, Blake realized there was something wrong with where the glitch zone was located. Usually, glitch zones formed on certain 'hotspots' where the game programming was likely to crash. This area was in the old Barestrol, where the game designers were much more careful in their work, where no bugs should have surfaced. It was highly unlikely for a glitch zone to form here. Putting this thought aside to look into later, he sent the map to Ian and immediately returned to the com-link.

"Alright, I'm sending you the location of the glitch zone right now. I suggest you take an indirect route there to make yourself less predictable and prevent them from catching on too soon. I presume you know what we need to do next," Blake said, then waited for a response.

 

[Reynald]

Ian looked over his should at Alys. She was right, running was not the best idea. He called back to her. "Blake is cooking something up! We are trying to find the source of the viruses so we can take them out! He told us to keep moving this way." Ian turned and took out a few viruses as he pounded down the alleyway. He recognized this place. They were entering Old Barestol. Why would the Viruses originate in here? I'm pretty sure this place was nearly glitch proof. His thoughts were cut off as his com link crackled and came to life.

"Alright, I'm sending you the location of the glitch zone right now. I suggest you take an indirect route there to make yourself less predictable and prevent them from catching on too soon. I presume you know what we need to do next,"

Ian nodded, "Roger that Blake. Alys, I'm going to draw them away. Get to that glitch zone and take care of it. Blake, keep her covered as best you can. Out." Ian killed the com and stopped running. Letting Alys pass by him, he drew up his guns and started firing wildly at the Viruses. Ian grinned and started running a hack. Numbers scrolled across his hack screen as a small beacon appeared on the his forearm screen and started blinking wildly. All the viruses nearby veered toward him and began chasing. He called back to Alys, "Get the the zone!" He then ran down another alleyway and into the heart of the Viruses.

 

[PokemonDP]

Alyssa nodded and sprinted towards the glitch zone. When she entered it, she felt a strange shift in the atmosphere. She coughed, and ran towards the large hole in the landscape. It was like a black hole, inside of it she could see green grids running back and forth along the length of the tear. Alyssa pulled out a small computer and entered code after code, trying to break the firewall and fix the Glitch. Every time, the screen blinked a red, DENIED message Alyssa sighed and typed some more, still getting the same outcome. She pushed a button on the DarCom.

"Ian, hey, Are you there? This is Alyssa. I can't figure out the code. Any ideas?" She said urgently, than pressed another button and waited for a reply.

 

[Brendan Savem]

Blake went over to a building adjacent to the glitch zone and waited, as soon as he saw Alyssa appear. He jumped off the side of the building, then used his gun to shoot down at least seven of the viruses around the glitch zone before he hit the ground, then began slashing at the rest of them. This tactic gave Alyssa a chance to get to the glitch zone and start putting in codes. Seconds passed, then a minute. Blake began to grow worried about the codes she was putting in. If these viruses haven't already, they would all be swarming back to the glitch zone to take the three of them out while we're cornered in less than a minute. That was something the three of them could never stand up against alone. Blake hovered until he was some distance away from the viruses to buy himself a few seconds to pick up hack codes used in previous virus outbreaks, then sent them all to Alyssa.

"These are all the different codes we Hackers know of, one of them has to work if we want to stick around any longer." Blake shouted to Alyssa, he then jumped back down to continue covering her. Blake tried to imagine how Ian was doing, viruses can change their abilities if they are given enough time in order to match their situation. If Ian kept running, they'll just become faster or grow wings.

 

[Reynald]

Gotta play the hero...god I'm an idiot...I hope she hurries up!..why do I keep getting into these kinds of situations? Ian's thoughts kept jumping and ridiculing himself as he ran as hard as he could towards a wide street. The viruses were learning and adapting, growing wings and bigger guns. He couldn't stay in the narrow alleyway any longer. As Ian ran out into the street, a loud crash caused him to turn his head. The Tank busted out of a building and charged straight at him. It lowered it's massive shoulders and hurled a vehicle into the air. I am soo dead... Ian thought as he dived under the falling vehicle. It fell behind him and crushed a few of the flying viruses and a few of the ones on the ground. Ian sighed in relief and then looked "up" and saw the tank coming. He tapped a few keys on his arm-screen. little engines appeared on his shoes and activated, sending smoke and fire out of them. His shoes carried him right under the Tank's legs.

