Melee and Rass Take to the Streets

"Wha..." began a bewildered Rass as MeleeMan shouted something about being independent and self-respect. As the larger navi stormed off deeper into the network, the fusion navi hung his head, allowing his helmet to droop over his eyes, "but... but you're the one doing all the work."

I'm glad you finally see it now, Rass, cooed Tem, swirling into existence on Rass' normally black chest, You know that you're nothing without MeleeMan, right? All you can do is support him from the sidelines while he actually goes and deletes the viruses. It's not just MeleeMan either. Remember ShellMan? SoulMan? Seraphim? You've always been little more than a cheerleader. Rass gulped as Tem's eyes appeared on his chest and glared up at him accusingly.

Wait, hold on a second. We've been pretty good about... interrupted Argo, darting to Rass' shoulder in a flash of green.

Shut up, Argo - I know what I'm doing, growled Tem before continuing her attack on Rass' self-esteem, You'd better prove yourself in this next battle, or else you'll never be able to respect yourself as a navi - trust me.

Rass gulped, nodded, and followed MeleeMan deeper into the network, all happiness from his previous victory drained.
Out of the blue, a pack of bad guys practically sprang up out of the ground directly in front of the dynamic duo. They turned to get some ground in between themselves and the viruses, but that made them realize that a vanguard of viruses had appeared behind them as well. Meleeman and Rass were, in fact, stuck.

Front group:

KabutankA: 80 HP
KabutankB: 80 HP
WindboxA: 100 HP
BoomerA: 60 HP
BoomerB: 60 HP

Rear group:

StarfishA: 60 HP
StarfishB: 60 HP
WindboxA: 100 HP
MarkCannonA: 60 HP
MarkCannonB: 60 HP

Meleeman.EXE: 170 HP
RASS.EXE: 100 HP

--FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES!--
MeleeMan tried to clear his head and focus on the situation. "Well, being surrounded by Champus I can deal with. Being surrounded by these guys? It's disgraceful! How does a cannon or a box even maneuver itself to get a jump on anyone?" MeleeMan grumbled, clutching his forehead with his good hand. "At any rate, they're still no match for us, no matter how many they pile on! Right Rass?"

"Well, I have no doubt that you two can handle it," Rania nodded, "but it's going to take a bit more strategy than usual. It's a pretty diverse group, so you'll have to pick your opponents selectively."

"Well, I can agree with you there. You know how I feel about starfish... they ought to be the first to die!" MeleeMan rumbled, pounding his fist against his chest. "Nobody has the right to spit water at me! Nobody!" Suddenly, he remembered what Rania had said earlier about being selfish and not remembering his allies. His mind started to wander... what was real consideration? Did it mean taking something this small into account as well? MeleeMan scratched his chin with his metallicly-gloved finger, then shrugged. "I guess you could spit water at me... and I wouldn't be so angry... or whatever, Rass..." he coughed out awkwardly.

Rania raised one eyebrow confusedly. "What was that?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.

"N-Nothing! I was just trying to show... consideration! And uh... comraderie! Yeah!" he defended, pounding his chest once more with his lip pulled up tightly.

"Okay... w-well that's nice," she smiled, trying to be optimistic.

"See? I can be a team player too!" he laughed, then went in for the windbox. The torrent was strong, but he hoped that he could move against it. It was harder than he had expected to even begin moving, since he had actually lost balance from having his arm bandaged up, weighting his body more toward the left than he was used to. "No matter!" he shouted, reaching out for the windbox with one hand and attempting to grab on to it. With another fast action, he attempted to rip off whatever he could grab on to, then raised his arm again to try and fire off a heatshot attack. "Augh! It's hard to do anything against this wind!"

"Well that should be a given," Rania sighed. "Maybe it would have been smarter to use a gun at long range?"

"Ha ha ha! Long range is for-!" he started, then took another glance at Rass. "Long range is for, ahem, people of other specialties. I prefer to do things this way!" he roared, hurling a boomerang toward the starfish. Finally, he looked back to the markcannons and slid towards them, attempting to nail one of them with a markcannon as he did. As he lay against the ground, however, he found that it was actually fairly hard to get out of the sliding position with only one arm. "Man! I can't wait to get out of this thing," he muttered, trying to get back to his feet.

