And what else floats?

Once more, SplashMan found himself on the outskirts of the Net version of ACDC Town. Not very exotic looking after some of the places he had been lately, but it'd do. "Okay, I'm in! Ready whenever you are, Sabrina!"

His operator nodded, before suddenly stretching for a moment. Getting stuck between two fat people was NOT her idea of a fun flight. "Okay, I'm all set. Let's see what we can do!"

"Right!" And so, having received the green light, the Aqua Navi marched into the Net, in search of practice.

(searching for Battle #1)

And what a welcome back to the nets it was, with four fabulous metools as the booby prize to greet him at the doorstep of ACDC net. I'm sorry, did I say booby prize? I meant grand prize. Better than first place.

MetoolA: 40 HP
MetoolB: 40 HP
MetoolC: 40 HP
MetoolD: 40 HP

Splashman: 200 HP

Terrain: 100% normal

Aha! Time to engage in a noble battle against...four Mettaur. Compared to what he had gone through the previous day, this was a piece of cake. SplashMan readied himself for battle, pondering the many, many ways he coud defeat them in a single turn. "Okay, so...let's defeat these guys! Question is, how?"

"Well, you never got a chance to use it during that mission, so how about...this!" Sabrina took out but a single chip, and inserted it into her PET. "Battlechip, AquaSword! Slot in!"

The wide bladed blue sword formed on the Aqua Navi's right forearm, who looked at it. Sure, it was a way, but he couldn't help but wonder if his operator picked it so she wouldn't have to send anything else..."...Right! Time to work on close range!" He rushed the group of viruses, as fast as his legs could take him...which, granted, wasn't terribly fast by Navi standards, but it did the job of getting him to the Mettaur, and that was what was important. Upon arrival, he began the task of eliminating them by...repeated short swings. Long enough to hit multiple viruses, but short enough to where he had a little more control over exactly where the swing when. Fittingly, he swiped at a pair of Mettaur twice, then another pair twice, so that each Mettaur had taken precisely two attacks, and so that he had expended all the attacks he could. "Whew...I think I got them all, but..." Just in case, SplashMan raised his sword so that it was across his chest, in preparation for a counterattack. Exactly how this prepared him was a mystery, as Mettaur usually attacked by creating shock waves with their pickaxes, but he was fully prepared nonetheless.

[Order of Turn:
1-AquaSword chip attack on MettaurA and MettaurB (80+15, Aqua)
2-AquaSword chip attack on MettaurA and MettaurB (80+15, Aqua)
3-AquaSword chip attack on MettaurC and MettaurD (80+15, Aqua)
4-AquaSword chip attack on MettaurC and MettaurD (80+15, Aqua)]

Splashman gets in close to the group of enemies and just kind of sword spams. The first stroke hits one, the next two, and after that, the last met. Splashman swings one more time to be sure, though it proves unneeded.

MetoolA: DELETED!
MetoolB: DELETED!
MetoolC: DELETED!
MetoolD: DELETED!

Splashman: 200 HP

Terrain: 100% normal

Rewards: 180z

And so, having vanquished the threat of the Mettaur, the sword faded from SplashMan's arm, which was then used to transfer the remaining data to his operator's PET. "I remember back when I couldn't even beat a group like that in one turn...and now I can do it without even breaking a sweat! Not that I can sweat, but you know what I mean..."

"Yep!" Sabrina took the AquaSword out of her PET, and took a look at it before placing it in its usual folder position; right towards the front. "That chip might've cost me a ton, but it was totally worth it!"

"You're telling me..." The Aqua Navi looked left, then right, then left again, before continuing on his way down ACDC's Net. Exactly why, he wasn't sure, but at least he wasn't about to get run over by any Cyber cars...

(searching for Battle #2)

A trio of tanks roll up towards Splashman's position. A little head peaks out from the top hatch of the main tank for a brief second before ducking back in. Two Shrubbies sit behind the group, seeming content with their location.

