A Motive for Training

Slowly but surely, Lyn was showing signs of calming down. Martia smiled as the other girl started to spark less, and started to get a bit closer. She looked over towards where she had been looking; it seemed like she was eyes one of the roads that went that way, but she couldn't tell which one. Did she want to go that way when she was set? She'd have to time to mull it over, at least, as she turned back and listened.

The martial artist didn't quite get why she was asking these things all of a sudden. Not that it mattered, of course. As a friend, she needed to respond. "Well, that's...quite a situation..." That said, she couldn't help but be taken aback a little at the whole thing. It was just...an odd thing to ask. That said, based on everything she'd heard, she could speculate on just what everything meant. "Honestly...I don't really know what to say. But...I don't think there's a right answer for that. And if there is, I sure don't know it. But I CAN say this: what's your gut reaction? More often than not, that's a good way to go. Sometimes it's best not to overthink things and just go with what feels right to you. ...And, er, about that sun thing? Remember that even if it doesn't look like it, some sunlight always gets through clouds. Otherwise there'd be nothing but total darkness when it was cloudy, right? ...Did that make any sense? Don't worry if it doesn't, maybe I'm just taking it too literally..." Well, profound or dumb, she said it...hopefully it made Lyn feel a little better, either way.
This time, Lyntael actually managed a proper smile, ducking her head as she did and casting a grateful look towards her friend. She drew a deep breath and shook herself out one last time, running hands through her hair and straightening her clothes, what little of them there actually was. When her fingers came away from her head again, they trailed sparks still, but her hair seemed to have regained some of its natural spiky spring.

"Thank you, Martia. You're right. I know what I have to do, because it's more important than anything else that he stays safe. I worry about him a lot though... and I wish he wouldn't do the things he does." sighing softly she pointed in the direction she'd looked before.

"I need to head that way. It's hard to explain, but the thing that I'm doing for Rogan... it's... it's easier the closer I am relative to what he's doing in the network, on his end." She started to move in that direction, waiting for Martia to join her before going on, and her body language seemed somewhat more collected now than before; calmer, if not necessarily happy. The next time she looked in Martia's direction, her features were creased with worry, but there was something else as well; a small hint of determination, albeit a small seed attempting to hide a full bloom's worth of fear.

"Martia, I... I can't promise that I won't panic, if we find more viruses. I can't promise that I'll really be of any more help than I was back there, but I will do my best. I'm not strong; the only power I have is really whatever my body seems to do to defend itself... not really me at all." Looking down at herself, she focused on her hands, holding them in front of her and clenching them into fists, then relaxing them again a moment later. As she did, the same electrical crackle built around her hands, and strangely enough around her ankles as well, though she didn't seem to notice, then dissipated once more as she released. She looked towards her friend, swallowing nervously.

"When I'm calm, alone in my PET with nothing to do but think, I can... control it, sort of. A little bit, anyway. Most of the time, it just happens. I've read some things about creatures that do things like that, on instinct, and the articles always call it a Defence Mechanism. It's a bit like that, I suppose." she shook her head and squared her shoulders, taking another deep breath. "But I'm sure I'll be able to control it. One day. I'm trying to learn." One way or another the young girl seemed to be trying to prepare herself for the inevitable next time. In her head, Lyntael willed herself as fiercely as she could not to panic this time, and just to do what she had to. Even so, she offered another small, somewhat weak smile for her companion.
"I am glad you're here. Before now, I've always been alone whenever it's turned...violent... and it's so terrifying, but I really do feel much better with someone as competent as you are here too."

(Prepared for battle 2)
Martia simply smiled and nodded, just happy that Lyn was finally cheering up. Once the latter pointed out which way she wanted to head, she followed, since she certainly didn't know if they had to make a sharp turn at some point. It sounded like Rogan had gotten himself caught in something...maybe there was something she could do? Eh, maybe not, considering she wasn't exactly super strong, herself. Knowing a friend was potentially in trouble, but not being able to do anything about it...it was a feeling she absolutely hated. It was also a feeling she'd never experienced before, but she didn't want to feel it again any time soon. To that end, she needed to get stronger. Strong enough to help anyone that needed it...

The martial artist's train of thought was soon interrupted, as her new friend kept the conversation going. Well, sorta. "Your best is all I can ask for! And in return, I'll give you my best! How's that sound?" A simple thing to say, but that made it no less true. "And hey, at least you have your electricity to fall back on. All I have is what you see. If I can't punch or kick it, I'm in deep trouble. I saw how it protected you, and honestly...I'm a little jealous that you can do that!" With that, and with no warning, she suddenly froze for a moment, as what felt like a jolt of electricity went through her. That was weird, she was pretty sure she was out of Lyn's range...but, aside from looking completely and utterly stunned, there didn't seem to be any effects on her. "...That was...kinda weird...uh, don't worry, Lyn, I'm fine! C'mon, we're burning daylight! Not that cyberworld really has day and night, but...ah, you know what I mean!"

"And, you know what? I'm glad you're here, too! It's like...I'm not just fighting for the sake of fighting! There's something more to it! Does that make any sense at all? I'll understand if it doesn't, it's hard to put into words..." Well, maybe she'd figure out how to say it as they kept going.

(Searching for Battle #2)
Lyntael reacted every bit as much surprised as Martia to the unexpected jolt, her eyes darting over the other woman quickly as an apology jumped to her lips. She trailed off again, confused as she realised it hadn't come from her at all. The other woman shrugged it off, and she tried to as well, concentrating more than ever on reigning in her energy and making sure her body was safe. It was probably alright for her to touch things now, probably, if she focused.

"It does make sense. I think I understand, and thank you. It means a lot to me that the few friends I have are so nice." She nodded and grinned to the other woman, before heading on.

As the pair ventured deeper in, Lyntael led, but only in the sense of pointing out the turnings while walking side by side, following the path in whichever way her awareness of Rogan's searching nudged her. The main corridor, which had began as a mirror image on one of the staff only leading off the plaza in the real world, quickly receded into several branches that diverted and cut away at angles, one of which she followed, and then out again into a more open space. Though they were still at ground level, more or less, here many other passages and walkways could be seen crossing to and fro, at various heights, some quite a long way above, and Lyntael paused, looking about with a curious expression. She didn't look right at Martia, as she spoke, but instead continued to look about, glancing at her in between turns of her head and body. Going this way on her own was one thing, but taking Martia along with her without saying it clearly was another... even so, bringing it up properly was hard.

"You asked before..." she tried to force the hesitation out of her voice and went on. "You asked what I meant by 'something wrong', and I went on about my problems instead of answering you properly." Unconsciously her feet shuffled and she swayed back and forth slightly. "You're my friend, and I should tell you, before we go any deeper. Rogan would be very angry if he knew I told you, but, it's just not right that you're with me, and don't know." She paused again, letting herself be distracted by a small bolt of light, information of some description to her eyes, zipping along one of the far off walkways.

