Double Trouble in Unparadise

"..."

Voulge stopped at the start of the bridge, skeptical about using it since it was just too well placed to be in the middle of nowhere. "Oh come on. Just because this is the terrifying rogue network, doesn't mean you can relax here and there!" Ignis and Licht carelessly followed SplashLady's steps up the bridge, but the spearman was still uneasy about it as he promptly followed. In the end, the navi's intuition proved to be correct as usual when they were surrounded by viruses from all four sides. Voulge faced the Cateens as he held his spear up while Ignis and Licht huddled between the spearman and Splash for safety. "ARGH! Why did you warn us about this, tinhead!"

Voulge listened in on Splash's last-second strategy and nodded his head in acknowledgement, having no qualms about his partner's command. "Ignis, take care of the Phoenixes flanking our sides. Licht, you're with me." Issuing his own command, the navi swiped his hand across in front of him, gathering bits and pieces of floating rocks from the river below to create a shield. "Here go with this." said Marius as he slotted two chips back to back. "Hit them fast and take care of those birds. They're going to be most problematic if they keep their positions from the side."

Ignis watched as Voulge and Licht walked up towards the Cateens while Splash was heading the other way, leaving the frightened SP alone at the center. "A...Aha...F-fine! Be like that. Rely on good ol' Ignis to do all the dirty jobs! YEA! I can take them!!" Replacing his fear with his immeasurable ego, Ignis was ready to do as he was told.

As the chip's data was infused into the spear, Voulge swung it behind his head and quickly examined the charging Cateens. His hands held onto the weapon tightly and the blade ignited into blue flames, similar to the BluePhoenix's. "Burn everything in your path!" With a single powerful swing across the air, the flames parted from the blade and shot forward in a wing-like shape, leaving a trail of burnt metal on the ground. Voulge loaded yet another PhoenixShot into his spear as he carried the previous swing to the back of his head once more. "Leave nothing but ashes!" With one more swing, yet another flame wing was fired at the Cateens.

Licht watched from the side as the two wings attacked the charging tanks, still unsure if his master's attack would finish them off perfectly. Using the new chip that was loaded into his system, Licht began to generate wind into a single point, slowly forming it into a green sphere. When it reached its limit, the SP released it all at once to send a powerful gust of wind forward. The wind was so powerful that it literally pulled out one of the metal panels off the bridge, sending it straight towards the Cateen's general direction to hit one unfortunate virus.

"Alright...IT'S GO TIME!" Letting his hot blooded scream echo throughout the net, Ignis formed his flame arms and began to flex with it. He looked side to side, wondering which one he should go after first, "This one looks like it has a little less fire in his body. Oh wait, but look at the wing span on this one...No, that's just my imagination, all viruses look alike...HA, Racist joke." The SP hopelessly began to waste time to simply decide who to attack first, but it did give enough time for Voulge to switch his focus on the BluePhoenix.

By the time Ignis finally chose his target, Voulge already brandished his three crystal knives and gave it a swing across the hot, murky hades air. "H-he-WAITAMINUTE, DICKHEAD!" Multiple drafts of winds began to drag the Phoenixes closer to the bridge; Voulge spared no time to decide who to attack first and simply threw the knives at the closest one in rapid succession. "Wow! Kill-stealer!" In an angry fit, Ignis simply decided to attack the other Phoenix with a one-two punch. "HERE COMES THE HEAT!"

Ignis rushed forward with his arms up, quickly closing the distance between himself and the Phoenix. Swaying side to side in the last second, as if he was mimicking a boxing technique, the SP threw his first punch straight to launch the entire arm towards the virus. Voulge saw the chance to finish off the Phoenixes for the time being and held his spear towards the nearest virus. "Here! Battlechip set!" The AquaKnife chip was fully integrated into the spear, giving it a cold, blue glow as Voulge began to pull it back for a powerful stab. "ARGH! AGAIN! STOP STEALING MY KILLS!" Ignis was yet again infuriated by all of this. Blinded by his rage, the SP began to swing his fists around like a mad man, unaware and not caring about which virus he would hit.

"Next!"

Confident that he took care of the flanking viruses, Voulge turned towards the main virus force in the front. Though he did not doubt Splash's ability to take care of them by herself, he was unsure if she could get out from this battle without any serious injuries. Voulge eyed the AquaDragon at the far back and nodded to himself, "Wait for me, Splash." In a blink of an eye, the spearman disappeared from atop of the bridge and reappeared just behind the dragon. Ignoring the GMD behind the virus, Voulge immediately went for the kill with the Arrow imbued spear. "Take this!" Holding the spear with only his right hand, he began to thrust his spear in a flurry of stabs at the virus and ended it with one last thrust that would puncture through the hard pot.

* Phalanx Aspis [2-hit Shield] Behind
* Tempero Flamma [Strengthen [40]]
Ignis: Tough Ego [Hardbody (2 turns) / 2TCD]
1. Phoenixshot2 [90+[color=red]15[/color] / Wide] {A} @ Cateen A/B
2. Phoenixshot2 [90+[color=red]15[/color] / Wide] {A} @ Cateen A/B
Licht: PanelShot [100 / Terrain / 5% Broken / +Elec] {B} @ Surviving Cateen
3. AirStorm2 [60 x 3 / Variable Targeting / Pull3] {B} @ Pull BluePhoenix A/B | Attack BluePhoenix B (x3)
Ignis: FireHit2 [90+[color=red]25[/color] / Impact / Double] {A} @ BluePhoenix A
4. AquaKnife [60+[b]30 (x2 Elemental Weakness)[/b] / 6 Uses / Slashing] {B} @ Surviving BluePhoenix
Ignis: FireHit2 [90+[color=red]25[/color] / Impact / Double] {A} @ BluePhoenix A
5. AreaGrab [Teleport] {S}
6. Arrow2 [130 [b](x2 Elemental Weakness)[/b] / Homing] {B}
Licht: Dodge (x2)

Cooldown:
Tough Ego: USED
Starting off, SplashLady charged up her main aquatic attack, and destroyed a certain skeleton with her watery blast. Teleporting up to the skeleton viruses, she then unleashed her WindRacket attack, blowing back two of the viruses and dealing damage to one, blowing that one clear out of the park. The Skarab next to her threw a bone at her, but it seemed only go in an arc. It looked like it would return to her, though. Finally, one of the Blackmares decided it would take a shot at this flighty broad and teleported up to her, only to be denied by a Yo-Yo attack, causing it to teleport back.

