5698/MDCC: Alert Amethyst

MDCC: Alert Amethyst
Date of Scene:	14 February 2018
Location:	The System <TS>
Synopsis:	Enter the Amethyst Drive and assist the local DCC against the viral tyrant lizard, Cacophodon. Meet Saltavi, Cantio, and the city of Cadenza. Part 1 of a series of scenes to help introduce the ROM theme.
Cast of Characters:	Lexicon, Yang Xiao Long, Deelel, 707, 1149, 1119

---

Lexicon has posed:
    "Slash wave!"

    A wave of light slashes across the earthy ground, piercing one blue-colored blob and punching through a second behind it. Both viruses disappear in a scattering of code fragments. The lilac-haired Candidate, Cantio, lowers her energy sword from the swing, nodding once, "That takes care of those. Saltavi?"

    The pinker of the two dangles from a tree in a tangle of limbs. Apparently that's where she landed. When her name comes up, she raises a thumbs-up, which calms her younger sister down. Producing binoculars from her parka's pockets, the DCC uses her vantage to scan the forest. It takes a few, before she calls out, "Got'cha! Let's call the raid!"

--

    Welcome to Virtua Forest.

    At first blush this looks like any other forest, set in the shadow cast by Cadenza's ultra-modern skyscrapers. Trees of varying ages and sizes cluster together, cut through with pathways clearly made by travelers passing through regularly. There are even bridges, made of the same nebulous silver-gray metal as many of the buildings in the neighboring city. Archways of purple lights mark each end of each bridge, which itself was made to cross a ravine here, a creek there. Signposts point the way to various other locations like Zeca Ruins or Mectro Factory.

    Curiously, those same purple lines run along the sides of the dirt road, and even creep up the sides of various trees, turning at sharp right angles as they avoid things like branches or holes. Several trees also sport floating metal rings of unknown purpose, while others appear more...polygonal.

    The wildlife seems to consist mostly of small blue blobs with dog noses, ears, and tails. The common Poochooze, which scatter from strong fighters when approached.

    Cantio can be found on the side of the road, overlooking a clearing. Saltavi is currently climbing out of the tree she got stuck in-- and the clearing down below sports a large mottled green quadrupedal dinosaur. Resembling a triceratops with hollow horns, frills, and glowing red spots arranged in pairs down its back. Currently, the Cacophodon is chewing on a felled tree, gorging itself on red, damaged code.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    The rumble of a motorcycle engine breaks the usual calm of the forest. A flame-motif coloured bike rounds the bend, and powers on up to where Cantio is waiting, coming to a stop and letting its rider step off. The blonde takes off her helmet, placing it in the seat box before tapping a button on the inside of her right bracelet, sending the vehicle trundling back down the road out of the way. "I'm here." she says, grinning at the taller, little sisster as she deploys her gauntlets into combat mode, the magazine cycling a red body-gold cap shell into the chamber and adjusting to a certain layout, looking less 'punchy' and more gunlike.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel felt it odd such a forest would have no place on the grid, there is no analog to plant life there honestly ehen she thinks about it. Only programs and grid bugs when it came to what inhabited it, but here she was clad in her meat space outfit rather than full on grid suit. Still it was designe din aw ay it was made by someone that didn't quite get fabric but is close enough on how it works. Her light cycle follows up after Yang, her machine comes to a halt turns into wire frames and she snags the fod.

"Greetings programs."

She sdems fairly chipper though she payuses looking at the tree and the damaged code for a moment.

"So ready for some fun Yang? I been wondering how good your game will be today."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's lightcycle is somewhat quieter than Yang's motorcycle, but possibly faster; it could be interesting to see the two of them in a race sometime, but that'll have to be another time. Either way, the sage fox pulls her lightcycle into a wheelie as she catches sight of Cantio and the gathering others, decelerating rapidly - and then the lightcycle simply starts to disappear, de-resolving into simpler shapes outlined in light, then into just the outlines, before even the outlines are re-encapsulated into the halves of a baton-like object. The halves snap together into a whole -

And Xiaomu snatches it out of the air, landing at a brisk run and quickly coming to a halt on her own two feet. "'Kay, might've come in a little faster than needed," she admits. "So the noisemaker we're beating up is .... that big ol' cybersaurian thing?" she asks, gripping her staff and giving the Cacophodon a good looking-over.

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    There's a screech from what sounds like a bird off in the distant sky. And quickly enough, the source begins to come into view as it flies closer. The creature is much larger than your typical bird. And it's also not a bird, but a griffin. And on its back, a man in impressively large armour.

