Festival de Fortune

Ante was indeed scanning her opponents, noting that, surprise surprise, Crystal Roy was acting highly cocky again for some unplaceable reason. He didn't seem to have chosen a very good spot for all of his balloons, nor could she imagine a man made of crystal moving very quickly. Still, she felt certain that he was up to something; he wouldn't throw two challenges in a row, or he'd lose his chance to win the big prize. "Yes, we'd better think about this one carefull- whoop!"

Before she knew it, she was tripping over her own feet to keep up with her ally, her long legs alternating places in front of her with awkward irregularity and speed.


Ante figured she'd just have to trust in her ally to take care of NekketsuMan properly, because with their setup, there was no way she'd be able to fire at him without awkwardly twisting her body or removing her hand from their balloon. Instead, she tracked the lovey-dovey couple, who seemed to have come up with an interesting but likely impractical way of approaching the competition. "It's sort of cute, but a battlefield isn't the place for such silliness," she thought with a sigh, ignoring the silliness of calling a water gun shootout a battle.

The fundamental problem with their setup was the exertion it would put on Advant. There was no we could aptly dodge attacks or keep up with their movements while carrying around his partner, who presumably had the weight of a full-grown woman. Even better for Ante, all of the balloons were congregated in about the same spot, even if they were sort of shielding them. "Let's get down to it," she mumbled, pumping up the gun-

Then suddenly realizing the two were getting to be a pretty good distance away. Ante was no novice with guns, but if she took that kind of shot at a shielded target, was there any chance she'd get around them? She was pretty sure it'd be best to just hold the charge for now. Instead, she focused on the other competitors, intending to bend her body as necessary to avoid getting shot. She had faith in Dare, but if there's one thing she understood, it was that Dare and NekketsuMan were both going out guns blazing. One of their balloons was already effectively popped, as far as she figured.

1) Movement to follow Dare
2) Movement to follow Dare
3) Pump up gun
4) Dodge

As soon as the game started, all the participants immediately went off as they prepared for the battle. Dare and Ante was the first to make the move as the two dashed straight at NekketsuMan with their water gun pumped and ready. The hot blooded navi braced himself for the attack, raising his shoulder against the rushing offenders while preparing his right fist. "You girls better get out my way before I hurt yo...Oh wait."

The navi had quickly forgotten that he was in a shooting match and not a brawl, having a rather dumbfounded look as he looked up to see that the shoulder he was using to block off the attack got a splash of water and a popped balloon. He raised his own gun at Ante and Dare and fired a stream of water at the bunched-up-two, but thanks to his bulky hands, clumsiness, or maybe even the evasive manuevers, the water bullet missed its mark and left NekketsuMan at an early disadvantage.

"Oh! We have First Blood! And from our underdog duos, nonetheless!" The crowd's reaction had a mixture of cheering and booing, most likely due to the "unsatisfactory" achievements Ante and Dare was performing that was affecting the gambling circle. However, the action turned towards the other groups as everyone diverted their attention at Crystal Roy and the two tennis couple.

Advant, still carrying his partner with both his arms, was preparing himself to move and dodge any incoming attacks. Love held up the two water pistols up rather ineptly, but fared far better than what NekketsuMan could muster up. "Oh boy. Those girls really know how to steal the spotlight for themselves. said Advant as he looked down to match eyes with his lover. "Oh, but look at you. I've already stole you all for mysel...Look out!"

Pointing both her pistol up, she aimed at Crystal Roy, who was rushing straight towards the couple in a blinding speed. As soon both finished pumping, Love fired the two rounds at the charging navi, popping off one of the balloon off Crystal Roy's chest. "...Hmph." Even after his loss, the navi didn't stop his reckless charge and finally closed his distance between himself and the couple. He had already charged his pistol to the max...But he didn't show any sign of shooting it just yet. "Kiyaa! Back, Advant, back! We need to go away from him!" yelled Love as she was pumping up another shot. "Wait, he's not doing anything. We need to shoot him down before he does anything. Right now!" The couples tried to approach this in a strategic way as Love fired one more at Crystal Roy, but this time, the cocky navi easily dodged the attack unlike the time when he rushed forward...

NekketsuMan: 2 Balloons / 1 Pump [West]
Advant / Love: 3 Balloons / 0 Pump / 1 Pump [East]
Crystal Roy: 2 Balloons / 3 Pump [East]
Ante / Dare: 3 Balloons / 1 Pump / 0 Pump [West]

Balloon Locations:
NekketsuMan: Left Shoulder / Right Shoulder / Chest
Advant / Love: Top of the head (Advant) / Chest (Love) / Stomach (Both)
Crystal Roy: Chest / Chest / Chest
Ante / Dare: Forehead (Ante) / Forehead (Dare) / Hands (Both)

Turn Limit: 4 Turns

-Balloon Scores-
NekketsuMan: 0 Balloon
Advant / Love: 1 Balloon
Crystal Roy: 0 Balloon
Ante / Dare: 1 Balloon

"What's the matter? You're looking steamed, but I'm still all fired up!" Dare shouted at NekketsuMan. "I'm not even... breaking a..." she continued, starting to taper off as she realized she was really sweating pretty profusely. She hadn't tapped into her innate abilities enough to realize the aftereffects when she had to keep trying to push herself.

