Ghostly Girls' Games

"And so... here we are." declared Anyis, having set foot in Netopia Net from the Netsquare reroute.

"... Why Netopia?" questioned Mill. There was nothing wrong with Netopia, persay, but it just seemed so... arbitrary.

"Why not Netopia." answered Anyis bluntly. So it was completely arbitrary. "That aside... Magna, can you be done with this being on a different planet thing long enough to fight some viruses?"

"I am ready and awaiting orders, Mother Unit." answered Magna quickly.

Anyis just looked at him, thought to ask why he was able to switch out of that deep thinking mode so quickly all of a sudden, but decided against it. The answer couldn't have been anything short of stupid, she figured. "Just need to wait for Eidolon to come, then..."
Sure enough, Eidolon followed along soon after, gliding along until she found them. She nodded wordlessly at them, apparently thinking that a statement like 'I'm here' or even a simple 'hello' wasn't needed. Shortly after, Icaro showed up as well, looking like she came out of Eidolon's body, at least unless everyone else present got the more plausible impressions that either she had simply been hiding behind Eidolon until she got there or had been summoned on the spot.

"Hello," Icaro said, waving to Anyis and Magna. "I am Icaro, a plant spirit, and this is-"

Eidolon held up a hand, cutting her off. "We've already been introduced."

"Ahh. Of course, mistress."

((Battle 1 ready, I think))
With the arbitrary choice of Rogue Netopia, Anyis and Eidolon went forward to test their mettle against the viruses of the land. Their travels led them to a small gathering of viruses, swooping about a corrupted area of the network. Some Fishy were whizzing about some sunken data pillars in the poisoned area, while a few Handy tinkered with their explosive devices. The arrival of Anyis and Eidolon was unwelcome, and they readied themselves for battle!

-- ENEMIES --
Fishy2 A: 150 HP (Flying/Poison)
Fishy2 B: 150 HP (Flying/Poison)
Fishy2 C: 150 HP (Flying/Poison)
Handy2 A: 120 HP (Holy)
Handy2 B: 120 HP
Handy2 C: 120 HP (Holy)

-- OBJECTS --
Corrupted Data Pillar A: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar B: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar C: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)

-- ALLIES --
Anyis.EXE: 220 HP
Magna.SP: 100 HP
Eidolon.EXE: 200 HP
Icaro.SP: 60 HP

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy
40% Poison
50% Normal

-- ROGUE TEAM BATTLE 01, READY? START!! --
Anyis watched as Icaro appeared from... behind, maybe, Eidolon, and she could only think one thing as a result. "What the... What the heck are you?" asked Anyis bluntly as she walked past Eidolon to examine the SP. She had a face... and clothes... but... where was everything else? Anyis outstretched a finger to point at Icaro and queried, "Like, uh... If you poke you, will I actually touch anything? Can I poke you?"

"Really, Anyis? She introduces herself so politely, and your first impulse is to poke her? Err... if you can poke her, anyway." chided Mill appropriately. "I mean, would you want someone poking Magna out of nowhere?"

"Who cares about that?! Look at Magna. Everyone can figure what'd happen if you poke that lump of metal. Heck, you could start hitting him and it wouldn't be any different than banging on a trash can. But this..." retorted Anyis, pointing back to her own SP momentarily before looking back to Icaro. "She's like... kinda ghost-ish? I mean, not totally ghost, but man..." She was totally engrossed by this. Thankfully, the viruses showed up quick enough for this to not get totally silly.

They all watched as the Handys popped up, laying claim to some nearby Holy panels before anyone could do anything about it, but what drew Anyis's attention was the Fishys swooping in from above. "Fliers...? Jeez, I should've dragged Djinni with me from that Netfrica job... Oh well. Mill, wings." commanded Anyis, clapping her gloved hands together to transform the cloth into her large silver gauntlets. She didn't really think to ask if Eidolon was hiding wings of her own in that crazy patchwork thing she had going, but what Anyis did know was that she definitely had her wings, and damn if she wasn't going to use them.

"Maybe you ought to tell Eidolon what you're doing before going up there?" suggested Mill, albeit while slotting in the DropDown chip to enable Anyis's flight mechanisms.

"What? Oh... Fine. Don't forget that this is still a competition, though." nodded Anyis, though she failed to elaborate on what the conditions of the competition were. "Eidolon! The red flying things are mine, don't worry about them!" With that out of the way, Anyis triggered the sent DropDown, sprouting large wings of ice on her back that immediately began flapping to send her airborne. "Better attack fast before they see me coming! Titan!!" shouted Anyis, clenching her fists tightly as ghost data poured into her. Just as quickly as it had come in, though, Anyis fired it back out, conjuring it into the ethereal form of the giant Titan monster who seemed none too pleased about being bothered by the aggressive spirit medium again. The nearest flying Fishy was the unfortunate target of the Titan's anger, as the phantom beast let out a bellowing roar before soaring through the sky and swinging its massive fist at the red virus.

With his master flying up to engage the Fishys, Magna approached Eidolon and Icaro. "I apologize for the Mother Unit's hastiness, she is just highly efficient with combat protocol." explained the golem SP on said Mother Unit's behalf.

"... That's great, Magna, but you forgot to introduce yourself." alerted Mill with a sigh.

"Ah. Thank you for the notification, Operator. I am Unit Magna, Unit Eidolon and Unit Icaro." added Magna quickly.

Mill just shook his head, as while he was glad Magna was making some attempt to be social, the end result was rather... sad. "Tell you what, Magna... Why don't you take this GutPunch and see if you can't get one of those Handys off its Holy panel? I'm sure Anyis would appreciate having something like that secured."

"Understood, Operator. I am awaiting the GutPunch." responded Magna obediently, quickly assembling his trusty tower shield in his left hand.

Mill nodded as he slotted the GutPunch, but had to pause for a second after that. "Hm... Oh, yeah. Here's the ColdPunch for you, Anyis. Enjoy Fishy hunting."

