Log:Preparing for the Final Battle

The Regent Legacy 2014/08/01 Olivia Paragon Porter Toby 12

Another day, another dollar. And another, well, date. Porter was actually awake at something closer to normal time than Porter time. All so that he could track, hunt down, and pester one Para. With an offer of a day of fun. Since she /is/ on a firmly suggested/politely forced/encouraged vacation.

The first stop is fairly standard: the coffee shop and some brunch. Yes, brunch, he really was conscious that early. But it's only a pleasant pit stop on the way to bigger and better things. Or so he implied. Which means it may come as some small surprise that the next place he escorts her ... is a short step across the street and into the gym.

Third dressed for a casual vacation hang out. Or date, if that's what they call these. She's not exactly sure. Currently, she's wearing a gray spaghetti strap tank top and jean shorts with a ragged edge, plus some black sandals. Simple summer-wear that works for city browsing or beach time, since she wasn't really sure what Porter had in mind. She was pleasantly surprised to see Porter exists at these time of day, having never seen it before.

As they leave the coffee shop from a nice, low key brunch, she tentatively reaches for his hand to hold it. It's still difficult for her to take the initiative on such actions, but she's gradually growing bolder. "So, where to next?" she asks with a curious grin, then seems surprised as she realizes he's taking her to the gym. Her face lights up a little, before she looks at him with a puzzled expression.

Porter is full of surprises. Some of them, occasionally, are even loosely planned. And some of those even turn out to be pleasant. Though, so is she, it seems. Her tentative initiative earns her a hand to hold that gives hers a brief squeeze, as well as a warm smile. Which then turns wry at her puzzlement. And is accented by a wink.

He leads her through the lobby and into the workout room at a casual walk. The doors once again are nice to her, and thus forced to allow him in without complaint due to proximity. Maybe that's it? She can open doors that he'd have trouble with.

Once inside, he gestures around the room with his free hand. "Take your pick. I reserved the room for the day." Porter smiles, hoping this is one of the better ideas. At least it's versatile. "If you want a park, we'll park. If you want to train, we'll train. I know we're taking it easy..." and now his free hand comes up to rub the back of his head in a very familiar gesture, "but I know how hard it was for you to sit still at the beach. And you like training." And they could probably really, really use it before literally diving into who knows what in the Water Realm. But he doesn't mention that last part.

Third lifts up on the balls of her feet a little in excitement as Porter announces he reserved the room for the day. Like an excited kid being taken to a toy store. A part of her wants to train. To cut loose. To not have to be so careful or gentle and restrained. She feels a touch of joy that Porter was even willing to do this for her. "I haven't trained in a few days. But I haven't been missing it as much as I usually do. I enjoy sitting still at the beach so long as you're there. It's always interesting," she grins, then seems to think of what she'd like to do here.

She doesn't need a link to tell he's elated by her bouncing joy. The mental feedback loop works even without it. Porter chuckles. "Well... guess it's a good thing it's your pick, then? And it's usually interesting when I'm around." His smile turns wry. "Good or bad, it's usually not dull."

"That's why I like hanging out with you, Porter. Never a dull moment," Third grins. Okay, so she's a bit of an adventure junky. It's not much of a secret by now. "Hmm...well. I had been training to get accustomed to fighting under water. It's...just something that seems relevant, you know? But it's a tough fight simulation. Maybe something lighter to train together with?" she suggests, a bit concerned about how Porter would fair.

The room is current in it's bland, inactive state. Save for the extra little blinking read lights near the doorway that indicate Porter protocol is engaged. Yes, it's a think. The room hates (or fears?) him enough that it needed quadruply-redundant systems on an isolated power source.

Speaking of the devil, he stands with Third in about the middle of the room, grinning happily. Also looking even shorter, since Third is bouncing a little anxiously on the balls of her feet. He shrugs and nods. "Water it is, then. Pretty sure here is safer than the middle of the ocean. You want it, I can do it. Well, we can do it." He waves his free hand to the console to let her set up the water she had in mind. His other is holding one of hers.

Olivia makes her way into the workout room. She is humming to herself. She isn't sure if its in use and then blinks, "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt." she says softly.