"What I meant was, that what Rogan's doing now, what I'm helping him do, is very much illegal. Us being here is fine, even if were now in a restricted part of the network. We'd might get told off for being where we oughtn't, but that would be all... but, I'm screening and covering Rogan's own deeper network dive, and stopping it from being detected. If I get caught doing that, or if I mess up and he does get detected... It... it isn't fair of him to use busting with you and Leslie as a cover for this, when you don't know what you're covering." The pace of her words grew faster as she talked, until the last was said in a vehement rush. She swallowed, taking a breath, then peeked up towards the other woman again. She almost blushed again as her eyes took longer than they ought to have to get past her impressive bust and up to her face.

"I couldn't go on, and not tell you. If you want no part of it, I'll understand, but I have to go on, one way or the other, for him." She knew her voice sounded as though she half expected Martia to grow angry or walk away, but she couldn't hear the tinge in her own words, edged with the pleading hope that she wouldn't.

((Writing more for the joy of doing so, while awaiting Battle 2 ^.^))
+4 FXP

The two Navis came upon another interesting sight as they talked. A circular metal platform with four large cubes on each of the four cardinal directions rotated around like a clockwork piece, rotating in quarters. On each cube stood a large fan, blowing outwards. Skirting along around the outside of this strange metal platform was a few rat like viruses, which skittered about on wheels instead of legs, and were being kept back from the platform by the constant gusting of the rotating fans. However, when they saw the Navis, their eyes glowed red and they abandoned the metal platform to charge at the duo. The fan blowing to the West also enveloped the Navis with its gusting, causing them to hold their hands in front of their faces. The Ratties used this to their advantage by using the wind to gain speed on their charge.

-Viruses-
WindBoxA: 100HP [Atop RockCubeA] [Blowing North]
WindBoxB: 100HP [Atop RockCubeB] [Blowing East]
WindBoxC: 100HP [Atop RockCubeC] [Blowing South]
WindBoxD: 100HP [Atop RockCubeD] [Blowing West]
RattyA: 60HP [Normal] [Increased speed in Gale of WindBoxD]
RattyB: 60HP [Normal] [Increased speed in Gale of WindBoxD]
RattyC: 60HP [Normal] [Increased speed in Gale of WindBoxD]
RattyD: 60HP [Normal] [Increased speed in Gale of WindBoxD]

-Objects-
RockCubeA: 200HP [Metal] [North]
RockCubeB: 200HP [Metal] [East]
RockCubeC: 200HP [Metal] [South]
RockCubeD: 200HP [Metal] [West]

-Terrain-
60% Normal
40% Metal [Rotating disk, will move each round. North RockCube will become East RockCube, East becomes South, South becomes West, West becomes North.]

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP [Normal] [West] [Caught in Gale of WindBoxD]
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Normal] [West] [Caught in Gale of WindBoxD]

~Battle 2: Start!!~
All the walking gave Martia some time to think about things. It didn't take long for her to realize that the shock she'd received was connected to her technique learning system. But, why would it work on Lyn like that? Didn't it only work on enemies? Or could she copy moves her allies used, as well? Well, since the electrical girl was anything but an opponent, it was pretty obvious that it didn't discriminate, so long as they were both in battles. There was a problem, though; she could feel something deep inside, almost like heartburn if her insides were like a potato used to power a light bulb, but whenever it felt like it was about to crystalize into something more than a vague sense, it stopped, and started over again. Looked like she'd need more memory for her specialty move program...at least Leslie would probably be fine with it. After all, what martial artist worth their salt wouldn't want to learn new techniques and intergrate them into their own repetoire? None, that's what.

Her train of thought was soon interrupted, as her busting partner laid down the reason they were doing what they were doing. It...definitely explained the weird path they'd taken, among other things. But before she could respond, the sight of giant mounted fans and...sorta cute mouse things came up. It almost seemed like some sort of ventilation program, but she was pretty sure that SciLab wouldn't use viruses for that. "We can talk about that later...for now, we need to-ugh!" And with that, the martial artist Navi realized that the fans weren't just for show, as one of them began to blow on them with incredible force. Good thing she wasn't much for fancy hairdos. "That's some serious wind power...but if we can't get closer, we can't delete them! Ugh, sometimes I wish I could just warp around wherever I wanted, so it'd a lot easier to...punch things...? ...That's it! Sit tight, Lyn! I've got an idea!"

A picture of Warp's emblem suddenly popped up on Leslie's PET's screen, which she looked at puzzledly for a moment. "Warp...Cross? What the hell is that? And it sure looks windy in there, Martia. Don't get blown away!"

"Very funny...just activate it for me! I'm not completely sure if this'll work, but it's worth a try!"

"Whatever you say..." Button press! "Done. So, now what-whoa!"

Martia suddenly began to glow, with such brightness that for a moment it was nearly impossible to look at her without being blinded...too bad the enemies either completely lacked eyes or were so squinted that they probably wouldn't be affected. But it was only for the one moment, and as the light faded, it became quite clear that she looked a bit...different. Her headgear had become a blue helmet, with a visor that blocked her facial features from the nose up, aside from her eyes, which mysterious looked as though she didn't have anything in front of her face at all. Instead of her usual Navi suit, she now had a black tube top and blue pants, which somehow managed to fit even more tightly than her default clothes, especially around the buttocks. Her boots and gloves remained, aside from being back and blue in color, though the latter also had some black wristbands. Why would anyone have those on when they were already wearing something on their forearm?

After a quick internal scan, she smirked, clearly happy about discovering something about herself, though some of her joy was probably being countered by the fact her new outfit reminded her a bit of that accursed Red Nova costume. She clenched her hands into fists, causing an odd energy to begin circulating through her wrists...with a roar, she pushed forward with all her might...

...Causing her to fall forward into some sort of odd hole, which immediately closed behind her. One good thing about being busty; it did help cushion sudden falls a bit if you fell that way. "Huh? What happened? I started up the protocols for a move called 'Space-Time Shift', and then all of a sudden I'm...where am I, anyway?!" It was an odd sight...it almost looked like she was in outer space somewhere. But, she was clearly standing on some sort of floor..."Leslie, you following this?...Leslie?" Weird, it was like the connection feed had completely stopped. Or was it...frozen in time? Apparently, the name was actually more meaningful than she thought it would be. "Well, I'm here...wherever here is. But, how do I get out? I guess I should analyze the move..." A few 'moments' passed, as she ran another scan. "All right, I think I get it. I just charge energy, then stick out my hand, and..." Voila! A portal opened to her right...right in front of the battle's entire Ratty population. "That's not gonna work..." And, portal closed. Let's see...maybe if she put some distance between herself and the opening? All right, take two...wait, Billy? EleBall? That wasn't even this battle... "Okay, that's just weird to look at. Closing now!" Okay, third time was the charm. Charge the energy, and...bingo! Right where she wanted: right in the middle of those WindBoxes. But, she could see something right in the corner...Lyn, and she looked badly beaten up, like she'd been fending everything off by herself for 10 minutes or something. Okay, so she had three dimensions figured out, now she needed to fine-tune the fourth. Maybe charge slightly less energy, and...boom! Yep, everything looked like the instant she had left. Except...wait, was that HER? That was kinda surreal. "Looking at myself like this is just weird...though, looking at myself like this, in a get-up like this, really helps me get why people get nervous around me for no apparent reason...that is one killer figure! Now if only I could figure out how to get some hot guys to check me out, instead of other girl Navis...and little boy Navis...and wanted criminals...and Leslie. That'd be just great." All right, enough complaining about her complete and total lack of luck in that front. Time to start up time again.

