Inspirational Collaboration

"Ha," Durandal laughed as he sheathed his sword. "Our teamwork has improved quite readily. Thy skill as a tactician is superb."

The Navi gathered up his portion of the rewards. The battlechip data looked quite useful. It would form a shield that he could use to defend himself if he needed it. His arsenal was becoming more diverse, though he still had an abundance of melee weapons. Katherine's store of Zenny was expanding rapidly as well. It wouldn't be long before she would have enough for a number of pertinent upgrades.

"Shall we continue?"

[Battle 7?]
"Hm," murmured Terra, lowering her arm-cannon as the barrel left a trail of smoke. She released her hold on the cannon, letting it melt into the ground from whence it came. She turned to Durandal, who complimented her on her skill. Terra smiled slightly, bowing her head. "Thank you," she said simply. Scarlet smirked to herself, watching Terra open herself up ever so slightly. The Navi looked to the side of the large chasm, and beckoned her head, so as to gesture at Durandal to follow her.

"Let's go."

[Battle 7 - Ready]
A loose collection of Gunners, both normal and EX ones, were scattered about the area - easily distinguished by their colour difference. Two EX Billys were also busy welding the Gunners onto metal platforms for whatever reason. When they saw the navis, all the viruses dropped what they were doing and turned to attack.

GunnerA: 60 HP [metal]
GunnerEXA: 90 HP [metal]
BillyEXA: 120 HP [normal]
BillyEXB: 120 HP [normal]
GunnerB: 60 HP [normal]
GunnerEXB: 90 HP [normal]
GunnerC: 60 HP [normal]

Terrain: 80% Normal, 20% Metal

Durandal: 90 HP [normal]
Terra: 105 HP [normal]

[Battle 7 - Begin!]
As Terra walked alongside Durandal, Scarlet was hard at work configuring her Navi to the new firmware upgrade she had just installed. Reading further into the notes attached to the upgrade, she noted that a new ability had been attached to it. "Geomancer Ability: Non-Planeswalker Ground-type Battlechips and Signature Attacks may be configured to obtain Planeswalker data from existing terrain under target," she read in her mind. "Interesting."

Scarlet opened up a communication link with Terra, relaying her discovery to the Navi. "Terra. Just found something interesting. Seems ground-based attacks you use that aren't elemental can take on the element of the ground under whoever it hits," she said, translating the technical into the understandable. Terra nodded silently, taking in the information.

Terra looked around at the vast areas of the Science Labs network. They had gone in pretty deep, and the place seemed that little bit more ominous. They hadn't encountered any viruses for the time being, and had somehow strayed off the chasm that they were supposed to be following. She found battling with an ally to be much more enjoyable than alone. Though certainly, it was double the work covering for herself and another, having another to rely on was nice.

Her senses picked up some activity nearby, and sure enough, as she scanned the area, she found a group of turrets being installed on some metal paneling by some Billy viruses. They looked unnaturally colored, Terra thought, before catching herself in the process. Nothing was 'natural' in the world of the Internet, her mind corrected itself. Still, they did look pretty strong, and there was a good collection of them. Then, something came to her. The ability Scarlet had informed her of a while ago, would it work?

"Mm, looks like some viruses," said Scarlet. "Do you need anything?"

"... No, wait, hold on the chips. Something else," replied Terra, shaking her head lightly. The operator shrugged, watching what Terra wanted to do. She hadn't given her Navi any offensive signatures, so how was she going to attack?

Terra thought a bit more, then decided to ask the knight of something. Before that, though she was anxious to do so, she thought a bit more: it was going to take a bit of preparation first. Initiating her terraforming process, she focused on the white paneling around the metal ones that housed the Gunner turrets, and stomped on the ground. Immediately, the metal began to spread around from their individual spots, getting larger and larger until it encompassed probably all of the viruses' area. She then turned to look at Durandal with a serious face.

"Durandal," she called, "Do you still have that straight-line shockwave-type battlechip? I'm going to try and use it for something. Could you ask your operator to transfer it to me?"


[1] Terraform: Tough Steel @ Virus Area [Large Metal Terrain]
[*] Turn Splice @ Zan [Nothing]
"Aye," Durandal answered with a nod. "Milady, would thou allow Terra to wield the Shockwave battlechip?"

"Of course," Katherine said. "I'll transfer it right now."

The NetOp ran a hand over her battlechip stockpile, seeking the requested item. She found the Shockwave battlechip and handed it over to Scarlet for her to slot it in. With that ready to go, she slotted in a couple of battlechips for Durandal to use as well.

