Into the Whiteout

Teethman finally managed to get himself shaken off, removing the snow that had begun to blanket around his eyes only to see a Puffy's needle projectile heading straight for him! Just in time, he drew back and spread his legs, causing the nearly lethal needle to land harmlessly, if unnervingly, just below its intended destination. Teethman got up with a slow motion, then glanced back down at the obscure snow angel he'd created.

Hal could see that his teammates had begun taking more hits for the team... Teethman would have to keep doing something useful. He had noticed earlier the others' preoccupation with the hanging viruses. Though he wasn't sure if this concentrated interest would remain with them now that the targets were diminishing, he'd like to keep up the effort and do his part. In the last assault, his effort against the blowfish-like viruses had gone fairly well. "Teeth," the operator decided, "Use your Rageclaw to try and get two of those fish together. Then, we're going to try and nail them with a Shotgun... I know in this visibility that won't be easy, but I'm counting on you. We're doing great so far!" Hal reassured his Navi.

"I'ma-ma-ma pl-pl-pleasssed t-tow-ward luh-listen-en-en it," the Navi stuttered, gathering himself and searching for the viruses. The Navis teeth chattered madly as he scanned the area. Spotting a pink blur momentarily in the raging snowstorm, he rushed toward it with speed. He knew that the virus wouldn't anticipate his arrival, so as soon as he got close enough he dove dangerously into the snow to try and shovel it up with the claw, producing a mound of snow that may or may not have contained his intended victim.

"... Doesn't it hurt to hold a blowfish like that?" Hal asked with mild concern.

Teethman shrugged in response and began to answer, but decided not to wade through the distorted chattering speech. Instead, he merely rolled his collected frosty payload into a ball and began looking for another pink target. "R-r-r-r-ecieve!" he called, tossing the sphere in a fastball toward the potential enemy. Without pausing for a connection, the Navi recieved more incoming chip data. The arm that had born his three-pronged claw whirred, releasing momentary heat that the Navi was all too glad to accept. Eventually, it came to its rested shape of the Shotgun weapon, and he fired it into the darkness of the storm.

Hal squinted into the vague landscape visible on the PET screen. "Uh... Teeth? Try using this Vulcan to finish out. I don't know there's anything left of them, but I don't want to take the chance." Teethman quickly accepted the weapon, the nozzle splitting into five parts. He leveled the rotating barrel with the presumed remains of his targets and opened fire, hoping to finish them off for good.

Rageclaw PuffyB into PuffyC [20 to each]
Shotgun to PuffyB [50(NPboost)+10=60+splash]
Vulcan2 to PuffyC [15x5, splash]

The deadly scowl on Oberon's pale face was made into strange shapes as it was partially obscured by the flurry of snow under his boots. He was a literal ghost, an unseen warrior, an echo from another time. His almost invisible expression momentarily intensified with every blow, and his arms swung and pumped through the air with as much precision and grace as Titania's arrows.

Oberon exhaled sharply as he thrust his blade into the Misty, a sudden explosion of breath that came out as a kind of huh sound, followed by a vocalized Hah! as he tore it away from the place where it had entered the watery monster's body, cutting its dissipating airy body from the center out at a 45 degree angle, then following an arc up through the air and back down, ending with his back facing the remains of his vanquished targets, and his gaze centered on the remainder of the virii.

Raaagh! A sharp projectile struck Oberon mid-run, extracting a shout not of pain or even surprise, but of anger. Without even slowing down, Oberon dismissed one of his weapons into the snowy air and tore the spike out of his shoulder, then continued running as the flat blade reappeared on his knuckles. The freezing Sharo wind howled furiously, blowing crazy ripples in his spectral clothing, but the blaze of passion in his heart staved off the cold. Every time the immaterial figure that was Oberon took another step, thrust another strike, or whirled in another quick-turn or round slash, the jewel on his chest flashed as if it was being shone upon by a blazing light. And yet, deep within, with a voice locked away behind the blade-wielding warrior's eyes, something was analyzing the situation for him, showing him the way to fight.

He zigzagged a short way, trying to make himself an unattractive target, then broke into a head-on sprint, covering the distance between where the Misties had been and the somewhat static location of an injured Weather in seconds. Another flurry of snow rose into the air under his foot as he launched himself into a fleche, a blade-first dive at a single target. It was typically a technique of desperation, but also sometimes a technique of unbridled aggression. 'Fleche' was French for 'Arrow.'

