Mach & Company's Flight in Sharo

Vector stopped in his tracks and reached an arm out to get Mach's attention. He pointed over towards Aera, who appeared to be face-down in the snow.
Sire, I've found lady Aera.

Mach looked over to see her foot sticking out of the snow. She wasn't moving, but her energy levels must have been high enough to keep her from EJOing, and she was probably unconscious like Vector and himself. Mach immediately began to worry about her status, but he was relieved to find her, and she was still in one piece, they hoped.

Mach nodded and continued to make his way over towards Aera's hole, and noted the structures next to her. They seemed a bit plain, and didn't strike Mach as something hostile, but they still exercised caution as they approached.

((ACTIONS:
Alert Mach of Aera's Location
1. Approach Aera's location, careful to avoid any objects in their path
Approach Aera's location, careful to avoid any objects in their path))

Nothing popped out to attack the pair as they moved over to where Aera lay face-down in the snow.

However, some heavy metal clanking sounds emanated from the direction of the large rectangular depression. The red lights went from a pulsing glow to constantly on, and in their brightest setting. The snow over the depression lost resolution and the entire surface over the depression became a green and black wire frame as the Snow terrain was overwritten. The wire frame sank a foot or two into the ground and then re-solidified as a vast stretch of Metal terrain.... The sound of large machinery starting up made it's way to Mach and Vector's hearing as the massive metal doors began to move, only to be drowned out by something neither of them ever wanted to hear:

The sound of a large aircraft arriving somewhere above the clouds, and the sound of VTOL thrusters firing up soon after....

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 1 HP (Unconscious and buried in the snow)

---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 65%
Ice: 3%
Normal: 1%
Metal: 1% (Steam Vents)
Metal: 30% (Hangar Doors)

Machman reached down to dig out the unconscious Aera out of the snow, but he stopped in his tracks as he felt the ground shudder and heard the loud metallic clanging of the doors opening. Mach and Vector immediately started to look around to try and understand the situation, and noticed the depression in the large rectangular frame in the center of the "base" opening. However, their attention was quickly directed skyward as they heard the familiar crackling roar of retro-rockets and the whine of jet engines almost directly above them.

{Oh, that's not a good sign.}

Machman quickly turned to Vector, and gave him orders.
Retreat behind the antenna array, now. I'll grab Aera. Once you get there, dig in and try to hide in the snow.

Vector nodded and immediately started to move towards the mound where he crash landed, careful to not approach the smaller mounds. Machman reached down and grabbed Aera's right shoulder and hip as he rolled her over. Her eyes were closed and was very clearly unconscious. He then reached his arms under her upper back and behind her knees and lifted her up to cradle her in his arms. Mazer took the opportunity to use the last MiniEnergy on the severely injured SP, and almost fully recovered her energy.

Mach floated above the snow and quickly followed Vector's path over to the large antenna array. Just as he was about to round the corner around the array and move to the side facing away from the rectangular opening, Aera started to open her eyes. She groggily tried to determine where she was and what was going on; she felt the cold air on her face, but she also felt the warmth coming from Mach as he carried her around the large structure. Machman noticed her starting to wake up, and placed a finger to his facemask as she looked up at him. She quickly acknowledged the need to remain quiet, and quite contently continued to be carried by Mach.

As Mach got to the far side of the structure, Vector had already started digging a hole in the snow for the three of them to hide in and hopefully reduce their visibility and possible radar signature, or whatever sensory system the craft used. Mach positioned Aera up against the structure as he lowered himself into the hole and hunched his body over in an attempt to cover her own as much as he could. As soon as he was in position, Vector started to push as much snow as he could on top of the pair before he slid underneath the snow like a blade through butter.

They could still hear the craft as it made its approach, but it became somewhat dark underneath the snow. There was a little space created in the gaps between Mach and Aera's bodies, and made an almost spherical space under the snow. Aera looked up at Machman, who's eyes were moving sharply in different directions as he tried to hear what was going on in front of them. He then temporarily closed his eyes as he started to shiver from the cold of the snow covering his entire body.

Aera saw Machman bear the cold in the faint light that pierced the snow, and felt an almost tangible thump, and a rapidly intensifying warmth in her chest. This time, she couldn't hold back and went with the feelings that welled up inside her. She started to blush before she reached up towards his face with her right hand. Her hand rested on the side of his face and she moved her face closer to his, before she planted a kiss on his mask, all without saying a word. Her face started to turn even deeper shades of red as he eventually pulled back and stared into his eyes. Then again, Mach's face started to turn a little red as well.