Dare had intended to continue her momentum, but decided she'd take a breather instead. "Ante, I'm gonna ready up a shot and let Hot Stuff have a second try. I'm counting on you to keep up the show, okay? Don't let Advant and Love be the best partners here!"

"Speaking of couples, can't you make this a little more exciting for me?" Dare told NekketsuMan, mock-pouting and putting a finger to her lip. "My big head's not too small of a target for you, is it? Do you want a prize if you hit it?~" Dare continued to taunt her opponent, trying to do what she could to avoid losing her advantage. "Come on, am I too bright for you to look straight at? Do you want to borrow my shades?!" The Navi figured Crystal Roy and the cute couple were focusing on each other, so all she had to do was out-maneuver the last-place contender for the time being. Still, she found she had to try hard to make NekketsuMan her center of attention. She was curious to see how Ante would handle her weapon.

Summary:
Subtype
-High Gear (passive)
Actions
-Recovering...
-Pump!
-Dodge

A smile spread across Ante's face at the crowd's response; ordinarily, boos coming from an audience wouldn't be a good thing, but the mixture of audience feelings showed that they were become a subject of awe and controversy. In this case, standing out could only be a good thing; the illustrious Mr. Gold would be sure to reveal himself, either in pride or in anger depending on who he'd bet on, if they played a key role in the results. To that end, she had a lot of motivation to continue to rile up the crowd.

Dare was still handling NekketsuMan, giving him many of the jabs and taunts she'd come to expect from her ally's competitive nature. In the mean time, however, Ante herself was incapable of doing much of anything to fight NekketsuMan herself, unless she was willing to awkwardly orient her body towards him by twisting her wrist. It seemed like focusing on Advant or Love would be the best choice.

... Except Advant and Love weren't really ripe and open for shooting, what with Crystal Roy jumping circles around the group. More than anything, she was surprised that the crystalline guy had already let one of his balloons get popped. "There must be something sketchy going on with that guy! No way can he still hope to win at such a disadvantage. How could he possibly be the arena champion?" she thought to herself. Forgetting her mission for a moment, she was becoming angry just at the fact that someone was so obviously either buying or cheating his way to the top.

Ante knew they'd agreed earlier that taking on Roy was a bad idea, but she couldn't help wanting to with such irritated thoughts in her head. Shooting at Roy's back would basically be useless, with all of the balloons being strapped to his chest; if she was going to attack him, she'd have to do it during an opening. Hoping to overcome the distance in ranges, she aimed her toy water pistol and waited for the balloons to show themselves.

Once they had, she took a shot at Crystal Roy, hoping he'd be caught off guard while attacking Advant and Love. She considered for a moment that, as was, they were the only group really fully utilizing the factor of having two people, since they now had two guns firing in different directions. It wasn't necessarily the most heroic tactic, but then, the audience already saw her as a bad guy from their last act, right? "It won't hurt me if they feel that way a little longer... and besides, Mr. Roy doesn't seem too popular himself," she reasoned. Quickly, she charged up another pump and fired again, hoping that the others were distracted to the point that she wouldn't be shot. She pumped her gun yet again, keeping her mouth in a tight and business-like frown as she did to avoid looking like a child.


Ante's choker exploded into chips, which didn't make much of a difference towards anything, but was probably distracting for her partner. "D-Don't mind me! That was nothing," Ante called back to Dare, hoping she wouldn't worry about the poker chips laying around their feet.

1) Shoot at CrystalRoy's chest
2) Pump
3) Shoot at CrystalRoy's chest
4) Pump

"No one gets away from outwitting me!" yelled NekketsuMan as he pounded his fists together in a loud clang. "D-don't think that you have the advantage because of I'm not use to handling with guns! Guns goes against my standards!" The hotheaded navi quickly aimed his water gun at Dare and fired off his charged shot, splashing Dare's chest instead of her forehead. "Arrrrgh! Motto, motto!" Taking advantage of Dare's exhaustion, NekketsuMan was able to pump his gun for one more shot, luckily shooting the balloon and popping Dare's balloon.

"Ohh, it looks like things are getting heated between out two fiery contestants! But lets have a look at the lock-down between the lovely couple, Advant & Dare, and our favorite, Crystal Roy!"

The three navis were silently staring at one another, tension raising as they were ready to react to the first move. "..." Crystal Roy looked rather calm under the situation, but his finger was on the trigger at all times. Advant and Love, however, was beginning to crack under pressure as Love's grip over her gun began to rattle with anxiety. "Honey..." Love whispered to Advant. "T-this is taking longer than I thought." Advant simply nodded his head, facing Crystal Roy as sweats began to drip from his chin. "W-we just need a...a God-sent opportunity! We just have to pray for that!"

And pray they did as a mysterious water bullet came flying towards Crystal Roy, causing the navi to step away to dodge the attack. "Now! Shoot now!" Love unloaded her entire water pistol onto Crystal Roy with reckless abandon, popping off one of the balloons off his chest. "Che, two versus one?" said the crystalline navi as he looked over to the other pair behind him. When Ante fired off another shot, Crystal Roy summoned a Wind box directly between himself and Ante, blocking the bullet for the navi successfully.

