Coastal Paths

The spiky, ready-to-act tension held for another few moments, before the various viral entities around her began to move for the now opened gates. Lyntael let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd held and relaxed her shoulders. She honestly hadn't expected all of them to leave... the thought crept into her mind, wondering just what the ratio of sentient viruses to not really was, and whether the things that the greater net media taught everyone was as true as it claimed to be. Plenty of viruses were hostile from the outset, sure, but... most of the time, so far, when she'd taken the time to give them time, looking back across all the memories she could summon up... most of the time, stopping to ask had yielded at least some results.

“I'll admit, that was... unexpected.” Rogan's voice was dry in her ear. “But the point remains, the bounty request you agreed to is not progressed by scaring them off.” Lyntael let her shoulders slump a little as she turned and looked about herself once more, then moved to return to the metool that had decided to follow her.

“I know, I know... I just... I don't know, Rogan. I don't feel like I can just treat this all as black and white. It's supposed to be that simple, for navis and viruses, but it's just not. Maybe it was, back in the beginning, when all the programs here were simple, but I don't think any of us are any more.” Rogan was silent on the line for a while, and Lyntael crouched down, wrapping her hands about her knees as she addressed the metool with her instead.

“Hey there, all safe now. They decided to leave.” She grinned at the curious virus, to reassure it, but her expression shifted to a more concerned frown as she looked forward again, where the earlier shots had come from. She'd sprung the trap now, and if most of the viruses around these parts were self-aware enough to leave when their lives were in danger, then that made whatever those heels were doing even worse. “I don't think the ones we meet from here on will be that friendly though. It's still going to be dangerous.” She watched the virus long enough to see how it reacted, then stood and brushed off her skirt, smoothing it down again unconsciously.

“Lyntael...” Rogan's voice sounded thoughtful now. “It took me far too long to understand that you are a being, in truth, and that you do indeed think, and feel, as I never permitted myself to accept. I know that you want to extend that benefit to every other program you meet, but I do not think there is another program out there on the net as unique as you.” She couldn't deny the flush of warmth that flooded her to hear him say it, nor the quiet smile that stole across her features, even as she began to move forwards again, even though she could hear the 'but' coming in his voice. “But you know that there are even whole classes of navigators out there that are known to be simple, insentient, insapient computer programs, fit to task... you can't expect to find a friend in every virus you meet. You will only get hurt doing that.” Her smile faded back into a serious frown.

“Maybe. These ones... they know what they're doing, I'm sure of it. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to let them continue hurting others.” She pushed onward, making her way past the forward gate and looking for the group that had first attacked her.

“And... What will you do?”
“I don't know yet.” there were still these moments, where things were tense and awkward between her and Rogan. After everything, he still didn't seem to know how to talk to her, or he second guessed himself. She had to admit, she was doing the same, sometimes. Sometimes her feelings were conflicted, as the different people she remembered being would have held different perspectives, and she didn't yet know how she felt, herself.
“Well... I'm... watching.” An awkward, stumbling phrase as Rogan picked careful words and remained uncertain anyway... but it made her smile again even so. They would work it out, eventually. She was more sure of that now than either of herselves had ever truly been.

((Ready for battle 4))

The Met that had been following along with her gave an affirmative meep as it happily swung it's pickaxe, it seemed to want to continue traveling with Lyntael for the time being, it was afraid, she could see it in the met's eyes...but it seemed content and, more importantly, safe, at Lyntael's side. It wouldn't be long before the Met would continue along it's travels with Lyn, the scene shifting to the same copy-pasted looking paths, though they were a lot wider than the ones they had been passing through. The duo kept feeling eyes on them as they passed through...it was obvious whoever was here was watching them intently...no hostility being felt, no emnity...nothing...just...eyes from...everywhere.

Of course, it didn't take long to be ambushed again, a large hallway, walls on either side, integrity masked to navigator and virus ally. Soon enough, invisible walls would rise and Lyn would walk into it, another trap...and with it...the Met in front of her as other viruses dropped down. A Swirly...with a crimson colored water tornado it rode and a chartreuse body, landing in front of her companion and beginning to menace it. Whilst at the farthest reaches of the "battlefield" a Cateen would begin to roll up, in an exact coloring pattern, a chartreuse body and a crimson tank it rode in on, before giving a signal...and two more Shellnerds with chartreuse shells would be flung in, landing on either side of the field...and finally, a Genin2, it's body crimson and chartreuse in an alternating pattern from head to toe, landing in on one of the walls.

All five seemed primed on Lyntael in particular...but even she could feel some emnity being directed towards her companion, as well, she could overhear something on the airwaves. Broken up, some static, but, she could make out some words. "Capture...delete...drag back..." It wouldn't take much to put two and two together. Weather she would wind up meeting the one behind this all or not, that was in the air, but...it would take more than a quintet of viruses to bring her down. Battle routines engaged, a clash was all but certain.

-- Viruses --
Genin2Genin2 (Genin)

Area: Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 140
Attack: 70 Null + Slashing + Group Attack (MoonBlade) / 10 Null + Slashing x 7 Attacks x 2 Targets (Kunai)
Attack Accuracy: B / B
Attack Description: Counter attacks with either a spinning cut or a volley of Kunai.
Element: Null
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Kunai2, MoonBlade2, Zenny
Special: This virus does not initiate attacks on it's own.
- Seeks cover behind objects when not attacking.
- If no objects are present, this viruses evasion is enhanced.
- Counters Battlechip use with Kunai once per turn.
- Counters Buster use with MoonBlade once per turn.
- Counters Sig Attack use with either Kunai, or Moonblade once per turn.: 140 HP (On top of Wall A)
SwirlySwirly (Whirly)

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 140
Attack Damage/Effect: 40 Aqua x 3 targets
Attack Accuracy: C
Attack Description: Tries to spin into you along a boomerang shaped path.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): AquaWhirl2, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes. Cannot fly into high altitude.: 140 HP (In front of Metool2)
CateenCateen (Catack)

Catacks move at a slow rate and their dodges are generally bad. They can, however, attack in any direction while moving or attempting to dodge.

Area: SciLab, Electown, Dentech, Beach, Hades Isle

HP: 200
Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Null + Panel Crack + Blast2
Attack Accuracy: B
Attack Description: Blasts enemy with TankCannon.
Element: None.
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TankCannon2, Zenny
Special: May Move/Dodge while attacking.
Special: Slow: 200 HP (At the northern most part of the field, in the center)
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking. A: 140 HP (To Lyn's left and not far behind the Swirly, roughly half-way down the field)
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking. B: 140 HP (To Lyn's right and not far behind the Swirly, roughly half-way down the field)

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 325 HP (At the southernmost edge of the battlefield)
Metool2: 100 HP (In front of Lyntael) (Defending)

-- Terrain -- (The battlefield is essentially a wide, long, rectangle, invisible walls to the north and south. The field is the length of a movement from one end to the other, and two dodges or a feint to either side, enough to avoid even Wide Attacks or Blast2s at most with breathing room)
100% Normal

• No effects.

-- Objects --
Wall A: Undefined HP (On the left, integrity unknown)
Wall B: Undefined HP (On the right, integrity unknown)

-- Rogue Battle 4 Ready? Start!! --

The sensation of being watched never faded, and it didn't take Lyntael by too much surprise when the next trap sprung on her between the old buildings of the long forgotten township. By a reflex she didn't even think about, her charge pulsed in response to the sudden motion and the brief start it drew from her; faint glows began again at her wrists and ankles and her hair snapped as her feet slid into a light, ready combat stance.

The ripple of energy that rose to form another barrier across the walls and the pathway ahead and behind made her eyes shift briefly; more of this, stronger this time. Whoever was doing this seemed to have a more than a casual operation set up. What had she wandered into, she wondered. Lyntael let herself take a few more cautious steps forward until the expected forces began to show themselves.

“I'm going to suggest, Lyntael... not friendly this time.” Rogan's voice was a quiet murmur behind her, and despite herself Lyntael give a faint nod. As each virus appeared, she could see the same unusual colour markings on them as the ones under the other navis' control before had borne, and they looked just as aggressive. A tight frown creased one corner of her lips before she smoothed it away.

“Probably not...” She stepped alongside the little metool and then past it to the Swirly that was making its display. “Be careful...” This she murmured back to her metool friend before taking a deeper breath and drawing the first beat of her charge up through her body until her skin began to dance with arcing light caustics. She knew it was probably meaningless; Rogan would probably chide her for it again, but she still didn't want to be the one throwing the first stone here; her body would retaliate if any of them attacked, but she wasn't going to strike first. That was her choice. The radio crackle caught her attention, and her eyes darted between the tank and the lingering ninja-like virus up above, trying to work out if either of them was more sensible than the rest.

“If you want me to come and see your boss, that's what I'd like too. If you want to give me an escort there, I'll go... but I can walk on my own just fine. Whether this is quiet or loud is your choice... and if none of these ones can make that choice for themselves, that goes for you too, whoever you are listening in. I'd like to talk.” She spoke loud enough to let it carry across the walled-in space, but clenched her fists as she did and let the next pulse from her chest expand into shell of energy that drew power from her strikers as it passed them and stabilised into an electrical barrier that faded from sight once it solidified. She raised her hand into a ready combat guard to face whatever first offence the viruses around her tried; as certain as it seemed, choice and a chance still mattered.

Summary
L*) First Armour: 20Hp Casing (as subtle outfit reinforcement)
L1) Movement (crossing to the centre of the field, between the shells, as she talks and over the course of the other two actions)
L2) My Pain is Real, it lingers after (Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback, Time Delay (Start of next turn): Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback)), 15Hp Sacrifice) (Overcharge +1 per counter triggered)
L3) My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (Buster Charge, 80Hp Barrier, (Off-Target1, 1 Round)) (Overcharge -3)

-=Turn Splice at 3 Actions=-

It was a gamble for her to attempt to talk to these modified viruses, even as she held one hand out to talk, she armed the other so to speak. Electricity flowing across Lyntael's body as she prepared her defensives and her body to explode upon disruption of her as the viruses stared at her, watching her make her next move...the fight would soon be interrupted by a voice in Lyn's comms, static hissing in her ear as a rough, tough sounding voice hissed as the static cleared away.

