Meleeman and Crushman

((HO HO, last minute addition. Both of these two said they wanted in, but neither had registered.

...So I put them together like this.))
CrushMan was falling. Not for long. With a thunderous crash, he slammed into the ground, sending a cloud of debris into the air as his spiked heels bit into the ground. He straightened himself up to his full, intimidating height and took in the situation around him.

There was another crash some small distance away. He glanced at it, questioningly. It was a pool of metallic goo that only slightly resembled it's original form. CrushMan's arm. "Do try to keep yourself together, dear CrushMan. There's fun to be had here. Look, look around you!" the Master said, an exultant tone to his voice. "Look at the chaos. Pure and unadulterated. Why, you'd hardly know who was on whose side." He chuckled. "Imagine, I'm certain that there are quite a few less scrupulous individuals taking advantage of the situation to eliminate a foe, a thorn in their side. And I don't just mean the Net Mafia, I'm sure the Police have a few enemies they'd like to dispose of... Even in their own ranks."

"But, as amusing as this all is, that's not really why we're here, is it? No, not at all." Crush bent down and reached for shimmering ooze with what was left of his left arm. The pool suddenly leapt towards him, wrapped itself around his stump, and hardened into the form of his massive fist, wrapped in armor plating, before reaching back and connecting with his arm socket, an arm the size of a tree trunk forming between the two. "We're here..." He stopped. "Now there's a question, why are we here, I do wonder? It's still much too early to return to this place, especially considering how close it is to that time and the unfortunate incident with the hospital. Ah, but perhaps now is a good time to investigate such things? Yes, yes..."

"And to take out an annoyance of our own, perhaps?"

That one.

The Master must be talking about that one.

The one who defeated him. Easily. Effortlessly. Crush wouldn't forget it. No, he wouldn't forget it. The shame blighted him, stained his dignity and his honor. How dare that pathetic runt, that slime, that skum, that damned commoner flunky do that to him!

"Yes, much to do, much to do. Come, CrushMan. Let's go."
As Rania jumped up from the comfy spot she'd just made in her bed, MeleeMan fell down into a regretfully less comfy position, colliding like a sack of bricks with the floor of the Rogue Net. "Dammit, Rania! Your jack-ins lately suck. Warn me before you do something like that," he grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and gritting his teeth gingerly. "It's a lucky thing I was wearing a helmet."

"I suppose so. But I didn't intend to send you to this destination... in fact, you're nowhere near where I meant to send you. I attempted to jack you into my home PC, but somehow you've ended up in an area that's undefined on my PET," she muttered, putting one hand to her chin thoughtfully. "It says somewhere around Electown Net, which makes sense, but I really have no idea where you are besides just that general location."

"Hey, forget where I am for a moment! Look at all of this!" he yelled above the tumult of the area, dodging a minibomb as it flew past him. "This is a damn war zone. It's probably has something to do with the transmissions that the Netpolice put out earlier."

Rania's eyebrows lowered, suspicious of every unfamiliar navi surrounding MeleeMan. "Keep your wits about you, MeleeMan," she instructed him, fetching the chip folder from its place at her bedside. "The Netmafia put out one of those too. That means that you can't assume anyone here is your ally. Go help out the Netpolice!" she told him enthusiastically, her eyes burning bright orange as her spirit ignited with a sense of justice.

"Alright, alright... Sheesh, if I had my way, I'd just give em all a few good fists in the face, send em sprawling, and cut out this little street brawl like a real man would do it," he ranted, shrugging irritably as he sought out the Netpolice. "Woah, dammit, Mafia sighted! Look at that huge, dark-colored navi there. No way he's with the Netpolice!" he cried, backing up quickly as he nearly ran into CrushMan from behind. "D-Dammit! The guy's bigger than me!" he shouted in amazement, as if he found the concept of any navi outranking him in sheer body mass utterly impossible. "I thought he was some kind of enormous pile of rubble!"

"Shhh!" Rania urged him with embarrassment. "You can't just go accusing navis of being netmafia or debris, for that matter, without finding evidence first! Go on, figure out whose side he's on, but be a lot more careful with your words."

"Oh yeah, rhetoric, that's my forte," he grumbled, approaching the navi.
Crush turned around quickly, he's feet sinking back into the ground with metallic *shinks* as his heels tore through the earth. "Stranded?" The Master said, his voice cool and charming. A very unnusual sound for him, Crush imagined. "How very unfortunate! Yes, quite unfortunate indeed, a non-combatant getting trapped in such a dangerous place." The giant Navi caught sight of the... target. That was the best term he could assign it. Not enemy or ally, this thing before him. Not yet. But the target already had earned some degree of respect from him. Non-combatant? Hardly. It was large, in context to most Navi at anyrate, and it's muscles were thick and full. What's more, his combat scan showed inappropriate answers. Inefficient out of combat it may be, what it showed of the enemy's program stability alone was quite impressive. 200? 250? More? What did this say about his fighting abilities then?

"You'll have to forgive me, eavesdropping like that. And further so for delaying so long in an introduction. Charles Weatherbey, at your service. And before you is my stalwart companion, CrushMan." He did as he'd been trained. He sank to one knee, knelt his head down low, lay one arm over his upraised knee and placed his other fist against the ground. "He's quite the humble chap, pleasant company indeed. And his sword arm is reliable, to say the least."

The giant navi scanned the area in his position of weakness. This was entirely unappropriate! They were an island of calm in a maelstrom of chaos! What was the Master thinking, offering such petty words to others of no consequence? The sounds of battle raged all about him, Navis wrapped in mortal combat, and he was busy bowing to some stranger! Impressive as his power might seem, that only frustrated CrushMan all the moreso. Debris, The Target had called him! Hah! How interesting! Against that kind of strength, he'd be glad to prove all the more his own power!

But still, why the delay? There was so much to do in an environment like this, the Master had said it himself. A chance to prove himself in combat, to show the weaklings their place, to get revenge, to restore his honor, there was so much to be done and yet he was doing this!

Or was this something else, something beyond his scope of comprehension? What was the Master up to? He calmed himself. Crush locked his eyes forward, on The Target, and kept his gaze firm. "I'll have you know for certain that I owe no allegiances to those ruffians that call themselves the Net Mafia. Quite the opposite in fact, I have reasons to fight them. But this is no place for... Forgive me, it's incomprehensible how rude I've been this day. What might your names be," the Master said, cooly as ever, as if oblivious to the events around him, "I suppose that will be a most excellent place for us to begin. And then, perhaps, where to go from there. Your Navi sounds eager to begin. I first assumed your first thoughts might be to escape, but perhaps we could come to some sort of arrangement?"
"Oh... Oh my god! He shot me! He shot me at point blank!"

MeleeMan and CrushMan pivoted around in shock and for the first time since jacking-in, got a full appreciation for their surroundings. Several bullet holes riddled the ground, and the acrid smell of gunpowder and brimstone filled the air. Junk data littered the battlefield, where melted weapons smoldered in the hands of barely-recognizable navi data. Spotting the source of the yell, the two large navis focused their attention on the source of the latest skirmish. A golden-haired figure clad in a black trenchcoat and swathed in a violet aura swayed uneasily on his feet, clutching his chest. He was supported by another navi — a young slender female model with a black-and-white checkerboard bodysuit and a jester hat. Small amounts of brown hair could be seen poking out of the sides of her cap, and a fearful visage shone through her large gray eyes.

"H...Hold on, Marquis!" yelled the girl, placing her hand on the male navi's chest and grimacing as data continued to leak out of the gaping wound, "You... you shouldn't have used it! It's draining your life force faster than our recovery chips can..." The Jester-themed navi's eyes widened as Marquis vomited up more data, wisplike strands of code moving airily toward the skies above. "Marquis! MARQU-"

"Oy, Trixie, keep it down or I'll rip your lungs out!"

With that, three additional figures entered the battlefield from behind Trixie and Marquis. One, a rather horrifying navi of MeleeMan's size and stature and clad in little more than black leather pants, leaned over and put a hairy arm over Trixie's back. As the jester navi sniffed, the questionable newcomer adjusted his black leather cap with his free hand and patted her back comfortingly. "Aww... don't cry Trixie." he cooed in a disturbingly effeminate way, "I know it's not much consolation, but there's no way a good looking guy like Marquis could have been straight."

The second, a hunched-over figure sheathed in a black trenchcoat a few sizes too big, smirked, reached up with his left hand, and brushed a lock of greasy black hair in front of his eyes, giving him a rather "emo" look. "YaoiMan, only you'd be thinkin' about that sorta thing at a time like dis. And honestly Trix, you're a Teksqp for cryin' out loud. Grow a spine or get the hell out." he jeered, "That blonde ditz got what was comin' to 'im, actin' all tough back at da HQ." His grin widened as he reached over with his left hand and brought up the fabric that covered his right arm, revealing a rather sinister-looking silver claw. "A few more days, and I woulda cut 'im up myself! Dey don't call me Sixclaw for nothin' after all." he laughed, flexing the six metallic fingers experimentally and grinning maliciously toward the fallen Marquis.

Trixie shot Sixclaw a hate-filled glare as she continued to tend to the wounds of the fallen Marquis. However, despite her best efforts, her meager healing energies failed to penetrate the sickly purple aura that threatened to consume his entire body and soul. The third figure, a large, burly cloaked navi, moved wordlessly to Trixie's side. MeleeMan and CrushMan couldn't see the mafia member's face, but he seemed to be carrying a wooden sword in his right hand. "How... how could this happen?! Trixie gasped, watching helplessly as her comrade's wound festered with corruption, "This was... this was supposed to be a cake walk! Nothing dangerous whatsoever. Why did it have to end this way?!"

The third figure hissed, before removing the hood of his black cloak. Standing just below YaoiMan's height and adorned in crimson battle armor, the leader of the small Teksqp unit seemed relatively unfazed by his subordinate's impending doom. Taking a few moments to gingerly adjust his knuckle bracers, the Mafia Commander smiled a mirthless smile as brushed his flowing black cape to the side and struck the ground with his wooden sword.

"Why? Because we are at war, graaah!"

-*-

The head NetPolice agent scowled at the sight of the three newcomers, twirling his modified revolver and taking a nervous step backwards. How could that backup be taking so damn long? he thought worriedly, I radioed to headquarters nearly four cycles ago. Taking down that blonde clown was tricky enough as ever — now there's what, FOUR of them?! No sooner had he completed the thought, however, did a trio of bright silver beams crash down behind him. Finally! he thought, allowing himself the luxury of a smile. The lights slowly materialized into three shapely, feminine-looking figures, each swathed in a silver bodysuit with different-colored highlights and lines that stretched from the leg to the neck. The three female navis that stepped forward seemed identical in body-type and design, with the possible exception of the insignia on the chest of each.

"When danger rears its ugly head, comma, when the night is darkened by the forces of evil, comma, when all hope appears to be lost, comma, pause for effect." began the first, a redheaded navi with crimson highlights and a large comma design on her chest. As she spoke, she entered a rather overblown pose, arms fully extended to her side.

"Y-You'll s-see. The probability of v-victory in this c-case seems t-to exceed 100%, which s-suggests either a m-mathematical error or overwhelming odds in our f-favor." stammered the second, her shoulder-length blue hair and large spectacles giving her a rather bookish look, "And m-mathematical error r-really isn't my thing." A large + adorned this newcomer's bodysuit, and the blue highlights seemed to glow ever so slightly in the dank battlefield.

"You see, you cannot win this fight!" declared the third one, adding a lyrical nature to her silky words, "Despite your power we will never lose!" The navi's blonde hair cascaded down to shoulder-length in a rather glamorous style, and the letters "ABC" adorned her yellow insignia.

