Walk A Year In My Shoes

"Eliza, I'm nervous..." whimpered Kina as she looked out on the expanses of SciLab Net. She was clutching her ring-adorned right hand rather tightly out of anxiety.

"I would've thought if a Navi acquired the power to bend time, they'd have a little bit of confidence going into a fight. Guess that hypothesis is false, though." shrugged Eliza. "Just chill, I've got the Battlechips right here for you to use." To illustrate, she actually waved the three chips right in front of the PET screen for Kina to see.

"Which I don't even know how to use..." sighed Kina. "Maybe I can find a point in the future where the viruses are just gone..." she suggested with a lifeless chuckle.

Eliza could only shake her head, aware of how hopeless her Navi was without any prior data for her to work with. All she could really do was to fix that the hard way. Viruses ho?

(Battle 1 Start)
Venturing into the Science Labs network, Kina reluctantly went off to find some viruses to test her skills on. Shortly after entering, she found a close group of Canodumbs in the middle of the road, chattering to each other in some form of low and high beeping. One could only assume that they were gossiping about the latest binary trends for a moment, before their turret heads swiveled in Kina's direction, and revved up to take a few shots!

-- ENEMIES --
Canodumb A: 50 HP [Metal]
Canodumb B: 50 HP [Metal]
Canodumb C: 50 HP [Metal]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 100 HP [Metal]

-- TERRAIN --
40% Metal (Road)
60% Normal (Everywhere else)

-- BATTLE 01, READY? START!! --
"Eeek!" squealed Kina as the Canodumbs swiveled their heads around to face her. She put her hands up in front of her face in fright, though the practical function of that act was not quite what she was hoping. Being just quick to react and not that dumb, Kina lowered her hands and looked up desperately to her Operator for help.

"... Well, yeah, I'll give you chips, but don't forget that we're battle-testing the Time Ring! You can't perform the experiment without the equipment!" chided Eliza before popping her Shotgun chip into the silver and white PET.

"Right, right..." nodded Kina, getting her thoughts sorted out as a single-barrel gun appeared in her left hand. Chips were likely to do that, not so much for the reason of her being left-handed (though she was, as much as normally ambidextrous could be) as obstructing the Time Ring on her right hand was just silly. "Um, err... If it's not too much of a problem, could you all hold on a moment? I haven't done this before in a battle..." begged Kina of the Canodumbs... "Wait, what am I doing?!" scolded Kina of herself, having let her nerves overtake her common sense. Though, hey, maybe the Canodumbs weren't all that aggressive. They did seem pretty content with their gossip, after all.

Either way, though, Kina still had to activate the Time Ring to satiate Eliza's thirst for science. To reach that end, Kina stuck her right hand out in front of her, willing the silver ring on her finger to come off and float in front of her. Just then, in a single instant, the radius of the ring grew several times over, making the Time Ring suddenly large enough for Kina to walk through. A holographic array various colors and symbols lit up around the ring's circumference, signaling is was ready for use. "Erm... now what?" queried Kina, looking at the waiting ring in front of her and the Shotgun in her hand.

"Um... Shoot the viruses?" suggested Eliza uncertainly, realizing she had no idea how to apply the Time Ring to this situation either.

"Huh? But I don't know how to use a gun!" noted Kina, waving the weapon around in front of her awkwardly. "I'll need a lot more practice before I can even hope to shoot a virus, even if it is stationary..." The self-confidence being displayed here was just staggering.

Eliza stared at her PET's screen and the battlefield, straining her brain for some sort of connection. Hrm... "Oh! Wait, that's it!" exclaimed Eliza. "This is the experiment, Kina: you are to initialize a Future portal onto the Time Ring to a point where you're experienced with that Shotgun!"

"Oh... Um, I guess I can try..." muttered Kina as she slid her visor down over her eyes to get readings from the Time Ring. She waved her right hand over the rightmost quarter of the ring displaying a blue hologram with the characters "Ft" in the middle. The whole hologram then turned blue, and Kina in turn waved her hand horizontally across the top of the projection, sending it all in a clockwise spin. "I guess a week is good enough...?" muttered Kina to herself as she watched units of time fly by on her visor. When the Time Ring's calibration reached an exact 7 days later, Kina halted the hologram's spin on the spot. The only thing left to do was ignite the portal, which demanded Kina build up a charge of electricity in her wired coat. The orbs that made her belt churned out power at the demand, sending voltage coursing through the sewn-in wires and into the ring around the end of her right arm sleeve. While she had already done this off the open Net a few times, she remained a little cautions as she extended her charged hand into the Time Ring. With a clench of her fist, the electricity discharged in a uniform circle from her sleeve, hitting the full circumference of the Time Ring in an instant, causing a deep blue portal to swell into existence. "Here I go..." sighed Kina as she popped her visor back up, closed her eyes, and jumped through.

