Mission: Lock and Key

"Hmph," Eidolon said, making no sign of being bothered by being exposed. Her visor fell back over her eyes as they became visible again, just in time for her to finish draining data from Sculptor. He dropped his chisel, which turned into key data, and Eidolon knew that she had won.

She was in the process of picking it up and storing it within herself when another navi showed up. A little girl in a smock, from the looks of things. And holding a paintbrush, which she was almost certain would turn out to be the next key she had to get her hands on. That assumed she would follow the same pattern as Sculptor, but apart from the two navis being artists Eidolon didn't have particularly high hopes for their originality. Artists and the fact that the girl had explosive paint, of course. That was a new one.

"You see that, right?" she asked over a private line, fixing her vision on the brush.

"I see globs of paint that just exploded, if that's what you mean," Andrew answered distractedly.

"The brush," Eidolon added, after a few seconds of what could only have been the closest thing to a sigh that she could articulate. "Have Decrypt focus on that this time. I'll humor her for now."

While Andrew brought up the controls for the support program again, Eidolon focused on Painter herself, rather than only the brush. "And if I am?" she asked casually. "He looked like he'd be fine."
"He didn't look like he'd be fine at all! Mean! Ugly! Stupid!" yelled Painter, waving her palette several times at Eidolon this time. Globs of explosive color dotted the battlefield, erasing much of Sculptor's earlier smoke-emitting panels and turning the area into a bit of an art form itself. Fortunately, her haphazard attack style made sure Eidolon didn't even have to move to evade any of the explosive blobs.

After a while, Painter stopped her rampaging tantrum, and stopped to catch her breath. "Now, now, Painty, stop yelling like that, you'll squeak your little voice out," a faint voice said, which seemed to come from near Painter. Eidolon couldn't really see anything, but as she looked closer, she saw that there was indeed a barely noticeable wispy light floating near the little rampaging child.

"Oh, yes, Sculptor was entertaining you for the time being, was he not?" the voice said again, and the wisp of light became slightly more visible. Around the wisp, a faint outline of a person appeared, looking somewhat like the figure of a woman, nearly transparent, dressed in light robes. "Breath, pleased to make your acquaintance," she introduced herself softly as she curtsied.

Decrypt ran up to Eidolon, prodding her to look at the little clipboard it was carrying. On it, a scrawl read out: "Change of plans. Retrieve whatever you can obtain within 15 minutes, and make an immediate retreat from the area within the time frame after getting what you can. No responsibility for what happens after the limit is reached and your presence is still within the area."

"Sis, sis, that meanie was hurting Mr. Scuptor! Big ugly meanie!" tattled Painter, pointing accusingly at Eidolon like a child would. "Ah, was she? That doesn't sound very nice. Are you sure it was her?" whispered Breath, appearing to rub Painter's short brown hair, though her hand passed right through the child's head. The tiny artist did not seem to mind the strangeness, however, and continued to talk. "Yeah, it was her! I saw Mr. Scuptor and he looked really, really terrible! Then he had to go somewheres else," said Painter.

"Oh, she must be very strong. Sculptor doesn't usually let people past him," said Breath, looking at Eidolon, though somehow she got the feeling that the wispy being was looking straight through her. "Yeah, but I can beat'm! I always beat all those big bad viruses!" said Painter, raising her paintbrush enthusiastically. "Ah, I'll help out, then. It'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah! You better get ready, you meanie!" exclaimed Painter with vigor as the child jumped into the air, up, up and... up. Pretty high up. "Ah, you might want to move, miss. She gets so excited with her paintings sometimes," said Breath, gathering up a ball of wind on her hand herself.

-- OPPOSITION --
Painter.EXE: 200 HP (Normal) (High Altitude)
Breath.EXE: 220 HP (Normal)

-- ALLIES --
Eidolon.EXE: 140 HP (Normal)
Decrypt.SP: 120 HP (Normal)

-- TERRAIN --
5% Lava
5% Sea
5% Mud
5% Grass
5% Cursed
5% Holy (Scattered)
70% Normal (Everywhere else)

[The time limit is just there for show. Defend Decrypt as he Pickpockets, and don't get blasted to pieces in the process. After you're successful, as long as your RP is sufficient, you'll escape without restriction.]

-- BOSS BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --
Well, that was convenient. Suddenly, both of her remaining targets were in the same place. One of them appeared to be quite violent and impossible to reason with, though. That was a problem. She didn't really care what they were like as long as she could complete the mission without being blown up, but...wait, was the painter girl comparing her to viruses? "There's something wrong with that," she said to herself, preparing for the inevitable fight. that was about to be forced on her.

One of them took to the air, the other was so obviously a wind navi that Eidolon didn't need to see the gathering ball of wind in her hands to be sure of it. That wasn't the best combination to have to fight...perhaps Decrypt's warning was right then, and that she was better off taking what she could and getting out.

