Reluctant busting

Stepping up and tapping the large glowing crystal, the data started to glow brightly before suddenly shattering in a blinding light that blanketed the area for a moment. And soon, as the light began to fade away, the little pixie would find herself standing before new battlechip data!

[GMD: Opened]
Gretchen: BubbleStar1

Quote ()

BubbleStar1
Damage: 20 + Bubble Trap x 3 targets
Accuracy: D
Description: Three Bubbles trap enemies
Duration: Once, Trap for 1 turn
Element: Aqua
Special: Bubble Trap: Encases the target in a bubble for 1 turn that makes them vulnerable to Elec Damage. Trapped targets suffer from Hold, and their attacks cannot penetrate the bubble from the inside. Any attack that hits the bubble from the outside instantly breaks it, freeing the victim.

As the light around Gretchen dissipated, Roger couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Yes, chip data was always a welcome sight, especially one as wonderful as this. That being said, he was hoping that it would be a pile of Zenny, so that he could convince Gretchen to call it quits for the day. Gretchen, on the other hand, was already putting the past behind her, and got really excited at their new prize. "Ooh! A non-lethal chip like this could be really handy in the right situation!" She gave a little bounce as she clapped her hands.

Roger couldn't help but crack a smile. "You always were good at getting over things quickly," he responded, downloading the data into a blank chip. It was a gift that Roger wished he could share with his Navi, but could never quite manage it himself. He shook his head, and tried acting like nothing had gone wrong, for her sake. He gave a little smile, "With these new chips, maybe the next battle won't be so tough, right? You ready to continue on?"

Gretchen could tell that Roger wasn't thrilled with the idea after the last ordeal, but was determined to not let it get to her. That was the first time anything like that had ever happened, and Roger said he was going to look into it later, so why worry now? If it happened again, she might reconsider her position, but for now, their work was far from done. "Good to go on this end. Let's do it!" And just like that, they were off looking for more trouble.

{{Ready for Round 4}}

Traveling ever further the little pixie could easily flutter and float across the panels. Only to soon see that the terrain started to shift, the once wide open area gave way to finely polished steel, leaving a simple road left down it to travel upon. It was upon this very road she'd meet a bombastic set of viruses!

Floating cannon tanks seemed to be taking turns shooting at large bombs dropped by a mysterious floating hand. Not seeming to care when they missed and caused destruction to the network instead. Still all it took was a flick of the wrist before the lone navi was spotted and all attention turned to a moving target.

Enemies
Beetank A: 80HP [Metal]
Beetank B: 80HP [Metal]
Beetank C: 80HP [Normal]
Handy: 80HP [Normal]

Terrain
60% Metal
40% Normal [Road up the middle]

Ally
Gretchen: 75HP

—Battle 4, Start!—

"Curiouser and curiouser" Gretchen whispered to herself, eyeing the game being played by the quartet of viruses. "I always thought that viruses sole purpose was to cause havoc. I assumed that they were placed here to simply destroy the net and any Navis in it. But today has shown that many viruses seem to have just as much personality as you or I!" Roger nodded in agreement.

"It certainly seems that there's quite a bit more than meets the eye to these viruses than previously thought. We'll have to ask around to see if anyone knows anything more about this phenomenon when we're done here."

Though Gretchen started at a whisper, the viruses (Or at least the Handy) must have heard her, for their little game came to a sudden halt as they turned their attention toward her. "Here we go again," she exclaimed, giving her wings a little twitch. "Why don't we try out some of our other chips and programs on these guys? Didn't you give me a program that could boost the damage output of wood elemental attacks?" Without waiting for a response, Gretchen took off toward the enemies. Standing still seemed like a bad idea, and she had a plan that would only work if she could get in close.

