VIRUS BATTLES ON EXERCISE BIKES

Gale was fairly shocked by the enemy she found herself up against. It was a giant Robot. After seeing the display it had put on punting the boy who was presumably its owner across the net, she placed it as a decidedly angry giant robot.

Ante had been right again, Gale was far to interested in the giant robot to notice her shoes disappear when they did. "It's huge. . ." she added. Ante proceeded to tell her that they should beat it. "Um, yeah! The bigger they are the harder they fall, right?"

Gale just kept nodding as Ante and her Operator spoke. She felt a twinge of interest as Teruko mentioned that she had once been a Super Net Knight. "I've never heard of one, but it sounds cool." She did agree with Ante again, though.

"Sounds like a plan!" Gale responded, excited. "So I just need to find its weak-point while Ante distracts it." She mused. As she watched Ante take off, she couldn't help but place this new difference: Her ally was definitely not wearing shoes.

Gale wasn't sure she remembered exactly what those shoes had looked like, but she knew she would have remembered if she had been missing shoes before. She didn't know what to make of it, though, so she let it slide for now.

Meanwhile, Roxxy slotted in a chip. "Figured you might want to try out the chip you won last battle, too." She commented. As Gale nodded, she did notice that her Ally seemed to be using a chip she hadn't seen before, so she assumed it was the one she'd won in the last battle.

Not wasting any more time, she lept to action. Literally. Taking a few steps back, Gale gave herself a short running start before putting her all into jumping. She used her control of the wind to aid her a bit in her ascension, and targeted herself straight for the head of the giant enemy.

As she closed in, she prepared herself for her attack. She rubbed her hands together quickly to generate a bit of a spark to spread into the electric force she'd used for this attack. With air revolving at high speed around her fist, she pulled threw it forward and aimed herself, fist first, for the robot's head. using her control of the wind, she did her best to add a bit of punch to the punch.

The extra force had given her enough power to recoil a bit after the blow, and she used this motion, with a bit more minor aerial acrobatics, and a bit more wind, to do a little flip in the air as she pushed back. Deciding this would be her last and best chance to use her chip before gravity told her winds to mind their place, she took advantage of it.

Putting her hands out in front of her, she held them together at her center, fully outstretched. Palms flat, she quickly spread her arms apart, creating a wide line of wind in the area her hands had passed through. It blasted forward, and Gale simply hoped it would hit.

She didn't have much time to worry about it, though. Before she had even completed her arm gestures, she had begun falling. Seeing that she'd be returning to the ground soon, she curled up, grabbing her knees, and sent herself into spirals as she descended. After a short period of time, she hit the ground, landing gracefully on her feet, in her curled position.

Not quite so gracefully, she released her knees and fell back onto her backside, somewhat dizzy. She looked up to watch the giant robot, hoping to see it a good deal more beaten up now.

Turn Summary:
1. Leap to Naxinger X's Face [Movement, Aided by Airstep]
2. Breezy Bash to Naxinger X's Face [40 [color=gold]Elec[/color] dmg, Melee, B accuracy] (Metal Multiplier?)
- - - Gust [Add Knockback]
3. WideShot1 to Naxinger X [60 [color=blue]Aqua[/color] dmg, WideShot, A Accuracy]
Before the robot realized, the two opposing navis were already on with their assault against the rampaging machinery. The one-two combo from Ante's FireHit to the leg and Gale's electric punch against its head, Naxinger began to stumble away from both the push of the wind and the amount of damage it suffered. When the navis were going for the second attack, the flustered robot stretched his arm out to the side and a barrier was erected around him, blocking the next attack.