    The griffin unleashes another cry as it dives down towards the road, before pulling up and halting its descent with large beats from its wings. With a heavy thud it lands on the ground, folding its wings up and trotting up towards the group. Krusty is finally close enough to be recognized as the rider, though he's clearly not wearing the same uniform he was yesterday. Instead his heavy armour clatters as he jumps down off the griffin. He pats the creature's neck a couple of times. With a final cry, the griffin uses its wings to blast off into the air again, soon disappearing into the sky.

    Walking the remainder of the distance to meet the group, Krusty stops and places his gauntlet against his breastplate and bows, "Krusty, at your service." Of course he's met the local programs and Yang, but Xiamou and Deelel are new to him.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
Josuke's wearing his purple school uniform again. Just to fit in with the rest of the decor. One has to be fashion conscious, even when fighting monsters! He's also remembered to grab his grandfather's earplugs -- the ones he would use when he went to target practice for work. Josuke 'I shredded a rubber glove and ate it before fighting a waterbased Stand that wants to kill me from inside my own body so I could trap it if it did get inside me' Higashikata is not going to forget earplugs when fighting a sound-based beast!

How's he getting here? Well, he's driving. Yes, driving. It's a 1970 Mini Cooper, the one he got from Leyanne Mace for Christmas. It's pretty much a typical car, even if it does go with his hairstyle! He pulls the Mini Cooper off the road and safely out of traffic when he sees the gathering, then gets out of the car and joins everyone. As he approaches the gathering, he's putting those earplugs in. They'll muffle sound a bit, but he should still be able to hear.

"Hey, gang," he greets quietly, not wanting to spook the code dinosaur. "Everybody's here to deal with the noisy neighbor, right?"

Lexicon has posed:
    The sound of a motercycle attracts Cantio's attention, and she glances over her shoulder as Yang pulls up. There's a slow blink as she realizes what she's looking at, and in an instant the girl's turned completely around, hands drawn up and eyes glimmering with excitement, "Oh gosh! That's such a cool bike..! It sounds like a combustion engine, I've never seen one..!"

    "Heeey, Cadenza to Cantio!" Saltavi calls from her perch in the tree. Dangling, the DCC drops down, "Machine stuff later, monsters now!"

    It seems like the light-cycles ridden by Deelel and Xiaomu aren't as appealing, though. Cantio blushes, composing herself while regarding the fox and program that arrive with the huntress. Though she does spare a glance at the Celica as it shifts to combat mode. So cool..!

    "Ah," Cantio starts out of her tech-fancy, "Cacophodons are high tier Beast viruses. A cybersaur is a low-tier Dragon virus. Much stronger than this, by class..!" Wait did Xiaomu just haphazardly guess the name of an actual enemy in this world? When Josuke arrives, the younger sister bows briefly to him, "It looks like it, mister Josuke!"

    The shorter Saltavi props her hands on her hips, looking down the hillside with a determined grin on her face, "Yeah. He can stun you with sound, that's why I can't take him on my own. A real cheater, if you ask me."

    Turning, the amethyst DCC grins as she sights Krusty in his combat armor, "Everyone's here and battle ready, huh? Usually I don't do this for a regular virus, but this guy ticks me off, so... Access!"

    A ring of purple light shoots out around Saltavi's feet, then lifts up, separating into multiple rings around her from feet to head. Her body is enveloped in pixellated white light, which disperses quickly to reveal a much more mature woman in a black bodysuit, shot through with purple lines. Devices wink in around her hips and shoulders, wings of light fanning out from her back. In a flare of violet, a techno-futuristic sword is produced, swung in an arc as it's drawn.

    "Amethyst Soul..!" Even Saltavi's voice is different, suiting her new appearance, "...will get ready, too!"

    "--Oh, goodness..!" Cantio tears her eyes from the high tech gear on display, "Time to be serious..!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Stun with sound, so, I guess some kind of cone effect from the front?" muses Yang. "Sounds like a Greater Kubou. Bit frog-like Grimm, it's croak can fracture stone." she explains, then bashes her fists together. "Right. Go time!" As Saltavi powers up, Yang just goes and leaps into action, jumping from the ledge and down to the Cacophadon's level, firing a bolt of explosive energy from each gauntlet on the way down. "OI! UGLY! YOUR MAMA WAS A DECOMPILER!" she screams, landing with a tuck and roll then planting her feet to brace, fists raised in a defensive stance.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Right, a Cacophodon, then," Xiaomu accepts the correction. Always best to know the real name of whatever you're fighting - and Cantio just highlighted that in the course of correcting the foxgirl's choice of words. Before she has time to say much more than that - or do anything besides take note of the other arriving allies - somebody does a henshin sequence.

