Match Brought Forward: Smiileyrandom vs ColdShield

I keep well away, knowing I shouldn't get close or else I'll be eviscerated.

I begging circlining my wepond, swining it around slowly at first, and faster and faster, my blade eventualy became a blur and I attacked lungind towards him

"Oh, nuts." I put out my sword and lightly tap the spinning sword, but my arm bounces back. I take the hint and leap back to avoid the lunge, then thrusting my sword towards the slower-moving centre of the spin.

My blade clashes with his stopping the death spin, I use this opotunity and while his guard is slightly lowered my this block I made for a sneaky attack.

A gash is torn into my right arm. "AARGH, DAMN!" I clutch the wound, retracting my sword.

I attack swiftly again, too swiftly

Indeed.
I lunge sideways and slash out with my sword, aiming for the wrist.

I notice this and quickly pull out my shield, I do this a quickly as himanly possible, but no, I look doen to see not only my wepon on the floor but my detached hand "you B*****D!!!" I exclaim looking at my severed hand, "how will I fight with this!?!?!" I look to the ref box and took to the phrase 'couards can survive' "I forfit." the words were simple but powerful and I walked to the side of the stage and left in my ushual maner ((disapear, no cloak. just simply disapear))

SMILEY WINS!!!

I stroll off to the edge of the arena. Suddenly, I hear a crackling sound behind me. I spin round, wincing as I do at the cut on my arm. There before me I see the face of my opponent, on the announcement screen. I can only presume the same image is on all the screens.

Bedraggled and covered with blood from his efforts to salvage his arm, he looks like a wounded soldier at war. Of course, his face is contorted with fury.

"You...you've shamed me. I can't believe I got so careless! I'll get you for this! I'll--"

DING! I pinging noise could be heard from his end of the line.

"Ah, I'm almost ready. Enjoy your just desserts, fool."

((LISTEN UP. TIME FOR SOME EXTREME CLARIFICATION. DO NOT COLOUR YOUR POSTS IN THIS TOPIC. I WILL PUNISH YOU IF YOU DO. I AM JUSTIFIED IN DOING THIS DUE TO THE FACT THAT I HAVE MULTIPLE SPEAKING ROLES TO WRITE INTO MY POSTS.))

((And yes, I'm aware that's in caps. It's like that for EXTRA EMPHASIS. DON'T do that either, mmkay?))

"What the hell is going on!?" I slam my fist against the wall, and begin scaling the side of the central building. "How is he able to access the data streams for the screens? How is this going on under my nose? BULLET! PICK UP!"

"Yes, Z?" The response came through almost immediately.

"Damn it, what's going on? How has he gained access to these screens?" I rip open a hole atop the panel and lower myself into it, beginning to attempt to resolve the issue.

((I'm going to follow suit, for the above reason. None of you will ever control two speaking roles at once, so don't even bother trying to use colours. I will mod it immediately, and repeated offences will stack.))

"UltraZ. What are you trying to do? Get out of there, you look foolish." ColdShield continued speaking, now seeming condescending.

"I already figured out your little ploy to track me. It was most foolish. Quite frankly I can't believe you were naive enough to think it'd work. So yeah, I've rigged the entire place to de-res. Unlucky."

A voice crckles over a radio, also from his end. "ColdShield! What the **** are you doing? We could've planned this much--"

"QUIET! I've been shamed and I'll do this the way I want! It'll be fine and you know it, you're just nitpicking like you always do! So shut it, Smooth! ...Now back to you. Yeah, as I say. The de-res is almost ready, I'm just adjusting the crucial last settings...you should've been MUCH more careful."

...I knew full well what a de-res was. I knew that the Z would be able to deal with crowd control so I left that to him...more importantly I needed to find "my group". "GUYS! Get down here, NOW!"

"UltraZ. There's no trace of the access or of any of this "de-res" nonsense. Surely it must be a bluff."

I snapped back "He's on the god damn screen! This isn't a bluff! How is he getting past us?"

ColdShield chuckled. "Oh, UltraZ. You poor fool. You really ARE naive. We've been making loopholes for years! How could you not notice that we were doing it, honestly?"

I punched the ground with both fists. "There's NO WAY this is happening!" I leapt out of the hole I'd torn. "I have to save this stuff..." I erected a wall around the stadium, keeping outsiders out. Then I began pulling up user data for those inside.

"Listen up, everyone! The situation has changed! You will all be immediately relocated to the village area. However, I recommend you log out immediately! This is not an event! This is something beyond my control! Keep safe and log out!" With a tap of a few keys I watch as the panicking crowds disappear. They're relocated. Piece of cake.

ColdShield smirks on the big screen. Apparently the pain must have subsided. "I'm VERY impressed. Nice head under pressure. I applaud you. But you seem to have missed a few."

I'd stopped listening halfway through. I was scanning the area under the stadium...that is, the hole. I could see the edits but there was no way I could work round or remove them in such a short time. They were very masterfully done. However, the threat only seemed to exist around that area, the stadium.