Vector was too busy listening to the surroundings to notice what was going on within the hole he created, and tried to pay attention to any sort of vibrations that came from the floor, or the surrounding snow, just in case something approached their position.



ACTIONS:
1. Order Vector to retreat behind antenna array
Retreat behind antenna array
Attempt to dig a hole next to the outward-facing wall of the antenna array
2. Pick up Aera and retreat to Vector's position
MiniEnergy: Aera.SP (Recover 50HP)
3. Hide in the hole in the snow
Attempt to cover the hole, then hide
4. Listen and attempt to understand what's going on
Listen and attempt to understand what's going on
Go all "daww..." on Mach, etc.

Everyone scrambled for cover and buried themselves in the snow. The sound of the machine motors continuing to move the massive doors that has once been a snowy depression was eventually overcome by the sound of the descending craft's VTOL thrusters. A minute passed, and the sounds of the landing craft suddenly became a lot more muffled as it presumably descended below ground. The sound quickly decreased in volume as the doors slid closed again.

Eventually, the doors met with a thud, and the same heavy metal clanking sound Mach had heard earlier rang out once more. After a short pause, a flash or reflected green light played over the clouds overhead, and then all fell eerily quiet once again.

Mach and company, buried as they were, did not see any of the events that caused this.

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 51 HP

---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 65%
Ice: 3%
Normal: 1%
Metal: 1% (Steam Vents)
Metal: 30% (Hangar Doors)

It seemed as if the trio was able to avoid detection by the craft as it sounded to have lowered itself into the mountain. The metal doors seemed to have closed, and the area became silent once again. Machman, who's face was still a bit red due to the unexpected action of affection by Aera, placed a finger to his mask as his eyes darted to one side. He turned his head as he started to sit up straight in an attempt to break the surface of the snow. Aera shielded her face as bits of snow fell into the empty space where she lay while Mach quickly looked from left to right to see if the coast was clear.

Everything seemed to check out, but he then looked up and noticed again the lack of snow on the side of the structure, as compared to the other sides. He then reached out with a single gloved hand as he tried to carefully brush the snow off a section of the wall. There had to be a reason for the lack of snow, and he wanted to find out why, especially since it may be some sort of control surface, or even a smaller entrance to the mountain base.


((ACTIONS:
1. Emerge from snow
2. Check surroundings
3. Brush away some snow from the building in front of them
Stand by quietly
Stand by quietly))

When Machman popped up out of the snow, the first thing he noticed was the metal doors had magically become a large snow-covered depression again. There was no sign the doors had been there. He also noticed the glowing markers around the depression had disappeared... most likely retracted into the ground. Speaking of that, as he looked at it, he noticed the snowy depression was slowly becoming shallower and shallower... eventually becoming level with the rest of the snowy field around it.

That wasn't the only thing that was happening... The steam output of the metal towers began to lessen, eventually becoming thin and wispy streamers that could easily be mistaken for any other trail of frosty mist caught by the Sharoan winds. The towers themselves froze over, and the area around their bases was overwritten with snow. The boxes Mach had seen sitting on the ridge line retracted into the ridge, and the barren spots they'd once occupied froze over. Even the structure with the clearly thinner layer of snow got a fresh layer applied.

The facility was disguising itself, and doing a fairly good job of it.

Machman climbed out of the snow, which closed up behind him as the snow terrain refreshed itself. Aera was left below, unharmed. Vector was similarly buried in this manner. It wouldn't be hard to get out of it, as it was just snow, but still... Machman walked up to the previously thinner snow-covered wall, and proceeded to brush away the snow. After a few swipes at the same spot, he was rewarded with the sight of what was very obviously a metal door.... Just before he was also rewarded by having the snow above where he'd wiped at the wall lose its grip and, predictably enough, fall on him. At least getting out of it again would be easy.

Welcome to Sharo.

Please enjoy your snow-covered stay.

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 51 HP

---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 96%
Ice: 4%

Machman's curiosity was greeted by a wall of snow that very quickly buried the trio. Aera made a muffled gasp before she was completely covered. A pile of snow stood where the trio were, but it quickly started to shrink as random parts of it were pushed away. Machman dug his way through the loose snow to get Aera on her feet, and most of the snow fell away as they both stood. Vector came out of the snow and reconfigured before he stood next to them. Machman looked at the large metal door, and tried to see if there were any other features that may hint at the presence of a latch, handle, or even keypad.

His search was fruitless; nothing seemed to stand out. So, he continued to clear the snow off the door, as Aera and Vector did the same. The trio tried to brush away the snow from the top-down, in an attempt to avoid becoming buried in snow yet again.


