Double Trouble in Unparadise

Voulge immediately made his way off of the crumbling island of terrain as it collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the area. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, his operator sent him more shadowy backup. The summoned virus appeared from the depths of the new hole and ran one of the Tromby viruses through. As the shadow disappeared, one of the Megalians came crashing into Voulge's remaining shield and destroyed it. Not that it bothered him.

The other two Megalians were soon assailed by torrential geysers of water that tore through their auras and deleted them instantly. SplashLady kept her virus deleting momentum going afterward, blasting the Handy's bomb with CircleGun before doing the same to the virus. Next, she unleashed a writhing aquatic dragon on the battlefield. It twisted around as it went, eventually coming to a stop near one of the Handy viruses. Having left a good portion of the battlefield covered in water, it finally ended its performance by enveloping the Handy and deleting it outright.

The remaining Handy viruses did the only thing they could do - throw down more bombs. The Buffy-F viruses floated in place quietly, releasing paradoxical flaming bubbles that began to bounce around the battlefield.

-ENEMIES- [2 actions away]
Megalian-F2 EXA: DELETED
Megalian-F2 EXB: DELETED
Megalian-F2 EXC: 220 HP (FireAura: 80HP)
Handy2A: DELETED
Handy2B: 120 HP
Handy2C: 120 HP
Handy2D: DELETED
MetalCragger EX: 240 HP [HardBody]
Tromby2A: 150 HP
Tromby2B: DELETED
Dominerd2A: DELETED
Dominerd2B: DELETED
Dominerd2C: DELETED
Dominerd2D: DELETED
Buffy-FA: 200 HP
Buffy-FB: 200 HP

-OTHER-
Blue Mystery Data: 80 HP [3 actions to the right]
TimeBombB: 100 HP (Near HandyB)
TimeBombC: 100 HP (Near HandyC)
BubbleA: 30 HP (Bouncing slowly toward Voulge)
BubbleB: 30 HP (Bouncing slowly toward SplashLady)

-TERRAIN-
65% Sand (Where viruses are)
25% Sea (Around SplashLady)
10% Broken (In front of MetalCragger EX)

-PARTY-
SplashLady.EXE: 290 HP (Still two actions away)
Voulge.EXE: 250 HP (Sand) [Shadow1]
Ignis.SP: 1 HP (Fair distance away from viruses)
"Still plenty to go. Are you up to this Voulge?" Marius surveyed the cavernous field through his PET, numbering up the remaining viruses and tried to determine their next course of action. "Of course." No fancy words, no flair, nothing special, Voulge's words were short and simple as he twirled his spear. "Then get ready!" As the navi stomped the end of his spear down to the ground after the spin, it had already assumed the shape of the chip sent by Marius and changed into a war hammer, ready to take a crack at the MetalCragger.

Voulge held out his arm in order to gather a sand shield, but as he was quickly reminded of his shadow defense due to his arm and body's lackluster color. The spearman chuckled at his incompetence and immediately sprang towards the giant golem. With such a large body, Voulge shortly pondered why he couldn't land a single hit after attempting twice as he raised his destructive hammer up. Though the last two had few circumstances that led to not landing, Voulge had no excuse this time as he brought the hammer straight down upon the MetalCragger's head.

As the navi safely landed back to the ground, fragments of ember began to chip away the war hammer to reveal the Avaria-Lancea's default form underneath. "Next target?" Voulge calmly asked while disregarding the danger of being so close to the viruses. "Let's leave the Megalian and the Buffy to SplashLady and Sabrina. Go take care of the Tromby and the Handy and finish this battle!"

With a simple nod to acknowledge his command, Voulge stabbed his spear down at the soft sand and pulled out five throwing knives from his vest. The three knives on his right hand were rather short for a knife and had an emerald glow that lit brilliantly under the dark cave. The other two knives on his left were long and thin, shaped more like a needle than a knife. As the navi gently fanned the humid air with his right hand, the knives began to glow even brighter and a harsh gust of wind passed through the viruses from the cave entrance. It was particularly stronger against the Handys and the Tromby as it attempted to drag the viruses beside Voulge.

"Toooriya!!"

The spearman threw the three daggers directly towards the Tromby with high precision, but rather than taking the time to confirm if the attacks hit, he immediately grabbed the spear at his side and plunged it into the ground in front of him. "There's no escape!" With much more force behind the stab, a good half of the pole arm was buried deep into the sand...But the grounds around it began to let out a strangely scented smoke. Soon, the sands began to glow in a bright orange light and pillars of flame rose out from beneath the viruses as it tried to swallow them whole, leaving behind a glassy panel at its wake.

"Now, the Handys!"

