[RP][Day one, Tournament.] Dimension Veil's

[Lunartic]

Still smiling, Scarlet nodded to Aaron. "Yeah, sounds good." She would rather have gone back to her hotel room and let her nerves calm down in peace, but he was too much fun to be around with and she didn't want to seem rude. A sense of nostalgia washed over her briefly. If she was back at home, it was nothing more than a few words and everyone would understand. But here . . . she shook her head subtly. No. This is her home now. It will take some getting used to, but she'll get through it. With a smile, she waved towards the cafeteria. "Shall we have lunch than?" she asked and starting towards the door.

[LunarOrbiter]

Rika smiled gently at Aaron. He had given her a chance: a chance to socialise like a normal girl, and for that, she was grateful. "Let's go then~", she chirped cheerfully. Now that, *that* had gone according to plan, she reflected upon her feelings. I...usually find it difficult to talk to others but that seemed like a piece of cake... am I getting better? Or was it just a fluke?...

Another thing that she would have to consider was those strong emotions she felt when she looked at Aaron. What exactly was that? She felt energised by his smile. In a way, it seemed supernatural, as if something was trying to connect with her. She wanted to give it more thought but it seemed that they had already arrived diner.

Huh? That was strange. Rika had sworn that it took her longer than 10 minutes to get to the gym yet, going back, it seemed like just a few steps. Oh Well. Time flies by when you're having fun I guess.

[The-Blades-slave]

The cafeteria bustled with battlers young and old, noobies and grizzled veterans. Aaron didn't recognize any of them, but he promised himself by the end of the tournament they would all recognize him. He was pulled from his reverie by Rika's words. "Sure does, now lets chow down!" He made a dash for the salad bar, shoving his way through the line and grabbing a plate. He piled a mountain of lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese precariously high on his dish, then grabbed the bottle of Italian dressing and doused the salad in it. "Oh, almost forgot!" He turned and grabbed a cold bottle of water, then made his way towards the nearest empty table. "You guys coming?"

[Yume Tsuki]

Yui kind of was staring at the guy at the salad bar stacking his plate with a large pile of food. She somewhat remembers someone stacking that amount of food before during breakfast.
Large appetite I guess... Who am I to judge, anyway.
She took another bite from her sandwich looking a bit around. It had become busier over time. A lot of people probably left the sparring room by now a good time to head for the sparring room. A good time to test out some new things she came up with during lunch. She finished her sandwich hastily and then made her way to the sparring room. When she entered the guards just looked at her.
"Er... It's fine, I don't need a sparring partner for practice on this one."
The guards just simply nodded. Yui headed for one of the machines. She skimmed through the stages and decided upon the Championship forest. It was perfect for when she needed a target. And if she needed some light it would be easy to fly above the treetops. She synced in, closing her eyes. Instantly feeling the cold rushing through her body. It was worse than the previous time and she heard a lot of whispers passing by. When she opened her eyes she stood in the forest. Spreading her wings wide lifting off into the sky. The voices died down and the cold feeling retreated to her blackened claws. She then proceeded to practice what she had in mind.

[Lunartic]

Scarlet had turned around for only a second it seems, and when she looked back at Aaron he had a pile of food as big as her head. Her jaw dropped. When Aaron asked if she was coming, she nodded slowly, closed her jaw, and grabbed a few things that made her plate look like a sampler compared to Aaron's. She still looked impressed when she sat down at a table finally, making sure there was enough room for the other two. "How are you going to eat all that?" she asked.

[The-Blades-slave]

"Like this." Aaron held his fork aloft, then dramatically impaled an enormous portion of lettuce and shoved it into his food chute in one fell swoop. Sauce dribbled from the corner of his mouth, and he wiped at it with his sleeve and waved his fork at Scarlet. "Be amazed by the master!" He scooped up another chunk of his salad and devoured it hungrily, already gazing at the salad bar like a forlorn lover. "I think I'mma need seconds, all that battling worked up an appetite!"