((ACTIONS:
All: Dig out
All: Attempt to uncover wall to locate something other than a flat metal door))

Mach uncovers enough of the wall to reveal most of it is in fact a large reinforced blast-door. There is a recessed panel to one side that appears to be... a featureless blue screen with no writing. The panel is covered by a flip-up glass cover to keep the elements out, yet allow easy access. There appears to be nothing else here.

The sound of snow crunching echoed in the distance.... The source wasn't immediately visible from this position.

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 51 HP

---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 96%
Ice: 4%

The trio managed to clear enough of the wall to reveal that it was a large door, with some sort of access panel. Mach looked at it carefully and slowly lifted the glass cover. He looked at the screen curiously as he lightly tapped the corner of the screen, to see if it would activate; maybe then he could see what the panel was used for. It was then that the three started to hear a crunching noise, very similar to that of something walking through the snow. The three stopped as soon as they heard the noise. They couldn't immediately tell where the sound was coming from, but it sounded like it was approaching. Machman immediately sent out a text-only message to his SPs.

[[i]Try to locate the source of the sound. Aera, you move to the left corner, and Vector take the right. Stay low, and try to use the snow as cover; we don't want to get spotted. I'll try to get a view from above.[/i]]

The two SPs dutifully crept over to the corners of the building before they both went prone and slowly inched to the corners in an attempt to look around the building to see what was going on. Machman silently climbed into the air and tried to see if he could get a view from above. He knew his orange, metallic hair would stand out immediately, so he tried to tilt his head to the side to avoid exposing too much of his own head.


((ACTIONS:
1. Attempt to activate terminal
Check around right corner of building
Check around left corner of building
2. Check over the top of the building))

Mach touched the screen and got it to change immediately to red with the text [ACCESS DENIED] in a black and yellow striped box. It returned to a boring glowing blue afterwards.

Stepping back and looking at the door, it appeared to be quite large; easily 20 or so feet tall. There appeared to be a frame around it, but the door clearly fit in behind the frame rather that between it. The door was also a single large slab, with no visible breaks in the surface. The building, more bunker-like than anything, was only just large enough to sport a 6 foot wall space to either side of the door, and all of maybe 2 feet above it. How it opened was anyone's guess.

----

The SPs crept to the corners of the building, and peered around the them. They immediately saw the source of the snow crunching sounds... A group of penguin viruses and a couple of large polar bears were wandering about in the snowy field. They seemed to be investigating for the moment, and hadn't reacted to the SPs. Machman joined the SPs in spying on the viruses from the top of the snow covered bunker shortly after.

...And that's when the sounds of something very much like an elevator rising from somewhere inside the bunker made its way to all 3 of them. Machman, Aera, and Vector suddenly got a very very uneasy feeling welling up from somewhere deep within their core coding. Something they were all programmed on the most basic level to react negatively to was approaching, and they simply knew it. How or why they knew was anyone's guess.

-----------
Summary
-----------

((Combat has not begun.))

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 51 HP

---Viruses--- (Out in the snowy field. Seemingly unaware.)
ColdBear2A: 300 HP
ColdBear2B: 300 HP
Penga EXA: 150 HP
Penga EXB: 150 HP
Penga EXC: 150 HP
Penga EXD: 150 HP
Penga EXE: 150 HP
Penga EXF: 150 HP


---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 96%
Ice: 4%

The three Navis could see the viruses milling about in the snow, but their attention quickly shifted to the sound coming from the building they were hiding behind. Machman guessed something was about to come out of the building, and looked down towards his SPs. They were looking back at him, and after he waved his hand towards himself, the two scooted back behind the wall and approached Mach. He floated down towards the ground and grabbed on to his two SPs before he floated back up towards the antenna arrays.

He paused in the air and shifted his grip on Aera as Vector cut down his cross-section by forming into armored plating for Mach. Mach then slowly rolled forward to place himself in a flying position, perpendicular to the ground. He wanted to be above the door, but didn't want to stick out from the top of the bunker and alert the viruses below. The three waited quietly and watched to see what would happen next. As they waited, the three felt more and more on edge, as if they knew something bad was coming. Aera started to shiver just slightly with the addition of the freezing cold, while Vector remained silent and vigilant. Machman could definitely feel an approaching danger, but instead of getting a sense of dread, he tried to use that feeling to heighten his awareness and sharpen his thoughts. He knew that if he didn't keep his wits, he wouldn't just doom himself.


