Sneaking out with friends

The stunned few moments subsided in time for Lyntael to begin backing off again, but before she could turn to clear more distance the Marina's attack, launched in her moment of still shock, made contact. The recoil of her barrier shattering made Lyntael stagger away with a wince that swiftly became a tense expression of resistance, and then wide-eyed release as the storm of electricity burst outward in response.

When it cleared she stumbled down from the points of her toes, where it had dragged her, and her arms and head dropped down into a series of heavy panting. She swayed, hair crackling and sparking madly as the swell returned, burning through her body with an internal roar. The wind currents whipped into a tighter coil around her and a sound like thunder rolled overhead. Lyntael hugged herself, eyes squeezed shut against the stinging sensation and tried to breath. Smaller stability pulses rippled off her in waves every few moments and she focused on letting each pulse spread out the aggressive charge in a balanced way. She looked around for more hostiles, but found Etneralis instead, back on shore and at a cautious distance. He'd said something... she tried to pull her thoughts together as another ripple scattered off her form.

“I... I'm, I'm okay... I just need to... balance out.” She put her hands up to her eyes, willing the stinging sensation to stop. Unseen, by her, small cascades of sparks slipped out from either side of her fingers, dropping to the ground in an erratic overflow. After a few more seconds and another small-radius pulse her breathing began to deepen and slow and she looked up properly.

“They're all gone..? I didn't realise you were going to... um, sorry. I didn't really communicate. I was trying to be useful, but I think I pushed too hard, too fast again.” She bit her lip, then peeked up at him with a meek smile. “But, I, ah, I think I was... a little better that time. I was scare,d but, I didn't really freeze up until I thought I was putting you in danger. I mean... I didn't get hurt. I don't think I can deal with that so well... I'll just shut down and panic again, probably... but, I don't really want to have to practice that either.” With a last longer breath in and out Lyntael closed her eyes and relaxed her body visible, then began to stretch.

“I'm alright I now, I think... What was... the thing you were talking about before?” As she stretched, eyes shut, it evolved once again from simple extensions into the vaguely dance-like patterns that Eternalis had seen her slip into before; a graceful shift from point to point as she reached up or outward, twisted and curled, then extended again with each of her limbs in fluid transitions.

“I though, for a moment... that you might just have been saying it to make sure I stayed out of danger while you fought, but I want to be helpful, I do... so, if it's something I can help with, I want to listen...” Her small stretching session concluded with a small twist and jump from one toe tip to the other, then turning over onto one hand, fingertips barely touching the ground while one foot pointed up and the other bent at the knee across it. When her back arched and she came upright to her feet again, she opened her eyes and smiled more brightly towards her friend.

“Really. I know I'm not as capable as Aurora, but I can help out.” She grinned more as her eyes travelled down to Sparky's enthusiastic form. “We can both contribute plenty, can't we Sparky! that's right!” A soft giggle followed, though she didn't approach any closer, as much as it seemed like she might have wanted to.
Keeping a safe distance from Lyntael turned out to be fruitful enough, as she was clearly still winding down from her discharge. He noticed that the sparks tended to leak out from her eyes a lot; he did somewhat recall a similar sensation when he took on the Cross form that he had obtained from her a little while ago. "Yeah, they're gone for now. My bad, I slipped up on calling out what I was doing myself. I'm pretty tough, though, don't worry about it too much," he grinned, standing tall and thrusting his chest out.

"That's what you keep saying, but you've gotten knocked down at least twice now," sighed Harke from the screen next to him.

"Hey, come on, I'm getting better!" he protested. Still, the first part of what she had said rang inside his head. Straining herself to be useful in whatever way she could... Eternalis's expression wrinkled briefly. Despite her precarious situation of being one step away from deletion, she still wished to be of use. Something about that was much too familiar to him. At the back of his mind, there was the lingering sense of wanting to simply overrule Lyntael's wishes, as he was reminded--for the second time that day--of the concept of expiration. He'd had enough trips to that "Memory Fault" for one day.

As if on cue, Lyntael mentioned the earlier thing he wanted to try out, but deferred to a later time, along with the strange dance routine she had done some time before. It was a little weird, but he supposed it was some way to keep her hands busy and calm herself down. If he wanted to do it, now was the time--decrypting the Mystery Data could reveal it as a Mimic-type virus, and that would be a little irksome, to say the least. "Hmmm..." While he was mulling it over, Sparky barked cheerfully in reply to Lyntael calling to him, and hopped over to her feet. Seemingly unaffected by the little discharges that she was giving off, he hopped and pawed at her ankles, vying for her attention with no awareness of the situation.

"Alright, fine," said Eternalis. With his free, malformed hand, he coalesced it into a rather crude arm, holding it up to at chest level. He then suddenly plunged it into his torso with a loud squelch, eliciting a confused expression from his operator. Closing his eyes with a serious expression, his arm went in about elbow-deep, making uncomfortably squishy sounds all the time. Some few seconds later, he pulled his arm out, bringing with him a chunk of his own body in his hand. A trail of slime connected the thing in his hand to his chest, which looked somewhat different from the rest of his blue body. Out in plain sight, he held his emblem core in his hand, the light blue Ezarith crest carved into it gleaming blue through the translucent slime that covered it. The bluish-grey core then suddenly melted and condensed into a small slimy mass of the same color.

Eternalis seemed a little winded from the ordeal, but after catching his breath, he didn't seem all too bothered that he had his own core in his hand. With a smile, he swept off the trails of slime that still connected it to his chest, and held it out towards Lyntael. "Eat it," he said with a grim tone.

Harke was the first to react. "Wait, wait, hold on, you're not really--?! That's--"

"Whoa, whoa, hang on, it's not what it looks like," said Eternalis, cutting off his understandably panicked operator. Twisting his body, he showed his back to the screen, clearly showing that his emblem was still where it was before, embedded in his back. "It's just a copy of some of the code, okay?"

Harke exhaled visibly, and slumped back into his chair, such that only his hair was visible through the viewport. Eternalis saw a defeated wave of the hand, which plainly said "Do what you want."

Turning back to Lyntael, his smile turned into a more apologetic one. "It's a bit weird, but um, this is so I can gain more access with my healing processes. I'll understand if you don't want to," he said, averting his gaze for a moment. If Lyntael was to accept what was offered to her, she would find that the chunk of slime seemed oddly solid in her hand if she grasped it, and wasn't as slippery as it looked. Strangely, it flowed as freely as a liquid if she applied no force to it.
To begin with, Lyntael's brighter expression was distracted again by Sparky's approach, while Eternalis and Harke exchanged their thoughts. She crouched, one arm about her knees, and very tentatively put out a hand to ruffle at the pup, after focusing on it carefully to make sure she was safe. The serious tone of her friend when he spoke up made her stand again, matching his tone with her own more focused expression.

This turned into a sudden flinch and a brief pulling back from him, before she collected herself and recalled that putting his hand in his chest was probably not a terribly big deal for someone like Eternalis. Instead, her features shifted into one of curious, and slightly morbid, fascination at what he was doing. The curiosity lasted right up to the point where he was holding the small mass of blue slime out towards her in his hand. His pronouncement, however, caused a sharp intake of breath as her eyes flew wide.

“Ah... I... isn't...” a very quiet stutter of words was mostly lost underneath the sudden reaction from Harke, but by the time Eternalis had reassured his operator, a glance back at Lyntael would show that her shocked expression had shifted very sharply to an embarrassed, wide-eyed staring at her feet while her shoulders hunched and her hands fidgeted nervously at her waist. A near vermilion blush had swamped her face from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears. When the voices stopped she tried to peek up again, but her eyes landed on the innocuous blob of jelly and she couldn't then take her eyes off it. The pale colour of her skin and the green of her eyes only made the heat in her cheeks seem brighter.

“Um... ah, isn't that... um... I – I don't know if... It's, it's like... Would- wouldn't Aurora... um...” her voice grew progressively smaller and harder to hear. “It's um... isn't that sort of... ah... ah... intimate...?” She lapsed into silence again, looking down after she got the word out. A part of her wasn't completely sure why she felt that way, another part of her said it was undeniably so, and another thought wanted to apologise for reacting the way she was, while another was beyond terrified of even suggesting that she was alright with such an intimate gesture, while another sill tried to ponder if she was ready to think about that more, only to be immediately crowded by a dozen other thoughts shouting it down in various ways, while a traitorous sliver wondered how matters like that would even work with someone like Eternalis, to which her raging embarrassment shouted that it was probably a lot like what was being handed to her.

The result to this war of conflicting thoughts and sudden emotion was several long seconds of nervous, sharp-breathing silence and clenched teeth while she heard Eternalis attempt to explain more. Unconsciously she rocked slightly, shifting from one foot to the other while her fingers fretted at her skirt. Slowly, she nodded to his explanation; it was just a combat thing, nothing more.

Many of her internal thoughts weren't convinced. It was probably a bit rude of her to over-react like this, if Eternalis didn't think it was. Other thoughts said that it didn't make it any less intimate, just because he said it wasn't. And also that, in point, he hadn't said it wasn't, yet. Rationally there was no way this was supposed to be any sort of 'move'; she knew that, didn't she? It didn't change how it was for her, even if it wasn't for him. Just touch it; he'd broken parts of himself off for all sorts of things already. He did it all the time. None of which involved putting himself in her mouth!

Lyntael swallowed and looked up again, briefly finding Eternalis' eyes, then back down to his hand again. She'd said she wanted to do whatever he needed for her to be less of a burden, hadn't she? Her eyes were locked on the slimy mass. She lifted one hand, debating reaching out for it, but her fingers extended then closed up again a number of times while her blush continued trying to set her on fire.
Eternalis had expected some degree of resistance from Lyntael, at least in the form of revulsion of some sort. After all, it wasn't every day that you were asked to eat a writhing pile of sentient pudding. However, what followed was an entirely different reaction, with the girl turning into the Navi equivalent of a bright red tomato instead. Embarrassment seemed to be quite contagious as he was now as distressed as she was, though whether they were equally as embarrassed was debatable. In the background, he could hear a suppressed chortle from his operator's viewport.

