Rollin' down the Highway

((Turn Splice?))

Mach winced as he felt the wave of water smack against his chest like a curved steel beam, but the stinging pain of the impact almost instantly started to go away, as he saw his chest start to glow green. Every bit of the pain seemed to melt away, and he glanced back to see Aera, holding her hands together near her chest, and green bolts of electricity surged from her legs down to the ground, where they then traveled to Mach himself.

Mach was a little embarrassed to be helped out by his SPs when he planned to go solo, but he still seems to be a bit inexperienced with his new mode of transportation. He gave Aera an appreciative nod, before he focused back on the Lark virus. His wheels quickly spun up to give him some distance between the himself and his target, and he skidded away quickly. He raised his right arm towards the virus, and the circular wing structures moved out to his sides, before they pointed themselves perpendicular to the virus. A single dark gray piece of metal started to form under his right forearm, and extended a few inches past his fingers. This acted as a bracket for the triple-barreled chain gun that materialized underneath, complete with a 30mm AP ammo drum.

The spaces inside the circular frames of the wing structures started to glow crimson as a trigger assembly swung up from the mounting bracket and rested in Mach's right hand. He noticed a new overlay materialize in his vision, and it further magnified his view of the target, and also illuminated the virus's outline. This must have been the new targeting function Mazer had mentioned before. Though he couldn't plainly see it, there was a small radar array attached to the right side of the ammo drum. The barrel assembly started to rotate slowly with a high-pitched whine as a pair of glowing red orbs of energy materialized in the middle of his ring-like wings.

Mach continued to strafe to the side, but his weapon was still pointing towards the virus. His targeting display sensed his speed and direction, and moved the crosshairs slightly off to the virus's side, because if he aimed directly at it while moving, the bullets would overshoot the virus. His wings adjusted as well, but plasma lasers aren't affected as much by relative movement as armor-piercing rounds.

The high-pitched whine was quickly drowned out by a loud roar as the weapon went off, and started to spew dozens of rounds downrange, but the light of the tracers paled in comparison to the pair of crimson energy beams that surged from Mach's wings towards the lark virus. Both the beams and his chaingun ammunition had similar time restrictions, and both fell silent at nearly the same time. Smoke oozed from the barrels as they slowed to a stop, and two little trails of flickering data were the only traces of the beams that burned through the air just moments ago.


ACTIONS:
Aera: Electro-Therapy to MachMan.EXE (Heal 72 + 2TCD)
1. Strategic Movement: Strafe across Bark B's side
2. Rising Barrage: Bark B (50dmg x4 + Multi-hit + Breaking + Seeking + Impact + Movement + BusterLock + 7TCD)
-[Strategic Movement: Keep distance from Bark B, while still maintaining position to engage]-
3. Superior Thrust Laser: Bark B (60dmg x2 + Multi-Hit + MicroBurst + 3TCD)
[splice]

Stuff died, Mach healed. Yay.

Metool2: DELETED
Bark A: DELETED
Bark B: DELETED
Magmacker: DELETED

Terrain:
30% Solar (Road leading through battlefield)
70% Normal (Area on either side of road)

MachMan.EXE: 200HP (Solar) (acc. enhanced for next turn)
Aera.SP: 70HP (Solar)
Vector.SP: 110HP (Solar)

-- ROGUE BATTLE 01, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
1800z, 33 BugFrags

The Bark virus didn't stand a chance against the onslaught of bullets and plasma, and was essentially reduced to a scattered cloud of 1s and 0s, but the rest of them did leave behind a good amount of Zenny data, and assorted bugfrags. Machman skidded to a stop, and gestured towards his SPs. They came to him, and they started to absorb the bugfrags while Mach gathered up the zenny data and downloaded it to the PET.
[Good work, Mach. And excellent use of your new recovery program, Aera. Very good turnaround time.]

Aera grinned at Mazer's pop-up screen before she walked over to Mach, and took his hand in hers. She gave it a squeeze, and he did the same. Vector came up to Mach's left side, and looked over towards him, awaiting orders.
Alright, let's continue on, shall we?

On queue, both of his SPs started to rise gently off the ground, and Mach started to roll forward at a quick pace. Aera was being gently pulled along by Mach, and Vector's aerodynamic body had no problem keeping up. The trio passed his two decoy drones, which disappeared into data, and the targeting visor over his eyes folded away, back into his ear pylons. His eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for any other viruses to encounter, or something out of the ordinary in this electrical network space.

