2021 Yeddo Games Arena Summer Tournament

The 2021 Yeddo Games Arena Summer Tournament was a major event held at the Games Arena. The PHIA Phorce entered the tournament to win some money to help pay off debts. During this tournament, they also received the name "PHIA Phorce" for the first time.

Overview

Arena Quadrumvirate Challenge

In order to win, the PHIA Phorce had to defeat the four members of the Arena 5.

• Round 1: Angela Harrison vs Dean Escuro.
• Round 2: Kristoph Langusten vs. Clara Zauberin
• Round 3: Joshua Harrison vs. Vladimir Drachma
• Round 4: Sophia Delphi, Twinkle vs. Megumi Nekomata and her holofauna team
• Round 5: Sophia Delphi, Twinkle, Angela Harrison, Kristoph Langusten and Joshua Harrison vs. T-R3X

Preparing for the Tournament

Sophia, Angela, Kristoph and Joshua had all taken it a little easy after their time spent searching for Seraphina Harrison. Nevertheless, they were still eager to work hard to pay off their debts. Fortunately, they had a chance to relax during the semester break to celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival. They spent time hanging out and enjoying themselves and visiting family. From an ad, they heard about an event being held in the Games Arena where they could have the chance to win a prize for completing some challenges. Mutually agreeing that they had a solid chance at winning, they decided to undergo an intensive training regiment where they would practice their abilities, hit the gym and hone their minds. The students of the group especially made sure to finish their assignments ahead of time.

Part of the training regiment was to practice their abilities together in pairs. That way, different combinations of their team would allow them to excel in different ways. With Twinkle's help, he could create synergetic energy between Sophia with other people to create various combination attacks to which they would come up with unique names. Sophia and Kristoph had already come up with one previously: Shooting Star where Kristoph would use his nanobots to launch Sophia at a high speed as she lit up her palms with plasma. This was a technique they previously used against Damien Alabaster. Between Sophia and Joshua, they came up with "Lightning Rod" where Joshua could redirect some of Sophia's electricity into a large area of effect. Sophia and Angela together came up with Angel Beam where Sophia would form arcs of electricity to extend Angela's whip, giving her greater range.

Despite the cool names for their combination attacks, they had yet to settle on a team name, something which was required for entry into the tournament. They debated over it until they eventually ran out of time to submit their name. Spontaneously, Sophia came up with "Sophia Force". The clerk misheard her as saying, "So, PHIA Phorce?" Not quite picking up on the pronunciation error, Sophia confirmed it and the name was entered. By then, it was too late to change it, and their name was announced to the Games Arena as PHIA Phorce.

The Tournament

Round 1

The first round was Angela facing off against a young man named Dean Escuro, also known as the Death Hunter. Much like Kristoph, Dean was projecting himself using a vrNet hardlight avatar in the shape of a hooded rogue cloaked in night blue, wielding dual medieval crossbows as weapons. Only this time, he was doing so from the planet Salvaxes. Angela recognized Dean's avatar as being modeled after Dreaming Kingdoms and had a geek out before remembering that he was her opponent in the arena. However, this clue was what she needed in how to approach the fight. Angela had spent a significant amount of time in the Dreaming Kingdoms game and would be able to treat the fight as she would the game.

Angela quickly realized that Dean was able to move much faster than her making it difficult to keep up with him. The Games Arena's safety systems prevented lethal damages, though every time Angela got struck by a crossbow bolt, it stung like a bee. But through pure chance, Angela somehow managed to catch Dean with her whip, likely due to her flailing it around unpredictably. In that moment, Dean got caught off guard by suddenly being ensnared while Angela used the opportunity to decisively finishing him off. At the end of the match, Dean got very flustered, claiming that he had only been going easy on her. Despite Dean being seemingly upset, Angela caught him glancing back and smiling at her as he left to which she started blushing.

