Not-So-Hard Water

(DUAL BUMP)
The barrage of attacks finished off all the viruses off without any problems. SplashMan recovered to the near full health thanks to Eternalis' healing powers and more Zenny datas was found at the end of the Valley.

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

-In Between-
RockWall: DESTROYED
Miner: DELETED

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

Terrain:
80% Normal, 25% Trap

SplashMan: 220 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP

-BATTLE WON!-
SplashMan: 700z + 3 FXP + 47 BugFrags
Eternalis: 600z + 3 FXP + 1 Extra FXP [Friendly Healing]
Phew, looked like everyone managed to stay safe and take names. Aside from Blub, but he wasn't really combat ready yet. And so, Splashman accessed one half of the remaining data, transferring the cash and BugFrags afterward. Crud, no extra chip data for that Chip Trader Sabrina was so into. Oh well, maybe next time. Not like it was really important or anything. "Well, that wasn't too bad...wonder what we'll find next?"

"I don't really care, so long as we don't run into anymore of those dang Batty..." ...Ugh, she probably just doomed everyone to run into MORE of them with that. "Well, let's keep going! Everyone's fine with that, right? I don't see any reason why we can't!"

A squishing noise behind him indicated that Blub was ready to go. "How about you, Eternalis? All set?"

(ready for Battle #3 any time)
Eternalis started inspecting the data that rewards every person that defeats the virii. Zenny, yeah, baby. One grand left till we get that upgrade! Hearing his companion ready and raring to go, he responded quickly. Yeah, sure, I'm ready! Let's go kick more virus ass!

( Battle 3, s'il vous plait )
(BUMPING...SO MUCH BUMPING...)
(EVEN MORE BUMPING...GRRAAAAAAHHH)
This time, there wasn't any tricky traps to enclose the navis, but a large group of strong viruses stood in their way. However, Blub caught a glimpse of what looks to be another group of viruses, possibly Beetanks, far far away from where they stand...

CactyA: 70 HP
CactyB: 70 HP
CactyC: 70 HP
CactyD: 70 HP
CactyE: 70 HP
MelodyA: 80 HP
MelodyB: 80 HP
MelodyC: 80 HP
MelodyD: 80 HP
MelodyE: 80 HP
MelodyF: 80 HP

-Far Away (4 Actions to reach shooting range)-
BeetankA: 50 HP
BeetankB: 50 HP
BeetankC: 50 HP
BeetankD: 50 HP
BeetankE: 50 HP
BeetankF: 50 HP

Terrain: 55% Normal, 45% Cracked (All over the place)

SplashMan: 220 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP

-BATTLE THREE, START!-
Uh-oh, a bunch of Cacty and Melody for their busting pleasure. The latter of which couldn't be conveniently smacked by WideShot. What a pain..."Well, let's get read-" Eh? There was something long and thin tugging on his leg. And he was willing to bet he knew what it was...yep, a certain jellyfish was down there. "What's wrong, Blub?"

While unable to make any noise aside from the usual squishy ones, the Support Program was frantically pointing at the group of viruses. But...why? "Yeah, I see the viruses. It's nothing we can't beat really-" Hmm? There was something in the distance...but he couldn't make it out, as they were just too far. "Ahh, we can deal with them later! Let's focus on what we can actually see!"

Now, how were they going to deal with them? She had an idea, but..."Hey, SplashMan. I just thought of a near combo we could do, but it's kinda risky. Up for it?"

"Sure! If it doesn't work, Eternalis can back us up!"

"All right, here's your part!" The ol' chip inserting action...it hadn't been that long, and yet it felt like it'd been days like she did it..."Battlechip, TreeBomb! Slot in! Toss it towards whatever you want to hit, but make sure it falls short!"

"Okay!" A large seed formed in the Aqua Navi's right hand, which he quickly yet gently tossed forward, eventually landing near the group of cactus viruses. And it...sat there. Doing nothing. Fun. "...Now what?"

"Hey, Blub! Paying attention? Shoot some water onto that seed SplashMan threw! That'll make it grow and hit things with wood spikes!"