"That's right, exclamation point! Special Educational Netpolice Heroes exclamation point! Prepare for battle against Punct, comma, Parabola, comma, and Iamb, exclamation point!" shouted the first, as the three assumed fighting positions. The original netpolice navi smiled more broadly, and twirled his revolver idly in his hands. "Looks like this is going to be a piece of cake!" he laughed, pointing the weapon at the Teksqp commander, "You ready for this, greeny? Because we're about to put you through a whole world of pain!"

The Mafia commander faltered for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "Graah!" he shouted, twirling his wooden sword and brushing his cape to the side contemptuously, "You're even worse than we are, graah, picking on the small fry without a second thought! We'd be better off without ya, graaah!" Slamming his fist against his crimson armor in challenge, the lizardlike commander smirked. "Like you coppers like to say, you'll pay for your crimes, graaah!"

-*-

As MeleeMan and Crushman watched the battle unfold from a small distance away, they were interrupted by a pair of female voices jabbering rapidly behind them. Turning around, they saw two female-model navis whispering none-too-inconspicuously as they too, watched the battle unfold.

"Oh no, Kunie! I knew it wasn't a good idea to come here! We're just not at the same level as the other mercenaries that are hanging around here! I mean, we're taking far too much damage, and I... I think our jack-out routines have been disrupted!" said the first, shaking her head and allowing her orange ponytail to sway back and forth. Her orange bodysuit was complimented by metallic armor on her chest, hips, and feet, and her shoulders appeared to have a pair of giant floodlights grafted onto the front panels.

"Relax, Shine, we just need to find people stronger than us and follow them until we get help," muttered the second. Like her counterpart, "Kunie" had her blue hair tied up in a ponytail, but her azure bodysuit lacked the armored highlights that Shine did.

"Brilliant, Kunie!" shouted Shine excitedly, accidentally discharging one of her floodlights in the process. Immediately, both the NetPolice and the NetMafia were alerted to their presence.

"Graaah, what... what are you two doing here?!" shouted the mafia commander, "Come on and help us out! They've already murdered too many in their twisted quest for 'justice', graah!"

"Ignore that mafia scumbag and do what's right! We need your help to save the lives of all the civilians in the area!" replied the netpolice commander, eliciting a trio of nods from his silver-clad support.

"Ah... uh..." stammered Kunie, glancing around nervously, "We're affiliated with the Ne... I mean the Ma... I mean...er... with them!" she shouted finally, pointing at MeleeMan and CrushMan.

Well... this is certainly awkward.

-*-

Battle 1: GO!

Teksqp — Commander Geckoman: 300
Teksqp — Vice Commander YaoiMan: 250
Teksqp — Goon Sixclaw: 200
Teksqp — Goon Trixie: 149
Teksqp — Goon Marquis: DELETED

NetPolice — Lieutenant Porter: 234
NetPolice — Second Lieutenant Punct: 250
NetPolice — Enforcer Parabola: 200
NetPolice — Enforcer Iamb: 200

Ally? — Shine: 138
Ally? — Kunie: 112

Crushman: 190
MeleeMan: 300
"Oh my... Now what do we do here," The Master said, too calmly for Crush's tastes. "Hmm, one thing at a time. Now, where to begin. Well, the beginning seems simple enough." Crush regarded The Target warily. Surrounded. How many enemies now? How many allies? Too many complications, how the hell was he supposed to fight like this? "It seems that we've become the focus of attention," the Master said, referring to the muscled Navi. "It really is a shame, such interesting Navi, I find it such a bother to kill someone once I know about them. Interesting characters indeed."

"But then again... Oh my. Now that's a strange thought." The Master paused, then laughed again. "Yes, I believe I'll reveal my 'Trump Card'"

"Ahem," the Master's voice boomed out. "Attention gathered members of the NetMafia and NetPolice. This is Black Bird of the Elite Mercenary Navi Company 'Prelude'." What? "Your calls for aid have been heeded and are currently under investigation. However, we are still in the reconnaissance phase of our operation. If this encounter is absolutely beyond a peaceable resolution, Prelude shall step forward and tip the scales of the side we deem most worthy and profitable. Thank you for your understanding." Again, what? What was this nonsense?

"There," the Master said with a sigh, "That should buy us some time. Now then, you two," he said his voice projecting to the two newcomers. "You, what were your names again? Shine and... Kunie was it? Yes, well, it seems that there's no choice then. I was hoping to keep my operation silent until farther along, but it seems there's no helping things. I'll not leave innocents out here in the middle of a battlefield. Consider yourselves under my protection for the time being. My Navi, Breaker, will see to it himself."

What?

"And my apologies, friend," The Master said, turning his attention to the muscled Navi and his unseen operator, "for the duplicity. Charles Weatherbey and CrushMan are two potential suspects concerning a Net Police investigation. I was hoping to find some information concerning the suspect, maybe even catch him in the act of reporting to his superiors, but at this point I feel it would be unprofessional to miss the opportunity. That and... I can't let unnecessary blood be spilt." What? "Again, my apologies, I meant no harm towards you. My Navi, Breaker, is at your side, and I will ensure that the proper path is followed. As for myself... I cannot reveal my name. My apologies, but the complexities of Prelude prevent me from doing such a thing. Black Bird is my code name, I'm afraid that'll have to do for now."

What?

What?

WHAT?

"The question is, what do we do now? I'd like to offer my services to the Net Police, but the Mafia force seem to have their own passions. If I could, I'd like to avoid deleting anyone at all, but... I'd like your counsel on this first. We have a few moments, I believe. Please, no questions for now, I'll explain it all in time. But first things first, there is much to be discussed. Who do you fight for?"

Summary
Nothing Quite Yet.
MeleeMan's strong jaw quivered momentarily. "Dammit, nobody told me I'd be making any decisions like this today! Rania told me to help the Netpolice, but if I beat up some little girl in a jester's hat, what kind of man does that make me? Alternatively, can I honestly tangle with officers of the law like this? There's no way I can make this decision! And this new guy, Breaker... uh, no CrushMan," he corrected himself, remembering that the navi was only using that name as an alabi. "Does he honestly expect me to come up with a decision here?" Gulping, he fumbled a question to Rania. "Uh, R-Rania, not that I need your help on this or anything, but what do I-?"

"I'm entrusting that to you, MeleeMan. It's your judgment. I'll admit that the line between good and evil isn't always predefined. If we try to see it as that way, we're easily corrupted," she told him, feeling irritated at herself for trying to sound sagastic in such a canned way, but finding herself unable to avoid using the stereotypical idea. "I won't condemn you for any decision you want to make here. Now, pardon me," she coughed, switching channels to speak with Charles herself. "My name's Rania Firebrand, and this is my navi MeleeMan. I don't want to know what you did to get yourself in a Netpolice investigation, but things are far too chaotic to be jumping to conclusions now. I'm letting MeleeMan do things his own way for now, but you aren't obligated to follow him. I know he can be a little rash at times, but I'm hoping he'll solve this for the best."

"Uh... Rania, did you just open up a video channel with that guy? You're in your pajamas, you know," MeleeMan asked, crossing his arms knowingly.

Rania blushed and closed the video channel, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "That's none of your business! Now hurry up, I'm trying my hardest to put some confidence in you!" she scolded him.

"Okay, okay... Sheesh... Damn, I've never seen so many navis in one place before. There's only one thing to do, really..." he murmured, rubbing his chin.

"Help the Netpolice or help the Mafia to escape? Your choice..." Rania reiterated, secretly feeling very anxious to see what path her navi would take.

"There's only one solution: I'll have to cripple them all until neither side wants to fight any more," he said with a grin, cracking his knuckles. "You with me, BreakMan?" he asked, forgetting his ally's name mid-sentence.

Rania stared dumbfounded for a moment, her hands shaking with the weight of the decision. "W-Wait, MeleeMan, don't be hasty! You can't expect to take that many! These guys are trained professionals you know," she explained to him.

"Don't worry, I won't harm those that aren't going to fight. But those of you who are looking for a fight, I'm here to supply it!" he shouted, expelling smoke from every crevice of his gauntlets and boots. Moving forward quickly, he reached out to grab the figure that called himself SixClaw and throw him into the Mafia leader.

"Believe me, I'm with you. I'm itching for a fight. But fighting around injured girls like these?" he asked, pointing an iron-gloved finger over towards both Trixie and Marquis, as if they were both girls. "That's not the way of a man, you know? Now, watch what happens when a real man enters a fight!" he shouted, running towards Porter with his face made intentionally and violently fearsome. "FACE ME, DAMMIT!" he roared, reaching out for the fighter's shoulders. Drawing up his lip tightly, he unleashed a mighty bellow and began furiously punching at his target. "MAYBE ONCE I KNOCK YOUR COMMANDER OUT, THAT'LL GIVE THE REST OF YOU A HINT. THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, LIZARD" he shouted as he continued with his flurry of punches. "ANYONE WHO DOESN'T WANT A FACE FULL OF SOUL FIST BETTER RUN NOW!"

"Y-You're laying it on awfully thick there, MeleeMan," Rania gulped nervously, watching MeleeMan furiously attack the Netpolice Officer. "You don't want these guys to remember you as some kind of monster."

"Monster? I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time, Rania! I'd do this every damn day if I could! Huhahahaha!" he laughed, continuing his assault.

1) RageClaw SixClaw [20] into GeckoMan [20]
2) Soul Fist: Mighty Clutch to Porter [hold, add Ironbody status to MeleeMan]
3) Soul Fist: Warrior's Code Activate [add +1 stun to next three single target signature attacks]
4) Firehit to Porter [75]
5) Firehit to Porter [75]
"Hmm, I see. So that is the path you have chosen then." The Master was smiling. Crush couldn't see it, but he knew. "Very well! Attention NetPolice officials and NetMafia soldiers. Our decision has been made, as you can plainly see. The proud warriors of Prelude are the dogs of no men! We'll forge our own paths, our own destinies, and woe to any who stand in our way!"

CrushMan was off. He dashed forward, completely oblivious to the two behind him. He'd long since forgotten them. Finally! Damn the Master and his irregularities, the lies, the inconsequential extras that plagued his mind, things he couldn't understand nor wished to! This was all that he desired, combat, war, battle, pure and unadulterated! In this, there was no confusion, no lies, only the guaranteed rush of dispatching an opponent, the sting of an opened wound, the joys of a well placed blow and the sorrow of failure! Pure, was there anything else one could claim matched the simple beauty of battle? No, not in CrushMan's world, and then how could it be true in any other?

"Hah, although I really have to say, this kind of complicates things. No matter. We'll just roll with the punches. I'll get my answers, and if it has to be like this, well, so be it. Shine, Kunie, stay back! We'll handle this!"

The answer was the right one, the pure one. Who were his enemies? Why, all of them. All of them had to be destroyed. All of them!

The Master's will must be obeyed.

Every foe that stood before him, what right did they have to exist? Cretins, commoners, fools trying to push their wills without the power to back up their worthless words! CrushMan would show them just how meaningless it all was! The only true power lies in the strength of oneself!

Rippling, bursting energy flowed into him, and Crush welcomed it. His arms melted away and then reformed as two great blades jutting out from where his elbows had once been. Long, thin blades, the two hummed quietly as Crush slashed them through the air, his right arm down, his right arm across, and in the wake of the blades trailed a long dark blue line, so dark as to be almost black. The lines hovered momentarily, then began edging forward, threatening to rush outwards in a sudden burst of energy.

Crush's right hand had reformed, though, and he reached out and grasped the intersecting waves of energy. It simmered inside his clenched fist, leaking out, slowly, but he focused, directed it to say, commanded it to do so! It obeyed. Crush appreciated that.