Meanwhile, on Voulge's side of the battle, the spearman had no problem taking out the tanks approaching them from behind with a couple of fiery shots. Licht saw that he hadn't much to contribute to that, and instead conserved his attack. (PanelShot unused) Afterwards, the Phoenix viruses started attacking, but the first attack sailed over their heads without much in the way of damage. The second shot, however, hit true, and slammed Ignis in the face, along with Licht, critically damaging the latter. (55, 110 SC TRIGGER)

This was responded to with the Phoenixes being pulled in and attacked by Ignis-Voulge tag-team. One of the birds managed to dodge one attack, but they were utterly destroyed anyway by Ignis' powerful punches. The Blackmare near the WaterDragon saw this as a threat, and teleported up to Ignis, giving him a very nasty-looking gash in his side. (30) Voulge, meanwhile, teleported up to the WaterDragon and gave it a thrust of his spear; however, the pot seemed to repel the attack without any effect on it at all! It did tip it over, however, which caused the huge dragon head trapped inside to lunge out at SplashLady! The Blackmares saw Voulge near them as a threat to their existence as well, and lunged up to him to attack. The one behind him got its attack repelled, but the one in front of him hacked at his arm successfully, pulling off quite a fair injury. (60)

-- ENEMIES --
WaterDragon: 250 HP (Rushing SplashLady, 3 moves, in front)
BluePhoenix A: DELETED
BluePhoenix B: DELETED
Cateen A: DELETED
Cateen B: DELETED
Skarab2 A: DELETED
Skarab2 B: 200 HP (In front of Dragon, behind-left SkarabA, 2 move)
Skarab2 C: 100 HP (Near Voulge) (Microburst'd) (Collapsed)
Blackmare A: 140 HP (Left of WaterDragon, Missing, 3 moves)
Blackmare B: 180 HP (Right of WaterDragon, Missing, 3 moves)

-- OBJECTS --
Green Mystery Data: 50 HP (Directly behind WaterDragon)

-- ALLIES --
SplashLady.EXE: 350 HP (Incoming spinning bone) (4-hit shield) (Next to SkarabB)
Voulge.EXE: 190 HP (1-hit shield/Back) (Next to WaterDragon)
Ignis.SP: 30 HP (HardBody)
Licht.SP: 1 HP

-- TERRAIN --
55% Metal (Bridge)
5% Broken (Hole in Bridge)
30% Lava (Sides of Bridge, 15% Each Side)
10% Missing (Holes in Bridge)
"Ar...Damn, that hurt like a bitch!" Ignis and Licht was heavily wounded from the battle, especially from the lone attack from the BluePhoenix before it was deleted. The SPs was in no condition to fight any more, but the hotblooded Ignis kept on rambling and complaining as he stayed on top of the bridge. "Ye-yea! That's right! You see me as a threat! Of course, Imaforce-a-Nature!"

Voulge stared down at the tilted AquaDragon's back and the Blackmares besides it. From his current angle, he would have to move in order to strike down the AquaDragon for sure, but it also means leaving himself open for an attack from the shadowy viruses. "Splash!" Voulge yelled as he held his spear with one hand and clenched the other into a fist. "The AquaDragon is yours. Leave the Blackmares to me!"

However, despite the fact that he asked his partner to target the dragon, Voulge summoned a swarm of large mosquitoes around his fist and unleashed it upon the virus. The mosquitoes wasn't going to mindlessly bash into the back of the pot, instead, they were smart enough to move around it and go for the juicy flesh.

"Voulge, use this."

As Marius uploaded the unknown chip into the PET, Voulge could feel the data flow through him and into his spear. "...Understood." Knowing how he will use the chip, Voulge erected another shield in place of his current one and lifted his spear up to his side. With a squeeze of the handle, the spear was engulfed in a fierce flame, also covering the navi's gauntlet whole. "Haaaah!" Voulge began to swing the spear without pause, centering the attack at the back of the AquaDragon while targeting the Blackmares at the same time.

One, two, three, the navi was relentless with his attacks as sparks of ember began to fly off every time his blade met with the tough pot. Though it looked as if he was using his spear wildly, there was faint amount of precision behind every swing that specifically aimed for the BlackMares from the side. The navi knew very well that his attack wouldn't harm the dragon, but he also knew that this was the only way to target the two shadowy viruses all at once.

His attack ended with one last swing, creating an explosion of embers to fly off into the air and the flames on the spear diminished. Voulge only let out a single breath of air from the nonstop attack, not even breaking a sweat as he began to back away from the viruses. "Next chip, Marius."

The operator's finger rummaged through the folders as his eyes moved back and forth from the screen to the folder. "Hold up...I'm not sure if there's anything else we could do. Use this for now and hope that we'll have a chance to patch yourself up." The Totem chip was loaded and it appeared in the form of a glowing sphere in Voulge's hand. Since there was no other options, the spearman simply lobbed the sphere behind the AquaDragon and in front of the fragile GMD.

The wooden statue emerged out of the metal ground like it was mere paper and began to fill the desolated Hades Net with its brash laughter. It looked side to side to find any enemies it could find, only to find the AquaDragon as its only target. With an audible sigh, the object shrugged and began to blow out its burning breath through out.