The jellyfish SP tilted its head as it listened to Sabrina...though all it got out of it was 'water', and 'seed'. Water the seed? Seemed like a plan. A semi-vicious stream of water came from nowhere from right below his eyes, headed straight for the wooden bomb...

Woo, now there was going to be chaos throughout the Cacty ranks. Now, what about those Melody...they needed to take some of them out, but it wouldn't be fair to Eternalis if they did all the work...well, there was always the good ol' inaccurate route. "Now for the Melody! Battlechip, Arrow! Slot in!" ...Maybe in a little bit.

Another virus joined the fray, as an Elebee formed in front of the stronger of the two Aqua Navis. Unlike the others, however, it had no intention of attacking them, instead electing to fly forward, extending its stinger forward as it trailed the first musical note virus. Ahh, that high pitched buzzing...a sign that he could sit back and relax for a few moments as the electrical pseudovirus tried to reduce the number of enemies by one.

"And now, we'll do something a little less, uh...of a sure thing! Battlechip, LilCloud! Slot in!"

The dreaded rain cloud began to form above SplashMan's head...but, he took a moment to look over at his partner. Eternalis had been trying to help him recover his HP ever since they jacked in, and all he was doing was stealing all the fun by taking out all the viruses...okay, it was settled. He was going to help defend him, no matter what. And since they were both water-based..."Hrrraagh!" With a grunt-shout hybrid thing, he added just a extra bit of power to the cloud, causing it to leak a little and create a small amount of more liquid terrain beneath him...just as he expected. He walked a bit forward, far enough to allow someone else to get onto the altered terrain. "Sabrina! I want IronShield! Quick!"

Uh...wow. He didn't give her requests that often. But there wasn't anything wrong with it, so why shouldn't she oblige? "If you insist...Battlechip, IronShield! Slot in!"

The large metal shield formed in front of the Navi, who hunkered behind it...before motioning towards his busting partner. "Hey, Eternalis! Feel free to get right behind me! And since you're an Aqua Navi, too...you can even dive into that Sea panel if you want! That way you'll be safe from all these attacks! Those Cacty and Melody can be pretty offbeat when they attack, you know...well, it's your call, really. But be careful, okay?"

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-TreeBomb1 chip attack to in front of Cacty group (60, Wood, +30 power and WoodTower effect if hit by Aqua attack)
2-Arrow1 chip attack on MelodyA (100, Elec, Homing)
3-LilCloud chip attack on MelodyB, MelodyC, and MelodyD (70+15, Aqua) (Aqua Boost) (Terraform used: creates Sea terrain under SplashMan and where the rain hits)
4-Take a couple of steps forward, to get out from under the Sea terrain
5-IronShield1 chip (2-hit shield)

Blub:
1-(Between SplashMan actions 1 and 2) Attack on TreeBomb1 (15, Aqua)
2-Dodge]
Eternalis noticed the huge number of virii, not that he hadn't encountered this many before. This time, more unrecognized virii! Joy. Oh hey, more virii. Info. Harke complied and booted up the virus database. The info window appeared silently in his view.

=Virus Database 3.5=
[Cacty] 70HP - Body invulnerable when head roll attack
[Melody] 80HP - Bounces around as attack
[Beetank] 50HP - Fires bombs as attack


Right, thanks. Whip out a Boomerang and Cannon, will ya, Harke? I'll need to stay away from these monsters. He saw SplashMan create some Sea terrain just up ahead, stepping aside to that he could take cover. Hey, sweet. I could use that. The sound of chips being slotted in turned his status to alert. The chips immediately arranged themselves in his data queue. There. Be careful, now, okay? His Navi replied in a snarky tone. Someone seems a little silent. Ah well. Battle time!

