MachMan, Unwelcome Hades Visitor

In the bleakness of Rogue Hades, a small metal platform stood silently, a teleporter output its only defining feature. The output was benign for a moment, then lit as crimson, as the trio of Machman, Aera and Vector stumbled through the portal. When they would come to, they would find themselves surrounded by a posse of nightmarish creatures, standing at the ready for some delicious new prey that happened to come their way...

(positions relative to Machman)
BlackmareA: 180HP [Lava] (front left)
BlackmareB: 180HP [Lava] (front right)
BlackmareC: 180HP [Lava] (behind)

Terrain:
- 80% Lava (Surrounding)
- 20% Metal (Teleport point)

MachMan.EXE: 160HP
Aera.SP: 70HP
Vector.SP: 100HP
(Everyone is on Metal)

-SURPRISE, ROGUE BATTLE ONE, RESTART!!-
The trio materialized into the Hades network, and found themselves surrounded by three quite intimidating, black, floating viruses. Machman was still in his Machfighter form, but Vector and Aera were standing on the ground next to him.

[[i]Mazer, we're surrounded! Requesting Chips!][/i]

[Let's try out your new BambooSword, and I'll throw in a catcher as well. Engage!]

Machman's protective shield raised up over his leading edge as he called out to his SPs.

[[i]Aera. Vector. Get on!][/i]

Mach's cockpit hatch opened as Aera instinctively leaped into the air and slipped into the cockpit to the ejection seat below. As the hatch closed and she was fastened in, Vector's metal plates secured themselves to Mach's frame. As soon as they junctioned, Mach's thrusters fired and caused him to rise into the air. Vectoring thrusters under his nose and frame fired rapidly to keep him floating in the air as his main engines swung down to provide more thrust.

As he did so, a yellow saucer with arms protruding from it's sides materialized underneath Mach's body. It was slightly buffeted by the torrent of air created by the engines, but it quickly picked out one of the viruses and darted towards it to steal some of its data, before returning under Mach's large frame. Mach remained perched in the air as the leading and trailing edges of his forward-swept wings started to glow a bright green, as he channeled his BambooSword chip data into both of his wings.

[[i]Just a bit closer...[/i]]

Mach waited in the air as he allowed the viruses to get within range of his next attack. He had to get them in close, or there would be no way he could hit them all.

[[i]Gotcha![/i]]

As soon as he felt all three of the viruses were close enough to hit, his bottom right engine pointed almost straight forward as his upper left pointed straight back and fired at full thrust. The vectoring thrusters on his nose only fired to the left, which assisted him in causing his entire frame to rapidly spin like a top. Mach tried his best to sweep his wings out as far as possible, and use his battlechip-augmented wings to slice the viruses to ribbons. The green glow of his wings seemed to streak across the air as his spin came to near dizzying speeds.

Aera was pressed to one side of her ejection seat, and would have been up against the left wall of the cockpit if it weren't for the safety straps securing her down. She moaned under the strain of the Gs and tried to remain conscious. Vector was also struggling to keep his armored body secured to Mach's frame. Machman made a full three rotations, knowing his BambooSword battlechip would lose power by then. His spin engines died as the opposites fired and slowed his rotation drastically to an eventual stop. He then positioned his engines downwards and fired at half power as the vectoring thrusters on his fuselage fired at full power straight down. This caused Mach's nose to rise as he gained altitude, as if he was performing a backflip in slow-motion. He eventually went full vertical as his engines swung into their normal positions as his vectoring thrusters became quiet. His nose naturally tried to complete the flip, but as went completely inverted, he went to full throttle and rocketed away.

His ailerons went to work and caused Mach to roll 180 degrees clockwise and righted himself. It certainly wasn't the prettiest "Inverted Split-S" maneuver he's pulled, but hopefully it did the job to get him away from the viruses. As he started to turn around, he ejected his two decoy pods off to the side and hid them from view with his own frame. They lined up side by side as they activated their projectors and created two exact copies of the Machfighter, armor junctioned and all. They both peeled off and dove towards the Blackmare viruses. They approached on a converging angle and appeared to begin a strafing run as they tried to "corral" the viruses like a pair of flying sheepdogs. Mach wanted the viruses to get close together, so he could eliminate them in one strike, or have them accidentally strike eachother (if they still stood).


ACTIONS:

-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
Aera: Mobility Junction (3 passive movement/1passive dodge)
Vector: Armor Junction (100HP Casing)
1. Catcher: BlackmareA (Steal chip or copy attack for next turn)
2. Strategic Action: Wait for all viruses to get into combat range
3. BambooSword: BlackmareA,B,C (80dmg Wood + Slashing {max 3 targets}) [1/3 uses]
4. BambooSword: BlackmareA,B,C (80dmg Wood + Slashing {max 3 targets}) [2/3 uses]
5. BambooSword: BlackmareA,B,C (80dmg Wood + Slashing {max 3 targets}) [3/3 uses]
-[Mobility Action: Invert Split-S away from viruses]-
6. Dodge

Decoy1: Dive towards Blackmare goup
Decoy2: Dive towards Blackmare group

Cooling sigs:
none
The Blackmares snickered most unpleasantly, as each began to inch forward, their various shadowy bodies turning into sharp implements. Morning star. Daggers. And of course, the ubiquitous sword. The Catcher Mach sent out was immediately sliced down by one of the nightmarish creatures as they all rushed the fighter jet, viral screams of rage and anger bellowed out in a most hauntingly bone-chilling way.

Bad choice.

Machman immediately retaliated with a incredible 360-720-1080!-spin as his BambooSword-imbued wings shredded the Nightmares to pieces. The data fragments floated slowly towards the ground as Machman made his exit, thrusters at full power.