"Transferred," Katherine confirmed. "If this works, I would be willing to trade you the Shockwave in exchange for another chip or perhaps some zenny. Whatever works better for you, alright?"

Meanwhile, Durandal readied his blade and took stock of the situation. They were outgunned again, this time quite literally, but that wasn't anything new. There was a set of five gun turrets arrayed against them, two of which were off-colored. Two electrical viruses were there as well, rotund creatures equipped with large metal spikes that generated a current. The terrain was neither truly beneficial nor detrimental, though it looked like Terra was planning to change that. The metal tiles began to shift and flow, washing over the normal terrain. If enough of the viruses were standing on the metal, his electrical abilities would enable him to decimate them.

Durandal planned to do just that. He activated the battlechip data, sending the surge of energy from his core to the tip of his sword. Lightning coursed along the length of the silver blade, bathing Durandal in its flickering light. He glanced from one virus to the next, attempting to determine where the real threat lay. He decided to fight lightning with lightning and focus on the two electrical viruses. He raised his sword above his head, channeling the surge of energy along the length of the blade. He pointed the sword toward the nearest Billy, prepared to unleash the built up energy. A beam of light soared from the tip of the blade, hurdling across the battlefield in a straight line. If it hit the virus, the beam would split like chained lightning to strike multiple viruses along the path.

He dispersed the left over energy in his blade and began sidestepping the line of viruses. He strafed to his right, moving to avoid any enemy counterattack. With luck, his assault combined with Terra's would be enough to defeat most of the viruses aligned against them.

Summary:
1. Give Terra Shockwave
2. ElecReel (80 Elec) to BillyEXA, Line Spread (80 Elec) to whatever else is in said line. (x2 for Metal terrain?)
3. Dodge
Scarlet raised an eyebrow as Katherine handed her a battlechip; perhaps this was what Terra wanted? If so, she could have simply asked her for the request instead. Shrugging, she thanked her benchmate with a nod, and took out her PET in her pocket. As she had received a physical chip, she had to manually slot it in, unlike her usual method of simply pressing a button.

"Thank you," said Terra simply, accepting the chip without much fanfare. Then, she remembered something from some time ago, during her very first battle. Digging into her internal inventory memory, she found the object she was looking for. Terra pointed her palm upwards, making a motion of grabbing something. Immediately, light flashed on her palm, and she grasped something; a bronze pickaxe lay still in her hand.

The Metool from some time ago. She was impressed at the level of semi-intelligence it exhibited compared to the other viruses she had met so far. Swinging it around felt nice. Imbuing the Shockwave data into the mattock, she immediately dashed off to the side, aiming to circle the viruses. The mattock glowed with an emerald hue as she ran, her green hair trailing behind her as she went.

Then, as she saw her chance, she screeched to a halt and accessed her terrain functions. Sure enough, as Scarlet had mentioned, there was an option to siphon elemental data from the ground. Activating it, she watched the mattock glow yellow, arcing with electrical sparks. Lifting it above her head, she magnified its size and brought it crashing down. The shockwave was yellow, traveling across the metal flooring at high speed. Magnified in power by the metal's conductivity, the shockwave headed straight for the Gunners.


[2] Circlestrafe Virus Group/Align Gunners [Dodge]
-- Geomancer @ Shockwave [Metal / Imbue Elec]
[3] Sparkwave @ GunnerA/B/C [Elec 40 + Piercing + Ground + Line] [Metal x2]
After Terra buffed up the floor, Durandal's Elecreel struck the Billy and the electric current spread to the Gunner it was working on, deleting both, but not the other Billy. Terra positioned herself to take out the remaining Gunners and took advantage of the terrain to delete them with her borrowed Shockwave. This left the two GunnerEXs unharmed and out for revenge. But first, the Billy unleashed two beams of lightning at the navis that were evaded, but that left them exposed to the hail of gunfire that rained down from the manned turrets. The shots were mostly inaccurate but each navi was still somehow hit three times each by the random rounds.

GunnerA: DELETED
GunnerEXA: 90 HP [metal]
BillyEXA: DELETED
BillyEXB: 120 HP [metal]
GunnerB: DELETED
GunnerEXB: 90 HP [metal]
GunnerC: DELETED

Terrain: 45% Normal, 55% Metal

Durandal: 60 HP [normal]
Terra: 75 HP [normal]
"Oh," mumbled Scarlet, as she watched an e-mail come into her account. Opening it up, she found her Cannon exchanged for a better, stronger MarkCannon2. She had read about an offer up on a local Soryu's Chip Shop offering a promotional deal: a free trade up of a chip for a random one. Not seeing the harm in it, she put in one, and the surprise she got back was certainly very interesting. The MarkCannon2 was over twice as powerful as her chip, and it had the first of the Lock-On function.

