Not-So-Hard Water

Once more, SplashMan found himself at the beginning of ACDC Area...fortunately, this time he was in the bright and cheery level. "I'm here! Eternalis isn't anywhere in sight, though...too bad!" At this point, a certain sponge detached itself from the Navi's right leg, making a splashing noise as it landed on the ground. "It's okay, though. Blub's here to help me!"

"Well, time to wind down after beating those TuffBunny and Fatty and Swordy2. Let's go!'

"Roger!" Picking a direction for no real reason, he started to race forward with his SP, eager to take on foes that couldn't delete him if he so much as blunk wrong...

(searching for Battle #1)
Seeing SplashMan come out of the same portal he did, completely neglecting to look behind him, he went up to the aqua Navi and tapped his shoulder.
Oi. Mornin'. He waited for his new companion's reaction.
"Ack!" Just like his operator before him, SplashMan found himself sitting down on the ground, in shock from an unexpected greeting from behind. Of course, unlike Sabrina, he had a newly 2-D sponge beneath him..."Oh, hi Eternalis! You surprised me!" ...Was the understatement of the year as he stood up, still oblivious to what had happened to his SP.

This changed when Blub suddenly started to glow. "Huh? What's wrong, Blub?" From a flattened sponge to...some kind of jellyfish? Still had the goofy eyes, though. "...What just happened?"

"I think I know what happened. I took a look at his basic data structure, and it seems that he has the potential to shift into all kinds of watery things! And a jellyfish is really watery, so..."

"Wow, Sabrina. You actually went and found that out on your own?"

"No, I just took a shot in the dark. Wouldn't it be awesome if I was right, though?"

"..." Not the answer he wanted to hear. "Anyway..." Turning back to Eternalis..."This is my Support Program, Blub! He can't do too much yet, but one day he'll have some awesome healing abilities!" The SP appropriately jumped up and down in response to his name being mentioned. "See? At least he's energetic! So shall we get started?"

(ready for Battle #1 when you are)
He bent down to look at the little SP. Aw, cute lil' Blub! Blub blub blub, blub blub! Sad attempt at communication over, he turned to SplashMan again. I'm ready when you are!

(Assault 1 GO)
The two aquatic navis greeted one another and prepared for battle! As soon as they were prepared to fight something fierce!...The typical group of three Metools appeared in front of them. They had confident look in their eye, almost like they were laughing at SplashMan and Eternalis! Before they knew it, fellow Metools appeared behind the group of three...and more...and more...and...Oh dear.

MetoolA: 40 HP
MetoolB: 40 HP
MetoolC: 40 HP
MetoolD: 40 HP
MetoolE: 40 HP
MetoolF: 40 HP
MetoolG: 40 HP
MetoolH: 40 HP
MetoolI: 40 HP
MetoolJ: 40 HP
MetoolK: 40 HP
MetoolL: 40 HP
MetoolM: 40 HP
MetoolN: 40 HP
MetoolO: 40 HP
MetoolP: 40 HP
MetoolQ: 40 HP
MetoolR: 40 HP
MetoolS: 40 HP
MetoolT: 40 HP

Terrain: 100% Normal

SplashMan: 240 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP

-BATTLE ONE, START!-
...Wow. He had seen that many viruses at one time, but never that many of one kind...at least they were just regular Mettaur. "Geez, that's a lot of Mettaur! It's probably nothing we can't handle, but wow..."

Even Sabrina was taken aback slightly at the sheer numbers. "Y-Yeah...oh, listen. Why don't we let Harke and Eternalis do their thing first? That way we'll know exactly how many we need to beat!"

"Right!" Sounded like a plan to him. "Did you guys hear that? Just take out as many as you can first, and I'll handle the rest!" While they did that, SplashMan decided to just keep an eye on the virus army, trying to figure out exactly how they positioned up in case he had to do the job on most of them...
This... looks interesting. Harke? Eternalis inquired his operator as to what to do. How about we hit them with as many multi-hit chips as we can? Multi-hits? Don't we have just.... 2? Exactly. Now, I'll send the Boomerang-Shotgun, as per usual. You get your barrier up. That's reasonable. Send chips in. Harke immediately complied, slotting in two chips as requested, the Boomerang and the Shotgun, the only 2 chips in their arsenal capable of taking out more than one virus. They assimilated in Eternalis' data queue as always.