Regardless of what anyone may have expected, Kina popped out the other end of the portal without much ado, other than the fact that her uniformly white clothing had been painted blue by the portal. The Shotgun remained her left hand, and the fingers of her right were now pressed against her forehead, as Kina's face displayed a mystified look. "I... I see... Okay! I understand!"

"What? What?! What do you understand?!" questioned Eliza frantically, though no worries, her voice was fueled by pure, unregulated excitement.

"I've fought these Canodumbs before, and I know how to use this gun!" announced Kina proudly, as she dropped the barrel of the gun into the palm of her right hand to prove it. With her left at the trigger and the right to stabilize, Kina pointed the spread-firing weapon at the frontmost Canodumb and the one behind it before firing, allowing the gun to recoil backwards instead of fight it. "Eliza! Can you give me the Cannon now too?!"

"The Cannon...? Yes! Yes, I can! Can you use it?!" exclaimed Eliza. These two were getting way too excited over using a Battlechip, good lord.

"I can! I've used it several times already, even!" nodded Kina before the aforementioned chip arrived to replaced her empty Shotgun. True to its name, the Cannon was a heavier piece of artillery than its predecessor, forcing Kina to grab it with both hands else it fall to the ground. "With the sheer kinetic force of this weapon, I should be able to knock a Canodumb over and nearly disable it!" theorized Kina aloud, as well as making good on that promise as she pointed the heavy gun at the one Canodumb she hadn't already fired on. With a tug of the launching lever, the Cannon shot out its ammunition at the virus it was derived from.

Despite having a "week" worth of battle experience under her belt, or perhaps because of it, Kina felt she shouldn't overextend herself so quickly. "I think I've performed enough of the experiment for now, Eliza!" claimed Kina, to put those thoughts to words.

"I think so, too!" agreed Eliza, shaking her head enthusiastically. "You would've totally sucked if you didn't use the Future portal! I could even imagine you shooting yourself!"

"... You don't have to say it like that..." sulked Kina as she retreated back through her Future portal to undo its effects before defending herself. She wasn't quite ready to find out if turning off the Time Ring when it was in use would result in her time-fragging herself.

Actions:
1) Shotgun (50 damage [A], Spread 1) @ CanodumbA/B
2) Cannon (40 damage [A], Knockback) @ CanodumbC
3) Dodge
With her awkward ability of being completely clueless about combat, Kina utilized her bizarre time-travel powers to jump into a future where she wasn't as idiotic, and did a number on the gun turrets, leaving only one standing. The remaining one continued to swivel its head about, attempting to calibrate its incredibly slow targeting processes.

-- ENEMIES --
Canodumb A: DELETED
Canodumb B: DELETED
Canodumb C: 10 HP [Metal]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 100 HP [Metal]

-- TERRAIN --
40% Metal (Road)
60% Normal (Everywhere else)
"That... worked? It did! Eliza, it worked!" exclaimed Kina, bubbling over with excitement over her success.

"I know, I know! See how much better a fighter you're going to be in only a week? You should have more confidence in yourself!" nodded Eliza, doing a good job of complimenting the future Kina if not the one she was directly speaking to.

"Yeah... you're right! Can you give me the third chip so I can finish this up?" asked Kina, having completely forgotten her prior concerns about onlookers watching her mine combat ability out of the future.

"Sure, here's the RageClaw coming right up." responded Eliza, dropping her third and final chip into the PET.

"Okay, I should probably just recalibrate the Future portal a little since I went back through..." thought Kina aloud, explaining her white-again coat, pants, and shoes. Unfortunately, just as she reached to flip her visor down, the Time Ring's Future portal... fizzled out. It just went out entirely, and the holographic input wheel shut down as well. "... Eh?! Wait, wait! Don't break now!" shouted Kina in a bit of a panic. "How am I supposed to use the RageClaw without-"

And just as she said the chip's name, a sharp blade spun itself around the exterior of the Time Ring, stopping short of a full circle only to allow Kina a place to grab hold of. "This is... this is the chip, isn't it... Oh god, what am I going to do..." lamented Kina, having fallen off her emotional high very, very quickly. She couldn't use the Time Ring to learn how to use this chip, because the Time Ring WAS the chip here. She could only guess that all bladed chips would be directed towards this end, since the Time Ring could serve as a chakram-type weapon in an emergency. But... "This is way too big for me to wield..." sighed Kina, noting that she couldn't possibly lift, let alone wield the weapon when it was bigger than she was.

