Malfunctioning Machines

As they jacked into the speaker, Raider and Soldier realized that they won't be able to communicate with each other, or at least not in the usual way. The music was terrible, and so loud that it was nearly painful. Raider grinning as he beared it, but soon he got accustomed to it. As long as that terrible soundstorm doesn't get any stronger, he'll endure it ... hopefully. He looked at Soldier, but he couldn't see anything on his face, or, on tha part of his face that was not covered by his helmet.
He looked around, measured the situation, thinking on the strategy of the upcoming battle. Due to verbal communication could not be carried out, Raider opened a secure comm channel to Dave, and sent a short text message to him.
"I have a plan. Need some weapons. I'll respond later." was readable in the message panel on the screen of Dave's PET. Dave just disabled the speakers, and started browsing through the battlechips.

After that Raider temporally suspended the comm channel, and opened a new one to Enchanter.
"Listen up, I have a plan. They didn't notice us yet, so we have the advantage of a first strike again. I intend to use it well, and take out the bogeys on the top of the speakers. If that stops the music, the folks on the stage will get pissed, I think. Would you take care of them? Soldier will support you ..." was his message, and he kept the channel open, in case of Enchanter would like to reply.
He looked at Soldier, and smiled. There were no need for words. He just grabbed his weapon, nodded at Solder, made a gesture like loading a shotgun and pointed to the viruses on the stage. Soldier nodded, inserted a grenade in his launcher, and prepared for attack.

"All set!" thought Raider, and focused the raving viruses on the top of the speakers. He remembered the failed Twinfang attack from the last time, and shook his head. No way he'll let it happen again! He planned to use the attack he riddled the last Plasma orb, at the previous fight, and clicked in a new magazine. He focused his powers, and streamed it into the gun, forming a sparking and cracking coating around the bullet in it. Raider kneeled down, since he had enough time to aim carefully. When he was done with the aiming, and the crosshairs were locked on the middle of the Scarecrow virus, he fired, and the projectile flew through the battlefield.

A moment later, he felt energy mixed with digital information flowing through him. The Cannon battlechip arrived, and did its job; his weapon took the shape of a mortar launcher, loaded and armed, ready to fire. "Good timing." thought Raider, and raised the gun. He pointed to the other speaker, which had the HardHead on the top.
"You might look tough, but I bet, you're soft inside, too." he thought, and tapped the essence of his subordinate's sourcecode. He borrowed some parts from it, especially those, which were allowing Soldier to destroy things so efficiently. He tried to mix Soldier's rave power, and his own precision to lay a devastating attack on the enemy. He finalized the aiming, and fired.
A moment later, Soldier jumped forth, and attacked the viruses on the stage, hoping that these multiple attack will comfuse them, allowing to carry out a second strike.
Since the comm channel was still open, he sent another message to Enchanter, which was: "No cover this time, let's make it quick. Oh, and if you doesn't want to kill our operators, take care aiming :P"
After all that, he re-opened the channel to Dave, moitoring both of them simultaneously, and watching what will his partner do, and how will the enemy react.





---------- Summary ----------
Raider

[li]Charge
[li]Headshot + Snipe + Marksmanship --> Scarecrow (120 damage, seeking, accuracy+ )

• Cannon + Smash + Marksmanship + Damage Control --> HardHead (60 damage, brake, accuracy+)
  

Soldier

• Attack ChampuA (25 damage)
  

- I hoped that it wouldn't be something like this. - yelled Enchanter, trying to over shout the music. He's efforts didn't pay off. The three speakers were unbelievably large and the sounds coming from them were well matched. After the navi measured the situation, he came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be too hard to delete the virii... in normal environments. He looked around carefully searching for a way to stop this sound, or at lest for a way to obtain an earplug... Surprisingly the only visible change on Caerbannog was that his glowing white eyes were smaller than normally. He stared the Champus on the stage and tried to come up with counter plans if they notice them and start to attack.
- Bear with this "music" a little longer, I'm trying to do something about it. - said Tim. His voice reached Enchanter directly through the Jack-in cable, the navi heard Tims voice right in his head. But in this loudness, even this way he couldn't hear the words clearly.
- It's hard to hear you in this.... - Enchanters couldn't continue the sentence, because it suprised him too much that suddenly everything went silent. He couldn't hear a single thing.
- So what do you say? Is it better now? - asked Tim. His voice was clear, and thanks to the silence maybe a little loud. - I put up a filter in your sensors, from now on, while this is active you won't notice a certain type of signals. The data you can't process are the sounds, so basically you're deaf for now. Because you're linked to the PET directly we can still talk, the filter only stops the data arriving from the net. - explained the operator what was he working on till now.
- Pretty impressive, but unfortunately it still won't stop the most annoying problem. - said Enchanter, and even while he didn't hear he could feel the music. He felt every beat of the music right on his skin, thanks to the air rushing out of the speakers. It was like standing right in the middle of a storm where the wind blew with a pulse.

- That's exactly what I wanted to suggest. After we were able to witness yours superb snipping skills it's only natural that we will take care of the ground. - replied Tim to Dave in the real world after reading the incoming message of his navi. - Enchanter it's time to use our speciality, element control. We gonna start with a shotgun. - and he slotted the shotgun chip.