Connecting with his unrelenting attacks, Voulge immediately threw the two knives on his left hand towards the Handys. The knives began to discharge electric sparks as soon as it left Voulge's hand and even began to maneuver through the air like it had a mind of its own. Nonetheless, the knives were specifically marked towards the Handys and it wasn't going to stop till their target was eliminated.

Voulge let out a sigh as his attacks were finished; watching as his body slowly began to regain color as the shadow defense faded out. "Now...Time to wait." The spearman crossed his arm and literally waited for the end result of the battle, either extremely confident about the battle or still in the mindset that he was invincible for a little longer. "...Ignis."

The cowardly SP rose out from his hiding place, but still keeping distance away from the battle. "W-what is it, tinhead." The navi pointed towards the two timebombs that was ticking down, ready to blow up any second now. "Make yourself useful and get rid of these." Ignis peeked towards the two, "harmless", non-retaliating bombs and a (figurative) smirk rose out of his (none existing) face. "Ehe...ehehehe...That...THAT I CAN DO!" With confidence rising, Ignis shot out two flame missiles at the bomb back to back, taking them out so it wouldn't cause any serious problem later on.

"BOOOM! Didya see that? All skill right there baby, no one can do it better than me!" Even though the SP was talking smack to the poor, defenseless bombs, he quickly returned back to hiding...

* Tempero Flamma [Strengthen [40]]
1. BigHammer [160 [b](x2 Defense Pierce)[/b] / Impact / Break / Melee] {B} @ MetalCragger EX
2. AirStorm2 [60 x 3 / Variable Targeting / Pull3] {B} @ Tromby2A / Handy2 B/C [Pull all three target / Focus attack @ Tromby2]
3. FlameLine2 [120+[color=red]15[/color]+40 @ Tromby / Ground / Wide] {B} @ Tromby2A / Handy2 B/C
4. Arrow2 [130 / Homing] {B} @ Handy2 B
5. Arrow2 [130 / Homing] {B} @ Handy2 C
6. Dodge (lol)
Ignis: FireHit2 [90+[color=red]25[/color] / Impact / Double] {A} @ TimeBombB
Ignis: FireHit2 [90+[color=red]25[/color] / Impact / Double] {A} @ TimeBombC
Ignis: Dodge

Cooldown:
None
Hmm...looked like they still had work to do. "So, what should we do next?"

"I think the fire viruses shouldn't be too hard. Besides, Voulge is near the others, and he can handle himself!"

"That's true. All right then, operate away!"

"Thanks, I intend to!" Hmm...if the area was all sand, that would probably benefit a certain chip. A highly usable chip, that could be used to kill things with some terrain help. Yep, that'd work fine. "All right, Buffy time, then I guess you can beat the Megalian yourself! BattleChip, AreaGrab! BattleChip, WindRacket! Double slot-in!"

The mermaid Navi once again found her coordinates suddenly and dramatically altered, so that she finally got in on some direct action, with a pair of pufferfish in front of her. Oddly, her trident was now webbed, seemingly better for playing tennis than for destroying enemies. Anyone thinking that, however, would prove sadly mistaken, as she powerfully swung her weapon, to smack the fish, and simultaneously burst their bubble. Some sand seemed to be stirred by the gale force created, as well, spraying along to inflict extra pain at a granular level...

Next up, some revenge for a certain virus evading her earlier watery pain. From the sandy depths, water began to rise, encircling SplashLady in a ring of liquid. Calmly, she pointed her trident, which was now back to its usual self, forward, causing the water to loop around her one final time, and gather in front of the middle prong. With a gentle push, the entire blob shot like a cannonball, to smack that large headed virus for daring to defy her might.

...Well, that handled what she wanted to do. A quick look showed that Voulge was firing off bees, while whats-his-name was punching the leftover TimeBombs. She wanted to help, but without BattleChips, there wasn't a whole lot of ways for her to contribute..."...Huh?" She lifted her left arm, reminding herself that it remained a lethal gun, still with a pair of potent shots left. "Oh, right...CircleGun sure has a lot of uses." Why it was called CircleGun, she'd never know. Maybe because the viruses moved in circles? Whatever, it wasn't important. Of higher priority was lifting it into a direction that could take out a leftover Handy, activating its internal firing mechanism, and releasing an energy blast capable of locating even a completely invisible target. Hence, that was the route she chose. A second, similar burst fired not long afterward, also similar in that a bomb summoning hand could potentially burst into junk data from it.

"Oh, hey! Forgot about CircleGun! So, wanna go into overkill mode, or just take it easy for a sec?"

