Training The BeastOUT Within

Realizing that TennisMan was holding back nothing, ChronicleMan first started by opening his book to a particular page and quickly summoning a defensive spell. A large transparent cage appeared around him to repel attacks and he smiled at the security it provided him. TennisMan similarly started out both by equipping his SP as armor and summoning a defensive shield. Before ChronicleMan or Roc could act further, TennisMan threw a rain of bouncing Binder viruses across the battlefield. ChronicleMan winced as the shield repelled one binder, sending it flying away. The other two went for Roc's birds, one connecting while the other was dodged. The Binders continued to hop around the field. Most of them failed to hit anything further, but two more struck ChronicleMan's bubble, breaking it into pieces.

"W-What?! My defense tome is broken!" he cried, waving his hands in the air and quickly gathering back up his book for further summons. Flipping through the pages with one hand, he waved the other across the air, throwing out three purple beams. The beams hit the ground, forming books that floated in place. The books each released a beam, two of which struck TennisMan's shield. Before ChronicleMan had more time to act, TennisMan was above him, coming down with his sword. "H-haaaah!" the old man screamed, clutching at the wound that was left from TennisMan's tremendous fightersword tearing through his flesh. Data leaked all around him as he stumbled backwards, barely keeping hold on his book. Despite his boasts, he really seemed himself to be just a simple old man. "Roc, what the HELL are you waiting for?!" he hissed, thumbing through his book for another spell.

Roc waited no longer. Teleporting behind TennisMan, she began to dig into his armor with her massive talons. "You're good alright, but you've got your priorities a little mixed up!" she roared, tearing through his armor ruthlessly. The first slashes simply ripped Deuce's protection, but the final slash was accompanied by a blaze of fire that broke him down into nearly nothing and unjunctioned him. Before TennisMan could turn around to defend himself with his shield, Roc burned him with a burst of fire from a cylinder mounted over her glove.

"You see?! Do you seeee?! That was but a fraction of Roc's tremendous power! You cannot over come her; the best thing for you to do would be to surrender to me before you're more seriously injured!" ChronicleMan rasped, pointing one shaking finger towards TennisMan.

Roc: 350 HP
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: 60 HP
ChronicleMan: 150 HP
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: 100 HP
Destructive Tome #2: 100 HP
Destructive Tome #3: 100 HP

TennisMan: 410 HP (4-hit shield, Fighter Sword w/ 1 use)
Deuce: 180 HP (stunned, junction break)

100% Snow
For a moment, Tennisman wondered why he had engaged in this fight. What did he hope to accomplish by winning or losing? He had been offered a chance to escape so why didn't he take it? Was he attempting to enact some kind of punishment against Chronicleman through some misguided sense of justice by beating it into him? He had simply been so accustomed to taking this route that all others had been forsaken. Deuce had temporarily reminded him of the possible conflict resolution that existed within talking. Even if it wasn't successful this time, there would be others. Looking at his sword lying inert on the snow, Tennisman extended his hand to its hilt. Rather than picking it back up, he took hold of something ethereal from the handle and stripped it away from Deuce's body, unsummoning the support program in the process. The ghostly data he had taken quickly solidified into another weapon, possessing the true shape of the FighterSword.

"Deuce is stunned but okay," Desmond lamented, "Sorry for not taking this seriously..."

Along the same private channel, Tennisman gave his chip requests as per the norm, "Windracket and Bubblestar."

The FighterSword's flickering form didn't appear as if it would last much longer, prompting Tennisman to use it while he could still maintain its shape. Though he was tempted to lash out at Chronicleman, he didn't. Instead, he swung the blade behind himself and, with its dying will, hacked fiercely into the trio of books his opponent had created. Tennisman wasn't even sure if they would cause any further harm but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Expecting Roc to continue her assault, he drew his arm over his emblem and prepared himself. Not only to deflect incoming blows, but also to counter with his Windracket. Without Deuce at his side, he knew it would be awkward to execute. He recalled using it barehanded against Squalo and this time would be no different. Meanwhile, he continued to wade towards Chronicleman in silence, glaring at him angrily.

At the slightest provocation, he snapped his arm out and brought forth an unnaturally powerful vortex of wind from nothing. The thick snow caught in the gale was uprooted from the floor in a sudden blizzard, revealing a shining layer of ice below it. Retracting his arm just as quickly, he continued to march closer to Chronicleman and prepared to seal off his exit with an Ace Serve. Oddly, as he activated the signature program, he launched several shurikens instead of tennis balls; a side effect of the GMO, no doubt.