The stream of data arrived almost in no time to the navi, who was already in his battle mode. In the net world it took up the form of white sharp shards floating right before Enchanter, like usually. He begun to reconstruct it a little bit, to imbue it with water element. Slowly the color of the shards started to turn into light blue and they stretched, making them looks more like spikes. After a few moments they took up their final form, and there were suddenly a lot of icicles floating in the air. Like always, the fire navi carefully chose his targets, which right now were two Champus whose movements could be called dancing, if nodding your head and waving your hands was a dance. The symbols on both of Enchanters gloves glowed whit a brighter light than usual for a moment, and all of the ice spikes started to fly towards the two virii. It certainly took more time than just a normal shot, a perfect example of everything having a price.

- Okay let's try to finish off the one which Soldier attacked. - said Tim and slotted a cannon chip, hoping to finish of the Champu which his partners support program attacked.
The destructive power concentrated in Enchanter's right palm, looking like a white ball. He was already trying to stand in the most stable stance, thanks to the sound waves, and now only moved his right arm. He reached it out in front of himself and shot out the orb. This time the knockback from the cannon was too strong and the navi lost his balance. As he started to fall on his back, Caerbannog stepped in front of him and dropped to one knee. No one ordered him or anything, he just felt like he could be useful finally. His grip on the sword tightened as he got ready to parry the incoming attacks. He got ready to throw away his life, if needed to save someone. This kind of strong determination was one of the characteristic of a real knight, or at least that's what he thought.

- Summary -

Enchanter.EXE:

1. + 2. Enchan Weapon - Aqua and Shotgun ( 50 aqua ) ChampuD and ChampuE
3. Cannon ( 40 + Knockback ) ChampuA

Caerbannog.SP:

1. Being a living shield and trying to parry the incoming attacks.

Using the element of surprise to their advantage, Raider began to snipe some of the enemies on the tops of the speakers. The Scarecrow was shot in the head without a second, and the HardHead received a similar fate. The Twisty saw this and of course got understandably pretty mad. Sending its RemoteBit down, it rained electric death on Raider, amplified even more by the paneling he was standing on. (30x2Metal) The Champu Soldier attacked managed to avoid the poor program's strikes, and retaliated by ganging up on him. The Support Program received a bruise or two, but got a surprise when his ass was saved by Enchanter's icicle airstrike and orb attack. Due to the spreading nature of the icicles, however, only one Champu was struck lethally. The others got a scratch or two. The Champus then redirected their focus towards Enchanter, teleporting up to him to give him a bruising. His Support Program stepped up to the plate to protect Enchanter, but only managed to deflect one attack before getting his face bashed in. (10x2)

-- ENEMY TEAM --
HardHead: DELETED
Twisty: 80 HP (On top of Inf. Speaker 2)
Scarecrow: DELETED
Champu A: 20 HP (Normal)
Champu B: 60 HP (Normal)
Champu C: 60 HP (Metal)
Champu D: DELETED
Champu E: 60 HP (Metal)

-- OBJECTS --
Infected Speaker 1: 300 HP [Gust Effect]
Infected Speaker 2: 300 HP [Gust Effect]
Infected Speaker 3: 300 HP [Gust Effect]
:: [Infected Speakers are about as large as a four-storey building, viruses placed near edge. Spaced about a few yards from each other, they are arranged behind the raised stage focusing on the Navis.]
:: [Gust Effect: Equal to a passive Knockback. Does not affect viruses.]

-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (Metal)
Caerbannog.SP: 20 HP (Metal)
Raider.EXE: 60 HP (Metal)
Soldier.SP: 70 HP (Metal)

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere Else)
30% Normal (Raised Stage)

With a loud bang, which was still not strong enough to be noticeable in this music, Caerbannog's helm bent on the right side, thanks to the left hook of the Champu. There was steam flying up from the bright red mark left by the flaming fist. The knight lost focus for a moment, but regained his posture in no time. He was in the face of the enemy and he know or at least felt that he doesn't stand a chance. Thankfully his job was only to buy some time and he succeeded in that.

A hand landed on the shoulder of the support program, which was covered with a white glove. As he looked up he saw his master standing next to him. Enchanters black rugged robe and dark hair was dancing furiously in the wind and his yellow eyes were shining, looking at the fire virus.
- Tim, send me the heatshot and get ready to slot the sword after that. - said the navi. It was obvious that he forced himself to use a calm tone, his voice wavering. It sounded like a still safe looking volcano's rumble before it erupts and becomes a natural disaster.
- Just don't do anything hasty... - answered his operator and did exactly what's been told to him, slotted the Heatshot and got ready to send next one too.