Fortunately(?), he didn't exactly have the faculties to display any blushing, so most of his reactions were simply to fidget about, trying to keep his eyes straight, and trying not to blurt anything out that would complicate matters further. It didn't really help matters that his mind was currently also replaying the memories of what had happened when he had "tested" it out the first time around with Aurora. Granted, a full-body synchronization was a lot more invasive than what he was proposing, but the fact remained that the basic idea involved absorbing a part of himself into someone else's body. Some part of him also kept introducing the thought that this was, in a way, "cheating", while Aurora herself was incapacitated. He had thought of it before, but now with Lyntael's reaction, it was a lot more pervasive in his mind. It was fine, right? It wasn't anything more than a procedure that would let him prevent a friend from being deleted. There was absolutely nothing bad happening!

Looking back at Lyntael, it seemed like she was somewhat reaching out to it, but still quite hesitant on it, her eyes moving between the strange mass in his hand and his face. "Um-- I-If it makes you feel any better, I'll turn the other way," he said, turning his head to the side. He wanted to cover part of his face, but with one hand holding the mass of slime and the other holding the Mystery Data crystal, he really had his hands filled.
In her moments of hesitation, Lyntael could still tell that the whole request and situation was making Eternalis nervous as well and she steeled herself. It was her fault for over-reacting, in the end. It wasn't anything oddly intimate, coming from a navi whose main method of doing, well, anything, involved breaking off bits of his slime. It was just... She blinked a few more times, taking a longer breath, then reached out properly to take the source of their contention from him.

She started as the tried to grasp it, bringing her other hand in quickly to support the effort and to make sure she didn't actually drop of lose it. It felt... strange. Not quite a solid gel, not really watery either... more, like water, but like water that was content to stay together and not go anywhere. It was cooler to the touch than she had expected, but that might be because she was still burning up by comparison; she could feel her pulse in the palms of her hands, as well as her cheeks and ears. After a moment of holding it gingerly in cupped hands, she looked up to Eternalis again. He seemed to be trying to not look at her directly and as he offered to look away the girl winced. that was only making it seem like something naughty even more. Instead she looked back at the glistening blob of slime in her hands.

“Um... Do... Do I have to actually... ah... eat it..? Is-is it, safe?” She shifted a little, poking at the squishy object with one finger. “I can't just hold onto it? Or put it in a pocket or...” her defence faltered as reality tripped her up. “Ah, I don't have any real pockets... I don't really have anywhere else I can put something like this, do I...?” Well, not in a way she could keep it active. Codifying it and storing it for upload like she did other data strings just wouldn't work, the way he'd tried to describe it.

Her natural curiosity took over briefly, spring-boarding off that thought, and she caught herself examining the blob with a more rational eye, reading its structure like she would any other piece of raw data. After a moment her expression softened with a small spark of comprehension.

“Oh... Oh, I see what this is. I understand, I think.” He blush was still ragingly strong; the feeling of intimacy to the action hadn't faded with the understanding, but she felt herself calming down at least a little bit. It was still a little bit scary, what it sort of mean, she guessed, but at the same time she wasn't even sure if something like that would affect her directly anyway. From what she'd learned, even things normally innate and natural to other navis had trouble penetrating her make-up. There really would be only one way to find out, in the end, and... She glanced up to her fried again. She did trust Eternalis. And it really seemed like he wasn't at all interested in her in that way anyway, so, there was no real chance that it was a subtle attempt at allowing anything else.

She poked at it again, trying to gear herself up to do as instructed. She wondered what it would taste like. Would it taste like anything? Eternalis seemed more like fresh water, than salty, but if it was more like jelly then it could have any flavour at all. Did he have a unique flavor? That thought made her blush flare up again; too close to the sorts of ideas she was trying to move herself away from. This was getting nowhere. She took a longer breath and braced herself, then closed her eyes and thrust her cupped hands up to her mouth, pushing the amorphous mass in all in one go.

She kept her hands there while the substance filled her mouth. The sensation was... strange. She couldn't decide whether it was unpleasant or not. Just strange. Also it was sweet against her tongue, with a hint of sharpness that she didn't recognise. The flavour was stronger than she'd been expecting and Lyntael felt her eyes squeeze up and her shoulders hunch. Her toes curled in instinctively while she tried to process it. The next few rapid breaths in and out that she had to take through her nose were not the most graceful moments, but as she pondered the next step it occurred to her that she didn't know if it was okay to chew the mass or not. Better not to, just in case...

Her throat didn't want to open to permit the large mass, no matter how she manipulated it with her tongue, but the continuing flavour that came with her efforts drew a very small moan from around her hands without the girl realising it. After a few more moments she squeezed her eyes tighter and pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, forcing it back. Slowly she felt the mostly fluid mass sliding down her throat. The sensation of it didn't stop as it went down, not quite uncomfortable, but not exactly pleasant either, until after a few more moments, she felt something different and her eyes opened wider. A second thread of awareness, not unlike the connection she could feel leading back to the emulation link, only this was different, and it was tied directly to her companion. There was something else too, something like... like things she recalled, or knew... not exactly thoughts, not exactly memories, and definitely not hers. What was that...?
Eternalis felt the blob of slime leave his hand, and it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, even if it wasn't all that heavy to hold. He exhaled a little, but it wasn't yet over. Turning back to Lyntael, he pinched his eyes closed briefly. This was no time to be flustered--if he lost his cool any more, the situation would likely just spiral out of control. When he opened his eyes, she seemed to be inspecting it. As Lyntael asked about how safe the procedure was, he figured it would be better to not make it any more awkward than it already was, and shook his head to clear it of errant thoughts.

"I tried to keep it as inert as possible, so it should be safe. It's only good for transferring data," he said. He didn't feel like his explanation did any good, but it seemed like Lyntael was calming down a little on her own. At least, she had calmed down enough that despite still burning up to the ears, she was a little more coherent than she was before. That made it a little easier on himself.

In front of his screens, Harke's eyes were glued to the one that displayed his Navi's current predicament, with an oddly intense expression. His focus was such that he wasn't even able to hear his door open, and he was none the wiser to someone walking up, amusing herself with how focused he was on this spectacle. She didn't call out to him, however. Barely keeping herself from letting out a chuckle, she was content to simply watch over his shoulder with a wide smile, waiting for how long it would take for someone to notice that she was there.

When Lyntael began to take in the blob that he had given to her, Eternalis braced himself for what was to come. The odd sounds that Lyntael was making didn't help matters either, but at least he was incapable of being as red-faced as she was. Rather than focus himself on her, however, he began to notice a shift in himself as soon as she was finished. The first thing was an odd constricting feeling, as if his body was being compressed into a smaller form. Looking down at himself, however, didn't match that. Next came a small tingling sensation that permeated throughout his body, like a more subtle, uncontrollable version of the electrical charge he had in his Cross form with Lyntael earlier. His head felt a little warm, perhaps flushed, and there was a bit of slight discomfort in his torso that he couldn't quite discern.

The out-of-place sensory data continued to trickle in slowly bit by bit, going from the top and making its way down his body. That is, until it abruptly cut off suddenly at his torso, causing his eyes to widen and meeting Lyntael's eyes in the process. In its place, a small data bar appeared in his peripheral vision, displaying a full blue bar, with "Lyntael" written next to it. Blinking a few times, he shook his head. "I... think it worked?" he said. As a test, he provisioned some of his healing process to Lyntael, and the blue bar began to light up, and Lyntael would experience the familiar sense of restorative energy fill her from the inside.

Meanwhile, Lyntael's side of the link would be something else entirely--there was a dim sense of information just beyond her grasp. Brief flashes of images of various sceneries, seemingly unrelated to each other. Flowing rivers. A steel-paved road rising into a moonlit night sky. Sterile white network tiling. An icy snowscape. A field of soldiers. Lava flows. A large bed in a luxurious-looking hotel room. A rainy graveyard. Her sense of awareness of the information was that the further in it went, the less prominent these sceneries seemed, though occasionally a very vivid scene would appear. It all went by in a brief few seconds, but if she were to specifically focus on one of the sceneries, she would find that it was like remembering watching a movie--not quite like recalling a memory, but not too detached from it either, as she would definitely recognize at least one of them as being herself, currently standing next to a lake.
In the few moments that followed her adapting to the extra thread of awareness and sensation that came with the new link, Lyntael found her eyes mostly unfocused as she blinked. She was looking at Eternalis, but as she rapidly tried to process the new feeling, she wasn't exactly seeing him, or the surrounding network either. Instead, she was trying to manage the disparate procession of memory-like fragments that came with it; each might have faded away again immediately, if not for the girl's natural affinity for ordering and processing information. As it was, Eternalis might identify a distant, unfocused look in her return gaze for a few seconds while she unconsciously took each fleeting fragment in turn and kept them.

Her curiosity about the new sensation mostly overrode her other hesitations; her mind's eye passing through each of that pseudo memories in turn, driven to understand more about her companions without really grasping what she was doing. The first fragments of Eternalis and Aurora battling together. They both seemed so relaxed and happy, like it was a game, as they tossed minor endearments back and forth.

Her brow furrowed briefly as more of the fragments progressed, following one to the next; it was the interactions between them that caught her mind's eye, more than the conflicts there were in, initially, but the settings were... strange. Some came before others, and she couldn't really put them in the proper order easily. She blinked again, still looking outwardly confused and thoughtful, even though her gaze was far off and unfocused. Sparky was only just being introduced to them in this one, but then just as suddenly the next fragment was presenting the girl with an Eternalis-eye-view of her own earlier struggles. Did she really seem that fragile to him? It wasn't untrue, she supposed, but seeing how out of place she looked on a battlefield really seemed more obvious from his perspective. She could only imagine the sorts of things he and Aurora had been through already, fighting as much as they did.

The thought pulled another of the fragments to her mind and Eternalis would notice her breath in suddenly, her breath catching. Even if it was just a fragmented thread of past experience, the unfolding of a mass war front through her mind, and the desperate struggle that rapidly unfolded shook her. Was that the net war she'd read about? They had both fought in it? As soon as the war front and its desperate battles had passed through her mind it was replaced again by another series of smaller conflicts, but now her expression grew more confused.

In the war, they'd been desperately devoted to each other, but here... this had to be later, sparky was with them... but Aurora was acting so cruel and mean... what could have happened? The order made no sense. Maybe they'd had a fight or something... but Eternalis seemed far too gentle and considerate for that, really. She felt sure he'd never do anything to make her act like that. They loved each other, that was really clear to see... She blinked a few more times, shaking her head, but another of the fragments was already unfolding as her thoughts focused on the idea.

