ACDC Virtual Park

By the time Dare was done speaking, VultureMan was being forcefull by restrained the giant HeelNavi, and even he was struggling mightily to contain his boss. "BOSS, YOU NEED TO COOL IT! EVERYONE'S LOOKING AT YOU!"

"..." Though still glaring angrily at the speaker, the black bird Navi managed to regain his composure enough to stomp over to her. "Now see here, exhaust for brains! One thing I hate more than a sore loser is a sore winner! This ain't a wresting match, and-"

"If I may say something..." ShamanMan stepped(?) forward, hanging his 'head' low. "I...actually sent the signal the instant he jacked in. Thus, he was technically on the clock. Admittedly, I disagree strongly with that logic, but as the rules are stated, it counts. Had I sent it any later, it would have simply resulted in a 10 point penalty, and a redo. And had he beaten the signal, there would have been no penalty at all."

"See? No rules violation, he just blew it!...Wait, what am I saying?!" VultureMan cringed as he realized he was badmouthing his own cause. But then again, he had an even more important cause here: the cause of looking like the genius he knew he was. "Oh, and one more thing. How DARE you accuse me of leaving out rules on purpose! I don't even need to do that to whip chumps like you! And if we DID have to spell out every rule, we'd be here until Netopian Independence Day! They're actually quite thorough!"

All this time, PhoenixMan remained entirely stoic...until Ante addressed him, at which point he cracked a smile. "It's not a problem. In fact, I'm happy you two feel that way. I think I was getting too focused on winning, to be honest...thank you for snapping me out of it." That said, he pocketed the coin data...wait, pocketed it? Either he was refusing payment, or he was going to..."Hey, VultureMan! It seems my side is all in agreement...we should redo the end of this event. At the very least, give Dare and your HeelNavi friend one more shot."

"Ugh..." Clutching the side of his helmet, the dark Navi turned (very nearly hitting Dare in the face with an outstretched wing) and walked back to his pair of HeelNavis. "I gotta hand it to you...only you could've hired people as big a goody two shoes as yourself! The rules say absolutely everyone has to agree to any changes...but what do me and the boys have to lose? Let's go! Like Fireboobs can top him when he's actually trying!"

"Man, I'm so glad our opponents are morons...gimme that second chance!"

"I DON'T MIND, SO LONG AS IT'S JUST THAT GIRL AND MY PAL HERE!"

The judges looked at each other, a bit surprised at this development. The girls seemed to be gathering their thoughts, so ShamanMan went first. "If you are all in agreement...then I have no objections."

"...I had a feeling this was going to happen as soon as that fire girl jacked in...well, don't let me stop anyone. Just keep in mind that I'll deduct points if you're too similar to last time. That's not a rule, that's just me giving you a friendly warning."

"Well, I'd look silly if I said no, wouldn't I? Let the games begin...again!"

"And there you have it. That's everyone. Score erasure, go!" Dare's and the HeelNavi's scores instantly vanished. "We're not going any further back, because that's a massive pain! So if you don't like it, make your own event!"

"Works for me." And thus did the firebird turn back to his teammates. "That's all I can do. The rest is all up to you, Dare."

====================
SCOREBOARD
====================

- PhoenixMan 90 80 90
- Giant HeelNavi 90 90 100
- Ante 75 100 95
- VultureMan 90 70 90
- Dare
- HeelNavi

Revived PETs: 530
PET Carrion: 530

"You say 'thorough' and I say 'archaic,'" Dare countered, not backing down an inch as VultureMan had his say (or shriek). "Any good competition clearly explains the its rules to its competitors before the match, or else gives them a chance to bone up outside of the actual competition. The fact that you had two technical rule fumbles shows just how hard you fail." The Navi probably wasn't helping her image, but when she got riled up in an argument, it became a challenge itself. "I was just giving you the benefit of the doubt, implying you were intentionally hiding rules! So you're not crafty, just incompetent?"

Dare's intense grin fell to a bit of a befuddled frown as she heard the ruling everyone went with, though. Of course, there was no way she could back out of it now, but she really wasn't enthused about redoing this competition... She'd been banking on the fact that everyone would agree with her proposal to just move forward. The Navi pressed her shades to the bridge of her nose as she began racking her brains for what she could do.

She was really in a tight spot... Dare thought she'd made a great entrance that was fully representative of her style the first time around. Unfortunately, the fact that she used ALL of her tricks turned out to be a curse for her here. Since that score was thrown out, she'd basically relegated all of her coolest techniques to being low-score "repeats" for zero gain.

She knew she wouldn't be able to buy much time, since she was first up, but Dare still didn't want to do her brainstorming in front of the burning gazes of her intended audience. "Don't worry, guys, I'll come up with something awesome again. I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place if I didn't have that confidence," she assured PhoenixMan and Ante, cracking her knuckles. "But you! I'd worry a lot!" she declared, pointing at her unfortunately unexciting adversary, trying to rile herself up before disappearing in her trademark bike squeal.

((Jack out))

"Thank you all. I'm sure it will be worth all of our whiles," Ante replied with a curtsey, then watched as Dare jacked out. She had to wonder what Dare had in store for a second jack-in. While guests might be entertained for hours watching motorcycles (or roller skaters?) do stunts at a bike rally (ice show?), she was willing to bet that the judges would get bored if she did the same thing over again.

"Well, I'm glad that you're willing to entertain our egos," the newly-discovered princess laughed to PhoenixMan, crossing her hands at her lap. "If you'll pardon my intrusion, however, I am still curious: why did you need charming women for the competition?" She wasn't worried about it, particularly, but she had to hope he simply hadn't heard the question and wasn't trying to dodge answering the question... because fate had a way of putting her in positions where "charming women" would be wanted. Then again, they seemed to have really gotten most of the rules out of the way up front. But she couldn't help but wonder why VultureMan hadn't brought any women... unless one of those heelnavis was going to turn out to be one. Did Heelnavis come in other genders?

Pondering all of this, Ante stared wistfully at the pink squirrel statue. So many questions.

As soon as Dare jacked out, so did the HeelNavi, so that he wouldn't violate any rules by being there, or something. VultureMan just rolled his eyes at the fiery competitor's remarks, and leaned against his larger henchman to watch the entry. "Heh, I'll admit...if that chick has as big an entrance as her whining, we're in trouble!"

PhoenixMan responded by rolling his eyes in turn, before turning to Ante. "My bad, Ante. Got kinda caught up in that whole...thing. Anyway, I can't say specifically why, but let's just say that I think some events will go better with ladies on the team. Though, now that you mention it..." He looked over at VultureMan, and narrowed his eyes a bit. "His team is all male, isn't it? Which either means that he's not worried about those events, or he's up to something. And he wouldn't give up on even one event if he could help it...which means that he thinks he has an ace in the hole. So stay alert. If you see anything even slightly odd, let me know."

Meanwhile, ShamanMan created another spiritual flame, and sent it over to Dare's PET. Hopefully, she had thought of something in that span...

Dare was pacing the floor furiously, accidentally raising sparks as her feet shuffled across the surface of the Net. In spite of all her bravado, she really couldn't think of anything to go with... if she came out with something lame now, she would be a laughingstock. Her mind flitted between all of the amused and pitying expressions of those gathered, and lingered on Ante's (although her delusions were really having a hard time deciding which of the two Ante would have). "Think, think...! I can't believe I've already blown the first impression..."

Bruce, who wasn't used to seeing Dare out of her element during a competition, ripped his attention from the cheese bread he was shoveling down to offer up a pep talk. "You fink youf reauhy buhown it?" he spoke around his food.

"Hey, quit and let me think a sec! I don't think I need advice on impressions from a guy looking like that on a date," she snapped, cocking a dry grin momentarily.

