Goldlock
-------
After seeing the first attack, the usage of a stone wall was catching her off-guard by a long shot. Not to mention that there was a set of dice thrown before both attacks. What was this dumb bloke's moveset, anyway? What element did he fall under, absolute chaos? Whatever bucket of fish he was filed into, she didn't want to stick around long enough to find out what it was!

"A chair, now?" Such venomous words were spat out with a sneer, rather uncharacteristic of Goldlock's usual cheery attitude. "Oh, I know! Perhaps you'll need a little somewhere to sit down and recuperate once I learn the color of your blood!" Scratch that, it was cheerful, but just... all the wrong kinds of giddy. As the wall exploded, her facade shattered along with it. "...Well, I guess that solves that question, it's all of 'em." Raising her arms in a shrug, orange sparks shot out from her wrists, curling around her hands and fusing together until her trademark pair of massive gauntlets was summoned. Without another word, she disregarded the drone, a wild swing of her arm sending an arc of flame flying in Discord's direction.

Goldlock
----------

To a half-insect lady with hypersensitive senses, it was not a difficult task for her to notice Discord. Hell, she could nearly pinpoint that bastard's location right now. Not to mention the fact that even the slightest mutter would have easily been picked up by the drone barreling towards him by hopping from branch to branch. Even the slightest crackling of those little dice would be enough for this cunning apex predator. Figuring that it had done enough waiting, the drone's spindly legs hooked on, taking roost on the limb of a sturdy tree. Here, it would wait for the first signs of Discord's approach.

A good side to being this 'new self' whenever she set foot in the arena, was the overabundant courage that flew into her very being. The downside? She was a total hothead. "WHAT?!" The voice boomed forth from her mouth, a violent cascade of golden sparks crackling forth from her eyes as though a match had been lit within their fiery orange hues. Disc in hand and gritting her teeth, she made a mad sprint in the voice's direction, a thick trail of mist in her wake. Alright, so she was a fraction of an inch away from being the champion, but he did not have to bring it up like that! Heck, who does that? No, seriously, who?

When the buzzing in her head grew louder, she screeched to a halt, acknowledging the threat at hand. Ah, right, right. There was a safer way to go about this, wasn't there? With a series of peeps, the twin gatling guns of the mounted drone spun slowly, chunking out a few bullets in Discord's general direction. It was a warning sign. He was not alone, and had made quite the foolish mistake of boldly challenging her, Goldlock of Blackforge Rift, in such a taunting manner.

N.S.B.
-------
"HOLY HELLA HOT DAMN!" Burst out the voice akin to the tone of a sassy black woman, as though forcing her opinion out into the world with a violent punt. How... annoying. She was excitedly slapping her hands upon the front face of the box she wore, the twisted wire antennae bopping from the force. Barely able to contain herself, she scuttled forth, pressing her face up to one of the monitors in the waiting room. Conveniently, it filled the entire space in one fell swoop, blocking the view from everybody else in that corner of the room just so that she could gaze upon Discord in his entirety. She seems quite pleased with herself.

Alexa Lockhart
---------------------
To be frankly honest, she was a little taken aback by the uncertain tone that Steve's astral carried. Goldlock was overflowing with such overabundant confidence, but this one was... was it questioning him? Was it questioning its own presence in the world? Of course, that would be a concern for a later time. Now? Now was the time to fight, get it over with, and head on home no matter what the outcome was. No, something about that outlook just felt... plain strange to thing about. Something really wasn't right, was it? Yeah, that's right! She shouldn't be sitting around contemplating what to do, she should just... y'know, do it! Yeah, like, right about--