((Ready for Battle #2))

Not taking very long to venture out for more viral smash-up, Mach and the team strolled (and floated) through the Electown network. Of course, more viruses were always plenty in such areas, and they quickly stumbled on a group. It seemed like a rather militaristic group, with three tanks lined up on the ground, and some fighter planes soaring through the sky on their flanks. Amusingly, the planes seemed to have better armor than the tanks. Who knew?

-- ENEMIES --
Cateen A: 200 HP
Cateen B: 200 HP
Cateen C: 200 HP
FighterPlane2 A: 210 HP
FighterPlane2 B: 210 HP

-- ALLIES --
MachMan.EXE: 200 HP
Aera.SP: 70 HP
Vector.SP: 110 HP

-- TERRAIN --
100% Metal

-- ROGUE BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --

The trio noticed a formation of viruses ahead, and continued to advance. In a few moments, Machman recognized the three shapes on the ground to be the tank-like viruses he's encountered before during his last visit to Electown, but the flying viruses were completely new to him. They flew through the air as if they were designed for it, but they looked nothing like the VeyRals he encountered in HadesNet. Mach started to slow down as he spoke to his NetOp.
Mazer, is the MachFighter still functional?

Mazer's pop-up screen opened next to him, and stayed with the Navi as if it was tethered to his shoulder.
[Yes, I haven't changed it to work with the antigravity program yet, so it should work just fine. You looking for a dogfight?]

Mazer's and Mach's faces seemed to mimic each other with amused smirks, both of them had the same idea.
Absolutely. Vector, give Aera some protection before you both attack the tanks. I'll try to soften them up a little, but will then focus on their air support. I'll need the MagBomb, Magnum, LavaCannon, and CannonBall chips, Mazer.

As Mazer quickly slotted in the requested chips, Mach looked over to Aera, and she nodded at him while Vector's dark blue metal plates formed over her body and created a protective layer of armor. Vector didn't waste time protecting his mistress, and formed the vambraces, greaves, plate corset, skirt, and visor out of his body plates. More plates from his body flew a few feet away from Aera, and orbited her body like a bunch of little satellites. Mach and Aera let each other go, and the metal skirt around her waist flattened out, acting as a speed break to slow the two SPs down. Aera watched on as Machman pulled away, and crouched down slightly before he leaped into the air.

Mach went airborne, and the wheels in his feet quickly stopped, causing his body to tilt forward as his form started to change. Pieces of metal sprouted from all over his body, and folded into place quickly to form the MachFighter's rough shape. Additional panels and surfaces materialized in their spots, and in the span of a couple seconds, the MachFighter was fully formed, and his four plasma drive engines burned brightly to send him hurtling towards the viruses ahead. Aera and Vector were almost blown back by the MachFighter's exhaust, but they were far enough to the side to feel only a fraction of the thrust. A pair of bay doors opened under Mach's fuselage, and just as Mach was flying over the formation of tanks, a single munition fell away.

Aera and Vector barely had enough time to identify the weapon before it struck the ground with a loud BANG. It then became obvious as to what weapon Mach used, because the bomb exploded with a spray of light blue gel, and then erupted with electrical discharges a moment later. The amount of gel contained in the weapon plus the impact speed should have been enough to coat the entire tank formation with gel, and hopefully crippled their locomotive functions with electricity; at least temporarily.

As Mach zoomed past the viruses, Aera and Vector took the opportunity to attack. Aera's body quickly charged up, and the gaps between Vector's armor started to have bolts of electricity arcing between them. Her thrusters kept her airborne even with Vector's additional weight, and she raised her right arm towards the viruses as she supported it with her left hand. The metal plates over her right arm changed slightly to form a pair of prongs, similar to that of a stun gun. Electricity had already started to snap between the prongs as Aera aimed her arm in the area between the first and second tank viruses. With a bright flash and an air-rending KRA-KOOM!, a white electrical bolt burst from her arm and surged towards its target before it impacted with a large explosion of sparks and electrical discharges.

She continued to produce a high amount of power as she adjusted her aim to point her arm towards the spot between the 2nd and 3rd tank, and fired another electrical bolt towards them. The prongs formed by Vector's armor glowed for a few seconds after each shot, due to the large amount of heat the bolts produced. She then lowered her arm, but continued to produce more and more electricity, enough to bring her capacitors to the brink of overload. By this time, her entire body, plus Vector's metal body plates, were surging with electrical power. Some of the discharges hit the plates orbiting her body, creating an effect similar to a "plasma globe." Normally, this amount of voltage would cause Vector's body to lose power, and probably start to melt, but he was essentially grounded to Aera, and the current passed through him without any ill effect. Aera turned towards the first tank virus just as her capacitors made an emergency purge of nearly all electrical power, causing her body to explode with electricity. The power surge caused a very bright flash, and bolts of electricity to leap around her erratically. Though the lightshow was impressive, the actual attack was the invisible Electro-Magnetic Pulse, which surged quickly and silently towards the virus. If exposed to the EMP, the virus would experience a variety of sensory failures, and may cause its cognitive functions to malfunction, bringing about non-commanded movements or actions.