[lubbies]

Angelo walked around in the park for a bit, whistling with his hands in his pockets. It almost felt surreal, where he was. He had been given such a big opportunity to shine and he'd better not blow it. I don't think I get a second chance. The park was peaceful, the distant sound of cars felt almost nonexistent and the hustle and bustle of the hard working citizen melted away into a melody of bird chirps and rustling leaves. Angelo felt extremely calmed, enchanted and... *grumble* hungry. He hadn't realised it but it had been quite a while since breakfast and although the happenings of today tried to put him off food, his stomach testified starvation. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to grab a bite. He moved swiftly through the park towards the hotel, tie flapping in the wind. When he reached the hotel he quickly entered the diner and bought a small sandwich with only lettuce, mayonnaise and two slices of cheese. It smelled and tasted strangely like a burger. Angelo didn't feel like eating in the diner, no, he didn't feel like people today. He decided to go back to the battle room where it was slightly quieter. As he entered he found a quiet corner to sit and started to nibble on his sandwich. Looking up at the spectator screens he found one following a dragon-like girl.

Angelo-Hummmm?

Angelo sat there intently watching the screen.

[LunarOrbiter]

There was quite the selection at the dinner hall but that wasn't exactly surprising, considering that this was a buffet. Rika hadn't exactly expended much energy in the morning for practice, so she felt only a little peckish. She took a ham sandwich for some lunch, along with some orange juice which she estimated would give her maximum efficiency later. When Rika turned around and saw Aaron's plate, she was surprised at first then amused. Aaron was a fun person but there was no doubt that he was dangerous. She'd have to keep an eye on him when they started the real thing.

She returned briskly to her seat along with Aaron and Scarlet and sat in silence, listening to the two of them as she ate her meal.

That's quite the appetite you have Aaron...!, she thought. Rika couldn't believe that the tournament was only a few hours away now. It almost seemed like a dream...but clearly, this was the real deal. She'd have to be prepared.

[Lunartic]

Scarlet looked at her plate, some fries and gravy, a few vegetables on the side, and a can of pop, then at Rika’s, which didn’t seem much bigger, and back to Aaron’s. ”I don’t understand how that’s possible,” she said to Rika, ”I mean look how thin he is.” He must have a wicked metabolism, she thought to herself while munching on a carrot. She rested her chin on her hand and looked longfully at her fries. ”I miss Kraft Dinner,” she said to herself. ”And poutine…” Sigh.

[Desbear]

GM post

As the the day went on, the clock hit six PM, and the guards seemed to rather abruptly come to collect the participants, with, or without their consent, and no matter what the other was doing. The guards would then, walk them to the fighters to the Arena, or Coliseum, or stadium, etc. Where they would lead them to the grounds within the stadium. Within the grounds, there were several machines set up, enough that all the participants would be able to sync up against one opponent, and duke it out for the fights. The crowd roared as the guards took the fighters to the openings, and would allow them to walk out. On each machine, there were two name cards for each fighter, and the announcer began to call out names as the doors opened, announcing what was going on, and the match ups.

"HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE GALACTIC TOURNAMENT! The announcer bellowed, the crowd giving a resounding yell of excitement, to which you could barely hear the announcer over. Today marks the first day of the fated tournament, and boy, is it a good one! I'd announce all our fighters in, but first I'll have to go over some rules. Nothing big, but it's for legal purposes. The first part of this tournament, will be single battles, one on one. The winner is awarded two points for each win. At the end of the week, the points will be tallied up, and based on your points, you will be given a gift certificate to use at the Galactic  Tournament gift shop at the end of the week, However, the winner of the tournament, will be given the title of Champion, and, as I'm sure you know, will be given a handsome sum of money. Now then, one last thing before we get started- The announcer's voice seemed to get quieter, as he began to speak, his speech pattern speeding up. "We here at the Galactic tournament, are in no way or form liable for injuries sustained due to the tournament, and in no way take responsibility for any loss of item. You are not guaranteed to win any sum of money, and money will be given to you within 4-6 business weeks after winning." 

The announcers voice, or rather microphone, seemed to get louder as he finished the sentence, beginning to announce the match ups, which then began to be shown up on the large screens above each machine.

"And the Match ups are:
Steven vs. Jade, And Discord vs ...Er...How do you pronounce this? Nafe? That's how you pronounce it? Aright. NAFE!

Yui vs. Angelo, and Akumu vs Susanoo!

Ag-Agh-Aw come on... The seven year old Vs.  Alexa, and Lulu vs Crab!

Rika vs. Aaron, and Newstein Vs. Sun Wukong!

Gatillo vs. Raithen, and Gragas Vs. Yugi Moto!

And last, and possibly least, but most likely not least, is Clark vs. Scarlet, and Yugo vs. Rainbow Dash!



