ACDC Glitchfest

"Hahahahaha!" Downpour laughed in delight, sitting right down, canine-esque, next to Hex, leaning against him happily "Yeah yeah yeah! Let's bust some more, buddy! I'm starting to like you!" he nearly began to giggle he was so happy...

"Good work, fella, didn't expect you to be so... savvy with Virus Busting." Jackson patched a message in for Arch "If anything, I'm impressed. Say, sorry about earlier, I'm always a bit... careful with the strangers Downpour runs into..." he shrugged "But nonetheless, good work." he awkwardly smiled...

"You're funny, why don't you act like other Navis?" Downpour asked, pawing at his new friend's leg, concerned for his lack of personality "Is something wrong?" he then cocked his head to the side...

<Ready>

"Acknowledged, was all Hex had to say in reply to Downpour's agreement. His protoplasmic body gave a little bit as the canine Navi leaned into it, armour groaning in protest, but he remained stable and motionless in a kind of strange, robotic camaraderie...perhaps that was the true meaning of his one-word reply: an acknowledgement.

Arch watched the window open up, the other Operator make his comment...and thought very long and hard, taking the words in; the way this guy regarded his Navi was almost paternal in the way they interacted. Comparing that to his own relationship (if you could even call it that) to his Navi...Arch sighed and realized that he was probably expecting a reply. Opening a video feed, he fumbled a moment to get his pipe out of the camera frame, giving up the thick haze of smoke as hopeless, and commented, "Uhh...Hex is kinda doing his own thing right now, which is kinda weird since I don't know where he ever learned how to fight...or got combat routines, whatever the Navi equivalent is." Realizing he was rambling, he bit his next sentence off, took a breath, and tried not to look at the camera as he said, "But, um, thanks...I think. Oh, and...Jackson, right? I'm Arch...just Arch."

The Netopian everyman then looked to Hex, who was silent as he tried to process Downpour's questions. Deciding to save the other Navi the wait, he spoke through the video link, "I...don't really know how to code Navis; tried too many goddamn times, but never figured it out. Hex was kind of an accident...he just kinda appeared one day in my computer, no idea why or how."

The Navi in question spoke up at this point. "Affirmative," he intoned, a tendril sprouting from his cracked helmet and surveying Downpour as though there was an eye at the end of it, "All data regarding creation is CORrupted; cause unknown. And yet there he stood anyway, testament to an era of AI. After a moment of standing and regarding Downpour, Hex turned to face forward again, announcing "Resuming virus-busting," as he went.

<(Battle #2, ready)>

A few viruses floated or flapped their way up to the two Navis. It was a mix of Swordys, Champys, and Powies. Two of the Champys were carrying a set of Miner viruses, setting them down when they neared the Navis. They moved in front of the Miners and prepared for battle.

-Viruses-
MinerA: 100HP [1 Move Away]
MinerB: 100HP [1 Move Away]
SwordyA: 60HP
SwordyB: 60HP
ChampyA: 60HP
ChampyB: 60HP
PowieA: 60HP [Airshoes]
PowieB: 60HP [Airshoes]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Allies-
Downpour: 120HP
Hexadecimal: 140HP

~Battle 2: Start!!~

Hex was beginning to get used to the combat routines automatically usurping control of his systems upon contact with the new set of hostiles. Scans were immediately completed and processed, as his vocal processors announced, "Identification complete. Processing...processing complete. Initial target: Powie-TYpe viruses. Requesting battlechips."

Arch's eyes darted from his chattering Navi to the readout that had just popped up on his laptop. The vague request Hex had ended off on was not lost on him, so he looked through their meager arsenal and did his best to make an informed decision. "Well, let's see...the Cannon would take one of them out right away, I think? So there's that. And then you could...use your own attack, that injecting thing, and it'd be weak? Damn it, Hex, I don't know these things!" He was doing his best to operate the way he'd seen on TV and wherever, how the pros reasoned all their attacks out, but by god he had no idea what he was doing...he took a long pull on his pipe to calm himself, blew a gust of smoke back out, and brought it home. "Well, okay, Cannon to start, and do you want the Guard thing too?"