KabutankA: 80
KabutankB: 80
KabutankC: 80
ShrubbyA: 60
ShrubbyB: 60

Terrain: 100% Normal

Splashman: 200

Battle 2 Go

Another group that shouldn't pose a real problem to him. SplashMan looked over the viruses, but just doing something like repeated uses of AquaSword or WideShot just didn't appeal to him this time. "Hey, Sabrina? I hate to ask, but...think we could try something different than usual? Like not just giving me lots of WideShots to wipe them out?"

"Well...I guess I could, but...hang on..." The young woman stared at her screen for a moment, trying to think of something a little different from how they'd normally handle things. "......Okay, got it! Ready?"

"Yep!"

"All right, chip #1!" Her choice for a leadoff chip...one featuring blue cloud holding an umbrella over it. "Battlechip, LilCloud! Slot in!"

A cloud formed over the Navi's head, which moved in a straight line towards the group of viruses, before starting to rain on their parade...literally. And not just regular rain, either. The sort of rain that could really put a hurt on whatever it fell on. He watched it for a moment, then decided it was best to move along. "Okay, now what's next?"

"Well, that SHOULD take care of the Catack...so next up, the Shrubby!" There were two Shrubbies...Shrubby twins, one could say. So the next chip made perfect sense..."Battlechip, TwinFang! Slot in!"

SplashMan held his arm forward, as two tusk-like apparatuses formed on each side. He stopped and aimed them for a moment, then let them rip forward like missiles towards the Wood viruses. As in a way, they sorta were.

"And now...we go after anything you missed!" And since missing twice was bad, she chose a certain green cannon chip...the only kind she had, actually. "Battlechip, MarkCannon! Slot in!"

In a rather offbeat move, the Aqua Navi's arm only now shapeshifted into something else, this time becoming a green and gray cannon, which immediately began sending forth its crosshairs, sweeping the area until it found something, then auto-aimed and let fire...or maybe it just got tired of looking after a while, and just fired for no reason. Hey, it could happen. "Okay, so...I guess we're just Guarding it now?"

"Oh sure, NOW you want to stop being different! Nuh-uh, we're doing a little something extra!" Sabrina pulled out her shiny new Wood-element chip, and slammed it into her PET with gusto. "Battlechip, TreeBomb! Slot in!"

The cannon faded from SplashMan's arm, and almost immediately a seed fell right into his hand. "Okay, so...TreeBomb can draw power from Aqua attacks, so..." One look at the battle scene made everything clear. "Oh, I get it!" He reared back, then tossed the seed towards the path of LilCloud; hopefully that would trigger it in the event he hadn't already deleted everything.

[Order of Turn:
1-LilCloud chip attack on KabutankA, KabutankB, and KabutankC (70+15, Aqua)
2-TwinFang1 chip attack on ShrubbyA and ShrubbyB (70)
3-MarkCannon1 chip attack on leftover virus (70+10, locks on)
4-TreeBomb1 chip on KabutankB's spot (60, Wood, powered by Aqua, can turn into WoodTower)]

Splashman's cloud moves over the tanks. Only one of them is fast enough to move but when it takes 30 seconds to get two feet forward, you're not getting out of the way fast enough. The Shrubbies begin panicing, running in place and looking for a place to hide. This disorganized state of mind makes them easy targets for the Twinfang and both are deleted. Splashman takes out a Markcannon which, after finding nothing, disappears from his arm a few seconds later. He also throws a seed which just sits there.

KabutankA: DELETED!
KabutankB: DELETED!
KabutankC: DELETED!
ShrubbyA: DELETED!
ShrubbyB: DELETED!

Terrain: 100% Normal

Splashman: 200

Rewards: Lil'Bomb, 300z

Once again, easy. SplashMan waited for all his attacks to dissipate into thin air, then walked over and collected and transferred the remaining data. "Let's see...we got chip data with this! Just LilBomb, though!"

"...LilBomb?" Sabrina blinked as the bomb chip's data appeared on her PET's screen. "But the picture that's on it is completely different from a Catack..."