BlackmareA: DELETED
BlackmareB: DELETED
BlackmareC: DELETED

Terrain:
- 80% Lava (Surrounding)
- 20% Metal (Teleport point)

MachMan.EXE: 160HP
Aera.SP: 70HP
Vector.SP: 100HP
(Everyone is on Metal)

-ROGUE BATTLE ONE, VICTORY!!-

Rewards:
- 1890z
- 27 BugFrags
Mach circled around as his foes exploded from his quite successful rotating attack. He adjusted his engines levels and positions to set himself a few feet from the ground. The rewards of the battle lifted from the ground and were absorbed into either his frame, or Vector's armor plating.

[[i]Mazer, what is our position?[/i]]

Mazer attempted to locate his Navi and SPs, and finally determined where they were warped.

[According to the PET, you are now in the Hades Rogue Network.]

[[i]I've never heard of this place. Do we have any information on this area?][/i]

[None. However, this certainly doesn't give the same vibe as the Undernet, so I'm not against further exploration.]

[[i]Understood. We'll continue forward, and see what we find.][/i]

After gathering all of the spoils of battle, Mach's engines swung into their default positions and sent him flying over the lava-coated floor as they went deeper into the network.

((Ready for Battle 2))
Machman and company traveled further into the Rogue Hades network. As they delved deeper, they came across a rather strange sight in the landscape. Metal stairs, rusted from age and decay, stood alone in the network. It had no more than six steps, and would've looked very much out of place in the tumultous regions, if not for its absolutely massive size. Each step was taller than Machman by about a couple of feet, and the bolts, nuts and screws on the thing looked gigantic. Suddenly, a cry came from above the stairs. Looking would reveal some advanced Cirkill viruses, noticing the group's presence. Their guns were all immediately trained on them, evident that they were not happy.

CirCrushA: 180HP [First step]
CirCrushB: 180HP [Second step, Metal]
CirCrushC: 180HP [Fourth step]
CirCrushD: 180HP [Fifth step, Metal]
CirCrushE: 180HP [Sixth step]

Terrain:
- 5% Sand (Ground)
- 20% Metal (First step)
- 15% Metal, 5% Coal (Second step)
- 15% Metal (Third step)
- 15% Metal (Fourth step)
- 5% Metal, 5% Furnace (Fifth step)
- 10% Metal (Sixth step)
- 5% Metal (Top step)

MachMan.EXE: 160HP
Aera.SP: 70HP
Vector.SP: 100HP
(All on Ground)

-ROGUE BATTLE TWO, FIGHT!!-
Mach and the gang saw the large staircase, and began to slow down as they identified the 5 CirCrush viruses.

[[i]Viruses identified. Count 5. Permission to engage?][/i]

[DashAttack and Magbolt chips uploaded. Try to sweep them away, or use the Magbolt to send at least one of them tumbling down the stairs. Engage!]

Machman quickly rolled to the right as he deployed his decoy pods, and his protective energy shield powered up. The decoys activated their holoprojectors and transformed into perfect copies of Machman's armored frame. As he rolled out of position, the decoys copied and shifted positions around Machman in an attempt to "shuffle" the trio of Machfighters and attempt to confuse the enemy.

Machman pointed his nose towards the stairway and angled up to skim directly up the stairway's natural slope. His engines started to become louder as he began to accelerate.

[[i]Don't blink~![/i]]

Machman activated his first DashAttack battlechip, which basically injected pure fuel into his blast chambers, and allowed Machman to accelerate faster than he could normally go. Aera was pressed into the back of her seat, and she watched as the ground blurred underneath her while she grinned from ear to ear. Mach rocketed up the stairway, protected by a veil of compressed air that just simply didn't have the time to pass over his frame, which created an invisible battering ram. He tried to hit all 5 of the CirCrushes as he charged up the stairway and cleared the top step.

His engines started to die down as the DashAttack energy was depleted, but he used the extra boost of speed to perform a fast, climbing loop. He reached the apex and righted himself before he started to dive back down the staircase and to the ground below. He slowed his dive as two glowing orbs of crimson plasma started to grow between his wing tips and the spine-like canard wings protruding from his fuselage. They quickly swelled into two massive spheres of energy as Mach placed his crosshairs on the CirCrush virus perched on the 6th step. He then released the energy in a pair of two crimson beams that streaked towards the virus's position. Mach hoped to severely damage the virus, and use the crushing force of the beams to send it tumbling down the stairway, and possibly collide with its comrades on the way down.

The beams died down before being reduced to two broken trails of flickering bits of singed data. Mach then activated his second DashAttack chip, and rocketed back down the stairway. The decoys were able to use gravity to mimic Mach's speed as they struggled to follow the speedy Navi. He had to watch his speed, and started to pull up partially through his dive, otherwise he'd smash into the sandy ground below. As the battlechip data waned, he pulled up hard to avoid hitting the deck and proceeded to use evasive maneuvers as he circled around for his next attack.

[[i]Mazer, requesting Magbolt and RiskyHoney chips.]][/i]

[Battlechips uploaded. Sweep 'em up!]

As he climbed to turn into the first part of his cobra loop maneuver, a special missile materialized under his right wing. Even after firing, the missile would still be attached to Mach's frame via two metal wires stored in internal spools on the missile's frame. The missile's warhead contained a powerful capacitor, set to unleash a devastating shock on impact, but it also gives the enemy and wires a magnetic charge. The magnetized enemy would then be magnetically attracted to the wires, and Mach's own opposite magnetic charge.

Mach completed his cobra loop maneuver and accessed the video feeds of his Overwatch drones to confirm the CirCrush's position on the 4th step. He had to aim carefully, because he wanted to send the target tumbling down the stairs as well. After confirming the CirCrush's position and plotting the exact target on a "3D battlefield," he uploaded the targeting information to the missile and quickly fired. The missile dropped from Mach's wing before it's solid-fuel rocket engine fired and sent it streaking towards its target. The wire made a clinking noise as it spooled out of the missile. It eventually exploded in a flash of electricity, and hopefully dragged it's target off the stair and sent it careening down the staircase.