1) Soul Fist: Tear Asunder to WindboxB [40, +15 to further attacks on this enemy]
2) Heatshot to WindboxB and splash [45]
3) Boomerang to Starfish group [60]
4) Markcannon to MarkcannonA [70]
Enemies to the front, enemies to the back. As the encroaching virus horde slowly maneuvered forward with MeleeMan moving up to meet them, Rass ended up doing what he did best - panicking. Just as he was about to cower behind MeleeMan, however, he paused. With a sinking feeling, he realized at that instant that if he continued to rely on MeleeMan for support, he really would be everything that Tem had just said. Sucking up his fear and puffing out his chest, he pumped his fist into the air, summoning a blazing crimson aura to engulf his body. As the temperature of his body began to rise, Rass smiled, fully prepared to engage the power

...and then stopped, allowing the mounting wisps of flame to dissapate into thin air. No, if he used the Melee-Augmented Synthesis System, he would still be relying on MeleeMan's power. If he were to prove himself to everyone, he would have to do so on his own merits. With great hesitation, Rass did something that, to his knowledge, he had never done of his own volition. A bolt of green shot from the peridot on Rass' back, collecting into his arm as a surprised and confused Argo glanced upward at the fusion navi. What the heck is going on, Rasshole?! he scoffed, You're not seriously considering fighting these guys, are you? You know what Tem's gonna say! She's always on my case about fighting without a strategy!

Rass shook his head as something resembling a smile crossed his features, "Who said I don't have a strategy?" he asked.

-*-

"THAT'S what you want?" asked Suien, confused as to his navi's latest set of requested chips, "Isn't it a bit early in the battle to be resorting to melee-range attacks? Even with the areagrab, there's no guarantee that things will go the way you want them to. After all, the best offense is a good defense!"

"S-Suien, this is s-something that I have to do!" pleaded Rass, "Just s-send the chip data, p-please?"

The dark haired netOp hesitated for a moment, calling up Rass' technical specifications on the upper screen of his PET. Though the fusion navi wasn't known for his durability, Rass' green wireframe showed virtually no signs of even superficial damage. Sighing as he slid the requested battlechips into his PET, Suien settled for hoping that his navi's psychological well-being would be worth the potential risks associated with his actions.

-*-

Powering up the areagrab battlechip caused all three subsystems to wake up at once. Ishamel whirled about to Rass' left shoulder in a patch of red, demanding that the fusion navi EXPLAIN THIS IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR THIS INSTANT! Tem wasn't any more supportive screeching something about preemptively utilizing his combat capabilities. Argo meanwhile, was busy clutching the electrified blade of the ElecSword with Rass' right hand, the deadly weapon discharging a shower of sparks every once in a while. Shutting out all distractions, the fusion navi gulped, and initialized the teleportation battlechip. One sickening, stomach-turning yank later, Rass was pulled across space and time, reappearing next to the massive fan. Without wasting any time, he pulled the blade of the electrified sword to his side and released a pair of sweeping, scything slices. The blue weapon sang through the air as it passed, leaving a faint smell of ozone in its wake.

Rass didn't bother to confirm his hits, as he discarded the weapon carelessly and generated the now-familiar boomerang battlechip. Winding back expertly, he launched the curved, green blade forward, flying low across the ground. As the curved shape and rotational velocity allowed the boomerang to return to him, the fusion navi leaped off the ground, watching as the boomerang sailed underneath him toward the viruses behind him. What goes around, comes around, he thought.

1: Areagrab behind WindboxA
2: ElecSword WindboxA, KabutankA, KabutankB
3: ElecSword WindboxA, KabutankA, KabutankB
4: Boomerang BoomerA, BoomerB
Meleeman manages to inch close enough to the wind to deliever a fearsome punch! Its frame is twisted and it begins sputtering. He then uses a power up Heatshot.... er, fist to finish it off in its weakened condition. He then throws a boomerrang into the Starfish. With wind pouring in from the other side, it whips forward at at a higher speed than normal and takes both out in one pass before flying off in the distance. Then, he just kind of breaks the one cannon before ending his first assault. However, the last Markcannon opens up and traces a cursor over Meleeman.... bang.

Now its Rass's turn. HE teleports behind the front group and begins laying into them with him blade. The first stroke cuts the box and a tank, the second finishes off the box. Then, swinging the large hunk of wood forward, the two boomers are taken out by a copy of their own attack! The last tank, sensing something amiss begins backing up, beeping as it does.