((ACTIONS:
1. Gather both SPs
2. Hide above the door))

The sounds of the elevator eventually stopped. The door opened by sliding into the ground. A handful of seconds later and a large, black-metal blade roughly a foot wide quietly slid into view. The... abomination carrying it floated into view a moment later. It was a giant Swordy, easily triple the size of the common sword swinging virus. It was layered in heavy metal armor studded with numerous silver spikes. The gauntlets it held the massive black full-blade with ended in sharp metal claws, and were constantly surrounded by unnaturally dark colored flames where the wrists should be.

Just being near it was uncomfortable, but seeing it set off warning after warning in the programming of Machman, Aera, and Vector. The warnings told them that this... thing... was not only dangerous, it was also their enemy. As they watched, it floated over until it could look around the edge of the building and see the viruses out in the field beyond. A second over-large Swordy emerged from the bunker and followed the first... or would have, had the first freakish virus not teleported out into the field with the normal viruses after the blade flashed. The huge Swordy re-appeared and began attacking the viruses out in the field with the full-blade it carried. The viruses were fighting back, firing ice waves and hurling solid cubes of ice at their assailant.

The second oversized Swordy stopped where it was, and turned towards where Machman hovered. The plates on the front of the virus' armor were creepy... they looked eerily like the virus was giving them a really big malicious grin with a mouth full of pointy teeth. The virus looked up at them as if it knew where they were, and readied its full-blade to attack the moment it saw them. If the burning hate from its glowing red eyes was any indicator, the virus definitely planned to delete them.

-----------
Summary
-----------

---Allies---
MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Vector.SP: 51 HP
Aera.SP: 51 HP

---Enemies---
Bladia V3A: 300 HP (Attacking the Viruses, very far away)
Bladia V3B: 300 HP (About to attack the Allies)

---Viruses--- (Out in the snowy field. Seemingly unaware.)
ColdBear2A: 300 HP
ColdBear2B: 300 HP
Penga EXA: 150 HP
Penga EXB: 150 HP
Penga EXC: 150 HP
Penga EXD: 150 HP
Penga EXE: 150 HP
Penga EXF: 150 HP


---Notes---
Communications Jamming.
Communications with PET unaffected.
-- This area is so large, a single panel counts as a fraction of a terrain%.

---Terrain---
Snow: 96%
Ice: 4%

((Battle 6: Begin!))

((Turn Splice))

The two massive swordy-like viruses hovered out of the large metal door, much to the rather obvious surprise to the three floating just above them. Aera struggled not to gasp while Mach tried to size up the very intimidating viruses below.

{These are definitely not swordy viruses... I haven't seen anything like this before. Maybe we can slip into the door before they realize we're here.}

The three watched as one of the viruses teleported away, and then caused a ruckus over near the clearing behind them; it must have been sent up to destroy the viruses. Mach and his SPs may have not been detected and may have still had the opportunity to sneak in without being noticed. However, his plans were completely shattered as the second virus turned and looked straight at him like it knew he was there the whole time.

{Shit.}

Machman quickly raised his shields as he relayed a message to his SPs.

[[i]Get on the roof and attack from there![/i]]

Vector immediately disengaged from Machman's body, while he left some of the plates behind to reinforce his master's shielding. As Vector climbed to the roof, Machman rotated in the air and pushed Aera up and away from him, allowing her wing thrusters to propel her up to the top of the bunker where Vector waited. Mach then fired his thrusters down at full force for just a split second and sent him on a high arc over the virus. His 30mm vulcan had already started to form before he even fired his thrusters, and he quickly centered the massive swordy in his cross hairs. His body was pointing downwards towards the virus and he had his left hand supporting the vulcan under his right arm.

The triple-barrel assembly quickly spun up with a mechanical whine before the sound was drowned out by the roar of armor-piercing bullets being fired out of the vulcan at around 4000 rounds per minute. It sounded like a single tone as it spewed a steady stream of lead at the virus while Mach arced over it's head. The vulcan had a long, spear-like flame erupting from the barrels which illuminated his arms, chest, and face. The muzzle-flash reflected off Mach's sapphire eyes and cast shadows over the wrinkles in his skin, caused by the intense frown on his face. He didn't even blink as 200 rounds surged from his weapon towards the his target.

He quickly ran out of ammunition, but his thrusters had propelled him through the air and had him travel completely over the virus and had him a good 30 feet behind it, and around a dozen feet off the ground. Aera raised her own shields and sent a bolt of electricity towards the virus's chest. Vector then fragmented and started to secure himself to Aera's body, which in less than a few seconds fully clothed her in angular, navy-blue armor.

