Ocean-side adventures

((End turn splice))
Mach's eyes swept over the guard platform, and the integrated display in his eye patch actively scanned the area. The targeting crosshairs zipped over his field of view, but he didn't need an advanced targeting system to realize the platform was completely swept clean of targets. With his targets eliminated on both his car and the platform, the ambient sounds of the battle around him finally started to become more apparent to him. He heard the thumping sounds of the Strassavora's cannons followed by the sound of rounds whistling through the air. He glanced back at the car behind them before he looked to the car ahead, and the manned guard tower. He turned towards his SPs, and presented the plan.
Alright, we're moving up to the next car. Vector, lead the way.
Gladly, sire!

Vector turned towards the edge of the car, and after taking a few steps back, he charged forward and leaped over the edge towards the other car. The decoys at Mach's sides flew after the angular SP like a pair of wingmen in a wedge formation. Vector flipped several times in the air before he landed on the metal surface of the car, and the decoys landed on either side of him, as if attempting to form a perimeter.

Aera watched as Vector jumped to the second car, and placed one of her pistols in her sash belt. She was about to slide the other one on her other side, but it was already occupied by her rapier. She hesitated for a second before she pointed her pistol down and slid the barrel into her cleavage. She blushed as felt the cold metal against her skin, and slid it down to the trigger guard. With her weapons snugly stored she started to lean back in preparation to follow Vector into the fight. However, Machman swooped in behind her and scooped her up in his arms, causing her to gasp in surprise. Mach looked down at her flushed face and chuckled before they gently rose into the air.

After the pair rose a couple feet in the air, they changed direction and flew quickly to the other car; the only noise they made was from their clothing as they flapped in the wind. They rapidly traversed the gap between the cars and touched down behind Vector. As if on cue, Vector raised his arm in front of his chest as the metal plates in his arm flattened out and spread outwards like a large tower shield. Though his shield certainly wasn't large enough to cover them completely, he hoped any shots directed near them would be stopped by his armor first.

Machman and company head for the second car during a relative lull in the combat, jumping from the third car to the second. Just when it seems things are at their quietest, however...

"ARR HAR HAR HAR HAR HARRRR!"

A laugh like that has to go and ring out.

Bugbeard landed on the rear guardpost with the loud clang of his boots striking the steel beneath them, clutching an electrified cutlass in his hand, and grinned. He swung the sword once in the enclosed space with a wide, sweeping arc, and both of the Heelnavis that had occupied it disappeared. Bugbeard leapt from the platform as his crew cheered from below, glad to have a respite from the fire the car had been assailing them with, and careened through the air like a cannonball.

Bugbeard shot straight towards the front of the convoy at a ridiculous speed and arc, pulling a backdraft behind him, and dropped down on the guardpost that had been giving him so much trouble before. "Why hello thar, lads!" He began, flipping his cutlass around in one hand. "I think we be needin' ta have a bit of a chat."

He pounced upon the trio at that, cutlass sweeping wild, electric arcs through the air, striking with the fury of a storm. Again and again and again he rained the cutlass' strikes down, cleaving one navi, then two-- then the last one fell in twain.

Bugbeard put one foot up on the railing of the guardpost, then looked back towards the second car with a grin. "What, ye want some o' this?" Bugbeard swung his cutlass up onto his shoulder at that, barrier shimmering in the air around him, and let out a mighty cackle.

((Turn Splice if battle continues {like assaulting the lead car}))
The trio (and two decoys) successfully moved to the second cart, and perpendicular to the battle-lines drawn by the remaining pair of HeelNavis and the three Strassavora crew. Machman stepped out from behind Vector before he eased Aera to her feet next to him. Vector's armored shield transformed into a wickedly curved blade, similar to the cutlass Machman materialized in his hand. Aera flipped the pistol out of her sash first, before she slid the second pistol out of her cleavage and pointed both at the HeelNavis.

