Netball Tournament

"Djinni has the ball, but she's on a collision course with the heliport? What is she going to do?!" shouted Referee #4 from the press box, having finally returned to his commentating duties after the noise from the TankCannon shot died down. Tensions ran high as all the game's spectators watched the mystical Navi plummet through the air, as illustrated by various other Navis making whispers of "Is she going to be okay?", "Go on, crash! Crash!", "I'm more worried about the building than her...", and so on. So many endearing comments for the new Netball player...

Unfazed by all this, Djinni executed a plan to save herself: for the first few moments, it seemed as if nothing had happened. Then, it rose up from the edge of the building-obscured horizon. A bright red moon made its way up into the sky until it was watching over Djinni and her game. The audience looked on in awe as the luminescent orb bathed the court in red light and could only watch on in silent curiosity as the rays focused themselves to only shine on the heliport Djinni was falling towards. Little by little, the rooftop began to bubble, the paneling liquefy, and everything just completely melt until the 15th story heliport became the 15th story lava pool. The depth of the volcanic reservoir reached down into the 14th floor of the building, where it wreaked havoc on everything inside. Djinni needed not to feel guilty about it, though, as all the damage she did during the match would be quickly repaired and made as if the magmatic razing never happened.

With her superheated landing zone prepared, Djinni tightened her grip on the ball and let herself fall into the lava. Being a Fire Navi, the incinerating liquid was like a second home to her. For the ball... not so much. As soon as it made contact with the new terrain, it tore itself out of Djinni hands and flew straight up into the air like being repelled by a powerful magnet. Judging from that, one could guess that the ball actively avoids things that would damage it. Either way, that thing was flying. 16th floor, 17th, 18th... It just kept going and going, all the way up to the 23rd floor, just a few more shy of the basket. The ball was loose again, yet Djinni's opponent was nowhere to be seen. Was this a good break...?

SCOREBOARD:

PDO: 400 HP, 0 points (Southeast, exact location unknown)
Djinni: 180 HP, 0 points (Southeast, Submerged in the 15th floor lava pool)
Fhyre: 40 HP (Southeast, inside the 1st floor of basket skyscraper)

Ball: (Loose, airborne around the 23rd floor)

Terrain: 100% Normal (Ground level, various streets and alleyways through the city), 10% Lava (pool on 15th floor of basket skyscraper)

Objects: (Various buildings and skyscrapers; Basket on 26th floor of skyscraper to the southeast, heliport under basket on the 15th floor)
"Che..." Djinni muttered as she stares upwards at the ball as it was moving through the air after getting shot upwards by the lava. Stubbornly Djinni crossed her arms and plotted her next move swiftly as her opponent would be on the prowl as well.

Back on the ground, Fhyre calmly entered the elevator of the building and was immediately greeted by a never-ending tune coming from its speakers. Settling himself on the floor of the elevator, he tapped the button of the 30th floor and moved the fingers of his other hand along the melody of the elevator music.

"No helping it," Djinni said as she shook her head slightly before staring intently at the ball floating in the air, "I'll have to get to it again." Raising her hand, she turned her face towards it while illuminating a small spark of fire within the lava and then begun to turn her body to face Na'im.

Flames... Use your flames.

She stopped immediately as she heard the voice within herself. "Can you hear me?" she asked as she looked around herself, "Talk to me again. Who are you?"

On the other side of the PET, Na'im raised his eyebrow as he looked down at Djinni and put his finger on top of the microphone input. "Why is this happening?" he asked himself, "Were the protective programs faulty in the end? We will have to finish this soon."

Your flames...

"You say that again, but who are you?" Djinni asked again, her voice slightly in agitation. Knowing she was still in the 'battle', she waited for a few seconds as she couldn't afford more but the voice didn't reveal itself for another time. Knowing her time to strategize was up, she raised her hands in front of her and illuminated them with the force of her flames. The tail at her bottom started to move excitedly as Djinni shot herself upwards, then brought her hands to the ring surrounding her waist and let the flames flow into the tail.

I shall share my strength.

A secondary program within Djinni activated itself and increased the volume of the flames while she emerged from the pool of lava. Like a reverse comet, Djinni headed for the ball and before reaching it, she held her two hands out towards it in an attempt to catch it while maintaining the flames at her tail for velocity.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
3. Fly towards ball.
4. Attempt to grab ball.