A really, really cool (and let's face it, sexy) henshin sequence.

Saltavi's transformation probably doesn't warrant as much of a stare as Xiaomu gives her, and the sage fox draws her attention back to the Cacophodon, twirling her staff lazily in a full circle, rings jingling. "Okay then, seeing as I don't have Silence spells handy ..." The staff snaps to a halt when vertically oriented in front of her, and Xiaomu slaps the staff's butt on the ground, giving the rings another jingle - and channeling her ice magic, trying to drop the temperature underneath and around the Cacophodon. Not just to see if she can chill the monster out, either: if she has more than a few seconds, she tries to conjure ice around the big noisemaker. Preferably BEFORE it starts making noise in earnest. She isn't entirely encasing it, though (even if she HAS enough time) - it's a wall, not a dome, entirely open up top. But if she has the chance to immobilize the Cacophodon, even temporarily, cutting its mobility HAS to be an advantage for the good guys.

... at least until it figures out how to smash through the ice when she's trying not to give it a running start to do so.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
Josuke nods. "Good." He turns his head and taps at the earplug in one ear. "I have to be careful, because I can't use my Stand to fix my own injuries," he warns. Meaning if this thing's loud noise breaks his eardrums, if someone else can't fix it... he's going to go deaf. Which explains the earplugs, really. He's only human.

He watches Saltavi's transformation with wide eyes. "Whoaaaa... that's kewl!" he comments. "Just like a magical girl!" Because yes, it's very likely that he does watch at least one of those type of shows. Anyway.

Despite his words of being careful, he actually follows Yang. He summons his Stand, and Crazy Diamond ducks down, placing its hand near the ground. Josuke hops up onto it, grabbing onto the Stand's shoulder. And then with a loud, "DOUUURAAA!" Crazy Diamond throws Josuke towards the beast's side. The one people AREN'T facing.

As he passes out of the Stand's effective range, it disappears. But he merely waits until he's near the beast's side, and then re-summons Crazy Diamond for a furious flurry of fast punches, the Stand's loud, droning, "DORARARARARA!" ringing out.

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    Krusty takes note of their enemy's use of sound. To be expected, he supposes, considering the nearby city. The transformation draws his attention for a moment, watching and looking over Saltavi's new form with interest. He's played his fair share of futuristic games, but seeing it in person is another matter entirely.

    But now is not the time for admiring the locals. With a few swipes of his forefinger, Krusty's large two-handed axe materializes from light on his back. He calmly moves towards the creature, soon joining Yang and Josuke on the front line. He watches with analytical eyes as the others launch their attacks, recording to memory both their efforts and the results.

    It's not until Xiamou's ice wall forms that Krusty finally acts, the cloak of his armour billowing out behind him as he suddenly dashes forward. He leaps, drawing his large axe in the same motion. Barely touching the top of the ice wall he leaps again to gain an even higher altitude over the monster, raising his weapon above him. With a battle cry he falls towards the Cacophodon, bringing the large curved blade down towards the virus's head.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "Greetings human, the ID is Deelel it's good to meet you. I'm a multi media program."

A program like someone's app came to life and took on the form of a woman. Who looks like possibly from Krusty. She has her hboke gone and she does not pull her keyblade today she pulls the disc off her back and makredy ready with it.

"Stun with sound huh?! Hey null units over here."

She'll launche he light disc for the virus and she'll start moving trying to not interfear with her allies manouvers.

Lexicon has posed:
    The shouting and lightshow definitely attracts the monster's attention, swinging its horned head up to glance up the hillside at the people gathering above it. It drops the chunk of code it's chewing on to issue a challenging roar, something of a mix between a large animal's bellow and a train horn. Yang's bolts glance off the frill around its head, prompting it to take a step back and lower its head to present its horns with their hollowed tips. The entire animal seems to swell as it inhales.

    Xiaomu's wall erupts up around it right when the Cacophodon cuts loose. A swirl of dust and wind erupts from the ring-shaped wall erected around it, heralded by the deafening sound of weaponized noise. Ice cracks right as the sound begins to abate, and the resultant storm of exhaled air settles. With a grouchy sound, Cacophodon slams its shoulder into the weakened ice, causing the sonic-induced cracks to spiderweb through it. With a second slam, Cacophodon breaks through-- right into Josuke's hands.