Ohgoodsweetlordshehadletherselftrailoffonatrailytrainofthoughtthatnotrainofthoughtshouldeverbetrailytrailedwhatshouldshedowasstevenalreadyinwasshegoingtobedisqualifiedohlordshedidnthopesowhydidthishavetohappenonthissortofdayinwhichshewashalfasleepohsheknewsheshouldvestoppedatthelocalcafetogetsomemoreenergyintoherselfbeforethisbigfightbutshejusthadtositaroundlikealazybumandmakehopelessattemptsatengaginginconversationwhydidntsheformulateabattleplanyeahthatwouldvebeenarealbighelpbighelprighttherethatswhatshestalkingaboutgetbacktofocusjustgetyourhandonthemarkandgetitoverwithsimpleasthatwoopdefiddlydeedoopdamwaithowlonghadshebeenstandingthereinpanicohgodnooooo
Just as she was on the edge of panic, eyes darting about the arena, a sense of warmth enveloped her, the roaring of flames crackling in her ears. It was as though an invisible torrent of flame had wrapped around her in an ensuring embrace, convincing her that everything was going to be alright. Heck, she sure hoped this gut feeling was no liar. Alright, no more stalling! This was it, the main event! Although her movements were spastic, Alexa smacked her hand down upon her palm... a reflex action that would be sure to leave a mark when she came to. As though the world was flipped onto its head, a flood of stars poured into her vision, pulling her through a great white gravity. As bittersweet as the whole concept was, she was far more than eager to leave Earth behind, even for a little bit. It was true that she had the potential to make many, many friends in her corporeal state. Though, the emotion of happiness that she felt as this 'other self', this 'better self', she preferred to dub it...

Goldlock
-----------

As the world flipped around and the ceiling of reality was only but a floor, she stood now upon the tree-studded sky. A familiar breeze combed through the rolling mane of gold that cascaded from her head, as if dancing with the leather coat that flapped in the wind. Where an awkward grin that struggled to face the crowd once was, genuine cheer bloomed across her visage. In fact, as though hoping the crowd had their sights upon her right now-- and how truly amazing she must have looked in her cool gear-- she struck a few little poses. With a small sigh, her hands returned to resting upon her hips, the metallic sheen of the orange work gauntlets deciding to take a break to regain their energy.
Though, this was no time for a leisurely stroll. Right, right, she had a battle to attend to, didn't she? The sort of battle-y battle of battles where she'd smash someone's screen in. Ahh, yes. It was going to be another one of those beautiful days. The ribbonlike pair of antennae stricking up from her head twitched idly, as though waiting to pick up on the sign of a presence. Thusfar, all looked pretty safe. Taking the hint, the beetle shell of a backpack attached to her popped open, a drone no bigger than a soccer ball rolling out onto the forest floor. "Good to have you back, lil' buddy!" The astral flashed a grin as the six spindly legs popped out of the shell, wriggling about until it propped itself into an upright position. Cute.

N.S.B.
--------
At the questioning, the girl with the box for a head reeled back a little. Was it as if the comment insulted her greatest ancestors? No, she just... had a strange flow to her movements, like a curious bird cocking its head as a primary form of communication, obnoxious chirping to come directly after. "Alas, I ain't." A Texan accent was upon her, now. Behind her, a pointing finger was jut in Stella's general direction. As though someone had changed the channel on this dollar-store TV girl, her voice got all nasally and squeaky. "The 'timidated girl over there, ya see? Me? I'm just an ordinary Joe battler, just like you! No need to worry." Of course, her, being as easily distracted she she was, turned her gaze to face the monitors. This... 'Steven' guy. She had quite the strong curiosities about that fellow's astral, seeing as it was shadowed out and all. Though, one of them had quite a boxy head, didn't it?

Alexa Lockhart
------------------
"WHAT?!"
There was a disruptive outcry from Alexa as she lurched forth from her chair, the flimsy piece of plastic and metal topping over behind her as though cowering in fear. "Impossible! Impossible! None of that should have happened! The odds were clearly against that hopeless brat!"

The antisocial lump had caught aflame from the moment she stood up, pouring out her rage passionately as though it was a stage script she knew by heart. The moment the guards raised up on their haunches at her unruly behavior, she quieted down, drowsiness draining the lively color of her eyes. "...I'll kick his ass someday. Just give me a second."

No second glances were given to Aaron when she was called forth to the stage, jabbing her hands into her pockets and shuffling out through the entrance.