This one was not of a battlefield at all. It looked more like a hotel room, but a really, really fancy one. A bath and a conversation; they were talking about something, something difficult it seemed. Lyntael's cheeks began to pink as the recollection progressed under her unthinking curiosity; Aurora wasn't invisible any more. Lost in the recollection itself for a moment, Lyntael wasn't aware that her mouth had opened slightly and her breath had shortened. Her cheeks heated more through the confession, and then further to a kiss. Her heart skipped; the realisation that it was a very private thing she was seeing didn't occur to the girl right away as she watched with a sense of unconscious eagerness and excitement, momentarily detached from reality.

Her rosy flush grew, breath short and eyes unfocused as, in the recollection that her mind was rapidly chasing down, the pair weren't just kissing any more. They very much weren't just kissing any more. It took her a moment to fully understand and realise what she was vicariously recalling, but even then it wasn't until she felt herself bite her own lip that Lyntael snapped back to the reality of the situation, and that she really should not be looking in on something like that at all. Especially not with Eternalis standing right in front of her. Her excitement flushed features immediately shifted gears into mortified shame and guilt and she blinked rapidly looking up to Eternalis with clear eyes, searching to see if he knew what she'd seen.

“I... ah, I um, I think...” She swallowed, trying to work some moisture back into her throat. “I don't think I was meant to... you... you aren't seeing, ah, any of my thoughts, or memories or anything like that, are you? I... I don't think I'm quite comfortable with that... Only I saw...” She clicked her teeth shut again, trying to cover her blush, and vainly trying to ignore the suddenly pressing heat she could feel in places other than her cheeks. Don't think about it. Don't focus on it. Think about other things. It was none of her business to know about, no matter how curious she had been. Asking Aurora was one thing, this was quite another altogether. Why hadn't she stopped herself sooner? She looked down, not able to hold Eternalis' eyes any longer, at least for the moment, and carefully studied her own toes instead.
"... Lyntael?" called out Eternalis, after receiving no feedback from her. Waving his free hand in front of her face didn't do much, and neither did Sparky's concerned barking. It didn't look like she was particularly physically affected--at least, not from the data he was receiving, which was limited, but also sufficient for doing what he wanted to do with it. He turned towards Harke's screen, and spotted his sneaky sister hovering over the operator's shoulder. However, assuming that Harke knew she was there, he simply tilted his head at her in acknowledgement, before turning to his operator proper. "Anything on your end, Harke?" he asked.

Harke blankly stared, blinking for a few moments, before realizing he was being addressed. "Oh! Hang on," said Harke, glancing towards his other monitor to read the data on his PET. "Weird, seems like you're receiving a bunch of... medical data? I can see stuff like heartbeat rate and temperature readouts here--I'm going to guess it's Lyntael's. Seems really complex." At the same time, he was unaware of Karen responding to Eternalis by gesturing similarly with her head, her knowing smile never once leaving her face.

The revelation confused Eternalis. "Medical data? That's odd, I only have a basic display here," he said, stealing a glance at the unchanging HP bar in his peripheral vision.

Harke's voice piped up again. "Oh, Aurora's awake now, too. Still recovering though," he said.

"Oh, she's awake?" said Eternalis, to which Harke nodded. Aurora being awake made sense--she was the one usually processing battle data for him. It was mostly a passive thing. Eternalis realized right then how much he relied on it, as he hadn't noticed half of the viruses in the battle they had just fought due to them being somewhat off to the side, as well as being masked by the hot springs' mists. Perhaps he ought to appreciate her more for it, he thought. He soon found an incoming audio transmission along with the video feed. The voice that came through sounded rather weary to everyone present, but its identity was clear.

"Just as I wake up, I find some data I have to process... Really being worked to the bone here," sighed Aurora through the feed, her voice visualized as an audio spectrogram in Eternalis's heads up display.

"Sorry to wake you up, I didn't mean to. Thanks for processing the data for me, I always really appreciate it," he replied.

A small pause ensued, before Aurora's voice replied. "Oh, well, um, you're welcome," she said, in a smaller tone of voice. She then cleared her voice, before continuing. "Anyway! This seems to be a lot of personal medical data from Lyntael--did something bad happen to her? I can't really process any visual info right now, still restoring that."

"Oh!" exclaimed Eternalis, his doings exposed unexpectedly. "Uh, well... I've been sharing a, uh, data terminal with Lyntael here, and--" he replied, turning to Lyntael as he mentioned her name. His sentence stopped midway, however, as he saw Lyntael's oddly enraptured expression, which was similarly interrupted at that moment to be replaced with a look of clarity. She still looked a little flushed, but otherwise fine. "Ah, she seems to be fine now," he said, before addressing Lyntael directly. "You okay now? Hope that didn't do anything bad," he said.

After that, however, the question she posed to him caught him off guard, and he took a few seconds to process what it meant. "... No? I don't think I saw anything like memories or such," he replied, confused. From the audio feed, he could hear Aurora's faint murmur saying "Data terminal...? Memories..." The muddled look on his face persisted, only made worse by how Lyntael now, for some reason, refused to meet his gaze and directed hers fully down at the ground.

That is, until the realization hit him, along with the simultaneous piercing yell blasting through the audio feed. "You did WHAT?!" Suddenly, his heads-up display was immediately flooded with garbage data, and he was overwhelmed with a sharp, staticky pain in his head. On Harke's side, the monitor that held all of the data that he had been monitoring was similarly overwritten with garbage. It only lasted for a second, however, before all of the data returned to normal. Lyntael would now notice that she no longer had any access to the memories that she had been crawling through just then, with only what she had been "recalling" still remaining in her mind.

Now, Eternalis buried his face in his hands, having been made painfully aware that he had definitely, absolutely, and undoubtedly, screwed up. Through the audio feed, he could hear a deep breath being taken, and forcefully held, as if trying to hold something in. Aurora then exhaled quite audibly, and repeated the process twice, holding her breath for a little longer with each one. "... Okay... All right," she started, before drawing another breath. "I assume you don't need me to explain what you did? E-ter-na-lis?"

Each drawn-out syllable made his body shiver a little more. "... Y-Yes?" he squeaked out.

"Good!" replied Aurora instantly, with a much higher pitch than her normal voice. "I'll be seeing you in a few minutes," she said, before the audio feed immediately cut out, and Eternalis's shoulders dropped from the tension. His hands dropped from his head shortly after, and he forced himself to stand up tall, facing Lyntael. If she was to look back up at him, he would see a weary, somewhat resigned smile. Comically, Sparky seemed to mimic his master's ramrod straight pose, not quite understanding what was happening.

"... Sorry you had to see that--" he said. "All of it, I mean. I'll explain to her when she gets here."
The awkward struggle with her own guilt and embarrassment might have occupied Lyntael a good deal longer if the follow up chatting between Eternalis and his re-awakened partner hadn't culminated in an indignant screech that made her flinch away for a moment. She stepped back as the brief altercation unfolded, hands jumping up to clasp at her chest in uncertain nerves. A few times, her fingers uncurled and she moved as though to interject, but each time she opened her mouth with a reassurance or explanation she wanted to convey, no words arrived to carry it and she shrank back again.

Guilty underneath, a part of her was mostly relieved that Eternalis hadn't gotten from her the same sorts of things she'd received from him. It wasn't as though she had any intimate or embarrassing memories to share, by contrast, but she still had a good many personal and private things that she absolutely didn't want anyone else looking in on, accident or not. Given the trouble it sounded like her friend had landed himself and possibly them both in, she felt more than a little bad that thoughts to her own privacy were her first concern... but from what little Aurora and Harke had mentioned, it sounded like they were only getting information like Rogan sometimes complained of being swamped with.

Not, she realised with another jolt of discomfort, that having all of that shared out to her friends wasn't in itself fairly personal and embarrassing. Awkward sensations aside, Rogan often complained of the PET concerning itself overmuch with details about her 'emotive simulations'... and if that meant that aurora and Eternalis were going to be aware of just how terrified she was, even when she was doing her best to hide it, that wouldn't do her any favours for trying to seem capable. She swallowed roughly and hung her head again, waiting for the exchange to end, and rubbed at the back of her neck. At least it sounded like Aurora was now the one getting the majority of the information exchanged, and she felt a little better if it was only her seeing that information.

The awkward few moments of silence that followed were only broken by Sparky's oblivious good mood, until Eternalis offered an apology and Lyntael hurriedly nodded back, still looking mostly elsewhere.

“I... I'm sorry, I didn't think. Ah, I didn't really realise what was happening until... It was an accident, I really didn't mean to, and now I've gotten you in trouble. I...” She shuffled, looking about for something to focus on and nervously rubbing at a forearm with her opposite hand. “She'll understand, won't she? She knows it couldn't have been deliberate, right? I'm really sorry, I had no business... I—” She cut herself off and drew a deeper breath.

“I should stop talking about that. Um... I think it's really wonderful that you both, ah, care for each other as much as you do... I, um...” This wasn't helping, she realised, grasping hurriedly for something safer to divert to. “I mean, that is... I got bits and pieces of other things, too, and you've both been through so much. I had no idea! I mean, you've fought in wars even... that's... I can't even imagine how frightening that must have been, and, and, well, how desperate, and you both taking on so much, and protecting each other, and... it's terrifying, but it's amazing too, you know? I couldn't even dream of standing up to something like that. I'd run and hide and I'd never stop! you're both so strong, and it really just makes me realise how much looking after me must be holding you back, and I am trying, but it makes me feel like I'll never really be... like that, and...” She trailed away, drawing a breath and stopping the nervous rush of words. As she looked around between her space-filling efforts, her eyes settled on the data crystal that they had yet to unpack.

“Ah... do you think we should wait, um, for Aurora? Or... Maybe we could push on a little further? It isn't too far, I don't think...” At this point, she'd almost take a virus attack as a means of breaking away from the uncomfortably intimate situation. There were still a couple of what she was now thinking of as mnemonic fragments, waiting in the connection they still shared, even though something Aurora had done had curtailed the flow of such sensations, but Lyntael carefully filed them aside as best she could; she had no right to look at them, deliberately or otherwise, unless Aurora and Eternalis both said so.

