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[Sub].:⋮Mewcutesoft Support⋮:.[/Sub]
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Dina made her step brisk as she zoomed past, her tail stiff and with her hairs standing up, as her ears were pressed against her head. How could this happen? Was that dolphin daft? Did they manage to overcome the magic of this place due to sheer viciousness? The questions would be needed for later.

The clusterfuck had to be fixed now. Sighing, she opened the door to see how much of a wreck Penny was. Few people needed to see this. Penny, after all, had overwhelming strength as her forte. Seeing that she could actually be brought to heel… would no doubt lessen the effect. 

She opened the door, readying her heart for anything.

Penny was already awake when Dina entered the room but the wizened girl could tell something was off. For one the illusion that was normally centered over Penny had failed somewhat, her headdress was visible as were the segmented nature of her joints. So no longer was her lack of humanity hidden.

Secondly she was sitting with her back to the wall seemingly staring at her hands, which were visibly shaking, yet the look on her face was one of bemusement. Like she didn’t fully understand what it was she was seeing.

Lastly her eyes weren’t the right color. Her left eye was still dull but was now an electric blue and her right eye was little more than a pool of red light. And while smoke was no longer emitting from her body, thankfully, there was now a dull grinding sound that could be heard every now and again coming from her.

Penny would shift slightly as Dina entered the room, almost adopting a defensive position, but would stall out part way through it as she stared at the Regent for a long few moments before returning to stare at her hands.

[color=9e0039]“Dina”[/color] She would greet, though her voice was unnaturally flat. [color=9e0039]“Request: local timekeeping compromised. H-How long was I out?”[/color]

"Not long enough to miss the tournament." said Dina, downcast and a mixture between fear and being livid at Penny's situation. "But that talk...should be done later." She shook her head slightly as she leaned forwards, her Reinforcement magic ready to administer first aid. "Let us see if we can just make you a bit better than being a walking wreck."

Dina could tell that the healing properties of the reinforcement magic she was supplying were having an effect, it was just that it was a drastically reduced one compared to what she was used to. Penny’s unique nature seemed to be highly resistant to the traditional healing capabilities of the spec.

[color=9e0039]“Fo-fo-focus on Mana regeneration.”[/color] Penny would instruct [color=9e0039]“Mana capacity: once percent. Warning mana status critical. Core functionality preserved. secondary and tertiary systems shut down. Warning: Regeneration protocols not responding, mana recharge rate stalled.”[/color]

Penny would give a long blink [color=9e0039]“I think it’s obvious that something wrong occurred.”[/color] She would state still looking at her hands. [color=9e0039]“I can-n-n-n partially identify what, but s-s-systems can’t determine why without additional data.”[/color] Penny would slowly close the hand furthest away from Dina before violently slamming it down on the floor. A moment later she would dislodge it from the ground and go back to examining it.

"Stubborn people, that's what happened. Now stop talking and flailing, It's going to take far too long if you persist." Dina said as she continued."Do we even have a metal user around?"

She gritted her teeth as she separated herself from Penny. 

"Hen to Pan" She said as she began transforming, but the strain was too much and buckled undearneath, almost falling flat on the ground.

"Cough...Mew...Spirit of the mines, Kobold." She said, while a snarly little thing with a bunch of tools appeared before her..
 and then promptly ran to Penny to bang her a bit into shape.

Dina for her part would shakily grasp Penny, and compounded her healing abilities with metal, lightning and gravity, in order to resonate with Penny.

A few mana drinks also appeared in front of Penny."Drink those once your windpipe is aligned. It will help" She said as she grabbed her own stash to drink, to keep up the taxing state she was in.

The charged healing would speed things along, but it also didn’t take very long to realize that in all truth there wasn’t a whole lot of physical damage that Penny had suffered from, granted what had been damaged had been delicate and important but repairing it wasn't extraordinarily taxing.

 Her statement about being nearly devoid of mana was true, and for the vast reserve that Penny normally had to be reduced to such a limited amount was worrying. She would seemingly drink the offered Lightning and Gravity magics that Dina would pour into her however, almost taking more than the Catgirl was trying to offer. And would still take on more energy even after she was recovered from a traditional point of view.

