Neon Shadows - IC

[Mollisol]

​

Umbra's center was a city of pearlescence, neon lights reflected off of the shiny pastel bricks of skyscrapers. Cars drove down the deep blue roads, and the sun was purple in the light sky. People walked the streets as well, chatting, laughing, drinking tea, in their colorful clothing. Not a single Henzai advertisement flashed above them, only many images of painted still lives, soft light photographs, and the occasional chalk landscape.

The girls who had just faded into this reality weren't here to sightsee, though. Or at least, not the ones known as Onyx, White, and Sangria Shadow. They had arrived outside the datamancer's headquarters, which appeared as a fortune teller's shop, with a sun-purple neon sign outside that read "Eri's Forecast". Inside was a lush rug beneath a card-covered table, cloth-draped chairs, and Eri the datamancer herself, whose avatar was a fluffy white cat. It was time for the girls to meet at the fortune teller's shop - they'd experienced a few battles on their own, but now they would come together under the datamancer's watchful eye.

Of course, those weren't the only girls visiting Umbra. The girls known as Urukawa Mikan and Sakura Kawamura had been drawn here as well, the former by way of a message in a shrine's wish, and the latter by a communication from Eri herself. The datamancer cat was giving them time to wander the city and experience color, art, and the freedom to do what they wanted, but she'd reach out to them and bring them to the shop when that time was up.

In the gray world, the meat world, Henzai's world, the surveillance drones didn't suspect that any of these girls were up to anything. The drones saw some harmless enjoyment of HARP (Henzai Accordance Role Play), and besides, their attention was focused elsewhere. They were searching for openings in a less-legal network, the Umbra network, that they had recently found. The watchful eyes of Eri's security butterflies were on that search, but that confrontation would not happen immediately. Now was the time for the Shadows (current and soon-to-be) to meet.

 

[Mollisol]

When Sangria returned to the meat world, she would hear shouting outside, closer and more frantic than the usual background noise of Fringe Gear. That, and the blasting sound of a jump-jet guard dog rocketing into what must be an intruder. People throughout the house had different reactions - some took their children towards the inner parts of the house; others prepared to fend off an intrusion. A few bold individuals stepped outside.

In the jaws of a guard dog would be a neon pink robot that otherwise resembled a Henzai drone, spike-winged and blank-eyed. It held in its claw hand a cardboard box with a donut printed on it.

 

[Boo Girlie BoomBoom]

~Ayami~

<~~~<★>~~~>
​

no-lightbox

Ayami took a deep breath, dropped her VR gear and leaned back in her chair. Something was finally being made out of nothing. There was a resistance... there were four of them and possibly more if only Gold--

The perimeter alarms blared out and suddenly there was a commotion outside her door. "Mom! MOM! What's going on?! I just--"

"Stay in your room, Ayami!! Stay under your bed and stay away from the windows!! You'll be okay, sweetie! Just stay away from the windows okay?!"

"Okay..." Ayami wandered over to the window and pressed her hand upon the imaging sensor. Instantly the blast screens rolled up and Ayami saw what transpired outside. "Ohhhhh... no... that's the donuts for me and Usagi... Oh nooo...! Gojira is going to mangle it!!"

The teen girl in the white night gown with Sailor LaLune prints upon it pressed a sequence of buttons and the window slid open abruptly. "Hey, no! Don't shoot it, you guys!!" Ayami leaned out the window and yelled at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, the pink, and very illegally re-purposed drone seemed to stare up at Ayami's window, "Not good... It's comin' up here...!!! Oh, shiiiiiiii--"

The girl backpedalled as she watched the neon pink drone lift-off and head towards her window. Ayami's barefoot tripped over something and she went tumbling head over heels backwards and ended up in a teenaged pile near her VR rig setup.

"Ow. Owwie... Hey...! Hey, Takuji...!" she rubbed her head and pulled her nightie back down to a modest level past her thighs. She was calling out to her little servant robot, but he seemed to be nowhere to be found, "Takuji...! Close the window, bruh! Close the...! OH fuuuu--"

It was too late.

The pink drone floated in through the window. It's multiple pink eyes pulsed ominously as its jump engines began to power down. Poor Gojira was still locked upon one of it's appendages; the huge canine, jump jet animatron was sparking away, smoke wafted away from its side, yet still its jaws had a death grip upon the buzzing drone. Apparenty someone took a shot at the thing afterall... and missed! One of the Mizuno clan had blasted their loyal protector instead.

"Oooooohhh, g-girl...! Poor, poor Gojira...!" Ayami cooed out as the neon hued drone landed upon her bedroom floor and began to float towards her. Big hazel eyes grew even bigger as she sat there helplessly on her butt as the thing with the donut box in its arms, and, incapacitated giant automaton dog dragged along at its heels. It closed in ever so much closer.

Closer.

Ayami could only squeal and shield her face with her pale hands. "I already used up all my allowance and paid for the sweets! It's for Usagi's birthday!! It's for my kid sister's birthday! Please don't kill us!! I'm soooory!!

Don't kill us!! AHHHHHHHhhhhhhh...!"

<~~~<★>~~~>​

 

[Wolfsbane706]

Anna put her finger to her chin, thinking. "Under normal circumstances, I'd suggest a disguised avatar, but I think it's honestly best if we're straightforward with this," she said. "Like I said, Eri doesn't like surprises, and something like this, honesty is the best approach."

Yuzu nodded in agreement, her notepad and pen still out. "So, what exactly do you need my help with?"

"Sangria--the moody one--asked me to datamine some information she extracted and see what all I could find," Anna explained. "I was hoping you would help. I don't know much about Datamancy, but I'm willing to bet my Shadow on this being well within your purview."

Yuzu's expression didn't sink, but it did deflate a little bit. "I was hoping you'd ask for something more complicated, like a Gear Mod or something," she said, feeling like she'd overpriced her services.

"I suppose, if you're offering, I need a Scanner on my gear," she said, sensing Yuzu's deflation. "Something that can use a Shadow's powers as a medium to determine where a particular Cyber Beast originated, if at all." Usually Cyber Beasts had a Point of Origin, such as the Henzaipede being a Black Hat creation, but every once in a while, one just formed out of the data in the vast expanses of VR and caused trouble. To date, a WildeCyber had never appeared in an Umbra server, but Anna hated leaving things to chance.

"A full backtrace is impossible without a terminal, but I think I can implement something that can detect, read, and identify signatures," Yuzu said, furiously taking down notes for Anna's requested mod. "Will that do?"

"Yep."

"Then we have ourselves a deal. Let's get datamining!"