Third bounces a few more times before she hears the door open. Still elevated on the balls of her feet, she twists about to look towards the entrance. "Oh, hello, Olivia," she says warmly.

Porter turns and offers Olivia a wave and his smile. "Hey. What's up?"

Olivia smiles a little, "Not much, was just going to come test some things, but I see it looks like yo are already slotted to use the room." she shakes her head a bit.

Porter shrugs and looks to Third and back to Olivia. "Don't think we need the whole room... and we haven't completely decided what we're doing yet. What were you going to test out?"

Third tilts her head slightly. "Yeah, part of it can be sectioned off if it needs to be." She's seen it done a few times. "Besides, you're recently recovering and rehabilitating, right? Don't let us get in your way."

Olivia cocks her head to the side, "Really? that Must be something new. It didn't used to be able to do that." she says and then her skin starts to ooze, excreting a thick liquid that spread over her body and form till it hardens and makes her look like a diamond statue. "Oh just a few things. I haven't fully tested out my capabilities yet."

Third smiles a bit. "My lil' sis Allison made a lot of improvements," she says like a proud older sister would.

"I think the room can do just about anything," Porter shrugs. "If you ask nice enough. I try to stay away from the controls if I can." He now grins and nods with Third. "Yeah, she even tried to make the room me-proof." He points at the blinking red light. "Still not sure it works all the time, but it's way better. Haven't broke the room since. And that's a cool trick, Olivia." She's shinier now.

Diamond smiles a little, "Oh I have been able to do it for a while, but it seems to do more now, like power armor or something giving me muscle mass and armor." she shakes her head a bit, "That is why its a carapace though cause its made out of living material." she shaks her head a bit. "I just have to be careful, I have found I can refract light now." she shakes her head again.

Third leans over to Porter and fake whispers, "Don't point at the light. The protocols don't like it when you point." Third apparently speaks machine wirelessly now? She turns and watches Diamond, listening. "That's an interesting assessment. Living power armor," she nods thoughtfully. "I always thought diamonds were inorganic. I should probably download more information..."

Porter lowers his finger. Even if Third is just messing with him... she has a valid argument. Then he smirks at her. "Well, I think she means out of... herself?" He quirks a brow at Olivia to double-check. Then he pokes Third's side with a finger. "And here I thought you'd be more an expert at pop-out armor stuff..."

Diamond shakes her head, "Diamond isn't. I am more of crystal than diamond but similar to diamond. Either way I am organic." she shakes her head a bit.

Third's mouth quirks up in a slight smile as Porter's side-poke catches a ticklish spot. "I'm an expert in cybernetics. Not really familiar with carapaces. I thought those were bugs," she says as she rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

Porter quirks a brow at her quirking, then shrugs. "Bugs, gizmos, armor, carapaces. They're all sort of the same right?" He's an expert in neither one. "But, anyway..." He looks to Olivis, "You can use the room, too, if you want."

Diamond nods her head a bit and then shakes it, "I am not sure. Always just thought of a Carapace as an external skeleton, or armor, just alive." she shakes her head a bit. She nods and seems to be thinking about what to try.

Third shrugs her shoulders. "Armor," she just summarizes so she can understand it herself. She glances down at Porter. "Well, if training's going to happen, I suppose I should armor up, too," she says as she gently releases Porter's hand and takes a step back. In an instant, her armor spreads out from behind her and snaps around her, enveloping her completely. After another second or two, her eyes power on.

Porter watches the Tin Woman effect with a mild, slightly pre-emptive wince. Then he looks between the two now-armored heroines. "Guess I should get ready, too... Ok, I'm good." Porter quirks a brow at Paragon. "So, you have a water thing already set up, right?"

Diamond giggles a bit at Porter's comment and then raises an eye for a moment. She looks at Third and then back to Porter, still trying to decide what she wants to do herself.

"Okay, slowpoke," Paragon intones with a grin behind her faceplate as she regards Porter. "Let's do this. I have a preset. I just have to arrange it to just take maybe...half the room?" she ponders as she walks over to the control console.

Porter just watches Para set things up. Since he's ready. Whatever he did to get ready, he's ready. He hopes. He just lets her set it up or they may somehow wind up with five halves of the room filled with water. Hmm. Just in case, he takes a couple of deep breaths, too. Breathing. Slightly important.