* Tempero Flamma [Strengthen [40]]
Ignis: Dodge x3
Licht: Dodge x3
1. Drain2 [70 Drain] {C} @ AquaDragon
* Phalanx Aspis [2-hit Shield]
2. FireSword [80+[color=red]15[/color] / 3 Uses / Wide / Slashing] {B} @ AquaDragon (Center), Blackmare A/B
3. FireSword [80+[color=red]15[/color] / 3 Uses / Wide / Slashing] {B} @ AquaDragon (Center), Blackmare A/B
4. FireSword [80+[color=red]15[/color] / 3 Uses / Wide / Slashing] {B} @ AquaDragon (Center), Blackmare A/B
5. Dodge
6. Totem2 [[b]140+15+Spread 2[/b] /or/ 70 Heal / Changes When Hit / 3 Turns / 100 HP] {A|S} @ AquaDragon (Between Virus and GMD)

Cooldown:
Tough Ego: 2 TCD
Totem: 3 Turns
...Apparently, lightning didn't strike twice. Which was fine, since SplashLady hated lightning. Not overly bothered by the complete and utter failure, she took a step towards the middle of the bridge, away from her IronShield, trying to avoid the incoming attacks. Which seemed a bit odd considering she had a giant shield at her disposal, but considering the types of attacks she was up against...

As she sidled over to the middle, water began to circle her once again, seemingly from nowhere. If it wasn't for the WaterDragon nearby, it'd have to be wondered how enough water even existed in Hades to supply the aquatic Navi. Nevertheless, it was there, steadily building in size. All that had to be done was wait for it to reach optimum size...much like the way it was by that point. Then she just needed to point towards the receiving enemy, like so...causing every last bit of the surrounding fluid to gather as a giant arrow above her head, and launching itself at the skeleton that remained fully formed, with each bone attached at the desirable spots, instead of being heaped in a pile like the one over there. Seriously, how could something not be dead from being like that?

Back in the real world, Sabrina watched all of this while looking somewhat bored, possibly from the lack of battle planning she was having to do in this battle. Voulge's shouting didn't help that. "Well, you heard him. We've got a WaterDragon to defeat!" The problem lied in the fact that said WaterDragon would probably be annoying to bring down. Or at least, normally it would...but what if they could stop it somehow? After all, it always seemed to create water under it, just like its chip...they could probably take advantage of that somehow. "This oughta be a good start. Battlechip, IceWave! Slot in!"

The prongs of the mermaid Navi's trident began to frost over, as it became charged with ice energy. Not seeing any reason to delay the attack, she pointed her weapon forward, creating a polygonal snowflake with the energy. It quickly began to undulate forward towards the dragon virus, with some degree of guidance given by its creator. And...that was about it. It was among the least flashy and complex attacks in her entire arsenal, after all.

The operator searched her available chips for something that both caught her eye and could provide lots and lots of WaterDragon destruction, eventually deciding to continue the theme of ice and simplicity. After all, what was simpler than a punch? "You'll have to get close to it, now, but...well, I think this'll be self-explanatory. Battlechip, ColdPunch! Slot in!"

Indeed, the selection did explain itself, as each end of her weapon began to morph into a large, icy fist. While it seemed heavy, an absentminded, quick, single-handed spin proved it was actually much lighter than it looked. With that, she raced forward, approaching the powerful Aqua virus with surprising speed for someone with a long skirt. With another twirl, she extended one of the fists forward, hopefully right in the face of the aforementioned virus. And without even having to rear back, she simply flipped the double weapon, causing a second, more uppercut style punch to be launched. Simple in theory, equally simple in execution. Unfortunately, it happened to leave her wide open for any counterattacks...but with any luck there wouldn't be much counterattacking.

[Order of Turn:
1-Sidestep Skarab2's bone (Dodge)
1a-Reserve Tank R (passive buster charge)
1b-Reserve Tank L (passive buster charge)
2-Water Splash charge attack on Skarab2B (200, Aqua)
3-IceWave1 chip attack on WaterDragon (80+25, Aqua, Freeze) (Single Target Aqua Boost)
4-Head over to WaterDragon (Movement)
5-ColdPunch chip attack on WaterDragon (70+25, Aqua, Impact, Knockback) (Single Target Aqua Boost)
6-ColdPunch chip attack on WaterDragon (70+25, Aqua, Impact, Knockback) (Single Target Aqua Boost)]
SplashLady's first move was to try and sidestep the Skarab's bone hurled at her, but it seemed to be pretty unnecessary, as the bone whirled high above her, missing her by a wide margin. Instead, she managed to jump out of the way of the WaterDragon's bodyslam attack instead, and deliver retribution towards the Skarab that targeted her earlier. It managed to pull off one last attack before being deleted, though it was blocked by the IronShield.

With the second round at hand, Voulge started off the offensive by summoning a swarm of mosquitoes and directing them at the raging WaterDragon. However, the dragon was simply too fast in its rush, and the mosquitoes could not keep up with its speed. Then, Voulge focused on keeping the Blackmares occupied with his very sharp and very dangerous FireSword. He managed to keep at the Blackmares with a slash or two, blocking off the viruses' attacks with his shield before slaying them decisively.

Now that the WaterDragon's attack was foiled, it made a move to lunge towards Voulge instead, but was stopped in its tracks when an IceWave froze its trail. It was undeterred, however, fending off the freeze and lunging towards the Navi without a care. Unfortunately, its attack was too inaccurate, and it was incinerated by Voulge's Totem shortly after.

The Skarab beside Voulge gathered itself up, and looked at the fight. Figuring it was pretty much f*cked, it fled. All that was left now was the gleaming Mystery Data, floating in all of its glory.

