Ocean-side adventures

Instead of trudging through the water like Captain Bugbeard, the three rather effortlessly floated over the surface and landed into the quite accommodating vessel. Bugbeard then clambered into the boat and started her up, and then made a rapid dash seaward. The trio managed to keep their balance inside the dingy as they cruised over the water. They scanned the horizon to see if they could spot the Strassavora Bugbeard mentioned, but it was nowhere in sight. Then the captain started to make his announcement, and the trio felt the craft lift off the water and into the sky at a rather rapid pace. Aera squinted from the sudden rush of wind that almost caused the skirt around her waist to come undone, while Mach and Vector looked upward.

It was then that they finally saw the ship Bugbeard was talking about. Mach's eyes widened as he saw the rather massive ship just hovering in the air as if it were floating. It was much larger than the battleship he fought before. The trio watched in wonder as they maneuvered under the massive vessel and entered via doors in the ship's hull. The dingy was securely fixed in place, and Bugbeard hopped off before beckoning that they followed.

You have quite a grand vessel, Bugbeard.

The trio departed the dingy and onto the "dock" surrounding the vessel they arrived in. Aera was quite speechless, and Vector was quiet as usual.

((Bump))

"Aye, the Strassavora's a good ship, she is." As the quartet walk along, Bugbeard runs his hand along one of the metallic walls of the ship. "She wasn' always this big, ye know? She started out as just a wee dingy, no bigger than the skiff we rode in on. An' tha' was when we put 'er together. When we first found 'er, she was a wreck. A prototype of an aircraft program, least thas' what Glock thought. Me and me crew-- just the three of us back then-- we fixed 'er up and went flyin'." With that, Bugbeard pats the wall he had been running his hand along, then walks over to the set of double-doors the group came to. He hits a switch just to the left of the doors with the palm of his hand, and they open.

Bugbeard himself walks inside the elevator, beckoning for the rest of the group to follow him. Once all are inside, they immediately notice a distinct lack of buttons, or any other controls for that matter. "Oy, Strass'!" Bugbeard shouts instead, head cocked upward. "Ta the deck!"

With that, there's a subtle shift as the elevator begins to ascend, and the light, mechanical whirr of machinery can be heard through the walls of the small car. "Ye see," Bugbeard continues, "Strass' was somethin' unique. Always 'as been. We didn' realize it 'til the point Poll got himself one of those support progs, like those two ye be keepin' in yer crew, but Strass' was more than just a wee dingy. She ran on bugfrags. An' she'd been starved up until we started feedin' er."

Bugbeard leaned against the wall of the cabin with a sigh. "Aye, those were tha' days. Just me, Glock, Poll, and Strass, small as she were." It's a bit hard to tell through the blue-tinged beard, but he seemed to be smiling.

The elevator chose that moment to come to a stop.

"Well then, are ye ready to meet me crew?" Bugbeard asked, nodding toward the doors.

--------------

As the quartet walked across the sleek surface of the metal deck, its' smooth surface almost seeming like liquid metal to the eye, Bugbeard introduced his crew as they passed each member.

As the group walked by a small stack of crates, they noticed a sailor lounging on top of them. "Aye, that one o'er thar is Glock, me first mate." Bugbeard said, pointing at the navi and introducing him all at once.

Glock was dressed a lot lighter than Bugbeard himself, given that he wore a simple pair of slacks and a white T-shirt with a black skull-and-crossbones pattern stamped on the back. Glock's weapon was rather immediately obvious as well; it was a small pistol, oddly nowhere similar to his namesake, that hung in a holster strapped to his waist. For shoes, Glock wore a pair of long leather boots that came up to about his ankles. Glock himself was rather tan, and his striking blue eyes contrasted well with his jet-black hair-- which he kept tied back into a ponytail. The navi leaned forward from the crate he was sitting on and waved towards the passing group. "Some new arrivals, Captain?" Glock asked.

"Not this time, Glock. Jus' some passers who agreed ta help us with our wee little Kraken problem." Bugbeard said, nodding at his first mate. "As ye were, then."

"No problem." Glock replied, yawning and leaning back. It was hard to tell if he was a layabout all the time, or if they had just caught him at a tired moment...

As the trek across the length of the ship's deck continued, the trio came to one of the six mounted cannons; two people seemed to be working on it, as a panel had been unscrewed from a side, revealing some complex wiring. The cannon itself was noteworthy for being a lot bigger than it looked on the way in; the thing was at least twice Machman's height, if not more. "We've tried hitting tha Kraken with Strass' main cannons when tha bilge-rat shows up, but 'e keeps smackin' away the cannonballs 'efore they hit 'im! It's been a wee bit frustratin' fer Wria an' Gratto, thas' for sure."

Bugbeard whistled loudly at that, then called out to the two figures with their heads buried in the inner mechanisms of the cannon. "Oy! Wria! Gratto!"

There was a loud, resounding clang as one of the two pulled his head free and looked over. "Ahoy, captain!" the man called, a socket wrench in his hand.

"Ahoy, Gratto!" Bugbeard called back. Gratto was a bit shorter than Glock, Machman immediately noticed, and he was a lot shorter than Bugbeard. The navi was dressed in a set of overalls and a pair of tight-fitting rubber gloves, with a do-rag tied on his head, obscuring his hair entirely. His sharp, green eyes fit him and his job well, although the grease blots dotted across his skin were a better indicator.

The navi Machman assumed was Wria popped out immediately after that, rubbing the top of her head. Her hair, brown and kind of fluffy, was nonetheless tied back into a tight bun, and her outfit-- her outfit was quite different from Gratto's. Where Gratto had more the look of a mechanic, Wria looked more like the type to enjoy firing the gun. She wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a cannon design on the front, and a pair of jean shorts. Instead of a pair of boots, like Glock wore, she instead seemed to prefer a pair of tennis shoes. "Sorry for the delay, Captain..." She grumbled, rubbing her head. "Ah, are these friends of yours?" she asked.