The crowd erupted with screams and yells of excitement, the entire atmosphere was a very hyped experience, and this was no exception. The machines began to light up, the names of the fighters appearing on the different screams above the arena, giving the crowd knowledge as to which machine to watch for which fighter... And then, it was left to them. The guards began to inform the fighters to walk to the machines, and let the referee's sync them in.

[The-Blades-slave]

Kyran
The guards beat furiously on the door of Kyran's room, insisting 'Raithen' attend the tournament tonight. He took one last drag off his cigarette, then snuffed it out in the ash tray. 'Raithen... What an obnoxious alias.' Exhaling heavily, he pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed his grey hoodie. He rummaged through the contents of his pocket. 'Lighter? Check. Cigarettes? Check. Room key? Check. I should be ready now...' Sure he had everything, he slipped on the hoodie and shoved the door open. The guard stumbled backwards in surprise and Kyran shoved past him, stalking towards the stadium. His hood was pulled all the way up, and he kept his eyes trained on the ground the whole walk.

He arrived in time for the announcement, and his nose crinkled in surprise when his astral was called. 'Who the f*ck is Yugi Moto...?' It didn't take the teenager long to recover from his surprise, and he stepped up to his sync station. The referee, a balding man dressed in a striped black and white shirt, stepped up to him.  Kyran glared at him passively, face obscured by his hood.

"Yur gonna be patted down now Raithen, we gots make sure ya don't have no weapons. The old man motioned for the guard to come, and the big man behind him dressed in a security uniform stepped forward. "If yur real quiet this'll take no time at'll, just let the big fella here do his job. Okay? The teenage battler had but to nod and the guard began to manhandle him, looking for any weapons. He stopped at his pocket, reaching in and grabbing the Zippo™ lighter. Kyran seized the bigger man's wrist roughly, knocking his hood off in the process. The mark on his neck flared a dark purple, and the referee eyed it and then waved the guard back. "Let'm have it, it ain't hurtin' nobody. Yur good, go ahead and step up to the station." 

Kyran stepped past without protest, shoving his lighter back into his pocket and pulling his hood up, then taking his place at the sync station. The glow from the monitor contrasted sharply with his mark, which shone through the collar of his hoodie like it wasn't there. He pressed the correct buttons and placed his hand over his throat, then looked at his opponent and spoke. His voice was rough and scratchy, and he wasted no time getting to the point. "I am ready."

[Yume Tsuki]

When Yui just about synced out the guards motioned her to follow him to the stadium.
"Yush, I've done everything I can for now. Let's do this."
She followed the guard. Just about not bouncing in excitement. Once she entered the stadium she was amazed by the amount of people gathered together. Her heart was pounding with excitement. She looked around and found her name at one of the sync stations. She immediately rushed towards it. With a big grin she waited for her opponent.

[GoldForge]

Right in the middle of her visit at the game shop, Alexa's eyes widened once her eyes fell upon a certain object of interest. With a sharp gasp, she could hardly believe what her golden orbs fell upon... so much, in fact, that she just had to whisper it to herself, reaching grabby hands out to the glass display case. "N-...No way! A super-rare-ultra-power-packed-one-of-a-kind Galactus man figurine!" She looked a little closer, then gasped again. "A-...and it's 70% off... and in mint condition!!" Just as she was preparing to fish her wallet out of her pants pocket, she felt a sharp tug on the hood of her coat, and heard a disgruntled apology and something about a tournament under their breath as she was dragged out the door. Pawing at the air towards the figure fading off into the distance, she let out a dramatic "NOOOOOOOOO", which, to an outsider probably just sounded like angry whining. For some odd reason, all the while, the back of her hand burned in the same way it did when she first ran into Jade... Though, in the hum emitting from her hand sounded like a more angry one...

Before she knew it, she was at the arena. The crowd roared in her ears, soon followed by the blaring of the announcer. With a wince, she covered her ears partway. Enough to dampen the occasional screech of microphone feedback, but lightened up enough that she could still make sense of what was being said. Though, when the voice got quicker, she lowered a hand. Being one to pick out only a handful of details at a time, she didn't manage to get the whole scoop on what the man had said. Something along the lines of-- injury? She simply shook the thought off, figuring it was probably something like 'batteries not included'-- wait, that wouldn't make any sense, either! Eventually, she found out the hard way that she had been staring up at the screen for too long, and that the dumbfounded-est of looks must have been upon her face. From out of the blue, she was snapped out of her trance by a reassuring pat on the back by the guard, to which she prompty turned around on a heel to face them. She could've sworn that she caught sight of a glowing green eye and a thumbs-up before the guard just... 'whooshed' out of existence, was the best way she could put it. No, seriously. She heard but a swoosh as she blinked, and then they were gone! Geez, was this all just some big, crazy dream?