Warmness spread in Enchanter's body as the data arrived and the symbols on his gloves, which were glowing intensively with a red color, started to come off like they were only stickers. They looked like strange letters made of flames and were flying in front of the fire navi.
- Caerbannog, I think it's better if you take a few step backwards... - suggested Tim.
The knight heard the voice, thanks to the connection to the PET, and as he stumbled back, still feeling a little dizzy, he watched Enchanter clench his right fist. The flaming symbols straightened and become arrows made out of fire, aiming towards the two Champus whose came down from the stage. An evil grin appeared on the fire navis face.
- This puny little fire which you used is only a joke, right? It looks like I need to show you what TRUE FIRE IS! NOW TASTE THE FLAME OF MY ANGER! - Shouted Enchanter and the arrows set into motion, targeting the two fire virii.
- Oh, gosh. You should know that they probably didn't hear a single word... - said Tim only to himself and slotted the next chip.

A sword made out of energy appeared in the hand of Enchanter and he took a nimble step towards the enemy without wasting time. The arm swung and the blade came from the right as a horizontal cut. He prepared to finish off one if it survived, before it could counter. Leaping back he took up a defensive stance after the attack and got ready to cut down any champu that teleports close to them. - It would be a pain in the ass to charge at them in this environment and if they want to attack they need to get close anyway. - commented his plan Enchanter. He was still angry, but actually it was partly himself who he blamed. Because of him his support program who was only just modified almost got broken.

-Summary-

Enchanter.EXE:
1. Heatshot ( 45 fire ) ChampuC and ChampuE
2. Sword (80 + slash) if any survived (if luckily I got both of them then getting ready for the counter)
3. Sword (80 + slash) to any Campu who tries to come close to him or Caerbannog

Caerbannog.SP:
1. dodge

"Argh, that hurts!" said Raider, mostly for himself.
"Watch out!" shouted Dave. (Other guests in the shop might have thought that he's nuts.) Quickly realising that Raider might not heard it, Dave sent another message pack:
"Just take care for a little longer, I'm working on something ...", and continued typing wildly.

"... Aaaaaand ... " said Dave and entered the last command ... " done!" Raider could hear the last word too. Furthermore the 'music' began to decrease intensity, and narrow its frequency range.
"Dave ... Dave?" said Raider. He could barely hear his own voice, and then, he heard Dave's voice. it was like listening to him through a highway with rough traffic.
"Yeah. I applied a filter to your voice sensors. This is far from a perfect solution, it just decreases the intensity of the incoming signals to a much more manageable state. In other words, I tuned down the volume. When we'll have some time, I'll refine it, and add it to your code. I already have an idea how to separate the enviromental sound effects from the useful ones, but it will take some time. Anyway, you'll still have to fight with the sonic blast waves, I can't neutralize them, so be on your guard!" was the message.
"I'll do my best ... " Raider replied, and started thinking how to take out the virus on the speaker in the middle. When he decided what to do, he handed in his request: "Dave, I'd like to use the EnergyBomb, please send it!"
"Right away, " replied his operator, "but first, there's something to keep you in one peace, Guard!" he said, and slotted in the two chips.

Raider felt the two chip's data stream flowing through him. The first one created a barrier between him and the viruses, and the second materialized a grenade on his belt. Hoping that the shield will protect him from enemy attacks for a while, he unhooked the grenade. It was a tricky one, a combined EM-frag grenade, which releases an EM surge before exploding, ideal against stationary targets.

"Allright, let's do this!" he said, and started calculating the ideal trajectory. He moved in closer, sped up a little, and threw the grenade towards the Twisty that hurt him badly a moment ago ...




---------- Summary ----------
Raider

[li]Guard1 on self
[li]Moving into position / take aim

• EnergyBomb (3x40) + Snipe (seeking) + Marksmanship (accuracy+) + Damage Control (+20 passive strengthen) --> Twisty
  

Soldier

• Help Enchanter and Caerbannog ie. attack if a Champu survives
  

[Marksmanship only works with Shot-type attacks.]

Casting a Heat spell, Enchanter took care of two of the Champu, with both of them severely wounded. The attacked boxers teleported up to Enchanter to take a swing at him, but were both met with sword swipes. The Twisty fired upon Raider once again, but the shot was reflected and hit it for quite a bit of damage. The EnergyBomb hit flawlessly as well, deleting the Twisty. Un~fortunately for Raider, it also damaged the speaker for quite some damage.

YOU CAN'T KILL THE METAL, THE METAL WILL LIVE ON, THE METAL WILL LIVE OOOOOONNNNN

Yeah, that was basically it, pumped through the speakers at volume 11. Everyone was literally brought to their knees, no casualties reported though. Oh, and one of the Champu did get attacked by Soldier, deleted. The last Champu tried to get in a hit for Caerbannog (man that's a mouthful) but the lil' guy managed to evade both of its powerful hooks.

-- ENEMY TEAM --
HardHead: DELETED
Twisty: DELETED
Scarecrow: DELETED
Champu A: DELETED
Champu B: 60 HP (Normal)
Champu C: DELETED
Champu D: DELETED
Champu E: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Infected Speaker 1: 300 HP [Gust Effect]
Infected Speaker 2: 180 HP [Gust Effect]
Infected Speaker 3: 300 HP [Gust Effect]
:: [Infected Speakers are about as large as a four-storey building, viruses placed near edge. Spaced about a few yards from each other, they are arranged behind the raised stage focusing on the Navis.]
:: [Gust Effect: Equal to a passive Knockback. Does not affect viruses.]