    There's a honk of surprise as the dinosaur's side is met with rapid-fire fists, and the beast staggers in the opposite direction, into the other side of its ice prison. This wall crumbles as Cacophodon stumbles through it, as it recovers from the surprise of being attacked so suddenly right as it was breaking loose. That side's feet plant, and it avoids falling over completely.

    This presents Krusty with the beast's head, face, and armored frill. His axe slams down right between the horns, chipping the hide and sending out fragments of damaged crimson code. Cacophodon recoils from this, letting out a honk of frustration through the hollow horns. This is followed by a much louder burst of sound at point blank, with more force to push the Guild Leader away.

    Whirling on all four legs, Cacophodon, lowers its horns on Josuke and lunges. He's the closest thing at the moment, after that stunt-- and a streak of purple clashes across the horns to divert the monster's horns away from him. Amethyst Soul twirls in midair, bringing her sword down from the strike, "Keep it up!" Deelel's disc ricochets off the beast's frill, and it's Amethyst Soul who swats it back with the flat of her blade, the second impact cracking one of the red plates on Cacophodon's back as the Disc is returned to its owner.

    Up on the ridge, next to Xiaomu, Cantio frowns, "It almost seems unfair. But it's a virus, so.." Her eyes close, a ring of light shooting out around her feet and then rising up to surround her in pixellated white color. She steps out of this in a white suit, flanked by the same sort of protective gear as her sister, "Processor unit, set complete..!" Curved wings flicker into being from her back and she ascends. A weapon resembling a laser rifle and a sword at the same time appears in her hand, trailing flecks of light.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang watches the beast. "That frill's tough... It should be weaker underneath!" she calls out, applying knowledge from Grimm. It might not be true here, but hey, that's what experimentation is for. So, for SCIENCE! Yang charges forward while the beast is staggered, firing behind her and leaping the rest of the distance to try and land on the things back. She reaches over and grabs for the horns, hauling back on them with all her strength, trying to pull the thing sideways and off balance. "JOSUKE! HIT IT WHILE IT'S STAGGERING! KNOCK IT OVER!" she bellows to be heard over the monster's cochophony of noise.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
Considering they're in what is essentially a living hard drive, Deelel being a program is not as shocking to Josuke now as it might have been when his world first unified. Though she seems a lot more... well, program-y than the programs in the Amethyst Drive. He'd mistake Saltavi and Cantio for humans if they hadn't told him otherwise. Deelel is... well, even if he didn't guess she was a program, he'd be able to tell she was from a computerized world.

Mind, it's still cool. Because he never even thought computer people were a thing before! But yes, there will be time for further talk after the monster beatdown!

When the monster's horns leveled at him, Josuke had just summoned his Stand, about to toss himself out of the way. The swish of purple gets a grin. "Thanks!" he notes to Amethyst Soul, with a thumbsup. Yang's call gets heard, and Josuke nods. "Keep hitting it from there! I'm going to try and take its feet out from under it!" And how does he get over on the other side? Simple, he has Crazy Diamond toss him across.

He lands in a roll, and as soon as he's on his feet again, he summons Crazy Diamond. Those feet on the one side are planted; if he takes those out, the virus should topple over. This time instead of flurrypunching its side, Josuke directs the Stand to try to literally sweep it off its feet as it staggers; the Stand crouches and then kicks out at the dino-virus's feet with all the force it can muster.

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    Krusty is tough to budge in his armour, but the sonic blow still sends him skidding back on his feet a fair distance. Lowering his arm from protecting his face, he regains his footing and watches for a moment. Yang is attempting to stagger the creature and provide a chance for Josuke. And assuming the flamboyant man is successful, the virus should be left vulnerable.

    Krusty swings his large axe to his side, the blade of the weapon beginning to glow with light. He holds his position, watching Josuke's Stand launch its assault against the creature's feet. At that moment Krusty moves. Dashing across the battle grounds he moves in to try and take advantage of the opening.

    "AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

    Krusty swings, a trail of light following his axe as it slashes diagonally across the creature's underside. But it doesn't stop there as after a brief pause, Krusty swiftly reverses his grip and brings the axe around for another diagonal blow in the opposite direction. He then follows through with the momentum, gracefully spinning around and crouching before launching himself upwards, the gathered light on the weapon exploding in flash on the final upward strike, ending the Onslaught assault.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Oh wow, that thing *is* pretty loud, isn't it? Xiaomu should probably have brought earplugs too - but she has the advantages of distance and that hastily-conjured wall of ice to protect her sensitive ears - and while the ice wall doesn't last very long (not to her surprise, really), it lasts long enough for her to stop being in one place.