"So...the little spark plug wants to talk eh?" It came, female sounding by the tone and more high-pitched voice that came, the viruses seemingly standing down for the moment even as Lyn's skin sparked and hummed with powerful energy. "Why should I go belivin ya? You deleted the first set you came across, you released the wild viruses from that trap, now you wanna talk. If anythin, you're more dangerous than we are. You utterly vaporized my group's viruses and then took chase after us into this abandoned city..." The voice continued as the thoughts came to mind, attention back to the met that had been following her since she entered. "Then again...that met following you seems real fixated on ya. We always thought viruses, topside and otherwise, were little more than instinctual animals..." She continued again, trailing off, a click of the tongue as she thought again, a moment passed...and soon enough, the northern and southern walls would fade away, like glitter in the wind. "Fine spark plug. You and yer little friend can pass, but these here viruses are gonna escort ya to prevent ya from explorin and gettin lost. You're to come towards the center of town, the navis guardin it will escort ya into the buildin and up to where I'm at. We'll talk...but don't go expectin much."

The communication cut off abruptly, Lyn would have the Cateen begin to slowly move towards her, the Swirly would gently pick up the Met with it's water currents and hand it over to Lyn to carry. Whilst the Genin would jump down and hand Lyn a small data crystal, "rewards" or some such, flanking her left as the two Shellnerds would disappear out of the field, likely being "recalled". The battle routines would dissipate, but now Lyn had a meeting to get to. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to fight...but there was this niggle in the back of her mind, telling her she wasn't anywhere out of the frying pan just yet, even if whom she just talked to had convinced herself it was worth talking to her.

-- Viruses --
Genin2Genin2 (Genin)

Area: Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 140
Attack: 70 Null + Slashing + Group Attack (MoonBlade) / 10 Null + Slashing x 7 Attacks x 2 Targets (Kunai)
Attack Accuracy: B / B
Attack Description: Counter attacks with either a spinning cut or a volley of Kunai.
Element: Null
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Kunai2, MoonBlade2, Zenny
Special: This virus does not initiate attacks on it's own.
- Seeks cover behind objects when not attacking.
- If no objects are present, this viruses evasion is enhanced.
- Counters Battlechip use with Kunai once per turn.
- Counters Buster use with MoonBlade once per turn.
- Counters Sig Attack use with either Kunai, or Moonblade once per turn.: 140 HP (On top of Wall A)
SwirlySwirly (Whirly)

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 140
Attack Damage/Effect: 40 Aqua x 3 targets
Attack Accuracy: C
Attack Description: Tries to spin into you along a boomerang shaped path.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): AquaWhirl2, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes. Cannot fly into high altitude.: 140 HP (In front of Metool2)
CateenCateen (Catack)

Catacks move at a slow rate and their dodges are generally bad. They can, however, attack in any direction while moving or attempting to dodge.

Area: SciLab, Electown, Dentech, Beach, Hades Isle

HP: 200
Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Null + Panel Crack + Blast2
Attack Accuracy: B
Attack Description: Blasts enemy with TankCannon.
Element: None.
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TankCannon2, Zenny
Special: May Move/Dodge while attacking.
Special: Slow: 200 HP (At the northern most part of the field, in the center)
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking. A: 140 HP (To Lyn's left and not far behind the Swirly, roughly half-way down the field)
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking. B: 140 HP (To Lyn's right and not far behind the Swirly, roughly half-way down the field)

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 325 HP (Casing20)(Barrier80) (At the southernmost edge of the battlefield) (Charge1) (Three actions remain)
Metool2: 100 HP (In front of Lyntael) (Defending)

-- Terrain -- (The battlefield is essentially a wide, long, rectangle, invisible walls to the north and south. The field is the length of a movement from one end to the other, and two dodges or a feint to either side, enough to avoid even Wide Attacks or Blast2s at most with breathing room)
100% Normal

• No effects.

-- Objects --
Wall A: Undefined HP (On the left, integrity unknown)
Wall B: Undefined HP (On the right, integrity unknown)

Battle 4: Subverted!

Rewards: 5400z, MoonBlade2Damage: 120 + Slashing + Spin Attack
Accuracy: Depends on number of targets.
Description: Executes a spin cut with a Kunai.
Duration: Once.
Element: Null
Special: Spin Attack: Strikes at all enemies in an 8-panel circle around the user. Accuracy varies depending on the number of targets designated: 1-3 targets @ B Accuracy, 4-6 targets @ C Accuracy, 7-8 targets @ D Accuracy.
Trader Rank: C

A momentary flare of irritation sparked in the corner of Lyntael's mind as she held her stance and listened. Why was it that people always seemed to want to come up with demeaning nicknames for her? She set the thought aside; it wasn't as though this person had any chance to know her name, after all... and the worst monster she'd even encountered... despite herself, Lytnael couldn't stop the shudder of revulsion and the undercurrent of distress and terror that came with it. Not any more. Never again. She tried to pushed the memory away; he had insisted very keenly about using her name, and looking into her eyes, and acknowledging, so fully, how real and legitimate a person she was. It was a memory that ached and disgusted her in equal measure, when it came amidst a time when the people who should have cred hadn't been willing to grant her that much. It stood there, in the back of her awareness, colouring even the joyful and bright moments of real affirmation she'd found since, and it wasn't ever going to go away.

She realised her stance had remained tense and tight, and her teeth were painfully grit. It wasn't until the movements of the viruses nearby drew her attention that she managed to pull her focus back to what the mystery voice had been saying. Carefully, she drew a breath and pulled her charge back, focusing until her skin was safe to touch, then accepted the slightly heavy armful of metool into her own protection as the rest of her 'escort' began to follow along and indicate the way she should go.

Shaking off the previous thoughts, Lyntael set a steady pace; she didn't want to stall, since she was being let through, but she needed time to think as well. Every now and then she glanced down at the virus she was now carrying to check how the little guy was doing. She hadn't, in truth, expect that to go quite so smoothly. The viruses were modified, it seemed, and following commands in some fashion, there seemed to be a spectrum in what she'd seen between 'loyal' and 'rabid attack dog'. She knew that at one time, she'd have felt much more optimistic about whatever meeting she was going to. A younger Lyntael would have taken the voice's plaintive protestations of innocence, and her own wrong-doing, at face value. Not any more... she knew what she'd hear, broken as it had been, and she knew that her own actions had been measured in response. She didn't trust that there was secretly some noble cause behind all of this, but she wasn't going to make that assumption without at least listening first, now that she was being given the chance.

“Lyntael... I am watching, but are you sure about this? My instinct tells me that whether our mastermind here wishes to talk or not, you are walking into violence that grows increasingly stacked against you the longer you stave it off with words.” Despite the warning in Rogan's voice, she felt a knot of tension between her shoulders relax at the sound of his voice.

“I know...” Her own response was barely a murmur, quiet on the curling breeze that shifted around her as she moved into the heart of the city, moving along with her escort and waiting to see what unfolded at the end of this path.

((Ready for events to unfold))

The met in her hands would catch her gaze downwards as she carried the met, the virus giving her an approximation of a happy expression, eyes closed and even though she couldn't see much beneath the helm, she could only see what could be a smile beneath in the darkness of the met's underside, even if it was the briefest flash. This met was happy to have met her and, even if things went wrong, it was obvious it wasn't going to hold anything against Lyn.

The virus lapdogs that escorted her through the area kept on edge no less, the Swirly was leading Lyn through the streets as the Cateen kept behind her a little ways, with the Genin walking on the treads at the same pace. It was clear something unfriendly was lurking within the area, a shiver running up Lyn's back as a shadow flew across overhead, leading the trio of viruses to pause momentarily and studied their surroundings, all on edge. Then came the attack as something lept from the buildings overhead and swiped at the Swirly with an elongated claw, glass and bone sticking out of a gross melding "hand" as a humanoid figure crashed in front of Lyn and the viruses.

It was something out of a horror movie, what looked to be a modified punk navi, a dark purple coloring on what could be called it's "armor" stood in front of navi and viruses, heavyset legs carrying the creature, flesh colored and looking more like clay than actual skin. Flesh sloping to one side of it's face, held in place with metal plates and...pieces of a Shellnerd? The bright yellows of a typical Shellnerd's shell, however scuffed it might be, was plastered across the navi's mangled body, one arm far bigger than the other leading to the approximation of a navi slumping to one side to hold itself up as it's other "arm" was disjointed and mangled, glass and what seemed to be bone sticking out of a massive hand...if it could even be called that anymore, it looked more like wet clay held together by vanilla white and crimson sticks in the shape of a macabre mace. The Swirly had managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but a large wound could be seen across the crabclaw it held up as more static hissed in Lyntael's ear, loud enough for Rogan to hear through his PET.

"Yo! What's going on out- Oh fuck no." The feminine voice began as it noticed from where she was, the figure in front of Lyntael. "Gonna make this brief kid. That's an experiment gone wrong, not our doing mind, far from it. We been workin on viruses, tryin to make them more "palatable" to the world wide web, there were experiments a good 40-some years ago, somethin called a Virus Breeder where navis could make use of viruses like pets, not unlike the Support Programs and virus summoning chips of today." The voice hurriedly explained. "Those things...they were made by some undernet adjacent group, tryin to make...some sorta weird hybrid navi, usin commercial navis as a base and shovin virus data into em. Well, 90% of their experiments lead to these kinds of...abominavis as we call em down here. Just dumped em here shortly before the Beach areas up top got renovated, sendin this place down into the "Rogue Nets" as you top-side folks call em." She continued as the thing...stared at Lyn and the viruses, like a hungry beast...dead, milky white irises sizing the quintet up.

"I ain't got no leg to stand on here askin for help, but we could use someone of yer talents for help in "exterminating" them while yer down here, there's not a ton of them thankfully, but they're stronger than what you'd be fightin down here. These viruses are precious to us, both because we love em and wanna learn more about em. We'll take care of yer friend there and we can talk more once this thing's taken care of, face to face. But you're gonna have to fight it alone, we can't be riskin em, these abominavis absorb their data...gain their power. They're a danger to us down here and up above, if that helps yer decision any."

The creature continued to stare down at the quintet, as if waiting to hear Lyntael's response...there wasn't a single spark of intelligence in the eyes that stared, not unlike the Met's...or the trio working for the lady on the other end for that matter. As if on que to give her some incentive, the creature began to lean down, staring right at the Met in Lyn's arms...a long, dripping tongue beginning to emerge from the creature's face.

As they walked, Lyntael let the rapid trail of thoughts and possibilities run through her mind, trying to work out what was most likely when the confrontation finally happened. It was only after a few more moments of futile planning that she took a longer breath and let herself feel the soft movements of breezes curling through the city and between the forgotten buildings. Her eyes shifted to her 'escorts'. They were nervous too but not, she realised, of her. A sense up and down her spine made the hairs on her neck stiffen as tension knotted up between her shoulders. What was it, and where? She didn't exactly trust that anything that happened here and now wasn't some part of some bigger plan by the ones that had first attacked her, but even so, the nerves from the escort with her seemed real enough...