((Okay to open MD))
Aurora's outburst made Harke slightly reel back in his seat, his breath held until Aurora disconnected herself from the audio feed. Slumping back in his seat, he glanced towards the side. The data being received from Lyntael was still being processed, but behind all of the complicated readouts, Aurora's status displayed itself as being dormant, indicating that while she was still passively doing the work that was provided to her, she was not responding to anything else in order to recover quickly from the damage she had received in battle earlier. He exhaled and rested his head on his arm, listening to the conversation.

Letting his mind wander places, one thing that he had been thinking of since the "infection" incident was the increasing closeness between the two programs he was caring for. From how they talked and interacted with each other, it was definitely something he was aware of. The things Eternalis had divulged to Lyntael, he had also heard, though he never really replied to it either. He had realized some time ago that despite operating Eternalis for so long, he hadn't really talked to him about what he did for quite some time. Maybe he should start doing so at some point, he thought.

His thoughts wandered further to speculating what exactly Lyntael saw in Eternalis's memories to cause her to be so flustered. Being an amorphous blob didn't exactly offer many avenues, so he assumed it was some kind of love confession, which would match how easily distraught Lyntael seemed to be. As he chuckled at his own daydreams, the sound of a door creaking behind him made him jump slightly and immediately turn back, but all he saw was his door looking slightly ajar, with nobody around. However, he realized that from how far away the sound was earlier, it most likely simply came from his sister's room directly next to his, and he stood up from his chair to close the door properly.

In the network, the first thing Eternalis did in response to Lyntael's string of apologies was to raise his hand and wave it about frantically. "No, no, it's fine, I'm just--It was my idea in the first place," he said. Even though he was the one that had committed the mistake, getting Lyntael wrapped up in it as well wouldn't quite do. "Really, it's okay. She'll probably understand." Trying to look to the side for support from his operator to add to the awkward conversation was a no-go either, as suddenly Harke seemed to have disappeared from his chair, with a tiny figure in the screen indicating that he was still in the room, but doing something else. What a time to disappear!

Lyntael continued to slip further into the territory that would lead to even further misunderstandings, prompting Eternalis to nervously hold his breath. Fortunately, she managed to direct it to another part of his memories, one of which included a war of some sort. There was only one that he recalled ever fighting in, so the plural form wasn't quite correct, but the shower of praise that followed made him sheepishly shrug his shoulders. "O-Okay, come on, you really don't need to go that far..." he said, though he too trailed off, unsure of what to say to help assuage Lyntael's creeping inferiority complex.

Lyntael's final query, however, provided an easy out--they could just continue on with their journey to lead her home to safety. Looking down at the Mystery Data crystal in his hands, he figured it was time to decrypt it. However, with the threat of Mimics--he glanced to the side at the screen. Thankfully, it showed his operator taking his seat once more. Harke noticed Eternalis's gaze at him through the screen. The Navi's worrying showed through his expression subconsciously, sparking his concern.

"Worried about someone?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry," blurted out Eternalis. "Um, how's Aurora?"

"She's resting up," Harke glanced to the side of the screen, then back to Eternalis with an apologetic-looking smile. "... Good luck with her later."

Eternalis returned the smile wearily. "--Thanks," he said. Looking down at the crystal in his hands, he raised it up. "Guess we can move on, but let's see what's inside this first so we don't get jumped," he said, beginning the decryption routine for the data crystal.

[Open BMD.]
This isn't supposed to be here...

The BMD activates... and suddenly a giant roulette wheel falls from the sky, landing with a loud crash! It begins to spin quickly, and the rewards on the wheel itself flit and flicker between different results. The board slowly tick-tick-ticks to a stop, the needle hovering over the space with 'MIMIC' in glowing red letters- and then it 'ticks' one more time, moving to the space that says 'CHIP PAYOUT'.

The space errors, then displays an 'OVERRIDDEN: ZENNY JACKPOT'. The wheel disappears with a flash, raining zenny down from the sky instead. It forms a very messy scatter-pattern across the ground around the two navis. How are they supposed to pick all this up...?

Eternalis: 6000z!
Lyntael: 6000z!
With the dangerous topics cleared, Lyntael was beginning to get her embarrassment under control, at least a little bit. It was still a little mortifying that she'd looked in on so much without stopping herself, but she pushed the thoughts away. The effort of distracting herself was helped by the sudden results of unpacking the data crystal and despite herself a small squeak of shock escaped as she jumped back from the unexpected... delivery system?

It worked out alright after a moment, though the sudden scattering of zenny set Lyntael to hurriedly attempting to control and gather it before it got lost. A few extra moments of scouting around rocks and under other obstacles on her hands and knees eventually resulted in the girl popping upright again and dusting her skirt and vest down with one hand while she passed a share of what she'd managed to gather up across to her ally in the neatened up form of a small yellow crystal shard. She grinned, mostly oblivious to any collection help that Sparky, or Eternalis himself, might have been offering along the way.

“I think that's all I could find... Lucky this time, I guess, right?” She shrugged, then rubbed at the back of her neck and turned to look back in the direction of the link she could still feel in the distance. “Maybe we won't run into anything else between here and there, if we're lucky. I think we must be coming at the spot from a different direction, because I still don't recognise any of the things we passed before... but we'll probably reach some of those old spring that were scattered all about the place we arrived soon... I think...”

When Eternalis was ready as well, Lyntael began to pick her way forward again, picking her steps between the uneven stones that made up most of the seldom-trod ground around them as she skipped and stepped alongside her friend, pointing out the way every so often. The muggy warmth, coupled with her own lingering fluster had started a very slight beading of sweat to form on her forehead and in other places and she reached out with one hand ahead of her to draw the air past and around herself in a faster, fresher curl that ruffled her clothes. Her eyes closed and she breathed in for an extra moment as she enjoyed the breeze.

“I know that springs can be really nice... but they do get a bit humid and sticky, if you're not actually getting in the water...” She mused, loud enough that it might well be directed towards Eternalis, but in a vaguely thoughtful way that didn't particularly demand a response. “I wonder what ever happened to that fish...” Without context there wasn't much guessing at what she was referring to this time. After a few more steps and a small jump between one larger flat stone and another, Lyntael glanced up and across to her companion.

“Hey, Eternalis... You and Aurora, you have a lot of other friends, don't you? There were all those other people you were with, in the war I saw... and they all seemed...” she faltered slightly; 'nice' wasn't exactly a good word for the varied individuals that they'd been working with in that memory. “Ah, interesting, and if they're your friends, then they must be good people too, right? Oh, and there was that cute fiery girl, with the wolf... she seemed really fun! I'd love to meet her... Do you think...” She paused again, this time for a more self-conscious reason, glancing down at her footing as she took another few steps.

“You know, I don't really have many friends, and I was wondering if maybe I could come along, next time you hang out with any of them? Ah... I mean, if I'm able to, of course... Rogan... you know... but I'd really like to meet more of your friends some time, if you think that would be okay.” The refreshing breeze couldn't do anything about the soft blush that crept back to her only recently-cooled cheeks and she peeked up at Eternalis briefly, before looking down and diverting her attention to Sparky as he played about their feet and between her small skipping steps.
[Z > 14645.]

"Whoa!" recoiled Eternalis, as the crystal unpacked itself into a massive roulette wheel, resulting in the sizable payout that spilled out onto the floor before them. Sparky yelped and jumped out of the way, barking incessantly at the wheel before it disappeared. Both pup and master looked around at the mess of currency in bewilderment. As Lyntael got to running about, trying to pick all of it up, Eternalis sighed. "Well, I guess we'd have to get to picking all of this up..." he muttered. Turning to Sparky, who was around running around a particularly large pile of coins, he yelled out. "Sparky! Push all of these into the middle!" The pup stopped running about, and barked in affirmation. Rounding up the piles of digital gold turned out to be simpler than he thought, however, as it seemed to easily coalesce into larger chunks, as Lyntael also demonstrated. All in all, with the help of Sparky pushing the piles of zenny about with his head for both Eternalis and Lyntael, they managed to gather a fair amount split between the two of them.

He crouched next to Sparky to retrieve a smaller shard from him, returning the favor with a pat. "Yeah, I guess we don't have to deal with an angry diamond," said Eternalis, looking up at Lyntael and standing back up as the zenny shards disappeared from his hands. Dusting himself off, he stretched a little, a little amused smile on his face from Lyntael's optimistic statement. "Well, I can't say I'm expecting the same, but we'll manage." Compared to her winded state, Eternalis felt a little guilty at having suffered little fatigue since they had left. At least, the distance between them and their destination was getting shorter and shorter, but with how their day had gone, he wouldn't be surprised if there was more than one surprise still in store for them. Still, there were better things to do than sit around being pessimistic, and so he trailed along next to Lyntael, watching her hop about from stone panel to stone panel on the rocky path. It reminded him of one of the people he had happened upon in his travels, the fiery one with a wolf partner. A quick glance at the tiny pup bounding along next to them, as well as the electric gal that they were escorting, made Eternalis chuckle in reminiscence.

They had happened upon Lucia during Aurora's memory just recently being restored; they had also received some "costume" model overrides from them as a gift. Aurora took it upon herself to return the favor as well, with some that she had designed herself. However, besides once or twice in the PET, they hadn't had the chance to actually make use of them. Lyntael mentioned something about a fish, which made Eternalis wonder what she was referring to--the Mudfeesh they had just come across didn't seem particularly of note, so it couldn't have been that. He turned back towards where they had been, but couldn't quite figure it out. Before he could voice his curiosity, however, Lyntael spoke up on her own. Bringing up the friends he had made before lightened the mood a little, but when Lyntael mentioned "that cute fiery girl", it made him jump a little. From how Aurora had reacted, and the cascade of garbage data that occurred shortly after, he assumed she had cut off the data connection somehow, but perhaps there was a sliver of connection remaining that sent some of his current thoughts over? There was no way of knowing without asking either Aurora or Lyntael, and he didn't particularly want to poke that particular beehive again. It was best to not mention it.

"Yeah, I've made a lot of friends over the past year or so. I wouldn't mind asking them if they wanted to meet again," he said. "That fiery girl's name is Lucia--it was a pretty short time, I don't think we knew each other too well. She certainly seemed nice, though, I think Aurora has her contact details." One of his friends came to mind in particular, and he grinned. He then turned towards Harke through the viewport screen. "How about it, Harke? Think we can meet up with Camillia and Rhea again?"