Diamond cocks her head to the side, "What were you going to do?" she asks a bit curiously.

Paragon's fingers tap, scroll, and glide across the console touch screen as she starts setting parameters. Her eyes are locked on the screen as she responds in her mechanical, tin-can echo, "We're doing a training scenario for underwater conditions to help us prepare." Her glowing eyes squint down as she looks at some of the drop down options. "But if you required something else due to your recent health changes, perhaps we can help with that. This could probably wait."

Diamond cocks her head to the side, "Can do underwater if you want." she says softly, "Just throw in some heavy targets. Maybe underwater mines..." she seems to think, "Wonder how I would do next to one of those if it blew."

"Underwater mines. I didn't think there'd be any of those..." Paragon ponders to herself. "I have some idea of what we'll be up against. I never accounted for possibly traps or arsenals." She seems to be mostly talking to herself. "Hmmm. Tests." Her fingers dance across the screen in search of some additional settings.

"It's Ok. You can run it when you're ready, Para." Porter then has to look at Olivia after her wondering. And blink. "Really? You know, armor doesn't make people everything-proof... but seems like it makes them think they are..." A smirk follows. "Might want to start with something smaller. Water balloons or something?" And see? Now Olivia's giving PAragon ideas...

A few more taps and touches fill out the parameters. Suddenly, the rear half of the room shimmers and darken as a wall of water forms, like looking into an aquarium. Beyond the wall, a underwater world can be seen. Dark, barely illuminated, cold. It's somewhere along the ocean floor depths. "Careful, you won't be able to breath in there. And it's cold."

Diamond cocks her head to the side, "Are you planning on a mission or something?" she asks and then cocks her head to the side, "I don't need to breathe." she offers after a moment and then raises a brow, "I am pretty hard to hurt. Don't know for sure till I try though."

Paragon's eyes dim slightly. "Yes, a mission. A strike force. Something like that," she says as she finalizes a setting and turns around to face Diamond and Porter. Inside her HUD, a bar appears, like a hit point counter.

The rear half of the room shimmers and darken as a wall of water forms, like looking into an aquarium. Beyond the wall, a underwater world can be seen. Dark, barely illuminated, cold. It's somewhere along the ocean floor depths. Paragon stands near the door by the console, having just finalized some settings, and is facing towards the rear of the room, talking to Diamond and Porter.

Diamond cocks her head to the side, "Do you need help?" she asks and she is in her armored form and looks between the two and then into the rear half.

Porter watches as the wall of water expands into an aquarium. "I'm hoping fake water doesn't keep you from breathing, anyhow..." Because he has to.

Paragon makes a rumbling whine inside her chestplate as she Hmmms. "It doesn't allow for breathing on its current setting. But I can change that."

Toby finds his way into the workout room, before spotting the trio. He smiles, offering a wave, "Hi there!" Examining the ocean, Toby rubs the back of his head, "Uh, what's that about?" Then a glance gets shot at Diamond, "And uh, crystals. Olivia?" Toby's tone of voice implies he wants the crystaline figure to be diamond.

Diamond nods her head, "Hello and yes I am Olivia, also Diamond, whatever works." she says and then chuckles just a little bit.

"Yeah, could you?" Porter grins at Paragon. "Don't want to waste my drowning on training." He then turns when someone else comes in. "Oh, hey Toby. Yeah, we're just setting up a training thing. For before we go swimming for real."

Paragon's head pans to Toby and her mechanized voice announces warmly, "Hello, Toby! That," she motions to the wall of water, "Is a ...very vague approximation of the plane of water. Like that time we got sucked through that rift to the plane of air?"

Paragon does an about face to look at the console and taps a few more things on the screen to remove the breathing issues from the scenario.

Diamond blinks, "Ah. Well that make sense now I think I understand. Well I can definitely help, I have done extraplanar and portal work before, suited for things with my invulnerabilities."

Toby smiles! "Cool! Sorry I had to take off like that yesterday." He also offers a nod towards Porter and Third. But he frowns on the notion of 'swimming'. He doesn't want to remember his friends might not be returning. "Yeah, I remember the plane of air." He nods, shrugging a bit. "Maybe I could somehow help you guys with training?"

