Mini-break in the Lab

Tennisman charges towards the downed Jadia, and stops above her body. He inverts his racket, and prepares to plunge the racket into her chest. He then drives the tennis racket straight down, and it stops as a light spray of blood erupts from beneath the blade. Tennisman's blood-spritzed face changes to an expression of surprise and horror as he notices Jadia's bloody hands clamped down firmly on the tennis racket! Her right leg sweeps across the floor, swiping tennisman's legs out from under him, and Jadia throws him up and over her body.

Tennisman manages to stop his chaotic spinning fall and touch down, still determined to end this fight once and for all! He charges again towards Jadia, and prepares his second slash. He manages to get the jump on Jadia, but the sharpened racket swipes a little bit above her her right shoulder as Jadia jumps away. He continues to pursue Jadia, sending another slash her way. A tiny flash, more like a shimmer flickered above her head as she scoots out of the way, and responds with a strong left slap to Tennisman's back. He tries a second slash, nicking her abdomen and putting a large tear in her blouse. She then switches to the attack and comes in with a flurry of jabs, only a single one managing to hit its mark.

The pair finally separate, Tennisman barely hanging on at one end, and Jadia on the other; her right arm hanging completely limp...

Mr. Prog: EJO'D
Jadia.EXE: 30HP [Omnishoes] [Right Arm Disabled]

Terrain: 40% Glass, 50% Metal, 10% Missing (Glass and Metal panels arranged horizontal lines)

Tennisman.EXE: 1HP Warning! Health Critical!
Deuce.SP: EJO'D
It wasn't immediately obvious what was going on until Tennisman started putting the pieces together; her odd flying ability, her repeated revivals and finally, that thin shimmering flash above her head. He was in critical condition and couldn't afford to make another mistake.

Luckily Desmond was there to provide a useful reminder, "Yo! Netplay!"

Tennisman practically collapsed to the ground in a crouching manner with both palms spread outwards. There was a surge of data that pulsed into the floor, manifesting into a tennis net that covered him. Between the holes in the wide net, he looked out to his opponent to verify his theory. He couldn't be sure but there was simply nothing else to go on. He had to trust his instinct.

"Boomerang." Tennisman said weakly.

"That's so weak!" Desmond argued, "I still have Elecpulse and a Windracket!"

Neither of those chips suited the purpose he had in mind but he didn't have the strength to talk back. He took the time to aim the attack with his racket, imagining the course it would take. As usual, Desmond relented and sent the requested chip.

Tennisman charged his racket with the chip data and with what little power was left in his legs, kicked himself back and slashed the air. The Boomerang wave splashed out from the racket's face and spun up high to meet Jadia's head but continued to climb in altitude.

"IT'S TOO HIGH!" Desmond shouted, "YOU MISSED! ELECPUL-"

Tennisman cut off his operator, "Game set."



1 - Netplay (1-hit shield + heal 60)
2 - Take aim
3 - Boomerang above Jadia (60 damage) + untapped power (15 damage)
4 - dodge
5 - dodge
Tennisman prepares to attack Jadia with the boomerang, but sets up a tennis net between them. Jadia charges towards Tennisman, clearing the the net and preparing to attack him. He then was forced to improvise, extending his right arm forward as far as he can, barely holding on to the blade as he falls backwards. The pair collides, Jadia falling on top of Tennisman. They both lie still, but Tennisman groans from the aches all over his body. Jadia also begins to move, and stares down at Tennisman with a confused look on her face.

T-t-tennisman? Are you okay?!? What happened?!?


VICTORY!


Mr. Prog: EJO'D


Terrain: 40% Glass, 50% Metal, 10% Missing (Glass and Metal panels arranged horizontal lines)

Jadia.EXE: 30HP
Tennisman.EXE: 1HP Warning! Health Critical!
Deuce.SP: EJO'D
Reward: 2000z, Hi-Cannon
In an uncontrollable reaction, Tennisman immedately backed away from Jadia holding his racket in front of him as if ready to continue fighting. In reality, if she so much as sneezed on him, he would have been forced to execute an emergency jack-out. He was battered and tired and he couldn't keep up his farce. He dropped his racket down to the ground and slumped forward in a sitting position.

Breaking his word, he couldn't help but ask again, "...Who are you?"
Veshneeck, didn't I tell you before? Or you forget? I'm Jadia, silly Tennisman!
Jadia slides off Tennisman and sits down next to Tennisman and props his head and shoulders up gently. Her hands feel soothing, almost like they were slowly healing our racket-wielding hero.
Let's get out here, no?
There was little point in doubting her now. Regardless of whether or not she was the real Jadia, she was healing him and that was good enough. If she really wanted to delete him, she would have done so by now.

Tennisman sighed in relief. He had been right that she was being controlled. He couldn't think of what would have happened if he had been wrong. He needed to rid himself of his idle thoughts.

He asked more questions to break his current mindset, "How did you get here?"
You must have hit head hard, for I explain before. There was a strange hole in the ground, a port... portal! And I think it made me fall in. Then I found you here, and you were holding my hands... and then...

She pauses, trying to make sense of what happened, desperate to remember what took place between then and now.
.. I must have tripped and fallen on you. But how did I rip my dress...?
She stares at her torn blouse, trying to piece together her spotty memory.
There was a part of him that was still skeptical, but if she was telling the truth then there would be no point in questioning her further. Furthermore, there would be no point in filling her in with the grisly details of their battle. It was simply better that she not know. Whatever was controlling her was gone now and he couldn't let that stand. He had finished one journey only to find his next one just beginning.

Tennisman managed to push himself off the ground and utter, "Jadia, I-" before he fell back down. Clearly, he was still not fully healed.
Jadia rushes to his side, to help him back to his feet.
Don't work so hard! Here, I return to Yumland, and you can follow me there.
Jadia hands Tennisman a small packet of data, containing a "digital key" of sorts allowing him to safely go back to Jadia's home Network, a nifty function Jadia probably could have used before and prevented the whole situation from happening.... Jadia flashes a bright red as she fades off into bits of data and zooms up to the ceiling of the network.

((You can now warp to Yumland, to get some closure to this story))
Tennisman prepared to use the key data immediately but realized all too soon that he was in terrible shape. Jadia had stabilized him but he needed to jack-out and fast. He stared at the small packet of data in hand and felt a wave of relief as he was whisked away.

((ACDC Town))