Yang goes after the Cacophodon like this were a rodeo, and while she's unbalancing the monster, Josuke and Crazy Diamond join in the assault, coordinating their efforts to try and upend the noisemaker. Or flip it on its back. Same general principle either way, more or less. Xiaomu has an idea of her own in the course of this ... but it's an idea she'll need help to implement, and her allies may be just a little too preoccupied with their own gambit to support her plan.

So she rolls with how things are going, literally leaping into the fray, if not *above* it, and starting to unload gunfire into the Cacophodon - specifically, trying to chip away at its horns with a mix of conventional bullets and ice-elemental shots. If the former don't punch actual holes in the horns, the accumulation of ice should at least put a crimp in its ability to bring on the thunder ... and if Xiaomu's plan gets put into action? Super-cooling them MIGHT have extra benefits before too long.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel finds that the Cacophodon is quite dangerous as it was said to be all thing consider her disc however connects and the charged edge does seem to do sme damage. It goes fdlying back to her she catches it and she readies to throw them again. Deelel is close enough ot human but her nature does show just in how she speaks and her voice. She would be glad Josuke is here though he's a heck of a healer and lets her go on the attack.

Sos hes' going to do so again with the disc a she's keeping up her movment and also keeping an eye on the new guy Krusty.

She knows one has to do overwhelming damage to the target and that's just what Delel is going to do as the disc is in the air, she summons her keyblade and will make ready to catch the disc in her off as she makes naother go for it.

"Get glitched!"

Lexicon has posed:
    The Cacophodon rears back when it suddenly has a Blonde on its back. When the horns are grabbed, it honks in surprise, whirling in place, stomping in a circle as it shakes and wrenches on its head to try and dislodge that grip. A foot gets kicked out from under it and the beast staggers. A heartbeat later, the second foot on that side is booted and, with another honk, the Cacophodon collapses on its side, feet flailing. Except it doesn't just stop on its side.

    Amethyst Soul dives down again, grabbing on to Yang's arm and hauling the blonde out of harm's way when the Cacophodon simply keeps rolling, using its own momentum to regain its feet, "Got you--!" She releases just clear of the beast so the Huntress can resume her attack, though, and Amethyst Soul's reaction as the Cacophodon rolls is to swing her sword back.

    A violet circle shoots out around her feet, pulsing with light while she draws her free hand back, "Thirty-Two Bit..!" Thrusting that hand out, she declares, "Mega-Blade!" Immediately, an enormous double-edged sword made out of strings of blue and violet code strikes down, impaling the beast mid-roll. Crimson code scatters as the weapon dissolves, and the virus rights itself with a large hole through its body, deep cuts from Krusty's axe, and numerous signs of damage from Deelel's keyblade.

    Once righted and on its feet again, powdery red code falling out of the openings in its hide, Cacophodon's body expands with an inhalation sound. It then lets it all out through its mouth with a cacophonous roar, blasting the grass away in front of it in a cone, and sweeping the effect from side to side for the several seconds the roar lasts. Elemetal shots strike its horns. One is blocked with ice, the other cracking and then promptly shattering, both working to lessen the power of the sonic onslaught.

    What finally stops it is a bolt of light from the sky. A wide laser fired by Cantio, floating above, slams into the Cacophodon's head and frill, slamming its face into the ground and cutting the roar short with a surprised honk. Exhaling slowly, Cantio lifts her smoking weapon up and away, watching the Cacophodon pry its battered face out of the dirt.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Whoa! Yang is nearly crushed under the rolling dino, only to be dragged away by Amethyst Soul. "Thanks for the save... but I coulda tanked that." she says, clanging her fists together as they shift from their ranged mode to melee, the barrel retracting in and the main body scooting forward level with her knuckles. As the beast roars after the attacks strike, leaving it 'bleeding', the blonde covers her ears from the sonic assault. When it gets cut off, she fires behind her, leaping again, but this time aiming to slam her fist down into the cracked frill, her gauntlet firing a shell as she hits. If she'd struck the ground the area would have rippled out and launched spikes of stone up in a circle around her, but with the beast's head in the way, something more drastic might happen.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu lands from her vault, sizing up the situation - and giving thanks that she's 'downwind' of the Cacophodon's roar this time; it *still* makes her ears ring but at least she's not in front of the brunt of it. Plus, her gunfire seems to have done some good - although not enough good to mute the beast's offensive roar, clearly. What DOES mute it ... is the Cacophodon getting its face embedded in the ground.