"Thanks for not forgetting about me!" snapped Anyis sarcastically, who presently didn't have much past the Titan to attack the flying viruses with. Both Navi and SP equipped their respective armored fists, and took to their respective fights. Anyis showed no hesitation as a powerful flap of her ice wings since her racing towards another Fishy, which had to deal with a quick and powerful ColdPunch jab assisted by the existing velocity of her flight. She hurriedly flipped around in the air to locate the third Fishy, and attacked it in much the same manner. Getting more used to flying by now, Anyis raced after the virus, keeping her ColdPunch clenched and ready to strike the virus out of the air with one clean shot.

Magna's engagement was completely unceremonious by comparison, as he only leaped forward to land in front of one of the Handy viruses and thrust his yellow-armored heavy fist at the virus, trying to knock it off its Holy panel moreso than inflict serious damage against the panel's defense-boosting capabilities. Magna then shifted his own body onto the Holy panel, raising his shield to defend it for the glory of the Mother Unit. Both he and said Mother Unit had done all they could at this point, so both just watched around for a virus counterattack as they assumed evasive stances.

Anyis's Actions:
1) DropDown (High-Altitude Flight, 3 turns) @ Self
2) Titan Revival (140 Aqua damage [A], Phasing, 4TCD) @ Fishy2A
3) ColdPunch (95 Aqua damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Fishy2B
4) ColdPunch (95 Aqua damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Fishy2C
5) Dodge
6) Dodge

Magna's Actions:
--Reinforced Golem's Buckler (Passive 3-Hit Shield)
1) GutPunch (70 damage , Impact, Knockback) @ Handy2C
2) CLAIM THE HOLY PANEL IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER UNIT (Movement)
3) Dodge

Cooldowns:
Titan Revival - 4 turns
"I'm...um..." Icaro wondered for a moment what else to describe herself as other than 'support program' or 'plant spirit'. One was completely obvious and the other she had just said. Before she could think of anything though, much less actually say it, Anyis was asking if she could poke her. "What! No! No!" she said, waving her hands in front of her. She was grateful when the viruses showed up and distracted Anyis, despite the fact that it also meant she was likely to be banished by a stray attack at any moment.

Eidolon muttered something about phantom body parts that Andrew couldn't quite make out out as they did, then immediately put up a shield. A shield that happened to also look like little more than a faint glowing outline with no substance. It had worked before, though, so there was no reason to question it. "Send me whatever," she said indifferently.

"Hey hey, are you trying to show off?" Andrew asked. Despite the complete lack of expression behind it, it was easy for him to interpret it as 'I'll do better than this other navi who challenged me out of nowhere no matter what I'm using.'

"I don't show off," was Eidolon's answer.

"Right, of course you don't," Andrew answered, with a touch of sarcasm. Even so, he decided to take her up on it, sending the StepSword that had come with everything else of Pianissimo's but then picking three more chips at random to add to it. That better have been 'whatever' enough for her.

Eidolon extended a hand toward one of the occupied holy panels as Anyis took off for the sky. A bright flash erupted over the panel, accompanied by a burst of raw force intended to knock the Handy away from her and, more importantly, off of the holy panel. She immediately moved to take its place, vanishing entirely as she lunged forward. The flash of a battlechip-charged sword marked her return as she reappeared on top of the Holy panel, slashing at the Handy and any of the others that happened to get too close. The light surrounding the sword faded, leaving it recognizable as what it was: a black-stained katana whose edge had been corroded into a mass of glitches.

Speaking of corrosion, Eidolon turned on the spot and swung the blade at the Handy that had been occupying the other Holy panel as soon as Magna moved to knock it off. No chip data, no sudden vanishing, but with a burst of spectral energy from her core to corrode and corrupt the Handy, hopefully locking up its attack programs on the off chance that it survived the rest of her assault. She followed up by extending her opposite hand toward the hand virus. Dark red wires extended from underneath the armored glove covering the remains of her hand, snaking out towards the virus to damage and drain data from it once they made contact.

Once the wires returned, Eidolon turned to focus on the remaining Handy. She held the sword out in front of her, magnetizing it to pull the Handy toward her. As the magnet pull took effect, she activated the final chip that Andrew had sent her way, a basic Sword, to skewer the virus once it was dragged close enough.

"Magnetizing weapons...I guess there is more of Preon's data that didn't get overwritten than that visor," Andrew observed out loud.

Having finished up for the time being, Eidolon drifted off of the ground and prepared to take evasive action in case anything survived. Icaro did the same, lacking anything else to do until someone got hurt.
___

Eidolon:
*Spectral Shield: Passive 1-Hit Shield
*Away: Knockback to Handy2 C
1. StepSword: Teleport onto vacated Holy Panel, 120+Wide to Handy2 C (And B)
2. Corrosion: 80+Freeze to Handy2 A
3. Drain1: 50 Drain to Handy2 A
4. Magbolt1: 90 Elec+Stun+Magnet Pull to Handy2 B
5. Sword: 80+Slashing to Handy2 B
6. Dodge


Icaro:
1. Dodge
Anyis began to fly up in the air with her wings of ice, quickly approaching the flying Fishys while Eidolon, Magna, and Poke-thing was taking care of the Handys. The flying spirit medium made quick work with her first two targets, effectively crushing them with her fists (and a borrowed, ghost fist), but one managed to dodge the last swing and quickly countered back with its fiery tackle.

Down on the ground, a small mishap occurred when Eidolon and Magna fought for the right of the small patch of Holy panel. With a one-two knockout, the two pushed the poor Handy out of its safety and sliced/punched it into deletion. The two, for god-knows how, occupied the small panel, and Eidolon continued with her attack...Only able to inflict half the damage she was suppose to. On the other hand, the other Handy was quickly dealt with!