-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (Metal)
Caerbannog.SP: 20 HP (Metal)
Raider.EXE: 60 HP (Metal)
Soldier.SP: 70 HP (Metal)

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere Else)
30% Normal (Raised Stage)

As the speakers begun to shout Timothy tried to cover his ears with his hands, but it didn't go too well, thanks to the simple fact that he was holding a PET in one of them. He would perfectly agree with the statement coming from the Hi-Fi, he's a big fan of the Cyber Steel rock band, but it was so loud that his head almost exploded. Luckily it didn't last long, but Tim's ears were ringing continuously for a few minutes after the incident.

Meanwhile, in the networld the battle was coming to its end. Caerbannog fortunately was able to dodge the attacks so far and he was trying to carry on doing so. He held the sword in both hands in front of him, making it harder for the fire virus to get close.
Enchanter, after slicing up two Champu turned around and easily spotted his new, and last target.
- Oh aiming for the weak one, are we? I also like this game. - said the navi. He closed the distance between him and the virus with a few agile steps and attacked with the sword. The sword slashed down from above, trying to cut the enemy into two pieces, starting with the head. But Enchanter wasn't sure if he was fast enough or not so a second strike followed the other one. Now the blade came from the right, along with a step, aiming to simply chop up the Champu. After the two successive cuts, the navi felt that he'd got some time and send a message to Raider. It contained the following sentence: " I suppose now we're even... " referring to the sonic burst.

-Summary-

Enchanter.EXE:
1. Move
2. Sword (80 + slash) Champu B
3. Sword (80 + slash) Champu B

Caerbannog.SP:
1. dodge

( I would like to ask for a split turn, please.)

Champu deleted, that sorta stuff I guess. Blasting music stopped, everyone was that little bit happier. However, as they finished up, Mike approached them with a slight grimace on his face, and whispered to them, "Uh, guys... I appreciate the help. But if you- uh, don't mind, could you try not, um, breaking the appliances? I'll get into trouble if this goes on much longer... and the manager's almost back from his break. If he knows about this he'll have my ass."

Not very long passed before another worker appeared behind Mike, and tapped his shoulder. "Hey, Mike, the boss is back," he said. Mike nodded again, and the worker left them. "Like I said, please, be a bit more careful. I'll try to hold off the boss if anything goes wrong, but not for very long. Good luck," he said, walking back with a slump in his step.

-- ENEMY TEAM --
HardHead: DELETED
Twisty: DELETED
Scarecrow: DELETED
Champu A: DELETED
Champu B: DELETED
Champu C: DELETED
Champu D: DELETED
Champu E: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Infected Speaker 1: 300 HP
Infected Speaker 2: 180 HP
Infected Speaker 3: 300 HP
:: [Infected Speakers are about as large as a four-storey building, viruses placed near edge. Spaced about a few yards from each other, they are arranged behind the raised stage focusing on the Navis.

[font=Courier]-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --[/font]
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (Metal)
Caerbannog.SP: 20 HP (Metal)
Raider.EXE: 60 HP (Metal)
Soldier.SP: 70 HP (Metal)

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere Else)
30% Normal (Raised Stage)

-- BATTLE VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
Enchanter: [FireHit1] Battlechip, 450z, 27 BugFrags, 3 FXP
Raider: 400z, 27 BugFrags, 3 FXP

Enchanter looked around for the last time to be sure that there are no viruses lurking anymore. After he made sure that everything is all right, including Caerbannog, he waved to Raider.
- It looks like we're finished here. Let's go for the next one. - said the navi and jacked out from the machine.

- Oh.. we're really sorry. I promise we're going to be more careful from now on, right Dave? - answered the whisper Tim and watched as Mike walk away. - We certainly gonna be careful, 'couse I don't want to be burned by the stove... - mumbled Tim reading that the next one can be a little bit problematic.
- Hey look, the next one on the list, the Api Induction Stove, is in the second row, but now we're closer to the Klean Washing Machine. What do you say, which one should we choose? - asked his partner Timothy.

"Yeah, we gonna be more careful. Right, Raider?" answered Dave.
"Sure!"
"I promise we won't break anything. These two sonic attack were just ... um ... minor setbacks." said Dave to Mike before he left.
"Hmm, the stove, or the washing machine? Well, let's see. electricity, fire and water ... this might be problematic, so I suggest we get over it fast. Furthermore, it's closer, so it's decided!" said Dave as an answer to Tim's question, and started walking towards the next target. "Come on!" he said to Tim, and readied his pet.

As they reached the malfunctioning washing machine, the first thing that came into Dave's mind was that way does a washing machine have a jack port. The second was about what they might encounter with in the system of the washing machine, giant whirlpools, or caustic chemical attack? Hoping that he'll find the answer, he connected his pet to the jack port.


[Ready for battle #3]

As soon as the team of Navis warped into the network, they found themselves immediately riding some sicknasty waves. In the middle of a gigantic whirlpool of wash-cycle death, the team looked to be riding on a few clothes being washed at the moment. The agitator in the middle was churning the waters freely. Just as it seemed like it couldn't get any worse, a look above them revealed that they were directly below some nasty-looking viruses that were also circling around.

