(no subject)

[otakuro]

[action, June 28th, with Nano Shinonome]
[Well, something bizarre was happening in town again. From the reports coming in, the modus operandi this time around was harmless pranking - nothing to cause permanent damage or anything much more severe than acute embarrassment, but something of an inconvenience, still. On this day, as he has done the last few days, Atsuro wakes up and very carefully checks his room for traps and other such nefarious plots before declaring the coast clear.

The first order of business, of course, is to check the forums he frequents for updates. Atsuro logs on and happily begins to browse the web, somehow failing to notice an extra device stuck into his USB port that wasn't there the night before... A green light flashes on this foreign wireless communications device as the computer starts up. 

...Whoa.  10 new responses.  It was time, as it always was, to edumacate the masses with his wealth of knowledge.  Atsuro clicks the Reply button on topics titled things like 'LF: Radishes, FT: Parsnips', 'how do u get the hammar?' and 'What do the gold tools do?']

Yeah, you have to catch a arapaima in the tropical region to unlock the gold fishing rod. It just gives you an extra bite at the line before the fish escapes.

Anyone want to trade something for daikon radishes? I don't know where all of these came from, but I'm running out of inventory space. I still need to get some arugula growing...

The hammer is kind of useless if you're not going to fight the optional tanuki boss. When he tries to make you pay your loans, you can refuse and fight him for a discount instead. Hammer the weak point for massive damage - or you can use the platinum shovel to create spiked pitfalls.

[TAB to the next screen TAB to the next screen TAB to the next screen....

And across town, whoever is talking to Nano may suddenly find themselves staring at Nano's arm. Which is now cake. Awkward.]

[action, June 30th, 13th Hour]
[Wow that fiasco with Nano had been horrifying to figure out probably the worst thing was that the cake had looked pretty delicious it was hard to problem solve when you kept thinking about taking a bite out of your good friend's cake hand. It is the 13th Hour now as Atsuro decides it is time to step away from his games for a night and actually do the job he was sent here to do. There's something off about Chouchin-obake; it had been impossible to fail to notice as it had grown stronger with repeated training. While the Persona was definitely improving attack-wise, something was... off. It wasn't like Enki, with whom he had felt more and more unified the stronger it had become. Or even Gates, with whom he had shared something of a definite camaraderie by the end.

No, Chouchin-obake just grew more and more ornery and more likely to set random things on fire of its own accord. ...Maybe it was time for a switch.

Caught up in these thoughts, Atsuro is slightly unprepared when he stumbles across the giant rock sitting smack dab in the middle of the Cancer district. He is even more unprepared when it sits up and punches him in the face without so much as a grunt to announce its presence.]

Ow!

[The Spriggan unfolds itself and lumbers towards the boy, whose immediate reaction is to thrust his hands into his pockets for his COMP which he had found sitting on his end table before he'd gone out.

...

OK let's try that again. Thrusting his hands into his pockets for his COMP.  Thrusting his hands.... OK, thrusting his hands and he finds... his, uh... belt? And... six tiny red balls.............. what.]

Uh...

[He prods at one. It spits out an enormous bug. The bug promptly turns around and spits fire at Atsuro.]

What's going on?!

((The first response will probably actually be threads with Nano if anyone is interested in responding to that.  The fairies have hooked it up so that every time Atsuro presses TAB, Nano spits out rollcake! 

Additionally it is also cool to say that the faeries also hooked it up so that everything he types personally is broadcast to the public.))

Comments

All day long - OTA

[all_wound_up]

[Today has been an exhausting day for Nano. While she's used to her arm malfunctioning and popping open at the elbow at random intervals to reveal fresh delicious rollcake, she's not used to it happening quite this often. She's doing her best to mind her own business and go about her usual errands around town, but it's getting frustratingly difficult.]

What's going on today?

[At least if you come and help her, you'll probably get some free rollcake out of the deal.]

[tyrantball]

Desco just sort of stares.

"...um, are you saving that for something, Miss Nano? And if you're not, can Desco have it?"

Why Miss Nano has cakearm is much less important than the fact that cake is delicious.

[all_wound_up]

N-no... you can have it.

[tyrantball]

"Yaaay!"

Here, have a hug before she gets down to eating cake.

[all_wound_up]

I wonder why this keeps happening, though.

[tyrantball]

Desco swallows noisily and looks up from the cake.

"Because Desco is a good girl who deserves cake?"

[all_wound_up]

[That is quite an argument there, little demon. Nano reaches over to pat Desco on the head.]

Well, you are a good girl...

13th Hour

[unbroken_chain]

Kotoha, meanwhile, is in a similar predicament - all of her Pokeballs are missing, and when she inspected the 3DS that had replaced them it spat out some sort of cloud-riding monkey thing that immediately started chasing her.

As she dodges through the streets, only a total commitment to speed and the fact that she is a virtuoso of bike riding is keeping her ahead of the demon that vastly outclasses her.

[otakuro]

Atsuro is not quite as much a virtuoso of Fleeing for His Life as Kotoha is of Bike Riding, but he's fairly good at it, anyway. The bug, at least, seems to recognize that the Spriggan isn't exactly a friendly party, either, and shoots flames and buzzes angrily at each of them in turn. This results in an odd chase scene consisting of Atsuro exercising his sprinting like never before, followed closely by a bug flying backwards spitting fire at a lumbering, mobile rocky creature.

Not the greatest situation.

"E-Enki!"

In a flash of light, the Persona appears - Unbeknownst to Atsuro, holding the Persona was the only thing that had kept him from becoming a splatter on the pavement from the Spriggan's original Gigantic Fist.

"Keep them clear...!"