Then, the giant cube-shaped screen hanging from the center of the stadium flickered on like some sort of ominous UFO above her head. It was at that moment that she realized that this was the REAL game. When Jade's name was announced, she focused all her attention on the giant screen. Like some sort of 'VS' menu, Steven and Jade slid onto the screen with a pretty basic drop animation. Then, a few seconds after that, a powerful slash on light swooped down either side of the screen, displaying their astrals with the sound of a slashing sword. "Wait-...Jade's an astral battler?!" She screamed out, even though her voice was easily drowned out by the enthusiastic roar of the onlookers. "And that's--..." As the white glow faded out, she screeched even louder as Nafe was revealed. "And that's the girl she was drawing this afternoon!!" As the crowd's joyous screeching increased in volume, she felt the back of her hand buzz at the mentioning of Nafe's name. In the midst of throwing her own fist in the air and cheering with the crowd, ranting about how cool her new friend was, she made a sudden realization that somewhere down the line, she'd have to- Alexa suddenly spaced out, her attention whipping back to the screen once more once her name was called. "Ag-Agh-Aw come on... The seven year old Vs.  Alexa... "Oh, so that's why they asked for a picture of me when I entered the hotel..." The blonde mumbled... "Ah-- hey, I don't actually look that ba-- Wait, a seven year-old?! Can't they at least just say her name?" Her shoulders slumped forward in slight disappointment. Though, then came the astral splash screen for Lulu. "And I'm fighting a magical midget!" She jutted her hands out in disbelief for emphasis, letting them fall back to her sides once more. In a roar of flame, the mysterious girl from the volcanic forge made her way onto the screen. The shining armor, the massive claws that could crush someone in an instant. Yet, behind all that bulky, soot-stained armor, her frightening factors were mellowed out by her shiny leather coat, flowing golden hair, and-- those strange, otherworldly irises with white pupils and concentric rings. Ok, she wasn't sure what to categorize those eyes under, they gave her the damn chills... wait-- the eyes. Nafe had them as well, and-- she could've sworn that the flash of green also-- Ah, screw it. She brushed the thoughts off the side because-- Holy heck, Goldlock Crab... Looked so cool!

When the rest of the astrals were being announced, the buzz from her hand was gone, save for the brief moment where Sun Wukong's name was announced. Out of curiosity, she gently raised her astral mark up to ear out of curiosity, hearing what seemed to be a hiss and angry crackle of flame. Ah, wait a moment-- Wasn't that the monkey man that tore into her mecha crab thing? Well, she was certainly glad that she wouldn't have to fight him tonight, that was for sure. Not knowing what to do about her angry little hand, she just gently pat it until it calmed down, perhaps like she was trying to snuff out a flame. Well, for the time being, it seemed to work. Last but not least, when Rainbow Dash came onto the screen, another memory poked at the back of her head. The astral mark hummed again, but-- this time in a pulse that slowly faded out, as though it were laughing... well-- that was the first thing that came to her mind, anyway. Just then, she gently nodded, remembering the sparring events that had happened that morning. "The rocking horse..." she cleverly thought up. Just then, a loud boom echoed through the ceiling as several spotlights came on, shining over six syncing towers. They were almost just like the ones over at the sparring room, but-- jet black, with circuitry pattern-shaped holes running up the sides. At the core of the tower shaft, she assumed there has to be either a light or a cylindrical screen of sorts, for each tower glowed in the color of the astral they were assigned to. Going with the feeling in her gut, Alexa made a start for the yellow tower, stepping up the the circular platform illuminated by a glowing disk of light that faded and flickered like flames. Oh, she could only imagine how awesome must have looked! Though-- that's when she realized she was shaking, just like she was this morning. Great... Grasping onto one of the handrails beside her platform for support, she paused, tilting her head up towards the ceiling. She had to assume that the black surface was filled with thousands of fibre optic clusters, for the ceiling was flickering like a swirling sea of stars, and that wasn't a side effect of her about to faint from stage fright. Staring deep into the dots of light, she felt a sudden sense of calm, like the one she felt at the split second of her soul being sent into the astral realm. Holding onto that feeling, she felt a burst of confidence fill her quivering, hunched over self.