-- ENEMY TEAM -- (All flying)
FighterPlane A: 140 HP (Circling, currently E)
FighterPlane B: 140 HP (Circling, currently NE)
Elebee A: 90 HP (Circling, currently N)
Elebee B: 90 HP (Circling, currently NW)
ENGBall A: 80 HP (Circling, currently W)
ENGBall B: 80 HP (Circling, currently SW)
RedUFO: 80 HP (Circling, currently S)
Fishy: 90 HP (Circling, currently SE)

-- OBJECTS --
Agitator: 1000 HP (Middle) (Currently Activated)
Oversized Jeans: 201 HP (E)
Grey Shorts: 145 HP (NE)
Cream Shirt: 92 HP (N)
Dark Blue Boxers: 87 HP (NW)
Light Blue T-Shirt: 119 HP (W)
Sky-Blue Dress: 175 HP (SW)
White Bloomers: 111 HP (S)
Some Grey Rag: 57 HP (SE)

-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (On a light blue t-shirt)
Caerbannog.SP: 40 HP (On some grey rag)
Raider.EXE: 120 HP (On some oversized jeans)
Soldier.SP: 70 HP (On a dark blue dress)

-- TERRAIN --
15% Agitator (Normal)
100% Swirling Raging Death (Sea)
:: [All Navis are riding on Sea on some clothes. The small space makes it possible to jump over to other clothes or the agitator in the middle with only one action, but care must be taken or you'll fall in.]

-- BATTLE READY? START!! --

(( Take this! With my ultimate drawing technic I created the perfect map. ))

- Well, that's just great! I prayed so hard that it won't look like this and what do I get? We're riding on DIRTY clothes and everywhere I look I see WATER, oh and I almost forgot that we're surrounded by viruses and they're freaking CHEATING, not even touching the clothes! - burst out Enchanter as soon as he arrived and looked around. He breathed a little bit heavy. He had a feeling similar to claustrophobia, but a lot weaker, invoked by the tons of water surrounding the blue t-shirt, which he was standing on. Everything going around didn't help either. There were four things that helped him staying focused. First, at least he was standing on something close to solid, second, he saw other solid objects which looked like good footholds, third, in the middle of the whirlpool there was a place standing firmly, the agitator. Well as for the fourth one...
- Calm down, right NOW! - snapped Tim seeing how confused his navi became. - If you finish off these virii then you can leave right away, so the faster you do,the sooner you get out. - That was the fourth one, deleting the viruses was the ticket of leaving this place.

A sly smile appeared on Enchanters face as he begun to activate the battle mode. The air around him vibrated and made his contour slightly blur, because of the heat generated by his body. The water drops splashed at him evaporated almost instantly and rose up as steam. The symbols on the gloves begun to glow whit red light like always, showing to the ignorant enemy that he didn't choose wisely who to mess with. The heat made the air around him move and as it did it made the black rugged robe swish. The thin black threads of the fire navi's hair rippled in the air and his yellow eyes were the exact same as a predators, shinning confidently before a hunt. He was ready for the fight.

[Enchanter.EXE Battle Mode On]

- Now, that's what I'm talking about. First of all, we need to take care of as many enemies as we can. To maximize the power of the Shotgun chip there are only two options, and I prefer the one with the Elebee-s. - said Tim.
- Anything is good for me, just slot the chips. - answered Enchanter a little bit urgently.
- Don't forget to aim carefully, 'cause they look really nimble. - gave a last advice Timothy, not knowing if it was worth the breath or not, and slotted the first chip, a Shotgun.

The data arrived at the speed of light, after the chip was slotted, and begun to merge with a pack of data, coming from the fire navi, which contained all of the information needed to determine its appearance, its direction and everything what's a must. Like the last times they took on the pointy shards look, but the magician navi didn't stop the information stream, yet. He calculated, changed the course of the trajectory and even made little changes on the crystal-like floating weapons, like making a few of them slimmer or giving them a curve if needed. It didn't take longer than a second, but with this he specially modified them for this occasion. He even hid a last trick in the attack, namely the ground navi's specialty, the anchor. He wanted to take away the ability to fly from one of them and hoped that, if he's lucky enough, the virus could even fall into the water. He wanted to hurry up, but even in this state he knew perfectly that shooting aimlessly is not a wise thing to do. For a moment the light coming from his gloves became brighter and all of the shards shoot out immediately aiming at the two Elebee. As they were flying towards the viruses Tim just nodded appreciatively, seeing that he didn't need to worry about his navi, by the looks of it. The next chip was already in his hand and he slotted it with ease, a Shotgun once again.
Everything happened again, like it was replayed from a video tape. The only difference was that this time he didn't need even a second to program the attack, because he already had the calculations. The smile widened into a grin as Enchanter watched the second wave flying behind the first one only by inches.

