A Motive for Training

((Jack in, from => SciLab))
----------

The orderly hum of the SciLabs net was interrupted for a few moments by a small crackle of loose, arcing electricity. It formed a tight circle on the ground, dancing, before a thin tracer beam from up above shot down to connect it. An electrical whine grew to a ringing tone as the thin beam widened to form a more acceptable conduit, before a pulse of energy dropped down through it spreading out and glowing brighter as it reached the ground. Another moment, and the light drew in again, constricting into the shape of a young woman, on one knee and with her hands tot he ground either side. An unseen wind seemed to ruffle her clothing and short-cut yellow hair as the details became more clear, until at last the light faded altogether and the tracer connection retracted again.

Lyntael stood and stretched, unconsciously checking and straightening clothes that didn't need it. Absently, she plucked at one of the button ties holding her small vest closed. They were done up at their tightest notch, all three, because her own chest, matching the rest of her body, was small, under-developed, and didn't need any more support than that. The other button positions on the ties mocked her, sometimes, knowing that they'd never be needed. Times like now, when it was painfully obvious to her how much Rogan appreciated a well filled out chest to look at. She sighed.

As much as her bright mood from before had been dampened a little by several things... seeing where Rogan's eyes lingered, when she knew he'd never look at her like that... then his words to Leslie... and now her trepidation at having to go into combat with genuine, and genuinely hostile, viruses again... Ok, quite notably dampened... even so. She took a deep breath and let it out again slowly. She was still excited for the chance to see and talk to another navi again. That was something worth being excited about, even on top of everything else, and Martia seemed nice. She should be here shortly.

"Lyntael, seamless integration filter as you go. Let me know if there's a problem." The voice felt like it came from above her, just over her shoulder, as though Rogan were standing just behind her. Despite herself, she smiled, then blushed and clenched her fists. It wasn't fair the way his voice made her heart shudder, calm, soothing and deep as it was. Not fair at all.

"Yes, sir." She answered directly, on their direct link. He might have given the command aloud, but Leslie wouldn't know what he was asking for, and she highly doubted he'd want her responding publicly either. It was simple enough to do, too, from within the network as she was, but she bit her lip anyway. It was highly unlikely that he would need this if he was going to busy himself looking around where he was legally allowed to. Hopefully Martia would arrive soon, and she could focus on something else.
A pink beam of light shot down several feet in front of Lyn, which quickly formed into her busting partner, who quickly turned around to greet her. One thing was immediately clear, though: unlike her, Martia's bust was large, fully-developed, and while not immediately obvious, the armor she wore around it was actually specifically designed to restrain her there somewhat. In that regard, the two couldn't be more opposite if they tried.

"Well, nice to meet you in person, Lyntael! I mean, holograms are nice and all, but...well, technically, they're not actually us, you know?" Subconsciously, she raised her arms, puffed out her chest, and stretched for a moment. "Hope I'm not too out of practice! HPMemories are one upgrade you don't want to have to use!"

"Yeah, and you really got the crap beat out of you last time!"

"...Do you REALLY need to say that right now...?" The martial arts Navi cringed; she didn't want it to seem like she was a punching bag.

"What? It was back-to-back battles with zero break in-between, against enemies as tough as you, and the whole time you had to guard important data! I don't think there's really any shame in it." Yep, guarding the hot springs control program was super important. Few things quite hit the spot like a dip after a hard day of training.

"Well, you could've said all that up front..." Blah, now she was looking bad in front of her new acquaintence. "Anyway, Lyntael...actually, can I call you Lyn? I don't really know what's out here in SciLab, but based on what I've read, it's not a very high rated Net, so it shouldn't all that hard. I mean, it's lower than my native Yoka, which is where I do most of my busting, so it can't be too tough, right? Just...be careful if you find any green data crystals, they can be super dangerous! And that's about everything I have to say about what's coming up, I think. I'm all set, so whenever you're ready with your filter thing, we'll get this show on the road!" She'd never heard of an integration filter before...Martia couldn't help but wonder what it was. Really, for someone that was literally technology, she wasn't overly familiar with technology...
Her thoughts jumped rail again and Lyntael brightened, smiling as her partner arrive. Unfortunately for her, her eyes were immediately drawn to the feature she tended to be most self conscious about in other women and her grin faltered. Here in the flesh, so to speak it was much clearer to her that that was indeed rather a lot of... well... flesh... she blinked and flicked her eyes away again. When her gaze returned, it stayed much more firmly on the other woman's face. The way she stretched made that an increasingly difficult task. For what must be the millionth time, she wondered to herself if Rogan would actually look at her, if she were endowed like that.

About to greet her properly, she hesitated at the breif exchange between Martia and her operator. It made her bite her lip. That the other navi spoke so casually about... getting hurt, and fighting back, like it was her day to day... like it was embarrassing somehow. She hoped Martia wouldn't be too disappointed in her. Her trepidation for their training continued to rise, but she did her best to put a lid on it. This was what he needed her to do; she would do it.

Taking a deep breath she stretched her arms above her head, then out to the sides and back onto her hands, toes pointed as she turned over on the spot. As she came upright, she blew the breath out again in a short sigh, squaring her shoulders. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Nodding as much to herself as the other woman, she looked back to Martia.