With his missile away, he activated his odd defensive chip, and watched as a honeycomb-like structure grew just in front of his fuselage. The nest started to buzz with activity as the hornet programs inside started to get agitated.


ACTIONS:
-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
Aera: Mobility Junction (3 passive movements or 1 passive dodge)
Vector: Armor Junction (100HP Casing)
1. Dodge
2. DashAttack: CirCrushA,B,C,D,E (90dmg + Impact)
3. Superior Thrust Laser: CirCrushE (40dmg x2 + Microburst + Multi-Hit + 3TCD)
4. DashAttack: CirCrushE,D,C,B,A (90dmg + Impact)
-[Mobility Dodge]-
5. MagBolt1: CirCrushC (90dmg Elec + Stun + Magnet Pull)
6. RiskyHoney1: Machman.EXE (Block Attack for 10dmg Wood x5 + Homing)

Decoy1: Follow Mach, attempt to draw fire away from him
Decoy2: Follow Mach, attempt to draw fire away from him

Cooling Sigs:
Superior Thrust Laser: 3 turns remaining
The CirCrushes quickly fired burst after burst of heavy cannon fire, but unfortunately none of them hit, as the Machfighter activated its thrusters and blasted away towards the robotic viruses. On the first burst, no less than four viruses met the powerful dash, and that was only the first. His powerful plasma bursts hit the CirCrush at the top dead-on, sending it flying down the stairs with impunity and to its doom. The decoys Machman had plugged out didn't seem to help one bit, since their targets only focused on the main one. Again did Machman blast through the opposition like a plasma gun through butter. Two targets did lock on to Machman and managed to fire a couple of accurate cannon bursts. Machman's Plasma Shield, along with Vector's armor prevented any damage to the main body, however. (90 to Vector-Casing) Afterwards, he fired a specialized magnetic missile, which took care of the remaining CirCrush easily.

CirCrushA: DELETED
CirCrushB: DELETED
CirCrushC: DELETED
CirCrushD: DELETED
CirCrushE: DELETED

Terrain:
- 5% Sand (Ground)
- 20% Metal (First step)
- 15% Metal, 5% Coal (Second step)
- 15% Metal (Third step)
- 15% Metal (Fourth step)
- 5% Metal, 5% Furnace (Fifth step)
- 10% Metal (Sixth step)
- 5% Metal (Top step)

MachMan.EXE: 160HP
Aera.SP: 70HP [Mobile]
Vector.SP: 10HP [Casing] 100HP [Original]

-ROGUE BATTLE TWO, VICTORY!!-

Rewards:
- 3000z
- 45 BugFrags
Machman managed to strike down the viruses in an expedient fashion, and gathered up the spoils of the battle as he hovered over the area.

[Good work Machman.]

[[i]Piece of cake. Thanks for the defense, Vector. I would have been hurting after that barrage.[/i]]

Vector's armored plating was slightly singed and dented from the attacks, but he was still at nearly full strength.

Merely performing my duty, sire.

Aera smiled and nodded in agreement as Mach continued onwards and deeper into the network.

((Ready for Battle #3))
As if it wasn't enough that the locals were trying to kill him, even the weather seemed to grow more hostile as Machman continued. Winds picked up and worked against him, but he remained stalwart and pressed on. Soon, embers and particles of dust and sand were added to the mix, obscuring vision and making it a pain to navigate. A meteor suddenly caught his attention as it crashed directly in front of him and he realized he had unwittingly walked into the eye of the storm. As with most things, a group of viruses was responsible for the weird changes. Through squinted eyes, Machman could see a trio of hooded Fullfires preparing to summon another rain of meteors while two Volcaners shuffled around, trying to find a good resting spot. Behind them all, a Windbox virus, unlike any he had seen before, churned out the gales that blew across the area. Practically uprooting the surrounding sand in the process, it was arguably the main cause of the storm.

Another meteor splashed down in a nearby puddle of magma.

Correction... Firestorm.

FullfireA: 150 HP [lava]
FullfireB: 150 HP [sand]
FullfireC: 150 HP [lava]
VolcanerA: 150 HP [lava]
VolcanerB: 150 HP [sand]
RareWindBox: 200 HP [sand]

Terrain: 50% Lava, 40% Sand, 10% Normal

MachMan.EXE: 160HP
Aera.SP: 70HP [sand]
Vector.SP: 100HP [sand]

[Battle 3 - Begin!]
((Vector has 110HP))

Mach was buffeted by the winds, and the sand coursing over his frame caused caused a dull humming sound inside the cockpit. Machman groaned under his breath before he started to close the flanges inside of his engine intakes; he attempted to prevent sand from causing damage to his engines.

[[i]Ugh, this sand is going to get everywhere... You alright out there, Vector?][/i]

Vector, who's body was providing an extra layer of protection for his frame, stood fast against the onslaught of sand.

A mere annoyance, sire.

[[i]Mach! Incoming!][/i]

Aera screamed from the cockpit, her eyes glued to the image of a bright ball of light streaking towards them from above. Machman saw the object as well, and quickly flared his control surfaces and acted as an "air brake" to slow himself down. The meteor crashed into the ground in front of them in a flash of fire and molten rock. Mach immediately focused down on his radar, and detected multiple signatures. As he continued forward, the viruses finally came into view.

He also heard a loud thrumming noise, and noticed the winds were coming from the same direction as the noise. He quickly deployed his full array of drones, and the Overwatch drones braved the storm to move over the battlefield as his decoy drones moved to his sides and projected their disguises around themselves. The Overwatch drones started to stream in video to Mach, and he found the source of the torrent: a heavily-armored wind box, surrounded by an array of shuffling viruses. Knowing a fight was soon going to break out, Machman raised his protective shield, and some of Vector's armor moved to reinforce his shield.

