First Blood Shed

Looking around for a moment, Hinode continued to do his best to bluff his way out of this entire situation if it were at all possible. "There are three units who are intruders. Continue search for them. F-01011 is scheduled to activate and look for these units. Do likewise, and split up."

Admittedly, he could sound pretty convincing when he was trying to do so.

Azuma: "Everyone ever is big on intervening, but for some lame-o reason no one gets called out on it."

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Taiyo hurls her Keyblade at the Devastator.

*Both of the Devastators explode into darkness, little hearts flying into the sky. Flynn swerves in front of Taiyo to protect her with Light Ribbons, still shooting at the guards, but doesn't notice the last remaining Devestator coming up on his other side to beat the shit out of him. Taiyo also hears the sound of the Strafers' attacks scratching her Light Cycle up.*
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Guard<Affirmative, diverge to search the hangar, ignore the Recognizer.>

Radio<What? Negative! Converge on the Recognizer! Repair or derez!>

*Meanwhile, Thiera & Euryale climb into the cockpit.*

Th"(I do not believe we can deceive them for much longer! Please hurry!)"
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*Hercules fists breaks the shit out of the glider, sending her tumbling, but still falling far away from the bucket. Nero uses Collision Magnet to try to throw 1 at Hercules, but he catches it, twirls around, & chucks it at Nero's head, stunning him. The finger ball binds him for less than a second, only for him to flex his muscles, releasing a wave of light that burns it into ash.*

Hera<My husband & I are very proud of our son's progress in this tournament so far. He is working very hard to become a hero, so even if at first he does not succeed-->

*Zeus pretty much shoulders her out of the way, pumping his fist.*

Zeus<THAT'S M'BOY! DON'T LOSE TO HADES'S STIFFS!>
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L"Yeah, the commentators don't exactly seem unbiased, do they?"

*She glances over.*

L"Still, I see why Phil is always going on about this kid now."

Well, Hinode was certainly speeding in a few moments, probably going faster than he could have controlled the Recognizer, but he figured that his reflexes were good enough to keep this up for some time to be sure.

"They are attempting to deceive you and redirect you! Chase after the three units who are on foot. Recognizer F-01011 will continue to provide assistance."

If nothing else, then Kyohaku knew that all of his control codes were right to help confuse the others. He admittedly had done a pretty good job when it came to bluffing other people out thus far, so he thought that he could have kept it up.

Azuma: "Well, he is a demi-god or something."

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Taiyo moves to evade, casting Tidal Wave on the approaching enemies.

*Monu shakes his head*

<I am definitely not a fan of this commentary.>
===
*Artexi resummons her other keyblade, then moves back, looking for another bucket to grab with her vines*
---
*Safian breathes a stream of fire at the devastator approaching Flynn*

*In any case, the explosion made when the Devastator attacked Flynn's light cycle stuns it & allows Safian to destroy it. As I have no idea which direction Taiyo is facing due to continual ignoring of my requests for details, I can only assume everyone is in danger of being swept away. Flynn himself is also lying unconscious. The good news is that the tidal waves destroy the Strafers, leaving the door unprotected, save for its firewall, barrier, & whatever is happening at the Game Grid beyond it.*
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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which seems to galvanize the Black Guards, who head for the nearest ships. The Light Jets on patrol are already circling back towards them, but they're on the far side of the hangar.*

E"Blow up the ships!"

Th"No, we'll never be able to destroy them all quickly enough! Just go upward as quickly as you can, we can lose them in the clouds!"
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*As mentioned, there are a few barrels in each corner.*

Daisy<Look out behind you!>

*Whatever is going on behind her, Daisy throws her Keyblade, with darkness & fingers arranged as bat wings, so it keeps flying around, whacking at Hercules & producing "ping" noises as it fails to be effective.*
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L"A Demi-God, you say? I wonder if he knows if any of the gods are involved in the sorcerers' scheme."

Monu:<I hate to stereotype, but if a god was involved, I bet it would be Hades.>
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*Artexi continues to move back, vines extending from the end of one keyblade, which she then uses to throw the nearest bucket at Hercules*
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*Safian stops beside Flynn, trying not to get swept away, grabs Flynn by the back of his shirt, summons her glider, then gets on and heads for the exit*

Azuma: "They seem more like equal opportunity jerks."

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Taiyo points her Keyblade at the firewall door as maybe that'll open the door and turn the shield off.

Oof the music in here. Once this was all over with, Hinode knew very well that he was going to have to bring some improvements to that arena of the Gird. Regardless, he decided to wordlessly grit up his teeth and take the advice that Thiera slung at him.