Her thoughts were cut off as sudden motion and noise cut across the path they were on and the creature emerged and struck out. Already half reaching for the steady beat of energy in her chest, Lyntael felt it surge up through her as she moved. There was barely time to think about which side of what the politics fell, and she didn't; a thread of shock and apprehension was there; a thread of cautious fear as she took in the mutated and distended features of the creature attacking them, but no more than that. It was surpassed by the spike of adrenaline that came with it and she hurriedly crouched, sliding her companion to the ground as she did, then kicked off the pavement towards the assailant. The gentle movement of air through the roadway curled in suddenly, encircling the girl and ruffling her clothing as it boosted her forward to move between the creature and the other viruses.

“Hey! Easy there!” Even as she spoke the challenge, hands out and upraised, open but still ready to fight, her eyes took in the rest of the creature; she'd encountered navigators of plenty of different shapes and sizes but this one's gaze, as it lingered on the nearby viruses, had nothing behind it that seemed like it might answer. Lyntael grit her teeth. She might not need to hurt it too badly, but getting its eyes off the other viruses had to come first. The woman on the communication line was talking, and a part of Lyntael's mind tried to take it in, but most of her attention was on the moment in front of her. She darted in closer, focused on the mutated navi's extended, mangled arm-bludgeon first and foremost.

“Back up, all of you...” She glanced back over her shoulder as she called out; the winds circling her body twisted rapidly then flowed outward in every direction along with a mild wave of static energy; with her at the centre, the sudden air current tried to separate the groups more clearly. The blast of wind thrust at the creature, seeking to push it back and away, but if any of the other viruses hadn't made enough distance the static wind stood the chance of giving them a gentle, but firm push away from the melee zone as well. Lyntael herself didn't have the extra moment to check; she ducked low then thrust upward with her left arm, striking to knock the creature's arm upwards with the heel of her palm. The rising motion was followed with a second strike from her other hand and she leap upward, the trailing eddies of wind carrying her slight form into an arcing jump that should take her past the creature and over behind it. As her body moved, Lyntael sought to grab onto parts of the massive bludgeon, gripping tight and using it as a pivot to flip her body past it. Each foot struck out as she made the half spiral of motion, aimed at delivering small, jolting kicks to key points along the creature's arm, and with any luck numb some of the feeling from it, before she landed on the far side, still attempting to pull the mutated mass with her. She doubted she had the strength to actually pin the creature's arm behind it, but at the very least she might get its attention and force it to turn and face her, rather than anything else.

“Come on, over here... just look at me...” As she spoke she let the next stabilising pulse of her charge stretch beyond her body, forming the familiar protective shell that expanded out past her strikers before fading from sight. Within her, the charge hummed, eager to spend itself fully. She could feel the warmth filling her but she waited, holding the mass of electricity coursing through her until her strikers glowed and crackled. The former navi, if that's what it was, might just lash out at her in response, she knew that; the threads of fear remained, but they were subdued – that was fine. It could try it, and get another shock for its trouble; she wasn't going to escalate until she had to.

As she held her ground, only seconds had passed and Lyntael let her mind try to process what the other woman had been saying to her. Experiments, but not their experiments; dangerous to them, and others; trying to make viruses nicer, because they loved them – sure, right. She felt a small grimace curl at one corner of her lips.

“Okay, fine... let's pretend I believe you for now. If you want to get your friends out of here until the danger's gone, that's fine. My name,” without realising it, she put extra emphasis on the word. “Is Lyntael, and I'm going to handle this my way.” ...Just as soon as she worked out what 'her way' was, an unbidden thought murmured in the back of her mind.

It definitely looked like any semblance of self or sapience was gone from it, if it had ever existed in the first place, and the woman on the other end of the line said as much too, but a feeling in her chest said that wasn't enough, not yet. She held her ground, still light on her toes and in a ready combat stance, and looked at the monstrosity before her. If there had once been a person there, they had suffered; she could see that much. Her eyes focused on the milky, dead-seeming expression and she drew a breath, then she stepped in close again, weaving past any aggressive move it might make, at least as best as she could. It didn't matter if it hit her, she didn't want to be put off for this much at least; she reached up and put a hand against its chest.

It wasn't a dramatic or poignant moment, like stories and movies liked to paint, she knew that. She was trying not to be struck by a creature that likely had every intention of trying to devour anything it could get its hands on, and she wasn't perfect either; she was actively trying to debilitate it, and stop it from doing any proper harm, even as she reached out; her skin was alive with her charge, probably painful to the touch for any normal person. It wasn't picture perfect, but maybe that wasn't the point; it was what she could offer. She looked up towards the creature as she pressed her palm against it as the lingering eddy of wind circling her form spread broad to encircle the creature along with her.

“If there's anything left in there, struggling to hold onto yourself or trying to be seen... I'm here, and I'm watching, and I'm listening.” A sense of deep resonance thrummed from the well of her charge and passed through her body, across to the other entity. “And if there isn't enough, and you don't have the strength, then I'm here, and I'll be with you when it ends. You won't be alone.” The resonating pulse faded; a brief, fleeting sensation of three hands reaching out to the same place collapsed back into the one she could see in front of her as she looked up past it towards the creature's face.

The circling wind spread out and dissipated into a lighter, ongoing bluster of air as Lyntael stepped back again, light on her toes and watching carefully. She had done what she could; if it had to be stopped, then at least she was giving the others a chance to back off before things got messier. As she focused on the straining feeling of her charge and the dancing winds around her, the sky overhead had swiftly grown cloudy and begun to darken.

Summary
L*) First Armour: 20Hp Casing (as subtle outfit reinforcement)
L*) Turbulence: Frontal Deflection against shot or lobbed (hands free, layer 5)
L*) Knock Back effects are Double Strength, and attacks with them gain Wind type
L1) My Faith Can Heal, with time for laughter (Buster Charge, Feint, Movement, 10Elec Nova2, Knockback, Self-Slow (1 Rank, 1 Round) (Overcharge -2)
L2) Basic Buster Strike (30, Disarm x 5 hits, A)
L3) My Pain is Real; it lingers after (Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback, Time Delay (Start of next turn): Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback)), 15Hp Sacrifice) (Overcharge +1 per Counter Triggered)
L*) Fast Armour: 20Hp Casing Refresh
L4) My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (Buster Charge, 80Hp Barrier, (Off-Target, 1 Rank, 1 Round)) (Overcharge -3)
L5) Dodge
L6) A Scarred Soul, with love to give (Damage Reduction (10, 1 Round), 40Hp Casing, Stun (1 Action), Self-Slow (1 Rank, 1 Round), 3CD (Overcharge -2)

Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (3TCD)
My Faith Can Heal, with time for laughter (3TCD)
My Pain is Real, it lingers after (2TCD)
A Scarred Soul, with love to give (3TCD)

Overcharge: Begin: 0, My Faith Can Heal (-2), My Pain is Real (+1 per counter Triggered), My Heart Falters (-3), A Scarred Soul (-2), End: +0

The viruses would begin to back away, the Swirly quickly grabbing up the Met2 and beginning to move back, far enough to avoid the fight but not so much they couldn't watch. There was a grunt and a groan from the shell-plated creature, it was clear it realized it's own mortality as Lyntael moved in and pushed it back with great force as pinpricks assulted it's body (10). The creature's tongue would swiftly slip back into it's head as her assault would hit four times on it's massive cudgel of a hand (120), it would begin to grey out...dead flesh turning even more rotten as glass shards began to fall away from it.

The creature seemingly reeled as it maintained it's balance regardless, leaning heavily on the right arm propping it up. But as she came ready to fend off an attack from the creature...the arm she had knocked the feeling out of would begin to elongate, turn metal and become hard and sharp as steel. A quick flash of data entering the back of Lyntael's mind would show the creature activating chip data, a Katana no less. It swiftly turned to her, despite it's size, despite it leaning on it's left arm, it leaned back it's entire body and flew forward without a second thought, the weapon in hand would swiftly cut across her casing in a single swipe as fast as the viruses that wielded them, but before it could get a stab off on her, the creature was blown back and out of range (10). But despite that, all it did was give a gutteral growl like the zombie it was.

It seemed a little lost as Lyntael would speak, not at it, but at the voice in the back of her head. The voice, while a little curt at her not believing them...let out a sigh. "Fine. They've got a hold of your friend for now anyways, so I doubt you'll be walking away without them. So, thanks, Spa- Lyntael. I'm sorry we gave such a bad first impression." The voice caught herself, but continued. "And since yer doin this for us, there will be gain from it for you, these things don't drop anything, not bugfrags nor zenny. So we'll foot the bill for their exterminations." She finished, a firm tone in her voice.

But as she finished the trio of owned viruses and the Met would be moved out of sight out of the corner of her eye, the Met seeming...relaxed? But as that happened and she put up her defenses, the creature rushed her again, cold steel in hand before she could move with uncanny speed for a creature of it's size, swiping at her from the front and catching her barrier with the tip of the blade before leaning into it's momentum and spinning about with unnatural speed, slashing downwards and catching the rest of her barrier, shattering the sword to splinters on the pavement before it shot a pair of spears in her direction out of whatever could be construed as a mouth, one would miss entirely from it's position, but the other would be blown away and, somehow, manage to land on the creature's shoulder, a deep pain exploding outwards from impact and causing the creature to groan deeply with pain (50).

The creature barely responded to her words, the shock it would be given however, would be the thing to cause it to lurch forward, a long groan escaping it's throat as it caught itself with the melted remnants of it's right arm. Even if it's left was effectively useless for cudgel-like attacks, what chip data resided within it would effectively replace it until the feeling could come back.

-- Creature of mad science --
Abominavi (Shellnerd plated): 610 HP (Disarmed)(Stun1)(Near Lyntael edged towards the north, within melee distance)

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 310 HP (DR10)(Casing40)(Self-Slow2)(Off-Target1)(Near Abominavi, in front of it)

-- Terrain -- (The field is mostly an open area with walls going down each cardinal direction, with the buildings close enough to be grabbed onto)
100% Normal

• No effects.

