Crouching Spider Hidden Dragon

The blinding flash of light signaled the return of the destroyer. At least thats what Sylk figured after the last time she wiped the floor with the viruses of this place. She entered further into the area with a bounce in her step, a bit of swagger as she looked for her first bit of prey in a while. She licked her lips in anticipation.

"You remember why we're here, right Sylk?" Adrian was always the voice of reason, keeping the navi from going too far, even though their motives and thoughts were similar many a time. They were a great team, that was a certainty. "We'll get in and test some of our new chips, get some of that combat rust off and then see if we can't make some zenny in the process. Seems like a simple excercise, am i right?" She was just as confident as the navi.

Sylk grined, waving off any hint of concern with one of her many hands, only to have it come to a rest on her hip a moment later.

"Of course, my dear Adrian. Though, i'm a little hurt you think I'm rusty. I always keep myself in tip top shape." The spider chimed with a toothy grin. " I wouldn't be much of a predator if i let myself get weak and sloppy now would I?" She chuckled softly to herself, as her eyes cased the net for a warmup.

It was looking a little scarce unfortunately, eliciting a sigh from her lips. She shruged, causing her to feel a bit of tension in her muscles. A "tch" from her tongue as she realized perhaps her body was a little stiff from inactivity. Sylk begrungingly opted to do a bit of a stretching routine before she took off on the hunt. "Ok, so maybe you were right." She uttered, causing a laugh from Adrian who knew better then the rub salt in the wound with an "I told you so."

It would be a few moments before she would head out.

((waiting for a partner))

Three twinkling stars grew bigger and brighter in the night sky as Sylk was about to set out. They became shooting stars, dancing across the night sky with trails of glittering dust. But they got bigger, and bigger... and they seemed to be falling from the night sky like comets, right at Sylk! They sailed right above her, over a hill nearby, and impacted in an explosive crater.

As the dust settled, three figures emerged. All humanoid and wearing armor, the middle one was almost twice the size of the others. It became clear that the big one was male, and the other two female. And the two females looked identical, just with different colored armor and hairstyles, though the hair was both blonde.

The man wore heavy medieval armour of Electopian make, modified to give a draconic appearance. It consists of plated scales layered on top of dark, cloudy-gray chainmail. The gaps in the armour revealed the dark, cloudy-gray sub-skin beneath. Underneath the mail was a wool-cloth vest and pants. His gauntlets were clawed. He also wore a large, durable gray-white cloak and tabbard. His face was visible from the gaps in his ornate dragon-featured helmet, and his skin was pale, but tanned slightly. His hair was not entirely visible, however, a little of wavy, dark cloudy-gray strands could be seen sprouting out of the cracks. His eyes were visible through the visor, also the same dark, cloudy-gray color. His navi symbol was emblazoned on his tabbard and cloak. The symbol of a solid stone tower. Curiously, he seemed to have another symbol on his tabbard framing his own, the horns of the Neo-Shogunate.

The identical women both had golden hair, gray eyes, a button nose, and fair Netopian skin tone with just the hint of a tan are their trademarks. They were thin and lithe, with tight abs and glutes, and a b-cup bust. Long, toned limbs with small, sharp nails at their ends round out the package. The supposed twins sported similar armor to the man, wearing scaled full plate with chain mail underneath. The coloring was different for both, one had bright gray with golden highlights, to highlight her flowing hair. The other prefered darker colors, making it seem like shadows were clinging to her form. Her helmet also sported some multi-colored feathers. Both had the man's stone tower Navi symbol emblazoned on their chestplates, with the same horned framing.

The one with the golden highlights waved her hand as she saw Sylk. "Haaaaaai! Nice to meet you. Are you the spider woman Sylk by any chance? My name is Suzume, this is Aya," she said pointing to the other girl. "And this grumpy guy is DragonierMan," she said, pointing to the larger man. The man crossed his burly arms over his chest and snorted steam from his nose. "We were told that you were around here and we wanted to join you on the Hunt."

As her stretching came to a stop Sylk was alerted to the presence of another. Rthaer, the bright flashes usually indicated as such and it certainly wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with a situation like that. The only question was what sort of situation it would be. She adopted a defensive stance as she waiting to see what she was dealing with, a foot forward and three arms poised and ready at her side.

It was when she heard a voice calling out to her that she realized she ight have been a bit hasty. "Adrian, were we expecting company? Usually you tell me these things."

"Don't look at me, I didn't set anything up." The pair were equally confused as they waited for the newcomers to approach.

Sylk rested her middle set of arms crossed against the purple gi of the NS design she was wearing at the time, sitting just below her pair of c-cups. The hand of one of her upper arms ran through her Cyan hair as she sized up the three before her. A slight smirk formed on her lips.

" Well, I would certainly hope so. If I weren't a spider woman, this design choice might be a little silly then, hmm?" She laughed lightly to herself, flourishing the two free left arms for emphasis. "I am indeed Sylk, though I'm curious to know how you know of me. Further, how you knew to find me." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to recall if they had ever crossed paths before. The idea was dashed when she realised they wouldn't be asking if she was herself, had that been the case.

"Either way, it's a pleasure to meet you all." She said with a bow, folding her 3 right arms along her stomach as she did. "If you are here to join me, then hunt we shall! Time is money after all, yes?"

She had little issue with the idea, especially when the SP were so cute. Still she wondered if they could hold their own in a battle. This net wasn't exactly a safe place, at least for people that weren't her. She turned her attention to the world around as she tried to scan for a suitable test that could give her the answer she desired.

((Ready for Battle!))

"Don't worry about us," Aya said as she cracked her knuckles. "We'll be able to take it." Suzume looked slightly concerned though, probably from the troubles they have had in other Rogue NETs before, but was trying to hide it from Sylk. Got to make a good first impression, she thought. DragonierMan then spoke. "I heard of you from Survey, one of the members of the Neo-Shogunate. We haven't met yet, but we are all NS soldiers here, so we should all get along. Nobody seems to know much about you, so I wanted to see you for myself. I also wanted to see how strong you were."

With that, the three of them revealed another interesting fact about themselves. Leathery wings sprouted from their backs, pushing their cloaks out. They were also a dark, cloudy-gray. Apparently the draconic appearance of their armor wasn't just for show. They even had dragon wings! With a few flaps the dust around them blew away and they lifted into the air, clearing the top of the crater and coming to fly over the spider woman. "We'll take point," waved Suzume as she passed by Sylk's position.

Aya smirked as she turned around to watch Sylk, as she flew backwards, "Think you can keep up or do you want us to carry you?"

[Requesting Battle 1.]

Status
DragonierMan: 200HP [OmniShoes]
Suzume: 100HP [OmniShoes]
Aya: 100HP [OmniShoes]

The area of Naxa that the newly formed team had arrived in today was dimly lit but more of less open, for now. The terrain underfoot was mostly even and metallic, with the occasional blinking solar panel to add points of light here and there. Several tall columns rose up from the ground variously around them, some only a single panel wide, others that were several in length, or forming simplistic four-panel shapes.