"Why didn't you just try and finish him with something stronger?" Desmond asked.

Tennisman didn't answer just yet. When he felt adequtely in range, he spread his arms apart and unleashed a spiral of bubbles around him. They varied in size but three of them were notably larger than the rest and floated towards the three targets on the field.

"I plan on interrogating him." Tennisman replied.



1 - Unsummon Deuce
2 - Fightersword all Destructive Tomes (100 damage)
3 - Reflex Volley (80 HP barrier)
4 - Windracket Roc (main target), Chronicleman (100 damage + microburst) + aqua + bonus damage?
5 - Ace Serve ChronicleMan (4 x 30 damage)
6 - Bubblestar ChronicleMan (20 damage + trap), FirebirdyB, Roc (20 damage + trap) x2
ChronicleMan cursed in anger as TennisMan destroyed all three of his mystic tomes in a single swipe of his sword. Following up the attack, TennisMan swung a racket wide, flinging up a volley of snow to attack his enemies. ChronicleMan was hit, but Roc managed to dodge by flying higher. "Hey, dumbass! I'm your opponent. Eyes up here!" the bird-like navi chastised TennisMan, in spite of the fact that he really had been focusing on her with that attack.

Covered in snow and losing data fast, ChronicleMan managed to recover his strength using another spell from his book. As soon as he did, however, he was hit with three shurikens by TennisMan's ace serve, eating every shot. The icing on the cake was the bubble that trapped him, leaving him powerless to defend further attacks. Roc had little trouble dodging it, however, and moved in for another assault against TennisMan's defenses.

"It doesn't matter how many shields you put up. I'll rip through them all!" she roared, diving in with a dash attack. After that connected, she unleashed an airstorm, which ripped the remainder of TennisMan's shield apart. Her last attack connected, sending a huge wave of fire careening past him, but he managed to wave the brunt of the flames aside using his windracket.

"You've got the upper hand, Roc! Kill him!"" the old man yelled from inside his bubble. Roc still looked determined to do so, although her breathing had obviously picked up. She seemed to be vexed that she was yet unable to break through TennisMan's defenses.

Roc: 350 HP (over ice)
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: 20 HP (bubbled)
ChronicleMan: 10 HP (bubbled, on ice)
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: DELETED
Destructive Tome #2: DELETED
Destructive Tome #3: DELETED

TennisMan: 410 HP (10 HP barrier)
Deuce: Fled

85% Snow, 15% Ice (becomes snow again next turn)
Things had gone mostly according to plan and though Roc was still uninjured, she was also a victim caught up in this situation. Her eagerness to fight wasn't any different from his own, leaving him unfit to fault her for it. Though with Chronicleman trapped, Tennisman felt he could end this conflict soon and began to compile a list of questions as he requested another chip, "Kunai."

Slotting it in, Desmond was quick to add, "Wait, I got this..."

Switching from the private channel and choosing to activate the public chat option on his PET with maximized volume, Desmond posed an ultimatum in his navi's stead, "YO! GIVE UP WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT GIRL'S SISTER OR WE POP YOU WITH THAT BUBBLE!"

With that icebreaker, Tennisman deleted the list from his memory. He wasn't proud of his operator's methods but they were likely going to be more effective than his own. As a show of his determination to the cause, Tennisman let the daggers flash between his knuckles and arched his arm around in clear preparation to throw them.

Adding further emphasis to his threat, Desmond continued to shout, "NO MORE NEGOTIATIONS! IF THE NEXT WORDS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH AREN'T WHAT WE WANNA HEAR, WE WILL END YOU!"

1 - Prepare Kunai ((Basically stalling, so a free action to throw them))
ChronicleMan looked like he was ready to have some sort of mental breakdown as he saw the kunai come out and heard the operator's threat. Before he could say anything, however, his captive swooped down and spread her wings out to each side. "You're going to have to get through me if you want to kill this bastard," Roc hissed, keeping her wings spread out to each side.