Paragon hits save and execute, then turns around again to face the others. "Your help would be much appreciated in the training simulation, since the others who agreed to go aren't here."

Porter thought he was ready before. Now that breathing's covered, maybe he will be. Then he thinks of something else and decides to slip out of his shoes and shirt. Not like he's goin to get sunburned on the virtual bottom of a virtual ocean. "Yeah, you could always make sure there's some of those floaty rings and rope handy?" He suggests to Toby. "Might need some. And now I'm ready. Pretty sure." That's mostly for Paragon and Olivia.

Diamond nods her head and smiles a bit. "Ready here as well." she says and then shakes her head a bit. She is looking forward to stuff other than just some simple testing."

Toby takes off his shirt and eyepiece, and lays them aside. No need to get those wet now, right? Porter had a good idea there. "Alright, uh, did you want me to help with the fight or... Just sort of stand by here?" Toby shrugs, looking between the others

"Help with the fight, if you'd like," Paragon encourages. "I know you can handle yourself."

Paragon starts to stride towards the wall of water. She hasn't got anything to strip off to prepare. As she hits the wall of water, the wall ripples slightly. Once she's on the other side, she seems to move slower from the water resistance. Her eyes cast the barest of light, slightly illuminate the water a few inches around her eyes.

Watery Depths

It's dark and cold along the ocean floor. Murky shapes can be seen in the distance, barely: Underwater mountains and rocky formations. An old ship wreck. Silhouettes of large aquatic predators, much larger than those usually found in Earth's oceans.

Porter said he was ready, and now it's time to prove it. He heads for the water after Paragon. Passing through is an ... interesting sensation. At least he won't have to worry about getting overheated. It's actually kind of refreshing compared to the summer heat. In a gloomy, oppressive sort of way.

Toby shrugs, and heads into the water himself. He surrounds himself with his pink aura, but, it doesn't seem like his telekinetic movement works too well underwater. "So uh, how will this work?"

The water is almost shockingly cold compared to the summer heat and even the air-conditioned room. Paragon shivers a little and plods forward along the ocean floor bottom. Shapes of sea creatures swim about high above them, mere fuzzy silhouettes. She turns around slowly to see where everyone's at. Some distance ahead of her, in their idle animations, is a woman floating with dark hair and exotic eyes, scowling, with two giant snake-like wyrms with scaled armor and maws filled with teeth, each as big as a two-story house. Shadowy figures seem to float behind them, or maybe it's a trick of the light. Or coral and seaweed.

Porter immediately scowls at the water woman and her pets. Idle or not. "Those are the bad guys," he points out with a slowed rising arm and pointing finger. It's getting a workout today. He's a little surprised that bubbles aren't coming out of his mouth... but then he wouldn't really be able to talk, either. Then he looks over to Toby, then to Paragon as he steps up beside her. "Or are we talking about a plan?" He probably left that in his other shorts.

Diamond cocks her head to the side and then moves through into the water. She has no problems, since she doesn't breath, she just moves slowly. She looks around just a little bit. She joins the others at the bad guys are pointed out.

Toby is at home in the cool water as he looks towards the sea creatures, and points at them. The pointing hand starts to glow brighter and brighter, apparently trying to add some light to the creatures. Toby offers a nod towards Porter, and hmms, "Did you want to come up with a plan?"

Paragon's voice sounds a little lower and more resounding under water, and a little muffled, but audible. "Strategy. The plan is to knock her out and capture her, so that the elemental lords can try her for her crimes. If we can stop her, maybe her followers will fall more quickly afterwards. I think we should focus on her."

Diamond cocks her head to the side, "How tough is she?" she asks. She is considering a few things, "All out slugfest, or do we need something special?"

Paragon turns her head to Diamond. "Fast and tough. She commands all the elements except air. She's deadly, so be careful. You won't actually get hurt here beyond maybe getting knocked out, but the projects in the room will simulate the appearance of damage to help you gauge how you're doing." After a thoughtful pause, she asks, "Something special? Like what?"

"She's a bi-yeah, what Para said," Porter defers to her more practical description. "So focus on her. I can do that..." Now he looks to Diamond, too. "Special probably can't hurt. Like everybody smack her at once special? Or hey look at this really big cannon I found special?"