-- ENEMIES --
Fishy2 A: DELETED
Fishy2 B: DELETED
Fishy2 C: 150 HP (Flying/Poison)
Handy2 A: 55 HP (Holy) [Frozen]
Handy2 B: DELETED
Handy2 C: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Corrupted Data Pillar A: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar B: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar C: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)

-- ALLIES --
Anyis.EXE: 175 HP [High-Alt: 2 Turns]
HolyMagna.SP: 100 HP [3-hit Shield]
HolyEidolon.EXE: 200 HP
Icaro.SP: 60 HP

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy
40% Poison
50% Normal
"Tch...! You think that puny fire is going to take me down?!" mocked Anyis, downplaying the damage from the evasive Fishy's attack. Normally she wasn't bothered by fire much at all, since while her ice could melt, it'd just turn into water and drown out the flames. Given that she was effectively her own air conditioner, Anyis wasn't all that concerned with heat either. It's just that... for once, she had something on her that absolutely, definitely needed to be ice at all times. Ice wings weren't exactly normal equipment for Anyis, so it didn't occur to her right away that her means of flight could melt from the Fishy's attack. A sudden altitude control problem did alert her to the issue quite soon afterwards, though.

"Wait wait wait... Why am I descending?! Stupid wings, work...!" grumbled Anyis as she turned her head, only to see drops of water get flinged off her wings as they desparately flapped. "Oh crap!" she said succinctly, responding quickly by gathering pieces of ghost data in her un-frozen hand. While ice being hit by fire was generally a bad thing for Anyis, or perhaps because of it, she always knew how to respond to a sudden melting. Granted, she never had to resolidify ice some dozens of feet in the air before, but the same principle ought to apply. Anyis gave herself the strongest flap of her wings she could muster, creating as much lift as possible as she folded both icy extensions around her body. With the wings themselves in front of her, Anyis punched them with her ghost data-infused gauntlet, forcing a restoration of their natural state, which in the case of ice was cold and solid. Just as she began dropping, Anyis's wings came back in full form, and allowed her to regain and maintain her altitude.

"You are so, so asking for some pain, Fishy!" threatened Anyis, using a virus's proper name on one of few, rare occassions. To make that threat more than just words, she immediately began flying after the firey virus and started throwing more ColdPunch swings than she figured it could avoid. One punch... Two punch... Three punch...

Anyis's Actions:
1) Soul Riser (90 Heal, 3TCD) @ Self
2) ColdPunch (95 Aqua damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Fishy2C
3) ColdPunch (95 Aqua damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Fishy2C
4) ColdPunch (95 Aqua damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Fishy2C

Cooldowns:
Titan Revival - 3 turns
Soul Riser - 3 turns

--TURN SPLICE--
Well that didn't quite go to plan. Eidolon had managed to single out the same target as Magna, and ended up attacking the remaining Handys from a position floating over the massive golem's shoulder. On the bright side, it had worked...aside from the fact that the holy ground's protection had saved one of the hand viruses from an untimely deletion.

For the moment.

Eidolon dropped off Magna's shoulder, floating to the ground where she 'touched down' at a height where her feet would have been on the ground if she still had feet. A quick glance toward the sky told her that her 'opponent' in this 'competition' was struggling with her wings of ice while fighting the flying fire viruses. Imagine that. She considered asking Icaro to heal her, but decided against it. Anyis seemed like a big girl, despite her attitude. She could probably handle it. Instead, Eidolon turned her attention back toward the remaining Handy. She raised her arms, pulling on psychic energy to draw the Handy toward her, and then launch it.

Ghost data manifested in Eidolon's hands as she sent her burst of telekinetic energy at the Handy, taking the form of sharp pointy projectiles. Throwing knives and needles, to be precise. Eidolon launched those two, first the knives, then the needles, directing them at the Handy. Even if it somehow didn't clear the Holy ground, the barrage should have been enough to finish the stubborn hand off.
___

*Toward: Passive Pull: Drag Handy2 A to self...
*Away: Passive Knockback: ...and then launch it.
1. Kunai1: 30 Slashing x 3 Knives
2. AquaNeedle1: 20 Aqua x 3 Needles
-splice-
With a beautiful mix of punching and cutting, the two viruses had no chance of survival. When they were deleted, the pillars began to collapse into the pool of poison, covering them up to grant a safe passage for the navis!

-- ENEMIES --
Fishy2 A: DELETED
Fishy2 B: DELETED
Fishy2 C: DELETED
Handy2 A: DELETED
Handy2 B: DELETED
Handy2 C: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Corrupted Data Pillar A: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar B: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)
Corrupted Data Pillar C: 200 HP (Partial Submerge/Poison)

-- ALLIES --
Anyis.EXE: 175 HP [High-Alt: 2 Turns]
HolyMagna.SP: 100 HP [3-hit Shield]
HolyEidolon.EXE: 200 HP
Icaro.SP: 60 HP

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy
40% Poison
50% Normal

-ROGUE BATTLE WON!-
Anyis: 1,400z+ [Burner] Battlechip
Eidolon: 1,400z + [CountBomb2] Battlechip
Static: 4 FXP + 41 Bugfrags Burner
Damage: 130 + Nova 2
Accuracy: B
Description: The area around the user spontaneously combusts, causing anything nearby to be scorched with fire.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire

CountBomb2
HP: 100
Properties: Anchored
Object Damage: 50 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 150 + To-All-Clause
Accuracy: S
Description: Bomb placed in enemies area that explodes after two turns
Duration: 2 turns or until destroyed.
Element: Null
"It would figure that Fire viruses would find me even here..." sighed Anyis as she floated back down to earth, with her wings breaking apart as the heels of her boots made ground contact. "I swear, it doesn't even seem to matter if it's a Navi or virus, they always gravitate towards me if they're Fire!"

"Well, at least this one left behind a pretty good chip." offered Mill as he read up on the Burner's specifications. "I'd say it's a good thing, really. You've got a Fire Cross already, so having a few chips of that element could really do some good."