He continued his mad dash forward, long leg-flying out one after the other, approaching the Enemy Forces. Crush stopped a moment, crouched, then pushed off with a flying leap that sent him hurtling forwards. He lead with his right hand, still tightly grasping the bursting energy that every moment threatened to explode, and as he flew his left arm went through yet another metamorphosis. Another weapon took the place of his limb, this one a single rectangular block, crude and inelegant, yet with calculated and precise edges. Crowning the implement were four long metal razors, arranged together in an incomplete square atop the weapon. The thing began to whirr as soon it was completed, a dull whirr that quickly escalated into a screaming whine as the four razors rotated around one another and the hilt of the weapon rotated about in it's holding. There was a blue spark betwixt the razors, then another, then another, till the thing was practically sending out a constant cascade of sparkling blue light.

He'd hurl himself at the enemy, throw everything he had at them! Damn the Master and all of the complications!

The Master must be respected!

Tired, tired, tired. Tired of all the complications, of the strange scenarios he was thrust in, one after another, tired of not understanding, of being wounded, of not being wounded, of being held back, tired of being reigned in like a maddened beast, tired of not being able to do what he knew he was supposed to do, tired of being wrong! Tired! Tired of this same situation that rose again and again, when all he knew, all he wanted, was to destroy!

That's what he'd do then. That's what he'd do, he'd crush it all into nothing, the doubts, the worries, the emotions, it was all meaningless in the end. He was a tool, an instrument of battle, and he would fulfill his purpose. CrushMan would destroy them!

These were the thoughts that raced through his processing as he closed in on the enemy group, as something big inside, something strange and new threatened to burst, as his MagBlade screamed in his grasp and his TempestMissile threatened to explode, these were the thoughts that possessed his every being.

His right foot touched down, placing Crush directly in front of the foe. Using all the momentum of the jump, he swung his entire body forward, leading with his right fist. He released, and a shimmering white ball of water the size of beach ball hurtled forward, straight down towards the ground some few feet in front of him. White, like water rushing down a flooded river, the orb smashed into the ground and in a sudden burst of all the energy held within, it exploded. Like a bomb, the TempestMissile sent it's contents exploding outwards, rushing out to wash over the area, CrushMan included. Facing that great curtain of water, thinking his enemy still behind CrushMan sent forth another attack, thrusting with his whrring MagBlade through the wall of cascading water, intent on destroying the one he had called his foe.

He'd hardly noticed that a second set gleaming plates had grown over him, enveloping him completely, a larger, thicker, more powerful version of his own armor that only the most devastating of attacks could penetrate. Had he been more conscious himself, he might have appreciated such a power weapon. Had he been more conscious of himself, Crush might have realized the power came from within him, that great bursting energy finally decided to show itself. But CrushMan was completely engrossed in his target, in destroying the enemy before him. For the Master. And on that, he became aware enough to grasp that the Master was speaking.

"Behold, the enemy that is before you and despair, or accept the offering placed before you! The NetMafia and NetPolice, your struggles are no concern of ours! Aid us in our own endeavors or remain stubbornly true to your own plots and perish! There shall not be a second offering! Surrender now or offer yourselves to oblivion!"

Summary
1. Immortal Guard — StoneBody
2. WideShot1 to Geckoman, SixBlade, and Trixie — 60 Damage —
Aqua]
3. WideShot1 to Geckoman, SixBlade, and Trixie — 60 Damage —
Aqua]
4. MagBolt to Geckoman — 90 Damage — Stun —
Elec
In the high-speed networked world of the Rockman universe, things seem to operate on a more-or-less binary system. As the many programs of the so-called battle network carry out their orders as a function of countless zeroes and ones, most "decisions" are separated into one of two choices. Off and on. Left or right. Yes or no. This strict adherence to duality has long served as a functional barrier between artificial intelligence and true humanity. Increasingly often in the modern-day, however, the line between programs and people has become blurred when a proverbial "two" appears in the binary code, revealing a third pathway previously unseen. Though MeleeMan couldn't have possibly known it at the time, his independent decision was both phenomenal in its initiation, and somewhat terrifying in its application. Rejecting the false dichotomy between NetPolice and NetMafia, he deduced that the most acceptable course of action would be to save everyone. In doing so, he would break away from the programming of simple computational functions and become something more, something greater. Coupled with the highly volatile nature of the proverbial Mexican standoff the combatants found themselves engaged in, MeleeMan set the cogs of causality spinning in an entirely new direction...

...I suppose one could say that, at that very instant, he became more of a "man" than he had ever been before.

Philosophical musing aside, all hell broke loose with MeleeMan's sudden onslaught. His well-placed rageclaw caught SixClaw completely off guard, sending the trenchcoat-clad navi sailing toward GeckoMan. The two Mafiosi scrambled to untangle themselves, SixClaw looking particularly enraged as he withdrew his steel claw and menacingly pointed at the offending navi. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, he was immediately set upon by a deluge of aquatic energy. CrushMan's wideshots tore across the battlefield. The first striking all three intended targets, the second barely missing Geckoman as the lizardlike leader lunged out of the way. Trixie gasped as the shock of the aquatic burst tore over her, and her tear-filled eyes shut tightly as she doubled over from the force of the blow. Feebly, she raised her right hand in a gesture of surrender. "W-Wait!" she choked, "I... I can't go on like this! I... I'll stop fighting!"

GeckoMan scowled, taking the time to aim and fire a MarkCannon shot toward Iamb as the battle threatened to consume everyone involved. The green crosshairs of the impressive weapon flashed an angry red as the Reptilian Commander snapped off a clean shot. "Graah, you guys don't know who you're messing with! We're fighting for freedom here, grah! They're the bad guys, not US! And why are you firing, Grah! You can't possibly prevent deaths in a crossfire like this, Graaah!" With that, Geckoman raised a yellow-and-green shield in defense as he watched the battle unfold through narrow yellow eyes.

SixClaw, however, had no such intention of surrendering. "Now youse gone and done it!" he cried, glaring hatefully at CrushMan through the bangs of his slick black hair, "I'm gonna mess youse up so bad with dis Rageclaw dat ain't nothin's gonna be left of you! I'm gonna break youse down, if you know what I mean!" Lunging forward with his claw extended, he aimed a powerful slice toward CrushMan's neck. Just as it was about to connect, however, Shine leaped in front of the massive fighter and held out her arms in front of her. "No way!" she shouted as a dark visor materialized over her eyes, "They're with us, so you're gonna have to get through me! Overshine!" Both of Shine's floodlights deployed at that instant, causing SixClaw to stumble mid-strike, momentarily blinded by the onslaught. At the same time, Kunie rolled out from behind Shine, her buster blazing as she loosed a cannon shot at the offending Teksqp operative. Hissing, SixClaw took a wild swing with his RageClaw, knocking Shine cruelly into CrushMan (20 Breaking, 40 Damage!) and throwing off his aim! The magnetic missile charged forward, striking GeckoMan's guard at an awkward angle and sailing erratically through the air...

...finally landing on and striking Trixie. The jester cap-clad female screamed in pain as the electric projectile arced across the water from CrushMan's previous onslaught. Her chest heaving pitifully as the killing bolts siphoned the life energy from her scorched frame, she looked up at MeleeMan with a pair of helpless gray eyes. "W...Why...? Didn't you... say...?" she stammered before falling over, finally deleted.

-*-

Meanwhile, the "Special Education NetPolice Heroes" had their hands full with their own set of troubles. With MeleeMan's vicelike grip tightening around Lieutenant Porter's neck, the NetPolice commander could only wave feebly toward his three henchwomen. "G-Guys!" he shouted, "Stop these terrorists! They're obviously Mafiosi!"

Punct nodded sharply before signaling to her counterparts. Immediately, three devices appeared in the hands of each silver-clad navi. Parabola, adjusting her glasses and brushing a stray strand of blue hair out of her eyes, smirked slightly as she aimed what looked like a complex radar gun at the offending MeleeMan. "Th-This little toy is a t-top of the l-line piece of netpolice-issue ordinance she stammered, typing in a series of functions into the top button, "T-Taste the fury of the Nexus Instruments 87 Graphing Killculator!" Several streams of parabolic graphs streamed out of the front, encircling MeleeMan and tightening around him. To Parabola's surprise, however, none of her functions seemed to be able to penetrate MeleeMan's skin (0 damage, 1 action stun). She was about to voice her shock over the situation when she was slapped in the face by a large, crimson palm. As the mathematic maiden crumpled to the ground, the large, leather-clad YaoiMan rose to his full terrifying height and dusted off his hands. "You deserved it, you little tramp" he said harshly, before turning his attention to MeleeMan, "Now, that big guy over there, that's another story. Looks like he's a flamer type like me too... and he isn't afraid of fisting." He sighed, walked over to the immobile MeleeMan, and gave a coquettish smile. Ignoring the battle that was going on behind him, YaoiMan moved a few meters in front of the trapped Lieutenant Porter, placed his hands on his hips, and started pelvic thrusting. Fortunately, MeleeMan couldn't see what was going on, but he heard Porter scream in agony and felt the impact of the twin "heatshots" wash over his body. Though he took no damage from the attack, it didn't make the giant pugilist feel any cleaner. Oh the humanity.

Punct and Iamb blanched momentarily before turning their attention to the remaining mafia members. Punct tapped a few dials on her NetPolice weapon, a small circular disc that fit in the palm of her hand. Instantly, several wireframe keyboards surrounded the silver-and-red navi's body, and the writing-themed female went straight to work, entering a series of commands. "This is the special-issue netpolice weapon, codename GhostWriter, period. It's power works by making me invincible, period. This is the reason why you will be destroyed, exclamation point!" As she spoke, Punct's body began to fade into a semitransparent state. Laughing mirthlessly as she brought up two very large and very real-looking vulcans, she turned toward MeleeMan and squared her legs in preparation for the oncoming onslaught. "For your information, comma, 'Huahahaha' is neither a proper sentence nor a real word. Period. Your lack of grammar alone necessitates your death, period." The twin vulcans roared to life, but the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of MeleeMan's back. Grimacing, Punct turned her attention to YaoiMan, rotating the still-firing barrels in his direction and catching the still-thrusting navi's side with a hail of ammunition.

Iamb, catching onto her counterparts' inability to damage the terrorist who was holding their leader hostage, opted to fire a volley of minibombs toward YaoiMan instead. "It seems as though our foe has talent, no?" she muttered, watching one of the bombs hit home, "Perhaps its time to change our strategy?"

-*-

Teksqp — Commander Geckoman: 220
Teksqp — Vice Commander YaoiMan: 160
Teksqp — Goon Sixclaw: 20
Teksqp — Goon Trixie: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Marquis: DELETED

NetPolice — Lieutenant Porter: 54
NetPolice — Second Lieutenant Punct: 250 (Shadow)
NetPolice — Enforcer Parabola: 140
NetPolice — Enforcer Iamb: 130

Ally? — Shine: 118
Ally? — Kunie: 112

Crushman: 150
MeleeMan: 300 (Stunned, -1 Action)
A sudden assault of voices started into MeleeMan's head as he struggled to maintain his monstrous appearance, gripping Porter's shoulders as tightly as he could. His eyes widened behind the seemingly unfeeling visor, staring helplessly at the female navi he had inadvertently helped to destroy. "N-No... Why didn't I... Why didn't I say what? Why didn't I say what?! Dammit! Dammit!" he roared, shaking Porter mindlessly with frustration. "That wasn't me! I was trying to save you!" he continued, despite the fact that the navi probably couldn't even hear him. All ferociousness left him as the voices in his head grew louder and louder, rising above his usual, self-assured arrogance and becoming an unbearable clamor.

"What, are you angry at the newcomer? Aren't the two of you about the same, when you get right down to it?" a female voice chuckled, causing MeleeMan to gasp in fright.

"Rania? Is that you? You better shut the hell up if you're lecturing me now!" he roared, beating his helmet to try to make the voice quiet down.