Feeling the data arrive, he released the Boomerang data first, inciting a glow where his right hand waited. The large, curved metal weapon immediately generated itself in Eternalis' hand. He lined up his new weapon with the virii, assuming the arc that the weapon would travel in. Following that, he focused quietly on the target, arched back his arm, and threw the deadly apparatus with a mighty swing of his arm. Three. Without delay, he released the second weapon, the Shotgun, from his data queue.

His right hand shimmered to reveal the double-barreled firearm, ready for use. Crouching down into a firing position, he aimed the gun at more Metools. Finding the perfect pair, he activated the gun's firing mechanism, propelling bullets towards the hapless virii at a lethal velocity. Five. The gun barrels disappeared after their turn had been served sufficiently. Then, Eternalis, not wasting any time, concentrated his energy into his right hand, causing the watery disposition of his body to ebb and flow and form a moderately-sized icicle.

Still in his firing position, he aimed the frosty projectile towards another Metool. Commanding it to fire, the icicle flew towards the helmet-wearing virus at a fast speed capable of damage. Six. After a brief moment, the icicle returned to its master, melting to form a large wall of flowing water, protecting him from further attacks. Splash, you're up next. Let's see what you've got up your sleeve.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
1. Boomerang: MetoolA, B, C (60, Wood)
2. Shotgun: MetoolD, E (50, Spread1)
3. Icicle Fragmenter: MetoolF (40, 1-Hit Shield)
Okay, so let's do the math...Eternalis attacked 6, and there were 20 total...that meant he had to hit 14. Probably a challenge for most Navis, but for one called SplashMan, it was almost insulting if he couldn't manage it. "Well, we've gotta hit a lot of viruses in one turn...I think a certain chip comes to mind, right Sabrina?"

"Yep! No need to break out the really fancy stuff on Mettaur!" Time to do what they did they did best...hit lots and lots of viruses with lots and lots of water. "Battlechip, WideShot! Massive slot in!"

Massive slot in? Guess that meant all of them...yep. Data for four WideShot attacks arrived simultaneously, causing his right hand to transformed into a wide mouthed gun. Now, Eternalis attacked all the ones up to...there. Thus, he positioned his weapon towards the second Mettaur from the last one to be attacked, and released a single wave towards it and the virus on each side of it. From there, he moved the water gun three Mettaur over, and repeated the process. And then it was performed a third time. The fourth also culminated in a potentially lethal water attack. Perhaps it wasn't the most elaborate attack pattern ever, but that was the beauty of it; its simplicity made it easy to pull it off smoothly.

Of course, there was still the issue of the two that still remained, regardless of how effective all the previous attacks were. "Just two more, SplashMan! Battlechip, TwinFang! Slot in!"

All traces of WideShot's gun vanished, replaced by the Navi's usual hand, and with a tusk-like apparatus on each side of his arm. With that, he pointed his finger, and by extension his arm, square in-between the pair of Mettaur, to figure out exactly how he should shoot the pointy armaments at them...there, that should do it. And with a whooshing noise, the teeth missile rocketed forward, propelled by some unknown force towards the helmeted foes. And now for the dreaded wait to see if they had properly disposed of all 20 viruses...