"Eh..." Anyis paused, having to rethink her relation with the Fire element. If she wanted to get good use out of Fire chips, then she'd have to... hang around MeleeMan a lot? Well then... Djinni otherwise...?

"... Eh." Thus was all Anyis had to say on that matter, as she instead walked over to Eidolon... and Magna by extension, since she was floating on top of him. "Hey, that was pretty good. It almost looked like you were using ghost- whoa you don't have any feet!" gasped Anyis as she looked up to the floating Navi, getting a clear view of her lack of lower legs. For a self-proclaimed spirit medium, this girl never seemed to be prepared for transparency...

Magna stayed quiet, allowing his Bugfrags to come to the golem. Well, really, he really didn't know how to respond to the allied Unit Eidolon standing...? Floating? Err... being positioned on his shoulder. Hrm.
"Hm?" Eidolon asked, at the sudden revelation that she didn't have feet. "Yes I do."

Icaro came over just in time to say "Um...no you don't."

"You're one to talk," Eidolon said, diverting attention from herself as she floated down from Magna and 'landed'. If she had feet they would have touched the ground just fine and stayed there, but as it was, she didn't, and was still floating.

"H-hey!" Icaro stammered. "That's different!"

"Is it?" Eidolon asked. "Maybe I should let her poke you and find out." She gestured toward Anyis.

"No, no, that's quite alright!" Icaro said hurriedly, moving to hide behind Magna.

((Battle 2? Maybe?))
With Anyis questioning Eidolon about her lack of feet, the team ventured forward through the Rogue network in search of more viruses. Their travels led them to a dilapidated hockey arena, sunken into the ground, with infected and cracked paneling everywhere. Instead of Navis pitting their skills against each other, some viruses decided to have their fun there. A couple of Dharma viruses stood at opposing ends of the court, while two CannonGuards seemed to hold duty as referees of some sort, with their color scheme switched to black and white.

In addition to that, they were not using hockey pucks, but some kind of strange electrical swarm of balls that flew around erratically. It was amusing to see the balls of electricity fly around as they were whacked about by the Dharma. They seemed to be playing for a prize, too; a Green Mystery Data stood behind one of the turrets in a cage. Of course, it didn't take long before the unwelcome spectators were spotted, and things were about to get messy!

-- ENEMIES --
Maru-10 A: 40 HP [Flying] [Clustered all together in middle of court]
Maru-10 B: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 C: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 D: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 E: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 F: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 G: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 H: 40 HP [Flying]
CannonGuard2 A: 150 HP [Middle of court, closer to navis]
CannonGuard2 B: 150 HP [Middle of court, further from navis]
Karma A: 170 HP [Holy, near Goal 1]
Karma B: 170 HP [Holy, near Goal 2]

-- OBJECTS --
Goal Post 1: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]
Goal Post 2: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]

Green Mystery Data: 60 HP [Behind CannonGuard2 B]

-- ALLIES --
Anyis.EXE: 175 HP
Magna.SP: 100 HP
Eidolon.EXE: 200 HP
Icaro.SP: 60 HP

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy (Under goals)
40% Normal, 25% Poison, 25% Cracked (Court)

-- TEAM ROGUE BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --
Anyis really, really, really wanted to touch them. With Eidolon and Icaro unable to agree on the the status of their tangibility, Anyis's curiosity was at her limit. Even Magna wanted to assess Icaro for the sake of his research into SP functions. He had noted the humanoid Unit Damascus as another former Navi to be re-purposed as an SP, and recently collected data on the floating gemstone Units Fhyre and Szand. Now there was the... partial humanoid Unit Icaro? Magna lacked a proper designation for this mostly invisible female unit.

Determined to clear this hurdle one way or another, Anyis waited for Eidolon to turn around and was ready to make a dive at her legs, but naturally the potentially footless Navi found more viruses first. Some mild grumbling could be heard from Anyis, but that was quickly dismissed in favor of paying attention the actual ba... ll game.

... Um? No, wait, this couldn't even be called a ball game. There was no ball. It was just a swarming cloud of little electrical bugs. Little, tiny, buzzing, darting electrical bugs... "Ohhh no... No no no no no no. Not happening. This was SO not part of the deal with Netopia!" whimpered Anyis at the sight of the strange Maru gameballswarmcloud. Her hand was trembling a bit as she pointed at the Marus, exhibiting a phobia of electricity despite being more of an ice user than water.

"This is what you have MeleeCross for..." sighed Mill, having that stock response ready and waiting for whenever Anyis had a fit over an Elec enemy. "I'll even give you the Shadow, since it doesn't look like anything here has a blade to cut with."

"Well, alright... If it's just... Wait, you want ME to deal with them?!" gasped Anyis, reversing her train of thought as soon as she realized that Mill was about to send her into that buzzing mass.

"Our new chip is perfect for a cluster like that, and you're never going to get over your fear without facing it!" argued Mill. "If I'm right, they won't even be able to touch you, so you shouldn't worry so much."

"Ergh... Fine. If it doesn't work out, though, you are so in for a world of trouble." agreed Anyis, albeit hesitantly. She closed her eyes for a moment to trigger MeleeCross, which generally meant that she had to get herself angry. Now, how was Anyis going to do that... Swarm of Elec viruses that scared her? Okay, yeah, she hated that and it made her angry. Feeling pissed at the Marus was all Anyis needed for her blue and white clothes to turn red and black, for her eyes to be covered by a red visor, and for her gloves hands to be thoroughly bandaged up as her silver gauntlets materialized free-floating by her sides. The whispy, amorphous forms of two ghosts emerged from within the gauntlets to reveal what was suspending Anyis's gauntlets at her command. "Magna, pick me up while Mill uploads the chips. I'll need a throw."