But hey, it was already given that the Time Ring could grow and shrink. It was even capable of being nice, because as if it was out of sympathy, the Time Ring chakram shrunk itself down to a handheld size that even frail little Kina could manage. "Oh dear... I'm really sorry, Canodumb!" whimpered Kina as she approached.

"... Erm. Kina, why are you apologizing to the virus?" asked Eliza, feeling greatly confused by her Navi.

"I... don't think this is going to be quick and painless." admitted Kina after some thought. Well... Yeah, okay, she had no idea how to wield this thing. A clean kill was probably too much to ask for.

"... Ah. I'll just... turn away for a moment." offered Eliza, as much for her own sake as Kina's.

"Thanks..." sighed the combat-inept Navi as made an awkward run at the remaining Canodumb, flailing the RageClaw-embedded chakram in the virus's general direction.

Actions:
1) RageClaw1 (40 Slashing damage [b]) @ CanodumbC
2) RageClaw1 (40 Slashing damage [b]) @ CanodumbC
3) RageClaw1 (40 Slashing damage ) @ CanodumbC
Flailing some kind of time chakram at the Canodumb, Kina reluctantly ended the battle, shearing the turret's head clear off. The turret base disintegrated, as well as the others, but the head did not, condensing itself into battlechip data!

-- ENEMIES --
Canodumb A: DELETED
Canodumb B: DELETED
Canodumb C: DELETED

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 100 HP [Metal]

-- TERRAIN --
40% Metal (Road)
60% Normal (Everywhere else)

-- BATTLE 01, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --

[Cannon] Battlechip, 320z
Kina could only stand over the results of her first battle victory, feeling very unsatisfied and slightly queasy. Thankfully, it was a mechanical virus, but its head... Ugh. "... Eliza, can I perform another experiment?" asked Kina rather solemnly.

"Absolutely! What did you have in mind?" approved Eliza quickly.

"... Trying to predict when we actually clean this up into a proper Battlechip." sighed Kina.

"... Ah, yeah, that's a... uh, good idea." nodded Eliza, agreeing that what they had now was... not pretty.

Kina wasted no time in disengaging her chakram and returning it to standard Time Ring functionality. The holographic display wheel presented itself once more, and Kina efficiently selected Future mode, spun the timeline forward a few days, and gingerly tossed the Canodumb's Severed Head into the portal. The end result was... Oh hey, Cannon data.

"Guess we really wanted to get that cleaned up... I feel a little better about myself now." said Eliza, granted relief by her future self. "But... Err, wait, will it stay like that if you turn off the portal?"

Kina looked at both the chip and portal before responding, "Oh yeah, we haven't tested that yet... Well, one way to find out." She waved her hand in front of the middle of the portal, causing it to dispel entirely and shut down the Time Ring. As the temporal device resumed its standby position on Kina's finger, the new Cannon data... stayed as is, thank god. "That's a good result..." observed Kina, "... especially considering the other one was an existence-ending paradox."

"Yep... Glad you weren't the test subject on that one, regardless. Now we can call it a successful experiment, though!" declared Eliza as she uploaded the now-sanitary Cannon to a chip.

"Yep..." agreed Kina flatly. Um... Onto more science!

(Battle 2 Start)
Moving further into the Science Labs network, Kina went onwards to experiment more with her time travel abilities. A short while later, she came across a few interesting displays in the middle of her travels. Three glass displays housed what looked to be rather interestingly crafted objets d'art. The leftmost one was a depiction of a Metool made entirely out of Bugfrags, and the middle one was some sort of shiny spinning green crystal. The rightmost one was... a cross-section display of a Canodumb's turret head. Well, wasn't that fun to look at.

In any case, her viewing session was disrupted as some viruses approached her from her left and right, them being rotund rolling Kabutanks and fire-fisted Champus respectively.

-- ENEMIES --
Kabutank A: 50 HP [Approaching: Left]
Kabutank B: 50 HP [Approaching: Left]
Champu A: 60 HP [Approaching: Right]
Champu B: 60 HP [Approaching: Right]

-- OBJECTS --
Objet d'Art A: 100 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art? B: 20 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art C: 100 HP [Solar]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
15% Solar [Raised platforms holding displays]
85% Metal

-- BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --
"Oh... An art display in SciLab?" noted Kina as she approached the three piece collection, surprised by the expressions of creativity in the lair of procedure and objectivity. Granted, she herself was a resident of the science camp, but she could appreciate an effort to liven up a facility.