They had begun their hunt moving forward, but it wasn't long until the zone they were travelling through was washed over with alternating red and blue lights. Atop one of the raised platforms a short way ahead of them, the top-most cube rose up gently and began rotating as it shone an alternating sequence of red and blue lights. Behind them and to the left a second cube activated and picked up the patter. Directly ahead of them, on a single tile pillar, what had appeared to be a raised solar panel angled itself and twisted, turning down to look at the new group; it bore a creepy grins on the surface of the panel.

While these systems were coming to life, a trio of small electrical orbs rushed out from between the columns, converging rapidly on the group at high speed. They each crackled gleefully and watched the navis with tiny black eyes as they came on. a short distance behind the group, while this was all going on, a lone DemonEye drifted across the open clear way, minding its own business. when it saw the group of naivs and viruses lining up for a fight, however, it froze where it was, seemingly uncertain about whether it should stay and fight, or try to quietly leave.

-=Unwelcoming Party=-

TriCubeA: 220Hp [Normal][Raised Column, forward and left of party]
TriCubeB: 220Hp [Normal][Raised Column, behind and right of party]

Maru-10A: 90Hp [Metal][Forward and left of party, currently behind a pillar]
Maru-10B: 90Hp [Metal][Ahead and right of party][One full movement away]
Maru-10C: 90Hp [Solar][Directly to the left of party]

Gridder: 190 [Solar][Raised Coulmn, directly ahead of party]

DemonEye: 180Hp [Metal][Directly behind party, ground level]

-=Rouge Gate-Crashers=-

Sylk.Exe: 200hp [Metal]
DragonierMan.Exe: 200Hp [Metal]
Aya.SP: 100Hp [Metal]
Suzume.SP: 100Hp [Metal]

-=Modern-Tech Spire-Scape=-

20% Normal [The tops of several pillars are not metallic]
70% Metal [Most of the ground floor]
10% Solar [Several scattered panels, including a few on column tops]

Terrain is mostly flat, with many spires rising out of it. These spires vary in shape, but are comprised of square panels — very much like Tetris shapes.

-=Battle 1, Start!=-

"Well, Now we can see who will carry whom." She teased, enemies coming into vision from the front and more appearing as she looked around to get a grip on her surroundings.

She stood still for a moment and she surveyed the land and the viruses that had the gall to challenge her. She couldn't really blame them for not knowing her strength but her instincts told her they probably wouldn't have been smart enough to keep away if they had. " Tell you what, since you guys have those fancy wings, I suggest you get real high real fast. Means I can go all out!" The look her her eyes was a little frightening, as though she held no remorse about her future actions, her toothy grin adding to the impact. As if one spider werent enough, with a snap of her fingers it seemed almost like a second Sylk had walked out of the image of the first, two spiders standing next to each other one as sinister looking as the other.

"After you've gotten some extra loot, you mean." Adrian jumped in, two identical chips in hands.

"Oh! Almost forgot about my little minions. I suppose I can make an exception this time." The spiders destructive mood mellowing out considerably as she considered the thought. It made one wonder just what sort of monstrosity could quell her hunger for battle in a mere instant. As the data was loaded in, nothing seemed to happen. Slowly, Sylk raised to fingers to her lips and let out a piercing whistle to sound the call. Two puffs of smoke appeared to either side of her, slow disolving to reveal and pair of adorable little bandcoons. She didn't question the fact one was wearing a Met helmet, that one was always a little odd at times. Sylk knelt down and scritched them under the chin, as they excitedly awaited their orders.

Her words whispered to them as two of her arms seemed to give directions. It was amusing to watch them try and salute in ackowledgement with their tiny limbs, and chattery responses. Sylk gave the thumbs up, and they snapped to attention before turning to seperate targets. "Go my fluffy minions! Steal for your master!

The first of her two pets had it's gaze on the DemonEye, simple and easy to reach. The problem was getting close and pilfering from it. the bandcoon lept back and forth as it charged, trying to stay light on it's paws as it refrained from staying in a predictable pattern. As it closed it, it changed tactics to try and confuse the virus. The coon began circling the eye, hoping that either it could get around it's target, though if it kept following it the end result would be a giant dizzy eyeball before making the steal.

The second pet instead set it aim a little higher, quite literally as it focused upward at the Gridder on a pillar. It wasn't about to back down from the challenge. He scurried swiftly across the panels before leaping at the pillar. His paws grabbing firm to the structure and squirmed his way up in a way only a bandcoon knew how. Peering over the edge as it reached the peak, it waiting for an opportune moment to strike as it watched it's target fearlessly. At least as fearless as a bandcoon could be.

Meanwhile, Sylk had begun the hunt and her body acted accordingly. Her eyes were sharper, more focused as they darted around in all directions. Her body limber, ready to move in a moments notice as she tracked even the slightest hint of aggression. Her breathing calm, as she mentally prepared.

"Let's do this!" The twin Sylks exclaimed simultaniously, as the decoy took off trying to get the attention of all that were watching her. The real Sylk dropped to a knee placing a few hands to the ground below her, thin strands of webbing began to spread out in all directions. She was going to even out the playing field a bit. This was her domain now, and nothing escaped her web.

Her gaze suddenly turned to a new target, one of the Tricube hiding away just out of her reach. That wasn't going to last as she flung an arm in it's direction. Glinting in the light, an almost invisible lashed out and tried to surround the virus. It's aim to capture but not harm. Instead, Sylk aimed to yank it off of it's pillar with all her strength hoping to drag it down to her level.

With her area of control set up and yet another enemy hopefully in her clutches, she smiled. All the preperations were complete as she moved into attacking position, receiving the data for her next plan. As the chip materialized, all that could be seen was a small orb in a palm she had raised before her. Within swirled something akin to dust, particles shifting and moving about. No hesitation as she drove it down onto her web and watching it practically expload in a deadly cloud of spores that sweeped across her web to posion everything it touched.

Not satisfied however, she continued the rampage. " I'm not done yet!" She taunted, as her body began to glow a light red aura. All 6 of her hands clenched before driving them into the ground below, cracking the ground beneath her. Oozing from the cracks slow at first, the lava took little time in finally bursting forth as it quickly flooded the area. Waves of raw molten power continued to ebb and flow as it desecrated the arena all around her, Sylk in the center of it all standing strong and confident.


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:
Passives: 20hp barrier, 20hp casing

Passive subtype: Decoy

1) PickPocket - 0 dmg + steals from an opponent - Accuracy: B @ Gridder
2) PickPocket - 0 dmg + steals from an opponent - Accuracy: B @ DemonEye
3) Woman's Intuition: accuracy enhancement + dodge - 2 TCD
4) Spider's Web: Large Area terrain change - Grass - 1 TCD @ Centered on Sylk moving outwards
Free action - Webshot: Passive Pull @ TriCubeB
5) Spice1 - 80 + Confusion + Ground Attack + To-All-Grass - Accuracy: A
6) RedWave2 - Damage: 70 + Ground Attack + To-All-Clause + Lava Terrain Boost 50 - Accuracy: B

With a good amount of enemies around, and an ally on the ground, the airspace was uncontrolled. "Unleash hell, then to the sky!" DragonierMan called out. His SPs and himself, already floating above the ground, extended their arms forward like cannons and gathered energy before them like solar panels. The air rippled and wavered as the heat rose around them. Sparks crackled and popped as the air was charged with energy. They all aimed towards the only two viruses that were grouped together: a Maru-10 floating at the base, and slightly behind, a pillar that held a TriCube on the top. Light and shadows swept over the two, painting them in a rainbow of colors. Highlighting them for precision targeting.

