Fairview, unlike Capital City, actually sleeps. That said, Nova Heart, and especially the Prism Arenas rarely do. Late night duels are a common mainstay of the newer Fairview now that they're there. One of the arenas, the Solid State version, is reserved for some training at night. Luna and Hinata are currently enroute to the location.
Luna and Hinata, who have flight skills unlocked, race to the city at blazing speeds. Luna is actually able to win one of these races for a change as it seems Hinata has still not gotten used to her wings.
"Hell yeah! I still got it in me!" Luna grins.
"Well... uhhh I'm still taller than you short stuff!" Hinata shakes her head.
"Not cool. I'm not actually 'human' remember?" Luna sighs.
"I'm aware. Right, let's wait for Patrice then. Hopefully she knows just to teleport to us and doesn't get lost in the city." says Hinata, taking a seat on the steps next to the Prism Arena.
Patrice enters the scene in a pop of electric blue. Speaking of blue, she’s donned in it from top to bottom, though the jacket also includes some pink and white stripes. Upon seeing the pair waiting for her, she rushes over to meet them. "Hey y'all," she waves.
[You find yourself outside of a massive glass rectangular prism known affectionately here as The Cubes. It's about 200 feet wide and long on all sides except vertical, which is 100 feet tall. In other arenas in the vicinity, you notice people fighting magic battles and many of the arenas have audiences watching.]
Luna smiles when Patrice touches down, "Oh hey! Glad you made it safely."
Hinata waves, "Ready to see what your pistol is made of? Honestly I want to know as well."
Patrice looks up at the prism in awe. "Woah... It's just like the Shard, but with more fighting." Giggling slightly, she reaches out her hand, before mentally catching herself. She shakes her head violently, chasing away whatever previous thought might have been there. Then, she looks back at Luna and Hinata. "Thanks, Luna. And yeah, I'm curious too. Shall we?"
Luna smiles, "Hell yeah, let's do this."
Hinata presses the button on the side to open up the entrance then takes a seat while softly brushing her new feathered wings.
Luna gets right to work on setting up the various settings on the floating tablet device. Soon, and with some tinkering with ideas for backdrops, she asks, "So question. Between a moonlit forest clearing, an island underneath the stars, and a library turned arena, what location would you want to fight in? Yes I know the options are strange, but that's what I have loaded in currently."
[The entire arena is currently just a well-ventilated glass box with what looks like electronic projectors of some kind embedded in the glass itself. Looking closer at one of them, it appears to be called a NOVA HEART LUNAR ILLUSION PROJECTOR.]
"What does a library arena look like?" she asks.
"Let's see!" Luna presses the confirm button as the glass box nearly instantly transforms. Surrounded on all sides by darker woods, torchlit lighting, and shelves of books and tomes of all kinds, the library arena is set. The floor is hardwood with some burgandy carpeting on the floor.
[Even though the room was once all glass, the carpet, the heat from the flames, and the wood all feel real. The books all have tangible spines but it's not possible to pull them out. If you didn't know this was a simulation, a Solid State hologram, you wouldn't be able to tell it's an artificial construct. It's almost too real.]
Hinata looks around in wonder, "wow, damn Yuki, you did an insane job."
Patrice looks around in amazement. "OK, that's pretty cool." She walks over to the shelves, and tries to grab a book.
She can feel the textured leather spine on one of the tomes, but the book does not budge. It appears the simulation isn't completely perfect.
Hinata is done walking around the arena and asks, "Hm, right, so uhh what do we know about your Shard? I assume it requires intention, otherwise it wouldn't be Magic. Probably imagination as well? Did you think about anything when using it the last time Patrice?"
Luna managed to summon an armchair to sit in while waiting for everyone to be ready.
Patrice shrugs, a slight smile on her face. It's gone as quick as it comes. She turns to Hinata, "I didn't think when I shot the cage. Just want to get out. I guess that's the intention, and the Shard delivered. Though, I suppose I'll need a bit more than that if I want to use this in any effective capacity."
Luna gets up from her armchair and it disappears outright, "Right, so let's see here. Okay, so something about magic is that there are two core tenets to it. There's belief and there's intent. Magic won't work if you don't believe in it. Seeing is believing, believing is seeing! And you have to have an intent, a goal. In the same way that I can set my hands on fire..." Luna mutters the phrase 'Flame Gauntlets on' and her hands are set ablaze. "I think for your gun, you'll need to do something similar. Just... not exactly sure what its trigger is. Can I see your gun Patrice?"
Muttering 'Flame Gauntlets off' returns them to normal.
Patrice takes out the gun and shows it to Luna. "So... a bit of pixie dust on whatever you want to do?"