"That's fine. It's nice to meet you properly, Martia." She raised one hand to wave, her head tilting to the side as she grinned. "I've sorted the stuff for Rogan already, don't worry. It's just a... umm, I mean..." She sighed and looked away. "I'm sorry. He wouldn't like me to say. It's nothing." Making a new friend, and already she had to lie to her. It just wasn't fair. She distracted herself with a quick look around the area, willing the more carefree grin back to her lips. "How about we head that way?" She pointed to where their location widened out into a more open space, similar in many ways to the plaza Leslie and Rogan were at, but with its own distinctly internal-network feel. In the back of her head, she was aware of what parts of SciLab's network he was probing; the closer she could keep the the equivalent pathways, the easier it would be to keep the integration seamless, but she really doubted he'd slow down for her, if she caused them both to lag behind.

She settled her hands behind her head as she started walking.
"You said you come from Yoka? Could you tell me about it? I've never been there, only read little bits and pieces."

((Prepared to be interrupted by battle 1 at any point from here on; hostiles rarely wait for pleasantries))

Moving into the nearby plaza the two Navis found a wide open space with pristine marble floors and fountain. The fountain was in the shape of several circles, so when viewed from above it looked like a target. Each circle moving towards the center from the perimeter was risen up a foot, so the fountain became a multi-tiered spire. The water spouted from the highest, central spire, and flowed down evenly on each tier like a uniform waterfall. The outer perimeter of the plaza glowed with many light-posts, fed by cables of light that danced around the perimeter of the plaza, coming and going like snakes. Slithering this way and that.

As they admired the scenery a panel gave way under their feet, depressing half a foot into the ground. The perimeter of the plaza's lights turned from golden warm to warning red. An alarm blared and two pillars rose from either side of the courtyard. Mounted on each was a machinegun turret. They trained their sights on the Navis as a trio of viruses moved into the courtyard proper, two humanoid viruses with spiky arms that sparked with electricity, and between them sat a literal ball of electricity with smaller sparking orbs that spun around it. They all seemed pretty hostile.

-Viruses-
GunnerA: 60HP [Atop PillarA]
BillyA: 80HP
EleballA: 80HP
BillyB: 80HP
GunnerB: 60HP [Atop PillarB]

-Objects-
PillarA: 50HP [To the East]
Fountain: 100HP [Center of Plaza]
PillarB: 50HP [To the West]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 230HP
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP

~Battle 1: Start!!~
Though Lyn didn't seem very thrilled at the idea of explaining what an intergration filter was, Martia paid it no heed. After all, if it wasn't her business, it wasn't her business. So long as it wasn't anything bad, it didn't really matter, anyway. "Hmm, which way should we go? I always hate how you can head in so many directions...I can never decide which way to go!" Luckily, her new comrade proved more decisive, pointing out a nice spot they could head for. "Looks good! But be careful...even wide open areas can have viruses!"

"Yoka, huh..." Hmm. Well, it was more Leslie's home town than hers, but she still knew a thing or two about it. "Well, it's probably the most rural area in all of DenCity. It's best known for its hot springs, in both the real and cyber worlds. And trust me, soaking in them really is as good as everyone says! Not a ton of people live there, it's mostly a place for tourists wanting a break from the hecticness of the city...but Leslie's family's lived there for generations! Oh, it's also a bit more traditional Electopian than most other places in town. So, if you're unfamiliar with that sort of thing, it can be a bit of a culture shock!"

And, speaking of shocks, some viruses had shown up. The martial artist looked on, less than impressed. "Guess I called it, huh? Tell you what, I'll handle the one on top of the pillars"

"Oh, hey, you found something!" And thus did Leslie state the obvious. To be fair, she had only just glanced down at her PET. "That didn't take very long..."

"Well, it's easier if they come to us! For now, just send me..." Hmm, there were viruses up on those pillars. They'd be pretty tough to reach for her, but fortunately, she had the perfect weapon for them..."FireHit oughta be perfect!"

"All right, if you say so!" Lessee, that was...that one she had more than one of. Convenient, even if she only had to use one. "BattleChip, FireHit! Slot in!"

Martia clenched her hands into fists, causing them to erupt in flames. She then did what any competant fighter would do when they were ready to strike...she hopped backward a bit. It seemed bizzare for a close range fighter to do, but the reasoning became clear as she reared back and powerfully punched the air...the fire on her right hand didn't stop, and continued on as a fist shaped projectile towards one of the sentry viruses. This wasn't the end of her distance fighting, though, and with a pivot, shifted her focus to the other Gunner. She brought her hands together, leaned back as she cupped them to channel the remaining fire energy between them, and shot a fireball from her hands towards the virus packing heat. With any luck, they wouldn't get sniped, so now they could completely concentrate on the ground level viruses. Or rather, Lyn could. But, it seemed wrong to not help when she could..."Hey, Leslie? Can you send me something else? I don't really know what I want, though..."

"Something else? Works for me!" And in a display of 'be careful what you wish for', the operator grabbed the first chip she could, and slammed it into the PET's chip insertion slot. "BattleChip, whatever! Slot in!"