[Open Mystery Data? Y/N]

-- ENEMIES --
WaterDragon: DELETED
BluePhoenix A: DELETED
BluePhoenix B: DELETED
Cateen A: DELETED
Cateen B: DELETED
Skarab2 A: DELETED
Skarab2 B: DELETED
Skarab2 C: FLED
Blackmare A: DELETED
Blackmare B: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Green Mystery Data: 50 HP (Directly behind WaterDragon)

-- ALLIES --
SplashLady.EXE: 350 HP (3-hit shield)
Voulge.EXE: 190 HP (1-hit shield/Back)
Ignis.SP: 30 HP (HardBody)
Licht.SP: 1 HP

-- TERRAIN --
55% Metal (Bridge)
5% Broken (Hole in Bridge)
30% Lava (Sides of Bridge, 15% Each Side)
10% Missing (Holes in Bridge)

-- ROGUE BATTLE 03, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

SplashLady: [SummonBlack2] Battlechip, 2700z, 7 FXP
Voulge: [AquaDragon] Battlechip, 2700z, 7 FXP, 99 BugFrags
"Phew!" That battle wound up a lot more harmless than it seemed. Or at least, it was for her. Voulge looked slightly beat up, and his non-obnoxious SP looked like it took a wrecking ball. And Ignis didn't look much better. She had an idea on how to make that up to them, but first things first; SplashLady accessed her half of the reward data. "Incoming, Sabrina! There's chip data, too...its data signature's similar to a Blackmare, so I'm guessing we got its chip!"

Hmm...SummonBlack. 200 attack power was pretty sweet, but...well, it didn't mean much if they couldn't break terrain. And they couldn't. Into the spares it went, but with a mental note to put it in if they ever got something that'd let them use it. "Yep, but we can't really use it, since it's one of those 'only good if you can do something' chips, and we can't do something. But anyway, I'm kinda interested in what's in that Mystery Data..."

"Yeah, it's always nice to know what we've been protecting the entire battle." Instead of going over to open it, however, the mermaid Navi just leaned against her trident, clearly having no plans of moving. "All yours, Voulge! You really thrashed 'em, so I think it's only fair that you get it!"

A moment passed, before a look of panic suddenly crossed her face. "Ahh! Wait! We can't let what happened before happen again! Sabrina!"

"Gotcha." While a little disappointed that she wouldn't be getting the contents of the data herself, the Netopian girl couldn't really argue with her Navi's logic. "SubChip, Untrap! Slot in!"

A white sphere appeared in the palm of SplashLady's hand, which she threw at the Mystery Data. It expanded and enveloped the green diamond, allowing for whoever opened it to do so without any fear. "Okay, now it should be safe! Go ahead, Voulge!"

(Untrap SubChip used on GMD)
Voulge leaned against his spear as his SPs fluttered towards him from the bridge. "E-eh...I don't feel too good." Ignis and Licht was especially beaten up from the battle and it didn't look like they would do so well in the next one. The navi nodded his head and gently padded both SPs with a smile. "Alright, you guys did a good job...Go back for now, Licht."

Licht eagerly responded to his leader's command and disappeared with a flash of light, leaving Ignis alone, still very much wounded. "WOAH! What are you trying to do, kill me off? Has my nagging reached critical max that you want to finish me off during a 'virus battle'? Is that what it is?!?!" Voulge shook his head with a chuckle. "No, I just want more reliable people to be with us when we fight."

Though it was a simple answer, Ignis was touched wholeheartedly and turned his back at Voulge. "...I don't doubt you for relying on me that much. For I am the Igninat-" "Stop that."

Splash was ever so delighted about the victory, and even offered the GMD to him. Voulge was honestly reluctant to see what was inside due to the last encounter, but his trusty partner has gone far as to apply an Untrap so no unfortunate trap would wait for him. "Much appreciated, Splash." Voulge thanked his partner once more and reached his hand out for the floating crystal to see what was inside...

((Open GMD))
((Licht JackOut))
The green mystery data decoded itself securely, releasing the trap hidden inside without much fanfare. The decoding finished quickly, transferring the hidden rewards within.

[Voulge GET: FireHit2]
"Ehhhh? Another one? Laaame...Unless I can equip both Firehits at the same time! Awesome!"

Voulge was indifferent about the reward and shrugged it off, starting to walk deeper into the Hades net without a care in the world. "Let's go, Splash."

-BATTLE FOUR, READY!-
FireHit? But didn't Voulge already have one? Ouch. "Too bad about that Mystery Data...oh well. Not much else to do but keep going!" Whistling a nameless tune, SplashLady joined in the proceeding forward, though deep down she wished they'd find some things she could help more with. That last battle was slightly damaging to her pride...

(Searching for Battle #4)
Moving through the Hades Rogue network, the team of three now found themselves on a sharp incline leading up to what seemed like an active volcano. Deciding it would be interesting to explore, they scaled the incline and got near the rim of the heart of the volcano, where all the action was. However, their exploration party was stopped when a couple of metallic Craggers blocked their path, along with three Handy in the back for assistance.

However, just as they thought that the small team was the only one to stop them, they realized that some other viruses were also residing within the heart itself! They consisted of three Volcaner viruses, partially submerged within the lava, and two red Megalian-F heads, which flew high above the crater.

-- ENEMIES --
MetalCragger A: 200 HP (1 move, Normal)
MetalCragger B: 200 HP (1 move, Normal)
Handy2 A: 120 HP (1 Moves, Normal)
Handy2 B: 120 HP (1 Moves, Normal)
Handy2 EX: 150 HP (1 Moves, Normal)

Volcaner A: 150 HP (2 Moves, partial submerge Lava)
Volcaner B: 150 HP (2 Moves, partial submerge Lava)
Volcaner EX: 180 HP (2 Moves, partial submerge Lava)
Megalian-F2: 190 HP {80HP FireAura} (2 moves, High Alt over Lava)
Megalian-F2 EX: 220 HP {100HP FireAura} (2 moves, High Alt over Lava)

-- ALLIES --
SplashLady.EXE: 350 HP (Normal)
Voulge.EXE: 190 HP (Normal)
Ignis.SP: 30 HP (Normal)

-- TERRAIN --
40% Lava (Huge crater of- what else- lava)
20% Coal (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
40% Normal (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
Special: Active Volcano: 50% chance of 5% Lava spewing out of any non-Lava terrain if struck with a Ground Attack.