Pulling back on the controls caused the vessel that they were in to jerk suddenly backwards. Being that he thought completely independently in spite of the fact that he really was made up of software, Hinode could do things at random and confuse the individuals who were even now after them.

*And so the Light Jets zoom out ahead of them & off into the distance while the other craft begin to rise.*

E"Okay, great, now how do we get there without 1 of them just bumping into us out of sheer blind luck?"

Th"I say we project an image of the Recognizer onto a distant cloud."
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*The Keyblade is nonresponsive as Flynn groans, rubbing his head, & moves toward the control panel.*

Flynn<We have to remove the barrier first.>

*Assuming she tries again once the barrier is down, the firewall is indeed extinguished & the wheel on the door does spin before it swings open, revealing an expansive tunnel system full of transparent cells which house programs; some pacing in nervous agitation, some with blank expressions lying down or sitting with their knees up to their chests, & a few which can't be seen as they appear to be sobbing into their hands.*

Flynn<...While we're here, we might as well release the captive programs. But not until we make sure we have Sam & Quorra.>
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*It's deflected away by Hercules's spinning attack. As the Demigod continues to advance towards Artexi, Daisy tries digging her fingers into the ground, causing them to spurt up under Hercules & hold him, but they're quickly broken apart by his momentum. The good news is that Hercules is slowing down & breathing slightly heavier.*

Phil<C'mon, Herc, keep it up! If you just hold on, you can beat 'em, no sweat!>
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L"I don't know, Hades's behavior is very suspicious. Where did he get that kind of dark power? Does he know the risks of using it on his team? Is this really just about winning some game, or does he have a larger agenda?"

Azuma: "Be pretty dark as is, I'd think it comes with the territory of being a god of whatever. And probably not at all concerned with any consequences if it means hosing others."

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Taiyo: "Will the others be in there too?"

Safian:<Well, you gotta point them out to us.>

*She waits for Flynn to lead the way*
---
Monu:<Hades is God of the Underworld, I believe. Anyhow, I have to agree with Azuma. Not that we shouldn't pursue the lead.>
===
*Artexi grabs another bucket with her vines while continuing to move away from Hercules*

<Daisy, if you can tire him out, we might be able to do this!>

"Do you think that will work? I mean, they can't think too independently so it might." Hinode started to look around, hoping that they would have been able to project the image that was requested. He figured that with the low processing ability of those guards, they might have fallen for it.

"I wish that we had some sort of cloaking device to hide the unit that we're in to begin with."

Soon enough he was looking down at the controls, "Hey wait a second, we don't, do we?"

That would have been a beautiful stroke of luck, but he doubted that it would have come true at all.

Th"How would I know? The best I've been able to do is imitate the background."

*Euryale shrugs.*

E"Well, we could try that. But first, let's make your projector thingy."

Th"Right. We should be able to just modify the light."

*She holds her hand over the switch for a few seconds.*

Th"...Nothing is happening."

E"You must have run out of energy. Here, I'll do it."

*When she tries it, an arc of electricity comes out of her hand & changes the targeting reticule on the screen to a blinking Recognizer.*
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Flynn<If they were defeated by the Black Guards, they would probably just be derezzed.>

*As they're speaking, Neoshadows rise from the ground around them. Flynn steps back, looking around in shock.*

Flynn<What kind of programs are these?!>
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Daisy<...YOU tire him out, he just ripped my fingers off!>

*Hercules stops, breathing heavily. He places his hands on his knees & the glow fades. Meanwhile, Nero shakes his head & stands up.*

Phil<AAAARGHNO, HERC, WHAT'RE YA DOIN'?!>

Herc<...S--sorry, Phil....>

N"I'm up, what'd I miss!?"
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*She gives Monu a dirty look.*

L"...You can let go of my hand now."

Azuma: "We could try to interrogate a god, or we squeeze the two not-corpsey Organization members for information after the match. Then follow up with the god."

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Taiyo: "The kind that aren't programs."

Taiyo casts Tidal Wave on the Neoshadows.

*Monu does that, looking confused*

<Did I say something? I didn't mean to offend you or anything...>

*He looks at Azuma for a moment, then returns his gaze to Lilith*

<We don't have the strength to interrogate a god, at least not at the moment.>
===
*Artexi tosses the bucket at Hercules for good measure, then charges forward, throwing one keyblade at him and using Venom Raid before waving her other keyblade to use Sparkga on him*

<Well, sorry! You grow those back, right?>
---
*Safian breaths fire at the NeoShadows*

"Is everything cool now then?" Kyohaku glanced down to the targeting reticule as he said this, noticing that it had now become a blinking Recognizer. "I'm not sure if this is going to work, but like I said they think with only the most primitive artificial intelligence here, if what I'm thinking is correct."