"Now its your turn."

Crystal Roy whipped out his pistol from the hip like some western gunslinger, only having to fire twice for the two balloons on Advant and Love. "Kyaa! I'm all wet now!" said the navi as she covered her exposed chest. "Sit tight, honey. He can't possibly shoot the balloon between us!" The couple were absolutely confident about their last remaining balloon, but it didn't stop Crystal Roy from approaching them.

Out of the blue, the navi grabbed Love by her arm and pulled her right off of Advant's hold, cutting off the balloon that connected the two and immediately disqualifying them. The crowd went nuts as they booed and yelled at Crystal Roy's action, but the navi didn't even bat an eye as he proceeded to pop the last of the couple's balloon with his gun. "Well, you should've expected something like this before, folks! Crystal Roy, a man who would do anything to get his victory! Even going on to find a loop hole in our rules. Truly, truly impressive!" Mr. Gold was fine with Crystal Roy's unsportsmanlike action, rather, began to praise him for it...

NekketsuMan: 2 Balloons / 0 Pump [West]
Advant / Love: OUT
Crystal Roy: 1 Balloons / 0 Pump [East]
Ante / Dare: 2 Balloons / 1 Pump / 1 Pump [West]

Wind: 99 HP (Between Ante/Dare & Crystal Roy)

Balloon Locations:
NekketsuMan: Left Shoulder / Right Shoulder / Chest
Advant / Love: Top of the head (Advant) / Chest (Love) / Stomach (Both) (OUT)
Crystal Roy: Chest / Chest / Chest
Ante / Dare: Forehead (Ante) / Forehead (Dare) / Hands (Both)

Turn Limit: 3 Turns

-Balloon Scores-
NekketsuMan: 1 Balloon
Advant / Love: 2 Balloon (OUT)
Crystal Roy: 3 Balloon
Ante / Dare: 1 Balloon

"Hey! ...Heeey!" Dare yelped, reacting in succession to the two shots she received. "Aaaaaagh, dammit! I already lost the challenge? You jerk!" Dare shouted at Nekketsuman, stomping one of her feet in irritation while gritting her teeth. "I'll show you! With this, we'll be taking the rest of your balloons!"

Dare already had one shot ready, so she fired it at NekketsuMan's chest before she even finished speaking. She'd moved her arm from her across her breasts, allowing a look at her top, which was now clinging to her skin and dangerously bordering transparency. Dare cranked up her power again, trying to call on another burst of speed in spite of the fact that it was probably to blame for her current embarrassment.

Dragging Ante along behind her, Dare leapt to NekketsuMan's right side, all the while rapidly tapping the button near the trigger of her gun as if she could somehow pump it up more with the power of her frustration. She raised her gun to NekketsuMan's shoulder, hoping to get her shot off before he could turn and keep up. "Sayonara, pal!" she shouted (possibly unnecessarily into his ear) as she pulled the trigger.

Dare's periphery awareness was quite limited at the moment, so she could only hope Ante had her back. She was aware that Crystal Roy and the pair had been in a shootout, and some instinct told her that the result probably had some particular warning she should be paying attention to...

"But dammit, things were going so well! How could I lose a bet...?" Dare decided she was going to seriously review her mistake when she got a chance.

Summary:

Subtype
-High Gear (passive)
-Afterburner activate!
Actions
-Fire! at NekketsuMan's chest
-Movement (to NekketsuMan's right)
-Pump!
-Fire! at NekketsuMan's right shoulder

Ante took both the blocking of her own shot and the dirty disruption of Advant and Love's tactic personally, becoming highly offended at Roy's use of cheap tactics. "Even if he's being ganged up on, I can't pity anyone who bulls their way through a situation with brute force like that," she muttered, holding on to her hat with her gun-hand while Dare pulled her around. Soon, however, it would soon become apparent that her hat was going to be the least of her worries...


Ante's bustier and gloves both burst off in a flurry of coins, leaving her with only her bodysuit and hat. It didn't provide any extra eye-candy for the audience, but it did have special significance for her; she knew that the bodysuit was now functioning as something like an undershirt NCP for her dignity. Once that cloth was gone, her competitors would no longer have to bother imagining her in her underwear.

Speaking of which, Ante couldn't help but gawk at her operator and wonder what in the hell Bruce and she were getting up to. "Your shirt is missing," Ante remarked, half-hoping that her operator hadn't noticed yet so that she could easily explain why Teruko hadn't put it back on already.

"Y-Yeah, I know! Don't worry about me. Did you need anything?" Teruko asked, still trying to free her arm.

"I'm afraid not... I'd use the wrecker to destroy that Windbox, but apparently no offensive chips are allowed; I can't risk disqualification. Any water gun shots I execute right now are going to be like... spitting in the wind, for lack of a more elegant expression," Ante sighed. She decided that her operator probably didn't need a status report as to Dare's problems; Teruko looked like she was having a hard enough time by herself.

Due to her disadvantageous situation, all she could think to do was charge her gun and wait for an opening. A thought occurred to her: tapping into ZephyrMan's wind powers might allow her to use the wind against Crystal Roy to obscure his shots, like he was hers. With that in mind, she focused and attempted to activate the cross...