Oh, how the crowd departed in her ears. Left and right, spotlights danced around like frantic fireflies, bearing symbols of various colors. What were they? Words? Astral marks? Elemental icons? Nonsense? Yeah, probably nonsense. Bringing her gaze to the roof to distract herself from the stage fright, the twisted array of screens tangled and dangled above along with all the other bits and gizmos like a technological wonderland.


The scar of anxiety was torn open once more, a crooked, gritting-teeth grin upon her face. On the screen, it displayed the splash of both her and Steven, then their astrals swooped in on either side to replace their portraits with a flashy animation, slooowly gliding for a moment as they were shown off before flying back out of existence. In their place was one half of each of their astral marks pressed together, split down the middle by a lightning-bolt crack. All in a delicious, rotating 3D render. Well, to the terminal she went. For glory.

Alexa could already feel the courage of her astral collecting in the back of her right hand, burning with...valiant warmth, perhaps. The circular platform to her side of the terminal was as always, everything in simplistic glossy jet, the only source of color from the various rectangles that decorated the stand...and the rings she was now standing upon. Her sponsors had made a fitting choice for the illumination, randomized flickering between various shades of yellow and orange illuminating her like a lantern's light. Now, all that was left was to wait for Steven, and perhaps approval from the announcer.

N.S.B
It was in this moment, she took on the nasally, airy voice of a timid young child, leaning closer to Stella. She almost sounded quite...sad. Lost. "Do you...not know me...?" Ah! Holy hell! When did she get there?! Was she just that light when walking in boots, or was this matryoshka of a freak secretly part ninja, too?

"I'm not scary, am I?" Came a new voice, deep and tomboyish with a hint of lazy. Raising up from her hunchbacked position, she threw her hands back out of her pockets. Shockingly enough, it looked like her movie star demeanor was wearing off. "Or are you having a little..." They reached up to cover the eyeholes, she feigned cowardice. "...Stagefright?~" Her fingers shot back out to allow herself to see, wiggling like tiny jazz hands.

Alexa Lockhart
-------
As she was babbled to about her performance through her years, the slightest shred of pride bubbled up from her quivering heart, translating into...possibly the least photogenic grin to ever grace mankind, crooked and kinked like a bent out bike chain.... Until the comment about her clumsiness. Yes, that part was quite true.
It then swooped down upon her, the grim realization that she had never truly mentally prepared herself to interact with fans this up-close. Well, fan and soon-to-be opponent some time in the future. In return to the outstretched hand, she reached out her right, a worn-out black glove that was well-loved and cared for over the years, the occasional amateur stitching job done here and there. "Pleasure to be with you, Hannnnna." Lifting a brow, Alexa drew out the name, as though unsure of the pronunciation.
From the moment she released her grip, the crowd roared, signifying the beginning of the first round. "...Pull up a chair, we're going to be here a while." Though it was highly uncharacteristic of her, she secretly could not wait to see the monkey king's cranium caved in. Was it out of spite, perhaps? Highly likely. The screens shot on all around them. A portrait of both fighters, then a flicker to their astrals, splash screens sliding past eachother. While the stats for their astrals began to scroll across the monitors, the blonde searched for the nearest chair, deciding to scoot right up next to Jade. After all, she seemed the most trustworthy, here.

N.S.B.
-------
One moment, she was standing as still as a stick in the mud. The next, she sprung to life as though an invisible power switch on her back had been flipped, her head jerking up to face the one that had addressed her. The hollow drumroll of cardboard rattled against her head, the triangle-cut mouth seeming to gape in childish curiosity. Though, not like it ever displayed any other expression, of course.
"Golly, am I? AM I?!" Her voice was bubbling over the brim with enthusiasm, like a cheerleader that had been on the receiving end of one too many Redbulls. Every move she took was full of bounce and lively stride, as though every day of her life was a cheesy drama performance she had been over millions of times, yet the box stayed securely on despite being far too wide for her head. Around, she circled the one that approached her. "Don't you know me, young lady?" A pose was struck, hands at where her ears would be. "It is I, the hottest internet sensation!" With the next step, her hands upon her hips as she leaned in. "With one fell swoop, my name sweeped the nation!" Another pose, and another. She was nearly back to her starting position behind the backpack. "I'm the pop star idol that all the freshest kids know! Now, if you don't mind me, when I get through those doors at my turn, I'LL be the new star of the show! ...Implying this show, too. Just you wait and see, darling!~" Mind it also be mentioned that she swapped through a pallet of accents and voices for each sentence? What an odd, abstract young girl.

