Marine Science

Having spawned directly in front of the Catacks, the Billys formed a kind of viral meatshield in front of them. Fortunately, Splashman's Bubbler was the perfect tool for penetrating that defence and deleted one Billy virus while corroding the tank behind it. Splashman's TwinFang was almost as effective, taking out two of the Billys at once. With the front line falling apart, the viruses began launching a counter attack. Tapping their electrified spikes together, the remaining two Billys summoned glowing balls of thunder that rolled towards Splashman and Blub. Fortunately, they were extremely slow and Splashman was able to launch a cyclone of water at one of viruses. The Aquawhirl slammed into the Billy and deleted it, leaving behind a deceptively deep puddle of water in its wake.

Splashman readied his Yo-yo chip but failed to notice that the Billy's thunderball had reached him. Focussed with his attack, the orb steadily rolled onto the lone sea panel that he had just created and touched down at the edge of the liquid. The concentrated ball of electricity ravaged through the water and all throughout Splashman's systems in an instant. Under the optimal conditions, the deceptively weak virus scored a powerful hit against the navi. His Yo-Yo went haywire, flying forward and dissipating the other Billy's thunderball before slicing apart a single Catack.

Splashman had just enough control over his systems to load one final chip before succumbing to the paralytic effects of the thunder. A thick shield formed in front of the navi while Blub dove into the water, now cleansed of the rampant electricity.

CatackA: DELETED
CatackB: 120 HP
CatackC: 60 HP
BillyA: DELETED
BillyB: DELETED
BillyC: DELETED
BillyD: DELETED
BillyE: 50 HP

Terrain: 90% Normal, 10% Sea
Aquawhirl: Active [80 damage]

SplashMan: 100 HP [2-hit shield] [stun -1 action]
Blub: 40 HP
Ugh...how did he let himself get hit by something as obvious as Thunder...? Once the IronShield was up, he bent down on one knee, struggling to so much as maintain that position as electricity coursed through his body.

And then, suddenly, he felt it. Like he was getting hit in the back by a drinking fountain. But it was strange...it felt like it was spreading all over his body. And as it did so, he began to feel much more limber, as though he had never been hit at all by the ball of electricity. "Huh? That's weird, I don't feel stunned anymore..."

From her viewpoint, Sabrina managed to notice something concerning that. Something her Navi hadn't bothered to check. "I think I know how...look behind you."

The aquatic fighter stood up, and looked over his shoulder...allowing him to see the source of the water. A small spray was coming from that mysterious sea panel..."Ah! Blub must have some kind of healing power! Kinda a weird power for a sponge, but I'm not complaining..." Okay, now he was feeling fine...or at least as fine as he could, considering he was at less than 50% HP. "All right, let's finish these guys quick, before they can get anything else in!"

"Right! But first..." That HP needed to be fixed, and fast. If only there was some kind of chip that could magically increase a Navi's HP by a significant margin..."Battlechip, Recover120! Slot in!"

SplashMan's body glowed for a moment, as more healing energy was infused into it, and restored most of his electrically induced injuries to normal. "Almost all better! Now I can totally focus on those viruses!" And now the question remained...how was he going to do that?

With more conventional stuff, if Sabrina had anything to say about it. And as operator, she did. "First, let's pick off the weaker ones! Battlechip, MarkCannon! Double slot in!" Come to think of it, had they really used MarkCannon lately, either? ...Well, whatever...

The green and gray cannon replaced the Navi's right hand and forearm, as he moved out from behind his shield to get it out of the way. As he straightened his arm to put it in a more fire-ready position, crosshairs formed on the ground, which began to scan the area for potential targets. After a few moments, it suddenly stopped traversing in the area of the remaining Billy, and the cannon auto-positioned itself and fired a single blast towards it. However, as it still had chip data remaining, it resumed its sweep for enemies, and soon settled on the weaker of the two remaining Catack. Another auto-aim later, another cannon shot had been released towards the tank virus.

Of course, there was still the matter of that other one...but even he could handle that much on his own. SplashMan let his cannons down to shoulder level, and performed the simple, yet elegant, act of blasting the tar out of the other Catack with a powerful water spray that would make even fire hoses jealous. Easy and powerful...couldn't ask for much else in an attack. ...Well, actually, he could, but...anyway, for now, he needed to worry about in case he missed anything. So, he raced back behind the IronShield, and stood behind it until he knew there wasn't anything on the other side.