Bugbeard responded with a hearty chuckle. "If'n we manage ta drive off th' Kraken, then they're me best friends! But otherwise, they be just pals." Gratto nodded at this, and simply turned back to his work. Wria seemed about to do the same when Bugbeard spoke up again. "Say, Wria, have ye seen Resart around?"

Wria looked a bit puzzled at this. "Not really, captain. He's probably down in the engine room again with Quava."

"Bah!" Bugbeard exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "Fer a lookout, he sure spends a lot more time down in tha' engine room than 'e should!" Bugbeard continued walking at that, and eventually the group came to the bow of the ship. "Well, seein' as how the rest of me crew is either below decks or absent from their posts..." Bugbeard said, glaring at no-one in particular, "I s'pose that'll conclude this leg o' the interductions."

"So!" Bugbeard said, clapping his hands together. "Any questions so far?"

The trio tried to keep up with the captain, which normally wouldn't be difficult at all if they weren't looking around the ship in a mix of amazement and awe. Mach was particularly interested in how the Strassavora seemed to run entirely on bugfrags. He started to get lingering ideas that this ship is more than meets the eye, and it was strengthened by the voice-commanded elevator.
{Are we standing inside a massive Support Program?}

The elevator stopped and the light poured in as they walked out onto the shimmering deck of the massive airship.
Wow...

The trio continued to follow the captain as he introduced his first mate, a mechanic, and a gunner. The trio were particularly impressed with the size of the cannons affixed to the Strassavora's deck, but the apparent ineffectiveness against the "Kraken" was a bit worrisome. The trio nodded, waved, and gave quick introductions as the captain moved along, before talking with what appeared to be a female gunner before he turned back to the trio.

Well, Captain, I would like to learn as much as I can about this Kraken. The more I know about your enemy, the more helpful we may be. Any sort of visual or tactical data would be greatly appreciated, Captain.

"Hm... Visual er Tactical, eh..." Bugbeard stroked his namesake, deep in thought. "Ah, I think I've got ye covered. Follow me, Laddie." With that, Bugbeard turned and walked off towards the Captain's Quarters-- or Bugbeard's, in other words. The group walked back across the deck, past the crew again, and then ascended a flight of stairs to the ship's wheel, which Bugbeard and the group passed on the way to his quarters.

Bugbeard turned the handle on the door, and then pushed the lavishly-decorated double-doors open with the palms of his hands. The longcoat-clad navi walked inside, thick boots making a dull thud every time they made contact with the wooden floorboards, and made his way over to a large desk that sat near the back windows. Once there, Bugbeard began to rummage around in the drawers.

This room was admittedly very, very different when compared with the rest of the ship; it alone possessed hardwood floors as opposed to the steel(?) ones that comprised the rest of the Strassavora, and in addition to that, it was more heavily decorated. A lush, red carpet was placed squarely in the center of the room, showing off its' intricately-woven pattern, and even without including the large oaken desk that Bugbeard was rummaging around in, the rest of the cabin's furniture all was well-made and well-kept. From the plush, comfortable-looking bed (Navis sleep?) to the pine table and cushioned chairs that sat off to the far side of the room, the place oozed class. And that was if you ignored the gigantic stained-glass window that made up the back wall of the cabin.

While in real life the place would seem very relaxing and very inviting, in the net it seemed a little... out of place. Was Bugbeard honestly so materialistic that he spent effort on making the cabin this way? Or did Machman's 'The-ship-is-an-SP' theory hold true, and the SP itself just decided to make the cabin filled with such luxury?

Either way, those questions would have to be saved for later; Bugbeard walked over with a triumphant grin gleaming through his beard, and handed a small card to Machman. Upon reading it, Machman would find a video file encoded within; the viewpoint was from the deck of the ship, and it showed footage of a very, very large squid. The thing had attacked the Strassavora by leaping from the seas below and grabbing onto the ship with a stranglehold, gripping onto and crushing the outer hull. Machman noticed that, in the video, chairs had folded out of the back of the cannons mounted on the Strassavora's deck, chairs which were currently being occupied by the crew frantically firing off shots at the Kraken... who batted away the projectiles with its' large tentacles.

As the video went on, the Strassavora's hull crumpled again, and just as it looked like it would be too much damage for the ship to take, one of the crew got a lucky shot. Right in the Kraken's eye. The beast untangled its' huge, thick tentacles from the ship at that, suction cups popping off one after the other, and dropped back into the waters below with a clearly-audible splash. The video ended with Bugbeard walking up to the video's viewpoint and presumably turning a camera off.

"The problem ain't that Strass lacks the firepower ta fend off the beastie, nah, far be it from that." Bugbeard said, pulling out his pipe. "The problem be that the cursed thing latches onto our port side-- which already puts the bastard out o' reach o' our beam cannon, mind ye-- and then blocks all our secondary cannon-fire with its' slimy, stupid tentacles." Bugbeard reached for a lighter in his pocket, then paused, putting his pipe away. "Th' same damn scenario be what keeps happenin' every damned day, like clockwork. Th' thing shows up, we fight, it nearly kills Strass, and then we get a lucky shot in an' it runs off like th' coward it is. Not that we mind-- if'n it didn't, Stass'd be long gone by now. Th' fact that it runs off be what gives us time ta repair Strass in th' first place."

Bugbeard walked over to the chair behind his desk, then sat down. "An' the worst part is, we can't even figure out wha' we did ta th' beastie!" He throws his arms up in frustration at this, then sighs. "I could understand if'n we'd accidentally killed one o' its' younglings or somesuch, but no, it just popped up, out o' the blue!" Bugbeard pauses. "Lit'rally." It is at that moment that a large, burly navi (wearing glasses, no less) bursts through the door. "Cap'n, we've got trouble!" He says, out of breath. "Viruses dead ahead!"

Bugbeard stands up at this. "C'mon then, lad. Let's take care o' business." With that, he runs off onto the deck. As Machman and crew follow, they notice several shapes off in the distance, straight ahead...