Ante's bodysuit faded and a blue, metallic covering materialized across her chest, whirring and creating a tornado in the shape of a dress around her body. Her hat swapped over similarly, spinning another turbine to create an upward stream. In an instant, she'd transformed into her ZephyrCross, utilizing more ease than she'd thought possible. "Good, good... For now, I'll focus on pumping."

The navi pumped her gun, keeping her eyes locked on Crystal Roy. If he did anything against her, she'd be ready to using his own wind tactic against him.


Even in a new outfit, Ante wasn't out of the woods. She could feel that the fans were sputtering a bit and losing just a bit of wind strength, but not enough to matter.

1) Move with Dare
2) Activate ZephyrCross
3) Pump
4) Pump
*) Wind subtype Gust to blow back water shots

Dare focused on NekketsuMan as she began to shoot their water pistol onto the navi, all the while Ante trailed along as she prepared for her own attack. But even after two well placed shots, luck was on the steel navi's side as both simply missed the balloon by few inches. "Yosha! Time for the counterattack!" screamed NekketsuMan as he began to pump his own pistol. But, rather that he had luck on his side, it just looked like everyone was flat-out of luck. All of his attacks were a miss as well, leaving the three navis only wet and tired with no progression.

Crystal Roy, on the other hand, was in the lead after taking out the couples as he was taking his time in the battle, slowly charging his gun as me made his way towards the other three navis. Advant and Love were still on the stage, but after being defeated, they were rather quiet as they both stared down at the ground...

NekketsuMan: 2 Balloons / 1 Pump [West]
Advant / Love: OUT
Crystal Roy: 1 Balloons / 3 Pump [East]
Ante / Dare: 2 Balloons / 3 Pump / 0 Pump [West]

Wind: 99 HP (Between Ante/Dare & Crystal Roy)

Balloon Locations:
NekketsuMan: Left Shoulder / Right Shoulder / Chest
Advant / Love: Top of the head (Advant) / Chest (Love) / Stomach (Both) (OUT)
Crystal Roy: Chest / Chest / Chest
Ante / Dare: Forehead (Ante) / Forehead (Dare) / Hands (Both)

Turn Limit: 2 Turns

-Balloon Scores-
NekketsuMan: 1 Balloon
Advant / Love: 2 Balloon (OUT)
Crystal Roy: 3 Balloon
Ante / Dare: 1 Balloon

Getting splashed a few more times by high-pressure water streams stung a bit, but the wetness did at least serve to cool Dare's head a bit. "If I can't keep my temper under control, I'm going to end up letting down all my fans, and Ante," she thought, smearing water across her forehead with her gun hand to keep it from running into her eyes.

Dare clutched the gun to her chest while pinching her wet blouse between two fingers trying to shake it from where it was sticking to her skin. The transparency from NekketsuMan's bad shots was growing, and the dark tone of her skin had begun to show through at the shoulders. "We've only got a little time left to shine, Ante, and I'm slowing down again! With this little time left, we can't play it safe... even if we all stay alive, Roy's got the most balloons! We've got to find a way to knock him out of the competition. Buy me some time, and make sure not to lose your own balloon!" Dare spoke edgewise out of her mouth, trying to speak in a voice only Ante could hear.

Realizing there was no point in protecting herself now that her forehead balloon was popped, Dare decided she'd just deal with whatever showers NekketsuMan sent her way and focus on getting a barrage ready that Roy wouldn't be able to answer. She mashed her trigger with all of her energy, building up shots while not actually facing Crystal Roy in the hopes that she could catch him off guard.

"Geez, don't you think you're getting a little carried away?" Dare spoke to NekketsuMan, putting on her best abashed face. "If you keep up firing like that, you're going to get me too wet!" The daredevil Navi made a big show of anxiousness for how her top had begun to cling to her, gesturing to it with her free arm and trying to open it up as an easy target to shoot on reflex. She hoped NekketsuMan would take that simple and pointless bait and not think to swivel around to their sides. He hadn't made much of an attempt to a moment ago, so she hoped he'd stay dense.

Summary:
Subtype
-High Gear (passive)
Actions
-Recovering...
-Pump!
-Pump!

Although Ante couldn't see what her partner was up to, she had an idea that her partner was up to the old theatrics again. "Well, that may be one way to win," she thought to herself with a curt smile, wondering how NekketsuMan would take it. A manly guy like that might be able to toss lewd thoughts aside... or perhaps taking all one can is part of manliness? She liked to think not.

All of that aside, the navi knew she didn't have much time to think about her partner's exploits. Her hulking, crystalline opponent was heading towards her faster than his body ought to allow, and furthermore, her partner seemed to want her to distract him. That was going to be especially hard, considering the large number of pumps she'd already counted him making. She had good reason to believe that he'd not only aim for the exposed balloon beneath her hat, but would probably also take a shot at pulling them apart like he had Advant and Love. Partnership in this competition gave them certain vulnerabilities she had not realized when they'd started.

Furthermore...