Aera started to channel energy into Vector's armor covering her body, which made more repairs to his metal body and made the armored vambraces, greaves, corset, and skirt he created that much stronger. The armor then tightened up on her body, as if prepared to take a strike to hopefully absorb an attack without taking as much damage. Aera watched closely at the battlefield from behind the protective visor over her eyes, in the hope of spotting an attack coming her way and give her enough time to effectively avoid the strike.

Mach's vulcan began to disappear while a decoy drone materialized just in front of his chest. Machman faced the Bladia, and though he was a good 30 feet behind it, he already saw how it could easily teleport to close any distance gap to bring its blade to bear. Mach's decoy drone quickly activated and created an exact copy of Machman, which stood in place while the real Mach jetted backwards to further get himself out of range.



ACTIONS:
1. Heavy Shielding: Machman.EXE (6-Hit shield + 3TCD)
Vector: Reinforce Heavy Shielding (+2 hits)
2. Rising Barrage: Bladia V3B (50dmg x4 + Break + Impact + Knockback + Strategic Movement + Busterlock + 7TCD)
-[Strategic Movement: Maintain fire on Bladia while flying in a high arc over the target]-
Aera: Repulsion Shield to self (2-hit shield + 1 TCD)
Aera: Attack Bladia V3B (35dmg Elec + Spread)
Vector: Act as Aera's armor
-[[color=ff6600]Recharge[/color]: Vector.SP (heal 20HP)]-
Vector: Brace (Block 1 hit for half damage)
Aera: Dodge
3. Dodge

DecoyA: Stand where Mach used to stand before he dodged backwards (Mimicking Mach)


Cooling Sigs:
Heavy Shielding: 3 turns remaining
Rising Barrage: 7 turns remaining
-----Busterlock: 2 turns remaining
Repulsion Shield: 1 turn remaining


((Remaining Actions Left: Machman [3], Aera [0], Vector [0]))

Vector and Aera took up their positions on the roof of the snow covered bunker as Machman raised his shields and prepared to attack the not-Swordy. He deployed his 30mm vulcan, and began firing upon the virus as he arced over the target. The not-Swordy responded by swinging the Full-Blade it wielded in a high arc over its head, and releasing a black blade wave straight up. The broad black wave deleted the incoming armor piercing rounds as it surged upward and connected with Machman's heavy shielding. The wave smashed into the shields, draining strength from them at an alarming rate as it passed by.

Aera retaliated for Machman, and shot the virus with a bolt of electricity. The virus, while having clearly been damaged by the attack, simply ignored her altogether while it stared at Machman. It stood it's ground by the entrance to the bunker, lowered its blade for a moment, raised its empty hand, and... made the universal 'come and get it' hand signal as it braced the Full-Blade across its back.

----

The other not-Swordy, meanwhile, took multiple shots from the lead group of Pengas before it slashed at the ice viruses and... wiped them out. All three of the lead viruses, supposedly protected by their obnoxious IceBody ability, were deleted as the blade shattered each of the ice viruses like glass. The shockwave of the blade's passing blew the snow from the panels the Pengas had been standing on, and cracked the ground. It also turned one of the IceCubes hurled by the ColdBears into a shattered mess the same as the viruses.

The not-Swordy was somehow at full health again in the aftermath of that exchange, and it intended to stay that way as it dodged out of the way of a second and third IceCube. It then blocked an incoming IceWave with the broad side of the Full-Blade, and smacked a second out of the air with a quick bat. The Ice Slasher that came in from a dead angle while the not-Swordy was busy fending off attack managed to connect, damaging the virus. A hard won point for the Penga, to be sure.

Mach snarled under his breath as he saw the bullets get deleted almost as soon as they surged from his weapon.

{Hmph, that was a waste.}

He paused behind the Bladia as it turned to him and moved into a ready stance. It's large, armored hand pointed towards him before it waved him on, in an almost cocky gesture. This struck Machman as odd.

{Advanced programming? I doubt having a confident attitude is the only thing it has when it comes to higher mental capacity. The same old tricks probably won't work with this one. However...}

He sent a text-only message to Mazer, requesting his Counter1 and Bubble-V chips, and Mazer responded quickly and inserted the requested chips.

Machman moved his right arm in front of his chest and clenched his fist as dozens of large, yellow, metal plates materialized around his arm and fastened themselves into place. The armor iron-clad his arm from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers with hardened steel plating of varying thickness. He opened his hand as the last of the armor scraped into place, then snapped it shut with a metallic screech and a flash of sparks before he cocked his arm back and rotated his left shoulder towards the virus.