Round 2

The next match up would be Kristoph versus Clara. Right off the bat, Clara was very enamored to see Kristoph, a fellow nanomage. Being quite flirtatious with her choice of words, she was very eager to see what Kristoph was capable of. He wasn't quite sure how to process these remarks, but was nevertheless ready to engage in the fight. Whereas Kristoph's attacks were more practically oriented, Clara used her nanobots for stylish displays. Although Kristoph was maintaining the upper edge, Clara instead encouraged him to play to the crowds, and to treat their match up like a dance. The entire situation took Kristoph off guard as this was not what he prepared for, as Kristoph had only been considering the most efficient route to victory.

It had become clear that the audience had, whether correctly or not, began to perceive the two of them as lovebird. Kristoph, in his head, evaluated the situation tactically, translating the trust in his friends to the situation before him. Towards the end of the match, Kristoph took Clara's advice. To counter one of Clara's moves, Kristoph put up a colorful display of his own depicting all manner of abstract, colorful shapes. It wasn't clear whether Clara allowed it to happen or not, but the finishing move was Kristoph using his nanobot hands to sweep up Clara off the ground to carry her. Kristoph was able to approach closely where Clara yielded. The crowd cheered.

Clara complimented Kristoph's graciousness and suggested the two ought to spend more time together. Kristoph was not quite sure how to process the remark. It was likely the first time the rest of the PHIA Phorce had seen Kristoph emotionally flustered.

Round 3

The third round would be Joshua facing off against the renowned swordsman Vladimir Drachma. It would effectively be a fencing match although they had different styles. Joshua preferred to grip his katana with two hands while Vladimir fought using only one hand with the other behind his back. Vladimir had the unique ability to "teleport" - that is, disassemble himself as a cloud of nanobots then reappear a short distance away. Joshua found himself limited in mobility due to how fast he was, so he had to rely mostly on maintaining a 360 degree awareness of where he was.

Unlike the previous matches which were far faster paced, this one had a lot more tension as they waited for the right time to strike. As such, during the downtimes, Joshua and Vladimir had the chance to engage in some friendly, idle banter. Vladimir remarked how well Joshua's daughter Angela did in one of the previous matches and saw the family resemblance. Vladimir also admitted that he once had a family of his own, but he outlived them due to his age being well over 250. He had not remarried since then and encouraged Joshua to treasure the time he had with his own family.

Joshua agreed just as he dealt a finishing strike, going at an angle that Vladimir did not anticipate. Vladimir admitted defeat and commended Joshua for fighting honorably. Just before leaving, Joshua suggested to Vladimir that there was probably an android woman somewhere on Torus that could share in his longevity. Vladimir paused for a moment to consider the advice and thanked him.

Round 4

The fourth round pitted Sophia and Twinkle against Megumi. This match would be different as Megumi herself would not be fighting. Rather, she would use her team of holofauna to fight for her, the sheer number of them would balance against Sophia's natural superpowers. Megumi was excited to be able to challenge the leader of the PHIA Phorce as she had been following their deeds in the Oraulan East Condemned Zone. She was looking forward to a spectacular fight and would be happy no matter what the outcome was.

Megumi's team consisted of Sparkle, Mr. Fluffs, Zapwing, Drake, Sebastian and Calypso. When Megumi revealed the appearance of Sparkle, a subroutine set off in Twinkle. He recognized Sparkle as another lux and became infatuated with her, hoping to get to know her at some point. Megumi was not of a royal bloodline so Sparkle had just been following her as a friend in general. Twinkle had spoken too quickly, suggesting Sparkle join the PHIA Phorce to become an assistant to Sophia to which Sparkle was offended, saying that she would never leave Megumi behind. Twinkle apologized, but nevertheless, Sparkle let loose her temper. The accompanying holofauna would grow more aggressive. Sophia sighed that Twinkle unintentionally put them in hard mode.

Sparkle's main role in the team, much like how Twinkle was doing to Sophia, was to provide support and boosted abilities for the other holofauna. Sophia told Twinkle that he had to target Sparkle directly. While he hesitated, he went ahead and do it, profusely apologizing to Sparkle every time he landed a hit.