The heaving of her busom slowed, however, as she seemed to be coming to a new revelation. It was clear that thinking wasn't her strong suit though and what could have been a ray of hope quickly faded to her natural inclination towards battle. The thought might have escaped her, but it did suddenly reoccur to TennisMan. At this point, ChronicleMan would have jacked out if he could have. If he could somehow get Roc out of the way or convince her to stop defending him, it should be possible to wrestle some answers out of her controller.

Roc: 350 HP (over ice)
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: 20 HP (bubbled)
ChronicleMan: 10 HP (bubbled, on ice)
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: DELETED
Destructive Tome #2: DELETED
Destructive Tome #3: DELETED

TennisMan: 410 HP (10 HP barrier)
Deuce: Fled

85% Snow, 15% Ice (becomes snow again next turn)
((lol this is going to be the slowest turn ever. I hate you for making me do this. I also hate myself for having not enough chips with status effects.))

Taking note of the ice below her feet, Tennisman figured it might be easier to incapacitate Roc by freezing her with an aqua attack rather than actually fight her. It then occurred to him that she hovered a considerable distance above the ground and he quickly scrapped that plan. He wasn't willing to EJO or delete her without first getting a confession out of Chronicleman. Fortunately, he had no qualms about ending Chronicleman's existence considering the kind of unscrupulous person he seemed to be. The bubble ensnaring the support program and the book navi were wearing thin and he was running out of time.

Tennisman struck out his hand and allowed another sword to take Deuce's place. By all appearances, it was a sharpened steel blade, but its true function was still just a tennis racket. Seeing that Chronicleman's survival was her priority, he pulled the new katana to his side and swiped it at Roc, feigning an attack towards the target behind her. Instead of drawing blood or even dealing any sort of damage, a powerful gust of wind exploded from the swing in a concussive burst from the side. Tennisman then flicked one of his kunais at the firebirdy and made a motion to unleash the other two.

"TALK FAST" Desmond shouted.



2 - OUT! Roc to the side (Microburst)
* - 1/3 Kunai FirebirdyB (30 damage)
The bird-like navi snarled, finding herself swept to one side in the midst of her futile attempts at complex reasoning. She mentally chided herself for bothering to think at all, wishing she'd been more on her toes to avoid the blast. Unable to cry out anything, she dived at TennisMan to stop him from finishing off ChronicleMan.

TennisMan polished off Roc's remaining SP then used the rest of his arsenal to threaten the captured ChronicleMan. "Okay! Okay! I can't go back to my PET. My operator, you don't know what he'll do to me if I screw up here, and I..." the old man rambled on, but TennisMan saw there was no time to listen to him without stopping Roc first.

Roc: 350 HP
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: DELETED
ChronicleMan: 10 HP (bubbled, on ice)
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: DELETED
Destructive Tome #2: DELETED
Destructive Tome #3: DELETED

TennisMan: 410 HP (10 HP barrier)
Deuce: Fled

85% Snow, 15% Ice (becomes snow again next turn)
"SISTER'S LOCATION! SPIT IT OUT!" Desmond screamed, cutting off Chronicleman's rant and trying to pressure him even further.

At the sight of Roc's charge, Tennisman darted to the side and instinctively released the remaining two kunai at his agressor in a single flick of his arm. He doubted that would deter her and needed something else to fend her off. Another Windracket would be expected and she was coming straight at him. He thought about the powerful recoil on the HiCannon and quickly settled for that.

"HiCannon." He requested over the private channel as not to give away his tactics.

The chip was slotted in and fired almost immediately while it was still loading the weapon's graphics over Tennisman's arm.

Meanwhile, Desmond tried to reason with the eagle navi in his own way, "ROC! LISTEN TO BOOKFACE! HE CAN'T RUN AND WE DON'T WANNA FIGHT YOU!"

Tennisman could tell the bubble was about to pop at any given moment and knew Chronicleman would attempt to escape, or worse, coerce Roc into continue fighting on his behalf.

Then, for the first time since he entered Chronicleman's presence, Tennisman lowered his guard and spoke for himself, "What is more important to you? Your sister or my defeat?"

3 - dodge
4 - 2/3 + 3/3 kunai Roc (2 x 30 damage)
5 - HiCannon Roc (80 damage + knockback)
Roc and TennisMan danced around each other in a sort of Shakespearean instance of the damned refusing to listen to one who could save them, each throwing attacks as TennisMan attempted to calm her. One kunai hit her wing while the other sailed by, and Roc countered with a dash attack that TennisMan narrowly avoided. Moving out of the way of his hi-cannon, she released a fiery explosion from her body, which did not manage to injure TennisMan as he shrugged it away, but did burn away the racket he'd created for his defense.

