Casual busting and Catching up

[LynFXP: 349 > 357]

The chaos that followed in the destruction of the decaying park attraction happened all at once, with Aurora, Lyntael, and Sparky scrambling together just in time to escape the collapse. As Aurora barely came to be able to have Sparky carry them, the board's thrusters roared to life, carrying them out through the tear in space. Debris spraying out from the compressed space shot past them, a hair's breadth away from prematurely stopping their escape, were it not for Sparky's quick strafes and dips.

The pup slowly touched down onto the ground a fair distance away from the destruction, and Aurora received a sudden hug from behind. "Whoa, hey!" she exclaimed, experiencing a few pins and needles from Lyntael's electrical discharge as she calmed down, though it didn't last for too long. Eternalis came to join along soon after, having escaped the wreckage himself and ending up a little closer to the haunted house. The blue Navi jogged over to where the othre three had ended up after seeing Lyntael's wave. Their reunion would be interrupted rather abruptly from the introduction of the massive amalgamation of a virus crashing its way through the wreckage, joined by a couple others.

"Yeesh, were these guys waiting for us to leave?" commented Eternalis. Despite the virus's clear destructive power, he didn't seem too perturbed by it.

"What a freaky design, is that like several viruses welded together?" said Harke.

"Seems like it," replied Eternalis. "Thinking back to that big fight we had with the Neo-Shoguns is bringing back memories, though. Lemme try to match its size!"

Eternalis then thrust his arm skyward, and the slime around his body began to disintegrate into a whirlwind around him. Before long, the color of the swirl began to fade away, turning into a haze of grey that wholly consumed his body. The haze then solidified immediately, turning into an enormous blob shape that came to tower over the other fighters. A pair of grey eyes opened at the front of the blob, and four tiny antennae sprouted from atop his head. "Broadside Cross active! Deploying Towering Guard!" he announced. Then, two enormous metal implements then produced themselves from within the blob, one of which was a nondescript looking box to his left, and a thick steel shield to his right. The shield lumbered as it swiveled towards his front, between him and the viruses.

Aurora's response was to chuckle to herself. "C'mon, Sparky, let's not get caught in that. Let's have at it, Lyntael!" she said, to which the pup barked excitedly, attaching herself to the board as he carried her off. As she did so, a dim field of energy encased her, and she held her hand out towards the ground that she had just left. A hole materialized, from which a wireframe built itself up into the shape of a KillerEye virus. The constructed virus's singular eye waved around for a moment before it pointed its sight stock forward, directly at the Shredder metavirus.

"Launching Bunker Buster!" Eternalis loudly announced. The nondescript box on his left suddenly hissed as it split open, from which two missiles shot up into the sky. High in the sky, the missiles flew outwards in a wide circle before swerving back downwards towards the viruses. As they approached, the warheads of the missiles split open to reveal the shape of a pair of fists, and slammed down into the ground. The earth shook and fractured from the impact, from which there was surely no escape. Eternalis's transformed visage watched from behind the tower shield with a strangely dissonant happy expression, as the huge grey blob swirled about in place, preparing to repair from any received counterattacks.

-- (Eternalis: 1 action @ Sparky)

[A1] Extraction Module @ Self: 20HP Barrier + 20HP Casing + 1-Hit Shield
[S1] Equip @ Aurora
[E1] Soul Cross: Broadside @ Self: Elec/Break Lv1, Blastproof/Smash, +10 Elec

[A2] (All for One) Sensor2HP: 100
Properties: Anchored, ElecBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 130 Elec + Beam Attack + Stun 1
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a Killereye to search for enemies. Fires an eye-beam when it detects them. It can see through invisibility.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Elec
Special: ElecBody: Immune to Elec damage. Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.
Trader Rank: C: 100HP Anchored ElecBody Object: (130 + Beam Attack + Stun + Self-Destruct): Laser TAG (Acc: S) @ Shredder V3 (+15 Elem. Affinity)
[S2] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E2] Towering Guard @ Self: 6-Hit Shield + Self-Slow

[S3] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)
[E3] GolemHit2Damage: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: A fist of stone falls from the sky to smash an enemy, and create a shock wave that hits two nearby enemies. The area affected by the fist becomes Cracked terrain.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack (Acc: C) @ Shredder V3

[E4] Influx Aegis @ Self (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))
[E5] GolemHit2Damage: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: A fist of stone falls from the sky to smash an enemy, and create a shock wave that hits two nearby enemies. The area affected by the fist becomes Cracked terrain.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack (Acc: C) @ Shredder V3

As the fight began and the quartet set themselves up for the battle between one another, the Ratty would make the first move, hesitating initially, but quickly turning itself and spat out a bomb in the shape of a small mouse, sending it initially towards the Shooter virus as the bomb would make a turn towards Lyantel and, unfortunately, exploding upon her, tearing away her casing almost immediately after getting it up. But, as Lyantel managed to set herself up for an explosive charge, Aurora, with an equipped Sparky, managed to summon up a little help in the form of the dreaded KillerEye family, summoning the peeper up and directing it towards the Shredder, the eye's beam would immediately travel through everything within it's pervew...as the Shredder itself would barely recognize what was happening, making an attempt to dodge out of the way but getting snagged by the piercing electrical gaze, sizing it's systems up very momentarily (145) as it shook off the damage, parts falling to the floor unceremoniously from the force of the attack.

Eternalis, setting it'self up with a towering shield, was more than prepared for the oncoming assault as the Shooter would take loose aim at the navi area, opening fire almost immediately upon the quartet, aiming mainly at what it perceived to be the most inviting target in Eternalis, the majority of shots missing the navi and it's shield, but still managing to get a couple embedded into the shield's metal (3 hits!) as everything else went too far off to find purchase in the rest of the quartet. As Lyantel made her way to the metavirus without much resistance, though the virus wouldn't take this laying down, a trio of pucks were swiftly thrown out at Lyntael as it spun around, each puck taking off in a different direction as they rebounded off the walls, barely missing Lyntael, but bounding off the junk nearby and right across her back, leaving a light gash across it (20) as the Ratty and Shooter were caught in the crossfire, each taking a puck to the face before the end (20)(20)...but this in turn caused Lyntael's pain to immediately attack back, electricity surrounding her and the Shredder, damaging it immediately (45) as it was pushed back, as well as the Shooter and Ratty getting caught in the blast (45)(45) with the same pushback against them as the boss.

All this happening whilst Eternalis would launch it's Air-to-Face missiles, missing it's partner and crushing parts of the Shredder beneath the massive fist (190), cracking the surrounding paneling...as Lyantel would get the final blow in, ahnniliating the virus' remaining parts with little effort with one final blow to it's body (480), shredding the Shredder and sending it's scrap out and about the area, the Ratty quickly fleeing with it's tail between it's non-existant legs and the Shooter simply giving the peace sign and disappearing, likely to someplace where it wouldn't get involved with a Meta's bullshit. Battle won, the quartet could easily escape now, and probably quickly, as the richochet from the Shredder's blades seemed to make the immediate area JUST a little unstable.


-- Viruses --
Ratty2Ratty2 (Ratty)

Area: SciLab, Kotobuki Town

HP: 100
Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Null + Blast1 + Homing + Ground Attack
Attack Accuracy: C
Attack Description: Fires a ratton missile that scurries in a tricky pattern toward an opponent.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Ratton2, Zenny
Special: Gains one free dodge at 50 health, but this only activates if the virus remains alive at this value. Missile has object properties, as an object equal to the damage dealt: if a missile is fired and dodged, it will remain active at 60 HP and attack the opponent again before it is destroyed. Never comes alone, favors pack mentality.: 35 HP (Normal) (Flanking Shredder to the left)
ShooterShooter (Gunner)

Gunners attack every action, if able. They don't bother attacking enemies they can't hit or enemies they can't damage, but they can select Objects as targets. Their accuracy with the machinegun attack is bad because it scatters everywhere. They are aware of this. They are also aware of the fact that their Vulcan attack pierces objects.

Area: SciLab, Kotobuki Town, Dentech

HP: 120
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spay Fire x 9 Shots
Primary Attack Accuracy: E
Primary Attack Description: Targets an enemy and sprays the area with twin machineguns.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spread1 x 3 Shots
Secondary Attack Accuracy: A
Secondary Attack Description: Targets and enemy and attacks with Vulcan.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Vulcan2, MachineGun2, Zenny
Special: Immobile.: 55 HP (Normal) (to the right of and behind Shredder, albeit partially)
Shredder V3Shredder V3 (Shredder)

Shredders are a combination of Yort, Fishy, and Dharma viruses. They appear to be Yorts with 3 body pods instead of two. The pods are black with fishy-fins, and of course feature jet thrusters in the back. In the space between each of the pods is a Dharma's puck that splits and reveals a nasty ring of curved metal blades when attacking.

Area: All

HP: 470
Element: Null

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: (20 Null + Slashing + Break + Piercing) per hit
Primary Attack Accuracy: C
Primary Attack Description: Launches a volley of three blades at one target in sequence. They fly out, and come straight back. They pass through any object or enemy they strike, and may strike twice or even three times at max range. The blade pucks have 1 HP, and Iron Body. This attack cannot damage Shredder viruses.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: (20 Null + Slashing + Break + Rebound(5)) per hit
Secondary Attack Accuracy: E
Secondary Attack Description: Launches a spread of three blades that bounce around the field. They carom off of whatever they hit up to a max of 5 times each. The blade pucks have 1 HP, and Iron Body. This attack cannot damage Shredder viruses.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: (60 Null + Impact + Slashing + Knockback)
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: B
Tertiary Attack Description: The virus fires up its boosters, and charges the enemy. When contact is made, the blade pucks extend their blades, and spin, slicing at the target. The virus then airbrakes, leaving the target to fly a short distance ahead.

Special: This virus may summon a RockCube once each turn as a free action.
Special: OmniShoes

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): DashAttack, Yo-yo2, AirHockey2, RockCube, Attack+20, Zenny.: OVERKILL

-- Navis -- (Starting roughly at the "back" of the area, but within a movement's range of all viruses, on a fairly large area of Grass paneling)
Lyantel.EXE: 330 HP (Normal) (To the left of the area)(Self-slow2)
Eternalis.EXE: 600 HP (Grass) (Roughly middle-right of the area) (BroadsideCross: Elec/Break Override!) (Shield2)(Self-slow1)
Aurora.SP: 100 HP (grass) (roughly between Lyntael and Eternalis)
Sparky.SP: 80 HP (Grass) (Equipped to Aurora)

-- Terrain --
40% Normal

• No effects.

(Interspersed across the field, with larger patches towards the middle of the area)
45% Grass

• Wood Elementals get +5 HP/action.
• Fire attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

(In patches across the field, with a larger patch in the "back" of the area)
15% Cracked

• Changes to Broken when stepped on, chance to fall in when triggered.
• Burrow: Change terrain to Broken, Null 50 to burrower.
• Panel Crack attacks, >100 Damage Break/Impact/Drop attacks: Change terrain hit to Broken.
• PanelShot: Splash1.

(Where the Fist-to-Face missiles landed)

-- Objects -- (1-2 Piles of 40 HP "Junk" objects fall down each turn onto the field randomly, but "should" not fall on top of friend or foe)
Sheered Junk: 40 HP (Normal) (In front of Shredder)
Rubble: 40 HP (Grass) (To the left of Eternalis)

Rogue Battle 2, WIN!