"Yeah...but if we don't like it, we can just leave it, right?"

"Yeah...no." Confusion definitely wasn't going to stop her from claiming a chip, especially one that could be used for THAT..."Well, I got everything. Go on whenever you're ready!"

"Okay!" The Aqua Navi simply walked straight ahead, deeper into the Net, in search of more viruses.

(searching for Battle #3)

Splashman ventures further into ACDC, and looks for viruses. His challenge is met with a traveling bunch of Swordies, Powies, and Cactys, the latter looking out of place in this medieval group.

Well, time to get cleaning.

SwordyA: 60 HP
SwordyB: 60 HP
SwordyC: 60 HP
PowieA: 60 HP
PowieB: 60 HP
PowieC: 60 HP
CactyA: 70 HP
CactyB: 70 HP
CactyC: 70 HP

Terrain: 100% Normal

Splashman.exe: 200 HP

-BATTLE 3-
-ROCK IT-

Knights, cactuses, and...paperweights? It almost seemed more Netopian than Electopian, but there they were. SplashMan readied himself, and took a good look at the viruses. "Okay, so how are we gonna bring these guys down?"

"Well, seems pretty simple to me, but I want to do something a little different to start with!" Sabrina grabbed a single chip, featuring a picture of a clothespin-like virus, and inserted it into her PET. "Battlechip, Boomerang! Slot in!"

The Navi's hand suddenly disappeared, and turned into...some kind of boomerang dispenser? Seriously, his arm looked like some less-than-pointy arrow. "Um...okay! For Boomerang, I should...just rear back...take aim...and throw!" And that's what he did, and in that precise order. The boomerang sailed over, in the area of the three Swordy (and hopefully hitting them in the process), before returning to its original position on his arm. Oddly enough, the instant it returned, the apparatus faded back into his normal hand.

"Well, that was...weird..." The operator shrugged as two decidedly watery chips made their way into the PET's insertion slot. "Okay, just blast them from here on out! Battlechip, WideShot! Double slot-in!"

Once more, the right hand of SplashMan was replaced with something capable of deleting multiple viruses with a single hit. This time, however, it was a highly familiar, high pressure water gun that took shape. As per usual, he aimed it towards a trio of viruses, the Powie trio on this occasion, and and let loose with a wide wave of water streaking through the air towards them. From there, he needed only to adjust his aim and blast once more in order to attack the remaining cacti. And that, hopefully, was that. But just in case, he looked over the area warily, just in case something managed to avoid his attack...

[Order of Turn:
1-Boomerang1 chip attack on SwordyA, SwordyB, and SwordyC (60, Wood)
2-WideShot1 chip attack on PowieA, PowieB, and PowieC (60+15, Aqua)
3-WideShot1 chip attack on CactyA, CactyB, and CactyC (60+15, Aqua)
4-Dodge]

Splashman starts out by winding up a Boomerang and sending it spinning toward the Swordys. One of them notices this, and uses its special Areagrab ability to teleport RIGHT IN FRONT of the water warrior, having its allies take the blow. Before it can even so much as dent the aquatic battler, Splashman blasts it with a facefull of water, deleting it. The Powies bounce around in this regard. The water navi then drowns the Cactys before rolling to avoid a Powie strike, which leaves a crack on the floor, but he isn't so lucky when another one comes down to hit him. He might want to get off that terrain he's on.

SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: POINT-BLANK'D
SwordyC: DELETED
PowieA: 60 HP
PowieB: 60 HP
PowieC: 60 HP
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED

Terrain: 98% Normal, 2% Cracked

Splashman.exe: 190 HP (Cracked)

Well, it wasn't a total success...as demonstrated by the fact he just got walloped and was standing on cracked ground. He took a couple of steps forward, to get on more solid ground, then looked at the trio of Powie that were still there. Stupid Swordy and their AreaGrabbing.

Nothing a band-aid couldn't handle, though. Or a recovery chip. "Here, heal up! Battlechip, Recover120! Slot in!"