Surprisingly taking her advice, Bruce gulped down his food and tried to look serious for a moment. "But I think you're selling yourself short. Look, I designed you so I already know you're the hottest thing on the Net. The judges didn't want to knock down your score, they had to because of the stupid rules! They want what you're selling, but, uh... for whatever crazy reason, they seem to want to stick to this contest's rules more."

"I don't blame 'em for that. A competition referee has a sacred role," Dare replied, seeming to calm down.

"Anyhow, that's besides the point. What I'm getting at is there are a million different ways to be on-fire, the trick is you've just gotta do it fast. And not just 'a lot of stuff in a short period' fast... it's gotta be instant. The only thing you're judged on is how you look coming out of the gate. I don't believe that my Navi can't come up with something for that."

"You're right! Why mess with perfection?" Dare thought. "I just need to think of something surprising, something even I've never tried before..." With her head cleared, Dare came up with an idea almost instantly, pounding her fist into her palm in the universal gesture of the light bulb coming on.

"That's it!" Dare shouted, adopting a stance like a runner. She was lucky the wisp had just shown up, because she took off for her entrance as soon as the idea came to her... a second earlier, and she probably would have been disqualified for coming before the bell.

Dare began firing from her boot engines, the tail pipes kicking up more and more fire until she was surrounded by flames. Halfway through the process, she took off her shades, sweat visibly beginning to drip from her skin in the heat. With no warning, she suddenly dashed forward, now completely engulfed in flames. She placed her foot down to begin a skidding slide just as she jacked back into the competition.

"Whooooooooooooo!!" she shouted as loudly as possible, sliding into the Net as a flaming silhouette. She had re-summoned her shades just a microsecond earlier, allowing their brightly shining lenses to be visible through the flame that engulfed the rest of her body. As she suddenly came to a stop from her blinding speed, the wind whipping past her body caused the flame to trail behind and then snap forward. She allowed it to die down, revealing her grinning face (and body only slightly burnt: after all, while she'd never exactly tried it, she wouldn't have covered her own body in fire if she didn't think she could control it). Heedless of the small flames that still licked around her, every nerve in Dare's body was tensed for the announcement of the judges. It seemed like she might stand there until she burned to the ground if a verdict didn't come quickly.

"I agree; on the battlefield, I discard gender, as it is nothing more than a meaningless distraction. Off the field, however, the refined behavior of a lady is indispensable," Ante agreed with PhoenixMan, smiling to show she was reassured. She had to hope that he was referring to the culture and mannerisms of a woman of class and not simply the physical attributes of a woman that she and Dare share, but she found herself doubting that would be the case. "I will certainly keep an eye out. I certainly do wonder how they'll compete if it comes down to a woman's competition. Ah, er, a competition of elegance, that is."

Dare and Bruce were having some private conversation; Ante wasn't able to pick up all that much of it, so she turned to Teruko. "What do you think? Anticipating some treachery in the upcoming matches? As a frequent gambler, you must know a thing or two about those who would cheat to win," Ante asked awkwardly, trying to spur her operator to some conversation. Due to her date with Bruce, Teruko hadn't really been in the game.

"Huh? I dunno, I was just watching Bruce talk with his mouth full of cheesebread. He's got to cut back on that," she sighed, shaking her head. "What's this contest about?"

"Oh, it's a redo... nevermind," Ante murmured, now shaking her own head. Dare was done with her strat-talk now and had moved on to the main event, which turned out to be some lungwork, but more importantly, setting herself on fire. At first this wasn't so concerning for two reasons: first of all, she was a professional stunt actor, she was probably wearing a fire-proof suit like in the movies. The second was that Dare was a fire navi, so it didn't matter. However, when Ante gave it some more thought, she realized that, first of all, she had proof from earlier scenarios that Dare's clothes would burn. Secondly, she remembered that the "fire navis don't burn" thing was a myth; while lava didn't hurt them, most would receive the same pain from catching fire and burning that an ordinary person would. Not realizing that Dare was controlling the fire to some extent, she clasped one hand to her mouth nervously. "My goodness... I hope she knows what she's doing..." she thought to herself.

"I hope she doesn't burn herself out!" Teruko added, putting Ante's worry in the form of a pun.

And so Dare made her entry. The judges' initial expressions were a bit inconclusive: ShamanMan had no face to express with, Syki looked half-bored, and Lite just looked on with big eyes like a total idiot. The three conferred with each other for a moment, before putting up their scores...

95 100 90

"That was great! Nice and flashy! No complaints here!"

"I could feel your very soul shine through with that entrance, all the way over here...I can't give anything less than perfect marks for that!"

"I myself could have done without the shout...but aside from that, I can find no faults. Excellent job!"

VultureMan looked blankly at the scoreboard, doing the best he could to not shout incoherently. ".........."

"I HOPE HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING, OR ELSE WE'RE TOAST..." At least the giant HeelNavi was able to articulate his thoughts without giving everyone a screeching headache. Mostly.

"Will that fire go out naturally, or must someone put it-" Some telekinetically moved dirt answered that question, though the psychic Navi responsible for it made sure to completely avoid Dare herself with it. "...Never mind. Are we all ready?" Mass nodding. "Very well. The final signal...has been sent!"

Once again, a standard purple jack in beam emerged from the sky...but this time, it went straight through the ground. A few moments later, a vortex of darkness appeared, from which the HeelNavi rose, with his fists raised high in the air. ...That was it. That was all he had. The other Navis looked at each other, and gave their results...

50 20 40

"LAAAAAAAAME! You just ripped off some of your teammates' entrances and called it good! Honestly, I think I'm being way too generous with my score..."

"Oh, you are. That was absolutely pathetic. You should've stuck with your first entry, at least you had an excuse that time."

"I am afraid it was lackluster. As Lite mentioned, you did little more than try to copy your teammates, and I cannot say you even did a fair job of that."

With surprising calmness, VultureMan walked over, put his hand on the HeelNavi's shoulder...and lifted him into the air. "Care to explain why you choked? Hard?"

"Sorry, boss! I saw that fireball show up, and I kinda panicked...!"

"Oh, if we lose this competition because of this, you'll have a MUCH better reason to panic!" The black bird Navi flung his minion onto the ground, and turned to the still victorious PhoenixMan. "Fine, so your arm candy isn't completely stupid! But we'll see how long that lasts!"

"...Good job to you, too." Now, for the post-event 1 pep talk! "Great job, Dare. If it makes you feel any better about having to do it again, I honestly thought that second entrance was cooler." With that, new money data packets formed in his hands, which were then presented to Ante and Dare. "I rounded up, since it's easier to code multiples of 10 with zenny, for whatever reason. I think this time we can all agree that you've earned it."

Ante and Dare GET: 820z

With the money received, the official scoreboard finally got an update, and the 0 next to Revived PETs changed to a lovely 1. "There is no doubting it, Revived PETs has won Event 1! But it is still quite early...PET Carrion may still yet make a comeback!"

"...You may wanna leave the color commentary to someone else. That was awful."

"Yep, terrible!"

The witch doctor Navi said nothing, but did turn to look at his fellow judges for a moment...

====================
SCOREBOARD
====================

Revived PETs 1
PET Carrion 0

- PhoenixMan 90 80 90
- Giant HeelNavi 90 90 100
- Ante 75 100 95
- VultureMan 90 70 90
- Dare 95 100 90
- HeelNavi 50 20 40

Revived PETs: 815
PET Carrion: 640

= EVENT 1 WINNER: Revived PETs =

Dare grinned her widest as she got a look at her numbers, patting out a few lingering flames on her suit as an afterthought. "I knew I was the best," Dare spoke to herself. "Well, heh, it would have been pretty sad if I let judges declare a HeelNavi more exciting than me. I can't decide if-"

Dare stopped speaking to herself and took a brief moment to watch the last entry.