-- ROGUE BATTLE 04, READY? START!! --
Huh...viruses atop a volcano. What a novel concept. And annoying, considering climbing up there was hazardous in the first place. "Hoo boy...out of the frying pan, huh Voulge? I guess I'll take the fire viruses, and you can handle the ones in front of us...it'll be quicker that way!"

"Oh sure, don't ask me if I like the plan. Noooo...I'm just your automatic chip inserter who stands around looking pretty while you march along!"

"Oh, come on, Sabrina! You were thinking it, too! Admit it!"

"Even so, I think part of the reason we're so good is because you don't just rush in and demand stuff..."

"Okay, okay, point taken. So, how do you propose we handle our half of the fight?"

"First, we need to get you there. And to do that quickly, we need something we've been using a lot lately. Seriously, why can't they get any closer to us? Are you really that scary?" Well, whatever, too late now. "Battlechip, AreaGrab! Slot in!"

"H-Hey? What's that supposed to mean?!" Sadly, SplashLady had no time to receive an answer, as her coordinates inside the Net were suddenly altered, and she found herself inside the barrel of the volcano. Almost immediately, a slew of terrible heat-related puns entered her head, yet all were immediately rejected; she was only a few steps from lava, which meant any silly thoughts needed to be postponed. "Well, I'm in. And FYI, it's REALLY hot in here, and that's not good when you've got multiple layers over most of your body."

"Sorry...we'll just try and take them out quick, okay?" Though she would've thought that an Aqua Navi would be able to just use water or ice or whatever to cool off...but again, whatever. Maybe water attacks could do that job as well as destroying fire viruses on contact. And thus did Sabrina commence the water attacks by slamming some chips into her PET. Squabble aside, it was still kinda a necessary part of the job of an operator. "BattleChip, WideShot2! Double slot in!"

A blue aura surrounded the mermaid Navi's trident, now infused with water. After a quick, showy twirl, she slashed the air in front of her, forcibly removing the aura's source. It quickly manifested itself from waves of light into waves of water, each of which simply hovered in mid-air, as if waiting for an unspoken command. And an unspoken command did they receive, as the aquatic fighter simply pointed her weapon forward, towards the group of Volcaner. Like the shots that they were, they launched from their stationary spot towards the volcanoes within a volcano, each of which had the power to ignore the fact one seemed a bit stronger than the others. No, this water wouldn't discriminate, treating each like the fiery viruses that they were.

"Ugh, it's hot! I mean, it's hot enough just being in Hades Area, but this is ridiculous!" Wiping some sweat off her face, SplashLady looked up to try and see a place that was less heated, and imagine she was there...instead, noticing two more fire viruses. "...Ugh! I didn't see those earlier..."

"Yep, they're there. But! They're not invincible up there, especially to someone like you that specializes in water power. Besides, hanging out that far up...that's why we have this!" Sabrina nearly had to blow dust off of it, but sure enough, the chip with a picture of the spiky version of Puffy found its way into the PET's insertion slot. "BattleChip, AquaNeedle2! Slot in!"

Unlike WideShot, all the water Navi had to do was look up in order for the next attack to be triggered. From above even the flaming heads, three water-based spikes formed high above the battlefield, and immediately started dropping. All of them had the same intentions; a rendezvous with the weaker of the two blazing Megalian. But, the fact that only one was being targeted didn't sit right with her..."Sabrina, I'm gonna try and take a shot at that other one. I'm not really sure if I can hit it all the way from here, but I might as well try!" With no objection ringing in her ears, she pointed down at the ground with her three-pronged spear, causing what one would think was impossible to happen: next to the lava, water began to form, and rose up to approximately the Navi's eye level. For a few moments, it rapidly built and expanded, forming a large blob of the simple liquid. After looking up again at the positioning of the stronger head virus, she raised the trident and pointing at it, causing the water buildup to shoot upward at great speed. She still wasn't sure if even she could force it that high, but actually executing the attack gave her a little more confidence in it.

"Well, I dunno about you, but I think that's enough water for now. Take a breather, okay?"

"Good, because it's scorching in here! And yes, I realize I'm in a stupid volcano!" The heat was starting to affect her; though fortunately, thus far it only seemed to make her more irritable.

[Order of Turn:
1-AreaGrab chip to inside volcano, not far from Volcaner group (teleports user)
2-WideShot2 chip attack on VolcanerA, VolcanerB, and VolcanerEX (80+15, Aqua, Wide Attack)
3-WideShot2 chip attack on VolcanerA, VolcanerB, and VolcanerEX (80+15, Aqua, Wide Attack)
4-AquaNeedle2 chip attack on Megalian-F2 (30+15 x 3 hits, Aqua)
4a-Reserve Tank R (passive buster charge)
4b-Reserve Tank L (passive buster charge)
5-Water Splash charge attack on Megalian-F2EX (200, Aqua, Spread 1)
6-Dodge]
(Crap post is crap)

"...Who's goddamn idea was it to go up a mother*cking active volcano in the first place?"

Ignis nagged on as Voulge and Splash walked up the inclined terrain, actually making the navi think of the same question himself. However, before he could think too much into it, viruses waited for them near the top of the volcano. "Guess we have no choice." The navi formed a shield from the burned stones around him and immediately set his eyes on the group of viruses close to him. "Ignis. Just stay out of this one. Splash, I'l-" Once again, Splash was quick with her commands as she teleported up to the volcano, leaving Voulge with his original choice of enemies.

"Craggers and Handys...." Marius stated as he began to rub his chin. "They would be tough, if anyone else would've fought them." With a grin stretched through his face, the operator prepared three chips and loaded them in one by one. Voulge separated his legs apart as he firmly held his spear with both hands and began to measure up the viruses. His first thought was to take out the Craggers first and deal with the Handys later, taking out the strongest out of the group.