[[i]Viruses identified, count 6. Permission to engage?][/i]

[Mach, you already know that Windbox is gonna make it tough to engage the rest of the viruses. Use your Thrust Laser to blast it out of position. You may be able to disable the fan blades, or even cause it to blow towards the enemy themselves!]

[[i]Understood.][/i]

Machman could see the rapidly rotating fan blades and boxy appearance of the wind box, and pointed his nose towards it. With the winds coming directly towards him, he could use his streamlined shape and his vertical stabilizers to keep him pointing directly towards his target. His wings started to sweep even further forward, and his fuselage was quickly aglow from the reflection of the bright, pulsating crimson plasma orbs that rapidly formed between his wingtips and the spike-like canard wings that sprouted from his fuselage. The plasma rapidly grew in both size and intensity, and started to reach their maximum power capacities as Machman confirmed the windbox's position using the optical data from his Overwatch drones.

With the immobile virus in his sights, he adjusted his aim slightly and unleashed the full power of the plasma in a pair of crimson beams of energy that blew two massive holes in the sand storm as they streaked towards his target. The roar of the energy tearing through the air and the brightness of the excited plasma quickly died down as the beam thinned out and disappeared as glowing bits of data were blown back and danced around Mach's frame.

((Turn Split:))
-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
Aera: Mobility Junction (3 passive movements or 1 passive dodge)
Vector: Reinforce Plasma Shield (+1 Hit)
Vector: Armor Junction (110HP Casing)
1. Superior Thrust Laser: RareWindBox (40dmg x2 + Microburst + 3TCD) [+take aim]


Decoy1: Stay on Mach's right side
Decoy2: Stay on Mach's left side


Cooling Sigs:
Superior Thrust Laser: 3 Turns Remaining

((5 actions remaining))
Even with the element of surprise, the viruses did not retain their upper hand as Machman's Thrust Laser struck the Windbox dead on, sending it hurtling through the air before it landed facedown on a panel of sand. The engine continued to churn and the sand beneath it was cleared away in an instant by the powerful fan. However, the winds had completely stopped, with the exception of the Windbox's immediate surroundings making it somewhat difficult to approach. The Fullfires meandered around, wondering what had happened while one of the Volaners lobbed a fireball.

FullfireA: 150 HP [lava]
FullfireB: 150 HP [lava]
FullfireC: 150 HP [sand]
VolcanerA: 150 HP [lava] [ATTACKING]
VolcanerB: 150 HP [sand]
RareWindBox: 120 HP [sand] [facedown] [passive nova1 knockback]

Terrain: 50% Lava, 35% Sand, 15% Normal

MachMan.EXE: 160HP [110 HP Casing] [2-hit shield] [-1 action]
Aera.SP: 70HP [mobility junction]
Vector.SP: 100HP [armour junction]
Machman watched as his strike hit it's mark and knocked the windbox out of position and eliminated it's pestering winds. With his targets in view, he began his onslaught.

[[i]Mazer, requesting Bubbler, BubbleStar, and Cannonball chips.][/i]

Aera watched her weapon readout display as multiple attack programs were detected within Mach's systems, reflecting Mazer's quick download of battlechips.

[Chips uploaded, take them down!]

Machman noticed one of the Volcaner viruses hunkered down, and the opening on the top of it's head started to glow. It seemed this one wanted to get deleted first. Mach was more than ready to accept it's request; three missiles materialized under his wings, each with a special warhead and ready to delete the enemy. Mach quickly throttled up and strafed to the side in an attempt to avoid the incoming fireball before he angled his nose back towards the virus.

Machman took aim at the attacking virus, and sent the targeting data to one of the missiles under his right wing. This one looked normal enough, but the warhead housed an incredibly dense iron spike, designed to pierce through even the toughest armor. After he targeted his foe, he launched the missile off. The missile dropped from his wing and darted towards the Volcaner with the help of it's solid-fuel rocket engine.

He then shifted his focus to the Fullfires, particularly to the ones perched over the glowing lava. That was what his other two missiles were for. The second missile under his right wing contained several bladders filled with pressurized water, capable of delivering a harsh spray of water over a small area. He aimed his missile towards the pair of lava-loving Fullfires, and fired. The missile dropped away and rocketed off towards the viruses before it quickly exploded in a white spray of water.

He knew the water-filled missile would not be enough to wipe out the entire group of Fullfires, so he brought his final missile to bear. This one contained a very dense and sticky fluid, capable of disabling movement and encasing targets in a highly conductive "cage" of sorts. Mach tried to find a spot where his attack would get the most coverage, and hopefully affect all three viruses before he fired. The missile streaked ahead towards the viruses before it exploded with a loud pop, followed by a low "blorp" sound of the sticky fluid coating the area.

With all of his missiles away, he switched to defense as his weapon blisters opened up and revealed his pair of triple rocket tubes. They were all armed with armor-piercing warheads, and were ready to deliver the pain should Mach get attacked. Mach's engines were primed and ready, just in case another set of attacks came in and he would have to get out of the way quickly.


ACTIONS: ((5 remaining))
-[Mobility Dodge]-
2. Cannonball: VolcanerA (150dmg + Breaking)
3. Bubbler: FullfireA,B (50dmg x2 Aqua + Splash + Lava Panel Explosion)
4. BubbleStar1: FullfireC,B,A (20dmg x2 Aqua x3 + Bubble Trap x3)
5. Counter1: 1 attacking virus (Counter w/ Gutpunch for 70dmg + Breaking + Impact)
6. Dodge

Decoy1: Follow at Mach's right side
Decoy2: Follow at Mach's left side

Cooling sigs:
Superior Thrust Laser: 3 Turns Remaining

((End Turn Split))
Machman moved out of the way of the Volcaner's lavaball and countered with his own Cannonball, striking and deleting the virus in a single blow. The heavy projectile also left behind a large crater where the virus had once been sitting. His Bubbler hit one of the Fullfires but the two others weren't even close enough to be struck by the splash. Still, it was just strong enough to delete the virus that it hit with some help from the lava panel beneath it. The remaining two Fullfires were in a panic until one of them spotted the downed Windbox. Instead of helping its ally, the virus hid behind the practically inert block and began to summon a wave of meteors. The other Fullfire seemed to just dodge around, drawing away the Bubblestar attack.

