Data Mine-ing

After lightning struck, and formed into a Navi, LightningMan took a look around. Unlike some that came, he was quite interested in the various scientific data floating around...though at a glance, none of it was anything he desired. "I'm in."

"Excellent! Go ahead and start searching! If we're fortunate, we'll even find something!"

"...A search where we fully expect to find nothing. Great..." Well, nothing aside from a few fights. That part, at least, was a certainty. Almost as certain as his victory in them.

(Searching for Battle #1)
An impartial onlooker might be forgiven for wondering if anyone actually ever came to SciLab just plain and simply to bust, these days. It rightly seemed like every navi that had passed through in recent times had some ulterior motive going on. But why wouldn't you, when there was such a wealth of interesting tidbits just waiting to be intercepted, or fascinating, if ultimately useless, research data to read?

In LightningMan's case, he didn't end up strolling too far at all, before a partially mechanical squeaking would alert him to company. a short way down a leftward branching path a trio of rat-like viruses were clustered around a glowing green crystal, with two beneath it and one perched on top. When LightningMan passed, however, the top-most one looked up, then squeaked a warning, causing all three to dart forward slightly, defending their prize.

At more or less the same moment, there was a metallic clank that sounded against the panels a short distance behind the navi, announcing a lone Billy, dropping down from somewhere up above, and beating its spikes together like it meant business. Maybe it felt like LightningMan was trying to steal its look... or perhaps it was actually just a fan.

-=Viral Presence=-

RattyA: 60Hp [Solar] [Left branch, near GMD]
RattyB: 60Hp [Metal] [Left branch, a little ahead of the other two]
RattyC: 60Hp [Solar] [Left branch, near GMD]

Billy: 80Hp [Metal] [Just behind LightningMan]

-=Data Mine-er=-

LightningMan.Exe: 150Hp [Metal]

-=Terrain=-

70% Metal [Most of the main battlefield]
30% Solar [The left branch turns to Solar after a short distance]

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Solar][Behind the Ratty cluster]

-=Battle 1, Start!=-
As he walked along, something slowly crept into LightningMan's mind...namely, that he was walking. Usually, hovering was more his style, but here he was, using a more base method of movement. Meh, nothing wrong with a little variety, he supposed.

A squeaking noise snapped him back to reality, and a look to left showed the source as a few Ratty viruses. Perfect, he hadn't found any data worth investigating, so this would break up some monotony. They noticed him before he could consider striking, and much to his relief, got off that mysterious data chunk that he now eyed. Now THAT was something he'd want.

He still couldn't get ready to attack, though, as another sound made him peer back...a Billy, one of the best looking of viruses. It tried to look intimidating, but all it succeeded in doing was showing that it wasn't an ally...which meant it was an enemy. "This fight's already reached its electrical capacity!"

"I take it that's what you want to take out first...very well!" The fact the main road was metallic made that particular job far easier for him...but while it would be delightful irony to delete it with a chip from its own arsenal, it sadly wasn't the most practical approach. Something more innately accurate would be better here. "ZapRing BattleChip, in! Download!"

The electric Navi extended an arm back, and created a ball of electricity in front of his raised palm. An energy ring shot out from it, traveling at high speed to hopefully catch it off guard and end its participation before it even began, thanks to the extra shock being on conductive metal would provide. Either way, he let the ball dissipate, and focus his attention on the vermin blocking him from sweet, sweet random rewards. Or another fight, which in his mind also qualified as a bonus. He still had some rust to shake off, after all. "Any extermination ideas?"

"Hmm...not especially. We'll have to remove them one at a time." Not a flashy approach, but it'd get the job done. "This should get things started! Cannon BattleChip, in! Download!"

While he could've used it more directly, LightningMan was content to let a Canodumb form in front of him. Instead of going with its more conventional lock-on system, however, he assumed direct control, getting it lined with one of the Ratty to the side...tilt it just a little downward, since it was a pretty short virus...BLAM! Cannon blast. And if he was as good an aim as he believed he was, cannon blasted.

"Hmph...no sense in sitting back here, I'd just get swarmed. Pressing the attack!" His lightning rods sparked, as he raised his arms to the heavens. A small black cloud formed above the battlefield, and began sparking in the same way...and a moment later, a thunderbolt shot from it, delivering its judgement to the other side mouse. Preferably, LightningMan's judgement of death. But such verdicts had a price, and he could feel his processes slow down slightly from the strain. He really, really couldn't wait until he could fix that.