The knight SP meanwhile looked at his sword and the enemy repeatedly and didn't really have a single idea how to even scratch them. In normal terms it was easy to get close, you just take a few steps or run a short distance, but it's not so easy if where you should go is in the air. Like a good operator Tim noticed the trouble of the support program and helped him with an advice.
- If you can't get them, just dodge their attacks. This way you gain time and maybe there will be an opportunity when they left they guard down in the future. - said Tim.
The eyes of the puzzled Caerbannog had a darker dye, so much that one would even call it gray, but now they shone up and returned to their normal white color. He made a small gesture, which involved a thumbs up, to show that he understood and look around for the closest cloth. His senses sharpened as he was waiting for an enemy attack. He had a simple plan, when the enemy attacks he jumps to an another cloth, this way he won't get hit. The basic of dodging is not being where the enemy attacks...

- Summary -

Enchanter.EXE:
1. Aim
2. Shotgun ( 50 + spread1 ) Elebee A & Elebee B (anchor Elebee B or if thats not possible, then Elebee A)
3. Shotgun ( 50 + spread1 ) Elebee A & Elebee B

Caerbannog.SP:
1. Waiting for an enemy attack and then jump to an another cloth.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" that was the first thing Raider could say, as he logged onto some floating jeans., and tried to keep his balance.
The second thing he could do was thinking over the consequences of falling into the water. Not mentioning that he would become more easy to hit, he couldn't even use some of his attacks. He had to keep himself dry, or things might become bothersome. A moment later he saw the others, surfing on dirty clothes too.

"Well, this sucks, but I'm still in a petter situation than Enchanter ... I'm sure he'll get a nice hydrophobia if it lasts too long."
Seeing that Enchanter already engaged the enemy, Raider armed his rifle, and prepared to attack. Since his partner war attacking to the north, he turned to the other side.
"Dave, we got to reduce their numbers" he said to his operator.
"Exactly, wait a minute ... " replied Dave, "right, I prepared our multihit chips, get ready"
"I'm ready, as always ... " said Raider, mostly for himself, and started aiming.
When the first chip, the TwinFang arrived, the virus in the south was already locked in the crosshairs. The bullet got modified; it's head became split, with a small explosive between them. The weapon started vibvrating smoothly as the chip's energy streamed into it, bur Radier managed to cease it. As Tim said, deleting the viruses is the thicket of getting out of here, and Raider intended to leave as soon as possible. after the these few seconds of aiming, Raider fired the Twinfang at his target. Right after firing, the small explosive charge in the projectile activated, separating the two halves, which flew towards two different targets. Hoping that this will keep the enemy busy, or completely destroying it, he turned towards Enchanter, being ready to give him a hand, if needed.

Before another chip could arrive, Raider noticed the two massive FighterPlanes. He kneeled down, thus satibilizing his mount, and making easier to aim. Then he gathered all his energies, concentrated in his gun, and began the firing procedures. He aimed at the pilot, calculating with it's speed and the enviromental effects. The air began to sparkle around the weapon as it reached its maximum capacity, and could not store any more energy. The targeting system beeped quietly as the target was locked, and everything was ready.
"Even if my attack hits, it won't be enough" thought Raider. "Soldier!" he shouted.
Soldier who was floating on a nearby dress, stood at attention immediately, and saluted.
"Help me snipe down that plane! Attack with me!" commanded Raider. His subordinate armed and loaded his rocket launcher, and aimed az the plane.

All set, Raider pulled the trigger and the charged bullet exploded out the barrel with a loud boom, and flew towards the aircraft. A second later Soldier fired too, and a fat frag grenade with a smiley on its head followed Raider's bullet, leaving a smoke trail behind ...



---------- Summary ----------
Raider

[li]TwinFang1 + Damage Control + Marksmanship + Snipe --> RedUFO & ENGBall B [80 - 80 damage, seeking]
[li]Charge

• Headshot + Marksmanship --> FighterPlane B [120 damage]
  

Soldier

• Attack FighterPlane B [25 damage]
  

[Rank A accuracy chips cannot have their accuracy increased with Take Aim, except Shot-types by Cursor Navis.]

With Enchanter freaking out over the water around him, Raider made the best of the situation first and made a shot towards two viruses. However, the swirling nature of the place made his aim go off, and both of his attacks went way off course. Enchanter got his act together and shot down a few offending Elebees. The first shot hit both Elebees, and sent the Elebee near him into the water, almost drowning it. The second also hit his target flawlessly. Raider tried a second shot at a plane, which worked great. Soldier went in for an assist, and the plane was brought down spectacularly into the drink.

The viruses finally noticed their attackers and started to start their attacks themselves; the energy ball viruses focused on Enchanter and Soldier. Through sheer luck, one of the clothes flew up just as Enchanter was attacked, making the attack go off course. Soldier was not as lucky though, and took a hit as the EnergyBall fired... an energy ball. (20) The FighterPlane flew at Raider, being directly above him and all, and took a few shots. (5) (5) Its attempt to ram him failed, though. Then, suddenly, the Red UFO flew at him and snagged off one of his chips! (RemoteBit1 Disabled!) The Fishy saw it fit to attack Caerbannog, and dashed at the knight SP. Unfortunately for it, Caerbannog managed to leap out of the way onto some... fluffy white bloomers. Joyous.