"Aw...Well, good luck and stuff." As Ignis began to drift away from the battle and into a safe distance, Voulge rushed up the volcano and straight towards his enemies. The navi held his shield high, hoping that it would at least hold off one of the Cragger's devastating attack, and reached the needed distance between himself and the Craggers.

Voulge began to tighten his grip over his Lancea, causing a veil of flame to cover over it and soon reveal a gigantic drill lance. The navi began to have a little trouble with the sheer size as he began to tilt back to hold it up straight, but it was far from hindering the next attack that was about to come. "Steady..." Voulge began to strafe around the golem-viruses, trying to find the perfect angle to execute his attack. "...There!"

As soon as the two viruses were perfectly aligned, Voulge started up the drill, revving it little by little till it began to spin uncontrollably. He took the lance's handle under his armpit like a jouster and held out his other hand to form a balance. "PIERCE!!" His shout was immediately muted by the crash of the drill, causing high-pitched whir and red hot sparks to fill the air. It only required a single thrust of the lance to finish the two craggers, but Voulge continued on as he gave one last push behind the weapon before he pulled it out.

"Good! Now turn your focus towards the Handys!"

The navi changed the Lancea into a flat halberd in a matter of seconds, shifting his focus on the group of Handys before him. But rather than going for a direct confrontation, Voulge and Marius had something else in mind. The spearman quickly swiped the halberd across the ground, sending a chunk of the volcanic terrain straight towards one of many possible bombs placed by the viruses. "...Did that leave the mark?" Voulge looked down to find a gaping hole in front of him and simply nodded. "Then it's time to see the power of our new chip."

The navi bolted away from where he once stood, but continued to keep an eye out for the group of Handys. Just as he reached optimal distance, Voulge planted his spear into the ground and pushed both his palm against the pole. "W-what is that dumbass doing?" Ignis commented from afar. His question was quickly answered when a pitch black aura began to surround the spear like a layer of thick oil. It was shifting up and down on its own accord until Voulge began to direct all of it straight into the ground. "COME FORTH AND FLAY MY ENEMIES!"

His words echoed through the volcanic field and a oozing black figure emerged out from the hole created from before. "Aw shit! It's those viruses again!!" The figure was in fact the same BlackMare from the previous battle, raising its deadly sword up to its eye level before it promptly disappeared into the air. "N-no! It's going after me again! It knew that I was too powerful! Nooo!" But instead, to Ignis' disappointment, the BlackMare simply followed its new master's order and appeared just before the Handys. Like a bolt of lightning, the BlackMare quickly swung its sword and disappeared instantaneously, not leaving a single trace of its existence except the damage it has caused.

* Phalanx Aspis [2-hit Shield] Behind
* Tempero Flamma [Strengthen [40]]
Ignis: Dodge x3
1. Movement towards MetalCraggers
2. Take Aim / Align MetalCraggers
3. DrillArm2 [70 x 2 (1st) / 70[b]+30[/b](2nd) / Break / Knockback (1st) / Long Attack] {B + Take Aim} @ MetalCragger A/B
4. PanelShot [100 / Terrain / 5% Broken] {B} @ Nearest TimeBomb
5. Dodge
6. SummonBlack2 [200 / Wide / Slash / Requires Broken or Missing Terrain] {A} @ Handy2 A/B, Handy2EX

Cooldown:
None
With SplashLady leaving Voulge and Ignis to the MetalCraggers and Handy, the warrior Navi brandished his shield and lance, dashing towards the MetalCraggers. The golems tried to smash up some trouble, but the two were simply too agile, and Voulge destroyed them both with his DrillArm attack. The Handy began to set up their bombs, when one of them was smashed by a PanelShot! The SummonBlack afterwards slashed them up nice and easy, resulting in a one-turn kill from the male side of the team.

Meanwhile, the female side unleashed a hailstorm of WideShot attacks on the Volcaner, causing them to be forcefully ejected from the lava without a second reprieve. The AquaNeedle fired upwards only hit the Megalian once, as it swooped around the other two. Unfortunately for it, the water-aligned attack pierced its aura and destroyed it, damaging it severely in the process. The Megalian smashed its head into SplashLady just as she fired off the Water Splash attack at the EX-version Megalian. Both attacks were dodged by both parties, and the EX Megalian's attack later didn't help much at all as it entirely missed.

-- ENEMIES --
MetalCragger A: DELETED
MetalCragger B: DELETED
Handy2 A: DELETED
Handy2 B: DELETED
Handy2 EX: DELETED

Volcaner A: DELETED
Volcaner B: DELETED
Volcaner EX: DELETED
Megalian-F: 100 HP (1 moves, flying over Lava)
Megalian-F EX: 220 HP {100HP FireAura} (1 moves, flying over Lava)

-- OBJECTS --
TimeBomb: 100 HP [2]
DudBomb: 1 HP [X]

-- ALLIES --
SplashLady.EXE: 350 HP (Normal)
Voulge.EXE: 190 HP (Normal) [2-hit shield]
Ignis.SP: 30 HP (Normal)

-- TERRAIN --
20% Lava, 20% Normal (Huge crater of- what else- lava)
20% Coal (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
35% Normal, 5% Broken (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
Special: Active Volcano: 50% chance of 5% Lava spewing out of any non-Lava terrain if struck with a Ground Attack.
Voulge was able to rest easy as his side of the viruses fell quickly. In fact, much quicker than he expected. He turned to see that Splash was unharmed, but still had a few virus to take care of before they were out in the clear. "Damn man, those guys dropped like flies!" Ignis taunted as he hid from the viruses, still uneasy as to the fact that he could reveal himself to possible harm. Marius, on the other hand, saw that the battle was already victorious, but couldn't take any chances.