What he figured was that he would if this didn't work, then they were going to need some sort of a backup plan. For the time being, though, he wasn't entirely sure what that backup plan was going to be exactly.

That didn't really bode all that well, especially when he was supposed to be the expert on The Grid.

E"Don't worry about it."

*Thiera quickly grabs the firing joystick & aims it at a reasonably far-off cloud, then presses the button. Soon they see the other ships swerving towards a fairly convincing image of a Recognizer.*

E"See? So, I take it that's the Game Grid. Do you really think we can get there in this ship?"

*She points to the coliseum in the distance, spotlights shining into the sky & a large viewscreen over the stands showing someone who looks a lot like a younger Flynn ducking over a bunch of discs hurled in every direction.*

Th"I'm more concerned about what we'll do once we arrive. It's bound to be heavily guarded, & we won't be able to keep hiding in the clouds if we want to land."
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*Generally less resilient, the Neoshadows are defeated in pretty short order. However, this has the effect of several Programs starting to cheer &/or yell to be let out.*

Flynn<This is no good, at this rate, we'll be noticed! The only escape is into the Games!>

*He quickly dashes over to an empty cell, placing his hand on a panel that opens the door.*
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L"I said we should ask Hercules if Hades is up to something! Weren't you 2 listening?"
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Daisy<Oh sure, let's just rip Daisy's fingers off over & over because they grow back! Your hair grows back, how would you like it if I just yanked it all out?!>

*Hercules is clonked on the head & sways on his feet, stunned. He then finds himself sliced up by the Pumpkinhead, twirling in a wheel. Seeing the opening, Nero charges up Ragnarok. Phil & Zeus can both be heard screaming a Big No.*

Azuma: "Because he wouldn't have the details that those two would."

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As Flynn knows where he's going, Taiyo follows him.

Tirea:<That wasn't what I meant! Just give me a minute to apologize better!>

*Tirea hurls one keyblade at Hercules' chest, using Spark Raid. She follows up with a Sparkga from her other keyblade*
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Monu:<He could tell us if Hades has been acting different recently. It's worth a try.>
---
*Safian follows as well*

Had he so been allowed, Kyohaku would have continued to use the flight controls while Thiera used the firing joystick to aim the image projection and aim at some distant cloud in order to get the rest of the people here off of them. "That's the Game Grid alright, and we can try faking it again saying that we're supposed to land there, but I bet that everyone knows that something's up at this point, so I doubt that's going to work." Kyohaku thought to himself for a moment or two before smirking.

"The other thing is that we could abandon this Recognizer over it."

Naturally he was suggesting that they would have done the truly reckless thing and simply jumped out of it.

*As it turns out, the Game Grid has [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_KjfMwUHkU] its own music, which they can hear as they hover over it. Down below, they can see sort of a glass box being brought up from some kind of underground elevator, disgorging what appear to be more Black Guards to fight Sam. They can also see robot-like Heartless converging around them, firing lasers.*

E"Oh yeah. They can sense hearts. Forgot about that."

Th"It doesn't appear as though we have a choice, though we will most likely be shot within seconds of making the jump."
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*As mentioned, the others are disgorged. Fortunately, even those with broken armor appear to have their disguises in tact just enough to fool the audience & competitors. Due to their cockiness, the guards derez each other after missing Sam & Flynn hisses under his breath "take their places!" The guards had been arranged at points of a cross-shaped depression, with Sam at the center. He now looks around warily at all of them.*
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*After being blasted to shit by all of those attacks, Hercules is barely even scratched.*

Herc<Guess I have...to train...hard...er....>

*Hercules closes his eyes & falls flat on his back, hard. The crowd is in stunned silence when, unseen by anyone but the Order, Hades snaps his fingers, releasing a cloud of ashen darkness. Artexi & Nero hear his silent voice echoing in their heads as darkness begins to pulse from their bodies.*

Now, finish the job...kill Jerkules....

*Nero stumbles slightly, but grabs his head & shakes it off, the darkness receding back into his body. One of the nymphs carting away the injured asks him if they're alright, though to Artexi, it sounds muffled. Daisy is already leaving the arena, apparently in a huff.*

N"Yeah--fine."
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*Lilith points.*

L"There! Y'see! I knew he was up to something!"

<Daisy! Wait...I'm...>

*Artexi had been turning around to say something to Daisy when she suddenly stops and resummons her keyblades. She takes a few steps towards Hercule before she stops and turns back around, looking very confused*

<I...don't feel...>
===
*Monu summons his keyblade*

<You're right. We never should have doubted you.>
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*Safian tries to take one of their places*

Azuma: "A crazy rivalry between gods, the point of this tournament, taking an unexpected turn?"

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Taiyo goes for the ol' switcheroo.