The fighter Navi cringed as she heard what she was getting, as well as the fact that she did sort of ask for it by not being specific. Luckily, the data she was getting actually seemed like it'd be useful...even though she had to wonder just where they got it. "Lyn, you might wanna make sure you're not on top of anything right now...raaargh!" With that warning, her right hand glowed a pale blue, and slammed it down onto the ground below. From nowhere, three snowballs materialized high above the battlefield, and immediately succumbed to the effects of gravity by falling. And ideally, said falling would end when they smashed into the electrical viruses. Or, if her busting partner already got rid of some of them, empty space was acceptable. But only in that case. And if not...well, she was all set to avoid whatever electricity or bullet fire came her way. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

[Order of Turn:
1-FireHit1 chip attack on GunnerA (60, Fire, A+, Impact)
2-FireHit1 chip attack on GunnerB (60, Fire, A+, Impact)
3-Avalanche1 chip attack on BillyA, EleBall, and BillyB (50, Aqua, C, Drop Attack, 10% Freeze chance)
4-Dodge]
Walking beside her companion as they explored, Lyntael wasn't paying too much attention to where they went, watching Martia instead and smiling softly as she spoke about her home. She'd only managed to read a little bit, in truth, though the idea of visiting their famed springs had appealed to her ever since. She grinned and shrugged her shoulders with a small laugh.

"I think it would be less culture shock, for me, and more a nice chance to really study Electopian culture some more. It's mostly still alien to me, really. Rogan's work has never taken us that way, and I—" An involuntary squeak cut her short, her mind going suddenly blank as the alarm started. What could... no, the filter was still intact, the signal masked, but... was he pushing too fast for her already?

In the time it took that thought to register, her surprised squeak became a more pronounced gasp and she shrank back against Martia unconsciously as the viruses showed up. Once she realised she was on the verge of hiding, she attempted to give herself a proper shake, and stood straight again. This was what she was here for, after all... Rogan needed her to be more capable, even if she wasn't made for fighting at all. Besides, Martia was counting on her being a part of the team.

The Navi in question, unlike Lyn, had taken to the sudden conflict with notably more enthusiasm, and it was all that she could do not to gasp as her companion began to lay about with far more fire-power than she'd been expecting. It had only been a few seconds, and her heart had jumped to a startled race already but she swallowed her desire to simply run or hide. She needed to be brave.

As Martia began her own attacks, Lyntael scrambled forward, up from the depression they'd found themselves in suddenly. If her friend was taking care of the towers first, then that meant she ought to engage the grounded group. Hopefully she could at least provide a distraction for them until Martia was ready; she knew better than to think she could deal with the trio on her own, but she had to do something.

Darting forward, she tried to keep a low profile as she approached them, not least because of the gouts of flame that roared past her above, on their way towards the higher targets. Her heart lurched, hammering in her chest; what was she even doing? The viruses ahead of her looked downright vicious, all spikes and sparks, and just the thought of them attacking and hurting her, trying to kill her even, and the pain, brought her skidding to a frightened halt just as she reached the trio.

The resurgence of her fear left the poor navi momentarily head-lit in front of them, wide-eyed and frozen in something close to panic. Vaguely a small corner of her mind was aware of her body crackling, electricity of her own dancing across her skin and snapping in her hair as her innate defence mechanisms reacted to her fright. That same corner of her mind knew this had happened before as well, that it was something she should be able to control, even use, perhaps, with practice... but all that was a detached and distant though, taking place somewhere else, not really connected to the young girl.

For the moment, she was only distantly aware of her body standing tense, on the balls of her feet in a fighting stance, hands raised with her palms out and fingers up, just as she barely noticed the static coursing over her skin pulsing outward into a faint shell, forming a static field around her body, even as the wealth of charge remained to crackle and arc on her skin.

The thoughts that took up most of her awareness were the internal cries that she couldn't do this, shouldn't be here, and how much pain she was probably going to be in shortly. They drowned out everything else, holding her rooted to to spot right in front of the small group, until Martia's shout finally snapped her out of her shocked stupor. As necessary as the shout might have been for that, though, Lyntael found herself with barely enough time to glance up, give a startled cry that actually did manage to pass her lips this time, and try to avoid the falling ice.

Summary

1) Movement — closing to melee range with Billy/EleBall trio, focused on whichever is most central
*freeze in panic like a scrub
2) Activating "My Pain is Real" (Trigger Counter(Receiving Melee Damage): 20 Elec, Nova2 (CD 1)
3) Activating "My Heart Falters" (20 Hp barrier (CD 1))
4) Dodge

Cooldowns

My Pain is Real: 1 Turn Cooldown
My Heart Falters: 1 Turn Cooldown
Lyntael moved forward to engage the trio of electrical viruses as Martia started throwing fiery punches/fireballs at the machinegun turrets. The first attack struck the Gunner virus head on, deleting it in a fiery explosion and rain of metal fragments.

Lyntael came to a sudden halt and froze up as sparks began dancing about her body. The remaining machinegun turret began firing at Martia as she threw her second punch. The Gunner blanketed the area in bullets before the fireball smashed into the machinegun and caused it to explode. Martia was clipped by one of the bullets in the spray and Lyntael was hit by three from those that missed Martia.