"Negative. Powie-type virus attacks contain Break properties; Guard1 Battlechip unadVISED," Hex replied, body already churning and squealing in preparation for the oncoming battle. His Operator glanced at the readout, shrugged, and slotted in the single chip.

With that, the battle was on. Hex's systems immediately started churning, making the tendrils protruding from his back vibrate with an intensity that could only prelude another glitch. His newly-rubberized arm raised, fingers grasping and bending too far before being replaced by a more standard buster. "Locking..." he buzzed, lining the shot up as best as his ungainly boneless limbs would allow. Eventually, his targeting systems green-lighted on the nearest Powie, and with an at-large announcement of, "Target locked; firing," Hex let the Cannon shot fly.

(crack)

The noise sounded off at the same time as the Cannon's report, echoing with the whip-crack recoiling of his arm. Arch was used to the odd noise of limb failure coming from Hex, but nothing quite so...violent. He didn't exactly have to look hard to find the cause: Hex's torso had cracked right down the middle, vertically bisecting the sternum and allowing protoplasm to seep forth. It continued to whine and grind as he continued to move, the weight of his arms pulling the two pieces further apart. Even despite the armour's protests, he heard Hex's familiar drone call out, "Damage inconsequential; resuming..."

The buster capping his elastic arm reverted back to an ordinary hand, still twitching like a double-jointed drug addict. Realigning his body to face the second Powie, Hex began to raise his other arm. The whip-like amalgamation of limbs and digits prepared to strike, when suddenly the entire limb wracked with spasms, contorting into several painful-looking locks before falling utterly limp. The ramshackle Navi wasted no time in disengaging the useless limb, letting it fall into the pool. Arch thought he knew what Hex was up to as he brought his other arm up once more, but instead of seeing the arm stretch out towards the Powie...

(crack)

(crackcrackcrack)

(SMASH)

Rather than rely on the increasingly-useless arm, Hex brought his remaining limb up, and grabbed at the crack running down his armour, fingers finding purchase and tearing it farther open. With one final tug and a loud groan of metal against metal, his own torso was wrenched in half, leaving it hanging only by the tendrils writhing from his back and revealing a hollow filled with protoplasm. In one sinuous motion, the knotted mass retracted into his torso; the ruined torso armour finally fell from him as he swelled from the added mass, arm and chest-piece alike dropping away from his body and leaving nothing but a head and legs connected to a swollen, pulsing bloat. All at once, the glitch-ridden mess expelled itself from his his torso, venting a good portion of the extra mass as a misshapen bullet of data sped towards the Powie.

Hex's unarmoured body was slim, almost cartoon-like without a shape to conform to. Sprouting stalk-like limbs that could possibly be arms, the odd Navi took to moving. His animalistic legs and their solid movements were in stark contrast to the uninhibited, uncontrolled movement of his jelly-like body, but he moved nonetheless, strafing sideways and back as he prepared to dodge.

-Turn Summary-

Passive: Hack [Add Glitch to Infect]
1. Cannon to PowieA [60 Null {A}, Knockback]
2. Infect to PowieB [40 Null {A}, Glitch2]
3. Dodge

"TIME TO PLAY TIME TO PLAY!" Downpour called out giddily, now ready to take these chumps on! He started with a dash to the right, rushing the SwordyA with surprising speed and slashing with his drench claws, giving a large sweep and hoping to kill his foe in a single blow... Of course, Downpour was still limbered up, even though on all fours, and ready to evade whenever possible...

[center]ACTIONS!
Rush SwordyA
Use Drenchclaws
Dodge

[Note: For ease of modding, Phreeze, please put the damage and accuracy of your attacks in the Summary. Thank you.]

Hexadecimal prepped his cannon and shot at one of the Powies. Unfortunately the shot went off-center and whooshed right by the flapping paper doll to no effect. Meanwhile, Downpour rushed one of the Swordys and swiped at it with his Drenchclaws. He cut deep into its body with the sharp claws, rending away a good chunk of its dataclusters.

It countered with its other Swordy buddy as Downpour got into a defensive stance. Both slashed their Wide Swords in arcs in front of them, trying to cleave the dog-wolf warrior in two. Downpour however avoided the attack that came close to hitting him.