Surveying his surroundings a bit, he saw some potential targets. Releasing the Boomerang from his queue, the large metal weapon appeared in an instant, his blob of a hand fitting itself around it to hold it in a vicegrip. Crouching down, he looked at the targets he saw earlier. Melody. Since they bounce around, he expected them to bounce forward the moment anything came their way. So... he'd just whip it at them, then, when they bounce forward, the boomerang would whip back in its usual arc, and hit their exposed backs. Bingo! Perfect shot. Arching his body in a curve, he swung back the arm holding the boomerang, checked his aim again, and let the metal go free to execute his plan.

Then, preparing to jump into the hole made by his companion, he activated the Cannon, causing the large firearm to appear immediately in his right hand. Simple enough, he adjusted his crouch into a firing position, aimed it quickly at one of the Melody he targeted earlier and let out a piercing shot. Now to utilize that Sea panel. He jumped into the water with a quick Thanks! Then, in the water, he remembered his healing. More to be done. Huzzah. Once more, he directed his excess towards his companion, the one who needed it more.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
(1) Boomerang: MelodyE+F (60, Wood)
- in arc that doubles back on the virii
(2) Cannon: MelodyE (40, Knockback)
(3) Dive into Sea panel near SplashMan
(*) Aegean Water + Charge Revitalize: SplashMan (20, Heal)
( Bumpity. )
Unbelievably, the Woodbomb wiped the Cacty group instantaneously and left no traces behind of the spikey viruses. Eternalis' little plan with the Boomerang didn't turn out too well, but still made its damage and the navi was able to finish off one. SplashMan skewered one of the Melody with his Arrow and placed a powerful rainfall onto the other Melody, which, one was able to escape with its jumpy nature. As soon as he placed the Ironshield in front, the Beetanks from far away fired its bomb at the group! Few strayed off, but most of them bombarded onto the group in a blazing hellfire. Thankfully, Eternalis hid under the water before it occured, but same couldn't be said about Blue and SplashMan's shield.

CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED
CactyD: DELETED
CactyE: DELETED
MelodyA: DELETED
MelodyB: 80 HP
MelodyC: DELETED
MelodyD: 80 HP
MelodyE: DELETED
MelodyF: 20 HP

-Far Away (4 Actions to reach shooting range)-
BeetankA: 50 HP
BeetankB: 50 HP
BeetankC: 50 HP
BeetankD: 50 HP
BeetankE: 50 HP
BeetankF: 50 HP

Terrain: 33% Normal, 57% Cracked (All over the place), 10% Sea

SplashMan: 230 HP [Shield Destroyed]
Blub: 20 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP [Underwater]
While underwater, Eternalis heard sounds of explosions being dropped down overhead. Wondering what all the hubbub is about, he jumped towards the surface. Oh, damn. You two look a little beat up. Looking down at the little translucent jellyfish, it was kind of hurt, too. Looked like it was going to pass out any moment of the day. Blub, you got hurt? Here, lemme give you a hand. He stretched out his hand and healed the little SP in a flash, getting more adept at healing others, rather than just himself. There we go! Good as new! Now, for those enemies... What was he going to do about those pesky little Melody? Ah, a quick shot should blast one to pieces!

He started charging his energy into offensive form, the icicle of fragmentation. The ice slowly formed in his outstretched hand, which immediately flew towards one of the Melody. It then came back, forming the waterwall barrier to protect him. Then, looking towards the back, he saw the culprit of the earlier explosions. Beetanks.

Hey, Splash. I'm heading for those Beetanks, okay? Then he sprinted off. With energy.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
(1) Jump out of Sea terrain
(*) Aegean Water + Charge Revitalize: Blub (20, Heal)
(2) Icicle Fragmenter: MelodyF (40, 1-Hit Shield)
(3) Tactical Movement - Move closer to Beetanks
So many bombs...fortunately, most were either deflected by his shield or negated by the watery goodness of Sea terrain. Looked like Blub took a hit, but that was quickly shrugged off via more Eternalis based healing. Man, being able to heal like that must be awesome. "Well, that went well...I guess..." SplashMan scratched the top of his dome as he and his operator stopped and paused for a moment to consider what to do next.