All too quickly, the creature rounded on her and Lyntael tried to pull back, but not quickly enough. The speed with which its damaged and ruined arm had formed into a fresh weapon didn't give the girl enough time to react and she flinched back from the feeling of the blade scraping across her exposed midsection. Her defences had robbed it of any power to harm her, but the sensation of the blade against her skin still sent a chilling echo of other memories responding through her and she shrank back from it. Her mind tried to retreat back into those horrible recollections even as she gave her answer and heard the other woman respond, and it was all she could do to weave and try to evade the further sweeps of its blade even as she tried to get through to it. Not enough, it would seem, as twice more the flashing weapon dragged across her and snagged at her clothes; each time, her defences stopped it doing real harm, but the overhead swing still managed to tear the top catch on her vest and each stroke still dragged bladed lines across her skin that made her quail internally.

Despite her defensive hesitation Lyntael felt her body responding, each pulse blasting off sparks as it sought to respond to the aggression in kind while her charge strained at the surface of her skin, but the ripples seemed so insignificant and small, compared to...

“Lyntael, focus.” Rogan's voice, firm and direct, cut through the spiral of thoughts and Lyntael blinked, panting softly. Past memories. Nothing more. She nodded and swallowed, then took a longer breath. Above, the darkening sky rumbled and droplets of rain began to fall. Lyntael straightened and turned her face towards it, drawing in a deep breath as the scattering of droplets grew to an increasing fall and the winds circling her rose to a bluster that flared her clothes and tousled her hair. Another wave of static rolled from her body, rippling across the battlefield in a wide burst that crackled in the air and the girl herself almost seemed to glow as her eyes closed and she centred herself; that was past and she was here; she had passed through that and endured; she was real, and she was here, and nothing else had any power to truly harm her in any way that mattered, not any more.

Even as she took this moment, focusing herself, the sense of presence about her grew with the electric glow of her body, almost as though the buildings and ruins, the monstrous navi before her, and everything else were less real or present by comparison and its attacks would even seem to pass through her, unreal and non-present, unable to gain purchase. She let herself feel the growing storm above, and the winds mingling around her body, eyes closed. A crack of light split the sky above and was answered by a crash of thunder while the rain began to pour thick and fast, covering the ground and spreading puddles everywhere and Lyntael let another small wave of sparks cascade from her body, carried on the dancing winds around her.

“When I said focus, Lyntael... I did mean, on the fight.” Rogan sounded bemused, but it was enough to call her back to her immediate tasks with a fresh calm.
“Right.” When she opened her eyes and looked back towards the navi monster she was engaged with, sparks flashed in small flickers at the edges of them. Her charge was still straining to release, burning inside her with a growing discomfort the longer she let it grow without a proper expenditure. She took a quick half-step backwards from the creature, then darted in close as her arms came up towards it. A familiar feel surged as her wrists snapped together in front of her and her strikers flared with brilliant light. The cycle flowed, drawing in from each extremity to combine in her chest and burst forward, raging down her arms and out into a crackling bolt of lightning that arced and branched wildly up towards the creature with enough force to rend any protection it might have and hammer it back from her.

Lyntael felt the charge rush through and leave her for a moment, followed by the empty, void-like feeling of its dearth, but it didn't last long before the pulse responded inside her, filling the void with a fresh surge of power stronger than before. The feel of it made her muscles burn, but it wasn't enough to bother her yet.

While the rain continued to pour, Lyntael let the encircling winds guide her steps, darting right then left again as she manoeuvred around the monster, looking for a chance to strike its form cleanly. Her charge had raged back to full again and another small wave of static washed off her in excess while her strikers went from a clear glow of light to an overwhelming dancing crackle of energy. If there was nothing to be saved, then the best thing she could do was to end it swiftly. She pushed her charge, further and brighter, until the light caustics dancing across her skin began to spark and the strain of energy in her body began to hurt. A moment later, when it looked like she had the right opening, Lyntael leapt up towards it. The wind carried her jump and let her twist her body in the air and bring her heel over at the peak of her leap. As the blow came crashing down, light flared like a falling comet and lightning flashed in the sky above. Lyntael felt the moment of sheer blissful euphoria of the energy flowing through her; the release of energy blasting out from her leading striker in an expenditure that obliterated all other sensation and awareness for the next few moments. The shock-wave from it blasted the rain back in a dome around her, then fell in again with a splash amidst the downpour.

Lyntael gasped a breath, drawing it in in the moment of sensory silence that followed the burst. The yawning void of emptiness that was left dragged at her and made her body feel leaden and she struggled to draw a second breath as she pulled herself back to her feet from the place where she'd landed. A moment later, the raging torrent of her charge answered, beating in her chest and rushing to fill up the emptiness with a rough, jagged eagerness that threatened to overwhelm her. Had she ever expended that amount of energy at one time before? She panted and tried to blink the light-blind spots from her vision as she raised her hands back to fighting readiness. She had no idea how tough this creature was, and that level of expenditure was going to wear her out quickly, if her aching muscles were anything to go by, but she still had more where that came from before she was done.

Summary
L*) it lingers after: Counter(On Hit): (10elec, Nova2, Knockback, Wind-type)
L*) Turbulence Refreshed: Frontal Deflection against shot or lobbed (hands free, layer 5)
L*) Knock Back effects are Double Strength, and attacks with them gain Wind type
L*) (Book-keeping: Off-target1, all novas and buster work go from Default A → B)
L1) I Slip to Dream, until I wake (Shadow (1 Round), 10Elec Nova4, Self-Slow (1 Rank, 1 Round) (Overcharge +3)
L2) As I Look to the Sky, and my wounds bleed wet (Stage Chance (Sea; as torrential rain), 10Elec Nova4, Knockback, Wind-Type, 15Hp Sacrifice, Recovery Time (1 Action) (Overcharge -4)
L3) (Action precluded to Recovery Time)
L*) Fast Armour: 20Hp Casing Refresh
L4) My Anger Directed, 'gainst violent threat (50Elec, Break, Impact, Slashing, Knockback, Wind-Type, Buster Shot (30null, Disarm x 5 hits), Off-Target (1 Rank, 1 Round) (Overcharge +6)
L5) A Manifest Spirit, and eyes that dance (10Elec Nova2, Take Aim, Dodge, Movement, Off-Target (1 Rank, 1 Round) (Overcharge -1)
L6) Full-Charge Buster Strike (600Elec, Disarm)

Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (2TCD)
My Faith Can Heal, with time for laughter (2TCD)
My Pain is Real, it lingers after (1TCD)
A Scarred Soul, with love to give (2TCD)
I Slip to Dreams, until I wake (3TCD)
As I Look to the Sky, and my wounds bleed wet (4TCD)
My Anger Directed, 'gainst violent threat (3TCD)
A Manifest Spirit, and eyes that dance (3TCD)

Overcharge: Begin: 0, it lingers after (+1 if triggered), I slip to Dreams (+3), As I look to the Sky (-4), My Anger Directed (+6), A Manifest Spirit (-1), Full-Charge Strike (+8), End: +13

The creature stood there helplessly as Lyntael began to slip into an electrcal state of shadows, the creature blasted with pricks of energy and trying to shake off the paralysis that took over it's body, shuddering grotesquely as Lyn summoned the rains above...raindrops flooding the area in short order, so much so even the ground had puddles and puddles of rainwater, the cool rains almost soothing the creature briefly before another shock ran across it's body, twice as painful as last (20) as the rain's conductivity got deeper into it this time.

The creature watched, almost bemused as she had stopped briefly, before it caughed up another pair of spears would come swiftly from it's mouth in turn, whilst her turbulance blocked the one and sent it flying to the side with a clatter, the second swiftly passed through her electrical form almost entirely, an angry growl escaping the creature in turn as it watched nothing being done. But, this would be replaced with a squeal of pain escaping it's form as it was hit immediately with a followup attack, the navi causing a sickening crack to eminate from it's chest with her first blow (100), before the follow up attacks would send the creature to the ground in no uncertain manner (30x2) even if only a couple managed to properly connect, rain resuming to pour to the ground almost instantly after it's fall to the ground.

A loud groan coming from the creature as it began to get back up, slowly but surely as another shock exploded against it's form in the conductive rains (20). It could scarcely get to it's feet as it would meet it's maker in a final burst of light, the navi's torso exploding outwards, one half falling over as it's other...was just completely gone. Bone and meat making up the navi would fall over with an extremely heavy thud, arm thrown out from the blast against the wall as it breathed it's last, data dissiminating into the ground amongst the rainwater.

"Good work, Lyntael." The voice came, behind Lyntael. A massive navi, twice as tall and far bulkier than Lyn, not unlike a monster body builder, would begin walking up from the streets, rain flooding down their body. Tanned skin and wearing a one-piece, bright pink bathing suit that filled the chest area with what looked to be pure muscle. Her arms were clad in bronze, rivets running down either side of the metal...at least across the top of them, even including her fingers with bloodied segements for her knuckles. The navi had no emblem across her chest like most, instead, the bronze plated mask that consisted of her face would stare down at Lyntael softly, small rectangular slits making up the "mouth" so to speak. Her lower body, while clad in a pair of loosely fitting shorts, her legs were far smaller than the rest of her body despite how easily they held her up, feet having nothing covering them or underneath. "I'm the one on the radio, as you can probably tell by my voice. My name is Euryale.exe. I lead the navis in this small part of the rogue beach networks." She spoke simply, getting to the point almost immediately, slowly extending a closed hand to Lyntael and leaning down to put a blue data crystal down in front of her, immediately stepping back a few paces for Lyn afterwards.

"Despite apperances...I can understand when I am wrong. I am sorry for the frosty reception earlier, I...thought you were a netpolice agent after me...us. I'm ex-mafia...turns out when you get turned into a hulking monster against your will by a third party, they either want you in the bloodhounds or to be used as security detail, neither of which was in my repitoure." She continued with a clearing of her throat. "Please accept that. It's untrapped, I swear. We can talk all you want here, I'm an open book."

When (or if) Lyntael would open the data crystal, a cache of zenny and a chip would be found inside.

-- Creature of mad science --
Abominavi (Shellnerd plated): DELETED

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 295 HP (Casing40)(Shadow1)(Self-Slow1)(Off-Target2)(Near Abominavi, in front of it)

-- Terrain -- (The field is mostly an open area with walls going down each cardinal direction, with the buildings close enough to be grabbed onto)
100% Sea

• Fire Elementals lose 10 HP/action standing, 20 HP/action submerged. Other Non-Aqua Elementals lose 5 HP/action submerged. Nullified for Aqua Elementals.
• Ice attacks: 50% Freeze1 chance, Changes terrain hit to Ice.
• Terrain changes between Sea and Onsen do not inflict damage upon submerged entities, nor do they eject submerged entities to the surface.
• Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
• PanelShot: Imbue Aqua.