"... I can't decide if the first or second was better. That last one really had some oomph!" Dare even let herself have a little laugh as she gradually managed to calm down from her giddiness. She paused and put a hand to her chin, resting the elbow on the other hand as she saw the combined scores. "Now that I think about it, I was being kind of a jerk to Ante, trying to push her to try and beat me in a contest she never had any chance of winning. I should probably put it off until we aren't working together, or at least until there's a more fair one... Aaagh, but Ante's speechless face as she saw me come out!" Dare reminisced, mistaking Ante's concern for awe. "I wanna brag so bad!

Dare decided on a compromise between apologizing and bragging: doing neither. "Yeah, no sweat, my man," she responded to their leader. "The only person better than me at anything is me in the future. Like I'd accept the challenge if I didn't have something in mind," she scoffed, lying both about the possibility of ever refusing a challenge and the fact that she'd had anything in mind. "Appreciate the zenny, but if you really wanna pay me back, just promise not to choke me if I blow the next one, all right?"

Pocketing the data, Dare turned back to her supposedly destined rival. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. What'd you do for your performance? Did you show 'em your world famous pole dance?" the Navi teased, ribbing Ante with her elbow.

Ante was able to calm down once she realized that Dare, apparently, wasn't in any real danger. Furthermore, she'd managed to come out successful in her redo... that was good, because pissing off the judges by making them rehost the event and then under-performing on top of that would be a good way to shoot down their chances of victory early. "If she keeps setting fire to her clothes, though, I won't be the only navi who has to worry about losing all of her own clothes and dignity during her performances," Ante thought to herself.

When it came time for the other heelnavi's entrance, Ante was even more neglectful than her ally and forgot to watch entirely. "Thank you, PheonixMan," she responded simply. She was feeling pretty good about the opening act, until Dare started poking fun at her again. "P-Poledancing? I've never done anything like that! Don't be absurd..." she responded, averting eye contact. Her stomach felt a little upset all of a sudden... the taste of a fruity beverage played inside her mouth... had she ended up pole dancing at some point in the past and entirely forgotten about it? Was Dare there? She sincerely hoped the answer to both questions was no.

"No, you did!" Teruko corrected her, causing Ante to jump off of her heels briefly. "Remember, when I had that night out with Ariel and John? We all got super drunk and you ended up poledancing to distract the enemies or something? I mean, I never figured out why you had to do it that way exactly, but you were hanging upside down and running your leg up it and-"

"No, no! Y-You were the drunk one, I never did any of that! La la la laalaalaaaa, lala la la la laalaalaaaa!" Ante sang quietly, pulling her wide-brimmed hat down on both sides to cover her ears and block out her operator's accusations. "You were so drunk you were seeing things, Teruko. Now, can we please put all of those strange, wild fantasies behind us and focus on the rest of the competition? There's no reason to talk about anything that vulgar and unrealistic in a competition like this, where such skills, imagined or otherwise, will be completely useless to the task at hand," she lectured, clutching her staff with her left hand while waving her right index finger at her partner to reprimand her for the joke.

"...Is that so?" Anyone could see that PhoenixMan wanted to say more than that to Dare, but managed to restrain himself...mostly. "Well, be that as it may, overconfidence invites disaster, or so the saying goes...let's just stay focused. We've won the first event, but there's a lot of competition left to go. And I for one have no desire to lose this." He turned to Ante as there were (possibly false) stories about her pole dancing. He raised an eyebrow, but it somehow managed to come across as more...concerned by the idea, than intrigued by it. "...I think I can safely say that there's nothing like that in any of the challenges, so either way, you won't need to worry about it."

"Boring! Well, except the pole dancing part, that could be hot!" Despite probably setting a new personal record of going an entire minute without antagonizing anyone, VultureMan flew over to the trio, apparently not wanting to look like TOO decent a guy by letting the conversation continue. "Me and my crew are all set to even the score, so how about less talking and more action?"

"...Fine."

"Good! All right, big guy, you didn't look like a total chump in that last event, so you get to push the big red button!"

"HOORAY!" The giant HeelNavi, who had somehow gone over to the giant machine without anyone noticing (and how he did ANYTHING without getting noticed was a mystery), pressed the button, causing a bunch of event names that were way too fast to read to flash on the screen. Additionally, the scores of the first event vanished with the press, so any admiring of that final score was officially over. Now, what would the second event be...?

"...Target Test! Another star event! Excellent!"

"Why do I get the feeling a lot of the events are starred...?"

"What, don't tell me you're so lame that some extra stakes doesn't interest you! Well, anyway, here's the rules! Actually, forget that, seeing is believing! Hit the red button again!" The button was silently pressed, causing...a rather bizzare series of floating platforms to appear in each cardinal direction. Scattered throughout were some equally floating targets, presumably what named the event. "This event consists of progressing through the rudimentary obstacle course, blasting the ten targets into smithereens! All methods of attack, including BattleChips, are permitted, EXCEPT for the standard buster shot! As in, your arm turns into a gun, and you fire stuff, or anything suspiciously resembling that! The judges can disqualify you if you violate them! Let's see, what else...you can only use your own chips, no trading with anyone else! Oh, and as you can see, this obstacle course is designed to be completed using only two dimensions! Why? Because I felt like it when I designed it!"

"The course is designed so that a Navi of average physical ability can complete it, so you don't need to be super athletic to clear it. In fact, besides that first target, it's entirely possible to destroy every target simply by punching or kicking them."

"Although if anyone did that, it'd be lame! As for the targets themselves, any attack of any power will destroy them. You don't need to get a bull's eye, just hitting them anywhere does the job. They'll automatically face you, so you'll always have as big an area to hit as possible. And since they can't and don't move, only a complete moron could miss them with a good shot! Though, if you try anything fancy, I can't guarantee anything! Anyway, lowest combined time wins! And, I think that's it."

"One other thing...because we can both fly, VultureMan and I won't be participating in this event. It'll just be Ante and Dare versus the HeelNavis."

"Oh, right, that. Because of that, win or lose, we don't get any of the rewards."

"Speaking of which, what ARE the rewards?"

"Well, they're...a secret this time! I know what they are, but I'm not telling until after the results are in!"

"...Wonderful." The firebird Navi looked over at his hired hands. "So, anything else that needs to be covered, or are you all set? All four areas are identical, so just pick whichever one you feel like."



Handy Guide to the Course Visual:

START - Each Navi starts here.
Numbers - The number each target is assigned. Specify what target(s) is/are getting whacked.
Light Gray Mushroom Looking Thing: A spring that you can bounce on to reach the next level, but not any higher than that.
Sea Green - Sticky walls. Navis can freely climb along them.
Gray Ladder Looking Things: A ladder. They're used to climb where there aren't any sticky walls. Duh.

Useful Target Info and Tips:

Aside from Targets 2 and 3, no targets share the exact same vertical or horizontal coordinates. 1 and 6 may look like it, but 6 is slightly lower in altitude.

1 - This target requires an attack with better than Melee range to hit.
2 - It's about 10 feet from the ledge, but it IS possible to hit without chips.
3 - It's okay to touch the ground if you need to in order to destroy a target. No penalty or anything.
4 - The pit this target is in is about 10 feet deep on the sticky side, 11 feet on the non-sticky side.
5 - It is in fact possible to hit this target without a chip. Difficult, but possible.
6 - It's about a 10-12 foot drop from the upper platform to the lower area with the target.
7 - This target is 6 feet above the ground from where the ladder is.
8 - A Navi can freely jump from any point of a sticky wall if they desire.
9 - In case it's not evident, that's a sticky ceiling the ladder takes you to.
10 - The only possible way to completely fail this event is to drop into this target's area with no way to get out, and the other nine targets aren't already destroyed.