Luna tilts her head from side to side, "Pixie dust? Mmmm, think closer to when a Normie magician, like that one guy with the rabbits and the hats says Abracadabra. A power word, if you will." [You notice that Luna’s eyes have changed from their normal sapphire to a deep crimson. She stares at this gun, seemingly trying to solve what its capabilities are. You notice she gulps a little in the process. Then a few moments later, she continues with her eyes returned to normal.] "Ah! Okay, so that's interesting. Your gun has a literal trigger on it. That’s your belief trigger. Now for intention, it’s psychic, but kind of… weird? It’s controlling. It doesn’t seem to be one specific elemental, but it does look like something that could control the flow of battle. Vines, fogs, telekinesis. It’s very strange. I’ve never seen anything like this before! Just… I guess think about moves that could deny the opponent the ability to fight?”
Hinata adds on, “that’s weird. Focused psychic magic is really rare. But it's a six shooter though. Meaning she'll have six shots before reloading?" Hinata asks.
Luna tilts her head from side to side, "Uhhh good question. I doubt it'll matter in here, but out on the normal battlefield? Probably."
Patrice then asks, trailing from what Hinata said, “so what exactly counts as Focused Psychic magic?”
"Depends on how focused the caster is on it. Like for mine, I got the lower end of the stick. I can teleport items and my psychic magic is how I make my broom fly. I used to be able to hold people in place, but that got ruined, thanks AAA. With yours? I mean you have counterspell, which is a high level psychic spell. You should be able to repel people too, and maybe lift people into the air? Hm, let's try that." Luna stands back about 20 feet from Patrice in a defensive stance. "Patrice! Think about lifting me in the air and shoot me with your gun. If my reasoning is right, this should work."
[AND WITH THAT, THE BATTLE BEGAN! 100HP LUNA - 100HP PATRICE]
"OK?" Patrice aims the gun at Luna, and closes her eyes. She takes in a deep breath, imagines Luna gently levitating, gaining speed with every feet until she hits the top of the box, and pulls the trigger.
From her gun, a blob of pure white energy zooms out of her gun and directly strikes Luna. As was imagined, and thus intended, Luna slowly at first rises up and steadily gains speed before crashing into the top of the box with a hard thud. Hitting the top broke her control and causes Luna to free fall with only gravity affecting her. With quick thinking, however, she lands gracefully on the ground once more. Patrice notices purple magic on Luna's feet when she lands.
"That.. was.. AWESOME!" [100P - 95L]
Patrice opens her eyes to see Luna crashing into the top of the box at speed before falling, and laughs in mild disbelief and amazement. "I did that?!"
"You did! You have intent, that was launching me up into the ceiling, you had your belief trigger, the trigger on your gun, now... Counter this! Frosted Ice Shot!" Luna grins as she launches a massive ice ball from her hands directly at Patrice. It's moving fast and is barreling towards her.
Hinata sighs and shakes her head amusedly, "At least tell her when you're fighting! Ugh, women I swear."
[Says the same woman who did this exact same tactic against Viper! You can’t see me, but I’m shaking my damned head at you Hinata…]
Patrice shoots the ball of ice and wills it to break into pieces to avoid her. The pieces will then hit the wall behind her and ricochet back towards Luna.
Curious of her plan to counterstrike, Luna watches her Ice Ball intently. When the shards erupt, Luna quickly teleports around the arena to dodge. Unfortunately, two of the shards still strike her, dealing 3 damage each.
[100P - 89L]
"Patrice, try using a psychic attack now! Imagine a blob of energy or something coming out of your gun, something that will do direct damage and pull the trigger! Like this!"
With her hands above her head, Luna summons a blob of purple energy and launches it towards Patrice. "Psychic Blast!"
[You begin to realize that Luna's belief 'trigger' here is actually speaking out the Attack Names, a power word much like Abracadabra. Her intent is dealing direct damage using psychic magic!]
Patrice rolls right to dodge the blast, and aims at Luna's throat. "Al niente," she whispers, right before pulling the trigger.
The shot from Patrice is unlike anything Luna's ever seen before. A scattershot of pure white energy erupts from Patrice's revolver surrounding her. Luna tries to fly and dodge the attack, but it's to no avail. She gets blasted back by the psychic power, dealing 50 damage to her. Thank the Gods Above this is a simulation battle, otherwise this could have killed her.
[100P - 39L]
With eyes widened and smoke fuming off of her body, Luna is beginning to look very winded by this development. She’s even wondering if she's completely outmatched. Luna has dealt absolutely no damage to Patrice yet, even the roll out of the previous Psychic Blast seemed perfectly timed. Perhaps the Revolver of Untold Truths has some other effects?
[Luna is inflicted with Winded. An Attack of Opportunity is available]
Patrice looks at Luna, concerned, before a grin slowly spreads across her face. She imagines a searing red hot ball, and shoots it at Luna.