"Well, safe to say the TreeBomb combo's a nice success! Arrow and LilCloud, about what I expected..." Now, how to beat those other Melody...well, some ice shards answered one-third of that question. "Let's handle the other two, then!" They had plenty of ways to do that, but the question was how..."Let's start with this! Battlechip, IceWave! Slot in!"

The frozen polygon formed in the high level Navi's hand, which he gently released in order to make it grow and swerve en route to one of the musical note viruses. Normally he kinda liked watching its gentle motions, but a loud squishing noise forced him to change his view. As a result, he noticed his SP's wounds vanish without a trace, much like his had been. The difference between the two was that Blub was completely caught off-guard. "It's okay, Blub! You just got healed up like I did! Make sure to say thanks!" The jellyfish turned and happily hopped in place, waving a tentacle towards his healer.

"Being able to heal like that's gotta be pretty sweet, huh SplashMan?" Hmm, one more...after a moment of chip fumbling, Sabrina finally decided on...nothing. No chips for her Navi for now. "But you've got your own abilities...use one of them and beat down that Melody!"

Hmm...well, nothing like the basics. SplashMan's cannons lowered down to shoulder level, allowing him to properly aim them towards the slightly happy looking virus. With that, all he had to do was build the water pressure in the bases, and...SPLOOSH! The water-based artillery released an appropriately watery burst, capable of severe pain upon whatever unfortunate being got in its way. "There, that oughta do it! Now let's join in on the Beetank!"

"Okay, but what about you? If you go now, you might not have time to get away if they shoot all those bombs at you again..."

"I know! But they can all hit me, and I'll be fine! Eternalis, not so much..."

"...Who are you, and what did you do with SplashMan? He'd never say something that'd have him willingly take that much pain..." Seriously, what got into him? ...Maybe he was just getting into the team spirit? "Well, if you're that sure...I'll get you there nice and quick! Battlechip, AreaGrab! Slot in!"

In a nice flash of light, the Navi vanished without a trace...only to reappear much closer to the beetle viruses. His body felt slightly better, though...no doubt about it, Blub did something before he vanished. For a little guy, he sure had spunk. A glance over at his partner in busting revealed that the Support Program had taken the more conventional and time consuming approach along with him. So long as he was near another Navi, he'd probably be safe...probably.

"And now, while we wait for the attack...Battlechip, TrainArrow! Slot in!"

SplashMan's right hand vanished, allowing for what seemed like some sort of bow to appear in its place. Unlike his other bow-based attack, though, no sharp pointy object was sticking out from its center. "Hey, what gives?! I don't think I can shoot this for a while!"

"Uh..." Well, it WAS supposed to boost buster power..."I bet it's reconfiguring your buster systems to be compatible with the chip, in order to maximize its power!"

"Hmm...I bet that's it!"

That random technobabble she just blurted out did make sense, didn't it? Oh yeah, she was good. "Well, you wanted to get close to make sure the others didn't get blasted into tiny bits...get to it!"

"Right!" Now, for the fun part...he waved his arms, shouted something along the lines of 'Hey stupid Beetank, bet you can't hit me from here!'...anything that would bring some bombs towards him instead of his comrades...though as he did so, he made sure to stop and motion back towards the others. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine, no matter how much they attack me!"

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-IceWave1 chip attack on MelodyB (80+25, Aqua) (Single Target Aqua Boost)
2-Water Splash sig attack on MelodyD (160, Aqua)
3-AreaGrab chip to near Beetank group (Teleports user)
4-TrainArrow1 chip on SplashMan (Adds 30+15 Aqua damage to buster)
5-Try to block Beetank attacks aimed at Eternalis and/or Blub

Blub (Both actions fall between SplashMan actions 2 and 3):
1-Paramedic on SplashMan (6, Recovery)
2-Follow Eternalis towards the Beetanks]
Bump
After taking care of the viruses nearby, the two navi began to approach the artillery Beetanks. SplashMan conveniently teleported nearby, but it still was too far. After noticing that the target was closer, all kabutanks began open firing at the navi!! Since it was the SplashMan's intention to block off all attacks, he made little to no movement to dodge the attacks.

