Onsen madness.

[Azure has politely asked me to butt in at this point.]

"Don't hide the treasures you've found in a hole in the ground~"

In the veil of mist billowing up from the hot springs, the sounds of singing and gentle splashing echoes through the area.

"How 'bout the tree back your house where the-
Owls go!"
"Owls go!"

Russel had become accustomed to Maribel copying his music collection. He had also decided that she had a nice voice and started using her as an A Capella mp3 player.
The little aqua navi felt at home in the onsen water, the heated liquid warming and calming her. Despite wearing thick clothing, the water wicked off it leaving her as dry as she wanted to be.

"Attic in a basement with a knife serrated, I'll protect you~"

Destin had told them to meet his Navi here, so Marry and Russel waited and sang. They had heard sounds of fighting off in the distance a bit earlier, but after a large explosion, it had all gone silent.

"It's not to late to change your mind. The grass gets greener when you get to the finish line~"

And they waited.

[Waiting for Azure. Waiting music brought to you by Architecture in Helsinki.]

"I thought I smelled beautiful."

A chuckling voice came from nearby. The brush on the bank rustled before the speaker emerged, snapping some branches out of his way. The navi was armored in plated scales. A winged helmet and clawed gauntlets made the navi look a bit like an exotic lizard. The navi was also tall and broad of shoulder. A white cloak billowed out behind the navi as it cleared the bushes.

"She doesn't look like much."

The decidedly male voice growled behind obsidian eyes as a vid-window appeared on his left. A blond man with a ponytail wearing a white shirt displayed himself on the screen.

"Looks can be deceiving. Besides which, I heard she was just starting."

The navi laughed. He flexed a clawed hand towards Maribel.

"I bet she wouldn't last one round with me."

"DragonierMan, this is not the time. They came here seeking assistance."

"What do you think cutie? Want to tango?"

"You stand before me, I will defeat you~ You will not break me, I will not take you~" The Aqua navi, undaunted by the creepiness of the navi grinning through the mists, continued singing. She ignored his existence until, raising her finger to the new comer, she finishes the refrain:

"Woah oh oh, powdered milk man! Woah oh oh, you must die!"

She promptly continued on with the song. Meanwhile, Russel had noticed what was probably Destin's navi. He opened a window in order to talk privately to his old student and fiendishly lizard like navigator.

"I'm hoping you're Destin, otherwise we may be in trouble." The tone in his voice, didn't match what he was saying. Russel sounded hardly worried.

"What?"

DragonierMan seemed confused by the strange accusation that he was a 'powdered milk man.' It seemed to stun him for a moment. The operator took the time to answer Russel.

"Yes Professor I am Destin Obscura. This is the navi that I have acquired since moving here. He has also gone through some... changes. Regardless, you wanted to show off your navi and get our opinion. So we should go and fight some viruses to test. DragonierMan move out."

"Huh what? Oh..."

DragonierMan turned to head down the stream, glancing back over his shoulder at the other navi before leaping into the knee-high water from the bank.

[Requesting Battle 1.]

DragonierMan had barely jumped into the water when a new host of viruses decided to pop out from the shallow, steamy waters to challenge him and his new companion. A pair of hostile-looking sharp-teethed fish appeared first. Following them was another pair—this time being a pair of deflated blowfishes. Finally, a Shrimpy virus hopped through a particularly dense cloud of steam to join its allies. The Piranhas opened their mouths and threateningly brandished tridents from them as the rest of the viruses prepared for battle.

As the cloud of steam dispersed, it improved the Navis' visibility and revealed the edge of the onsen waters as well.

PiranhaA: 60HP (Onsen)
PiranhaB: 60HP (Onsen)
SenbonA: 80HP (Onsen)
SenbonB: 80HP (Onsen)
Shrimpy: 100HP (Onsen)

Terrain:
40% Onsen
60% Normal (To the Navis' left and viruses' right)

DragonierMan.EXE: 150HP (Onsen)
Maribel.EXE: 150HP (Onsen)

Team Battle 1 Start!

[x2] [x2] [x1]



A bunch of prickly critters interrupted the two navis, arraying themselves for the attack. DragonierMan sneered at the audacity, then reached into his belt pocket. He pulled out a small rectangular slip.

"You might need this."

DragonierMan suggested as he handed the data packet for a Guard1 Battlechip to Maribel. Tiny metal scales appeared on his fingers as he held out the token, making the surface of his soft gloves rough and stony. It was not long before the scales encompassed most of his entire body, forming on him like frost. As he stepped away from Maribel, the air wavered from the heat exuded. DragonierMan rose up from the knee-high bubbling water to stand on the surface, as if it were ice.