Eternalis and Lyntael get: 25 Bugfrags, 5 FXP, 3000z
Lyntael also get: MachineGun2Damage: (50 x 9 Shots) + Spray Fire
Accuracy: D
Description: Creates a machine gun that fires 9 shots at a single enemy. While inaccurate, its missed shots are capable of hitting others.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Spray Fire: If a shot from this attack misses its primary target, it has a chance to hit something near the enemy instead of completely missing. Good RP increases the chance of triggering this effect.
Trader Rank: C
Eternalis also get: Yo-Yo2Damage: 50 x 2-3 + Slashing
Accuracy: C
Description: Yo-yo hits up to three enemies, two twice and one three times at max, and blocks frontal projectile attacks. User is immobile during usage and lowers their dodge for the turn. This chip counts as a Sword Chip.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Yo-Yo can be destroyed by Break attacks with 40 or greater power.
Special: If two yo-yos collide with each other, both are destroyed at the same time.
Trader Rank: C

The next few seconds with a rapid chain of motion, sensation and reaction; Lyntael grit her teeth with a small, pushed back sound of effort as the first explosion jolted her body but pushed through the smoke of the blast until, ducking past the rebounding blade-pucks, one of them scored across her back; the sharp, sudden line of red across her senses sparked the familiar recoil as her charge responded, arching her form as much from the sudden release as from the blow itself; for the others it was a somewhat familiar sight of bursting lightning from the girl, but Lyntael bit back the urge to cry out, instead turning the lost breath into a growl of effort before the final attack.

When the sound from the conflict settled Lyntael stood up again amidst the wreckage of the Shredder, breathing heavily. She could feel the void, gnawing at her deep inside, just for the moment that it took her to draw another breath, before the charge came howling back up again from the heart of her being, filling her body between one breath and the next and straining already to charge further, to release again; an eager burning. She held it back, eyes shut while the slim line of red across the back of her vest slowly stained its way outward, and let her body pulse in slow, gradual cascades one after another, gradually clawing her way back towards stability.

After a few more moments she opened her eyes and looked back, turning to find the others; she could feel the air moving about the gash in her vest, but it wasn't enough to actually endanger the garment – the straps were still good and it hadn't severed all the way up. A each small pulse her body fought to expend itself more completely, but even though she was close to that edge, it wasn't too much; she could hold it back and calm it down again, without help. She could. Her thoughts were interrupted as she caught sight of Eternalis and blinked a few times.

“I... What the... Hahh... Eternalis..?” She swallowed and tried to breath calmly enough to form words. “You're huge!” Her chest heaved and her body pulsed with sparks every handful of heartbeats. “What... hahh... What is that?” she put one hand to her chest for a moment and looked towards Aurora. “Do you have a 'really big mode' transformation too? I've seen Sparky's, and now this...” Despite the discomfort she was still pushing through, Lyntael did her best to flash a grin and giggle, though it into a still-slightly out of breath pant. She looked about the wreckage that was still threatening to topple over and reached out one hand to the string of data that had clustered around her; as usual, it drew itself into a thing green string of tightly compressed data that traced over her fingers, up her arm and disappeared under her vest until it re-emerged on the other side, settling into a circling pattern around the edge of her emblem.

“We should... ahh...” her words cut off in a small wince and the more pressing pain from the cut across her back and shoulders made itself known again, now that the strain of her charge was subsiding. She rolled her shoulders. “We should get out of this junk pile before it all comes down... that way?” One hand pointed towards the most likely looking opening in the broken structures and Lyntael began to move towards it.

[LynFXP: 357 > 362]
[Z: 57595 > 60595]
[BF: 870 > 895]

Eternalis's missile launcher made a sharp pneumatic hiss as it closed up. The shield with a pair of Shredder disc blades embedded into it looked pretty torn up, having done its job of protecting the squishy targets behind it for the most part. "Operation was a success!" he declared cheerfully in a strange, robot announcer-like tone. The enormous blob's face turned towards Lyntael, who had just remarked on his new form. "I'm huge! Good!" he echoed happily, almost childlike. Aurora zoomed in on Sparky, jumping off while the pup changed back into his regular form. Sparky wasted no time in running circles around the big new form of his owner, while Eternalis's face followed suit in the same circle, making him look almost like one of the attractions the run-down amusement park might have had.

"Can't say I've got one that makes me bigger, no," laughed Aurora. "Used to change into a pair of heavy gloves for Eternalis to wear, but I haven't done that in ages. I'd be able to do a lot more being my own pair of hands." With Lyntael's position, Aurora wasn't able to see her friend's injury on her back, and her exertion wasn't anything she hadn't already seen before. She wondered whether she was becoming more used to seeing her strain herself. Even so... "Oh, yeah, that was a seriously strong blast you did then, I don't think even Eternalis's put out a punch that strong before," she said, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. "Scared off the other two viruses too, but yes, let's move before this place starts to fall down on us too. Come on, you two, merry-go-round's shutting down!" Aurora called out to Eternalis and Sparky.

Sparky barked out in excitement and ran off to rejoin her, while Eternalis's face kept spinning for a few more spins. One could almost see comical swirls replace his eyes briefly as he stopped spinning, wobbling about in dizziness. "Hey, wait up!" he said, shaking off the blade discs embedded into his shield. The discs crashed onto the ground, surprisingly intact; a pillar of light indicated their automatic conversion into battlechip data into Harke's PET. Eternalis himself was engulfed in a light before morphing back to his usual form, his massive body and armaments compressing down and running off after the two girls.

Much as it was an effort, Lyntael still had a smile and a small giggle for the response from Eternalis, and the temporarily-giant navi's reaction to Sparky's enthusiasm. As they quickly made their way out of the unstable piles of ruined ride construction, Lyntael cast a quick side glance to aurora as she picked her way around the debris. The brief shoulder patch still carried a tingle with it, though Lyntael herself didn't seem to pay it much heed – certainly she didn't flinch away as she often had.

“Thanks! I mean...” she shook her head, the edges of a blush creeping in for a moment despite everything else. “I know you're just saying that. You guys are so strong, and powerful, and you've fought in wars and everything. I know that's not really true... but it still makes me happy. I really am getting better at this, I think.” Flattery aside, she knew that Aurora was just being kind in complimenting her – there wasn't any real way she could measure up to the capabilities of her friends, even if she was trying to improve, but it at least showed that they did think she was getting better, too.

Beyond the still-shifting wreckage, the rest of the dilapidated amusement park stretched before them again, and Lyntael wandered back towards the central thoroughfare, glancing about for other interesting sights. Far off, there was the rickety old ferris wheel ride that looked distinctly unsafe, but before that there were a dozen other smaller side shows and rides for them to explore in their long abandoned state. She wondered if any of the games would still have old prizes tucked away in them, unclaimed. She put one hand out to a slightly bent railing, running alongside the central walkway, then skipped up onto it with a small jump and a flurry of light breeze that made her clothes flutter. Putting one sneakered toe in front of the other, she continued, walking along the rail with light steps as she glanced to her friends.

“I know I am getting stronger, slowly. Sometimes my home feels... cramped. Like there's a strain, or something tense and restricted that I can't quite see. Rogan gets something for the PET, and it goes away, but sooner or later I feel it again. It's better out here, disconnected. I always feel so much more free.” She shrugged, closing her eyes and stretching her arms to either side, but the motion made her wince again and she paused, turning to step off the rail and drop softly to the ground so she could stand still briefly and shift her shoulders.

“Ahh...” wincing again, she reached back, gingerly touching the cut across her back with gentle fingers; she wasn't sure why she did, other than some misplaced instinct to confirm the injury that she already knew was there. It still stung, and the fabric around the slice was damp. When she brought her hand forward again, she looked at the blood on her fingertips for a few seconds, while her thoughts didn't really address the situation directly. “The healing is good though, I guess... ahh... At least this will go away when I go home.” She shifted her shoulders again and tugged at the straps on her vest, trying to find a position where the torn cloth wouldn't agitate the cut itself. She could feel a faint trickle; probably just a single drop trail, creeping very slowly down the small of her back. She tried to ignore it.

“But anyway... Magistrate – I think she must be Drago's house doyen, maybe? She seemed to want to boss everyone around... she ran some tests on me, after my assignment... they wanted to see if they could help me with my, you know...” She glanced up and away and shook her head. The charge had more or less cooled off entirely now as she breathed slowly and calmed herself. As long as she could do things like this, and not let it go too far, she probably didn't need to be as afraid of it as she'd always felt.

“She came to a lot of the same conclusions you did, really... but, ah...” here, Lyntael giggled briefly. “But she used a lot more complicated language and a lot more words, and screens and data read-outs to say it, hehe.” She shrugged and kept walking, shifting her position so she could walk in between her friends, and letting a small skip work its way into her steps.

“We talked about a few things that we could do... but she thought the best way would be to...” she made a face and gave an exaggerated shudder. “She wanted to put these great big metal implants in my arms and legs that would counterbalance my charge... ergh...” She gave another shudder, but grinned even so. “She got really upset when I said no!” The grin became a giggle, before Lyntael's focus was drawn to one of the mostly-intact amusements they were passing. “Hey, look!”

Nearby, the thing that had drawn her eye looked like a shooting gallery, of a sort; it was long, and had many spaces set up as shooting stations along its front counter, with a wide gap for the attendant to work in, and the a multi-tiered display board painted in different colours and made to resemble different network themes. Each 'station' was equipped with a pair of bright blue gloves that would go all the way up to the forearm on most navis, with a clunky, oval design. Most of them were broken, missing or otherwise wrecked, but a few still looked more or less workable. Lyntael darted over, looking around. The side show was off right now, but surely there'd be something, somewhere... the park as a whole still seemed to be operating on some level. She hopped up to lean over the counter, toes coming off the ground as she reached over, looking. There – at the far end, a control panel.

“Over here!” She slipped back and then darted down to the far end, before swinging herself over the barrier and crouching to the console to see if it would come to life. It flickered under her fingers and complained of compromised circuits. Not to worry, they only need it to work for a little bit. She tapped at the screen, overriding a few handfuls of errors as they arose.

“Hey... try find some that work, I think I can get it going!” A few moments later, lights flickered fitfully over the gallery and brief images of viruses showed up in a testing pattern, before it faded back to standby pilot lights again. Lyntael frowned at it, then grabbed both sides of the console with her hands. A charge crackled across her skin and hummed around her for a moment before the whole gallery shuddered and chugged violently, then lit up as a boppy techno-style music track began to belt out of the speakers on either side. Across the gallery virus images began to rise and fall, scroll side to side, or blink on and off... metools at the front-most, green tier, with larger, scarier entities of horrific legend in the darker red and purple tiers at the back. Lyntael popped up to her feet with a broad grin. “Got it!”

"I wonder if you'd probably be much happier with something to expand your homepage a lot more, most likely," said Aurora. "Your place looked pretty comfortable, all things considered, but it might have been too small, too." Still, she was impressed at how much Lyntael made use of the area afforded to her. It was a nice cosy house, with everything put neatly away in its place, she thought, recalling the time they had last visited.

Before she could muse on for too long, however... "Ah, that's..." started Aurora, as Lyntael started to twist about from the wound that she had just now noticed. Her brow wrinkled, and she closed her eyes momentarily, and her mind's voice inquired, could she borrow a little strength? Her answer was a surge of curative energy that swirled from her midsection. The restoration stopped just shy of applying to her own body, as if held just over her. She placed her palm over her middle, and was able to draw it into her hand, confirming that she was able to manipulate the little bit of borrowed healing.