A hole appeared about 10 feet above the middle of the metal turntable, which existed long enough for the crossed Navi to drop down from, and land where the wind didn't know. She snuck a peak at where she and Lyn had been, but (fortunately for everyone's sanity) only saw her partner, and not herself. "Sorry for keeping everyone waiting. Now, let's move to phase two! Leslie, could you send me-"

"You're kidding, right? I'm pretty sure I blinked, and boom, you were in another spot!"

Oh, right, time only passed for her. That ability was handy, but way beyond trippy. "Uh, yeah...anyway, RageClaw, please!"

"RageClaw? Why would you even want that, all it can do is...oh. I see what you're doing. All right, here." Engage the sacred, ancient art...of snatching up a chip and putting it into one's PET! "BattleChip, RageClaw! Slot in!"

As the data poured into her, Martia's hands suddenly began to grow...or so it'd look at a glance. In reality, her wristbands had just created a hand shaped space-time anomoly. While each finger ended in a razor sharp point, instead of simply clawing at the fans, she located the one that had blown at them (and was most likely still blowing on Lyn), and used her new weapons to grab each side of the RockCube, yank it out from underneath the WindBox, and try and smash it with the three dimensions of heaviness she was now holding.

...But the metal thing they were all on was movable, wasn't it? But which way did it turn? Or could it turn either way? Not wanting to waste much time thinking about it, the crossed Navi turned to her left, and once again, attempted to beat a virus to death with its own support. And admittedly, there was something kind of fun about just using brute strength to grab a heavy object and smack something with it...maybe she should have Leslie go get a RockCube chip or two some time.



[Order of Turn:
1-Activate WarpCross (Become Normal/Speed, +10 to non-elemental chips) (LV 1 Cross)
2-Space-Time Shift sig to in-between the RockCubes (Teleport, Self-Slow) (1 CD)
3-RageClaw1 chip attack on RockCubeD to WindBoxD (20+10, B, Impact) (Throw)
4-RageClaw1 chip attack on RockCubeC to WindBoxC (20+10, B, Impact) (Throw)]
She felt it before she saw it. The movement of air at the edge of her awareness, far more rigorous than anything else nearby. In a way, Lyntael was glad for the interruption, whatever it was, worry about how Martia might respond gnawing at her. As it turned out, the thing causing the flicker in the air turned out to be several things, several very strange things. It almost looked like... but no, it was definitely foreign. Even if the little rat things actually looked kind of cute.

As the wind began to buffet them full force, Martia, at least, was more decisive in her response. Lyntael jumped back, startled at her companion's change, and a puzzled question made it as far as her lips before trailing into silence again. She barely had a moment to get a good look at how her friend had changed before... for the tiniest fraction of a moment Lyntael was sure Martia was over on the platform as well as beside her, but as she blinked her eyes corrected themselves. No, just one, albeit no longer beside her, but up on the platform. How had she..?

Her confusion was given a back seat as she tried to focus on the more immediate problems; first the sudden interest of the... not actually that cute after all rats, bearing down at her, and second, more pressing to her mind, the way the wind buffet had firmly plastered her skirt up against her midriff, despite its valiant efforts to stay in place. She did her best to suppress the blush that grew from the thought of what that meant and, not for the first time, a tiny thought in the back of her mind insisted that she demand Rogan give her some sensible undergarments, that actually covered. With a glare for the Windboxes, she took her hands away from trying to press the skirt back down, and instead drew them up in front of her, reaching out to the rushing of the wind. Stupid fans. They might push it around, but she could feel it. Wind was hers. With a gesture and grit teeth, her hands twisted and moved, two short, sharp motions. She couldn't explain exactly why her fingers took the positions they did, only that it felt natural for what she was doing. Fighting the torrent of air, she focused on pushing back and holding calm. No matter how hard those things blew, the air around her, at least, would be still, it would. The thought resounded in a small growl, more from her own embarrassment than anything else, as she put her force of will behind the effort.

Another quick glance showed her Martia, claws for hands, preparing to wreak some sort of havoc up there, and between them, those little rats almost on top of her. Light, they were fast. And probably mean too. Small they might be, but they were viruses, and they were coming on, so they must have some nasty trick. Better to join Martia on the platform as soon as she could.

Well, if the little guys were charging her so fast, she could probably get by them just as swiftly. Maybe it was because of the the strangeness of the situation, or the less threatening appearance of the viruses, but as dashed towards them, her profile low and strides long, the thought crippling fear, while still thudding in her chest, was really only a minor concern; something she cold push away for now.

"Excuse me..." she was barely aware of the murmur that escaped her as she dashed between them, an unconscious murmur as she kept her eyes on the little things, watching for any sign of them trying... well... anything, and light on her toes enough to zig or zag the moment any one of them did. They might move fast, but nothing a dancer's footwork couldn't handle, she was sure, and she did like to dance. She vaulted clean over the last one as she zipped past, skidding onto the metal platform beside Martia just as the other woman finished playing with the huge lumps of rock. Lyntael reached the conclusion that her new friend was actually kinda scary sometimes.

"How... How did you...?" She began, but let the question lie after a moment. Probably not the time. Instead, crouching by the northernmost rock cube, she looked back to Martia. "What are these things?" She reached up to aim a solid rap at the back of the box above her with the back of one fist. "They're foreign; viruses, I'd guess, but... they don't seem very threatening." With another short glance at Martia, she stole a glance back the way she had come, towards the cluster of rats. "Those... seem less friendly." Getting a proper look at her companion's new outfit, finally, Lyntael caught herself fighting another blush and hoping that Martia had been too busy to see her own dress malfunction before.

Summary

1) Contextual: attempting to expend wind subtype ability for the turn, and as an action, to negate wind pressure in a small range around Lyntael (relative to her) for that turn.
2) Dodge
3) Movement, to the metal platform, beside Martia, crouching by inner side of RockCubeA
4) incidental Buster Strike (10, A), against WindBoxA

Martia became blue with WarpCross and teleported into the center of the metal disk. She tried to pick up the southern RockCube, but couldn't get a hold on it. So she left it alone and moved over to grab the RockCube from underneath the western WindBox. She managed to dig in and pull it back towards the center, causing the fan to fall off, face first onto the metal floor. She then raised it above her head and brought it down upon the virus, shattering both.

Lyntael meanwhile concentrated all her wind powers into holding off the effects of the WindBox gale. She was able to make enough calm air around herself to cut the penalties she would suffer from in half. Which was good for her because all the Ratty viruses fired off Ratty missiles, boosting the speed and accuracy using the jet-stream. Thankfully, they had terrible aim and Lyntael only had to dodge out of the way of one of them as they sped right passed her with the Ratty viruses.

Lyntael then ran and got behind one of the RockCubes as the platform shifted a quarter clockwise. She tapped one of the WindBoxes as she saw all four Ratties, and their missiles, turn around and head back towards the two Navis. And Martia felt sluggish, like she overclocked herself.