Yet some of the issues persisted. Her hands would still shake on occasion, but the tremors were much lighter and spaced out by minutes and her eyes were still different colors though they both had a more normal shine to them.

[color=9e0039]“Systems normalizing”[/color] Penny would mutter quietly as she put down her hands and rested her head against the wall. [color=9e0039]“Running full system diagnostic. Subsystems damaged, diagnostic examination will be slowed down”[/color] She would run a hand across her forehead. [color=9e0039]“This is going to be a problem”[/color]

"Mew?" muttered Dina as she met Penny's eyes."Underst-"

It was then when a huge spark heralded a magical rebound happening before Dina was launched out of her Avatar state and across the room, all her magic failing at once, the Kobold also vanishing in thin air.

She remained hapzardly sprayed across the floor, her butt up.

More proof that Penny wasn’t fully healed was that it took her a full three seconds to start reacting to the event that sent Dina sailing across the room. She would stand and walk over to Dina, stalling for a moment before kneeling down to help Dina. The first action in her doing so was to pull out her Healing artifact and give it a few slow passes over Dina, though the output of the artifact was low before offering the girl a hand.

[color=9e0039]“Designation: Regent. Statement: Personal maintenance priority should not supersede my health. Now that you’ve helped kick start my mana again I’ll be as fine as my system restoration protocols are capable of. Sustained damage isn't something that we are going to be able to simply heal this time. Which wasn’t an issue that I was aware my schematics were capable of undergoing.”[/color]


“I’m fine...thanks for asking.” Dina said, with no small amount of mirth. “It’s been a while since I had a flat out rebound. Perhaps this is a sign we should not push further things much. I could do a round or two in your stead… while you handle the evacuation plan, but even that sounds stretching ourselves thin.”

Shortly before the start of Penny’s first match, MDP had taken up position at the edge of the pool and, with glittery pink pompoms in hand, begun a predictably vivacious cheerleading performance. This had continued throughout the match, up until time was called, at which point the hyperactive cheering trailed off as the whimsical girl tilted her head in confusion. [color=DeepPink]“Sooo, like, did Penny Wenny win~?”[/color] she wondered aloud. However, MDP’s confusion soon turned to horror, as she saw Penny’s smoking body crumple to the mat.  [color=DeepPink]“P-Penny Wenny?!!”[/color] the childish girl cried out in alarm, tears spilling from her widened eyes. Unfortunately, before she could rush to her girlfriend’s side, the mechanical monarch was swiftly taken away by an impromptu medical team. 

Following after them, a very concerned, and nearly hysterical, MDP found herself in front of a door guarded by a pair of imposing minotaurs.  [color=DeepPink]“L-Like, can Magical Dream Princess pretty, pretty please come insidey widey?! Can she?! Can she?!”[/color] the childish girl pleaded frantically.  [color=DeepPink]“Like, Magical Dream Princess’s girlfriend wirlfriend is in theresie, and, like, she’s gotta see her right nowie!”[/color] Despite her pleas, the twin guards refused to budge, and it wasn’t long before the whimsical girl was reduced to a sobbing mess. Just as she was about to give up, the minotaurs simply vanished. Not wasting a moment, MDP rushed into the room.  [color=DeepPink]“Penny Wenny?! Penny Wenny… A-Are you… Okie dokie…?”[/color] she asked hesitantly, her demeanor noticeably calming as she caught sight of her girlfriend, who, from the looks of things, did indeed see to be doing better. 

[color=9e0039]“That’s…”[/color] Penny would stall out as she looked at her hand trembling again. [color=9e0039]“Physical integrity has been restored. Shut down and reboot contained driver degradation. Which is going to be a bitch to take care of, to say nothing about the memory loss.”[/color] She would say calmly.