Seeing her dash into the fray, Roger picked up the Rageclaw chip, expecting her to want to melee. "Wait, wood element?" He paused, confused for a moment, then it clicked into place. You could almost hear the messy file cabinet in his head snap open as he began swapping out the chip, "Oh, you mean the SetSolar Program! I forgot that we even had that!." He popped open a side panel on the PET, and waited until just the right moment to activate it.

Gretchen bobbed and weaved her way to the center of the group, wary of how the viruses would counter, but with her mind already made up, there was no turning back. Curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she was loving the rush. As soon as she got as close as possible to the center of the group, she shouted "NOW!" and waited just long enough to see the panels around her begin to glow, before bounding off to the left side of the field.

Roger flipped a switch on the PET, activating the SetSolar Program under Gretchen's feet, and then popped in the only wood chip they had so far.

As she reached the edge of the shining section of terrain, she gave a little twirl as the first of the large logs materialized before her. With a shove, she watched with baited breath to see if it would connect with the first of the tanks.


Actions
1 -> Movement: Dash into the center of the group of viruses
FREE — Activate Set Solar
2 -> Movement: Dash left at a 90 degree angle to her previous movement
3 -> RollingLog1: Target Beetank A: 50 + Ground Attack + Wide Attack (2) + Double Attack [c]

At the charge of the Navi, the Beetanks began to shoot. The bombs fell in her path and exploded. Two of the three exploded just close enough to catch her in the blast radius. But she was quick enough to just managed to skirt the first blast radius. But she was burnt a little by the second, singing her wings. The Handy placed a bomb from out of nowhere. The bomb had a digital timer displayed predominately on it, and it began ticking down to detonation immediately after the Handy removed itself from it.

Then Gretchen was in the middle of the viruses, and glowing grass began sprouting everywhere. She then tossed a log at the Beetanks. Empowered by the Solar Terrain, the logs grew to double their size, glowing bright yellowish-green. Unfortunately, the Beetanks' floated out of the way of the rolling logs before they were hit.

Enemies
Beetank A: 80HP [Solar]
Beetank B: 80HP [Solar]
Beetank C: 80HP [Solar]
Handy: 80HP [Solar]
TimeBomb: 100HP [2 Turns] [Solar]

Terrain
50% Metal
30% Normal [Road up the middle]
20% Solar

Ally
Gretchen: 60HP [Solar]

The explosions rocked the little pixie as she raced about setting up the attack plan, her wings stinging from the blasts. It was foolproof! The Solar panels would strengthen the logs enough to take out some of the viruses with no problem, all she had to do was line it up and...

Gretchen stared in disbelief as the logs rolled harmlessly underneath the Beetanks. At least they looked impressive, she thought to herself glumly, slightly ashamed that something as obvious as the futility of using a ground attack against flying enemies had somehow eluded her. In the real world, Roger was feeling much the same, his face buried in the palm of his hand. With a quick shake of his head, he ignored the failure as best he could, and prepared for the next round of the attack. He reached for the Cannon chip, but stopped when the Handy placed the bomb, its digital timer casting an eerie glow that clashed with the shimmer of the Solar panels. A thought crossed his mind, and he scooped up a second chip as well. "Let's try something a little different, shall we?"

Gretchen frowned, disappointed that the first attack had failed so horribly, and let the remainder of the RollingLog data drift away, unused. "Do we even have the ability to hit them if they stay up in the air like that?" she asked, a little unsure of where Roger was going with this. When the Handy had placed the bomb, she had fully expected to be given the Guard1 chip next, and was surprised when she was proven incorrect. Her dainty hands once again grew in size, her nails sharpening into vicious claws. "Wha-" she began, obviously caught off guard.

"You want to hit them? Let's use whatever weapons we can find around here, including..." Roger drifted off, knowing that Gretchen could piece it together.