"She's got a point you know," a deep voice yawned casually. "Attacking targets indiscriminately, taking lives before taking names, that shtick... that's always been our thing, hasn't it?" MeleeMan's eyes darted back down to the limp female figure once again, his pupils wavering uncontrollably.

"Didn't you see me? Didn't you all see me just now, dammit? What's with this guilt trip? Who are you people, anyways?!" he stammered, releasing his grip on Porter and falling to his knees.

The female voice laughed again, bitingly cynical. "Oh, don't worry, you aren't going insane or anything. You're no less logical than you've always been, though that's not saying much. We'll reveal who we are soon enough, never you fret. But really, back to the point," she continued. "Do you really feel that you're that different from him? Hasn't your theology always been based around might and coming out on top in an all out brawl? How can you expect to save people while you beat everyone you encounter to a bloody pulp?"

MeleeMan sighed, speaking more reasonably now, but still talking aloud seemingly to himself. "I'm past that. Rania's helped me to become a better fighter. Now I focus on my targets. Now I don't want to harm the weak... Now I seek only worthy opponents. I don't just plow through everything indiscriminately."

"Yes, but instead of pounding Mr. Point Blank here into a black and blue mural," she commented, causing MeleeMan to look down at the pathetic officer, "did you consider actually protecting the girl? Here you stand with your body made of iron, and all you're doing is absorbing the blows and showing off your own might. You might say you've changed, but this is all just another display of 'machismo,'" she explained, accenting the last word in a heroic way as a parody of his actions. "If you'd considered your capabilities, you could have saved her and still worked toward just the same means. Come to terms with your other side... your Logos... don't you think you have just a bit of that in you? That wasn't a plan, it was an excuse to become just like that other navi."

"You're... you're right... I'll... Try to think about what I'm doing more from now on, okay? For now, just get out of my head! Shut up, all of you! I can't fight!" he shouted, clutching his head madly. With an annoyingly superior laugh, the female voice quieted down along with the others. With a deep breath, MeleeMan tried to make an assessment of the situation. As he glared at his targets, he couldn't help but scowl as his eyes came to rest upon CrushMan.

"MeleeMan? Finally, you're paying attention!" Rania sighed, falling back on her bed. "The tactic's working well so far, though it seems like casualties are a bit higher than expected. Don't worry yourself over this though; I think CrushMan is just focusing on self-preservation. He isn't discriminating between targets," she told him, raising her eyebrow as she saw the tension building up in his tightly clenched jaw.

"I don't care what the hell you say, Rania. I know that wasn't a great strategy, but did I not say I didn't want that girl to die? Did I not? This guy's operator may seem okay, but I wouldn't trust these guys as far as I could throw them. Just why do you think they're on the run from the Netpolice, anyways? People don't end up on the lam for nothing," he muttered under his breath, eying the other navi suspiciously as he went in to fight. "Damn him. I'm not letting him kill these girls. I'm a man! It's my job to protect them, and if the only way I can do that is through violence, then so be it... And what the hell do you mean my laugh isn't a word? That doesn't count, retard!" he yelled at the shadowed female netpolice officer.

As he re-examined his opponents, a lump rose to his throat as he remembered the pretty young navi that he'd just inadvertently doomed. I'll protect these ones by shielding them with my body. He wouldn't attack me to get to them, I think, so the only logical targets left are those mafia goons. Hopefully that Porter chump will take a hint and high-tail it, though I wouldn't mind it if that claw guy gets done in. Wait..." the navi thought, his eyes widening as he considered the possibilities, "He wouldn't attack those neutral fighters, would he? They just saved his life, no way he's that ignorant. I'll just focus on these for now." Patting the sides of his face, he braced himself for another performance.

Gritting his teeth, he unleashed a firesword, moving his arm in a strong arc above his head. The fire trailing the blade illuminated his face as he bore his teeth viciously. "You girls think you're safe from me!? Dammit, I'm just getting started!" he shouted, swinging his firesword once across them. Annoyed, he found that his arm was strangely stiff from one of the attacks that had hit him earlier. "This'll be harder than I thought... but I'm up for it," he resolved himself. "Raaaugh!" he yelled, swinging the firesword through the air at the three girls. Bending his torso, he ran for the one who had insulted his speech and rose his sword back into the air. With a mighty grunt, he shot his sword back up vertically through the fighter's location. "Now run if you know what's good for you, worms! Run, quickly, while I cover-" he started, then coughed, "Cover your backsides in more fire!" he shouted, raising the sword back into the air. Pointing the sword back down, he snarled threateningly at Porter. "You too, if you don't want this up your rear as well." Materializing his guard, he frowned, trying to decide what to do. Ultimately, he decided to make it look like he was protecting his front, but secretly held it to guard the officer he'd engaged. "Run before I... uh... bash your face in with this shield! Don't think I'm above that!"

1) Release Porter [dodge]
2) Firesword to Punct, Parabola, and Iamb [90]
3) Firesword to Punct only [95]
4) Give Guard1 to Punct [reflect]
5) N/A
The curtain of water fell, and with it came sudden a shocking pain as something smashed into his side. The blow, it would have been negligible under ordinary circumstances, but no, not this time. Suddenly aware of the new armor surrounding him, Crush almost lost his footing as a projectile Navi knocked into him. And where the collision was, there was a crack. And then another. The armor splintered off, piece by piece, breaking, shattering, falling off in a cascade of metal shards, leaving CrushMan in his natural form, save for the still whirring, charging blade that had taken the place of his arm. But a very unnatural hole remained where the Navi had struck.

Crush brushed it all aside. He wouldn't be stopped now! He struck out with his weapon, down through the last falling drops, and felt the end of the weapon reach out, projected forward suddenly by a launching mechanism, and the four sawing blades smashed against something. But it didn't feel right. The water fell, and CrushMan was given a view of the situation. A shield. The razor attachment had bounced off harmlessly, shooting off in a weird arc to somewhere else. He followed it; saw one of the targets looking at him with a look of fear, a look of... something. The line trailing behind the attachment went taut, and the air between he and the target was suddenly charged with electricity. Bolts of lightning shot through the line, trailing directly to the victim. Sparks danced across the metal blades that chewed into it, into the target, bolts dashed to the ground and dissipated into the water at the target's feet.

The implement detached and soared back to CrushMan's MagBlade, sinking back into place with a metallic clunk. The Target looked at him, still. Words left its mouth, but Crush could not hear a single one of them. He was completely absorbed with that look. With that almost vacant stare, with those dull gray eyes, with that look, what was with that look? And then The Target collapsed.

"Breaker."

Crush took a step forward, closer to The Target. Or what once was the target. He suddenly realized that he'd never seen a Navi die before. He'd destroyed Navis before, hadn't he? Yes, those Mafia goons from before like this one. But he'd never watched. It had been from so far away, simply dispatched them with ease and skill. And then they'd been gone. He'd never thought of them again. They were simply dust.

[size0]"Breaker."[/size]

But this one wasn't dust. The Target was dead, crumpled up into a helpless form. Would it fade away into nothing, like everything else Crush destroyed? That helpless, weak form, it disgusted him, horrified him. Fade away already! Go!

"Breaker?"

The Target died because it was weak! That was the fate of those undeserving of existence! Through strength one survives, excels, succeeds, through strength one lives! The absence of strength merely means that you were undeserving of life! Coming to a place like this, anyone should have been prepared for death! So why, why did it have that look? That terrible look, stuck in his mind, it wouldn't go away! That look, why wouldn't it go away?!

"Breaker!"

CrushMan swung around suddenly, back towards the other Target. He swung out with his right fist, now encased in a great gauntlet much larger than his fist had ever been, right back towards The Shielded Target. He wouldn't be denied again, not that easily. Crush went to one knee and slammed his enlarged fist into the ground. The earth cracked, shattered, and then collapsed under the sheer strength of the blow, and fractures eradiated out from the spot of impact, sending cracks spider webbing around him. A horrendous sound followed, such destruction could not go unheralded, and then was stopped by an eerie silence. It did not last long. The earth around the giant Navi burst outward as the energy bounced back to the surface, sending a hail of rock and earth up around him. Crush did not remain, hurling himself out of the chaos and towards the next target. The Shielded One would be taken care of later.

He briefly took in the scenario around him and made after the one called Sixclaw. The one had some talent, some strength, but he was too reckless. CrushMan could finish him but with one blow. As energy rippled through his body, he realized that the Master was not ready to accept any mistakes. As such, he'd finish it with 3 instead.

The mistakes he'd made this battle were unforgivable. CrushMan simply couldn't fathom how he'd lost himself like that. What had he been thinking? But he couldn't lose his sense of purpose now. He couldn't become emotional, reckless, not like that. He knew himself. He recognized his purpose. He was CrushMan. He was Breaker. He was whatever the Master needed him to be. That was his purpose. That was his reason for existence, to serve, faithfully, without doubt, to perform as was demanded of him and to do so with all success. He was the Master's Sword, after all.

How foolish he was, going and allowing himself to lose his strength like that. The Master would punish him later. And while he feared it, he welcomed it, for it was nothing less than he deserved. Breaker would not waver again. Yes, for that was his guise now, that was what the Master asked of him. With foolish sentimentality and emotion, mistakes are made and one becomes reckless. Like himself. Like Sixclaw. Both had paid for their mistakes. The difference was, CrushMan had the strength to recover. He believed that Sixclaw did not.

The energy churning inside him suddenly made itself manifest as a slowly revolving barrel attached to his right arm. The former ShockGaunt and MagBlade had melted away to be replaced by his original appendages, and then to be changed once again into it's current form. Jutting out of the barrel were three drill tipped missiles, slowly whirring about as their container revolved in a counter resolution. Crush took a quick aim at the target, manually programmed the three missiles, and then fired. The three drills surged forward, propelled forward by trails of azure colored smoke. One dug straight down into the ground, another slowed suddenly, and the third sped on ahead, passing the target entirely before circling around and zooming back towards Sixclaw. The three missiles flew on, their aqua smoke hinting at their payload, the three shots all programmed to strike at roughly the same time. Let's see him dodge that!

But Crush didn't stop to watch. Again came the Master's comforting and familiar voice. "This isn't going as planned. Damn, so many errors. I can't believe I botched my first mission this badly. They haven't surrendered and I've blown my cover... Sorry, Kunie, Shine. It looks like I have to depend on you two after all. Let's converge our remaining efforts on neutralizing the threat of the NetPolice, it appears that our ally is desperately outnumbered over there! We'll force the Mafia leader to pursue, and we'll finish it all there in one giant melee!" The Master sighed again, "And forgive the unintentional pun, Meleeman."

21% Damage to Program Stability
31% of Arsenal Exhausted
11 Chips Remaining

He checked and double checked his abilities and condition as he closed in on the enemy. Three were tightly grouped together, one showing terrible damage, the other two having struck it repeatedly. Perhaps if he aimed this next shot correctly, he could consume all three at once? Yes, that'd work. And then the battle would be that much easier. Then again, if his structural stability was anything to judge by, he only had something like 40 seconds worth of battle time left before he was unable to continue.

Impossible! As if those bland calculations could ever be truly regulate his fate! He'd keep fighting, stopping at nothing short of death. The Master's will was absolute, and it would be done.

It was then that he realized that one of the targets in his line of sight was the one the Master had designated as an ally. How unfortunate. No matter. He lacked anything in his arsenal that could affect such a group, short of an expertly placed ShotGun, and even then there was simply too much left to chance.

Of course, that wouldn't stop him from taking a free shot at the one of them. The Master said they had one chance for survival, and that time was past. He'd simply work his way to deleting the next foe.

The Master agreed, apparently. More energy burst into him, freezing, numbing cold cutting through him like a knife. "Damn it," the Master hissed, "this isn't going as planned at all! We'll just have to improvise. But first, the playing field must be cleared. One step at a time." Crush nodded in agreement. His focus was entirely on the enemy now, save for a portion of himself which simply could not erase that look. He resolved to devote a portion of his processing powers to handling it, and after a moment that damning look was a haze, a blur, then almost gone. Almost. Let him handle that anomaly another time, for now, the majority of his power was needed elsewhere.