So the technique that was to drive Oberon's right-hand weapon into the enemy before him was neither desperate nor blindly aggressive: It was an arrow launched from a bow, a precise weapon poised to kill.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Oberon didn't bother to look at the aftermath of his assault, but continued his sprint, leaving behind him a cloud of upset snow in the air, and a faint orange glow casting false color upon his body and the similarly-colored snow underfoot, eminating from the distilled fury coating his punching swords. He did not pump his arms as he ran, but rather held his arms in a ready position and moved only with his legs, feet pumping in an irregular, staggered step perfected from countless hours of training. Instead of plunging straight into the nearest enemy, Oberon suddenly cut to the side, then skidded slightly on a patch of loose snow as he made a U-turn and ran forward with both enemies directly in front of him.

He let out another sharp exhalation as he drove the blade directly into a Weather, using the widest part, near his hand, for maximum impact. His entire body went into the force of this blow, intended to send the woody virus flying into its comrade. The impact slowed Oberon's run, but he still followed-through by leaping into the air, then landing on the opposite side of the two enemies as before.

Both weapons disappeared from his hands, and their orange glow was transferred to his white gauntlets as he drove a seemingly flaming punch into the two of them.

Now Oberon's face was more than just angry: It was smug.

Breakdown
RageClaw [40] WeatherF
RageClaw [20+20 WeatherA into WeatherB]
RageClaw [20+20 WeatherB into WeatherA]

Two Weathers had fallen before his assault, Pianissimo realized as the data from the deleted viruses vanished. His third strike, however, had apparently hit a piece of wood blasted by one of the others, as his third target flew up to a temporary safety. Pianissimo was able to determine just how temporary it was when he felt new chip data...an AreaSteal chip. With this... Pianissimo realized, I won't have to wait for this guy to come back down. Still hiding in the snow, he plotted an attack...he would teleport behind the Weather to attack, then land and strike one of those annoying pufferfish viruses.

Seconds later, Pianissimo leapt out of the snow, spun once, and vanished. Not even a second after that, he reappeared behind the Weather he had missed the first time around, katana held high above his head. Falling, he brought the katana down in a tremendous slash from right above the "head" of the strange puppet virus. As he landed...the data from his sword chip shattered, leaving only the ebony blade of the katana. Damn! he thought, hoping to easily dispatch the puffy as well. "I'm going to need more chips," he whispered over a private link to Rigel, along with a more specific request. Rigel shuffled through a pocket on the inside of his cape, pulling out the appropriate chips and inserting them into the PET.

Holding out his arm, Pianissimo focused the data for the first chip into it, and a large green cannon materialized on it, brimming with energy. His scanners focused on one spot in the net, where a Puffy came into view on it, untouched by the other's attacks. A shot was fired at that spot on the net, and the kickback almost caused him to fall back into the snow. Pianissimo activated the second chip as he swung his katana in a high arc. Three Puffy spines appeared along this arc, and were directed toward the same Puffy he had target earlier. Though he couldn't see the result of his attacks, he couldn't help but appreciate the irony of a Puffy being done in by it's own weapon.
_____________________________________________________________________

AreaSteal to right above WeatherD
Sword WeatherD - 80 damage
Cannon PuffyD - 40 damage
Aquaneedle1 PuffyD - 20x3 = 60 damage

Explosions, projectiles, death. All three flew past, appearing and then losing themselves in the blizzard. The others had beaten him to the punch, and he was being left in their wakes. He rather seriously doubted that there was anything left for him to destroy.

"Raiden, take a check around to make sure--"

"No need."

He turned to look back at the rest of the group, but they were hidden by the snowy storm. They had done their part, but he felt as though their actions had shortchanged him from completing his. He made a mental note to lead the charge the next oppotunity he got, and took off into the snowsquall again. His navy and yellow was quickly assimilated into the blizzard, rendering him largely invisible to the viral and Navi eye alike.

[1. Dodge
2. Dodge
3. Dodge]

The puffys are set up by Teethmans rageclaw for the attacks, as his shotgun tears them both to peices. The Vulcan meets the last one as the attacks from Piannissimo come down and clean it up. The Weathers can only sway as they are cleaved to peices by oberons blades, and Raiden can only sit back and watch in awe.

WeatherA:DELETED
WeatherB:DELETED
WeatherC:DELETED!
WeatherD:DELETED
WeatherE:DELETED!
WeatherF:DELETED
PuffyA:DELETED!
PuffyB:DELETED
PuffyC:DELETED
PuffyD:DELETED
MistyA:DELETED!
MistyB:DELETED!