[Order of Turn
SplashMan:
1-WideShot1 chip attack on MetoolG, MetoolH, and MetoolI (60+15, Aqua)
2-WideShot1 chip attack on MetoolJ, MetoolK, and MetoolL (60+15, Aqua)
3-WideShot1 chip attack on MetoolM, MetoolN, and MetoolO (60+15, Aqua)
4-WideShot1 chip attack on MetoolP, MetoolQ, and MetoolR (60+15, Aqua)
5-TwinFang1 chip attack on MetoolS and MetoolT (70)

Blub:
1-Dodge
2-Dodge]
Even though the two navis thought they had the upperhands, the Metools themselves were a way over their head rushing in head first! Many was deleted by the navi's attack, especially SplashMan's Wideshot, but most of them got through and began attacking with their pickaxes! The defensive shield Eternalis set up proved it worth, while SplashMan got three servings of the stingy pickaxes...

MetoolA: DELETED
MetoolB: DELETED
MetoolC: DELETED
MetoolD: DELETED
MetoolE: DELETED
MetoolF: DELETED
MetoolG: DELETED
MetoolH: DELETED
MetoolI: DELETED
MetoolJ: DELETED
MetoolK: DELETED
MetoolL: DELETED
MetoolM: DELETED
MetoolN: DELETED
MetoolO: DELETED
MetoolP: DELETED
MetoolQ: DELETED
MetoolR: DELETED
MetoolS: DELETED
MetoolT: DELETED

Terrain: 100% Normal

SplashMan: 210 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP [Defense Destroyed]

-BATTLE WON!-
SplashMan: 400z + 4 FXP
Eternalis: 300z + 4 FXP
(OOC: What about BugFrags for Blub?)

Ugh, they managed to get a few lucky shots in. On the bright side, that didn't change the fact that they were still Mettaur, so a few shock waves were nothing. At any rate, two separate reward datas appeared, one of which contained BugFrags. Eternalis didn't have a SP out, so that one must be for him...ah, just some cash to go with those BugFrags. At least it wasn't like they didn't need cash. "Transferring the data over, Sabrina!"

"Got it!" Aww, no Guard1 for the Chip Trader. Not that cash was chopped liver, but still..."I think we can safely move along now. What do you guys think?"

"I'm good to go if everyone else is!" SplashMan turned over towards his fellow Aqua Navi. "Ready when you are!"

(ready for Battle #2, obviously)
The reward data rewards, like always. Eternalis extracted the data within, hoping to find what he wanted... Aw... All we got was a little cash. Oh well. Never hurts to have more. He turned to his newly made friend. Yeah, I'm ready! Let's go for more! I'm ready to bust some heads! The Navi started walking along aimlessly, jumping up and down as he did so.

( Battle 2 would be nice )
( Bump )
((40 BugFrags))

As the two hurried along the ACDC network, there was a strange path laid in front of them. It was a small narrow canyon with the end in plain sight, so there wasn't going to be apparent dangers...right?

WRONG

When they arrived at the mid point of the canyon, a gigantic wall crashed straight down, separating SplashMan and Eternalis! (Even Blub too!) Viruses began swarming from behind the navis and immediately began their assault!

-SplashMan Side / Left-
PowieA: 60 HP
PowieB: 60 HP
PowieC: 60 HP
PowieD: 60 HP
PulseBatA: 80 HP
PulseBatB: 80 HP
PulseBatC: 80 HP
PulseBatD: 80 HP

-In Between-
RockWall: 300 HP
Miner: 100 HP

-Eternalis/Blub Side / Right-
PowieE: 60 HP
PowieF: 60 HP
PulseBatE: 80 HP
PulseBatF: 80 HP