That's going to make it hard to stuff a grenade in its mouth, y'know?

So she holds off on the grenade for now. Instead, she re-holsters her handguns, unslings her staff, and charges back in, going for melee this time - not smacking with her staff, but slashing, with the sword hidden inside her staff. Suiren's slices are marked by trails of intense cold, leaving a layer of hoarfrost where she cuts into the Cacophodon's body - mostly aiming for its legs; it may not have internal organs, but if its legs are too badly wounded to support the beast then it shouldn't be able to move around as much, or as quickly.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
That roar. It's deafening, even with the earplugs. Josuke's so incredibly glad he remembered to put those in. Otherwise there'd be more damage than just his ears ringing. He stumbles back a bit from the virus, until it faceplants due to the attack by Cantio. And as he'd sone with her sister, Josuke offers a thumbsup in Cantio's direction.

As Yang zeroes in on the cracked frill, Josuke aims for the crack on the armor of its back. He summons Crazy Diamond again, heading to the side of the virus while its face is still in the dirt. And the flurry this time is not of punches, but of jabs with the Stand's fingers, the hands kept flat as it jabs its fingers into the cracked area with the same speed as its punches.

There's just one problem with this. While the jabs with the ends of the Stand's fingers are really good at concentrating the attack on a very small area? Judging by the wince and the sudden darkening of Josuke's fingers with multiple bruises, and the way he visibly winces, it REALLY HURTS!

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    The way that the Cacophodon inhales pretty much gives away what's going to happen next. So after landing from his strike, Krusty jumps back some distance and stabs his axe into the ground to anchor himself. The virus then unleashes sonic blast. Krusty winces at the pain as it washes over him, holding tight to his weapon as he endures the continuous barrage of sound.

    The sonic assault is cut off, Krusty dropping to one knee for a moment, looking a little strained. But after a deep breath, he recovers and stands again. He glances up into the sky at Cantio, giving her a brief nod of thanks.

    Looking back down at the Cacophodon, it appears that they are slowly chipping away at it's health, or so Krusty gathers from its appearance and movements. Unfortunately he doesn't have a handy health bar to gauge its status. Krusty pulls his axe out of the ground again and focuses on the virus. It's armor is tough... Some are trying to target the weaknesses, like Yang and Josuke. A good move. Thankfully, Krusty has other methods at his disposal.

    Krusty's axe is once more glowing in preparation of its next strike as he begins to walk towards the Cacophodon. As Xiamou slashes towards the monster's legs, Krusty accelerates into a run, his axe glowing brighter. But it's not until after Josuke's Stand strike that Krusty moves in for his own.

    Krusty pushes off from the ground in a quick burst of speed, cloak trailing behind him. The large axe streaks towards the Cacophodon's head, but won't be stopped by its mass. The Aura Saber attack, statted to pierce through an enemy as if they were wearing nothing and ignore their defense, is dragged by Krusty through the length of the virus-dinosaur, from head to tail, before he finally skids to a halt on the other side.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is putting that keyblade to use, while her disc is back in her hand and soon on her back. She is better redy fo the attacks which are coming at her and she's force to leap away from the Cacphodon. She does not want to keep close at this point, as she doesn't know quite how it works and the cone of force? Ya she does not want yto br there but it seems that the sonic onslaughte is being lessend so she does something some might not expect. She throws her keyblade like a boomerang at the thing trying to catch the virue in the center of it's body.

"What is this thing to take a pounding like this?!"

Lexicon has posed:
    In the air, Cantio nods when given recognition for her contribution. She swings her MPBL down and moves, circling overhead while searching for another opportunity. Amethyst Soul lifts to the same altitude, a look of concentration on her face as she considers the action going on below. It certainly is easier with more hands on deck. Last time she and Cantio tried this by themselves, it didn't go so well.

    Don't tell the fans!

    When Yang goes for Cacophodon's face and frill, it honks, raising its head to meet her, but seems stunned by the state of its horns and fouls its attempt at intercepting. The Dust-infused punch hits hard enough to smash its face back into the dirt, making it easy prey for Josuke and Crazy Diamond to get to work. The armored frill cracks further, while the repeated blows prevent the beast from dislodging itself.