What? What do you want? What is that look, that pitiful look, weak, and helpless, I hate it, stop it! Stop looking at me, damn it! STOP!

He aimed his new implement as it formed, as his arm elongated, as it thinned, as it stretched to a single, long tube, with a pair of edges around the top to be used as a primitive sight. So much cool, cold energy, had he ever used so very much in one battle before? No matter. Elimination of the enemy was the sole concern. A translucent window along the shaft of the device slowly lit up with bright blue liquid, surging forward to the end, and then stopping. The energy coalesced quickly and then lunched out as a single blue line, racing towards the enemy. Yes, the Master was quite right, one thing at a time. And this time, he would not fail.

Summary
Free Action. Smash — Adds
Break to Next Attack
1. ShockWave to Geckoman — 40 Damage —
Break — Piercing
2. AquaNeedle1 to Sixclaw — 20 Damagex3 —
Aqua
3. IceWave to YaoiMan — 80 Damage —
Aqua
4. Dodge
Crushman's devastating array of attacks wreaks havoc on the Mafiosi. GeckoMan threw up another guard in an effort to defend himself, but the massive brawler's shockwave slammed into the shield, shattering it into several pieces and knocking the lizardlike commander backwards off of his feet. The sheer force of the attack rent the Teksqp Commander's cloak and sliced deep cuts into his crimson armor. GeckoMan staggered to his feet, but quickly realized that his comrades would not be so fortunate. Three of Crushman's missiles pierced Sixclaw's chest cavity in rapid succession, detonating into a fine azure mist as the dark-haired navi's eyes widened in surprise. "N-No way..." he stammered, a trickle of red liquid flowing from the side of his mouth. The Teksqp goon fell to his knees, his greasy black hair akimbo and revealing his blood-red eyes, "I... I n-never thought dat... I... I'm S-Sixclaw! I'm the... g-greatest..." Geckoman's clawed cohort never finished his sentence as he keeled over, fully deleted. YaoiMan suffered a similar fate, the leather-clad enforcer catching a frigid burst of ice from Crushman's arsenal. Frozen perpetually in the middle of a rather questionable pelvic thrust, YaoiMan would remain a monument to intolerant, ignorant stereotypes of the homosexual community. How tragic.

On the other side of the battlefield, MeleeMan had since released Lieutenant Porter from his vicelike grip and proceeded to deliver a single powerful slice to the NetPolice Enforcer team. All three females staggered backward from the force of the blow, clutching their abdomens in pain. "Impossible, exclamation point!" shouted Punct, phasing back into reality and dropping the massive vulcans she had used in the previous onslaught, "That navi just defeated the Ghostwriter, exclamation point! A-AAAHHH, Cry of distress!" Just as MeleeMan was about to deliver a second powerful slash of his blazing blade, however, he heard a loud voice shout from behind him...

"I... I won't let you get away with this, you terrorist! POINT BLANK!"

Instantly, Lieutenant Porter teleported between MeleeMan and Punct, shoving the female navi out of the way as the firesword slashed through his midsection, cutting deep into his data and causing the navi to slump to his knees. Porter's midsection was pierced all the way through by MeleeMan's blazing sword, and his modified revolver slid easily out of his hands, clattering to the ground adjacent to him. His helmet fell off of his head, revealing a head of messy brown hair and a pair of blue eyes that reflected a look of shock and, surprisingly, recognition. "Huh... completely outmatched and sliced up by a mafia criminal." he muttered, "Wish I could say it was the first time."

"Lieutenant Porter, No!" cried Iamb, raising her arms toward MeleeMan at point blank and revealing her weapons — two wideshot modules, aimed straight at his face...

When a pair of shotgun blasts erupted from CrushMan's direction, slamming into the poetic princess and deleting her on the spot. MeleeMan whirled around to see Shine and Kunie holding up still-smoking busters. Shine smiled a peppy smile and waved excitedly toward MeleeMan while Kunie opted to firmly plant her face into her palm and shake her head, obviously embarrassed by her counterpart's actions.

"Y...YOU! All of you, GRAAH!" shouted GeckoMan, twirling his wooden sword over his head, "You strike us down! You kill our kin! You destroy our hopes and dreams! GRAAAAH!" In a flash of purple light, the lizardlike commander stood, slightly hunched over and clutching a rather ornate spear in his right hand. The magnificent weapon featured a long dark shaft with a pair of snakes spiraling up its length, and the metallic head carried a Gecko design with a long spike erupting from its mouth. GeckoMan's breathing became short and irregular, and the silver spearhead began to glow with an eerie violet light. "I... I'll teach you ALL a lesson you won't soon forget, GRAAAH!" he hissed, allowing a sickly purple aura to engulf his entire body. "You think you're all sooo righteous in your happy little lives, don't you? You persecute because we're DIFFERENT, because we're FREAKS, GRAAH! Well we're sick of it! I'll show you a power the likes of which you've never seen!" With that, GeckoMan leaped high into the air, drawing his spear back in preparation for a throw. "GRAAAH! Take this, you fascists! SPEAR OF CORRUPTION!"

"L...Look out, P-Punct! Th-This guy's s-serious!" stammered Parabola, struggling to her feet and adjusting her glasses. With great effort, the mathematical maiden pointed her NetPolice weapon at GeckoMan, firing off a pair of functions toward the lizardlike commander. Unable to dodge in time, the Mafiosi leader crumpled to the ground in a heap, bound by a graphical sinusoidal representation...

...the rest of the navis were not quite so lucky.

MeleeMan and Crushman were miraculously unharmed by the initial shockwave, which seemed to arc to the other participants in the battle. Unfortunately, they found themselves waist-deep in a thick, foul-smelling bog. The true danger of the situation revealed itself as shoots of razor-sharp bamboo erupted from the swamp on all sides at seemingly random intervals. Hearing a feminine scream to their right, the two large bruisers saw Shine and Kunie, damaged by the wave of corruption and struggling to escape the grass-type deathtrap. Similarly, the silver-clad NetPolice enforcers found themselves in no condition to fight as they weakly made attempts to dodge the deadly bamboo. "W-What d-do w-we do? D-Do we ask th-them for help? D-Do we continue to fight? said Parabola to Punct, uneasily eyeballing MeleeMan and CrushMan through the corner of her eye.

Man, what a quagmire... what to do, indeed? A distant rumbling can be heard as the final act unfolds...

Teksqp — Commander Geckoman: 120 (Stunned! -1 action)
Teksqp — Vice Commander YaoiMan: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Sixclaw: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Trixie: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Marquis: DELETED

NetPolice — Lieutenant Porter: DELETED
NetPolice — Second Lieutenant Punct: 35 [Danger: Pungi Deletion]
NetPolice — Enforcer Parabola: 35 [Danger: Pungi Deletion]
NetPolice — Enforcer Iamb: DELETED

Ally? — Shine: 48 [Danger: Pungi Deletion]
Ally? — Kunie: 32 [Danger: Pungi Deletion]

Crushman: 150 [Pungi]
MeleeMan: 300 [Pungi]

Field: 66% Pungi, 33% Normal. Requires 1 action to move out of marsh, 2 actions to move out assisting one person, and 4 actions to move out assisting two people.
MeleeMan's lip curled in disbelief as he stared down the two wideshot launchers that the netpolice navi had risen to his face. "Do you people all really see me that way? Can you not tell the kind of effort I'm putting in to saving you?" he thought, sweating as he prepared for the impact of the double blasts of slicing water. Luckily, before the officer had a chance to fight him, she'd been deleted. Turning his head slowly, he raised one eyebrow at the navi who'd come to his rescue. "She's... she's really helping me. She must understand... Dammit... I can't tell whether I'm happy now or tired of all of this sh-" he started, then suddenly felt the earth give way beneath him. In no time flat, he found himself face to face with a razor sharp shoot of bamboo, just barely managing to duck out of the way.

"MeleeMan? Are you okay? Some sort of huge interference just arose when that trap sprung. My PET's going crazy!" Rania exclaimed, fumbling through her chip folder for something that might help her navi. "That terrain your in right now is Pungi. It's known to be a deadly trap that few can safely tread. If you don't get out of there, you're in critical danger!"

MeleeMan shook his head, frowning deeply and looking over his shoulder, unable to get visual connection with Rania. "No, I'm still in great condition, if you can believe that. There's only one thing on my mind now, and that's making sure that this trap doesn't waste all of my efforts... No... Not all of my efforts. There's no reason for any of these girls to die to something as treacherous as this. It's not just my effort I can't let go to waste. I can't let these girls die for trying to protect people themselves."

"Then quit talking and getting moving, MeleeMan, if you're serious!" she responded, gripping the pillow next to her tightly as she tried to understand what his plan was.

MeleeMan gritted his teeth together, crossing his arms tightly as he tried not only to think, but also to dodge dangerous bamboo spikes. "What can I possibly do? Nothing I've tried is amounting to anything. In fact, the netpolice girls would probably be fine now if I hadn't whipped out that firesword on them... But those other two, dammit, they haven't done anything but help, and I can't turn my own back on them now, he thought, expelling smoke as he moved faster and faster to keep up with the pace of the bamboo traps. "I don't really have powers to protect or defend allies, do I? My powers have always been for self-preservation and trashing my opponents. All of this power, and yet even I have my limitations. For that sort of thing, Rass has always had my back... But dammit, why can't I do like he does? When I try to save him, everything goes rotten. Maybe all I'm cut out for is destruction after all?" he muttered to himself, looking at one of his heavy metal gauntlets with a bit of regret. "What use is being the perfect fighter if you can't defend anything? Nobody could possibly profit from mindless violence all the time. Fighting is fulfilling... even fighting just for fun... but when the time comes down that I actually have to fight, I want to see results, dammit!" As he shouted, the voices in his head returned, growing progressively louder as if taunting him once again.

"You're not as alone as you might think. Even without your allies, you can take what you've learned from them and carry the cumulated knowledge around like a cane to support your one-track lifestyle," the female voice. "Help me help you, big guy."

MeleeMan clenched his teeth, tightening his fists as the noises assaulted his ears once again. "Okay, but how? I still don't even know who you are!" he shouted into the empitness of the pungi pit. "Speak up! Speak- AUGH!" he roared, suddenly falling to his knees. In a burst of light, his armor glowed a bright white, then faded back to a pink color. His body suit adopted a black color while a halo of light formed above his head. One of his hands began to shake uncontrollably as his other systems tightened, and the voices in his head grew louder than ever. The halo that lit up the air settled down around his neck, forming into a yellow cloth scarf and draping itself neatly around his neck. Finally, four slots opened in the forehead of his rounded helmet. Three gems- red, blue, and green- were nestled into the right-most of these holes. "What... what happened? This armor's so light... can it be that I've transformed again?" he asked. Annoyingly, he felt not new power, but rather confusion sweeping over him. The yelling in his head was now ridiculous, and the trembling of his right hand was almost unbearable.

"OH GOD FINALLY I CAN TALK TO YOU DAMMIT YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE SOME TIMES SHUTTING OUT EVERYONE AROUND YOU WITH YOUR WHOLE MACHO ROUTINE AND LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T WE-?"

MeleeMan smashed his head with his fists, trying to make the voice stop. "This is the loud one, I guess," he moaned, covering his ears with his fists. "Can't you make him shut up?"

"Ha! Do you know how often we wish we could just ask you to shut up?" the female voice retorted. "At any rate, don't worry about the noise, or that thing with your hand for now. Just know that I'm about to give you the power to finally do something to help someone else for once."

MeleeMan grumbled, muttering under his breath, "It's like having Rania inside my head or something."

