Chasing the Starry Sky

Radiance continued her trek toward Stargazer's lookout. Upon walking for a few minutes away from her last battlefield she came upon a fountain situated on a tiled floor. The fountain was of a trio of Spikies, wolf like viruses who breath fire. Instead of breathing fire though, they breathed waterfalls.

But the place was haunted! Spooky ghosts floated around the fountain in the middle of broad daylight. When they noticed the Navi, they all laughed in a chirping, digital way that was quite... Spooky.

-Enemies-
SpookyA: 30HP
SpookyB: 30HP
SpookyC: 30HP
SpookyD: 30HP
SpookyE: 30HP

-Objects-
Fountain: 100HP

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navi-
Radiance.EXE: 80HP

~Battle 2: Start!!~
"Aaah! Ghosts," Radiance proclaimed upon seeing the Spookys. She backed away from the Spiky fountain, holding her lantern defensively in front of her. "This fountain is haunted!"

Ross gave a small sigh. "Relax. They're just viruses," he explained. "Speedy, but fragile. A good hit should be all you need to take care of them."

"What? Nothing about ghosts being unscientific?" Chris asked. "And here I thought I had you figured out, Ross."

"Don't be stupid," Radiance said before Ross could give a response either way. "Navi ghosts are a known and well-documented phenomenon on the net. When strong navis are defeated in battle, they can leave enough of themselves behind to manifest as ghost data. It normally happens when they are deleted, since in that case there is more of them to leave behind than if they were jacked out, but..."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Ross said, interrupting Radiance's lecture. "You don't know how to fight, you don't know how your own weapon works, you don't know how battlechips work, but you apparently know about navi ghost and what causes them, and I assume were about to relate them to these viruses which is not actually accurate at all but one thing at a time. How?"

Radiance shrugged. "I was only saying that ghosts aren't actually unscientific. I have no idea how these things work."

"Not the point. How do you know all of that?"

"How do you know everything you claim to know, hmmm?"

"I studied it."

"Well, maybe I studied navi ghosts and data capsules and whatever else you're going to ask me about!" Radiance folded her arms and turned away, back toward the viruses. Truth be told, they weren't all that scary. Their little hats and masks were actually kind of cute. The chirping...not so much. The childish edge in her voice faded as she add "So just do...whatever you were going to do."

"Right," Ross muttered. He opened his chip folder and shuffled through it. "Blank...blank...not useful...huh? When did I get this one?"

Chris immediately leaned over to look at the chip Ross had pulled out, an unlabeled chip sporting the icon of an almost comically large hammer. "Nice...when did you get that?" he asked. Then, "Can I have it?"

"No." Ross jammed it into the PET before his friend could grab at it. Not even remotely a good idea, but at least it wasn't his own navi that he'd just sent unverified chip data to.

Back in the net world, Radiance didn't seem to notice any new surges of unfamiliar data. Puzzled, Ross glanced back down at his chip folder. Must've been a dud someone had slipped in as a joke, then. Well, that was the harmless answer, at least. There were plenty of worse things that it could have been.

Then...

"Ah!" Radiance suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Ross asked. "Did it send?"

"Well, yes, but...I just figured out something else I could do! Watch this!" Before Ross could try and tell her to focus, she dropped to the ground and planted the hand not holding her lantern against it. Before Ross's eyes, the netscape around Radiance grew red hot, cracked, and crumbled away, revealing a small lake of lava in its place. The lava continued to spread, until it covered a large portion of the battlefield with Radiance at its center. She then looked at her lantern curiously, as though expecting it to act on its own again. And sure enough, it did. A brilliant light shone from within, growing in intensity until it engulfed the body of the light fixture. Then, it shot straight through the base of the lantern and into the lava lake Radiance had just created. Instead of simply rippling (or doing nothing, since light is hardly a physical object), the lava erupted in a large shockwave, spreading out from around Radiance across the battlefield.