Now realizing that this won't be as easy as it was taking care of its master, the robot aligned both its arms at Ante and Gale and launched it whole like a missile. Not a rocket, a missile. Ante was able to dodge the attack just in time, but Gale, as she was still descending down from her, was wide open for the fist to crash her body whole. [-29]

Now feeling like it's in control, Naxinger stretched his arms out to the side, revealing his large yellow, X-shaped plate on his chest. The plate soon began to glow brighter and brighter till it blinded everyone who stared into it. "CHEST FLAME" As the robotic voice boomed the battlefield, the chest plate unleashed a stream of laser straight towards Ante without warning, inflicting serious damage onto the navi [-49]

Naxinger X: 210 HP [1-hit Shield] [1 Move away from Melee range]

Terrain: 100% Metal

Ante.EXE: 101 HP
Gale.EXE: 66 HP
((I should probably let you know that the variable debuff only acts against one attack))

AWARD
Ace of Spades
Ace of Hearts
Four of Diamonds
Eight of Clubs
Jack of Clubs

1 POINT AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 3
RANDOM SELECT: HAT
NO PRIZE

Ante crossed her scepter in front of herself, but it did little to fend off the burst of flames that ripped across her body. "I hadn't expected a fire attack," she admitted, shaking the ash off of her dress.

"Well, ours was stronger! That's something to be proud of," Teruko laughed. "And you and Gale appear to be mostly fine. Now it's time to really lay the smack down on him! No quarter! Get him, get him!"

"Well, remember, Gale has already utilized her electric attack and her wideshot. Her greatest damage potential is already depleted, I imagine. It may be wisest for us to fight cautiously, then attack again with the full strength of her recharged fist," the navi suggested, adopting a ready stance. "Even now my vitality is greater, so I'd better distract the robot. Gale, if you can, simply focus on staying safe until your powers have recharged!"

"Careful, Ante. Speaking of charging, this guy could be charging some super robot cannon! You never know what these robots have up their sleeves," Teruko muttered, looking the creature on her screen over and trying to discern its most "toyetic" traits. "It could have rocket hands or a V laser beam in its chest!"

"It's actually used both of those things, more or less."

"Really? I'd just seen them in some cartoons, but you're right... W-Well, watch out for its Lunar Crown Illusion or its Sword of Clairvoyance! Or its... its Death Eyes!" she suggested, pressing her hands in circles around her eyes as if to place special emphasis upon the danger imposed by the final possible attribute.

Ante chuckled quietly, then nodded. "I'll be very careful to watch for the Death Eyes, but fear not: I am not so weak that he can destroy me simply by batting his eyes," she responded.

The operator shook her head. "I don't think you're getting it. Laser beam eyes! Pew pew! Bzzzrgh!" she explained, vividly illustrating her point by extending her pointed fingers away from her eyes.

The navi laughed out loud this time. "I'll be safe, regardless of how many laser beams he uses!" she assured her operator with a confident smile, although she had perhaps lapsed back into feeling the safety afforded by her former strength, which was now lost to her. Teruko had sent her navi a shotgun, which Ante accepted gratefully and loaded into her weapon. "Prepare yourself!" she called out again, holding her right card dealer out towards the monster.

She fired a burst of chips at the monster, feeling uncertain of their power, then immediately swept her staff to fling two cards towards the creature. It seemed like it would be hard for her to miss such a large target in the first place and it hadn't done much to get out of the way of her earlier firehit assault. To end it off, she prepared for another quick movement by lifting her dress hem and tried to slap another Queen of Spades across the creature's shin.

"Hold on! Is that legal? You just used another queen of spades! How many do you have in your deck?" Teruko asked, raising one eyebrow dubiously.

Coughing, Ante dismissed the issue and prepared to get out of the way of enemy resistance.

1) Shotgun to Naxinger X [50 shot + spread]
2) Two Card to Naxinger X and NOTHING [30 shot to 2]
3) Dodge
*) Variable Debuff to Naxinger X's attack [11]
Gale was nothing if not surprised by this outcome. "This isn't just a giant robot, this is a super giant robot!" She thought, reflecting on the attacks that had been launched so far. What Teruko had suggested could very well be true, and Gale didn't really want to be hit by laser eye beams.

She nodded in agreement with Ante when she mentioned that they wouldn't be taken down so easily. She reaffirmed her will to fight. She rolled quickly backwards, springing to her feet a few feet away from where she'd landed.