Lyntael's barrier raised as Martia summoned a bunch of giant snowballs to rain down upon the enemy. One of the Billies was crushed under the weight of all that snow, but managed to dig itself out with its spiky arms.

Lyntael hightailed it out of there as Martia went defensive, right before the electric viruses attacked. Each Billy shot a lightning bolt out of each arm at the two Navis. The pair of lightning bolts shot from the first Billy was dodged by both Navis. The second pair from the second Billy missed Martia but struck Lyntael's barrier, halving its protective capabilities.

Finally the Eleball rushed forward, attempting to catch the Navis with its smaller, spinning balls of electricity that orbited the virus. Fortunately it did not succeed, as both Navis managed to get out of the way.

-Viruses-
GunnerA: DELETED
BillyA: 80HP
EleballA: 80HP
BillyB: 30HP
GunnerB: DELETED

-Objects-
PillarA: 50HP [To the East]
Fountain: 100HP [Center of Plaza]
PillarB: 50HP [To the West]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 225HP
Lyntael.EXE: 135HP [10HP Barrier] [Counter: "My Pain is Real"]
And so, it was shown that Martia's ability to direct snow onto enemies was far worse than her ability to direct punches. Who would've guessed? "Shoot, I didn't think I was that terrible..." But after accounting for all her attacks, she came to the realization that Lyn had inflicted exactly zero harm. That was...odd, to say the least. She got near them, and released some sort of electrical field, but it wasn't really doing much. Very, very odd.

"Lyn, are you all right?" The martial artist ran over to her busting partner, upon realizing that the noise she had heard earlier was actually her screaming. Not too close, though, what with that electricity. "Something wrong? I didn't hit you with that avalanche, did I?" From the looks of things, however, it was pretty obvious that nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, aside from one small detail. "Um, are you scared? It's all right, take a deep breath..." It was almost ironic that Martia was the calm one, considering she wasn't the one in a protective barrier at the moment. "Listen, do you think you can handle that one over there?" She pointed at the unharmed Billy. "I think I can get the other two real quick, so if you can just attack it, we can end this! But, if you can't, just keep yourself safe, and I'll delete it in a minute. Okay?"

All right, time to get down to business. "Leslie, if you'll send me GutsPunch, I should be set for the rest of the battle!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Leslie wasn't entirely sure if it was a particularly amazing one, but it was good enough. So, chip with weird Navi punching, in. "BattleChip, GutsPunch! Slot in!"

The fighter Navi's gloves and boots obtained a yellow aura, signifying that she had obtained the data. Which was good, because now she really want to punch their lights out. "All right, this is for scaring my friend!" She drew near to the one Billy unfortunate enough to be hit by an inaccurate snowfall, raised her arm, and tried to deliver a powerful chop down upon its head. Or, failing that, any part. It'd all hurt the same.

Now, for that floating electric ball emitting...thingy. Martia raced over to it, seemingly ready to punch it...but instead, reached out and try to grab the spike-like extensions on its sides. Though, it was less of a standard grab, and more like a powerful, inescapable grapple capable of squeezing the very life out of the unlucky soul to be snatched by it. From there, success or no, the aura around her foot crept up her leg, allowing her to use it to deliver a shattering knee strike. Shattering for the EleBall, that is. Barring failure to a degree that no one had ever experienced before, in no way would she be shattered at any point in the move.

Unfortunately, though she didn't realize it, she had also left herself wide open to attack. Though, even if she had, she probably wouldn't have done a thing different. Funny what extra life and free healing could do for morale.

[Order of Turn:
1-Get near remaining viruses/comfort Lyn
2-GutPunch chip attack on BillyB (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)
3-Submission Grapple sig attack on EleBall (30, Pull, Hold, Self-Slow)
4-GutPunch chip attack on EleBall (70, A+, Impact, Knockback)]
The tracer fire from the second turret raked down across Lyntael's back and shoulder, making the young navi arch and stagger forward with a cry. For a wonder, though, she kept her footing, her arms instinctively clutching at herself. She felt, more than saw, the ball of energy that struck moments later, spreading out across the field around her as the opposed current warred, before dissipating. It was electricity, certainly, but felt so different from her own innate charge that it may as well have been something else altogether. Striking against the veil of energy surrounding her, it didn't hurt, per se, but she felt it all the same, unpleasant and uncomfortable, in away that left her shuddering once it was gone.

A glance up amidst the dissolving shambles of her thoughts revealed Martia coming closer, and in sudden desperation she threw up her hands.

"Don't come closer! Please, I... I can't..." Martia seemed perfectly happy to stop short on her own, but not before Lyntael saw her own hands in front of her face, and how badly they were trembling. Not just that, but a veritable web of static danced between her fingers and over her skin; she could feel the swell of it through her whole body, slight as she was, knew from experience what it meant. Without realising she grit her teeth. It was her body, she had to control it. Had to. One more tap and she probably wasn't going to be controlling it for very long, though...

She wanted to call out to Rogan, tell him she couldn't do this, but... no. That wasn't an option. He was counting on her to be able to handle this, he was expecting her to. She had no choice but to try. Following Martia's advice, she took several long breaths trying to calm herself and pull her thoughts together. First thing, she needed to get rid of all this excess energy before she hurt her friend. A part at her was almost amused at the though... for someone who claimed to be as new to battling as she was, Martia certainly seemed far more skilled and powerful than she could ever hope for.