"Um...right. They can teleport by the way, so you might want to be careful in case they manage to avoid it."

Radiance nodded, and skipped away across the surface of the lava. Or, that's what she tried to do, but after a couple steps she suddenly stopped and fell in.

"I'm okay," she called through a private line, almost immediately.

"How is it in there?" Chris asked, curious.

"Bit hot. Hard to move. Not bad though."
___

*SetLava: Large Area Terrain Change: Lava
*Geomancer: Imbue terrain element to:
1. Gaia1: 100+Ground+to all
2. Dodge
3. Submerge in lava
Radiance submerged a good section of the tiled area in boiling hot magma. The subsequent tidal wave of lava consumed two of the ghosts and the fountain, leaving the area in a state of ruin. The three surviving ghosts surrounded Radiance as she began to skip, lashing her with their long tongues, before she disappeared beneath the red. The heat of the lava then began to burn the viruses.

-Enemies-
SpookyA: 25HP [Lava]
SpookyB: DELETED
SpookyC: 25HP [Lava]
SpookyD: DELETED
SpookyE: 25HP [Lava]

-Objects-
Fountain: DELETED

-Terrain-
35% Normal
65% Lava

-Navi-
Radiance.EXE: 50HP [Lava] [Submerged]
"Owwww," Radiance groaned from beneath the surface of the lava. "That could've gone better."

"What happened to 'I'm okay?'" Ross asked, flipping through his chip folder again before uploading two more chips. If Radiance hurried, she could easily deal with the remainder before they started teleporting off in all directions again. But knowing how things had gone so far, she would probably complain about getting hit for a minute or two before Ross managed to calm her down again. Although, at least this time she wasn't asking if she was going to die.

Still, if the current trend of taking several minor injuries with each fight continued, she really would be in trouble before too long.

"Oh...that was just from the fall. The ghost things' tongues really do hurt," Radiance answered. "What kind of virus slaps someone with their tongue, anyway?"

"That kind," Ross answered. "Could we please not go through this again this time?"

"You don't actually care that I'm hurt, do you?"

"If you stay there and keep complaining instead of fighting back, you're only going to get more hurt. And then you really will be in trouble."

"Why? I'm fine right here. The lava's nice and hot, so it'll burn them if they try to follow me right?" Radiance glanced up through the surface of the fiery pool she had created at the viruses. They definitely looked like they were getting burnt, and they weren't even submerged in it yet.

Ross sighed heavily. "Just shoot them. Please."

"But I don't have...oh right, my lantern." Radiance dragged the lantern through the lava around her, with no way to tell if it was about to do anything, or if it was even still lit. The lantern appeared to make no reaction other than meeting heavy resistance from the dense fluid, but after a second bubbles started appearing in the lava. Then, a mass of it launched itself out of the pool, swinging in an arc over the surface toward one of the Spooky viruses. It then dropped back into the pool, but a trail of barely visible bubbles traced its path through the lava until it erupted again, swinging at a second Spooky.

The lava stilled again as the ball fell back into the pool. Then, a flare of light from within the lantern shot in a beam past Radiance and broke the surface, aimed toward the third Spooky.
___

1. Firehit1: 60 Fire+Impact+Double Attack - SpookyA
2. Firehit1 (second attack): 60 Fire+Impact+Double Attack - SpookyC
3. Shotgun: 50+Spread1 - SpookyE
One, two, three. Three Spookies were deleted by lava spouts. Ah! Ha! Ha!

-Enemies-
SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: DELETED
SpookyC: DELETED
SpookyD: DELETED
SpookyE: DELETED

-Objects-
Fountain: DELETED

-Terrain-
35% Normal
65% Lava

-Navi-
Radiance.EXE: 50HP [Lava] [Submerged]

~Battle 2: Victory!!~
Rewards: 600z
"Hey, I think I'm finally figuring this thing out a bit," Radiance said, swinging her lantern in front of her face. The lantern...did exactly nothing. "Or...not?"