Looking at the battle, she smiled as over half of the gunners and shock-hairs fell to the brilliant teamwork of Terra and Durandal. Amplification of her ally's abilities through her terrain-change functions created a good synergy between them. She decided to try out the latest chip and pressed its icon on her screen. Then, hesitating, she also sent the Ratton chip she had received from the previous battle to Terra, as she wanted to test the Geomancer ability once again.

"Terra, I'm sending in a couple of chips. Help out Durandal and finish these guys off," informed Scarlet as the transfer began.

In the network, Terra put a hand to her torso where the bullets had hit. They were certainly inaccurate in their fire, but they had enough of a spread that the inaccuracy didn't matter. Small self-repair processes fixed up the external injuries immediately, and Terra was able to stand strong again. She heard Scarlet over the voicelink, and felt the rush of battlechip data into her chip queue.

"Thank you, Scarlet," replied Terra as she flung the mattock she had held into the air, letting it disintegrate. Swinging her hand to her side, she drew up a large chunk of metal from the ground, letting it mesh with her hand. However, instead of a large cannon as with the last MarkCannon, she instead formed the metal into a smaller revolver. Catching it as it fell from levitating in her hand, she gripped the handle tightly.

Then, her free hand drew up two small balls of metal from the ground, and from these, there materialized two bullets in her hand. Both had their distinguishing aspects. One was lined with a red hole at its end, which emitted a laser. Furthermore, it seemed much too huge for her revolver. The other was a smaller one with numerous holes around it. It had a tiny design of what seemed to be round ears at its sides, and it was surrounded by electrical arcs. Then, she slammed her hand into the revolver, and when she drew it back, the bullets were gone, implying that the gun was loaded.

A click followed before Terra pointed it at one of the turrets, using the red laser as an aid, and fired. The huge bullet exited the barrel, spinning as it went. Then, halfway to its target location, it suddenly grew to the size of a small cannon round, ready to slam into whatever was in its path with powerful impulsive force.

Another click. However, instead of pointing the gun at one of the enemies, Terra simply aimed for the metal paneling that most of the field was comprised of. Firing the revolver, a bolt of electricity exited the barrel, and went through the metal. A tremendous electric arc snaked around the panels, aiming for one of the shock-haired Billy viruses.

Terra then dropped the gun, letting the metal dissolve back where it came from. She assumed her position, watching the remaining three viruses and preparing for any attacks they might have had in store for her.


[1] MarkCannon2 @ GunnerEXA [Null 100 + Lock-On + Seeking]
-- Geomancer @ Ratton1 [Metal - Imbue Elec]
[2] ShockRatton1 @ BillyEXB [Elec 40 + Ground + Homing + Blast1] [x2 Metal]
[3] Dodge
Durandal fell back as the hail of bullets rained down on him. He managed to avoid most of the barrage, deflecting some with his sword and dodging others, but three shots smashed into his armor. The blackened plate mail held, but the trio of projectiles left wide, shallow dents across his chest. The pain was intense, but the damage was minimal in comparison to what he had felt before.

"Mental note," Durandal muttered. "Yonder turret fires not a single cannon, but a storm not unlike a swarm of bees."

"Are you alright?" Katherine asked.

"Aye Milady," Durandal answered. "Though I shall be in need of a smith when all is said and done."

"I'll see what I can do," Katherine said with a smile. "In the meantime, I'm sending you the MagBolt and the FireHit. I'm sure you know how best to utilize them."

"Aye, a fine choice."

Durandal could already feel the battlechip energy washing over him and he directed that surge of power into his blade. Electricity sparked along the length of the silver blade, swarming up its length. A halo of static electricity warped the air around the sword, radiating outward. The knight widened his stance, tightening his grip as held his sword at the ready. The static electricity reached out toward the closest virus, one of the standing gun turrets. The electrical web linked the virus with Durandal's sword, drawing them together. The turret was stationary, so it was up to the Navi to bring the two together. He held back as long as he could, tightening his muscles and allowing the magnetic pull to strengthen. At the last moment, he loosened his hold, allowing the power of the battlechip to pull him across the battlefield toward the Gunner. He sailed through the air, holding his sword out to his side. As he neared the virus, Durandal unleashed a horizontal slash designed to bisect the turret, separating the machine gun from its stand.

Durandal continued to run as he passed the Gunner. He cut to the left, letting his momentum die down as he circled around the battlefield. He allowed the excess electricity to disperse from his blade as he ran, clearing the sword to allow it to be ensorcelled by the next battlechip. He moved to flank the Billy while Terra unleashed an attack of her own. He watched the rat-like explosive scurry across the ground, heading toward the Billy. He hesitated for a moment, allowing the missile to gain ground. He didn't want to meet the virus head on and get caught in Terra's explosion.

