digibutter.nerr

[Para]

I followed suit, all the while aimlessly firing arrows into the growing crowd of enemies.

[Tails Doll]

With one archer behind me, I headed to the hill. The enemies weren't as thick as back behind us, thankfully.

[Louis]

Knowing it was best to stay in a group, but not wise to stick around, he fled with the other two up the hill.

[Zelnor]

[[Excuse me for being a complete ass and not telling you I'd be off to Sweden. However, I usd the time to draw out a plot, so I'll now post my first wall of text that will put me into the position to put the plot into motion. PLOT RESET TIME ! *sound of time rewinding*]]

„ERGH !“
Zelnor was flung through the air, hit by the possessed tree whose abominable face sneered at him. He smashed into the energy barrier cutting him off from his friends. The impact squeezed the breath out of him, and red lightning crackled, burning his cloak and setting his nerves on fire. He slumped to the ground, smoking, panting and clutching his chest. On his fae, bruises were swelling.

“DAMNIT !” I yelled. Several windows had opened in the interface and many of them were blinking alertedly. “HP low, Magic medium, Stats reduced – no !” My right-hand fingers snaked over the keyboard, typing commands whilst my free hand drew gestures in the air with the WiiMote Interface. Another charge, another blast – yet the hacked tree seemed to have no weakpoint, and my countless attacks had only taken away roughly 10 % of its HP. The hacker seemed to be a perfide asshole – he had stripped us of any advanced stats, skills and equipment and removed the Dynamic Battle and Heroic Resolve system, only to give us hope and then brutally crushing it. It was beyond me as to why he didn’t just use ridiculously strong monsters to finish us off, but maybe he was the sadistic type.

Zelnor dodged another branch, flipping in midair and again concentrating. The runes on his cloak crackled and sizzled, but his magic was still flowing, and more Twilight appeared out of the ground. “Focus, concentrate, stay calm – release !” Another red blast of Twilight Energy flew towards the tree and smacked into the bark, singing it but seemed to have no further effect. A sidewards glance showed him that his friends were still trying to claw, smash or bomb through the barrier, yet it repelled them as easily as it trapped him. A movement in the corner of his eye had him instinctively duck – too late as a thick branch caught his head. IT felt as if bursting, lights danced before his eyes and he tasted blood.
Warm blood.
“Oh no.”

One of the gauges went off the scale.
‘WARNING: BERSERK MODE ACTIVATED’
“… Oh, bugger”

Zelnor immediately clutched at his head as the pain intensified, but it was of another quality. He felt the darkness the normally covered half his face expand further, gliding like an alien life covering his, drowning him in shadow – it had crossed the border long ago, but this was the final straw. He felt like falling backwards, felt the anger burning in him and then…
“Let me out.”
He turned around. The terrain, the demonic tree – all had vanished. He stood inside a featureless darkness, facing himself. Only not.
“You know you need me. You are weak. A little shrub beats you to an inch of your life bar. Come on. Let yourself go.”
It was his dark side.
“Never !” Zelnor snapped. “You would destroy all.”
“Why, yes. Sunshine and flowers are certainly dull. I like what that guy made of the place. It’ll be far easier to rule.” The other one sneered. “And, my, what a pretty companion you picked up ! The others seem almost as useless as you, though.”
“*crag* you.”
“Oh yes ?” He came nearer, circling around Zelnor like a vulture over its prey.
“The rules are clear. You go in, I go out. Stop trying to lock me away. I am a part of you. Our parents should have known that our father’s species isn’t quite as tranquil as they seem to be.”
Zelnor closed his eyes. “No. I’m not letting you make me…. do such things again. I’m monster enough already.”
The dark one raised an eyebrow. “I think this is far beyond your choice.”
And he charged.

The map returned, but it was frozen as if my connection had crashed. The tree stood frozen, my teammates petrified. Only the rhythmic beeping of the darkness gauge was to be heard.

“If that AI takes control and kills my teammates, it’s over. Why did I have to create Dark Zelnor as an ingame AI ? Stupid realism. And I don’t have any suppression skills, and my stats are too low to even pretend fighting it… SHIT !”

Time trickled in. Zelnor raised his head. His lips curled back into a smile devoid of any trace of friendliness, exposing lengthened canines. His pupils drew into slits as the darkness covered his face, and the jewel over his nose spread dark lines into his face. The battle soundtrack of the game vanished and was replaced by nothing but silence. Dark Zelnor put out a hand and a long black rapier materialized out of the Twilight. The tree swung another branch – and was blasted away, uprooting it and smacking it against the barrier. “Ah ah ah ! Heh. This should be easy.”

[Tails Doll]

I headed on, to the hill! At this point, I wondered what happened to Zelnor. Was he busy or something? I sure didn't hear him say a word. Just then, I was stopped in my tracks. I feel over on my ass to the ground as if I hit an invisible wall. I forgot! The barrier! It was still there! And the tree...That had to be the source of the shield and the enemies.

"Guys, the hill's off access! We need to get back to the tree."

I ran back to the first area of the "tree". It was there. It quivered, or something. I couldn't tell. This hacker must have been operating parallel to us. I just hope he didn't do anything like deleting Zelnor. I couldn't let that happen... I once got a rare item in the Dragon's Realm Dungeon, and that was my biggest reward, and my biggest punishment. When I acquired it, everything changed.

"Aww, *crag*. He's got me!."

But, everything returned to normal. I think. All my items were fine. Even the item I stowed away. It wasn't lost from the takeover. My stats didn't drop. But Zelnor was still gone. And the tree was invincible. I think. What happened to him? This was starting to get uncanny. Just then, my inventory popped up. And then, I thought, oh no. It was happening again.

[Spiny]

Due to not even knowing the others much, Spike had no idea what was happening.
Why did the soundtrack vanish?
How did Zelnor gain so much strength?
Why the hell did a tree attack them in the first place?

All he could do is wait.