"Ignis, take out those bombs. Remember, not the one with the giant X, the one with the number. Okay? You understand? You want me to repeat it fo-" "SHUT UP AND SUCK IT, ASSHOLE." The aggravated SP shot out from his hiding spot and extended his flame arm to the side. "I HEARD IT THE FIRST TIME! I AIN'T SOME RETARDED KID!" Ignis began to swing the arm in a circle, almost creating a cartoon-like effect as the arms began to blur from the speed of the swing.

He turned towards the two bombs near one another and, as expected, forgot the specific command Marius has given. ...I-its cool. There's no friggen way I'm going to embarrass myself like this! Ignis hesitated as he examined the two bombs erratically, not even realizing the obvious difference between the two.

Voulge looked up at the top of the volcano where Splash was, but the navi simply smiled as he took a seat at the rocky floor and sighed. "What's wrong?" Marius questioned the relaxed navi. "Nothing...I'm sure Splash can take them out by herself." Brimming with confidence about his partner, Voulge took in a big breath of the murky hot air and took this chance to rest a little.

"AHA! X MARKS THE SPOT!"

Ignis went along with the common saying and began to spin his arm faster. Just before he was about to launch his fist at the dudbomb, Marius intervened at the last second. "...The one with the number, idiot." SP began to sweat and nodded his body, changing his target at the last second towards the real bomb. "Uh...I-I knew tha-" "No, shut up. Try to listen next time, alright?"


1. Rest
Ignis: FireHit2 [90+[color=red]25[/color] / Impact / Double] {A} @ TimeBomb
-TURN SPLICE-

Cooldown:
None
Looking at the fact the Megalian managed to withstand her watery onslaught, SplashLady could do nothing but sigh and rub the back of her neck. She certainly wasn't surprised, considering how far up they were at the time. "Yeah...guess we should wrap this up. But before we do, can you do something for me, Sabrina?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Mind sending over Recover120?"

"...Why? I mean, you haven't been hit since we entered Hades...oh, wait, that's the point, isn't it?" Now wise as to the plan, Sabrina whipped out one of the easiest chips to figure out from its picture alone and proceeded to engage in the action known as...slot in. "BattleChip, Recover120! Slot in!"

The mermaid Navi acquired a pink aura around her, but instead of fully enveloping her as usual, it concentrated in the palm of her left hand, forming an equally pink sphere. Picturing her Fire typed partner in her mind, the orb rose, before locating and covering him with healing energy, for the sake of healing his wounds. "There. I've been waiting for a good time to do that!"

"All right, good! ...Okay, I just got a really crazy idea we're going to try before we go ahead and wipe those heads off the face of the Net!" How crazy was it? Well, it involved the use of a chip that practically required that she wipe the dust off of it before using it. "I want you to use this on the one that still has its aura intact! Battlechip, AuraHead2! Slot in!"

SplashLady's outstretched hand suddenly and involuntarily shifted into buster form, as a Megalian head grew on the tip of it. Looking at it curiously for a moment, she pointed it towards the defensed virus, and fired a shot directly into the back of the virus head on her...causing the head to rocket forward towards the aura'd foe, in an attempt to smack its flames off with the very chip she knew dropped it. That irony was not lost on her. What WAS lost on her, however..."So, was that the really crazy idea? Because if it was, it was kinda pointless and showoffy.

"Nah. Actually, the only reason we used it was because that's the only thing I could find that could break the aura without killing the virus!"

"...And that's better than just using our plethora of water attacks how?"

"Here's how!" Now, for the power that was...chips that did nothing in the deletion of viruses. "BattleChip, PickPocket! Slot in!"

At the lava nearest the Navi, a Bandcoon virus formed...before suddenly rocketing upwards, landing near its summoner. Pointing a stubby hand at it, it appeared to curse her for a moment, though exactly what it was muttering was incomprehensible. However, its eyes suddenly lit up, causing it to use its long tail to scoop something up from the coal, namely a wooden boat, complete with oars. Exactly how that survived in there was the least of anyone's concerns; how could it even hide a wooden boat? Using its most powerful appendage, it tossed it into the warm, gooey center of the area, quickly jumping into the vehicle. Wrapping its tail around the oars, it began to frantically row towards the Megalians...as it turned out, going as fast as possible was a good idea, considering the craft immediately caught fire. Soon, every part of it was ablaze (except, of course, where the pseudovirus stood on it), but it remained steadfast in getting close to the headed foes. However, the boat could take no more, and began sinking into the heated rock. But it did its job; the Bandcoon quickly curled up, began spinning, and with all its might, leaped into the air, and in mid-jump, managed to snatch data from the virus, and tossed it at SplashLady, who caught it with one hand. This left it in the position of falling into the drink...fortunately, its job finally completed, it was able to vanish before burning itself to a crisp. "Uh...wow. Just wow. I hope it got something after going through all that..."

"Yeah...but there's not much we can do about it other than hope for the best. Besides, you can't decode it until those stupid things are gone!" All right, now they could finally focus on what they did best: hitting things with water until they deleted. "BattleChip, WideShot3! BattleChip, LilCloud! BattleChip, MediumCloud! Triple slot in!"

A pair of clouds formed above the aquatic fighter's head, as her trident began to glow blue once again. She thrust the weapon forward, creating the wide wave of water she had unleashed countless times before...not always at that strength, but the attack itself looked extremely familiar. And as always, it sailed towards the pair of viruses, in all of its incredible watery might. But in something that deviated from the norm, the clouds proceeded to follow it, and released their liquid fury in the form of deceptively painful rain. Surely, the trio would be enough to delete two simple viruses. But, there was something that seemed off to the Navi...ah, right. "Sabrina, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" This sounded kinda familiar.

"Considering LilCloud and MediumCloud make clouds in the sky and rain down on the enemy, why didn't we just use them to begin with?"

"...Well...because I didn't think of it at the time? I can't exactly sit around all day figuring out the perfect attacks for everything, you know?"