Meanwhile, Eternalis came up to their side, with Sparky cheerily perched atop his shoulder, playing the part of conversation-carrier while Aurora was preoccupied. The pup looked around excitedly at all the next thing that might fall apart for him to zoom around, and carry people off their feet from, and what have you. "I've never heard of a 'doyen' before, though from the sounds of it, this Magistrate person sounds like the sort of people Harke's family might get along with," he grinned.

"Hey, I resent that!" poked Harke. "I don't use complicated words that much."

"Well, still some of the time, then," replied Eternalis with a chuckle. "Hopefully we can find something else that would help that doesn't involve something like that. I can sorta relate to having something jammed in me that I didn't like." Before he knew it, however, Lyntael had already darted off to look at the next thing that interested her: a little shooting gallery, from how things looked. Sparky leapt off of his shoulder to accompany the girl in their shared excited energy. The pup ran over to where Lyntael had discovered the operation console, sniffing curiously at it and barking at it, as if his little yelps would help her in any way.

Eternalis watched over the two with a warm smile. He saw Aurora approaching to his side, and gestured at the stations lined up in front of them. "Check it out, Aurora, you'd probably be pretty good at these," he commented. However, Aurora herself was somewhat distracted, still looking at her hand, and stealing glances at Lyntael. A question cropped up in her mind, unbidden, asking her what she was worried about, to which she replied that she was worried that their friend might rebuff her offer for help again. The other voice in her head reassured her that as long as she was their friend, she wouldn't truly refuse an honest offer.

As the two partners' mental conversation went on, the shooting gallery came to life suddenly once more, though not without its protests. Sparky barked excitedly as he flew about, following the scrolling virus images that served as targets for the game stand. "You sure this thing won't fall apart over our heads?" laughed Eternalis. "How's this thing work, anyway? Let's see..." He then stuck his arms into a pair of the gloves set up on the stand. The virus images on the display blinked out briefly, before rapidly scrolling across it, much faster than anyone could follow. It was a scant few seconds before the display declared a big "GAME OVER" with a score of zero towards the hapless blue Navi.

"What! I barely started! Lyntael, the speed setting's outta whack," complained Eternalis, retreating his arms from the gloves.

Aurora snorted in amusement. "No, clearly you're just bad at the game."

As the game ramped up, Lyntael smirked, then giggled at the consternation of her friend. He was right though, it wasn't working properly. She looked back at the console with a frown.

“Hang on... ugh, it's so old! It's got all these bits that don't want to turn on, because they're damaged, but if I can just...” clearing a few more error complaints and overriding them, Lyntael shook her head and clicked her tongue at the machine, then glanced across to where it connected to several of the game's sub-systems. With another frown she gently nudged Sparky aside and knelt down again, reaching too pull at a connector that warped, then sparked and crackled as she wrenched it up.

At the counter, the electronic grill that had come on across the front of the display, preventing the game's 'weapons' from being fired anywhere but at the target board, flickered off. Lyntael looked up and shrugged, then fiddled a little more. If she could just get it to ignore all of the broken bits and act like everything was normal, now, that ought to...

“Okay, try again!” This time, when the game started up its display, it ran at more or less the right pace, though the virus positions occasionally flickered into new spaces without warning as the game stuttered. She clapped her hands. Perfect. More or less. She swung herself over the counter again and rejoined her friends, shuffling into a position in between Aurora and Eternalis along the counter and reaching for a pair of the probably-historically-inaccurate blue buster gauntlets.

Occasional signs of the side-show's health and safety failures crackled and sparked, or made the dramatic virus-busting music skip or distort every now and then, but it didn't really take away from the experience. Actually, Lyntael thought it might even have added something to it. She shifted again as she took a stance, pausing with one gauntlet on to adjust the back of her vest again; it felt like it was trying to stick. Someone else looking would see that thee cut itself was long, but not deep and had now slowed to a gradual ooze with a single red trickled running down the middle of the girl's back – she'd shifted the vest to keep the fabric away from it, but the back of the garment was already thoroughly stained from the initial bleeding. She shifted her shoulders and back every now and then, as though trying to ignore a discomfort, but her attention seemed focused on the game now.

The game itself was simple but still fun, and the progress of more powerful viruses, as well as the frequency that they paused to make 'attacks' at the shooter, increased as a player's score climbed. Lyntael was grinning, bright-eyes darting as she used both hands independently to target rapid palm-sized white shots at the array of viruses scrolling across the game. Small snaps and crackles close to the trio turned out to be coming from her hair and skin as she enjoyed herself in the initial round. When the first game came to an end, a static, strained sound rippled through the system, and sparks and smoke escaped from somewhere in the back of the system, before the game simply restarted again; it seemed the prize system wasn't connected properly any more. Lyntael paused and looked down at the gauntlets on her hands, and then across to Aurora as something said earlier finally made its way back across her consciousness.

“Hey... before, you said... you became gauntlets, for Eternalis...” She tilted her head, then looked between them, then grinned and raised an eyebrow. “You know if you'd said glove I'd have just thought you were meaning...” She poked out her tongue and laughed, then shook her head again, pulling the gauntlets back on and starting to shoot again. Jokes aside, she was sure aurora had just been talking plainly, but the concept was a decidedly strange one to her. She understood that they could change their forms somewhat, when they used special crosses... and even if that didn't exactly ever happen with her, she still understood it. But Aurora was still Aurora... you couldn't just 'turn into' equipment for someone else, surely... Though... there was Sparky... but surely that was different. She glanced aside towards her friend.

“But really, what's that about...? I can't turn into things!” She only spared one eye for Aurora as she listened to the conversation, keeping most of her focus for the game. She was going to zap that darn life virus this time...

While Lyntael went back to trying to fix the speedy simulation, Aurora examined the setup with more than a glance, and Eternalis made some test shots with the toy gauntlets. The spheroid-like shooters responded with a bevy of heavily distorted scifi warbling sounds and the end lit up with a yellow glow. The garbled noises sounded vaguely familiar, but were too far gone to discern as anything but auditory pain. "I wonder why these shooting things look so tacky. It looks like a giant blue capsule for some reason," commented Aurora.

"They're supposed to look like buster arms, aren't they?" said Harke. "At least, they look like an older variant of them. I've seen them when I was studying basic anti-viral weapons a little while back."

"Really? Must be some ancient model of buster arm. Makes sense for how long ago this place looks like it's been abandoned, I guess," said Eternalis. Just then, the attraction came to life properly, or at least well enough to play. Sparky barked in excitement, as if his well-intentioned meddling had helped in some way. A scoreboard showed up on the side when Lyntael came in to test out the game for herself. Both Aurora and Eternalis spectated for the moment, even though it did seem like the game was set up for multiple players. Sparky came in to playfully fly around at the "viruses" that lit up the game area, though it was quickly cut short by Eternalis coming in to collect the overexcited pet in his arms.

Lyntael's play didn't seem to be affected much by the temporary distraction anyhow, as the game came to an end, before abruptly restarting. "Seems to work well enough now!" said Eternalis. A thought wandered through his mind, as to how she seemed to be very proficient in such an offbeat skill as messing with old game setups. Security penetration skills transfers over surprisingly well, he ventured a response, since it looked like she was bypassing the more broken parts of the system.

Meanwhile, Lyntael herself was musing on an unexpected part of the conversation they were having earlier. Aurora raised an eyebrow, as the implication went over her head. To her, it was simply reconfiguring herself to become another form; to her, it wasn't any different from her putting on a different dress on. "It's not any different from Sparky turning into a board to ride on, right?" she commented, as she went up to behind Lyntael, and playfully squeezed the smaller girl's shoulders. "If you want to see for yourself, do you want to try me on for size?" she mischievously teased from behind her shoulder.

To their side, Eternalis simply equipped the gauntlets to start up the game as a second player, with only an unvocalized message to Aurora telling her not to tease their friend too much.

Lyntael felt her senses prick up keenly as Aural slipped around behind her; listening with only half an ear to begin with, the hands on her shoulders along with the playful, mischievous tone brought an unexpected warmth to her cheeks that had nothing to do with her excitement for the game. It made a series of distorted sounds as she missed her next half dozen shots.

“I... I guess, I mean, it just feels different, when it's...” she struggled to articulate the thought, and why it seemed different thinking about it for someone like Aurora, compared to Sparky. It was hard to think of Aurora as a support program, when so much else treated the distinction as so pronounced. “I... I don't know,” she mumbled more quietly, her focus on the game slipping more completely. She shrugged softly, then suppressed a wince from the motion before forcing herself to relax and settle back against Aurora slightly. She could feel her heart in her chest, fluttering in a way that was distracted from the excitement of the game by something far more confusing. Was Aurora flirting with her? Eternalis was right there with them, and didn't seem to mind, but there weren't any... odd chips... involved, this time. She briefly stole a glance back over her shoulder, flashing the other woman a grin.

“I, um, I guess you could try, if you wanted... I mean, I could try it, that is... um... I should probably...” She hurriedly lowered the game's armatures and slipped her hands out of them, letting the blue busters clatter back to the counter in a slightly too hurried movement. Lyntael swallowed. Was she reading to much into this? Probably. But it felt like it was meaningful, didn't it? And they'd already discussed feeling a bit sorry for not doing more, during the game night... Was this a sign she was being given? The stream of partially unconscious flustered thoughts continued as she remained all too keenly aware of Aurora's presence behind her. She recalled, before, wondering how she felt about Aruroa, after that night, and she remembered that the idea of it hadn't really been... for her, not exactly, other than that she wanted to make Aurora happy, and that was fine... but then what was with the flustered sensation she had now; this was new.

“Wh- What do I need to do?” She glanced back over her shoulder again, venturing the question with a raised eyebrow. Across the counter, the game ended and restarted again with a screech of electronic noise and another violent gout of smoke and spraying sparks. There was every possibility that the various things that Lyntael had either cut off or told the system to ignore had been preventing the game running for very good reasons, but if it broke it broke, and right now her focus was far less on the game than other momentary distractions.

"You're missing a lot more shots. That's no good, keep your focus on the game," said Aurora with a cryptic smile. Without taking her hands off of her friend's shoulders, she pressed a finger to Lyntael's cheek to push her away from looking back over her shoulder. There was something strangely fun about the whole thing that she didn't quite expect--watching Lyntael's little mini-reactions and jumps, and the redness that she could see creeping up to her ears. She herself was getting a little excited.

"Don't be so nervous. It's nothing so strange. Think of it like holding hands, we've done plenty of that, haven't we?" Aurora whispered. Taking her hands off of Lyntael's shoulders, she reached her left hand in front, over Lyntael's hand, and clasping their fingers together. "Let's fix this up first, though." Her other hand traced two fingers to the sides of Lyntael's back wound, avoiding from touching it directly. Her hand gleamed dimly, a cool touch from her borrowed healing energy. It didn't take long before Aurora traced her finger in the opposite direction, tracing the small of Lyntael's back.

Before Lyntael knew it, the weight on her back would disappear, as if Aurora had leaned her hand entirely into the back of her body. Her hands would feel enveloped with a hefty weight, equipped on her left hand with half of a pair of jade-colored armored gauntlets, with yellow trimming. Intersecting blue lines pulsed with light down the fingers, and another one on the other side onto a circular hole in the middle of the palm. Her mind would feel another mental presence, foreign yet intimately familiar, just barely at the edge of her consciousness, telling her that she was now allowed to turn around.

Meanwhile, as Eternalis made decent work of the targets on the second around, he found the other half of his mind involuntarily pouring strange emotions into his half, and more than a couple of them distracted him from his shots. At the end of the round, he was still far ahead of Lyntael, who had missed the majority of her targets, no thanks to his partner's ministrations. Shaking his head slowly, he picked up Sparky and pointed him towards the blue buster arms. The toy implements surprisingly fit themselves onto the pup's tiny paws, most likely being designed to accommodate Navis of different body types.