Battle 5 Win!
Rewards: 6300z, CyberRoarEffect: Fear + ConeAttack
Accuracy: S
Description: Instill fear with a savage roar.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Fear: Targets affected by this suffer from Freeze and gain Haste1.
Trader Rank: C

Between heavy breaths, the light faded and Lyntael focused forward, trying to assess her opponent. What she saw as her vision cleared, however, made the girl lurch backwards, stumbling away. The hyper-present glow about her form blinked our as the reality around her asserted itself in her senses. One hand lifted the back of her fingers to her mouth while the other slipped unconsciously to her midsection where a sudden, queasy churn made her fight back an instinctive retch. Averting her eyes from the sight, she staggered a few steps to one side, putting a hand up to face one of the building walls and lean against it, trying to breath. The air felt thick and foul. She could taste bile in her mouth and feel her limbs trembling.

She'd fought many different creatures by now, but always they were just ejected from the network, or else just sort of... collapsed, into simple data fragments, little more than pieces of code. This... She tried to swallow again, to get the taste from her mouth. Her body still hummed with energy, skin crackling as sparks danced in her hair, but even someone unfamiliar with Lyntael would be able to see that the repeated small waves of electricity that rippled off her form into the falling rain were just a way for her small body to stabilise the volume of charge it had been channelling. Lyntael didn't notice it, or much of anything, for several long moments as she tried to fight down her stomach's urge to empty itself. The exposed flesh and bone, viscera blown apart like so much raw meat; not scrap data, or an ejected enemy; something living, suddenly not. Her action; no matter how necessary. She leaned against the wall, head down, and fought back another heave.

“Lyntael, listen to me. Listen to my voice.” Rogan's tone was serious but calm, and something about it cut through her other horrified thoughts. “Focus on breathing, Lyntael. The air is clean, even if it doesn't feel that way. Just breathe.” She nodded, forcing herself to take one long breath in, then another. “You are alright, Lyntael. Centre yourself and focus on that. Don't dwell, not for now.” Again, she found herself nodding. “Spit if you have to, and have a drink if you can. It will help.” She did, then stood to cup her hands together until she could wash her mouth out with the rain water. A few moments later she took another breath and stood straight, trying to steady herself.

“I'm... I'm okay. I... I just... I didn't...”
“I know. I was not expecting that. We will talk about this, Lyntael, but not here. You have company.” If she didn't know better, she'd almost have said Rogan sounded worried, but she was grateful all the same. She murmured a quiet thank you to him, then tried to gather herself and face the other voice that had called out to her.

Rather than respond right away, Lyntael let her talk and gave herself time to listen and get her own thoughts in order. Her body had mostly calmed down, along with the beat of her charge; the occasional spark still jumped between the strands of her hair, but that was more or less all. The rain from the sudden storm had slowed and begun to thin out as the winds pulling it here had dissipated and, without thinking about it, Lyntael pulled treads of air current about her to gently ruffle and dry out most of the remaining water from her clothes. Feeling a little bit cleaner and more comfortable also helped the lingering queasiness. She wasn't sure she'd ever expended that amount of raw energy in one release before. Even if she wasn't afraid of her charge any more, as she had felt once, that was still a... horrific amount of electricity.

Eventually, when Euryale seemed to be want her response, Lyntael nodded softly. She was still keeping a safe distance from her but things seemed calm enough now. There wasn't much she could really say about the story given to her; it made as much sense as anything else, and she didn't really have much way to confirm or deny it.

“I'm still... you'll understand, if I'm still cautious. I was attacked, and your people seemed to just leave those viruses that they put on me to fend for themselves. But... alright.” She shrugged and rolled her shoulders, wondering what else she ought to say.

“I'm not net police. I'm...” A thought occurred and she had to fight not to roll her eyes. “I'm actually, um, if we want to be technical, I'm shogunate... but, I mean... Really they mostly just seem to be interested in public events and putting their women in skimpy uniforms... and then finding excuses to get them out of them... usually at the same time... so, um... not really. I'm just here because there's a large over-population of shellnerd viruses here, and they're paying a bounty on reducing them back to balanced levels. I needed some space to do some honest work, and think.” She shrugged and glanced up as the last of the rain drizzled away and the clouds began to slowly break. “I guess that didn't happen...” When she looked back towards the hulking navi she tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. “So... what now? As long as you're not going to do anything it doesn't want to the little guy that was following me... Did you need help with something?”

"Neo-Shogunate...ah yes, the newer kids on the block that gained a foothold in recent years. I know some about them..." She began simply with a sigh, trying to keep composure. "I joined up with them before the mafia...decent enough people...but too headstrong and focused on things that could benifit the net at large, truth be told...and the skimpy suits they kept forcing me into didn't help matters much." She sighed again, shaking her head. "And I am sorry about the viruses they threw at you. Part of my own orders, we try to keep a low profile, but I guess they didn't get that part of the message. Will have a long talk with them later." She continued on, before her eyes went to the...corpse...of the navi Lyntael had fought, a second train of thought beginning as the body would slowly sink into the ground. Gore and all.

"Poor souls, those navis. No one deserves that kind of fate, not even those World Three folks fourty-some years ago. Some scientists are too focused on pushing boundries, making new discoveries or forcing them...they think too hard about what "possibilities" can be forced, they forget their own humanity." She spoke strongly, eyes narrowing at the remains as they disappeared.

"If I can be frank, if you would be willing, I could use your help. Eliminate any more you come across, put their souls to rest." She said as simply as possible, the eyes softening, as she began to slowly bring herself to the ground and sit in front of Lyntael. "These creatures...are kin to me, in a way. Precursors to the monster you see in front you. I don't know why you came to the beach area, but, I can help you in turn outside of the monitary gains." She continued on, slowly turning her head towards the sky as a salty breeze blew through the area. "Whatever you're here for, I have scouts practically everywhere in the network. If you're finding somone, we can likely track them down and point you in the right direction. Your op would be given a more detailed lay of the lands that surround us, as well. We can also work more "buisness expenses" out if you're so inclined, but rest assured, your little friend is in good hands." Eurayle would soon lock eyes with Lyntael as best she could, heights be damned, a soft voice escaping her. "I saw you from afar after you put that soul to rest, and I understand your feelings. It's...messy work...I'm much the same way, meat, flesh, bone...I don't know why being forcefully intigrated with a virus causes these reactions...but...it's an unfortunate fact of life for us abominations. I don't need your answer right now, but...just think about it, if nothing else. Ever since our boss got a "change of heart", well, we've been operating far more above board than ever."

Lyntael tried to focus on the conversation; she was still feeling queasy, and the gradual winding down of her charge just left room for the other awkward sensations to make themselves more known, but the feeling was slowly passing regardless. The other woman was giving all the right and sensible answers, and a part of her own mind reflected with a flicker of sorrow that that was how she was thinking about this now... not the same open trust she'd have shown, once. Still... she seemed earnest enough, and an underlying thread of confidence helped life her thoughts up again; if she was wrong, and this was another ploy just to cover tacks or get on her good side, well, she'd deal with that if it came up.

The thought continued and Lyntael looked up, focusing more clearly on the person in front of her. It wasn't any different from the fights she'd been in, really. Risk of betrayal and violence was the price she had to pay for trusting... but she wanted to be able to trust. She didn't want to be the sort of constantly back-watching persona that she'd seen Rogan necessarily slip into for his work; the mask he sometimes couldn't take off even when he wanted to. That wasn't her, and she didn't want it to be her either. She felt herself smile softly as her expression softened.

“I'm not... looking for anyone in particular right now. I'm just tying to work out a few things, for myself... and I guess, in a way, this helps make a few things clear. I needed... need, still, I think... to sort out some things about myself. Things that are different now, from how they were. I'm going to have to fight, in the days coming, and I need to know what I can do, and be sure of my limits... that's all.” Her eyes flickered back to the patch of damp ground where the remains had disintegrated away by now, and though there was no real trace of it left her mind still supplied the image and her smile flickered.

“I don't want to hurt anyone. Simple viruses, the kind that... that are just programs, following instructions, you know? Code that doesn't think or feel... that just multiplies and damages. That's something I can work with. That's... that's what the bounties are meant to be about.” She rolled her shoulders and took a few steps, pacing as she stretched and breathed more deeply. Her clothes were damp from the rain still, but it felt fine now, comfortable even. The light winds she'd pulled in before had only managed to dry things so far, but... she didn't really care about the way her vest and skirt still clung to her form and emphasised just how little of her there was to emphasise; the tear preventing the top catch in her vest from closing was more annoying, but only for the aesthetic of the torn clasp. Peculiar thoughts; she shook her head and brought her mind back to the conversation at hand.

“If you know anything about that.... I'd... I'd rather just go find where this upsurge of the bounty viruses is coming from... I thought it might have been whatever you and yours were doing, but if not...” She shrugged. “You said you... wanted help, um, dealing with... more of...” The unwell feeling came back as she contemplated what she'd seen, and done and her mind helpfully recreated elements of the fight for her.

“If I may...” Rogan's voice cut in, emanating from a point just above and behind Lyntael's shoulder, though no viewscreen showed. Lyntael felt a small sense of tension in her shoulders relax with an unexpected sense of relief at his interjection. “Eurayle, was it? For the moment, I do not wish for Lyntael to accrue any more blood on her hands in that way. I would spare her that, for the time being. It is not something a person should be asked to do lightly, no matter the good cause.” Even now, there was something a little surreal to hearing Rogan refer to her that way; a person. Normally... previously, that was, he'd have been asking Eurayle about speaking with her operator already, but he'd skipped that formality as well. It was like learning a brand new person, in so many ways.

“You mentioned a superior. Is that your operator, or another navigator? If you're mostly above board now, I'm sure you wouldn't mind letting me know who you're working for down here. Not any of the publicly established net factions, by the words you've said so far.” That sounded a little more like the old Rogan, certainly. Lyntael caught herself rolling her eyes for a moment and mouthed a silent apology towards the other woman on his behalf.

Eurayle would nod solemly at Lyntael's words as she listened, closing her eyes slowly. She wanted her to talk, get things out in the open. But before long, she heard Rogan, perking up as she heard his voice, the first time he'd talked but...wasn't the first time she heard his voice. She listened and nodded again, opening her eyes again, slowly getting back to her feet. "Me...and my operator...are under the employ of a one Doctor Hevari.EXE, much like the name of a certain cheese, she and her group, while not "big" like the Mafia, Police or even the Shogunate, she has a lot of money to push around and, in many cases, gets work from the three big factions." She began to explain, crossing her arms with a sigh.