"Sure, it's social science! Art can improve the psychological state of those looking at it." explained Eliza, stealing away whatever enjoyment there was to be had of the art with her blasted logic.

"I guess so..." replied Kina, as she stepped forward to examine the various displays. The leftmost piece was the first to meet her scrutiny, presenting forth a Bugfrag sculpture crafted in the form of a Metool. The material was certainly an... interesting choice. "I guess recycled art is pretty popular now..." she thought aloud before moving over to the middle piece. A green, gem-like crystal spun slowly with in the glass case, though Kina had to wonder, "Isn't this a Mystery Data...?" Even if she was right, though, this was likely SciLab property, and she was concerned enough over being captured for study. Becoming a thief wasn't going to help that. So, with that, Kina walked over to examine the rightmost and last piece of art...

"............"

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not happening. That was a sick joke. Kina was already walking back to the left, even as the four viruses approached from both sides. She'd take the Kabutanks in front of here any day before... that again.

"Kina, it looks like the Shotgun should be enough for the Kabutanks if you can hit them." decided Eliza after some investigation of the battle data.

"Eh? I mean, I know how to use it now, but... What if I hit the art displays?" questioned Kina nervously.

"True... Then you need another Future portal! Trying to hit the viruses but not the art sounds complicated, so calibrate the leap a bit further ahead." suggested Eliza, ever eager to give the Time Ring a workout. "You definitely need to learn how to calibrate the portal quicker, too. Most viruses aren't going to wait around like the Canodumbs did."

"I know that! I just... Gimme a second to figure it out." sighed Kina as she plucked the silver ring off her finger. She had already figured from last time that expanding the Time Ring to full size before calibrating was pretty inefficient, so at least one step she could take was make it handheld-size during the input process. As Kina quickly discovered... this was a very good idea. She triggered the Future command and got the timeline counter spinning all while running away from the art and towards the Kabutanks. This was for the combined purpose of sparing the pieces from the crossfires, and getting the heck away from the Canodumb head cross-section.

Kina halted the Time Ring's calibration at two weeks in the future, double the amount as last time. Surely she'd have practiced enough with these Battlechips enough by then to handle this task. With everything set, Kina threw the Time Ring out in front of her, allowing it to expand to her own size before she ignited its blue Future portal with an electrical charge from her coat. She dove threw as soon as the portal set, emerging through the other end once again painted the same blue color. "... Okay Eliza, I should be able to manage it with this much, send the chip." announced Kina after just a moment of though, as she recollected her memories that hadn't happened yet.

"Good, good! That calibration was a lot better, too!" applauded Eliza as she granted the Shotgun to her Navi.

"Yeah, and now I've got some ideas on how to do it better from what I'll try in the next 2 weeks." nodded Kina, making good use of her future to expedite her present. One more pressing matter remained at hand, though, as well as in hand, as the Kabutanks remained in front of her and the Shotgun was now in her left hand. She shuffled her feet quickly, repositioning herself to keep both Kabutanks in the line of sight while also keeping the art pieces well out of sight. Kina set the barrel of the gun over her right palm like before and fired the gun, pelting the viruses with rounds before discarding the gun. After surveying the results of her attack, Kina turned her attention back to the rest of the battles, as the Champus were left largely ignored by her efforts.

Actions:
1) Run left and far away from Objet d'Art C (Movement)
2) Shotgun (50 damage [A], Spread 1) @ KabutankA/B
3) Dodge
Turning well away from the unpleasant display, Kina got to re-obtaining her shooting skills, and fired on the Kabutanks easily with her Shotgun, deleting htem both in a single burst. The Champu wasted no time in teleporting up to her and swinging around their fists, but Kina managed to get away in time for her to take zero damage.

-- ENEMIES --
Kabutank A: DELETED
Kabutank B: DELETED
Champu A: 60 HP [Next to Kina]
Champu B: 60 HP [Next to Kina]

-- OBJECTS --
Objet d'Art A: 100 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art? B: 20 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art C: 100 HP [Solar]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
15% Solar [Raised platforms holding displays]
85% Metal
"Whoa! That's some good dodging, Kina! There's no way you could've done that with just today's experience!" congratulated Eliza, offering another backhanded compliment.

"That's a little more mean than you were planning..." groaned Kina as she continued to dodge the Champu's punches. "That aside, can we save the congratulations for when viruses are not throwing flaming fists at me?!"

"Oh right, sorry! I can't time travel to get better at Operating, unfortunately..." chuckled Eliza as she scrambled for her RageClaw. "Since we saw that second Cannon survive the Future portal turning off, I think this should be fine even though you're still under its effects."