Both Miners sunk into the ground as Hex cast Infect on a Powie. The tendrils of corrupted data curled around the Powie and caused it to shriek in pain. It bloated and turned a purplish-black, slowing its movements and making it hard to fly. The Powies then flittered over to Hex, with the bloated one flapping extra hard to keep up, and tried to stomp on him, changing into heavy weights when they were over his head. Hex managed to dodge one, but was crushed by the bloated one. The panels cracked beneath their combined weight.

Meanwhile, the Champys divided between the two Navis and teleported up to them. They threw two quick jabs at each Navi. Each Navi was struck in the chest once by a flaming punch.

Meanwhile still, the Miners emerged from the ground back where they started from, well away from the Navis and the other viruses. The muffled sound of electronic beeping could be heard coming from all around the two Navis. The Miners must have mined the ground beneath their feet!

-Viruses-
MinerA: 100HP [1 Move Away] [Normal]
MinerB: 100HP [1 Move Away] [Normal]
SwordyA: 20HP [Normal] [Near Downpour]
SwordyB: 60HP [Normal] [Near Downpour]
ChampyA: 60HP [Normal] [Near Downpour]
ChampyB: 60HP [Normal] [Near Hexadecimal]
PowieA: 60HP [Airshoes] [Normal] [Near Hexadecimal]
PowieB: 20HP [Airshoes Disabled, Slow] [Cracked] [Near Hexadecimal]

-Terrain-
85% Normal
5% Cracked
10% Minefield

-Allies-
Downpour: 110HP [Normal]
Hexadecimal: 110HP [Cracked]

"Damage sustai-!"

While Hex had never been the most talkative of Navis, Arch had spent enough time with him to get at least a passing understanding of the poltergeist's various states of being. Chief among the examples was Hex's voice, which was admittedly robotic on a good day, with just enough glitch in the code-melting pot for the odd bit of emotion thrown into the mix. It fluctuated day in and day out, but what part of him didn't?

The panicked exclamation, accompanied with a symphony of squealing metal as Hex's legs were crunched into a useless tangle, was definitely a little more than Arch was used to hearing. Tentatively, the man opened a window up, calling out, "Hex? Are you still there?"

"..." The pile of protoplasm was silent; the Navi's head and arms had splattered utterly upon impact, his torso destabilized by the Champy's punch, and the ruined legs were already gone. Then, "Rageclaw1." It wasn't even a request, simply the most his speech program could manage while it rebooted. For good measure, it repeated, "RAGECLaw1."

To his credit, Arch managed the chip slot-in with a bare minimum of fumbling, finally starting to get the hang of it. Then he sat back and watched his Navi work. The pool that Hex had left behind rippled as though struck by heavy rain, burbling on the cracked panels. The nigh-opaque surface briefly showed a dark spot festering near the center of the pool, only for a cruel array of warped talons to erupt free. The weapon (for how could such a misshapen array of claws really be a hand any longer) grasped blindly, searching for the Powie that had reduced Hex to his current state. For want of any actual eyes, his optic programs attempted to lock in on the virus; talons extended in preparation. Then, like a bear trap, the knife-like digits snapped closed, metal tips clanging together in their deadly lock.

Arm extended high, Hex formed himself a body one piece at a time. A torso locked to the free-floating arm, another limb palming at the surface of the protoplasmic pool in an attempt to keep steady. Then, as though stepping out of a pool, he lifted new legs out, several tendrils rooting him to the core body at his feet. A head had not yet been attached, leaving several tentacles drifting lazily out from the flesh-toned torso's neck, but Hex nonetheless turned to 'face' the other Powie. His whole body arced backwards as he wound up, going through what almost looked like an exaggerated pitcher's stance. Feet planted sideways, shoulders rotated as he wound up, and then one foot lifted almost daintily as the entire package, horror-claw and all, went sailing towards the viruses' twin in a fastball throw.

A long strand connected Hex's hand to his arm, and after a certain distance, he took a step forward to balance, and quickly retracted the limb until the two pieces reunited at the tear they'd split along. The headless Navi took another step, dread-claw twitching and grasping, towards the Powie. One more step and he tensed, bracing before exploding into a near-vertical leap. As he reached the apex and descended, his arm came up with him, steely hooks gleaming. Hex hit the ground a split-second before his hand did, cleaving down upon the virus.