    Xiaomu's choice of melee is a good one while the Virus' head is disabled, unable to use sound against her aside from alarmed honking. Crimson lines of damaged code are opened up by her sword, and the beast shudders, before going down on one side to its knees. This makes it even harder to try and pull its face free from the dirt it's been slammed into.

    Krusty's armor-piercing attack is a dramatic one, cleaving the beast from stem to stern and scattering pixellated red light in all directions. The honking grows weaker, though it still struggles. Deelel's keyboade punches through, scattering code fragments that steadily dissolve.

    In the air, Amethyst Soul nods once and calls out, "Cantio, do it!" She then brings her sword back and behind herself, as if it were sheathed at her hip. A violet-tinged circle shoots out around her spread feet, and light twinkles along the glowing edge of her weapon.

    "Right..!" The white-clad Amethyst Sister swings her weapon to the side, a circle shooting out around her own feet before she dives down. Light twinkles in the aftermath of her own slash-- an upward crescent that catches Cacophodon in the midsection, "Nnnh..!" Eyes squeezed shut from the effort, sparks flying from the point of impact, she eventually wins out through leverage and hurls the virus skyward with her weapon, "--CELESTIAL SEVERANCE!"

    VIOLET BUSTER!" At the apex of Cacophodon's arc, it briefly experiences flight. And then a slash of purple light traces a crescent across the sky with the distinct sound of metal cleaving metal. At the end of the streak, Amethyst Soul brings her sword up, then twirls it down into a sheathing motion as the weakened, wounded virus begins to drop, trailing streams of crimson code fragments.

    Its impressive defenses at last overwhelmed, the Cacophodon's shape is almost completely dissolved by the time it hits the ground. When it does, it simply crumbles to glittering red powder, which rapidly disappears as its code de-resolves.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang hops back from the assault, doing a backward somersault then falling on her ass, panting hard. "Whoo! Good job everyone!" she calls out, leaning back on her hands with legs splayed out, a big, dopey grin on her face.

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    Krusty is still facing away from the virus, after his attack, when its data-crumbling form strikes the ground and disolves. He calmly returns the large two-handed axe to his back, before turning around to face everyone once more. He nods in agreement with Yang's words, "Excellent work."

    He looks up to the two sisters, giving them praise, "An impressive display!"

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
"OW!" Josuke exclaims. There's only so long he can keep that up, and he has to break off the attack before he causes serious harm to his hands. It's fortunate that he does just then, since the Amethyst Drive sisters sweep the dino-virus into the air. "Whoa!" Josuke notes, Crazy Diamond disappearing. He also realizes uh. GET OUT OF THE FALL ZONE STUPID! And quickly he scarpers, retreating to a safe distance.

He is fortunately out of the way when the dino-virus hits the ground again. And he breathes a sigh of relief when he notices it's disappearing. And like Krusty, he comments on the two girls' teamwork. "That was <great>!" He looks at the place the beastie was. "We got it, right?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Nicely done!" Xiaomu calls out to her allies as the Cacophodon is finally defeated. She spares a quick look around where the monster was before it disintegrated - just in case it left anything behind, like usable items or whatever kind of money they use here in the System. She's not really expecting anything to show up ... but you never know, right?

Deelel has posed:
Deelel give a flick of her wrist and recalls her keyblade to her hand, it vanishes a moment later and she grins looking at the whole fight's aftermath,m the people she had not met before proved to be good at their jobs and and she's pretty pleased with that. She grin as she calls out.

"Nicely done! It seems Krusty your certianly good in a fight."

How does a human get a name meaning a sort of thing you have to scrape off somerhing? Then again her gods are chaotic beings but she's come to accept that they are strange.

"So who wants to get some food?! I can cover it!"

Lexicon has posed:
    Amethyst Sister skirts back, looking upward as the Cacophodon is taken out. She recognizes the damage, but doesn't relax until it hits the ground and begins disappearing, letting out a sigh of relief. Pixellation surrounds her with white light and, when it fades, she's returned to her original form and clothes. The Multiple Beam Launcher becomes a beam sword, which she de-activates and then tucks into her inventory with a flicker of pixels. "Whew..!" A glance at Deelel, "Are you alright?" Then Krusty, who she'd seen take the full brunt of the attack she interrupted, "Mister Krusty, how about you? Mister Josuke?"