Machman didn't immediately attack; he hoped the HeelNavis had the common sense to surrender or jack out when both flanked and outnumbered 3 to 1, not including the decoys. However, Mach remained on a hair trigger, set to go off at any sign of aggressiveness displayed by the HeelNavis. Though his right hand held his green-trimmed cutlass, his left arm and hand were replaced with an ancient naval cannon. There was no rifling or specialty ammunition, just your standard gunpowder and a 20lb iron cannon ball. The only feature different from the real thing was a magnetic detent which kept the cannon ball from rolling out of the barrel. Both of his SPs and his decoys waited for Mach's signal to attack, and observed the pair of HeelNavis carefully. Mach did his best to glare down on the HeelNavis as his clothing flapped lazily in the wind. The tails hanging from Aera's belt floated weightlessly in the air, and the wind caused the front of her baggy trousers to press against her skin, showing the smooth contours of her toned thighs.

Machman, Aera, and Vector carefully watched the movements of the HeelNavis, ready to unleash a fury of electrical bolts, sharpened blades, and crushing iron to silence any aggression exhibited by the lone pair of foes. The loud boom and blast of smoke from Mach's cannon would have been pierced by a powerful bolt of electricity from one of Aera's pistols, followed by a pair of sharpened blades hurled from Vector's body. Machman himself would then surge through the rapidly dissipating cloud of smoke and engage both of the remaining HeelNavis with a wide, reaching arc from his faintly glowing energy cutlass, followed by a lightning-fast finishing blow of a similar nature.

Post #1000!

The two Heelnavis shared a glance at each other, then got the hell out of dodge. Glock took the opportunity to take a widely-missing shot at the two ascending beams, which prompted Bugbeard to let out a loud, signature 'Har har har!'

The aforementioned captain then leapt off of the guardpost and floated over to the lead car. "Let's be seein' what we got in 'ere!" Bugbeard exclaimed loudly, brandishing his cutlass with a wide grin. He then kicked the door of the lead car in with the heel of his boot and rushed inside, everyone else headed to the lead car after him.

Inside, the crew found something unexpected; Rather than the paltry amount of Heelnavis running the car that they expected, they found Gamon leaning back in a comfy-looking chair, a smarmy, cocky smirk plastered across his face. He twirled one of his spatulas in one hand as he gestured to the three Heelnavis laying unconscious on the floor, and chuckled, speaking in a heavy accent. "Hoi! What took you so long, monsieur? I had to clean zis kitchen all by myself!"

Bugbeard gave him a skeptical look. "So ye be tellin' me ye took out these three by yerself."

"Oui." Gamon replied, tapping the business end of his spatula against his noggin. "It took some doing, Captain, but I used my wits." Bugbeard didn't look like he was buying it, but the confrontation ended there. Shortly after, the three Heelnavis were thrown overboard, and the convoy was stopped while the crew gathered up all the loot and moved it to the Strassavora. Afterward, stripped of its' cargo, the crew set the convoy to continue straight forward on autopilot until the thing either ran out of juice, ran out of network, was shot down, was eaten by viruses, or was found by the Netmafia. Bugbeard didn't seem to care which happened to it, the point, he said, was simply to get the thing away from the ship.

Finally, some time later, Bugbeard and the rest of the crew were down in the cargo hold, the captain looking over the various loot they had gotten on their pillage. The first set of boxes had contained some zenny and a full load of chip data-- they were all weak, cheap chips, but it was a plentiful amount of the things. The second set was filled to overflowing with bugfrags. And the third...

"Jackpot." Bugbeard grinned toothily, gazing into one of the boxes. "We've hit the jackpot, lads and lasses! This be the good stuff, the stuff the Netmafia almost never be sendin' out this a-way. They must be tryin' ta keep it away from tha' Netpolice to use this route fer it."

"Spit it out already, Captain." Glock scoffed, leaning up against a nearby wall and rolling his eyes. "We took out the convoy, we carried all the boxes back here without opening them-- tell us what's in them already."