-------Battle 3, START!-------

--Them-- ((Off in front of the ship a ways)
SwordyA2-EX: 200 (Riding Fishy2-EX)
Fishy2-EX: 180 (Carrying SwordyA2-EX)
SwordyA2 A: 160 (Riding Fishy2 A)
Fishy2 A: 150 (Carrying Swordy A2 A)
SwordyA2 B: 160 (Riding Fishy2 B)
Fishy2 B: 150 (Carrying Swordy A2 B)
SwordyA2 C: 160 (Riding Fishy2 C)
Fishy2 C: 150 (Carrying Swordy A2 C)
SwordyA2 D: 160 (Riding Fishy2 D)
Fishy2 D: 150 (Carrying Swordy A2 D)

--Allies--
Strassavora: 4000
Bugbeard: 450 (Near Captain's Cabin)
Glock: 200 (Being lazy)
Poll: 320 (Near Captain's Cabin)
Gratto.SP: 80 (Near the cannons)
Wria.SP: 140 (Near the cannons)

--Party-- (Near the Captain's Cabin)
MachMan: 160 (Haste) (D-D-D-Double Decoy)
Aera.SP: 70
Vector.SP: 110

--Terrain--

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

((Mach's HP is 160))

The three quickly exited the captain's quarters and saw the group of viruses advancing on the Strassavora. Machman noticed 5 figures, but upon closer inspection, each figure appeared to be a swordy virus riding atop a fishy virus like a flying steed. With his visor materializing over his eyes, and a protective energy shield forming over his front, Mach then took off at full tilt directly towards the viruses as he transmitted commands to his SPs via wireless transmission. In the mean time, his decoys appeared at his sides, and loyally followed him into battle.
[[i]Aera, concentrate fire on the leader. Vector, provide support to Aera and the Strassavora's crew.[/i]]

Aera nodded as electricity flowed over her body.
[[i]Will do, Mach![/i]]

Vector's right arm transformed into a long, straight blade as his eye began to glow brighter. A flurry of blades flew behind Mach before they secured themselves over his protective shield.
[[i]As you wish, sire.[/i]]
[[i]Mazer, requesting RageClaw and DashAttack chips![/i]]
[On their way, Mach! Take advantage of the swordies' lack of flight, and take them down!]

Aera saw the single pair of viruses that were of a different color scheme than the others, which appeared to be the leader and its flying fishy ride. Aera pointed both of her hands out and towards the viruses ahead, while the buzzing and crackling of electricity that cascaded over her shoulders and down her arms overcame the sound of Mach's rapidly quickening footsteps. Her fingers started to glow momentarily before a trio of electrical bolts leaped from her hands and surged towards the Swordy and the Fishy it rode.

The bolts pierced the air light bright arrows before they exploded in brilliant showers of sparks and electrical discharges and loud booms followed by shockwaves that even Machman felt as he leaped over the front railing and took to the air. His decoys took off in opposite directions to harass the front line, and try to force them into a more organized, well defined group; which is much easier to strike.

The flash of electricity showed in Mach's eyes as his right hand started to become covered in a rapidly materializing glove, outfitted with a sharp claw over each finger. He quickly closed then reopened his hand, which caused the blades over each finger to slide against each other, which caused the metal claws to "sing" as he soared towards one of the swordy/fishy pairs. He eyed a different pair to spot their location before he brought his bladed hand to bear with a wide swipe towards the swordy in front of him in an attempt to swipe it from its steed and into his clutch.

He continued his rotation and only after he picked out his target one last time did he release the swordy by hurling it at one of its counterparts with the hope of casting both into the sea below. After he threw the swordy, he lowered his shoulder and rapidly advanced towards the group of viruses, which he was now in line with. He quickly broke the sound barrier as he careened through the enemy ranks in hope of damaging or removing as many swordys from their fishys as he could. He didn't slow down until he reached the left-most pair of viruses, and tried to use the Swordy as the last thing to slow him down enough for him to thrust his clawed hand down and try to sink his sharpened fingers into the hide of the fishy it rode.

If his prey was caught, he would have driven his hand up in a rising arc as his entire body would have rotated in the air as he brought the fishy up and over to then send it flying back in the opposite direction from where he came, to hopefully crash into one of its allies and further disrupt their attacks. He then saw several dark blue spear-like projectiles soar through the air and plunge into the enemy line, which were thrown by Vector; his aim was to take down the Fishys that Machman already damaged. The spears also provided a direction for the cannons on the Strassavora's deck to provide a barrage of fire.

((Two bumps removed for cleanliness))
((Please tell me if I missed anything))

Theme

As Machman takes off running towards the fight, Bugbeard and his crew charge towards the bow of the ship, and Aera begins firing off a volley of projectiles at the Swordy/Fishy duos from afar. They're small, fast targets, especially from the far end of the Strassavora's massive deck, but Aera tries her best, to some fair result; One bolt pegs the lead duo outright, smashing both with a storm of electricity, but the pair dives out of the way of the second, and the third is far off the mark; it instead smacks into a different pair behind the leader.

Machman, thankfully, is far faster than Bugbeard and his crew; while the two SPs that were near the cannons before have made it to the bow of the ship, Bugbeard and his first mate are lagging slightly behind. Machman himself leaps off the Strassavora, takes to the air along with his decoys, and reaches out for one of the Swordies as a beastly cry echoes out off to the side. As one, the Swordies that were riding the Fishy viruses disappear and reappear on the deck of the Strassavora, bypassing Machman and instead engaging Grotto and Wria. One takes a swipe at Wria, who dodges, and a second one is interrupted mid-slash by Grotto whacking it upside the head with a swing of his wrench, staggering it. A different swordy similarly tries taking a swipe at Gratto himself in revenge, but he quickly rolls out of the way. The last two Swordies-- the leader and one other-- are instead busy being harassed by one of Machman's decoys, ever quick on the draw.

Machman himself changes plans slightly, grabbing onto one of the Fishy viruses themselves rather than diving down towards the deck, and hurls it at a different one across the way. Both viruses collide violently and are sent spiraling downward towards the sea. The remaining three Fishy viruses scatter as Machman charges at them with his dashattack, and, unable to properly turn, he misses all three. Any attempts to throw one at another would be foolhardy at this point as well; they're moving too wildly to predict.