The Volcaner paused on a lava tile to contribute to the counter-offensive but missed. Only one of the Fullfire's meteors struck Machman through sheer luck and he immediately countered by Gutpunching the Fullfire responsible. The virus reeled from the attack and shuffled away aftering having its cover blown.

FullfireA: DELETED
FullfireB: 150 HP [sand]
FullfireC: 80 HP [sand]
VolcanerA: DELETED
VolcanerB: 150 HP [lava]
RareWindBox: 120 HP [sand] [facedown] [passive nova1 knockback]

Terrain: 25% Lava, 35% Sand, 35% Normal, 5% Broken

MachMan.EXE: 160 HP [110 HP Casing] [2-hit shield]
Aera.SP: 70 HP [mobility junction]
Vector.SP: 100 HP [armour junction]
With his opponents scattered and disorganized, it simply became a process of wiping out the enemy one by one.

[[i]Requesting Magnum1 and DashAttack chips.][/i]

[Battlechips uploaded, Mach. Continue engagement.]

Machman started to approach the enemy slowly as a trio of missiles materialized under his fuselage. The missiles large, and completely identical. Three green cross-hairs appeared on the 360 display inside the cockpit, and started to slide over the area as Machman started to select his targets. One slid over a FullFire virus and turned red as it followed it's slow shuffling movements as the 2nd solidified itself over the remaining Volcaner and the last on the disabled WindBox.

Machman uploaded this information to the missiles, and prepared to fire. All three missile indicators flashed green on Aera's weapons display, which indicated they had received their targets and were armed and ready. Mach then fired off the missiles in rapid succession, and all three made smooth turns in the air as they guided themselves towards their targets. The missiles exploded in a quick trio of thunderous booms, and the flames of the explosions caused Mach and Vector's armored bodies to shimmer in the light.

His weapon blisters opened up and revealed a pair of triple-barreled vulcans, which slid forward and protruded slightly from their protective housings. Machman began to target the wounded Fullfire virus and opened up with his vulcans with a loud roar. Since Mach was very close to the ground, a small hatch opened from underneath Mach's fuselage, and a stream of brass 30mm casings started to pour from his frame. His exhaust flaps shifted positions and caused Mach to strafe to the side in a wide circle as he tried to keep his cross-hairs and a steady stream of 30mm AP rounds on the Fullfire. Mach's decoys loyally copied his movements and stayed at his sides as he circled the enemy.

His vulcans quickly ran out of ammunition and fell silent, leaving only the high-pitched hum of the motors winding down as the barrels started to slow their rapid rotations, each barrel was aglow from the heat of the burst of fire and quickly cooled down as they retreated into the weapon blisters. The hatches closed but Mach continued to move in a circle around the viruses, in an attempt to line up the the remaining Fullfire and Volcaner viruses directly in front of him.

As soon as they got in line with Mach's nose, his engines popped into their default positions and slammed into afterburners. The roar was immense as the entire back of his frame was almost drowned out with four large conical plumes of cyan flame. Machman lurched forward and continued to accelerate as his DashAttack battlechip data further enhanced his thrust capabilities. He quickly broke the speed of sound as the blasted forward and towards the Fullfire virus as he made his way towards the remaining Volcaner virus. With any luck, they would have been chopped to bits by his wings, or crushed by the sheer inertia of his body bearing down on them.

Mach started to slow down as the battlechip data was depleted, but used his built up airspeed to pop his body into a blindingly fast barrel roll ((an ACTUAL Barrel Roll)) before he angled his rudders hard to the right as he banked right and pointed his nose down. This very rough maneuver caused him to "skid" in the air and caused his frame to go in a flat spin as he turned back to face the viruses. His engines quickly sung down in their housings and burned brightly, which caused Mach to literally stop in the air and hover as he assessed the battlefield in front of him. Aera shook her head as she tried to re-orient herself, as the previous two maneuvers made her a bit dizzy. If Mach pulled those maneuvers when he first got this .GMO, Aera likely would have been rendered unconscious.

Wow, that was wild, Mach.

Machman was reminded he was in fact carrying passengers.

[[i]Oh, sorry. You get a little scrambled in there?[/i]]

No, I'm fine. Just a little warning would be nice.

[[i]Noted.[/i]]


ACTIONS:
-[Plasma Shield [Already Active]: Facing Forward]-
1. Prepare Magnum1
2. Prepare Magnum1
3. Magnum1: FullfireB, VolcanerB, RareWindBox (120dmg Fire + Breaking + Panel Breaking)
4. Rising Barrage: FullFireC (25dmg x4 + Breaking + Strategic Action + 4TCD)
-[Strategic Action: Line FullfireB and VolcanerB directly in front of Machman]-
5. DashAttack: FullfireB, VolcanerB (90dmg + Impact)
6. Dodge

Decoy1: Follow on Mach's right
Decoy2: Follow on Mach's left

Cooling Sigs:
Superior Thrust Laser: 2 Turns Remaining
Rising Barrage: 4 Turns Remaining
((I was going to leave the FullfireC with 5 HP but like... Frig, that's such a douche move. In exchange for crushing the will of the RNG with mod leniency, the moderation of your fight will be less detailed... However, the terrain is all there.))

The terrain took a beating and everything died.

