[ti]event[/ti] Mile High Club (Pre-Raid Event)

Orion watched in horror as Foxy crashed the the ground like the authorial credibility of JK Rowling after a couple tweets.  "FOOOOOOX!"  Orion would howl, about ready to turn face, return to surface, and render aid.  Yet it seemed like homie Bee had other things in mind, landing on his board and suddenly turning this flight into the most Bro-Mantic flight of the ages.  Foxy had paid a price to distract the red light, and now Greenlight meant GO GO GO.  He didn't want to leave a Bandanadito behind, but he managed to catch sight of her simply looking winded, so she wasn't in any immediate danger of whiting out.

Thanking God for his magnetic metal boots more and more every day, Orion put the pedal to the medal and shot a quick command back to Bee.  "HOLD ON TIGHT!"  And began to shoot the board forward with all the speed he could muster.  The assistants at the red light didn't even have time to aim, he simply shot forward past the death beam and straight into the green beam which might as well have been standing still.  Leading Orion to the conclusion that if he couldn't outmaneuver whatever all this training for, he most certainly could try to outrun them.  

Once through the beam, he arced a sharp U-turn, the blood draining from his face as he arced back around and pointed the nose towards Foxy.  Once his target was lined up, he hit the gas and gunned it for their downed comrade.  "Foxy!  Get ready to hop on!"  Turning to Bee he would grin.  "Bee, get ready to catch, we're gettin our third across the finish line!"

No homie left hanging.  

❝Hey, as far as I know, I haven't done anything to offend the Duckletts!❞ he was glad to see that his teammates seemed to be perfectly capable of controlling themselves in flight, but he made sure to keep a close eye on them - he had to put some distance if in case they wobbled or suddenly shifted their course, which could easily lead to them crashing into each other. His chosen aircraft allowed him to hover in place for brief periods of time, but it was easier to be in constant movement, even at slow speeds. The question though was how much battery this thing had, or whatever was powering it to keep it afloat. As much as possible, Killian didn't want to be up in the air too long, since the longer he was up here, the higher the risk.

(But this was a game and maybe it was a nice game? He really couldn't be certain since death was a mechanic...)

Anyway, they didn't reach the Ducklett ring before Cygnus began speaking again, which somehow Killian heard clearly (game logic?). He was talking something about most of them not succeeding, which he expected (low expectations much?) and that they now had another goal to hit. Specifically, a moving green beam. There were also red beams that...err, what? Did he not notice that he glitched out when he was talking about the red beam? And what did he mean he hadn't tested it on women, what happened to the men?!

As if to answer his question, a foolish player immediately thought it was fun to try getting hit by the red beam. She ended up looking like a bug that got hit with a zapper, crumpling and falling into the ground. Again, like a bug. Killian did not want to become a bug (though at least she was still moving and alive, it seemed).

His teammate did not seemed too phased by the strangeness then sudden additional danger in their situation. He listened to her explanation with furrowed brows, but he did try to absorb the information. Actually, he did get the part when she mentioned Mario Kart. While he never fully figured out how the boosting thing worked, there was indeed a mechanic like that. Would it really apply here? ❝I guess it's worth a shot--oh shit!❞

The red beam was no longer distracted by its previous prey and struck Yggyuana, or so Killian thought. To his surprise, she had somehow appeared much higher than earlier. Was that some kind of skill? She didn't seem bothered by it at all, but it didn't look like teleportation...was it? He shook his head, agreeing that they have been hovering for too long. They were sitting (airborne) ducks for the lasers. ❝Okay, any plan's better than sticking around. Let's go!❞

He elected to ignore the guild thing for now - he still had a number of requirements to fulfill before he could even think of that. Anyway, flying first!

Thanks to Jinx's aid, and Kazuki's manhandling, they all managed through the ring of ducklett. And, no nearly had they gone through than Cygnus was calling again. Expressing his... astonishment that anyone at all had managed to do as he'd asked.

Well then.

Cygnus kept speaking, and his words buzzed with static, and he felt his ears pin irritably as the man continued to speak. "What...?" He had no idea what the man had tried to say. Just that it... hadn't been tested on women?

The issues were rapidly compounding- the ducklett ring, hard to find as it was, was still a physical thing that allowed sound to reflect off of it. Beams, on the other hand, were not tangible, which meant he had no idea at all where they were. The red beam's inherent malice notwithstanding.

The second problem was the person who had shot into the sky- towards the red beam, by the disheartened cries of their team- and then they simply dropped hitting the ground with a crunch.

Verai felt his hand reflexively tighten on Kazuki's arm.

"How are we going to get there?" He asked, more of a musing than a real question.