"Shut it, meat head," the voice snapped. "Now, I want you to go to those two girls there and embrace them. Try not to break any of their bones while you're at it."

"What... you serious?" MeleeMan asked, raising one eyebrow as he eyed Shine and Kunie half skeptically and half anxiously.

"Dammit, do you think I have time to play games with you right now? Just do it! Once you've taken care of that, your next task will be more difficult. Just try to get them out of the pit," it instructed.

MeleeMan frowned, looking back at the netpolice officers. "I'm not leaving them. If that was part of your equation, forget it," he spoke in a macho way, then suddenly held his head again as the voice shouted in his ears.

"I'm not telling you to leave them! Like I said, put these two girls down as quickly as you can!" she reiterated. "You've got to go get them first, idiot!" MeleeMan dashed off in that direction, having a hard time locating his targets. "Now, while you're doing that, put your right hand under my control. I'll do the healing myself."

"I... I can heal now?" he asked, amazed.

"No, you can't heal now, you can put those beefy arms to use by snagging those two little girls before things get really dicey for them. I'll take care of the healing myself. For now, just get out with them alive," she responded, huffing with impatience. MeleeMan obeyed, attempting to scoop both navis up with one arm and keep running through the fecal matter with them. As he continued forward, his eyes fell on GeckoMan, still functional, but seemingly trapped. "Dammit! I hadn't factored him in. Reverse direction!"

MeleeMan turned, huffing as he madly attempted to escape the pungi while carrying the two girls on his back, hoping that they'd managed to maintain a grip on his broad shoulders. He felt his grip slipping, watching a stick of bamboo whiz by his head unexpectedly. "I can't do it! I'm going to have to leave one of you here," he sighed, trying to rest one of the girls on a small jut of land as he climbed. "But I'm not abandoning you! I'm going to-!" As MeleeMan spoke, his right arm suddenly shot out parallel to his body, causing him to temporarily loose balance. He regained it quickly, looking to see a wave of light fly towards one of the two netpolice officers and Shine. "Dammit, I can't tell if that'll be enough or not. I can't risk it," he groaned under his breath. "I need a favor, Breaker. If there's any way you can, please rescue those two navis. I'm not sure if they'll survive down there much longer," he shouted. His teeth clenched as he stared back at the two; sweat rolled down his forehead onto the ground below. Why didn't I save those two first and leave these to him? Those guys were the the Netpolice that fought against us. What are the odds a guy like him is going to listen to me? he thought bitterly.

MeleeMan's eyes turned back to Shine. His jaw twitched a bit as he flexed his fingers onto the pungi above him, still climbing with Shine upon his back. "I... I can't do everything... Will that somehow be enough?" he thought, his eyes clenching madly behind the thick visor of his helmet. "Please, try to hang on! I've got to rescue everybody and my body's at its limits as it is!"

"Breaker!" he shouted, looking out at the other navi desperately for help. "Please tell me you're in this with me!"

1-2) Rescue Kunie from pungi
3) RassCross activate
4) Convert Magbolt1 to healing for Shine [45]
5) Convert Firehit1 to healing for Punct [30]
Last Turn

He noticed out of the corner of his eye the fate of Sixclaw. He too, crumpled, fell to the ground. What pathetic last words. 'I'm the greatest.' Hardly. Otherwise, the weakling wouldn't be dead. CrushMan failed to hear the distant familiarity of Sixclaw's last words. He did see him fall, though. Another pathetic corpse, another unnecessary remnant of a Navi that once was and now was no more. Disgusting.

By the time he'd turned around, it was far too late to see the effects of his final attack. Crush saw the results though. A statue, now, took the place of the Target, frozen in its final moments. And yet this one made no impact on CrushMan at all. Curious. Not that the others made any difference either, a subroutine was sure to project into his processing efforts. Another program would have shrieked in denial had it not been occupied with a disturbing procedure.

CrushMan ignored them both. His designated ally up ahead seemed to be faring well, as he had predicted. That weapon he wielded was powerful, the giant Navi was quite frustrated to note that he had only 6 could even come close to it's strength and yet none could match it directly in pure destructive power. Another slash and the leader of this side fell. Another destroyed.

No, another target eliminated. That was better. He was distracted again as something rushed past him, a pair of shots that soared in and obliterated another enemy Na... Target. Crush turned around quickly to see a pair of Navis, the two from earlier. Shine and Kunie, that's right, that was their names. They'd helped him earlier, hadn't they? They weren't too bad. Perhaps they weren't so common as he'd imagined.

Were they targets as well? They've shown some potential, should they be eliminated? No, then he'd have more faces, more looks, more corpses. But what did that matter anyway? The Master's word must be followed, absolutely. Indeed, and under that current command, he must regard them as allies. That was good. Follow the Master's words. Less concerns meant less hesitation. All of this thinking business, it was weakness. He'd not dwell on it again. He wasn't weak.

Crush turned suddenly, hearing the enemy behind him, shouting something. He wasn't following? That complicated things. The last he wanted was to be engaged on two sides at once. He'd simply have to eliminate the threat before it got to that!

CrushMan was not given that chance. The Target threw something; CrushMan didn't know what, and that something disappeared, only to be replaced by something else entirely. A shockwave hurtled towards him and CrushMan could only throw up his arms in defense. Strangely enough, he felt little, just something strange knocking against his legs and then forming around them. He looked down to see that he was stuck in a morass of black ooze. He forced his leg out with a bit of exertion and was about to move on towards the Target when a shaft of wood shot out of the mire and muck. He edged slightly out of the way, the weapon cutting against his armor but leaving him mostly unscathed. What was that?

"My god. He's corrupted the landscape. That's not just a bog. The best way I can describe it, it's almost like a virus!"

Another sharpened stick shot out of the muck and tried to impale the armored Navi. He grabbed a hold of it and snapped it in two. For his delay, he was almost skewered by three other poles. He'd have to keep moving. He doubted his armor could stop a direct hit.

A quick scan showed that the others were having similar troubles. MeleeMan seemed fine for now, but he too must be having a hard time with this business. Shine and Kunie were worse. The original shockwave seemed to have done some serious damage to them and the bog spears were skewering them. The other Targets on the other side seemed to be faring no better. And the cause of it all was at a low enough stability level to be considered only a tiny threat, an easily dispatched one at that.

"Did you hear that, Breaker?"

No, actually, he hadn't.

"The NetPolice, it seems as if they're ready to surrender. What's left of them, at least. This could mean that the mission isn't a failure after all. But it might take some additional effort. And the end result..."

This Turn

CrushMan briefly ran several scenarios through his head. The Target that had began this whole mess was at a small enough health line that Crush could probably dispatch him any number of ways. He could let loose with a full barrage of low grade ammunitions, draining his Cannon and ShotGun cache, that'd probably eliminate the enemy. But he'd be a sitting duck if he wanted to hold a steady aim. And that meant getting skewered by the bog spears. Perhaps he could stay on the move, run towards the enemy, gouge him with a RageClaw and then finish it with a cross slash with both of his Swords? That might work.

But was that the answer? He could escape on his own, he was fairly certain, but looking at the others... Shine and Kunie. Their predicament was unfortunate. They'd probably never leave the virus bog alive. That was unfortunate indeed. But it was the fate of the weak. Wasn't it? For some reason, that simply wasn't enough to put him at ease. Damn it, he'd sworn to ignore this kind of unimportant nonsense until after the battle! But that was the point, they wouldn't live through the battle, so didn't he have to-

"Breaker, rescue the NetPolice." Crush stopped a moment as if shocked and was nearly impaled as a result. "If they cooperate, we may be able to continue the mission. We just have to ensure that they can keep a secret, can keep this business with Prelude a secret and..."

CrushMan didn't understand. He understood enough to perform what was asked of him, but he didn't understand. And he wasn't certain that he was ready to do as the Master wished. But he'd failed enough that day. He'd learned his lesson. The Master knew best, after all.

"Wait, no. We can't leave Shine and Kunie. I think MeleeMan isn't willing to abandon those others either, so if we all work together, I think we can escape alive!" If Crush could have somehow shown his... what was the word... no matter, his feelings regardless of what they were called, he would have been pleased. But such a thing was weakness. He continued along with a quick adjustment to his charge. A trio of spears launched out towards him and he batted them away with a swat of his hand. He kept running, sloshing through the black morass as lance after lance of bamboo shot towards him. A soft graze on his right side, a gouge in his shoulder, scratch and hit and blow, yet his armor was still holding. For now.

CrushMan almost came to a halt as he noticed something. It would appear that he was too late. Not because they were destroyed, quite the opposite. Someone had already gotten to them. He must've been too preoccupied to have noticed. That was weak. "Breaker." The ally spoke? "If there's any way you can, please rescue those two navis. I'm not sure if they'll survive down there much longer."

"Very well," The Master quickly replied. "Breaker, change targets." At that the Master sighed. "The problem is, we'll be sitting ducks for that Gecko fool as soon as we're out of the bog. Breaker, rescue as many of the Police Navis as possible. As an addition..." he paused. "Destroy the enemy commander!"

What? He couldn't handle all of that! Another lance nearly impaled him and he knocked it away with the back of his hand. He couldn't get them all! "Listen Crush," The Master whispered. "It would be... acceptable to be unable to assist one of the Police Navi. With luck, destroying the enemy will also disable this strange field he's set up, but I doubt it. The fact is, he's a risk we can't afford to take and he's well within our ability to destroy. We'll just need to make every shot count. If the field goes away, we save all the others and we go from there with the mission. If we fail... A NetPolice woman dies. It's unfortunate, but it's an acceptable casualty. We only need one to get the information we need. Besides, in the case of them turning against us again, it just means there's one less enemy to deal with."

"Now, go!"

CrushMan had needed no prodding. He'd accepted his mission from the first word. Unfortunate indeed.

"It'll be hard," the Master continued, loud enough for all to hear now. "They'll hate us for what we've done. Chances of them cooperating are slim to none. But I've got to at least try! We'll do everything in our power to assist! Otherwise I'll never get a full instatement! Besides, I've fouled up enough today, like hell I'm going to let someone else die because of my foolishness." Another wood lance arced high, and Crush was forced to crouch down to avoid a head strike. The murky bog water around him suddenly erupted with weapons. Sharpened bamboo shoots flew out at him at both sides, forcing him to rush through an ever-enclosing safe zone. He continued down the tunnel of wooden death until there no longer was an opening, just an opposing wall of death aimed straight for him. CrushMan pushed off against the unsteady ground with all the strength he possessed and crashed through the moving roof above him. Splinters flew as the giant Navi smashed his way out of the deadly prison and he rolled to a halt. The bog around him was quiet.

A sudden point under his foot, a near miss as Crush lunged to the side, and another incoming spear were all he needed to remind him that he was not out of the clear. He kept running, towards the two thrashing allies, while an ominous thought rumbled through his mind. The Master said one, which one? Did it matter? Of course it mattered, they were Navis, not viruses, they had an identity, a past, like him.

He smashed through bamboo that threatened to strike his target. He cleared it all away with a few sweeps of his arms, a kick or two of his legs dislodging the last weapons. He was grazed again in the process, but it seemed to be nothing major. He ignored it, grabbing hold of his ally and pulling her out of the muck. He regarded the other. It was very, very unfortunate. But the Master's will was absolute. I'll come back, he thought, he'd finish the mission in its entirety. He'd come back, whether it mattered or not, he'd finish the mission.

Crush sent a last arm spinning out to smash against the lancing bamboo shoots, and then headed for the enemy commander. He prepared to shoulder his load, then thought better of it. The last thing he wanted was to impale his package on his own armor! He tucked her under his arm left arm and started to charge. If anything happened from here on out, it was the enemy's fault! Yes, he'd obeyed his mission objectives to the letter! He couldn't fail now!