"It appears to respond to the presence of hostile data signatures. Viruses, mostly, although I suspect it would have the same reaction to a navi attacking you," Ross said, tapping away on his keyboard as he talked. "Not that I would be in a hurry to test that."

"Um...what are you doing? What's that clicking noise?"

"Oh, sorry," Ross said, adjusting the PET microphone's volume. "I'm taking notes, and trying to figure out just what that lantern of yours is."

"It's a lantern. Obviously." Radiance folded her arms.

Ross sighed. "Just...keep moving. We're still on a time limit here. Probably." He chose not to think too much about the fact that if they weren't on a time limit, that meant it had already run out. Instead, he concentrated on his note taking. They said that a live demonstration of a concept was easier to understand than a lecture, but...most of the time such a demonstration usually came with some form of explanation of what the observers were seeing. In this case...less so.

((Battle 3))
Drawn to the lava, and the destruction of their statue, a pack of fiery wolves descended the hill that Radiance was climbing. They seemed to move in tandem with each other, as if the numbers advantage gave them better coordination of their movements.

-Enemies-
SpikeyA: 90HP [Pack Tactics]
SpikeyB: 90HP [Pack Tactics]
SpikeyC: 90HP [Pack Tactics]
SpikeyD: 90HP [Pack Tactics]
SpikeyE: 90HP [Pack Tactics]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navi-
Radiance.EXE: 50HP

~Battle 3: Start!!~
A bunch of wolves came next, apparently drawn to the lava that was no longer actually there. Radiance froze on the spot, staring at all of them. One, two, three, four, five in all. And they looked pretty unpleasant. Not to mention moving as one group. That...was bad. Radiance was already in worse condition than he had realized, but to have her freezing up when she already didn't really know how to fight was even worse. "Okay, I know what you're thinking," he started, trying to think of something to reassure the all-too-innocent Navi on the fly.

"That these guys look warm and fuzzy and that I'd want to try riding one if they weren't trying to kill me?" Radiance asked. The fear in her voice was evident, despite her words, but...where had that even come from?!

"Okay, I have no idea what you're thinking."

"I just told you! Duhh!" Radiance answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ross put his head in his hands again. "That aside, what do I do?"

Finally, something he could work with! Lifting his head up to look at the battlefield through the screen again, Ross quickly put a strategy together. A painfully simple one. "Okay, I need you to do the exact same thing you did last battle. With the lava and the...this chip." It pained him, but he was starting to get the hang of explaining things in simple terms. He loaded up the Gaia1 chip again, watching Radiance's slightly less surprised than before reaction at receiving chip data.

"What do you mean? What did I do, what did I do..."

Face, meet palm once again. Ross stared blankly at Radiance's confused state. Chris took the moment to interject over him. "That thing you were so proud of."

"Oh, that!" Radiance said. Her lantern flared up as she remembered, and the next thing either of them knew, a shockwave of raw destructive energy washed over the field. Where it passed, lava was left in its wake, courtesy of Radiance's SetLava NCP. Meanwhile, while the Spikeys were hopefully dealing with that, or being deleted (preferably the latter), Radiance dove straight into the lava. No tripping and falling or anything like that, just dropped right in and hoped any return fire would pass overhead.


*SetLava: Large Area Terrain Change: Lava
1. Gaia1: 100+Ground+to all
2. Dodge
3. Submerge in lava
The Spikey horde moves in, baying and frothing incendiary spittle as they closed in on their lone target...who was packing significantly heavier heat than they were used to. The sudden appearance of a seething pool of lava startled the group, but didn't cause any actual harm thanks to their shared Fire element. The sudden Gaia-birthed wave of lava, on the other hand, more than covered the damage factor, swamping every last member of the pack with molten earth.

And then Radiance took a swim in molten lava; the health benefits were questionable, but the dip certainly wasn't owing to any true need to dodge any attacks, thanks to the terrifying effectiveness of the first attack.