His visor was down, his helmet obscured his face. However that did not stop water droplets from coalescing in front of where his mouth was, a few inches from his face. The droplets formed three baseball-sized bubbles. The sunlight glinted off the watery sheen of the bubbles before they shot forward to entrap. The bubbles spun around each other in a graceful ballet as they danced toward their targets, viral puffer fish and an enlarged shrimp. Getting bigger and bigger as they went until they were big enough to fully ensnare their targets.

Wasting little time to set up a combo, DragonierMan's right hand cupped the air at his waist before it was filled with light. This time the crackling was due to the build up of electrical energy. It wasn't long before the navi held a bomb acquired from the datum of an opponent in his previous fight. The sphere expanded a bit as visible tendrils of DragonierMan's essence fed into the bomb, making it more powerful.

"Fry weaklings."

He spat as he hurled the globe of energy into the midst of the viral horde. It arced gracefully over the water before it came down and wreaked all sorts of havoc. A flash and boom of an explosive charge rocked the waves. The water steamed and boiled. Sparks and bolts of electricity skirted along the water in all directions, making the area extremely hazardous. Hopefully, the two navis were well away from the explosion.

DragonierMan waited until the area cooled a bit before he began to advance. He turned his head from side to side, surveying the field for any remaining opponents. White energy collected where the bubbles collected earlier, forming another ball of energy. He spat the sphere at any standing enemy. Then did it again after a moment of recharging. All the while he marched forward, batting away attacks and turning an armored shoulder pauldron to deflect. If anything could get through the navi's considerable defenses, his wounds could be seen visibly healing.

The conversation, having been interrupted by interloping viruses, would have to wait. The brusque lizard man seemed to change moods quickly, going from being mostly congenial (if not creepy) to full blown battle mode. She heard him mumble something as he shoved the data of a chip into her hand.

As Marry took the slip of code that the scaled navi handed her, she realized that it was a chip for protection. She activated it as she leapt back behind him. Thinking that he probably wasn't a bad guy for wanting to help her out some, she figured she could lend a helping hand. Raising her rifle, she watched the shots that Dragonier was firing into the group of viruses, trying to find a target.

"That shrimp thing moves like a jellyfish. So gross!" Marry puffed her cheeks out pretending to be sick as she slid a blunted round made of congealed water into her rifle. She had found her target and fired the shot quickly before the electric bomb went off.

Summary:
[Action 1: Activate Guard1]
[Action 2: Dodge, take cover behind the lizard Dragonierman]
[Action 3: Aqua Cartridge - Heavy Water - Stun + 30 Aqua, shot type]

Cooldowns:
Aqua Cartridge - Heavy Water - 2TCD

Readying up his defenses for himself and his ally, DragonierMan started off the battle with a lowly BubbleStar to attempt to trap the enemies inside of them. It didn't work particularly well, as the bubbles were quite slow. The Magbomb earlier was also not very effective, only catching two viruses in its radius, one Senbon, and the Shrimpy. The Piranha acted first, firing a hail of tridents from their mouths at DragonierMan, with the Shrimpy following up with its own bubble shot. The Piranha shots didn't hit anyone, on account of DragonierMan's quick footwork, and the bubbleshot was absorbed by his barrier. The Senbon decided to focus on Maribel instead, but she was currently behind a large, scary lizard-man-thing, who took the shots pretty easily with his defenses. A burst of fire finished off one Senbon pretty easily in retaliation, while Maribel fired off a bullet at the Shrimpy, deleting that as well.

PiranhaA: 60HP (Onsen)
PiranhaB: 60HP (Onsen)
SenbonA: 80HP (Onsen)
SenbonB: DELETED
Shrimpy: DELETED

Terrain:
40% Onsen
60% Normal (To the Navis' left and viruses' right)

DragonierMan.EXE: 150HP (Onsen) (5HP Casing)
Maribel.EXE: 150HP (Onsen) (Guard1)

[Ozmo, please state which enemy you're attacking in the summary next time.]

"Aaahhh!"

DragonierMan wailed at his failure. The enemy was still strong in numbers. His attempt to strike them all dead quickly was relatively ineffective. His rage mounted, blazing like burning hot lava from every fiber of his being. He visibly steamed. Flames licked from the coal-black of his eye-sockets.

He charged. Scaled spikes sprouted from his body like thousands of prickly thorns as his heavy footfalls caused the surface of the water to splash about him. He quickly built up a head of steam and crashed into the viral lines, plowing through to the other side.