As he did so, he raised his left arm towards the Bladia, with his hand rapidly changing into his MachBuster. The buster was loaded with one of his newest chip programs, an upgraded bubbler program with enhanced spread capabilities. The round was loaded and ready, as Mach pointed the buster directly towards the Bladia's chest.

{Let's see if we can take advantage of that cocky attitude.}

His second decoy drone materialized behind him and started to project a perfect copy of Mach's appearance, and pose. Mach set his cobalt gaze on the bladia in front of him, and targeted the virus's chest as he spoke to it in a calm voice.

Your move, ugly.

As soon as he saw the virus as much as twitch, he fired his bubble-V at the ground near the virus in an attempt to avoid any additional shockwaves and have the residual spray hit the hulking virus, and possibly apply a debilitating layer of ice. The buster went off with a slight crack as the projectile zipped to the ground and exploded on the ground with a spray of snow and water. Immediately after he fired his buster, his thrusters kicked on and sent him strafing to the right side in an attempt to flank the virus, or avoid attack should it have teleported near him in a similar fashion as the other not a moment ago. If it tried to pursue him or send in a counter attack, his gutfist was ready to deliver a crushing retaliatory punch.

/Turn splice

ACTIONS:
4. Bubble-V: snow panel near Bladia V3B (80dmg Aqua [+ Freeze] + Spread2)
5. Dodge
6. Counter1 (Counter for 70dmg + Break + Impact)

DecoyB: Stay in Mach's original position


Cooling Sigs:
Heavy Shielding: 3 turns remaining
Rising Barrage: 7 turns remaining
-----Busterlock: 2 turns remaining
Repulsion Shield: 1 turn remaining

And move the ugly virus did.

The virus shifted its stance, provoking Machman into firing upon it. As soon as the virus saw the muzzle flash, it vanished. The bubble-V struck the bunker, and played out an impressive spread of secondary bubble blasts across the front face of the structure. The virus it had missed announced its presence below Machman with a sudden swipe of its Full-Blade. Mach had anticipated this move, and was just barely outside of the blade's arc. The Navi then Countered, literally, with a diving punch that caught the Not-Swordy square in the face... or what served for it.

Machman pulled back, retreating to his previous position with great speed in the wake of scoring that hit on the virus. The Not-Swordy growled at him menacingly as it continued the motion of its previous attack to bring the sword up for an overhead strike. Machman was most definitely outside or the virus' range, as it hadn't managed to strike him cleanly just a moment ago.... Well, someone obviously should have told the virus this information, because it was determined to swing at him anyway. Ad when it did, Mach found a new nasty surprise as a narrow black blade-wave of energy lashed out at him almost like a lance with the virus' swing. The blade of energy punched through Machman's shielding, and went on to reach a couple of meters past the Navigator before suddenly retracting again with lightning speed as the blade arced away from the Navi.

Machman's shielding was still functioning, but that had not been good for it. The decoys Machman had launched had also been completely ignored by the virus. Just as before, it seemed to know where he was.

----

The Not-Swordy engaged in combat with the other viruses vanished, leaving no target for them to attack.

{Predictable.}

Mach saw the virus teleport away and delivered a punch to it's chest, but it then retaliated with an impressive ranged attack that further wore away at his shields. The shields became slightly visible and sparked violently as it reacted with the strike before it flickered back to near invisibility. Aera and Vector saw the virus's impressive array of attacks, and started preparations to provide support. Aera's energy flowed into the armor covering her body and made necessary repairs. In return, Vector sent some of the metal plates over to her near invisible energy shields to provide an extra layer of protection.

Aera looked out towards Machman, and her eyes caught his gaze. Neither of them said a word, but Aera could almost hear his voice just from the way he looked over towards her. She seemed to understand what he was asking of her, and nodded in affirmation as she raised both of her armored hands towards the virus engaging Machman. He fired his thrusters backwards and canted slightly to the left and very quickly retreated several dozen feet back. Just as he got out of range, Aera attacked. The whole time Mach had started his retreat, Aera had ramped up the amount of amperage being pumped through her arms to near maximum safe levels. Bolts of electricity arced between her arms with a manic fervor, almost as if the electricity was incredibly impatient and wanted to be unleashed.

She didn't hold it back for long, and sent some of the energy tearing through the sky towards the Bladia in the form of a long thunderbolt. As she engaged the virus, Vector's eye traveled around her chest to her back, and looked around to check on the viruses and the other Bladia. However, the Bladia was nowhere to be found. On full alert, he addressed Aera.
M'lady, the other virus is nowhere to be seen! It may have teleported again.