"We're kind of split in multiple directions as far as our own goals are concerned, much like the three, but we all have one major goal; Bring Back the concept of Virus Breeding. You've seen our group's viruses, we modify them minorly to not affect their combat ability, but so that, much like a Support Program, we can bring them back from deletion. And it's been slow going on that front, mind, but...Hevari thought she could...use...net navis in the process..." She continued on, before slowly drifting off, trying to choose her next words carefully. "It...was a far different process than what made me or the poor soul you put to rest, using navi "DNA" so to speak, to enhance a virus' capability to think and understand...and believe me, I had my misgivings and called her out on it multiple times, never did as she asked or demanded when it came to that sort of thing. Me and her have butted heads far more times than I could ever count, as have others in our organization." She breathed at this point, chest bulging out as she did. "It took some sort of Coursair navi to change her mind, promising him to never do it again. Granted, it also took him defeating Cybeast Squallo to confirm he can and will come back to...well, "snap her neck" would maybe be a bit far...but from what she showed from the "show" he put on, he could easily be top brass in one of the big three if he put his efforts into it. She was scared shitless, as you could imagine."

She closed her eyes again, before slowly tipping her head towards the skies and taking a moment to think again. "To think that some navis can casually put those beasts down..." She breathed, before her head would lock eyes again with Lyntael again, eyes furrowing seriously. "But, that's neither here or there. I promise you, we're doing what we can to keep things kosher with the viruses here, and I've been trying to keep a short leash on my subordonates. But I cannot force you to keep fighting the abominavis if you do not wish to. It's clear you have your own trauma to work out, and I can respect that." She continued on, the look on her face slowly melting away...before getting hard as her brow furrowed even more than before. "But if you find any punk or heel navis trying to gather up viruses forcefully, you're welcome to kick their asses black and blue, they've all got operators so you won't delete them by accident. Tell em that Eurayle'll have a "talk" with them should you see them doing such things...I like to think I'm trying to be a good boss and run a tight ship, but some things inevitably slip."

She sighed, gingerly rubbing her temples with two grotesquely oversized fingers. "I'm sorry to have involved you, I really am, but...if another comes after you, you might be forced to fight, they're...really, really, fast for some reason. But, I can point you in the direction of the upserge in the viruses you're looking for, there's been a huge grouping of Shellnerds up north. I can help take you there...or at least give your operator general map directions to where they're at, practically a breeding ground where we spotted them."

Rogan chuckled softly across the line, but Lyntael felt like she could hear eyebrows raised in surprise, out of sight on the other end. She was hesitating on processing what Eurayle had been saying herself – in between the deeply concerning elements, there were things there that barely sounded possible to her. Despite what she'd read on some theory-crafting sites and message boards, it still seemed pretty inconceivable that a single navigator could do something like that.

“Well, it certainly sounds like you and yours are marked. If they sent something like that to send you message, I imagine you can all expect to be watched.” Rogan's voice carried a hint of mirth in it, but Lyntael didn't doubt he was filing that information away for curiosity later.

“I'd read, just on, um... conspiracy postings, here and there... that after some big battle where the Beasts were confronted and overcome for a time, some people say they haven't been quite the same, since then. Like, they came back, but they'd lost something... but, I mean, even if that's true, who does that, just to make a point? They'd have to be mad, wouldn't they?” Lyntael looked to the other woman for answers that she knew probably weren't coming, and shrugged her own uncertainty as she let Eurayle get back to the point concerning her own operation. She took a few steps away, then began to stretch lightly, her body moving into slow balanced poses and extension and gradually merging from that into graceful transitions and dancing steps as she listened. The breeze circled and curled around her as she moved and stretched herself out, releasing the lingering tensions and strains her body had been holding onto for the past few minutes. Her eyes met back with Eurayle every few moments between steps, as she gave small nod or smile here and there to indicate for her to continue her explanation.

The movements felt nice; it felt like it had been along time since she'd let herself move like this without thinking about fighting or training,and it calmed the other thoughts and feelings that she could feel bubbling in the back of her mind. There would be time for that. Eventually, it felt like there was a break in the explanations and Lyntael let herself come to a smooth halt, rolling her neck and shoulders once more and letting her hands fall to a gentle clasp behind her back.

“I—”
“We—” As she started to speak, Rogan's voice began as well, before they both cut off again. She ducked her head softly with a grin, and Rogan continued.

“We will keep one eye out for more of the creatures you mentioned, but as I said, I will be preferencing keeping Lyntael from any further such fights for now. I don't take any issue with your master, if what you're doing is as you say. It sounds as if you have enough concerns of your own to make much issue for others... but I would appreciate any guidance you feel like sparing for dealing with the excessive shell viruses.” Lyntael, for her part, let Rogan speak and simply nodded after his words with an apologetic smile.

As they continued to talk, the area around them began to take on a different tone...a different feel, but all the while an uneasyness could be felt, but far more relaxed than the neumerous eyes that stared at the electrical dancer. The negative feelings were still there, no doubt to be sure, but all the same they began to feel...muted, despite everything.

"Yes, I heard about that theory...the beasts have been pretty contained to a single "preferred" area of the networks, weather or not he wondered there or Hevari had lured him...I don't know, she really didn't want to give specifics." She mused with a chuckle. "But at the same time, it feels...right? I guess. That navis have been learning to overcome the beasts in some capacity...but at the same time I hear stories of minature beasts going crazy on the net...some in the form of navis...wearing a beast on them...but that couldn't be, right? I mean, what navi could steal a beast's power, let alone control it?" She continued with a shake of her head, eyes metting Lyntael's again. "But as it stands, we're doing "ethical" treatment of viruses, as we were before. As well as navis who willingly wish to help."

She paused as Lyntael- Rogan began to talk. She listened and nodded at their decision as she would nod simply at the end. "It is a shame, but...I can tell you're both dealing with your own problems right now. I am saddened you cannot help, but I understand. These are not things to be dealt with lightly, I'm sorry to have asked so...casually, of your help in the matter. And sorry I got you involved. But, allow me to send you a map of the area, they've been congregating on the beachside, towards a giant rocky outcrop that you probably saw on your way before this detour. We have reports of a giant "mother" creating them in mass amounts, but breaking through those shells and electricity work about as well as anything in the area." She continued on as she began to send Rogan the local area map, a full mapping of the complex Eurayle and her group were held up in to easily get Lyntael out, the area was big enough to rival most real world beach towns, if not a bit bigger, they could have been lost for quite a while. "Consider that an olive branch, I don't expect you to share it with others. If you get curious about how our processes go...you'll be considered a friend should you return in the future. Don't lose sight of your past, Lyntael, but, don't be afraid to look towards the future, lest you lose sight of both."

At Eurayle's last words, Lyntael looked up to her again and felt a soft smile brush her lips. She was definitely done with running from the darker memories, and even if forgetting was comforting for a little while, she was done with that as well. Whatever that meant for her future, and who she was going to be, it would be as someone who had been through all of that and come out the other side. She nodded again.

“I'm trying. Thank you.” As she turned to go, Lyntael paused one last time and glanced back. “Eurayle... you kept saying it, but... I don't think of you as a monster. You're a person, and whatever ever else you've done with your life, whatever else has been done to you in turn, you deserve to be seen. Everyone does. Okay? Um... Good luck.” She gave the other woman a small tilt of her head and a brief wave, unsure what else she could add, then turned back again, beginning to make her way out of the complex.

Rogan remained silent, but Lyntael had heard the faintly bitten breath when she'd spoken, and felt the wince from her operator, even if he kept it to himself. Lyntael herself kept her own silence for a longer few moments as she walked. It wasn't as though it wasn't justified, in a way. There was a part of her that couldn't get past feeling as though it was right that he feel it, now that he finally was letting himself do so; the guilt was just, or so some part of her felt. She couldn't honestly say that she had, in her entirety, forgiven him for everything. There was a time when she would have, she knew that, and a time when she'd be furious still, she knew that too. She understood why he'd acted the way he had, and that softened it, but it didn't negate it.

She made her way swiftly out of the city space, following her original path in for the time being. The sky had cleared again, and the breeze was soft and light. Lyntael closed her eyes as her steps began to skip lightly between the puddles. Justified or not, the guilt was hurting him, and she could practically feel the way he flinched from it at so many casual words from her that served as unwitting reminders. Feeling responsible for poor actions was one thing, but she didn't want him to hurt, either. She didn't want to feel like she had to be cautious about how she spoke or what she said, lest it remind him of things he was now holding himself eternally accountable for. What was the answer?

“I wasn't aware you frequented any conspiracy theory sites, Lyntael...” Rogan's voice was dry; it was amusement, not chastisement, though she could tell it was mostly in the hope of changing topics. She shrugged.

“I read message boards, sometimes. I was...” She hesitated, then pushed on with the thought. There was no need to keep it back, after all. “I was trying to read up on the net war, first of all... Aurora was involved in it, and I wanted to... I guess, get some more background. She and Eternalis have been through a lot. I want to see them again, and, I want to understand more when I do, I...” She trailed off, her thoughts scattering in several directions as she wondered what exactly she intended to finish the statement with. She'd made that video for them, after all, and that was... that was a whole thing that she was glad Rogan didn't know about... and now she was worried about whether she'd been terribly inappropriate.

“You... feel affection, for them, Lyntael?” Rogan's question was hesitant, the words picked cautiously. She felt her own heart beat spike up in response. How to even answer that? And why was he asking; it couldn't be because he felt any kind of jealousy, but... She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry.

“Um, I... I don't know. I really don't. It's... confusing.” Was this the conversation she was really going to have now? Apparently so. “They're nice, and I care about them. I wonder what they're doing. I want to see them. I've had...” She hesitated, shaking her head to herself, and one hand drifted up to press softly against the place where the navi emblem she no longer possessed had once rested. “Thoughts, feelings, you know what I mean...”

“I'm not sure how I should feel about—” Rogan started cautiously, but Lyntael rushed ahead to cut him off.
“I love you, Rogan, I really do... and for the longest time, I knew that that was a feeling I was throwing into the void, because you didn't see... and I hoped and wished, and told myself that if you did understand, it might be different.”
“Lyntael, I—”
“Let me finish, please.” There was a beat of silence and she drew another breath. “I knew, I think, even then, I knew that even if you did see, that it wouldn't be what I wanted. I know now, now that we can talk like this, and I know that you understand that I'm here, and that these feelings are real... I know that even if you do care about me, and love me, it won't be... it won't be...” She swallowed looking up at the sky as she tried to articulate herself, small hints of sparks snapping in her hair. “It won't be the way that I love you. That's not, how you see me. I understand that.” Her eyes felt hot, and she heard the way her voice threatened to waver as she spoke.