[Order of Turn:
Blub:
1-Paramedic on SplashMan (0, Recovery, heals Stun)

SplashMan:
1-Recover120 chip on SplashMan (120, Recovery)
2-MarkCannon1 chip attack on BillyE (70, Lock-On)
3-MarkCannon1 chip attack on CatackC (70, Lock-On)
4-Water Splash sig attack on CatackB (160, Aqua)
5-Hide behind IronShield]
As soon as Blub cured SplashMan from his Stun, cured himself from the wounds from this and previous battles. The viruses began to fire their attacks, but most of them was simply blocked by the Ironshield and the thunder slowly crawled. The navi began his fierce attacks one by one, swiftly deleting the viruses in a blink of an eye!

CatackA: DELETED
CatackB: DELETED
CatackC: DELETED
BillyA: DELETED
BillyB: DELETED
BillyC: DELETED
BillyD: DELETED
BillyE: DELETED

Terrain: 90% Normal, 10% Sea
Aquawhirl: Active [80 damage]

SplashMan: 220 HP [Shield Destroyed]
Blub: 40 HP

-BATTLE WON!-
700z + 33 BugFrags + [TankCannon1] Battlechip

TankCannon1 -
Damage: 80 / 80 + Blast2
Accuracy: A / C
Description: A cannon that can be set to single shot or wide area blast.
Duration: Once
Element: None
Phew, that couldn't have gone more smoothly if they planned it. SplashMan walked over towards the remaining data, his head nearly spinning at everything inside it. "There's a lot of stuff in here...cash, those BugFrag things, and even chip data! The data signature matches...TankCannon! I'll send it all over!"

Zenny total, BugFrag total, chip total...all three rose as Sabrina's PET obtained and stored them, then displayed a chip picture featuring a Catack virus. "Sweet! Oh, right...how's Blub doing?" As she spoke, a TankCannon chip popped out of the electronic device, which got swapped into the folder for a Quake.

The Navi turned around and looked in the water, to find his sponge still hiding in there. "Hey, you can come out now! They're all gone!" Before he could even blink, the SP leapt out of the water, right into his arms, and started rubbing against his chest. "I'm glad you're okay, too!"

"And Blub's fine. Awesome. Let's keep going...maybe one or two more battles, then we'll head somewhere else!"

"Roger that!" Setting his pet sponge down, SplashMan took a few steps forward...before stopping in his tracks, causing the SP to bounce right into the back of his leg. "I just thought of something..."

"What's that?"

"Well, Blub's used to me like this...but what about SplashLady? I think he should get used to both forms..."

"Hmm...well, I guess you're right. But, why can't we wait? I mean, maybe we should wait for next time..."

"I guess so...it'd be kinda weird to change mid-busting, anyway!" And that decided that. The Navi strolled further into the net, with his sponge right behind him.

(searching for Battle #4)
As Splashman keeps wondering the nets in search of viruses. He soon finds viruses, new and old, in a cluster of sorts. Swordies with a much brighter yellow coloring than the plain Metallic Grey of normal swordies, holding swords crackling with electricity, and several cubes just rolling around on the ground, changing between blue and red. Seems as though Splashman could manage a preemptive strike against the oblivious virus group. The swordies were practicing their dance moves and holding their swords like mics...very strange...even for viruses. Considering the field is made of metal panels.

Swordy-EA: 80
Swordy-EB: 80
Swordy-EC: 80
Swordy-ED: 80
Swordy-EE: 80
DBLCUBEA: 100
DBLCUBEB: 100
DBLCUBEC: 100
DBLCUBED: 100
DBLCUBEE: 100

SplashMan: 220 HP (First attack has +1 accuracy rank for Preemptive attack so RP well)
Blub: 40 HP

Terrain: Metal: 100%

Battle 4-SHOW ME YOUR MOVES! BEGIN!
Ugh, more of those yellow Swordy. And he was pretty sure he'd seen those other viruses before, but he couldn't really remember what they were called. And they hadn't noticed him yet...he should probably keep his voice down. "Sabrina, we need to attack quick, while they haven't seen me yet!"

Oi, nothing like having next to no time to get ready for a battle. Seriously, that was what? Maybe a minute? "Hang on, let's see what you found...ouch. I think I can safely say we should worry about the Swordy first. In fact, forget the cube things. Just focus on the Swordy!" Let's see...what were some good ways to take out Elec-element Swordy? The usual AquaSword was too risky, DashAttack was risky AND left Blub alone to fend for himself, which was a very ill-advised move, and WideShot couldn't do it in one hit...well, there was Boomerang, but that wouldn't do it by itself. Needed something else...oh, right. The obvious, watery way. "First, let's just outpower them. Battlechip, WaterLine! Slot in!"