Luna watches helplessly as the orb of psychic flame rushes towards her. She tries to block, but it's useless. She tries to dodge, but she can't. Luna simply blinks, hoping she can muster some way out of this situation.
Patrice missed.
[Luna is standing there menacingly enveloped in crimson fire. For all you know, this should have worked perfectly. And yet, her form has changed and the searing psychic flames have missed their mark entirely. Her hands are out and she's muttering something. A spell? It doesn't sound like English. Tears fall from her eyes. A monstrous grin transforms her smile from sadness to that of a devil’s.]
"Luna? Did-- Are you in Boss Mode?" Hinata asks while knowing the answer.
Luna, or should I say Error nods to Hinata, "Controlled boss mode. I need to practice this." She continues to mutter in that other strange incomprehensible language.
Patrice's grin fades instantly, followed by confusion. She looks to her left at nobody, eyebrows raised, then shrugs. She aims at the ground beneath Luna, imagines smoke pouring out from underneath her, enveloping her in the haze, and pulls the trigger.
Luna lets it happen while taking a deep breath and raising her defenses sky high. Again muttering something in a language Patrice doesn't know, she puts a hand up to the air as a fireball is launched directly at her opponent. This one is strange though as it has a purplish aura to it and, despite not being able to see due to the haze, is still flying directly at Patrice.
Patrice shoots at the fireball, hoping, nay, willing the shot to stop it dead in its tracks.
It appears whatever magic Luna used on this fireball, it even resists Control Magic. You notice that when the white Counter Spell magic hits the fireball, a red aura envelops it. This aura seems almost glitchy in a way. Control does not beat pure Chaos in this scenario, try as it might. That said, when the bullet strikes the ball, you notice Luna's HP above on the scoreboard still drops. Almost like this form is difficult to keep up. The fireball still strikes Patrice, but it doesn't physically hurt her at all. It just feels vaguely warm, an effect of the LUNAR ILLUSION PROJECTORS and 20 damage is dealt to her. Luna loses 5.
[80P - 34L]
She looks up at the scoreboard and raises an eyebrow. "Plan B it is, then," Patrice mutters. She shoots twice at the ground between them, imagining thick smoke to pour out from the ground, almost like a smoke wall.
[Luna is unaffected by the smoke. She's confident in her homing spells to not need eyes. Her hypersensitive hearing act as second eyes for her. In fact, right before you cast the Psychic Smoke Wall, you notice her eyes are closed. Maybe it's the haze bothering them. Or it's overconfidence in her current form. Regardless, two more psychic homing fireballs are launched at Patrice at a rapid pace, this time going for a pincer attack with one targetting her front and the other going after her back.]
Patrice starts booking it towards the first one, and slides underneath it. She shoots at the ground beneath Luna, imagining it explodes.
The slide causes the two Homing Psychic Fireballs to collide with one another and drain 10 more HP from Luna's score. When she hears the ground beneath her get shot, she immediately teleports out of the way therefore missing her entirely. The ground beneath her explodes but due to her quick thinking, she evades all damage from that attack.
[80P - 24L]
[You notice she's breathing rather heavily. This form must be draining to keep up. The crimson flame aura begins to flicker out of sheer exhaustion. Strange considering mana is supposed to regenerate.]
"Luna!" she shouts, her voice echoing inside the box. "Are you willing to continue this to its conclusion, or do you want to call it here? Your choice." She shoots at the ground beneath Luna again, imagining vines sprouting and wrapping around her ankles.
Luna's aura goes down after one more deep breath. Instead of conceding, however, she grins and bears it. "Why would i concede? This has been a really fun match! I just... can't do it with Error tonight."
The vines restrict and control her movements. Since they don't seem to have any thorns attached to them, it does no damage to her.
"It has, hasn't it?" Patrice smiles sweetly, and aims at Luna. She imagines Luna getting knocked back from the shot, the vines pulling Luna back. "You and Error together... that clears things up. I was wondering why nothing works." She pulls the trigger.
[You notice before shooting that her eyes aren't blue but instead purple.]
With a muttering of "Crystal Shield", a purple crystalline wall forms right in front of Luna blocking Patrice's attack. "I said that I can't do this with Error, but I still have other souls in me! Let's keep going!" Krystal grins.
Patrice nods, "Fair enough." She shoots behind Krystal, imagining a ball of electric blue bouncing off the wall and at her.
"Shit." That ball absolutely hits Luna in the back. She growls at Patrice playfully, though wishing these damned vines weren't there. Control magic is a bitch.
[80P - 5L]
Luna falls to her knees as the wall dissipates. "ughhh.. i'm done."