In response, Harke's face perked up a little, his eyebrows raised in interest. His eyes rolled to the side, and his face twisted about in contemplation. He had been wanting to contact Camillia again for some time, but had been too busy with work and operating to remember to do so. As awkward as it would be, he did want to see Camillia again. "... Sure, why not," he said with a lopsided smile.

Eternalis turned back to Lyntael with a beaming smile. "There we go, we'll find out if we can set up a meeting, then. I think you'll get along with each other! Rhea's a close friend of mine. She's like... this deadpan robot girl. The deadpan is pretty charming, honestly--though, her horse is a little flirty. He's a robot too. Kind of," he said, reminiscing about the closest of his friends as he stared down at his hand, clenching and unclenching it as he recalled the beam sword that he often wielded in the Cross. "She doesn't say much about it, but she dresses up a lot, too. Some weird stuff sometimes. Like..." he continued, restraining some laughter to himself, "imagine this stoic-looking metal purple robot girl, with this flashy-looking green energy sword." His amusement stopped his explanation for a moment, then he continued through a grin, "then dress that up in a giant yellow banana costume."

After a few seconds of further restrained laughter, he took a few breaths to calm himself down. "Sorry, couldn't help myself," he said. "I think we might have to find something else to do other than go swimming if we met Rhea, though. She doesn't exactly float well."

[Rogue Battle 2 - Ready.]
[Eternalis.EXE: 600 HP (Aqua/Team, One for All/Unify, Undershirt).]
[Sparky.SP: 80 HP (Elec/Speed, High Gear/Overclock, Planeswalking: Flight/Second Chance).]
Lyntael looked back, her features brightening again when it sounded like Eternalis was positive to the idea of introducing her to more people, though the idea of the serious, combat-hardened woman she'd caught flashes of in Eternalis' memory fragments, dressing up in ridiculous sounding costumes was enough to make the girl lift a hand to her mouth briefly, almost stifling a laugh and then letting it out regardless, since Eternalis seemed equally amused. The short cascade of young, girlish giggles faded away, though she was still smiling as she looked up to him.

“I hope I can meet lots of friends eventually. Ones I can keep in touch with. I've met other navis before, and enjoyed spending time with them, but then, sometimes they just don't write back and I wonder if I did something wrong. It's um... It's why I was so excited when I got your messages.” she shrugged softly and wandered onward, letting her arms lift out to her sides as she made a small game of jumping from one raised piece of stone to the next that she could find far enough away to warrant a jump. Each time she let only her toes and the ball of her foot touch the ground, keeping the other raised until she picked her next step.

“Hey, um... those people that you were fighting. They all introduced themselves and everything, and I'm sure I've heard those names before somewhere. I thought I'd read about a neo-shogun something or other in news reports and feeds, but... Aren't they... I don't know... I thought what I'd read said they were all about making social bonds and alliances across the net, and something about working for a greater sense of global peace and a reduction of conflict, or something like that. Were they the same people?” She paused in her game to look back and tilted her head slightly as she searched Eternalis for answers. In the brief pause she plucked at her vest pulling it away from her body and back a few times in a fanning motion to help the air move. The breeze she was controlling was refreshing, but it was still fairly humid and damp as they moved forward.

((Ready for Battle 2))
(+8 FXP)

Further up the path of stones was a large field of sweltering Coal. In the middle of the Coal field was a heated bath of Onsen water. Within the Onsen pool was a giant snow-white polar bear. This massive beast stood up as the navis intruded upon its domain, towering over the soon-to-be battlefield, easily 6 meters tall. It let out the mother of all roars, a terrifying din that sent shockwaves of sound, which washed over the two navis like a sonic boom at close range. It was possible that if they were human, that it might have popped their eardrums.

The field rumbled under the weight of the roar and shifted as two great tank-like viruses rose out of the Coal field. Their catterpillar drives revved and bit into the Coal as they drove out of their ambush pits. They turned their heavy shields towards the navis, leveling their many cannons toward the trio, as they joined the colossal bear to smash the intruders. This would be quite the fight.

-- Viruses --
Kodiak V3Kodiak V3 (Kodiak)

Kodiaks are a combination of the ColdBear, Teddy, and Pengi viruses. These viruses appear to be dire polar bears with anger management issues, muderous claws, and the beastly strength to hurl ice cubes or whatever else comes to hand like it was fired from a cannon. Kodiaks are massive, easily 6 meters tall when standing up on their hind legs. Their roar is enough to stun a Navigator in cold fear.

Area: All

HP: 630
Element: Aqua

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Damage + Impact + ???
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Hurls either an IceCube or a nearby whatever at the target. Elemental damage and effects may vary. If hurling an IceCube, and the attack misses, the IceCube remains on the field.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Slashing + Knockback
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Rakes enemy with RageClaw or strikes at a distance with IceSlashers.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: Mass Navigator/SP Stun
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: S
Tertiary Attack Description: CyberRoar.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
Special: GlacialBody: Gains IronBody while on Ice or Snow terrain.
Special: Indomitable: A fatal blow will leave this virus at 1 HP one time only. This virus will not flinch or shy away no matter how hard you hit it.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): RageClaw2, IceSlasher2, IceWave2, FreezeCube, CyberRoar, Zenny
: 630 HP [Onsen]
MagnumGuard V3MagnumGuard V3 (MagnumGuard)

MagnumGuards are a combination of the Basher, Gunner, and IronShield viruses. For the most part, they simply look like a Basher's upper turret mounted on a heavily armored catterpillar drive with an extra set of armatures that hold an IronShield in place before the turret. The shield faces in whatever direction the turret faces, allowing the virus to move in one direction while attacking and defending in another. The Basher's signature secondary cannon arms are able to reach out far enough to shoot while the shield is down, and the main cannons fire when the shield is up.

Area: All

HP: 520
Element: Fire

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 120 Fire + Break + Panel Break x3 Targets, 1 Action Charge
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: The virus selects up to 3 targets, and spends an action charging up the main cannons. It then fires a Magnum blast that reduces most Network constructs to ashes with a single shot; usually leaving a blast crater where they once stood. It may target empty panels and objects as well as enemies.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Fire x 9 Shots + Spray Fire + Double Attack
Secondary Attack Accuracy: D
Secondary Attack Description: Sprays the enemy with a hail of machine cannon fire from each cannon arm.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Break + Panel Break x 3 Targets + Double Attack
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Fires a spread of flaming cannonballs from each cannon arm.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
-- The virus may raise its shield over it's body to ward off aerial attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is raised, it must remain raised for 1 turn.
-- The virus may lower its shield from the raised position to guard against frontal attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is lowered, it must remain lowered for 1 turn.
-- This virus can move, but it's size and slow pace makes dodging impossible. It can turn quickly, however.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Magnum2, MachineGun2, 3-Way, CannonBall, IronShield2, Zenny
A: 520 HP [Coal]
MagnumGuard V3MagnumGuard V3 (MagnumGuard)

MagnumGuards are a combination of the Basher, Gunner, and IronShield viruses. For the most part, they simply look like a Basher's upper turret mounted on a heavily armored catterpillar drive with an extra set of armatures that hold an IronShield in place before the turret. The shield faces in whatever direction the turret faces, allowing the virus to move in one direction while attacking and defending in another. The Basher's signature secondary cannon arms are able to reach out far enough to shoot while the shield is down, and the main cannons fire when the shield is up.

Area: All

HP: 520
Element: Fire

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 120 Fire + Break + Panel Break x3 Targets, 1 Action Charge
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: The virus selects up to 3 targets, and spends an action charging up the main cannons. It then fires a Magnum blast that reduces most Network constructs to ashes with a single shot; usually leaving a blast crater where they once stood. It may target empty panels and objects as well as enemies.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Fire x 9 Shots + Spray Fire + Double Attack
Secondary Attack Accuracy: D
Secondary Attack Description: Sprays the enemy with a hail of machine cannon fire from each cannon arm.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Break + Panel Break x 3 Targets + Double Attack
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Fires a spread of flaming cannonballs from each cannon arm.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
-- The virus may raise its shield over it's body to ward off aerial attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is raised, it must remain raised for 1 turn.
-- The virus may lower its shield from the raised position to guard against frontal attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is lowered, it must remain lowered for 1 turn.
-- This virus can move, but it's size and slow pace makes dodging impossible. It can turn quickly, however.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Magnum2, MachineGun2, 3-Way, CannonBall, IronShield2, Zenny
B: 520 HP [Coal]

-- Navis --
Eternalis.EXE: 600 HP [Normal]
Sparky.SP: 80 HP [Normal]
Lyntael.EXE: 150 HP [Normal]

-- Terrain --
20% Onsen
  • Aqua Elementals gain 3 HP/action partially or fully submerged, Non-Aqua Elementals only when partially submerged.
  • If any Sea Terrain exists in an adjacent panel, Onsen panels will change to Sea Terrain, except in Yoka (Sea will convert to Onsen).
  • Terrain changes between Sea and Onsen do not inflict damage upon submerged entities, nor do they eject submerged entities to the surface.
  • Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Aqua + Blast1 Blind.
[Pond in center of Coal field]
40% Coal
  • Fire Elementals gain +20 Strengthen/turn, but must be allocated to Fire Element attacks only. Any Coal Strengthen vanishes after moving off of it.
  • Non-Fire Elementals get Burn (5 Fire/action for 1 turn or until cured) the turn after they come into contact with Coal Terrain.
  • 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Soil.
  • 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to to Lava.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Fire.
[Coal field]
40% Normal
  • No effects.
[Path leading to Coal field]

-- Rogue Battle 2 Ready? Start!! --
As Lyntael hopped from stonepiece to stonepiece, Sparky went along with the little game, trailing just behind Lyntael most of the time, but also sometimes jumping ahead of her to circle around her as well. Eternalis took the time to walk alongside them instead, sometimes taking a cursory glance behind them to see if they were being flanked. It seemed like it would be a relatively uneventful walk, all things considered. Perhaps Lyntael's optimism would be met with results this time around. The topic of the army that he had fought some time ago came up, and he recalled the hectic fight that that had been. There were some snippets of news that he had read about here and there, but...