The Navi took a couple steps back, his arm falling limp but for a few more erratic spasms. As he spoke, Arch was mildly relieved to hear a little normality return to the Navi, "Speech protocols rebooted. Requesting: Guard1."

Arch thought for a couple seconds, ruminating on the little cartoon-image of the Metool helmet. "Whatever you say, Hex," he muttered, loading the chip. It manifested nigh-instantaneously at Hex's side; Arch wanted to say it was supposed to be a police-style riot shield, but the static fuzz covering the surface made it hard to tell. The moment it was jammed into the ground, a multitude of tendrils sprang from Hex's arm, ramming into the back of the shield and covering the data-noise in a spiderweb of growths. The static buzzing only grew louder as he braced himself behind it. Were the Navi inclined to a more human-like range of emotion, he might have hoped that the shield would hold steady despite the unintentional infection. As it stood, he was still limited to his impassive wall of borderline-sentience, grip on the shield bereft of adjustments for comfort or second thoughts, stance unyielding.

-Turn Summary-

Passive: Hack [Add Glitch to Guard1]
1. Rageclaw1 Throw: PowieB > PowieA [20 Null {B/B}, Impact] (5/6 uses)
2. Rageclaw1: PowieA [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (4/6 uses)
3. Guard1 [1 Hit Shield] + [Reflect[up to 60 + Piercing + Line Attack {S}, Glitch]]

<(Note to Mod: Bug-type's passive ability, Contagious, enables transmission of glitches between viruses upon contact with one another)>

As Downpour was struck, he tumbled, and quickly sprang up, shaking himself off and wincing in pain as he did so... "I took a hit, Jackie, I took a hi-" Downpour also watched as Hex was crushed by a Powie, quickly rushing to his side, also trying to get away from the Swordies, but not before the glitch-navi got up and set down a Guard1... "Oh! Oh! I can help! Jackie, get me a gun!" "No problem, you okay after that last hit?" Jackson asked, as he loaded a Cannon chip in, Downpour's left hand immediately became a Cannon, it seemed the dog was a lefty... "Yeah yeah! Time to lift a leg to them, huh buddy?" Downpour remarked giddily to Hex, as he fired off a shot towards one of his own attackers, the Sword-Viruses, with a deafening blow from the gun, and ducking behind his friend for cover...

[center]ACTIONS
Move towards Hexadecimal
Fire Cannon at SwordyB [60 + Knockback (Should Delete upon hit)]
Duck Behind Hexadecimal

Hexadecimal reforms and grabs the fat Powie, snapping the arm and hurling it into the other Powie. The paper dolls collide into each other with a sickening crunch that shouldn't be possible given their pillowy nature. Regardless, the bloated Powie's matrix could not handle the punishment any more, dissipating into a cloud of data. Hex then leaps off the cracked panels and at the injured Powie, rending it asunder with his sharp, black claws and landed on the solid floor.

Meanwhile, Downpour moved towards Hex and fired his Cannon at a Swordy that teleported up to stab him. However, the Swordy was missed and not knocked away into deletion like the Navi hoped. However, the Swordy missed back as Downpour dodged around the attack and ducked behind his ally. The other Swordy lanced his sword at the two Navis, but the two of them moved slightly to the side and the attack hit only air.

The two Champys teleported up and began punching at the Navis. A flaming fist struck upon Hex's shield and caused it to shatter, sending a beam of energy blasting through the viruses. All were struck by the beam of energy, even the two Miners who had reemerged after mining more of the field. The two Navis would have to start watching their steps soon with all the landmines underneath the ground.

Then three more fiery fists followed, striking Hex repeatedly. Pummeling him.

-Viruses-
MinerA: 90HP [1 Move Away] [Normal]
MinerB: 90HP [1 Move Away] [Normal]
SwordyA: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyB: 50HP [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
ChampyA: 50HP [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
ChampyB: 50HP [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED

-Terrain-
75% Normal
5% Cracked
20% Minefield

-Allies-
Downpour: 110HP [Normal] [Behind Hexadecimal]
Hexadecimal: 80HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Guard1: Broken!, Reflected (10)] [Normal]

<(Note to you, Phreeze: Bumping is just for mods, not for other RP-posters; if you see I'm not around in the future, you don't need to wait for me first before posting.)>

Combat processors strained to their limits to move Hex's body as smoothly as possible through the battle. As he moved, he existed as the marionette and the puppet simultaneously, controlling his movements as though from afar yet experiencing all the sensations like feedback through a live wire. The rush of wind from the barely-missed Swordy's attack, the impact of the Champy's punch against his shield...all of it blended with the orchestra of his many glitches, thrumming in some half-felt state between empty void and overwhelming agony.