That doesn't stop Machman from catching up to one and grabbing it with the rageclaw, however. Immediately afterward a trio of spears impale the thing and delete it; Machman recognizes them as Vector's handiwork. Perhaps he was going to have trouble hitting the other two?

Machman saw as his plan totally went awry as the swordys teleported to the deck of the Strassavora, but still did some damage to the viruses and completely scattered the Fishys in the air.
{Damnit, forgot those things can teleport.}
Aera and Vector saw the Swordys on the deck and attacking the crew, and dashed forward to get into combat range. Vector's "feet" clanked sharply against the metallic deck while Aera's small wing thrusters hummed loudly as she floated a few inches over the deck. Her nearly transparent skirt flapped feverishly as she advanced to get close enough to attack accurately. A few of her shots missed before, and she didn't want that to happen again.

As soon as the SPs got closer to the Swordys, they started their second assault of lightning and metal. Aera's right arm became alight with electricity, and she focused on the slightly larger and different colored Swordy. She slowed to a stop and touched down while she swung her arm back as she aimed towards the virus. She then swung her arm up and over her head as a bright stream of electricity surged from her hand, and curled in the air like an energy whip. The bright curved bolt then snapped forward and extended towards the Swordy as her arm continued downwards and stopped, pointing at her target, essentially "cracking the whip." Vector, who was in front of her, fired a trio of spear-like slivers of metal towards the Swordys, and Aera continued her assault with a bright lightning bolt, to hopefully down a second Swordy, and possibly damage a third.

While his SPs engaged the Swordys, Machman was still in the air in front the bow of the Strassavora, amongst the Fishy viruses. Two of the fishy viruses were spiraling towards the sea below, but Mach didn't want to risk them recovering and returning to the fight. He pointed his right arm towards the pair of fishys and saw a rather peculiar weapon materialize in his grip. The weapon looked like one of those Super Splasher water guns, but it had a rather large barrel. Using the advanced targeting system in the visor, he tracked their fall and started to "lead" them by aiming slightly in front of their path. When he focused his aim on the imaginary point within the virus' path, he discharged the weapon. Instead of a bullet-like projectile, a big ball of water fired out of the barrel, then exploded like a water balloon and sprayed the area with water.

As soon as he fired his weapon, he blurred out of sight, and his decoy took his place as if he only temporarily flickered in place. The real Machman then rematerialized directly behind the largest Fishy, his right arm held back in a ready position. He then thrusted his palm forward and towards the Fishy as a torrent of water burst forth from his hand, and inundated a cone-shaped area with water. However, as soon as the water spread over the area, he quickly closed his hand, and the spray of water almost instantly solidified into jagged cone of nearly clear ice; anything caught within the spray would have been flash-frozen.

As the chunk of ice started to fall out of the sky, he turned towards the remaining Fishy as a pair of large, simple waterguns materialized in his hands. He pointed both of them outwards towards his enemies, one directly at the last Fishy, and the second at the Swordy that was attacked by Vector. It only took him a moment for him to lock on to both targets; as soon as the crosshairs solidified over both of his targets he moved his right gun to the proper position and fired a very large explosive round towards the Fishy. It left a black trail of smoke in the sky before it exploded in an intense fireball. His left gun then pointed down towards the deck of the Strassavora as if his arm was autonomous, and aimed directly towards one of the Swordys on the deck below. He had his shot, and took it. The gun went off with a loud boom and a decent amount of recoil, but Machman held steady and didn't move until the shot was away.

The bullet hit with a loud boom and a flash of red and orange, almost as a cue for the guns to disappear, and to be replaced by a large, triple barreled Vulcan beneath his right arm. A trigger assembly swung up from the support strut into his waiting hand, and the weapon started to spin up with a high-pitched whine. He picked out a second target on the Strassavora, another Swordy, and opened up with a loud roar and a hail of bullets. The shower of tracers looked like a line of sparks as they crashed down towards the Swordy. As he continued to fire, Machman started to descend and approach his final target on the Strass. Mach could only sustain a few seconds of continuous fire until his ammunition was depleted, but he still had enough firepower to deal with the last Swordy.

The Vulcan disappeared, but was replaced by a heavy iron ball that materialized in Mach's hand. He lined up his target before he threw the cannonball like a fastball, hopefully to have it shattered by the force, or at least caught off guard so the others could take it down.

Aera and Vector quickly went about helping the Strassavora's crew, with the former cracking an electrical whip and deleting one of the knights instantly. The Swordy started to execute some evasive maneuvers, but were outwitted when a surprise attack from Vector nailed two of them. A swipe of the Swordy's blade made the SPs on the bow back of a little, with Wria receiving a wound. (45) "Hrgh!" she grunted, as she backed off from the foray. As the Swordy attempted to have another swing at the support programs, Bugbeard and Poll arrived with their weapons brandished.

Fighting back the Swordy with a swing of their blades, they drove the Swordy back, and leapt back when the knights countered. "Harrr! Ye pox-faced landlubbers don' stand a chance when Bugbeard's 'round!" the captain taunted, laughing heartily at his success of evading the Swordy's attacks. Poll, on the other hand, had his escape hindered as one of his punches went off course. (30) He wasted no time in getting back to his position, however, as Aera's attacks sent back the viruses in a hurry.

Meanwhile, MachMan was dealing with the fishes up in the sky, dealing some real damage with an explosive water projectile. One of the Fishy managed to swerve out of the way just in time, but the other received the full brunt of the attack. The two other not-falling Fishy dashed at him, but were foiled when only a decoy was shredded in their wake. A blizzard hit the strongest Fishy from behind, surprising it as it tried to dodge and deleting it.

Shortly after, the falling Fishy got its act together and flanked Machman. Fortunately, his shield blocked the hit. (-1 hit) The Magnum round he blasted towards the Fishy and Swordy both missed, almost hitting their allies. "Aharrrr, watch yer aim, lad!" roared Bugbeard from down below. A triple-barreled Vulcan appeared on his arm next, which hailed upon one of the Swordy with deadly precision, deleting it instantly. "Tha's better!"