FullfireA: DELETED
FullfireB: DELETED
FullfireC: DELETED
VolcanerA: DELETED
VolcanerB: DELETED
RareWindBox: DELETED

Terrain: 20% Lava, 25% Sand, 35% Normal, 20% Broken,

MachMan.EXE: 160 HP [110 HP Casing] [2-hit shield]
Aera.SP: 70 HP [mobility junction]
Vector.SP: 100 HP [armour junction]

[Battle 3 - Victory!]

Get: 3150z + LavaCannon2 + 50 bugfrags
With the enemy reduced to rubble, Machman gently hovered down to the sandy ground below as his Overwatch drones helped collect zenny and battlechip data as bugfrags lifted from the ground and were absorbed my Vector's protective plating.

[Good work, you three. Want to continue going?]

[[i]Absolutely. We're just getting warmed up.[/i]]

Aera nodded in agreement as Vector remained silent.

[Alright then, keep your eyes open; I'll be ready with battlechips if you need me.]

Machman started to ease forward before his engines swung back into their default positions and sent him flying over the HadesNet floor at a good pace, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

((Ready for Battle #4))
The vast lava fields shifted into blistering coal roads as temperatures cooled, and even the coal soon gave way to a rich, black soil as Machman progressed further in. The source of the misplaced terrain seemed to be the result of a gathering of WaterDragons weaving aquatic paths over and about the coal. Overseeing their work was a giant BluePhoenix virus that looked like... A blue phoenix. Whoever named these viruses knew how to get to the point. Far behind the rest of the group was a single Tromby, hopping around a small patch of relatively normal looking terrain.

Machman was quickly spotted by the BluePhoenix, which let out a sharp shriek to alert the others of the interloper.

BluePhoenix: 180 HP [flying]
WaterDragonA: 250 HP [soil]
WaterDragonB: 250 HP [soil]
WaterDragonC: 250 HP [soil]
WaterDragonD: 250 HP [soil]
Tromby2: 150 HP [normal]

Terrain: 20% Coal, 70% Soil, 10% Normal

MachMan.EXE: 160 HP
Aera.SP: 70 HP
Vector.SP: 100 HP

[Battle 4 - Begin!]
Mach noticed the drop in temperature, and Aera watched as the ashen ground gradually change to dark, rich soil. The trio approached a group of viruses at a good speed; flying towards them head-on. Mach's attention focused towards the large, blue phoenix virus as it spread it fiery wings and sounded the alarm.

[[i]Viruses identified. Count 6. Permission to engage?][/i]

[Blizzard, Cannonball, and Elecpulse chips uploaded. Focus fire on the Trompy virus, then the Phoenix before engaging the WaterDragons. Engage!]

[[i]Understood. Engaging now.[/i]]

Machman's drones immediately went to work; his Overwatch sensor drones darted off in multiple directions before they paused in the air and began broadcasting battlefield data directly to Machman, while his decoy drones activated and created two exact copies of himself. The decoys loyally followed at Mach's sides as he began his attack run.

The single Tromby virus was near the back of the group, and was obviously being used as some sort of support unit. Destroying the support of an enemy front is one sure-fire way of decreasing a foe's combat strength. Machman started to analyze the combat data streaming from his Overwatch drones as a gray missile materialized under his right wing. The missile did not contain any explosives; instead, it carried a sharpened steel spike with the 1 purpose of piercing enemy armor.

Machman used his drones to see past the front line of viruses, and solidified the position of his target in a 3D "map" in his mind. He watched the virus's movements carefully, and used that combination of information to determine where he would deploy his weapon. He established a target, and uploaded the information to the missile's guidance system. Aera saw the missile indicator flash green as the missile was primed and ready to go.

The missile dropped away from his wing before the solid-fuel engine fired and sent the missile streaking towards the bouncing virus. As soon as the missile was away, Machman throttled up and strafed to the left as he quickly approached the blue phoenix virus ahead. His weapon blister hatches slid open as the pair of rocket launchers housed inside were loaded with several rockets. Each one of the rockets contained a warhead filled with a substance similar to liquid nitrogen, and designed to flash-freeze targets. However, the rockets can't get too hot and cause the warheads to explode prematurely, so their effective range is quite short. Mach tried to get in close before he fired a volley of rockets towards the virus. The rockets' fins caused them to disperse in a shotgun-like spread, and blanketed the area with white mist as they exploded like smoke-filled firecrackers and sprayed the immediate area with super-cooled liquid.

Machman banked right and disengaged the virus as the weapon blister doors closed. His decoys, which had been following him the whole time, continued at his sides. Mach had a new strategy, and informed his SPs.

[[i]Alright, I'm going to try to get behind them. Aera, I'm leaving you and Vector here to keep the enemy distracted. Stay on your toes, and avoid incoming fire. Vector, protect Aera. Ready?[/i]]

Aera nodded as she tensed up.

Ready when you are.

I await your move, sire.

[[i]Alright then, here we go![/i]]

Machman slammed his control surfaces down, which caused his nose to swing towards the ground, and literally appeared to make his entire frame somersault in the air. As he tumbled forward, the large metal surfaces of his frame started to fold down as his .GMO was deactivated. Vector's metal plates surrounded Mach's rapidly shrinking body as his appearance returned to its default state. Aera was cradled in his arms, but she hoisted herself out of his grasp and pushed herself away from him. Machman looked back towards the WaterDragons that faced him as the thrusters on his four floating wings started to glow as they rapidly charged up. Then in a sudden flash of cyan, Machman blurred out of sight and disappeared.