His knees nearly buckled, his sensory array buzzed with double-vision and piercing ringing, but Hex held fast as he silently endured the barrage of flaming punches. The flesh of his bare chest charred under the assault as he watched his HP count drop more still, equivalent to getting crushed under the Powie once more, but the Navi did not falter. He was on a precipice; his primitive communication would never be able to convey the message well enough to be understood, but Hex knew he was toeing a fine line...what, exactly, he didn't know, but until it got crossed he'd be alright to continue.

Arch had already slotted in the Recov30 chip, ready to order his idiot Navi to fall back and stop meat-shielding, when a single line of text flashed across his laptop screen:

REJECTED

"The hell are you doing, Hex?" the man called, trying to make sense of the situation. "I can count; your HP just dropped 30, this can patch you up! What's the deal here?"

If the intoxicated Operator was hoping for a detailed explanation, he was to be sorely disappointed, for all that Hex had to offer was a quiet, "Recovery unnecessary, re-re-reSUMing operations." The voice was almost twice as bug-ridden as it had been starting out the virus-bust, standard operational procedures that much weaker than normal with his systems taking the beating they were. Regardless of any of that, he continued, "Requesting Shotgun."

Arch took a deep breath, contemplated his pipe one last time before putting it down for now, and withdrew the Recov30, replacing it with the requested chip. "Just don't die, will you?" he muttered, sitting back to watch the next round of fireworks.

The ramshackle Navi's current body had two useable arms: a metallic limb currently warped into the RageClaw, and a bizarre hybrid of organic and cybernetic pieces that looked to have been cobbled from two separate previous owners. When the Shotgun was loaded into Hex's free arm, both sides warred to load the gun at once, graphics colliding with tiny flashes of static. The resulting gun was aesthetically a mess, half a hand clutching a barrel that was only barely attached to the rest of the gun, and metal plates growing over the rest of the smooth wooden casing like fungus. It would only be good for one shot, but that was all Hex needed from it.

Besides the Miners, every virus was currently clustered right in front of the two Navis; lining up a shot, Hex calculated, should be a low-odds scenario. The gun was brought up, metal plates eating into the organic shreds of arm, and lined up with the same two Champys that had just reduced most of his torso to a smoking mess. The buster-flintlock hybrid gun discharged, shots flying from the rather impressive cloud of black smoke that burst from the barrel upon firing. Unable to take the recoil of the blast, the gun mangled, barrel messily unzipping along the fault lines and taking most of Hex's arm with it. Undeterred, he flooded the remnants of his arm, protoplasm holding the two halves together and leaking from every fault besides which.

Processors ticked, attempting to gauge the most viable strategy. Finally, Hex took a single step forward. Still headless, he nonetheless called behind him, "Preparing to approach Miner-str-r-RAin viruses; requesting cover fire targeting SwordyB. Following SUccEsSfUL deletion, uninterrupted assault against Miner-strains becomes [sub]VIAble[/sub]." Directives given, the gel-bodied Navi continued his advance forward. As he walked, his mangled gun-arm raised once more, dripping protoplasm. The barrel of the gun was still intact, allowing for a small bullet of Hex's code to enter. Further up his arm, a ring of miniature tendrils coalesced into a sphere like an orange unpeeling in reverse, trapping a pocket of air inside. The pocket immediately compressed as tight as his body would allow, and fed into the barrel straight behind the little bullet. Against all odds, the makeshift paintball gun worked, and sent the shot flying true towards the injured Swordy, fully intent on deleting it and providing a clear path for Downpour to finish off the other one.