Eternalis and Blub tried follow up with SplashMan, but failed to recognize the cracked terrains below and began to fall down!! NOT GOOD!

CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED
CactyD: DELETED
CactyE: DELETED
MelodyA: DELETED
MelodyB: DELETED
MelodyC: DELETED
MelodyD: DELETED
MelodyE: DELETED
MelodyF: DELETED

-Far Away (1 / 3 Actions to reach shooting range)-
BeetankA: 50 HP
BeetankB: 50 HP
BeetankC: 50 HP
BeetankD: 50 HP
BeetankE: 50 HP
BeetankF: 50 HP

Terrain: 33% Normal, 50% Cracked (All over the place), 10% Sea, 7% Broken

SplashMan: 186 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP [1-Hit Shield] [Falling!]
Blub: 40 HP [Falling!]
...Ow. What on earth possessed him to march in and take that many bombs to the...well, they hit him pretty much everywhere. Oh well, at least there was no way Eternalis and Blub were hit. "Okay guys, let's march in and-" SplashMan looked over towards where his watery allies were, but saw nothing. It was like they just vanished, or something. "Hey! What happened to the others?!"

"Well...they ran over some of the cracked spaces, and it kinda...gave way. It's not bottomless, since it was cracked to begin with, but that's a long way down..."

"...Darn it! I guess I'm okay since I used AreaGrab to get here, but..." All right, a quick mental recap of the current battle. Eternalis and Blub were falling who knew how far. He was getting close to the only remaining viruses, but there was still some cracks in the ground, and if he fell in with the others, that was going to make things nice and complicated. And he couldn't attack from where he was, because he was still too far away to get a good shot. "Sabrina, if I can beat these Beetank before the others land, will they be okay?"

"Uh...I dunno why they would. It's not like they just magically stop falling. I know what you're thinking, but if we just rush in there, we might screw up or something. So stay calm, and let's take our time!"

He didn't really like the idea of letting his friends just drop and get hurt, but if there really wasn't anything he could do..."Okay...so, I guess I should ask the super obvious question. How do I get near the Beetank without risking falling?"

Not only was the question obvious, but the answer was none too hidden either. At least, that's the way she saw it. "Simple! Cracked terrain's just like any other terrain, in that you can change it. So if we go with an attack that turns a good chunk of the area into something less dangerous, you can reach them, no sweat! ...Oh, and don't even think about trying that on the broken panels. It wouldn't help in so many ways..."

"Oh, good idea!" He didn't need any help to change the panels...as long as he had his twin cannons on his back, he could make just about any place a convenient swimming pool. And thus, he lowered his cannons down to shoulder level again. However, this time, SplashMan had them pointed further down, having already decided that his focus should be on the ground in front of him. A few moments passed, as blue energy appeared to be absorbed into the cannons' nozzles, before shooting a pair of water spheres towards the ground, resulting in a large, aquatic explosion...one that, despite its impressive appearance, wouldn't harm a cyber fly...unless one somehow flew into the blast zone. However, it would fulfill its purpose; whether it hit a virus or not, there was now a nice, large patch of water between Navi and enemy.

With a nice, safe path to the Beetank, the water Navi ran along the top of the water, before stopping once he was within range of the six remaining viruses. He really wanted to cream them all nice and quick...but since Sabrina wanted him to take his time and make sure they didn't mess up...up went his right arm, still in its bow shape from the effects of the TrainArrow chip. There was one change, however; the tip of an arrow now stuck out from the center, signaling that it was fully operational. After the usual taking of a moment to properly aim it, the tip, along with the rest of the arrow sailed through the air, with the sole purpose of piercing the Beetank it had been intended to fly at. This processed repeated itself twice, each time culminating with a silver colored spear being launched towards the bomb firing bugs. And with the third shot, the bow faded, giving way to his usual hand. And there were still at least three enemies left...good thing they still had their ace in the hole. ...In a manner of speaking.