"I dunno if I'd call it taking it easy, but let's hang back and see what's left!" SplashLady started scanning the area, to see what, if anything, was remaining that could fight back, and try and take measures to avoid any possible aforementioned fighting back.

[Order of Turn:
1-AreaGrab chip to behind Buffy-Fs (teleports user)
2-WindRacket chip attack on Buffy-FA and Buffy-FB (100, Gust, Microburst and NorthWind on contact)
2a-Reserve Tank R (passive buster charge)
2b-Reserve Tank L (passive buster charge)
3-Water Splash charge attack on Megalian-FEXC (200, Aqua)
4-CircleGun2 chip attack on Handy2B (120, Seeking)
5-CircleGun2 chip attack on Handy2C (120, Seeking)
6-Dodge]
Smashy smash went the Metal Cragger, as it was instantly crushed to pieces by a very destructive BigHammer, courtesy of Voulge. Meanwhile, a WindRacket landed a hit on a certain Buffy duo, causing them to fly across the battlefield and get deleted. A Megalian-F2 EX then received a large cannonball from SplashLady, deleting it. After that, the Tromby actually decided to do something worthwhile, and played an annoying cacophony that stopped the Navis in their tracks. Unfortunately for the Tromby, Voulge decided to do something about that, and pulled the virus towards him, ending the virus' life moments later with a FlameLine. One of the Handy was also pulled along, and subsequently toasted. Moments after, the surviving Handy met its death at an Arrow.

Ignis inflated his ego some by punching a couple of bombs, and one of the bubbles from the Buffy earlier hit SplashLady. (30) Not much.

-ENEMIES- [2 actions away]
Megalian-F2 EXA: DELETED
Megalian-F2 EXB: DELETED
Megalian-F2 EXC: DELETED
Handy2A: DELETED
Handy2B: DELETED
Handy2C: DELETED
Handy2D: DELETED
MetalCragger EX: DELETED
Tromby2A: DELETED
Tromby2B: DELETED
Dominerd2A: DELETED
Dominerd2B: DELETED
Dominerd2C: DELETED
Dominerd2D: DELETED
Buffy-FA: DELETED
Buffy-FB: DELETED

-OTHER-
Blue Mystery Data: 80 HP [3 actions to the right]
BubbleA: 30 HP (Bouncing slowly toward Voulge)
BubbleB: 30 HP (Bouncing slowly toward SplashLady)

-TERRAIN-
65% Sand (Where viruses are)
25% Sea (Around SplashLady)
10% Broken (In front of MetalCragger EX)

-PARTY-
SplashLady.EXE: 260 HP (Don't care)
Voulge.EXE: 250 HP (Sand) [Don't care either]
Ignis.SP: 1 HP (Still don't care)

-- ROGUE BATTLE 08, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

Voulge: [Timpany] Battlechip, 4700z, 141 BugFrags, 9 FXP
SplashLady: 5720z, 9 FXP

BMD: 6600z
"AHA! AHAHAHA! MONEY, MONEY EVERYWHERE!!"

Ignis dived into the pile of zennies left behind by the defeated viruses, splashing the golden currency all over the sand. However, the greedy SP was still unsatisfied by all of this and immediately went off to the Mystery Data the two navi seemed to neglect all this time. "Eheh...Tranny opened the one last time, so it's all the more fair that it's MINE."

Without any permission, Ignis accessed the blue crystal and...lo and behold, even more money came out and rained down upon the SP. Ignis was literally shocked in awe as he was speechless rather than going off into yet another scream. "I-I...I'm in heave-" And, as if it was just too much, the SP disappeared back to the PET just before his body lifelessly thudded down to the ground.

Voulge sighed and picked up all the mess left by Ignis with a single swipe of his arm, transferring them all back into the PET's safe storage. "When will he ever learn..." Now that the battle was over, the cave returned back to the cool refuge for the weary navis...Not so much weary, since they still had enough strength for one or more battles. "Come on Spla-" But just as when Voulge was about to exit the cave while calling out for his partner, he realized something. All this time, it felt like he was dragging Splash along the Hades net, making them go through battles after battles with few rests in between...

"...Let's rest here for now."

That said, Voulge leaned against the wall of the cave and planted the spear on the ground, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. "You're gonna stop here?...Guess that's fine. I'm just gonna take this time and use up these cash before Ignis wakes up." Marius temporarily disconnected his PET as he set off on his own, leaving Voulge alone with SplashLady. The navi opened one of his eye to peek at Splash and smiled towards her, waving his hand towards himself as a sign.

"Come closer, Splash. No need to be shy."