Carefully, one by one, Sophia took down each holofauna. She started with Mr. Fluffs then went over to Drake as they controlled the largest areas - Mr. Fluffs ability to jump great distances and maul opponents and Drake's ability to breathe fire. One of the aspects she took advantage of was Zapwing's lightning which she would be able to redirect towards other targets if she was careful. Sophia had gotten knocked down by Sebstian's horn and fists which had the audience gasp. Sophia was able to get up, however, and defeat him as well.

Meanwhile, Twinkle had held his own against Sparkle. Although Sparkle had trained in the arena, Twinkle was the only one of the two that had actual field combat experience. So he held an advantage, and was very quick to be able to dampen Sparkle's abilities to give Sophia an easier time to dispatch the other holofauna.

Finally came Megumi's trump card: Calypso. Calypso was a former machine god that used to look after an ancient fishing village. Calypso crashed down a massive wave of water to flood the arena, catching Sophia in the water. While it was only holographic water and the safety was one, Sophia felt as if she was drowning, not unlike the time she fell into the swamp back in the Condemned Zone. The audience gasped again. Angela, while watching from the stands, began to worry if she was actually going to make it.

Twinkle, realizing Sophia was in danger, turned his attention back to her away from Sparkle. While Twinkle could have easily defeated Sparkle then and there, he wanted to make sure Sophia was okay. He then diverted his available power to her which put her in a heightened state of mind. She used her technokinesis to shape the holographic water around her to not only dissipate it, but also redirect it back at Calypso for a counterattack. Sophia was able to land a finishing blow on Calypso, causing her to retreat.

With Sophia back in the game, they were able to quickly defeat Sparkle, bringing the match to an end. Megumi was not upset over the loss, but was very impressed to see Sophia's and Twinkle's teamwork. Sparkle was also touched that Twinkle willingly backed away to help Sophia out, demonstrating how much he cared for the rest of his team.

Before leaving the area, Sophia and Megumi shook hands, congratulating one another on the match. Sparkle gave Twinkle an aloof look, but reluctantly acknowledged him as a worthy opponent.

Intermission

Before the final match, Sophia had a chance to rest up. An intermission stageshow was put up where the VirtuRacer pop star Wuthering Wanda would debut with a new song about the love of competition. A dazzling display of holographic racecars was put up to get the crowd excited. Sophia was very nervous about how the next challenge was going to go, but Twinkle told her to let her mind wander a bit and just enjoy the show.

A surprise appearance was none other than Mimi Delphi who set up a catering station at the arena. Naturally, the PHIA Phorce more than welcomed some refresing milkshakes while Mimi congratulated Sophia for coming so far. After downing a millkshake, Sophia took the time to let herself zone out, get hyped listening to the music and start to dance in place. She tuned into how the technokinesis flowed throughout her body.

Kristoph and Angela were still thinking about their encounters in their respective matches. Angela shared that she may have developed a crush on Dean and had assumed something similar happened with Kristoph and Clara. Kristoph for the most part tried to dismiss it, assuming it would never work because he was all the way in Merin. He also reminded Angela that Dean was also on another planet. Due to how difficult and expensive it was to travel between planets, being able to meet in person was incredibly unlikely - a fact that dismayed her. He was also insisting that it was best to stay focused on the match to which Angela reluctantly agreed. Angela could not help but feel she had struck a nerve with Kristoph. After Angela confided in her father, Joshua told her that Kristoph most likely had some things going on that he had not shared with the group, and that it was best for him to leave him be.

Round 5

The final round would be against T-R3X, champion of the Games Arena. Because of how powerful he was, the entire PHIA Phorce was allowed to take him on all at once. T-R3X's entrance into the arena was bombastic and epic. Electric guitar music blasted on the loudspeakers as jets of flames arches around him as he stomped into the arena, striking a pose. T-R3X was an imposing opponent being an Archaetronian, a towering synthetic life form resembling a robotic Tyrannosaurus rex wielding a set of battleaxes. He could also breathe fire.