“No, Lyntael, it's not. I do care for you, and I regret... my failures. But you are Eric's little girl, and I couldn't ever—” Rogan's voice was soft, uncomfortable, doing his best to be gentle in the answer, but it still hurt, sharp in her chest, to hear him say it so firmly, and she found herself cutting him off rather than letting the words continue.
“I know. I know, Rogan. It's okay.” It wasn't okay; it wasn't at all... but it also had to be okay, and that was as simple as it got. She was only walking at a simple pace, but despite it she felt herself out of breath. When she blinked, it was to stop her eyes from watering.

“It's... okay. It is what it is, and I'm... I'm glad, so glad, that we have this chance, now, at all. That I'm here, and you're here, and we can see each other, truly and honestly. I'm glad, even when parts of it hurt. There was a part of me that believed a day like this would never come.” There was silence for several seconds before Rogan's voice came again.

“I'm sorry, Lyntael.”
“I know.” A sombre sense of familiarity settled over her as she spoke the words.
“I always have such easy answers for everyone else, Lyntael... but so often we seem to end our conversations with those words, one way or the other.” Lyntael felt her eyes cast down again, watching the path ahead of her. Perhaps he'd felt the same way.
“I guess it means we're still trying. That counts for something, right?”
“I hope so.”

They walked in silence for a while, with occasional directions from Rogan guiding her back in the direction that Eurayle had indicated the overpopulation of viruses seemed to be originating from. She'd dodged the question about how she was feeling about Aurora and Eternalis, in favour of a much bigger conversation... and even that, was avoiding the much more recent experience that still fretted at the back of her mind and made her stomach turn when she thought about it too closely. What she wouldn't give for things to just be simple for a while.

((Battle Ready))

As Lyntael left Eurayle behind, the navi would stand there for a moment, eyes closed as she reflected on her words. Unfortunately this was quickly broken as a grumpy cough and sneer broke the silence behind the one-piece muscle bound woman, and with a long sigh, would force her to turn around and look down at the much smaller plague-doctor navi.

"Hevari."
"Eurayle. I see you let her go."
"Yes, Hevari. She is of no threat to us...as long as we keep our noses clean this time. You sign our paychecks. We didn't sign away our morals."

There was venom in those last words from Eurayle and an indignant glare from the transformed navi, no, this unnerved Hevari quite fiercely. The plague doctor slowly stepping back a few paces as she knew what would happen if she pressed...

(+15 FXP with Eurayle)

Having made their way from the abandoned town, Lyntael would find herself towards the beach from before, and not much longer along the coast of the area she would find a massive landslide along the beachline, a small hill along the side of the beach town's walls having spread it's mud and grass along the sand and sea. The area otherwise not far removed from the beach aesthetic on the whole. Though beneath the mud something stirred, a clam shaped thing near her feet would slowly begin to get up from underneath the mud and flip it's top up, mud splattering behind it showing off a dark yellow body, crimson top and light blue bubbles across the top of it's shell, spaced evenly apart. And then, two viruses to her side would come up from the depths of the sea nearby, a rather large eastern dragon with two sharp sets of claws with three nails each attached to a dark blue body with lighter blue flames to represent it's segments and lime green accents on it's face and head, whilst a massive flying fish with a propeller on it's head began to foam up at the mouth. Whilst behind the navi, a second Shellgeek would pop up from the sand with lighter coloring on it and a large walrus virus with a yellow coloring, caked in mud would come up to the surface, with green and cream colored clothing with every virus seemingly having themselves ready to strike. It didn't take long before Lyntael's programming began to kick in, telling her battle routines were set.

-- Viruses --
WaterDragon2WaterDragon2 (WaterDragon)

This high tier virus is only encountered after battle 5. A PotDragon's pot is stationary during battle, as it remains above the panel the virus appeared on until battle is over or the virus is deleted, and will not fall even if the panel below it should be destroyed. PotDragons have two main attacks, each geared towards either ground or aerial targets. When executed, the pot tilts or falls over, and the dragon charges at the enemy before looping back and returning to the pot. When threatened, they will duck into the pot, which is both indestructible and capable of shielding them from all damage and effects except those that manage to fly into the mouth of the pot. Even Beam Attacks and Blast damage won't leave a mark.

Area: Beach, Sharo

HP: 250
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Ground Attack + Medium Area Sea Terrain Change + Terrain Changer
Primary Attack Accuracy: C
Primary Attack Description: Charges from its pot at high speed to attack ground-based enemies whilst leaving a trail of Sea in its wake.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Impact + Group Attack (Arc)
Secondary Attack Accuracy: C
Secondary Attack Description: Flies from its pot at high speed to attack airborne enemies.
Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: Invulnerability to Non-Drop Attacks/attacks from above.
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: S
Tertiary Attack Description: PotDragons hide in their pots instead of dodging. Doing this protects them from attacks from every direction but up, which is where the opening of the pot is.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): AquaDragon2, Zenny: 250 HP (Sea) (Staring down Lyntael, on her right)
Buffy-A EXBuffy-A EX (Puffy-A)

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 250
Attack Damage/Effect: 40 Aqua + Spread(8) + Homing + Ground Attack
Attack Accuracy: C
Attack Description: Fires a 40 HP bouncing bubble which explodes after hitting an object or enemy or being destroyed.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Spreader2, BubbleSpreader2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Immobile.: 250 HP (Sea) (Near the coast, behind Lyntael and to her right)
Shellnerd EXShellnerd EX (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 160
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 25 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 50 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking.: 160 HP (Mud) (In front of Lyntael)
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking.: 140 HP (Grass) (To the south, roughly behind and to Lyntael's left)
WallandWalland (Walla)

TwinFangs can actually block attacks. This is very useful to the Walla, as they do not move or dodge once battle begins.

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 160
Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Null x 2 Targets
Attack Accuracy: A
Attack Description: Opens mouth to launch a pair of steel spikes at the enemy. The spikes can block or deflect incoming attacks, and they cannot strike the same target twice.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TwinFang2, Zenny: 160 HP (Mud) (Off to the right, caked in mud)

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 295 HP (Mud) (Roughly towards the middle of the area)

-- Terrain --
30% Mud

• Non-Wood Elementals get -10% Evasion penalty and reduced movement speed, 25% (+/-25% RP) chance to fall or get stuck (1 action to get free).
• Automatically triggers Aqua Boost for appropriate chip attacks.
• Wood attacks: Change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood + Slow1.

(Spilled to the North and South areas of the sandy beach strip)
30% Sand

• -20% Evasion and reduced movement speed to all.
• Can Burrow as standard action, incurable Blind1 until turn after exiting Burrow.
• Wind attacks: +100% Source Damage + Blind1, change terrain hit to Normal, trigger Sandstorm for 3 turns: Lose 5 HP/action, Blind1, Fire attacks gain Slashing.
• Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Glass.
• Terrain changes between Sand and QuickSand do not inflict damage upon burrowed entities, nor do they eject burrowed entities to the surface.
• PanelShot: Blind1.

(Roughly the middle of the area, sandwiched between the bigger
20% Grass

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

(Scattered about the muddy patches)
20% Sea

• Fire Elementals lose 10 HP/action standing, 20 HP/action submerged. Other Non-Aqua Elementals lose 5 HP/action submerged. Nullified for Aqua Elementals.
• Ice attacks: 50% Freeze1 chance, Changes terrain hit to Ice.
• Terrain changes between Sea and Onsen do not inflict damage upon submerged entities, nor do they eject submerged entities to the surface.
• Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
• PanelShot: Imbue Aqua.

(Western strip of the area, rolling along the beach and mud)

-- Rogue Battle 6 Ready? Start!! --

They travelled in silence for a short while longer – or at least, Lyntael walked, making her way back towards the beach and heading along it in the direction they'd been shown, while she wondered what Rogan was thinking as he watched on.

“You spoke of things you'd read about the beasts from the stories some years ago, Lyntael. If I'm honest, the idea of autonomous destructive programs being left to move unfettered about the net without being corrected by the administrators seems peculiar to me – I would even say far-fetched, if I wasn't aware that they did exist, at least at one time. What have you been reading?” Rogan's voice, just behind her, sounded relaxed and curious; it was strange, considering that the only time she ever encountered him feeling conversational like this were the scant few moments between him finishing a task and getting some sleep. He was always focused on his work; the contacts he needed to make, deals he had to broker, information that needed sorting and sifting, but it seemed as though, this time, he'd set aside this time to work on her, specifically, and it had left him with nothing to do. It as an odd thing to feel glad about. She opened her mouth about to answer, before sudden movement cut her off.

Lyntael skipped back an extra step quickly, hands coming up in a defensive posture as the disturbed ground suddenly began to give way to more viruses.
“Just a minute, Rogan...” Her eyes took in the multiple shell viruses – including one that looked substantially sturdier than the other. “I think we might have found the trail for this virus-producing program...” In the moment she had to glance around, Lyntael drew in the light breeze around her to form a warding shell of currents while the beat of her charge hummed in her chest. She turned to get eyes on each of the creatures that had partially surrounded her and their immediately aggressive stances.

“If you're not a Shellnerd, then I don't have any problem with y—” As she spoke, she found herself forced to quickly dart aside from the first attack sent her way by the various creatures, dodging backwards and beginning to move quickly to the left so the she could turn and face all but one of them. Her body crackled with electricity, light caustics dancing beneath her skin as the charge swelled and rippling sparks cascaded away from her form in every direction. There didn't look to be anything of reason or intelligence in the ones attacking her here; she wasn't sure whether to be relieved, or sad. A part of her felt the thread of excitement and adrenaline, another thought murmured that she had wished for things to be simpler. She shook her head and focused on the movements and actions of the viruses around her, defending herself for an extra moment or two and then leaping upwards. Her body twisted around, the spiral of wind following her, as she moved her arms through the path first and curled her body forward into a graceful forward flip that let her legs stretch up and snap past above her one after the other, adding sudden speed and force to the delicate-looking piece of acrobatic motion. Her leading heel crashed down to the ground where the shellnerd ought to have been and her charge flowed as she struck, gathering from her strikers and rushing out to expend itself in a burst of rending lightning that split backwards behind her in a pair of searing back-draughts towards the other viruses on the field.

The girl paused only for a moment, catching a breath in the recoil from the force of her landing before turning the remaining movement into a graceful turn that brought her all the way back around and up into a standing combat stance again, facing the other viruses on the field. As she stood and fixed her gaze on them, Lyntael embraced her rebuilding charge just enough to draw on the familiar shell of protective energy that expanded from her as she turned her palms outward to evoke it; the barrier expanded from her chest, drew power from the charge building in her strikers and stabilised them before faded from sight just beyond the extremities of her body.