Terrain:
Left: 40% Normal, 10% Trap
Right: 40% Normal, 10% Trap

SplashMan: 210 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP

-BATTLE TWO, START!-
BOOM. The mighty wall crashed down onto the ACDC landscape. Surprised as heck, Eternalis jumped back a little, preventing him from being squashed paste. Crap! What the hell is this?! Blub too?! Eternalis saw the little blob, helplessly trapped with him. He'd better take the little guy into account. Surveying his surroundings, he asked his operator for help. I can't see on the other side, Harke! Is Splash there? His operator immediately responded to his Navi's plea, noticing some new virii as well, and a possible danger. Yeah! He's over there. Take care of the virii on this part of the wall first, he'll be alright! Oh, and the new virii are Powies. With 60 HP, they're not the fastest attackers, but you should watch out for them anyway, since they pack a REAL punch if their hits connect. Also, you might want to get away from the wall as the PulseBats' attack can rebound, but watch your step. The terrain I can see seems slightly odd, it might be trapped. Eternalis complied with his operator's warning. Sabrina! Can you hear me? I'm taking care of Blub! Could you relay that to Splash? Oh, and Harke? Coud you send in just the Boomerang? I just want to set up defenses here. Hastily picking up the chip, Harke immediately slid in the Boomerang into the PET chip input slot, hoping for his Navi's safe battle. Okay. Just, be careful, you hear?

Feeling his chip data assimilate into the usual data queue, he turned towards his companion's SP. All right, now for Blub. Running towards the little blob, he began charging his signature attack, the Icicle Fragmenter. The large icicle began to form swiftly in his right hand as he pointed it towards one of the bats. After full icicle formation, he fired the ice towards it at his adversary at high speed, after which the icicle returned to its origin, forming the protective wall of water. By then, he had already positioned himself near Blub, protecting the little guy from harm.

Then, he released his Boomerang from the chip data queue. Once again, the sharp metal object formed itself in his right hand. Crouching down into a squatting position, he analyzed the position of his enemies, trying to form a perfect arc between them, the very shape that the boomerang's path would take, thrown with lethal accuracy. Didn't take long, being inside a computer and all. Determining his targets, the Powies and a PulseBat, he swung back his arm into throwing position, focused on his targets once again, and tossed the mighty weapon with deletion in mind. Then, he remembered something important. He concentrated all of his healing power, not needing it in this round of attacks, and threw it up the wall, directing the ball of healing energies towards his companion. SplashMan will need that more than he did at the moment.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
(1) Tactical Movement - Run in front of Blub for protection!
(2) Icicle Fragmenter: PulseBatE (40, 1-Hit Shield)
(3) Boomerang: PowieE, F, PulseBatE (60, Wood)
(*) Aegean Water + Charge Revitalize: SplashMan (20, Heal)
That wall...suffice it to say it induced surprise into the higher leveled Aqua Navi. "Hey! What happened?! Why's there a wall in the Net? And where'd Blub go?"

"Obviously, a wall came up." Sometimes stating the obvious could feel good. "Don't worry about the others, I'm sure they'll be fine on the other side! But...hmm. That wall's made of rock, right? If it is, maybe it's like a RockCube, which means Break attacks should make it drop in no time!" They only had one way to pull a stunt like that...but what a one way. "Well, here comes the wrecking crew! Battlechip, BigHammer! Slot in!"

A large, gray virus appeared in front of the giant wall, and quickly raised its appropriately large hammer. It remained frozen like a statue for a moment, before turning purple, and lowering the boom on the wall, which never saw it coming...most likely due to the lack of eyes. And lack of awareness of its surroundings. It WAS just a wall...wasn't it? Yeah, it probably was. "Wall hammered, literally! So, should we focus on the viruses now?"

"We should...so we are! First, let's work on the Powie. You can try doing that all by yourself, with your Flood Cannon!" Hmm? Sounded like someone else was talking to her...ah, just Eternalis letting them know he'd take care of Blub. "Oh, and in case you didn't hear that, Blub's fine. So you can let loose without worrying about that!"

He couldn't say it wasn't a load off his mind, that was for sure. So, with an eased heart, SplashMan turned his gaze over to the paperweight viruses, lowering his cannons down to firing level in the process. Water began to appear near the openings, but it simply stayed there as he built up water pressure for the ensuing explosions. And then...BAM! A pair of dense water spheres blasted forth from the barrels, each of which could blow at the slightest interference...which the ground and Powie virues qualified as, assuming that's what it wound up slamming into.

Now for the hard part...the Batty. Well, not hard, persay...but annoying, since it limited the potential options. "Well, it's a good thing we got plenty of practice against these guys, huh? So at least we know it's better to attack them from the air, so they can't escape!" And as far as she knew, they could only move up and down, which meant..."This oughta handle a few of them! Battlechip, LilCloud! Slot in!"