"Understood, Mother Unit." replied Magna as he picked up the Mother Unit with one hand, making her gauntlets follow along. Mill took his Shadow and Burner chips out and applied them to his PET, and none of the three of them thought anything of the strategy. Granted, an SP freely flinging its host Navi around the yard was pretty strange to most, but then most SPs weren't twice as large as their Navis.

"Alright, chips are fully uploaded. Wait until you're thrown to trigger the Shadow, since I'm not sure that you won't fall through Magna's palm otherwise." noted Mill as he removed his hand from over his PET's chip slot.

"Mhm..." nodded Anyis as she focused her attention the Marus, trying to impose her will to kill them over her phobia of anything and everything electrical. "... Ah. Eidolon, Icaro, stay away from the bugs!" she added as a last-second warning to her allies before Magna chucked his master into the swarm. Truth be told, Anyis closed her eyes after she was thrown. She really didn't want to see that electrical ball of badness drawing closer and closer each millisecond. The Shadow chip was triggered as soon as Anyis started flying, as she had every desire to want to protect herself from the electrical shocks she was putting herself in way of. The static-like sounds of the Marus became louder and louder as her flying form approached, prompting Anyis to crack one eye open to judge when to use her other chip. With the 8 viruses arranged more or less in a spherical shape, Anyis waited until reached the center of that sphere to activate the Burner. Her body was instantly engulfed, as hopefully were the Marus as well, by a fiery explosion that emitted a whole lot of heat and noise, despite lasting for only a moment.

Magna was quick to equip his tower shield after throwing the Mother Unit, even though he was well outside the range of the Burner's fire. Unsure of how to proceed, the purple golem looked over to Units Eidolon and Icaro, to see what they'd do. What he ended up thinking instead, though, was how Icaro was effectively unable to do anything the previous battle. Was she a newly instanced SP? Magna could certainly relate to that, having gone from being a moderately powerful Navi one day to, the next he knew, a base model SP. Operator and Mother Unit did well to restore some of his power, certainly, but Magna could still understand Icaro's caution, even if she didn't know what better purpose she could serve. With that in mind, Magna opted to assist the transparent girl, by moving over towards her and projecting his orange barrier out of his hollow eyes and onto Icaro without much warning. "Barrier established, Unit Icaro. It should provide a suitable defense for the duration of this battle." announced Magna, who opted not to detail how that barrier was twice as strong as Icaro herself was. Instead, he just returned his attention to the battle and readied himself to dodge any incoming attacks.

As Anyis landed on the ground, her immediate thought was to... run far away. There were too many Marus in the first place to tally their destruction, and quite frankly she didn't care to count so long as she could get away from them. Unfortunately, each far side of the field was guarded by a Karma, manning each goal, and the two referee CannonGuards watched over the rest of the area. If she was going to hide somewhere, she'd have to steal that somewhere from one of the viruses. "Mill, MistConv2!" ordered Anyis, having picked her target.

"Just a second, just a second..." responded Mill, choosing not to retort since Anyis did go through with the Burner attack on the electrical Marus. He could at least skip the grief as a reward for that.

With one of her most favorite chips readied, Anyis ran up to the second referee, and just threw a straight-up sucker punch at the virus, clad in the large cloud of steam that identified the MistConv series. Given her personality and the resulting reluctance to follow strict rules, it was rather fitting that Anyis immediately chose to attack the referee. In her defense, though, she did notice the Mystery Data behind the black and white CannonGuard, and figured she might as well go and get that if she was going anywhere. With her body still that dark-translucent tone from the Shadow chip, Anyis went behind the referee she attacked and looked over the green data crystal. While she was just good and ready to camp this spot until everything was done, Anyis realized this wasn't quite fair to Eidolon. So, having seen her ally manipulate some ghost data herself, Anyis opted to give Eidolon some more to manipulate. A lot more, in fact. "Eidolon, make good use of this!" shouted Anyis as she dragged down a hefty amount of ghost data from the sky and dropped it onto the footless(?) Navi. Now, shouting wasn't really productive towards that 'hiding' thing she wanted to do, but hey, Anyis was intangible, so whatever.

Anyis's Actions:
1) MeleeCross (+15 Fire damage, +20 HP)
2) Shadow1 (Shadow, 1 Turn Duration) @ Self
3) Burner (145 Fire damage [A], Nova 2) @ Maru group
4) MistConv2 (150 Aqua damage [A], Impact) @ CannonGuard2B
5) Secure GMD (Movement)
6) Channel Surf (200 Strengthen, 5TCD) @ Eidolon


Magna's Actions:
1) Throw Mother Unit @ Maru swarm (Applied Movement)
--Reinforced Golem's Buckler (Passive 3-Hit Shield)
2) Core Field (80 HP Barrier, 2TCD) @ Icaro
3) Dodge

Cooldowns:
Core Field - 2 turns
Channel Surf - 5 turns
Eidolon did turn away, and would have indeed been wide open for Anyis to make a grab at her feet, but the very same reason for the patched up navi's distraction also prevented that from happening, which probably would have been to Eidolon's relief if she had noticed. As it was, though, she was distracted and confused by the game in front of them.

"Andrew?" she asked, confused by what was going on in front of her. "Please advise."

"It's a ball game," Andrew answered immediately, noting the ball-like viruses that were being smacked around by the hammers of the Karmas. "Only I don't think I've ever seen one played with quite so many balls. Or balls that were sparking erratically like that, for that matter." Eidolon had noticed it too, and it was much more familiar than the fact that they were used as balls. Balls that behaved much more like bugs, sparking and crackling with electricity and buzzing in such a strange, distorted whine...

And speaking of whining, there went Anyis, upset over the presence of electrical viruses. Way to be a competitor, Anyis. Oh, and the viruses had noticed them. Eidolon briefly pondered whether or not these two facts were related, but soon decided that it didn't matter. There was no point worrying why things that would be dead in a minute had been distracted from their silly game. "Still a ball game?" she asked Andrew, not entirely serious.