Alexa Lockhart
-------
Stage lights were blaring, the crowd was roaring in her ears like a wave of thunder. Much unlike her first step into the arena when she first began, Alexa drank in the attention with a smile...a crooked, quivering grin. Nope, she was never going to get over that sharp sting of stage fright, screw that. Where was Goldlock's blazing fire of confidence and pride when she needed it most?
In a matter of moments, her half-smile warped into a gritting of teeth, a pounding of her heart in her chest.
Practice spars were fine, but man, pressure drove her bonkers.
In an attempt to distract herself, she hastily wormed her phone out of her hoodie pocket. The case was custom made, hastily painted in sloppy copper acrylic. From the headphone jack, a small keychain hung, make out of vinyl, perhaps provided by a sponsor, in the form of a mechanical crab. A disgruntled groan was made in its direction, before she looked around at who had arrived.
Well, butter her buns and call her Paul Bean, it's--
"JADE! Jade, Jade..." There was a shout, a word, and then a mutter. The hand she had just jut out towards the purple hoodie-clad girl dropped. God, her anxiety had even leaked into her voice, making excitement sound like terror as though Jade had done something wrong. She had to correct herself, fast.
"....Eyyy?"
Terrible decision.

N.S.B.
-------
At the end of the line of people, a peculiar individual stood. Was it the way she stood? Was it the clashing colors and themes of her outfit? Her puffy jacket was a shade of navy blue, tufts of white fluff puffing up at the top...an urban rocker. Her shirt? A headphone-wearing smiley with Xs for eyes...trendy? Yet, she also wore checkered black and red stockings, and a eye-blaringly bright red skirt. Don't forget the spiked black leather boots to top off the gothic topic...everything blended out into a loud noise of color. Loud, yet quiet. A blaring silence. Masking her identity, a large cardboard box with antennae was upon this fellow's head, black circles cut out for eyes, and a triangle for the mouth...dials hastily drawn on the right side of her face in black crayon. There must have been a black mesh behind the holes, for the light did not touch her true features. Her head...her head looked like a child's craft project, to put it bluntly.
Her posture was straight up, feet out a little to the sides, hands balled into fists at her waists and her head dropping down. She stood perfectly still like a doll, or, maybe, like she was preparing to drop the hottest mixtape of all time. Perhaps the latter, considering her choice of attire. In front of her, there was a light blue backpack. This Japanese internet idol-looking fellow didn't appear much for conversation.

Right in the middle of her visit at the game shop, Alexa's eyes widened once her eyes fell upon a certain object of interest. With a sharp gasp, she could hardly believe what her golden orbs fell upon... so much, in fact, that she just had to whisper it to herself, reaching grabby hands out to the glass display case. "N-...No way! A super-rare-ultra-power-packed-one-of-a-kind Galactus man figurine!" She looked a little closer, then gasped again. "A-...and it's 70% off... and in mint condition!!" Just as she was preparing to fish her wallet out of her pants pocket, she felt a sharp tug on the hood of her coat, and heard a disgruntled apology and something about a tournament under their breath as she was dragged out the door. Pawing at the air towards the figure fading off into the distance, she let out a dramatic "NOOOOOOOOO", which, to an outsider probably just sounded like angry whining. For some odd reason, all the while, the back of her hand burned in the same way it did when she first ran into Jade... Though, in the hum emitting from her hand sounded like a more angry one...