Just like that, she pulled herself back to her feet with her newfound strength, she looked up to see her monitor lowered down on a robotic arm, powering on immediately after it came to a stop. Similar to what the stadium screen had shown, a blazing fire animation filled the screen, all of the stats of the user interface flickering on moments later. In the center of the display, Goldlock Crab stood in her splash screen pose, the astral's name in sharp, gold-colored letters above her. In the bottom right corner, an orange circle held a 3D rotating icon of her astral mark, the crab. In the left panel, the stats were displayed. Good strength and armor ratings, but the speed was rather average and the health was... frail, if she ignored the armor bar added on the end. A tank with a weak spot she had to protect with her life, that was for sure. Wait-- the drones... this was a whole new type of class... engi...tan...a...Tankineer? Yeah, that sounded about right. In the right panel, her abilities were displayed. Fissure, Sear, Mist, Fidgets,  Crab Claws, and... the ultimate ability, Carcinus. As cool as they sounded, she couldn't help but notice the several shaded-out spots and glitched-up text. Putting her finger to the screen, she scrolled down, down... Attempting to tap on each ability to read their information, she was honestly not that surprised to find that the shaded ones refused to bring up a popup window. It was then she thought about the 'Galactic gift shop' that the announcer had mentioned. Well, she'll be. Aaron was right, it was just like a game, right down to the upgrades. Though, she also took quick notice of how little segments of the shaded ability icons glitched themselves onto the screen, like something was trying to force them into being available. Huh. Weird. Bringing her gaze back up to the center of the screen, she realized that Crab's splash screen was... a little bit more animated for the syncing tower, for some reason. Alexa assumed it was probably just done by done CGI genius, but she could have sworn that it blinked.. or that those weird, amber-colored orbs were following her... Moments later, her opponent was walking up to the other side of the tower, circuitry patterns colored an icy blue in great contrast to the fiery colors on her own side. Just like that, a low crackle of fire began to roar in her head, rising with her anticipation to head off into the battlefield. Leaning over to the side, she couldn't quite see the interface screen for Lulu, but she tried her best to strike up the slightest bit of a peaceful conversation. "So, uh-- this your first time out battling?" She asked with a sheepish grin, trying her best to ignore the sound of her astral mark as she removed her glove in preparation for syncing.

[Desbear]

Full Battle Post

Gatillo walked up to the sync station, a bit sluggishly. The atmosphere felt hyped, but he felt off, he didn't feel...Hyped, which was odd. He should have been feeling happy, he was about to see many Astral's, many unique forms, but he could only feel like his luck was off. The guard shook him down, checking for any weapons, but before long let him through to his sync station, as he only found a journal.

The crowd began to roar as the two fighters began to walk up. The announcer commented on the fact that this was the first of the night, and it was one 'Yugi Moto' against one 'Gragas'. The human's in this fight seemed irrelevant, as no one cared about them. Everyone was excited, however, to see the fight that was about to happen. The announcer's began to bellow, announcing the two names of the fighters, and rattling off their fighting techniques... However, you barely hear him over the roar of the crowd, which would cause even the deaf to want earmuffs.

He raised both of his arms as the sync station's displayed the arena information, and then yelled something that would signal the two fighters what to do. "SYNC!" As the older referee stopped speaking, the machine between the two began to make an odd noise, and the marks began to glow a brighter color than normal, signalling one touch to sync... And so, that's what the fighters did.

The moment Gatillo heard that word, he tapped the mark on his arm, his conciousness being removed from himself, and instead, being melded that with the drunken slurr that was Gragas. He looked around the area, and nodded, realizing he was in the forest arena, the same he had been in awhile ago. His mind began to crank a bit, processing the area, before talking, expecting the fast and agile Astral he thought he had seen. "Heeyyy, you should come fight me, mannnn."

Kyran tightened his grip on his mark and an unearthly energy surged through him, his entire body glowing with the dark power. He grinned crookedly and cackled in delight as his vision faded, and he heard a voice in his head. "Hehehe... It grows weaker with every time..." The deep, raspy voice sent a terrified chill down his spine, and then he was in the dark forest. He was no longer him now, no no, he was him. Hehehe... He was the strong him, not the weak him... He was hungry.

The slurred voice that echoed through the forest attracted his attention, and he licked his lips then scrambled forward with a strange, quadrupedal gait. "Come here, him will fight you. Then he will cut you up and eat you... Hahahaha!" He covered the distance between them quickly, and as he lunged out into the clearing all the light in the area seemed to vanish, plunging them both into pure darkness.