"Are you really asking that," Andrew responded, sending chips. "Just take out whatever Anyis leaves behind, I guess. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Unless she starts whining again," Eidolon responded, although it turned out to not be an issue. By the time Eidolon had started plotting out her own plan of attack, her 'partner' or 'competition' or whatever she was thinking of Anyis of now had flipped out in more ways than one and seemed like she had it well in hand. Eidolon simply shrugged, manifesting the outline of her usual spectral shield around herself.

Icaro, meanwhile, found herself surrounded by a barrier out of nowhere, and simply stood in surprise for a moment before Magna spoke and she realized it was his doing...his? Did the golem even have a gender? "Thanks," the plant spirit responded. She began humming softly and her body, or at least the outline of it, shifted from its normal green to a more pinkish hue. Rose petals spilled out from the support program, carried by imagined wind currents and the notes of her song across the field to Anyis, healing her by a small amout. Eidolon noted as she observed this that the idea of a 'competition' was starting to be lost somewhere along the way. Actions like this were to be expected of Icaro, though, who had gotten this far believing she had been summoned as a healer.

What had been less expected was the sudden surge of ghost data that had soon after been forced into her systems by way of...dropping it on her. At first, Eidolon didn't know what to do with it, but it quickly began integrating itself into her systems of its own accord, filling in the holes left by Andrew's haphazard patch jobs. The gauntlets over her hands and the ruined scarf around her neck dissolved into the cloud of data, revealing healed arms and throat underneath, differentiated from the normal skin only by an actively shifting discoloration that made the patched over areas appear akin to television static. For a brief moment, Eidolon felt like a solid, undamaged navi again. She even had visible feet, although she never looked down to actually confirm this fact. Even then, extra data ghost data leaked out of her, coalescing into its own form above and behind Eidolon. It remained amorphous at first, but the moment she activated a program to add her own ghost data to the mix, her sword dissolved into the mass, and it took the shape of a humanoid figure in black armor, with a helmet shaped like a bird of prey and an undamaged equivalent of the blade Eidolon carried.

Eidolon took a step, then vanished, taking the ghost of the assassin with her. She reappeared behind one of the Karmas, hands extended. She pulled on her own psychic energy, brought to the surface much easier with the influence of the ghost data, to drag the Karma off of its protective holy terrain and into the waiting arms...well, blade...of the floating figure. The figure dove after the hockey stick of a virus, striking at it with a blade that looked surprisingly solid for being made entirely of ghost data. Eidolon then teleported a second time, appearing in the middle of the field behind the cannon referee that had thus far been left alone. The floating assassin ghost struck again, aiming to strike deep into the core of the virus and corrupt its systems...assuming it survived at all.

With the second blow from the assassin's ghost, its from destabilized and fell apart. What of the data comprising it didn't simply dissipate found its way back into Eidolon, but the sword didn't reform. For the moment, she would have to work on raw data and energy alone. Fortunately, she still had plenty. She turned toward the remaining Karma, flicking a hand toward it to send one, smaller burst of energy to knock it off its own sanctified panel. She then sent another, much larger burst of spectral energy toward the Karma, allowing all the remaining ghost data that Anyis had dropped on her to flow into it, powering up the attack far, far beyond its normal parameters. What of the ghost data had attached to her body peeled away, rendering her feet nonexistent again and briefly revealing the torn apart hands and forearms, the completely missing wrists, and the gash across her throat before the gauntlets and scarf reformed to cover them up.
___

*Spectral Shield: Passive 1-hit shield
*Teammate actions: Receive 200 points worth of Strengthen
1. Ghost Sword: Gain two instances of Strengthen40+Glitch, Buster Lock
2. Reappear: Teleport near Karma A
*Toward: Pull Karma A off of Holy panel
3. Sword: 80 Slashing (+40+Glitch from Ghost Sword) (+50 from Channel Surf) to Karma A
4. Areagrab behind CannonGuard2A
5. Sword: 80 Slashing (+40+Glitch from Ghost Sword) (+30 from Channel Surf) to CannonGuard2A
*Away: Knockback Karma B off Holy Panel
6. Powerbolt: 70+Seeking (+120 from Channel Surf) to Karma B


Icaro:
1. Song of Healing: 30 Heal to Anyis
Magna launches MeleeCrossed Anyis. Anyis only manages to brush the edge of the ball of electrical death with her self-fireball, thanks to her eyes being closed and the ball of electrical death being generally agile. Said ball proceeds to attack her to no avail. She lands and punches out a ref. Said ref conks out easily. The prize is secured, and she gives Eidolon an impressive yet impromptu patch job.

Eidolon proceeds to slice up things with her glitched sword. Things die. Except for that damned Karma. That Karma got karma, and kinda veered off to the side just in time after her telekinetic burst for the Powerbolt to miss spectacularly. It whacked some kind of hockey puck everywhere that went nowhere.

Receiving Magna's barrier, Icaro heals Anyis in return. (+30)

-- ENEMIES --
Maru-10 A: 40 HP [Flying] [Clustered all together in middle of court]
Maru-10 B: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 C: DELETED
Maru-10 D: DELETED
Maru-10 E: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 F: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 G: 40 HP [Flying]
Maru-10 H: 40 HP [Flying]
CannonGuard2 A: DELETED
CannonGuard2 B: DELETED
Karma A: DELETED
Karma B: 170 HP [near Goal 2]

-- OBJECTS --
Goal Post 1: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]
Goal Post 2: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]

Green Mystery Data: 60 HP [Behind Anyis]

-- ALLIES --
MeleeCross Anyis.EXE: 240 HP [shadow - expires action2]
Magna.SP: 100 HP [3-hit shield]
Eidolon.EXE: 200 HP [1-hit shield] [busterlock2]
Icaro.SP: 60 HP [80 HP barrier]

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy (Under goals)
40% Normal, 25% Poison, 25% Cracked (Court)
"See?! This is why Elec viruses are the worst!" declared Anyis, pointing her bandaged lump of a hand at the surviving Marus. The free-floating right gauntlet mimicked her action, extending a silver finger out towards the same viruses.