As she prepared yet another sword, TennisMan finally got through to her. "My sister's what's important! You think I'd be following this old guy around if I just wanted to fight?!" she roared, closing in and raising her bladed talon. Her eyes mellowed out, however, and she seemed to be considering his words. "This better not be some kind of trick," she grumbled, although she seemed to have seen TennisMan's reasoning now. Inwardly, she'd already admitted to herself that fighting in the first place had been a stupid idea.

ChronicleMan, amazingly, had still failed to yield any halfway useful information. His resolve to withhold the information was astounding."What are you doing?! Now's the time to kill him!" he cried, pressing his trembling hands against the bubble.

"Nah, I've got another idea. Maybe the time's come to kill YOU if I don't get that answer!" she yelled, crossing her claws in front of her and baring her sharp fangs.

The old man screamed backing up against the bubble. "Alright! Okay! She was deleted during the battle by a navi named Raider. I-I sensed some sort of disturbance around the area, something like a jack-out barrier. She could be deleted, but the Netpolice don't typically use jack-out barriers like this... it felt more like the Mafia type. My bet is that the Netpolice took her in using some new device... I don't know why! M-Maybe just for questioning, I don't know!" he babbled, shielding himself with both hands as he crawled to the back of his bubble.

Roc sighed with some satisfaction. The answer wasn't reassuring, as she knew that it could mean her sister had died, but the fact that she had a lead that didn't involve playing caddy to the old man comforted her. Smiling with a show of her full teeth, she turned to TennisMan and tilted her head. "Do you believe him? Well, whether you do or not, the better question is... who gets to send him off?" she cackled, clanging the talons together menacingly.

"Aaaaugh! Don't do it!" the old man pleaded, grabbing at the back of the bubble. "Isn't there anything else you want?!"

Roc: 320 HP
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: DELETED
ChronicleMan: 10 HP (bubbled, on ice)
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: DELETED
Destructive Tome #2: DELETED
Destructive Tome #3: DELETED

TennisMan: 410 HP
Deuce: Fled

85% Snow, 15% Ice (becomes snow again next turn)
"I have another proposition," Tennisman said to Roc as he eyed Chronicleman, "Kunai."

Another set of ninja blades lined up between his knuckles as he gave his idea, "Allow me to exchange Chronicleman to the Netpolice for information about your sister."

The bubble's life was up, but if the moustached navi tried anything funny, Tennisman was ready to live up to his threats and delete him on the spot. He seriously despised having to resort to these tactics, but Chronicleman was simply too much of a danger to be allowed to roam freely.

"Though you may not trust me, deleting him accomplishes nothing for you." Tennisman continued, "My solution ensures everyone's mutual survival and a resolution to our respective dilemmas. Leave me a method of reaching you and allow me to contact the authorities. You may be implicated as his accomplice and be arrested as well. I promise nothing, but there at least exists a chance of gaining more information."

"I can toss up a message on the mission board." Desmond added, trying to follow along to the best of his ability.

6 - Prepare Kunai
"To... the Netpolice? Oh dear... I don't think that's going to work. My master," he started, but before he could finish he was forcefully jacked out. Apparently whoever was his master was more upset at the idea of the incident being traced back to him then having to brutally punish his navi.

Roc was very frustrated with this turn of events, kicking snowing angrily and growling with her throat. "Son of a bitch! I'm going to hunt that guy down and kill him again some day," she muttered, trying to regain her composure. Blind anger was what had gotten her into that embarrassing mess, so repeating it certainly wouldn't produce better results. Turning to TennisMan, she shrugged, admitting that it wasn't actually such a problem. "Eh, they're the NetPolice. It's there job to help me anyways, so if they have my sister I should just be able to ask them. I mean, I'm not actually Mafia or anything, despite how you may feel, so I don't think they'll do anything to me." Her reasoning seemed a little naive, considering she'd just participated in a scheme to capture and exploit unwary navis, but it could work regardless.

"Well, since I put up the mission, I should be able to mark it complete and get you that reward. Your work with me is over, I guess," she concluded, turning her back and sighing. She knew she had a long task ahead of herself, pursuing the few leads she had towards her sister's whereabouts. She began to flap her wings, gaining a bit of altitude as she finished. Barely audibly, she managed to force a few words of gratitude out of her throat. "So let's let bygones be bygones. You helped me out. I didn't kill you. We're even," she insisted, flying quickly away into the net.