The other woman seemed concerned for her, at least a little, and the look on her face as she offered support was almost enough to make the young girl sink to her knees. She kept her feet with an effort, but the thought of how useless she was being to her friend, and to Rogan, crashed about in her head, disrupting any other cogent thought that tried to form. She was still shaking, and her knees still felt like they were going to give out any moment, but she managed to nod to Martia, head down; she could feel a tight welling at the edges of her eyes, and hid it without thought.

"Lyntael, enough with that. Such emulation is cute, but unnecessary when there are more important matters to hand. Now do your job and pull your weight."

Rogan's voice in the back of her head sent a shiver through her, as it normally did, but for once it didn't make her feel any better. That man... he just didn't understand! Maybe he had never felt fear a day in his life, but that was no excuse. She was momentarily shocked by how much of her wanted to shout at him right then; to scream that she couldn't, that fear wasn't something that you could just 'turn off', that she was doing the best she could, for him!

"Yes sir." Was what she said, grated quietly through her teeth. Even so, as much as her eyes blazed, deep forest green glittering, the traitorous tears did manage to escape now, just at the edges, and began to mark her cheeks.

Small fists clenched, the unexpected anger dragged at least some of her thoughts into line. Doing her best to shut out the fear that still hounded her, and focusing instead on her frustration, she darted at the virus Martia had pointed her to. Shoot her with electricity would it? She came in low, a small, angry snarl bearing equally small, neat teeth, marring her features now. Her first strike rose as she did, the back of her left fist sweeping up and across. Air eddied about her along with the crackle of sparks and as her body moved through in a smooth, fluid action, she could feel all the excess energy pent up inside her drawing and focusing tighter.

It built into bright points at her wrists and ankles, glowing and crackling brighter as she came completely upright, then arched over with the momentum, onto the the same hand she had struck with taking her weight there just as her right foot snapped up like a whip-crack. The four bright points of electricity raced inwards in a synchronised loop as the strike came around, merging at her core before bursting out in a solid pulse to the foot she struck with. Whether the kick connected or not would be hard to tell for anyone watching; the discharge from her strike burst in a fierce electrical flare as it reached the contact point, blindingly bright, and the wind swirling about the young girl followed the action, ruffling and flaring her vest and skirt as it raged forward in a tight point against her target along with the kick.

Lyntael completed the turn over without pausing, the balls of her feet striking the ground as her body coiled to a crouch, fully intending to pounce forward after her target again immediately. Somewhere in there her voice had risen in a frustrated shout, but if she heard it, it was as though it came from someone else.

Summary:

1) Basic buster strike, at BillyA ((1+1)x5 = 10, A)
2) Buster charge
3) Buster charge
*Wind subtype ability, applying knock-back to next attack.
4) Full-charge buster strike, at BillyA ((1+1)x20 = 40 elec, *knock-back, A)

Cooldowns:

My Pain is Real: Cooling Down.
My Heart Falters: Cooling Down

Martia moved to comfort Lyn and deliver a brutal judo-chop to the Billy virus, deleting it. Lyntael wanted to drop to her knees but held strong and lashed out at the other Billy with an electrified backhand. The Billy was struck in the face and stumbled backward a foot.

As Lyntael charged for another strike at the Billy, Martia dove forward and grappled the Eleball. She caught it by its rotating sparks and drove one of her powerful knees into it, deleting it.

Lyntael's foot glowed with an awesome power as she delivered a fully-charged kick to the Billy, which sent it reeling. The virus gathered energy in its metal stick-like arms and shot it at Lyntael. But its aim was off from the beating and it missed. However, when the ball of electricity was only a few meters away, suddenly it veered back around towards Lyn. It must have been homing in on her electrical signal.

-Viruses-
GunnerA: DELETED
BillyA: 30HP
EleballA: DELETED
BillyB: DELETED
GunnerB: DELETED

-Objects-
PillarA: 50HP [To the East]
Fountain: 100HP [Center of Plaza]
PillarB: 50HP [To the West]
Thunderball: ??? [Homing in on Lyntael]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 225HP
Lyntael.EXE: 135HP [10HP Barrier] [Counter: "My Pain is Real"]
As fun as it was to shoot fire out of her fists, nothing was quite as satisfying to Martia than to just go direct assault on things. As the EleBall fell, she looked over to see how her partner in busting had fared...not that well, it seemed. Actually, was it her imagination, or had Lyn not used a single chip the entire time? Eh, she had been too focused to know for sure...

But, she told her to take care of it, and she looked like she was trying hard. And to that end, the martial artist Navi proceeded to do precisely squat, aside from take a step back to give her some space, and a little encouragement. "Give him heck, Lyn! You can do it!" Wait, what was that over there? Looked like an electric ball, and she was pretty sure it was virus generated...and it looked like it was headed towards the other girl. "Oh, and heads up! Electrical ball thing behind you!"

Of course, just in case the Billy thought she was actually a sitting duck, her reflexes were more than primed to show that was a very questionable thing to assume...then again, her joints were a bit sore from the suddenness of her grapple move, so maybe it would have a tiny point. Very tiny.