"The bomb!" she exclaimed. You could almost see the light bulb above her head as Roger's plan became apparent to her. She took off in a sprint, knowing that she had already wasted enough time as it was. While her first move had contained some cautious zigging and zagging to avoid fire (Which obviously hadn't worked very well), this time she made a straight line towards the explosive device, knowing that her timing had to be perfect. Her eyes darted around the sky, trying to determine which target would be best. She reached the bomb and checked the time... She was a little early, and would have to wait just a little longer. "This had better work, Roger" she muttered, focusing her attention on Beetank A. "Why don't you come down here so I can thank you properly for damaging my wings!" she shouted, her wings twitching in annoyance.

The second chip data filtered down, though this would obviously serve as more of a distraction to prepare for what they planned on next. The large cannon materialized in her paws, and was more than a bit clumsy because of it. The trigger was never meant to be pulled like this, but she let the shot fly anyway, barely caring if it hit her target or not. If she could just get it a little closer... She danced around the bomb, staying close enough to be able to throw it when the time came, but staying just far enough away to avoid any stray shots from triggering it early.

Summary:
Action 1-> Movement: Straight line toward bomb.
Action 2-> Activate RageClaw: Not actually using it yet, but readying the chip. (6/6 uses remaining)
Action 3-> Cannon: Target Beetank A: Damage= 40 + Knockback [A]

The Navi shot at one of the Beetanks hovering just a few feet off the ground with a cannon. The cannon struck the Beetank and caused it to jerk backward. This sudden adjustment caused the shot of the Beetank to miss, exploding harmlessly far away.

However, the other two Beetanks were much more accurate. Both the Navi and the TimeBomb were pelted with explosions. The TimeBomb's counter turned red as it ticked down another turn, ready to explode.

Finally the Handy left another package on the ground. This bomb had a big, visible 'X' emblazoned on the side. It also had no timer...

Enemies
Beetank A: 40HP [Solar]
Beetank B: 80HP [Solar]
Beetank C: 80HP [Solar]
Handy: 80HP [Solar]
TimeBomb: 70HP [1 Turn] [Solar]
DudBomb: 1HP [Solar]

Terrain
50% Metal
30% Normal [Road up the middle]
20% Solar

Ally
Gretchen: 30HP [Solar]

[[Oops, sorry, it's fixed now; she threw the TimeBomb for quick reference.]]

As the cannon successfully ripped into the Beetank, Roger began to feel good about their chances. The move would be risky, but if it worked... He watched as Gretchen danced around, preparing for the attack, and then could only watch in horror as the other two tanks struck home. "Ah, Gretchen!"

The tiny navi put on a brave face, but it was obvious that she was hurting. One more hit like that and she'd... She grimaced, and tried not to think about that. "We have to try this Roger, it's now or never. Just... Have something safe loaded up for the next round please?" Gretchen scanned the area, debating on which one to target, and her eyes landed on the one virus that was adding more things to the field. She watched as the Handy placed another bomb down, and for a brief moment wanted desperately to study it, she was a summoner navi, after all... But the dangerous position she was in left her no time for such luxury. The Handy had the potential to be the most dangerous virus on the field, and thus was the one that had to go... That is, assuming this plan would even work.

Roger loaded up the best defensive chip he could, and waited with baited breath as the pixie turned and dug her claws beneath the TimeBomb, spun it around once to gain some momentum, and looking like a child pretending to be an Olympic hurler, let the bomb fly directly toward the Handy. She had even followed through, just like she knew what she was doing.

With a dash, she bounded directly away from the direction she threw in. She knew that all the cool people walked calmly away from explosions in the movies, but those guys were rarely ever struggling for survival when they did so. Besides, she had no way of knowing just how large the explosion would be, and if this failed, she would most likely have to make a fast retreat. She kept running until the chip data from Roger appeared, then quickly spun around and crouched to watch the fireworks from behind the forming shield. "Here's hoping..."