Roxxy, on the other hand, agreed with Ante on other things. The enemy had a substantial amount of health, so using Gale's Breezy Bash as much as possible would be to their best advantage, especially based off the terrain advantage. She elected not to send Gale any chips, a decision the navi agreed with.

Gale couldn't, however, just let her friend take all the damage. This enemy hit hard. She decided she'd have to do her best and help Ante, while avoiding damage. In the mean time, she figures that she might as well move into range. Calling the wind to her side, she jumped into the air. In the middle of her stylish front flip she whipped her leg quickly downward, in axe-kick style, leaving a trail of air behind which went rushing towards the foe. "Hwaah!" She shouted as she performed. She figured it added a bit of showmanship and would help draw attention to herself, pulling a bit of the heat off Ante and to the spot she'd been standing in a bit before.

She stuck her landing and pulled her left arm up in front of her. Now, sitting on her forearm, was a small whirlwind ready to deflect blows. She hid herself behind it, watching the enemy and hoping she'd done enough to aid in the distraction.

Turn Summary:
1. Tumble Backwards [Dodge]
2. Front flip forward [Movement]
- - - Gust to Distract Naxinger X [Knockback]
3. Stand behind Shield of Wind [Activate Shield NCP]
((I'm keeping the buff error from last post. Why? Just cause))

The quick shotgun blast from Ante was enough to blow away the defense Naxinger had put up, opening it self wide open for some...throwing cards. Though the card was the size of a dust in comparison, it somehow managed to slip inside one of the leg joints and sever a few cables to inflict damage!

Gale also did her part as she ran up to the super robot and pushed it even further away with its wind-assisted kick. However, despite the fact that the navi was successful in pushing it away, Naxinger's blue, crystal eyes began to light up and even began to let out some futuristic sound effect along with it!

"F ATALITY VISOR "

The same robotic voice was let out from an unknown source, but it only meant that bad things were coming their way for the navi group. Soon, the robot's eyes fired lasers towards Gale, but luckily, the whirlwind placed just a few seconds ago was able to nullify the attack, scattering the lasers all over the place in a technicolor delight.

Naxinger wasn't over yet. Grabbing onto its own chest, the robot was able to pop off the X-shaped plate with ease and threw it across like a boomerang. Ante somehow managed to dodge the attack, but Gale, like last time, wasn't so fortunate and got hit smacked up by a blunt attack. [-19]

Naxinger X: 180 HP [2/1 (Ante/Gale) Move away from Melee range]

Terrain: 100% Metal

Ante.EXE: 101 HP
Gale.EXE: 47 HP
AWARD
Four of Hearts
Nine of Hearts
Two of Hearts
Six of Spades
Ten of Diamonds

0 POINT AWARDED
TOTAL POINTS: 3
RANDOM SELECT: HAT
NO PRIZE

It seemed she'd managed to do some more damage to the robot, but Ante was more concerned that Gale had taken another hit. Protecting Gale was important not only because she was capable of dealing out more damage to the robot, but also because Ante was not the kind of navi who could watch her friends be injured without feeling concern. "Are you alright? If you are feeling too tired to continue, please jack out. There is no need to put yourself through the unpleasant process of EJO for a fight that you volunteered for," she suggested.

Teruko shook her head, both because she knew Gale wouldn't accept the offer (the navi might even be offended) and because she had a suspicion that Ante wouldn't be able to finish the fight on her own. "No, Ante, we need Gale's help on this one! A robot this size isn't a workout for one," the operator exclaimed.

Ante sighed, realizing that her operator was right. "I'm sorry, Gale, I was overestimating my own strength again. I do need your help to finish this, so please, use your electric fist if you are able. I will do everything I can to provide support," she told her partner, revising her earlier sentiments.