He spun around as he cleared, skidding to a sudden stop. He raised his hands in front of him as if grasping the throat of an invisible opponent. A sword of pure white light formed in the open space and he grasped it with both hands. The energy blade solidified somewhat, and the navi swung it with a flourish before advancing on his foes in a bestial fury.

DragonierMan set upon the viruses with wild, two-handed swings of his saber. It expanded with each powerful, yet haphazard stroke of his blade, leaving little time to dodge out of its reach. The blade thrummed with each lurching blow, singing the song of battle.

Once. Twice. Three times did DragonierMan advance. And three times did his blade lash against his enemies. Finally, the forces that held the blade together could take no more fervent baseball swings and shattered, sending dozens of shimmering shards tinkling into the water.

DragonierMan raised both hands to the sky and howled. Whether his cry was of rage at having any of his targets live, or victory in seeing them cut down, only fate could say.

Oh, and his wounds (if any) were healing up nicely.

As Dragonierman dashed into the waters screaming in rage, Marry loaded the shotgun chip that Russel had just sent her. Not really knowing what to do to help the furious lizard, she dashed further into the onsen waters in order to get a better look at the remaining viruses. Raising her rifle, she took aim through the spray of droplets left in Dragoneir's wake.

She lined up the Piranha's in her sites (obviously, since they're almost as creepy as the Shrimpy). She then noticed how good the onsen water felt on her feet. This caused her to join in with Dragoniers shouting.

The sound of her shouting 'Woooooo yeah!' combined with the raging drake drowned out the sound of her rifle.

Summary:
[Action 1 - Move further into the onsen]
[Action 2 - Take aim]
[Action 3 - Shotgun 50 spread 1 to Piranhas A and B]

Cooldowns:
Aqua Cartridge - Heavy Water - 1TCD

A tad discontent with the result of his first assault, DragonierMan was soon charging into the fray again armed and dangerous. His powerful blade cleaved through the aquatic viruses multiple times before he stopped and cried out in victory.

Behind him, Maribel decided to join in and fired a shot at the viruses' remains for good measure.

PiranhaA: DELETED
PiranhaB: DELETED
SenbonA: DELETED
SenbonB: DELETED
Shrimpy: DELETED

Terrain:
40% Onsen
60% Normal (To the Navis' left and viruses' right)

Team Battle 1 Complete!

DragonierMan.EXE: 150HP (Onsen)
Maribel.EXE: 150HP (Onsen)

Rewards:
DragonierMan: 400z, 1FXP+1FXP bonus for chip sharing (2FXP)
Maribel: Bubbler, 320z, 1FXP+1FXP bonus for chip sharing (2FXP)

DragonierMan's roar echoed off the walls of the basin as the enemy died around him. Water and datum splashed off his armor and stained his cloak. When it was over, the drenched warrior knelt in the onsen and scooped up the rewards for both navis, dividing the sums between his hands. When it was all squared away, he headed back over to Maribel and handed the navi her rewards.

"He he he. You have some work to catch up still, eh? Perhaps this will help you."

He said as he patted her on the shoulder with the now empty hand. He closed his other hand over his rewards, crushing the datum. Liquid code ran between his fingers as the rewards were sent to Destin's PET. Then he brushed his hands together to clean them.

"Hiii guyyyy." The spacey navi looked up at the large lizard. She then cocked her head to the side and looked like she was intently listening to something for a bit.

After a moment, both Russel and Marry started laughing.

"What?"

DragonierMan cocked an eyebrow at the consistently strange attitude of the other navi. He absently brushed a part of his cloak off him as it clung heavy to his back as he thought of a reply. Destin opened a vid-window again.

"So it seems that your navi is capable enough in battle. What exactly are you trying to figure out besides a relative lack of connection to her surroundings?"

Still chuckling, Russel answers Destin's chat request.

"Heh heh...Ah yeah. That's basically it. I didn't know when I first had her. She just seemed like somewhat of a..umm....space cadet. She'd talk like she was having a conversation with someone that wasn't there. But she's always had an uncanny awareness for someone that doesn't seem to pay attention at all. I didn't understand this until I took her battling.

"That was when I the other Maribel came out. She seems a bit more...combat oriented one might say? And it's not like she concentrates more, but she actually changes. Her voice changes, her demeanor changes - I can't describe it outside of saying she has split personalities. One a spacey, bubbly girl. The other seems to be an actual soldier. Which I think is what is happening. She is supposed to be a military Navi." Russel quited down, waiting for Destin to digest the information.

Meanwhile, the blue and black aqua navi was chatting at Dragonierman.