[color=9e0039]“Nothing I lost was critical, as far as I can tell, but the data was corrupted beyond repair. System network can’t be restored via Regeneration protocols. External assistance required to mitigate any further system degridations.”[/color] She would go on to explain. [color=9e0039]“Note; Empathy subroutines are unaffected, expression capabilities however are hindered. And I think my speech center is damaged, but it all sounds the same to me either way, so I lack sufficient data to prove hypothesis.”[/color]

MDP listened as Penny listed her various “injuries”. It was difficult for her to understand all the terminology in her transformed state, but she still possessed just enough of her technical knowledge to realize that Penny had only narrowly avoided something truly horrific. And even so, there was still the issue of her girlfriend’s lost memories…

[color=DeepPink]“Like, Magical Dream Princess doesn’t mindy windy how Penny Wenny soundy woundies,”[/color] MDP replied as she gently took the robotic girl’s hand. [color=DeepPink]“She’s just worried about your memory wemory,”[/color] the whimsical girl added with a concerned frown. [color=DeepPink]“Like, what if it was something womething super duper important wortant? How would Penny Wenny even know it was missing wissing?”[/color] 

[color=9e0039]“Context. Hopefully.”[/color] Penny would reply with a muted shrug. She silently let MDP take her hand, but it was obvious almost instantly that Penny was far from as composed as she sounded. As her grip was just shy of painful, which said a lot for the normally very controlled girl.

[color=9e0039]“Current memory loss isn’t complete cache’s of data. But there are bits and pieces that I’m missing. I don’t remember meeting Dina for example, but only that first encounter is gone. I know I spent time with Alicia at a mall once, but all records of that day are corrupted. Other minor events are in a similar distorted state, the vast majority are from memory’s obtained from pre awakening. Overall loss minimal, likelihood of repeat outcome should it happen again is not good.”[/color]

Penny would go silent after she finished explaining. In truth she was terrified, and with her systems jammed full of junk data and other errors she couldn’t really process things as quickly as she normally would. The things she knew for certain was that her mimicry systems overloaded and nearly wiped her from her own mind and that the damage wasn’t something she could deal with on her own.

MDP would almost imperceptibly flinch as Penny squeezed her hand with far greater strength than normal, but the whimsical girl refused to show any discomfort. She knew her girlfriend was hurting, and she resolved to do, and endure, anything she could, in order to take away at least some of that pain. Penny went on to explain the memory gaps as best as she could, but even though most of the lost memories were of times long past, the explanation still left room for some concerning possibilities…

[color=DeepPink]“S-So, does Penny Wenny remember wember meeting Magical Dream Princess for the first timey wimey?”[/color] MDP asked, unable to fully keep the worry out of her voice. [color=DeepPink]“A-And our first date? A-And, and all the funsie wunsie we had together wether at the Christmas Whistmas party?”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“Designation: Princess. First encounter Sanctuary. Situation; Post Mint disruption event. Secondary notes; necklace was pretty, though not the most eye-catching thing about you. Still remember wondering how you turned a wall into ice cream.”[/color] Penny would answer as she turned to look at her girlfriend. [color=9e0039]“I remember the school, the conversation in the hall and painting over the sigils in the room. And I remember our conversation afterwards, and the trust you showed me.”[/color] Penny’s lips would tick down slightly as she paused. [color=9e0039]“But primary objective data for the excursion is corrupted. Hostile events are noted, but cause and outcome are lacking.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“No gaps detected within the last twenty four hours. All lack of recordings within this time frame have been logged due to me crashing out on the platform. Which I recall vividly, same as with the fairy outfit you had when we were out ice skating. But as far as I can gather I didn’t corrupt anything from today.”[/color] Which was a lucky outcome if it was true.

[color=DeepPink]“Thank goodness woodness…”[/color] MDP sighed in relief. [color=DeepPink]“S-So, umm… D-Does Penny Wenny know what caused some of her memory wemories to go bye bye, and all that other wother stuffy wuffy?”[/color] she asked, still very concerned about her girlfriend’s condition. 

It was when Dina coughed. "I guess you are stable enough to have visitors. Do we forfeit the tournament?"

[color=9e0039]“My Mimicry systems caused a critical overheat to occur. I don’t know how or why those systems were able to do that however.”[/color] Penny would answer MDP before turning towards Dina. [color=9e0039]“It depends. Supposition: Without maintenance, my system integrity is likely at increased risk. Statement: There are three such people with acceptable skills to be able to accomplish that task within the Beach. Recommendation: Determine optimal viable candidate for assistance before the next round starts to ascertain viability of personal continuation.”[/color]

Dina sighed. "The next bout is Tenebra, the girl Sanngridr raised. She is one of us, so I think nothing will happen if we forfeit, Your Highness."