A moment of the Aqua Navi glowing pink passed, and any signs of him getting Powied were gone. Well, aside from the obvious cracks on the ground. "That wasn't completely necessary, you know...even I could take that much!"

"I know, but better safe than sorry, right?" Sabrina pulled out a couple of chips, and fiddled with them with her hand as she looked them over. "Well, if a Swordy can do it, so can we!" The chips were slammed into the PET, one right after the other. "Battlechips, AreaGrab, AquaSword! Slot in!"

SplashMan found himself suddenly warped right in front of the remaining virus group, and with a blade of water power literally on hand. Time for a little payback. Which ultimately came in the form of two horizontal slashes at the enlarged paperweights. And luckily for him, unlike that Swordy from earlier, Powie couldn't utilize WideShots, or anything of that sort. And so, having delivered his counterattack, he lowered his sword, to make absolutely sure there were no viruses remaining.

[Order of Turn:
1-Recover120 chip on SplashMan (120, recovers HP)
2-AreaGrab chip to in front of Powie viruses (teleports to another spot)
3-AquaSword chip attack on PowieA, PowieB, and PowieC (80+15, Aqua)
4-AquaSword chip attack on PowieA, PowieB, and PowieC (80+15, Aqua)]

Splashman repairs himself from the 10 damage he took by using a Recovery120. He then warps over to the Powies' position and begins laying into them with his Aquasword. It doesn't take long before the battle is ended.

SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: POINT-BLANK'D
SwordyC: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED!
PowieB: DELETED!
PowieC: DELETED!
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED

Terrain: 98% Normal, 1% Cracked, 1%Broken

Splashman.exe: 200 HP

Rewards: 950z

And so, having destroyed the last viruses, SplashMan deactivated his sword, and obtained some prize money for said destruction. "Well, that's that! ...Huh, look at the time! What do you say we jack out and head for Yoka, now?"

"Nope! I mean, we don't exactly have to be there the minute they start checking people in, do we?"

"Well, no..."

"Then what's the huge rush? Come on, keep going!"

"Well...okay, but I'd think you'd want to rush over to those hot springs you'll have access to once you're checked in..."

"Nice try, but I can wait a little longer for that. Now, march!"

"If you say so..." He wasn't really trying to get of virus busting...he just wanted to get to Yoka's Net and all its water-related glory. But since his operator wasn't taking no for an answer, he decided to appease her, and headed even further into ACDC's Net...

(searching for Battle #4)

Would you look at that. It's a pack of Spikies, nothing special--- except for their Swordy bodyguards, one could say. Those seem to be quite deadly as they slash threateningly at splashman. A couple of the spikies begin charging up their signature fireballs to fire at the poor navi whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the right time. Wrong place indeed, as he seems to have wandered up to a place with several drops in the terrain, and his enemy-- might just get the higher ground, if he isn't careful.


SwordyA: 60 HP [Broken]
SwordyB: 60 HP [Broken]

SpikeyA: 90 HP [Normal]
SpikeyB: 90 HP [Normal]
SpikeyC: 90 HP [Normal]
SpikeyD: 90 HP [Normal]
SpikeyE: 90 HP [Normal]


SwordyC: 60 HP [Cracked]
SwordyD: 60 HP [Cracked]


Splashman.EXE: 200 HP [Cracked]

Terrain: 20% Normal, 30% Broken, 20% Normal, 30% Cracked

Battle start!

Oi...more fun with cracked panels. And wasn't one of those Swordy groups floating over empty ones...? He didn't even know they could do that..."Um...this is gonna be tricky, isn't it?"

"Yep...hmm...well, I have an idea, but...are there any viruses on regular ground?"

"Uh..." He quickly checked exactly what each group was standing on. "Uh-huh! The Spikey are on plain ol' panels!"