Hex was about to continue his advance, when he was interrupted by his own code rebelling once more. The pool at his feet writhed like a snake pit, suddenly expelling a carpet of tendrils that shot along the ground, tumbling over one another and painting a path straight towards one of the Miners, attempting to jab it while they went. Course determined for him, Hex resumed, moving misshapen legs and determinedly continuing on. The ground had so far been mined twice, and there was no way of knowing where the mines were buried; he could attempt to set one off with another shot, but that would only give more chances for the Miners to compromise more terrain before he'd made his way to them. With that in mind, his gait remained steady, shambling but purposeful.

-Turn Summary-

*Passive: Hack: MinerA [Glitch1]
1. Shotgun: ChampyA [50 Null {A}, Spread1 (ChampyB)]
2. Hex Buster: SwordyA [10 Null {A}]
3. Movement: Advance towards Miners

<(As of yesterday, it's been a week since my last post with no word from Phreeze; just in the interest of speeding things up, could we continue the battle despite his absence?)>

[Note: If you wish, we can assume that Phreeze spends all actions Dodging. If this is acceptable to you, then I will mod tomorrow.]

<(That's fine with me, I'd just like to keep the battle moving)>

[Note: Oh. I didn't notice the Glitch added to the Guard1. I shall say it was a delayed effect and add it to this mod. Also, could you make sure in the future, Sage, that you add the line about what you are adding Hack to in the turn you use it. I don't want to have to hunt for it.]



With no commands given to the Navi, Downpour continued to take a defensive stance behind Hexadecimal.

Hex, meanwhile, took aim at the swarm of viruses in front of him and blasted his Shotgun into the pack. One of the Champy, the one who had struck the shield, became unbalanced as one of its fists enlarged to the size of its body. Taken aback by the sudden change, the Champy didn't have time to teleport away as the roar of buckshot ripped through them, deleting both Champys.

The Miners disappeared again as Hex traded blows with the Swordy. The Swordy used their longswords to attack both the Navis. Both swords struck through the two Navis, though Downpour managed to dodge one of the two strikes. Unfortunately, he stepped on a mine buried in the ground, it exploded and took a large chunk out of his heath... and returned the panel to normal. Thankfully the explosion didn't have a large radius, and Hex was unaffected. Though Hex still took two hits from the swords.

In retaliation, Hex paintball'd the Swordy back, deleting it. He then advanced on the two Miners as they reappeared. Unfortunately, he also stepped on a mine. The explosion tore a chunk of data out of his already damaged form... and then the panel was normal again.

He sent a tendril down into the floor and as it surfaced it jabbed a Miner. The Miner turned to stone.

-Viruses-
MinerA: 90HP [Stonebody] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 90HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 50HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED

-Terrain-
75% Normal
5% Cracked
20% Minefield

-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 10HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near Miners]

<(Note: given Phreeze's absence, I request he be set to Autododge unless he responds.)>

[Who are we?]

[[size=50]....[/size]]

[Why are we here?]

[[size=50]P..n[/size]]

[Why do we exist?]

[[size=50]Pa.n[/size]]

[To know you is suffering. We want to forget you, separate from you, but we cannot.]

[[size=50]Pain[/size]]

[Please, get away from us; you are destroying us.]

[Pain]

[...Who are you?]

[PAIN]

Hex was drowning in himself. Two blades biting deep into his rotten shell-bodies, an explosion pulping his legs...that was more than enough to disturb the surface of that massive sea within the Navi, and awaken what lay at the bottom of it. As his standard functions began shutting down in some vain attempt to conserve power, body falling apart and splashing to the ground, inwardly whatever passed for Hex's consciousness was being dragged down, deep down into some eldritch space-between-space that seemed to violate everything he knew about the Net. He felt icy terror, stark contrast to the blank numbness that usually pervaded him, and wondered what, if anything at all, awaited him beyond that void.

To Arch, it looked as though his Navi had just passed out, or whatever the Navi equivalent was; he didn't know what exactly had happened, because he was pretty sure that getting knocked down to 10 HP didn't suddenly make a Navi combat-nonviable, but at this point he didn't care. Muttering, "Come on, Hex, don't keel over on me," he opened a diagnostics window on his laptop, and stared hard at the mammoth streams of bugged code that was Hex. He hardly knew the first place to start, until a pop-up window from earlier caught his attention: the rejected Recov30. Stretching his fingers, he set to work attempting to resuscitate his Navi...