Before she knew it, she was at the arena. The crowd roared in her ears, soon followed by the blaring of the announcer. With a wince, she covered her ears partway. Enough to dampen the occasional screech of microphone feedback, but lightened up enough that she could still make sense of what was being said. Though, when the voice got quicker, she lowered a hand. Being one to pick out only a handful of details at a time, she didn't manage to get the whole scoop on what the man had said. Something along the lines of-- injury? She simply shook the thought off, figuring it was probably something like 'batteries not included'-- wait, that wouldn't make any sense, either! Eventually, she found out the hard way that she had been staring up at the screen for too long, and that the dumbfounded-est of looks must have been upon her face. From out of the blue, she was snapped out of her trance by a reassuring pat on the back by the guard, to which she prompty turned around on a heel to face them. She could've sworn that she caught sight of a glowing green eye and a thumbs-up before the guard just... 'whooshed' out of existence, was the best way she could put it. No, seriously. She heard but a swoosh as she blinked, and then they were gone! Geez, was this all just some big, crazy dream?

Then, the giant cube-shaped screen hanging from the center of the stadium flickered on like some sort of ominous UFO above her head. It was at that moment that she realized that this was the REAL game. When Jade's name was announced, she focused all her attention on the giant screen. Like some sort of 'VS' menu, Steven and Jade slid onto the screen with a pretty basic drop animation. Then, a few seconds after that, a powerful slash on light swooped down either side of the screen, displaying their astrals with the sound of a slashing sword. "Wait-...Jade's an astral battler?!" She screamed out, even though her voice was easily drowned out by the enthusiastic roar of the onlookers. "And that's--..." As the white glow faded out, she screeched even louder as Nafe was revealed. "And that's the girl she was drawing this afternoon!!" As the crowd's joyous screeching increased in volume, she felt the back of her hand buzz at the mentioning of Nafe's name. In the midst of throwing her own fist in the air and cheering with the crowd, ranting about how cool her new friend was, she made a sudden realization that somewhere down the line, she'd have to- Alexa suddenly spaced out, her attention whipping back to the screen once more once her name was called. "Ag-Agh-Aw come on... The seven year old Vs.  Alexa... "Oh, so that's why they asked for a picture of me when I entered the hotel..." The blonde mumbled... "Ah-- hey, I don't actually look that ba-- Wait, a seven year-old?! Can't they at least just say her name?" Her shoulders slumped forward in slight disappointment. Though, then came the astral splash screen for Lulu. "And I'm fighting a magical midget!" She jutted her hands out in disbelief for emphasis, letting them fall back to her sides once more. In a roar of flame, the mysterious girl from the volcanic forge made her way onto the screen. The shining armor, the massive claws that could crush someone in an instant. Yet, behind all that bulky, soot-stained armor, her frightening factors were mellowed out by her shiny leather coat, flowing golden hair, and-- those strange, otherworldly irises with white pupils and concentric rings. Ok, she wasn't sure what to categorize those eyes under, they gave her the damn chills... wait-- the eyes. Nafe had them as well, and-- she could've sworn that the flash of green also-- Ah, screw it. She brushed the thoughts off the side because-- Holy heck, Goldlock Crab... Looked so cool!

When the rest of the astrals were being announced, the buzz from her hand was gone, save for the brief moment where Sun Wukong's name was announced. Out of curiosity, she gently raised her astral mark up to ear out of curiosity, hearing what seemed to be a hiss and angry crackle of flame. Ah, wait a moment-- Wasn't that the monkey man that tore into her mecha crab thing? Well, she was certainly glad that she wouldn't have to fight him tonight, that was for sure. Not knowing what to do about her angry little hand, she just gently pat it until it calmed down, perhaps like she was trying to snuff out a flame. Well, for the time being, it seemed to work. Last but not least, when Rainbow Dash came onto the screen, another memory poked at the back of her head. The astral mark hummed again, but-- this time in a pulse that slowly faded out, as though it were laughing... well-- that was the first thing that came to her mind, anyway. Just then, she gently nodded, remembering the sparring events that had happened that morning. "The rocking horse..." she cleverly thought up. Just then, a loud boom echoed through the ceiling as several spotlights came on, shining over six syncing towers. They were almost just like the ones over at the sparring room, but-- jet black, with circuitry pattern-shaped holes running up the sides. At the core of the tower shaft, she assumed there has to be either a light or a cylindrical screen of sorts, for each tower glowed in the color of the astral they were assigned to. Going with the feeling in her gut, Alexa made a start for the yellow tower, stepping up the the circular platform illuminated by a glowing disk of light that faded and flickered like flames. Oh, she could only imagine how awesome must have looked! Though-- that's when she realized she was shaking, just like she was this morning. Great... Grasping onto one of the handrails beside her platform for support, she paused, tilting her head up towards the ceiling. She had to assume that the black surface was filled with thousands of fibre optic clusters, for the ceiling was flickering like a swirling sea of stars, and that wasn't a side effect of her about to faint from stage fright. Staring deep into the dots of light, she felt a sudden sense of calm, like the one she felt at the split second of her soul being sent into the astral realm. Holding onto that feeling, she felt a burst of confidence fill her quivering, hunched over self.

