Guardless in ACDC

"Can't you just give me the page address?"

"For the last time, I don't know where it is!" Anti contemplated throwing her PET at the wall, but figured that it would only serve to make her more angry. "Just find me some good stuff on horsepower."

"Sounds like a pretty lame project."

"Yeah, it is."

Shaking his head, Raiden maintained the jog that he had picked up ever since he had stepped out of the NetSquare portal and into the ACDC network. Along with the jog, he had acquired the sarcasm that had became so accustomed to the low-level area of the Net. He paused for a second and then leapt straight over a piece of spam, ducking narrowly under another that was floating at such a level as to nearly shear his head off. The advertising was thick here, and although the amalgamated brightness burned his eyes, he rather appreciated the odd terrain. It would be an awful lot of fun to try and fight his way through this particular little valley of spam.

He followed a bend in the spyware and skidded to a halt. A dopey smile was playing across his lower face.

"Looks like we've got some guys who don't want you to know about horsepower."

[Battle 1, please.]
Right off the bat, Raiden finds a small group of viruses!

BunnyA 50HP
BunnyB 50HP
BunnyC 50HP
MetoolA 40HP
MetoolB 40HP

Raiden 140HP

BATTLEROUTINE...SET>>>EXECUTE
"Well, this doesn't look too tough. Give me three chips and thirty seconds."

Raiden held up one hand expectantly. Sighing in annoyance, Anti slotted in the first of the deluge of offense that her Navi was planning on unleashing on the viruses they had stumbled across. A sphere of white energy formed between his fingers as the network immediately around him greyed out. He lowered his hand, and the light from the sphere lit up his face in sharp relief against the dimness that had gripped his part of the network. Then he swung his arm down, stepped into it, and thrust his palm out toward the pack of viruses. The burst of energy was unleashed in the movement, and the brightness left him behind as it sailed toward one of the two Metools.

"I'll take those three Bunnies out next, you mind? Come on, hurry it up, you're cramping me."

He lowered his arm and took off, heading off toward the viruses, albeit at a slight angle. Something was forming in the area of his right hand, but he didn't look down to see what it was yet. He hopped into the air in mid-step, kicked off a piece of adware, and bore down on the group of viruses in flight. Only then did he check, and saw that a Boomerang made entirely of broken-off panel fragments had come together in his grasp. Grinning, he twisted his entire body around and then hurled the Boomerang with such force that it caused him to spin slightly as he threw it. His kinetic energy of forward motion through the air was transferred to the weapon that he had just unleashed, and it went spinning vertically toward the viruses like a buzz-saw of death.

He would have landed on his head if he didn't manage to kick one foot out viciously as he dropped. His entire body swung around, following his leg, and he managed to just get himself right to land straight. His ankles shivered slightly under the weight of his touchdown. However, he didn't let a bit of discomfort stop him; he was definitely on a roll, and he wanted to keep his three-chip, thirty-second promise. He drew both of his hands up and held them off to one side as electricity began to spark off of his fingers. A line of whiteness like a photographic negative formed just outside of his grasp, and a number of lightning bolts leapt off of his arms to form a spear of bright light that was tethered to his hands by only a few stray electrical connections. He tore his right hand away from the javelin of lightning and hurled it forward, bound for the Metool that he had not yet gone for.

"Three chips, thirty seconds. See?"

"Be quiet."

[1. Cannon on MetoolA (40 damage)
2. Boomerang on BunnyA, BunnyB, BunnyC (60 x 2 = 120 damage each)
3. Thunder God on MetoolB (50 damage + possible stun)]
The boomerangs sweeping arc takes out the bunnies as the cannon blasts the met, but the last one gets in a hit before being vaporized in lightning.


BunnyA DELETED
BunnyB DELETED
BunnyC DELETED
MetoolA DELETED
MetoolB DELETED

Raiden 140HP

VICTORY!

Rewards: 350z
"Have you found it yet?"

"Yep, there's an ad for a pill that fixes your ability to--"

"You know what I mean. Go get that page."

Raiden saluted sloppily as Anti downloaded the Zenny that he had salvaged from the encounter. "I'm on it, lady."

He turned and headed off deeper into the canyon of ads, giving each one a quick read as he passed.

[Battle 2, please.]
Raiden finds another larger group of viruses!