Mach's frame was briefly illuminated by Aera's electrical flash, and one of Vector's metal plates was almost completely obscured by the bright light as it hurtled towards the third Cateen like a throwing knife. Mach's engines swung in their housings and his elevons swung sharply to cause his frame to turn roughly in the air. At one point, Mach was moving backwards, but after throwing his engines back into full throttle, he quickly changed direction. As he turned, his radar actively searched for the FighterPlane viruses, and two small objects jettisoned up from between his vertical stabilizers. They fell away before they quickly lined up behind him. They started to flicker as the projector lenses bristling from their surfaces started up, then they appeared to change into two exact copies of the MachFighter. Their control surfaces moved realistically before they separated, and flew at Mach's wingtips before they surged forward.

The decoys used Mach's radar to help them find the FighterPlanes, and they attempted to "engage" them. However, they purposefully tried to fly faster than the viruses, and would eventually overfly them, and possibly bait the viruses into chasing them. If the FighterPlane viruses were occupied with engaging the decoys, they wouldn't even see Mach coming, even though he was currently locking on, and priming four missiles. Four different cross-hairs joined his fixed gun "pip" in his targeting display. The cross-hairs moved independent of each other and searched for targets before they caged themselves over the FighterPlane viruses and turned red, indicating a lock.

As soon as all four turned red, the bay doors reopened, and a trio of missiles fell into the slipstream underneath him before their solid-fuel rocket engines lit and sent them streaming towards the viruses, and left white contrails as they went. All three were equipped with high-explosive incendiary warheads, capable of punching through heavy armor and burning away everything else. After all three missiles were away, the doors on Mach's weapon blisters slid away and revealed the twin vulcans hidden inside. Mach then made precise movements to point his nose towards the second FighterPlane, and tried his best to put the "pip" on the virus's fuselage, and keep it there as rounds started to spew from the vulcans, and flew towards the virus. The tracers burned a bright orange as they went downrange, and provided a visual reference to where his shots were going. He used the radar-assisted targeting pip as well as the tracers to keep his shots on target while he depleted his ammunition.

With his full load of 30mm AP rounds spent, the vulcans spooled down to a stop, and the blister doors shut. Mach still had one more missile ready, and vectored himself over to position himself directly behind the final airborne virus and give chase. He let the weapon re-lock to its target (if the lock was shaken off while he was attempting to gun down the other virus), then launched the missile the moment it indicated a lock. Unlike the previous three missiles before it, this one did not have a warhead at all. Instead, the space was occupied with a heavy, cast-iron cylinder. With this kind of payload, Mach sacrificed explosive energy for sheer brute force.

ACTIONS:
-[Haste disabled]-
Vector: Act as Aera's armor
Vector: Orbital Blade Defense System on Aera.SP (2-hit shield + 1TCD)
-[Reinforce OBDS (+2 hits)]-
-[Activate MachFighter.GMO]-
1. Magbomb1: CateenA,B,C (30dmg Elec x2 + Stun + Blast2)
Aera: Attack CateenA,B (35dmg Elec x2 + Spread1)
2. Charge Magnum
Aera: Attack CateenB,C (35dmg Elec x2 + Spread1)
Aera: Tesla Pulse to CateenA (Confusion + 2TCD)
Vector: Attack CateenC (35dmg Aqua)
3. Magnum1: FighterPlane2 A,B (120dmg Fire + Break + Panel Break)
4. LavaCannon1: FighterPlane2 A (120dmg Fire)
5. Rising Barrage: FighterPlane2 B (50dmg x4 + Multi-hit + Breaking + Seeking + Impact + Movement + BusterLock + 7TCD)
-[Movement: Get directly behind FighterPlane2 A]-
6. CannonBall: FighterPlane2 A (150dmg + Break)

((Just a note: the FighterPlane2s should have had 210HP instead of 240HP. It's been changed.))