Her eyes darted in the moment of stabilising herself as she worked out how to manage to dangers present. Over-territorial dragons were something she'd faced quite a few of before already – they were dangerous, and best dealt with quickly, rather that left alone. It was a thought that still felt like it came from the angrier part of her life, but it was useful now. She moved. A quick series of darting steps saw Lyntael race across the disturbed beach, and whether the dragon was charging to meet her or she had to go to it, she turned the final stride into a low slide that braked her momentum and redirected it into a rising flash kick just as she came face to face with the virus. The knee of her leading leg rose first, feinting the blow as she sprang upward from the brake step, before it was overtaken by her other leg following through at a far faster pace, striker crackling with as bright flare as the motion lifted her small form up from the ground and she let her body arch back into the movement. At any other time, she'd have been worried about flare of her skirt and the necessary view it gave an opponent, but something told her none of the hostile creatures here would really notice or care. As her body finished the rapid flip and she land back on her feet, the burst of electricity split and branched again, flaring off from the initial point of impact at opposed angles, striking out towards the advanced shellnerd and the buffy virus, further out.

Lyntael caught her breath as she landed, feeling the brief emptiness followed by the rush of her charge cycling back up. There was almost an anticipation to it; the sensation burned through her, yes, but her body had grown used to this level of overcharge now and it barely registered as a discomfort yet. She could feel the creeping edges of fatigue and weariness beginning, but... she could do more. She steadied her breathing a did her best to shake out the tiredness before refocusing on the fight before her.

Summary
L*) First Armour: 20Hp Casing (as subtle outfit reinforcement)
L*) Turbulence: Frontal Deflection against shot or lobbed (hands free, layer 5)
L*) Knock Back effects are Double Strength, and attacks with them gain Wind type
L1) My Pain is Real; it lingers after (Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback (Shot-type, A), Time Delay (Start of next turn): Counter (On Hit): (10Elec Nova2, Knockback (shot-type, A))), 15Hp Sacrifice) (Overcharge +1 per Counter Triggered)
L2) A Manifest Spirit, and eyes that dance (10Elec Nova2 (Shot-type, A), Take Aim, Dodge, Movement, Off-Target (1 Rank, 1 Round)) (Overcharge -1) (Movement to shift to the left side of the field, so she can stand next to the regular shellnerd and turn her facing to put the rest of the viruses in her line of sight properly)
L*) (If it hasn't yet, Lyntael deliberately delays her action at this point until the Shellnerd has taken its first defence action and closed; if that means waiting for everything to take its first action, so be it)
L3) My Fear Rejected, with hopeful stride (Take Aim, ShotBase(50) Spread2, Break, Knockback (First hit is Melee-type, spreads are Shot-type), Self-Slow (1 Rank, 1 Round)) (Overcharge +4) (At Shellnerd, Spread back to Shellnerd EX and one other; whichever you deem makes the most sense)
L*) Fast Armour: 20Hp Casing Refresh
L4) My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (Buster Charge, 80Hp Barrier, (Off-Target, 1 Rank, 1 Round)) (Overcharge -3)
L5) My Thoughts Collected, no more to hide (Take Aim, ShotBase(50) Spread2, Impact, Knockback (First hit is Melee-type, Spreads are Shot-type), Self-Slow (1 Rank, 1 Round)) (Overcharge +4)
L6) A Loving Heart, and a second chance (SupportBase(20) x4 Instances, 15Hp Sacrifice (cost paid first, of course)) (Overcharge -1 per instance effectively used)

Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Pain is Real, it lingers after (2TCD)
My Heart Falters, yet beats anew (3TCD)
My Fear Rejected, with hopeful stride (3TCD)
My Thoughts collected, no more to hide (3TCD)
A Manifest Spirit, and eyes that dance (2TCD)
A Loving Heart, and a second chance (2TCD)

Overcharge: Begin: 0, My Pain is Real (+1 per counter Triggered), A Manifest Spirit (-1), My Fear Rejected (+4), My Heart Falters (-3), My Thoughts Collected (+4), A Loving Heart (-4)End: +1

The viruses all watched intently as the dancer moved back and around from the group, roughly towards the side of the area as she began to spark and hum with electrical energy as the two Shellnerds would quickly slam their shells down to protect themselves, not knowing what would happen next. But the WaterDragon wouldn't wait around, letting out a roar as it began to charge recklessly towards the dancing thunderbolt of a navi, water rising in it's wake as all the sand began to disappear underneath and connected to the sea in a large line as it managed to clip Lyntael mid-dodge as she repositioned herself, the potdragon having been just a little faster On the draw, but not fast enough to avoid getting shocked by her novas as one triggered on Hit and the other from her movement (30!)(30!), claw cutting through her casing as it crashed against the side of the area and quickly reappeared above it's pot with a roar.

The dancer however, would give the Shellnerd a rude awakening as she crushed the Shellnerd under her heel, splintering it's remains across the mud, whilst the followup would crush the EX version in no uncertain way as the sea the potdragon had brought about, crashing through it in a single strike as the Buffy would be caught in it's remainder, the sea beneath it crackling loudly as it survived the attack upon it if only barely (150! 200! 150!). The Buffy would quickly shake off the damage as it began to spit out a bubble at Lyn, her barrier managing to form around her as the Walland would quickly take a potshot at the dancer whilst she centered herself, but just barely missing as the fangs wizzed by her.

But the dancer wasn't done, she began to close the distance in at the potdragon in turn, her electrified foot meeting it's face almost immediately after, a loud crackle of electricity managing to bring down the Buffy as well in short order as the other would move towards the Walland, striking it's back and leaving a nasty sear of electrical energy upon it (150! 150! 50). The Potdragon, unammused, however, quickly launched itself at her and struck her in the gut from such a close-range. Though the field remained as it was from it's attack, the dragon had managed to knock her back a few steps as the barrier had saved her from damage. Whist the Walland would make another attack on her from a further distance, the attack wizzed past her head again and just barely avoided hitting her, leaving the navigator to heal up and forget her worries briefly...even if a giant spit bubble was honing in on her from her left.

-- Viruses --
WaterDragon2WaterDragon2 (WaterDragon)

This high tier virus is only encountered after battle 5. A PotDragon's pot is stationary during battle, as it remains above the panel the virus appeared on until battle is over or the virus is deleted, and will not fall even if the panel below it should be destroyed. PotDragons have two main attacks, each geared towards either ground or aerial targets. When executed, the pot tilts or falls over, and the dragon charges at the enemy before looping back and returning to the pot. When threatened, they will duck into the pot, which is both indestructible and capable of shielding them from all damage and effects except those that manage to fly into the mouth of the pot. Even Beam Attacks and Blast damage won't leave a mark.

Area: Beach, Sharo

HP: 250
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Ground Attack + Medium Area Sea Terrain Change + Terrain Changer
Primary Attack Accuracy: C
Primary Attack Description: Charges from its pot at high speed to attack ground-based enemies whilst leaving a trail of Sea in its wake.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Impact + Group Attack (Arc)
Secondary Attack Accuracy: C
Secondary Attack Description: Flies from its pot at high speed to attack airborne enemies.
Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: Invulnerability to Non-Drop Attacks/attacks from above.
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: S
Tertiary Attack Description: PotDragons hide in their pots instead of dodging. Doing this protects them from attacks from every direction but up, which is where the opening of the pot is.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): AquaDragon2, Zenny: 40 HP (Sea) (Next to Lyn)
Buffy-A EXBuffy-A EX (Puffy-A)

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 250
Attack Damage/Effect: 40 Aqua + Spread(8) + Homing + Ground Attack
Attack Accuracy: C
Attack Description: Fires a 40 HP bouncing bubble which explodes after hitting an object or enemy or being destroyed.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Spreader2, BubbleSpreader2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Immobile.: BZZZZZZZT
Shellnerd EXShellnerd EX (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 160
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 25 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 50 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking.: DOUBLE KILL!
ShellnerdShellnerd (ShellGeek)

Shellgeeks alternate actions between attacking and guarding. These are the only actions Shellgeeks may perform, and the first action of every battle is always guarding. Shellgeeks will not break from this pattern unless forced to by status effects. The secondary attack of Shellgeeks can be used to grant an ally of this virus a free movement, or even to knock an ally out of the path of an oncoming attack.

Area: Yoka, Sharo, Beach, Okuden Valley

HP: 140
Primary Attack Damage/Effects: 20 Null x 2 Spears
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Fires two spears at one target.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effects: 40 Null
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Fires a star tipped arrow. Can be used on an ally to move them. Causes no damage to allies.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TripleNeedle, StarArrow2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: Attacks every other action. IronBody when not attacking.: DOUBLE KILL!
WallandWalland (Walla)

TwinFangs can actually block attacks. This is very useful to the Walla, as they do not move or dodge once battle begins.

Area: Yoka, Beach, Sharo

HP: 160
Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Null x 2 Targets
Attack Accuracy: A
Attack Description: Opens mouth to launch a pair of steel spikes at the enemy. The spikes can block or deflect incoming attacks, and they cannot strike the same target twice.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): TwinFang2, Zenny: 110 HP (Mud) (Off to the rightmost-side of the field, caked in mud)

-- Navis --
Lyntael.EXE: 345 HP (Charge1)(Casing20)(Counter(on-hit):10Elec Nova2+knockback at the start of next turn)(Off-Target2, 1 turn)(Homing bubble coming in, bouncing in from Lyntael's left) (Grass) (Next to the potdragon)

-- Terrain --
20% Mud

• Non-Wood Elementals get -10% Evasion penalty and reduced movement speed, 25% (+/-25% RP) chance to fall or get stuck (1 action to get free).
• Automatically triggers Aqua Boost for appropriate chip attacks.
• Wood attacks: Change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood + Slow1.

(Spilled to the North and South areas of the sandy beach strip)
20% Grass

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

(Scattered about the muddy patches)
60% Sea

• Fire Elementals lose 10 HP/action standing, 20 HP/action submerged. Other Non-Aqua Elementals lose 5 HP/action submerged. Nullified for Aqua Elementals.
• Ice attacks: 50% Freeze1 chance, Changes terrain hit to Ice.
• Terrain changes between Sea and Onsen do not inflict damage upon submerged entities, nor do they eject submerged entities to the surface.
• Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
• PanelShot: Imbue Aqua.

(Western strip of the area, rolling along the beach and mud, as well as a large, wide swath of sea from the WaterDragon's attack)