"Maybe now it'll be more of a fair match," he said to nobody in particular, content to simply watch from the side as the game started back up again.

The feeling of playful contact as Aurora guided her face forward again; the teasing whisper. Lyntael swallowed and let her cheek be guided forward again, though her eyes watched the flickering movements of the shooting gallery without really seeing them. Being told to focus on the game left her doing anything but – she shivered and her breath caught in her throat with an audible hitch as the other woman murmured. Her back straightened further, her chin lifted up and she felt her lips remain parted slightly as a short breath escaped her. She said it wasn't a big thing, but the way Aurora was teasing her... it felt... it felt like her heart was in her throat all over again, and this time with thoughts that went a little bit further than just wanting the other woman to be happy. When had that changed?

“Ah-” Her scattered thoughts were interrupted by a short gasp as the cool sensation washed over the tenderness on her back and her senses followed the delicate trace of Aurora's fingers on the small of her back like lines of glowing neon. The dragging fingertips caused an almost reflexive tension in other muscles nearby, which in turn sent a fresh blush of heat to her cheeks.

A moment later, however, the sensation shifted and changed, and Aurora's presence changed – no longer standing behind her, but with her all the same. It was a little bit like when she's shared a connection with Eternalis, but not quite the same either. A sudden thread of panic shot through her amidst the veritable maelstrom of other private thoughts and feelings swirling around in her mind – things she definitely shouldn't be sharing with the other woman – but it quieted again a moment later; She could feel Aurora's presence, but there wasn't and flow of thoughts or emotions, like this... just presence, so...

“Oh... That's... strange. You can hear me, right?” She looked down at the new hand wear she had acquired, turning her palms over. What about this? She directed the thought towards the other woman's presence without speaking out loud, but as she did she began to move her hands, tracing her fingertips with a gentle, sensuous tease across the new gauntlets, exploring them thoroughly with long, soft strokes and drags. A sneaky grin crept across her features as she glanced back over her shoulder again but continued to focus on the explorative hand play she was engaging in – with herself in one sense, she supposed, but she didn't know if Aurora could feel what she was doing, or what it would feel like... so maybe... turnabout was fair play after all.

The game was mostly forgotten at this point, but as it ended and began a fresh cycle again, the strain on the short-hacked system was reaching some kind of obvious breaking point. One side of the display, a section that had already been broken and not working, now flared into technicolour light as its virus icons flashed on and flickered while several of its visuals shorted out and burned up. The score trackers no longer seemed to really have any connection to what was going on in the game, scrolling randomly, and individual targets would frequently 'delete' despite no shots going towards them, while others remained resolute to their paths even when hit. A laboured buzz and snap sound repeated at a slowly increasing rate from within the machine as more parts of the side show gave up the ghost bit by bit.

Thoroughly distracted, Lyntael was still looking at the gauntlets... Aurora? It was strange. She blinked and paused part way through her extensive hand foreplay, then snapped her fingers as a thought occurred to her. A moment later she started with another small flinch, glancing down at the action she'd just taken.

“Ah! Sorry! Um... I just remembered, I have seen something like this before, now that I'm looking at it... you... um... sorry! It was strange, but I kind of didn't think about it too much at the time, and I guess I just forgot...” She looked across to Eternalis and Sparky, and unconsciously raised one hand to wave gauntleted fingers at Sparky with a small grin for the pup. Her eyes flicked back to Eternalis a moment later.

“It was when I was getting help from the dragoniers, who work for the shogun... There was another recruit there, Nightshade, and one of them, um, Aya, she spent some time helping him out by acting as, I think, like, a set of protective armour for him? I kind of didn't really notice it to much... I was distracted, and then all the other stuff sort of pushed it out of my head.” She shook her head. “It's still strange though. I couldn't image what that must be like...” subconsciously, her fingers went back to gently stroking and fondling the contours of the gauntlets on her hands. She shrugged as she looked back to Eternalais and Sparky again.

“It kinda got lost underneath the whole dragons thing... they turn into dragons.” She let a second pass then raised her eyebrows, grinning. “Really, like, they all turn into literal, great big, flying, fire-breathing, dragons. We even went for a fly around the city! Everything else just kind of disappeared into the background after that...” Here she pouted briefly. “Seems like everyone turns into cool things but me.” She scuffed a foot against the ground, but as she did the side show gave another groan and a heavy burst of sparks. The acrid scent of the smoke began to pervade the area they were in as it spread – the game had become virtually unplayable at this point, with no real correlations left between the players and the display but it laboured on, growing rapidly more unstable with each passing moment.

As Lyntael was exploring with the new glove she was bestowed with, the sense of an external presence in her mind lingered, though she would feel it trying to communicate a kind of affirmation when she asked whether Aurora could hear her. She would be able to feel the foreign "electrical circuit" attached to her own, pulsing with its own activity, but still synchronizing with hers as much as it could. Unlike the experience with Eternalis of intermingling memories and sensations, it was merely as if something was following her at a distance.

"Right, there's no sense in communicating like this. I'll just project my voice so we can hear each other better," a familiar voice said, coming from her gauntlet. The blue lines lit up with each word, indicating that it was indeed Aurora. "It's not too heavy, right? You're a fair bit smaller than Eternalis, so I adjusted my size so it would be a better fit."

As Lyntael recalled her experience with DragonierMan's assistants, Sparky proceeded to "play" with the shooting game, where the pup's shots were mostly duds. After all, despite his agility, he wasn't quite trained to be able to hit any targets. When Lyntael waved to him, Sparky barked in excitement, proud of his clear display of prowess at the game, which was deteriorating at an accelerating rate. The sparks and the burst of sudden errors gave him a start, however, and Eternalis extracted his pet from the blue busters.

"Well, it's hard to change into anything more amazing when you're already this much to begin with," teased Aurora with a giggle.

Eternalis walked over with Sparky in his arms, and craned his head over to another part of the park. "Let's try to find something else to mess around with. The last attraction we were at fell down over our heads, so I'd rather not commit to being near this thing if it explodes on us," he said, leading the way towards what looked like the central area of the amusement park.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go, then, Lyntael, carry me!" said Aurora. After a brief pause, she added, "Oh, don't mind being a little rough if you need to be. It'd be strange if a piece of equipment could recoil from being knocked around a little, wouldn't you say?"

Aurora's explanation for her particular lack of awesome transformations did manage at least to bring an end to Lyntael's brief frown as she grinned again and flexed her fingers.

“Yeah, that's true. I am pretty awesome, right?” She poked her tongue out briefly, then giggled. She wasn't sure, exactly, if Aurora could 'see' properly while she was like this, but the intent probably came across regardless. She hoped so at least. Mostly she was relieved that the new situation wasn't going to give Aurora any immediate inroad to the conflicting mes of different thoughts that were currently scattered about her mind. She'd almost certainly think something she'd regret, at some point. A particularly loud cash of sound from the breaking machine brought her attention back to Eternalis as he rescued sparky from the increasingly haywire attraction, and she nodded to him. It probably was time to move on, after all. But first...

While the side show gave one last garbled screech of sound, several discordant crashes and bangs, and final belch of black, acrid smoke, Lyntael stepped back from the counter and moved cautiously around towards the side of the structure, fingertips of one and trailing along the aged display as she went. She glanced back over her shoulder, a playful glint in green eyes.

“Just a second... We've got to get our prizes first...” She winked at Eternalis and disappeared around the side, unless he decided to keep an eye on her. The console she'd fiddled with had needed to be cut off from the data storage responsible for dispensing prizes, but if she'd understood it correctly... “Yes... here it is... Hey Aurora, want a prize?” She paused in front of part of the structure's siding, near the back corner, and traced her fingertips over part of the explosion pattern marked out in the art there. It glitched and flickered, then attempted to resolve itself into a door frame. The image held for a moment, before fizzing edges of the transition crackled and shorted, then began to 'burn' out from the reveal door, as the rest of the exterior facing started to short out in chain reaction, rapidly leaving blank silver panelling in a spreading ripple from the door frame. It only took a handful of seconds before the bright colours and artistic patterns of zapped viruses had been stripped from the entire structure. Lyntael ducked her head briefly, then grinned and shook it off.

“This really is falling apart, hehe. Okay, let's see...” She reached out and ran the tips of her fingers along the seam, checking which side it was mean to open on, then shifted her lead hand to press two knuckles against it instead and twisted her body to a firmer, side-on stance, squaring up. Precise; controlled; she focused on the lessons she had learned from the first friend who had ever taught her to really stand up for herself and push back when it mattered.

As she took a long breath in and let it out slowly, the rough spikes of her hair softened and fell flat, and a rippling change filtered over her form along with the exhalation, beginning with a pale pink sweat band that caught her now loosely falling hair and kept it out of her face. In the other direction, her vest filled in and lengthened to form something close to a neat, sleeveless gi, with a diagonal seam from shoulder to hip, while its tone faded to an almost white, with a pink trim at the seams; it had a slightly higher neck tan her normal vest, but was still open enough to leave her lightning bolt emblem visible. The ripple of change filtered down to shift her skirt into a fitted set of matching leggings instead, in the same near white and pink-trimmed design. When she opened her eyes again, Lyntael felt her mischievous grin curling up further at one corner.

“Hold on tight...” She murmured towards Aurora, then moved. A series of four lightning quick strikes lashed out against the metal doorframe, each precise and measured. The seam buckled down its length with each strike, one below the next, before a solid fifth blow hammered in and burst the sealed hatch inwards with a crash. Unlike her usual chaotic bursts, these expenditures were different: Aurora's unique position would likely let her feel the flow of energy; the inner electric pulse was still there, but it was muted and dull, and the flow of power was cool and efficient instead, without waste or excess, and surprisingly little strain on the girl's body, compared to the output.

“Hahh...” Lyntael let out a happy sigh as she held position from the last punch for an extra moment, then stood straight. Where the doorway had ripped open, a dark space waited beyond, leading to a small square room, barley one person deep, lined with what looked like rows and racks of small green lights. Her thoughts felt calmer as she looked in; the frustration and anger bubbling underneath her subconscious had cooled and she rolled her shoulders, glancing up at the sky. “Thanks Martia...” After another moment she glanced down at her gauntlets again.

“That was okay, right? I know it's silly to ask.... but... it's still you, and hitting things makes me worry...” She flexed her fingers again, and rubbed gently at the Aurora-gauntlets as she spoke, then reached up to sweep the sweat band off her forehead. With it, her hair sprang back to its normal spikiness and a ripple of fabric shifts filtered down her body as the cross gently disengaged again, reverting to her usual outfit, though now with the gash in her vest reformed. She stepped up to the threshold of the door frame and peered into the darkness for a moment before reaching in to pluck at one of the green lights. It swirled in her fingers for a moment, before unpacking into a small soft toy of a heel-navi with a mean expression. The revelation was cause for a brief surge of excitement, and mild disappointment at the same time. She'd been hoping that the prize vault could be accessed directly like this but, cute as it was, the little heel doll was not what she was hoping for.

“Hey, Eternalis! Come get a prize!” She called out over her shoulder as she tossed the heel toy aside and reached for another light point, determined to raid the locker until she found one she liked. “Hey Aurora, what do you want? I want a big one!”