Summary:
Action 1-> RageClaw 1: Toss TimeBomb at Handy: Damage= 20 + Impacting (Throw) (And with any luck something from an explosion)
Action 2-> Movement: GTFO Running the other direction
Action 3-> Guard1: (1 Hit Shield) + (Reflect(up to 60 + Piercing + Line Attack): On Hit)

With a bit of desperation, the little pixie took some rather extreme measures, by which she grabbed at the ticking bomb and hurled it with all her might at the Handy virus that spawned it before rushing off. And while the bomb managed to slam into the giant hang, it did some minor damage.

It was then the countdown reached zero, and the bomb exploded violently, sending a massive energy wave towards the navi. Who just in time summoned up her shield before ducking behind it. The blast wave slammed into the shield, shattering it, but not before it triggered the reflective strike, and thanks to her throw, the counter blast shot towards the Handy as well, leaving it heavily weakened.

Sadly, as the blast cleared away, it seems nothing else was damaged, and while one of the tanks had fired after the little navi, she had far outrun where the blast of its cannon hit. The other two seemed to have expected the bomb to take care of her, and did nothing. Well at least that second bomb popped and destroyed itself harmlessly.

Enemies
Beetank A: 40HP [Solar]
Beetank B: 80HP [Solar]
Beetank C: 80HP [Solar]
Handy: 10HP [Solar]


Terrain
50% Metal
30% Normal [Road up the middle]
20% Solar

Ally
Gretchen: 30HP [Solar] [Guard1: Broken]

The young navi scowled as the TimeBomb struck the Handy, barely seeming to scratch the thing. "Oh come on!" she exclaimed, "I almost got myself shot to pieces for th-" KABOOM! The TimeBomb finished its count down with a wave of power that almost knocked Gretchen off her feet. In fact, her grip on the shield was the only thing that did keep her from toppling over, and in a mere instant, her only source of protection and stability left her with the explosion. She staggered to her feet, quickly waving away the bit of smoke that had traveled to her position, and surveyed the battlefield. "The Handy is still there..." she remarked, her wings giving a slight twitch of annoyance.

"Yes, but just barely." Roger pointed out. He was honestly surprised that the plan had worked out as well as it had. After such a rocky start to the fight, he was more than a little nervous for Gretchen's safety. "But you see what I mean? These viruses are getting tougher, and more resilient as we go." His eyes traveled along her path of escape she had taken only moments before, and caught a detail that bothered him immensely: only one blast mark. His eyes quickly darted around the screen at the three BeeTanks, noticing that while one seemed to be reloading, the other two were already getting in position to fire again. "Gretchen! The BeeTanks! You need to keep moving!"

Gretchen jumped at Roger's uncharacteristically gruff demeanor. "The Bee..." she began, scanning the skies. One could almost hear the gears clicking into place as she realized what he meant, and could almost smell the fear as she gazed up at the floating virii. The BeeTanks may have hesitated in shooting her, assuming that the bomb would take her out, but she wasn't about to make a similar mistake and assume that they were done firing all together. Her eyes narrowed as about a hundred possible courses of action breezed through her head in a fraction of a second. The longer this battle took, the more dangerous things would be for her. She was already sore from their first volley, and was beyond unwilling to take a second. That meant that her new priority was to stay safe. She took a step to her right, hoping that it would throw off their aim even a little bit, then bolted to her left, rolling into a somersault and ending in a crouch, her buster poised for action. "Roger, send me that new chip. It may be our last defensive chip, but this really feels like a now or never kind of moment."

Roger held his breath as he slotted in the new chip. "If this works, it'll only buy you a few seconds, and it certainly won't be enough to deal with all four of them. And you're right, you'll only get one shot at this, so make it count!" The data streamed into her arm as she focused her gaze and took a few deep breaths. One shot, three targets, and a whole lot of pain if this failed. If she had paused for a moment to realize this, she would have laughed at the irony. Taking yet another big risk in an attempt to avoid damage? She would really have to think out some actual battle strategies if this sort of thing were to continue. Luckily for her, this thought wouldn't come until later, and so her head remained clear long enough for her to take careful aim at the three BeeTanks.