With a roar, the three blasted away at their enemy. Pouring bolt and shell upon them in a dazzling display. Explosions rocked the area along with discharges of smoke and debris, which wound around and into the sky like serpents of dust and soot. Then, with a flap of their wings, they soared into the air. They swerved and twisted upwards just like the ashes, flying their way to safety on the currents of chance. Winding around each other in helix patterns in a very coordinated effort. They seemed to have a lot of practice flying together.

At the top of their arcs they all let their wings spread wide. This slowed them for a moment so they could flip over. Now facing the ground they took stock of the situation. Their eyes scanned the battlefield and watched as their spidery ally released a pair of furry rodents at the enemy. They could hear the gleeful crackling and chattering from their position. The enemy was so spread out though that deciding on the next target was difficult. The three flapped their wings again and began to circle where they were to keep airborne while they waited for an opportune moment to strike. The twins were keeping their eyes out, but were too busy dodging the attacks from the ground that they wouldn't be much help for the foreseeable future. That would leave the quicker Drago to deal with assisting his ally.

After winging around after a second attempt at evading ground fire, Drago saw Sylk spread webs like a true spider. However, the webs left behind grassy lawns in their wake. This gave him an idea. He reached into his belt and grabbed a small pot that materialized there. Holding it out with both arms, it grew into a huge ceramic container. The visage of a terrible dragon wreathed in leaves appeared engraved upon it. He promptly dropped the pot-dragon on the enemy as he passed overhead.

The dragon of wood and pollen burst from the container as it hit the ground with a sickening crunch. It gave out a terrible roar as it slithered across the battlefield, full of razor-sharp teeth and claws. Like a slug, it left a trail in its wake; a trail of grass, just like the webs. Drago had noticed that Sylk had been concentrating on one area of the battlefield, the southern end. So he focused the dragon's attack on the northern end, the one with the Gridder. As the grassy dragon swept across the field, it would add to the spider-woman's range of motion. Or so Drago expected.

And he suspected correctly, his ally then unleashed a deadly cloud of poisonous pollen upon the battlefield. He watched with a mix of fascination and jealousy as it spread to every blade of grass, which was most of the battlefield at this point. He could do a lot with a biological weapon of that magnitude. But he had something else just as good. And so he extracted yet another pot-dragon from his pockets and let it drop after the Spice had passed. This time the dragon was made of fire and brimstone and consumed the grass like kindling, feeding and fueling its rage. It came on like a tidalwave of lava-y death, crashing into the pillars and spreading burning embers everywhere. Once it finally consumed its fill, it sunk into the lava that it created.

Which was just in time for more lava. As Sylk unleashed her own lavawave. Clearly Drago and Sylk would get along just fine with how much they liked to inflict collateral damage upon the NET. Drago watched from on high with a smile on his face as Sylk melted the whole area. If anything survived this apocalyptic burning, Drago would throw an arc of flame at it. Sending a burning phoenix down to consume what was left of the viral horde. Nothing would escape the hellscape that the four of them had created.


~

With their foes arrayed around them, the two new partners made their battle plans quickly and got to work. In this particular case, getting to work meant that Sylk paused to give a pep talk to her adorable little minions before sending them off to swipe valuables. They each managed to get something, that much was certain, though she wouldn't get a chance to ask them what until after the dust had settled. while this was going on, Drago's group were acting a little more offensively, zeroing in on the first of the sentinel-like TriCubes on their pillars above.

Drago's electric reel found its mark cleanly, but the cube was so isolated, floating above its raised column, that the extra discharge couldn't spread anywhere else. The girls faced a similar problem as they lined up their tank rounds with it. Suzume struck first, making the cube rock, but as the smoke from the blast clear, three red beams of light shot out from the cloud. They were, it was fortunate to say, terribly aimed. It looked as though they had been targeted at Drago, Aya, and Sylk's decoy, but honestly, it was anyone's guess, given how bad the aim was. At the same time, howeve,r a second volley of red lazers cross-hashed the area, coming from the cube behind, and these ones were much more precise. It was only by their swift dodging that Drago and Suzume avoided the red bolts sent to them, and Sylk, despite her own nimble efforts, didn't make it clear of the one meant for her. fortunately, her barrier caught the blow, and though it collapsed, she was spared any harm. Aya got her own tank round off while the others dodged, successfully blasting the first cube out of the air and into chunk, scoring the first deletion for the hunt.

On the ground, the three Maru-balls were enthusiastically darting inwards now; with Drago and the girls taking to the sky, the little electrical viruses were focused on Sylk and her decoy. The three all closed to melee range with Sylk, dancing around her rapidly, though one of them was still stealing half-glances out at the clone as it drifted.

Seeing DragonierMan on the wing, the Gridder at the far end of the field tilted its panel upwards, and opened it grin wide, drawing power from the panel beneath itself and emitting a thick, painful-looking heat beam towards him. It passed by whisper close, and Drago would have felt the scorching heat of the energy beam as he avoided it, just barely. Unsure what it should be doing, the DemonEye at the back put out a laser line just to Sylk's left, inches from her feet as it crossed the battlefield. the Maru viruses, however, seemed to know the score, and they stayed on Sylk's right as they each attacked in turn. Two went for Sylk herself, while the third sent its glitch-laden bolt towards her decoy with a quick, sneaky shot. The decoy got caught out, dispersed, but Sylk herself fared little better. In close and personal with her, each Maru managed to land a stinging jolt on the spider woman. The first one crushed her casing, sending a stream of corrupted data into her system, and the second connected directly, and painfully; they were still on the cold metal of NAXA at this point, and the shock coursed through her body twice over as it arced to the panels.

The first mass of viral code that had infiltrated Sylk's system started to play havock with her passive abilities — something was wrong, but it was hard to tell immediateness what. The second jolt didn't seem to do anything at first, but if she looked down, Sylk would seem an additional two sets of arms pushing their way out of her body, and beginning to point, wave, shake their fists and generally gesticulate in peculiar ways at the remaining viruses, Drago and the girls, and just about anyone or anything. Worse, she couldn't actually feel them like her actual arms, nor control them.

Despite this odd development, the battle continued. Sylk fixed the metal terrain problem by spreading a wide swath of grass beneath her and all around, then made use of her webbing to pull the remaining cube off its pedestal towards her, but all she ultimately achieved was to drag it nearer, at the same height. This left the cube free of its pillar, flying in mid air now instead, almost directly above Sylk. It didn't seem bothered by this, but then, it was a cube.

Elsewhere, Drago was getting his revenge for the near miss he had avoided with the Gridder. It was still struggling to close its guard again ina timely fashion, but the dragonier wasn't going to give it the chance. His wood dragon roared down to engulf the virus, vivacious as it drew power from the glowing panel beneath it, and rendered the column a grassy monument. unsatisfied the Drago curled its way around the pillar and down to the ground, but ran out of puff after only making a small ring about the base of the pillar.