Aera immediately primed her thrusters as she turned to confirm its disappearance, but she was ready for the worst if they became a target. Meanwhile, Machman saw the bolt of lightning crash down with a shower of electrical discharge, and as soon as the area was clear, he slammed all of his thrusters to full throttle and sent him rocketing towards the virus at full speed. The thrusters from his wings, chest, and feet burned with bright cyan fury as he accelerated not unlike a bullet from a gun. The air in front of him became pressurized due to the lack of time to get out of the way, and created an almost solid ram over his body. Mach knew the virus would likely try to swat him out of the sky with a slice of its sword, so just as he saw the virus prepare a strike, he dropped just above the snow in an attempt to skim underneath the blade and strike the virus itself.

Aera's arms were still crackling with electricity as she tried to locate the virus, while Vector's eye darted all over her body in an attempt to make a full 360 degree search of the virus. They were both prepared to dodge out of the way, even if it meant Vector forcibly moving her body himself. However, Aera still had enough residual electricity to retaliate against any attacks against them with another powerful bolt of electricity.

As soon as Mach passed through the Bladia's position, he blurred out of sight and disappeared, only to nearly instantly reappear behind the Bladia, with his shoulder lowered and retaining his previous velocity. His thrusters were still at full power and sent him rocketing through the Bladia's position. However, that wasn't the last of his attack. After Machman rolled to the side to strafe away as his battlechip energy waned and caused a drop in airspeed, his thrusters seemed to "pop" with a sudden burst of power. This caused a percussive shockwave to surge over the ground, blowing snow out of its way and made a beeline towards the Bladia.

Mach continued to stay low to the ground, but kept a decent speed to avoid any incoming attacks, and was ready to even crash into the snow to avoid any incoming shockwaves or sword strikes. As he made several sporadic turns, he noticed Aera and Vector were distracted by something. Was there something happening with the other Bladia?



ACTIONS:
-[Recharge: Vector.SP (Heal 20HP)]-
Vector: Reinforce Repulsion Shield (+2 hits)
1. Dodge backwards in a left diagonal
Aera: Attack BladiaV3B (35dmg Elec + Spread)
Vector: Move Aera's body to dodge for the both of them
2. DashAttack: BladiaV3B (90dmg + Impact)
3. SCRAM Boost: Teleport behind Bladia while still under effects of DashAttack (90dmg + Impact) (Teleport + 2TCD)
Aera: Attack BladiaV3A [if it reappears] (35dmg Elec + Spread)
Vector: Brace (Take 1 hit for half damage)
4. Dodge
5. ShockWave: BladiaV3B (40dmg + Piercing + Ground Attack + Group Attack)
6. Dodge
Aera: Dodge

DecoyA: At present position, seemingly useless
DecoyB: At present position, seemingly useless

Cooling Sigs:
Heavy Shielding: 2 turns remaining
Rising Barrage: 6 turns remaining
-----Busterlock: 1 turn remaining
Repulsion Shield: Ready
SCRAM Boost: 2 Turns Remaining

After Aera and Vector shored up their defenses, Aera blasted the Not-Swordy with another bolt of electricity. Aside from scorching the virii's armor, she elicited no response from it. It was still fully focused on Machman, even ignoring the decoys that looked and acted as the Navi did... Until both of the decoys succumbed to catastrophic power loss and burned out, that is.

As the two overwatch drones blew a fuse and fell to the ground sparking, Machman flared his jets and dashed towards the Not-Swordy. The virus responded by bringing the Full-Blade it wielded around before itself, and bracing it there. Machman hit the flat of the blade, and caromed off of it before teleporting. The Navi reappeared to the left of the mutant Swordy, and blasted forward with his jets still on full burn. He slammed into the virus, dealing quite a bit of damage to it as he passed. Adding to the injury, his passage so low to the ground at high speed reflected the sonic boom back up in the virii's face for added damage.

And yet, the virus was somehow still standing.

The Not-Swordy's counter attack did little more than swipe at empty air as Machman few out of its reach too quickly for the blade to connect. The virii's follow-up fighter blade attack also missed as the Navi managed to dodge out of the way just barely in time. It did not appear that it was going to let up, either.