EXTRA NOTES:

- Attacks with spread, Wide Attack, etc., will work solely on the vertical plane. For instance, a SideGun's spread will move directly up and down in this event.

- The entire event will require exactly one post for each Navi. If you have something that might not be guaranteed to work, PM me with that part of the post, and I'll let you know if went as planned or not. Well written risks are more likely to succeed than poorly written ones.

- Final time will be determined by each Navi's strategy and RP.

"Haha," Dare laughed, feeling like she'd gotten the rise out of Ante she'd expected and failing to notice anything peculiar beyond that. "And I've got the confidence to invite disaster whenever I want," Dare replied to PhoenixMan, pointing at him dramatically. "In fact, I keep the guest bed made up in case it ever drops in! Let's get on to the next one." The Navi smacked a fist into her open palm, watching the events flash and trying to picture scenarios for the end. "Wouldn't it be cool if Ante won the next one, and then we got to go head to head with everything on the line in the last match...? Not that I have any intention of handing over a win in even one round."

"Target test, huh?" Dare listened to the rules with one hand to her chin. "Well, that sounds pretty doable. And hey, would you look at that! Since the deciding factor is time, this is another one where I'll really shine! Aren't you lucky to have me on your team?"

"Hold up a sec, Dare," Bruce interrupted. He had stopped what he was doing and was digging through his folder. "Uh... how many targets did they say there were?"

"10, Bruce. What's Teruko doing that's got you so distracted?"

"Really not much of anything, we're still waiting for food. But I mean, 10's a tough number for us, isn't it?" Bruce muttered, lowering his voice as if he could somehow hide this embarrassing tidbit when he and Teruko were sitting right across from each other.

"Pfft, 10 non-moving targets and an obstacle course? You know how humans count sheep to fall asleep? I practically run obstacle courses and beat up bad guys during my shutdown routine. This'll be a piece of cake!"

"Well, yeah, but that's just it, that's in your dreams," Bruce snapped. "Look, I dunno how to tell you this, but I'm counting 7 chips in our folder," he spoke, getting especially whispery now. "And I don't even know how you use two of them."

Dare frowned momentarily, taking a pause to look through their stock. "Geez, Bruce, what do I even count on you operating for? Building up our folder is your job!"

"Hey, you're the one who thinks virus busting is too boring and won't get off her butt to help us build up a decent folder. Anyway, all I'm saying is, if you can't use your buster, you're really going to have to make these chips count."

Dare continued sorting through the chips, occasionally glancing back at the course. Her mouth intermittently worked in an unconscious way, as though talking to herself. Mentally, she worked through the when-and-where required to best accomplish her goal with her limited stock...

Finishing, she cocked her head to the side momentarily, grinning her usual best. "Well! Maybe I'll hand this one to Ante after all... but she isn't getting it without a fight." She made a leisurely stroll over to the start line, calling back to PhoenixMan. "Nah, I think I get the idea of this one. Don't worry, with me on your side there's no way they're getting a time trial. And Ante!" she shouted to her would-be rival. "I know you've got the goods for it, so don't disappoint me! Think of it like you're racing my ghost and that ought to get you pumped up! Maybe take off your high-heels for this one, all right?" With that, Dare hit the spring, doing a spin in midair and landing gracefully, intending to intimidate her opponents with her physical abilities before the match even began.

Ante moved along to the start line, holding a passive expression. Hitting targets would be a cakewalk, but doing so speedily would be far more difficult. She was the type to take it slow in battle... not to hesitate, but certainly not to rush. She couldn't help but wish she had the unique acceleration abilities of her friend... which is to say, motorcycle engines in her shoes, apparently. Frankly, she kept up on physical training more than a princess could be expected to, but that still wasn't enough to make her the streamlined, athletic type preferred by most operators of battle navis. Whoever had designed her must have thought that athletic definition would run counter to being an effective princess, as if being limited to a figure head was necessary for her role.

Luckily, her ability to summon weapons was not lacking. In that way, she and Dare were like mirror images, only with their weaknesses in reverse. Ante had the arsenal but not the mobility, and Dare was fast but apparently had no folder.

On a related note, Teruko was taking the opportunity to laugh at her date. "Haha! Seven chips? What happens when you run out, do you climb into your PET and help her?" she joked, forgetting that not so long ago, she had been a newbie relying on a girl at her gym for help. Ante chuckled, thinking to herself that it was amusing Teruko could be attracted to such an unreliable person. Her operator woke her back up with another jab. "Speaking of which, for a navi of mine, you've got a lot of nerve, neglecting your own exercise! You think just cause you can't get fat, that means you can afford to slack off? Out of practice is out of practice!"

"Come now. Running is so simple that even a child could do it," the navi sighed, despite her ongoing misgivings.

"Nuh uh! Even in battle you use a shield instead of dodging, right? You even make those big guys do all your heavy lifting!" Teruko complained. "Laziness goes right to the thighs!"

"L-Leave my thighs out of this," Ante murmured. "I will perform to the best of my capabilities. You have my word," she finished, heading to the starting line. PhoenixMan informed her that she didn't need to be super athletic to leave a good impression, but now the worry was firmly rooted in her mind... as it always was regardless. Maybe she really didn't belong in a contest or on a battlefield with her lack of physical training?

Dare calmed the mood with some nonsense or other about a ghost. Not understanding references to modern racing games, the reference was lost on Ante completely. "Remove my high heels? And go barefooted? I think not," she chuckled dryly, disregarding the fact that she was likely to lose her boots one way or another over the course of the day's events. "I will devise some way or another to keep up, never you mind."

"Just remember, you can use more than chips to destroy them. Any sig moves you have can be used, though unless you take an absurd amount of time, you'd probably only be able to use them once apiece, even passive moves. And if all else fails, like I said, you can just hit them if you have to. Even if all you have is Cannon, Shotgun, and RageClaw1, you've got more than enough to finish. It's all in how you use your abilities." With that lecture to Dare finished, PhoenixMan flew up a bit, and looked over at the other three courses. There was Ante, about to get up. The regular HeelNavi was already up, looking extremely enthusastic. Or maybe he was just 'motivated' after potentially losing the previous event. The giant HeelNavi was up there, doing some stretching before the race began. That was everyone accounted for. "Looks like everyone's about set. Ante just needs to get to the starting area...ah, there she goes. Everyone's in position."

"You may be surprised at this, but I actually DO have eyes, you know!" VultureMan was standing right next to the red button, with a hand placed firmly over it. "I press this button, and it starts a countdown. Don't move forward until it says go, or you'll get a fault. Do it again, and it's a double fault, which automatically disqualifies you! So don't do it!" A couple of glares from the dark bird Navi suggested that the warning was more for his own team's benefit than anyone else's. "Everyone set? Good! Countdown sequence, activated!"

A hologram appeared in front of each Navi's face. 5.

Hopefully everyone really was ready, and not spacing out or anything. 4.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to think about how exactly this event was thought up, though. 3.

Seriously, destroying targets? On a two dimensional plane? Who even came up with this stuff? 2.

Next, they'd have to play king of the hill on a giant platform suspended hundreds of feet in the air, or something. 1.

But that could be thought of later. For now, the task at hand was to play along and destroy those targets. 0.

GO!!!

As the signal was made, four different timers appeared on the big machine's equally big screen. Each Navi's picture was next to each timer, so that was pretty self-explanatory.

Now, let the game begin!