Then, moving towards the Swordy group, MachMan threw his cannonball at one of them, crushing its helmet into its.. er, skull (does it have one?) and deleting it.

((Still using old subtype abilities/rules till battle ends))

Mach's barrage wasn't as effective as intended, but only a pair of Swordy viruses remained; nothing Aera and Vector couldn't handle. Aera saw one of the ship's crew take a sword strike by one of the Swordys, and channeled some of her regenerative energies towards Wria in the form of a green bolt. Vector continued to advance to get closer to the viruses near the bow, and to be close enough to Aera to provide protection. With the medical issue at least somewhat resolved, Aera was able to shift her focus back to taking down the invading viruses in front of her.

Several waves of electricity coursed down her arms as she pointed them towards her targets: the only remaining Swordy viruses. A single bolt leaped from her right hand and surged towards the least damaged of the two with a flash of bright light and an air-rending crack. She then looked down her left arm, which aimed towards the last Swordy, and could see the sparks travel down her arm before they congregated into an elongated bolt which blasted forward like a white phosphorous tracer round. A third and final wave of electricity pulsed down her right arm again, to deliver the final blow of the one-two punch of electrical power.

While Aera unleashed her electrical fury, Machman had his own foes to worry about. His targeting visor folded back into the pylons covering his ears to recharge, so he had to rely on his eyes alone... no problem. He glared at the closest Fishy virus towards him and darted towards it at a rapidly accelerating pace before the air around him became very unstable and folded with a very loud boom. Machman seemed to blur out of sight just a split second before the sonic boom could be heard, and though it was difficult to see from the bow of the Strassavora, a shockwave of kinetic energy surged forward on Machman's original path like a nearly invisible blade.

It didn't take long for Machman to reappear, and he was now wielding a quite visible blade of his own. The green-tinged blue blade of his saber glowed brightly as he lifted it above his head before he brought it down near the Fishy he teleported to with a wide falling slash, followed up by a lightning-fast diagonal rising slash.

Vector had made it to the bow of the vessel near Aera, and a long, sharpened spear formed out of the plates making up his arm and shoulder, and he held it at the ready to dispatch any viruses that still remained active on the battlefield.

As Wria held the place where the Swordy's strike hit her, she winced at the pain. Suddenly, a green bolt flew towards her, which made her jump in surprise. Looking towards Aera, she retorted, "What do you think you're-" but was cut off by the slow feeling of pain disappearing. "Er, thanks," she corrected herself.

"Keelhaul the last of'm, boys!" roared Bugbeard as he charged towards the Swordy, sword in hand. One of the Swordy was heavily injured by his attack and turned to counterattack, but it was irrelevant as Aera's electrical blast mowed everything down to a crisp. Bugbeard stood and stared at the lightning bolts as he let out a whistle. "Nice work, lass," he commented.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Machman was doing battle with the last of the viruses. A burst of superspeed created a sonic wave that sliced through one of the Fishies and caught the other off guard. Then, a quick slice-up session later, the viruses were deleted.

With the viruses finished and scattered in the wind, Mach, Aera, and Vector started to relax a bit and gathered up the spoils. Mach noticed a glowing packet of data falling gently in the air, and he quickly moved over to catch it before he flew down to the bow of the Strassavora. In the meantime, Aera and Vector gathered up bugfrags and zenny data.
[Good work, team. How are you three feeling?]

Mazer's pop up window opened near Aera and Vector, and they both glanced up briefly as they continued to gather up the spoils.
I feel fine, Mazer.
Neither of us sustained damage, sir.

Machman touched down on the shimmering deck of the Strass amongst the viral wreakage before he calmly walked towards his SPs.
Excellent job, you two. You made it look easy.

Aera smiled warmly as Vector stood up straight, as if he were standing at attention and brimming with confidence.
Thank you, sire.

Machman started to look around, and noticed the rest of the Strassavora's crew were kind of... staring. Well, they did look rather odd, considering two of them were wearing swimsuits, and the third was a walking set of blades. Mazer saw the rest of the crew as well, before he looked over to his Navi and SPs.
[Standing out a little bit, are we? I think I have something to help with that.]

Three rings of cyan data materialized beneath the trio, and they started to travel upwards as it left changes to their appearances as they went. Both Mach and Aera's feet were covered in black leather boots with large flaps that hung down from the top of each boot, but while Mach's ended just about mid-calf, Aera's extended all the way to her mid thigh, but the boots fit loosely around her knees, allowing a full range of movement. Machman wore dark blue cloth pants with orange stripes that tucked into his boots, while Aera wore baggy white pants of a similar material, and were also tucked into her thigh boots.

Vector's metal plates started to gain a gold trim with gold rivets while the rest almost looked like wood, but retained their hardness. As the rings advanced upwards, one could see Machman's black belt, complete with Navi symbol buckle, and Aera's sash-like belt made of a combination of orange and blue material. Above that, Aera wore a frilly blouse made of the same light, fluffy material as her pants, but she also wore a dark blue corset that showed off her shapely figure. The combination of her corset and the low cut blouse caused her to show quite a bit of cleavage, but a frilly white ascot appeared around her neck and flowed over her chest.

Machman's chest was covered by a dark blue undershirt with some small, conservative white frills from the sleeves and V-neck collar, which stuck out from the black jacket he wore on top. The ring made a pass over his face, and revealed the black bandanna, showing the lower half of the "Jolly Roger," covering his face from his nose down to his chin. He had a black eyepatch over his left eye, and his orange "hair" was covered by a black leather tricorn hat, complete with orange feather.

Aera's partially curly orange hair hung down partially past her shoulders, framing her aquamarine eyes. She also had a blue bandanna in her hair, but it was so loose that it didn't do much in the way of pulling her hair back. The three rings disappeared above their heads and indicated the end of their transformation. The three looked each other over curiously, taking in their new forms. Aera looked down to see a pair of strange wheel-lock pistols holstered in her sash belt, and a rapier hanging at her side.