(( Ready for Battle 3; we've been making a lot of noise and smoke ^.^ ))

Watching Lyntael disappear around the corner, Eternalis stopped for a moment. Inwardly, he readied himself for another explosive reminder of how dilapidated the theme park around them was, as the game booth began to lose its decorative elements in a cascade of shorted-out reactions. He wandered over to the back of the booth where Lyntael was, somewhat concerned, but all he found was Lyntael ducking her head in front of a blank doorframe. "So they built in a developer backdoor, in a pretty literal sense," commented Harke with a chuckle, while Eternalis tilted his head and crossed his arms.

It was then followed by a drastic change in outfit, manifesting quite like Eternalis's own Soul Crosses. Despite her clear differences in base systems, she was still able to utilize the curious transformation ability. Suddenly, a series of blows against the door, and Eternalis drew a step back in reaction. He could hear the sound of a sharp intake of breath, that didn't seem to be Lyntael's. It took a while before Aurora responded to her wearer's worried question, but she eventually did.

"Yeah, no problem here, but I can definitely say it's a new experience, trying to get comfortable with another partner," said Aurora. "The way your hands move and feel is pretty different. It's more delicate, so I find myself holding back a bit more. Eternalis doesn't have electrical currents flowing through his, for one!" Though she mentioned the electrical flow, Aurora felt herself wondering how the flow of energy felt more streamlined, less chaotic, compared to when she felt it beforehand. The Soul Cross may be beneficial in assisting with her inner fluctuations, her other half reasoned.

As the cross disengaged, Aurora felt the erratic flow return, more or less lending credence to Eternalis's thoughts. Eternalis bent to peek into the tiny room behind the booth, seeing the rows of data orbs stacked up in the room. "Well, I hope they don't mind us looking through abandoned stock," he said, picking up one of the green lights and watching it coalesce in his hand, into a squeaky Mr. Prog squeezable toy. In his other arm, Sparky barked excitedly, reaching out for it rapidly. "Hahaha! Here, you can have this one, Sparky," he said, much to the pup's delight, as the squeaky green figure instantly became a chew toy.

Aurora, meanwhile, sounded a bit more unsure. "Hmmm... I don't know what they have, so I can't really say what I'd want," her voice said. "Oh! How about you two pick something out for me that you think I would like? Then I can see who got the better one. It'll be like a little fun challenge, you know?"

"Oh, sure," said Eternalis. Taking another light, it transformed into a small blue cylindrical container with a large "E" printed on the side. When he moved it about, he could hear some liquid sloshing about inside. "Mmm... I don't know what this is, but probably not this one. I'm curious to find out what it is, though, I'll take it myself," he said. Sifting through the other orbs, he found a few more toys of various Net-shows, some strange knick-knacks that looked like cast-off souvenirs, and even more of the earlier cylindrical tanks with varying other letters on them, though not one that he felt was suitable.

Finally, he came across one that seemed a little different from the others, and the prize unfurled into an angular-looking black device with a cylindrical lens protruding out the side, with a small slot at the bottom and a tiny button on the top. "What's this thing?" he said. Without thinking, his hand pressed on the button, and the device made a small click. Shortly after, a little piece of paper ejected itself from the slot.

"Oh, it's a kind of camera? That's interesting, I've never seen one that worked like this. Let's go with this one, then," he said.

[Battle 3 - Can go for now!]

(+14 FXP)

Whilst the navis and SPs were chatting and pattering about the wreckage of the amusement park, a loud guttural growl escaped into the air around them. Amongst the heaps of trash, broken, battered and mostly gone rides and attractions they had made their way to, the quartet would find themselves in the middle of a long, loud rumble in the area, trash and scrap. Atop a massive pile of metal scraps and amusement park attractions, a singular bipedal figure stood there, an upper "human" body with the lower body of what looked to be a Spikey, a rough amalgamation of various viruses as it stared down at the navis.

A hood wreathed in flames with eyes glowing with red and orange like charcoal, a flaming sword in one hand and a shield in the other (looking like it had ripped the former off one of the local Swordy viruses and the latter a blackened and burnt Metool helm) as the lower extremities were much the same as it's eyes, a pale red and orange glow pulsating and flickering atop the trash mountain, as the quartet would manage to make out, before a howl echoed around them in the area, leading to a soft rumbling...that steadily grew to an intense one, cracks pouring about the area in the shape of an X as the figure leapt away deeper into the area.

Before navi and SP could make after the figure, the cracks poured forth as molten magma from deep within seeped out and sent bits and broke away bits and pieces, sending paneling down into the molten waters as it filled in the area with dangerously hot liquids. Navis and SPs managing to scramble to safe land, but managing to wind up on opposite areas in panic or some sort of impromptu system, separated into pairs, with Eternalis and Aurora on the Northern quadrant, while Lyantel and Sparky wound up on the Eastern quadrant. Though getting back together in a single area wouldn't be impossible, it would take time on a fairly narrow walkway at the ends of every area...or they could always risk jumping to one another if they wanted to expedite getting back to each other.

OF COURSE, this was not without a viral presence making itself known, as a quartet would jump their way down from on high, landing in various ways and areas. A flaming sword wielding Swordy would wind up alone in the west, with a similar charcoal paint scheme to the mystery creature from on high. A Nailer, the more powerful sibling of the Needler family would wind up on the east with Aurora and Lyntael, seemingly blocking their safe way back to Eternalis and Sparky. All the while, a Spikey bearing coal-like markings would wind up in the south, a baneful howl coming from the flaming wolf. And if that wasn't bad enough, a pair of metallic boulders would wind up crashing upon the field, one right in the middle of the lava, splashing just a little onto each quadrant, whilst the second right behind Eternalis and Sparky, shrinking their already cramped area...and unfortunately, a Shooter would wind up landing right on top of the boulder, as if to spite the Spikey's unfortunate positioning. Battle Routines flared up...as well as premonitions of more viruses ready to make a splash in the meantime. All the quartet could do? Survive until an opening could be found for escape.

-- Viruses --
Spikey2Spikey2 (Spikey)

Spikey viruses are a little faster than the average virus, allowing them to cover more ground than normal with movements and dodges. They may attack while moving, but as normal, they cannot attack while dodging without expending a second action to do so. Spikey viruses are also able to use something called 'pack tactics' when 3 or more of them are present. Simply put, the Spikey viruses attack and dodge as a wolf pack. In addition, they are treated as having a reduced power Haste and Accuracy Enhancement effect which grants them a +5% bonus to evasion and accuracy while this effect is active. The effect is passive, and only expires when their numbers drop below 3.

Area: ACDC, Kotobuki Town, Yumland, Netfrica, Hades Isle

HP: 190
Attack Damage/Effect: 45 Fire + Spread 2
Attack Accuracy: A
Attack Description - Fires Heat-V
Element: Fire
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Heat-V, Zenny
Special: Uses pack tactics when with at least 2 other Spikeys: 190 HP (Southern quadrant) (Normal)
NailerNailer (Needler)

Needlers only attack forward, left and right. They cannot attack targets above and below their position, nor can they shoot backwards. Needlers do not move (aside from aiming) aside from their secondary attack, though they will use it to reposition themselves if they find it necessary.

Area: Okuden Valley, Kotobuki Town

HP: 170
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null x 2 Shots x 3 Targets
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: Fires needles in 3 directions.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Null + Movement + Impact + Knockback / 15 Null x 3 targets
Secondary Attack Accuracy: C / A
Secondary Attack Description: Rams forward with surprising speed, then fires a burst of needles while the enemy is still startled.
Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 6 Wood x 8 Shots
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Shoots a storm of wooden needles at a single enemy.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Needler2, NeedleCannon2 (Rare), Zenny: 170 HP (Eastern quadrant) (Normal)
Swordy-F2Swordy-F2 (Swordy-F)

Area: Kotobuki Town, Netfrica, Hades Isle

HP: 160
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 45 Fire + Long Range Attack + Slashing
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: When this virus is 2 panels away from the target, or its enemies are 2-deep, it will attack with Fire Blade.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Wide Range Attack + Slashing
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: When this virus is standing directly adjacent to its target, or diagonally from it, it will attack with Fire Sword.
Element: Fire
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): FireSword, Zenny
Special: Swordy-F's are immune to Blind Status.
Special: Uses Area Grab to get into attack range.: 160 HP (Western quadrant) (Soil)
ShooterShooter (Gunner)

Gunners attack every action, if able. They don't bother attacking enemies they can't hit or enemies they can't damage, but they can select Objects as targets. Their accuracy with the machinegun attack is bad because it scatters everywhere. They are aware of this. They are also aware of the fact that their Vulcan attack pierces objects.

Area: SciLab, Kotobuki Town, Dentech

HP: 120
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spay Fire x 9 Shots
Primary Attack Accuracy: E
Primary Attack Description: Targets an enemy and sprays the area with twin machineguns.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spread1 x 3 Shots
Secondary Attack Accuracy: A
Secondary Attack Description: Targets and enemy and attacks with Vulcan.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Vulcan2, MachineGun2, Zenny
Special: Immobile.: 120 HP (Northern quadrant, atop the boulder) (Metal)

-- Navis --
Lyantel.EXE: 330 HP (On the Eastern quadrant with Aurora) (Soil)
Eternalis.EXE: 600 HP (On the Northern Quadrant with Sparky) (Normal)
Aurora.SP: 100 HP (On the Eastern quadrant with Lyantel) (Soil) (Semi-Equipped to Lyantael, but needs to spend an action to stay equipped)
Sparky.SP: 80 HP (On the Northern quadrant with Eternalis) (Normal)

-- Terrain -- (Terrain is divided into rough quarter-ish chunks. You and your enemies are always within melee distance of attacks, if on the same chunk of land due to tight fighting conditions. May attempt to move quadrants by way of narrow ledges connecting all four, but being hit while traveling may send you into the lava and stop your movement action, jumping is not guaranteed either with a higher chance of being sent into the lava's surface)

30% Soil

• Wood Elementals get +10% Evasion.
• Wood attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Grass.
• 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Mud.
• 100 Damage Fire attacks: change terrain hit to Coal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

(Grass that has been burned away from the Lava's heat, Northern and Western sections of the field)
30% Normal

• No effects.

(Eastern and Southern quadrants of the field, lightly scorched, connects the outermost sections of the field)
40% Lava

• Non-Fire Elementals lose 5 HP/action standing, 10 HP/action submerged. Doubled for Wood Elementals, nullified for Fire Elementals.
• Aqua attacks: Panel explodes, +100% Source Aqua Damage, change terrain hit to Normal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Fire.

(A rough X-shape across the field, dividing the field into rough quarters with the outermost edges being untouched, about two panels worth of distance separating each quadrant diagonally and about three in the middle)

-- Objects -- (More boulders will fall at each turn, each is about the size of the two navis put together, with enough space on top to support a single entity, the tops are considered Metal terrain)

Trash "Boulder" A: 40 HP (Submerged in lava about half-way, can be used as a stepping stone to the other quarters of the field to avoid the Lava as a "safe" alternative to jumping over the lava or using the narrow ledges to get into a different quadrant) (Heatbody) (Lava)
Trash "Boulder" B: 40 HP (Situated on the Northern quadrant, roughly in the middle making tight quarters even tighter) (Soil)

Battle Mode: Survival
Survive 3 turns! Automatic, voluntary, escape for all PCs once Turn 3 ends and 4 begins.
+3 viruses per turn! A max of 7 on any given turn!
Unkilled viruses when escaping WILL NOT grant their rewards or chance at their chips

-- Rogue Battle 3 Ready? Start!! --
Survival turn 1, begins!

Flicking through prize chips with her friends, Lyntael wondered whether they even had any of the big ones that had been on display at the front. It would be just like fair games to over-advertise the possibilities. She plucked another, tossing the small toy it resolved into aside, then glanced across towards Eternalis.