Fhyre [Fire/Shield]
1. Take elevator to 30th floor.
Fhyre twiddled his thumbs until the elevator reached the lobby. The door opened with a ping, prompting the fiery SP to float inside. As the door started to close, a big clawed hand reached around and stopped it, making the door open back up again long enough for PDO to join Fhyre in the elevator. The powerful dragon gave the opposing SP a sportsmanlike wave as he nestled himself into a corner, although his overall size took up about half the elevator's space. With its occupancy limit reached, the elevator shut its door and began to carry the pair up to the roof of the skyscraper. The mood was stagnant between the two mute players, with the only reprieve being a cool mix of music echoing through the elevator as it rose...

Djinni, meanwhile, had her eyes on the ball and her ears on voices in her head. While the latter might have some questioning her mental health, her first priority was getting the ball, and that voice was giving some good advice. Using the pool of lava around her as a fuel source, Djinni burst out of the liquid like a flaming geyser. With her opponent preoccupied by groovy music, Djinni had no trouble grabbing the ball in midair before it began to fall. Now the question was what to do next, as a ping signaled the elevator reaching its destination and delivering Fhyre and PDO to the 30th floor rooftop.

SCOREBOARD:

PDO: 400 HP, 0 points (Southeast, skyscraper, 30th floor rooftop)
Djinni: 180 HP, 0 points (Southeast, airborne and hovering around 23th floor)
Fhyre: 40 HP (Southeast, skyscraper, 30th floor rooftop)

Ball: (Djinni's possession)

Terrain: 100% Normal (Various streets and alleyways through the city), 10% Lava (pool on 15th floor of basket skyscraper)

Objects: (Various buildings and skyscrapers; Basket on 26th floor of skyscraper to the southeast, heliport under basket on the 15th floor)
Coming to a screeching halt in the air while keeping the ball in her hands, Djinni swiftly looked around to find out where PDO could've gone. "Is he messing with me or something?" she asked herself, then turned her gaze towards the basket.

"Should be a cinch," Na'im claimed before Djinni had a chance to react to the situation, "Just don't winch. For this we'll use strength. The ball will go the length. Use this to assist you in its path. Let your programming do the math." A sly grin spread over Na'im's face as he slotted a chip into the PET and tapped a few buttons to execute a few quick calculations.

"I can see it, yes." Djinni said, "Let's do this."

While barely noticable on his appearance, Fhyre shivered in awe of PDO being so close. The twiddling of his thumbs sped up slightly in a nervous tempo until the door opened. Figuring he'd burst out first to help with Djinni, he too was stopped by an unseen force and spread his three hands across the cramped room while firing a intensely hot beam at the floor in a circle around PDO's pot. He didn't exactly realize where the idea came from, but at the moment it seemed to be the most obstructive way to halt PDO's progress.

A strong red glow came from the ball followed by the exterior gaining a thin rock-like exterior. Around Djinni formed four more basketballs in the same size which quickly shot out to form a pattern in the air towards the basket. Reeling her arm to the back, Djinni grinned wide with her teeth visible and blowing out a small flame between her lips and then released the ball with a giant swing at the other balls. As the original basketball connected with the first rockball, its impact formed the ball in such a way the basketball would ricochet towards the next one until it would fly into the basket. With Djinni's destructive strength and the calculations done by Na'im beforehand, they figured the first point was within reach.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
1. Meteor12 [100 HP Object; 30 FIRE x 4; 3 Turns Or Until Broken; D Accuracy; Ranged]
2. Reflect Shot towards Net

Fhyre [Fire/Shield]
1. Attempt to cut hole beneath PDO's pot.
Straight up, PDO got duped. Fhyre's attempt to impede the mighty virus by creating a hole in the floor failed entirely as PDO simply floated over it, but on Djinni's side, things went far better. Not only were there now a number of decoy balls flying through the air, they were all camouflaged in a coat of flames, making it nigh impossible for PDO to distinguish smoldering rock from smoldering rubber. With nothing to go on but instinct, PDO leaped from the rooftop to grab the nearest meteorite ball. At this point, it was his utter defeat. His claws sunk into stone, and he knew that the first point was not his. Djinni's carefully calculated shot ricocheted from one meteorite to the next until a single fireball fell through the basket, which swallowed up the flames to reveal the all important orange orb.

Point, Djinni.

Now, however, was where the real challenge started. The moment Djinni's point registered, the ball was gone, teleported right back to the center of the arena where this match has started. A loud signal echoed through the playing field alerting the players to this fact, and PDO was no slouch in reacting to it. Instead of catching himself from the jump he made earlier, the PotDragon continued his fall forward and increasing speed, making a b-line over building tops to reach the ball. Now that she had the lead, could Djinni protect it?