He could, however, still make himself less of a sitting duck than he currently was. He extended an arm forward, and gathered some of the leftover electricity from his signature attack. It formed into a ball shape, and shot into the untargeted Ratty's body. While it wouldn't be directly harmed, it should start feeling a bit drained, especially in regards to its attacking protocols...

[Order of Turn:
1-ZapRing1 chip attack on Billy (40, Elec, A, Stun 1)
2-Cannon chip attack on RattyA (60, A, Knockback)
3-Lightning Bolt sig attack on RattyC (60, Elec, Stun 1, Drop Attack, Self-Slow)
3a-Debuff subtype ability on RattyB (eliminates next 11 damage dealt)]
As much as he might have been a shadow of his former self, LightningMan still wasn't about to let anyone, not even viruses with such snappy fashion sense, get in the way of him and material gain. The Billy began to charge its prongs to make an attack, but the navi was quicker, blasting it with an electrical blast of his own that wiped the little guy clean from the net.

Downt he way, the skittering Ratties mad for slightly more challenging targets, but the chip-based CannonDumb under LightningMan's control fared notably better than most of the viral ones tended to, nailing its target cleanly. The ratty was knocked back, head over heels, and landed nose first on the panel behind. It had been attempting to fire a missile, and this led to an embarrassing, small-scale explosion that left no trace of the virus behind after the smoke cleared.

The other two ratties squeaked, and launched missiles of their own, though one peeled off to the left, and the other, slightly weakened, spiralled right. LightningMan attempted to repay one of them with a brutal thunderbolt from the sky, but it grounded poorly, seeking to one of the nearby metal panels instead, and missed. Both missiles twisted and began to curve around, re-homing for another attempt.


-=Viral Presence=-

RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: 60Hp [Metal] [Left branch, a little ahead of the other one]
RattyC: 60Hp [Solar] [Left branch, near GMD]

Billy: DELETED

-=Data Mine-er=-

LightningMan.Exe: 150Hp [Metal][Slow1]

-=Terrain=-

70% Metal [Most of the main battlefield]
30% Solar [The left branch turns to Solar after a short distance]

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Solar][Behind the Ratty cluster]
Ratton MissileA: 30Hp [off to LightningMan's left]
Ratton MissileB: 19Hp [off to LightningMan's right]
...It wasn't 100% according to plan, but fine. If nothing else, he could focus entirely on the mice before him now. LightningMan eyed them for a moment, mostly just to get a better bead on them. He wanted to end this now, before an errant Ratton bomb somehow managed to blow up that Mystery Data before he could claim it. ...But first, he needed ways to actually end things, before he could take action. "...Chips would be good. Like, right now."

"Hold your horses, LightningMan! I'm simply determining what to send over...got it!" One his Navi would be familiar with, but the other...he may well have never even seen, even in the olden days. "First things first! Before the one on metal moves...ZapRing BattleChip, in! Download!"

Once again, the electrical Navi raised an arm, pointing his palm at the Ratty he'd been instructed to terminate first. Another small ball of lightning formed, and shot out a ring of it forward. One smack from that, combined with the extra shock of the floor...well, he didn't need to spell it out, especially not to himself. Or anyone else that saw the empty space behind him, not being occupied by a Billy.

"This chip is special...I acquired it from that chip trader giveaway not long ago! It's not entirely your kind of chip, but you may still like it...Sunshine BattleChip, in! Download!"

A miniature sun appeared above LightningMan's head, and the Navi was fortunately enough to have the sense to not look up at it. Instead, he looked at the other Ratty, looking mildly annoyed. "So what am I supposed to do with it? Tell it to have a nice day until it blows up? What a complete-" His thought was immediately rendered ridiculous as a beam of sunlight shot out like a cannon at the mouse virus, strong enough to completely incinerate it without a second thought. "...What was THAT?!"

"Sunshine! Does extra damage to non-elemental viruses! And if one happens to survive, it'll be seeing spots!"