His decoys deactivated their holographic projectors as Machman warped away, and then split up. One remained next to Aera and Vector, while the other flew over the viruses in a wide arc in an attempt to pass over them undetected. As it flew over, Machman materialized behind and slightly above the WaterDragon group. His right arm was drawn back, and his fist was clenched. As he thrust his arm forward, bolts of electricity streamed over his arm and down to his opening hand. The massive amount of electrical power streamed out of his hand and cascaded over a wide area in the form of visible "rings" of electromagnetic energy. They beamed towards the ground and bathed the area with powerful waves of current. The decoy finally reached Mach and stopped side him before projecting a perfect copy of Mach, and imitated his attacking pose.

Aera touched down and quickly darted off to avoid enemy fire with the help of her wing thrusters. The decoy that floated at her side quickly scanned her appearance and used it's holographic projectors to create an exact copy of her, and mimicked her movements as it followed her. Vector's body plates formed back together on the ground, and he stood his ground to draw attention away from Aera.

As Aera tried to draw enemy fire away from Mach, he kept up his attack by tossing a round object towards the middle of the WaterDragon group. The blackened sphere had four gold dynamo-like structures protruding from its sides. The bomb bounced 1 time before the structures burst out of the sphere as it exploded with a loud pop. The sphere contained a wire-laced gelatinous fluid that coated the immediate area. The blue fluid sparkled in the sunlight, thanks to the tiny gold wires that weaved all through the fluid like a nearly invisible net. The wires were all connected to a single devise that was housed in the bomb's core. The device contained a detonator and a powerful capacitor, which quickly discharged all of it's stored current through the wires and blanketed the area with a powerful jolt of electricity. Machman's wing thrusters had already kicked on and propelled him up and away from the viruses as he strafed backwards from left to right. His decoy followed his movements, but remained far enough away to keep Mach from getting caught in any attacks directed towards it.



ACTIONS:
-[Plasma Shield: Facing Forward]-
-[[color=ff6600]Recharge:[/color] Vector.SP (20HP Heal)]-
Aera: Mobility Junction to Machman.EXE (Passive Dodge or 3 Passive movements)
Vector: Armor Junction to Machman.EXE (110HP Casing)
1. Cannonball: Tromby2 (150dmg Null + Breaking) [b][[/b]+ Take Aim]
-[Mobility Movement: Move within melee range of BluePhoenix]-
2. Blizzard: BluePhoenix (100dmg Aqua x2 + Ice Terrain Change + Cone Attack)
-[Disable MachFighter.GMO]-
Aera: Unjunction
Vector: Unjunction
3. SCRAM Boost: Teleport Behind WaterDragon group (Teleport + 2TCD)
-[[color=ff6600]Repulsion Shield:[/color] Facing Forward]-
4. ElecPulse: WaterDragonA,B,C,D (100dmg Elec x2 + Seeking + Glitch + Cone Attack)
Aera: Dodge
5. Magbomb: WaterDragonC,B,D (30dmg Elec x2 + Stun + Blast2)
6. Dodge

Decoy1: Follow Mach [Mimicking Mach]
Decoy2: Follow Aera [Mimicking Aera]

Cooling Sigs:
SCRAM Boost: 2 Turns Remaining
Machman's steel spike arced in a crash course with the Tromby, but even with the help of his Overwatch, the virus was able to sidestep the projectile in time. However, part of the normal panels didn't survive the encounter and shattered under the piercing mass. Boosting himself closer to engage the BluePhoenix head on, the virus enveloped itself with a fire aura. With both sides protected by defenses, they exchanged blows, Machman firing a freezing rocket while the phoenix unleashed a burning avatar of itself. The rocket punched through the virus's aura like paper and decimated the virus in a flash. The plasma shield prevented Machman from taking damage from the attack but fell apart after absorbing the damage.

By now, the Waterdragons had begun to stir and spread out. Before they could get too far apart, Machman unloaded his support programs and warped behind the tightest cluster and attacked with a wave of electricity. He managed to somehow catch two of the viruses with the glitch inducing attack. One of them simply cringed as a section of its body seemed to dehydrate while the other one turned a bright yellow.

He deployed a complex wire gel bomb next but found himself caught by a Waterdragon's rushing blow. As it turned out, they didn't differentiate between him or his decoys as his copy was struck down just as quickly by the same charge. Fortunately, the dragon also happened to swallow Machman's bomb in the confusion and was subject to a paralyzing case of heartburn. The remaining Waterdragon, untouched by any of the attacks thus far, moved from panel to panel in an evasive dance.

Machman was ready to try and perform some dodges of his own but found himself bound to his position as the Tromby began to play a horrible melody.

BluePhoenix: DELETED
WaterDragonA: 250 HP [soil]
WaterDragonB: 30 HP [soil] [corrupt HP III: -20 HP (duration: 0 turns)]
WaterDragonC: 190 HP [soil] [stun]
WaterDragonD: 50 HP [soil] [elec override: elec elemental (duration: 8 turns)]
Tromby2: 150 HP [normal] [music]

Terrain: 20% Coal, 70% Soil, 5% Normal, 5% Broken

MachMan.EXE: 20 HP [hold]
Aera.SP: 70 HP [hold] [decoy]
Vector.SP: 110 HP [hold]
Machman took a step back from the rushing attack of the WaterDragon, and felt as if the wind was knocked out of him. He tried to dodge away, but a piercing tone caused him to momentarily clutch his ear pylons before he adjusted the input levels and muffled the noise. Though the sound was no longer painful, he looked down to his legs and over to his wings, which appeared fuzzy and were almost completely unresponsive. Aera and Vector were suffering from a similar ailment, all caused by the Tromby's immobilizing song. He looked over towards the Tromby and attempted to move his legs enough to get a more stable stance. He snarled from behind his mask.

You're starting to annoy me...