The Navi looked up, and watched as a small cloud formed above him. Once it had completely formed (or at least as much as it was going to), it jetted forward, stopping in the area of the bat viruses, and letting loose a devastating burst of...rain. One really wouldn't think that'd be a great weapon, but one series of droplets was all it'd take to make one disappear..."

Now, for that last one...good thing they weren't out of Aqua chips that fell from the sky. "And now for that last one! Battlechip, AquaNeedle! Slot in!"

After waving his arm towards the Batty that was out of LilCloud's range, SplashMan looked up again, and once more allowed the ether to do his work for him, this time in the form of sharp, pointy needles falling from the sky towards the virus. He didn't even have to move, just watch them fall down...Of course, their work STILL wasn't necessarily done. "Oh, Sabrina! There's a virus over near the wall...shouldn't we do something about it?"

Hmm...it was one of those weird disc holding ones they saw in SciLab earlier. And again, they probably didn't want to see what one of those discs could do..."Well, you've got ways to beat it yourself! I've got a weird feeling, though...so I'd say use Water Splash to stay away from it."

"Weird feeling?"

"Call it woman's intuition. Now get to it!"

Ah well, it wasn't like he didn't enjoy blasting viruses to pieces with his own weaponry. Once more, his twin cannons were lowered, this time directly aimed towards the lone Miner. Unlike the previous time, however, there was very little delay between positioning them and firing water from them; this time, he simply needed to spray it like a pair of fire hoses...which probably had nothing on him at this point. As the attack's required amount of water ran out, SplashMan noticed that his body was feeling slightly tingly. He'd felt something like this before, but..."That's weird, I feel like I'm being healed. But it's not from a recovery chip...it feels like Blub's doing something. But he can't do anything this strong..."

"Hmm...maybe Eternalis is somehow doing it? He's the only one I can think of that could do that."

"Maybe..." Wasn't like he didn't need it, certainly. He'd have to thank him once they were reunited.

Over on the other side, Blub simply stood on his tentacles behind the other Aqua Navi, watching him try to blast more viruses. The fact Eternalis had similar properties to SplashMan made him feel a little better, but nonetheless he remained a bit wary of the situation...

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-BigHammer1 chip attack on RockWall (160, Break)
2-Flood Cannon sig attack on Powie group (80, Aqua, Blast 2, creates Medium area Sea terrain)
3-LilCloud chip attack on PulseBatA, PulseBatB, and PulseBatC (70+15, Aqua, lasts for 2 turns) (Aqua Boost)
4-AquaNeedle1 chip attack on PulseBatD ([20+15]x3, Aqua) (Aqua Boost)
5-Water Splash sig attack on Miner (160, Aqua)
X-Aegean Water and Charge Revitalize passive sigs on SplashMan (20, Recovery)

Blub:
1-Dodge
2-Dodge]
( Bumpy roads ahead )
The rockwall between the two proved to be no problem at all when SplashMan crashed it down with his BigHammer. One by one, the viruses was taken out by the two navi's effort, but few survived the attack. One of the Pulsebat was able to dodge the deadly rains for the moment and hit SplashMan with his screeching pulse. The Miner was instantly destroyed, but laid its final mine down to the ground before getting deleted.

Eternalis, on the other hand, first successfully weakened the Pulsebat and finished it off with the Boomerang, along with the other two viruses. The sole surviving virus on his side fired the same pulse at the navi, but the watery shield deflected the attack and kept the navi safe!