"Huh...I'm more of a stormy day enthusiast, myself, but not bad..." The solar event complete, the sun vanished without a trace, leaving him hopefully with nothing left to stop him from claiming his prizes. But if he did...he needed to avoid those Rattons. His hands crackled with electricity as he pointed them down, and started to charge up a bit. Unfortunately, he'd lost quite a bit of his juice from his earlier strike, so he wasn't getting it off as soon as he wanted...but once he was ready, he'd activate some electromagnetism, to jump high upward, and prevent explosion based harm to his important personage. And since he'd have to worry about more on the way if it came to that, he took a bit of electricity he'd expended to do that trick, and launched it over to an enemy, to continue the process of lessening its threat.

[Order of Turn:
1-ZapRing1 chip attack on RattyB (40, Elec, A, Stun 1)
2-Sunshine chip attack on RattyC (80+80, A, Blind, Beam Attack)
3-Float-jump upward (Movement/Dodge/Whatever you want to call it)
3a-Debuff subtype ability on RattyB (eliminates next 11 damage dealt)]
With almost cavalier certainty, the electrical overlord flicked another ring of stunning electricity towards the nearest Ratty. The problem was that the ratty chose that particular moment to dart quickly back and to the side, behind its buddy, skittering out of the way of the ring of lightning.

Meanwhile, the second rat prepared a shot, launching a new missile, just before LightningMan's all-consuming solar beam obliterated it, the ratty that launched it, and the ratty behind it, all in one fell swoop. All things considered, LightningMan was -Very- lucky that the potent beam didn't also destroy the crystal floating behind, missing the precious data by less than a rat's whisker.

The navi made a high leap to avoid the two incoming missiles, but he needn't have bothered; the left one over corrected, turning into an ever increasing wild spiral about its own nose-cone, until it ran out of go and clunked to the floor, while the right one twisted over on itself, then began spiralling up into the sky leaving a loopy trail of missile smoke as it went. That was what one got, when working with rat-built guidance systems. Oh well.

In either case, the battle was over, at least, leaving LightningMan to claim his spoils. Aside from the sparkling crystal, there was a modest sum of zenny to be gleaned from the breaking down viruses, and also some viable chip data, but sadly, it didn't come from the virus the electric navi was probably hoping for.


-=Viral Presence=-

RattyA: DELETED
RattyB: DELETED
RattyC: DELETED

Billy: DELETED

-=Data Mine-er=-

LightningMan.Exe: 150Hp [Metal][Slow expired!]

-=Terrain=-

70% Metal [Most of the main battlefield]
30% Solar [The left branch turns to Solar after a short distance]

-=Objects=-

GMD: 20Hp [Solar][Behind the Ratty cluster]

-=Battle 1, Victory!=-

Spoils: 480z, Ratton1

Quote (Ratton1)

Damage: 40 + Blast1 + Ground Attack + Homing
Accuracy: C
Description: Sends a rat shaped homing bomb scurrying after an enemy. Will attack again on the following turn if it misses once.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Can be intercepted and destroyed by a break attack.


Open GMD?
Well, that didn't go quite according to plan. But LightningMan just shrugged, since everything else was gone except him and the mystery data, and that's what mattered. He accessed the remaining data, snagging a small amount of cash, and picking up a new chip. Disappointingly, he couldn't feel any electricity coming from it...which meant..."Grab a blank chip, we got something. Unfortunately, it's Ratton and not Thunder."

"At your current power level, every little bit helps!" Sure, Thunder would've been better, but being able to make mouse bombs that could track down targets could come in handy. ...Somehow. "Got it! And the money, as well!"

"Then I'm opening the mystery data. Unless you have a reason for me not to."

"None whatsoever! Open at will!"

Well, his will told him to open it now...so he approached the green crystal, and began to access its contents...

(OPENING GMD)
The crystal spins faster for a moment, after LightningMan accesses it, then slows to a stop. The entire prism shudders briefly, then all at once the crystalline panels disappear and sent a cascade of zenny crashing all over the floor at his feet.

GMD: 1600z
LightningMan quickly transferred the cash over, and began to float along, in search of more battles and/or information that would aid in world conquering.