In a similarly grassy theme, Sylk unleashed her confusing spice attack, though slippery as they were the ever-eager Marus proved difficult. Of the three only one of them got caught by the cloud as it spread, thought he one stopped still and shuddered a few time,s almost like it was sneezing. In the back, the DemonEye also caught the brunt of the cloud, unable to avoid it so neatly as the other viruses. from on High, the remaining TriCube had something to say about this, and glowed a bright blue for several second before sending two bolts of blue energy down towards the other injured viruses, healing both the Maru and the DemonEye partially.

Drago, however, was not about to let that stand either, and, being done with his side of the field, turned back to release his fiery dragon back across the field towards the remaining foes. It revelled in the abundant grass as it ate its way across the field, making a pass at the Maru viruses and curling neatly around Sylk before it ran its course. As before, this attack failed to connect with two of the elusive critters, but it did manage to nail the third one — the same poor virus that had only just been healed, and chomp it out of existence soundly.

Much of the ground around Sylk was now converted to lava, but not the tile she herself was still standing on. Even so, her expanding RedWave did manage to wash over a second Maru, leaving it flickering and weak, as well as setting fire to the grass beneath the DemonEye as it passed. When the wave was gone, the floating eyeball remained... but only just barely. With the last moment of time he had spare for now, Drago finished the round off by winging his phoenixshot skyward, smashing it forcefully into the cube above them.

-=Unwelcoming Party=-

TriCubeA: DELETED
TriCubeB: 130Hp [High Altitude][Directly above Sylk]

Maru-10A: 90Hp [Lava][In front of Sylk]
Maru-10B: 20Hp [Lava][To the right of Sylk]
Maru-10C: DELETED

Gridder: DELETED

DemonEye: 5Hp [Lava][Directly behind party, ground level]

-=Rouge Gate-Crashers=-

Sylk.Exe: 120hp [Grass][Barrier Broken!][Casing Broken!][Glitch: All Hands/All Mixed Up]
DragonierMan.Exe: 200Hp [High Altitude]
Aya.SP: 100Hp [High Altitude]
Suzume.SP: 100Hp [High Altitude]

-=Modern-Tech Spire-Scape=-

50% Grass [Area around the lava, and the far end of the field, plus Sylk's exact position]
40% Lava [Area mostly around Sylk, excluding Sylk's current position]
10% Normal [The tops of several pillars are not metallic]
5% Solar [Several scattered panels]

Terrain is mostly flat, with many spires rising out of it. These spires vary in shape, but are comprised of square panels — very much like Tetris shapes.

-=The Glitches=-

All Hands: Neutral Glitch. The victim experiences multiple extra sets of arms and hands showing up on their person, which they have no control over. Lasts until cured, or combat ends.

All Mixed Up (passive): Negative Glitch. All passive signatures that the victim has have become cross-wired. Allowing a passive to activate unattended may have unexpected effects, and attempting to use or suppress one directly or deliberately, may cause a different passive to trigger instead. Persists until cured, combat ends, or can be canceled out by Sig Lock.

Not wanting to give up the momentum, DragonierMan sped toward the hovering TriCube, and unleashed a cone of confusing powder at the virus. The tree-scented powder whooshed out from Drago's helmet like the breath of Ifrit, if Ifrit breathed grassy powder; and filled the airspace with grassy green, which fell to the lava below. The cyclone of wooded-debris howled as it came on, sucking at the virus, trying to consume it. The grass seed that fell from the twister either burned up, or changed the place below to grass. The ground was a mess anyways, so it was hard to tell what was going on down there.

Meanwhile, Suzume and Aya flew to get a good angle of the action on the ground. It seems that their spider ally was getting beaten up by the shocking stings of the Maru-10 viruses. Suzume pulled a wooden boomerang from the air as Aya tried collecting whatever moisture was still around her. Taking aim at the forces on the ground, Suzume swept them with a glittering beam of light, tracing an arc through the lava. Moments later, she pulled her arm back and then whipped it forward, flinging the boomerang along the illuminated path with precision. The twirling emerald weapon rounded the track like an Olympic runner, who was also spinning around himself like a top, and plowed through the virus horde, hopefully missing Sylk. Suzume moved so that the boomerang wouldn't hit her on the return trip, letting it fall to the ground somewhere behind her. Inert.

Aya tracked the viral shadows below with her darkened eyes as she gathered the water to her and watched Suzume release her attack. Aya followed suit, hurling a crescent of water at the viral horde below. The shadows of the viruses called to the arch of liquid, stretching out with inky arms to embrace and guide the soaking blast towards them. They needed a bath so badly after sitting in hot lava for so long. However, the lava didn't like the viruses cheating on them. They went through a lot of effort to get them all hot and sweaty, and they weren't going to let some watery tart get their viruses all slick and wet. So the two sides exploded in a cat fight with the viruses between them. Clearly whoever won, the viruses would lose.

Not wanting to get involved in the domestic dispute below, Drago and the twins would try to evade. They dodged and weaved as the battlefield erupted into chaos. Drago took a moment to break off from the whole shebang to rush back over to the TriCube if it still stood... er floated. He formed a giant hammer in his hands and watched the cube's movements before laying into it with three strikes to its core. He brought the hammer up and down in powerful arcs, correcting his swing after every strike. One stroke after another he pounded at the box until the mighty hammer broke in his hands due to the force of the attacks. Littering the battlefield with even more debris.

Afterwards he flapped his wings a little and backed up to survey what was left. It was possible that there was still something alive in this blasted hellscape of a battle. And he readied himself to dodge any attack thrown at him by said alive thing.


~

Sylk's visuals stuttered and jumped as her code was infected by the maru, it wasn't a very pleasent feeling. If her brand new set of arms weren't already making gestures at the foes who did this to her, she would have made some herself. The glitches to her sig system were the real problem though, as that messed with a much more complicated code. She let out a low growl from her throat as she hurried to take down the remaining enemies. First matter of business was to get herself back into fighting shape, however.

"Healing and protection incoming." Adrian chimed in, knowing that Sylk wouldn't exactly be happy about taking damage.

The first bit of data Sylk recieved wasn't actually the healing chip, but something a lot more valuable in a net like this. She activated the effect, but nothing seemed to happen just yet. She couldn't wait to see the look on the viruses face if it tried to harm her now.

The second bit of data however was one much more pleasent, as the totem popped into existance. She activated it's healing mode to start, feeling a wave of energy flowing into her as the totem lit up near by. She was ready to make the enemies pay.

The spider kept on her toes the rest of the while, as she plotted out her attacks. She didn't want to risk getting hit by yet another strike. As she did, she began her counter attack.

Electricity began to crackle all around Sylk as she charged up her energy, summoning up every bit of her strength she could out of frustration. Every flash of light sounding like something snapping in two as the energy grew visible around her body. Soon enough the force had a physical form, just a few orbs of pure lightnign at first, circling around her body slowly. Then another, and another until 12 pulsing globes of energy were swirling all around her position. Not enough to properly portray the devastation she wanted however, Sylk pushed her power even further to feed the attack. In another instance the masses doubled in size just before she fired them off in all directions with a primal cry of anger.