Front group:

KabutankA: 80 HP (backing up)
KabutankB: DELETED!
WindboxA: DELETED!
BoomerA: DELETED!
BoomerB: DELETED!

Rear group:

StarfishA: DELETED!
StarfishB: DELETED!
WindboxB: DELETED!
MarkCannonA: DELETED!
MarkCannonB: 60 HP

Meleeman.EXE: 150 HP
RASS.EXE: 100 HP
Although he had been hit by a markcannon, MeleeMan was glad to see that his own body had become strong enough to at least withstand that kind of damage without reeling back. "Ah... the elecsword. He uses it pretty well," MeleeMan commented, surprised to see his ally fighting at close-range as well. The navi nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "This is it... thinking about my partners in combat. Taking note of their movements and their personal skills... Yes, that's it! That must be what comraderie's all about!" MeleeMan thought to himself, grinning and smacking his good fist into the palm of his bad hand.

There was a momentary silence as Rania assessed his movement. "MeleeMan, did you intend to hit your injured hand like-?" she started to ask, then was suddenly blasted back by a shock of volume.

"GOOOOOD! OH GOD!" MeleeMan roared, shaking his hand around furiously. He shoved his entire fist into his gaping mouth, straining to stretch his neck down to his bandaged arm. "RANIA! QUICK! HEALING PROGRAM! ANYTHING, ANYTHING!" he shouted, sucking on the hand rapidly.

"M-MeleeMan!" Rania exclaimed, going beet red. Not only was her navi embarassing socially, but now he had to act like a complete baby too? "I don't have any healing programs. At any rate, if you're sucking on your hand, and you just used one of your soul fist attacks, doesn't that mean your hand is probably...?"

MeleeMan kept drawing the hand in and out of his mouth, slowing down as he heard the news from Rania. "No... there's no way I could have..." he thought to himself as a burning sensation overtook his mouth. The saliva seemed to erupt as steam as he opened his enormous mouth, rocketing his own hand out as fast as he could muster. "AGH! MY POOR ENEMIES! IS THIS WHAT SOULFUL FLAMES REALLY FEEL LIKE!?"

Rania's frame seemed to shake a bit. She was unable to move at all, paralyzed by embarassment at her own navi. For once, she couldn't even make herself look to Suien. Her face remained rooted on her own PET, covered in sweat and burning brightly. She nearly looked as though she was as hot as MeleeMan was. "Attack the cannon," she managed to choke out, holding her hands in her lap as her legs twitched antsily. "Does MeleeMan realize how much effort it is to keep up an appearance like this? If my own navi looks like a fool, I look like a fool! And if I look like a fool, all of my classmates and friends will-!" she continued in her mind, holding her hands to her face and nearly moaning, drawing enormous potential chain reactions within her own mind.

"You know what? Bump this! I've got to slam my fist into something! That's the only thing that can cure the flames that rage within my heart... er, mouth!" he screamed, running for the markcannon. He didn't even bother skidding to a stop as he reached it. With a mad screech, the navi jumped for the cannon, building fire around his fist. "FIREHIT! FIREHIT FIREHIT FIREHIT!" he shrieked, trying to ram the virus with his strong, clenched knuckle as many times as he could manage. "I need clarity! I need focus! I need... a cool drink!" he roared, working his arms furiously.

"S-Suien? How is Rass holding up?" Rania asked in a quick, jarbled sentence, trying her best to compose herself. She managed to look Suien in the eyes as she talked, as was one of her most distinguishing abilities, but even as she did, her eyebrows constantly twitched and her expression looked uncomfortable. Her entire face was also blaring red.

A nearby passer pointed secretively, murmering something to his wife. "A man his age... upsetting a girl like that... he might be one of those..." Suien managed to pick up as the strangers left.

1) Firehit1 to MarkCannon [70]
2) Firehit1 to MarkCannon [70]
3) Firehit1 to MarkCannon [70]
4) Dodge
Rass was breathing heavily by the time he had completed his assault. Although the fusion navi had been in a state of complete focus for the duration of his attack, however, the waning ideological fervor coupled with MeleeMan's obnoxiously loud voice caused reality to come crashing down on Rass all at once. He winced visibly as Tem forcibly took control of his left hand and slapped him across the face, screeching, What do you think you were doing?! You almost went and got us killed! What are you THINKING?!

