Timageness

Ugh. Apologies for the absence. My mom... well, let's just say she recently became sick, and not the kind of sick that she'll get better from in a week or two, so I've been helping her out by cleaning her house over the past couple of months. That being said, everything else has sort of been placed on the back-burner as of late. As far as I know, I need to respond as Rail, but is there anyone else I need to reply as? Misery's group hasn't seemed all that active in a while, and Torc's still currently languishing in inactivity with Sim.

IC: Septima - Ga-Koro (Inn - Lobby) I did? Huh... Must have been a bit more hammered than I thought... Briefly shaking off her slightly quizzical expression, the Fe-Toa simply returned the gesture as she slowly forced herself back onto her feet. "Well, now that we're all here, are we ready to head out?"

IC: Torc - Gym "Huh...? Were you... seriously... not paying attention... during the meet and greet...? It's me... Torc...? Yellow Dude...? Your teammate?" And then all Karzahni broke loose. Without warning, and before he even had the chance to fully recover, two Energy Hounds suddenly appeared out of nowhere to take down a member of the other team he didn't even know was nearby, mauling them like a chew toy before tossing their prey off of the rooftop entirely and leaping down after it. The irony of the situation was not entirely lost upon him. "So, uh... that happened..." IC: Rail - Gym Knowing full well that he couldn't avoid the blow completely, he instead tucked his elbow inwards as his other arm moved to parry the attack with his Tiger Claws, allowing the blade to fully penetrate the stone, but only scrape its way up against his actual suit. He then retaliated by driving his knee up towards the seemingly exposed rib cage of his opponent's suit. Given that it was both covered in spikes, and that he was putting what he believed to be all of his Level 3 leg strength into the strike in question, it was probably going to hurt a lot in the event that it actually connected.

I was waiting on a post for Tira too, but I can probably whip something up if you want.

IC: Torc - Gym Finally... caught up... to him... Emerging onto the rooftop shortly after Sim, the Rahkshi of Heat Vision took a moment to lean on his knees for support as he attempted to catch his breath. IC: Rail - Gym Karz...! Oh, wait... nevermind... Thrown off by the weight of his new armor while trying to properly regulate his increased strength, Rail simply took a step backwards in order to avoid the weapon entirely, but didn't quite manage to do so in time as the dagger bit into and cleaved the tip off of one of his elongated spikes. Really need to get this under control. In response, he then aimed his crossbow at the other Rahkshi's chest and fired.

For the sake of determining an actual winner, all existing EP is located inside the arena, and Annona is incapable of teleporting her way outside of it. As for Disintegration immunity, however, there is actually one power set able to afford that; the Rahkshi variant of Stasis Field, which completely prevents its user or target from taking damage of any kind, so long as it's active. BS01 doesn't go into much detail about Annona's self-induced stasis, though, so whether it was simply a state of hibernation or the two function somewhat similarly is up for debate. Do we know that Tren Krom or the EPE even sleep? If they don't, then they don't dream, making Annona's ability useless. I'd imagine the EPE doesn't sleep/dream at all since it's not a biological entity and therefore wouldn't need any rest. Tren Krom, well, I don't know. While he is a biological entity, remember that he was basically the "substitute Great Spirit" and was probably constantly working without rest for quite a while. Dreams in this sense seem to be referring to fantasies, aspirations, and other byproducts of the imagination, such as Tren Krom longing to once again be in control of the MU, or the EP Entity simply wishing to continue its experiments. Both Annona and the Golden-Skinned Being were perfectly capable of using their powers while their targets, the Skakdi residing in GSB's fortress, were wide awake, so I don't believe this would be an issue; Annona just tends to place her victims in trances first before attempting to feed. If sleep was tied to the ability to dream at all, then it would likely be a being's main source of refreshing their own capacity to do so in order to keep them relatively sane, which Tren Krom and the EP Entity might be able to do automatically anyway, just without the need to rest.

Could they, though? Assuming that what it said to Helryx is true, then every drop of itself is potentially capable of containing its own mind, which effectively means that the entire body of the Energized Protodermis Entity is essentially the equivalent of brain tissue. And given that the substance is spread across multiple locations in the Bionicle universe (the GSR, Red Star, space, etc.), I'd imagine that mental attacks would be far less effective against it, simply because of the sheer scale of its mind in comparison, or the increased difficulty they'd have in pinpointing its exact location at any given time, provided that it was even within range of their powers to begin with. Also, that's not even considering the fact that EP is also a fairly volatile and explosive substance by nature. One wrong move, and kaboom. Game over. As for Annona, I'd argue that she just might be able to turn Tren Krom insane as well by feeding off of his dreams. Plus, if she could also do the same with the Energized Protodermis Entity, then it might be possible for her to reach the superheated state she displayed in Sahmad's Tale, as its goal is to just keep experimenting on other beings, so she'd likely have access to a near inexhaustible power source because of its almost infinite variety of outcomes. Either way, this would still definitely be one heck of a fight.

Tren Krom. Annona. The Energized Protodermis Entity. Three characters who have never interacted in canon. Assuming they were all trapped in an arena with no other beings around whatsoever, who would reign supreme, and why?

