Enter the Arena... As Your Avatar (v4)!

{"Oh, looks like you do know how to use mana properly after all. Though it isn't quite good enough I'm afraid."} The Black rune warps into the path of all the stray black bolts heading towards FM. It then releases the combined stray energy as one bolt...right towards the fairy. Who, should be quite distracted by the Hydra's beam destroying her wall of ice, and the Hydra lunging at her for another biting attempt.

"It's going to kill that fairy!"

"I'm on it!"

Divine Buster!

A beam of purple energy is fired, not at the hydra or the 'mancer, but the black beam itself, aiming to deflect it off target.

Just focus on dodging the hydra and see what FM says about the bolt. A freaking Divine Buster really should do something about it.

edited 15th Oct '14 10:14:09 PM by MicoolTNT

Hmm, am I still getting hit by the bolt? If so um, uh-oh. :p

Your call

-Cirno launches back and tosses an ice spike at the Hydra, aiming for its open mouth-

-Huge freakin' energy beam flies overhead after that, distracting her-

Fate, too, begins channeling a strong attack, funnelling the remaining mana from the Aegis into jump-starting it:

Phalanx Shift!

A blazing golden circle of lightning magic forms beneath Fate.

I am the bone of my sword "Arceus, Corcus, Aegis... may the Spears of Thunder fly straight and true to the target..."

Golden thunder orbs form and multiply around her, like amoebas feeding off her magical energy.

edited 15th Oct '14 10:31:24 PM by MicoolTNT

The divine buster strikes...through the energy of the black bolt. Though the magic still passes by the fairy instead of hitting her. {"What were you trying to accomplish there?"} The thing speaking through FM asks in a slightly curious tone of voice. {"No matter."} The black rune turns towards the magical girls again, this time tearing itself into multiples of itself. 24 images of itself to be exact, each of which unleashes a black bolt in their direction.

Meanwhile, the spike of ice impales the inside of the Hydra's mouth. Which...allows the Hydra to detonate its head with an orb attack. As scraps of hydra meat go flying, two new heads emerge from the ruined stump. Each deciding to fire beams of energy at the fairy.

"Fate!"

"Nanoha, can you-"

"Got it!"

Protection Powered!

Another dome-shaped shield of purple magic blocks the black salvo, Nanoha jumping in front to block the hits, and then moving aside to allow Fate to finish her spell.

"Borear, Zorear, Browsal..."

There is a growl of thunder, and a flash of power blazes through the lightning orbs.

"Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift!"

Fate points dramatically down at the corrupted FM.

"Destroy Target! Fire!"

Firing.

The lightning orbs start to fall, raining lightning magic down on the corrupted FM.

The black runes fly into action, each appearing in the path of an orb before they get close to FM. However, the runes shatter on impact with any orb they touch, taking the orb with them. Still...several orbs manage to get through, slamming into FM with far more lethal force than they ought to have. In fact, once the attack is over...the wizard's body is riddled with large bleeding wounds. {"Oh, how I enjoy seeing others pick at my pests for me. Even if I have to alter their spells to cause physical harm."} The entity chuckles to itself.

Then, it points a finger at the two girls. {"Vacuum of Space."} In an orb surrounding the two's current position, the oxygen would be warped away. Any new oxygen trying to fill the vacuum would be pushed away. {"Have fun choking."}

Hint, just get outta the dang orb.

"Eh, that's not good."

-Quickly dodges to the side, one beam barely hitting her in the side-

"Oof. Alright, plan B... what's plan B."

-Fate's eyes widen- "Wha-"

"Nano-" -her voice trails off for want of air-

Nanoha, forget this! Either we'll die, or we'll end up killing him! We have to get out of here!

Normally, I'd agree, but... this Arena dimension means that death isn't permanent... If... if there's... any way... to remove that corruption...

Nanoha! NO! Are you really going to trust a Metatron Robot -ooh, low blow, but Fate really wants to "save" Nanoha- and risk your life? Are you prepared to do... that?! Because I'm not!

...no... I couldn't...

...exactly. And... he wouldn't want us to either. Not even for his sake. I know that about him; I've talked to him. We're leaving.

The fight goes out of Nanoha. Fine. But I hate leaving a friend like this, even knowing he can't really die...

They attempt to teleport out. Feel free to fuck it up.

edited 16th Oct '14 1:51:18 AM by MicoolTNT

"Focus on dodging the hydra." Spoken as though it took effort, as though there were resources to worry about, like time or stamina.
Spoken as though there were limits.
In a game such as this, wherein the only limit is what you would let yourself get away with, thinking like that is the mark of a good player; strategy when the need for it is not enforced.

I approve.

edited 15th Oct '14 10:44:53 PM by Knowlessman

{"Oh? Trying to leave are you?"} The entity rewrites Nanoha and Fates teleportation out...into one where they merely appear a few feet away from their original position. {"Now now, we can't have that. You've got to kill this parasite first."} The entity snaps FM's fingers, and a dome of black runes forms around the two magical girls. {"Unless...you prefer you die instead?"}

To say the least, this entity is just playing around.