[Order of Turn:
1-Cheer Lyntael on
2-Dodge
3-Dodge
4-Dodge]
Without hesitating, or really taking the measure of what damage she'd already inflicted, Lyntael uncoiled again the moment her feet hit the ground, springing after her target, angry snarl still baring her teeth along with the equally frustrated tears marking her cheeks. The rush of the wind around her still flitted at the edge of her awareness, and now she pulled with it, furiously dragging at the remaining virus even as she lashed out, determined to pull it in as close as possible and give it no chance of avoiding her.

As much as her skin still hummed with barely contained charge just beneath the surface, it seemed like the majority of her charge was spent for the time being, and her attacks lacked power. Even so, the unfortunately conflicted young navi made up for it with speed and ferocity, driven by anger. It was her fist that came forward first, reaching the crest of her spring at about the same time she reached her target, but even as she truck out at it, she continued to move, the spring becoming a forward dive. Her other hand hit the ground just to the side of the Billy, pivoting her momentum so that first one foot, then her other heel whipped around quickly enough to make her skirt fly, in a swift pair of vicious low sweeps. The follow through from the second kick turned her body over all the way and she came to her feet in a single fluid motion, standing just behind where her target ought to have been.

The whole barrage took less than a few moments and as she came upright, Martia's warning shout cut through the angry, despairing haze that surrounded her senses. She turned suddenly, one hand half out flung in surprise towards the trailing energy ball, a small gasp replacing the snarl. As she did, a fresh pulse of energy arced out from the emblem at her chest, refreshing the static field that had first surrounded her body. Judging from the girls sudden flinch, she may have been more surprised by it herself, than anyone else.

Summary:

*Subtype ability, Gust: as a free action, as Pull, against Billy.
1) Basic buster, (10, A) at Billy
2) Basic buster, (10, A) at Billy
3) Basic buster, (10, A) at Billy
4) My Heart Falters, refreshing/reforming [20Hp barrier]

Cooldowns:

My Heart Falters: 1 Turn Cooldown.
My Pain is Real: Ready
Martia cheered her ally as the Billy was pulled forward into Lyntael's barrage by a sudden gust of wind. The first two strikes hit their target, whittling the Billy down to the wire. Unfortunately the last kick missed by a mile, leaving the Billy alive. It retaliated with a pair of lightning bolts. And even though Martia was spending almost all her attention dodging, she was still struck with Lyntael. Martia took the damage directly to her body, but Lyntael's reforming barrier took the damage for her. The barrier also absorbed the damage from the homing ball of electricity that struck her afterward, shattering the barrier, but leaving the Navi unharmed.

-Viruses-
GunnerA: DELETED
BillyA: 10HP
EleballA: DELETED
BillyB: DELETED
GunnerB: DELETED

-Objects-
PillarA: 50HP [To the East]
Fountain: 100HP [Center of Plaza]
PillarB: 50HP [To the West]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP
Lyntael.EXE: 135HP [Barrier Broken!] [Counter: "My Pain is Real"]
Martia looked on blankly as somehow, the...whatever a Billy was, proceeded to do things other than get smashed. She was so surprised, in fact, that she let herself get zapped by a beam of electricity. Always painful. "Ugh...didn't see that coming..." She shook her head, and thought about personally handling the lone enemy virus...but soon came to the realization that pretty much undermined the entire reason she didn't do so to begin with. She was cheerleading, and that was that. Though, she could think of a nice cheer to pep Lyn up. "Hey, Leslie, you mind sending me that recovery chip?"

"...Really? You don't look that banged up. But, whatever..." Not like her Navi had much else to do if she wasn't going to attack. "BattleChip, Recover...uh..." What strength was it, again? Oh, right, it was right on the chip picture. Duh. "Recover80! Slot in!"

A pink aura surrounded the martial arts Navi, who proceeded to...raise her right hand in front of her? She began to emit pink energy waves from it, all of which went right over to her busting partner, and patch up her injuries. That way, she could completely focus on her foe, and not worry about taking too many hits. "You've still got this! Let 'em have it!"

And, should the Billy REALLY defy the laws of...pretty much everything, Martia was all set to avoid anything electricity based that came her way. She wasn't about to be suckered twice in a row like that.

[Order of Turn:
1-Recover80 chip on Lyntael (80, S, Recovery)
2-Dodge
3-Dodge
4-Dodge]
If Martia was surprised by the lack of support from Lyntael's operator, the young girl herself seemed to take it very much as the normal way of things. Either that, or she was simply to caught up in her task to notice. Whichever was the case, she seemed to flinch visibly as the electrical bolts stuck and cancelled out the field surrounding her. It was a very surprised, and startled expression that broke over her features a second later as the recovery energy from the other woman reached her, pulling the girl up from her cower enough to glance in Martia's direction. For a moment, she seemed on the verge of something that might have actually been a thankful grin, but something unseen made her flinch much more clearly than before, head down and her hands low again, fists clenching in frustration at her sides. If anything her hunch seemed to be away from something just over her shoulder, probably her operator in that case.