Now the fourth figure joins the fray, darting to try and intercept bug and mobile rock alike. Atsuro holds up the belt of Pokeballs as he runs and wonders if he dares try any of the others...

[unbroken_chain]

The only reason Kotoha hasn't already summoned Victini is that she can't afford to stop pedaling long enough to build up her focus - a few near-misses at the start of the chase caused her to quickly abandon that plan.

Normally, by this point, she'd have already crashed into a wall or two, but for whatever reason - call it adrenaline, maybe - she's doing better at this than she normally does.

She does hear a commotion a few blocks off, though, so she veers into a hard left and zooms in that direction.

[otakuro]

Atsuro tries another ball. A small part of him is hoping he'll grab the one he poked earlier and unsummon the bug. Another part of him is hoping he'll grab something friendly. A third part of him just wants to see what kinds of awesome monsters are inside of this thing even if it's terribly stupid.

Well here comes a jackal the size of a man and it looks slightly more intelligent than the flaming bug this is promising maybe up until the point where it glares and assumes what is definitely a fighting position.

Back to fleeing for his life, then.

[unbroken_chain]

First rule of evil game consoles is DO NOT FIDDLE WITH THE EVIL GAME CONSOLE so Kotoha has left it alone.

Plus, you know. Being chased.

It doesn't take Kotoha long to burst in on the bizarre four-way battle going on, and it takes her even less time to decide what to do. It is, naturally, completely reckless: she pops a wheelie on her bike and smashes into the Spriggan's face, shouting desperately.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

[otakuro]

Kotoha will have a few moments to process what's going on. Volcarona is vibrating its wings to send a Bug Buzz whirling in Spriggan's direction, the fae creature is rearing back for another Gigantic Fist, Atsuro is ducking a thrown Aura Sphere, and Enki stands in the middle releasing a flood of water in every direction at everything in sight.

Thankfully, Kotoha is here to save the day.

...Or something.

Her efforts do not meet with great success, but the distraction is enough to send the Spriggan's punch off-kilter, and it stumbles a bit as it leaves a crater in the ground. ...Everyone's attention turns now to the girl who had just tried to smash a rock monster by bashing it with her bike.

Spriggan punches again.

[unbroken_chain]

On the bright side, Arthur leaves off hurling Aura Spheres to dash in and take the hit for Kotoha.

Which, you know - good, because getting punched by that thing would have damn near killed her. She'll just take a second to summon Victini and bark out some orders.

"Quiver Dance! Calm Mind!"

With that, she quickly folds up her bicycle and stows it away while desperately scrambling away from the giant angry demon, yelling a question at Atsuro while she does so.

"Why do you have my pokemon?!"

[otakuro]

"Your wha -- "

Atsuro cuts himself off as he spots the thing that has closely followed Kotoha into the fray as well.

" -- Why is Seiten Taisei chasing you?! ...Do you have my COMP?!"

Thankfully, the fire bug and the jackal-thing had stopped attacking him, and were apparently obeying commands from the kamikaze bike girl. Atsuro takes a breath to try and calm himself down to regain some control over the situation. There was always the slight - very slight - possibility that this was a wild Seiten Taisei, but...

"Seiten Taisei - Get to its rear and help out!"

And thankfully, the monkey demon does as it is told, ruling out that unfortunate possibility. They were both aware that Spriggan wasn't exactly vulnerable to physical attacks, but they would have to do their best with what they had.

Spriggan's Gigantic Fist hones in on the creatures that have arisen to face it. The first one is headed straight for Volcarona.

[unbroken_chain]

There's a saying, among those trainers that aren't well-versed in the whys and wherefores of the various elemental matchups between the various types of pokemon. A simple question that neatly encapsulates why Flying types are the bane of Fighting types.

'Have you ever tried to punch a bird?'

Solar Logos isn't a Flying type, but he is a flying pokemon - when the attack impacts against him, a flap of his six wings propels him backwards, turning a massive strike into a rough shove. Kotoha shoves her folded-up bicycle into her bag and directs her Persona to cast Diarama on the moth.

"Let's do this! Bug Buzz and Psychic!"

[text]

[greatseal]

[Well, this is interesting. Minako gets the sense that Atsuro didn't intend to post this disjointed message on the visitor network...

but that doesn't mean she won't comment on it.]

Getting into virtual horticulture, Atsuro-kun?

[otakuro]

[A long pause before there is a response.]

...Minako, did you use the techniques you learned from my memories for evil and remotely access my computer...?

((Actually hadn't intended for this, but this works too!))

[text]

[greatseal]

Of course not! ...If I could do that, I wouldn't be telling you about it.

You should take another look at the network.

[otakuro]

Another look at the network? What do you mean?

[Dum de dum du -- ]

...
...
...

Why is my game advice being reposted oh shoot did I visit the boards for my

[He cuts himself off before he can incriminate himself.]

[greatseal]

[good thing this is text so she can't laugh at him. not that she would! this is a very serious situation!]

You might want to check your computer... Maybe you picked up a weird virus?

[otakuro]

Who would take the time to make a virus that links my message board posts to the text here? The only reason for it would be to embarrass me.

[Not that viruses ever had much use for other reasons besides being an inconvenience, anyway. Atsuro's next response comes only a few moments later.]

do faeries use computers

[greatseal]

[.....]

I have no idea. Traditionally, I wouldn't say so... but you summon demons with a COMP.

[otakuro]

...That's just where they're stored. Not exactly as data, but it works on a similar principle, I think.

How in the world...

[Minako can't hear it, but Atsuro is typing rapidly now to run some diagnostics on his machine.]

[greatseal]

[...poor Atsuro. His world is being turned upside-down.]

Do you have an idea about what's wrong?