-Viruses-
WindBoxA: 90HP [Atop RockCubeA] [Blowing East]
WindBoxB: 100HP [Atop RockCubeB] [Blowing South]
WindBoxC: DELETED
WindBoxD: 100HP [Atop RockCubeD] [Blowing North]
RattyA: 60HP [Normal] [West]
RattyB: 60HP [Normal] [West]
RattyC: 60HP [Normal] [West]
RattyD: 60HP [Normal] [West]

-Objects-
RockCubeA: 200HP [Metal] [East]
RockCubeB: 200HP [Metal] [South]
RockCubeC: DELETED
RockCubeD: 200HP [Metal] [North]
RattyMissileA: 30HP [Homing: Lyntael]
RattyMissileB: 30HP [Homing: Lyntael]
RattyMissileC: 30HP [Homing: Lyntael]
RattyMissileD: 30HP [Homing: Lyntael]

-Terrain-
60% Normal
40% Metal [Rotating disk, will move each round. North RockCube will become East RockCube, East becomes South, South becomes West, West becomes North.]

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP [WarpCross (LV 1): Null/Speed, +10 to Null battlechips] [Slow] [Metal] [West]
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Metal] [East] [Using RockCubeA as cover.]
For better or worse, there was no wind blowing towards where the two Navis had come in. The down side to that was that there was also precious little separating them and the Ratty's mouse-shaped bombs. The upside was...well, obvious. Blissfully unaware of her partner's earlier wardrobe malfunction, Martia shifted her gaze to the distant viruses, and their ability to actually harm Navis. "Yep, pretty sure the fan virus things can't hurt us, though I don't think they're exactly supposed to be here, either. So, I think I'll worry about the mice...things...Ratty! Yeah, that's what they're called!" She definitely remembered that, and didn't do a instant scan to learn what their name was. Definitely. "Anyway, you just get a little practice in with one of these...WindBoxes, okay Lyn? Let me handle the rats!"

Of course, there was a small problem with that; all she had were claws made out of spatial distortions. The viruses were over there, and didn't have that range problem. This looked like a job for...something other than what she had. She was pretty sure they wouldn't be fazed by a Navi wearing extremely tight pants, anyway. "Oh, Leslie...!~"

"'Sup? ...Wow, could those pants be ANY tighter? I bet if you so much as did a kick, it'd rip in two!" Not that the martial artist was complaining, since she always did think that her Navi had the cutest butt, regardless of whether there was something over it.

"Tell me about it...can you send me those FireHits? It's a lot easier to defeat an enemy if you only need one attack instead of two!" Wait...she might need her RageClaw later. Well, that was going to make her request more interesting..."But, can you send them to me one at a time?"

Though she shot Martia a confused look, Leslie grabbed her Champy-imprinted chips, and started transferring one of them. "One FireHit, slotted in, blah blah blah."

Any and all anomalies around the crossed Navi's right hand instantly vanished, allowing for a more 'normal' fiery aura to encompass it. She clenched it into a fist, took a deep breath...and began a ferocious, one-armed punching frenzy. Fireballs were launched as she gave the air the one-two it probably deserved for malicious deeds done long ago (or earlier in the battle). Or was it one-one, since she was only using one arm? Eh, so long as she kept it up, it didn't matter, and she could probably do it all day if she wanted. "All right, send the second one!"

"FireHit in, downloading, yada yada yada...I still don't get why I couldn't just give you both and be done with it."

Instead of answering her operator's question (in part because it was pretty obvious to her), Martia continued her rapid-fire punching, appropriately rapidly sending fire at her mammal themed enemies. But, there was one thing she didn't entirely get. Normally, even at this speed, she could deliver such precise attacks that she could place each attack right in between each Ratty's squinty eyes. But, while she wasn't exactly just shooting things out of her fist helterskelter, she couldn't achieve total focus like she was accustomed to. Maybe it was because of the cross? Come to think of it, maybe it'd also explain why she didn't feel at all tired, even though she could tell that the whole warping thing was fairly draining on her systems. Was Warp really capable of this kind of thing? Still, it didn't feel entirely right...she was perfectly happy being plain ol' Martia, incapable of defying the laws of physics. Not that being able to do that wasn't handy by any stretch of the imagination...

[Order of Turn:
1-FireHit1 chip attack on RattyA (60, Fire, A, Impact)
2-FireHit1 chip attack on RattyB (60, Fire, A, Impact)
3-FireHit1 chip attack on RattyC (60, Fire, A, Impact)
4-FireHit1 chip attack on RattyD (60, Fire, A, Impact)]
The shift in the platform made Lyntael start and she glanced down at the metal plate for a moment on instinct. Automated, it seemed. And the wind viruses were simply here, on it, going around and around. The things couldn't even move, so... maybe they were just naturally occurring, drawn to this part of the system for some reason. It was strange enough to rouse her curiosity, if not for the small salvo of missiles that were trailing after her now, homing in. A part of her wanted to curl up in a ball and hide behind the lump of rock that was her cover, until it was all over, but Martia's quick words made her nod, albeit uncertainly, as she looked up at the other woman.

"O-ok, I'll try." Martia was already leaping into action again, but stealing another quick glance around the cube almost made her wish she hadn't. She shifted slightly, making sure that the cube itself was between herself and the missiles. The platform was due to shift again soon, she wagered, but keeping it between her and them should be easy enough, even so.

A quick glance up at the happily gusting Windbox above her, and Lyntael decided to do her best to ignore the thoughts of exploding projectiles heading right for her, and focus on the task she'd been given. She was safe anyway. Surely? A shiver passed through her, accompanied by a short crackle of static in her hair as the ruthlessly suppressed fear wormed its way out. The rough denting along one side of the box, from her earlier strike, brought a thought to her mind, and she desperately tried to focus on that to the exclusion of anything else more dangerous.

Rising slightly from her crouch, she pulled at the thing, which in her mind was really more a peculiar machine than a virus. A fierce gust of pin-point air pulled and shoved at the box along with her own grip and she grit her teeth. "Get down here, you..." If she could pull it down off its perch, onto the ground, maybe she could get a better look at it. With a careful eye, she flattened one fist until her knuckles formed a narrow, driving wedge, then lined up her strike against the damaged edge of the fan's casing, aiming to pry that part of the casing off. The distraction seemed to be working somewhat at least, as the young girl murmured under her breath about seeing what made the slightly abused virus tick, clearly growing more caught up in her curiosity, than her fear, even as a soft crackling glow of energy began to build, not only in her clenched fist, but in her other wrist, and at her ankles as well.

She drew her fist back, concentrating as the static pulse built to to a bright glow about each of her wrists and ankles. Even kneeling on the ground as she was, the energy pulsed inward from each of her extremities, joining at her core before flashing out again to burst in a rather tightly restrained, if no less dazzling, crackle of electricity at the striking point of her fist as she drove it in at the damaged point. What was inside? A strangely detached part of her mind just had to find out now, hooked on the thought.