Surprisingly enough, Argo came to Rass' defense. With a hearty laugh, he swirled into existance upon the fusion navi's chest. Aw Tem, Rasshole here's just trying to make himself feel less useless, what's the harm in doing that? he asked, smiling an ugly smile as his eyes looked upward toward Rass' head, Besides, he's always doing that pussy tactical thing that you like so much. If you think he's incapable when he does that, then why are you ragging on him when he tries to break out of that?

Because, you numbskull, I don't have any confidence in that incompetent pink fool's combat abilities. You know as well as I do that our fusionist protoplasm can't very well take a direct hit! replied Tem sharply, Rass' skills may be inferior to my own in every way, but it's just stupid to attempt to fill a role that we are incapable of filling. With that, the blue subsystem snaked across Rass body, retreating into the gemstone on his back and leaving Rass alone with Argo on his chest.

Geez, grumbled Argo ill-temperedly, Must be her time of the month.

-*-

Suien, meanwhile, was having girl problems of his own. Faced with a red-faced Rania who looked to be on the verge of tears, the dark-haired netOp could only draw back from her piercing glare and adjust his glasses nervously. "Ah uh..." he started, wanting very much to break eye contact, but unable to look away, "Rass seems to be er... holding up just fine," he said, grabbing two battlechips from his folder and slotting them in without looking. The tall netOp struggled to find something innocuous to say, but upon hearing a disdainful comment from a passing couple, he realized that everyone was going to think he was a pedophile no matter what he did.

Clearing his throat, Suien adjusted his glasses, put down his PET, and started talking. "You know ah... MeleeMan seems to have really improved since the first time I saw him fight," he said, "He's doing a really great job of controlling the battle at hand too - you know, creating a huge presence on the battlefield so his opponents can't fight as effectively." Unsure of how best to proceed, the dark haired netOp brushed his hair to the side and thought for a moment before continuing. "I know you're trying really hard to keep MeleeMan under control, but perhaps you should relax a bit. Maybe his mannerisms are a bit offensive, and maybe some people will judge the both of you based on that... but some people will see through that... and the people who do so will find a solid partner, a powerful ally, and a stalwart comrade who won't give up no matter what."

An awkward pause. Did he go too far? Damage control time, Suien.

"Besides," he said quickly, trying to downplay the intimate nature of his previous statement with a joke, "It's not like you're a 24-year-old guy with a girly-looking pink navi, right?"

-*-

Why on earth would Suien send me this? thought Rass, as his hands began glowing with an awesome firey power. The dual firehit chips that Suien had unwittingly downloaded into his circuitry heated up his fists, causing them to glow white hot with accumulated heat energy. Knowing that he wasn't really familiar with their use, the pink navi glanced over at MeleeMan as he went to town on the stationary turret with flaming fists of firey fury. Huh... maybe that's how you use these things, he thought, Everyone'll take me seriously if I use them like MeleeMan, right? Balling his hands into tight fists and allowing the crimson energy to flow over them, the fusion navi leaped up and charged toward the reversing Kabutank. "YAAAAH!" he cried, in a voice that startled Suien in the real world, "FIREHIT! FIREHIT! FIREHIT! FIREHIT!"

1: Firehit (60) KabutankA
2: Firehit (60) KabutankA
3-4: Autododge
Meleeman goes overkill on the final Markcannon while the tank that was backing up stops backing up due to punches causing it to explode. In other words, they win!

KabutankA: DELETED!
KabutankB: DELETED!
WindboxA: DELETED!
BoomerA: DELETED!
BoomerB: DELETED!

Rear group:

StarfishA: DELETED!
StarfishB: DELETED!
WindboxB: DELETED!
MarkCannonA: DELETED!
MarkCannonB: DELETED!

Meleeman.EXE: 150 HP
RASS.EXE: 100 HP

Rewards: 400z each, Wind to Rass, Bubblestar to Meleeman
MeleeMan soothed his hand in the pile of rubble, still clenching his teeth to prevent himself from howling in pain. "It's a good thing I got this bubble weapon! If it's aqua, I can shoot it into my mouth to cool myself!" he stammered, pointing his arm towards his mouth once again. "Rania, slot in the chip! Quickly!"