Teethman 100HP
Titania 120HP
Pianissimo 80HP
Raiden 100HP

VICTORY!

Rewards: 600z, Aquaneedle1 for all

"That was easy enough," said Pianissimo simply, before covering his face with his scarf once again, it had fallen off when he used the AreaSteal chip.

"Hey, Pianissimo. I'll be back in a minute. Need to get a few upgrades, including a few things that'll make you a little more efficient even when I'm out of or can't send you chips."

"Duke, I don't know if you noticed," said Pianissimo, not caring if the others could hear him, "but the viruses here are no laughing matter. We handled this bunch easily enough, but that's not to say I can handle them effortlessly without chips."

"I just said-" but Pianissimo cut him off. "What about while you're out getting them?"

"Nevermind," he finally said, "Just hurry back." Turning to the others, he asked, "So...are we going to keep going?"

Raiden spared only a second to analyze the Zenny and the chip that his violence had earned. It was a substantially larger amount than he had ever gotten. It was to be expected of a region of the Net that wasn't nearly suitable for a Navi of his power level.

"Marina--"

"I told you not to call me that."

"Marina, I am leaving."

"So soon?"

"Yes. There are things to attend to. I believe that our current funds are sufficient for a few upgrades."

She took a quick check of her cash total, and discovered that Raiden was right. Her thoughts immediately flew to the upgrade shop that she had seen advertised in some piece of Internet spam that they had passed by recently, and nodded to herself. With a couple of swift clicks she had the window that showed her face to the Net world open again, although her visage was hardly visible through the digital blizzard.

"Thanks for the time, you guys."

She flicked a switch on the touch-screen of her PET, and Raiden disappeared into the black sky in a burst of lightning that threw the snowstorm into stark black-and-white relief.

Teethman let the barrel come to a stop as it began to slow its rapid rotation, smoke drifting from each of the five barrels. Holding it in front of his face, he allowed the tube shape to revert to its block form, the tips at the end that had been barrels quickly retreating into the structure. Within a moment, his arm had returned to normal. Quickly, he accepted the reward his enemies had provided.

The Navi took a look around to find that one of his allies had already left. One of his teammates had apparently asked if the excursion was to continue, as Teethman's operator began his reply addressed to the word-thrift Navi.

"As much as I'd love to, I fear we've already spent more time than I intended to tonight on our escapade. I'd like to get into touch with you all again, but, er..." he said, not wanting to reveal he'd lost his old Netbattling contact information and couldn't give away his business address to friends, "But I can't really recall my contact information at this time. That is, er... I don't have it readily available..." he stated, his hand coming to the neck of his tie to straighten it as viewable in the window. "But I thank you all for an enjoyable Netbattling experience. Be sure to reach us in the future again if you're ever so disposed."

"Farewell, Pianist Jimbo also... O'Baron," Teethman bid the two Navis, still curious as to where his former ally had gone. "Including voice Titanus I voiced farewell similar fine. Enduring we join repeating!" the Navi called as he vanished, his newer, flashier teleporting sequence carrying the same results as his chattering vanished from the Netspace.

"And just why would we stop now?" asked Oberon with a smirk. "Look at us." He gestured around the group, scanning each one. "We finished that battle in under a minute, and the enemies hardly even scratched us. When I've got reason to worry, that's when I'll quit."

His pendant flashed one more time as his weapons disappeared, and he folded his arms. It was quite a group he'd gotten himself into this time. "By the way, Raiden---" Oberon trailed off as he looked over his shoulder in search of the Navi he was addressing. But he was gone.

Oberon had wanted to learn more about who was obviously an experienced NetBattler, not that it mattered. An ally was an ally. With one exception.

Oberon, said a disembodied voice near the ghostly Navi, Stay safe for a minute. Kazu's making an ACDC run and he needs to take our battlechips with him. Take godo care of him, Titania.

"Well...I guess that's that," said Pianissimo. "Since this group seems to be falling apart for now...I'm going to explore some other areas of the net. The NetPolice might not assign me here for that research mission, even though I requested it. I'd like to know my way around some of the other areas."

Giving a wave to Oberon, he said "I'm starting with Yumland. Come with me if you like," then disappeared behind the cover of the raging blizzard.

((Joining Eon if he'll let me. Otherwise, I'll make a topic there.))