"Although if he's going to impose time limits on me he'd better make himself more useful," she said to Andrew over a private line. "I'll leave that up to you."

"I'll see what I can do," Andrew answered, loading up several chips. Immediately the first of them was transferred to the support program, leaving her with no extra defensive measures of her own.

Eidolon didn't care.

As soon as the transfer completed and the red, metool-styled shield appeared in front of and above the support program, Eidolon's own faint shield flickered in front of her as well. As an extra precaution she took evasive measures, gliding away from the mess of altered terrain. She reached out with telekinetic force as she moved, pushing Decrypt toward one of several scattered glowing points that looked like Holy panels.

As she stopped moving, she looked toward Breath, raising her visor away from beacon-like eyes. Deep crimson tendrils lashed out from her hands, distorted into pixels as her eyes fell on them but reforming a split second later as they reached Breath. Eidolon guided them toward the wind navi to latch on, where they would drain energy from their target and force glitches onto her in its place.

The wires then retracted, and in their place a trio of junk data daggers appeared in her left hand. She threw these at Breath as well, then focused her attention upward. The visor fell over her eyes again, and a tiny beam shot from it, nearly invisible, straight at Painter. As soon as the beam fired, Eidolon disappeared, simply vanishing on the spot.

Within a second, she reappeared, directly over Painter, bringing the sword with the corrupted edge down at the artist navi.

Meanwhile, Andrew waited for Eidolon's attention to shift from Breath to Painter, and directed the support program's to the wind navi as soon as the apparition left his line of sight. Unlike with Painter, he had no idea what to have Decrypt aim for, but hopefully he'd be able to lock onto something. He input the commands for him to do so, and to attempt to steal the key data. With any luck it would work better than their first attempt.
___

*Spectral Shield: 1-hit shield, facing Painter
1. Transfer Guard2 to Decrypt
2. Dodge
*Away: Push Decrypt toward nearest Holy panel
*Hack: Add Glitch to:
3. Data Vampirism: 80 Lifedrain to Breath
4. Kunai1 - 30x3+slashing to Breath
5. Point Shot: 20+Seeking to Painter
6. StepSword: Teleport, 120+Wide+Slashing to Painter


Decrypt:
1. Guard2: Reflect one attack for up to 120, facing Painter
2. Pickpocket+: Attempt to steal keydata from Breath
With the ball of wind in her hand, Breath watched Eidolon and Decrypt ready themselves for battle with a light smile on her face. The former pushed the little SP out towards a Holy panel, in order to minimize damage done to it. "Ah, you're not going to live that easily," muttered Breath, as she blew into the sphere of wind, turning it red. The color dispersed as quickly as it came, making it seem like an innocuous action. Soon after, however, a wall of fire burst from the ground, nearly managing to catch Eidolon and roast her.

"Oh my, that didn't work," said Breath, putting up a hand to her lip. The attack was responded to by a few distorted red tentacles, which she easily got away from. Immediately after, a large swath of paint rained down from the sky, nearly catching Eidolon and Decrypt in its wake. A loud cackle came from above, as yet another came down, though this one still seemed to be as inaccurate as the first. It seemed that though the attacks were powerful, since she was so high up, Painter didn't have much in the way of aiming, and was simply bombarding without a care.

After a little bit, Eidolon materialized some junk-data daggers, and threw them at Breath. The first got warded off by some sort of wind deflection, but the rest managed to sink themselves into... whatever it was Breath was made of. However, she simply giggled, and blew into her sphere of wind yet again. The kunai then immediately flew back out without so much as a scratch.

Afterwards, Eidolon fired at Painter with her Point Shot, and teleported up to Painter to give her some hurt. However, the little one heard it coming, and swiftly flew out of the way. "Hahaha! Can't catch me! Can't catch me! Meanie! Meanie! Nyeeeeeh!" taunted Painter, flying around to aggravate her enemy and sticking out her tongue.

Meanwhile, Breath saw Eidolon's disappearance, and saw it fit to imitate her act. "Time to head off~" she giggled, disappearing into the air slowly. However, just before she disappeared, Decrypt's systems managed to latch onto her signature, and pickpocket some spoils! "Ah, stealing is bad, dear," a voice said near Decrypt, after which a blast of wind suddenly knocked the SP off its feet, blowing it far, far away!

-- OPPOSITION --
Painter.EXE: 200 HP (Normal) (Shield 0/1) (High Altitude)
Breath.EXE: 220 HP (Barrier 0/20 HP) (Invisible)

-- ALLIES --
Eidolon.EXE: 140 HP (Normal) (Shield 1/1) (High Altitude, Falling)
Decrypt.SP: 70 HP (Normal) (Guard2 1/1) (Microbursted!)

[Pickpocket: [MasterKey3] Key Item!]