T-R3X beckoned them for an honorable, challenging fight and was ready to begin. He twirled his axes and let out a roar. The PHIA Phorce prepared themselves, making sure they kept their distance before they managed to figure out how he moved.

The PHIA Phorce reflected back on their previous times dealing with larger foes such as Rark's Nanogoo. They decided the best way was to try to surround him. For T-R3X's size, however, he was surprisingly agile. He could leap into the air to escape from being cornered. Additionally, he could slam the ground to create shockwaves to knock back everyone around him. And then there was his axes to deal with.

Being the least experienced, Angela struggled to hold her own and T-R3X swatted her like a ragdoll off to the side. T-R3X could even break through Kristoph's nanobots, shattering the structures he conjured up. And Joshua had difficulty closing the distance due to T-R3X's shockwave attack. Sophia was the only one who could get a hit in, but T-R3X's armor would absorb any impact, effectively making her attacks useless.

The foe seemed impossible to defeat. They were getting genuinely worried that they were going to lose, and they were fully prepared to accept only a partial reward for the completion of the Games Arena challenges. That was until Twinkle reminded them that they had to coordinate themselves better. He suggested that they make use of Sophia's new synergy ability. While it was something they had trained hard for, doing it in a practical situation was difficult. To properly synergize, they had to open up and trust one another. Kristoph and Angela were not particularly focused due to the conversation they had during the intermission, but Sophia and Joshua managed to snap them back in. It was time to get their game faces on.

First, Sophia synergized with Angela to perform Angel Beam. With Angela's extended whip, she was able to latch onto one of T-R3X's battleaxes, snatching it from his grasp. In a surprise attack, Sophia also synergized with Kristoph to use Shooting Star to knock the battleaxe from his other hand. Despite being disarmed, T-R3X was still a fearsome foe as he still had his fire breath and whip-like tail to contend with. T-R3X retaliated by sweeping the floor with a spin attack, knocking Sophia to the ground. T-R3X attempted a fire breath, but just in time, Kristoph put a nanobot shield around her, dispersing the flames.

T-R3X found himself impressed that they had gotten so far, but proclaimed it was going to take far more team coordination to defeat him as there was still the issue of his armor. T-R3X changed his target, charging towards Joshua who readied his katana. Just when T-R3X was about to pull a trick and change targets last minute, he felt Angela's extended whip grab onto his leg, tripping him and causing him to stumble. Kristoph directed some nanobots to serve as heavy boots to weigh down Angela so that T-R3X could not quickly came back. Next, Sophia synergized with Joshua to use Lightning Rod, creating an area of effect of swirling electricity around Angela to prevent T-R3X from getting close to her.

What happened next came very naturally to all the PHIA Phorce members as they all were acting on instinct. They had all synergized with each other and were able to coordinate their attacks near perfectly. Angela pulled as hard as she could with her whip with Kristoph's nanobot hands helping her out. While T-R3X stumbled, Joshua got in close to slash several times with his katana, weakening T-R3X's armor. Then came the finishing blow. Sophia synergized with Kristoph to perform the Shooting Star move. Sophia's entire body crackled with electricity as plasma welled up around her hands and feet. Sophia called out loud dramatically as Kristoph threw her, her own plasma boosting her forward like a rocket. She came barreling towards T-R3X, striking foot first against his jaw. Time almost seemed to freeze at that moment, before T-R3X found himself laying on the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

The crowd went silent as the dust began to settle. The announced proclaimed the PHIA Phorce's victory and the crowd cheered. T-R3X got up, slightly dizzy, but congratulated them nonetheless. He told them it had been a very long time since anyone had put up such a great fight, not just a tactically impressive one, but also an honorable one worthy of being watched by onlookers. Sophia cheered, doing a quick hug with Angela in excitement while Kristoph and Joshua both cracked a smile over their victory.

