OOC: Sorry for the delay... >.>;; I'm going to skip Nukie's turn for a moment and leave Aeki where she stands. This will change soon, I promise, if Nukie dun come soon, I'll have to just... make an explosion or something. o.o;;

IC:
The players watched the Long arms and Aeki suddenly flash into existence as the barrier fell, a cloud of dark smoke billowing into the sky, slowly breaking off into the air currents, dispersing into the deep painted sky. The more unfortunate player’s connection instantly lagged up and they stood frozen in their positions, faces unchanging and blank. No one seemed to have noticed the lift on the attack lock, their eyes gazing more at the Long Arms that dashed out of the smoke, angry looks on their faces and a Heavy Arm running out after them. Even with the Long Arm's orders, not everyone seemed to remain put.

The crowd developed around the clearing smoke, their eyes turned towards the fight between Aeki and Ayah. They acted as a barrier, the way they stood. To them, all of it was an event, the latest and anything would have captured their attention due to the long period of stale playing. It became the perfect place to hide. The Long Arms had ran past the crowd, feeling as if the NPC was programmed to run further out, away from the crowd.

Heavy panting came from the building just outside of the crowd and away from the battle. No one had noticed her yet. The AI was pressed against the wall, her eyes shut tight, unwilling to see what had become of her. She had ran the moment the barrier fell, but her body was not made to run. The girl looked up, staring at the alleyway's dank wall, a cold emanating from it all.

Tiny particles flickered through the air, crossing paths with her eyes and the wall. Colored, pale and peach. Accompanying it were other pixels, red, white, and shades all in between. The girl's breath slowed, her eyes darting from each speck and trailing towards its origin. Her head turned, mind blank except for the curiosity, and her eyes landed on her own skin.

A gasp fluttered from her mouth and she instantly smothered her shoulder with her hands, but the particles continued to flicker through. "Oh no..." She breathed, and unveiled her wound. There she saw the inside of her own skin. The emptiness, the colors inside the same as out. A hollowness flooded her system. "Not good. This is so not good..." Her hand trailed along the wound. The data from her skin that covered a great part of her shoulder was missing, the particles disappearing into the alleyway. Her wound had stretched to her neck, the small cuts streaming up to her chin.

"They got me... Nearly deleted me completely, but no... They still got me..." She covered her wound again, barely succeeding in veiling it from the world. The AI bowed her head. "This is what I get for picking an NPC... Damn thing can't even keep its skin from being damaged..." She looked up, biting her lip. "This won't do. I've got to find something else... Something to repair... Anything..."

She turned for only a second before another player had impeded her path. A twin blade, a female twin blade. Her wide eyes were locked on the NPC. Her voice came out as a flurry of words.

"so wat's goin on? is this an event or somethign?"

The AI blankly stared at her, mouth open to speak. The tiny particles again flickered before her eyes. The image seemed to make the twin blade smile. She leaned back, waving her hands, where the daggers remained gripped in, in an attempt to capture the tiny lights. The daggers skimmed the AI's nose.

"Ah!" The AI took a step back, knowing that she was still technically an NPC here and needed to act the part. She pointed directly at the battle with her free hand. "An event is being held uh... there."

The twin blade paused, looking down at the NPC. "realli?"

A fake grin spread across her face. "Watch the event and uh... collect the rare er- g-golden orbs! that uh.. fall out." She paused again, rapidly scampering for words. "Come back to me with siixx-five...ish...orbs and uh... I'll reward you!"

The twin blade didn't seem too impressed, the wide eyes still locked on the girl in an accusing glare. Finally, with a brief shrug she turned back to the battle. The NPC wasted no time, the moment the twin blade turned around; she faced the other direction, turning down the opposite end of the alleyway and began at a slow trot. The speed was about as fast as she could go, although she didn't seem to mind. The alleyway wasn't long, but she worried about what to do when she was out in the open. Her wound continued to eat away at her skin.

"My god, I'll rot away before I get anywhere... I might just have to leech off of some--" The moment she turned a corner, her tiny frame slammed face first into another running player. "--rap!!" She stumbled back, her own programmed legs keeping her from falling over, but didn't prevent her from feeling the full effects of collision. She braced herself against a wall, her hand falling away from her wound. For a moment, the flashes of the Long Arms skimmed past her vision, but the attack never came.

The girl looked up, one eye shut, both fearing and curiosity urging her to look. But there was no Long Arm like she had thought. It was a Blade Master, the characteristic one handed sword in the man's hand. It was startling almost, that she could get knocked over by someone as thin as him. Both eyes opened, realizing that the threat was false and she stood up straight. Again she adorned her NPC face. "An event is undergoing down at the uh..." Her eyes wandered for a moment. "At the uh... town... center."

Her eyes wandered again, looking down at Rei who ran down the path, his back to her. Alarm sparked through her mind. There was no way he was out to help her. What irritated her more was the fact that he stood between her and the quickest way to the Chaos Gate. The golden ring was within view, the blue surface glimmering in the light. That was the perfect escape. She instantly turned eyes back to the Blade Master. His name read Balmung in bold white letters, the same shade as the jacket she usually wore. If the Chaos Gate wasn't the best choice, this moment was. Her repair kit stood right before her.

Again she spoke up, grinning again. "If you want some more information on the event, you can ask me. If not, then you should get down to the uh... shopping center before the event ends!"