Summary:

1) Anti-Elec - Trap((Negate Attack) Then (200 Elec)): Damaging Elec Element Attack - Accuracy: A
2) Totem3 - 100HP object - 180 fire+ spread 2/90 heal, alternates when hit. 3 turns or destroyed. Accuracy: A/S @ Sylk (healing mode)
3) Dodge
4) Dodge
5) ClusterShot3 - 10 elec (+15 element bonus +20 "attack+20") x 12 Shots + Variable Targeting - Accuracy: B - 2 shots each @ Maru-10B, DemonEye. 4 shots @ TricubeB, Maru-10A
6) Attack +20 - adds +20 dmg to all hits of a chip attack @ ClusterShot3

DragonierMan took to action, dashing up towards the remaining TriCube, and huffed up a huge storm of green powder at it... and summarily missed, as the TriCube rotated itself barely out of range of the breath attack. The cube, realizing its limit was near, began to flash a few times, this time in a blue color, and fired out several blue lasers towards its allies, and itself, healing all of them quite significantly.

On the ground, Sylk activated her Anti-Elec battlechip, setting her trap into motion. The arms around her began to point and gesticulate wildly at the Maru viruses, as if they knew what was coming. One of the pairs of arms, oddly enough, kept mostly to itself, but managed to cop a feel onto Sylk's chest as she activated the Totem next, providing her with a little more "healing" than was necessary. (+80)

The Marus were not one to be left behind, either, as they prepared to launch counterattacks towards Sylk and DragonierMan. Unfortunately for them, Sylk's Anti-Elec battlechip activated itself on one of them, and Suzume had launched her glittering Boomerang towards the two. Suffice to say, they both met their end quite flashily, with a sudden lightning bolt and cutting green blade bisecting them both brilliantly, while Aya's watery attack went wide as the two Marus dissipated into deletion status. One of the Marus got off a last hurrah, however, as it launched a glitched ball of electricity towards Suzume, and connected. (-40)

Afterwards, the only thing that was left was to deal with the remaining TriCube, and DragonierMan was quick to utilize excessive force in order to solve the problem. Crashing onto the cube with his Hammer, the cube stood no chance as it was shattered into smithereens.

Back on the ground, the DemonEye that had been unceremoniously set onto molten rock looked up at the commotion, and closed its singular eye as it slowly dissipated into junk data, just barely missing the time window for the TriCube's healing graces. One would wonder if it lamented why it had had to walk by this road on that day.

The battle ended with all of the glitches that had occurred clearing up from Sylk's systems, and the Bandcoons finally getting to show their master their hoard.

-=Unwelcoming Party=-

TriCubeA: DELETED
TriCubeB: DELETED

Maru-10A: DELETED
Maru-10B: DELETED
Maru-10C: DELETED

Gridder: DELETED

DemonEye: DELETED

-=Summoned Objects=-

Totem3 (Sylk): 100 HP (Healing Mode)

-=Rogue Gate-Crashers=-

Sylk.Exe: 200hp [Grass]
DragonierMan.Exe: 200Hp [High Altitude]
Aya.SP: 100Hp [High Altitude]
Suzume.SP: 60Hp [High Altitude]

-=Modern-Tech Spire-Scape=-

50% Grass [Area around the lava, and the far end of the field, plus Sylk's exact position]
40% Lava [Area mostly around Sylk, excluding Sylk's current position]
10% Normal [The tops of several pillars are not metallic]
5% Solar [Several scattered panels]

Terrain is mostly flat, with many spires rising out of it. These spires vary in shape, but are comprised of square panels — very much like Tetris shapes.

-= Battle 1, Victory!! =-

Sylk: 2250z, [SolarShield2] [Sensor2] [MaruBlaster2] Battlechips, 5 DragonierMan FXP
DragonierMan: 2250z, [Sensor2] Battlechip, 56 BugFrags, 5 Sylk FXP

SolarShield2
Effect: (1 Hit Shield) + (Counter Fire/Elec (70 Fire Shot + Piercing + Solar Terrain Boost 70): On-Hit)
Accuracy: A
Description: Creates a solid solar panel shield. When hit by an attack that produces light, the shield will reflect back the attack with a powerful solar beam. The effect is powered up if standing on solar panels. Impact will stop the counter.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.

Sensor2
HP: 100
Properties: Anchored, ElecBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 130 Elec + Beam Attack + Stun 1
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a Killereye to search for enemies. Fires an eye-beam when it detects them. It can see through invisibility.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Elec
Special: ElecBody: Immune to Elec damage. Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.

MaruBlaster2
Damage: 100 + Glitch
Accuracy: B (Special)
Description: A taser shot that bugs the enemy's coding.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: If the user used a Melee or Sword chip immediately prior to MaruBlaster, this attack's accuracy is raised to A.

[Use MiniEnergy Subchip on Suzume, restoring 50HP and bringing her to her full 100HP.]

The battlefield was left a scarred and burning grassland. DragonierMan descended upon the island that held Sylk and stretched out a hand for her to take. "I'll carry you to safety if you want," he offered. He did not see anything to indicate that Sylk was able to navigate over hazardous terrain. If Sylk took him up on his offer, he would fly her away from the lava and let her down on the outskirts of the battlefield. If not, he would rise back up into the air and survey the landscape for any hidden dangers, so as not to be surprised as the rest of the party rested and recovered from the battle.

Meanwhile, Aya skimmed over the lava and grass, scooping up the rewards. If Sylk didn't protest, Aya would also grab the rewards that Sylk earned but couldn't reach, and deliver them to her. Suzume took a moment to find a solid bit of terrain that wouldn't be dangerous to take a breather, having taken a heavy blow at the end of the battle. Aya came to her side once she was done. With Aya's help, Suzume took off her armor and began to bandage up her wounds. They also took a moment to hammer the plates in her armor back into place. Suzume, and probably Aya too, was revealed to have a lithe and sturdy frame. It looked like she used to have a soft body, but within the last half-year had toned up to have some muscle mass under her clear, creamy skin. It seemed a crime to have to hide it under miles of metal.

"Damn, we almost got through that first battle without a scratch," Aya said to Suzume as they were winding bandages around her ribs. Suzume wheezed a little as she tried to calm her breathing. Whatever the glitching shot did, it did not seem to affect her in the slightest; burning through her too fast to grab hold of her coding. Aya tightened her sister's bandages with a pained grunt from Suzume. "Ok that should do it. Now to finish the treatment," Aya said as she produced a small flask of ointment. She poured some of the crystalline liquid into her palms and began rubbing the lotion all over Suzume's youthful skin, getting it all oiled up and shimmering. Suzume's twitching muscles and labored breathing began to calm down as the healing salve worked its magic on her body.