Summary

1) Dodge (keeping RockcubeA cover between herself and the cluster of homing missiles)
* Free Action, wind subtype ability: Gust, as Pull, attempting to drag WindBoxA off its cube, onto the platform itself.
2) Charge
3) Charge
4) Full charge buster strike (40 (*x2 = 80, if WindBox is on Metal), A, at WindBoxA)
With a sizable force of homing explosives on their way toward her, Lyntael first focused her efforts on dodging while Martia endeavored to remove the source of the explosives. Requisitioning more firepower from her operator, Martia began delivering precise strikes at the Rattys from afar. The first fell instantly as a fireball passed through it, as did the second. The third, sensing danger, took advantage of the pause between chip insertion to properly time a hasty avoidance of fireball #3. The fourth Ratty was not so lucky, as Martia tagged it with a well-aimed shot.

On the other side of the battlefield, Lyntael was carefully keeping the nearest RockCube between herself and the incoming explosives. The billowing fan atop the cube was not making this easy, however. Intent on doing her part for the team effort, Lyn tried to dismount the WindBox from its rocky steed. With some effort she succeeded, yanking at the slightly damaged virus and causing it to fall to the platform. She proceeded to deliver a powerful strike to the box's side, leaving it barely functional. However, her attention was demanded elsewhere at that point. As the metal platform began to turn, four Ratton missiles made direct contact with the recently vacated RockCube. Thankfully Lyntael was on the opposite side, but this didn't stop her from noticing as the explosives' combined might took a large chunk out of the other side of the cube.

-Viruses-
WindBoxA: 10HP [Metal] [Blowing South]
WindBoxB: 100HP [Atop RockCubeB] [Blowing West]
WindBoxC: DELETED
WindBoxD: 100HP [Atop RockCubeD] [Blowing East]
RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: 60HP [Normal] [West]
RattyD: DELETED

-Objects-
RockCubeA: 80HP [Metal] [South]
RockCubeB: 200HP [Metal] [West]
RockCubeC: DELETED
RockCubeD: 200HP [Metal] [East]
RattyMissileA: DETONATED
RattyMissileB: DETONATED
RattyMissileC: DETONATED
RattyMissileD: DETONATED

-Terrain-
60% Normal
40% Metal [Rotating disk, will move each round. North RockCube will become East RockCube, East becomes South, South becomes West, West becomes North.]

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP [WarpCross (LV 1): Null/Speed, +10 to Null battlechips] [Metal] [North]
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Metal] [South] [Using RockCubeA as cover.]
Unfortunately, Martia just couldn't quite get every single virus capable of directly hurting Navis. She knew she shouldn't be too upset, considering the small size of a single Ratty virus, and yet...bleh, no time for self-pity. The RockCube Lyn had used for protection was nearly blown to kingdom come, after all. At least something like that couldn't happen again, at least on that scale. All right, let's size up the situation...right now, the wind was blowing straight at the Ratty. Lyn should finish up with that fan, so that after the next rotation, that way would be wind-free. So if she waited, she'd have a clear path, but if she did it now, they could finish things in peace...eh, what fun would that be? Actually, hmm...an idea for taking it out was forming. Yep, that should work just fine..."I got an idea, Leslie! GutsPunch, on the double!"

"Sure you do." She had an idea for it, too: get over there, wind or no, and punch the everloving crap out of it. It wasn't exactly hard when the chip's damage number was greater than the number of the HP of what it was going to hit. She was a lot of things, but she wasn't an idiot. Not the greatest at math, but definitely not an idiot. "BattleChip, GutsPunch! Slot in!"

As the data transferred, the crossed Navi raised her arms in front of her, and started activating another portal. Yep, it definitely didn't take long to recharge, which was nice. Instead of freezing time, however, she simply tried set up a wormhole that would take her right in front of the virus. As much as she would've preferred to send herself right on top, she didn't want to transport herself, only to get blown away. All right...there, perfect spot. Within reach, and it was just high enough that any Ratton bombs fired at that instant would go right underneath the portal. Martia took a deep breath, focused, and leaped through the dimensional rift, sending her straight in front of the Ratty. And this time, she didn't even create a momentary time paradox. Woo! As she landed, her boots changed to a yellow and black color scheme, and performed a speedy double kick attack at the mouse virus, almost too quick to be seen. Too fast, in fact, to be done by anyone besides a close combat specialist. And sure enough, right after warping, she had deactivated her cross, revealing the pink and black outfit she usually wore. Of course, with the way she had launched her offensive, she had little choice; while still tight, her regular clothes were extremely flexible, so that she could attack in any way without fear. One kick while wearing WarpCross's pants and Lyn would get an eyeful of her underwear. At least, she was pretty sure her underwear stayed the same after crossing...she should probably check later, because even if the only thing within a mile of her was viruses, she didn't really want to fight with her bottom exposed to the elements.

At any rate, she needed to get back to the middle. Sure, she COULD just wait for the less windy section of platform to come up, but again, where was the fun in that? And so, Martia embarked on the challenge of racing against the wind, to get to where the remaining action would be, with GutsPunch enhanced boots, and RageClaws (now regular metal claw weapons, and not made of science mocking gravitational anomoly) attached to her wrists and hands. But, at least if she failed, she could try the saner, less windy approach.

[Order of Turn:
1-Space-Time Shift sig to directly in front of RattyC (Teleport, Self-Slow) (1 TCD)
1a-Deactivate WarpCross (Become Normal/Melee, no chip bonus)
2-GutPunch chip attack on RattyC (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)
3-GutPunch chip attack on RattyC (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)
4-Get back to rotating area (Movement)]
As her strike tore the outer casing panel open, Lyntael leaned her other hand on a corner of the virus-turned-scholarly-interest-project. The full expenditure of her charge still took more out of her than she'd have liked, and it was another reason piling up in her mind about why she shouldn't be mixed up in any of this. About to get a closer look at the inner workings of her target, the first impacts of the missiles striking her cover made the young girl flinch, then cover her head with her arms on instinct, cowering for a moment. Even if she felt tired for the moment, the sudden crackle and race of sparks on her skin and in her hair, her tightly bottled fear lashing out in the moment of panic, belied the sensation. Clearly she still had a lot more where the first came from, even if she felt drained.

The barrage quieted again almost as soon as it started, and the cube Lyntael huddled behind seemed to stand, if in a somewhat battered shape. The sprinkling of damaged and blasted rock fragments that had showered her during the impacts disintegrated into data and faded away within moments of being blown apart from the cube itself, but the sensation of having grit and dust in her hair and her clothes didn't disappear with them. Probably in her head, though; like ants, and feeling them on your skin even after they were all gone. Annoying as it was, the thought was pleasantly grounding, in a way. The girl swallowed, set her shoulders and took a breath. Calm. Focus. Shiny! That last thought was probably less helpful than the rest, but her eye had been caught by the internal workings of the windbox she was... dissecting?

With the cover panel off she couldn't stop the gleefully fascinated grin that washed over her features, temporarily blocking out even her fear of the current situation. It was a thing of beauty on the inside. Especially that bit. That bit looked important! Her left hand darted into the inner workings of the box, closing eager fingers around the part that had caught her eye, before wrenching back out again, hoping to pull it free for a closer look, regardless of what disastrous implications that might have for the poor windbox.