[color=DeepPink]“U-Ummm…”[/color] MDP spoke up hesitantly. [color=DeepPink]“I-If Penny Wenny thinkie winkies it’ll helpy welpy, Magical Dream Princess can change back to her normal wormal selfy welfy,”[/color] the whimsical girl offered. [color=DeepPink]“But, like, even though she’ll be super duper brainy wainy, Magical Dream Princess doesn’t know if she’ll be brainy wainy [i]enough,[/i] ‘cause, like, Penny Wenny’s so super duper special wecial, and Magical Dream Princess never ever worked with anythingie wingie like her beforesie…”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“Insufficient data on subject: Tenebra. Differing to Designation: Regent on subject. Addendum: If we can get me back to full operations I’d like to go back in.”[/color] Penny would state with a nod to Dina. The mechanical girl didn’t want this to be the end of her matches, but she had to put her getting repaired above the Beach unfortunately. With luck Tenebra would be able to pull through and get the mirror, but Sam had pushed Penny much further then she had expected, and her trying to claw her way out of a sure fire defeat seemed to have only delayed such.

[color=9e0039]“You can do this Princess. I’ll be there for the entire procedure. My systems won’t need to be placed into suspended runtimes, thus I’ll be able to supply diagnostic and troubleshooting assistance.”[/color] She would go on to say giving Magical Dream Princess a stilted smile. [color=9e0039]“I trust you the most out of the three. Designation: Elora is flagged as Ascendency and Designation: Psycho Scientist is lacking enough data to be truly trusted.”[/color] She would explain quietly. [color=9e0039]“Statement: Requested course of action only presented due to limited time frame before systemic degradation of Beach peace. I’d never ask you to risk a reveal otherwise.”[/color]

“The thing is… only whoever fights in your place or Tenebra can advance in this kind of tournament. One cannot be a substitute if they have been defeated.” Dina added. “I will secure some privacy” she added as she went to lock the door.

[color=9e0039]“Acknowledged. If repairs can be completed in time I will continue, otherwise further operational involvement will be in the evacuation protocols.”[/color] Penny would state as Snoopy flew off to go watch the hall before Dina would lock the door.

[color=DeepPink]“Okie dokie, Penny Wenny~”[/color] MDP told her girlfriend with a gentle smile. [color=DeepPink]“Magical Dream Princess will do her very wery best~!”[/color] she added, a look of determination on her cute face.

[color=9e0039]“Snoopy will be executing Eye in the Sky protocol.”[/color] Penny would explain as she led them to the far corner of the room. [color=9e0039]“Early warning will let you initialize your transformation in case anyone tries to force entry. Dina’s presence within the room is preferable, incase of unexpected errors. Designation: Regent holds highest authorization possible alongside Alicia.”[/color]

Although she would have prefered to have Dina depart, MDP trusted her girlfriend’s judgment. She also knew that the need to maintain her secret identity paled in comparison to Penny’s need for assistance, and so she gave a resigned exhale, before being consumed by a flash of light. An instant later, she was [url=https://imgur.com/8mHosGX]her mundane self[/url] once more.

[color=BlueViolet]“Okay… Well, I suppose we can get started now,”[/color] Violet observed, still seeming a little nervous, despite her mundane self’s more composed demeanor. [color=BlueViolet]“Although it occurs to me that we seem to lack the necessary tools for any sort of repair work…”[/color] she added, blushing a bit in embarrassment at having only just now realized that important detail.

Penny’s lips would quirk up at the edges as she sat down with her back facing Violet. [color=9e0039]“Adaptation is one of my core capabilities.”[/color] She would state as her back would start to segment and fold open giving an unimpeded look into Penny’s inner workings. A moment later the segments of her back would remold into a half dome set of monitors that were suddenly filled with numerous readings and data flows.

It was quite the sight to see, grouped into separate windows along the outside of the monitor were all the basic things that Penny kept track of at any one time. Chassis integrity, mana levels, weapon status, local entities and their threat index. Her current emotional status and a rather complicated read out that was monitoring ‘Engine level’. But the real star of the show was the lines of code that sat in the middle of the screen. There were millions of lines of code easily, if not more.