[What do you think?]
Machman looked down at his new appearance, before his gaze locked on Aera's face.
This .GMO is really... interesting. I don't know if we exactly blend in, but I kinda like it.
It's um... different!

Vector was also looking the two over, trying to comprehend the new appearance, but he's getting used to these rather odd occurrences, and has gone with the "go with the flow" mindset. Mazer's window then rotated slightly towards the Captain, and he spoke to him.
[Captain Bugbeard, what more could you tell us about this Kraken of yours?]

((Ready for Battle #4))

((Obligatory 3-day bump))

((Bump))

"There ain't much left ta be tellin'." Bugbeard said, shrugging. "If'n I knew more about tha' beastie, ye'd know already. Which does leave us with a wee bit of a problem then, dunnit? We've no idea what ta do 'til the beastie attacks again..."

"Hoy, cap'n!" Gratto called from from behind Bugbeard, slinging his wrench over his shoulder. "Why don't we show 'em how we do things while we wait?"

"Whaddya mean, Gratto?" Bugbeard replied, sheathing his sword. "They've already seen how we battle, so what's left?"

"They ain't seen how we plunder, cap'n!" Poll chimed in, adjusting his glasses with a thick, meaty hand. "There's probably some Netmafia transports around here somewhere, they usually frequent this area."

"Hmmm..." Bugbeard thought for a moment, stroking his long, buggy beard. "Well, I'd s'pose we need ta ask ye, Machman. Is yer crew in for an' ol'-fashioned raid?"

Raid? You mean you're thieves?

Aera looked at Bugbeard with an unsure look on her face as Vector stepped in front of her, his blade formed over his right hand. Vector glared towards Bugbeard and prepared to strike. Machman then quickly raised his arm to stop the two.
Woah now, don't jump to conclusions so quickly, you two.

Mazer's pop-up window turned back to his team.
[If they were cutthroat thieves, you would think they would be less friendly, right?]
Indeed. And targeting the NetMafia isn't exactly a fiendish endeavor.

Vector's blade slowly reformed back to his arm, and spoke.
Sire, what is the NetMafia?
They're supposed to be a group of corrupt navis, criminals, and hackers; and are the biggest threat to the NetPolice.
[From what I've read, the NetMafia is a group of crime families that carry out hacks, theft, and even navi assassinations. For the most part, they smuggle, steal, kill, and generally spread chaos and anarchy. They're bad news.]

Aera watched Mazer intently, and became quite intrigued, and slightly disgusted by the information Mazer gave.
Oh... so you fight them, Captain Bugbeard?
My apologies, sire. I was too hasty in my assumptions.

Machman lowered his arm, and reassured his team before he turned back to Bugbeard.
Sounds like fun. We'll help you out.

"Arr har har har! Let's be off then, mates! Poll! Tell Strass which way to take us." Bugbeard commanded, pointing at the burly first mate.

"Aye, sir!" Poll saluted, running off towards the ship's wheel.

Bugbeard nodded his acknowledgment, then turned to face the two SPs that had been working on the ship's weapons. "Gratto! Wria! Get that cannon fixed! I want it in perfect working order when we strike!"

"Aye-aye!" Their response came in unison, and the two moved to get back to work on the cannon.

"Arright then." Bugbeard nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "Let's go over the way me an' the crew usually run these. While I'd hate ta ruin tha' surprise by tellin' ya, I'd also hate ye going in blind."

Bugbeard pulled out a small, rolled-up map from his longcoat, then unfurled it on the deck in front of him. The paper was dirty, yellow with age and possibly the stain of the sea air, and it had black lines scrawled on it that formed a grid across its' surface. Bugbeard tapped a point on the map and muttered Strass' name, and the massive ship appeared on the map in top-down view. He tapped four other points after that, muttering in turn for each.

"Guard." A small, floating square platform appeared on the map, with a railing surrounding its' edges. Three cartoonishly-rendered heelnavis stood on the square with large, overemphasized guns which they pointed in the direction of the Strassavora. Bugbeard repeated this process twice more, tapping once farther away from the Strassavora, past the first guard, and then again farther aft. Bugbeard paused, looking up to gauge Machman, Aera, and Vector's reactions, then placed his fingertip in the middle of the map, between the three guards. "Convoy."

A large, linked train of supply cars appeared in the middle of the three guards, and their positions also changed, with the latter two pointing towards the far side of the convoy and the rear respectively. A set of large, metal chains also appeared, hooking the three Guard platforms to the convoy itself, with first two being chained to the lead car.

Overall, it looked something like this.

"Now-" Bugbeard began, before pausing as if interrupted. "What's that, Strass? ... I did not! No, I didn't! Would ye just- ju- okay, fine!" Bugbeard reached down to the map after his little argument, and pinched the representation of the Strassavora, which then shrunk. Bugbeard leaned across the map to whisper in Mach's ear. "Strass thought I showed her a wee bit bulky 'round the hull, if'n ye be gettin' what I mean."

He leaned back. "Now. The convoy's got three armed guardposts-- at least tha's what the last four we hit did, so we'll assume for reference that this one be the same. These guardposts be wee little platforms attached to the convoy itself by big, metal chains. They be kind of pulled along by the convoy, but they do float on their own. What this usually be meanin' is that if'n ye break the chain holdin' the guards ta the convoy, they get a wee bit left behind if yer gettin' me."

Bugbeard continued. "Now, if ye come from the side, the side guard and the rear guard hit ye with gunfire. If ye come from the rear, the back guard has a clear shot at ye, and then ye have to deal with the other two posts while ye go up the entire train." Bugbeard paused to glance at Machman while a smile spread across his face. "But if'n ye come from above..."

Bugbeard slapped his hand down on a corner of the map, and all of the guard platforms broke off, then were seemingly dragged away. "Ye can use Strass for cover, then leap down on 'em all at once. That just leaves the workers on the convoy itself, and there be only around 6 of those." The pirate captain leaned back for a moment, pleased with his strategy. "So what do ye think?"