"MeleeMan, please!" Rania whispered, sinking lower into her seat and trying to smile and nod at Suien's encouragement. "Haven't we had enough slapstick for one day? Don't do that unless you're willing to expend more than 1/2 your remaining fighting strength doing so!" she begged, smiling feebly and speaking out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to maintain eye contact. Her manner of slinking down onto the bench wasn't making Suien look any better...

"Rania? Is something wrong?" MeleeMan suddenly asked, raising one eyebrow, now visible due to his missing helmet.

"It's... it's uh...." she muttered, still watching Suien, but then turning back to her navi, remembering that it was just as important to be direct with him. "Um..."

"That look on your face..." MeleeMan remarked, rubbing his chin and squinting in deep thought.

"N-No! It's just that you were sort of embarassing me with your-!" she started, looking offended.

"Ha ha! I've got it. You've fallen for MeleeMan. It's the natural reaction," MeleeMan laughed, to Rania's utter disbelief. "I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Don't worry, it's bound to happen to even the strongest of women," he guffawed, crossing his arms as best as he could with the bandage wrapped around his right. "You've probably been confessing it to Rass's operator this whole time!" he smirked, walking over to Rass and giving him a strong pat on the back. "Isn't that right? How's the guy holding up? I know it's sad that we can't all be such a portrait of masculinity," he muttered, flexing his muscles cockily, "but hey, what's a guy to do? It's all about soul, you know. If you haven't got that, you... Rania?" he asked, then shouted as he was shockingly pulled from the net with no prior warning.

Rania looked pretty thoroughly enraged at her navi now, biting her lip and clutching her PET hard between her two hands. A bit creakily, she turned back toward Suien, putting on a pleasant looking smile and extending out her hand to shake. "It's been a pleasure busting with you Suien, but now I've got to-"

"Woah there, Rania! I know you want some alone time with me and all," MeleeMan coughed, piping back up but still looking fairly disinterested, "but we've still got an event to get to with Rass. The Planeswalker Tournament, remember?"

Rania gritted her teeth, turning her head from Suien briefly, then turned back with her smile once again, exerting as much energy as possible to keep her anger from showing. "Well, Suien, I guess I'll get to do some more busting today after all," she managed through clenched teeth. "Let's get off to that tournament," she sighed, rising from her seat to head for the metroline. "We'll have to be at the colliseum, of course," she reminded Suien a bit wearily. "What's worse... there's going to be some guy I don't even know there! This day just keeps getting longer," she thought to herself dejectedly.

--Leaving the net--
Suien felt an empty pit in his stomach as his comments didn't seem to faze the red-haired girl one bit. On the contrary, she looked even more embarassed by her navi as she slouched even more on the bench. Looking nervously from side to side for any policemen that might give him trouble for harassing a minor, the dark haired netOp opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Rania mumbling something about the Planeswalker event that they had signed up for. Nodding his head quickly, he started walking toward the colosseum, jacking out Rass in a beam of black light. As he moved, however, Rass' face appeared on the upper screen. "Ah... Suien?" he asked, "Does Rania really love MeleeMan?"

"What?" gasped Suien, pausing and turning down the volume of his PET speakers, "What on earth gave you that idea?"

"W-Well, MeleeMan was saying that Rania had fallen in l-love with him over the p-past few b-battles!" explained Rass, looking very confused as he spoke, "H-He s-said that she was c-confessing it to you while w-we were battling, so I f-figured that maybe...Suien? You look pale, is s-something wrong?"

"No.... No, everything's all right," he muttered, looking away from the fusion navi while biting his lower lip. Damn... is that the connection I sensed between the two of them? LOVE? he thought, I know it's not completely unheard of... and the two of them DO bicker like an old married couple. Maybe they're just flirting with each other? Realization suddenly hit the dark-haired netOp like an 18-wheeler, Holy crap, that's why she's so embarassed by him! It's because she's afraid of what other people will think when she introduces him as her significant other... not that they wouldn't make fun of her anyways for having a netNavi boyfriend, but still, it's all starting to make sense! Feeling slightly guilty for attempting to get between Rania and her true love, he followed the red-haired girl to the metroline and pocketed his PET hastily.

-*-

So? So? What did he say? demanded Tem, swirling into existence on Rass' chest.

Rass shrugged in response, "I guess it's really t-true," he said thoughtfully, "Maybe we s-should g-give MeleeMan s-some advice on h-how to approach her?"

To his surprise, Tem appeared to nod enthusiastically. Oh yes, she said, I think he'd really appreciate that!