... as an added distraction, the turbines composing her hat and the tube-top of her dress were starting to act up. Apparently, even entering a cross didn't protect her from the damnable bug that had been placed into her programming so long ago. As the machines malfunctioned, the wind strength decreased. What had been a solid white tube dress, extending all the way to the floor, now became a fleetingly transparent, knee-height dress. Minor breaks in the wind funnel revealed fleeting glimpses of her slender figure and silver skin. "Not the distraction I need right now," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore it.

The real danger here wasn't Roy's water. She had two balloons up on his one; that gave her a rather nice advantage should the situation come to a full-on shoot out. The problem, she figured, was that she had to stay touching Dare. If Roy got over to them, he'd simply tear them apart and win that way. He probably wouldn't even bother trying to snipe off her balloons while such an appealing option lay open for him.

"I'll discourage him from even getting close, then," she reasoned. "Teruko! I'd like to request my Quake battlechip."

"Sorry, Ante! Kinda busy!" Teruko responded, busy doing something away from the range of vision granted by the PET's monitor.

"It's a little important," Ante stressed, realizing that time was of the essence but never wanting to raise her voice. Teruko slotted the chip quickly, then set the PET back down; clearly, whatever she was involved in was a very tasking business. Having received her chip, Ante summoned up her giant, floating king, who rocketed into the air above the arena and then floated there. The holographic projection flipped his menacing, spade-headed club over so that the end faced downward, then smashed it onto the arena floor.

Deliberately, Ante had her summon aim its attack to the left of Crystal Roy's path of movement. Her hope was that he would be surrounded by cracked panels, which would dissuade him from rushing towards her and getting physical to separate them. There was, however, a good chance that he would have an areagrab ready. With that in mind, all she could do was pump and prepare to protect the one good balloon on her head. The wind generated by her ZephyrCross might also help her deflect any oncoming shots.

*) Wind subtype Gust to blow back incoming water shots from Roy
1) Quake1 @ area to the left side of space between self and Roy [100 null bomb, C accuracy + Impact + Medium Area Cracked Terrain]
2) Pump
3) Dodge with head movement
4) Dodge with head movement

"HA! A real otoko wouldn't let some feminine charm get in his way!" screamed NekketsuMan as he faced Dare. "...You either embrace it fully or ignore it completely! I choose to embrace it!" After giving his gun few good pumps, the metal navi unloaded his entire salvo of water gun onto the Dare and Ante. But, as expected, the angle at which the navi fired wasn't optimal to even have a good chance of hitting either of the pair's balloons and only served to wet Dare even more (and little bit onto Ante).

Crystal Roy was getting dangerously close to Ante and Dare, most likely planning to do the same at the pair as he did onto the defeated couple. But Ante's use of the Quake chip created a gap between the pair and Roy, promptly stopping the navi's march. "...Hmph. No matter." The navi's hollow finger wrapped around the trigger as he raised the pistol with both hand and aimed at Ante's forehead. The first shot was hindered by the wind, skewering the water-shot's path to somewhere else. The second shot was successfully evaded by a narrow margin, but Crystal Roy quickly adjusted to Ante's evasive maneuvers and fired one more shot, successfully popping her balloon.

"One minute left!" Mr. Gold's voice boomed throughout the stage. "At this rate, NekketsuMan will win by default, since he has the most balloons left! If everyone happens to have one balloon left, the one with the most score will win, which will be Crystal Roy! This doesn't look good for our dynamic duo, folks!"

NekketsuMan, after hearing what Mr. Gold had to say, had formed a smile on his face as he realized that he was on the lead. As obvious as he was, he intended to seize the victory by going the safest way possible. Crystal Roy, on the other hand, was still some distance away and calmly began to pump his gun again...

NekketsuMan: 2 Balloons / 0 Pump [West]
Advant / Love: OUT
Crystal Roy: 1 Balloons / 1 Pump [East]
Ante / Dare: 1 Balloons / 3 Pump / 2 Pump [West]

Wind: 99 HP

Balloon Locations:
NekketsuMan: Left Shoulder / Right Shoulder / Chest
Advant / Love: Top of the head (Advant) / Chest (Love) / Stomach (Both) (OUT)
Crystal Roy: Chest / Chest / Chest
Ante / Dare: Forehead (Ante) / Forehead (Dare) / Hands (Both)

Turn Limit: 1 Turns

-Balloon Scores-
NekketsuMan: 1 Balloon
Advant / Love: 2 Balloon (OUT)
Crystal Roy: 4 Balloon
Ante / Dare: 1 Balloon

NekketsuMan's water attack didn't affect Ante much; the liquid swirled into her dress and then splooshed harmlessly out as droplets along with the cycle of the wind. Roy's shot bothered her considerably more; despite her efforts, he'd taken one of their last remaining two balloons. As water rolled down Ante's gray forehead, making it shine in such a way that it humorously resembled polished stone, she frowned and attempted to come up with a strategy.

She had managed to keep him from getting over to them, but he didn't look overly upset. He seemed as though he planned to shoot their middle balloon, regardless of how they were defending it. Ante thought that she and her ally were pretty much doomed in this contest unless she came up with something drastic; to win now, they'd have to not only pop at least one of NekketsuMan's balloons, but also pop some more in order to beat Crystal Roy's personal score.

... Furthermore, it certainly didn't look as though Teruko were in any situation to aid with chips. She (nor Bruce) were even visible through the PET's camera.