"I'm trying! I'm not made for this!" She all but shouted. It came out shaky and uneven, through neat white teeth clenched tight, and by this point, even from where Martia was standing, the frustrated tears marking her cheeks were clear to see. The harsh whisper of "Yes, sir," a moment later said she probably hadn't actually responded the first shout to anyone at all, but simply screamed it to the air.

Growling again, all of her frustration being unable to do something she had to, yet didn't want to, turned back on the irritatingly still present Billy.
"Just... go... away!" this came out as a rough cry, too unsteady and broken to be fury, but too much of a snarl to be anything else. The words were accompanied by Lyntael swinging back around to face the virus, one arm arching up in a falling backfist that carried her body with it, one foot off the ground and the other up to a single toe point before it fell. As she completed the turn, she followed through with a more vicious helm-breaker punch from her other fist, the momentum moving her whole body fluidly with the action. Her feet had barely touched the ground again before Lyntael was drawing back for another solid straight with her left hand. Another swell of energy crackled across her limbs as she did, looping in from her wrists and ankles and back out to the fist as she struck, driven forward with a rough, inarticulate yell, seemingly unaware of if there was even anything left to fight by this stage or not.

The burst of electricity, much smaller than her earlier assault, nevertheless seemed to drain the last of her willpower for the moment, and the follow through from her strike carried her to her hands and knees, where she remained, her back and shoulders heaving slowly. Panting... sobbing? It was hard to tell.


Summary

1) Basic 'just die already' buster strike (10, A)
2) Basic 'just die already' buster strike (10, A)
3) Charge
4) Half-Charge 'are you dead yet?' buster strike (20elec, A)

Cooldowns

My Heart Falters: Cooling Down
With a strong smack, the Billy was no more. Also Lyntael got healed back to full.

-Viruses-
GunnerA: DELETED
BillyA: DELETED
EleballA: DELETED
BillyB: DELETED
GunnerB: DELETED

-Objects-
PillarA: 50HP [To the East]
Fountain: 100HP [Center of Plaza]
PillarB: 50HP [To the West]

-Terrain-
100% Normal

-Navis-
Martia.EXE: 215HP
Lyntael.EXE: 150HP [Counter: "My Pain is Real"]

~Battle 1: Victory!!~
Rewards:
Martia.EXE: Thunder1, 240z, 3 FXP (2 Base, +1 Bonus)
Lyntael.EXE: 400z, 3 FXP (2 Base, +1 Bonus)
"Piece of cake!" Martia celebrated the mutual triumph by doing a quick backflip. Perhaps unfortunately for her partner, however, net physics ensured that her bouncing continued a bit longer after she stopped. "And to the victors go the spoils!" With that, she snagged the chunk of data closer to her, and started to access it. "Let's see...too much data to just be cash, so...yep! There it is! Hmm, Thunder, huh? Sounds more like your kind of chip, Lyn! But, I already grabbed it, so I guess it's mine!" If only she'd grabbed the other one...unless it also had some sort of electricity based chip, in which case she apologized for nothing.

"So, lemme know when you're ready to move on, Lyn! Unless, uh, you want to take a break or something." The fighter Navi plopped on the ground where she stood, and started reaching for her toes. Fortunately, since martial arts specialists tended to be quite flexible, she succeeded with very little effort. Though, speaking of effort..."Um, maybe I shouldn't ask, but...is there any reason your operator didn't send you any BattleChips? Don't get me wrong, you did great without them, but...well, it did take you a while to beat that one virus. Not that it's a problem or anything, mind you, it's just that I never met another Navi that didn't use chips at all, that's all!" All right, she was stopping there, before her foot was in her mouth instead of her grasp.
Lyntael's arms shook as she tried to catch a steady breath. The strange ripple of warm euphoria that rippled through her as it disintegrated under her attack only made her feel more uncomfortable this time, and she sank back to her heels, turning her head up to the ceiling as her chest heaved, acutely aware of the heat in her cheeks and the contrast of the tears on them. She shuddered as another few sobs shook her frame, before Martia's much more exuberant display pulled her gaze towards the other woman. It only occurred to her after she had found the other woman's eyes how much of a mess she must look. She looked down again immediate, arms wrapped about herself as her hair and skin continued to ripple with sparks.

"I-I'm sorry, Martia. I'm really sorry. I just froze up... It-it happened last time as well. I should have said so." She sniffed, trying to get herself under control, with only limited success. "I try, I do try to do my best, but I'm not... I can't... I'm not like you, even if Rogan needs me to be..." She trailed off, sniffing again, still staring at the ground. It took another few moments before she realised that Martia had actually asked her something as well, and she looked up again, scrubbing roughly at her face. Battlechips...?

"I... I just... I don't... know?" Another rough sniff as she fought to regain her composure. Despite her efforts, her hair still hung lank and flat, occasional snaps of static cracking between the strands. A part of her mind managed to notice Martia's relaxed stance, and how much more casually she'd taken the whole encounter. Why couldn't she be more like that? That same corner of her mind noticed the way the other woman seemed to... bounce... with most movements, too. Why couldn't she be more like her in more ways than one...