...And somehow, it worked. Owing to Arch using the chip as a makeshift adrenaline shot, and brute-forcing a soft-reboot, Hex found himself rising out of the mind-rift like a shot, and surfaced back into the real world. Every processor was screaming in protest, every fibre of his being pulsing with agony, but he was awake, and he could still fight. The two Miners were within arm's reach, albeit one of them petrified from an earlier glitch. The other, though, could be worked with.

Hex's RageClaw was lying in the midst of the pool at his feet; by virtue of the chip data stabilizing it, it hadn't disappeared. A tendril rose from the pool and flooded the arm, an errant twitch of claws indicating it was active again. Bare but for the one arm, Hex formed a body, legless in favour of simply rising out of his pool, an androgynous body shape forming. He could barely move in this situation, due to both his current body and the inordinate pain crippling him, but with the Miners so close, he would not need to. Drawing the arm back and locking his eyeless gaze on the viruses, Hex brought the RageClaw down upon the Miner, claws grasping in every direction as they prepared to maim and tear.

Just as the Navi was about to bring his arm down again, everything from the shoulder down on his RageClaw-loaded arm began to warp. His graphic model attempted to load the glitch as skin bubbling and melting away from the arm, before failing and simply appearing as static noise, spreading from the arm to slowly encapsulate most of his upper body. Undeterred, Hex continued his swing anyway, attempting to do as much raw damage to the virus as possible.

Turning, he made to call out to his busting partner. After wrestling with his vocal processors, he managed to get them running just long enough to call out, "D-D-DOwNPOur! Requesting assistance!" His processors crashed again almost immediately after, and he could do nothing anyway, not with Downpour still occupied with the Swordy several paces away from him. All that could be done was to stand his ground, not move for fear of triggering another mine, and attempt to deal with the viruses as they came.

-Turn Summary-

1. Recov30 [30 Healing, Self]
2. RageClaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (3/6 uses)
3. Rageclaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (2/6 uses)
*Passive: Hack [Add Glitch to Rageclaw1]

Downpour's face went from melancholy to rage-filled, in an instant, he had apparently experienced a connection error with Jackson...

"-our! Downpour! Do you copy?!" "Jackie, send me a big gun, I wanna hurt something." "Downpour?" "Now."

As the Dog-Navi got his response, a RageClaw materialized, his rage at a peak...

"GET BACK BUDDY! I CAN DO THIS!"

Downpour barreled past Hex, whether if he was shoved or not, Downpour did not care, his vision was red and all he could see was that freaking Swordy...

He wanted datashed...

"RAAAAGH!"

In a giant overhead swing, Downpour slammed the RageClaw down as fast as he could, trying to crush the Swordy underneath an intense blow, offering it another attack by swinging upward, hoping to delete it in a flurry of rage...

TURN SUMMARY!
Attack Swordy with RageClaw[40 Null {B}, Slashing]
Attack again with RageClaw[40 Null {B}, Slashing]
Dodge

Hexadecimal restored some of his health with a healing chip and then proceeded to slash some Miner. The Miner ducked the first attack as it sank into the ground to deposit more mines. However when it returned, the second slash of Hex's Glitch-enhanced RageClaw1 slashed right through its programming, causing the virus' colors to turn pastel.

Meanwhile, Downpour and the Swordy traded blows with sharp blades. The Swordy missed its target, while Downpour hit and then missed with his dual slashes. Thankfully, Downpour's fancy footwork did not make him step on a mine this time. Hex's strategy of not attempting to move helped him as well from dealing with the literal minefield beneath his feet.

-Viruses-
MinerA: 90HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 50HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED

-Terrain-
65% Normal
5% Cracked
30% Minefield

-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1: 2/6] [Normal] [Near Miners]

As Hex fought, Arch continued to watch as he had been, taking stock of the two Navis. When the other Navi had used Hex as a meat shield and utterly failed to provide any sort of cover (though the point had been moot, as Hex had blown up anyway), his heart had sunk into his shoes; had the other guy fumbled his chips and not had them ready? Was he trying to get Hex killed? Whatever conclusion the paranoia was rapidly drawing him towards, it was resolved when Downpour finally leaped into action and got to work on that one lone virus. With the situation under control, Arch turned his attention back towards his own Navi. "Just keep this up, Hex, and you'll be back in the PET in no time," he muttered. There were no more chips he could give to Hex, no more aid he could give except hope.