Aftermath

The Party

The PHIA Phorce naturally received a huge chunk of cash as a reward, though they were all so caught up in the moment that none of them were even thinking about it. They were just glad to have actually completed the challenges.

All of them were invited to a party at Star Shell Beach Amphitheatre where the DJ Felix Neptunus would be playing a set. One of them, strangely enough, was a song about two lovers who were separated across space but were able to see each other through the vrNet. Sophia took the time to dance for a bit at the amphitheatre while Joshua took the time to relax at the beachfront, watching the sunset.

The PHIA Phorce also had dealings with a few fans, some of which asked for their autographs. One such fan was Emily Reeds who introduced herself as the journalist who broke the story about the Raid on the Cult of Kronos. She was very giddy and ecstatic, nearly losing her composure in front of them. But she managed to conduct an interview, though only with Sophia as she knew the others were simply just trying to relax. Sophia told her that the PHIA Phorce was ultimately just a group of friends looking out for one another. They weren't necessarily trying to save the galaxy or "fight the system", only trying to live their lives. Emily found the remark to be quite inspiring, although it shot down the idea of a personal wishlist of entities she had hoped they get to take care of. A part of her wanted them to deal with Virtuoso for how they were treating people in the Oraulan North Condemned Zone and soon, Port Oraulan itself. Nevertheless, Emily was happy with Sophia's answer.

After Emily went to other areas of the party, Joshua commented that Sophia's words were wise. With the PHIA Phorce now getting more well known, it would be dangerous to involve themselves in more affairs than they could handle. Especially in situations where they would be picking sides in greater political conflicts like Virtuoso's presence in Port Oraulan and even the remnants of the Taranis Empire to the east. Sophia agreed, though part of her dreaded the idea of now having to deal with public opinion.

Stories from the Arena 5

Another surprise appearance at the party was the Arena 5. Dean Escuro, Clara Zauberin, Vladimir Drachma, Megumi Nekomata with her holofauna and T-R3X all showed up congratulating the PHIA Phorce once more. They all joined in on the festivities and hanging out. While they sat down, they got to know the other challengers and who they were. The Arena 5 was already impressed by the past fears the PHIA Phorce managed to do, commending them for their heroism. The Arena 5 were all being modest in comparison, but the PHIA Phorce learned a fair few things about them. Like for example, Megumi had a metabolism comparable to that of a competitive eater and had already gone through several platters of sushi in the midst of their conversation.

Vladimir recounted various stories of his past encounters over the past two centuries of his life. For example, he recounted how he fought in the Torus Uprising which led to the founding of Virtuoso. While opinions of Virtuoso weren't that high in the present day, Vladimir told of how at the time, Albin Virtuoso's efforts helped to introduce humans to Torus which helped them recover from the Blackout a little faster. He viewed Albin as a role model for his noble decision to become a human and start a family - an act that cut his own lifespan short. Vladimir hoped that one day, that golden era may return.

Sophia and Twinkle asked Megumi how she met Sparkle. She recounted that she discovered Sparkle in a data crystal that a sushi restaurant owner gave to her, not knowing what it was or any connection it had to the Valerian Empire. Sparkle had been awake from dormancy for far longer than Twinkle, and she was impressed by how quickly Twinkle was able to find his abilities and recall his memories. While Sparkle did acknowledge the purpose of the lux, she shared what was probably a similar sentiment to Mimi Delphi. To her, the legacy of the Valerians was not as important as helping out and looking after Megumi.

The topic had led T-R3X to recounting what he knew about the Valerians. His people back at Archaetron considered them to be gods as they created the Archaetronian species. T-R3X realized that Sophia would more or less be considered a demi-god, something which she found flattering, though she remained humble about it. A couple of the others slightly teased Sophia in that not only was she a princess but also some sort of divine being. Though T-R3X explained to Sophia that perhaps there was some sort of destiny that she had yet to fulfill, and that her time in the Games Arena was only the beginning.