-- TERRAIN --
5% Lava
5% Sea
5% Mud
5% Grass
5% Cursed
5% Holy (Scattered)
70% Normal (Everywhere else)
So far, all of Eidolon's attacks had failed. She had to give them credit. They didn't mess around. It left her with a problem though, in that if she couldn't get the kid to stop moving somehow, stealing from her as well would be a problem.

Well, there was an easy enough solution to that, assuming she didn't simply avoid that too.

Andrew seemed to be keeping up as well, as the next pieces of chip data to be downloaded would work nicely for that. First, to avoid giving the girl a target to easily locate and avoid, she vanished as she began to fall, fading away into nothing. Rather than reappear elsewhere, however, she stayed right where she was, activating the first chip before she could get too far away and fall out of range. A windstorm started up, blowing down toward the falling Eidolon as she tried to use it to pull Painter in. It was desperate, sure, but at the moment she didn't see too many other options.

Once the wind ran its course, Eidolon lashed out with her red wires, made more akin to vine ropes by chip data, attempting to ensnare Painter with them. If it worked, she could drag Painter back to the ground and hold her there until Decrypt got back within a decent range.

Meanwhile Andrew worked on just that, guiding Decrypt back toward the battle. His Guard data had remained intact, somehow, giving him some protection in the meantime.
___

1. Vanish: Invis
2. AirStorm2: 60+Pull to Painter
3. Rope1: 50+Hold for three turns - Attempt to ensnare Painter and drag her to the ground.

Decrypt:
1. Movement: Move back toward Eidolon and co.

-splice-
"H-Hey, where'd you go?! Aaaaahhh, crud!!" exclaimed Painter, turning and twisting around haphazardly to try and figure out if any attacks were coming at her. Unfortunately for her, Eidolon was pretty much still there, but left to the mercy of gravity. Still, she wasn't going down without a fight, and summoned some winds to assist her. Painter heard the wind coming, and raised her palette to defend against it, as well as still moving around. Unfortunately, erratic movements failed her, and even though her palette-slash-shield managed to stave it off temporarily, the little artist was pulled down as well.

"Uwaaaaa!!" she yelled, as Eidolon's red wires ensnared her, pulling her down to terra firma. "Breath, help me!!" screamed Painter, as she threw some Explosive Color (tm) down where she thought Eidolon was, completely missing her in the panic. Crashing on the ground, they both took a little damage. As luck would have it, Eidolon landed on a Sea panel, and Painter on a nearby Cursed panel. (10)

Meanwhile, on the ground, Decrypt obeyed Andrew's orders, and plodded his way back towards the rest of the action. However, it, and by proxy, Andrew, heard a small voice whisper out. "Come, now... hand me back the key..." said Breath, as she appeared before the little SP. However, just as she was about to deal some hurt to Decrypt, a crash was heard behind her, which was Eidolon and her catch striking the ground.

"Honestly, child, do I have to care for you like this...?" sighed Breath, as she summoned up some winds to patch Painter's wounds up. "Now, where was I...? Ah, yes," she said, disappearing once again into the air. Shortly after, an electrical storm surrounded Decrypt, nearly hitting him in the process.

"Return it to me."

-- OPPOSITION --
Painter.EXE: 200 HP (Cursed) (Shield 0/1) (Held!)
Breath.EXE: 220 HP (Barrier 20/20 HP) (Invisible)

-- ALLIES --
Eidolon.EXE: 130 HP (Sea) (Shield 1/1)
Decrypt.SP: 70 HP (Normal) (Guard2 1/1)

-- TERRAIN --
5% Lava
5% Sea
5% Mud
5% Grass
5% Cursed
5% Holy (Scattered)
70% Normal (Everywhere else)
Eidolon was quick to take advantage of the situation, pushing her visor away from her eyes and allowing corrupted data from her core to flow from them, through the rest of her body, and through the wires binding Painter as spectral energy. If all went well, the corrupted data would spread glitches through Painter's body, and lock up her attack programs in the process. She noted with some minor irritation that she hadn't actually succeeded in glitching any of her target navis thus far, but with any luck this would be a first.

On the edge of her awareness, she noted a storm forming around Decrypt, interrupted earlier only by her falling to the ground with Painter. It seemed that she would have to draw Breath's attention, and likely wouldn't be able to rely on Decrypt for the final key in the process. In which case, she would have to obtain it the hard way.

It was the way she preferred, anyway. Relying on an unfamiliar support program was bothersome.

Focusing energy through the wires binding Painter again, she drew on them in an attempt to drain data and restore her own energy. Perhaps she would get lucky and absorb the key data with it. Or perhaps she would simply damage Painter to the point that she dropped it, like Sculptor did. That worked too.