"There you go! Now, as you saw, he did have Death Eyes. Huuuuge laser Death Eyes! We can only assume that he's going to go for another convention next, so be on the watch for beam swords, a pack that pops onto his back and lets him fly at high speeds and shoot missile barrages, or maybe-" Teruko started rambling, but Ante cut her off again.

"I'll be on my guard for anything, rest assured. But for now, I need my RageClaw and Shockwave. We've got to do everything we can to take the enemy out before it can use more of its special techniques," the navi requested, looking up at the giant metal figure and wondering to herself how much stamina it had left, or furthermore, whether they were even hurting it.

After receiving the chip data, Ante hoisted back up her scepter and formed a large, club-tip at its end. She looked at the tremendous creature and set her eyebrows sternly. After bringing up the scepter, she smashed the club head into the ground and brought up a wave of cards. The wave was large enough so that most viruses would be engulfed if it hit, but she wondered if it would even scratch their tremendous opponent as it went towards his feet.

Ante next exchanged the club-head for a spade, running a gloved finger delicately across the tip to test its sharpness. She realized that piercing the creature's metal flesh would likely be difficult, but it was her only option for dealing more damage. She moved forward, but saw that it would be difficult to get close-in without being counter attacked at her current speed. "Gale! Use your wind powers to draw the creature in towards us!" she requested, hoisting her weapon up with both hands.

After drawing back her scepter, she grunted with exertion and thrust it forward again towards the metallic surface of the creature's leg. If she got it in, she was intending to try to actually lift the creature and throw it, or at least fork it over onto its back. She had no idea whether she'd be able to, but the pressure was sure to distract her enemy from Gale, she figured. To give herself an extra fighting chance, she pumped a couple of chips into her weapon to increase its strength.

After all, Teruko did want her to get some exercise, and she couldn't think of anything requiring more physical exertion than lifting a giant robot.

1) Shockwave to Naxinger X [50 ground]
2) Movement towards Naxinger X
*) Variable Buff to next attack [+11 strengthen]
3) Rageclaw to Naxinger X [31 melee + slashing], throw to nearby ground [20 + impact]
Gale gasped in surprise and pain as she was stricken down by the faceplate. The blow had been devastating for both her composure and her body. She could certainly feel the burn now. As she lay on her stomach, head in her arms, she found herself cursing her poor luck and weakness.

However she didn't wallow in self-pity for too long, as Ante felt the need to chime in. Gale felt somewhat insulted by the suggestion that she could just jack out if she didn't think she could handle this.

Choosing pride over pity she brushed herself off and got up, albeit carefully. She staggered for a moment before regaining her balance and looking away from Ante with a bit of attitude. "I'm fine." She said, crossing her arms.

Roxxy knew her Navi well enough to know that she would be able to get through this just fine. She was glad to see some spunk in her refusal of Ante's offer, and smiled at the reaction.

Suddenly Ante was apologizing and asking for her help and Gale was forced to drop any sort of insult she felt in favor of aiding her partner. "Right! Can do." She got on it without delay, rubbing her hands together as she went to gather the necessary static electricity.

With sparkling wind swirling around her hand she threw her arms out and then pulled them back to her as powerfully as she could, using the wind to attempt to draw the robot closer to herself and her ally as she had requested. Then, after pulling back, she spun forward to put as much torque as she could into her punch, hoping to hit the opponent as he flew towards them, adding that much extra to her blow.

Feeling energy welling up inside of her, she waited briefly for it to complete formation before tapping into it. Roxxy had sent her a chip, and she decided it would be in her best interest to use it. Drawing air into a focused sphere within her closed hand, she powered up her shotgun blast. After lining up her aim with the target, she opened her hand, palm out, releasing the focused air into a spread flying ahead.

Not wanting to take any more hits, Gale dived to the left, rolling upon landing. She landed crouched a bit away from where she'd started, hoping the relocation and onslaught would be enough to prevent the giant robot from taking her out.