Ian rolled and pushed with his hands, causing him to flip and land, onto his feet. The Tank roared in defiance and turned widely, throwing it's arms into other viruses. Ian grimaced but didn't have time to think. Viruses rushed him from three sides. Pulling out his ninja blade and gun, he dove into the mass of viruses. He dived, ducked, whirled, pivoted, shot and slashed like a mad man. Most of the viruses, luckily, where sluggish to respond at first. Ian carved his way away from the Tank, who was approaching slowly. His com link crackled to life and he heard Alys' voice say "Ian, hey, Are you there? This is Alyssa. I can't figure out the code. Any ideas?" Ian slashed and shot away the last few viruses. They had stopped advancing and were surrounding him in a wide ring. Ian tapped a few keys on his arm-screen frantically before sending the data to Alys,

"This is a more elegant hack. It might take awhile but it should work. Be careful though, one wrong step and you could accidentally worsen the glitch. It's risky, I know, but it'll be faster than trying to find the code. Don't worry, I know you can do it." Ian said hurriedly. His wounds throbbed insistently. The viruses cleared a path and allowed The Tank through before closing in. Great, they are planning a one on one match... He hit the com key one last time, "Hey uh...Alys...not to sound like I'm rushing you but...please hurry...there might not be much of me left soon..."

The Tank roared and charged Ian.

 

[PokemonDP]

  Alyssa gasped and started typing faster, using the codes Blake had sent her. Finally, one of the codes worked. A green ACCEPTED messaged popped up on the screen, and, suddenly, the black hole shut down and the glitch zone dissapeared. With the sudden twist of atmospheres again, Alyssa was knocked off her feet and into a tree. "God..." She muttered. Alyssa jumped down from the tree and ran over to Ian. He was on the ground, the tank infront of him dissapearing. Alyssa helped him up. "You're okay." She sighed in relief, and handed him a health patch. "Use it, okay? I have plenty." She sprinted off towards Blake. He looked okay. "Thanks.." She smiled, without waiting for a reply, she ran back to Ian.

  "Oh, goodness." She muttered again, starting inspecting Ian's suit. No holes or tears, but, It was quite banged up. "You need to rest." She told him, Helping him over to one of the benches that hadn't been destroyed.

 

[Reynald]

(Sorry for skipping Brendan. I've been in a role play mood ^ ^

Ian lay on the ground, nearly defeated. There was no room to maneuver and The Tank just whittled him down more and more. His legs felt like bricks and his right arm felt broken in two places. The Tank raised its arms, intending to crush Ian. He raised his gun weakly and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. But it never came. Opening his eyes, Ian watched as The Tank started disappearing. "YOU DID IT!" Ian cried happily, then gasped as the atmosphere change dropped him and the vanishing viruses near the glitch zone. He turned his head as Alys, came running over to him.

"Good job." He sighed, then groaned in pain as she lifted him up hurriedly, "Easy easy...I feel like I just got hit by a truck...well...more like ten trucks..." He laughed as Alys kept trying to reassure him and hand him a health patch. He was about to respond before she left him standing there and ran to Blake. Ian couldn't help himself, he started laughing. Alys just looked so amusing, running back and fourth frantically. She came running back and helped him to a bench, telling him he needed rest. This only made him laugh more, and promptly winced as his ribs throbbed. Once she had set him down he inspected his clothes. No serious damage but his jacket was laying over by the tank. His white t-shirt had a few blood stains as well as his jeans. He smiled at Alys and wiped his mouth of the blood on it as she too inspected him like a doctor, "Hey...I'm alright. Just a few cuts...and breaks..." He smiled reassuringly and applied the health patch onto his arm. It would take care of the minor wounds.

Ian lifted his shirt and inspected his ribs, his left side was a deep, rich purple color. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, sending pains up it. His knee looked like it was mangled and his fingers were swollen on his left hand. His smile faltered, "Well...two ribs broken...my right arm is useless...my knee is dislocated and my ankle is sprained...two fingers on my left hand were dislocated and reinserted wrong...pinching off nerves and whatnot...Nothing too serious..." He kept tallying up his injuries to Alys, still smiling kindly, while he waited for Blake to join the group, "You did good back there Alyssa. Thanks for not taking so long."