As Machman lifted his right arm towards the noisy virus, his protective plasma shield raised in front of him. A metal support bracket folded out from under Mach's right forearm, and began to glow as a large weapon materialized underneath. Three barrels slid from a large rotating drum, and were braced together by two triangular "collars." A trigger assembly, looking very similar to a joystick, swung up from a compartment in the drum and rested comfortably in Mach's hand. As he gripped the trigger assembly and pointed his Vulcan towards the virus, his wings slowly moved into position at his sides and began to charge a pair of pulsating crimson orbs of glowing plasma. A decoy drone materialized behind his back and moved out to his right side before it activated and mimicked Mach's attack pose; 10 feet from his right.

うるせえ!

The vulcan started to spin up with a high-pitched whine before being drowned out by the roar of the barrels sending a stream of 30mm AP rounds towards the Tromby virus. The tracers burned a red streak in the air, and made the attack look like a fountain of lead. Sparks and debris erupted all around the Tromby's position as the rounds inundated the area with lead. The plasma contained by his wings reached their full charge, and just before Mach ran out of ammunition, the plasma was unleashed in a pair of crimson beams of light. Mach's weapon folded down as the beams quickly lost power and diminished to two small trails of flickering data. Mach felt a jolt as a white spark of electricity arced from the ground and into his chest. He didn't feel any pain from the shock; in fact, he felt a little rejuvenated.

Mach looked over towards Aera, who was looking at him and had her hands pointing towards the ground. She noticed him looking back and smiled. That must have been the second program Mazer was talking about. Aera then looked towards the one stunned WaterDragon and pointed her hands towards it. Her brow furrowed and her hair started to stand on end as a large amount of electrical power surged through her body and down her arms. They reached her hands as she pointed them directly towards the virus, and appeared to explode with large bolts of electricity. Jagged white bolts of pure electricity leaped from her hands towards the virus at the speed of light, which caused loud booms cause the ground to shake slightly. Three loud booms were heard in quick succession as she blasted the virus's position with electricity. The decoy between her and Vector imitated her attack, and tried to space itself a good distance away from both SPs.

Machman saw Aera's display of electric firepower, but knew something like that would immediately draw the attention of the remaining viruses, and one hit would likely doom her. He thought quickly and called out to Mazer.

Requesting PhoenixShot, Magbolt, and Elecshock chips immediately!

Mazer quickly popped the three chips out of his magazine-like chip case, and almost effortlessly inserted the requested chips into his PET in rapid succession.

[Uploaded!]

Machman placed his hands together as they started to heat up, and slowly drew his hands away from each other to reveal a rapidly growing fireball, suspended in the air and seemingly contained by the force of his hands. The fireball grew about the size of a basketball before he thrust it towards the group of WaterDragons and released his invisible grip. The fireball unfurled and widened into a wave of fire, which streaked a foot or two off the ground like a soaring red phoenix, much like the one Mach deleted a moment ago.

He knew the wave of fire would not be enough to defeat all of the viruses in front of him, and targeted the only unharmed WaterDragon, and used his Overwatch drones to carefully watch it's movement pattern. He had to do this quickly, before it attempted to attack with a devastating charge. Both of his fists clenched and crackled with electricity as he prepared his next attack and tried to determine where he should direct his strike. As soon as he selected his target, he thrust his right hand forward and unleashed a bolt of electricity towards the WaterDragon. The stream of electricity reached out like a fountain of light, and remained connected to Mach's hand. Similar to a weapon used by the protagonist of the popular Electendo game, "Netroid," he pulled his arm back in an attempt to yank the virus towards him, using the beam like a whip or chain.

With any luck, the virus would have been forcibly dragged or flung towards Mach, where he had another attack ready and waiting. As soon as the virus got within range, he pointed his closed left hand towards the virus and opened it. In a near-blinding flash of light, several dozen bolts of electricity blasted from his hand in a wide spread and inundated the area with electricity. Some of the bolts struck the ground in front of him and kicked up the soil as it tore jagged paths through the floor. Machman's one-two punch of electricity should have done the trick, but he didn't want to take any chances and drew his right forearm in front of his body. He used it as the support structure for the rapidly forming metal shield that materialized in front of him. The shield's face was adorned with two menacing eyes and a toothy grin, and the trip was tipped with spikes. The shield itself was tough, but what was truly deadly was the purple, misty miasma that billowed out of vents on both sides of the shield. Machman was unaffected by the miasma, but any viruses caught in the increasingly large radius of the poison would find itself in serious trouble. Mach directed his decoy out of the miasma radius as it created it's own copy of Mach's shield, though just as fake as it's own body, and stood its ground.


ACTIONS:
-[Plasma/[color=ff6600]Repulsion[/color] Shields: Facing Forward]-
1. Rising Barrage: Tromby2 (25dmg x4 + Breaking + Strategic Action + 4TCD)
-[Strategic Action: Disabled due to Hold]-
2. Superior Thrust Laser: Tromby2 (40dmg x2 + Microburst + 3TCD)
-[[color=ff6600]Recharge:[/color] Machman.EXE (20HP Heal)]-
Vector: Reinforce Repulsion Shield (+1 Hit)
Aera: Attack WaterDragonC (35dmg Elec x2)
Aera: Attack WaterDragonC (35dmg Elec x2)
Aera: Attack WaterDragonC (35dmg Elec x2)
3. PhoenixShot1: WaterDragonB,C,D (70dmg Fire + Wide Attack)
4. Magbolt: WaterDragonA (90dmg Elec x2 + Stun + Magnet Pull) [b][[/b]+ Take Aim]
5. ElecShock: WaterDragonA (80dmg Elec x2 + Panel Breaking + Cone Attack)
6. PoisonMask: Machman.EXE ((2-hit Shield) + (50dmg Poison + Miasma (Nova2))

Decoy1: Stand 2 panels to Mach's right [Mimicking Mach]
Decoy2: Stand between Vector and Aera [Mimicking Aera]

Cooling Sigs:
SCRAM Boost: 1 Turn Remaining
Rising Barrage: 4 Turns Remaining
Superior Thrust Laser: 3 Turns Remaining