-- ENEMY TEAM -- (All flying)
FighterPlane A: 140 HP (Circling, currently NE)
FighterPlane B: DELETED
Elebee A: DELETED
Elebee B: 40 HP (Anchor'd into the water, and currently flailing to try and get out)
ENGBall A: 80 HP (Circling, currently SW)
ENGBall B: 80 HP (Circling, currently S)
RedUFO: 80 HP (Circling, currently SE)
Fishy: 90 HP (Circling, currently E)

-- OBJECTS --
Agitator: 1000 HP (Middle) (Currently Activated)
Oversized Jeans: 201 HP (SE)
Grey Shorts: 145 HP (E)
Cream Shirt: 92 HP (NE)
Dark Blue Boxers: 87 HP (N)
Light Blue T-Shirt: 119 HP (NW)
Sky-Blue Dress: 175 HP (W)
White Bloomers: 111 HP (SW)
Some Grey Rag: 57 HP (S)

-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (On a light blue t-shirt) (NW)
Caerbannog.SP: 40 HP (On white bloomers) (SW)
Raider.EXE: 110 HP (On some oversized jeans) (SE)
Soldier.SP: 50 HP (On a sky blue dress) (W)

-- TERRAIN --
15% Agitator (Normal)
100% Swirling Raging Death (Sea)
:: [All Navis are riding on Sea on some clothes. The small space makes it possible to jump over to other clothes or the agitator in the middle with only one action, but care must be taken or you'll fall in.]

(( Thanks for the note. I thought that because they were both flying and I wanted to hit both of them it would reduce my accuracy from A. ))

In the navi-operator duo, Tim was the one thinking rationally right now, and well, it was kind of the operators job to give orders so he analyzed the situation doing his best. He noticed the direness of the situation quickly, namely that Enchanter didn't have enough firepower to deal with the viruses, and because of that, they must depend on Raider mostly. Well at least he had an idea how to brighten up the situation a little bit, it was simple and it really helped only a little bit, but right now it was the best move that he could think of.

- Enchanter, try to attack the UFO and anchor him down with this. - gave the order Tim, while he slotted in the heatshot chip. Basically the "grand" plan was anchoring down the RedUFO, this way stopping the meaningless chip loss, which could be fatal on the long term.

Thanks to the miraculously misdirected attack of the energyball virus, the fire navi could continue his attacks, with only a momentary break. The symbols were glowing with a faint red light, like in every battle, as the data from the battlechip ran through him. Flames flowed out from the tip of his fingers and begun to dance in the air. In a few moments, they merged and become an orb of blazing fire.
After aiming for a short while, Enchanter sent the orb flying towards the RedUFO, hiding the data of the anchor in the flames. It left a red line behind as it flew trough the sky like a comet, and from its course it was obvious that the magician navi tried to aim so that the explosion born from the impact would reach the fishy too.

After the shot a fast calculation ran through Enchanters head, counting his remaining chips and possibilities. Unexpectedly, he reached an opposite conclusion to Tim's.
- Tim, send me a rageclaw and have a comfortable seat for the show. - said the navi with an evil grin on his face.
- What are you talking about, we've still got a cannon and a melee chip in this ... - started Tim, but Enchanter cut in.
- Don't give me this, "his in the air and you're on the ground" rubbish. Just send me the chip and watch. I know that you understand what I'm going to do as a CyberSpider fan. - said the fire navi.
His operator's facial expression froze for a moment as he finally understood what's going to happen, thanks to the hint. After he came back to his senses from the momentary "shock" his voice was hasty.
- Dave, leave the FighterPlane for us and concentrate on the others. Caerbannog, give a lift to Enchanter and watch out for yourself. Enchanter I hope you know that it's a stupid idea... - said Tim. - But it's your stupid idea so we're going with it. - added in a muttering voice as he slotted in the rageclaw.

The knight support program took a step backwards, creating a little more space before he dashed forward and jumped to another cloth closer to Enchanter. After landing he crouched to stabilize the waving of the Sky-Blue Dress, which he landed on. He lifted his right arm with the shield in front of himself, in a way so the shield would be horizontal. He placed his left hand under it so he could use the strength of both of his arms.
He only needed to wait for a moment for the arrival of Enchanter. The navi stepped on the shield and then his support program stood up, giving him a lift using the power of his whole body. The outcome was a giant leap and with that the fire navi was approaching the plane virus from above. While he was in mid air three blades of steel come out from his right glove, with hooked ends, perfectly suitable for grabbing things. His plan was to land on the fighterplane, stepping on the two wings and grab the body of the plane with the rageclaw. He had seen a picture about someone doing it before, the arch-enemy of the CyberSpider. He was called the Green Kobold. Enchanter wasn't sure that the plane would really be able to fly still after arriving on the top of it, but if it works he could move the virus with his legs and right arm. And most importantly, where could he be further away from the water, than in the air?

- Summary -

Enchanter.EXE:
1. Heatshot ( 45 + spread1 ) RedUFO (anchor) & Fishy
2. Jump
3. Grab FighterPlane with Rageclaw1 ( hijack and 20 ??? )

Caerbannog.SP:
1. move and give a lift to Enchanter

((Sorry for not posting so long ... I was working on something big, but that's not an excuse ... sorry again.))