Noticing the plane viruses flying overhead, MachMan broke off from his SPs to engage them. Meanwhile, Vector did as he was told and moments later Aera was thoroughly prepared for battle. Mach followed suit by changing into a more suitable form for his own targets. It seemed he wasn't interested solely in the planes, however, as he dropped a bomb at the Cateens while passing over them. The bomb fell and made a spectacular electric explosion, engulfing two of the viruses and leaving them shocked. Aera launched her own attack soon after, provoking immediate retaliation by the tanks. She easily evaded the stunned virus, but the second virus's brutal cannon shot impacted and damaged the SP's protective armor. There was some significant force behind the attack, but thankfully that was all she felt as the ground beneath her cracked. Her second attack failed to damage the tanks thanks to the first shot informing the disabled viruses that moving out of the way was the better idea.

Not yet content with her smackdown of the viruses, Aera finally fired an EMP attack at the first Cateen. It had been attempting to get into a good position to fire, but was now moving as fast as possible (which was pretty slow) in the direction it had been facing. This was not ideal for aiming an attack and prevented the virus from doing so. Vector managed to chip in as well with a quick strike at the second stunned Cateen.

Up in the air, MachMan attempted to fool the approaching FighterPlanes, but they didn't seem to notice as his decoys flew past as if they had already picked their target. This resulted in a minor game of chicken in which Mach unleashed hell on the planes and they managed to land a few glancing sprays of gunfire in return (60). By the end of the dogfight, both planes had figuratively gone down in flames as Mach emerged victorious thanks to his superior maneuvering and bigger guns.

-- ENEMIES --
Cateen A: 130 HP [Confused]
Cateen B: 100 HP [Stun]
Cateen C: 135 HP [Stun]
FighterPlane2 A: DELETED
FighterPlane2 B: DELETED

-- TERRAIN --
95% Metal
5% Cracked (Behind Aera)

-- ALLIES --
MachMan.EXE: 140 HP
Aera.SP: 70 HP [Protected by Vector, 3-hit shield]
Vector.SP: 110 HP [Covering Aera]

Though the plan to distract the fighterplane viruses didn't work as planned, both of them were sent hurtling to the ground and deleted while Mach had nothing but a few scratches. However, those scratches started to melt away as it seemed like his metal skin was regenerating itself, but the green glow that emanated through his frame and the IV pack that materialized just behind his cockpit revealed it was actually Aera's doing.

Mach rolled hard to the right, and started a wide turn to get behind the Cateen viruses. As he turned, he started to dive, reducing his altitude to less than 10 feet from the metal surface of the floor. He had already leveled out as he reached his very low altitude, and his weapon blisters opened as he gained speed and made a beeline towards the viruses. Instead of his triple-barreled vulcans, there were a pair of rocket launchers, each with three tubes, in their place. Each tube already had a solid-fuel rocket loaded, and Mach had just uploaded the targeting data to their rather simple guidance systems located near their fold-out guide fins. As soon as he got in range, he fired all six rockets nearly simultaneously. Each rocket had its own flight path, and after being fired, the 6 rockets splayed outwards in a horizontal spread to cover the field in front of Mach. Each rocket had a small dynamo in their warhead, which would deliver enough electrical power to hopefully destroy the tanks in a hurry.

The rockets exploded in a spray of electrical sparks just as Mach stormed overhead, but the assault was not over. Mach was moving just above the speed of sound as he passed by, and the powerful pressure wave, also known as a Sonic Boom, was following just behind his trailing edges. If the rockets weren't enough to bring down the tanks, the crushing wave following immediately behind him would.

Mach immediately pulled up sharply as he made a smooth aileron roll at about a 45 degree angle from the ground. Meanwhile, Aera and Vector decided to throw in a few more electrical bolts for good measure. Aera had already pulled off both shots as Vector started to tighten his hold on Aera's body. She felt herself go stiff, and several plates that made up of her armored heels dug into the ground just as the wind caused by Mach washed over her. She felt like a statue as dust and debris swirled around her, and bounced off her dark blue armor without effect.

Mach made another turn towards the viruses, and swept the area with his radar to see if anything remained. If something somehow managed to survive the onslaught, he would simply take care of them by literally barreling through them at supersonic speeds; bashing them into pieces with the pressure wave over his frame.