Energy surged through him, then dissipated as a rectangular box formed next to his right arm. Many writhing tendrils burst out from underneath the device, and then lashed at Crush's arm. They bit through the armor, sank in, and then dragged the large box device to safely and firmly attach against him. A trio of multi-colored tubes exploded out from the back and surged into his shoulder. There was the usual pain. But at least that damned useless targeting system didn't come up. Attached to the end of the Cannon was a four-pronged blade combat attachment. New. A shame it wouldn't see any use today. Jamming that into the enemy might bring some amount of satisfaction to him. Instead, he stopped one moment in his mad dash, went to one knee, aimed, and locked on to his target. Remembering his earlier attempts at attacking, he forced more energy into his weapon. Tapping into the fully recharged power within him, the upgrade changed the very weapon it affected, lengthening the barrel, adding dangerous decorations, adding the crest of the Weatherbey Family itself! Fire, he commanded the weapon, fire! And it in turn obeyed, belching out a blast of blinding white energy straight for the enemy. But he wouldn't leave it at that!

Another spear shot up and bit into the end of his weapon. Crush quickly discarded it, feeling another wave of pain as the tendril attachments lost contact and slipped out of his armor. The device landed in the muck and melted away.

And then he felt something else coming. Something big, something familiar, something noble! It was a weapon that had defeated him and brought him the strength to defeat many others. It was a noble weapon! A powerful weapon! His GreatSword! He briefly considered how he was going to wield such a weapon with one of his hands preoccupied with his other duty. But all he had to do was get her to safety. It was better this way anyway, carrying her along was risky, what with the constant stabbing of the bog. CrushMan took hold of the NetPolice Woman with both hands, reared back, and threw her the rest of the distance out of the bog. He briefly considered that such an action might be painful. But he saw no other options.

The black cleaving sword was before him. Nestled, tip down in the writhing, churning marsh, so dark that by comparison all nearby looked brighter. The cleaving sword that was his enemy's and now his own, let it claim another victory today! Continuing his rush forward, he took hold of the weapon by it's hand, thrust it up into the air, grasped it with his other arm and charged, charged, pushing himself as hard as he could in the sucking mire. He found footing, somehow, and launched himself forward, eyeing the enemy before him. Mid-air, he raised his sword to it's zenith, preparing to chop down with all the force his mighty frame possessed! This was it, then! If this was how it must be done, then very well! He would handle this himself!

Summary
1. Free Self
2. Free Parabola and Help Her to Safety
Free Action. Smash — Adds
Break to Next Attack
3. Cannon to GeckoMan — 40 Damage -
Break
4. Sword to GeckoMan - 80 Damage - and Escape the Pungi Bog


Episode 23: The Great Net War, Part 3! Change of Plans, a Desperate Charge and a Brutal Sacrifice!
Kunie wasn't sure what surprised her more: MeleeMan's sudden transformation into a rather flamboyantly pink hero, or the fact that he had managed to pull her from GeckoMan's deathtrap. Nevertheless, the blue-bodysuited navi widened her eyes and tensed up for an instant before settling into MeleeMan's arms and glancing away to the side. "...Thanks, I guess..." she muttered, blushing slightly as she was placed gingerly on the massive pugilist's back. Suddenly, something crossed her mind, "Wait! SHINE! You can't leave her behind! I was the one who got her into this mess! If... if she gets deleted..."

Kunie's sentence was cut off as MeleeMan fired off a burst of recovery energy, aimed toward both Shine and Punct. The wave of light washed over their bodies, causing their wounds to slowly fade away as it rebuilt their system chassis. The blue-ponytailed female model narrowed her eyes as she clung to MeleeMan's back. "A Recovery type? There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?"

CrushMan, meanwhile, lumbered toward Parabola through the swamp. The bookish-looking female navi's first reaction was to shakily point her Killculator in his direction, a look of fear shining from behind her spectacles. To be honest, who could blame her? The 10-foot network equivalent, armor-clad, behemoth isn't the most reassuring sight in the middle of a warzone. Before she could type in a formula that could stop his advance, however, she noticed a decidedly different look in the massive Navi's demeanor. Determination? Compassion? Although Parabola couldn't necessarily place the emotion, she lowered her weapon and allowed herself to be pulled from the murky depths. Though the bespectacled female didn't exactly relish the idea of being toted around by CrushMan, she noted that it would probably be better than the spiky death that awaited her in the Pungi pits. With a quiet word of thanks, she tried to maneuver herself such that her body wouldn't be obtrusive to carry and clung to CrushMan's side as the massive fighter turned his attention to GeckoMan.

"G...Graah..." was the lizardlike navi's response as he staggered to his feet and clutched his wooden blade tightly in his fist, "Wh...What are you doing, GRAH? Those... Those NetPolice Scum can't be trusted! If you're not with me, I'll just have to... to destroy you all, GRAH!" Twirling his sword once more, Geckoman broke into a charge, his weapon glowing a slight green color as it was charged with chip energy. CrushMan's cannon shot caught GeckoMan head on, but the lizardlike commander continued his onslaught, leaping upward with his sword held at his side, fully prepared to counter CrushMan's predictable overhead chop. "Graaah! I'm a sword-type, remember? Grah!" he shouted victoriously, There's no way you can take me down at close range, grah!"

At that instant, the lizardlike commander felt a tugging at his legs. Glancing downward in a panic, he realized that his leap had been stymied by what appeared to be the formulas for y=sinx and y=cosx. Grinning coyly from her perch at CrushMan's side, Parabola lowered her Killculator, muttering as she clutched one of the horns on the massive navi's armor. "It s-seems as though the s-success of your maneuver has been increased to acceptable l-levels," she stammered, holstering her mathematical weapon and adjusting her glasses, "G-Guess the rest is up to you..."

Crushman was all to happy to comply, bringing his greatsword crashing down on GeckoMan's head in an impressive arc. The weight of the sword, coupled with the brute force of the swing, laid the lizardlike commander flat on the ground. Crumpling to the panels below and leaking data across the network, GeckoMan lay still, causing CrushMan to drop his guard momentarily, convinced that the battle had reached its conclusion...

"GRAHAHAH! S-S-Surp*zzzt*rise!" screeched GeckoMan, rolling onto his front, revealing that CrushMan's blade had only scored its target down to a thin, translucent layer. "N-N-Not expecting a*bzzzt*undershirt, were you, GraAaHh? If we ain't g*zt*gonna to have a h-happy ending, then... then you can't *bzzt* too!" With that, he aimed his final weapon — a fully-charged HiCannon battlechip — directly toward Shine. With a final sinister laugh, he discharged the weapon, it's deadly projectile sailing across the battlefield...

...and hitting nothing but air!

"I am afraid that I cannot allow for the deletion of the orange navi just yet, period." she said, "Additionally, comma, for the record, comma, the correct way to say your previous sentence is 'If we are not going to have a happy ending, comma, then you cannot have one either, period.'" Just before contact, Punct had activated the GhostWriter, entering a series of complex commands and shielding Shine from attack. Shine screamed in terror as the bolt of energy passed harmlessly through her, but managed to regain her composure long enough to snap off a buster shot at the fallen GeckoMan, deleting him in an instant.

The bamboo spears erupt beneath Shine and Punct, damaging the latter, but not deleting her outright. Glancing between MeleeMan and CrushMan, (and their respective 'companions') the red-haired navi frowned, and crossed her arms across her slender frame. "While I cannot condone your reckless actions in this case, comma, it is fairly certain that you four are not aligned with the Mafiosi in this case, period." she said, "Nevertheless, comma, I am willing to overlook your transgression given the NetPolice bounty set on Teksqp Commander GeckoMan, period. Although this is highly irregular, comma, I feel it would be most advantageous for my colleague and I to accompany you in your operations, period. Head Dispatcher Syne has ordered us here because, comma, pardon the aphorism, comma, bigger fish to fry, period."

"Syne?" asked Shine, cocking her head to the side and scratching her orange hair, "Kunie, isn't that the person who...?"

"Shh!" hissed Kunie in response, inadvertently tightening her grip on MeleeMan's chest, "Shine, we can't have them knowing about that!"

...?

-*-

Congratulations gentlemen, this round, you managed to save everyone. You should probably help your wards out of the swamp though.

Teksqp — Commander Geckoman: DELETED
Teksqp — Vice Commander YaoiMan: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Sixclaw: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Trixie: DELETED
Teksqp — Goon Marquis: DELETED

NetPolice — Lieutenant Porter: DELETED
NetPolice — Enforcer Iamb: DELETED

Ally — Shine: 98 [in Pungi]
Ally — Kunie: 32
Ally — Second Lieutenant Punct: 25 [in Pungi]
Ally — Enforcer Parabola: 35


Crushman: 150
MeleeMan: 300


CrushMan: Get — HiCannon, 1200Z
MeleeMan: Get — Wideshot, 1200Z
Punct joined the party!
Parabola joined the party!
CrushMan and MeleeMan get +5 FXP
+2 FXP for Double Save Bonus!
((By the way, do we get any FXP? 8D))

"Ha. Battle concluded, all of your girlfriends are alive with no problems beyond some bleeding. You can thank me some time by giving me control of the core system, if you'd like. So far all we can manage to obtain is that one hand," the female voice boasted, sounding strangely intimidating. MeleeMan, however was not paying attention. Above even the loud voices that bragged, shouted, and yawned inside his head, he felt the fluttering of his own heart, exhilarated that he'd managed to pull off one of his feats of bravery. On top of that, he was still relatively uninjured, if a little foul smelling and tired. He disengaged the RassCross, moving back to the pit briefly to rescue Shine.

Suddenly, a slightly irritable but familiar female voice came over his reception. "Don't you think it would be more reasonable to put down the other girl before you try to handle lugging around another one?" the voice asked.

"Huh? Is she back in my head?" he asked himself, pulling off his helmet for a moment and beating his ear with his fist. Realizing that he'd disengaged the cross, however, he resolved that the speaker must be his operator. "Oh, Rania! Did you see me move back there? I was a dynamo, a real pride to all manhood! You did well too, CrushMan. Thanks for the back-up."

"Oh, yes, and I'll bet your manhood's feeling very firm and proud right now," she muttered.

"What was that? Yeah... Well, I am basically one big walking display of manhood!" he laughed, resting his fists at his hips and nearly shaking Kunie off with the rattling of his shoulders.

"Yeah," she smiled, one eyebrow twitching irritably as she watched him move his hands, pulling Shine up from the bog and close to himself with a macho grin. "You're a huge d-!" she started, then realized what she was saying. "Wow, what am I saying? MeleeMan just went out of his way to save those girls and all I can think about is jealousy? And why even jealousy? I'll never be in some kind of situation where I'm trapped in a pungi pit, being levered out by my navi." Reminding herself that now was a time to share in MeleeMan's happiness, she switched to a brighter note. "I guess you were wrong about CrushMan, eh? He really is a good guy! And the last battle data yielded good rewards as well!"

MeleeMan once again ignored her, supporting both Kunie and Shine on himself with a wide, masculine grin.

Rania lifted her pillow up, tucking her chin over it and frowning in annoyance. "Hmph..."
"No time to relax just yet," Crush set the NetPolice officer down on solid, untainted ground as he heard the Master's orders. "Breaker, assist our remaining allies in escaping the bog. And thank you, Officer. I'm glad we could work out this arrangement. I'm sure it would be beneficial to us all to cooperate."

Breaker... No, CrushMan. He was falling too much into this role. Unless it was what the Master desired. Perhaps then it was the right course. Breaker remembered fondly the enemy's last words. Yes, no way he could possibly stand a chance, or some nonsense. Like someone could offer something feeble like that as reasoning! Hardly. Still, that situation could have been hazardous had it not been for the intervention of the other Navi.