"Grab my hand, Miss Dare! We are going upwards, into the skies. This is our final option!" Ante exclaimed suddenly, then had to keep grip on the balloon. That didn't give them quite the ease and flexibility that she'd hoped for; they couldn't simply hold hands and raise into the sky, or they wouldn't be able to fire. There was, however, no further time for hesitation. Quickly, Ante wrapped her gun-arm around Dare's waist and drew her close.

With that accomplished, keeping their bodies breast-to-breast, she spun into the air and tilted her own head around Dare's such that she could get a clear line of sight on Crystal Roy. She could have gone for NekketsuMan, but it almost felt as though she had a personal score to settle with him now. "Fire on NekketsuMan! Fire with everything you've got!" she instructed her ally, then pointed her own pumped water gun towards Crystal Roy and unloaded.

The team's only hope was that they'd manage to get the balloons before NekketsuMan and Crystal Roy managed to nail theirs. Having high ground would help them, but if the two enemies climbed into her airstream, they'd have easy access to the balloon...

... and both her own and Dare's panties, thanks to the wind and worms-eye view. "D-Don't approach! I'm warning you!" Ante cried out, blushing feverishly as she imagined both of the two craning their necks to get a good look. In her mind, it seemed that they'd definitely want to do that. Shaking her head, she managed to get her focus back on the battle. She tried to swing her body such that, if either of the two wanted to take a shot at the balloon, they'd be blocked by her form.

Defensively, she shot a gust at NekketsuMan to keep him away from the airstream. Besides not wanting him to get a nice upskirt view, he'd also have a harder time shooting their balloon if he couldn't get to the center.

*) Wind subtype Airstep self and Dare above the others
1) Fire at Roy
2) Fire at Roy
3) Fire at Roy
4) Block balloon with body
*) Wind subtype Gust to blow back NekketsuMan

Dare was normally the kind to take charge, but in this case she felt she had been quite literally swept up in Ante's wind. She supposed that she should be glad she was, since NekketsuMan's barrage had now made her top see-through, exposing the similarly red bra she was wearing underneath.

"Eh? I didn't even know you had done this... tornado... thing!" Dare told Ante in the brief moment during which they were rising through the air. Her competitive spirit, which normally kept her on track, was temporarily taking back seat to her surprise at not being the one in charge. She did notice with some interest that Ante had lost her balloon as well. She tried to remember how specific their bargain had been, and whether or not one of them was the "winner" if they both ultimately lost their balloons.

Again, the surprise of being commanded snapped Dare out of her thoughts. "Right!" she responded sharply, trying to lean over Ante's shoulder. "This situation is a little..." Dare's thoughts wandered. She was rarely one to get flustered, but having Ante take the charge and assume a position she found so provocative was something Dare would never have expected. Luckily, the wind from Ante's funny new hat whipped into her face, the cool air giving her back her focus.

"A comeback win will be really cool, right? Let's do it, Ante!" Dare shouted, aiming her first shot at NekketsuMan's chest and her second at his right shoulder. Even if he hunkered down to keep his chest balloon safe from his elevated angle, she figured his shoulder would still be an available target. "I'm not done yet, though! Take this, you soggy samurai!" she yelled, channeling her inner energy to pump and quickly fire another shot at her prey. With all her energy spent, the most she could hope to do to defend their balloon was reflexively twitch in an advantageous way, but she thought Ante had done a pretty decent job of handling their defenses.

Incidentally, Dare wasn't thinking about the possibility of the men getting an upskirt view at all... not that it was really possible for her to open up her legs any, regardless, since staying in Ante's grasp required submitting pretty completely to her embrace. Dare briefly allowed herself to think of how intimate this pose must look. "I wonder if Bruce and Teruko are up to anything on the cart...?"

-High Gear (passive)
-Afterburner activate!
Actions
-Fire! at NekketsuMan's chest
-Fire! at NekketsuMan's right shoulder
-Pump!
-Fire! at NekketsuMan's right shoulder

"I-I don't believe my eyes! I honestly can't believe my eyes, I think we have ourselves...A DRAW!"

In the aftermath of the hectic showdown, all four navis found their balloons popped, but unclear as to how it became so. The crowds were confused as murmurs began to grow through the arena, also leaving the contestants in the same bewilderment. "W-wait, I won, right? I had to win this time!" screamed NekketsuMan as he clenched his iron fists. Crystal Roy was silent as he began to brush off the balloon remains off his well-dressed chest, causing his crystalline fingers and chest to clink with noise.

"Well folks, what is a high tech arena without some high tech gadgetry? We are reviewing through the high-speed cameras to come to a conclusion...And here it is!" Mr. Gold pointed his cane up into the roof of the arena where the large screen resided, which began to replay some of the key moments of the showdown in slow-mo...

Inaudible, the clip showed Ante and Dare leaping up into the sky as they began to open fire at NekketsuMan and Crystal Roy. The metal hot-head was swept up by the sudden maneuver, barely having the time to react against the attacks before both of his balloons popped. The cool-headed navi, on the other and, took the time to adjust his aim and fired almost half-a-second ahead of Ante's shot. By some ungodly notion, the clip had a split screen showing how both water shots popped one another balloon down to the nano seconds, repeating the same clip over and over again.