-SplashMan Side-
PowieA: 60 HP
PowieB: DELETED
PowieC: DELETED
PowieD: 60 HP
PulseBatA: DELETED
PulseBatB: DELETED
PulseBatC: 80 HP
PulseBatD: DELETED

-In Between-
RockWall: DESTROYED
Miner: DELETED

-Eternalis/Blub Side-
PowieE: DELETED
PowieF: DELETED
PulseBatE: DELETED
PulseBatF: 80 HP

Terrain:
80% Normal, 25% Trap

SplashMan: 200 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP [Defense Destroyed]
Seeing the rock wall crumble, he turned towards his companion, now reunited with him. Nice to see you drop by. Oh, I see you're a bit damaged. Hold on... Holding out his right hand in an open palm, the hand shimmered as Eternalis concentrated his healing energies once again towards his comrade. Okay, that's the best I can do. Anyway, Harke. Could you send down a FireHit and that new Sword we got? I think I can take out a couple virii. His operator complied, taking out the necessary chips from his chip pocket and inserting them smoothly into the PET chip input slot. Just.. be careful, okay? Remember what I said about the weird terrain earlier. Feeling the chip data integrate into his data queue, Eternalis replied in the affirmative.

Releasing the fire chip from its place, the large red glove appeared in the Navi's right hand with a flash of light. Activating it immediately, Eternalis swung back his arm, focusing his sights on one Powie that stood on the other side of the crumbled wall. The glove burned with an aesthetic flame as he threw a quick swing at the virus. Then, he quickly released the other chip into his hand. The data flowed through his arm, as if it came from his body center, materializing in the form of a plasma-blue sword, shining brightly like a beautiful star.

Turning towards his side of the wall, he lunged towards the only virus that was there: the lonely little PulseBat. Of course, he took care, trying to avoid any place that looked a little off. Reaching the flying mammal, he focused his energy into the blade, and executed a swift and prompt slash, no frills needed here. All right. That's almost all of them.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
(*) Aegean Water + Charge Revitalize: SplashMan (20, Heal)
(1) FireHit: PowieA (60, Fire)
(2) Tactical Movement (Move closer to PulseBatF, being careful of traps)
(3) Sword: PulseBatF (80, Slash)
Ah, good, the wall was no more. And indeed, Eternalis and Blub were just fine. ...And now he was getting that healing sensation again. At least this time he knew where it was coming from. "Thanks, Eternalis! If you haven't been able to tell yet, I get hit a lot, since I'm not very fast and don't have a lot of defense chips..."

"Yep, but we've got ways to get around that!" And now, it was time...for a chip entirely unrelated to that sentence. "This doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but...let's handle those other viruses! Battlechip, Bubbler! Slot in!"

SplashMan's hand transformed for the first time in the battle, this time into a sort of nozzle. Let's see...Eternalis shot a FireHit towards a Powie, then started to move towards the Batty closer to him...so he had to beat one more of each, himself. After deciding to focus on the Powie, which escaped his Flood Cannon, he positioned his weapon towards the paperweight, and let loose a single bubble towards it, capable of expanding into a full-on blast of suds. Once that was done, he turned over towards the leftover bat virus, who was really starting to annoy him, between that and his previous Rogue Net battle...

"And for that Batty...Battlechip, Pulsar! Slot in!" Apparently, Sabrina was of a similar mind.

In what was a bit of a disappointment, Pulsar's firing device was nothing more than his hand in a usual buster shape...oh well. He took several moments to properly position his weapon towards the bat, and then, with a high pitched noise, shot a sonic blast eerily similar to its own attack. Nothing said 'Revenge!' quite like beating something with its own attack...well, technically it was the upgraded version of its own attack, but the point still got across...

Meanwhile, Blub was overjoyed to see his Navi once again. He would've moved over there as quickly as possible...but there was something about the ground that made him wary, keeping him from doing so. However, that allowed him to view the other Navi heal SplashMan up with a special move. That was neat...hmm...

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
X-Aegean Water+Charge Revitalize passive sig on SplashMan (20, Recovery)
1-Bubbler chip attack on PowieD (50+15, Aqua) (Aqua Boost)
2-Take aim on PulseBatC
3-Pulsar2 chip attack on PulseBatC (90, half damage and Splash 8 if it hits an obstacle)
4-Evade
5-Evade

Blub:
1-Evade
2-Evade]