"Working together? Catching her off guard?" Toby suggests, looking between the Para and Diamond. He then smiles towards Porter, "Getting Lucky?" He giggles, before looking back towards the Paragon. "So wait, how does she command all elements except for air? I haven't been around much lately?"

Diamond nods her head and then lifts her hands and in the water the knuckles of her hands shift and change and then form into spikes. "Special, I Have claws too that are for like ripping through tank armor." she shakes her head a bit.

Paragon nods once to Toby. "Remember Arion? This woman is the person who is trying to send shadow assassins to kill him," she points to the floating woman with flowing hair. "She and Arion are the last heirs to Regent's legacy. If she kills Arion, she inherits his powers as well and will rule the planes as a powerful tyrant."

Paragon's eyes dim. "She's still flesh and blood. We're not here to kill. We're here to capture," she responds to Diamond's suggestion.

Diamond nods, "That is why I asked how tough." she says and then her hands shift and return to normal but her arms change and get more muscular, like she put on a lot of muscle strength. "All set then."

Toby offers a nod to Paragon. "Just... you guys be careful when doing the actual thing, alright?" Toby offers supportively. "Here, I think we're ready, though."

Porter nods all around. "So, let's go say hi?" He even makes a point of cracking his knuckles. Though in the slow-mo from the water, it probably looks more like he's thumb-wrestling himself. And losing. "So, focus on her, distract the sea monsters if we have to. Let's go." Maybe he just wants to prove he's ready. Maybe he has a score to settle. Maybe he just had to pee five seconds after stepping into the water.

Porter starts walking forward. Slowly.

Paragon nods to Toby, grinning softly behind her faceplate. "That's why we're practicing. Although this isn't really close to the real thing. Just an extrapolation I made from data points. Hopefully...this will go well this time," she nods. She turns to follow Porter, moving slower than her already slow, purposeful stride usually ease. As Porter crosses a certain threshold, he aggros the 'boss'. Ariel and her pets start to animate beyond basic idle animations.

Ariel raises a hand as water swirls around it in a vortex, building up power and momentum. As she lowers it, the water blasts out in force towards Paragon.

The water crashes against Paragon's chestplate and flows around her, only seen by the bubbles and effects of the currents. She seems unmoved.

Toby nods towards Paragon, and frowns towards the attack, before eying Ariel. The light Toby holds that's illuminating the water as best it can fades into ball of energy, which gets chucked at Ariel!

Toby's energy sphere goes flying past Ariel, and instead impacts the ground somewhere a long way away

Diamond moves forward well as good as she can, it means a leap through the water but she doesn't go as far, so she just leaps up next to Ariel and stops.

Porter doesn't like the watery tart one bit, even if she isn't tossing scimitars at anyone. She's has all the power of Arion and the some. Hey, wait. Arion flared up that one time, and added new ventilation to Para's armor from all that power. By accident. That means there could be more power than control. Wouldn't it be nice if she got a taste of her own medicine? And how can fire and water mix, anyhow? Unless you're in a sauna or making ramen, at least.

Ariel floats arrogantly, her hands seething with energy. Seething and fizzling slightly. She grits here teeth and shakes her hands once or twice before resuming her arrogant sneer.

The Naga's maws open as they perceive threats to their mistresses, despite having no eyes. They swim forward like eels, jaws opening. One goes for the approaching Diamond. The other for Toby, who just shot at Ariel.

The two naga headbutt Toby and Diamond with their scaly heads.

Diamond gets hit but shrugs most of it off.

Toby gets hit, but he goes nowhere, and looks completely unharmed.

Paragon steps down and coils, and with extra force, she leaps at Ariel with her fist drawn back. She doesn't move as fast or as far as usual, but it's enough to close the distance.

Ariel smirks as Paragon leaps towards her, easily moving aside from the punch. She thrusts her hand forward and a shard of crystal manifests in the palm of her hand, shooting out for Paragon, since she's the immediate threat.

Toby keeps his sights focused on Ariel, as he literally just ignores the serpents, charging up and throwing another pink-energy-TK-ball-thing (tm) at Ariel!