CannondumbA 50HP
CannondumbB 50HP
SeedbatA 50HP
SeedbatB 50HP
SeedbatC 50HP
SpikeyA 90HP
SpikeyB 90HP

Raiden 130HP

BATTLEROUTINE...SET>>>EXECUTE
Anti mashed her knuckles against her forehead in annoyance. "Can I just find that page so that we can get out of here...?!"

"This is what you get when you deal with the Internet," Raiden commented, rather merrily. "Chips."

She slotted in one of her prize chips, and sat back to see how Raiden would work with it. The Areagrab filtered its way down to him, and he grabbed hold of the intangible packet, practically ripping it open. His entire body exploded into a corona of white heat, and pulled together again in the form of a lightning bolt that streaked through the air, right above the group of viruses. The bolt split apart into a flurry of lightning, which focused on two spots less than a foot from each other on the ground. His data converted itself back into his normal humanoid form, and he whipped around on his heel to face the viruses with a wider grin than before on his face.

There were three viruses of the Wood alignment fluttering in the air. He immediately locked onto them, assessing them as the prime targets of the group, because of their automatic strength against him. What was a better way to deal with a threat than destroy it?

"Anti, Flameline."

She obediently slotted in the wide-range chip, and Raiden noted that the data had arrived when he saw the red hue of the network being sapped from its normal positioning across the panels and in the air. It collected in three circles underneath the hovering Seedbats, and Raiden dropped his hand to his hip in preparation to unleash the Flameline's fury. He would have loved to make a dramatic spectacle of it, but he knew that before long the viruses would figure out where he had gone and turn to unleash hell on him. By the time he swung his arm up, calling the chip's fire upwards to consume the three Seedbats, he had already set his sights on the pair of Spikeys. Those had to be taken care of quickly, to make sure that they didn't gang up and cause him some serious problems.

He dropped into a squat and put his palms flat on the panels next to his feet. The air fluttered around his hands, and he drew them upwards, away from the ground. Stuck to his fingers was a large, delicate bubble. He straightened up very, very slowly, his eyes locked on the bubble, as he drew his left hand away. The one separated into two, and as he spread his arms apart, it became three bubbles hanging suspended between his hands. He gave his wrists the slightest flick, and the bubbles were torn from his fingers. They were sent to float serenely towards the pair of Spikeys and whatever else might get in the way.

[1. Areagrab (telepr0t behind virus group)
2. Flameline on SeedbatA, SeedbatB, SeedbatC (70 x 2 = 140 damage each)
3. Bubblestar1 on SpikeyA, SpikeyB, third bubble floating around randomly (3 bubbles, 20 x 2 = 40 damage to each Spikey, possible trap in bubble)]
A canodumb tries to attack, but Raiden vanishes. He then reappears in front of the group, summoning flames that torch all three bats. Then, he sends three bubbles forward. The end spikey manages to work around them, but the other, not sure which way to dodge, just stands there before the bubble envelopes it.

CannondumbA 50HP
CannondumbB 50HP
SeedbatA DELETED!
SeedbatB DELETED!
SeedbatC DELETED!
SpikeyA 50HP(Trapped)
SpikeyB 90HP

Raiden 130HP
In a single instant, the blue flooded away from the network, and leapt from the panels and adware to the air to collect and form a trio of long, vicious-looking spikes made entirely of water. They hovered just in front of him, and as he waved his hand dismissively, and the three Aquaneedles whistled off toward the Spikey that his last attack had missed.

"Careful, there are still those two Canodumbs!"

"I didn't forget about them."

"Yes you did, you were going to go after that trapped Spikey!"

He shrugged, forced a grin onto his face to try and cover himself, and spun to face the two stationary cannons that were swinging around to train their sights on him. Two packets of chip data arrived in quick sequence. Instead of the traditional spread-area chip that Anti ended up using to take down packs of viruses, it seemed as though he was going to be stuck deleting them individually. He knew that he could have been really careful and lined up the two Canodumbs to take them down with one shot, but he was far too high on the heat of the battle for anything that mechanical.

Raiden swung both of his arms up and held his hands out, with their fingers curled up to seem like twin handguns, at each of the Canodumbs. He closed his right eye briefly to ensure that his aim was perfect and nodded. At his mental command, a small charge of energy formed at the tips of each of his gun-shaped fingers. The recoil of this was going to be immense, but he knew how he was going to handle it.