(Searching for Battle #2; you thought I was kidding about the super short post, didn't you?)
Moving right along, without even stopping for a short bout of megalomaniacal exposition, LightningMan ignored the solar-branching road and continued down the main stretch of path h had found himself on. It swiftly began to slope downward, becoming a steep incline, though the steeper it got, the less it actually felt steep, in terms of transit. There was a peculiar moment where one might realise suddenly that they were oriented almost horizontally, and that the solid wall structure far off in the distance was really probably the floor. Peculiar.

Less peculiar was the fact that, while making his way down this stretch of pathway, LightningMan would encounter another small blockade of viruses. It was comprised primarily of two Gunners, rooted quite firmly to the oddly oriented wall/floor, and were making ready to pepper the new arrival. At the base of each gunner, two panels jutted out, forming small barriers, or what would have been better called ledges, to someone more properly oriented. An IronShield nestled on each one, apparently not affected by the escher-like positioning; to LightningMan, they looked to be standing on the 'wall'. they currently both had their shields 'raised', which in this case actually meant they were pointing straight towards LightningMan.

Unfortunately for his own particular elemental affinity, LightningMan might have realised that the helpful metal paneling had given over to magnetics, after about the forty-five degree angle had been reached.

-=Viruses=-

GunnerA: 60hp [Magnet][Behind IronShieldA]
GunnerB: 60hp [Magnet][Behind ironShieldB]
IronShieldA: 120Hp [Magnet][Shield 'raised']
IronShieldB 120Hp [Magnet][Shield 'raised']

-=Allies=-

LightningMan: 150Hp [Magnet]

-=Terrain=-

100% Magnet

-=Battle 2, Start!=-
That was odd. He didn't really think SciLab had hills, much less ones so steep. ...Come to think of it, he wasn't even floating anymore, either. A quick look revealed that he had, in fact, been walking along some magnetized space, and he was now literally standing sideways. It was actually a bit fun...if warps hadn't already been decided as the method of moving from floor to floor in the BIOS HQ, he might've considered making a pitch for magnetic stair-walls.

But perhaps of more importance were the viruses he'd just spotted on the...wall? Or was that the floor? Or perhaps even a ceiling? Bah, this sort of this was more fun alone. "Well, looks like you're not going anywhere...perhaps I should-"

"Sir!" The supreme Navi leader suddenly found himself interrupted by a voice from the real world. And not even his own operator, but his bodyguard. Edgar burst into the room, looking mildly upset. Which, by his standards, meant he was straight up freaked out. "We have a problem!"

"Eh? And what's so important that you'd burst in like that?"

"I apologize...but, well, I have discovered something a bit...unsettling."

"If it's about the FranklinTech finances, I told you we're going over it tomorr-"

"It concerns your other...organization."

"Oh? And what happened that made you so distraught?"

"Well...there is a man in a nearby park. He has set up...a BIOS banner."

"...I'm not seeing the problem here. Rash, yes, but that an operator would go so far for the cause is quite encouraging, quite frankly!"

"Unfortunately, that is not the BIOS he refers to..."

"...Say what?"

"...I feel as though it would be easier for you to investigate personally, than for me to explain it."

"...Oh, very well. LightningMan, jack out, if you will."

"...You realize I just ran into a bunch of viruses?"

"Ah, so you did! ...Well, looking at them, if you can't outrun them..."

"True. Well, viruses, it looks like you get to live a bit longer. Enjoy doing...whatever it is you do when there aren't Navis around." The electrical Navi did a 180, and started walking away. Well, quick walking. There was no running since if both of his feet were off the panel at the same time...ouch. And he could only hover a little bit, so he couldn't exactly float off. Still, he was fortunate in that the viruses were either immobile, or so slow that they might as well be. He just needed to be faster than a turtle, and he should be able to get away easily enough. Though, emphasis on 'should'...

[Order of Turn:
1-3-Walk away (Fleeing)]
Non-standard angles aside, the meglomaniacal overlord found himself with highly unexpected and more important things to be doing. The stationary viruses, being of rather fixed position, made a few threatening noises towards him, although one of the iron shields instead raised and lowered its shield multiple times, vaguely like it was waving... but on the whole, as expected, none of them gave chase or did anything else too ridiculous. It wasn't long before LightningMan had a clear space of net to himself again was was free the return to his PET unmolested.
The walk proved even easier than expected, and LightningMan was free once more. "I'm in the clear. Jacking out now." And so he did, curious about the cause for his abrupt end to busting.

(JACKING OUT)