A moment later, Martia's presence close by was gone again, and Lyntael looked up, distracted, her prize forgotten for the moment. She'd teleported again somehow, and by the sound of it, back out to where the little rats were. Between the other woman's heavy assault before and the exceptionally short sounds of sudden conflict now, Lyntael could only guess that Martia had already finished off whatever survived her first volley, though she dared not look out just in case. Instead she tried to refocus herself on what was left, directly in front of her. Namely, getting one of the other boxes down onto the ground where she could damage it properly. How did they ever get up on those cubes anyway? It made them so hard to reach.

The air currents in the room were haywire enough, by this point, and Lyntael had to close her eyes to concentrate for a few moments while she felt for the shift and flow of the wind. She reached out towards the one on the cube to her right, both hands extending as her fingers twisted and curled in mirror to what she could feel in the wind. Against the blowing, a direct pull would be futile, but if she could just... Her fingers clenched and her hands drew back in a hard pulling motion, anchored pinpoints of dragging fiercely back along the edges and sides of the box. If she could just get it off its perch, that would be much more accessible. Pulled like that, if she succeeded at all, the thing would probably tip back, rather than slide, and end up with its fan gusting straight up. Comic as that would be, though, it was still better than leaving it up there to make a nuisance of itself.

Either way, the young girl was most certainly going to have a go at the device, whether she dethroned it from its cube or not. The tell-tale glow began to build at her extremities even while her hands were still outstretched, dragging at the last remnants of the windburst she'd caused. The fingers clenched into fists as her hands lowered, even as the glow around her ankles emphasised the subtle shift in her stance. When her eyes flicked open again, small crackles of electricity spilled off her eyelids and from the corners of her eyes, and she almost shut them again from the stinging sensation it caused. Probably a result of forcing her body to a full charge again so soon after the last. She did her best to ignore it.

Instead, when the building charge grew close to pain, she darted across the small platform, putting one hand down to the panel just before reaching her target and letting her body twist with the momentum, until her heel cracked around with a force amplified by the movement of her body. As before, the tightly controlled glows at each of her extremities made their symmetrical loop, racing in to her chest and out to her striking foot as a solid charge, bursting in a bright electrical flare at the point of contact.

She finished the action smoothly, turning over the rest of the way as the kick carried her grounded hand as a pivot, coming to rest in a low crouch still facing the was she'd started. A moment later, though, she sagged, dropping more fully to one knee as she panted for breath. The build and release was so draining, but if she was going to keep this up, she'd have to get used to it soon. Still breathing hard, she looked up, trying to find Martia again. Her companion was doing a whole lot more, and really seemed far less taxed by the effort, too. Oh to be like her some day.


-Summary-

1) Basic buster strike (sort of...) at WindBoxA (10, A)
* Subtype ability, Gust, as a Free Action, as Pull, attempting to drag WindBoxD off its cube, onto the ground.
2) Charge
3) Charge
4) Full-charge Buster strike as WindBoxD (40Elec (x2 = 80Elec if successfully pulled onto Metal), A)
Martia seemed to be on a roll, as the girl shifted and bent the laws of space and time in order to bring her current location to a whole new special location all together. Much to the surprise of the Ratty she appeared in front of, which had just enough time to let out a terrified squeak before getting its face punched in by a fist far to large to befit the girl.

While Martia made sure their offensive actions were handled, that left Lyntael to her own devices, which were of course her curiosity. As the girl seemed to be fascinated with the inner workings of the seemingly robotic virus. Plucking and pulling, twisting and yanking on things that clearly were never meant to be removed.

And by chance, she found one such part, with one final yank the piece came free, the Windbox sputtered before the blades suddenly stopped spinning, and the virus, parts and all vanished away in the odd particles of virus destruction. Leaving behind only the primary core Lyntael had tugged out of it, which lifted from her hand and in a brilliant flash of light, formed a small floating data core.

Though before inspecting the odd prize, Lyntael turned her attention to the next subject for dissection, and with an almost sinister like grip, tugged upon the fan; dragging it several inches from its perch to leave it tittering on the edge of its RockCube. Though being far from done, she next rose up, and delivered a truly metal bending kick to the box. Sending it toppling down just as the rotating floors shifted again.

Oddly enough, this cased the box to spin and land fan face down upon the metal terrain; and while this seemed fine at first, a few moments later the box began to grow quite hot. Then, with a strong blast of torrent force winds, the box shot off, rocketing high into the network sky, disappearing into parts unknown.

-Viruses-
WindBoxA: DISSECTED
WindBoxB: 100HP [Atop RockCubeB] [Blowing West]
WindBoxC: DELETED
WindBoxD: BLASTING OFF AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME!
RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED
RattyD: DELETED

-Objects-
RockCubeA: 80HP [Metal] [West]
RockCubeB: 200HP [Metal] [North]
RockCubeC: DELETED
RockCubeD: 200HP [Metal] [South]
RattyMissileA: DETONATED
RattyMissileB: DETONATED
RattyMissileC: DETONATED
RattyMissileD: DETONATED

Misc
Floating Data Core: [?] [Just behind Lyntael]

-Terrain-
60% Normal
40% Metal [Rotating disk, will move each round. North RockCube will become East RockCube, East becomes South, South becomes West, West becomes North.]

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP [Metal] [West]
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Metal] [South]
Despite there being another virus left, Martia was still getting the distinct feeling of winning. Maybe it was because the only enemy left was, to the best of her knowledge, incapable of hurting them. Or maybe it was because the sight of the other WindBox blowing itself sky high almost made it seem like fireworks. Or maybe-eh, didn't matter. They'd already, for all intents and purposes, won, and that was all that she cared about. Well, that, and one more thing. "Hey, Lyn? What's that behind you? It looks like some kind of data..." She was going to end there, but realized that doing so would be profoundly stupid. "Well, everything in cyberworld's data, of course, but it doesn't usually look like it like that..."

"Who cares? Just because it's data doesn't mean it's interesting. It's not like I stop and check things out every time I see crap lying on the side of the road."

"Well, how do you know this is crap? I think we oughta take a better look at it when we don't have to worry about our hair blowing in our faces!"

"Whatever...anyway, since everything's looking good, let's go ahead and patch you up. A fighter always needs to be in peak shape whenever possible, after all!" And that meant a certain chip, obtained by hours of hard work, determination, and exposed bosoms. "BattleChip, Recover80! Slot in!"

A pink aura surrounded the fighter Navi, who happily used it to repair her minor wounds from earlier. It almost seemed like a waste to use all that healing power just for them, but it's not like she had anything better to do at the moment. Besides, Leslie was right. "Much better. Anyway, Lyn, go ahead and handle the virus however you want! I'll finish it off, so don't worry about damaging it a whole lot. Just get some extra practice in!" As a bonus, it'd give her an excuse to watch the other Navi's technique, and that was incredibly useful for a Navi like herself.

Once the electrical Navi was finished, Martia knew what to do. She'd casually walk up to the WindBox, make sure Lyn was out of the way...then jump, and perform an elegant butterfly kick, continuing to utilize her GutsPunch in ways other than actual punching. True, the butterfly kick was more of a showoff move than an actual attacking method, but it wasn't like the virus could avoid it, so why not have a little fun with it?

But first things first. Taking a few steps back to give her partner some space, she crossed her arms around her stomach, and became something she didn't really think she'd ever be in a battle: a mere spectator.