Adarsa slowly blinked his eyes open. He was looking up at the sky, still daylight but dark and intense with purpose and potential. He was falling, drifting slowly through rain-touched air. The wind was cool, ruffling his cloak and ruff around his shoulders, but he didn't feel afraid. It felt... peaceful. Like he was right where he was meant to be.

A voice cut into his hazy thoughts, not the voice of of a lover, but... the strangely female voice of his ex. Adarsa's brows furrowed, and he looked up at her face- She seemed content, at a bare minimum, like this was someplace she belonged. But-

But where was that?

Adarsa realized he was not laying down, floating, but instead he was being carried- Tuesday holding him by the shoulder and under the knees. "What-" He squawked, naturally and predictably writhing a bit in Tuesday's arms, unable to get out in any capacity. "Why- Didn't we do it? I thought- Didn't we get through the rings?!" He cried, not understanding how any of this worked. When Tuesday shouted, he swiveled a bit, trying to locate Saint. How could Tuesday have just.... lost him?

Could he fly on his own? He had no idea. And, besides... it was nice being this close to Mars again...

Well, at least Zac was able to get through the ring. Which was fine, because it didn't look like one was going to be eliminated from this event unless they were completely incapacitated, which was also not a good thing because there was indeed a possibility of that happening. He kept a careful eye at his teammates before hearing what Cygnus had to say, but winced at the sound of static or some kind of garbled noise for some parts of that message. The red did what? Ugh, as much as it piqued his curiosity, it would be best not to get hit by it. Find and fly to the green, avoid the red, that didn't seem to be difficult--

And one such person decided to test it out, or maybe sacrifice herself in favor of getting her teammates a better shot -- no, it looked like she was just excitable and paid the price for it. Shaking his head in disdain, he focused his attention back to his teammates, namely one that was starting to go off way from the birds/ducks and couldn't perceive the green lasers much further up. ❝This is dangerous, we will need to get to a laser and then go to the ground as quick as possible.❞ he again thought about holding one of the handlebars on Zac's bicycle to guide him properly, but what if a red laser crossed through them and hit them both?

Ah, if they weren't going to move, then Zac was going to go off on his own. ❝Hey, not sure if you heard Cygnus, but we need to fly higher to reach the green lasers. Let's try to reach a higher altitude first.❞ he made sure to raise his voice in case he couldn't be heard, but to hell with acting like how he was supposed to look like right now, the situation was crazy as it is without his supposedly brooding nature. He was fairly sure that Morpheus was able to get the instructions too, but it was hard to keep track of them both while the sky was peppered with other players trying their hand at flying and whizzing around.

A couple of moments later, the red laser would suddenly cut through players, narrowly missing many as it soared and swiped around in the air. Looks like its playtime with the first player ended, and now it was ready to look for more prey. It hadn't swiped too close to where Kallisto and his teammates were, but as soon as he thought that, it started to move towards their direction. He called out to the others to avoid it, but just as he was about to move away as well, it seemed to decide to focus on him, making the laser graze his shoulder. Even if it wasn't a direct hit, it somehow felt like he was burned--no, something else--he couldn't quite describe it but it hurt like hell. It seemed to concentrate on where it grazed his skin before feeling like it was creeping through the rest of his body, but since he didn't bathe his whole body in the light, he was still able to keep the wings in flight. Things were starting to spin though, fuck.

❝What kind of blasted, stupid event is this?❞ he snarled, thinking if he should just go back to the ground or still try to reach the green light anyway. Against better judgment, he flew upward, squinting as he tried to aim for the closest green laser he could find.

Laguna and Sarah Lee made a marvelous pair. They weighed the same (or near enough for the game's balancing system to call it even), and with their arms linked the anti-gravity effect of Sarah's belt merged with the natural manouverability of the surfboard to provide one hell of a smooth ride. It was like they were surfing across waves of buoyant foam, being lifted higher into the air with every turn.

As Laguna kept them swerving smoothly towards the goal, Sarah had one hand on her altimeter. Moving up and down had never been the problem for her, and now that she could focus on fine-tuning their height she felt the feel for flying really kicking in.

She felt the heat of an explosion behind them and accounted for the incoming wave of heat, pulling them down just as the unwanted updraft sought to send them up and over their goal. They cruised easily through the ring of Ducklett, and after Cygnus explained the next challenge she set her sights on the green light high in the sky.

But where was Bergamot Gristleborg?

"I don't like this," Sarah said, eyes darting across the field like the protagonist in a teen horror movie. "I just know she's around here, waiting to pop out. But she already did her grand entrance! Nobody could possibly have planned two dramatic entrances for the same event, right?"