-Viruses-
SpikeyA: SLAM
SpikeyB: BAM
SpikeyC: THANK
SpikeyD: YOU
SpikeyE: MA'AM

-Terrain-
35% Normal
65% Lava

-Navi-
Radiance.EXE: 50HP

-BATTLE #3: M-M-M-MONSTER KILL!!-
Rewards: Heatshot, 450z
Well. That worked surprisingly well that time. Maybe because the wolves couldn't teleport. Radiance poked her head up first, to find that all of them had been defeated by the wave. With that dealt with, she climbed out of the lava and brushed off some of the runoff. "Easy enough, I guess. I'm controlling it a bit better, too. I could even do it on command that time!"

"That's...good, I think," Ross said, loading up a MiniEnergy subchip. "Take this before you go on. You're not exactly in good shape at the moment."

"Why didn't you give me this before?" Radiance asked as more unfamiliar data and scripts appeared in her mind. This one was supposed to heal her, apparently.

"I was taking notes!"

"Sounds like you should have been paying more attention." That earned yet another facepalm. "So, where are we going again?"

"That up ahead. What'd you call it? Some kind of Stargazing spot?"

"Oh! Stargazer's Lookout!" Radiance said. She looked back up towards the hill. It was pretty close now, just a few minutes walk out. She could still see smoke rising from the far side, but it didn't sound like there was still any fighting. Hopefully the bear would have moved on or been deleted. And if she was really lucky, everyone would still be okay.


[Battle 4. Using MiniEnergy subchip.]
Radiance heals herself up to ship-shape (somewhere, a nautical-themed Navi sneezes) and continues along her way. She eventually makes it right to the foot of the hill, surface littered with RockCubes and assorted debris. Three Metools cower behind an unearthed bit of terrain, while a horde of stronger viruses bear down on them with clearly malicious intent. A Teddy waddles around the field of debris, while two Swordy viruses brandish their energy swords, hunting the Metools down. Two Kabutanks are set back a short distance away, slightly up the hill and using the high ground to pepper the field with bombs.

The Metools look back at the Navi interloper, pleading evident in their eyes. What would Radiance do?

-Hunting Party-
Teddy: 100HP
SwordyA: 60HP
SwordyB: 60HP
KabutankA: 80HP [1 Movement away]
KabutankB: 80HP [1 Movement away]

-The Hunted- [All clustered behind RockCubeA]
MetoolA: 40HP
MetoolB: 40HP
MetoolC: 40HP

-Objects- [Scattered randomly, A being closest to Radiance, E being farthest]
RockCubeA: 200HP
RockCubeB: 200HP
RockCubeC: 200HP
RockCubeD: 200HP
RockCubeE: 200HP

-Terrain-
85% Normal
15% Cracked [Random patches]

-The Interloper-
Radiance.EXE: 100HP

-KING OF THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL-
-BATTLE #4: BEGIN!
Oh...that was...a pretty dire situation there. Radiance could easily recognize the sheer disadvantage between the two sides. One was just a group of metools, like the ones she'd seen dressed up like bears earlier, while the other were a group of battle-ready viruses clearly hunting them down. She knew Ross was going to suggest to ignore them, or fight them all, so she chimed in before he could. "Hey, we've got to help the hat guys!" she said.

Ross blinked. 'Hat guys'? "The mets are viruses too. We should just do the same thing we've been doing. Wipe 'em all out at once," he said.

Next to him, Chris laughed. "You're fighting a losing battle there, man. Might as well indulge her."

"Fine. But if it comes back to bite her, it's not on me," he said, shutting off the PET's microphone for a second. It wasn't enough to avoid also hearing Radiance's protests, though, so he had something to respond to when he turned it back on. "Fine, you want to help them? Listen to me very carefully then, or you're going to get both them and yourself killed. Got it?" Radiance nodded and made a small sound of understanding. "Good. Okay, first, we're going to go after the bear. Don't complain. Just do it before it starts throwing things. I'm sending you a couple chips that should do the job."