The crystal shard flies out and scrapes through the armor along Paragon's ribs, sending her up and back in the water. She falls much slower and bounces off the ocean floor. The rent in her armor is only a projection by the room. Her HUD hit point counter shortens, and her screen flashes an alert of a simulated armor breach along her side with a blue schematic version of her, with the rib section illuminated in red.

The ball dissipates on a watery shield surrounding Ariel. A little of the energy gets through, but she's unmoved once again.

Diamond is up cose and personal and so she tries to punch Ariel, driving her fist towards her.

Ariel leans out of the way of the punch and smiles ruthlessly. The Naga hiss and screech. One tail whips at Toby. The other goes back after Diamond and opens its jaws.

A naga tail slaps Toby. Another tries to snap hits jaws down on Diamond and misses.

Toby barely notices the tail slap, as he's far more focused on Ariel.

Porter frowns. More. He also hopes that Para's estimations are a bit off. He remembers Ariel being tough, but... And with all those beasts flapping around. Wait. That's a lot of water moving, stirring up flotsam and jetsam. And since the y're flanking Ariel, it all sort of whirlpools in her vicinity. From shed fish scales to lost naga teeth to remnants of unsuccessful heroes, it all congregates in her way. And it's water-logged and... gooshy.

Paragon gets back up to her feet instantly, taking a second to get her bearings. And then it's back into the fray! She has some ground to cover, so she just dives right at Ariel.

Ariel floats back effortlessly from Diamond and Paragon, putting another 10 meters of distance between her and the heroes. Her hand raises up and another crystal shard shoots out, this time at Diamond.

Diamond takes the crystal against her body and it just shatters, not hurting her.

Toby eyes the others, before looking back to Ariel. Toby nods, before he rushes through the water, charging up another sphere on the way to Ariel, and trying to unleash it directly into her face!

Porter thinks it's geting crowded around Ariel. Good! And he can help with that. Well, he and his hand-dandy gizmowhatchathingiemabob. With buttons. That he presses

Porter hits buttons and gets... an unhappy buzzing noise.

Toby flies past his target, if only just.

Ariel raises a perfectly arched brow at the unhappy buzzing sound behind her. She shifts about, rotating with thought as the currents turn her. Her palm holds out towards Porter's chest as power coalesces and a shard starts to form.

Diamond leaps through the water, closing the distance again but it leaves her unable to do anything else.

Toby eyes Porter's buzzing noise and Ariel, and adds the two together as he notices Ariel's chargeup. Toby nods to himself, and flies to intercept the attack. And he does, without the attack doing /anything/ to him, besides just making him scowl at Ariel.

The naga surge back to their mistress, attacking the two closest risks to her. Right now, that appears to be Toby and Porter, whom they try to bite down on.

Toby is bitten! But the fangs aren't even strong enough to break Toby's skin. He shoots a glare towards the Naga, shaking his head, before looking back to Ariel.

Paragon leaps up and over the trail of the Naga, trying to land on Ariel with a plated knee.

Porter does something he's actually somewhat good at. He ducks. Which means he doesn't get eaten by a sea monster. Not yet.

Paragon lands where Ariel was as she dodges slightly. Seeing herself surrounding, she frowns and a swirling shield of water appears around her, then starts to expand.

Paragon is barely effected by the blast of water.

Toby actually felt that one! But he's still not that affected. It'll take a lot of those to really hurt him.

Porter can't duck the ... whatever the shockwave thingy is that expands towards him. Ow. It also spins him around, leaving him flailing as up goes to down, to left, to... what happens if you vomit underwater?

Diamond isn't that bothered by the effect. She frowns, "Now that just isn't nice." she says and she is going to try to punch her again.

The naga round on Diamond and Toby, each trying to bite down and grab hold of them.

Paragon clasps her left hand over her right fist, facing Ariel sideways. She thrusts her right elbow out, using her left hand to help drive it home.

Ariel goes for the last person who attacked her, raising her hand again towards Paragon. A cracking sound is heard as crystal shards form.

The shard shoots through Paragon's armor, punching a hole along the abdominal plating and shooting through the other side and sending Paragon tumbling away long the ocean floor. "Systems: Nominal," she intones for herself as more red alerts show up on her schematics.