Bugbeard seemed fit to retort when Poll interrupted him. "If I may, it's likely that tha' Captain is talking about powerful chips. The kinda stuff we find down here in the rogues."

"Ye've got the right of it, Poll." Bugbeard reassured him, sticking his hand into the box and holding up a small card. "Pre-formatted high-grade chip data. Oh sure, to us it be more common than the seawater 'round 'ere, but up there, in the norms, this stuff be rarer than beauty itself."

"What does that mean for us, Captain?" Yul shouted from the back of the gathering, waving his mop about.

"What it means, swabbie, is that I can be sellin' these chips fer some hefty profits." Bugbeard began, twirling the small card between his fingers. The crew was pure silence, however, prompting Bugbeard to sigh and explain. "Ye all like upgrades, aye? This stuff'll make sure we'll all be gettin' some." The crew erupted into a cheer at that, a clamor filling the expansive cargo hold.

"Now wait a-" Bugbeard started, drowned out by the crowd. "Wait- Wait! WAIIIIT!" He continued shouting to no avail, the crew too caught up in their celebrations. Bugbeard smacked a palm against his forehead. "Strass, help me out 'ere."

At Bugbeard's beckoning the lights in the cargo hold shut off with the loud sound of the power draining out of them, instantly quieting the crew. As the emergency lights filled the space with a ruby tint, Bugbeard continued. "As I was about ta say, it be a bit soonish ta' plan what we'll be doin' with tha' loot. Machman and his crew helped us out, they did, an' I bet ye all it woulda' been a lot tougher without the lot o' them helpin' us. So, Machman." He said, turning towards Machman. "We've got a lot o' loot 'ere. What catches yer eye the most?"

--CHOICES--

Pile of Boxes A: Zenny + Weaker (Tier 1) Chips (Bundle pack)
Pile of Boxes B: Large Quantities of Bugfrags
Pile of Boxes C: Powerful (Tier 2) chips

"Now keep in mind," Bugbeard added, "Ye'll still get somethin' outta each o' the piles, but I'll make sure ye receive a larger share outta tha' one ye want tha' most."

Machman let out a sigh of relief as the HeelNavis make the smart move of logging out without a fight. The convoy finally fell silent, and the crew of the Strassavora got the opportunity to inventory the spoils of their assault before they loaded each of the large crates into the belly of their massive ship. Thanks to the surprising efforts of their cook, the convoy's lead vessel was neutralized, and they sent it off on a 1 way course to nowhere. Mach, Aera, and Vector watched the convoy slip unpiloted into the distance, then followed the rest of the crew into the cargo hold.

The trio moved into the ring of assorted crewmates that gathered around the impressive pile of loot. Mach turned towards Aera as Bugbeard started to list off the spoils. She turned back towards him and smiled as she grasped his hand. They turned their attention back to the captain just as the rest of the crew cheered in unison. They could barely hear the captain amongst the cheering and chattering of the ring of Navis, but they saw him look up at the ceiling as if he was talking to it, then saw the lights power down. The change of light brought silence into the large hold, and the captain called out Machman to take his share of the spoils. Mach took a few steps forward to go through the line of Navis, and adjusted his hat as he responded to Bugbeard.

I appreciate your generosity in sharing the spoils of battle with me, I truly do. Though I feel bad for taking some of your rewards, I am looking for more powerful battlechips.

Aera and Vector had followed Mach towards the inner ring of the halo around the spoils of battle, and stood at his sides.


CHOSE: Pile C

Bugbeard nods, then the crew sets about divvying up the spoils. A significant chunk of the bugfrags are reserved for the engine room, Machman notes, while the rest are split evenly among all of the SPs-- including Machman's. The bulk portion of the cargo it seems Bugbeard's crew has little use for, so Bugbeard mentions offhandedly that he'll bargain with his contacts to exchange them for some upgrades for the crew. Machman's cut of it is a nice chunk of zenny.