[Order of Turn:
1-Recover80 chip on Martia (80, S, Recovery)
2-Wait for Lyn to give WindBoxB another round
3-GutPunch chip attack on WindBoxB (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)
4-GutPunch chip attack on WindBoxB (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)]
Even as she picked herself up, limbs complaining silently to her, Lyntael found Martia and grinned to her, trying to hide how weak her muscles felt. Her apparent collectedness was spoiled a moment later as the dethroned windbox, patently dissatisfied with its grounded position beside her, blasted itself into the ether. The young girl flinched away from it with a short cry that cut off almost as quickly in confusion and not a small amount of bewilderment as her eyes followed it.

It was only now, as she let her eyes drop again to look around the platform that Lyntael noticed the shiny core she'd pulled out so gleefully before. Amidst the other distractions, she'd released it almost as soon as pulling her hand free, but it seemed content to hang gently in the air precisely where she'd let it go, even once the virus it came from had broken down and disintegrated. It must be its actual core, for the rest to crumble, rather than it. Without realising she was doing so, Lyntael glanced down at her own chest. She couldn't quite see her own emblem; it was high up, at her collar bones, where you might expect to see a locket or a pendant, but for a moment her mind dwelt. Even if she could feel her heart beating in her chest - and quickly as she panted - she probably had something similar buried inside her, in reality. At least, Rogan would say so. She shook the thought off as Martia returned, done with her Ratties and still more than ready for more, by the look of her.

She glanced back at the floating core as the other woman mentioned it, but nodded as her suggestions continued to encompass the one remaining Windbox. All hesitations aside, she was very curious about inspecting what had been left behind, but Martia was right; better to clean up first, and examine after.

She tried to smile, pushing down the small self-conscious blush that crept up despite herself, as her companion stood back to let her have some more practice. The quiet part of her mind that was always thinking reflected that it was probably a good thing they'd met some viruses that were less dangerous. Practice was what she needed, after all. Her limbs still felt like they wanted to tremble, and she was acutely aware of the electrical flow pulsing just under her skin as it rebuilt from her exertions; she was quietly frustrated with the feeling. Sure, maybe she didn't have a lot of stamina, but she felt vaguely ashamed of just how little she seemed to have. No matter. One more.

With a last flick of her eyes to Martia, Lyntael resettled her stance facing the windbox, happily blowing away on its cube just above her head. Her neutral stance was good, but it spoke of a fighter far more inclined to flow and weave, rather than meet directly. Taking a breath she began to gather her energy again, and almost winced. It began to burn almost as soon as she started, though the soft glow of charge that formed at each wrist and ankle was just as visible and strong as any other time. Her eyes began to sting and she struggled to keep them open and focused as the over-burn made small crackles of electricity spill off her eyelashes and from the corners of each eye.

Her fingers clenched into tight fists, though in truth it was more from the way her muscles screamed at her than from a readiness to hit anything. Though it didn't obscure her own vision and she herself couldn't see it, her eyes glowed with the overflowing electric haze, obscuring the green of her actual eyes completely. Couldn't see it, perhaps, but light could she feel it. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open and steady through the sting of it. It was almost a relief when she felt the build reach her capacity for holding it, and when she struck out it was with tight cry, through mostly clenched teeth.

For a target that was a little above her like that, the action that she flowed into felt like the natural choice. On her toes, she started forward, leaping up and letting her leading shoulder turn her body. the charge loop began right as she started the action, and as each of the four pulses rushed in along her limbs, it felt like they were scoring her nerves in the process. Her body had turned around in almost a complete circle before her back leg snapped around with it, striking out in a back-heel that made her skirt fly. Even as she felt the combined pulse of energy race through her striking leg, the burst of its release, right as her foot reached the striking point, nearly razed all her senses. As it was, the explosive burst of electricity was bright and wild, and far less tightly controlled than previous efforts, and as she landed again Lyntael didn't even know if she's actually connected properly or not. her attention was far more focused on the scorching drain that had replaced the build up.

She landed from the kick properly, almost on instinct, but had barely touched the ground before her legs gave out completely and she collapsed in a heap, gasping and shuddering, her limbs trembling with weak over-exertion.
"Ahh... too much... too soon... hahh... too much... no more..." She was barely aware of anything for the next few moments, let alone Martia's own far more competent follow-up. Instead, she tried to focus on breathing, and stopping her body from twitching and sparking. The latter proved beyond her for the time being, small sparks of electricity jumping and cracking in her hair, at her wrists and ankles and occasionally elsewhere on her small form.

"Lyntael, you are all right. You are unharmed and all your vitals still read as functional and safe. On your feet now, you can stand." The soothing male voice in her ear made her raise her head, and she took a deeper breath than the last, then began struggling to get her feet under her.

"Yes, sir. I just... I need..." She swallowed, still twitching and shaking. "Yes, sir." With an effort she dragged herself up as far as her knees, then rested again, fingers spread wide against the metal panelling. The burning was fading away, at least, though the twitching and sparking continued. Another moment and she pushed back to sit on her heels, hands pressed against her thighs instead, but Rogan had said stand, so, she would stand. Somehow. Slowly, she managed to drag herself all the way to her feet, though she leaned on one of the remaining rockcubes while she waited for her arms and legs to stop feeling like they were made of water. Heavy water.

Summary

1) Charge
2) Charge
3) Full-Charge strike at remaining WindBox (40Elec, A)
4) Catch Breath and try not to look like a complete milksop. (fail miserably)

The mop up was easy, how could it not be when the only thing remaining was a virus that technically has no attack of its own. It's not even known if Windboxes have a thought of their own, though they always seem to appear with other viruses so that could mean something.

Regardless, the vixen duo easily cleared off the last virus with a pair of swift kicks, easily shattering that metal box fan to digital parts, which quickly scattered away into digital dust. Leaving them, and the still rotating rockcubes alone on the battlefield. Perhaps much to the dismay of one navi, as Lyntael decided to lean against one of those cubes, just as it twisted on its stand and left her with nothing to brace herself on. Though tumbling forward could be considered graceful, somewhere?

That left only the curious floating data core to remain behind, and with the threat in the area finally leaving, the core shown a brilliant green before transforming in front of their very eyes into the floating crystal that was the gem of many a navi's eye.

-Viruses-
WindBoxA: DISSECTED
WindBoxB: DELETED
WindBoxC: DELETED
WindBoxD: BLASTING OFF AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME!
RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED
RattyD: DELETED

-Objects-
RockCubeA: 80HP [Metal] [West]
RockCubeB: 200HP [Metal] [North]
RockCubeC: DELETED
RockCubeD: 200HP [Metal] [South]

-Misc-
Green Mystery Data: 40HP

-Terrain-
60% Normal
40% Metal [Rotating disk, will move each round. North RockCube will become East RockCube, East becomes South, South becomes West, West becomes North.]