“Oh, neat! That's so retro!” She giggled and poked her tongue out at him briefly, hesitating only for a short moment before giving voice to the thought that slipped into her mind, looking at the camera device. “Makes me think of doing calendar shoots and photo sets. Ooh! Ah-ha!” A moment later, she was distracted from the line of thinking as her next pull unpacked into a large, soft toy almost the size of her torso. It had a many-legged lower body and an upper body with massive hands; a huggable, squishy version of an old historical threat. Lyntael squeezed it with a happy squeal of delight. “Yes! Hehe, this is what I wanted!!” It was strange, in a way, she thought, about people's habit of turning terrible dangers into things like this, after the fact; violent monsters, destructive viruses, evil masterminds... they all eventually became action figures and soft toys, sooner or later. Maybe it was a way of taking away their power to scare? She hugged her giant, soft, life virus again and nuzzled her face against its chest, then swiftly converted it to a long string of delicate data that curled about her fingers briefly, before spiralling up her arm and under her vest, to reemerge at her chest, where it circled her emblem slowly.

“Okay, where— ” Just as she stepped back from the broken prize vault and looked towards her friends, the ground rumbled and shifted and a violent-sounding growl echoed around the area. A new figure emerged and as Lyntael looked up at it on its perch she felt a spike of tension; a thread of fear, yes, but more caution and... again, something more akin to anticipation. Whatever, whoever the being was, it seemed to be calling them out to a fight, and Lyntael felt her charge rise to a hum in her chest as her heart rate picked up.

Before they could engage the new threat, though, the rumbling in the ground became a splitting, tearing eruption of lava and broken ground. Lyntael skipped back a step from the first crack, then kicked off to one side as another split the ground near her, spreading lava in a bright orange glow. Her foot found a raised rock, catching on her toe tips and kicking back further in a smooth, fluid motion that arched her body back and away from the destruction. As she turned in the air, her eyes scanned the collapsing ground ahead of her and one hand reached ahead and down, catching her weight again on a broken bit of machinery that hadn't quite sunk into the lava. She let the arm bend, then flexed, springing off again and completing the flip, back to her feet on mercifully solid ground before looking around.

Somewhere in the sudden upheaval, the dark figure had disappeared, but now, in its wake, viruses were beginning to pour into the disturbed area from different directions while the cast-up debris channelled them into the split open terrain like some kind of arena. Eternalis and Sparky were fine too, she saw – across the fresh lava, but still fine. The nervous tension warred with the strange feeling of excitement and anticipation, and Lyntael felt a grin creep across her features, over clenched teeth.

“Alright... ready for this, Aurora?” Her body slid smoothly into a light combat stance, one foot circling back as she squared up on the balls of her feet and raised her hands. For a moment, her eyes lingered on the new gauntlets, and she felt a moment of concern for whether it was okay for them to be covering her strikers like they were. She dismissed the worry; there wasn't time and they'd find out soon enough.

As she readied herself and focused on the virus nearest her, Lyntael listened to the pulse of her charge rising through her body and slowly filling it with warmth. The sensation crackled outward, to the surface of her skin and tingled with the familiar light pattern and tension that was her charge ready to react. It was still basic instinct that mostly happened without her thinking about it, but now at least she could focus on embracing it and controlling the effect. From Aurora's perspective, the girl's body came alive with energy, straining at the surface of her skin, just a hair's breadth from exploding into uncontrolled chaos.

She began to move, light steps carrying her is quick, weaving motions towards the Nailer that had ended up closest to her. It would attack, and it might even hurt her; she knew that, but she could take it, and her friends were here to pick her up when she couldn't. Until then, though, they had work to do. Between one light-footed step and the next, Lyntael reached towards her chest with one hand, then pushed it out to the side, focusing. The growing chaotic mass of energy rippled inside her, drawing in on itself, then expanding out across her body and into the air beyond, stabilising as it gave and took energy from the strikers at her wrists and ankles as it needed, counter-balancing itself as it passed them.

A moment later, she reached her target and struck quickly, feinting left, faking with her right fist, and then turning into a back-handed spin the brought her left fist up and around to strike the underside of its chassis as her body moved back right along with it, adding to the momentum. Lightning surged as the heart of her charge pulsed, and the familiar feeling rushed thorough her; the screaming flood of energy that filled her, focusing in her strikers, drawing in to her chest, unifying into a single torrent of power that chased outward again, flaring with light as it crackled down her striking arm.

As she lashed out, the energy burst outward in a wave of shattering force, while a broad, chaotic back-draught of wild lightning blew back from the point of release, thundering around her as the streams arced north and south. A part of her registered a secondary feeling – something new that seemed to help control and stabilise the splitting streams of excess energy, adding to them and guiding them towards proper targets, but Lyntael didn't have any space to think about it properly.

The brief moment of relief as she let the energy expend fell away into the empty, void feeling for just a moment, before the next beat of her charge answered, filling her again, faster and more violent. It burned in every muscle, like always, but it was bearable for now and if she didn't push harder she'd always be afraid of it. She landed from the rising spin, completing the turn and lowering her stance with a grit-toothed growl in her throat and drew the same fist back. As the energy rebuilt she reached for it, drawing it on until it filled her skin again, then drove the fist forward, taking every scrap of power that coursed through her and pouring it into a second, harder strike. This time the energy seared at her as it flowed, making her muscles scream as it drew in, combined at her chest, then thundered outward through her leading striker in a second flare of light and crackling force.

The moment of release was an island of bliss amidst the scorching pain, and then the emptiness followed. She fought not to let it show; the emptiness took the wind from her for a moment, and she almost staggered, but then the cycle came again, faster, fiercer. Lyntael held her stance, making sure she was steady, first and foremost. A few months ago, she'd had let herself collapse under this sensation; it was too much, too fast, and she was rushing headlong towards a rapid burn out... but she had to press her limits; if she was going to help Rogan properly, she had to prove she wasn't a shrinking sunflower any more. She took a long, deep breath, resisting the urge to groan, and turned to look for other threats.

Summary
L*) Subtype: All attacks containing Knockback or Pull gain Wind-Type.
L*) First Armour: 20Hp Casing (as subtle outfit reinforcement)
L1) My Pain is Real (Multi-Stage: (On Set: Self-Slow2), Counter(On Hit): (45Elec, Knockback, Nova3, A)) (Overcharge +1 on Set, +2 on Trigger)
L2) And Beats Anew (40Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1) (Overcharge -1)
L3) (Feint towards Nailer)
L4) My Fear Rejected (45Elec, Knockback, Spread2 (Backward, north and south to Spiky and Shooter), Break, Shot-Type, A (Charge Burner1)) (Overcharge +3)
L*) Fast Armour: 20Hp Casing Refresh
L5) Buster Charge
L6) Half-charge Bust Strike (Nailer: 240elec, Disarm, A) (Overcharge +3)

Cooldowns and Overcharge

My Pain is Real: 3TCD
And Beat Anew: 2TCD
My Fear Rejected: 3TCD

Overcharge: Begin: 0 , My Pain is Real (+1), (Trigger) (+2), And Beats Anew (-1), My Fear Rejected (+3), Half-Charge Strike (+3), End: +6/+8

[LynFXP: 362 > 376]

"I've never seen any camera like that, either. Might be really old," said Aurora, though how she was able to even see the little prize wasn't immediately obvious. On the other end, turning around the camera in his hands, Eternalis inspected the item once more, his thoughts interspersed by mental instructions of which part to inspect next. Nothing too much of interest... except for a tiny hatch on its underside. Clicking the part open with a press, he found a small roll of film inside, and closed it back up, just in time for Lyntael to stumble on an enormous felt toy that looked like a recreation of a Scuttle virus, except less dangerous and more cuddly.

"Oh, that's pretty cute," he commented. "Odd that they'd be making these virus plushes when we're supposed to be deleting them when we find them."

His comment was punctuated by the introduction of a deep growl, and his head snapped up to attention, to be greeted by an enormous bipedal virus amalgamate. "What on earth--" he managed to blurt out, before it fled away, leaving behind a crack of lava that flooded the area. He scrambled backwards from the expanding lava flow in surprise, only to find himself separated from the girls. Viruses then began to pop up, fly in, and land from various areas of the field. The sound of approaching viruses did not die down with the first four; he could hear more on the outskirts.

"Lyn, careful!" said Aurora. Her partner's beat flowed through her; Aurora could sense the tension in Lyntael's electrical current. Curiously, Lyntael seemed to have a quicker grasp of the situation, almost excited for the fight. There was no time for psychoanalysis at the moment, however, and she replied promptly. "I'm here with you."

...

Staring down the Shooter, Eternalis made a snap decision. "Sparky, on me!" he called, prompting the pup to bark in affirmation, transforming into his carrier board form, and Eternalis to jump onto him. "Harke, I'm counting on you for chips!" he continued.

"On it, I'm sending in MediumCloud and ClusterShot," reported Harke. "Try to get a high point of view."

"That's the plan," replied Eternalis, as he eyed down the two Fire-type viruses on the field. As soon as the chip data was sent down, he took control and sent it down across the lava gap, quickly enough so he could have a chance at taking the Spikey and Swordy off guard. He then stepped back on his Sparky-board, and the microthrusters roared to life, sending him soaring upwards into the sky, trying to scope out where their earlier visitor had gone, along with any further viruses that might also be crashing their party.

...

Aurora felt Lyntael's body suddenly light up to life, and it was all she could do to withstand the strain she suddenly felt. It was unstable, very much so, but it hadn't gone out of control yet. The flood of energy made it feel like hairs standing on end. Lyntael moved, and she along with her. Without being fully integrated into Lyntael's system, Aurora wrestled with the unfamiliar energy distribution, right as she received some battlechip data from Harke. The data's energy flowed through her fingered form, supplying it with more capacity, extra circuitry.

"Okay!" she called out. Lyntael's strike went out, and simultaneously, Aurora danced with it, following up the crackling energy strike with a surge of multiple lightning jolts, which followed the initial attack and spread out in two directions. The second strike came immediately after the spin, and Aurora felt her systems overwhelmed, unable to respond to the larger surge. It almost stole her consciousness for a brief moment, before she received a mental tick from her other partner, higher in the sky.

She pulled herself together, but soon, she felt Lyntael's energy levels draining, and she internally kicked herself; the lapse in her assistance might have let the voltage fall down too quickly. Still, she saw that Lyntael was in no immediate danger - whether by instinct or intentionally, there was already a reactive barrier up in place. Shouldn't hurt to reinforce that herself, she thought, as she activated her own defensive module, but only on herself. She also took the cue from Eternalis to access his healing reserves, and funneled it into Lyntael, if only to numb out the pain somewhat.

"Heh, this is a little different in the co-pilot seat!" she said.

