Free At Last!

 
"It sounded so sad..."

"How tragic."

Well, what was done was done. But Feint wasn't done. She continued wandering around for more viruses to beat up on, and Faith continue wondering why she allowed this to continue for as long as it did.

But who knew? Maybe Feint would actually decide not to savagely attack anything that appeared before her. It wasn't too much to hope for, right?


REQUESTING BATTLE #3

Leaving the quaint musical scene behind, and devoid of all life and song, Feint continued looking for things to wantonly murder. Her journey found a meandering path that soon opened out into a broader, well paved roadway through the net. It seemed to lead to a bluff hedge wall, and a moderately impressive set of wrought iron gates, and something that looked suspiciously like a mansion courtyard beyond; behind the gates was a long drive, with a few bush sculptures, and stone water feature in the middle.

More pressing for Feint's immediate concern, however, was the fact that the gates had just clanged open, to the sound of panting and small excited yaps. A trio of Swordies 'march' swiftly from the gates. Each seems to be holding the leash of an almost rabid-looking Spikey, straining to break free ahead of them. Each Swordy takes a moment to sword-salute feint, then they release the leads.

The three Spikeys bound forward first, licks of flame dropping from their panting mouths as the rush the navi, though ti seems the swordies don't intend to wait either.

-=Gate Gaurds=-

Swordy-N A: 60Hp [Normal]
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Normal]
Swordy-N C: 60Hp [normal]

SpikeyA: 90Hp [Normal][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyB: 90Hp [Normal][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyC: 90Hp [Normal][Pack Tactics]

-=Gate Crasher?=-

Feint.Exe: 120Hp [Normal]

-=Gate Grounds=-

70% Normal
30% Grass [verges to either side of the roadway]

-=Gates=-

Iron Gates: 100Hp [Anchored][IronBody]

-=Battle 3, start=-

"You think these are friendly too?"

"Cherish, run!"

Well, they finally see eye to eye about an enemy being an enemy, and then Faith goes and tells her to retreat. How cowardly.

"Run? Oh no Nymphra, they're just playing around. Having fun and all, you know."

Faith furrowed her eye brows at Feint's sarcasm (and mocking, no less) as she slammed a chip into her PET -- nearly breaking the device in her anger.

Giving up the act, Cherish accepted the chip data and loaded it into her weapon. Their arsenal was pretty limited. If she missed a shot, it'd put her in a fatal disadvantage against these rather oppressive-looking enemies. Maybe she'd take a few hits for attempting to wipe out the front line first, but the less enemies she left alive, the less retaliation she'd have to deal with.

Feint quickly stepped to the side, lining herself up so that when she fired the Shotgun blast at one of the charging Spikeys, the second explosion would attempt to catch another one. Hopefully these pups were as addicted to playing "catch" as the last dog she'd shot at was.


Sadly there was no time for further action by the time the pack would have reached her, so she crouched down, ready to dive through the ranks of the approaching hounds as they drew close, intending to end up behind them and then just keep on tumbling for a few yards because what else could she do while under attack. If she'd end up surrounded, then maybe she could play that to her advantage -- if the Spikey's missed with their fireballs, maybe they'd hit a Swordy by accident.

That was thinking a bit further ahead than where she was at the moment though; for now, it was best to tackle this obstacle one step at a time.


------------------------------


Action #1 - Feint (Re-angling position to line up SpikeyA and SpikeyB, preferably without stepping on Grass)

Action #2 - Shotgun (DMG: 50 ~ ACC: A+ ~ Spread 1) @ SpikeyA and SpikeyB

Action #3 - Dodge (Dodge-roll past the Spikey's, aiming to end up between them and the Swordies. Then over-exaggeration the Dodge-Roll so she'll hopefully be a harder target to hit. Still avoiding the Grass.)

Unfortunately for Feint, these dogs weren't the dopey, friendly variety she'd seen before; these spikes were attack dogs, and they came on aggressively, and with a certain instinctive level of pack-wiles. Two ofhte spikeys winged out to the sides, beginning to encircle Feint, while the first barked and sent a scorching ball of flame her way.