SplashMan extended his arm, as a RainGear virus formed over his hand. After performing the neccessary accuracy-based precautions, he allowed it to open its mouth. Almost immediately, water began to form beneath several panels around the area of the SwordyE, taking a few moments to silently yet dangerously build pressure. And then...the boom was lowered. Or in this case, raised, as three geysers erupted from their floor prison, as if the ground suddenly no longer existed to constrain it. It was definitely enough to eliminate a knight virus or three if it connected, but he couldn't sit back and wait to see if it was doing its job. "Well, I think they know I'm here now..."

"...Yeah." Well, unless they had the incredible fortune of fighting both blind AND deaf viruses. And considering their singing and dance moves, that was entirely possible. "Well, let's keep going!" Time for a little table turning type advantage. "Battlechip, Boomerang! Slot in!"

The water pseudo-virus faded from the Navi's hand, and quickly replaced with a boomerang that appeared to be held via some kind of clothespin-like apparatus. He reared back, preparing to throw it, and then let it fly forward with all his might as it flew forward, directly towards a Swordy that seemed to be in its projectory...and right past it. Though from where he was looking at it, it might've actually gone through it, instead...either way, it made a U turn, heading over to the last untargeted sword wielding virus, and performed a possible attack of deletion before fading, its work complete. "All Swordy attacked!"

Too bad that didn't always mean 'All Swordy deleted!'. And they definitely weren't taking any chances with those things. "Yeah, well, we're attacking them all again!" Time to put that brand new chip to use..."Battlechip, TankCannon! Slot in! And go with the spread option!"

Once more, SplashMan's arm weapon faded. This time, however, the rest of his arm also vanished, in order to make room for a gigantic black cannon. Considering its virus source, that was actually sort of ironic, but whatever. He set the cannon from 'Single Target' to 'Wide Blast', quickly took aim at the area the Swordy were in, and...BOOM. A single, powerful shot exploded all around the area, capable of mopping up viruses as necessary. Unless they did a certain thing...

He needed a close-up to counter them. And while AquaSword proved to be a little iffy with that last time, they had a second option, one that hopefully would serve them better. "Okay, if anything gets close, let 'em have it with this! Battlechip, ColdPunch! Slot in!"

The Aqua battler regained part his arm, as his hand and forearm became an icy blue fist. Now, to play the waiting game, and give any Swordy that came near him or his SP a complementary chilled knuckle sandwich. He reared back slightly, to give his punch a little more power...which is when he noticed it. The ground he was standing on felt a bit...softer. A quick glance down showed why: the ground had somehow become grassy. "What the? I'm pretty sure everything was metal just a minute ago..." It was like the sea terrain from the previous battle...maybe he was triggering it somehow? Or maybe Blub was doing it, since it never happened until he brought him along. ...Ahh, he couldn't stop and think about it now. Clearing his mind of any unnecessary thoughts, he waited for the inevitable counterattack. Though, he had the feeling he was completely forgetting something, even though he was pretty focused when he attacked the SwordyE...

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-WaterLine1 chip attack on SwordyEA, SwordyEB, and SwordyEC (80+10, Aqua) (Aqua Boost) (Preemptive attack)
2-Boomerang1 chip attack on SwordyED and SwordyEE (60, Wood) (Terraform used; creates Grass terrain beneath SplashMan and whatever Boomerang hits)
3-TankCannon1 chip attack on SwordyE group (80, Blast 2, accuracy reduced to C)
4-ColdPunch chip attack on any SwordyE that AreaGrabs close to SplashMan and/or Blub (70+20, Aqua, Impact) (Single Target Aqua Boost)
5-ColdPunch chip attack on any SwordyE that AreaGrabs close to SplashMan and/or Blub (70+20, Aqua, Impact) (Single Target Aqua Boost)

Blub:
1-Dodge (only if necessary)]
Caught off guard, two of the Swordys were wiped out from behind with a wave of water. The other three turned to face their aggressor and charged him with swords held high. Two were cleaved apart by a Boomerang that continued past them and deleted a DBLCUBE in the process, leaving only one Swordy left. Splashman readied his TankCannon to finish off the last one but missed and struck another DBLCUBE behind his intended target. The Swordy warped into range and attacked, which turned out to be just within Splashman's range as well. The exchange of blows favoured the Splashman as he finished off the last Swordy with a devastating Coldpunch.

One DBLCUBE fired beams of red energy that Blub barely avoided but Splashman did not. The amplified damage coursed throughout him but he survived. Another DBLCUBE sprayed the area with a blue wave that seemed to repair some of the damage done to its ally.