"I... Rogan needs me. I don't know how or why, but I know that he does, I know it, and I can't let him down. I have to be what he needs me to be... but it's so hard, and I get so scared." She shook her head, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing the data remains that was her share, however much she knew she hadn't earned it at all. "It's just... this is what he tells me to do, so, I have to do my best, even if... even if..." she shook her head, and her eyes prickled again, much to the girls chagrin. "Even if it's doing something that isn't right!" She finished in a rush, fists clenched and eyes squeezed shut. It was wrong, and she shouldn't be doing it. But Rogan wanted her to, for him, so, she had to... that made it the right thing to do, didn't it? No... but... it shouldn't be like this.

Eventually she rubbed at her arms again, still working on calming herself and quieting her mind. In the back of her awareness, she checked at the filter she was running, and that nothing Rogan had done had disturbed its integrity. It still looked ok, but she would need to keep moving for him, like he said.

"I... I'm sorry, Martia." She murmured again, her features still closed and downcast. "I'll try to keep up, but... can you tell me how, ah... how to stop being so afraid?" Even to her own ears it sounded a strange thing to say, but she pushed on. "Only, Rogan says I'm not; that it's not real, and that I should just stop, but, I don't know how to!" This time she did manage to meet the other woman's face her eyes pleadingly wide. Looking at her more clearly, it was easier to see where some part of the scuffle had caused a small tear in one of the clasps holding her vest. Not completely torn, but fraying, and the unexpected healing hadn't restored it either. Lyntael herself certainly hadn't seemed to notice it amongst everything else.


Um...was Lyn...crying? Yeah...yeah she was. "Hey, calm down..." But for the moment, there was little else Martia could do, aside from listen. And when she was finished...

"You know, there's one thing that's gotten pretty obvious to me. And that is...that your operator hasn't had very much experience with Navis, has he? I mean, he says you're not really afraid, and you're just faking it...but you're not. You really feel afraid, don't you? Well, that's all we need to know. I don't care if it's just because we have some 'emotion simulation program' or whatever, it feels real to us! And that's all that matters!" The pink Navi hopped up, going from sitting to crouching to standing in two smooth movements. "But, because of that, I can't just tell you some surefire way to stay calm in battle. You and I are two different Navis. I was made to be a fighting expert, so battle doesn't faze me a bit. But I think I can safely say that you weren't made that way. ...Maybe the easiest way would be experience? If you can get used to the flow of combat, you might feel more at ease fighting." Just brainstorming, of course, but it made sense. The more you were around something, the more used to it you got, after all...

"So, um, listen. I just want you to know that we're not in any rush or anything. Take as long as you need to catch your breath, okay?" But, there was one thing Lyn said that caught her interest. It might not be the greatest time to ask, but..."Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer this if you don't want, but...what'd you mean when you said 'something that isn't right'?"
As Lyntael's words ran down and she lapsed into a downcast silence, still hugging herself with an expression somewhere between confused and forlorn, she began to nod towards Martia's reassuring suggestions softly, though her features looked no less uncertain for it. Even so, the immediate distress and fear of the situation faded and she seemed at least a bit more steady. Her skin no longer visibly traced electric patterns, though she still likely wouldn't be safe to touch for a while yet. She moved to stand closer to Martia, eyes trailing with little real focus towards one of the smaller passageways leading away from the plaza; in the back of her awareness, that was the way she needed to go to maintain the best integrity for Rogan. Her head dropped again, eyes down as she pondered Martia's question, setting aside the confusion of what to do about herself for another few moments. It still made her shrug, unhappy, and she struggled to meet the other woman's eyes.

"It's... I shouldn't say anything, really I shouldn't, it's not my place to question him, but..." She interrupted herself, scrubbing at her face again for a moment. Unconsciously, she stalled for another few moments, turning to wander onwards towards the passage her eyes had found before, though she only moved slowly at first. "Martia... what do you do, when someone you love is doing things that are wrong; things that will get them into trouble if they're caught, or make a mistake, but you can't stop them. And when... if you don't help them do it, they'll be caught, and things will get so much worse?" She shook her head, fists clenching and releasing every few moments, then turned her face to look at Martia properly again, eyes bearing that same helplessly pleading look as before. "He could end up dead, on one side, or locked away for a very long time, if I don't help him, and do as he says... but, I don't want to do these things."

Her gaze dropped again, when she realised she was staring at her friend. Almost as an afterthought, she murmured something more, though Lyntael herself seemed almost unaware of saying it.
"How can I be the sunlight in his storms, if he won't look, or listen...?" She blinked a few times in quick succession, more than a little surprised by the softly spoken phrase, herself, then took another quick glance at Martia, and gave herself a small shake.

What she had suggested sounded every bit as frightening as what Rogan's only plans seemed o be for her, but she knew it was true in the end that only more exposure would help her. Sometimes, she though it might be nice to be an actually artificial A.I, that could just be changed with a tweak of code, to feel one way or another. It would be an easy solution. She wasn't that, though. She hadn't understood everything that Eric had explained to her in those early days... days of warm, sunlit mornings playing chess while Eric made breakfast, and delicious smells filling the kitchen... but she had grasped enough to know that the essence of who she was couldn't be modified in any way, and more than it could for a human. He had explained much more, but a lot of it had gone over her head at the time... not that Rogan actually believed any of it. What she wouldn't give to simply wake up braver than she was, one morning.