The group had noticed that Dean and Angela had gotten into their own in-depth conversation rambling and geeking out about Dreaming Kingdoms. They went from various topics such as recent additions to the game, some of the difficulty of the bosses as well as some of their past in-game feats. Most of the PHIA Phorce and the Arena 5 could not quite follow their jargon, but they knew they were both having a good time talking to one another. Vladimir did overhear Dean talk about his clan, the Red Crusaders to which Vladimir mentioned that he once met the clan's leader Raphael of Aragon during the Virtual Wars. He told them that Raphael was not only an amazing Dreaming Kingdoms player but also a skilled swordsman in the real world. He said that he has sparred with Raphael on some occasions, and they are currently perfectly even with the number of wins vs. losses. Joshua remarked that he would like to fight him one day, now considering learning the Dreaming Kingdoms game like her daughter. Whatever the case, he was also glad that Angela had made another friend.

Kristoph and Clara

The only one who had not been engaging as deeply in the small talk was Kristoph. And given some of the ranges of topics, Clara started to feel left out as she did not have a lot to contribute. Worried about Kristoph, Sophia went to him and suggested he talk to Clara. Kristoph was reluctant as he recounted the earlier conversation with Angela about the impression of Clara having feelings for Kristoph. Kristoph confessed that he did not want to disappoint Clara because he was using a hardlight avatar. Sophia responded with a "Why not?" and reaffirmed her suggestion. Not to mention, Clara being Merinian herself would be an icebreaker. Sophia also reminded Kristoph to not overthink anything and to just go talk to her just to make casual conversation.

Kristoph reluctantly took Sophia's advice, going over to Clara and approached her with an awkward greeting. Clara had suggested they go somewhere quieter as the party was a bit noisy, and she had trouble hearing him. Thus, the two went over to the beach where they sat at a patio, listening to the waves. Clara let out a sigh or relief, telling Kristoph that her charismatic performance was mainly just a performance. She put on a glamorous moment just for the crowd and didn't mean to geniunely scare Kristoph. To ease him in, she told him that in reality, she preferred the calm, and that she enjoyed listening to the sounds of waves since they reminded her of her home on the planet Merin. The main difference was that the waves on Yeddo were much gentler.

With that icebreaker, Kristoph recounted some of his time once observing the various landmarks of the planet. He also talked about how his family was into the fishing business catching lobbers, an alien crustacean considered a delicacy. Clara said that while the lobbers in Yeddo were good, she did miss the more authentic Merinian cuisine from home. She said she would like to one day try the Langusten family recipe.

Kristoph told her that he was still on the planet Merin, but he could not leave. His reputation among the other Merinians had been tarnished due to a doppelganger known as the Dark Mage, a consciousness upload of himself that turned into an intelligent Rampant. This Dark Mage impersonated him, committing crimes in his name. Although Kristoph was proven innocent, the public could not separate their perception of the Dark Mage versus himself, and he essentially had to live in exile. It was only through a stroke of luck that he managed to start a new life on Yeddo, but he did not have the money to use a transport ship to physically bring himself over.

Clara suggested that with the money Kristoph just won from the Games Arena, coming to Yeddo was now a real possibility, but Kristoph was modest in saying that it would be a huge ask from the rest of the team. Not only did he have to deal with the cost of travel, but also the cost of moving in and living on another planet. Clara reassured him that it was something to worry about later. In the meantime, being able to project as an avatar and speak with others among Yeddo was a very real experience. He would still be able to get interactions with others as if they were there.

As their conversations trailed off, the two of them eventually just found themselves sitting and looking out at the sunset and the rolling waves. Without realizing it, they found themselves holding hands. Though Kristoph wasn't feeling it physically, he felt the phantom sensation. They remained that way until Sophia had come by to let Kristoph know that she and the other PHIA Phorce members were going to head home soon.

Leaving for the night

After the sun went down, the party continued on though it would soon transition to the late night after party phase. By that time, the PHIA Phorce and the Arena 5 were all very tired and were ready to go home. Though before they left, they noticed that both Kristoph and Angela had particular glows about them.