"I've heard about them recently, but it's been a while. They certainly didn't seem all that peacefaring when we fought them, or at least that's how it seemed when we got the request to keep them at bay. I can't say if they're the same people or not--maybe they went under a change of leadership?" he suggested, looking up into the skies as he recalled the different Navis that comprised the commanders in the fight. He didn't have very good memories of the Elec-aligned one, at least, judging from the very close call with deletion that he had gone through. When he lowered his head back down, however, he saw a sight that halted him in his tracks.

"Hold on," he called out to the other two. Unfortunately, his warning came too late, as the Kodiak rose from the pool to its full height, flanked by a massive shielded turret on either side. Having not yet seen the virus variants, Eternalis was a little cautious. However, a small beep in his periphery showed the viral scanner installed into his systems some time ago, observing the two as merely advanced forms of viruses, and not actual programs, despite their size.

His operator was also on the same wavelength. "Only three viruses, huh," said Harke through the comms screen, already filtering through his chips and sending in a few to match. "Half capacity, Eternalis. Sensor, WaterLine, GolemHit--the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Give 'em hell!"

"Thanks!" Eternalis replied. Turning to his comrade, he flashed her a thumbs up. "Just a little bit more until we get there! I've got your back, Lyntael!" he called out to Lyntael. At the same time, he could feel a pounding heartbeat in his chest that wasn't there before, reminiscent of the strange bodily sensations not a few minutes ago. The sensation of heat from their surroundings seemed to double as well. Activating his recovery processes, the sensations seemed to subside a little with a sense of slight cooling, and the little data display showing Lyntael's name on his display began to glow once more. Above it, his own name appeared with a similar, but much longer bar graph. It flashed once, and then merged with Lyntael's, creating a single display with both of their names above it.

"Sparky, hoverboard! On me!"

"Arf!"

The peppy pup was quick to react, dashing over to his side in an instant as Eternalis made a small hop, and then subsequently landed on a freshly transformed Model K-9 hoverboard. Sparky moved to avoid an incoming attack with a rapid side-dash, while Eternalis produced a blob of yellow that branched off from his arm. He allowed the blob to drop onto the stone path, where it bounced up to form a thin pillar with a tiny eye atop it, that immediately locked its sights on their massive ursine foe.

"Go past them!" he called out, and an affirmative bark preceded the two leaving afterimages of light behind them in a lightspeed dash. Appearing behind the three metaviruses, the afterimages settled in the middle of their path, before the hot spring under them erupted in a massive explosion of blue-tinted steam and water. As the cloud of steam engulfed the field, Eternalis then leapt off of the hoverboard with a clenched fist. Rapidly, the tinted vapor cloud coalesced above the viruses into a massive mass of opaque slime, in the same shape as his fist. He then punched the ground that he landed on, with the fist in the air following suit in a mirrored attack on the trio of viruses. He then kept himself mobile, meaning to keep himself and Sparky clear of any close combat that Lyntael might also attempt.



// Summary -- One for All: Receive 50% Damage from Lyntael
[Et.1] Act: Equip @ Sparky
[Sk.1] Act: Evade incoming attacks: Dodge (High Gear: Eva+)

[Et.2] Chip: Sensor2HP: 100
Properties: Anchored, ElecBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 130 Elec + Beam Attack + Stun 1
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a Killereye to search for enemies. Fires an eye-beam when it detects them. It can see through invisibility.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Elec
Special: ElecBody: Immune to Elec damage. Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.
Trader Rank: C
: 100HP Anchored ElecBody Object: (130 + Beam Attack + Stun + Self-Destruct): Laser TAG (Acc: S) @ Kodiak V3 (Onsen/Vs. Aqua: Elec+260)
[Sk.2] Act: Dash past enemies: Overclocked Movement (Overclock: BaseEva=50%, High Gear: Eva+)

[Et.*] Sig: Influx Aegis: Support Base Heal 20 @ Lyntael/Sparky

[Et.3] Chip: WaterLine2Damage: 130 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: A wall of water gushes from the ground, drowning up to 3 targets.
Duration: Once
Element: Aqua
Trader Rank: C
: 130 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (Acc: B) @ All (SameElement: Aqua+15, Terrain: Coal > Soil)
[Et.4] Act: Jump off of Sparky: Unequip
[Et.5] Act: GolemHit2Damage: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: A fist of stone falls from the sky to smash an enemy, and create a shock wave that hits two nearby enemies. The area affected by the fist becomes Cracked terrain.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: C
: 190 + Break + Panel Crack + Wide Attack (Acc: C) @ All (Terrain: * > Cracked)
[Et.6] Evade incoming attacks: Dodge

[Et.*] Sig: Influx Aegis: Support Base Heal 20x2 @ Lyntael/Sparky
“I suppose... It is— Hmm—?” Lyntael turned slightly in her skipping to glance across to Eternalis, moments before the thing she had previously thought was an element of the terrain lifted itself up and roared. Lyntael's knees buckled a her hands darted up to cover her ears; the tight shriek that escaped her was swiftly lost underneath to all pervasive bellowing sound. A brief peek up showed her several particularly massive viruses, and she felt her balance waver as she rocked on her toes a little, still crouching close to the ground; for a few moments the loss of all hearing and sense of sound had through her awareness right out and she could mostly only hear the sudden thump and hammer of her heart.

Just ahead she cold see Eternalis squaring up and assessing, and she could feel... something, along the connection to him that they were maintaining now. She managed a few quickly short breaths as she tried to get control of herself and forced herself to stand again, swallowing and nodding in an uneven series of head jerks to her companion's more confident thumbs up. Eternalis was protecting her. He promised she'd be okay, and she trusted him. The through repeated itself to her own mind as she breathed and focused on looking properly at everything around them. She just had to... Lyntael looked up, and up, and up a little more as she took in the sheer size of the shaggy bear standing to his full height in front of her. Just had to... Her teeth clenched and she couldn't seem to swallow any moisture into her throat. Her hair crackled and her skin began to hum and dance with a diffused light. It was huge... She closed her eyes, feeling her efforts at resolve faltering, before the sound and rush of Eternalis beginning his own attacks snapped her out of it again.

She just had to let go and trust the reactions that she couldn't stop anyway; Eternalis was protecting her, as long as she could contribute something useful. Lyntael swallowed again and closed her eyes, letting out a slower breath. The wind lifted around her, curling and twisting as it ruffled her clothes, then rushed forward all at once as the girl leaned forward and let her body drop into a swift run. The creature was too large, too terrify to really think about fighting; the only thing she could do was not think about it. Instead she let the winds guide her steps as she darted forward, light footfalls crossing the coals that glowed to bright embers under the breeze as she passed. A wince crossed her features as her all-too-soft and sensitive feet touched on the scorching terrain, but only for a moment before the refreshing onsen water met her steps a moment later.

Her eyes opened as she reached the water, but as she twisted her body and darted to one side, around the massive target, all she really saw was a wall of white fur that she could avoid thinking of as an actual enemy. She felt her barrier pulse outward of its own accord, swelling from her core and balancing into a static shell as it passed over her strikers. The visible field faded from sight a moment later, as it settled, and Lyntael completed the quick turn that had brought her around the creature and rose up to a more solid stance again, well past her shins in the waters she moved her feet apart.

She reached out in an effort to trust her palms against the mass of fur and muscle that towered above her and willed the energy to flow as she felt it draw in smoothly from each of her strikers, coursing through each limb, to her core and then out through both wrists in a shock-wave. the electrical pulse had been intended to shove the immense creature away from her further, but as the bear refused to budge so much as an inch, or even flinch at all, Lyntael felt herself stagger back instead, almost overbalancing as she reeled and her eyes opened wider, staring up at the sheer size of the bear again; the feeling of drain was mild, and the answering pulse was slow yet. Both senses were lost in the sudden gasp that came with Lyntael stumbling back further in shock, falling onto her behind in the onsen with an ungainly splash before she could catch herself, at the appearance of Eternalis' own massive crushing fist slamming down right in front of her. Her body pulsed with an extra cascade of sparks that skittered out across the water around her as she tried to bite back the small shriek rising in her throat from the too-close attack.


Summary
L*) Subtype: All attacks containing Knockback or Pull gain Wind-Type.
L1) My Pain is Real (Counter(When Hit): 40Elec, Knockback (Empowered, Wind-Type), Nova3, A)(Overcharge +1 on Set, +2 on Trigger)
L2) Move (In and around Kodiak)
L3) My Heart Falters (80Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1)(Overcharge -2)
L4) Dodge
L5) My Fear Rejected (30Elec, Knockback (Empowered, Wind-Type), Spread2, Break, Shot, Charge Burner1, A)(Overcharge +3) (At Kodiak, spread to sides at both MagnumGuards)
L6) Dodge (Really more falling on her bum in the onsen, but close enough)
L*) A Manifest Spirit (15Elec, Nova2, A)(Overcharge -1)

Cooldowns and Overcharge

My Heart Falters: 2TCD
My Pain is Real: 3TCD
My Fear Rejected: 2TCD

Overcharge: Begin: +0, Pain is Real +1, Heart Falters -2, Fear Rejected +3, Manifest Spirit -1, End: +2
Eternalis jumps onto Sparky as the dog shoots by in his hoverboard mode. Sparky, and Eternalis by extension, evade a hurled IceCube by the Kodiak. Lyntael's electrical energy begins to build around her as the IceCube comes crashing down beside her. MagnumGuardV3A begins charging its primary cannon, a huge three-barreled monstrosity, but kept its shield facing the navis. It would probably lift its shield when it was ready to strike.

Eternalis surfs on Sparky, the hoverboard pup, over the Coal and the Onsen in a quick dash. As the afterimages settle down, the duo were hovering well down the path, behind everyone. A metal eyestalk appeared on the path leading to the coal, and aimed a beam of light at the belly of the Kodiak, daring it to move. Lyntael, avoiding the beam, ran through the Coal field (her feet beginning to feel quite heated), and around the Kodiak. Meanwhile MagnumGuardV3B quickly turned more or less in place, the tracks grinding out on the Coal, as its signature secondary cannon arms twisted around to spray a hail of machine cannon fire at Eternalis. The first shot from the first arm was empowered by the Coal field, glowing white hot, as it traced towards Eternalis with eight of its brothers and sisters. Eternalis dodges most of the hail of gunfire, helped by the speed of his trusty canine rocketboard, but gets struck once. The second arm takes aim at Eternalis, its barrel also growing hot from the Coal field (it looks like it divided the 20 Stengthen evenly between its two arms, 10 each to the first bullet of each arm). He heals the unharmed Sparky and Lyntael to full.