Speaking of holes, Blub wasn't entirely thrilled at the long fall. He did the only thing he could do: grab onto his ally Aqua Navi with his tentacles, and refuse to let go under any circumstance until they landed...

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-Flood Cannon sig attack on space between SplashMan and Beetank group (80, Blast 2, creates Medium area Sea terrain)
2-Move up to Beetank range via the newly created Sea panels
3-Buster shot on BeetankA (75, Aqua)
4-Buster shot on BeetankB (75, Aqua)
5-Buster shot on BeetankC (75, Aqua)

Blub:
1-Grab onto Eternalis
2-Hang on for dear life]
While he sprinted, Eternalis heard some unnerving cracking sounds. What's that sound- AAAAAH! Great. He is currently now falling down a pretty deep hole. Aaand to top it off, this jellyfish virus is grabbing- no, wait, that's Blub. Now he's regretting using that Cannon earlier, since it gave him an idea on how to survive the fall. Oh man, bad bad bad bad bad!But then, he realized something. Harke! I'm kind of in trouble here. Could you send in the Guard? His operator came in the information window. He seemed kind of tired. Uh. Sure. Guard coming up. There was the sound of chips being slotted in, and he could feel the Guard in his systems.

He immediately released the Guard to his right hand, and positioned it under himself and his deathly petrified companion. He was intending to use its attack-reflective properties to both shield both of them from the fall and use the resulting reflected impact to propel them back up. He had seen the Guard reflect things that looked impossible and/or strange to reflect back, yet it did, multiple times in succession, never failing its user. He hoped his madcap plan would work, as he braced himself for impact. (All right, I really hope this works...) Then again, if this failed, the water wall was still up. He could brave that fall, but he thought about Blub's situation. Not very good at the moment.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120 (1-Hit Shield)
(1) Guard1: Self (Reflect, Max 60)
- below the falling duo
(TURN SPLICE GO)
( Bump again. )
The Flood Cannon filled the space in front of SplashMan with the deep water, and he was able to tread across the terrains with no problem and shot down exactly three viruses. The falling Eternalis deployed his guard, over writing the watery shield he had before and crashed against the ground. The reflection of the guard was able to send the navi upwards, but not enough! Eternalis grabbed onto the ledges on the last second and hanged on for his dear life!

CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED
CactyD: DELETED
CactyE: DELETED
MelodyA: DELETED
MelodyB: DELETED
MelodyC: DELETED
MelodyD: DELETED
MelodyE: DELETED
MelodyF: DELETED

-Far Away (1 / 3 Actions to reach shooting range)-
BeetankA: DELETED
BeetankB: DELETED
BeetankC: DELETED
BeetankD: 50 HP
BeetankE: 50 HP
BeetankF: 50 HP

Terrain: 27% Normal, 30% Cracked (All over the place), 35% Sea, 7% Broken

SplashMan: 186 HP

Eternalis: 120 HP [On the Edge] [Guard Destroyed] [2 Actions Left]
Blub: 40 HP [On the Edge]
Oh, man. This was quite a tight spot he was in. He did manage to propel himself upwards, just... not... enough. But wait! Didn't he have something else, that could prove of use? Harke! Desperation mode! I need the RageClaw! NOW! His operator was surprised at this turn of events and immediately slotted in the appropriate chip, fumbling it around in his hand before he did so. Th-there. U-use it. The claws appeared on the Navi's hand which was holding onto the ledge. Eternalis felt the surge of strength coming from the claws, like he would be able to hurl something at high speeds. Hrrrrrgh! The Navi tried, as he might, to lift himself, along with his, er, little jellyfish, up out of the hole. Managing to lift his head above the hole, he mentally prepared movements along the normal terrain to avoid the cracked terrain, and maybe along some water as well.

=SUMMARY=
Eternalis.EXE
HP: 120
(2) RageClaw2: Lift self out of hole
(3) (Prepared) Tactical Movement: Across the field

(( Mostly because I'm too lazy to do another turn splice. Or is it possible to do 2 turn splices in the first place? ))