And now Mach had a new problem... At his current position, all he needed to do to see the other virus was look up and out onto the snowy field. The other Not-Swordy now stood out in the field alone. Aera had tagged it not long ago with a blast of electricity, but the flurry of attacks the virus had shelled out to the normal viruses it had been fighting had not only deleted them all, it had healed the mutant Swordy. The virus turned around, and glared in their direction.

They were next.

((Turn Split))

Mach's attacks did considerable damage to the giant swordy-like virus, but it refused to back down. However, the considerable dents and scorch marks on it armored body showed its defenses were now quite limited. Mach had to act quickly before it attempted to escape, or more than likely recover from some of its injuries and attack again. Mach's thrusters kicked in to around 80% output as his fists burst into flames. They left a pair of zig-zagged, black smoke trails while he advanced towards the virus.

Just as he got within range and made a right diagonal vector towards the virus, he swung his left fist up and over his head and twisted his torso to position his shoulders almost perpendicular to the ground. His fist blazed through the air as a larger, fiery copy of his fist materialized in front of him and imitated his movements as he delivered a crushing punch directly from above.

If the bladia managed to block that attack, he would have a very brief time to exploit a possible opening: its sides and lower torso. Before his left fist made it all the way past his body, his upper torso, right shoulder, and right arm and fist almost seemed to stretch like a paint streak as he delivered a lightning-fast right hook towards the Bladia's left side. The second fiery fist looked more like the tip of a flaming ribbon as it curled around and almost got behind the virus as it blazed across the Bladia's position.

While Machman attempted to deal with his foe, Aera and Vector saw the second Bladia alone in the snowy plain and completely free of damage. Aera got a chill down her spine as the bladia turned towards her and glared with killing intent. Vector felt her shiver through the warming sensation of the healing programs that regenerated his armor. He activated the mattock program that was temporarily condensed to a smaller file within his programming. He partially took control of her right hand and gripped it in the air as it materialized, and spoke to her.
I am here to protect you m'lady, and those who dare threaten my queen...

Aera looked down as the plates covering her fingers caused her hand to expertly spin the mattock once and stop in place with near mechanical precision. Her arm then brought the mattock across her chest, in a ready position.
... are doomed to fall

Vector then felt the buzz of electricity that rippled over his armor, and looked back upon hearing the high-pitched whine of Aera's thrusters priming to go off. Aera was silent almost the entire time, but finally spoke.
Well, what queen would I be if I couldn't provide support for my loyal guard?

The pair stared back at the bladia, and waited for it to make a move. As soon as it did, they were prepared to deal with anything it could throw at them. Vector was prepared for a close strike, and would use the mattock in any way necessary to cause any physical blows to be slowed or possibly redirected to glance away with no damage. If all else failed, he would use his own armor to absorb the blow. However, Aera wasn't going to simply allow her valiant guardian to get pummeled, and was ready to boost out of the area if the bladia brought more power than they could repel.

As Machman ignited his thrusters and began zigzagging in towards the heavily damaged Not-Swordy, the virus seemed to give up trying to follow his movements and assumed a strange stance. The mutant Swordy hefted the Full-Blade upright before itself for a moment before it moved the dark flaming gauntlet that held the weapon to the other side of its body. It gripped the handle with both gauntlets, and waited for Machman to get closer. When the Navi obliged, the virus ignited its blade with deep purple flames, and took a wild sweeping swing at Machman. The moment it began its swing, the sword grew to twice its normal size and swept a huge black blazing arc through the air that literally left Machman with nowhere to dodge. There was just too much area coverage. The huge black blade sliced clean through the energy shield that had been protecting the Navi until now and went on to strike and shatter the reinforcement plates Vector had granted to Machman earlier as well. The panels the blade passed over were revealed to be completely punched out after the black crescent after image faded.

The Not-Swordy paid the price for this attack, as Machman's flaming drop-punch connected and burned away the last of the virii's HP. The Not-Swordy started to disintegrate into deletion when it exploded like a bomb, and scattered a purple cloud of miasma into the space around it. When the smoke cleared, Machman could see the panel where the virus had been standing had also turned to poison.... and that the virus was still standing there?

The remaining mutant Swordy had teleported into the space the slain virus had occupied as it completely ignored the SPs while it went straight for Machman. It was not only in range, it was already swinging its sword at Machman. The Navi threw his second punch, and the two traded blows. It wasn't an even trade. The Not-Swody's attack hit the Nav first, and it hit like a freight train. [-90] The virus actually did more damage, in fact, than Machman had done to it with the return FireHit strike. And while the damage Mach had done to it seemed to be sticking, the virus was pressing the attack as it wound up to take another brutal swing at the Navigator.

Mach was in trouble.