"Sorry, Luna. Just need to..." Patrice shoots the vines, willing them to explode. "... finish things off."
She gets slammed back into the far wall from the explosion. You hear her yell, "But I was going to conceeeeeeeeede..."
[It's true. She had brought down the tablet with controls for the battle and was about to press the big flashing red CONCEDE BATTLE button.]
All combatants feel rejuventated as a light washes upon them. All damage and mana loss is reversed and even the Library Arena is gone. Luna teleports to Patrice with the biggest smile on her face. "And there we go. You learned Psychic magic. How do you like the Shard?"
"OK, first off, terribly sorry for that last part. I didn't know there's a concede button. Second off, I think it's... interesting, both the magic part and the Shard part." She puts the gun back into her pockets. "Not everyday one gets to use magic, so this is novel. But I've enjoyed it thoroughly."
Luna stifles a yawn but it manages to get out, "Glad to hear it. You got a really crazy power there. I couldn't... really do much against you, even when channeling Error. I guess what it told me about its history with Moon Mantle is true." Hinata had fallen asleep while watching in her armchair.
"I mean, I cannot use my gun to dispel the fireballs you and Error send at me, so there's a thought there."
"Yeah, i noticed that, but I still felt damage when you struck them. It's weird." She then notices Hinata asleep in her chair and snoring slightly, " Anyway, if you wanna do this again sometime, I'm down. For now though, I gotta take my girlfriend home."
"May you two have a good sleep. And yeah, we can have another go sometime. But first..." Patrice tries to stifle a yawn, but fails. "Let us all rest, apparently."
Luna smiles as she touches Hinata's shoulder and they both disappear. The exit from the Prism Arena is open.
Patrice walks out of the exit, and looks around if anyone is nearby.
[HYPERNOVA VS FLAME FORCE 4]
There are other Arenas with battles happening and some have crowds cheering them on. You hear from one of the crowds the cheering of "HYPERNOVA" over and over despite it being nearly 2 or 3am. This place does not sleep apparently.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she wanders over to the crowd cheering Hypernova. Sleep can wait a bit more.
[In the prism arena here, all you see are quickly paced blinks and explosions, but the emcee explains what's going on, along with a screen showing a play-by-play of the ensuing battle.]
"Hypernova, with a commanding lead, continues to strike her opponent down with her Steam attacks! I don't think Flame Force can handle the heat! One of the Original Four, obliterated by flames... how ironic! Not even Hydro Beam can do anything! Aaaaaaaaaand that's it! HYPERNOVA WINS!"
[You notice Hypernova with her minty green furred rabbit ears does not smile despite winning her match. She just stares at the crowd while they cheer for her. It's almost like she's disgusted by their behavior. Despite the new looks, she looks somewhat familiar.]
Patrice looks at the girl for a long while. "But of course," she finally says softly, her eyebrows raise in understanding. She walks over to that arena's exit, and waits for both opponents to come out.
Flame Force 4 walks out first looking rather exhausted from that fight, muttering "what in the hells below is wrong with me? I couldn't do anything to her." She doesn't notice Patrice while wallowing in her sadness. Judging by her garb, Flame Force looks like a superhero. A fire fighting superhero with a red cape too. Hypernova then exits through the same route and also ignores Patrice. She does not speak, does not turn her head, she just walks with purpose and a destination towards Supernova Arcade
Patrice waits until Hypernova is a safe distance away before following her to the arcade.
[You follow her to the front as she walks in normally. Mind you, while the Prism Arenas are open all night, the arcade closes at midnight as is shown on a sign in front. Despite this, she's able to enter. Do you try to follow?]
Patrice attempts to read the sign to see if there’s any way around it. She notices that it’s an animated sign out on the door itself that shows the moon phase and has revolving text that states "Supernova Arcade is now CLOSED. Please come back at 10am." It seems the Arcade is open daily from 10am to 12am except on Saturdays when they're open until 2am.
Patrice sighs, "Well, this is gonna be fun." She follows inside, takes out the gun, and smashes the sign in with it.
[The sign doesn't break. It appears to be made of a very resilient material. Either that or because your gun is the Shard of Moon Mantle, the Concept of Control, causing chaos with it is impossible.]
She finds the door doesn't open. It's locked as it should be considering the Arcade is now CLOSED.
Patrice grimaces, but accepts it. She looks around for other entrances to the Arcade.
She finds an employee entrance in the back, but that too is locked. It doesn't seem possible to chase after Elara.
"So much for that plan," she mutters quietly. She looks around to see if there are anyone else around.
Other than people by the Prism Arenas, there aren't anyone. You notice there are cameras watching over the Arcade exterior, but past that, it's completely empty.
Patrice walks out of sight of the Arcade, before disappears in a pop of blue.