"Okay, then the idea should work! I call it the 'Do exactly what we did to those paperweight viruses earlier to those Spikeys'!" And conveniently enough, Sabrina never put those two chips away after that battle, so they were already in hand. At least, they were until she re-inserted them into her PET. "Here we go! Battlechip, AreaGrab! Battlechip, AquaSword! Slot in!"

SplashMan quickly vanished from his present location, and reappearing in front of the group of fire dog viruses. Without uttering a word, he took two good horizontal slices on the group, in an attempt to get rid of them all ASAP. But those Swordy weren't going to be happy about it...he definitely needed some defense.

And naturally, it came approximately two seconds after he thought of it. "Battlechip, Guard2! Slot in!"

While he usually placed the Guard2 between him and the viruses, hit behind it, and hoped for the best, the Aqua Navi definitely couldn't do that this time, what with two Swordy groups to either side, as well as any Spikeys he might have missed. And so...he set the shield up straight ahead, not favoring either side. Sure, he wasn't super protected against one side, but this way it'd be easier to move to counter either group, should they attack.

[Order of Turn:
1-AreaGrab to in front of Spikey group (teleports to another spot)
2-AquaSword chip attack on SpikeyA, SpikeyB, and SpikeyC (80+15, Aqua)
3-AquaSword chip attack on SpikeyD and SpikeyE (80+15, Aqua)
4-Guard2 chip attack (120-, reflects an attack)]

Splashman manages to get the jump on the Spikeys by using an Areagrab and quickly dispatches the lot of them using his Aquasword. He then puts up a guard and prepares to defend. Both groups of Swordies move in, the first getting blocked by the Guard. However, a shield can only block one direction and the enemies from behind manages to take a chunk of life from the navi.

SwordyA: 30 HP [Normal]
SwordyB: 60 HP [Normal]

SpikeyA: DELETED!
SpikeyB: DELETED!
SpikeyC: DELETED!
SpikeyD: DELETED!
SpikeyE: DELETED!


SwordyC: 60 HP [Cracked]
SwordyD: 60 HP [Cracked]


Splashman.EXE: 170 HP [Normal]

Terrain: 20% Normal, 31% Broken, 20% Normal, 29% Cracked

Well, that worked about as well as could be expected...still, he wished he had been able to avoid that slash somehow..."Ow...I need something quick, here..."

"Okay...four viruses, in groups of two...use this!" Four identical chips were inserted into the operator's PET, one right after the other. "Battlechip, WideShot! Quadruple slot in!"

The right hand faded on SplashMan, being replaced with a gun resembling a Lark virus's mouth. This was usually a bad thing for opposing viruses. He decided to get some revenge on the Swordy that gave him some damage first...but wasn't sure about which one had done it. Fortunately, he didn't have to choose...he shot out a blast of water focusing on each of the two possible culprits, with each still hopefully able to hit the other. Then, after spinning 180 degrees, he turned towards the two others, one of which had been one Guard away from getting in more damage. Not forgetting that, he repeated the process, shooting two more WideShot attacks towards the pair of knight viruses. But from there, all he could do was wait and look around, to make sure they were all defeated...

[Order of Turn:
1-WideShot1 chip attack on SwordyC and SwordyD (60+15, Aqua)
2-WideShot1 chip attack on SwordyD and SwordyC (60+15, Aqua)
3-WideShot1 chip attack on SwordyA and SwordyB (60+15, Aqua)
4-WideShot1 chip attack on SwordyB and SwordyA (60+15, Aqua)]

Splashman uses Wideshot multiple times in a row. He manages to take out the two swordies behind him first, including that one that had struck him. His next two shots take down those in the front and end his battle.

SwordyA: DELETED!
SwordyB: DELETED!

SpikeyA: DELETED!
SpikeyB: DELETED!
SpikeyC: DELETED!
SpikeyD: DELETED!
SpikeyE: DELETED!


SwordyC: DELETED!
SwordyD: DELETED!


Splashman.EXE: 170 HP [Normal]

Terrain: 20% Normal, 31% Broken, 20% Normal, 29% Cracked

Rewards: 800z