The trio watched the captain give out his orders, and then examined the map Bugbeard unfurled on the deck. Machman and Vector stood next to the captain while Aera squatted down to get a closer look. They watched with a curious interest as a fairly basic graphical representation of their battlefield glowed from the map. The captain was about to explain, before he paused as if someone was talking to him. The trio didn't hear a word, yet he responded like whatever it was spoke so clearly he didn't have any difficulty understanding.
{Huh, this really must be one giant SP, and it's communicating directly to Bugbeard's programming... interesting. Very interesting indeed.}

After having a brief argument with his, er... ship, he adjusted the Strass's size and noted her being self-conscious of her width, he then started to explain the battle strategy. After looking at the different options on how to assault the convoy, Machman ran through the different strategies in his head. After a few seconds of deliberation, he made his choice.
Looks to me that assaulting the convoy from above would be our best choice, considering our exposure to their weaponry could be less than in a lateral approach. If need be, the three of us can move up and over while the Strassavora fires a barrage to soften their defenses, and cover our assault. If your cannons can reach, any attempts to disable, scatter, or destroy the guards before our assault would be preferred.

Aera spoke up as she looked down that the images
Hm... I also think we could attack from above, but I wonder how fast the Strassavora can come close along-side the convoy so some of your crew can also assist in the assault. Would it be possible for your ship to fly through the convoy's attacks and get in close without having serious damage?

Vector pointed down towards the map, particularly towards the guard towers.
If I may, I also think an aerial assault would be best, but I also think the barrage should also focus on severing the linkage between the drive vehicle and the cargo being pulled behind. That may allow us to clear out the cargo containers while the Strassavora can suppress the drive vehicle without catching us in the crossfire.

Machman nodded and responded to his SPs comments before he then turned back to the captain.
Good thinking, both of you make valid points. Well, I think we are in agreement of the aerial strike, but since you know the ship and the target much better than us, we'll leave it to you on how we shall approach this. What do you think of my SP's suggestions? Think they'll work?

((I had to do a LOT more re-statting than I thought I would; my apologies.))

"Hmm..." Bugbeard thought for a second, looking over the battle plans. "In that case, ye and me crew could take the skiffs and sneak in above 'em while Strass and I pelt 'em with some real cannonry an' dummy shots, confuse 'em real quick-like. Then once we've busted enough of a hole in their concentratin' on their duties, ye all drop in and let 'em have it."

Bugbeard grinned widely, standing up. "Aye, this oughta be workin grandly fer us. Let's go finish up the rest a' the preparations, aye?"

A short while later, Machman and the rest of the crew were astride the Strassavora's skiffs down in the cargo hold, while Bugbeard explained the plan to the rest of the crew. One or two protested at the idea of leaving Bugbeard out of the fun, but he quickly silenced those doubts when he explained what his role in the attack would be. Glock instead protested that Bugbeard was getting the easy job. That was silenced when Bugbeard threw one of his boots at him.

Machman looked over the rest of the crew as Bugbeard and Glock scuffled over the 'easy job', everyone around them laughing about it. While the crew had been making preparations, Bugbeard had explained to Machman who the rest of the crew were, and what their relationships were like. It was kind of confusing, so Bugbeard had ended up making a handy chart which cleared things up nicely. Granted, Bugbeard hadn't been the one to put in the bit between him and the Strassavora, but still.

Neratic, the medic, wasn't present. That was something that was apparent almost immediately. Bugbeard had said she would be staying behind to tend to any wounded, but... was she really going to avoid seeing them off?

Bugbeard cleared his throat, boot resting atop Glock's head on the ground. "Right then, ye have yer orders. Get to it, lads!" The crew's reply-- an 'Aye aye!' shouted all at once, was deafening enough to overpower the sound of the cargo bay doors opening below the assembled skiffs. Bugbeard turned to head off to the bridge as the skiffs launched, each one dropping from the bottom of the ship as though being birthed. The skiffs' engines roared to life after they had cleared a sufficient distance from the Strassavora, which began to move off straight ahead.

The small vessels shot skyward at a steep angle, pushing the crew back from the sudden start, and continued to ascend through the netspace. The Strassavora became a smaller and smaller image below them, its' polished metal decks reflecting the artificial sunlight, and the wind blasted the crews as their ships pushed forward.

A short while later, the cannonfire began. Glock and Bugbeard had begun the assault on the convoy, it seemed, since the former navi wasn't on any of the skiffs. The rest of the crew tensed as they gripped the edges of the boat...

"Now!"

With that shout, the entire crew jumped; Machman and company followed suit. A few of the navis seemed more comfortable with the drop than others, as if they were used to heights, while a slim few flailed about in the air with terrified looks on their faces. Poll, Machman noticed, was hanging onto Yul by the backside of his shirt. It looked like he had to drag him out of the skiff.

The distraction seemed to have worked, anyway, at least from up here; All three of the visible guard posts were firing on the Strassavora; the problem was that they just weren't well-equipped enough to whittle down the massive ship's defenses.

Then Machman noticed the Heelnavis scattered across the decks of the convoy's cars.

Machman and company watched excitedly as the assault party quickly departed from the flying skiffs on command, and plummeted through the sky. Machman's decoy drones materialized next to him and started to project perfect copies of himself, which stared towards their master and awaited command.
Alright, now the fun starts!