 

[Brendan Savem]

(doesn't matter at all, it works better when you go first anyway)

Blake watched as the viruses disappeared like wild fire, one would have to admit, it makes a fairly good lightshow. Ten seconds later, there was no trace of virus to be seen. Blake studied the spot where the glitch zone was, paying attention to as many details as possible. He would have to run a scan of the game coding later to look deeper into it. Nevertheless, even without that, it was clear that this was no ordinary virus outbreak. Alyssa thanked him for the help at this point, Blake's only response was a nod as he continued the investigation. When he was pretty satisfied with what he could see visually, he turned to Alyssa and Ian.

"That was one of the most hardest virus outbreaks I've been through in a long time, I must be honest. However, something tells me that we're not done yet." Blake said, Alyssa, what code did you use to destroyed the glitch zone?"

 

[PokemonDP]

"Hmm." Alyssa said, scrolling through the codes that Blake had sent her. "This one right here. 096TA63529HSA942389." She handed Blake a flat, green, glowing screen. "I see the problem." She sighed. "That code only temporarily disengages the Glitch. We need one that with shut it down completely. But, first, We all need to heal up. We're totally vunerable if the Glitch re-opens." She unzipped her pack and brought out more health patches. She handed the biggest ones to Ian. Turning to Blake, she said, "He needs it the most," And handed him a couple medium-sized patches. Saving the small ones for herself, she started applying the patches to her arms and legs, and a deep cut on her cheeck. It was from the tree that she had landed in, and she laughed at the pure irony.

As soon as Alyssa was done applying the patches, she pulled out a holographic map. "It looks like the glitch will most likely re-open in the Fire Planes." She said bluntly. Of course, Alyssa thought angrily. They're targeting my home. "We need to rest up, but not for long." She announced, sitting down on the bench next to Ian.

 

[Reynald]

Ian listened to Alys and Blake talk. He glanced at the code and sighed. Temp fixes were always a problem. "I doubt a normal code will work on this one. It's too organized. First it attacks my zone and now its heading for Alys'? Something is controlling it, and probably trying to draw us into a trap or run us until we shut down from exhaustion." He mulled it over in his head while Alys handed him a few more patches. He smiled kindly up at her before pressing the biggest patches gingerly onto his ribs and knee. His ankle would be fine once he stopped putting weight on it. He gripped his two fingers and looked at Alys and Blake, trying to talk to distract himself, "I might have a solution, though it'll take me a minute to cook up the hack to...AGH!" Ian cried out as he re-dislocated his fingers, then re-located them correctly. He flexed his fingers gently and smiled again, though it was somewhat crooked this time.

"Like I was saying...I need to get some good data on this glitch so I can cook up a hack to counter it. It won't delete it, I doubt much could right now, but it will keep it at bay and away from whoever is controlling it." He grinned and then looked at his right arm in dismay. The robotic lower portion of his arm was undamaged, but his elbow was broken as well as the bones around his shoulder. He looked at Blake, "Do you have a way for us to get to the Fire Plains faster? Or do we have to walk?" He turned his gaze to Alys, "I'm gonna need some help. I need to set my arm...once I do, wrap it up and slap a health patch on it, or it wont set right. I don't want to have to get another robotic part." He laughed and then winced as he forced his bones into position. He held his arm still and said to Alys, through gritted teeth, "Alright...hurry up...this hurts a bit..."

 

[Brendan Savem]

(time to raise the suspense)

096TA63529HSA942389… Blake didn't like that. The last time this code was used, was when someone tried to use a hack that accidentally opened up a glitch zone, this was the code used to close it up. And that glitch zone opened up elsewhere and was disabled by the same code. The interesting thing was, neither of them were on virus hotspots. Could someone have created this game crash? It was pretty likely, but there was still a chance he was wrong.

"Alright, we don't know when the glitch hole is going to open up again, maybe up to an hour. However, thanks to Alyssa, we now know the general area that it's going to open up. Alyssa, Ian, use the same code if one of you guys get there, something tells me that one will work again. Let's move out!" Blake instructed, then turned around and began to walk in the general direction of Fire Plains.

"They're going for it, once we get them out there, they won't be able to hide like the last time." A voice said,

"And we also have an extra one to bag, this one will do more than make up for our failures." A second voice grinned. The first figure looked towards the second,

"As soon as they close the next glitch zone, you can work your magic," he instructed. The second one clicked his fingers, then rose the hand up to his face to show the tiny, yellow orb that had just formed on the tip of his index finger, crackling with small bolts of electricity

"With pleasure," he whispered, then extinguished the orb in the palm of his hand.