"No no~! Really! The lizard look suits him....Noooo~ He looks a little off, but really he's just clever....Uh-huh. No no, look. Most people wouldn't get it, but I do. This'll go well. I swear. He's not a bad guy, I've heard a lot about him. He went by a different name but now he's...uhh..." She looks at the other navi with a concerned face. After a moment she brightens up. "Dragony-man! He's perfectly fine."

She smiles at Dragonierman and gazes at him with eyes of respect.

"And yes, if he slows us down, you can wipe the floor with him."

DragonierMan snorted at the thought that this girl could take him down. Meanwhile Destin thought over the information provided by his old professor. The twin personalities of a navi, one bubbly and one combat, were something he had noticed before in his and other navis. Perhaps it was based off a duality of coding between a navigator program and their combat subroutines. Regardless, it seemed that Maribel might be as similarly unstable as SINN was. He would need to warn Russel.

"As you know my navigator was originally a different navi. Throughout the year I had him, he would occasionally act up, becoming more aggressive and combat oriented. I chalked it up to viral infiltration, as constant wear and tear degraded the programming... but perhaps it was something else entirely, deep in the background, pulling the strings. It is possible that your Maribel has similar anomalous problems."

He threw his hands up.

"But this is all conjecture anyways. I am not at all qualified with the understanding to diagnose these problems. I barely had the skill at keeping my navi's core programming intact when it was overrun and overwritten by constant viral contact."

DragonierMan checked the latching on his boots.

Mulling Destin's words over in his head, Russel shakes his head some, nods some, then shrugs.

"Well, the two personalities seem pretty distinct. And they seem to get along with one another. The other personality is opening up to me some more too, so every now and then she'll talk to me through various...means...Marry seems to be wandering off again." Russel stopped abruptly and focused on his Navi, who apparently had decided that it was time to move forward.

"Com'on Mr. Lizard, stop dragging your heals~" she said as she began to move through the mist blanketed waters.


[Requesting battle 2]

Maribel and DragonierMan left the onsen area and continued on until they had entered a much drier area. With visibility increased, they had no problem identifying the viruses that stood in their way. The viruses didn't look too keen on giving up the area either, for whatever reason.

Dharma A: 90HP (Normal)
Dharma B: 90HP (Normal)
Mudfeesh A: 60HP (Mud)
Mudfeesh B: 60HP (Mud)
Mudfeesh C: 60HP (Mud)
Heavy A: 75HP (Normal)
Heavy B: 75HP (Normal)

Terrain:
90% Normal
10% Mud

DragonierMan.EXE: 150HP (Normal)
Maribel.EXE: 150HP (Normal)

Team Battle 2 Start!

[x2] [x4] [x2]


DragonierMan's spiky armor and aura bristled at the excitement of a new battle, after what seemed like an eternity of standing around. He pushed out his cloak and stood straighter, attempting to make himself look bigger and more menacing.

Destin and DragonierMan had not encountered the Mudfeesh and Heavy viruses before, but they had encountered the Dharmas on at least two occasions. Destin pulled up the terrain information from his PET. He had been interested in the mechanics behind that aspect of Net battles, so Destin had searched and downloaded a primer.

"DragonierMan, use this against those mud viruses."

Destin said a moment later as he slid in a Boomerang1 battlechip. DragonierMan proceeded to pull a three foot wooden boomerang from thin air and grip it fully with a gauntleted hand. Stretching back his arm, DragonierMan tilted the boomerang slightly upward, and then whipped it forward. The navi released the weapon when it was almost vertical, causing the boomerang to slice through the air in a grand arc across the Mudfeesh line. The wind was almost non-existent and did little to impede the twirling wooden blade.

A moment later DragonierMan charged forward, catching the boomerang on its returning arc. His boots clanked on the solid ground as he shouldered his way across the battlefield in his heavy armor. Gripping the boomerang firmly with one hand, his other hand bent the wood until it was straight. He then ducked his head and plowed into the virus horde, attempting to crush or scatter the viruses under his tread.

As he spun around, he lashed out with his wooden blade. He tipped the end of the stick into the water and dragged it across in another sweeping arc. The action was forceful enough to send a spray of water in front of him, sweeping the wave at the enemy. He then readied the stick to parry a counter charge. His grip tightened on the wooden handle. The fire was in his eyes. This was why he was made.

Figuring that it would be better to wait and see how things turn out this time instead of wasting ammunition on shooting corpses, Marry shoulders her rifle and maneuvers into a better position. If anything was still moving after the splashes caused the lizards actions calm, she would be the first to know and she would be ready to put the viruses down.

Summary:
Action 1: Move
[turn splice]