-- (Eternalis: 2 actions @ Aurora, 1 action @ Sparky)

[A1] Equip @ Lyntael
[E1] Take Aim
[S1] Equip @ Eternalis

[A2] (All for One) ClusterShot2Damage: 10 x 8 Shots + Variable Targeting
Accuracy: B
Description: Launches a volley of eight plasma spheres at targets designated by the user.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Variable Targeting: Allows the user to select a target for each individual hit of an attack. This means they may strike the same target multiple times, multiple different targets, or a mix of the two as they wish.
Trader Rank: C: 10 x 8 Shots + Variable Targeting (Acc: B) @ Nailer (3x), Spikey2 (3x), Swordy-F2 (2x) (+15 Element)
[S2] Move into High Alt (Overclock/High Gear: Evasion=50%+10%)
[E2] MediumCloudDamage: 90 + Wide Attack + Drop Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Cloud moves up and down three enemies, raining on them for two turns. Enemies can move out from under it if possible.
Duration: Two turns
Element: Aqua
Special: Drop Attack: This attack originates above the battlefield, and falls to the ground. It gains one rank of accuracy against High Altitude targets.
Trader Rank: C: 90 + Wide Attack + Drop Attack + 2-Turn (Acc: C) @ Spikey2, Swordy-F2 (+15 Element, 100% vs Fire, Take Aim: Acc+) (Turn 1/2)

[A3] Extraction Module @ Self: 20HP Barrier + 20HP Casing + 1-Hit Shield
[E3] Influx Aegis @ Self (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))
[S3] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)

[A4] (Unify: Eternalis) Influx Aegis @ Lyntael (Stage 1: Support Base x2 (40), Stage 2: Delay (3 Actions): Support Base x2 (40), Stage 3: Delay (6 Actions): Support Base x2 (40))

The two navis and SPs would be quick to ready themselves as their foes came raining down upon them, the Shooter adjusting it's aim at Eternalis as Sparky equipped himself onto his owner, whilst Aurora would take a secondary role in the fight this time as she wrapped around the electric navi's hands. Crackling with electricity, whilst Eternalis took aim, Lyantel was soon assaulted by the Spikey from the south, a blast of fire sending the navi reeling as she was struck on her side, stripping away her First Casing, only for her electricity to lash about in retaliation (45), causing the Nailer to be forcibly reeled back and, unfortunately for it, into the molten lava with a light splash. As this happened, the Nailer began to flail about in pain as it was quickly burning away within, causing it to give up it's original plan and instead quickly leaping from the lava onto the quadrant with the Swordy for the time being.

As this happened, Aurora was quick to launch some balls of lightning out towards the various viruses, two hits on the Nailer, two on the Spikey and one on the Swordy to help soften the targets up (50, 50, 25) as the Shooter finally took it's shot. A hail of bullets raining down upon Sparky and Eternalis as they began to ascend up to high altitude, several of the smaller shots managing to smack against Etrnalis unfortunately (60), as inaccurate as they were. But Etarnalis would make sure to rain upon the viruses parade as he sent out a cloud of heavy rain in turn, sending both Spikey and Swordy into a tizzy at the sight of water as well as the Nailer by accident due to it's close proximity with the Swordy, drowning both Swordy and Nailer in the rains as the Spikey quickly dodged away before the rains could put a damper on it, poor thing just didn't want a bath now did it? But as Eternalis made his way to higher altitudes, he could see traces of what seemed to be the charcoal burquete that was their assailant headed off towards the east, leaving behind melted slag wherever it had landed, making for an easy enough trail to follow when they could escape.

As things continued, Lyantael would make sure to refresh her defenses, fienting towards the edge of her quadrant as her intended target was torn apart by heavy rains on Eternalis' part, she was quick to strike out at the Spikey in turn, causing the dog-like virus to howl in pain as it was quickly struck in the side by the rejection of her fears, with some splashback smacking the Shooter in turn, knocking it off it's perch and tumble down behind the boulder of metal (45, 45). The Spikey would growl in turn as it launched another ball of fire at Lyntael, leading to her evading the attack deftly and causing the hound of hell to howl in anger at the navi. Whilst the Shooter took another potshot at Eternalis, using the more accurate Vulcan ammo this time, but fortunately for the blob, only one hit struck (15) as the battle slowed down briefly, Eternalis, Lyntael and the SPs taking a chance to patch themselves up. Eternalis' form slowly rehealing itself (+40) as Aurora would send the same kind of healing into Lyntael, allowing for both navis to stay healthy for the next wave...as Lyntael's original target had already been destroyed, she retained her charges for the time being, full and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

And then, as they took a breather and a chance to servey the field, the quartet would feel a loud rumbling, from on high another boulder worth of trash would begin to fall into their field...just between both the Southern and Eastern quadrants, lava spewing upwards and to the sides briefly as it rolled in, another figure from above could be seen towards the south, but it wasn't remotely close to the first figure, even at a brief glance. But that wasn't all, as another trio of viruses rained down upon them. A charcoal-black Pulsebat landing atop the boulder in the middle of the area, ready to strike, a firey colored Metool rolling down ass over teakettle and landing in front of the charged up Lyntael and Aurora, quickly making sure to hide within it's helmet...and a bog standard CannonGuard would land base down next to the Spikey, shuttering it's cannon quickly as it waited to strike in turn.

-- Viruses --
Spikey2Spikey2 (Spikey)

Spikey viruses are a little faster than the average virus, allowing them to cover more ground than normal with movements and dodges. They may attack while moving, but as normal, they cannot attack while dodging without expending a second action to do so. Spikey viruses are also able to use something called 'pack tactics' when 3 or more of them are present. Simply put, the Spikey viruses attack and dodge as a wolf pack. In addition, they are treated as having a reduced power Haste and Accuracy Enhancement effect which grants them a +5% bonus to evasion and accuracy while this effect is active. The effect is passive, and only expires when their numbers drop below 3.

Area: ACDC, Kotobuki Town, Yumland, Netfrica, Hades Isle

HP: 190
Attack Damage/Effect: 45 Fire + Spread 2
Attack Accuracy: A
Attack Description - Fires Heat-V
Element: Fire
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Heat-V, Zenny
Special: Uses pack tactics when with at least 2 other Spikeys: 95 HP (Southern quadrant) (Normal) (Mid-Cloud attacking next turn)
NailerNailer (Needler)

Needlers only attack forward, left and right. They cannot attack targets above and below their position, nor can they shoot backwards. Needlers do not move (aside from aiming) aside from their secondary attack, though they will use it to reposition themselves if they find it necessary.

Area: Okuden Valley, Kotobuki Town

HP: 170
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null x 2 Shots x 3 Targets
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: Fires needles in 3 directions.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Null + Movement + Impact + Knockback / 15 Null x 3 targets
Secondary Attack Accuracy: C / A
Secondary Attack Description: Rams forward with surprising speed, then fires a burst of needles while the enemy is still startled.
Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 6 Wood x 8 Shots
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Shoots a storm of wooden needles at a single enemy.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Needler2, NeedleCannon2 (Rare), Zenny: UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTAL KILL! FOR IT!
Swordy-F2Swordy-F2 (Swordy-F)

Area: Kotobuki Town, Netfrica, Hades Isle

HP: 160
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 45 Fire + Long Range Attack + Slashing
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: When this virus is 2 panels away from the target, or its enemies are 2-deep, it will attack with Fire Blade.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Wide Range Attack + Slashing
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: When this virus is standing directly adjacent to its target, or diagonally from it, it will attack with Fire Sword.
Element: Fire
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): FireSword, Zenny
Special: Swordy-F's are immune to Blind Status.
Special: Uses Area Grab to get into attack range.: RAIN'D!
ShooterShooter (Gunner)

Gunners attack every action, if able. They don't bother attacking enemies they can't hit or enemies they can't damage, but they can select Objects as targets. Their accuracy with the machinegun attack is bad because it scatters everywhere. They are aware of this. They are also aware of the fact that their Vulcan attack pierces objects.

Area: SciLab, Kotobuki Town, Dentech

HP: 120
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spay Fire x 9 Shots
Primary Attack Accuracy: E
Primary Attack Description: Targets an enemy and sprays the area with twin machineguns.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Null + Spread1 x 3 Shots
Secondary Attack Accuracy: A
Secondary Attack Description: Targets and enemy and attacks with Vulcan.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Vulcan2, MachineGun2, Zenny
Special: Immobile.: 30 HP (Northern quadrant, behind boulder) (Soil)
CannonGuard2CannonGuard2 (CannonGuard)

CannonGuards are automatically in guard mode unless they are attacking. When guarding, the turret is protected by a shutter that will stop any and all non-breaking attacks from the front. This shutter cannot be destroyed, even by a breaking attack, so long as the virus exists. The shutter does not protect the turret portion of the virus against attacks from the back or sides. The base of the virus is also immune to non-breaking damage.

Area: SciLab, Kotobuki Town, Netopia, NAXA

HP: 150
Attack Damage/Effect: 45 Null + Lockon
Accuracy: A
Attack Description: Locks on and attacks
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): MarkCannon2, Zenny
Special: Immobile.
Special: Target's evasion counts less against this virus.
Special: Can guard against attacks.: 150 HP (Southern Quadrant, near Spikey) (Normal)
NeoMetool2NeoMetool2 (NeoMetool)

NeoMetool not currently attacking will guard. Entering guard mode requires an action. Exiting guard mode does not require an action.

Area: ACDC, Electown, Okuden Valley, Kotobuki Town, Dentech, Beach

HP: 100
Attack Damage/Effect: 40 Null + Spread 2
Attack Accuracy: B
Attack Description: Spits out a bullet that penetrates an enemy to hit up to two other enemies behind and to the side of it, as if forming a V shape.
Element: Null
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): V-Gun, HiGuard, Zenny
Special: Can hide in its helmet to negate damage.
Special: If hit while hiding, it will counter with a Microburst effect as a free action. This does not lower its defenses.
Special: Can use Recover50 on itself once.: 100 HP (Next to Lyntael) (Soil) (Hiding)
PulseBat2PulseBat2 (PulseBat)

Area: ACDC, Okuden Valley, Kotobuki Town, Sharo, NetVegas

HP: 160
Attack Damage/Effect: 70 + Seeking
Attack Accuracy: A
Attack Description: Uses a sonic screech to damage its opponents.
Secondary Attack Effect: EchoLocation
Secondary Attack Description: Launches a sonic pulse to reveal hidden or illusory targets.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Pulsar2, EchoLocation, Zenny.
Special: Airshoes. If PulseBat hits an object, its attack spreads to up to 8 other targets at half damage while dealing full damage to that object. Every other turn, this virus enters High Altitude (dropdown) status and does not attack.: 160 HP (On top of Trash "Boulder" A) (Metal)

-- Navis --
Lyantel.EXE: 330 HP (On the Eastern quadrant with Aurora) (Soil) (Casing20)(ElecBarrier40) (Self-Slow2)(Off-target1)(Target destroyed before charge attack, half-charge retained) (Influx Aegis, Part 2, 3 actions left before trigger)
Eternalis.EXE: 565 HP (On the Northern Quadrant with Sparky) (Normal) (HA)(Influx Aegis, Part 2, 1 action left before trigger)
Aurora.SP: 100 HP (On the Eastern quadrant with Lyantel) (Soil) (Equipped to Lyantael)(Casing20)(Barrier20)(1-hit shield)
Sparky.SP: 80 HP (On the Northern quadrant with Eternalis) (Normal) (Equipped to Eternalis)(HA)

-- Terrain -- (Terrain is divided into rough quarter-ish chunks. You and your enemies are always within melee distance of attacks, if on the same chunk of land due to tight fighting conditions. May attempt to move quadrants by way of narrow ledges connecting all four, but being hit while traveling may send you into the lava and stop your movement action, jumping is not guaranteed either with a higher chance of being sent into the lava's surface)

30% Soil

• Wood Elementals get +10% Evasion.
• Wood attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Grass.
• 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Mud.
• 100 Damage Fire attacks: change terrain hit to Coal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

(Grass that has been burned away from the Lava's heat, Northern and Western sections of the field)
30% Normal

• No effects.

(Eastern and Southern quadrants of the field, lightly scorched, connects the outermost sections of the field)
40% Lava

• Non-Fire Elementals lose 5 HP/action standing, 10 HP/action submerged. Doubled for Wood Elementals, nullified for Fire Elementals.
• Aqua attacks: Panel explodes, +100% Source Aqua Damage, change terrain hit to Normal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Fire.