The navi managed to dodge it, just, but though she lined up her shot perfectly to snipe both her main target and a second, the circling Spikey dodged nimbly out of the way. At least her blast on the first one connected cleanly, making it yelp in pain.

The swordies had hung back at first, letting their hounds have the first go, but now, in the clear opening, they teleported to her one after the other, making swift swings with their blades. Feint managed to duck away from the first surprise attack, but the second scored across her back painfully, and the third, porting up beside the first, managed to strike her shoulder.

Nimble as he was, the viruses were aggressive and the opening round had left a mark.


-=Gate Gaurds=-

Swordy-N A: 60Hp [Normal] [In front of Feint]
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Normal] [Directly behind Feint]
Swordy-N C: 60Hp [Normal] [Next to Swordy-N A]

SpikeyA: 40Hp [Normal][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyB: 90Hp [Grass][To Feint's Left][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyC: 90Hp [Grass][to Feint's Right][Pack Tactics]

-=Gate Crasher?=-

Feint.Exe: 90Hp [Normal]

-=Gate Grounds=-

70% Normal
30% Grass [verges to either side of the roadway]

-=Gates=-

Iron Gates: 100Hp [Anchored][IronBody]

"Ngh!"

Feint gave a rough grunt as two of the three sword strikes rung true.

"Cherish, you're surrounded!"

"No kidding!"

Frustration was speaking now. Outnumbered was one thing, but there was no way for her to evade six sources of damage when she could on realistically respond to three at a time -- and even then it was entirely left to chance.

It didn't really matter how evasive she chose to be; it was certain that she would get struck at a blind angle no matter which way she cut it. The most sound option was to eliminate as many potential attackers as quickly as possible. She'd take some hits in the mean time, but hopefully her firepower output would be able to catch up before they were able to put her down for good.


Electrical energy surged around her body and into her weapon just as before while she swiftly moved positions to break out of the inner-circle formed by the three swordies. Lining herself up to the side of the two in the front, she loaded in the Vulcan Chip data she had just received from Faith and fired away at point-blank range to the two that chose to attack her face on.


She felt defenseless now, only able to brace for more blows that would inevitably come. But she didn't think twice about declining Faith's recent command to retreat -- hopeless or not, she didn't shy away from a fight. Failure was more honorable than forfeit, even if it'd end up costing her more in the end.


------------------------------


Action #1 - Dodge (Re-angling again to line up Swordy-N A and Swordy-N C for Vulcan's Spread)

Action #2 - Overdrive ([Take Aim + Imbue Elec + Strengthen 30 ] ~ 2 CD)

Action #3 - Vulcan 1 (DMG: 25 x 3 Hits Elec ~ ACC: A+ ~ Spread 1) @ Swordy-N A and Swordy-N C
------ Base Damage was 10 * 3
------ Overdrive increased the total damage by 30 (added +10 per hit)
------ Elec Affinity added +5 per hit

Around the outside, the three Spikeys dodged and weaved, but with the three swordies up in Feint's personal space, finding an opening was difficult for them. Only one of the three took a clear shot, and even then, Feint dicked out of the way. Her movement was more focused on lining up her foes, so the evasion may have been chance, but it still looked pretty neat.

A quick move and an even quicker shot was all it took for Feint to improve her odds in this fight by a fair margin. In the short lull after their attacks, the retaliation of her amped up vulcan proved just enough to shred the armour and destroy two of the swordy viruses, while the third drifted back from her slightly, evasive. For now, her offensive gambit had paid off.


-=Gate Gaurds=-

Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Normal] [Directly behind Feint]
Swordy-N C: DELETED

SpikeyA: 40Hp [Normal][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyB: 90Hp [Grass][To Feint's Left][Pack Tactics]
SpikeyC: 90Hp [Grass][to Feint's Right][Pack Tactics]

-=Gate Crasher?=-

Feint.Exe: 90Hp [Normal]

-=Gate Grounds=-

70% Normal
30% Grass [verges to either side of the roadway]

-=Gates=-

Iron Gates: 100Hp [Anchored][IronBody]

((OOC Note: Your navi's element bonus applies only to elemental chips; it can't effect signatures, or null chips that have been imbued. Think of Imbue as being a modifier effect that occurs after the chip has already been loaded through your navi in its basic form; the chip itself is still null. In this case, you still had enough damage, even without the element bonus, just, and all the hits connected.))