The Kodiak roars with the force of a Cyberbeast. Eternalis, Sparky, and Lyntael attempt to steel themselves against the blood-curdling noise. Fortunately, Sparky manages to somehow dodge the waves of fear washing over the three navis. Eternalis and Lyntael aren't so lucky. They feel a stunning sensation in their code, their body locking up a little from the shock. Lyntael's body reacts in two different ways: and the first thing she does is explode in crackling electricity. The waves of energy, enhanced by the Onsen, wash over the Kodiak. The Kodiak, being Aqua element as well as being on Onsen, take three times the damage. Thankfully for it, it has a massive HP pool to draw from. The Kodiak, however, doesn't budge an inch from the wind-infused knockback. Lyntael then produces an electrical barrier around herself to protect her further. Eternalis stands far from the water, and releases a wall of water at the viruses from behind. Unfortunately being behind the Kodiak, the massive bear is well in front of the MagnumGuards, but that just makes sure that the big immovable bear gets doused. MagnumGuardV3A finishes charging its attack after the water abates, raising its shield high above its 'head', and shoots a Coal-infused barrage at the three Navis. The first round, which included all the heat energy, misses Eternalis. The other two strike Sparky and Lyntael hard, unable to evade quickly enough, and cracks there panels. Sparky is saved from EJO'd by his Second Chance, as Lyntael's barrier is shattered like glass. Thankfully, Lyntael survived without a scratch.

Etenalis jumps off Sparky and Lyntael stands up, as the MagnumGuardV3B continues its gun barrage against Eternalis with its second arm. Eternalis takes three hits from the nine bullets, thankfully missing the strengthened tracer.

Eternalis looking at the Kodiak that just refused to move, he sent a rocky fist falling from the sky to smash into it, but somehow spectacularly, critically missed.

The Kodiak, oblivious to its danger (or just too prideful), throws an IceCube at the Sensor2 while it heals a tiny bit from the Onsen waters. The IceCube, obviously, ends up breaking the beam as it hurtles towards the metal eyestalk. The powerful electrical beam tears through the Icecube like a hot knife through butter and strikes the overconfident Kodiak for triple damage (Onsen + Aqua). However, the Kodiak does not get deleted. It holds onto life with Indomitable force. The Sensor2, having completed its attack, fizzles out. Lyntael sees her chance, moves into the Onsen, and smashs into the back of the Kodiak with great electrical force. The Kodiak moans as it is deleted, the electricity flowing out and striking the two MagnumGuards, unmoved by the wind-enhanced push. MagnumGuardV3A begins charging its primary cannon again.

MagumGuardV3B turns to face the pond and fire its arm cannons at Eternalis, Sparky, and Lyntael, not wanting to leave the nice Coal field. A spread of flaming cannonballs fly wild, leaving them unscathed. Eternalis directs healing energy at Sparky and Lyntael, restoring Sparky some.

-- Viruses --
Kodiak V3Kodiak V3 (Kodiak)

Kodiaks are a combination of the ColdBear, Teddy, and Pengi viruses. These viruses appear to be dire polar bears with anger management issues, muderous claws, and the beastly strength to hurl ice cubes or whatever else comes to hand like it was fired from a cannon. Kodiaks are massive, easily 6 meters tall when standing up on their hind legs. Their roar is enough to stun a Navigator in cold fear.

Area: All

HP: 630
Element: Aqua

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Damage + Impact + ???
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: Hurls either an IceCube or a nearby whatever at the target. Elemental damage and effects may vary. If hurling an IceCube, and the attack misses, the IceCube remains on the field.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 90 Aqua + Slashing + Knockback
Secondary Attack Accuracy: B
Secondary Attack Description: Rakes enemy with RageClaw or strikes at a distance with IceSlashers.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: Mass Navigator/SP Stun
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: S
Tertiary Attack Description: CyberRoar.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
Special: GlacialBody: Gains IronBody while on Ice or Snow terrain.
Special: Indomitable: A fatal blow will leave this virus at 1 HP one time only. This virus will not flinch or shy away no matter how hard you hit it.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): RageClaw2, IceSlasher2, IceWave2, FreezeCube, CyberRoar, Zenny
: MY FEAR REJECTED!
MagnumGuard V3MagnumGuard V3 (MagnumGuard)

MagnumGuards are a combination of the Basher, Gunner, and IronShield viruses. For the most part, they simply look like a Basher's upper turret mounted on a heavily armored catterpillar drive with an extra set of armatures that hold an IronShield in place before the turret. The shield faces in whatever direction the turret faces, allowing the virus to move in one direction while attacking and defending in another. The Basher's signature secondary cannon arms are able to reach out far enough to shoot while the shield is down, and the main cannons fire when the shield is up.

Area: All

HP: 520
Element: Fire

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 120 Fire + Break + Panel Break x3 Targets, 1 Action Charge
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: The virus selects up to 3 targets, and spends an action charging up the main cannons. It then fires a Magnum blast that reduces most Network constructs to ashes with a single shot; usually leaving a blast crater where they once stood. It may target empty panels and objects as well as enemies.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Fire x 9 Shots + Spray Fire + Double Attack
Secondary Attack Accuracy: D
Secondary Attack Description: Sprays the enemy with a hail of machine cannon fire from each cannon arm.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Break + Panel Break x 3 Targets + Double Attack
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Fires a spread of flaming cannonballs from each cannon arm.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
-- The virus may raise its shield over it's body to ward off aerial attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is raised, it must remain raised for 1 turn.
-- The virus may lower its shield from the raised position to guard against frontal attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is lowered, it must remain lowered for 1 turn.
-- This virus can move, but it's size and slow pace makes dodging impossible. It can turn quickly, however.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Magnum2, MachineGun2, 3-Way, CannonBall, IronShield2, Zenny
A: 490 HP [Coal] [Shield Up] [Charging!]
MagnumGuard V3MagnumGuard V3 (MagnumGuard)

MagnumGuards are a combination of the Basher, Gunner, and IronShield viruses. For the most part, they simply look like a Basher's upper turret mounted on a heavily armored catterpillar drive with an extra set of armatures that hold an IronShield in place before the turret. The shield faces in whatever direction the turret faces, allowing the virus to move in one direction while attacking and defending in another. The Basher's signature secondary cannon arms are able to reach out far enough to shoot while the shield is down, and the main cannons fire when the shield is up.

Area: All

HP: 520
Element: Fire

Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 120 Fire + Break + Panel Break x3 Targets, 1 Action Charge
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: The virus selects up to 3 targets, and spends an action charging up the main cannons. It then fires a Magnum blast that reduces most Network constructs to ashes with a single shot; usually leaving a blast crater where they once stood. It may target empty panels and objects as well as enemies.

Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 15 Fire x 9 Shots + Spray Fire + Double Attack
Secondary Attack Accuracy: D
Secondary Attack Description: Sprays the enemy with a hail of machine cannon fire from each cannon arm.

Tertiary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Fire + Break + Panel Break x 3 Targets + Double Attack
Tertiary Attack Accuracy: C
Tertiary Attack Description: Fires a spread of flaming cannonballs from each cannon arm.

Special: SuperArmor: Immunity to Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, and similar effects.
-- The virus may raise its shield over it's body to ward off aerial attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is raised, it must remain raised for 1 turn.
-- The virus may lower its shield from the raised position to guard against frontal attacks as a free action. However, once the shield is lowered, it must remain lowered for 1 turn.
-- This virus can move, but it's size and slow pace makes dodging impossible. It can turn quickly, however.

Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Magnum2, MachineGun2, 3-Way, CannonBall, IronShield2, Zenny
B: 490 HP [Coal] [Shield Front]

-- Navis --
Eternalis.EXE: 520 HP [Normal] [Stun1]
Sparky.SP: 61 HP [Cracked]
Lyntael.EXE: 150 HP [Onsen] [My Pain is Real: Broken!] [Burn (5 Fire/Action for 1 Turn or until Cured)] [Stun1] [Barrier: Broken!] [Off-Target1]

-- Terrain --
25% Normal
  • No effects.
[Path leading away from Pond]
10% Cracked
  • Changes to Broken when stepped on, chance to fall in when triggered.
  • Burrow: Change terrain to Broken, Null 50 to burrower.
  • Panel Crack attacks, >100 Damage Break/Impact/Drop attacks: Change terrain hit to Broken.
  • PanelShot: Splash1.
[Under Sparky and a patch in the Pond]
15% Onsen
  • Aqua Elementals gain 3 HP/action partially or fully submerged, Non-Aqua Elementals only when partially submerged.
  • If any Sea Terrain exists in an adjacent panel, Onsen panels will change to Sea Terrain, except in Yoka (Sea will convert to Onsen).
  • Terrain changes between Sea and Onsen do not inflict damage upon submerged entities, nor do they eject submerged entities to the surface.
  • Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Aqua + Blast1 Blind.
[Pond in center of Coal field]
40% Coal
  • Fire Elementals gain +20 Strengthen/turn, but must be allocated to Fire Element attacks only. Any Coal Strengthen vanishes after moving off of it.
  • Non-Fire Elementals get Burn (5 Fire/action for 1 turn or until cured) the turn after they come into contact with Coal Terrain.
  • 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Soil.
  • 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to to Lava.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Fire.
[Coal field]
10% Normal
  • No effects.
[Path leading to Coal field]

-- Objects --
IceCubeHP: 100
Properties: Normal, AquaBody, Buoyant
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis, knockback, Throw
Accuracy: Special
Description: Summons a large ice cube.
Duration: Until destroyed.
Element: Aqua
Special: AquaBody: Immune to Aqua damage.
Special: Buoyant: Object floats on liquid terrain.
Special: Ice Property: This object is weak against Fire instead of Elec.
Special: Ice Type: This chip counts as Ice Type for the purposes of potentially freezing targets on Aqua Element Terrain or environments, as applicable.
Trader Rank: D
A: 100 HP [Normal]
Sensor2HP: 100
Properties: Anchored, ElecBody
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 130 Elec + Beam Attack + Stun 1
Accuracy: S
Description: Summons a Killereye to search for enemies. Fires an eye-beam when it detects them. It can see through invisibility.
Duration: Until destroyed or until it attacks.
Element: Elec
Special: ElecBody: Immune to Elec damage. Special: Laser TAG: Attack triggers when something moves through the targeting laser beam, no matter who or what that may be.
Trader Rank: C
: ATTACKED!
IceCubeHP: 100
Properties: Normal, AquaBody, Buoyant
Object Damage: 100 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis, knockback, Throw
Accuracy: Special
Description: Summons a large ice cube.
Duration: Until destroyed.
Element: Aqua
Special: AquaBody: Immune to Aqua damage.
Special: Buoyant: Object floats on liquid terrain.
Special: Ice Property: This object is weak against Fire instead of Elec.
Special: Ice Type: This chip counts as Ice Type for the purposes of potentially freezing targets on Aqua Element Terrain or environments, as applicable.
Trader Rank: D
B: BEAMED!