"Oww, come on!" said Raider as his first attack failed to land on the viruses. As the airplane began its fly-by, Raider had no time to waste, and had to concentrate on avoiding, making some crazy manoeuvre using the jeans as a wake-board. And as the UFO flied over him, he felt something strange emptiness ... and heard Dave's voice from the comm channel.

"Hey, Raider, that UFO is jamming our chips, now we cannot use the RemoteBit!" said Dave surprsed.
Raider slowed down his movemenat as he answered "Well, it wouldn't be a good idea to use electric chips in this situation, anyway, but this can be a problem.", and then he saw Enchanter's fireball flying over his head. Hoping that the shot will keep the virus busy even if it happens to miss, he had some time to focus on the EnergyBalls who were attacking Soldier.

"Ha-ha, you have something on your mind!" said Dave, and started browsing through his chips.
"Yup" replied Raider, and turned to his subordinate. "Soldier, I need you to lure them towards me!" he shouted and activated his power sources. Soldier, quickly saluted, and positioned the dress he was surfing on to slide next to Raider. He used his mortar's knockback as a propulsion, and focused on maintaining his balance.

As the power Raider could generate reached its maximum, hand concentrated it in his right hand, crackling sparks began to jump uff his gloves. A second later, a battlechip's information streamed through him, turning his rifle into a double-barrelled shotgun. He loaded the concentrated energies into the shotgun shells, forming an energy coat around the pellets inside the casing, and making them buzz smoothly. That was the time when Soldier, who was trying to keep the attention of the EnergyBall duo and drag them towards his superior, passed by him. he had a clear line of sight, and fired at the viruses.

Before the smoke from firing could fade away, his ride floated away, following the whirling sea. As he moved counter-clockwise around the agitator, he spotted the bee trapped in the water, desperately trying to get out. He already activated the targeting sensors and the laser aiming, when Dave's voice came in again;
"Whoa, looks like an easy target to me, lets hit it while it's down!" he said, and inserted another chip. As the still smoking ahotgun turned into the 40mm AP grenade launcher, Raider already locked his aiming. In spite of his target was in the water he carried out an efficient aiming, and fired. The kickback of the shot slowed down his wild floating, and altered his course a bit, hopefully tricking the enemies' aiming.



---------- Summary ----------
Raider

[li]Lock and Load [80 strenghten] -> Shotgun (divided into 40 - 40)
[li]Shotgun + Damage Control [passive 20 strengthen, divided into 10 - 10] + Marksmandship + Snipe -> ENGBall A & ENGBall B [100 - 100 damage, seeking]

• Cannon + Marksmanship -> EleBee B [40 damage]
  

Soldier

• Trying to lure the ENGBall duo towards Raider (Move action)
  

Shooting down a couple of enemies, Enchanter started off well, sending the Red UFO into the water, and making it stay there, causing much grief to it. The Fishy retaliated by dashing at him, but not before he jumped towards the FighterPlane in a leap of faith!!

We'll be right back.

Meanwhile, Raider had his sight set on a kill, loading up his ammo with as much power as possible. Soldier leapt around to help out, and landed on the white bloomers, which Caerbannog had just vacated. The sniper took the shot with an expert aim, and deleted both of his targets easily. The drowning Elebee managed to get out, but it was then shot down by Raider as well.

We're now back.

Enchanter's leap of faith managed to land him squarely on the FighterPlane's back, and he dug his RageClaw into the virus. It reacted very, very negatively, doing a few screwball moves to shake Enchanter off, but without avail. He was stuck there, whether it liked it or not.

-- ENEMY TEAM -- (All flying)
FighterPlane A: 120 HP (Hijacked!, currently N)
FighterPlane B: DELETED
Elebee A: DELETED
Elebee B: DELETED
ENGBall A: DELETED
ENGBall B: DELETED
RedUFO: 35 HP (Drowning!, currently E)
Fishy: 45 HP (Circling, currently SE)

-- OBJECTS --
Agitator: 1000 HP (Middle) (Currently Activated)
Oversized Jeans: 201 HP (E)
Grey Shorts: 145 HP (SE)
Cream Shirt: 92 HP (N)
Dark Blue Boxers: 87 HP (NW)
Light Blue T-Shirt: 119 HP (W)
Sky-Blue Dress: 175 HP (SW)
White Bloomers: 111 HP (S)
Some Grey Rag: 57 HP (SW)

-- NAVIGATOR TEAM --
Enchanter.EXE: 140 HP (On a plane) (N)
Caerbannog.SP: 40 HP (On shirt) (SW)
Raider.EXE: 110 HP (On jeans) (E)
Soldier.SP: 50 HP (On bloomers) (W)

-- TERRAIN --
15% Agitator (Normal)
100% Swirling Raging Death (Sea)
:: [All Navis are riding on Sea on some clothes. The small space makes it possible to jump over to other clothes or the agitator in the middle with only one action, but care must be taken or you'll fall in.]