Swordy-EA: DELETED
Swordy-EB: DELETED
Swordy-EC: DELETED
Swordy-ED: DELETED
Swordy-EE: DELETED
DBLCUBEA: 100 [red]
DBLCUBEB: DELETED
DBLCUBEC: 100 [red]
DBLCUBED: 100 [blue]
DBLCUBEE: 30 [red]

SplashMan: 180 HP [Coldpunch: 4 uses]
Blub: 40 HP

Terrain: 80% Metal, 20% Grass (Under Splashman + 3 random panels)
All Swordy, out! And so was one of those cubes...? "Hey, the Boomerang hit one of the cube things! Does that mean...it's Elec element? I mean, that beam hurt worse than I thought it would, too..."

"Well, there's now way it could've been deleted if it wasn't. Now, what do you say we do that to the others?" They looked pretty hard to bring down, but they had a few ways to deal with that..."First, you can sit back and watch! Battlechip, BigHammer! Slot in!"

Following his operator's advice, SplashMan stood in place, and watched as a Gaia virus formed in front of one of the DBLCube, raised its hammer, changed color from iron gray to armor purple, and brought its weapon down in front of it, which would be right on the DBLCube if the chip did its job properly. That was definitely one chip he never, EVER wanted to get hit by...

"All right, let's not give them any more time to use those beams!" The instant the Gaia disappeared, Sabrina slammed another chip into her PET. "Battlechip, IceWave! Slot in!"

An icy sphere took shape in the Navi's hand, which he gently tossed in front of him, causing it to transform into what appeared to be a snowflake crystal. It softly snaked forward, traveling towards another cubic virus, and finally engaging it in a battle of three dimensional shapes with an icy blast. And hopefully that was a battle that was over as soon as it began. However, instead of waiting to get the results for IceWave, SplashMan lowered his back cannons all the way down to his shoulders. A few moments later, a gigantic water blast gushed out of them, towards yet another DBLCube. The simple yet incredibly painful attack itself.

And then there was the matter of that weakened one. That shouldn't be too hard. "And for that last one...Battlechip, Bubbler! Slot in!"

Once more, he found himself out a right hand, and with a weapon in its place, this time in the form of a Bubbler's hose nozzle. He simply needed to point it towards the DBLCube, trigger the internal firing mechanism, and let the explosive bubble shot fly towards it...which is just what he did. At least he thought that's what he did. And just in case it or anything else was still around...well, he had two feet, and he knew how to use them. They didn't always cooperate, but he did, in fact, know how to dodge attacks as necessary.

During all this, Blub had never once taken his eyes off SplashMan. And as he got ready to evade anything that might get beamed over their way, so did the sponge. He didn't have feet, or any idea what was going on, but he had the instinct that following his Navi's head would be a very good idea...

[Order of Turn:
SplashMan:
1-BigHammer1 chip attack on DBLCubeA (160, Break)
2-IceWave1 chip attack on DBLCubeC (80+20, Aqua) (Single Target Aqua Boost)
3-Water Splash sig attack on DBLCubeD (160, Aqua)
4-Bubbler chip attack on DBLCubeE (50+10, Aqua, Splash 1) (Aqua Boost)
5-Dodge (if necessary)

Blub:
1-Dodge with SplashMan (if necessary)]
One DBLCUBE fell to the BigHammer and another to the IceWave. The remaining viruses began charging to launch another attack as Splashman deleted another with his Water Splash. Just before the final DBLCUBE was destroyed, it fired another beam that cut across the field and struck Splashman again but was stopped by a Bubbler before it reached Blub.

And with that, all the viruses were deleted.

Swordy-EA: DELETED
Swordy-EB: DELETED
Swordy-EC: DELETED
Swordy-ED: DELETED
Swordy-EE: DELETED
DBLCUBEA: DELETED
DBLCUBEB: DELETED
DBLCUBEC: DELETED
DBLCUBED: DELETED
DBLCUBEE: DELETED

SplashMan: 140 HP
Blub: 40 HP

Terrain: 80% Metal, 20% Grass (Under Splashman + 3 random panels)

[Battle 4 - Victory!]

Get: 1019z + 45 Bugfrags
There, battle over. With his foes now vanquished, SplashMan headed over to the reward data, and accessed it like always. "Okay, let's see here...cash and BugFrags! Sending it all over now!"

Sabrina watched as her totals rose some more. Her zenny amount was even nice and even now. Woo. "It's all transferred! So, what do you wanna do now? We could move on, but I'm not a big fan of SciLab Area anymore..."

"Yeah, I think we should take a little break, and maybe head somewhere else. Who knows what else is in here..."

"Gotcha. And you...are...outta there!" The Navi and his HP both became beams of light, and proceeded to head back to the safety of a PET.

(JACK OUT TIME)