"Alright... alright. Here goes nothin'."

-Shoots a beam of ice at the Hydra head closest to her-

Anyone *cough cough* can write "I dodge/block/counter/shoot/etc". The skill and fun is in making it make sense within the character, and making it epic. And the dynamics between characters. And occasionally using characters' powers in new and interesting ways *cough, Aegis of Zeus*.

I have a lock on that creature's distortion field! Fortunately, the Arena dimension itself is stable right now; it's only that monster's power stopping you from warping out! I'm working on using the Arthra's systems to break it; hang in there, and we'll be able to get you out of there!

"Good. We are not allowing these kids to face a kill-or-die situation."

Understood. Thank you, Amy.

That's great! So we just gotta hang in there... ...what about him? :(

Wide-Area Protection!

Defenser Plus!

Nanoha and Fate combine their defensive spells, each forming one half of a sphere, to be ready for whatever the evil entity has for them.

edited 15th Oct '14 10:57:54 PM by MicoolTNT

True enough, true enough... Using powers in new and interesting ways, I'm on board for that. Character dialogue is pretty much my worst enemy, whenever I play someone talkative I just wanna go back to a Pokemon or someone similar.

The entity snaps FM's fingers again. As it does, the dome of runes unleash bolts at rapid-fire speeds. Each bolt hit leaving a small black mark on the girls shield. {"How boring of you two."}

One of the Hydra's heads is frozen by the attack. Which the other Hydra responds to by shooting a beam at the frozen head. To say the least, now three heads want fairy meat for dinner.

"Cartridge Load!" -both girls say it in unison, and both devices eject a spent shell casing. Both halves of the shield gain a power boost, ensuring they stay intact.-

Somehow, I don't think these girls care about making the battle interesting for the Eldritch Abomination. If you wanted that, you should have gone after Isaki!

edited 15th Oct '14 11:09:20 PM by MicoolTNT

{"Oh, I should make sure to 'play' then if thats the case."} GYAH!

-Flies toward the Hydra, firing multiple beams at both the left and right heads-

-Stops right in front of the middle head and flings a little icy rock at it-

"H-hey there, buddy..."

I'm assuming there are only three, otherwise I just kinda killed myself. I probably should have asked about that earlier, really.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:13:33 PM by todbot1

{"Fine then, I guess I'll play with the fairy instead."} The rune dome persists, but the entity creates two black runes behind the Fairy. Right as she freezes two of the Hydra's head and flicks a frozen rock at the remaining one. {"Bye bye, colorful eyesore."} The Hydra fires a beam at the fairy, right as the two runes release a spray of black beams. To say the least, the fairy is surrounded on all sides by attacks coming her way.

Don't worry! Now you don't have to worry about killing yourself. The entity will do it for you.

Whelp, FM's going to have a rough time in the future then. Er, rougher. Also I feel insulted that you think I'm not putting any interest into the fact that those two aren't going to show up anymore. In fact, it gives me good excuse to twist poor FM's mind even more towards insanity.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:24:36 PM by FracturedMancer

...why did I bother typing all this shit out, it's not like anyone cares...

Don't worry, Madokami and the Puella Magi still like him, and Kyoko's still The Atoner for him...

There is still the forum... I might be getting sick of throwing them into the Arena, but they work well there.

I'm probably gonna stop playing NanoFate. Their attacks might look cool and make sweet Beam-O-War action, but that doesn't translate well to text, especially when you use the same old attacks every fight. (And Beam-O-War in particular doesn't work here, despite otherwise being one of my favourite tropes.)

And that's all they've got going for them. In my humble opinion, I find them rather flat characters; the most interesting thing they've done character-wise is get traumatized by (Nanoha) and go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against (Fate) Metatron-powered Orbital Frames, both of which have now been resolved by an aversion of Poor Communication Kills. With that subplot resolved (and my running gag of "ordinary little girls" run into the ground), they're little girls, and they don't have a good reason to keep returning to a damn battle arena. I find playing Blood Knights much more fun.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:26:33 PM by MicoolTNT

Mmm, I can understand that. I've brought in quite a few characters that ended up being boring, or didn't fit in, or just plain didn't work. Just do what you feel you're comfortable with, I think.

Oh right, I'm about to get nuked from 50 different directions. Should probably think about that.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:26:49 PM by todbot1

-Coughcough- Anyways, someone else actually make a post or something. My impatience only lasts so long.

Yeah, I much more enjoy playing Blood Knights, or at least characters that don't take things too seriously and can still enjoy themselves on a battlefield. I have much more fun and get much more into it when playing characters who are enjoying themselves as much as I am. And I love my Casual Danger Dialogue.

As I've noted before, Mid-Childan mages can be a bit Blood Knight-ey, but not under these circumstances, and they take themselves more seriously than I'd like to.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:40:39 PM by MicoolTNT