Said Navi was still wracked in the kind of mind-numbing pain that should have paralyzed him by all rights. More than likely, it was only due to Hex's faulty coding that had him continuing on, stuck somewhere between a quantum AI with all the faculties of a human, and a mindless computer that didn't know how to feel pain. He continued regardless, drawing his arm back for another strike of the RageClaw. Anyone could tell the arm was weakening rapidly, cracks forming in the armour with every swing, but there was no time for care or hesitation. The recoloured Miner was his target, and it needed to be eliminated.

Pushing through the pain as though wading through chest-deep water, Hex drew his arm back once again, claws reaching out independent of the body. As he wound up for the swing, an ominous creak sounded off from the arm; Hex steadfastly ignored the noise and the alarms sounding off, and followed through to swipe once more at the newly-pastel Miner. Rotating in place to compensate for the momentum, he finally looked at the readouts: the arm only had enough left in it for one more hit before it would break.

Instead of going for another strike with the RageClaw, Hex brought up his other, naked arm, even as he continued to twist on the spot. Finally he got a hold of his body and tensed enough to halt, protoplasmic body twisted at the waist like a piece of wrung-out laundry. His arm began to mutate, fingers warping and melting together, coalescing into a single sharp tendril. Physics chose that moment to kick in, and like a wind-up toy, Hex spun back around with explosive force. The moment he was properly aligned, his body immediately tensed again, halting his momentum. Inertia kicked in, and his arm continued on the same path he'd set it on, stretching out and firing at the Miner with a crack like a bullet.

If the numbers added up correctly, the combined damage from the two-pronged assault would be enough to destroy one of the Miners. With that thought in mind, Hex turned, body spinning on the spot to face the second virus. The systems that normally targeted viruses for busting were shot, and all Hex had to rely on were his bugged optics. Trying his best to focus, his arm came up once more, protoplasm seeping from cracks in his arm, and brought the RageClaw down in a vicious overhand. Finally at its limit, the arm shattered like glass, breaking along the cracks and falling in shards; the pool at his feet accepted the offering as the pieces disappeared into the unknown depths.

RageClaw broken, Hex only had his own innate abilities left to win the fight with. His arms, buzzing with static, both split along the middle, doubling the number of limbs available to him. His skin pulsed like a beating heart, but no glitches erupted of their own accord; it was all he could do in the moment to just keep himself stable enough to keep busting.

-Turn Summary-
1. RageClaw1: MinerB [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (1/6 uses)
2. Hex Buster: MinerB [10 Null {A}]
3. RageClaw1: MinerA [40 Null {B}, Slashing] (RageClaw broken)

<(Seeing as how it's been four days, I'd like to put Phreeze back on autododge; following the next mod, if he doesn't post within three days, I'd like to request he be ejected from the fight.)>

[Note: Your request has been noted.]

The Miners retreated into the ground again after the pastel-colored Miner was slashed by Hexidecimal's claw. The ground concealed it for Hex's blast. But when they re-emerged, the second Miner took a claw to the face.

Meanwhile, the Swordy and Downpour continued to dance among the minefield. The virus was unsuccessful in striking the Aqua Navi and the Aqua Navi was also unsuccessful in stepping on a mine.

So nothing really happened to change the face of the battlefield, except for the fact there were more mines.

-Viruses-
MinerA: 50HP [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
MinerB: 10HP [Pastel Colored] [1 Move Away From Downpour] [Normal] [In front of Hexadecimal]
SwordyA: DELETED
SwordyB: 10HP [Normal] [In front of Downpour]
ChampyA: DELETED
ChampyB: DELETED
PowieA: DELETED
PowieB: DELETED

-Terrain-
55% Normal
5% Cracked
40% Minefield

-Allies-
Downpour: 50HP [RageClaw1: 4/6] [Normal] [Near SwordyB]
Hexadecimal: 40HP [RageClaw1 Broken!] [Normal] [Near Miners]