"...Ladies and Gentleman, it is a first that this had ever happened in the Festival de Fortune events. We have our selves a draw between tw-...Three contestants!" The audiences were obviously discontent with the result as shouts and arguments flared up in the arena. "Sorry folks, if this is how it is, we just have to roll with it!...LETS GIVE OUR CONGRATULATIONS TO ANTE, DARE, AND CRYSTAL ROY!!"



Things were really getting out of hand when Ante and Dare had won another game, on top of which, Crystal Roy had also taken first. This may have been the least fruitful match for the gambling audiences, but Mr. Gold had one of the biggest smile anyone would have ever seen as he approached the duo once more. "Fabulous. Just fabulous! You girls are certainly going over my expectations! Here's a small prize for you two girls again, but each of you can only pick one, alright?"

The floor beneath the contestants began to slowly descend, returning them back to their locker rooms. But before the contestants were fully obscured from one another, Roy turned towards the pair and spoke..."You watch yourselves..." While those words stuck to Ante and Dare, they could barely hear themselves think from all the ruckus made by the audiences as it echoed into the elevator tunnel...

When the pair finally returned back to their room, a pair of female navis stood waiting for them with boxes at each hands."Congratulations, Ms. Dare and Ms. Ante." said one of the navis with a smile. "Mr. Gold instructed us to give you one of the following prizes...Which one do you prefer?" The boxes were perfectly identical, down to the shape of the bow that tied it together. The only thing that made the difference was the color of the wrapper...

Prizes:

[li]Caput Mortuum Present Box
[li]Arsenic Present Box
[li]Malachite Present Box

• Gamboge Present Box
  

NekketsuMan: 0 Balloons / 0 Pump [West]
Advant / Love: OUT
Crystal Roy: 0 Balloons / 0 Pump [East]
Ante / Dare: 0 Balloons / 0 Pump / 0 Pump [West]

Wind: 99 HP

Balloon Locations:
NekketsuMan: Left Shoulder / Right Shoulder / Chest
Advant / Love: Top of the head (Advant) / Chest (Love) / Stomach (Both) (OUT)
Crystal Roy: Chest / Chest / Chest
Ante / Dare: Forehead (Ante) / Forehead (Dare) / Hands (Both)

Turn Limit: TIME OVER

-Balloon Scores-
NekketsuMan: 1 Balloon
Advant / Love: 2 Balloon (OUT)
Crystal Roy: 5 Balloon
Ante / Dare: 4 Balloon

-Scores-
NekketsuMan: 3 pts
Advant / Love: 1 pts
Crystal Roy: 4 pts
Ante / Dare: 7 pts

After realizing their was no longer a balloon between her hand and Ante's, Dare had begun scanning their opponents to see if their were any traces of balloons left. She was pleased to see that she had indeed managed to get NekketsuMan's, but if Crystal Roy had walked out the winner in the crossfire...

As it turned out, Dare didn't really know what to think until she saw it on the monitor. She watched with great anticipation, her eyes rooted on the screen even before touching ground from Ante's descent and leaving her grasp. "No way... at the exact same time?! There's gotta be slow-mo, something to show a millisecond's difference...!" While she spoke loudly, the roar of the audience was already drowning out her protests.

Dare prided herself on showmanship, so she gave her fans a wave and a grin as she descended, but Roy's attitude and remarks left her in a sour mood. "I guess I should be happy, since that was a comeback, in the end... but to tie with that guy! To be so close to beating a guy like that when he's in his element, and tie? It's like a bad joke." The Navi scratched at the back of her head in frustration, but she wasn't tearing it out, at least. After fuming just a bit, it was already out of her system.

"Oh yeah, we have some unfinished business!" Dare began to Ante, pounding her fist to her hand as she turned to her ally. "Those air-clothes! You didn't tell me you had, like... surprise flying powers. That ended up being a huge advantage! Really, this round was your win more than mine. You should be proud, outshining me in a performance!" Halfway through, what Dare had intended to be a question about Ante's powers had turned into competitive analysis and self-praising, but that wasn't unusual for her.

Her discussion would have to wait, though, because there was another issue to attend to. "Oh, another present? Gold is pretty sweet on his lovely young contestants," Dare joked, looking them over. Her bright, expectant smile fell to an exaggerated frown as she examined the presents. "I'm surprised a guy with such flashy taste in wardrobe would pick such boring colors for his prize wrapping, though. I was all set up to pick the eye-catching red one," she mentioned, probably unnecessarily.

"Well... I guess that purple is about as good as we're going to do, huh, Ante?" Dare pointed to the first one with a grin.

"That is rather remarkable, isn't it? Well, it could have gone a lot worse for us. Let's just be happy that we made it out with a draw," Ante sighed, smiling with relief. In the end, she was pretty sure nobody had seen their panties, and the fact that the two came out without giving Crystal Roy a win was even better. She didn't let his words bother her; if anything, she was pleased that his threat seemed to go in-line with their mission.

"It's all crystal clear now," she thought to herself, then chided herself for her silly pun. "Crystal Roy is somehow involved in the scheme. Now I just need to figure out how Mr. Gold's love for upsetting the audience's bets, the bets themselves, and Crystal Roy all tie together..."