IC: Rail - Gym Looks like I get to have some fun after all... Following Zas'ma into the building, the Rahkshi of Magnetism quickly surveyed the situation and activated his armor, attempting to hide his ever so slight amusement at the fact that Sliver had been knocked over by someone half her size. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Hopefully, she's still capable of getting back up. Sensing that his other teammate had already chosen her target, he decided to advance upon the distracted archer, attempting to ram the stock of his crossbow into the side of their relatively exposed head.

Posted.

IC: Liar - Gym Because your idiocy got us eliminated before I had the chance to find... him. Without even bothering to voice his reasoning, Liar simply stalked off in anger, exiting the Gym and disappearing into the hallway. IC: Misery - Gym Ugh... So boring... But at least we're not Team Nine... IC: Torc - Gym Torc, meanwhile, had actually followed through with his plan, and was currently trying to stay out of sight as he searched the nearby buildings in an attempt to locate Sim. IC: Rail - Gym Rail, who had descended towards the building with the others, but decided that it was best not to expend a ton of energy engaging a group he could not yet fight effectively, simply kept his attention focused on the other team's hideout, though he scowled a bit as Sliver displayed her power. The difference between them wasn't at all what he found distasteful; he had never been one to actively shy away from adversity, and other students being stronger than he was was practically a given. No, he was far more concerned that she'd go on to completely wipe out the enemy team before he had the chance to put his own new skills to the test and get in a proper workout. But, seeing as to how their team leader was attempting to find a way to flush them all out of hiding, he'd find out if his concerns were justified soon enough.

Yeah, I'm still around. Just haven't been checking in as often is all. Should probably get on that now that things seem to be a bit more active here.

IC: Liar - Gym And just like that, it was over. Returning to his feet, still in possession of most of his weapons and equipment, Liar simply gazed back towards the city of stone... before dashing towards Kri and throwing a cestus-assisted punch directly towards the side of her jaw. It seemed that she didn't have to wait too long for that new dosage of pain after all.

IC: Liar - Gym Karz! Twisting himself in mid air in response, Liar spread his legs, letting the axe head simply pass through the empty space between them... before attempting to clamp his feet down upon the shaft of the weapon as he curled up his back and braced his shoulder blade for its inevitable impact against the floor. Depending on how hard his opponent was holding onto it, this may have been enough to momentarily throw them off-balance. Maybe even help lessen the damage being inflicted on Kri, though if not, it wasn't like he was about to lose any sleep over it. "Guilty as charged," the Dodge Rahk sneered through his patchwork faceplates, their roughly-welded edges now mostly obscured by his current paint job. "Got to protect my good looks somehow." It was then that he leveled his arm towards the side his foe had been ever so kind to expose for him, firing off his razor disk from the launcher mounted on his wrist. At this range, the odds of it becoming deeply lodged within their suit were quite high... if they weren't somehow able to avoid it, that is. IC: Torc - Gym Having previously averted his gaze towards Booger, the crossbow bolt struck true, burying its way deep into Torc's shoulder. Hissing in pain, he reached backwards, snapping it's shaft with his hand, only to glare towards its source of origin and begin to advance. Wait a minute... Where's...? Karz...! "Fall back inside the buildings! We're outnumbered!"

IC: Liar - Gym Given all the noise that they were making, the Dodge Rahk was beginning to wonder why it was taking so long for the other teams to descend upon their position. Ducking briefly behind a wall in order to peek back outside and get a better view of the proceedings, he found himself relatively unimpressed. Two of the enemy team were in the streets, one trying to drag the relatively useless Kri into an alley. Not surprising. Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk, Karz-Head. The other seemed to be trying to chase Lusi into a building. Good luck with that. Fate's almighty "defensive position" was now apparently compromised, seeing as to how their third mystery assailant seemed to now be dropping down into a hole in the roof where said Rahkshi used to be. Ugh... And their fourth member had yet to reveal themselves, which, for the moment, at least, gave them the advantage in numbers. Honestly debating on whether or not they have the right idea here; hide out for a little bit longer, let the ones outside exhaust each other, and wait for the moment to strike. Not like I owe anything to these jerks, anyway. But after a moment of consideration, he inevitably decided against it. Then again, though... Where's the fun in that? One power-assisted dash up to the rooftops later, and Liar suddenly found himself upside-down, readying himself to ambush the sucker attempting to drag Kri into the alleyway from his position above as his limbs strained to keep the rest his body supported between the two semi-adjacent walls of the passage. "Hey... So, uh... yeah," he said, releasing the pressure built up in his legs as he swung himself downward in an effort kick their shared foe square in the back. "Figured you'd want to fight our team's actual VIP instead of beating on this genius all day. You're welcome." Hopefully, the sneak attack and the extremely convincing lie he concocted was enough to divert their attention back towards him for a bit, giving his teammate enough time to recover and turn this utter curbstomping of a fight into a much more favorable two-on-one assault. Granted, he personally didn't think that Kri was intelligent enough to pick up on that, given the current animosity between them due to their earlier spat, but hey, life's just full of surprises... OOC: Should probably wait for Onaku to join in on the fun before posting anything else.