(Gotcha -- my mistake there.))


Well that turned out as best it possibly could. Feint almost cracked a smile at their success, but she wasn't out of the danger zone just yet.

"Cherish, delete the last knight!"

No hesitation came in executing those orders as a Cannon Chip appeared in Feint's hand. She was a bit more cooperative now that there was just a tad less stress in the equation. But odds were still against her at this point, so it was no time to get comfortable.

A second chip came in: Zap Ring.

"Maybe you can finish off the weakened wolf too?"

"..."

Well there was no harm in trying. If she'd miss though, Faith only had the Rage Claw chip left, so it'd be a daunting fight to finish with only that.

Feint loaded both chips into her weapon and fired first at the nearby Swordy -- the kickback from the cannon blast nearly knocked her off balance, one could only imagine how hard it'd hit from the other side of the barrel.

Before the dust cleared from the shot, her weapon sparked with electricity as she turned to fire it at the Spikey she'd shot before with her ShotGun Chip. That same electricity trailed behind the green disk-shaped projectile in the air as she attempted to finish off the hound before it had the chance to attack.


Now she was nearly out of resources and still in the opening, vulnerable to attacks. She hated making habits while in combat, but it was a pretty solid strategy to go early on the defensive -- ready to evade incoming attacks -- than to strike again and leave herself exposed. Sometimes, though, she really didn't have a better option.


------------------------------


Action #1 - Cannon (DMG: 60 ~ ACC: A ~ Knockback) @ Swordy-N B

Action #2 - ZapRing1 (DMG:40 ~ ACC: A ~ Stun 1) @ Spikey A

Action #3 - Dodge (Ready to Evade)

Still intent upon slicing the intruder, the remaining Swordy teleported tot he front, preparing to give Feint a serious running through, only to catch the marksman's cannon shot clear to the helmet. It clattered back against the iron gates and crumpled down.

Meanwhile, one of he other spikeys darted around in front of Feint, barking and trailing fire from its mouth, trying to draw her attention while the other two attacked, but the navi was having none of it. Her electric ring managed to clip the injured virus before it could fire, but the second one launched a globe of fire towards her back. By chance of her other movements, though, Feint had just enough forewarning to avoid the shot, barely.

The remaining two spikeys paused to look about, then began to growl warningly at the navi, though they didn't look to be giving up the attack just yet.


-=Gate Gaurds=-

Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Swordy-N C: DELETED

SpikeyA: DELETED
SpikeyB: 90Hp [Grass][To Feint's Left]
SpikeyC: 90Hp [Grass][to Feint's Right]

-=Gate Crasher?=-

Feint.Exe: 90Hp [Normal]

-=Gate Grounds=-

70% Normal
30% Grass [verges to either side of the roadway]

-=Gates=-

Iron Gates: 100Hp [Anchored][IronBody]

((I have a period of inactivity approaching, so I'm gonna try to bail and jack Feint out. Sorry for the huge delay on this post too, btw))

"We're almost out of chips, Cherish..."

"..."

Two more fiery dogs remained, and a RageClaw chip wouldn't prove too useful at the moment. Looks like she'd grant Faith's wish for once and let them get away this time.

"Guess we're out of options then. Despite how eager I am to kill time trying to scratch at these pooches, I'll let them be for now."


A Spikey on each side at least meant nothing hindered her escape route straight ahead. Electricity traced her footprints as she sprinted down the empty road to retreat from the remaining two enemies.


------------------------------


Action #1 - Escape

Action #2 - Escape

Action #3 - Escape

Fully expecting to have to guard their gate to the bitter end, the remaining two spikeys paused as the navi opposite them decided to cut and run. One tilted its head slightly, setting some of the nearby grass on fire as it panted. This did, however, mean that neither of them actually gave chase in time to prevent Feint from making a clean getaway.

((Escape successful))