ACTIONS:
-[IV to Machman.EXE (Heal 5HP per action)]-
Aera: Electro-therapy to Machman.EXE (Heal 72 + 2TCD)
1. Strategic Action: Set a course to fly over the Cateen group's flank at low altitude
2. ElecShock: Cateen A,B,C (80dmg Elec x2 + Panel Break + Cone Attack)
3. SonicBoom: Cateen A,B,C (120dmg + Wide Attack + Shot Eraser)
Aera: Attack Cateen A,B (35dmg Elec x2 + Splash)
Aera: Attack Cateen B,C (35dmg Elec x2 + Splash)
4. Dodge
Vector: Brace
Vector: Brace
Vector: Brace
5. DashAttack: Cateen A,B,C (90dmg + Impact)
6. DashAttack: Cateen A,B,C (90dmg + Impact)

Zooming down to low altitude, the MachFighter opened up its compartments to reveal some very nasty-looking rockets, loaded with electrical mojo. This, combined with the electric-amplifying properties of the ground beneath the Cateens, made for some very hurtful explosions. Oh, and his cover regenerated, thanks to Aera's stuff. Hoorah. (+60)

-- ENEMIES --
Cateen A: DELETED
Cateen B: DELETED
Cateen C: DELETED
FighterPlane2 A: DELETED
FighterPlane2 B: DELETED

-- TERRAIN --
95% Metal
5% Cracked (Behind Aera)

-- ALLIES --
MachMan.EXE: 200 HP
Aera.SP: 70 HP [Protected by Vector, 3-hit shield]
Vector.SP: 110 HP [Covering Aera]

-- ROGUE BATTLE 02, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
[AirRaid2] Battlechip, 1800z, 52 BugFrags

Machman started to slow down as he made a smooth turn towards his SPs. As he started his approach, landing gear started to fold down from his fuselage, and large flaps slid out from the trailing edges of his wings. His engines were almost at idle as he made his final approach. His wheels chirped as he touched down, and started to roll towards his SPs. As soon as he landed, a pair of large thrust reversers folded over the exhausts for all four of his engines, and he throttled up to slow himself down. He gently taxied towards Aera and Vector, and stopped right next to him before he shut down his engines.
[[i]And that's that. Good work, you two.[/i]]

Aera smiled as Vector started to pull away from Aera's body, and reformed next to her. Mazer's face appeared in a popup window, and the two SPs started to gather up the spoils of the battle.
[Excellent job out there. We can probably keep going if you wa-]

The trio heard a *ding!* noise come from Mazer's screen, and he looked down into the corner of the PET.
[Hm, got an email... and it's from Rei and Sylk.]

Both SPs stopped and perked up, Aera was still smiling, and her eyes flashed with excitement.
Sylk! How is she? We haven't spoken with her for a while!
Is Miss Sylk alright, Mazer?
[Yes, she's fine. Apparently they'd like to discuss something about a chip shop they're currently running, and some sort of net-unification group called the Neo-Shogunate.]
Neo-Shogunate? I did notice some buzz on the networks about them, but I don't know the details. What's up?

Mazer started to put inputs into the PET.
[I'll send a copy to all of you, send your responses to me and I'll put them together into one reply. Apparently she's thinking of joining the Neo-Shogunate, and would like us to tag along.]

The three went quiet as they received the email in front of them either in the form of a pop-up screen, or an overlay in their integrated display.

After a few minutes, they had learned of the mission they have been signed up to do with their ally Sylk. Everyone closed their respective message screens, and Mazer was the first to speak up.
[Alright, lets head out and move to NetVegas.]

Vector and Aera both nodded as the hatch to Mach's cockpit started to slide open.
[[i]Hop in, we don't want to keep Sylk or the Neo-Shoguns waiting.[/i]]

Both Vector and Aera ran towards Machman and leaped into the air. Vector seemed to float effortlessly as Aera's wings kept her aloft. She slowly sank down into the cockpit, and Vector slid behind her before he began to fasten himself to the back wall. Aera sat in the cushioned ejection seat as ribbon-like restraining harnesses snaked over her chest, waist, and thighs before they locked into position and held her snugly in place.

Mach's hatch closed, and the full display glowed to life, showing a full 360 display of the area around them along with overlays indicating orientation, altitude, airspeed, etc. As the hatch locked shut, Mach started his engines, and started to taxi forward. He made a 90 degree turn back to the direction from where they came, and started to gain speed. As soon as he reached around 200 miles per hour, he gently pulled up and climbed into the air. He continued to accelerate, and Aera tapped at her armrest to pull up a little map of the area. She could see the portal wasn't too far away, and they'd get there in just a few minutes. Mach shortly leveled out at around 100 feet above the net floor, and cruised towards the portal. As he made his approach, he started to slow down and descend towards the ground.

As he did so, the lower engines started to swing in their housings, to allow Mach's frame to slightly hover as he floated over the portal, and beamed out of the network

((To InternetCity))