After Aya had completed her task, she patted Suzume's shoulder. "Rest for a few minutes. I'll help you get dressed when you are feeling better." Aya then conjured a towel and began drying her hands, as she walked/floated over to Sylk with a few flaps of her leathery wings. "I have to say I am quite impressed with your skill at arms. No pun intended," she said as she came to rest next to Sylk. "You took quite a beating out there and yet managed to come out looking unscratched. Perhaps you could tell me your secret?" she asked her erstwhile ally. "I have met a few extraordinary individuals in my travels. Funnily enough, some have even joined the Neo-Shogunate." She looked up at Drago, "It puts things into perspective when one starts out in the presence of one of the strongest on the NET, only to find out that he has a ways to go to get to the top of the leaderboard."

As the battle subsided, her mood slowly came down from the high she was feeling. It has been so long since the last time she got to cut lose like that. She may have gotten a little overly excited. She wondered if she had displayed a bad example to the others, but she shrugged off the idea almost instantly. If they couldn't handle her it was there loss. She just smirked to herself at the thought. Being ashamed of herself was never a feeling she had to deal with.

As Sylk mulled over the various ways to get around the pit of fire her "partner" had surrounded her in, she caught him coming to offer his assistance. It wasn't a bad offer really, it was sort of his fault so why should she turn him down. "If you would be so kind." She politely replied, extending a few arms to grab a hold for the trip. Flying sure did seem convenient.

As her feet touched down once more, she offered a thank you before taking a few steps away. It seemed her pets had more then a few pieces of valuable data to give her. Even Aya was collecting her prizes for her. The idea of the girls dressed in cute little bandcoon outfits elicited a brief grin from the spider, before she realized and quickly hid her jagged teeth. Sylk patted the SP on the head, as she took her rewards, before collecting from her pets and watch them scurry off into the distance. " Thank you my dear, so helpful you are."

Sylk stood back and watched as Suzume was being taken care of. It was a bit of a shame she didn't get to work her magic, it would have had the same effect while Sylk gets to have some fun out of it. There weren't many times when she got to show off her nimble hands these days. Her mind began to wander on all the things she could have tried, after all Meridian only showed her the basics and even that was more fun than she had expected. It prompted a brief sigh from her lips.

Her attention return to that of the present as she noted Aya's company once more. As she spoke, her word's confused the spider momentarily and leaving her momentarily without response. "Well my dear, I'm just as skilled with my arms as I am skilled at arms. Only certain people get to find that out though, Hmmhmhm." She joked, as she came up with a proper following answer. " A woman has to keep some of her secrets, no? I suppose I can tell you though." She wasn't sure how to continue with this train of thought, scratching her head briefly with a free hand. " I was thrown into the deep end early, and I've gained a lot of experience. I'm strong, and it takes a hell of a lot to scare me." She paused for a moment, leaning in a bit closer with a smirk. " And I'm incredibly flexible on and off the battlefield. If you don't come prepared, you're going to have a bad time. That goes for more than just a fight." She teased happily.

She stood up straight once more, clasping a pair of hands behind her head as the rest folded across her stomach. "There's always something better than you, and knowing that helps your improvement. Just don't let it scare you off." Her words were a little more serious this time, as though she was recalling something with each word. Her eyes fell back to Aya once more, and she broke the focus looked almost instantly. "Very few are better than me though! Even fewer worthy of me." She exclaimed full of confidence, her toothy grin fully exposed.

Suddenly, she extended three of her arms, each holding a piece of data from the fight. "That being said, more fire power always helps and it just so happens I'm feeling generous today! Since you all are being so nice, I'll give you folks a discount! Normally i'd sell these lovely chips at 5000z a piece, but for you all! How about the low low price of 3000z each, it's a great offer and a great way to boost your fighting capabilities. What do you say? Only get once chance!" She pitched slyly to her companions, ready to strike a deal.

Aya drunk Sylk's words in like a sponge. However, at Sylk's very generous offer, Aya had to decline. She raised her hand and shook her head. "I'm sorry, we will have to decline. It is a good offer, much better than any store, but we can't see ourselves using them. Thank you for the offer though," she smiled in a friendly manner.

"Aya?" Suzume called out, having regained her strength enough to stand and wave. Aya waved back and then turned to Sylk. "I will take your helpful words to heart though. Perhaps by the end of this run we will both be very rich. In loot if not in friendship." And with that, Aya turned away and flew back to Suzume's position.

DragonierMan had yet to see any movement over the horizon during the rest, which was both a good and a bad thing. Good in that it allowed the others time to recover and converse. Bad in that they would probably have to travel far to find an opponent.

Aya and Suzume managed to don Suzume's armor without much difficulty. Suzume seemed in fighting form after the brief rest. The Navi power of recovery was impressive by Real World standards. Eventually both girls were in the air and circling Sylk. "Thank you for your patience!" Suzume called down to Sylk. "I'm ready to continue if you are."

With that, DragonierMan descended and joined the twins. Flying in a V-Formation, the three went ahead of Sylk to be her vanguard into Modor NAXA.

[Request Battle 2.]

Status
DragonierMan: 200HP [OmniShoes]
Aya: 100HP [OmniShoes]
Suzume: 100HP [OmniShoes]

"Well, suite yourself. Good chips are another way to get stronger though." She sighed with a shrug, sending up the data to her operator. " Seeing what you want to use and using what you have well can define a good battle. Keep that in mind." She added as the upload was complete.

"Three more for the shop then, not a bad haul so far." Adrian chimed up over the PET comms.

Sylk was feeling pretty good so far, even after taking a couple hits. She was tougher then the average navi of course, so it was nothing to her. She limbered up a bit more, arching her back or twisting her body, bending here and there while she could feel the memory of fighting in her toned form coming back to life.

" Well, if you're ready then lets go again!" Sylk was more than happy with the idea of letting out some more pent up stress on the unsuspecting virus population, casually struting through the net behind her partners brimming with confidence.

((Ready for battle 2))

[+2 FXP]

As Sylk and DragonierMan, along with companions Aya and Suzume, trekked through the gleaming NAXA network, they chanced upon a small dead end in the road. It appeared as if the road was stalled in the middle of construction, as one could see a few discarded tools off to the side, as well as some clearly unfinished road pieces. A few viruses started to filter in as they reached the dead end, with some Megalians all in a line, flying in from some distance, and a couple of Blackmares appearing from out of nowhere, beyond the dead end's precarious drop into the NAXA Network's spacey background. However, were they to turn back, they would find themselves faced with a trio of very short 3-foot tall blue robots blocking the way back as well. All of them had yellow, opaque visors for eyes, secured by a finned crest that reached around their heads. As cute as they looked, the sound of lasers charging, as well as loud warning sirens showed that they meant business. The Navis were flanked!

Super-X2 A: 180 HP (Behind all, 1 move to melee, Left, Normal)
Super-X2 B: 180 HP (Behind all, 1 move to melee, Middle, Metal)
Super-X2 C: 180 HP (Behind all, 1 move to melee, Right, Normal)
Megalian-E2 A: 190 HP {80HP ElecAura} (High Altitude, Missing)
Megalian-E2 B: 190 HP {80HP ElecAura} (High Altitude, Missing)
Megalian-E2 C: 190 HP {80HP ElecAura} (High Altitude, Missing)
Blackmare A: 180 HP (Further back, 2 move to melee, Missing)
Blackmare B: 180 HP (Further back, 2 move to melee, Missing)

Sylk.Exe: 200HP (Metal)
DragonierMan.Exe: 200HP (Metal)
Aya.SP: 100HP (Metal)
Suzume.SP: 100HP (Metal)

Terrain:
40% Metal (Main road)
20% Normal (Sides of the road)
40% Missing (Blank space beyond the dead end)

// Battle 2, Ready? Start!!