Getting her head back in the present, Ante turned to Dare and listened to what she had to say. "Oh, right! I guess I did win our little bet, didn't I?" she chuckled, crossing her hands in front of her lap as her outfit transformed back into its usual black and red form (still without the skirt). She didn't understand the impact of bringing back up the bet, but it seemed like an easy, off-the-cuff remark. They did have some sort of arrangement, didn't they? "Well, a friend gave me those powers. They've come in remarkably useful, so I should remember to send him my gratitude at some point."

Ante turned her attention next to their host's gift boxes. She probably would have gone for the purple, that being the most elegant and ladylike, but her friend had already called it. Of course, Ante was not so petty as to complain. "Let's see..." But all of the remaining colors were sort of unappealing, were they? None of them were really too her preference. Still smiling, she walked over to try the Arsenic Box. "This will do well enough."

"The caput mortuum and arsenic it is."

The two female navis gave the presents to their new owners and walked out of a room with a polite bow. Before any of the pairs had the chance to rip through their nicely wrapped presents, Mr. Gold appeared on the screen with a big smile lit up on his face. "Ladies, how are you two? I see that you got your presents, that's just wonderful..." The video zoomed out to show the announcer on a red chair with gold trimmings, crossing his legs while effortlessly twirling his cane with his left hand. "It seems like all the other contestants wants to speak to you again. And like last time, we need to keep the time short...Sorry, but the audiences are getting a bit frisky and they don't want to be bothered, even to the slightest."

Mr. Gold caught the cane and stood up from the chairs, tipping his hat towards Ante and Dare as he began to walk away. "I need to set up for the next game, so excuse me, ladies. And I also bid you good luck~." The video was cut, but left three virtual buttons that had all the other contestant's names labeled next to it...

But serious talk can wait, those presents needs to be opened!

"Oh-ho, you remembered our bet, did you?" Dare hadn't been trying to dodge bringing it up, it just hadn't been on her mind. She was a bit surprised that Ante had both remembered it and kept track of balloon status during the battle. "I guess that's one of the advantages of real battle experience... the ability to keep track of all the factors on the battlefield." Dare nodded at her own sage remarks, when the fact of the matter was probably just that her own focus was too narrow. "Well, no one's a fairer sport than Dare! I've won trophies for good sportsmanship alone. Bring it up whenever you need it."

The Navi had been unwrapping her present as she talked, and became fairly excited as she looked at her prize. "Ooh, I bet I got the best one! It's like a flashy finishing move," she assumed. "... Huh, Bruce isn't accepting the data yet? I wonder what those two are up to... And why that Bruce isn't capturing my exciting net debut for posterity!"

Realizing Gold's buttons were still floating ahead of them, Dare put a hand to her chin. Thinking for a surprisingly long time, she suddenly perked up. "Oh right! We were trying to catch that criminal, Swirlie!" It appeared she had forgotten all about their mission by this point, in favor of focusing on the contests. "Well, I feel like we've gotten all we can from Advant and Love. That leaves the Crystal Buttface and Hot Head, and I can't imagine that guy has anything useful to give us. I don't really want to look at that Roy's shiny mug any longer than we have to, but maybe we can get him to let something slip if we talk to him privately? It is interesting that he wanted to talk to us, anyway, rather than letting us chew over his last threat."

"Thank you, Miss Dare. I will try to remember," Ante replied with a chuckle. "As for our operators, I saw Teruko just moments ago. As I recall, she wasn't wearing a shirt," the navi muttered, finding her operator's shirtlessness mundane and common. "That happens a lot, though, so it may be nothing worth worrying about. I haven't been letting it bother me, anyways."

"If Roy really does want to speak to us, we ought to listen. It's clear that he's somehow involved in all of this. Perhaps he'll tell us something that can lead us to Swirlie... I mean, Swindle," she corrected herself, realizing that her partner had used the wrong name. "Still, let's try to be discrete. Although, just the act of asking to speak to him makes us seem more suspicious... We should think of a cover story."

Pressing her fist to her chin, she paused to consider what they ought to do next. "Try to act as though you've contacted him because you're offended. We can change our strategy midway if we need to, but it's better to play dumb for now," she advised her partner, then reached out to press Crystal Roy's button.

As soon as Ante pressed into Crystal Roy's button, the screen buzzed in static before it focused into an image of Crystal Roy sitting on a bench drying himself off with a towel. The navi was seen without his shirt and vest, as it was drying on the background, revealing his wet, handsome, perfectly cut body...which was literally "cut", since his body also consisted of the crystalline materials.

"Hmph..."

Hanging the towel on his neck, Crystal Roy began straightening his mustache before finally turning towards the screen. "Doing well for first timers, if I say so myself." The navi stood up and began to dress into fresh set of clothes with his back turned, as if he really had no intention to speak with Ante and Dare in the first place while minding his own business. "But I can't say that everything you've achieved so far is going to help you in the next game. You need to watch out..." As soon as he finished dressing up...He focused on shining his shoe with the towel rather than concentrating on the screen. "The audience isn't happy, Gold is having the time of his life, and you...You girls obviously have something in mind if you decided to call me after the game, don't you?"