[Order of Turn:
1-Recover120 chip on Voulge (120, Recovery)
2-AuraHead2 chip attack on Megalian-F2EX (120, Break)
3-PickPocket chip on Megalian-F2EX (steals reward data from one virus)
4-WideShot3 chip attack on Megalian-F2 and Megalian-F2EX (100+15, Aqua)
5-LilCloud chip attack on Megalian-F2 and Megalian-F2EX (70+15, Aqua)
6-MediumCloud chip attack on Megalian-F2 and Megalian-F2EX (90+15, Aqua)]
With the Voulge team resting their heads for now, SplashLady was left to finish off her part. She first healed up her partner, being the good teammate that she was, and sent an AuraHead towards the Megalian up top. The Megalian was too nimble, however, and dodged the blow, sending its head crashing towards the aquatic Navi instead! (100) The PickPocket later was a complete throwaway as well, as the Bandcoon was smashed in the face by the... face. Whatever. Anyway, the WideShot later went much better, and deleted both Megalians in one fell swoop.

Ignis almost went full retard, haha.

-- ENEMIES --
MetalCragger A: DELETED
MetalCragger B: DELETED
Handy2 A: DELETED
Handy2 B: DELETED
Handy2 EX: DELETED

Volcaner A: DELETED
Volcaner B: DELETED
Volcaner EX: DELETED
Megalian-F: DELETED
Megalian-F EX: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
TimeBomb: DELETED
DudBomb: 1 HP [X]

-- ALLIES --
SplashLady.EXE: 250 HP (Normal)
Voulge.EXE: 250 HP (Normal) [2-hit shield]
Ignis.SP: 30 HP (Normal)

-- TERRAIN --
20% Lava, 20% Normal (Huge crater of- what else- lava)
20% Coal (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
35% Normal, 5% Broken (50° incline around Lava, scattered patterns)
Special: Active Volcano: 50% chance of 5% Lava spewing out of any non-Lava terrain if struck with a Ground Attack.

-- ROGUE BATTLE 04, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

SplashLady: 3150z, 7 FXP
Voulge: 2700z, 7 FXP, 86 BugFrags
...Oof. Right in the chest. If it wasn't for her shell armor, that would've been a lot more painful. ...Not that it was soaking in a hot spring. "..." ...Gasp! Ugh, it stung enough that she hadn't even realized she got the wind knocked out of her. "...Hey, Sabrina?"

"Yeah?"

"The next time you want to do something elaborate with PickPocket...please don't. That really hurt!"

"Sorry..." Opening a rarely used pocket near her PET holster, Sabrina pulled something out, and stuck it in. "Here, this help? SubChip, EnergyPack! Slot in!"

Blue energy surrounded SplashLady, as the one time healing chip healed her up immediately. "...I'll think about it." With a wave, she sent over all the cash that made up the remainder of the viruses, before climbing out of the crater...looking slightly tired from doing so. "Ugh, I wear too much to hang out in a volcano..." Luckily, it was just a few hops over to reach Voulge. "That wasn't too bad, huh? ...For a battle on a volcano, anyway..."

Over in the real world, the operator made a quick, yet notable, switch: out went a picture of a pink goopy thing, and in went some weird NormalNavi looking guy with an odd looking WideSword. "There, that oughta put anything Elec based back in their place. SplashLady's not paying attention to me right now...I guess I'll surprise her when we need it!"

"Well, where to next? I dunno how we'll top climbing this thing, but based on how the Net works, I'm sure we'll find something..." The mermaid Navi simply stood there, awaiting her companion's input.

(EnergyPack used: +100 HP)
(Ready for the dreaded Battle #5)
"Well...Lets get away from the volcano for now before it becomes violent." Though Voulge would have been perfectly fine by it, he had to be considerate of his partner's well being as well. The navi stood up as he dusted away the sooth from his legs and pointed down at the same direction from where they came from. "...I still don't understand why we came up here in the first place."

Ignis floated along beside his leader and let out a sigh, unwillingly following the navi's lead as they headed down the mountain. "Today's just not my day, you know? Being hurt and shit while being mentally challenged...Just not my day." The spearman stared down at the whining SP, but simply shrugged as he brought Licht back from his rest. The green SP was more than happy to be back with its family, despite the fact that his injury wasn't fully recovered from the previous battle.

"There, we're more than ready for what's to come."

((Summon Licht))

-BOSS BATTLE, READY!-
[Mod-Lock]

Voulge, SplashLady and team moved onwards through the Hades Rogue network, searching for more viruses to bust, when they heard a rather strange chanting through their travels. What was said through the chant was not very clear, however, until they approached within a good distance of it.

"Fe-fi-fo-fum, de-di-do-drum. Oh-hohoho, what's the recipe for today, mm?"

A massive pit of green glob was sunk into the ground in the middle of nowhere, with a tiny figure standing at its side, holding a huge stirring spoon in hand. Beside the pit was a thatched-roof hut, as simple a dwelling as one would imagine. The figure itself was clad in tattered and dirty black robes, with a crooked black hat to match. The hat had a small belt at its rim, and the robes were also tied with a similar ornament at the waist. Hearing footsteps, the figure turned its back, and revealed that the face behind it was a hideous green-skinned old woman's face, with the longest, most wart-ridden nose you'd ever seen being its most prominent part.

"Ahhh, guests! My, my, haven't had guests for a long, long time, oh-hohoho!" cackled the scraggly hag, grinning with rows of old, rotten teeth.

The old witch lookalike stood with one hand at her hip in front of them, the other hand holding her huge stirring spoon behind her like it was weightless. "Mm, mm! Why, what a surprise, what a surprise, oh-hohoho! Two youngin's, out in the middle of Hades! You two going hot and heavy or something? Hohoho!" she quipped, her endless cackle practically punctuating her sentences. She then continued. "My, oh my, what a wonderful thing. Old Squick wishes she'd had her chance, she tells you. It's not everyday you'dbeabletofindthiskindof--"

Aaaaand there she goes. Whoo, everyone get on the rambling train.