"One... Two... Three!" She whispered, getting a lock on all three of the cannon toting virii. As she finished her count, the data from the BubbleStar chip wormed its way into her buster, converting her standard needles into something else entirely, and fired... A large starfish? Roger and Gretchen both cocked their heads as the starfish serpentined toward her targets. "That... Was not what I was expecting to happen there..."

Summary
Action1-> Dodge (Slight movement left)
Action2-> Aim (BubbleStar isn't very accurate here)
Action3-> BubbleStar1: Target all three BeeTanks, firing specifically at one of the two that did not fire last round: Damage = 20 + Bubble Trap x 3 targets [Accuracy D] <Element Aqua>

Dodging seemed to save the little navi again as one of the cannons let loose a blast that she easily avoided like child's play. Then with some skillful aiming she took in sights and fired a large starfish...

Believe it or not, the starfish was surprisingly effective, as all three tanks within very durable bubbles. The last two tanks seemed angry about it and tried to fire, but their blasts simply bounced off the inside of the bubble and exploded harmlessly.

For the moment, Gretchen seemed to be safe, though the question remained to fight of flight, and that Handy looked about ready to drop yet another bomb on the battlefield!

Enemies
Beetank A: 20HP [Solar] [Bubble Trapped]
Beetank B: 60HP [Solar] [Bubble Trapped]
Beetank C: 60HP [Solar] [Bubble Trapped]
Handy: 10HP [Solar]


Terrain
50% Metal
30% Normal [Road up the middle]
20% Solar

Ally
Gretchen: 30HP [Solar]

As strange as it may have been to use a starfish as a weapon, it had worked, and that was good enough for Gretchen. She couldn't help but give a shout of triumph as she leapt to her feet and spun around once, her fist pumped to the sky. "Woo hoo!" She dropped her fists to her sides and began doing a victory shuffle. Roger simply rolled his eyes.

"Very nice Gretchen, but isn't it a little early to be celebrating? Those bubbles won't last long, and you do still have that handy to worry about." Gretchen paused and looked up at her foes. The Handy was shaking its fist at her. She gave it a sheepish wave in return. "I'm sending you our last two chips, so just get this done quick ok?" He hesitated, looking at the remaining chips, "And Gretchen, just... Be careful with this one, all right?" She gave a quizzical look. "You'll see what I mean." As the first chip data filtered down, Gretchen surveyed the field. She was tired, and a little sore, so she would have liked to enjoy this moment of respite, but there was still work to be done. Her buster quickly took on the shape of a more menacing shotgun, and she looked up at the locations of each individual virus.

"Hmmm, they're a little bit more spread out than I would have liked, but we'll just make do!" With a huff, she hefted the weighty gun and lined up the shot at the most heavily wounded BeeTank. "Pew!" she said, just before pulling the trigger. The sound that came out of her buster was anything but cute, and Roger simply couldn't help but chuckle.

"Get you out of danger for one second..." he sighed, slotting in the second chip. "But seriously, you need to focus for this last one." Gretchen lowered the shotgun, allowing the data to drift away.

"Wait, the only chip we have left is..." she began, but the data was already on its way, and her temperature had begun to rise. "Ooohh dear... We're really- I mean, must we- can't we-" she stammered, but of course the programming had begun to run its course, and the flames had begun to form around her hands. "Ahhhhh... I really don't know about this Roger..." she blurted, sounding more and more terrified by the moment. All thoughts of tactics and priorities were quickly being replaced with flashbacks of her close encounter, and all she wanted to do was to cancel the program.