Finally, Bugbeard rifles through one of the cargo boxes in the third pile, searching for some chips for Machman's cut. Just as it seems Bugbeard is about to pull something out, the ship lurches violently to one side, sending Bugbeard, the crew, and the chips tumbling. The ship levels out a bit a moment afterward, but it is still clearly tilted as the crew attempt to regain their balance and footing.

"Cap'n-" Poll begins, looking up toward the roof of the cargo hold.

"Aye, lad." Bugbeard says grimly. "Th' beast is here." Bugbeard takes a few wobbly steps forward, towards the elevator to the deck, then turns to face the crew. "All o' ye, to yer battlestations! I want those cannons manned! Machman, grab two chips from th' mess and meet us up on tha' deck!" There's a brief pause where everyone is standing still before Bugbeard speaks again. "MOVE IT!"

With that, the rest of the crew charges toward the elevator, some of them taking the stairs instead.

The emergency lights still paint the cargo hold a dim red, though its' color seems far more urgent now...

GET: 40 Bugfrags
GET: 3000z
GET: Flameline2, Invis2

Aera gasped as the ship violently lurched to one side, and caused the captain, crew, and loot to sprawl out on the floor. The trio managed to get airborne before falling, but they had a little trouble avoiding getting hit by the reeling crew. Mach heard the Captain as he regained his footing, and moved to the deck elevator.

Mach nodded and darted towards his spoils before he reached down and scooped them up. The data fragmented in his hands as they were uploaded to Mazer's PET, and the NetOp immediately started to add the chips to his library. The trio started to move to the elevator, but it started to get fairly full. Mach saw some of the crew going for the stairs, and cruised over them as they followed the line of Navis along the curving stairwell up to the Strassavora's deck.


((Move up to the deck, ready for Battle #5))

Machman notices, as the crew files into the elevator and the stairwell, that some of them are breaking off to stop on different decks inside the ship itself; Neratic and the remainder of the wounded crew, for one, stop on the deck Machman remembers hearing the sickbay was on, while Quava and Gamon head for the engine room. Quava's reasons for heading there are fairly obvious-- he's the ship's engineer, after all-- but why is the cook going there...?

As Machman and some of the crew continue their ascent, the Strassavora creaks and groans around them with pressure, a sound uncharacteristic of the normally-silent vessel. The crew seem to redouble the speed with which they climb at that, and Machman does the same.

Machman and the crew burst onto the deck from a small trapdoor near the elevator's opening, and it is only then that the gravity of the situation makes itself apparent; Several wide, thick, slimy tentacles are wrapped around the Strassavora's hull, gripping onto it, and off the port side...

Off the port side hangs one of, if not the biggest creature Machman has ever seen. Almost as large as the Strassavora herself, with rough, dark-colored flesh and a host of eyes angrily leering at the Strassavora, the beast has a menacing countenance. Several of its' tentacled limbs flail about in the air as some of the crew attempt to shoot at it with cannon and buster, knocking the projectiles they fire aside with ease. The Kraken has arrived.

BATTLE 5!

BEGIN!
[spoiler=The Battle]

--The Kraken--
Body: 3000 (Off the port side)
Tentacle A: 40 (MetalBody) (Gripping onto the Strassavora.)
Tentacle B: 40 (MetalBody) (Gripping onto the Strassavora.)
Tentacle C: 40 (MetalBody) (Gripping onto the Strassavora.)
Tentacle D: 40 (MetalBody) (Gripping onto the Strassavora.)
Tentacle E: 40 (MetalBody)
Tentacle F: 40 (MetalBody)
Tentacle G: 40 (MetalBody)
Tentacle H: 40 (MetalBody)

--Allies--
Strassavora: 4000 (Being crushed by tentacles)
Bugbeard: 460
Glock: 340 (Manning one of the port cannons)
Poll: 380
Gratto.SP: 240 (Manning one of the port cannons)
Wria.SP: 220 (Manning one of the port cannons)
Yul.SP: 200

--Party-- (Near the Captain's Cabin)
MachMan: 170 (Haste) (D-D-D-Double Decoy)
Aera.SP: 70
Vector.SP: 110
Decoy 1: Awaiting orders!
Decoy 2: Awaiting orders!