I leapt down to the arena. "Now, then. I suppose it's time to get down to business!"

I ran up to him. "What the hell are you doing? Why are we still in here? Surely you should have moved us and yourself too?"

"Smiley, calm down. You're here because I know what I'm doing. In about five minutes this area will start to de-res...but escape will still be easily possible. Gaining entry won't, and for that matter it'll be impossible to track our actions in here too.

ColdShield, as i expected him to, scowled in a slightly demonic way. "What the--? Are you willing to take that risk? Are you insane?"

The screens began to disintegrate. I saw ColdShield's face disappear from them. ((Oh btw, back to 1 person per post for now, yes?))

"Now, then. He's gone, I take it? Why don't you start explaining?"

((Yes, one per person.))

"I suspect you trust everyone I've left here..."your group", that is. If you don't trust any of them completely, then tell me now. I'll send them to the village too. Everyone else needs to gather inside that waiting area...in the Starbucks will do. Make it happen."

"Of course I trust everyone here. I'll gather them quickly since they're all definitely inside."

((NOTE: this is a FACT. At the moment you are all trapped within the stadium, like it or not.))

I headed off to gather the group, so I tried the most basic tactic: shouting names aloud.

((Listen very carefully. The plot is about to go into serious go go business mode etc. I need each of you to post acknowledging your presence and the fact that you go to Starbucks.))

((If any of you can't commit to posting at least fairly regularly, then say so...chances are that you won't be included. I'm afraid I can't continually explain the storyline to people who won't read to catch up, but if you are willing to read in this way when you DO go without posting for a while I may be able to accomodate you.))

((The ideal would be for the four of you - Anatius, Bane, Aamir and Suburb - to commit to this. If you can't/won't then just say and I'll write you out, but still post here and say you go to the Starbucks. When all six of us are there I will deal with any such issues.))

((match over))
I head to starbucks meeting smiley there, "good match, u really did well"

((EDIT. I've moved this post in here. I suspect you haven't read any of the posts in this topic after the fight ended, and when you do you may want to change your response...feel free to do so.))

I nod to Anatius. "Sit down. Hopefully the others will arrive shortly. I'm sure the Z will answer everyone's questions when they're all here."

im in i say

"Ah, superb. Now we just need to find Bane and Suburb and find out what they're doing."

((I believe that Bane and Suburb are both not joining us. For this reason, I'm going to continue with the story.))

"Alright, then. It seems that's all the support we're going to get. I guess four on four is only fair, though...but wait. Can't Bullet help us out?"

As I speak, I see areas of the walls fade away, revealing streams of code behind. At this rate the area will be destroyed in a few minutes.

"That's almost certainly not going to happen. He's going to be on full-time media and legal cover, so he can't spare time to help us out sorry. Anyway, quickly, I'll take any questions you have, then we'll move on." I took a seat, waiting patiently for said questions or confirmation that none were coming.

I waited in silence, having no questions.

"...Heh, how foolish. You have nothing to ask about. I suppose I ought to explain things first and ask for questions afterwards."

The area outside the Starbucks deteriorates further. This area was clearly of low priority when the attack was planned...as I expected.

"Alright, then. Listen carefully." I begin recording an audio message to keep the briefing should I need to review it.

"You've encountered the BOTS already. They're a group of four elite users with command over a group at least fifty strong. Of course, the underlings are nothing to worry about - they're there because they're cheap to hire. The only real threat are the four head honchos - GunMetal, ColdShield, SteelEye and SmoothNavigator, it was. Based on the available data, I'd say the true leader of the group is either Smooth or another person entirely that operates from outside the game world...but as I say, that's just a guess."

"They've been members of the game community for years now...indeed, GunMetal played his role as illicit weapons dealer admirably." I shoot a glance to Aamir, knowing full well of his reliance on GunMetal's services. "It's only recently that they've started to act in the more forward ways...That means they're quite obviously close to their goal. I'm almost certain of what they're after, but frankly it's irrelevant."

"Of course, the biggest question you may have, and thus one I'll answer immediately, is "why haven't you done anything about this?". To put it simply, I can't. They've wormed their way into the system and been making changes for years...I don't have privileges over the things they create. This is why they're so devastating to go up against. However, we can do it...we can out-think and out-act them."

"So in summary, the plan is as follows:

1. We scan their outposts and retrieve all available data.
2. We form a simulation of their actions based on that information.
3. We stop their actions as soon as possible to minimise the chance they can adapt and form a new plan.

Of course, they almost certainly expect us to go against them. They'll be hunting us down every step of the way. For that reason I need you to stick close to me unless otherwise instructed once we leave here. If you do, I guarantee things will be okay."

"And finally, there's every chance - you may perhaps say it's likely - that you could come to physical harm during this fight. If you're not up for it I understand; your choice to help is entirely yours. If you're up to it, say so, and if not, then feel free to opt out and I'll log you off."

"Now I'll ask again: any questions?" The area outside the Starbucks is almost completely gone now...only the path remains, spiralling round the corner. The walls and ceiling are gone.

I save the audio recording and send it to myself.