With Diamond being held, Ariel turns her attention to the sparkling heroine, an orb of water swirling into existence in her hand, which she throws at Diamond.

Diamond growls as she is held. Her body shifts a bit, loosing some muscles and then without warning she slams her fists together with an echoing blast or shockwave.

Porter finally rights himself, and what does he see? Sea monsters wrapped around half of his friends. Para blasted clean through and floating away. Even if it's all training and illusory, it doesn't look good. And it doesn't help that he's seen Paragon's armor with a real through-and-through, not all that long ago. Which is why the $#@! Ariel and the naga she rode in on is damned real. Because this is the sort of thing he WON'T have happen when they go for real. So, near-Regent with near-limitless power? Let's see how limitless it might nearly be. They say if you sneeze with your eyes open, you'll lose an eye. What happens if you sneeze while conjuring plane-spanning power? Hopefully a lot worse.

Or it could do absolutely nothing.

The room is set up in a simulation of the ocean floor. It's a rough cobbled together simulation based on Paragon's limited experiences from her house being destroyed and dealing with Arion and other planes. An exotic looking woman floats in the water, unharmed mostly be the heroes attempts. Diamond and Toby are trapped in the crushing maws of Naga. Porter is floating nearby Ariel. And Paragon lies several meters on the ground with a gash along the ribcage of her armor, and a hole straight through her abdominal plating.

And yet, Paragon sits up, her eyes adjusting in size. Inside her HUD, the simulated feedback from the room flashes red, reading the damage as if it were real. She hasn't, or shouldn't, have much left in her despite feeling relatively fine. Toby and Diamond are untouchable, but also restrained, and Porter's left facing Ariel without anyone near to back him up. The fight's gone better than her previous solo runs at least, but it's a downhill battle and morale could drop if it continues to its final conclusion. "End Simulation," Paragon finally calls it. The room pauses, and Ariel and the Naga fade out, leaving Toby and Diamond free. The underwater scene starts to fade, and anyone floating drifts softly to the ground before the room returns to default settings.

Diamond blinks and then shakes her head and sighs a bit, "Hmm."

Toby drops to the floor, and sighs, getting back up. He rubs the back of his head, "You said others were going to help, too, right?" He doesn't look too happy with the result.

Porter may not actually be wet (which makes his preparations of removing shirt and shoes seem a bit silly, in hindsight), but he might as well be. Since he seems... steaming. Not having to worry about any injuries, since it was a simulation, leaves him just angry. A muttered stream of colorful invective emerge from his scowl as he trudges to retrieve his clothes. Paragon might need to look a few of them up online. Heck, Porter may not even know what some of them mean.

Paragon rises up to her feet, the simulated damage fading out as well, leaving her looking in mint...well, good condition. The room is dry, as is everyone else.

Paragon nods to Toby. "Yes, there'll be more of us. And we were very defense heavy. We probably would've been able to last a lot longer, but we weren't going to put a dent in her at that rate. She's too fast." Her head tracks Porter as he cusses. Some search results pop up in her HUD with definitions and then minimize as she starts to walk over to him, coming up from behind. "Porter? It's okay. We did really well. We maintained without our main attackers and half a team."

Toby grumbles, and sighs. He's not happy about how hard that was, really. Toby shakes his head, looking towards the others. "I think I do want to come with you guys, though. You're going to need all of the help you can get to stop her."

"Really?!" Porter asks Paragon without looking at her as he pulls his shirt on. Then he turns and pokes her in the chestplate. "So you getting holes shot clean through you... and Toby and Diamond getting nice big sea monster hugs... and me... not doing a damned thing... is a good thing?!"

Paragon nods to Toby. "We could use the help. Really. Our forces are already divided. We need people to stay here and watch Arion in case she sends her minions after him. But they won't stop coming for him unless we stop the Water heir. That's why we're going."

Paragon's head turns back to Porter and tilts slightly as he pokes her chestplate angrily. "No, not good. But well enough. We maintained. We could've held out longer. Even though I was damaged, I was lucid enough to keep fighting. I just didn't think we should drag it out. There was enough data to understand that a new strategy was needed," she says quietly and clinically. But then she realizes that's probably not what Porter needs right now.