Just like that, she pulled herself back to her feet with her newfound strength, she looked up to see her monitor lowered down on a robotic arm, powering on immediately after it came to a stop. Similar to what the stadium screen had shown, a blazing fire animation filled the screen, all of the stats of the user interface flickering on moments later. In the center of the display, Goldlock Crab stood in her splash screen pose, the astral's name in sharp, gold-colored letters above her. In the bottom right corner, an orange circle held a 3D rotating icon of her astral mark, the crab. In the left panel, the stats were displayed. Good strength and armor ratings, but the speed was rather average and the health was... frail, if she ignored the armor bar added on the end. A tank with a weak spot she had to protect with her life, that was for sure. Wait-- the drones... this was a whole new type of class... engi...tan...a...Tankineer? Yeah, that sounded about right. In the right panel, her abilities were displayed. Fissure, Sear, Mist, Fidgets,  Crab Claws, and... the ultimate ability, Carcinus. As cool as they sounded, she couldn't help but notice the several shaded-out spots and glitched-up text. Putting her finger to the screen, she scrolled down, down... Attempting to tap on each ability to read their information, she was honestly not that surprised to find that the shaded ones refused to bring up a popup window. It was then she thought about the 'Galactic gift shop' that the announcer had mentioned. Well, she'll be. Aaron was right, it was just like a game, right down to the upgrades. Though, she also took quick notice of how little segments of the shaded ability icons glitched themselves onto the screen, like something was trying to force them into being available. Huh. Weird. Bringing her gaze back up to the center of the screen, she realized that Crab's splash screen was... a little bit more animated for the syncing tower, for some reason. Alexa assumed it was probably just done by done CGI genius, but she could have sworn that it blinked.. or that those weird, amber-colored orbs were following her... Moments later, her opponent was walking up to the other side of the tower, circuitry patterns colored an icy blue in great contrast to the fiery colors on her own side. Just like that, a low crackle of fire began to roar in her head, rising with her anticipation to head off into the battlefield. Leaning over to the side, she couldn't quite see the interface screen for Lulu, but she tried her best to strike up the slightest bit of a peaceful conversation. "So, uh-- this your first time out battling?" She asked with a sheepish grin, trying her best to ignore the sound of her astral mark as she removed her glove in preparation for syncing.

...Great, just when she thought her day couldn't get any worse... suddenly, explosions. Having been sweeped right after feet and not able to recover herself midair in time, she found herself smacked down onto her back, coughing at the cloud of dust she had sent up into the air... not the best remedy for one who had nearly gotten the wind knocked out of their lungs. Still sputtering as she shakily rose to her feet, Alexa checked herself for any signs of injury before heading over to the emeraldette. The roar was gone for now, but-- she could've sworn that it sounded like joyous squealing for a split second as it faded out... "Oy, you ok? I'm not sure what that was, either...but--..." The blonde paused, slowly reaching into her pocket to retrieve her glove.Well, uh-- Did you get a good look at my hand on the way down?" She joked, attempting to lighten the mood despite the pain in her back. There had to be a bruise somewhere along there by now...