--Terrain--
80%: Strassavora (The battle is taking place on this. Cannot be changed, for obvious reasons.)
100%: Sea (Far, far below. The drink.)

SPECIAL: MetalBody: As IronBody, but does not hinder movement.[/spoiler]

Theme

Mach, Aera, and Vector charged up to the deck of the Strassavora, and were met by a bright glare from the sun reflecting off the ship's silver decks, and the sounds of battle and shouting as the crew immediately engaged the beast. As their eyes quickly adjusted to the light, they finally got to see the infamous Kraken for themselves.

... woah.
Machman looked up at the massive tentacles swinging wildly in the air, and traced them back to where he assumed the body was. Aera gazed at the creature with a mixture of curiousness and disgust, and cringed when she realized the tentacles were completely covered in slime, and were leaving trails of the stuff wherever they went. It appeared the female SP wasn't too fond of slimy tentacles, I wonder why... Though Machman was concerned about the tentacles as well, his focus was primarily on how armored the sucker-tipped limbs seemed to be. Everything that was fired at the tentacles seemed to bounce off with no affect whatsoever. This was very, very bad, since that essentially allowed the beast to attack with no fear of sustaining damage.
He then peered over the side to see the main body of the beast, and was amazed by the sheer size of the massive octopus. He saw the creature's eyes, and immediately labeled them as a prime target; if there was anything vulnerable on this creature, it would be the eyes. Mach raised his protective energy shields, and called out to the captain as the shields intensified.
Bugbeard! Try to attack the main body! Go for the eyes!

Mach's decoys followed him dutifully as he lined up with the side of the Kraken, and raised his right arm towards the massive creature. As he did so, a large, golden mass of gun barrels started to materialize under his forearm, and eventually defragmented into a 6-barreled brass Gatling gun, with two horizontal magazines sticking out from either side. He aimed towards the creatures eyes as the weapon started to rotate and open fire. As the barrels spun up, the rate of fire increased dramatically. Orange tracers flew from the barrels and zipped towards the creature, indicating where the armor-piercing rounds were travelling. As he was quickly depleting his ammunition, he sent his orders to his SPs.
[[i]Aera, try to attack the main body when you can, but I want you to focus on supporting the crew. Vector, attack the creature's main body, but I want you to stay close enough to Aera to provide sufficient protection.[/i]]
[[i]Okay, Machman.[/i]]
[[i]As you wish, sire.[/i]]
Mazer, requesting Magnum chip!
Mazer quickly retrieved the requested chips, and slotted them into the PET.
[They're on the way, Mach. Let's see how tough this monster really is.]

Mach's antigravity engines started to propel him skyward as his Gatling gun fragmented below his arm, and floated about for a few moments before they started to reconfigure into another weapon. He looked down to not only get a better view of the creature, but he also saw his SPs and the crew scuttle about; both of his SPs armored up with shields of energy and sharpened metal shards. He pointed his right arm back down towards the Kraken, as the data floating about formed into a trio of black, cast-iron naval cannons. Using the targeting system imbedded in his eye patch, Machman looked down at the Kraken, and started to identify his targets.

Mach immediately placed a cross-hair on the creature's bulbous body, and then picked out a pair of tentacles being used to secure it to the ship. They should be much easier to hit than the others, and it may have to sacrifice more tentacles to keep it attached to the hull. He rolled his crosshairs over one of the tentacles, then the other, and secured his targeting system. The cannons were loaded and ready to go, complete with a magnetic detent inside the barrel to keep the high explosive cannonballs from rolling out prior to being fired. He aimed the triple cannon assembly towards the creature's head as the wick program sparked to life. The wick ignited the powder, and caused the gun to go off with a loud boom and a puff of smoke. The cannonball whistled through the air before it exploded in a ball of fire. He then adjusted his aim to send his second shot hurtling towards the closest tentacle secured to the ship, and then tried to send the third shot on top of the tentacle furthest from him. The attacks might have been able to destabilize or even loosen the creature's grip, which could force it to use its remaining tentacles to hang onto the ship.