"This? Because you were too nervous to keep your eyes open? Because Magna's aim was off? What the heck does any of that have to do with those Marus being Elec element?" inquired Mill, dissecting Anyis's weak argument with one question after another.

"I failed to compensate for the potential displacement of the target relative to the motions of the Maru viruses. The throw itself was executed as planned, but a mathematical error prevented the optimal result." informed Magna, not wanting any misconceptions to form about his throwing ability.

"... Right, okay, thanks Magna." sighed Mill, thinking that his SP's statement had no bearing on anything at all. "Anyway, the only reason Elec viruses are hard for you to defeat is because of your fear of them. Just focus and attack like you always do." Mill paused after saying this to realize he was basically endorsing Anyis's usual reckless fighting style. Oh god...

"Ergh... Whatever, just give me some chips." groaned Anyis, not wanting to get lectured on this of all things. The ghost in her left gauntlet emphasized Anyis's frustration, making a motion to wave off Mill as if he was talking gibberish. It's not like she lectured him on his issues, like... uh... Wow. Anyis realized just then that her Operator's life was totally boring. Despite her irritation towards Mill, when she looked up at him her face seemed to almost match a pitying look.

"Uh... okay..." responded Mill cautiously, unsure why his Navi was giving him such a sympathetic look all of a sudden. Since the Marus were still airborne and numerous, Mill opted to stay away from his close-range chips and give Anyis a supply of widespread damage instead. "Magna, can you try and clean up if Anyis leaves anything behind?" asked Magna as he added the GutPunch into his PET along with the rest.

"I will do my best, Operator." said Magna with a nod of his head.

"Like I'll miss twice..." grumbled Anyis as her supply of weaponry arrived. To fit with her current Fire alignment via MeleeCross, the first chip she came upon was a PhoenixShot. Upon execution, both of Anyis's floating gauntlets turned around to point the ghosts possessing them out towards the viruses. At that point, both the ghost brothers exploded in a conflagration of fire, bellowing the flames out onto the playing field and into the cloudy swarm of Marus.

To follow, Anyis materialized a Boomerang in her hand... well, in her gauntlet's hand, which was entirely distinct from her own uselessly-bound hands. One might question throwing a Wood chip into a swath of fire, but since this one in particular was 40% metal, chances are things would be okay. With a thought in her mind, Anyis commanded her ghost-ridden gauntlet to throw the Boomerang at the Marus. As for what the gauntlet did, it simply flew into the Maru swarm itself, carrying along on a thrust of flames as it tried to bludgeon the viruses with the tightly-gripped wooden arch.

"..." Anyis opted to just leave that be, and equipped her final chip, assembling a launcher for the ElecReel around her own hands. To compensate for her temporary dexterous issues, the launcher attached itself to Anyis's wrist, and had a push-button firing mechanism in place of a finger-pulled trigger. For just a moment, Anyis wondered why MeleeCross compensated for her bandaged hands so thoroughly instead of just allowing her to use them, but there were more pressing matters that demanded her attention such as decimating those Marus. While the fire dissipated and her gauntlet made its return with the shattered scraps of a Boomerang in its grip, Anyis fired the electrical launcher, sending bolts of lightning coursing through the air to overpower the tiny viruses of the same element.

When the electrical current died down, Magna took that as his queue to jump into action. With his shield still gripped in his left hand and the yellow armor of the GutPunch fixed to his right, Magna made one big leap at the Maru cloud, ready to try and pick off one if it was brazen enough to evade the Mother Unit's assault. Then, having done all they could, both Anyis and Magna assumed evasive stances, keeping an eye out for even a single remaining Maru while checking in on the situation of Eidolon and Icaro.

Anyis's Actions:
1) PhoenixShot1 (85 Fire damage [A], Wide Attack) @ Maru-10A/B/E
2) Boomerang1 (60 Wood damage [b], Group Attack (Arc)) @ Maru-10E/F/G/H
3) ElecReel1 (80 Elec damage , Spread 3 (Side + Behind)) @ Maru-10A/B/F/G
4) Dodge
5) Dodge
6) Dodge


Magna's Actions:
1) Leap towards Maru-10H (Movement)
2) GutPunch (70 damage [A], Impact, Knockback) @ Maru-10H
3) Dodge

Cooldowns:
Core Field - 1 turn
Channel Surf - 4 turn
Eidolon just kinda watched the hockey puck bounce around the field and completely miss her. It had somehow managed to go all around the field and not hit anything on it. Strange virus.

"Mistress, are you-" Icaro started, apparently having noticed her old and already present wounds opening up again once she had exhausted her ghost data power boost.

"Fine," Eidolon answered. Icaro simply shrugged and went back to taking evasive action in case another wildly bouncing hockey puck came her way before the Karma knocking them around was finished off. She made a mental note that either the holes in Eidolon's form were less severe than they looked, so long as they were covered up...or her mistress was the type that would claim she was 'fine' even while inches away from deletion. She then made another mental note to discuss this with their operator later.

Eidolon, meanwhile, was blissfully (or not) unaware of this, and focused instead on finishing off the karma. To this end, she let loose another burst of spectral energy, more corrosive than the last but not empowered in the same way. Following the release of the corrosive blast, she dashed forward, or at least glided, to avoid anything coming her way and reposition herself on top of the useless holy panel. Now much closer to the Karma, she turned on it and let several red wires snake out from her gauntlets. They moved to wrap around the virus and bind it, then to eat away at and drain data from it until it was deleted.

She then moved backward, gliding back off the holy panel and out of point blank range in case anything went wrong.
____

1. Corrosion: 80+Freeze to Karma B
2. Dodge
3. Movement: claim holy panel near Goal 2
4. Rope1: 50 Wood+Hold for three turns to Karma B
5. Data Vampirism: 80 Lifedrain to Karma B
6. Dodge.