"Aren't you going to brace--"

"Be quiet for a minute, lady. I'm working."

At exactly the same time he jerked both of his hands slightly upward, releasing the Shotguns. The kickback of one was enough to make him stumble backwards a step or two, but the two recoils combined sent him flying right off his feet. He toppled back, landing hard on his shoulderblades, but grinning as he knew that the drop out of the way would give him a better chance of dodging whatever the Canodumbs may have been firing at him.

[1. Aquaneedle1 on SpikeyB (3 needles, 20 x 2 = 40 damage each, 120 damage total if all needles hit
2. Shotgun on CanodumbA (50 damage, possible splash, using combined recoil to knock self over backwards and perhaps dodge an incoming shot)
3. Shotgun on CanodumbB (50 damage, possible splash, using combined recoil to knock self over backwards and perhaps dodge an incoming shot)]
The needles down the virus, deleting the speedy virii with an unerring accuracy. The immobile cannons are deleted by the shots, and as the spikey frees itself and tries to blast raiden, it misses.

CannondumbA DELETED
CannondumbB DELETED
SeedbatA DELETED!
SeedbatB DELETED!
SeedbatC DELETED!
SpikeyA 50HP
SpikeyB DELETED

Raiden 130HP
"Here comes the new chip."

Something materialized in Raiden's hand. It was a very small point of light with a single pulsing red star right in the centre, so small that it was almost invisible.

"Slap that on the Spikey somehow."

"Yeah, I kind of figured." His mouth twisted slightly, out of the smile and into perplexion. "Looks like a wimpy little thing for the power of a Markcannon, though."

"Just shut up and do it."

"You're the boss," he shrugged as he hopped once on the spot and headed off at a high-speed jog toward the Spikey. "Not," he added under his breath, but Anti heard it anyway. What was the point of a snide line if the recipient never picked it up?

Once he came within perhaps six good strides of the remaining Spikey, he swung his arm mightily forwards in a throwing motion. Then a better idea hit him, and he closed his fingers around the small point of light that he held to keep from flinging it. He completed the pitching motion as if he had indeed released the tiny light, and then kicked off again, heading straight towards the Spikey. He juggled the light to the tip of one finger, and as he bore down on the virus, he lunged forward and touched the light to the place right between the Spikey's eyes. It stuck, leaving a glowing pinpoint right on the virus's forehead.

He leapt backward for several steps, trying to get some distance between himself and the virus. It wouldn't do any good if his hot dogging earned him a fireball to the face. A massive sphere of white light, rippling with black and grey, was forming around his hand like a captured explosion that had been frozen at one point in time. The energy cloud became thicker and thicker, gaining more sustenance, and seemed on the verge of either bursting outward and destroying him entirely or imploding and comsuming his hand when he held out his arm in front of him and opened his fingers. The huge energy sphere burst apart into several dozen individual charges which were expelled from the area of his hand at high speed. The point of light that he had stuck to the Spikey lit up red, and the energy shots that he had released randomly into the air curved around as if governed by one mind. Like a rain of death the bursts of white light fell toward the tracer, and all made contact at exactly the same time.

Turning his eyes from the multiple explosions of white that were taking place just a few steps away, he took off in a wide strafe around what would hopefully be a deleted Spikey, laughing out loud at his total mastery over this spectacular new chip.

[1. Markcannon on SpikeyA (70 damage)
2. Dodge
3. Dodge]
The shot deletes the virus!

CannondumbA DELETED
CannondumbB DELETED
SeedbatA DELETED!
SeedbatB DELETED!
SeedbatC DELETED!
SpikeyA DELETED
SpikeyB DELETED

Raiden 130HP

VICTORY!

Rewards: 400z, Heatshot
"Hey, here it is!"

Raiden pulled up short.

"Back three steps...there, take that turnoff."

He sighed and swung his body around, starting off down a small gap in the adware and informational pages that he had hardly seen.

"I think it's down here--yeah, found it."

What they had arrived before was a rather length page on horsepower--the exact piece of material that Anti had lead him halfway across the Internet looking for.

"There, now I've got it. Raiden, jack out."

"But--"

His protest was almost instantly cut off by his degeneration into a blast of lightning and his subsequent disappearance.

[Done. Close, please.]
<(Done)>