Porter frowns. It's different from a scowl. Better? Worse? Hard to tell. He also stares at Paragon's gaze.. Well, at her ...glowy helm eye lights, anyhow. Not quite a glare, and not quite as if she'd suddenly sprouted a second head (with contrasting yet coordinated colored eye lights of its own). Somewhere in between.

"Great. So you could lucid your way into picking up new holes. And Toby could get squeezed a little longer. And..." He forces something vaguely resembling a sigh, but it's through clenched teeth. "... I could stand there and watch."

"That girl is the powerhouse, not her minions. I'm sure the heros back here can handle them. And frankly, if I /don't/ go, who else will take hits so you don't get hurt? They didn't so much as break my skin." Toby asks, his inner hero probably talking for him. He smiles confidently, and looks between the others. "We need a way to actually /hit/ her without her dodging. To stop her from moving so damn fast. I can tank the hits better than you guys can, but we'll need some firepower to actually take her down. And I'm going to see if PL can do /something/ to me to give me more strength."

Paragon's eyes blink off and on. And she gets a sudden notion in her head. Her armor splits apart and retracts away, and Third steps up to Porter after he sighs. She wraps her arms around him and pulls him into a big hug. "You wouldn't just stand there and watch. We're going to be okay. We'll have more heroes at our side. Just listen to Toby there; He'll help out, too," she says soothingly to try and encourage him. She just holds him for a few moments to comfort him.

Porter ... is suddenly hugged. Which makes it difficult to glare, or stare, or poke. Which leaves him wrapping his arms around her as about the only option. And leans. A lot. Maybe it's a good thing it's a firm hug. On the bright side, he isn't saying much anymore.

Toby hugs Porter as well, extra comfort! "We'll find a way through this, guys, I swear. I don't know what it'll take, but damnit, we'll find a way through it. All of us will leave that place alive." Toby offers, very serious, very confident. "We'll need to bring it all. Hopefully, it'll be worth it."

Third smiles down at Toby as she maintains the hug. "Yeah, Toby's right. We got this. We'll win, we'll come home, and we'll do that beach party to celebrate our victory. But maybe for now...for now, why don't we get you a chili dog and some coffee?" she says softly.

Porter whispers: ... I'm .. scared..

Porter might be saying something, but it's mumbled into Third's chest. He finally lifts his head, slowly, and sighs again. A genuine sigh, which is probably an improvement. He lowers his arms and nods a little blankly at Para. "Ok." Porter doesn't seem angry anymore, at least. He looks over and down at Toby and pushes out a slim smile. "Thanks."

Toby giggles, "Sounds good to me, maybe without the chili though. I dunno, does Chili have cheese or anything in it?" He telekinetically grabs his radio transceiver and shirt, putting both of them back on, before looking up to the two of them.

Third pulls back from Porter as she ends the hug, but she slides her arms up to his shoulders and smiles softly. "Okay? Okay." She looks over to Toby. "Chili dogs come with and without cheese. Your choice. Just have to ask," she grins softly. "I know a diner that has the best chili dogs ever. And there's less risk of dropping it when you're sitting at a table." She looks back to Porter, still smiling reassuringly as she squeezes his shoulders lightly and lets go, lowering her arms to her sides.

Porter can't help but smirk a little at mention of a table. On top of coffee and chili dogs? "That sounds great. You charmer." Obviously, she has great insight into the complex psyche of the Porter. He glances at Toby. "And you can get it without the cheese." Sacrilege, but it can be done.

"Thanks. You know cheese and stuff like that uh... doesn't like me anymore." Toby offers, shrugging a bit. Toby jumps and surrounds himself with a pink aura, floating up to eye-level, "Need a lift?"

Third knows her friend well. She breaks into a smile and steps up alongside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Do I know you, or do I know you? So, shall we grab some dogs?" she looks at the pair of them. "Hmm...free telekinetic lift? Could be more comfortable than me carrying you and leaping around?" she says to Porter, seeing if he's game for a flight via Toby Airlines.

Porter chuckles meekly and shrugs. "Sure." It would save the risk of more annoyed doohickey buzzing at him.

Toby smiles towards both of them, and heads outside, and as soon as the others are outside as well, he grabs them with his telekinetic light, and off they go! Insert appropriate sci-fi whoosh noises here.