========
TIMES
========

Ante: 00'00"00
Dare: 00'00"00
Revived PET Total: 00'00"00

HeelNavi: 00'00"00
Giant HeelNavi: 00'00"00
PET Carrion Total: 00'00"00

From the starting line, Dare watched Ante's less-than-confident shuffle to the starting line with a frown. "Keep your boots on if you want, just don't blame them if you come up slow! PhoenixMan's counting on us for this one, so we can't give any excuses, all right?" Dare tossed aside her shades and summoned her motorcycle helmet. Of course, that "no excuses" line applied to her lack of chips as well... but this was what she was made for, right? She would squeeze every drop of potential she had into this competition, break through any supposed limits set in front of her, and achieve a result without any regrets. "Heh... that line makes me sound pretty cool," Dare complimented herself, recognizing that now wasn't the time to be recording her good quotes. "Give it your all too, HeelNavis! Your boss is going to be all rested up after this, and his lungs are going to be full of air, if you catch my drift..."

Dare stood poised at the starting line, her focused eyes forward and as unblinking as her mirrored visor. She felt her nerves tense with each number down. For whatever reason, she had not adopted a runner's stance, as one might expect.

"Show em' what you've got, Dare! We're gonna look like total chumps if we can't win a time trial, so... yeah, give em' hell!" Bruce rallied, clearly still limping from the wound to his pride.

The Navi's lips curled into a smile as the one count came. Finally, as the signal sounded, Dare clenched her teeth and got to work.

The Navi had already planned out her movements, of course: with so much riding on the line, firing from the hip would be tantamount to a surrender. Obviously, she could throw out zingers left and right without using up too much of her processing power. Before the race had started, she had already charted out what moves to use, and when. Therefore, her first move was not a dash, which caught Bruce by surprise. "Meteor," Dare spat, holding her hand out for a moment and wiggling her fingers in open air as it took a moment to arrive. "Keep up, Bruce!" she called, finally clutching her hand around a staff that appeared in her hands. She instantly planted it in the ground, designated the previously spotted targets 7 and 10 for the attack, and began a proper forward dash. This ought to get her the best mileage out of her chips: there was no ceiling above those two targets, and if they took a hit (especially 10), it could shave a huge amount off her final time.

"Yes ma'am," Bruce muttered. He didn't like getting scolded by his Navi, but he understood Dare was probably expecting instant response in this situation. He quickly emptied his meager folder (minus the Meteor9 chip, which he had just slotted in) out onto the table for easy access. While this had taken just a moment, Dare luckily hadn't needed to rely on Bruce during that time. She had already begun a forward dash, moving straight underneath target 1 without so much as a passing glance. His first impulse was to remind her, but he remembered how she'd summoned the meteor staff at the start call. She was clearly aware of all the targets, so he would just have to trust she had a plan... besides, he didn't want to pipe up and get chewed out for something stupid, again.

Dare quickly bounded up the stairs, sparing a thought as to how Ante would manage a similar feat in her shoes and dress. She spotted the first spring, but instead of hopping on it, she took a running leap over it. "Dashattack!" she shouted, already midair. Her boot engines suddenly fired, sending her blazing knee-first towards target 2. She moved her elbows in front of her and zoomed into the target for a full-body collision.

With her momentum stopped from the impact, she tilted her head to take a glance at target 3 beneath her, as well as the rapidly approaching ground. She had already bounded off of target 2, in the direction she had taken care to ensure target 3 would be in. That kind of careful planning was the only hope she had of nailing this landing, considering the vertical alignment of the two was slightly off. Dare came down foot first, attempting to stomp the target with her boot.

Bounding off whatever she had impacted, Dare immediately launched herself forward onto the sticky wall. There was nothing to do at this point but climb the hard way, but she put her all into it, scrabbling furiously upward. Climbing over the top, she hurriedly clamored onto the spring, sending herself in a bit of a flailing rise towards the next platform.

The Navi was a bit off her footing on the landing from the spring, but she had no choice to recover as quickly as possible. On the second platform, she actually did adopt a running stance. "Shotgun!" she called. For her, the next part was the trickiest, and the one that would most showcase her unique abilities. Dare began a dash forward and fired her engines with her signature Trail Blazer attack. She was now accelerating at a rapid rate, her legs pumping in a movement so fast she almost felt as though she was moving on a motorcycle... which would be important, as that was the type of trick she intended to pull off. She needed enough speed to pass over the gap with the slightest leap, losing no momentum. Assuming she had made this, for the brief second she was above the gap, she had to whip out her shotgun and hit target 4 in a single burst...

... The action was over almost as soon as she had considered it. She was sure she heard the resound of the buckshot shattering its target, but it could have just been in her head. With no time to wonder about it, Dare continued up the ramp and shot off the peak, creating a trail of flames in the air... one that hopefully perfectly traced her path to target 5. She extended her fist forward as she flew, seeing the target ahead of her and hopefully shattering straight through it in her trajectory.

The Navi made a touchdown in front of the pit ahead, performing a roll to lessen the impact of her collision with the platform. As she had expected, the roll left her right at the edge of the pit, with only a foot to spare. Prepared to do things the hard way again, Dare shouted "GravityHold!" and leapt down into the pit. The Navi glanced at the chrome buster on her arm for a moment during the fall, again cursing that she hadn't taken the time yet to come up with a good look for some of these attacks. Still, performance was what mattered here, not looks... and not conventional methods, either.

Having landed, Dare briefly faced the sticky wall behind her. Her buster popped and fired out a huge, slow-moving gravity well. Dare winced, feeling the force tugging at her in such close proximity. Still, as she hoped, the projectile appeared to be moving through the wall as though it weren't even there, hopefully pulling apart target 1 in its path.

Earlier, Dare had worked through all the kinks she could think of with this part of the plan. Would it matter that the huge center of increased gravity would be moving directly beneath the path she needed to travel? She imagined not, as she would still need to make some horizontal distance in the other direction and then a couple of vertical climbs to boot. She figured the ball would be out of range before there was any chance of it affecting her movements. And how far would the ball even go? Would it impact the other contestants? ... Frankly, Dare hadn't even heard a rule that you weren't allowed to interrupt the other contestants, so it was a non-issue regardless.

With those issues worked out beforehand, Dare was able to fire and forget the GravityHold. "Fireknife!" she called, receiving the chip data in a split second. Traditionally, Dare liked to be fancy with bladed weapons, but this was a time for utility, not showing off. Therefore, when she summoned the Fireknife, it took the form of a small combat knife. She rushed away from the sticky wall behind her and quickly slashed out with her chosen weapon, hopefully searing through target 6.

Now came the hard part: she had nothing to rely on but her own speed to close the gap between targets 6 and 7. She pivoted on her heel after making the strike and began a dash for the sticky wall behind her. Upon reaching it, she used her free hand, feet, and the combat knife to scale the wall as quickly as possible. Reaching the top, she once again turned and made leaps across the two chasms ahead of her.

Reaching the ladder, Dare prepared for what would perhaps be the most physically taxing part of her journey. She was lucky she was a fire Navi, as this next part was not going to be fun... She had avoided summoning the Fireknife to replace a hand or leg in this instance because she felt it would make the ladder very tricky to climb. However, even holding a combat knife while climbing would slow her down. Therefore, the Navi quickly dismissed her helmet and opened her mouth, clamping the hilt of the knife in her teeth. This ought to free both hands and expedite the climb. She could feel the heat burning near her face as she moved, being very careful to keep her right arm far enough away from the blade that jutted in that direction.

Upon reaching the top, Dare carefully mounted the platform and swiped the knife out of her mouth with her right hand. She felt like her tongue was sweating, and her hair was now stickily matted to her forehead. Dare felt the meteors should be done falling at this point, meaning she wouldn't be subject to her own attack. Still, she had to at least spare a glance at where target 7 was overhead, making sure it had been taken out. If not, she would lose a bit more time making a jumping strike at it with the Fireknife.