Roc: FLED
FirebirdyA: DELETED
FirebirdyB: DELETED
ChronicleMan: FLED
Defense Tome: DELETED
Destructive Tome #1: DELETED
Destructive Tome #2: DELETED
Destructive Tome #3: DELETED

TennisMan: 410 HP
Deuce: FLED

100% Snow

--BATTLE COMPLETE--

GET: 0 zenny, 0 bugfrags, FlameLine2, +3 FXP for Roc (if you want it)
Roc and Chronicleman both left the field, practically flushing Tennisman's well thought-out plans down the drain. A part of him was happy for the simple resolution though he felt cheated out of being able to bring the guilty to justice. He sighed and realized he was standing idly in a large white field, completely alone.

"Hey," Desmond called to his navi, "We done here or what?"

Tennisman gave one more look around the field and noticed some chip data sticking out of the snow. He retrieved it, recognizing it as something from Roc's arsenal.

"What's that?" Desmond asked.

Tennisman answered, "It is battlechip data."

"REALLY!?" Desmond perked up loudly, "FROM WHERE?"

"It most likely originated from Roc." Tennisman reasoned that it must have been left behind during their scuffle.

"LOOK AROUND FOR MORE!" Desmond ordered, "MAYBE BOOK GUY DROPPED ONE TOO!"

Tennisman sighed and recalled Deuce back to the field in a beam of light. The support program continued to assume the shape of a sword rather than a racket to suit the navi's own GMO.

"That was rough..." the katana groaned, "What happened?"

"The fight is over." Tennisman answered.

"I'm assuming you won?" Deuce asked.

Tennisman seemed to ponder the question for a second before replying, "We did not lose."

There was an awkward silence afterwards while they sieved and scoured through the snow in a futile search for more buried treasure.

((Summon Deuce))
((Battle 1))
Tennisman walks out into a snowy field, in search of TREASURES UNTOLD. Instead, he finds bears. A quartet of bears. Oh, if only they would break into song and tell their tales, what wonders would be revealed! Alas, they only roar in displeasure and discontent.

ColdBear2A: 300HP
ColdBear2B: 300HP
ColdBear2C: 300HP
ColdBear2D: 300HP

Terrain: 100% Snow

TennisMan.EXE: 410HP
Deuce.SP: 180HP

-ROGUE BATTLE ONE, FIGHT!!-
A familiar pinging sensation flashed in Tennisman's mind as soon as he saw the viruses. Apparently dealing with Roc and Chronicleman ate up enough time for his BeastOUT program to reboot itself. Steam flared around the navi's body as he prepared to activate it.

Deuce was somehow able to sense this and quickly snapped to Desmond, "What time is it?"

"Um, 4:42, why?" Desmond asked, having forgotten the test the support program had set up.

"So there's an hour minimum between using the BeastOUT function." calculated Deuce.

"Desmond," Tennisman said while still retaining enough rational thought enough to remind his operator, "Please remember to use a low voice."

Breaking his own advice, Tennisman howled as the steam rose up, covering his pitch uniform with a shroud of mist. It faded and blasted outwards into a wave of water that washed away the snow around him. The remnants of his ninja garb and his sword had also been cleared away by the transformation. He stood hunched over with his trademark teal and white colours though streaked with much more vicious and jagged edges.

Between haggard breaths, Tennisman said, "HeatBreath."

With that single word, he charged into the group with his footsteps only lightly grazing the water's surface. Singular ripples spread across the sea where he stepped in a graceful manner that hid the savagery of what made that movement possible. His first steps onto the snowy shore was just as unhindered as when he strode across the water. With claws bared, he was ready to slash at anything that came his way.

"Slotting-in a Heatbreath..." Desmond practically whispered.

Tennisman reared his head back along his final approach and howled again, unleashing a blazing tornado of flames that rapidly melted the snow into ice, the ice into water, and the water into steam. Thick, obscuring mist clouded the view of the viruses but Tennisman could still sense his targets behind them.

"WIDESHOT!" Tennisman howled while a few embers still escaped from his fanged jaws.