The outermost layers were an ever shifting mass of code, updating and rewriting based on all the incoming sensory information. But it was easy to see that it was a mess. large sections were damaged, and that was before the corrupted code came into play. The deeper Violet looked the less human the code would turn as well. Outside of the kernel processes, the code was oddly sloppy though and the later processes were laid on top of the prior code leading to a bizarre mesh of code that was nearly incomprehensible.

The display began highlighting several sections of code that were obviously corrupted. A line of text would suddenly pop up on a nearby window [color=9e0039][i]“These areas are the most damaged”[/i][/color] It read [color=9e0039][i]“I can’t really see what is wrong with them”[/i][/color] It would go on to add [color=9e0039][i]“Kind of like having a headache, you know something is wrong but not the reason behind it”[/i][/color]

Dina was leaning against the door, her ears perked up to hear possible interlopers while she left the task at hand. She would look at Violet for a second, noticing the stark contrast between the two states. She herself was more of an exception to the rule. Her personality had gained some quirks, but the core of her being was the same.

"A person's body is more complicated than any machine. Despite looking a machine, her Majesty is still a magical girl." Dina would then say.

"Exertion seems the cause, and I am afraid there is not much to do besides letting its course I am afraid." 

It would be an interesting sight to literally be able to see Penny’s thoughts playing out in response to Dina’s statements. Minor irritation and disagreement towards the assumptions of it being exhaustion as the sole cause, and the resignation at her own nature being disregarded and downplayed.

A few calculations ran on if she should respond, before an ultimate conclusion that there wasn’t a sufficient reason to do so. Engine level was noted at raising a tick, as was her emotional state wavering for a moment. There were a half dozen other things tracked and recorded as well, but the annotations didn’t make sense without context.

[color=9e0039][i]“Ready when you are”[/i][/color] A text box would say as Penny waited. One of her spider limbs would partly unfurl in front of Violet, a keyboard and trackpad partially formed into.

As it happened, tools would apparently be unnecessary, and Violet gave a small gasp as she realized that she would be manipulating Penny’s systems directly…

[color=BlueViolet]“Amazing…”[/color] she whispered in awe as her eyes skimmed over the various displays. [color=BlueViolet]“I know I said that I wanted to take a closer look at you, but you didn’t need to injure yourself just to give me the opportunity,”[/color] she told her girlfriend with a playful smirk. [color=BlueViolet]“But seriously, Penny, I-I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. I mean, I recognize the basic foundation, but this is light years beyond anything Covington Industries has ever created.”[/color]  As she made her way through the increasingly complex lines of damaged code, Violet found that even [i]her[/i] impressive intellect struggled to comprehend the information before her. Nevertheless, the heiress was determined to do everything she could to assist her beloved girlfriend, so when she was presented with a keyboard interface, Violet placed her hands above it and took a deep breath. [color=BlueViolet]“In that case, let’s begin.”[/color]

It was then when a cellphone rang, the tone of Nyan Cat permeating the room to break the awkward silence. “...I believe it is mine.” said Dina blandly, before answering. Most of the conversation  was taking place in hushed whispers.

“WHAT? YOU ARE FORFEITING?!” Dina raised her voice, before gritting her teeth. “Because...you were bored? Now listen here you womanchild, there’s much at- what!?”

Whatever was said on the phone made Dina blanch, and cut off her rant mid-way. She then sedatedly replied. “I will relay that.” She then hung on the phone, before sighing and letting a small chuckle.

“...Sanngridr is forfeiting. Because she says this is boring and there’s something more fun going on. Apparently the Cradle, one named Finn, is on the warpath and wants to claim the city for himself.”

She then sighed. “It makes sense they would change their stance because of what you did to your opponent, your Highness.” She slid down against the wall, falling to her knees. “We really need to preserve force, even if we would be down to just Tenebra. We should forfeit like Sanngridr did to avoid over-commiting. Sometimes I underestimate her intelligence.”