With that, the speed Navi sped toward the next obstacle, once again making her climb using the knife as a pick. By now, her whole body was sweating, and she could feel her suit sticking to her skin. Still, discomfort didn't slow her down at all. "Heat-V!" she gasped, right as she crested the peak of the wall. Perched there momentarily, she summoned her buster over her left arm and let a blast of fire roar out. She didn't even stop to see if it had properly toasted target 8 before she had dismissed the gun in favor of her left hand again. She made a quick scramble down the sticky wall: she figured she would actually lose more momentum on a hard and sloppy landing then taking the time to do it well, especially at this level of physical fatigue.

She continued onward, feeling confident in her gait as she bounded across a couple more gaps. If all had gone according to plan, 9 would now be the only one left. That thought spurred her upward as she blazed up the sticky wall, the final obstacle between her and target 9. At the top, she perched and quickly spun the knife in her hand, such that she ended it in a delicate grip between her fingers. She flung it as a throwing projectile at the final target.

While her body wanted to stop and call that a good show, Dare didn't want to lose any time checking the scoreboards. For all she knew, her meteors had missed 10, and all of her effort could be for nothing. Dare felt like she'd done a pretty good hustle, though, so she might even have a shot at a top time even if she had to go clean up target 10. Before doing anything else, Dare took a last look to make sure target 9 was obliterated. Summoning up a final wind, Dare drew in a deep breath and turned in place, making a jump for the sticky platform behind her. Getting to her feet, she passed the ladder she hadn't used (unless she had missed 9, in which case she would begrudgingly climb it, swing her way over to target 9, and kick it in frustration). She reached the end wall and jumped on up, trying to minimize her climbing time by rebounding to the platform behind her without doing much climbing.

With the hard parts all out of the way, Dare took the remaining stretch as a victory lap. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she roared, barreling forward in the remaining stretch and diving into the pit, intending to take out target 10 with the impact of her body.



"Geez, you sure didn't make that look easy," Bruce commented, rubbing the back of his head and keeping his eyes open for a display of Dare's final time. "Hey, Teruko, how's Ante holding up?"

Summary:
Meteor9 to Targets 7 and 10 (3 hits each)
Movement
Dashattack to Target 2
Normal Attack to Target 3
Movement
Trail Blazer (Movement)
Shotgun to Target 4
Trail Blazer to Target 5 (finish with damage)
Movement
GravityHold to Target 1
Movement
Fireknife to Target 6
Movement
- Fireknife to Target 7 (if applicable)
Movement
Heat-V to Target 8
Movement
Fireknife (thrown) to Target 9
- Movement (if applicable)
- Normal Attack to Target 10 (if applicable)

Ante nodded to PhoenixMan, then to Dare; she fixed her hat upon her head with one hand. She had no intent of flubbing this contest, but she also certainly had no intention of winning with any less than her trademark elegance. Which did not include taking off her shoes (by her own decision, anyway). "Teruko, please help me go over our options before the count finishes," she requested, studying the side-view of the track and memorizing the targets' positions.

"Ha ha ha! You should see Bruce, trying to figure out how to use his chips. It's so sad," her operator snickered, lowering her voice into mock-sympathy and wiping away a fake tear. "We, on the other hand, have a glorious 19 chips to use!"

"Not quite. Let's take another look... first off, four of these have no purpose in this battle: PanelReturn, Attack+10, Timpani, and SolarShield... Well, not without some very deep thinking. Next, we eliminate SummonBlack, because I can tell from here that the track is made of impenetrable material, impossible to crack with Quake or even Wrecker. This means that I actually have 14 usable chips..."

"Ah, well, 14 chips, 10 targets! Who cares, right?" Teruko cheered her navi on. "That's three meals and a midnight snack right there!"

"Not quite. Many of these chips are melee attacks that will be no better than simply using my scepter. RageClaw, PileDriver, DrillArm... although that one has a little reach...."

"S-Still 11! We're good!"

"No. Gaia and Shockwave are completely unusable due to their ground-based attack pattern. All of the targets are floating mid-air. RockArm could theoretically hit the target with the creature instead of its shockwave, but the jump is too slow to be of any use here. That leaves us with 8 chips that have any stragic value in this situation."

"Oh nooo! B-But... they're really good chips," Teruko sniffled, sad to see a wonderous world of 19 possibilities whittled away to 8. "Besides! You've also got your super ancient net-knight staff powers!"

"... Not quite. Most of my abilities are defensive in nature, such as the queen of spades cards or my shield bearer. So... I think my options are basically limited to 8. Which is fine. What still worries me is my speed... I'm concerned that-"

"I'm concerned that the opening count just finished! Time to get moving!" Teruko interrupted, clapping her hands to spur her navi into action. "Move those legs!"

Ante panicked, realizing she had no time left to solve her mobility crisis. There were no options... She was going to have to take off her shoes, one way or another. Fumbling, she bent over to replace her shoes... only to find that they were glowing. In fact, her entire outfit was glowing. Before she realized what was happening, Ante's previously unknown DareCross took form, removing her dress in favor of a slightly more convenient mini-skirt outfit. Her scepter increased in weight slightly, but she realized it was for a good cause: the new design seemed to have some sort of thruster included, undoubtedly intended for the purpose of speeding her up. "Thank you, friend," she sighed, closing her eyes thoughtfully and rubbing her hand down the sleek, billowing curves of her new ride's booster.

"It's no good if you don't use it! Hurry, put the pedal to the metal!" her operator urged her, clasping her fists beneath her chin and bouncing in her seat. "I don't want you to be the racehorse that loses everybody's bet! As a problem gambler, I won't be able to live with myself!"

Ante nodded, then straightened her new visor atop her now-exposed, rust-colored hair. First off, she had to figure out how to use this new thruster... It seemed like the jet exhaust should be pointed behind her... and then she'd squeeze the throttle. With that simple squeeze of her hand (which soon became a white-knuckled vice-grip in order to cling to the apparatus), Ante was flung forward along with her new scepter/vehicle, windshield facing forward and jet facing backward. "G-Goodness gracious!" she cried out comically, seeing target #1 above her... and then behind her. Unlike Dare, she hadn't meant to skip that one. To cover up her mistake, she executed a flip midair and fired backwards with a Wideshot, the trademark bigness of which she thought would make it fairly easy to use, even with this unfamiliar velocity. She was pretty sure she'd aimed that well enough; what she wasn't so sure of was that she was going to be able to keep her lunch down.



Ante was happy to find that, thus far, her outfit was handling the new cross fairly well. She had been worried thinking back to when she ZephyrCrossed originally, because it seemed like the turbines were having a hard time maintaining the wind-fabric, but this one seemed fine so far. With that reassurance in mind, she focused on the next set of targets, which were begging for some of her old black magic... specifically, one of her black kings. She threw a bomb which summoned a giant, pitch-black torso of a playing card king in place, holding his club-headed scepter menacingly with both hands. The king began to swing the club around his body, moving vertically to cover the ground between targets 2 and 3... If he didn't get them both right away, well, at least he'd be doing it for a while. He was bound to finish up the second time around if it came to that.

The next step was for Ante to use the spring, in order to ascend up to the next level. While it would have been amusing to watch if she'd still been wearing her skirt, which probably would have opened up like a parachute, the miniskirt actually proved more modest in this case, since it couldn't billow around her. She began to traverse the space to the other side of the course by using her rocket-propelled staff/vehicle. Her first attack would be to throw club-wielding king down to smash target 4. The average navi would have a hard time hitting target 5 with a melee attack, but she had something that was no ordinary melee attack... mid-air, she snapped the windshield of her staff back into place so that it formed a spear-tip. The tip spun, creating an orange, glass, slightly elongated drill. She thrust the staff upward mid-flight, so as to tag it on her way down. She then quickly reset the windshield to its original position in front of her, landing with some amount of turbulence.