The drunken man heard the voice somewhere through the forest, and began to, albeit, somewhat cautiously drink from his barrel. He began to look around, the forest getting a little fuzzier with each passing drink, but then, something that would make him a bit...confused, happened. He heard breathign all around him, and the area around him began to darken, until he couldn't see a thing. He began to thrash a bit, yelling a drunken statement as he did so. "Ai'm not black out drunk yet...! Where ayre ya?"

Zeta began to prowl in the darkness, savoring the flavors around him. The world tasted heavy and bitter, and the pungent smell assailed his nose. Him liked it, it gave the kill more flavor... "I'm right here, ehehehe..." He drew the tips of his claws across the fat man's  juicy neck, then slid back and chuckled softly. "You have to keep up for this to be fun, or else i'm gonna have to kill you. Kill you dead, hahahaha!"

The Drunkard froze for a short second the moment the claw slid across his neck, a chill going down his spine. He turned with surprising speed towards where he thought the claw originated, and he almost out of habbit for this maneuver, swung his barrel down, to smash it on his opponent, but something in the back of his mind, was screaming for him not to do it... He instead, swung one of his arms, drunken yelling as he did it. "Keep up? Ai can keep up with da grog, I can keep up with you!"

The meaty fist smashed into Zeta's face, and he staggered back, then grinned maliciously. His razor sharp teeth glowed in the darkness, stained crimson by his previous meals, and blood dribbled down from his busted lip. His tongue slithered out, lapping up the blood like candy "Ahahahahaha, now I know how I taste... Lets see if you're any different!" He propelled himself off  the ground, and snapped at the  drunken man's right bicep.

Gragas froze with fear as he saw his foe's face. He had faught barbarians, an ice queen, an many more, without fear. He had fought a bear, and attempted to stop a war. He had even fought a dragon,  and a large worm like creature ultiple times his size, and stood up against them without any hesitation... But this. This made him afraid, this, terrified him. This...Freeze, this, slowness of action, is what stopped him from dodging, or even attempting to punch his foe's teeth in. He cringed and staggered as the teeth dug into his flesh, dropping the barrel, the cask rolling a bit to the side. He attempted to swing his free arm at his opponent, trying to stop the assault.

The punch connected with the back of Zeta's head, and he grunted and fell back. His entire face was painted with blood, and he noisily smacked on the flesh of his opponent.  "If only you were as tough as your meat, then this might be a challenge..." He swallowed the last bit his meal, then smacked his lips. "Mmmm, him likes." He flexed his claws and bared his chompers. "Time for seconds!" He fell into the darkness, lurking around and waiting for an opening. Everyone presented one at some point, all he had to do was be there to eat...

The drunken man looked around. He carefully looked around as his opponent left him, and began to grab his right arm, looking around. He felt...Enraged, he felt....Terrified, but most of all, he felt something he never thought he would feel again... He felt....Sober. He let go of his arm, and his normally happy face, was an odd change from what it normally was, now, he looked enraged. He quickly grabbed his cask with both arms, and rather than doing his normal shtick of drinking, he watched, and waited for his opponent... He was going to bring the cask down, not for no other reason, than he was angry. Something had set Gragas off, something had made him lose his drunken manner, something had made him sober... Fear, does strange things to people.

Zeta crouched behind him, salivating at the thought of a meal the size of his opponent. He could see every straining muscles in the fatty's back, every bulging vein in his neck, the blood that gushed from the wound on his arm... It all made him hungry, so very hungry... He couldn't wait any longer... He had to eat. "Agh!"

His body began to convulse fiercely, seeming as if something was trying to rip it apart from the inside. Bony wings tore from his shoulder blades, his claws lengthened until they were the size of short swords, and his face was slowly peeling away to reveal something far more sinister. The skin underneath was like warped leather, with an enormous pointed beak and six glowing red orbs. His voice came out as a high pitched shriek. "I'm so hungry, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He flew forward towards the back of Gragas, claws flailing at his back and beak snapping at his neck.

The drunkard-No, Gragas' didn't stop. He knew this would be his only chance at stopping this...This monster, from killing him. He felt terrified, he felt his stomach begin to churn, but he had to try, he had to win, for him, for his partner. He had to beat this monstrosity. At the first sound, he quickly turned to his opponent, and then he brought the cask down on his opponent, yelling as he did so. "HAVE A DRINK!"