As the wires did their work, she turned her focus to the support program. Breath was nowhere to be seen, but to one so used to vanishing from sight as Eidolon, it was clear that she was still around. Decrypt, by Andrew's command, hid himself under the shield that had amazingly still not yet been destroyed, and Eidolon took that as her opportunity. Focusing on the shattered emblem of her gauntlets' former owner, she drew more core energy from the cracks, then directed it in a seeking blast through the ground toward Breath.

There was no way to know how effective it would be, but so long as she drew Breath's attention from the nearly dead weight SP, effectiveness mattered little.
___

Eidolon:
*Hack: Add glitch to:
4. Corrosion: 80+Freeze to Painter (x2 Curse terrain)
5. Data Drain: 40 Lifedrain (x2 Curse) to Painter
6. Powerbolt: 70+Seeking to Breath


Decrypt:
2. Hide under Guard2
As Decrypt cowered behind its shield, being given nothing to do but to wait, a small chuckle was heard. "What a pointless little thing to have," Breath's voice said, as a powerful burst of fire appeared from behind the SP, melting it down into a pool of lava and causing it to EJO. Eidolon heard an exasperated click of the tongue moments after the beam appeared to return Decrypt. "Nowhere to be found; isn't that convenient," said the voice.

Meanwhile, Eidolon was administrating some extortion for a certain little Navi, drawing data from her corrupted core and freezing up Painter's offensive systems entirely. However, after a little bit, Eidolon felt her tendrils retract from Painter's body without her consent; perhaps it was a side-effect of the injected corruption? In any case, Painter took the opportunity to make a break for it, coughing as she leapt away. Unfortunately, she wasn't getting away too easily, as the wires still had some form of connection to her, draining away her HP to fuel Eidolon's own. In addition to that, a seeking burst of energy was sent out to locate Breath, but it seemed that the invisible Navi was quite nimble, as the energy ball flew around aimlessly until it leapt off to nowhere.

"Ugh, fine!! I don't wanna play any more!" yelled Painter, still coughing up a storm as she threw her paintbrush and palette down onto the ground. Bawling her eyes out, the child Navi ran off into the factory, leaving her prized possessions. Now was Eidolon's chance!

-- OPPOSITION --
Painter.EXE: Fled
Breath.EXE: 220 HP (Barrier 20/20 HP) (Invisible)

-- OBJECTS --
Paintbrush: 20 HP
Palette: 20 HP

-- ALLIES --
Eidolon.EXE: 169 HP (Sea) (Shield 1/1)
Decrypt.SP: EJO

-- TERRAIN --
15% Lava
5% Sea
5% Mud
5% Grass
5% Cursed
5% Holy (Scattered)
60% Normal (Everywhere else)
"This should be the last of it," Eidolon said over a private line, gliding forward as she reappeared and scooping up the paintbrush and palette dropped by Painter. Eidolon didn't know which of them would be the data she was after, but it had to be one of them. And its owner had run off, meaning that she should have no trouble taking it.

"Good. Our guide's gone, but it looks like he's taken the data with him. Get out of there," Andrew said. He uploaded two final chips just in case, which would hopefully aid in the escape.

"On it." Eidolon answered. She turned, locating the hole she had corroded through the gate around the factory. It wasn't far at all, leaving her to ponder just how convenient it was that all of her targets had come straight to her. Maybe there was something to be said for making a scene and drawing attention when she needed to get things done quickly.

Best not to make a habit of it though.

She took a step forward, or at least the closest thing to a step that could be managed with no visible feet, and then shot forward as the DashAttack activated, propelling her through the hole in the fence. She continued to glide over the ground as the dash cut out, but turned to drop one final measure to aid her escape just in case Breath decided to follow. She brushed her visor up away from her eyes. As soon as they were exposed, data leaked from them, gathering in the air behind her. It formed the outline of a large, disembodied eye, which then filled itself in and pointed itself toward the hole in the fence, tracing out a laser sight in front of it.

Satisfied, Eidolon turned away again and resumed her departure.
___

1. DashAttack: Dash through hole in the fence, away from the battlefield
2. Sensor1: 100 HP object, pointed back through the hole: 100 Elec+Beam+Stun to anything in line of sight
3-6: Get: TFO
With the items safely secured, Eidolon proceeded to get the hell out of Dodge, aided by a nice propellant named DashAttack. Leaving a Sensor in her way, she made sure that Breath couldn't go after her, or at least not without making a new hole of some sort. Behind her, as she disappeared into the distance, the translucent Navigator watched with a disappointed sigh, reappearing into visibility once more.

"Well, old Crypto-freak's going to have his fun again," she sighed, twirling a small ball of wind in her hand. She floated over to the Sensor, and chuckled as she kicked it over. "What a joke," she said, though that statement wasn't exactly put right as the Sensor rolled on its side. This caused the laser detection to fall within her sight, and give her a bit of a shock. Ouch.

[Mission Complete!]