He did all this with a small smile, not even thinking about what he just said what so ever. Only thing in the spearman's mind was to keep the two together so a virus wouldn't ambush them, not thinking about the other meaning the word may have....
"...Wow, that's some serious cash..." Enough that even SplashLady felt a tinge of jealousy. Oh well, accessing the reward data ensured that she wasn't overly disappointed. "Sending it over!"

And the rich get richer. Woo. "I think Suitachi's gonna be pretty happy next time I shop!"

"Yeah, and so am I!" With that, Voulge proposed a rest. The mermaid Navi couldn't complain, she'd taken quite a beating the last few fights. After being invited to not keep her distance, she walked over to the fire fighter, copying his spear stab with her own trident. "We've really come a long way, haven't we? It's actually really peaceful if there aren't any viruses nearby."

Without even thinking, she laid her head on her busting partner's shoulder, as she stared ahead and thought. "I mean, just look around. Can you even tell we're in Rogue Net? There's probably a cave like this in the regular Net, too...but what's the big difference? Wasn't this the regular Net once? Why did they decide to replace it? Did the viruses start to get too strong, like they are now? Were Navis' programming code not backwards compatible with it? Did they just decide to have 3 different Nets for no reason?...Ahh, sorry. I'm just rambling...it just doesn't make any sense to me, though. Sometimes things get weird when you stop and think about them, ya know?" ...Okay, now she really WAS rambling. Time to shut up and enjoy the quiet...
Voulge listened to SplashLady's rant, even lowering his head on top of hers and silently nodding to everything she had to say. "Yes, the world is full of things we don't understand." Nothing more or nothing less, the navi was hung up in an awkward silence for a few minute. However, he reached his hand to pull Splash closer as he softly griped the mermaid's arm.

"Tell me Splash...No, SplashLady." Voulge's head pressed down harder on his partner's head as if he just started to rest his body completely. "What do I represent in your life...It felt like I've dragged you into all these dangers because I wanted to virus bust with you. Though we are not seriously hurt, something dire is bound to happen if we continue on." With yet another silence falling in the cave, Voulge hesitantly continued his little speech. "...What I'm trying to say is...Even though I do not doubt your strength as a netnavi, it still pains me to see you in hazard. I care for you, I truly do. From a mere busting partner, you became something much more in my life."

The fearless warrior couldn't help but to blush from all the embarrassing words he already let out, falling quiet once more before he gave out one more word. "Please speak out if you have different thoughts...Splash."
As she spoke, SplashLady couldn't help but notice that she was getting pulled even closer to her busting partner. Not that she minded at all, but it did surprise her a little. "Voulge...you're closer to me than any other Navi. You didn't drag me into anything...I came along because I wanted to. Don't forget that." She wrapped her arms around him, just to drive home the point. "...Um, that said, I don't feel like going any further...I'm feeling kinda drained. But if you really wanna keep going, I'll come along anyway. Since, well......" ...Ugh, it wasn't coming out. Which was especially bad since she could feel fer face turning red as she didn't speak. "...Um, never mind."

Another silence passed, as the mermaid Navi was perfectly content for the pair to remain the way they were. "...Just so we're clear, everything you were saying, I feel the same way." There, she said it...kinda. "So, um..." ...Yeah, she was NOT used to this.
The spearman couldn't help but to have a smile lit up on his face as he listened to SplashLady's words, somewhat relieved that she shared mutual feelings with him. It was obvious that his partner was on the verge of embarrassment meltdown even in the dimly lit cave, gently patting her head. "There's no need to express it now."

And without a warning, Voulge gave a swift kiss on Splashlady's forehead and rose up from the sandy floor. "Thank you, Splash." His emblem lit up the dark cave in a blue light for a brief moment, but the navi wasn't particularly surprised by the sudden light. "Lets stop here for now...Till we meet again." As if he was trying to hide his face, Voulge plucked his spear off the ground and disappeared in a pillar of red light.

-JACK OUT-
"A-Ahh!" Before she could react to his sudden...action, Voulge was gone. Still blushing, she clasped her hands together over her heart, which now felt as though it was enveloped in a bright, warm flame. "Oh, Voulge..."

A whistle pierced the air waves, coming from the outside of Cyberworld. "SplashLady and Voulge, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-"

"Sh-Shut up!" The mermaid Navi completely forgot about the mere presence of her operator, much less a possible reaction. "You're...just jealous!"

"Oh, I totally am! Wish I could find a nice, cute guy by walking around!"

"Anyway, there's no reason to be here anymore, so I'm jacking out now, okay?"

"Sure! I've gotta go spend more cash than I know what to do with, anyway!"

A beam of light sent SplashLady out of the Net once again...however, this time, it had a bit of a red tinge to it...

(JACKING OUT WOO)