...And then, it ended. Gragas cask, it hit the other...Heh...heh...It hit them, it did. However it didn't stop the being. Zeta's claws pierced his stomach, blood beginning to trickle, the crimson liquid flowing fourth from his stomach. The beak snapped onto Gragas' neck, causing him to screech in pain, before the life was drained from his body... As the monster pulled away from Gragas' neck, taking a large chunk of flesh with it, blood began to flow fourth, filling the gap and just trickling down the side of the fatman, as he fell on his face. The screens continued to show the scene between the two fighters, the monstrous being swallowing the large chunk of flesh, and cackling as the screen's shut off, the two fighter's being forced to unsync....

[GoldForge]

With a buzz, Alexa shrunk back to face her monitor. It was no longer the user interface for Goldlock Crab, but a live display of the battle scene playing before her. Ah, good. Something to keep her distracted while she planned out a good battle strategy against an astral she didn't know yet... First up on the field was Gragas, just as the screen had displayed. She had to admit, his drunken slur was rather hilarious. Though, she got bored quickly, arms crossed at chest-level as she let out a huff. What she was not expecting was for the other opponent to appear in a burst of dark ribbons, and look nothing like the 'Yugi Moto' she was expecting. W-...Was there a glitch? She looked up to the main array of screens dangling from the ceiling like some strange, cyber wonderland. One of the screens displayed health bars, and the other was frozen on the VS splash screen with a few discolored patches of pixels, as though it froze when trying to switch. The popping coming from the speakers on that end made her flinch, as though she were anticipating a horror-movie monster to burst free from the swirling abyss of ceiling stars at any second... then came the screams from the main monitor and the gasps of horror from the crowd. Yeesh, had she jinxed them all? With a roll of her eyes, she shifted her head back towards the screen at her station to see-- By...god... Before her eyes, a massive bird was biting chunks off of Gragas, all the way down to slurping up intestines like pasta. With a hand over her mouth, she pried her eyes away from the screen, resisting the urge to lose her dinner. However-- her astral mark was whining again. Though, now, it was an angry, metallic whine... a whine that screamed murder and demanded for bloodshed as the demonic entity ate the poor astral alive. However, as she held her hand up to the monitor and reluctantly shifted it from side to side between the two astrals, it all became clear once the volume of the screech was at its highest over the astral that did not belong in the battle. Whatever it was, Crab didn't like it... and neither did Alexa's poor stomach. Back and forth, her gaze snapped between all the different monitors. Splattered blood, health bars twitching like a dying beetle's wings, the splash screen of Yugi completely devoured by pixellated corruption... and then, with a pop and crackle, the stadium went dark save for the barely noticeable glow of emergency lights... Good, a wonderful opportunity for her to make a mad dash down to the bathroom, toss her cookies, and wonder what the hell just happened.

Hobbling back over to her sync station podium on shaky legs, she grasped onto the handrail with one hand. With her head hanging down, she rose a thumbs-up to the audience as all the lights boomed back on. The logo for the tournament flashed onto the screens shortly after the sync stations rebooted, soon followed by the astral scr-- it was blank, all details in monochrome, with a stock silhouette where the astral would be. A couple technicians off in the corner of the stadium seemed to be busily working on fixing something, clearly. With a pop and buzz, her screen faded to orange. Just like before, the roaring flame animation filled the screen, albeit with a few stutters on the audio coming from the hidden speakers on either side of the monitor. As though nothing ever happened, all the details were back online. However, the shaded portion of the ability menu was filled with more static than ever.. Out of pure curiosity, she reached a hand out towards the screen. Specifically, the angry, buzzing astral mark one. She missed the menu, her palm instead pressing against the astral symbol on the bottom right corner of the screen. There was a loading bar for a brief moment, before her astral mark flashed with a startling bright yellow light. Humming with energy and the bright glow not ceasing, she took quick notice that the shaded abilities were now... readable. "Furnace Blast...Air Raid...Deca Drone...Radar...Scrapyarder's Discipline?" She mumbled in question as she attempted to read them off. Over the boxes for Sear and Fissure, she also took notice that there were three circles in a line under their ability name, the first one of both sequences filled. However, the upgrades for those had no names, just... levels, perhaps? When she lifted her right hand off of the symbol in an attempt to check the stats on the locked abilities, they burst into static again. Drat! It looked like she'd have to try again later...