SCOREBOARD:

PDO: 400 HP, 0 points (Southeast, leaping over rooftops to reach the ball)
Djinni: 180 HP, 1 point (Southeast, airborne and hovering around 23th floor)
Fhyre: 40 HP (Southeast, skyscraper, 30th floor rooftop)

Ball: (Floating at center of field)

Terrain: 100% Normal (Various streets and alleyways through the city), 10% Lava (pool on 15th floor of basket skyscraper)

Objects: (Various buildings and skyscrapers; Basket on 26th floor of skyscraper to the southeast, heliport under basket on the 15th floor)
"You've got be kidding me!" Djinni exclaimed as she heard the sound and turned her eyesight to the ball back on the floor. Angrily she put her hands as fists against her hips and bent over slightly in a manner of getting closer to it. "You mean I came all this way here just to go down?" she continued and sighed dramatically as she glared at the window she knew Fhyre was close to, "I ain't going to do that again, you know. You wait here!"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Na'im sighed and then nodded. "You've got a point there. Soon we'll have to start paying fare. I wish they had told this to us beforehand. Well, no need to get our gears in more sand. Just do what seems smartest to you. The chips don't offer me any clue."

"No good, huh..." the fire Navi complained almost instantly and closed her eyes for a short moment as she went through her data files in a rapid process. "That should work," she told herself as she opened her eyes again and encased her hands in flames, "But it's not tested yet... Ah, it'll work." Djinni moved her right hand upwards and her left hand upwards, then she swiftly swung them in an arc to the opposite side as she drew a circle of flames in the air. Bringing her hands together in the center then swinging them out to the left and right resulted in a cross in the already created circle. "And to top it off," Djinni whispered and punched a hole in the cross which caused the flames to form an open circle.

At this same moment, Fhyre moved out of the elevator with his arms crossed which from a viewer's point would just look like Fhyre placing his hands in different positions due to the lack of visible arms. Slowly he floated towards the window and peeked out of it while placing two hands on the edge, keeping the third on the ground to lift him up slightly. The center point of his core flame moved around nervously as if it were searching for something, but then focused back on Djinni's motions.

"Now to pick the right projectile," Djinni happily said and spiralled once while flames started to spread around her. "Coming for you," she whispered and dove through the fiery crosshair, launching herself with the strength and speed of her strongest attack. While holding one hand towards the ball, she quickly held her other hand on top of her turban knowing that otherwise the air pressure would play with it.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
3-4. Pyreshot Ballista [110 FIRE; Break; Impact; Charge Time; 4 TCD] @ Ball, using self.
With his head start, PDO was fairly confident that the ball was his this time. Djinni was up at the top of a skyscraper, as far away from the ball as she could be. There was no way she could... be flying right towards him...

By substituting herself as ammo for her Pyreshot Ballista, Djinni flew through the air like a bullet straight towards the ball. There was a lot of power propelling her forward, which meant that PDO couldn't jump in the way to stop her without taking a pretty big hit. Her aim was spot-on too, so them colliding would only be his fault and not called as a foul. There was really nothing he could do here...

PDO slowed down as he realized the facts, leaving Djinni to scoop up the ball as she landed. Possession was hers now, but PDO wasn't planning to just leave it that way. As soon as Djinni made her landing, the dragon virus went back to full speed, charging at Djinni in an attempt to steal the ball with his clawed hand. How would Djinni try to escape?

SCOREBOARD:

PDO: 400 HP, 0 points (Center, charging at Djinni)
Djinni: 180 HP, 1 point (Center)
Fhyre: 40 HP (Southeast, skyscraper, 30th floor rooftop)

Ball: (Djinni's possession)

Terrain: 100% Normal (Various streets and alleyways through the city), 10% Lava (pool on 15th floor of basket skyscraper)

Objects: (Various buildings and skyscrapers; Basket on 26th floor of skyscraper to the southeast, heliport under basket on the 15th floor)
"Nearing your position rapidly," Na'im said and took a chip out of his pack, "Time to split 'n free. Execute this in a defense way. No need to get our guns in this fray."

With one hand on the ball, she turned around and looked at PDO approaching her swiftly. "I have been given a defensive chip. Forget getting this ba-" Djinni said, ending her sentence abruptly as she read the chip's data. Her eyes widened and looked at the hand she held on the ball. "Fine," she muttered and slammed the ball towards the floor. Once the ball returned to chest level Djinni punched the ball hard. During the punch she transmitted the chip data in the blink of the eye and caused the ball to split into nine different ones.

"Fhyre will have to wait longer, I suppose," Na'im said while Djinni performed her alternate technique, "But I guess it was logical PDO was to oppose."

