A Good Showing

[madimpossibledreamer]

Ibaraki & Shuten Doji’s “urban” outfits just grabbed my imagination. With claws.
So ever since I watched Log Horizon, specifically, I had a thought in the back of my head about the Buffy crew getting stuck in a game, but all the fantasy-style MMORPGs weren't working in my imagination.
But then I watched the Burn Up music video for Onmyoji and it pretty much didn't stop from there.  Cyberpunk aesthetics are just fun.  I even found a theme song pretty quick (Salvation Code by Scandroid).  Although sadly it's a lot of backstory and not much actual fic as of yet.  I hope you enjoy nonetheless.
~Dreamer

Main Points:
Buffy AU (Elysium Cipher)
Chapter Summary: [Valichar] ('Xander') gets interrupted during his arena match.
Word Count: 1234
Rating: Teen

 

         “So, I interrupt your little brooding session or what?” [Kairias] (‘Jesse’), through the earpiece the organizers only tried to take out once. They hadn’t made that mistake again.
         “Screw you,” [Valichar] (‘Xander’) answers, without heat, ducking under the sledgehammer slamming into the fence above his head, grinning, blood and fang, at the enraged look on the Bruiser’s face as he realizes the Enforcer isn’t even paying full attention to this fight. Even for an Oni he’s not particularly strong or bright. “Also, arena match.” He isn’t even sweating. Bunch of weaklings, all of them. He’s sick of these boring matches, and it’s not like he’s winning anyone any money anymore, because he’s the easy bet. They’ve started betting on how long he takes with it, which, well, at least he can put on a show, make that interesting for them, even if his opponents won’t. One of these days he’s going to hit some other Commander’s territory and kidnap an Enforcer or two, force them down here. Or he could advertise, more. Some of ‘em might even go for it, a chance to take him down a couple pegs, ruin the Slayers’ cred.
         It’s easy, really. Probably easier than it should be. To forget that it’s his fault that they’re all stuck here. That he used to be human. He’s sick of feeling guilty, sick of the what-ifs. True, they could’ve just ignored his suggestion as not worth the time, but they hadn’t wanted to lose touch and it’d made sense at the time. [Metis] (‘Willow’) had even given him a tricked out laptop for his birthday, so they hadn’t had an excuse. He wasn’t even the one who’d chosen the game. That’d been their fearless leader. Maybe as an act of rebellion against her mom, which he hadn’t gotten at the time, because Mrs. Summers was great.
         Maybe it was just the hot chocolate with the little marshmallows, he reflects, running up the fence and flipping over the Bruiser, lightly tapping him on the head with the claws, just as an extra little taunt. He’d always been easily won over with food. Or maybe, more likely, it was the new stepfather. Who also cooked great food, but he’d gotten a weird vibe, too. Hell, even [Kairias] had, and he was oblivious. At least [Alacine] (‘Buffy’) was in the dorms after that.
         Even after the Tear, she’d kept sending messages, even managed to meet him once in a shell, but he’s pretty sure he freaked her out, and he was on his best behavior, too.
         “Leave some for me, will you?” [Kairias] requests, and he laughs right in the Bruiser’s face as he headbutts the guy, his horns no doubt doing some damage. In such close range, the guy does manage to slash at him with the sword. He ducks out of the way, but it still catches his side in a superficial hit that barely makes a dent in his Condition.
         “How about you come face me, and maybe [Shari] (‘Cordy’) will show up for once. She hasn’t in months.” Without fail, the Ninazu Logistics has been sending a rep to bet some cred on his matches, and she has to be watching on TV, calling her bets accurately each and every time. Fortunately, he can identify the armor type (a Technis 2877 Ultra) by sight and knows the weaknesses. It’s not like they can wear cosmetics in a PvP area, anyway, which always throws him off a bit to begin with, since he’s suddenly wearing all his equipped rings. But hey, they work a little like improvised knuckledusters so he packs more of a punch, so that’s something, anyway. In retaliation for the damage, he grabs the Oni’s hand and smacks the armored elbow right on the joint. The resulting crack has a disarmed and roaring Oni and a cheering crowd.
         “Why does she talk to you?” [Kairias] whines, right on time.
         He punches in a flurry, sending the Oni staggering, and then follows up with a spinning kick that sends the Bruiser flying. “I dunno, maybe it’s something about not slobbering over her every time I see her. I hear women don’t like it when you treat them like slabs of meat.”
         She likes it that he respects her power and authority, too. Most in the Underworld don’t tend to think much of Corpos, but the Slayers have always had a pretty good relationship with the Ninazu Logistics, partly because they’d be fools not to recognize its power and influence. Thanks to a few deals they’d even managed to keep skirmishes with the cops to a minimum, which [Valichar] had appreciated. He’s always down for a fight, but fights with the cops just tend to be annoying, not fun. Particularly the shock sticks. Those always kill his buzz.
         “Screw you,” his friend responds, and he just chuckles and shrugs. It’s no inch off his horns if the guy refuses to take his advice.
         And then he sees someone who isn’t supposed to be here and figures this is the time to finish it up. Time to break out the Psion, and time to get serious. “Talk to you soon, buddy,” he tells him and doesn’t even wait for a reply before he’s severing the connection.
         He manifests the psionic projection of wings and tail, mostly for the extra mobility, and lets out a shadow scream he’d improvised as a non-standard attack. His tattoos light up to the point he’s pretty much glowing. The Oni staggers, growling gutturally as he grabs his head. He doesn’t bother to check if the audience is affected, too—he didn’t reach out to them, but it’s an AoE attack, so it’s not a certainty.
         He swoops, grabbing the Oni under the arms, and hauls him up. And then, before the Akuma can get himself out of the daze, [Valichar] slams him down hard enough to knock out a human.
         “All right, all right, you win,” his opponent growls, pushing him off and rubbing his aching head. At least he knows when to quit.
         The cheers suggest that if the audience had been hit, they’ve recovered enough to howl for blood. He doesn’t have to look to know who’s yelling the loudest—it’s the humans in Oni masks, trying to pretend that oh yes of course they’re Akuma, why would you ever think otherwise? Never mind that most of the other Heritages can sniff them out, and players can actually just call up their description to read the truth. It’s polite not to point it out, but it bugs him, that humans like to pretend they’re above all this but the second they’re given the promise of anonymity they prove all their lies about being better as just that. Lies.
         They’re not what matters here, though. “You managed to hit me. You’ve got potential.” He holds out a hand to haul him up and the Oni hesitates before taking it.
         “Egotist,” the Oni growls, but it’s not an insult. It’s almost admiring. Maybe he’ll keep an eye on this one, if he ends up in the arena again. It’d be a change to be in the audience instead.
         He smiles and shrugs and then he’s walking to his ex, flipping out of the ring, since he’s long since stopped mentally projecting the wings. “Hello, [Kira].” [Kira] (‘Faith’) smirks at him, and he definitely hasn’t forgotten that look.