He crouched down low to the ground and pressed off, leaping high into the air. The large fin on his left arm extended itself and produced a bright azure aura before Tennisman swiped it at the group. The aura dislodged itself from his body and cut down into the group, cutting through the mist and splashing over the lava his Heatbreath had created with another satisfying hiss.

Tennisman landed back onto the snow and spun around in a small circle, almost as if swimming across the icy terrain. He was beginning to lose control but called for another chip before it was too much for him to bear, "W-WINDRACKET!"

Tennisman spun again, swinging the net-like tail dragging behind his body across the viruses. The blast of air cleared away the fog in a single attack and blasted bits of snow and water everywhere. Having reached his self-imposed limit, Tennisman let out another howl and reverted back to his normal form with another, much smaller expulsion of water.



* BeastOUT (Unsummons Deuce and heal 50)
1 - Flood Court (1/3 - 2/3 sea terrain + movement)
2 - Dodge
3 - OUT! deflect/return incoming attacks (microburst)
4 - HeatBreath ColdBearA, ColdBearB, ColdBearC (90 damage + small lava terrain)
* - Leap
5 - Wideshot ColdBearA, ColdBearB, ColdBearC (75 damage + wide) x2 terrain?
6 - Windracket ColdBearA, ColdBearB, ColdBearC (100 damage + wide + microburst)
* - Deactivate beastOUT
The ColdBears was in a bit of a shock when they recognized a familiar presence from the navi in front of them. Having their raw fear of the Cybeast triggered, they were becoming desperate and immediately attacked TennisMan. Fortunately, the navi easily blasted away one of the icecubes straight back to the virus, dodged the rest, and began his relentless attack to the other three.

In the end, two ColdBears were deleted while one was lucky enough to dodge one of the three chip attacks and retaliate with an ice cube before it flew away.

ColdBear2A: DELETED
ColdBear2B: DELETED
ColdBear2C: 110HP [Microburst'd]
ColdBear2D: 150HP

IceCube: 150 HP [Behind TennisMan]

Terrain: 35% Snow, 45% Sea, 20% Normal

TennisMan.EXE: 310HP
One of the viruses had taken advantage of the temporary lull in his guard in the final moments of his beastOUT and landed an attack - and what an attack it was. It felt strong enough to wipe out any unprepared navi and Tennisman had only his recently upgraded constitution to thank for being able to recover so quickly. However, he was in need of some actual recovery and set up his tennis net to allow himself some time to recover.

"Dude, those are some rough bears." commented Desmond.

Extending his hand, Tennisman willed Deuce back to the field. The handle appeared in his grip and continued to manifest itself until his entire body finished compiling. Deuce was still a sword.

"Two of them are still alive. I don't think you're using your BeastOUT to its full extent." Deuce said.

The navi held Deuce with some degree of defensive skill and replied, "These viruses are resilient."

"I'm sure that's it." Deuce added condescendingly.

Grabbing hold of a loose bandage from his sword's hilt, Tennisman unraveled it and wrapped it around himself. The damaged parts of his clothes were completely covered by the strip of cloth. It seemed to integrate itself into his body, repairing the cosmetic damages in a instant.

Desmond showed some slight interest at the procedure, "So that's how Restring works now? Weird."

Tennisman had spent enough time recuperating and wanted to finish this fight soon. Wanting to test a theory, he made a chip request that would allow him to attack from afar, "Remotebit."

Desmond, ever the opportunist, slotted in that chip as well as the Pickpocket. Obviously, that didn't pass by Tennisman unnoticed though he simply went along with it as he usually did. The two chips were activated one after the other, summoning a small control tower and the viral thief. While the satellite rained down a lightning bolt over the Coldbear in the distance, Tennisman picked up his Bandacoon by the scruff behind its neck and examined it. It responded by licking his face affectionately.

"Cute." noted Deuce.

Tennisman shifted his grip with a quick sweeping motion and went from holding onto the Bandacoon to supporting it from below with one hand. He then launched it with a powerful push of his arm, lobbing his furry minion over his net like a shotput.