Icaro:
1. Dodge
Anyis' floating gauntlets finished off the Maru quite easily, with Magna punching out one last contender for survival off the mortal plane. Meanwhile, Eidolon whipped out a few tricks of her own, including some spectral energy bursts and binding wires. Unfortunately for them, it managed to make one last stand, whipping out its hockey puck before it died. The puck was swooped around the field with surprising accuracy, nearly catching Eidolon. It hit Anyis instead, and would have nicked Icaro for a fair amount as well, had she not been protected by Magna's Core Field.

-- ENEMIES --
Maru-10 A: DELETED
Maru-10 B: DELETED
Maru-10 C: DELETED
Maru-10 D: DELETED
Maru-10 E: DELETED
Maru-10 F: DELETED
Maru-10 G: DELETED
Maru-10 H: DELETED
CannonGuard2 A: DELETED
CannonGuard2 B: DELETED
Karma A: DELETED
Karma B: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Goal Post 1: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]
Goal Post 2: 200 HP [IronBody/Anchored]

Green Mystery Data: 60 HP [Behind Anyis]

-- ALLIES --
MeleeCross Anyis.EXE: 195 HP
Magna.SP: 100 HP [3-hit shield]
Eidolon.EXE: 200 HP [holy] [1-hit shield] [busterlock1]
Icaro.SP: 60 HP [35 HP barrier]

-- TERRAIN --
10% Holy (Under goals)
40% Normal, 25% Poison, 25% Cracked (Court)

-- ROGUE TEAM BATTLE 02, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

Anyis: 3150 IP Zenny
Eidolon: [MarkCannon2] Battlechip, 2625 Zenny
Static: 25 BugFrags, 8 FXP
"What the heck is up with this Net..." grumbled Anyis as she sat down to massage the ankle nailed by a rogue hockey puck. There wasn't much visible damage through her white boot, and the pain didn't last very long, but if Anyis could find an inconvenience then she sure was going to complain about it. "Fire and Elec and pucks out of nowhere... It's like this place is trying to piss me off!"

"The viruses around Netopia are a pretty mixed bag, to the best of my knowledge. I guess you're just having some bad luck today?" offered Mill as a possibility, though he wasn't sure if his Navi actually had a prejudice towards hockey pucks or if she just added that to make the whole thing sound worse.

"I guess..." sighed Anyis, not really wanting to press that issue further. She did, however, want to get up and away from this troublesome nonsense, so she gingerly pushed herself up off the ground and put some weight on her ankle. It wasn't impossible to do, persay, but Anyis did feel a little discomfort evidenced by a slight "... Mm..." moan as she took most of the weight off the sore ankle and put it into her other leg.

Several silent alarms went off in Magna's head as he watched this, prompting the golem SP to quickly shovel down his entire allotment of Bugfrags in one go. This act created a flash of orange light strong enough to completely engulf the game field for a moment, but as soon as that blinding force dissipated, Magna rushed over to his Mother Unit and unceremoniously scooped her off the ground with his hands.

"Wha... What are you doing?!" yelped Anyis in surprise, suddenly finding herself on her back and laying on Magna's giant metallic fingers. Seeing his Navi ambushed so easily, Mill had to stifle a laugh with his hand.

"I will not allow the Mother Unit to compromise her damaged ankle by standing on it." informed Magna as a matter of fact, staring down at the Mother Unit as he spoke of her in the third person.

"Ugh, seriously, it'll be fine in like, one minute." groaned Anyis as she covered her face with her hand. It didn't take very long, though, for her to realize that Magna had no intent to put her down right now. "Good grief... Fine, fine, just put me on your shoulder, then. This is humiliating."

"Understood, Mother Unit." responded Magna with an undetectable sense of satisfaction, before placing the Mother Unit on his shoulder as requested.

"You remind me of a pet bird." quipped Mill, noting Anyis's current perch.

"Shut up!" barked Anyis, not wanting any crap from her Operator of all people. With all that going on, though, Anyis entirely failed to notice the structural changes Eidolon had undergone due to the data Channel Surf had given her. Although... aside from the visible feet, Anyis probably wouldn't have noticed any difference, since between the gauntlets and scarf, she couldn't tell that Eidolon actually had any other missing portions.

Without that knowledge, Anyis motioned Magna over towards their allies, allowing her to look down on Eidolon. "So? How'd you like a little bit of my power?" asked Anyis with a happy grin on her face, albeit entirely from the fact that she was higher up than who she was talking to. That didn't happen very often.
Curiosity struck Icaro as she watched and listened to Magna 'dealing' with Anyis's injury. Strong enough curiosity in fact that she put aside her offer to heal the injured angle in question to ask after it. "Why do you call her 'Mother Unit', anyway?" she asked. "Is Anyis your mother?"

Eidolon, meanwhile, finished absorbing what data was still viable of the Karma and retracted the red wires back into her gauntlets. As usual, the stolen data was inadequate to actually be used for anything in its current state, and she doubted that Andrew would be able to make anything better out of it.

She hovered over the remains of her kill, silent and oblivious to what was going on with everyone else in the area until Anyis addressed her directly, and brought back the memory of the sudden patch job she had received in the middle of the battle. The gauntlets and scarf covering the damage had re-materialized after the surge of data faded, but it hadn't occurred to her to actually look under them until it was brought up again. In light of this, she carefully removed one of her gauntlets. As it had been before, sizable chunks of her hand were missing, as well as the entirety of her wrists, with the edges of what was still there dissolving into junk data. She brought the exposed hand up to her neck and slipped it under the scarf, feeling out the gash in her neck. Still there.

"Um...you probably shouldn't mess with those," Andrew said, but Eidolon ignored him. She was already barely acknowledging Anyis, so why not.

"Gone," she said as she slipped the gauntlet back over her hand, referring to the ghost data that had patched her up.