Roger, knowing all too well what she was going through, leapt in to be the voice of reason, "Gretchen, listen to me. Focus on me, ok? This is a chip data, not another virus attack. The flames aren't going to harm you, as long as you're careful with them, ok? All you need to do is focus the energy into a ball, and send it towards those tanks. If you can do that, you'll not only get rid of the fire, but you'll be taking out the targets in the process, got it? Gretchen?" The little pixie nodded slowly, her entire body trembling with fear. With a deep breath, she focused on the task at hand, and brought her hands together as though she were performing Tai Chi. A small flame formed in her hand, and for a brief second she almost lost her cool entirely, but Roger was right there to keep her attention. "That's it Gretch, you're doing great. Now, just take another deep breath, make the flame a little bigger and send it toward one of those tanks." With a gulp, Gretchen pulled her hands to her side, at least this way she wouldn't have to look as the flames grew in size. She looked back to the sky, found her target, and with a small step forward, she flung the fireball directly at the virus. Without a moment's hesitation, knowing what had to be done, she turned in place to find the third BeeTank and repeated the process. The second fireball out of her hands, the young navi felt the heat leaving her system and allowed herself a sigh of relief.

"We need to trade that chip for something else, I don't even care what it is, I do not want to use that again." she turned and surveyed the sky once more, taking in what still needed to be done and hefting her buster for the task.

Summary
Action1 -> Shotgun: Target BeeTank A: Damage = 50 + Spread 1 [Accuracy = A]
Action2 -> FireHit1: Target BeeTank B: Damage = 60 + Impact + Double Attack [Accuracy = A]
Action3 -> FireHit1: Target BeeTank C: Damage = 60 + Impact + Double Attack [Accuracy = A]

With her desperation move seeming to have worked out perfectly, Gretchen was able to trap the three tanks, leaving them helpless as she started her assault. Surprisingly, the Handy virus, after dropping off a bomb, appeared just behind the first bubbled tank, and when her shotgun blast went off, both were deleted outright.

Then it came to facing her fears or ending the battle, and she pulled through it like a champ as the pixie let loose a set of fiery blasts, easily destroying the last two tanks with a one, two knockout. That left only the Handys' last bomb on the field, but with the last of the viruses deleted, the timer shut off, and the bomb seemed to convert into raw, useable data!

Enemies
Beetank A: Deleted
Beetank B: Deleted
Beetank C: Deleted
Handy: Deleted


Terrain
50% Metal
30% Normal [Road up the middle]
20% Solar

Ally
Gretchen: 30HP [Solar]

—Battle 4, Victory!—
Gretchen: 405z, CountBomb1

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CountBomb1
HP: 100
Properties: Anchored
Object Damage: 50 + Impact
Damage Method: Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 100 + To-All-Clause
Accuracy: S
Description: Bomb placed in enemies area that explodes after two turns
Duration: 2 turns or until destroyed.
Element: Null

As another instance of sheer luck allowed the battle to end just as their chip supply ran out, both Roger and Gretchen let out audible sighs of relief. "Well, I'm glad that that's finally over." Gretchen stretched her arms up as high as she could, feeling the burn of a good workout run through them.

"That goes double for me." She began uploading the victory data, and walked over to examine the CountBomb. "Hey Roger, get a load of this! It's the same thing that the Handy started the fight with, and it's ours for the taking!" Roger looked over the stats as he inserted a blank chip.

"And it looks like something that will actually use your subtype for a change. Nice find Gretchen!" He looked down at the damage output of the chip and let out a low whistle, "That's also a lot more damage than we can currently dish out, no complaints about this chip." He paused for a moment while Gretchen continued her stretch. Assuming she would say no anyway (At least, he hoped she would say no), he asked out of courtesy, "So, do you feel up for another one?"

Gretchen looked behind at her singed wings and shook her head. "You know what? Why don't we call it quits for the day. We've earned a decent bit of Zenny, we got a nice supply of new chips, and I could really use a rest." Roger smiled, glad she agreed with his thoughts.

"Alright then Gretchen, come on back, and we'll switch to research mode. We've got more than one mystery on our hands, and I'd like to try and get some answers."

Gretchen.EXE Jacking out

((Woo!))