Mach reached out to Aera, and she took his hand with a smile. Both looked towards each other before they peered over the edge of the skiff, and jumped in unison over the edge. Vector, who was right next to them, followed suit and leapt over the edge, followed by the two decoys. With the convoy rapidly approaching, the trio got a better picture of their targets. Mach and Aera's loose clothing flapped wildly in the air and caused their fall to be much slower than Vector, until he turned his metal plates perpendicular to the wind and slowed to their speed. Mach quickly identified five HeelNavis, with two of them on the boxes stacked in the center of the car. Machman almost immediately gave out tactical orders to his SPs, and requested chips from Mazer.
[[i]Requesting Magnum, SonicBoom, Boomerang, and Counter chips. Vector, focus fire on lower left HeelNavi; and Aera attack the upper right. Shield up and wait for my mark.[/i]]

Aera raised her protective energy shield, and several of Vector's metal plates reinforced his mistress's defenses. Mazer easily flipped the chips out of his holder and slid them through the PET and uploaded the data directly to his Navi. Mach pointed down towards the third car in the convoy as a large, dual-barreled naval cannon materialized over his right arm. They appeared as if they were taken straight from a ship and welded side-by-side. Though he wore an eye patch over his eye, he could see through it as if it wasn't there, and an internal HUD provided a set of cross-hairs to assist in his aiming. His cross-hairs stopped over the first HeelNavi and the wick of the right cannon lit with a feverish hiss before the cannon went off with a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. The explosive-filled cannonball made a whistling sound as it fell to the car below and exploded in a small fireball. The white smoke spread out as Mach pierced through it and his vision cleared again and lined the second HeelNavi in his sights. The second wick was already lit from the sparks thrown from the first explosion, but the wick was long enough for him to aim correctly. The cannon went off with a second loud boom as Mach sent a non-verbal signal to both of his SPs to engage their targets.

Aera pulled one of her pistols from her belt, and aimed it towards her target before she pulled the hammer back. After she lined up the HeelNavi, she pulled the trigger with a slight click, which caused the hammer to swing down and spin a spring-loaded internal turbine. The turbine created a pulse of electricity that overloaded the capacitors lining the bottom of the pistol, which sent a discharge of electricity down the magnet-lined barrel and towards the target HeelNavi. The weapon went off with a flash of light as a white bolt of electricity hurled from the barrel. The bolt stretched from the barrel all the way to the car below like a brilliantly white rope, and Aera could give just a slight tug to send the target into the air.

Vector locked on to his own target as he brought his right arm over his chest. Two of his fingers moved towards each other and merged into what looked like a throwing knife. In a blur of metal, Vector flipped his arm forward and sent the blade straight down, which flew completely silently and with deadly intent. Mach's cannons started to fragment as they swung around his arm and stopped on the underside of his forearm. The cannons radically changed shape and split into multiple long cylinders, and a pair of rectangles protruded from the sides. The data quickly formed in place, revealing a brass-plated, 10-barreled Gatling Gun; complete with two magazines coming from the sides. The barrels started to spin and immediately started to send bullets downrange towards one of the HeelNavis on the collection of boxes. The popping noises of the barrels firing got faster and faster before it sounded like a single tone, but Mach was then completely out of ammo.

The weapon started to dematerialize as gained speed and separated from his SPs, while his Decoys also accelerated and posted at his sides. He streaked towards the boxes before he stopped nearly instantly, and only a couple inches from the boxes. His decoys landed on either side of the car, facing the HeelNavis standing on the vehicle's deck. Thanks to his manipulation of gravity fields around him, Mach's body didn't even feel the effects of the rapid deceleration, and stood facing the HeelNavi directly in front of him. With out as much as a smirk, he shifted his weight back and moved his left leg backwards to wind up. He then rotated the other direction and brought his left leg up to throw his weight into the spin, then planted his left foot and brought his right leg up as if he was delivering a spinning heel kick. However, he was much too far away for his kick to reach; good thing he never intended to kick him. The rapid spin of his kick caused his foot to break the sound barrier for just long enough for a shock wave to tear through the air and surge through the HeelNavi's position.

Mach's body continued to rotate for half a turn as his wing structures, stationary this whole time, faced directly towards the HeelNavi with their circular ring-like structures staring at him like a pair of eyes. Then, without warning, the wings themselves started to glow red, and lines of red plasma started to spread out and join with each other. Machman stopped his rotation and stared at the HeelNavi, his uncovered right eye aglow, with a glowing red "Jolly Roger" skull floating behind him. The centers of the skull's "eyes" flashed brightly before a pair of crimson beams burst forth and blasted towards the HeelNavi. Mach had positioned himself in such a way that the HeelNavi was standing directly between him and the starboard guard tower, and the force of the blast would surely send the HeelNavi flying, if he actually survived. Mach's decoys remained on the deck of the floating platform, and surged forward with cutlasses drawn as they "attacked" the HeelNavis standing on the deck with them.

He had no time to wonder if his target indeed survived the assault, he had other targets to destroy. He looked down at his right hand as an interesting weapon materialized in his grasp. He gripped the handle of a large, chevron-shaped boomerang, and took only a second to look the weapon over before he swung his arm back and identified his enemies around the stack of boxes upon which he stood. The handle was built into the side of one of the boomerang's sides, and about 2/3rds of the boomerang itself seemed to be made of a different material, or the lower third that housed the handle was one leather-wrapped "hilt" of some sort. The dark leather contrasted significantly against the almost crystalline silver metal that made up the rest of the boomerang's structure. A rather interesting design, but oddly familiar...

He swung his arm forward and released the boomerang with a flick of his wrist. The boomerang left his hand spinning very rapidly and traveled forward just slightly before it made a surprisingly sharp curve around as it dove closer to the floor. The boomerang then made a circle around Machman as it buzzed quietly, as if it was anchored to a central point with an invisible wire. In reality, the magnetic fields emanating from Mach's anti-grav engines were creating a gravity well to subtly change the trajectory of the boomerang, and keep it in a ring-like orbit through the positions of the HeelNavis standing on the deck of the car.

As the boomerang whirred by, one of the HeelNavis was attacked by a pair of knife-like blades that flew down from above, and the other became the target of a bright lightning bolt that exploded with a ball of electrical discharges. The boomerang went almost full circle before it flew back to Machman, and he snatched it out of the air with his right hand. Aera floated down to the deck of the car, while Vector touched down effortlessly and formed a curved cutlass blade out of his right arm as his eye swept over the area in search for targets. Aera had both pistols drawn and ready to fire, while Machman stood atop the boxes; the boomerang previously in his hand had fragmented before it reformed into a large, iron-clad gauntlet with leather and plate armor up to his right shoulder. Mach clenched his maritime GutFist with the sound of grinding metal, and stood prepared to take on anything that attempted to attack.