1 - Netplay + Reinforce (3-hit shield + 20 HP object + heal 60)
2 - Summon Deuce
Deuce - Armour Junction (180 HP Second Chance/Brace Casing)
3 - RestringEX Tennisman (heal 45)
4 - Restring Tennisman (heal 30)
5 - Remotebit (100 HP object)
Remotebit - Attack Coldbear2C (80 damage + panel break) x2
6 - Pickpocket ColdBear2D (steal zenny or chip)
Holding off a couple of IceCubes with his net, Tennisman summoned Deuce and patched himself up quite a bit. He then summoned a RemoteBit, which made quick work of the bear far off in the distance. The Pickpocketing Bandcoon he summoned next wasn't much of help, as it merely rolled over next to Tennisman, attempting to be cute. Well, it wasn't. Stupid Bandcoon.

ColdBear2A: DELETED
ColdBear2B: DELETED
ColdBear2C: DELETED
ColdBear2D: 150HP

IceCube: 150 HP [Behind TennisMan]
Net: 20HP [1-hit shield] [In front of TennisMan]
RemoteBit: 100HP [Near TennisMan, 2 Turns Left]

Terrain: 35% Snow, 45% Sea, 10% Normal, 10% Broken

TennisMan.EXE: 445HP
Deuce.SP: 180HP [Armor Junction]
Tennisman willed the Remotebit satellite closer to the last virus as he turned and asked, "What was the mission reward?"

"The what now?" Desmond replied back.

"The ordeal with Roc and Chronicleman," Deuce reminded, "I'm assuming that wasn't charity work."

"Ohhhh, rightrightrightrightright..." Desmond slurred together, "I signed up for that because I wanted another support program."

The Remotebit fired at that exact moment, adding a bit of unexpected dramatic flare to the statement. Illuminated by the flash of lightning, Tennisman's usual stoic expression was overcome with an entirely different type of apathy.

Deuce didn't seem pleased at the news, "You wanted to replace me?"

"What? No!" Desmond chuckled, "Though maybe..."

"What did you have in mind for its design?" inquired Tennisman, checking if the virus had been destroyed.

"Dunno," answered his operator with a shrug, "Haven't really thought about it yet. Any suggestions?"

Deuce was quick to reply, "Anything but another racket."



Remotebit - Attack ColdBear2D (80 damage + panel break) x2
Zap.

ColdBear2A: DELETED
ColdBear2B: DELETED
ColdBear2C: DELETED
ColdBear2D: DELETED

IceCube: 150 HP [Behind TennisMan]
Net: 20HP [1-hit shield] [In front of TennisMan]
RemoteBit: 100HP [Near TennisMan, 2 Turns Left]

Terrain: 35% Snow, 45% Sea, 10% Normal, 10% Broken

TennisMan.EXE: 445HP
Deuce.SP: 180HP [Armor Junction]

-BATTLE ONE, VICTORY!!-

Rewards:
- 2160z
- 60 BugFrags
Tennisman scanned the field and noted only a pile of zenny dotting the terrain. He walked over to gather it and considered what he would do with another support program. They were primarily used to provide back ups to navis so what did Tennisman need? He felt secure on his ability to defend himself with Deuce and was confident in his offensive abilities as well. Only one other factor somewhat eluded him.

"...Speed." Tennisman murmured.

"What?" Deuce and Desmond chimed in together.

Tennisman gathered his thoughts and asked, "Would it be possible to have a support program increase a navi's speed?"

"I dunno, maybe?" Desmond said, "You feel slow?"

"I often wonder how things would be different if I was one step faster..." his navi said wistfully.

"...Whoa. Deep." commented Desmond.

Deuce seemed to like this idea and gave some input, "It shouldn't be a problem if you remove most of the default AI that comes with the SP base data. You could probably make a headband that Tennisman could wear to boost his functions though system optimization or something along those lines."

"Yeah, yeah! That's sounds cool!" Desmond agreed, not sensing the sinisiter motives behind Deuce's suggestions, "I'm going start working on it!"

"Excellent..." the sword added.

Between the sounds of a files and windows popping open, Desmond asked "So uhh... Got any ideas for a name?"

"It doesn't need a name." Deuce snapped.

Tennisman wondered for a moment for what would be suitable and announced, "Fifteen."

"Fifteen what?" Desmond asked back.

"The first point in a game of tennis is denoted as fifteen," explained Tennisman, "And I intend on striking first while having this program installed."

"Dude, you are on FIRE today with ideas!" Desmond complimented and quickly went back to work, customizing the new program.

((Folder Edit:
-Kunai1 out
-Kunai1 out
-Airstorm1 in
-Flameline2 in))

((Battle 2))