"Good hit!" called out Eternalis, as the monstrous Kodiak fell from Lyntael's last attack and the MagnumGuard's last attacks went flying past. A quick glance at his heads up display showed that the fused health strategy seemed to be going quite well; only Sparky was left a little wanting for health, and he could top that off easily, while Lyntael was at full fighting strength. At least, that was what his data was telling him, but she was currently on her rear end in the pool, having dispatched a fair bit of her electrical runoff. Unfortunately, he was finding it a bit difficult to move as well, having withstood the Kodiak's earlier gut-wrenching roar.

To the side, Sparky barked out at his master, spinning in place and seemingly being unaffected by the debilitating condition. "Mmmh... Can't quite move--Go help out Lyn a little, Sparky," he said, directing some of his healing to the pup and gesturing with his head towards their comrade. Sparky's head darted between the two repeatedly, before his master's insistent "Go on!" was replied to with an affirmative bark. The microthrusters built into his body in the hoverboard form started to whine quietly, before a solid thumping sound signaled his rapid dash towards his target, where the pup aimed to sweep the girl right off her butt, ideally onto stable, magnetically-secured footing on the board.

With his allies hopefully secure, Eternalis shook his head and flexed his limbs, finally being able to shake off the movement lock. "One down, two to go," said Harke, slotting in the PanelGrab chip. "Good to go?"

The increased analytical data that came with the battlechip's processing power infused Eternalis with a brief hyper-awareness of the field, from the general overview of the area down to the tiny little mechanical adjustments that the MagnumGuards were doing as they re-aimed their armaments towards him and Lyntael. The scale of the two massive turrets both worked to their advantage and against. They were a lot sturdier than the average virus, but with their enormous shields, he'd either need a good sneak attack from an uncovered angle, or a close-range strike to circumvent them. Fortunately, he had both of those on his side, and he would be providing the first. "Good to go!" he replied, injecting a little more enthusiasm into himself. His effort was promptly received with a WaterLine chip into his systems, which was immediately activated as he waved his arm out towards the turrets.

The coals at the base of the MagnumGuards suddenly rattled about violently, before an impactful geyser burst forth from the ground, aiming to put a sizable crack in the turrets' carapaces, while Eternalis tried his best to angle his attack to avoid friendly fire. However, as impressive as the attack was, it was a weaker version of the earlier second-tier WaterLine chip he had used earlier, and thus wouldn't do quite as much damage. He needed something with a bit more punch to it. "Harke, AquaTower!" came his request, an unusual one since the AquaTower chip was difficult to control. His body glowed with infused strength, both from the battlechip, and a bit of restorative energy from his reserves, as he braced to unleash the energy--before vanishing into thin air.

Somewhere off to the side, Eternalis reappeared, having hopefully baited the turrets into firing at his earlier position: a feint to trick them into firing at what seemed to be foolhardy stationary target. Drawing his arms back, he gathered the energy from earlier and thrust his hands into the ground, causing another geyser to blow directly in front of him. And another, and another--a chain reaction that would travel rapidly towards the MagnumGuard turrets.

// Summary -- One for All: Receive 50% Damage from Lyntael

[Et.*] Sig: Influx Aegis: Support Base Heal 20x2 @ Sparky
[Sk.1] Act: Dash over to pick up Lyntael: Movement (Overclock/High Gear: Eva=60%)
[Et.1] Stunned!

[Sk.2] Act: Evade incoming attack: Dodge (High Gear: Eva=60%)
[Et.2] Chip: PanelGrabEffect: Accuracy Enhancement
Accuracy: S
Description: Increases the accuracy of all other attacks this turn by 1 Rank.
Duration: Until end of turn.
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D
: Accuracy Enhancement (Acc: S)

[Et.3] Chip: WaterLine1Damage: 80 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack
Accuracy: B
Description: A wall of water gushes from the ground, drowning up to 3 targets.
Duration: Once
Element: Aqua
Trader Rank: D
: 80 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (Acc: B) @ MagnumGuardV3 A/B (Same-Element/Vs. Fire: Aqua+15/+95, PanelGrab: Acc+)
[Et.4] Act: Take Aim
[Et.*] Sig: Influx Aegis: Support Base Heal 20x2 @ Self
[Et.5] Sig: Rapid Sublimation: Teleport @ Lining up MagnumGuards
[Et.6] Chip: AquaTower2Damage: 140 + Piercing + Ground Attack + Line-Chain
Accuracy: D
Description: Geysers of water march across the field.
Duration: Once
Element: Aqua
Special: Line-Chain: This attack moves forward in a rough line, but may shift side to side slightly as it advances to engage more targets in its general path. The attack cannot ever stray more than 45 degrees from its original path, and cannot make greater than a 45 degree turn at any given time.
Trader Rank: C
: 140 + Piercing + Ground Attack + Line-Chain (Acc: D) @ MagnumGuardV3 A/B (Same-Element/Vs. Fire: Aqua+15/+155, Teleport/PanelGrab/TakeAim: Acc+++)
[Et.*] Sig: Influx Aegis: Support Base Heal 20 @ Sparky/Lyntael
A blur of terrified sensation filtered through Lyntael's senses in procession moments after it had all happened; she'd cried out again, but it had been lost in the ear-splitting roar from the bear, driving her hands to her head and making the girl reel from the deafening pain of it. The explosion of electricity had answered as she curled up on herself, trying to protect her ears from the noise, but most of the next few moments were a dizzy assortment of senses as she struggled to recover. Her feet hurt; some of the more protruding bits of coal had jabbed up at the still-sensitive soles of her feet, and the warm onsen wasn't doing very much to sooth it. Disoriented, Lyntael tried to push herself up and look around.

The sudden appearance of sparky, nudging at her to climb on was enough of an immediate distraction to snap Lyntael out of her daze; her skirt and everything below it was thoroughly saturated by this point, and the painful tenderness on the soles of her feet was a pressing irritant, but she clambered on anyway and swiftly found her footing with a slightly dazed nod. The bear was gone; she could see that much at least. Eternalis was moving to draw their attention and she tried to take a few longer breaths to steady her nerves. the cannon fire from the turrets was heavy and she really didn't want to face any more of that. Her barrier had shattered under just one, and the recoil of that still sent tense shocks lancing up her arms and legs from each striker. Better than getting hit herself though; she didn't even want to think about that.

A glance down at sparky in his board form made her grit her teeth slightly and focus on holding back the charge under her skin. she could feel the natural pulse trying to balance off the growing swell of energy, but anything that wasn't completely precise would hurt sparky as well, as long as she was here. she grit her teeth and held it back. As sparky moved away, a glance at the two gun viruses, and their dangerously positioned muzzles made her extend a hand towards them, desperately trying to recall the protective field that had already been crushed once. It came, pulsing out from her core and stabilising just beyond her strikers, but it wasn't as strong a field as before, and the effort of drawing it out felt strained. She couldn't keep that up endlessly, even if she was getting better at doing it deliberately now.

“Sparky... I, I'm not too good, far away. I can try, but, I don't think...” A quick glance around the field make her swallow her objection and then point. “Around that way. I can't do much, but if you bring us along the edge there, I think I can —Ahh!” The sudden movement was quicker than she'd anticipated, but instinct took over a moment later and Lyntael found herself slipping into a proper riding balance with natural, instinctive grace, once she stopped thinking about it and just reacted. She tried to guide sparky's rapid speed around to a point side on to both turrets, opposite where Eternalis had just warped.

It was strange, in a way, but lining up carefully as the hover-pup curved about felt simpler that she had expected it to be. She let the charge build in her strikers as the two turrets swiftly lined up, crouching on the board just enough to prepare while her wrists and ankles began to crack and glow. Her inner charge was still rebuilding, strong and ready, but it was nowhere near the overwhelming burn it migh thave been. She just had to keep calm and help where she could; that was what mattered.

The moment came as sparky raced by; the perfect line-up between the two turrets, just as Lyntael uncoiled and twisted her body from the slight crouch. Her forward foot kicked out behind and arced around, over the rest of her body as she moved into a forward flip, moving with the momentum of Sparky's course. The sense of relief and release flooded her as the build-up of charge drew in from each striker, combined, then rushed out in a broad field of energy from her leading foot. A rush of air blew past her as she moved, scattering drips from her soaked skirt as it moved with the wave like a forceful wind-front.

Lyntael's hand touched the surface of the board first, then her lead foot came back down a moment later, and she regained her stance without thought, still stable on the swiftly-moving mount. The shock-wave of electricity crashed outward at a progressing angle, continuing past the near gun turret as it went and barrelling towards the second, across the pool. As she steadied herself, Lyntael took a couple of quick, panted breaths, feeling her charge drained out, and then cycling back up once more. Faster, harsher, but still not too badly. She could still focus, and that was what mattered for now.

Summary
L*) Subtype: All attacks containing Knockback or Pull gain Wind-Type.
L1) *Stunned*
L2) Board Sparky/guide his movement
L*) A Manifest Spirit (Suppressed!)
L3) Beats Anew (50Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1)(Overcharge -1)
L4) Dodge
L5) Take Aim
L6) My Thoughts Collected (30Elec, Impact, Knockback [Empowered, Wind-Type], Shot-Type, Spread2 (Behind and to one side), A (Off-Target from last turn, cancelled by take aim) (MagnumGuard B primary, spread to Magnumguard A) (Overcharge +3)

Cooldowns and Overcharge

My Heart Falters: 1TCD
And Beats Anew: 3 TCD
My Pain is Real: 2TCD
My Fear Rejected: 1TCD

Overcharge: Begin: +2, Counter Trigger, +2, Beats Anew -1, Thoughts Collected +3, End: +6