(A rough X-shape across the field, dividing the field into rough quarters with the outermost edges being untouched, about two panels worth of distance separating each quadrant diagonally and about three in the middle)

-- Objects -- (More boulders will fall at each turn, each is about the size of the two navis put together, with enough space on top to support a single entity, the tops are considered Metal terrain)

Trash "Boulder" A: 40 HP (Submerged in lava about half-way, can be used as a stepping stone to the other quarters of the field to avoid the Lava as a "safe" alternative to jumping over the lava or using the narrow ledges to get into a different quadrant) (Heatbody) (Lava)
Trash "Boulder" B: 40 HP (Situated on the Northern quadrant, roughly in the middle making tight quarters even tighter) (Soil)
Trash "Boulder" C: 40 HP (Between the South and East quadrants, can use as a stepping stone to get between the two) (Heatbody) (Lava)

As the bolt of fire winged her, Lyntael was spun about part way from her stance, gasping as the protective structure in her clothes robbed it of stopping power but the feeling or heat and force splashed across her body all the same. She felt her body respond, gritting her teeth with just enough time to steady her footing and brace before the reflexive recoil burst from her body and scattered across the nearby quadrant. It was one release, drain and rebuild cycling within the greater pulse of her charge and it stole her breath and sight for a moment.

By the time she recovered, the viruses nearest her were already dispatched and she rounded instead, releasing the blast that yearned to escape back towards the one that had struck her. Somewhere nearby, Eternalis was raining his own attacks down on the field, but it was growing hard to keep track of everything through the building static that was already raised to breaking point again.

There was nothing close enough for her to release the pent up charge on and the girl stumbled back from the edge, hugging herself for moment instead while the charge pulsed again, demanding release on something, anything, before it scoured her away to nothing. Fighting it was futile; that was always the trouble. Embrace it instead, that was what she'd said. More viruses were pouring in; she rounded on the first one to catch her eye, barely registering any conscious through to the action as she turned. Both of her arms lifted towards it, wrists slamming together with a metallic clang that she didn't really register, before the rush of sudden, almost blissful release.

The full weight of her charge poured through her, draining from every part of her body in a self-obliterating sear of light, force and static; a broad beam of rending lighting flared from her strikers as the current unified between them and lanced outward across the field, towards the hapless turret that had only just arrived. The relief of the strain giving way to flow passed quickly as the energy coursed through her, taking everything and dragging a grit-tooothed growl of effort and pain from her along the way while it lit up the battlefield.

Then void again, and aching, desolate emptiness, for a heartbeat that let her body sag and almost stumble... then surging, roaring static as her inner charge answered the void with ever more rapid rebuild. Why did it have to hurt like this? The beat of her hear,t her pulse, her charge, filling her with enough power and enough energy to actually do something useful, and drowning out her ability to even think about anything worthwhile in the process. Hang on; fight. The thought pushed through the static as she struggled to clear her vision and take in her surroundings.

She couldn't keep this up; that would have normally been her next thought. She knew that. But as much as the strain seared at every fibre of her being, she wasn't whiting out yet; it wasn't as bad as it could get. She could still think, somewhat, and focus. She tried to take note of the viruses that surrounded them as she recovered her stance and her body fought to stabilise itself; where were her friends? They'd be fine; she had to hold onto this and keep pushing, and that meant letting all the little pulses free to balance her out. The others would be fine. As she stepped back towards the centre of the area, circling, her body pulsed with static again – the smaller, stabilising pulse – a more even scattering of electrical fall-off that balanced out the spikes, at least a little. Her eyes were already starting to sting badly and she tried to blink it away. Fight it; push through. She could do this.

As Lyntael took her stance again, firmer and more grounded now, rather than light and loose, her hair crackled and her skin shone and danced with lighting patterns, already straining under the surface again. It was burning in her muscles and making her skin ache like countless needles dragged across it, but something was helping keep her thoughts clear, at least a little, and she held back the next reflex pulse for as long as she could.

Maybe she was just getting used to it? Either way, she focused and extended one hand in front of her; the answering pulse of her barrier sprang up as she called it, expanding from her chest to cover her again and exchange energy with her strikers as it formed the protective shell that helped keep her more aggressive expenditures in check. She blinked the stinging sensation from her eyes and turned her attention on the virus closest to her – something like a metool, but not quite. She darted in the extra step to get close to it, measuring the distance between the virus, and the lava behind, then skidded low, twisting her body to the side and putting one hand down as her left foot swept around. The first kick was simple, aimed just at hooking and lifting the virus up enough to expose it to the thrusting follow-up kick that flowed through on the other end of her twisting motion. This one came with another release of energy; not the full force of everything that had rebuilt already, but much of it. The same torrent coursed through her, drawing in, unifying and racing out again to explode in a forceful flare of electricity that she oped might be enough to shove the silly thing into the lava. As the lighting burst, it flared back from her body as well, branching into lines of excess fall off that split and arced across the arena behind her, tracing destructive lines towards other unlucky viruses behind her, though Lyntael herself wasn't really able to pay attention to the splitting trails.

Even if it wasn't everything, the burst left her gasping air for a moment, before she could gather herself and spring back to her feet; the drain wasn't total, but the gap it left was filling in again rapidly as her charge cycled. By the time she turned her back on the metool-like virus to see what other threads there were, the ache was at breaking point again; despite whatever greater endurance was letting her keep focused here, it was still overwhelming her bit by bit; her steps were sluggish, almost numb, and though she couldn't see it herself, light trails of excess sparks were beginning to spill from the corners of her eyes as excess static began to obscure bright green with electric yellow. She had to put an end to the fight soon. Just make all of it go away, so they could say they'd won, and she'd done well. Sooner, rather than later; it had to be sooner.

Summary
L*) ((Failed to Expend and charge retained from previous turn) (Overcharge +1))
L*) Subtype: All attacks containing Knockback or Pull gain Wind-Type.
E*) Influx Aegis: (40 Healing)
L1) Action Precluded: Buster Charge
L2) My Anger Directed: (Take Aim, 180Elec, Knockback, Break, Impact, Slashing, Shot-type, A) (Charge-Burner 2) (Overcharge +6)) @ CannonGuard
L3) A Manifest Spirit: (Multi-Stage: (First: (15Elec, Nova2, A), Then: (Time Delayed (15Elec, Nova2, Per Turn, for 3 additional turns)), (Overcharge -1 per pulse)
L*) Fast Armour: 20Hp Casing Refresh
E*) Influx Aegis: (40 Healing)
L4) Lingers After: (Self-Slow1, Counter(On Hit): (45Elec, Nova2) (Overcharge +1 On Set, +1 On Trigger)
L5) My Heart Falters: (80Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1) (Overcharge -2)
L6) My Thoughts Collected: (45Elec, Knockback, Impact, Spread2, Shot-Type, A) (Charge Burner1)) (Overcharge +3) @ NeoMet, Spread to PulseBat and Shooter
E*) Influx Aegis: (40 Healing)

Cooldowns and Overcharge

My Pain is Real, (2TCD)
And Lingers After. (3TCD)
My Heart Falters, (3TCD)
And Beat Anew. (1TCD)

My Fear Rejected, (2TCD)
My Thoughts Collected, (3TCD)
My Anger Directed, (6TCD)

A Manifest Spirit. (3TCD)

Overcharge: Begin: +6 , A Manifest Spirit (-1), Lingers After (+1), Trigger (+1), My Anger Directed (+6), My Heart Falters (-2), My Thoughts Collected (+3), End: +14 (but it only feels like 10?)

With his vantage point, Eternalis was able to track the escape of the viral amalgamate, though with the approaching viruses around Aurora and Lyntael, he figured it would be best not to pursue by himself. "Guess we can deal with whatever that thing is later; seems to be leaving a pretty obvious trail to follow anyway," he mused by himself, though he was also interrupted by a brief salvo of gunfire coming from below. Absorbing a few bullets in the meantime was all in a day's work for him, though, with his slime body rippling in place where the bullets penetrated through.

While his body began to repair itself, Eternalis reported swiftly on the situation from above, only to receive a pained emotion in response, though it was soon followed up by Aurora's end reaffirming that she was okay. Trying to act as Lyntael's assistant directly was more taxing than she had anticipated, and Lyntael herself wasn't even talking back to her now, which didn't seem like a good sign. Eternalis's worrying cropped up, but Aurora rebuffed him with another affirmation that he should stay where he was, and provide aerial support for the moment.

"Everything good?" Harke's voice chimed in. "Looking at her status, Aurora seems to be trying to do a lot on her own."

"Seems like it's still fine... but I'll keep an eye out. Pass us a couple more chips while I keep watch, could you?" he requested, to which Harke replied with a pair of Battlechips. The closest one that he could see might be a threat was the PulseBat, perched atop one of the fallen metal boulders. He extended his hand out before him, and a chunk of his hand swirled about and split off into a blob that floated about above his palm. The separated blob shifted colors into a more yellowish tint, crackling with energy, before hurtling down towards the bat virus.

"Lyntael! I'll try to hold off a bit of the charge from going back into your body!" Aurora's efforts on the ground was trying to direct the chaotic spray of energy from Lyntael's haywire systems from feeding back into her own body. It was all she could do to do it once, but it was worth trying again. The Battlechip data from Harke came in, but she held it off momentarily. It had to be something different. Perhaps she could discharge the excess through her own innate strength.

One strike towards the CannonGuard turret. Seeing this, Aurora released some of her own charge towards the nearby PulseBat, but it didn't quite work--the attack only took from her own charge, and not much from Lyntael's run-off. Another attempt, this time trying to line up her discharge with Lyntael's self-accumulating charge--she aimed towards one of the chunks of iron that had broken off instead, perhaps something more grounded would work. No dice there either, but at least it was ruled out again.

Out of options, Aurora took the chip data that she had been entrusted with from Harke, and lined it up with another of Lyntael's breathless discharges. Come on, she prayed. This time, she was able to pull some of Lyntael's pent-up charge to augment the attack the latter was doing, and the burst of lightning that was arcing back into Lyntael's body was captured, and shot out with greater force. It was frustrating that she was only able to effectively assist with this runaway charge with Battlechip assistance, but it was a step in the right direction. More important was that Lyntael hadn't been responding to her much at all... They needed the viruses out of the picture, and fast, before it got out of hand.

-- (Eternalis: 3 actions @ Aurora)

[E1] Take Aim
[A1] Attack @ PulseBat2: 50 Elec (+100% Metal)
[S1] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)

[E2] Arrow2Damage: 130 + Homing
Accuracy: B
Description: Summons an Elewasp virus, and sends it flying at an enemy. The Elewasp is tenacious, and will hunt down its prey. It vanishes after stinging it's target, or after two turns.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Trader Rank: C: 130 + Homing (Acc: B) @ PulseBat2 (+100% Metal)
[A2] Attack @ PulseBat2: 50 Elec (+100% Metal)
[S2] Dodge (High Gear: Evasion+10%)

[E3] No action
[A3] Attack @ Boulder B: 50 Elec (+100% Metal)

[A4] Take Aim
[A5] (All for One) ElecReel2Damage: 100 + Spread 3 (Side + Behind)
Accuracy: B
Description: A small bolt of lightning that spreads sideways and behind the target upon impact.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Trader Rank: C: 100 + Spread 3 (Side + Behind) (Acc: B) @ NeoMetool2/PulseBat2/Shooter (+15 Element, +100% Metal, Take Aim: Acc+)