DragonierMan watched as the viruses drew their battle-lines, his body preparing for battle by raising his alertness. Eyes and reflexes becoming sharper as the battle routines activated one by one. He watched as they were surrounded again in a pincer move. How did the viruses manage to keep surrounding them? One could guess that it helps that they can just appear out of the ether wherever they want. The exact nature of free-roaming virus spawning had been debated and only partially observed. It was inconclusive at any rate.

So having watched the lines being drawn, he noticed that five of the eight viruses were on the ground, and three were in the air. The flyers in their own group could take on the lesser viral air forces in a three vs. three battle to secure the sky from the larger force on the ground. That would be a better option than confining the initial battle to the ground and being slammed by both sets of enemies. Now, the tiny blue robots were unknown to Drago and the twins, but the shadowy creatures on the ground were known to them. The two shadowy creatures were confined to the land, so the fliers would be safe. And Sylk had shown that she was more than capable of taking the punishment of multiple viruses. The three azure robots, also stuck to the land, seemed dangerous with their loud warning sounds. They might have projectile weaponry. So as of the moment, being in the air seemed to be the best idea. At least they could maneuver better there.

"We got the sky covered," Drago told Sylk before the three winged Navis took to the air with a few strong beats of their wings. They flew quickly towards the Megalians to engage them in aerial combat, leaving Sylk to deal with the ground war. The heads of the Megalian viruses were their main form of attack, so the three winged Navis tried to approach from below and to the sides of their enemies, changing directions to keep on course if the Megalians tried to turn and face them. If they had enough movement, they would also try to circle around from behind where they were most vulnerable. Meanwhile, they were dodging and weaving through the air to evade incoming fire while they got into an optimum position for their own firing spots.

Drago spread his wings wide as he got into position and then clapped them in the front, sending an arc of green energy sailing into the enemy fliers. Wind twisted around the arc of energy, causing it to rotate and spin around the enemy formation like a boomerang. The Megalians were protected by a forcefield of electricity. Hopefully, the green wood-energy would break their guard if it hit them. Whether or not it hit, both girls collected energy in their palms before unleashing beams of iridescent energy. One beam after the other lanced into the enemy squadron. As each beam reached the center of the flight, it exploded with tremendous force. The din from the explosions radiated outwards with rippling force, scattering blazing light and intense heat everywhere.

Drago charged the line of Megalians on the heels of the explosion, exhaling a cone of emerald smog into the column. With another clap of his wings he sent the verdant gas surging around the viruses. The deadly green gas tried to envelop the viruses in confusing torpor, causing a blurriness to their code if it took hold. As the smoke parted with another wing-beat, Drago swept into the center of the group. He drew twin blades from sheathes on his hips. Extending his arms out from his body, he spun around like an aerial top. He quickly turned into a twister of sharp and stinging metal. He spins him right round baby, right round in the middle baby, right round round round. Dicing any viruses in his arms' reach.


~

Sylk scoffed at the pathetic attempt on her life which lay before her. Really, just because they came out of no where didn't mean they had caught the group off guard. They were seasoned veterans at virus busting after all. At least, Sylk knew she was, she hadn't know the other 3 long enough to vouche for them. At the very least they seemed capable so far. As she tried to assess the surroundings though, she came to realize how unfavorable the arena was for her. "Huh, maybe these guys might put up a challenge. let's have some fun."

As her companions took the battle to a higher place, Sylk gestured towards them that she understood with a nod. " Guess i'll take care of these three then."

The fight itself wouldn't be difficult, the biggest obstacle was the ground. The enemies had taken advantage of positioning and if left alone they would have the upper hand. The spider however, just grinned. Her body began to sway back and forth like she was intune with a melody only Sylk could hear, her many hands flicking and bobbing about in an almost hypnotic fashion. To add further confusion a doppleganger slid out of her own form, taking roost beside her as it mimiced Sylk in every possible way. With each motion followed a glint in the air as she weaved her web into the panels around. Starting from her own spot it spread quickly out to the robots in her sights, slowly gaining her control of the field once more. Her dominance was absolute.

While it may have looked like she was having fun, the movements were made to be unpredictable. It was her way of giving herself an additional edge as she made her preparations. The movements combined with her other self not only aimed to distract her foes, but as her performance carried on her aim was to make herself harder to hit as a result. It was then, that Adrian sent in the reinforcements.

The twin bandcoons joined their mistress once more, almost immidiately having their attention drawn to Sylks swaying hips and rythmic steps. As they almost became lost in the view, one suddenly snapped to attention and smacked his brother back to it's senses. After all, the fear of not knowing what sort of punishment awaited failure was a strong deterant. Eventually they realized where Sylk was focusing her attention and the two assumed they knew where the assignment lay. Fortunately for them they had guessed right.

Darting back and forth the Bandcoons followed the masters web right to the enemies in question, two of the Super-X. They criss-crossed, hopped, scurried and dodged every which way in their approach in a desperate atttempt to avoid being cannon-fodder as they closed in on the target. As their marks came into proximity they broke off from eachother in expert union, well disciplined by the spider in an attempt to please, attacking with reckless abandon as they attempted to steal and run. they knew what was coming next.

With her web finished, Sylk was ready to make her attack. She was confident one was all that was needed as she extended three arms forward; a hand now aimed toward each of the three targets. A swirling red aura enveloped each as the Magnum2 took a unique form of three seperate cannons along her multiple arms, each steadied by the spiders opposite limb.

"Bye Bye!" The words almost drowned out as flames exploaded forward to incinerate those which stood before her in arrogance. Busting was oh so much fun.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Sylk, Drago and the girls had been surprised by the sudden appearance of the small combat robots was that, as well as being impressively designed, they were also fast. Very fast. Even as Sylk prepped her usual defences and Drago took to the air with the twins, the line of three mechs shifted their stance in sync, adopting fighting poses that saw their hands rise up, palms outwards. What came next was a veritable barrage of energy beams spreading over everyone on the field in a storm of laser fire. Drago and the girls flew up, dodging and weaving rapidly, and while Drago's own acrobatics were enough to keep him clear of the many bolts sent his way, the ladies were not quite so fortunate. Sylk avoided several of the beams sent at her, though despite her best efforts, one still managed to find her amidst the light storm, neutralising her external barrier for now. Her decoy was obliterated, off to her side, by there was hardly time to mourne it. Aya and Suzume did their best as well, but the number of shots spreading over the field saw Aya take a clip from one bolt of energy, while Suzume had to weather being struck by two.