Durandal activated the next battlechip, sending a surge of flames down the length of the sword. The silver blade heated to a cherry red as flames licked the air. Durandal waited until he though the ratton missile was about to meet its end and then charged forward. He held the sword above his head, poised for a downward slice. He neared the Billy, chopping down with his sword in a devastating strike. The flames raged higher, anticipating feeding on the Billy. With luck, the fiery attack would finish what the ratton started and destroy the electrical virus.

Summary:
1. MagBolt1 (90 Elec DMG + Stun + Magnetic Pull) to GunnerEXB (x2 for Metal)
2. Dodge
3. FireHit1 (65 Fire DMG + Impact) to BillyEXB
The Gunners were taken out before they could fire another shot and the Billy was stunned before it was cut down by Durandal's Firehit.

GunnerA: DELETED
GunnerEXA: DELETED
BillyEXA: DELETED
BillyEXB: DELETED
GunnerB: DELETED
GunnerEXB: DELETED
GunnerC: DELETED

Terrain: 45% Normal, 55% Metal

Durandal: 60 HP [normal]
Terra: 75 HP [normal]

[Battle 7 - Victory!]

Durandal Get: 550z + 2 FXP
Terra Get: 550z + 2 FXP
"That was a good battle," commented Scarlet, watching the zenny packet from the skirmish add itself into her NetBattling account. She was pleased to find her efforts of being independent in her Navigator research were paying off. Glancing over at the nearby Navi Shop, she opened up a listing of price ranges, and compared the total to the selection. "Hm, just a bit more would be nice," she murmured to herself.

Meanwhile, Terra relaxed herself as she saw Durandal finish off the last of the viruses, lowering her hands from her sides. Her breathing was labored, as she was tired from the battling. It had only been perhaps her second virus-busting run, and the second was almost twice as long as the first, perhaps even longer. However, she did not show any other signs of fatigue, as she did not to look weak in front of her ally.

Scarlet looked at her Navi's vitals and frowned slightly. Looking around at Terra's surroundings, she searched around, and found nothing of note. She was about to ask Terra of her willingness to go forward, when she figured that enough was enough. Turning to Katherine at her side, she said, "Well, I think they've had enough. It's been a while. I think you've gathered good material for your writing?"
"Yes, perhaps you are right," Katherine responded as she watched Durandal gather up his share of the remaining zenny.

Her Navi did look the worse for wear after such a sustained number of viral encounters. His armor was coated in dirt and grime, not to mention dented in several areas. She thought she could see a few chips in the silvery steel of his sword as well. He would need to repair his equipment before much longer.

"They are no doubt exhausted after that many battles. And I have gathered quite a lot of research data that I can use for my work. Some of those tactics that Terra displayed were ingenuous."

Katherine took a moment to glance at her current zenny total and the various battlechips that she and Durandal had acquired over the course of their team up with Scarlet and Terra. She had earned enough zenny for a quality upgrade or two and Durandal had gained a good bit of combat experience. All in all, she considered this outing a huge success.

"Durandal," she called to her Navi. "We are thinking of calling it a day now. What do you think?"

"Aye," the Navi responded. "We have ventured far. It would be best to return, resupply and strike out again on another occasion. Would that be acceptable, Terra? I would wish to travel with thee again if thou and thy NetOp would allow it."

Durandal held out a hand in friendship to Terra.
Terra watched as the operators had their discussions, and she exhaled in relief. She could rest now. The Navi looked at her dirtied gloves, some dirt clinging to her fingers. Dusting them off, she looked at Durandal, who was a bit worse for wear than she was. Terra saw the knight approach her, and hold out a hand in friendship.

She stared at the hand for a moment before the biggest smile appeared on her face, and she accepted the handshake. It felt like forever that she held that hand, but she broke off before she knew it. Then, taking a few steps back, she bowed down slightly and said, "I'd like that, Durandal. Thank you very much for today."

Scarlet couldn't help but smile as well at the scene. "Well, Terra," she said, "Shall we go?"

Terra nodded lightly, as she always did, before disappearing in a bright pillar of light.

[Terra.EXE - Jack Out]
Durandal watched his companion vanish in a flash of light. He smiled to himself. Despite his injuries, his time in SciLabs net had been quite lucrative and, heck, he'd made a friend. He waited for Katherine to initiate his own log out functions before dematerializing in his own beam of light.

[Durandal Jack-Out]