Breaker wasn't sure what he regretted more, the fact that he'd almost been damaged and been saved by a commoner or the fact that he'd been unable to finish the enemy. That glory, too, had been taken from him, by Shine. Another commoner. Well, perhaps not. Perhaps it was time he considered these Navis of above common talent. There certainly wasn't anything ordinary about all of them, ally or foe. And they all had a face, unique and all their own.

Crush smashed his way back through the marsh, turning aside the attacks with some concentration and effort. "I must admit, there is much I do not know about the situation. Miss Net Police Officer, please, is there anything you can tell us about the situation? Like what you're doing here, for example. Do you have any specific objective? And what could have started a conflict of this magnitude in the first place?" Crush paid only the slightest amount of attention to the Master. He had other thoughts running through his mind. The others, their bodies, they were in that swamp, weren't they? The Targets, but now no more, now they were simply objects, inanimate bodies with no fight or life.

Sixclaw. He'd briefly impressed CrushMan. Smashed right through his armor, improved as it was. He'd gone down with delusions of grandeur, thinking himself strongest. How very sad. And the other one, the one that had that look, was she down there as well? What had that look meant? What was it she had tried to say?

But he had lied to himself. He'd promised that he'd not think of them again, because it was weak. And CrushMan, Breaker, whoever he was, he was not weak.

He wasted no more time. Crush quickly caught hold of the others, MeleeMan at work with Shine and the NetPolice Woman still flailing about in the muck, and assisted them in escaping the bog, passing the still frozen form of a deviant Navi trapped in some curious pose. Stuck in the ooze, the Navi, a pale blue-white in it's frozen form; it would stand there in that black mire for who knew how long.

"I realize that I have a lot to explain myself... Prelude, my mission, everything..." The Master sighed, "I really did screw up pretty badly. But one thing at a time, let's hear your side of the story and then I'll tell mine, in full. No more secrets."

The giant Navi splashed his way back out of the muck and somehow found himself back in front of the fallen Geckoman. He looked at the foe's form. That face, he etched that face into his mind.

And then Crush left it all behind. He would not bother himself with such thoughts again.
Confronted by Charles' line of questioning, Punct crossed her arms and glanced thoughtfully to the side. For a long while, she said nothing, frowning as she considered the ramifications of disclosing the confidential netPolice dispatch orders that she had been given. She shot a look toward Parabola, who adjusted her glasses and shrugged in response. Sighing, the red-haired navi shook her head and unfolded her arms. "I suppose it would not hurt to discuss the nature of our deployment, period." she said, "The nature of this conflict is still under NetPolice review, comma, but our mission is to capitalize on the presence of several high-ranking mafia officials in an effort to break their power in the region, period. Our particular mission was to provide support to Lieutenant Porter, then proceed to a designated checkpoint whereupon the head dispatcher would provide us with further instructions, period. The head dispatcher in this sector is Syne.EXE, comma, but she did not provide us with the name or technical specifications of the target, period." As though realizing how suspect the previous explanation sounded, Punct quickly added, "It is standard operating procedure that the dispatchers not provide extraneous information for simple patrol and reinforcement missions, period. Syne.EXE is acting well within the bounds of her authority, period."

Turning upward as though to speak to the unseen operator, she placed her silver-gloved hand on her chin and furrowed her brow. "I can only assume that you four are bounty hunters seeking some sort of reward for your efforts, question mark?" she asked, folding her arms beneath her chest and unintentionally pressing her cleavage upwards, "It seems odd that nonaffiliated individuals such as yourselves would willingly place yourselves in such a dangerous situation, period."

Shine and Kunie, meanwhile, found themselves both supported on MeleeMan's back, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Kunie, for her part, seemed rather hesitant, glancing nervously at MeleeMan's grinning face and looking a little too eager to be placed safely onto the ground. Brushing her azure bangs from the front of her face, she folded her free arm around her chest, and turned somewhat awkwardly away from the massive pugilist, holding herself up with a free hand. Shine, by contrast, had no such compunctions and eagerly hugged MeleeMan's back, a smile as bright as her shoulder-lights plastered on her eager face. "Wow, mister, you're pretty strong, aren't you?" she asked naively, eliciting a small groan from Kunie, "One big walking display of manhood? I'd like to see your display of manhood sometime!" she continued, not realizing the implications of what she had said.

A piercing rumbling noise interrupted the conversation from a short distance away. What could be going on over there?
"Hmm. I see," The Master said. "Breaker, keep an eye out for trouble. All this noise... Regardless, I'm afriad that you misjudge me. I don't know about my companions, but I wouldn't exactly call myself a bounty hunter, so to say. This is a mission, and, well..."

"Damn, I might as well come out with it. I shouted it earlier and, well, I suppose there's no hiding it, you know? Meleeman, Rania, I suppose you two should listen up as well, after that last battle I'd say you have the right to hear this."

The Master sighed. "It's... it's kind of hard to explain it all, but I'll try my best." He paused. "My name is Thomas. Hiding my name at this point is just silly, because... well, I'll get to that in a second. I work for Prelude, an elite Navi mercenary company based in Sharo but with small branches extending out to Netopia and Netfrica. They specialize in scouting and reconnaissance as well as small time demolition and the suppression of singular high priority targets. They're not an army or anything like that, just a group of highly trained, highly specialized individuals. They've been known to co-operate with both primary factions," the Master said again, hesitantly, "the NetPolice and the NetMafia."

He sighed again. "And now we come to my first major screw up. Remember what I said about secrecy? Well, no one is supposed to reveal they belong to Prelude, not under any normal circumstances at least. Because we deal with both sides, a large degree of secrecy is required to continue uninterrupted operations. The thing is, I never expected to encounter that kind of situation in a combat scenario, just behind closed doors, that kind of thing. So when it did happen, when that situation arose earlier I, well, I panicked."

"Which brings me to my next point. I... I lied. I'm not actually a member of Prelude. Not yet, at any rate. I'm a new recruit. Black Bird is what my designation will eventually be, I haven't even earned that right yet. This was supposed to be my way of initiation, my first mission, to prove my worth to the organization. My Navi, Breaker, and I were trying to assist the NetPolice in a situation that they've been unable to resolve on their own, the identities of those responsible for the bombing of an Electown Net Hospital. Their own detectives weren't making much headway and my superiors thought it was an excellent chance to test my research, tracking and combat skills. They were right. I've never had a more difficult task in my entire life."

"But then I started making some headway. A Navi of some great size and power was seen in the area at the time. This Navi you see before you, the form of CrushMan, matched the description down to the last bit. I tracked the Navi and discovered as much as I could, including the name of his operator, a Charles Weatherbey. Attack patterns, modus of operandi, down to his damn speech patterns, I've learned everything about these two except one thing. Whether or not they did it. They've shown no illicit activity save for a strange event in Netopia, and I lost track of them there. I'm still researching that."

"Hearing about all of this going on here, I decided to take definitive action. During my research, I also came across a name, a," he paused, struggling with the pronunciation, "Don Data Rell Ichi. Despite my concerted efforts, I've been unable to find anything on the man, but I've heard rumors. He's supposedly a high-ranking NetMafia boss! So, my plan was to meet him, in the disguise of CrushMan and Charles Weatherbey, infiltrate the NetMafia, discover the whereabouts of the Don, and then confront him. Once I'd found him, the operation would proceed simply, discover whether or not Charles and CrushMan are truly guilty of Net Terrorism or if they're innocent, and if they are, find out just who is responsible for the bombing."

The Master took a deep breath. "...But I've blown it. I blew my cover, I'm no closer to finding the truth and I managed to bring about the unnecessary destruction of several Navis. I'm glad my superiors can't see me now, but after something like this happening I have to wonder if I'm fit to join Prelude at all."

He stopped talking for a moment, sighed, and then chuckled sadly. "Doesn't matter anymore, I guess. Hey, Breaker," The Master said, a tone of surprise in his voice. "You haven't said anything, are you alright? You've been quiet all battle and..." He laughed. "Whoops, sorry. I forgot. The .gmo file was a defect, poor Breaker here can't say a word," The Master explained. "It's no big deal, we'll just deactivate it. Say hello, Breaker!" There was the sound of a single keyboard key being struck. "Huh?" The same sound again. "What the..." Furious tapping accompanied the Master's worried gasps. "Oh come on, don't tell me... Damn, we really do have some bad luck with these kind of things, don't we Breaker? Looks like I can't deactivate the .gmo for some reason. Ugh. What a pain. I'll have to work that out. I don't want you stuck as a criminal forever!"

"Ugh. I'll work on it later. Man, that's frustrating." The Master was amusing when he lied. It was all slowly starting to come together. Of course, The Master had some far-reaching plan; he just couldn't see where it led. Amusing. He'd simply have to pay extra attention to The Master's commands. He was struck with the feeling that if this plan fell through, there might be trouble.

" Hey, listen... I still haven't made a real apology. Like I said, that thing back there, that was all my fault. If I hadn't lost my cool, then your friend... well... Listen, I want to try and make up for it somehow. I'm not sure what I can do but... Well, I figure since my mission is a failure, I could help you with yours. No fee, this one's on the house! It's the least I can do, y'know? It can't be enough, nothing I could do could... but I can't just leave things as they are! So please, allow me to assist you!"

Crush knelt to one knee and slammed his fist into the ground, ducking his head low in a bow of subservience. He could almost hear the Master's approval. He'd offer his aid then. The more and more he dealt with allies; the easier they were to deal with. Protect them, they'll assist you, it was all very simple. And, of course, The Master deemed it a worthy pursuit. Therefore, it surely must be.

"Although saying that, I really must sound like a bounty hunter after all. You're free to think as you like, of course. All I have to offer is my word." That business out of the way, Crush returned his attentions to the matter at hand. Noise. Noise meant something. In his experience, it meant targets, foes to be eliminated. He certainly hoped that was the case.
MeleeMan smiled contentedly, unable to break away from his satisfaction to consider the possibility of opening up conversation like his ally CrushMan had. He sighed a bit as Kunie shifted her position. "Oh well... It was nice while it lasted. Still, even if their tops are armored, their legs feel so soft and..." he trailed off in his thoughts, then suddenly snapped himself back into reality as he tried to respond to what he'd partially heard Shine saying to him. "Oh... yeah, strong! That's me!" he boasted, reaching behind him half to check that the two navis were secured tightly and half to let his hands wander.

Rania literally bit her pillow angrily, watching the events warily. She tried to remember back to a time where she'd seen her navi display the same behavior in regards to her, but nothing came to mind. In reality, she'd never seen it before because his prior experience with women was limited to only two human girls and two navis. One of those navis was a little kid and the other sharing a body with a man, so both of those were out of the question. However, now, his testosterone seemed to have gotten back to flowing, and MeleeMan was determined to act as pig-headedly as possible.

Luckily, Rania got a break from worrying about her navi's lack of moderation in his lechery to listen to the elaborate alabi of CrushMan's operator. "Wow... so CrushMan and Charles are two other people entirely? Or... I don't know, maybe he still doesn't trust the Netpolice. I find his story incredible though. He's working to join an elite devision of the Netpolice? Aren't you slightly higher in specs, MeleeMan?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.

MeleeMan, who had been mostly ignoring both her and CrushMan's operator, perked back up at a discussion of his strength. "Yeah, I judge that to be the case, but I'm guessing that it could be because of that malfunction that locked him in the form of that CrushMan guy," he muttering, not particularly caring one way or the other. "At any rate, we can trust them. He helped rescue those other two police chicks, didn't he?"

When the rumbling noise came from a nearby location, MeleeMan barely noticed it, still to caught up in his pleasure. As his senses sprung back into action, however, he felt compelled to try to take a closer look. "Uh... Breaker," he muttered, almost flubbing and revealing the name he'd just heard the navi mention he was stuck under the guise of, "did you see what happened just now?"