As one, the trio of mechs reset their stance once the onslaught was done, showing no flicker of emotion in any of their visors. Drago and the girls flew clear, making for the Megalians instead. At first it was something of an odd dance, with the trio of viruses trying to encircle or surround the three virus busters who were doing the same in turn. Suddenly, however, all three floating heads darted inwards in unison, weaving between the three to form a tight group instead, backs and bases to each other, pointing outwards at the dragonier and his girls. The sudden change of movement made it hard to target them neatly, and the boomerang that Drago threw had been intended to hit them while they were still in a broad arc, circling. As a result, their sudden inward dodge allowed two of the viruses to escape his wrath, although the third one ,not quite fast enough, was damaged heavily as the wood-element attack sheared through its aura and carved across it.

Down below, Skylk was setting up for paying the mechs back for their assault, spreading her favoured terrain beneath her feet and sending it out towards them. Still a fair way off, she only just managed to stretch the terrain spread to their feet, but it would be enough, just barely. Busy with this, however, she was blind-sided by the two floating Blackmares suddenly teleporting up to her and slicing with merciless strikes. One failed to connect, even with the element of surprise, but the second one struck a blow that carved through her armoured casing with ease. There was every possibility that she might feel a tad exposed, stripped of her defences so thoroughly.

In the sky, just as the Megalians repositioned themselves inwards, Aya and Suzume were ready to wreak some havoc of their own, letting off a pair of wide-blasting tank round at the cluster from different directions. The Megalian that had been hit before, perhaps a bit more cautious as a result, managed to drift in such a way that the blast from both shells missed it completely, but the remaining two were not so prepared. Maybe trust in their own auras made them lax, but either way, the first blast stripped both of their protective shells, while the second did substantial damage to both of them.

The next phase of Sylk's plan was unfolding as she called up her allies for some mischief, but the Super robots were apparently having none of that this time. The bandcoons were quick, but the mechs were quicker, dodging back and darting clear of their attempts to frisk them. The third Super, however, though it had stepped back with the other two, didn't have to fend of the assaults of strange thieving rodents, and braced itself instead, popping out an array of weapons in a frightful arsenal and targeting them all directly at Sylk herself in a concentrated blast of fire power. Though perhaps a bit less individually painful as the first barrage this burst was no less accurate, and it was all directed at Sylk. Three of the four main laser bolts struck her before the light-show ended.

Up above, the three Megalians synced their own behaviour and launched their heads outwards in a triangle, each aiming at the target that was in front of the next virus. The attack was at a slightly unexpected angle, since one might have guessed they'd each attack the target in front of them, but even so, Drago and Suzume managed to avoid painful contact with the projected heads. Aya wasn't so lucky, struck full in the chest with the painful impact, and it was frankly a surprise she managed to stay aloft at all, saved only by her undershirt. Drago had an answer that would hopefully stop his SPs having to deal with any more punishment, and breathed a final cone of damaging powder over the three viruses as their heads retracted. As one, they seemed to almost disintegrate under the corrosive power of the attack, and their remains crashed from the sky, down to the terrain below as they broke up. As such, his surprise attack with the blade met noting as he darted into the cloud, but even so, better safe than sorry. It wasn't as though there was anything else close enough for him to hit right now anyway.

Sylk was, at least, ready to go on the offence against her robotic tormentors now, and let loose with her furious magnum rounds, though it didn't end up going as satisfactorily as she might have hoped. The first two supers, at the limit of their avoidance from dealing with the bandcoons, weren't able to dodge the heated blasts. Unfortunately, they had only just barely been on the grass to being with, and all that dodging before had carried them back the extra panel or two to put their feet on solid metal again, so her shots failed to ignite any grass, and left the first two damage, but still standing. The third was still on the grass she'd laid under its feet, but whether she was thrown off from the punishment it had unloaded on her directly a moment before, or some other ill fortune, the third shot went wide and didn't connect. It was worth noting, however, that the metal under the central Super had been super-heated to the point of creating an obscuring heat mirage over the miniature solider, and it didn't seem to be going away, while the firs was having to contend with an uneven tracework of cracks spreading beneath its feet, from the panel-shattering force of the magnum round.


-=Enemies=-

Super-X2 A: 30 HP [1 move to Sylk][Behind Left][Cracked]
Super-X2 B: 30 HP [1 move to Sylk] [Behind Middle][Furnace]
Super-X2 C: 180 HP [1 move to Sylk][Behind Right][Grass]
Megalian-E2 A: DELETED
Megalian-E2 B: DELETED
Megalian-E2 C: DELETED
Blackmare A: 180 HP (Dead End, 2 move from Sylk][Missing]
Blackmare B: 180 HP (Dead End, 2 move from Sylk][Missing]

-=Allies=-

Sylk.Exe: 155HP [Decoy Destroyed][Barrier Broken][Casing Broken][Grass]
DragonierMan.Exe: 200HP [1 Movement away from either Supers or Nightmares][High Alt.]
Aya.SP: 1HP[High Alt.][With Drago]
Suzume.SP: 40HP [High Alt.][With Drago]

-=Terrain=-

30% Grass [Between Sylk and the Supers]
15% Metal [Main road]
5% Normal [Sides of the road]
40% Missing [Blank space beyond the dead end]
5% Furnace [Panel beneath central Super]
5% Cracked [Panel beneath left Super]

A ray of iridescent light dropped from the sky as DragonierMan raised his arms up high, bathing Aya with rejuvenating energy. "Hold fast and do not falter. We control the skies now! Time to come to the aid of our ally. Follow me!" he yelled out to his twin disciples of the sky before the three folded up their wings and dived at the trio of blue robots below. They got a small speed boost from gravity and they leaned one way, then the other, trying to dodge the shots from the ground as they sped along toward their destination. However, they were heading right for them, so the advantage they got in dodging was quickly negated by the easier target they made themselves by moving towards the foes they were trying to dodge.

Drago pulled ahead of the diving pack by forming a mach cone and blitzing the viral position. Time seemed to slow and distort as dozens of after-images of the dragon Navi stretched forth from his relative position and slammed into the enemy lines. The energies ripped a path far beyond the three robot viruses, speeding off into the sunset in a blaze of energy. Moments later a thunderclap over the horizon sounded as the sound barrier collapsed. The after-images of Drago all faded away, leaving the original Drago back at his front and center, still closing with his foes.

Aya spat a pebble at the blue robots as shadows outlined their forms. The pebble grew quickly into a mighty boulder as it fell. The boulder then unfolded and morphed into a mighty hand of rock before smashing into the ground, shattering the earth beneath the virus' feet and blasting the viruses with rubble. Her twin, Suzume, meanwhile had moved to the back of the pack, behind Drago and Aya as they unleashed their attacks. She was still quite wounded so she raised her right hand to her chest and sent healing energies through her body.

After the attacks, Aya and Suzume split off from Drago as Drago plunged straight into the middle of the viral horde. A giant ball and chain appeared in his hands and he spun it around and around, smashing the viruses one after another. The heavy wrecking ball would crush viruses as easily as it would crush walls. Drago then took aim at the healthiest virus as he reached his swinging crescendo. He let go of the weight at the height of the arc and let it sail towards the virus, punching through the air like a giant metal fist. As he wound down from his spin, he went into a defensive stance. He was in the middle of the enemy formation, flying on a curtain of air, and so he kept his eyes out for any need to move swiftly out of the line of fire.


~