"I agree, but could you give me a little more confidence than "I think"?" whimpered Kina as while all logic said otherwise, that 1% chance of getting time-fragged could not be removed from her mind. Regardless of her reservations, though, Eliza had already slotted the Battlechip into her PET, so Kina could do little but cringe as the Time Ring shut itself off and shifted to its chakram mode...

... Yeah, okay, she was still in one piece... and more importantly, one time. A heavy sigh of relief escaped Kina's lips as the Time Ring chakram shrunk down to a usable size before flying into her hand, allowing her finally the chance to retaliate against the Champus. As an added bonus, with her additional 2 weeks of experience temporarily borrowed from the future still applied, Kina actually knew how to wield this thing now. No more dismembered viruses to worry about!

The Champu that had most recently swung at her was the first to be attacked by future Kina, who promptly swung her chakram into the side of the burning virus. Instead of carrying through with the attack, though, Kina pulled her bladed weapon back, twisted it to its side, and struck at the same Champu again with enough blunt force to send the virus flying into its comrade. Kina then chased after the second Champu, ready to cut into it with her chakram and try to end this fight before the art got damaged.

Actions:
1) RageClaw1 (40 Slashing damage [b]) @ ChampuA
2) RageClaw1 Throw (20 Impact damage [b]) @ ChampuA/ChampuB
3) RageClaw1 (40 Slashing damage ) @ ChampuB
Shifting her Time Ring to its chakram form once again, Kina wielded it with the prowess of a two-week-old combatant, which was quite something to look at. Swinging it around, she caught the first one in her bladed weapon, but her follow-up bash did not connect, and missed. She did manage to cut the second one through, though, but not without some retribution. (10)

-- ENEMIES --
Kabutank A: DELETED
Kabutank B: DELETED
Champu A: 20 HP [Next to Kina]
Champu B: 20 HP [Next to Kina]

-- OBJECTS --
Objet d'Art A: 100 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art? B: 20 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art C: 100 HP [Solar]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 90 HP

-- TERRAIN --
15% Solar [Raised platforms holding displays]
85% Metal
"Owww...!" moaned Kina, recoiling from the Champu's punch as she clutched her stomach with her free hand. Thankfully, her special coat seemed flame-retardant enough for Kina to not catch ablaze, so all she really suffered from was the bruising impact. "This is why I never wanted to be a combat Navi!"

"Science is going to punch you in the face sometimes, Kina! You just have to grit your teeth and keep going!" responded Eliza vigorously, pushing for her Navi to continue fighting.

"I got punched in the stomach, though!" complained Kina, ignoring the generalization her Operator made. "Argh, whatever, I don't care what happens to the art anymore! Just leave me alone, you dumb viruses!" Having invoked the fury of a two-week experienced fighter, the Champus found themselves under repeated assault by Kina's bladed chakram.

"Careful, Kina! You might damage the Time Ring if you swing it around too much!" warned Eliza, highly concerned for the safety of her amazing item.

"Like I care! It's this thing's fault I'm in this situation in the first place!" whined Kina as she continued to club away at the Champus with the blunt side of her weapon, once, twice, and three times. Really, she was just venting her pent up frustrations at this point. There was a lot to vent.

Actions:
1) RageClaw1 Throw (20 Impact damage [b]) @ ChampuA/ChampuB
2) RageClaw1 Throw (20 Impact damage [b]) @ ChampuA/ChampuB
3) RageClaw1 Throw (20 Impact damage ) @ ChampuA/ChampuB
Her wild flailing sent one of the viruses flying into the other with the impact dealing a finishing blow to the both of them. Having defeated all the viruses, the last thing to do was collect her rewards.

-- ENEMIES --
Kabutank A: DELETED
Kabutank B: DELETED
Champu A: DELETED
Champu B: DELETED

-- OBJECTS --
Objet d'Art A: 100 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art? B: 20 HP [Solar]
Objet d'Art C: 100 HP [Solar]

-- NAVIGATOR --
Kina.EXE: 90 HP

-- TERRAIN --
15% Solar [Raised platforms holding displays]
85% Metal

[Battle 2 - Victory!]

Get: 600z
Kina's attention was drawn to the center art piece that had begun to glow brightly. Possibly triggered by the deletion of the viruses or something else, it was impossible to determine but the light grew to a blinding flash that forced the navi and operator to look away. Kina recovered from the odd light but quickly realized that her surroundings had changed. Eliza's PET showed that her navi was no longer in the Scilab network, but had somehow teleported to the ACDC network.

...Is this art?

((Teleport to ACDC))