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 230HP [Metal] [West]
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Metal] [South]

—Battle 2, Victory!—
Martia: 960Z, 2FXP
Lyntael: Ratton1, 840z, 2FXP

Bonus FXP for teamwork/interactions: +2FXP each


[Open Mystery Data?[b][Y/N][/b]]
"Hup!" With the final enemy sufficiently kicked to death, Martia grabbed ahold of the RockCube it had been set on, and hopped up on it, using it to survey the area. Yep, that sure was a bunch of nothing. And RockCubes. And Lyn. The latter drew her attention, as she seemed to be having trouble getting up. She nearly went and helped the other Navi, but before she could, she managed to get up on her feet...barely. "Hey, are you-" ...Uh-oh, the RockCubes were moving again, and Lyn was about to lean on one..."Wait, don't-" But, before the martial artist could properly warn her, the electrical Navi went tumbling down. Ow, and on solid metal, too...

"Lyn!" Without even waiting for the rocks to spin where they might, she leapt off the one she had been standing on (for little reason, no less), landing right by her partner. "You look completely whooped...no need to rush it if you're tired. Lay there and catch your breath, okay? I'll stand guard so we don't get ambushed by anyone!" But first, she had monetary gains to collect. Picking one of the three data hunks at random, she had it extricated from the Net, so it could gather in...

...Wait, THREE data hunks? That third one was definitely a mystery data. That data core from earlier was gone, too...come to think of it, the data crystal was right about where that other chunk had been. So, it was actually a mystery data in disguise? Weird. Well, the least she could do was check it out, especially since the last time she'd found one, she ended up on the receiving end of one of those surprise attacks she was supposing to be preventing if necessary. Let's see...it was green. Very green. Shiny, too. And it was basically a large cube, if it was spinning around on a corner. But, most importantly, she couldn't tell what was inside. Could be a bunch of viruses, could be super rare chips, could be anything she could think of. Well, if it was a trap, at least this time she was fully prepared. Standing between Lyn and the data, she extended a hand, and started to analyze it.

...Except nothing happened. Martia tilted her head, not really sure why she couldn't open it. Unless...it was larger than what she'd found before. Maybe it needed two Navis to properly decode it? She hated to impose on her new friend, but something like this just couldn't be left for someone else. "Hey, Lyn? If you're feeling up to it, you mind coming over here for a minute? I think this mystery data will only open if we both analyze it at the same time. And if we're lucky, there'll be some good stuff inside! And if we're unlucky, well...that's why I don't want you rushing. So don't come over here until you're ready. But this isn't the kind of thing we should just leave here, since it'll attract viruses if we don't decode it. So, if you're all set..." She walked over to the other side of the green crystal, and started looking it over for any signs of what might be inside. Even if it wasn't anything harmful, it couldn't hurt to find out ahead of time what was inside. She just hoped it wouldn't be too long before Lyn caught her breath and helped out, since she was starting to worry about how easily she wore herself out...what if fighting didn't toughen her up? What if she was basically just pushing herself for no reason? Well, no reason besides what she'd said earlier...well, she'd know one way or the other as they kept going. She wasn't about to abandon someone just because they couldn't fight as well as her.

(OPENING MYSTERY DATA; WAITING FOR LYN TO DO THE SAME)
Unstable on her feet, Lyntael had barely time for a surprised squeak as the rockcube she had intended to lean her back to moved again. Instead of a much appreciated support, she found herself falling back, to land with a second small cry in a distinctly ungraceful way on the ground. Light and small as she was, falling on her rear like a clutz didn't exactly hurt, but it was still embarrassing. She shot a reproachful look to the unhelpful lump of rock, over there in its new position, as oblivious as a lump of rock could be to the part it played in the betrayal. Her features smoothed as she sat up, the blush racing to her cheeks warring against the soft grin that she turned to Martia, doing her best to laugh it off.

As she was, sitting with her hands back and one knee raised, the other out to the side in disarray, it was only by the grace of her skirt's modesty coding that everything needing covered, remained so; short as it was, it rested in just such a way as to reach down to the ground in front of her, barely, without seeming to defy physics too much. Lyntael herself didn't seem to notice the close brush with immodesty, though, beginning at once to pick herself up again. Her companion had fixed her sights on the green object, whatever it was, but was waiting on her. Again... the thought crept in at the edges of her awareness, a snide, self-depreciating voice that she tried to ignore.

Instead, she focused on standing again and found, much to her relief, that her arms and legs felt more cooperative already. The errant sparks seemed to have stopped altogether, though she could still feel the current just beneath her skin. As much as it wasn't visible to the eye, she didn't need to look at her hand to know that she probably wasn't safe to touch... again... still....whatever; what difference did it make? This time she managed to stand without the assistance of any traitorous supports, and made her way over to where Martia waited. With the pain and burn gone, her limbs didn't actually feel tired, not really. It wasn't actually fatigue that was bringing her low, it seemed, but something else. Her eyes still stung a little with remembered pain, even if the surge was passed now.

"I'm alright... I'll be fine, it's just that..." she paused. Just that what, though? That her own body couldn't seem to cope with the level of charge she was capable of generating herself? How was that any less pathetic-sounding than simply being exhausted? She shook her head, letting her eyes drop for a moment as she pushed the concern aside. "No. It's nothing, really. I'll be right in a few moments. So, is this what that core turned into?" She examined it, in between brief glances to Martia over the other side, as her friend explained quickly what it might reveal. "Strange. I don't recognise the encryption structure, but it should be simple enough to extrapolate from the... Hmm..." she trailed off for a moment, looking at the object again, then grinned at Martia around the side of it with a small nod. "Together then?" She reached out one hand towards the data, peering at it in the same way another person might look at a blacksmith's puzzle.

If she was looking, Martia might notice that Lyntael no longer seemed out of breath at all by the time she reached for the data. Whatever expending her energy was doing to the girl, at the very least, her rebound seemed to be just as quick.

(Affirming, opening data with Martia)
As the two girls reached out to attempt to touch and decrypt the cube of data, that green mystery data quickly started to spin in place. Rotating faster and faster until of all things, it began to shine in a brilliant green light, easily blanketing the area in its jade glow.

Though this lasted for but a moment before the cube data subdivided, splitting into two parts before each shot out into each of the girl's hands. The decryption process then became far easier, as information was released and the glowing shine faded into that of two unique signatures, leaving them both with more toys for their arsenals.

[GMD Opened!]
Martia GET: BoyBomb1
Lyntael GET: MeteorKnuckle1

Quote ()

BoyBomb1
HP: 100
Properties: Normal
Object Damage: 220 + Blast3
Damage Method: Throw, Knockback, Microburst, Pull, Gravity, Telekinesis
Attack Damage: 220 + Blast3
Accuracy: Not Applicable
Description: Creates a BoyBomb1 on the field directly before you. The bomb may be pushed around until the end of the turn. The bomb will explode at the beginning of the following turn, dealing extremely heavy damage to anything nearby. Be somewhere else when that happens....
Duration: Until destroyed or the beginning of next turn.
Element: Null
Special: If enough damage is dealt to this object to destroy it, it will immediately explode instead.


Quote ()

MeteorKnuckle1
Damage: 30 + Impact + Break + Knockback + Variable Targeting x 3 Fists
Accuracy: B
Description: Launches a triple rocket punch. Each fist targets separately.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Variable Targeting: Allows the user to select a target for each individual hit of an attack. This means they may strike the same target multiple times, multiple different targets, or a mix of the two as they wish.