    Amethyst Soul descends, her weapon disappearing as she does so. Her feet never quite touch the ground, though, as she floats in a circle around the dissolving red dust that used to be Cacophodon. After a few moments, she nods once, resting her hands on her hips, "No signs of residual corruption. Very tidy work." Eyes closing, she grins a very similar version of the big dumb grin that's usually on the face of her smaller form, "Why thank you! Though a good amount of the work is credited to you five. We just saw an opportunity to end the fight and took it before things got any harder."

    When Deelel offers to cover dinner, though, the DCC raises her hands, "Oh no you don't! As guardian deity of Cadenza, whose citizens you all have helped greatly, it's my duty to reward each of you. Huntress Yang, Guildmaster Krusty, Brawler Josuke, Key-fighter Deelel, Sage Fox Xiaomu," The goddess bows at the waist, "Allow me to treat your meal. And there's the matter of the Quest's promised reward to settle as well. We can take care of that at the same time." There's a real elegance and presence to her voice and behavior when she's like this. Entirely different from the energetic derp of her regular form. As Amethyst Soul rises to straighter posture, she glances back at the pile of dissolving Cacophodon, "Although..."

    There's a flicker of light, surrounding her, and the smaller package drops to the ground amidst the Virus' remains. There, Saltavi swings her hips, thrusting her hands to the opposite side in a pushing gesture, then 'pulling' herself over. Turning, she repeats this a few times, shuffling back and forth, "Da-na-na-na naa naa.. da-na-naaa~!"

    "Saltavi..!" Cantio objects, "That's not very appropriate..!" Trotting over, she waves her hands, "Oh goodness.. Please stop!"

Krusty (1149) has posed:
    Krusty gives a nod to Deelel in return of the compliment, "As are you."

    At the question from Cantio, Krusty's eyes briefly lose focus as he checks his own status... He hmms quietly, before reaching beneath the outer tunic of his armour. His hand comes back out holding a potion, Popping the cork off, he drinks it down before retuning the empty bottle to his inventory. He's not likely to get into another battle today, but better safe than sorry. Responding to Cantio, he smiles, "I'll be fine, thank you."

    Krusty walks up to gather with everyone, nodding in response to the offer from Saltavi, "I could go for something to eat." However he pauses as she starts to dance, his mouth opening a little in surprise. But after a few moments it closes again and he just shakes his head, smiling at the rediculousness of it.

Deelel has posed:
If Amethyst is taking a look at Deelel she might notice some of glowing pattern faintly through the cloth that makes up her clothing. Her body has cracoked from the damage she's taken in a few places she just knows that her organic allies can take far more to heal than she would right? "I could use Josuke's help...."

Shes' cut off from her offer of her spotting for dinner, she will back off.

She should be all right and th idea of food is still somewhat alien to her but she gets the social aspect of it and that part she likes. She pauses at the dance and laughs a little bit at it.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Food sounds good right about now, yeah. I didn't even get any burn on my Semblance but just wrestling that bugger was hard work." replies Yang, pushing herself up. "Didn't even stress my Aura!"

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
"I'm okay!" Josuke replies to the concern. "My hands just hurt a bit. I take damage when my Stand does." He raises his hands to in front of his face, though to the sides, so he can still be seen, spreading the fingers out to show the bruises. (Jazzhaaaaands~) They're not too bad, but they'll probably be sore for a while. "<Crazy Diamond> punches pretty hard. Concentrating all the force of those punches into a small area like that hurts a little," he explains.

The offer to cover a meal, first from Deelel and then from Amethyst Soul, gets a grin. "I wouldn't mind that. I'm kinda hungry," he admits. Teenagers and their nuclear metabolism, amirite? The fact that he has strange powers probably doesn't help that, either.

Deelel speaks up then, and Josuke looks her over. He sees the cracks all right. "Sure! Hold on a second." The purple aura appears around Josuke again, and the Stand rises from his body. It phases through him as it approaches Deelel, and makes to place its hands on her shoulders. The orange-golden aura appears around Crazy Diamond's hands, seeking to move to Deelel. Can his Stand fix data?

Lexicon has posed:
    Before Cantio can get too close, Saltavi dashes off the dissolving viral dust, arms outstretched, "Okay then! Everyone back to the Cathoderal, we're doin' takeout, whoo! Gonna be a real game-and-chill night after a fight like that!"

    With her elder sister dashing off to escape capture, Cantio slows, then stops with a sigh. She glances towards Deelel, who's already being seen to by Josuke. A glance back to Krusty, who's taken care of himself already. And Yang, who's none the worse for wear. She nods once with a small smile.

    "Well, let's get going then, everyone."