Dina’s phone would crackle to life as Penny’s voice chimed out from it. [color=9e0039]“More reason for me to not forfeit I would think. I was also obviously carried away after the match. Me forfeiting now, after Sann did as well make it look like the Sanctuary is at an all time low.”[/color] She would reason. [color=9e0039]“Staying in especially if nothing is obviously amiss is a show of strength. Which we kinda need if both the Ascendency and the Cradle are watching us closely.”[/color]

A sigh would follow those statements [color=9e0039]“Mind if I borrow the phone? I need to call Dan.”[/color]

“But our next opponent is Tenebra! She’s one of our own! Forget about strength! Blood has been shed now!” Dina would chime in, before handing the phone to Penny. “Please reconsider.”

[color=9e0039]“Tenebra has only just joined our ranks. After being resurrected. My standing down to leave all of this to her, untested, is too reckless. I have nothing against her, but I do not know her. To say nothing of what people would assume of my status and infer about the Sanctuary’s vulnerability from there.”[/color] Penny replied as she took the phone. [color=9e0039]“For the worse the tournament has become a political event as much as anything else, me not continuing is more harmful to us than me continuing. As everyone will try and find out what I am up to, especially once they learn that Sann forfeited.”[/color] She would explain.

[color=9e0039]“I was willing to stand down and let the others handle it, but I will not let all of our expectations fall to one girl who only just got her life back. Not when I can still act, to do otherwise is cruel and against why I founded the Sanctuary and took the crown in the first place. In the meantime you can try and talk to Maura and Finn, see if you can get them to reconsider trying to use force, as I don’t think that they will try and attack me during the tournament, especially not with the All-father watching the matches. Another reason to stay in for now”[/color]

Dina’s gaze steeled herself. “The mirror and this dimension aren’t really that important to Sanctuary. It has been said that fear is better than love, as rulers are concerned. But above all, a ruler must not be hated. We can’t regain lost face in any case. We need to preserve our rankings and mollify the opposition, not strut around the blood of the fallen! And Odin loves that! He isn’t going to avoid scuffle, or preserve us from retaliation.”

“This was supposed to be a christmas party… when did it all go wrong…” She muttered under her breath.

[color=9e0039]“When a horror’s artifact was given away in front of the Ascendency”[/color] Would be Penny’s soft reply [color=9e0039]“And then made worse by my attempts to protect the Beach to repay Dan assisting the Sanctuary.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“If you can tell me that we have any chance of talking to Finn and Maura right now to try and deescalate this before it becomes a Challenge I will forfeit and go to those talks over the match. As you are right, the Beach and the Mirror aren’t important to the Sanctuary. But if you can’t, then I don’t see how advertising the Sanctuary as weakened by my withdrawal is the better option for it. I am it’s Queen and my actions reflect the overall state of it for better or ill.”[/color]

“They’ll want a piece of flesh for this you know.” Dina growled.”I can only try.” She said heading towards the door. 

[color=9e0039]“I know”[/color] Penny would say as Dina moved to leave [color=9e0039]“And I would prefer they stay focused on me when they come to collect.”[/color] She worried that Tenebra or another new girl to the Sanctuary would draw the Cradle’s ire if she herself went to ground.

[color=9e0039]“Stay safe”[/color] She would add before Dina left. [color=9e0039]“Their calm is not worth your wellbeing. In any capacity.”[/color]

For her part, Violet had remained silent throughout the brief exchange between Penny and her regent, but her concern had grown with each new piece of information revealed. The moment Dina departed, the heiress finally spoke up.

[color=BlueViolet]“I’m not going to pretend to know what that was all about, but, for what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right decision,”[/color] Violet told her. [color=BlueViolet]“As long as I can fix whatever’s wrong with your systems, at least… And did I hear correctly that the Cradle has set itself against you and Sanctuary?”[/color] she asked with a frown. [color=BlueViolet]“If I am not mistaken, Amanda is a member of that organization. Perhaps if I could talk with her, we could come to an amicable resolution?”[/color] she offered.

[color=9e0039]“Politics”[/color] Penny would reply dryly [color=9e0039]“And the Cradle setting itself against the Sanctuary is what it sounds like, but I’m hoping that it’s an exaggeration.”[/color] She would flip open the phone [color=9e0039]“If you can talk with Amanda after we are done here that would be great, even if nothing is wrong she might be able to explain why it sounded the way it did.”[/color]

Meanwhile Penny was calling Dan, and when he answered he would hear this [color=9e0039]“Dan, it's Penny. I need a small favor with my match.”[/color]