Recovering from the landing more or less fine, she sped over the holes, where she acknowledged Target six was waiting. Dropping another king in there ought to take care of that target easily enough; it smashed its club-head down straight towards the ground. If that didn't get it, maybe the explosion would? The resulting thunderous crash made her hopeful there was some kind of destruction at least.

Having reached the ladder, she climbed up as quickly as she could manage; thankfully, her heels weren't an issue when all she could use were her toes regardless. At the top of the ladder, she spied another target hanging overhead... She clenched her teeth, revved up her scepter, and shot into the air, performing a spin mid-air with the burning hot windshield at the circumference of the circle. With that one hopefully out of the way, she sped into the interior of the shelter in front of her.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to do but climb once she reached the sticky wall. She'd managed to avoid having to touch one up to this point, and when she did, she was glad that her boots and gloves had made it this far... Furthermore, she was actually glad the wall was sticky, since it meant she could climb with her elbows. Having to use her hands while also carrying that heavy scepter would have been a nightmare.



Now comfortably up top, she gave the next target a slightly different treatment from her previous, firing a shot of fire out of the back of her jet engine. She couldn't afford the time necessary to go up and physically hit it. With that out of the way, she made a long jump down to the bottom of the room, then activated her thrusters again to blast across the next couple of floating panels. Once atop the next sticky wall, she spotted target #9, then pelted it with a barrage of wooden needles, shot from the end of her staff. "Excellent... Now, to deal with the final one..."

"Ante, you stopped moving! WHY'D YOU STOP MOVING?!" Teruko cried, caught up in the tension. Watching Ante fly around on her PET was an unusual experience that had her pretty keyed up.

"Because there should be no need to traverse the rest of the course. I got a good look at the placement of all targets earlier and should have a good enough idea to place this next attack," the navi responded... her next step would be to summon another king, hopefully resting just above the final target. In a flurry of attacks, the king smashed his club-headed staff down again and again, trying to smash the target. She would just have to hope he'd managed to get inside the "cup" of terrain that protected the last target. With how net physics worked, he might be fruitlessly smashing the roof above her, or might not even appear next to her and accomplish nothing whatsoever.

Luckily, she'd prepared a contingency plan. While that smashing was going on, Ante drew out a giant metallic playing card; it was actually a SolarShield, which she'd never found occassion to use before now. Smiling, she used her scepter to point out to herself about where she remembered seeing the target from side view... then dispensed a red queen of hearts card from the tip of her scepter. After placing it onto the windowshield like a sticker, she pointed the glass towards her own shield, then tapped against its surface like a legionnaire drumming his shield. The sticker had already begun to superheat the glass, such that a red glow enveloped its (melting) surface. She wasn't relying on the spear this time, however; the resulting light produced from burning her own weapon reflected off of her shield, firing a sort of laser forward into the wall. Now, she knew that the walls couldn't be pierced or destroyed by ordinary means, but perhaps something like a laser would penetrate through regardless without even leaving a visible scar? She was a little giddy about it herself... then again, the king may have already destroyed the target. Furthermore, there was a possibility BOTH plans would fail. Thinking about these possibilities basically killed all of her giddiness.



As if revolting, her staff suddenly burst fire from its end, rocketing her upward to knock her head against the ceiling. As she worried about that newfound headache, another emerged: the checkered-print pieces holding on her visor and scarf around her neck had come off during that burst of speed, causing the articles to drift off into the wind and down out of reach. Worse, the jacket's lip seemed to be caught in the wind, then suddenly split and flew off her body, leaving the tube-top of her outfit beneath. Thankfully, the skirt held up at least. "What a flimsy suit... I'm going to have to speak to Dare about this shamelessness later," she sighed.

"I don't think you can blame this one on Dare! It probably has to go back to that guy you swore revenge against," Teruko laughed, although she was already giggling at the sight of her navi's slapstick behavior.

1) DareCross activated [Fire/Speed]
2) Movements to left
3) WideShot1 @ Target 1
4) Shake1 @ Targets 2 & 3
5) Spring jump
6) Movements to right
7) Wrecker @ Target 4
8) DrillArm1 @ Target 5
9) Quake1 @ Target 6
10) Climb ladder
11) FireHit1 @ Target 7
12) Movements to left and to climb wall
13) FireHit1 @ Target 8
14) Movements down wall and left across platforms, then up wall
15) NeedleCannon1 @ Target 9
16) Binder1 over Target 10, let it bounce around in there
17) If that hits no target, summon SolarShield1 and hold it
18) Action Cards to next attack
19) Fire-elemental RageClaw1 to hit SolarShield1 from front, aim resulting beam to pierce through wall and hit target

Though they didn't say anything in response, both HeelNavis visibly flinched at Dare's comment, knowing full well that she was right. It might not have been a great move on her part, since with that in their minds, they were probably going to give at least 110%. Then again, that was probably exactly what she wanted...

Anyway, as soon as she was on the clock, the literally fired up competitor...waited a moment, before being able to use a magical staff to launch meteors at them. She could hear a pair of lound CLINK sounds, which was probably confirmation that her plan went off without a hitch. Her DashAttack, on the other hand, didn't manage to disengage quite in time, causing her to fall just a hair too far away from the other target to axe kick it. On the plus side, she rebounded surprisingly quickly, and smacked it en route to climbing back up. Not too much lost time there.

On the second level, she used her signature ability to go blazing fast (literally!) and managed to run over a hole while she shot the target inside it. And then she managed to use that speed to launch herself at the other target and smack it. Too bad they weren't giving style points for this even, or that would've been a great boost to her score. She then hopped into the next hole, turned around, and mocked the laws of physics as she hit another target through a wall, which was noted with a CLINK. And then continued mocking them long enough to slash at a target with a blade that spontaneously combusted. Oh well, Net physics were more guidelines than rules, anyway. She headed up to the next level, quickly noting the lack of a target. Yep, the CLINK had to mean a target out of the competitor's sight had been successfully destroyed. Which freed up the Navi to run to the next sticky wall, climb it, and blast the next target with fire. In a way, that's what she did to close things out, as well, only this time there was non-death defying leaps over holes, and the fire wasn't so much a blast as it was sharp and pointy. Now, let's check that time...

01'15"60

And best of all, everyone else's timer was still going. She'd finished first! That was definitely worth a victory lap.

---

Meanwhile, Ante found herself glowing with vitality...well, mostly glowing, as she took on DareCross, and started to get propelled forward. Too much as so, as she nearly completely missed the big 'HIT ME' target above her. Fortunately, WideShot had no issues, and hit the mark perfectly. So did the king she summoned not long afterward, who clubbed the pair of targets over the edge with all the force and finesse of a giant stone golem with grass growing on it. ...Nah, that just sounded stupid. But the point was, those two targets ceased to exist, so she could move to the next level.

On the next level, it was Break attacks galore, as more kings performed destructive acts inside various holes, and Ante herself got in on the fun by penetrating a target with her massive lance. ...Hopefully, she wasn't narrating her own deeds in such a manner, or else she'd get weird looks from everyone. Well, weirdER looks, the way she was flying around.

Up top, she smacked a target with fire, then climbed a sticky wall, and...smacked another one with similar fire. Good thing she wasn't being graded on originality. Then, she fell down to the floor, flew over the floating platforms, and shot the next to last target full of needles. As for the last target...like Dare, she summoned something from above to hit it, though unlike Dare's flawless meteor smash, her king ended up being summoned right above her on the platform. Fortunately, it was bouncing in the right way, and a CLINK let her know that she was done. Now, let's check that time...

01'25"24

Hmm...Dare and the regular sized HeelNavi were already done, since their clocks had already stopped...oh well, she still had a pretty good time herself.