As Machman sent his explosive rounds hurtling towards the creature, and creating a large amount of smoke, his SPs started their own assault. Aera drew her pistol from her cleavage, causing her to shiver slightly from the feel of the smooth, cold steel against her bare skin, and aimed directly towards an area of flesh between two of the creature's tentacles. She pulled the trigger of her pistol, causing the hammer to fall, spin up the internal generator, and cause a surge which in turn made the imbedded capacitors overload. The culmination of energy burst through the supermagnet-lined barrel and flashed from the barrel with an air-rending crack and a burst of light, which followed the bright bolt of electricity as it streaked towards the Kracken. The bolt exploded on impact and sprayed the immediate area with a mass of electrical discharges and bright sparks.

Vector attacked as well by whipping a sharpened sliver of metal from his body, which sung through the air like a paper-thin throwing knife, ready to sink into the hide of the Kraken's body. After the two SPs attacked, they started to watch the tentacles carefully in an attempt to keep themselves ahead of the creature, and avoid any tentacles that attempted to come down on them. Aera definitely tried to give the tentacles a wide berth, because she had already seen the amount of slime dripping from them, and one big smack could cause slime to spray everywhere.

Mach was at a pretty decent altitude, but he didn't want to underestimate the reach of the creature's tentacles, and watched carefully for any sort of counterattacks. If the creature did attempt to swat him away or shoot him down, he would simply adjust the gravity direction using his engines, and he would literally fall out of the way with minimal effort.

Mach started to gain altitude and constantly shifted directions in an attempt to keep himself out of the path of the flailing tentacles. He smoothly and silently juked and jived around in the air, but then he suddenly started to accelerate to the right. He looked down in confusion, since this was an non-commanded flight action. Mach then heard Mazer's voice chime in his ear.

[Woah, this is odd... I the anti-grav program coughed something fierce. Hang on while I stabilize it.]

Make it quick, Mazer. I don't want to change directions again and fly straight into the enemy.

Almost on queue, his anti-gravity engines changed their field polarities to point the gravitational force skyward, causing Mach to rocket into the air with hair-raising speed. He looked back to see the Strass shrinking from view, but the polarity switched again, but this time at the opposite direction, and at nearly double the force. The change in direction was so great, Mach practically had the wind knocked out of him.

[Shit! It's having a meltdown! I'm gonna have to shut the whole thing off!]

Aera had peered up to see Mach's odd aerial acrobatics, and looked at him curiously before she saw him rocket straight down like a balloon being yanked downwards by a string. Mach saw the Strassavora coming closer and closer, and he kicked on small pulse thrusters on his wing assemblies in an attempt to slow his decent, or at least alter his course. He started to arc away, but the gravitational force easily overpowered whatever thrust he could muster from those small engines.

Mach closed his eyes as he saw the upper lip of the deck zoom up at him, and Aera watched in horror as Mach's body impacted the lip of the Strass's flat deck with a sickening crack. He was lucky that he didn't hit the deck straight on, but the impact was so great that it tore his right leg from his body at the mid thigh, and instantly knocked him unconscious.

Aera gasped as Vector turned towards the odd sound he just heard. He saw Aera shaking before she bolted towards the edge of the deck, arcs of electricity jumping from her footfalls as she made a dead sprint over the edge and dived after Mach. Vector was dumbfounded by the sight of Aera leaping over the edge, and instinct took over as he followed her over the edge as well.

Aera caught a glimpse of Mach's broken body as he plummeted to the sea below, but his body flashed bright cyan, as if he was logging out. Aera's vision started to blur as a bright cyan light formed around her as well. All three programs, Mach, Aera, and Vector formed back into cyan light. They then beamed up, past the Strassavora, and out of the network.

((Logged Out))