"Right..." Radiance looked up towards the bear virus. Nothing like the giant monstrosity she'd seen earlier. Actually it was pretty cute, more like the one she saw in the park when she came in. But if it was hunting the mets too, she had to put it down. Attack scripts appeared in her mind a second later, along with short, simple notes. With a chip that looked like a stump thing with a long, pointy nose, 'throw it behind'. And with a chip that bore the icon of one of the wolves she'd just wiped out not too long ago, 'just shoot at it'. She had no idea what they meant, but they started to come together as the first one loaded and a seed appeared in her hand. "Okay, throw it," Radiance repeated under her breath. She drew her arm back, and threw it as hard as she could over the Teddy. She'd tried to aim where the seed would land behind it, where, according to the attack script, it would sprout into the stump-looking guy and stab the bear with its nose. Maybe one of the knight viruses too, if it was close enough.

The next script loaded up, causing Radiance's lantern to flare up. "Shoot it...like this?" Radiance asked, holding the lantern up so that she could see through the flames to the bear. A shotgun blast of the fire erupted from it as she did, aimed squarely at the Teddie. Once it was off, Radiance took evasive maneuvers, in case a bomb or a sword came her way. She was starting to get the hang of this 'dodging' thing, at least.


1. WoodyNose: throw behind Teddy, then 70 Wood+Knockback+Backstab+Ground+Longsword Range to it and SwordyA (if in range)
2. FireHit1: 40+fire+spread1 to Teddy
3. Dodge
The Teddy watches with dull, sleepy eyes the seed that sails over its head, landing somewhere behind it. Satisfied the attack had missed, it makes to waddle over a RockCube, only for the WuNote to pop up and stab it right in its fluffy behind. All sopor forgotten, it roars in Radiance's direction, and effortlessly hoists the nearest stone high above its head...only for the Navi's HeatShot to forcefully remove it from the surface of the Net; the Cube falls to the ground where it had just stood, scorched and blackened.

The Metools watch their savior's assault with something akin to hero-worship in their eyes, the battle forgotten...and promptly squeak in alarm as a Kabutank's bomb falls just short of their RockCube, shockwave blasting them with heat and pressure. Two of them immediately hop into their helmets, and not a moment too soon, either, for the next bomb is bang on target. One Metool chooses to weather the blast; it winces, but nonetheless sends its mattock into the ground, sending a shockwave straight through its cover and blasting a roving Swordy...the same Swordy, in fact, that Radiance had just tried and failed to hit.

The assaulted virus huffs in displeasure, rushing to the covered Metools. Its Longsword goes straight through their RockCube, but fails to hit the unguarded virus on the other side. The other Swordy and Kabutank focus more on the more immediate threat, the Kabutank's bombs dropping down from the hilltop. One bomb, much like the first Kabutank's assault, falls short, and Radiance weaves around the wide blast of the second. The Swordy then has a go, but once again, the Navi is just a bit too quick for its blade to hit, nicking a cube on its way but little else.

-Hunting Party-
Teddy: DELETED
SwordyA: 50HP [In front of RockCubeA]
SwordyB: 60HP [In front of Radiance]
KabutankA: 80HP [1 Movement away]
KabutankB: 80HP [1 Movement away]

-The Hunted- [All clustered behind RockCubeA]
MetoolA: 30HP
MetoolB: 40HP [Guarding!]
MetoolC: 40HP [Guarding!]

-Objects- [Scattered randomly, A being closest to Radiance, E being farthest]
RockCubeA: 180HP
RockCubeB: 185HP
RockCubeC: 160HP
RockCubeD: 200HP
RockCubeE: 200HP

-Terrain-
85% Normal
15% Cracked [Random patches]

-The Interloper-
Radiance.EXE: 100HP