The nine basketballs started to spin around and headed for PDO with Djinni taking off towards him behind them. "Can you find the right one, fool?" Djinni mockingly spoke to PDO, then shot into the air. The balls had all spread and shot into confusing paths all around PDO until they all moved to a single spot on the other side of him and fused together to form one, unless the actual one had been taken by PDO. Djinni lept over her adversary and held one hand out towards the ball.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
1. Machinegun1 [30 DMG; 9 Shots; D Accuracy; Ranged]
2. Get around PDO to take the ball again.
Being a virus, PDO had a distinct disadvantage in that he had no Battlechips. In a normal situation, there would really be nothing he could do against this MachineGun-powered feint. However, he was one of the long-standing pros of Netball. If he couldn't stop this rookie here and now, he should really start thinking of retirement. Between his two hands and his mouth, PDO could catch 3 balls. There was a 1 in 9 chance of getting it right, and every wrong guess would let him feel the brunt of bullet fire. He was willing to make that sacrifice. His arms and neck lashed out at the nearest balls...

And PDO was off, dribbling the ball away towards the basket. He caught the real ball in his right hand while taking a hit on his face and left hand by the fakes. It was worth it, though, because the ball was now his.

SCOREBOARD:

PDO: 340 HP, 0 points (Heading Southeast)
Djinni: 180 HP, 1 point (Center)
Fhyre: 40 HP (Southeast, skyscraper, 30th floor rooftop)

Ball: (PDO's possession)

Terrain: 100% Normal (Various streets and alleyways through the city), 10% Lava (pool on 15th floor of basket skyscraper)

Objects: (Various buildings and skyscrapers; Basket on 26th floor of skyscraper to the southeast, heliport under basket on the 15th floor)
The ball was in her sight and she knew she had gotten around PDO's defense, a slight grin spreading over her body. Djinni grabbed the ball in her hands and looked with a smug expression at it for a second until she saw the ball vaporize and simply disappear in front of her eyes. The charcoal pupils within her eyes shrunk while her eyes grew in size in the realization she had failed to grab the right ball. Thump, she heard and once again, the sound of the ball hitting the ground was audible and as she turned around Djinni saw the image of PDO pass by her from behind. "You..." she uttered, but couldn't get another word out as she set her eyes on PDO.

Get him.

"No worries, Djinni," Na'im said as he browsed his chips for something suitable, but found it had gotten smaller quickly. "We'll just get the ball back. We'll get it back on track."

Why are you hesitating?

Lifting chips in his hands, looking at them one by one and imagining how they could help Djinni in her pursuit of the ball Na'im muttered to himself for a moment, "Will we have to rely on brute strength?" He then glanced at Djinni and back to the chips, "We'll have to prevent that to a certain length."

Fire.

Turning her body towards PDO, Djinni raised one arm towards the sky as a crescent flame appeared, spreading quickly and scorching the air itself, with the bracelet as center. Her eyes had returned to normal in comparison to her shock of earlier, but instead of being filled with the excitement of a chase and passion to win there was only anger. She then lowered her arm to point towards PDO, drew a fire arrow from the crescent and reeled it back.

Created for destruction.

Hanging from the window, Fhyre was looking at Djinni and PDO from the top of the building and saw the fire spreading from Djinni's position. Lacking a voice program, his only way of communicating was to write. 'STOP' was scrawled in fiery letters in the hope his mistress would see them.

Only purpose.

Clueless until this moment, Na'im looked up from his chips and noticed Djinni had prepared to attack PDO. He immediately commanded Djinni to stop in his usual lyrical way, but his voice fell on deaf women's ears. All around Djinni flames started to emerge and mingle in with the arrow she had readied. As if in slow motion, Djinni released the arrow and she could feel its gender touch over her hand, but then it emerged as a giant beam of flames that scorched the ground in its path and went directly for PDO. "With this... We'll win, won't we?" Djinni said with a smirk on her face.

Djinni [Fire/Cursor] [FloatShoes/AirShoes]
3 - 4. Heart Archer [90 FIRE; Homing; Charge Time; 4 TCD] @ PDO
*vweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet*

The sound of a whistle echoed throughout the playing field as a Mr. Prog appeared between the two players. "Foul! Intentional attack on an opposing player! Result: ejection! PDO wins the match by default!" shouted the Mr. Prog despite the whistle in its mouth.

*vweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet*

With the second whistle, Djinni and Fhyre were back in Nai'im's PET, a participation prize was deposited into Na'im's account, and the NetBall tournament continued on.

--MISSION OVER--
Na'im GET: 500z