As for the HeelNavis...the regular sized one had used mostly bomb chips to toss at the targets, though if anyone was watching him, he used an AreaGrab to warp from the platform below Target #9 directly up, so that he could casually throw a MiniBomb into Target #10. His time? 1'21"58...not bad at all. Though, afterward, he immediately flopped back on the platform, completely spent from giving it his all.

Unfortunately, his partner suffered from a combination of natural slowness and having a fist/sword focus in his folder, which meant that while he was capable of simply jumping and hitting Target #1 without any assistance, he had to go over to every target and destroy it himself. Plus, he kept getting stuck on the sticky walls, which was a bit odd since a) no one else had any problems with it, and b) one would think that since he was probably the physically strongest, he could break free of it easily. His overall time? 1'48"03. It actually wasn't a terrible time, considering his limitations, but given how everyone else did...he might want to invest in earplugs right now.

Ante: 01'25"24
Dare: 01'15"60
Revived PET Total: 02'40"84

HeelNavi: 01'21"58
Giant HeelNavi: 01'48"03
PET Carrion Total: 03'09"61

"And the winner, by nearly a solid half minute, Revived PETs!" And ShamanMan's announcement made it official: they were now up 2-0 in the overall standings.

Dare took another moment to wipe the sweat off her forehead before allowing herself to take a look at the time. She'd screwed up once, which she thought would probably be enough to give another better-equipped competitor the lead. Luckily, although the feeling of falling after stopping just short of your target was a big downer, she'd shaken it off pretty quickly. Now, deciding she had had enough suspense, she allowed herself a look at the scoreboard...

"All right!" she shouted, finally allowing the tension she had built up at the start of the event to unravel. "I knew I had to be the fastest Navi out of this bunch." Of course, since she'd been racing them simultaneously she didn't have much of an opportunity to see how the others had been faring, but still, she liked to believe she had overcome the odds in this victory. She made the most appropriately quick descent she could from the apex of the course.

The first order of business was to find Ante, and the second order of business was to decide what combination of gloating on her personal win and congratulations for their collective win was appropriate. "Hey, Ante!" she called, heading in that direction. "What'd you think abou-" She stopped momentarily in confusion, before sprinting forward. "Woah, woah, woah! Where'd this hot number come from?!" Dare ran up to Ante and began stepping all around her, sizing up the new look. "I'd expected you'd let your humongous skirt drag and end up with a bad time," she commented, crouching low and staring hard at Ante's thighs as though expecting to find some explanation there. She sprung up, clapping a hand on her partner's shoulder. "You're full of surprises, you know? We're not so different... you'll do what it takes to win!" Dare grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Oh, but of course, I was the real winner between the two of us. But don't let that get you down! These first two contests have been tailor-made for me. The next one will probably be a ballroom dancing contest, or a 'Who can keep from laughing the longest' contest... you know?" The Navi couldn't resist teasing her partner a little bit more, still trying to goad the best competition out of her.

Ante held one hand to the spot where she'd just bumped her head, ten tilted said head to view the scores. No surprise: Dare's innate talent for acceleration had allowed the two of them to perform well. Ante smiled gracefully, although inward she couldn't help scheming a bit. "Miss Dare won out because she's a bit more used to her tools than I... for a tactical expert such as myself, however... I should be able to even up our scores, then surpass her the next time we compete," she reasoned. Teruko hadn't been wrong when she stated that Ante had a competitive streak.

"Ah, well..." she greeted Dare, crossing her arms and lowering her eyelids for a thoughtful expression, "if you're looking for the tailor who thought up this outfit, you should look no further than yourself. I believe that the effect stems from a cross; a somewhat rare occurance by which too acquaintances... ahem." She coughed as Ante spent more time than she appreciates inspecting her thighs. "I'm sorry if you disapprove of the fit, but I most assuredly did not intend to go out in a miniskirt today... or ever," she muttered self-consciously, switching her position to hold both hands crossed at her bottom. As usual, she had no reason to be embarrassed about her legs, by most anyone's standards.

As Dare continued to tease her, Ante relaxed her position and chuckled. She held one hand to her forehead and arranged her bangs, a habit she rarely indulged thanks to her affinity for hoods and hats. In the end, it did little to offset the windblown appearance. "If we must ballroom dance, allow me to give you some pointers before the start of the contest. Or perhaps you'll activate my cross? You'd be surprised what an elegant dancer you would make... but not if you're tripping over your own exhaust pipes when you shift your feet," she joked.

"Yeah, Ante knows a lot about dancing! I've never seen her do anything but a poleda-" Teruko started, but was interrupted as Ante cut off the feed.

"Yes, I've handled quite a few balls and met any number of suitors that way," Ante boasted, twirling the ends of her hair unconsciously as she remembered the olden days.

"Ha! You met guys handling their balls!" Teruko piped back up. Ante's blank stare implied she hadn't managed to catch the joke, so Teruko sighed and dropped it. "But really, I need to stay connected. You've got to help me with my contest now! Show me how to do the key thing you were talking about!" she urged her navi.

"In a moment..." Ante responded, heading to PhoenixMan. "I must admit, I had suspected that our opponent may employ some kind of tricks to win the competitions. I suppose I was being presumptuous... I haven't seen them play any way but earnestly so far," she chatted, hoping to bait out some small talk to lessen the standard GNA mercenary relationship she had going on with him. Ante felt it was bad form to treat an assignment impersonally... to do so made one look like a bit of a thug or a goon, and Ante had no intention of being perceived as either. "Is VultureMan likely to indulge in foul play or just to continue being a 'sour grape,' so to speak?"

"...You're right. And that's exactly what worries me." PhoenixMan looked over at his main foe, narrowing his eyes as he did so. As one would expect, the dark bird Navi was screaming at his comrades, particularly the larger one. "VultureMan isn't at all above going against the rules to win. And yet, he hasn't done a thing so far. There's no doubt in my mind now...he's got some sort of secret weapon we haven't seen yet. Now that he's dug himself a hole in the scoreboard, he could bring it out at any time. We all need to stay alert for anything even slightly out of the ordinary."

With that, the red bird Navi flew over, returning shortly with a pair of chips. "Anyway, this is the reward for you two. Turns out the reward for victory was the chip each of the losers used the most in the event. For the normal HeelNavi, it was LilBomb. For the giant one, it was GutsPunch. Anyway, one of you gets one, and the other, well, gets the other. You can decide amongst yourselves who gets which." And so, the mission requestor fell silent as he awaited the Navis' decision. He had a rather distant look on his face, though, like he was thinking about something. But what?

"Aha, I knew it! I knew I somehow played a part in this," Dare said, claiming credit where blame was probably intended. "My first guess was 'My wild and adventurous nature has rubbed off on Ante, and now she's going to start dressing hotter,' but this is good too. Better, even! If we can draw on each other's crosses, we're going to become twice as unstoppable. I'm not going to enjoy sharing your fashion sense, necessarily, but I'll be more than happy to draw on some of your cool powers," she declared. "And now, 'ballroom dancing prowess' is not the cool power I'm referring to."

Dare couldn't help but feel like Ante was looking down on her in some respects, but she took that as a sign of confidence rather than snobbishness. "That's good," she thought to herself. "While there's still competitions left, my challenges with Ante aren't over."

And on that note, she should probably turn her mind back to the competition, and the boss man of her team. "Ha, I bet ol' CarrionBreath has been trying to set up cheats and we've just been moving to fast for him to spring them! Like in the cartoons. Anyhow, don't worry. My eye for sore losers in a competition is keen. There's no way he'll be able to sneak anything past us. As far as the chips, how about I get the GutsPunch? I don't want to see you pulling anything trying to throw a punch," Dare teased, fully prepping herself for "I'd hate to see you hurting yourself with something like a bomb." "Anyhow, you're the boss, Big Bird. You've got more history with him than we do, so let us know if you catch any of his tells. We'll keep wrapping up this competition for you."