Turn Summary:
- - -Gust [Pull Naxinger X]
1. Breezy Bash at Naxinger X [40 [color=goldenrod]elec[/color] dmg, Melee; B accuracy] (Terrain Doubled?)
2. Shotgun at Naxinger X [50 dmg, Spread(1); A Accuracy]
3. Dive and Roll [Dodge]
The combination of both the pull from Gale and the torrent of cards thrown by Ante caught the giant robot off guard for an easy hit. Still flustered by all of this, Naxinger was wide open for Gale's revenge shot straight to his metal shin, which was amplified by the terrain below and dealt a serious blow.

As its retaliation, the giant robot began to launch its missile arms at the two navis with a dead on accuracy, but it was only able to crush Ante again while Gale had luck on her side. [-40] The shotgun blast from Gale caused Naxinger to fall back to dodge the attack, but the robot couldn't react fast enough to Ante's attack and fell straight to the ground in a trembling thud.

"EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. SELF LIMITER...RELEASE"

The booming voice was once echoing through the battlefield, possibly warning the navi of their impending doom. Naxinger was quick to get on its feet, but now its eye flashed into a bloody red and let out a beastly roar. Ignoring the length of damage it received so far, the robot clenched both its hands into a fist and pounded it together in front of his chest.

"FORM: BURNING BLADE"

Its fists began to glow in a bright yellow and, as the robot stretched his arms out, a beam of laser was connected between the two fists and formed into a giant, golden broadsword on the robot's hand. As its glowing red eye stared down at the two heavily exhausted navis, Naxinger prepared itself into a certain pose before it began to swing the sword down.

"TORRIIYAAAA!!"

Out of nowhere, a giant *CLANK* was heard from behind the robot just as it was about to finish off Ante and Gale. Naxinger stopped from its track and its eyes died down to a dull black, causing the sword the simply disintegrate before it could cause any havoc.

"$%#$@^@%, that's what I get for trusting my brother's technology! Oh yea, 'This is the latest OS around, use it for your science project', he said...Argh, I should have thought this through!"

Picking up his giant wrench off the ground, the boy navi returned with bruises and dusts covering him from head to toe, out of breath from running all this time. After smacking Naxinger's feet a couple of times with his wrench, the navi turned towards Ante and Gale and sighed. "Look...Thanks for everything that you did to stop Naxinger X from going completely bananas all over the place. But could you keep this between us as a hushhush?"

Without even hearing the answers from the two, the boy navi took their hands and slipped something into in. "Keep this as a way of saying thanks...and to keep quiet, okay? Please, I beg you. Don't let anyone know about what happened with my project!"

Naxinger X: DISABLED

Terrain: 100% Metal

Ante.EXE: 61 HP
Gale.EXE: 47 HP

-BATTLE WON!-
Ante: [Attack+10] Battlechip + 700z + 6 FXP
Gale: [MagnetMissile1] Battlechip + 700z + 6 FXPAttack+10
Status: Attack UP 10, Stackable
Accuracy: S
Description: Adds 10 Damage to all hits of a selected attack chip.
Duration: Once
Element: Null

MagnetMissile1
Damage: 20 + Seeking + Pincer Attack x 2 Missiles
Accuracy: B
Description: Launches North and South magnetic homing missiles that converge on one target.
Duration: Once
Element: Elec
Special: Pincer Attack: Attacks a single chosen target from two opposing directions at the same time.
Ante smiled, seeing that the boy from earlier was alright. "I'm just happy we're still alive, although my partner has taken some injuries. I suppose I'm fine taking a reward as just compensation for our efforts," she encouraged Gale, then crossed her arms and nodded with satisfaction. "We've done a good deed by stopping that robot's rampage."

"Man, you guys almost bit it at the end though!" Teruko exclaimed. "That big fiery sword woulda cut you guys into little bits! Or burned you... What do fire swords do, cut or burn?" she asked, pressing one finger to her lip pensively.

"A valid question. I'd imagine they do both," Ante answered offhandedly, then turned to Gale. "Gale, if you don't mind my saying, it may be wise for us to jack out, recharge our strength, upgrade our most vital battle systems, then return fresh for a new fight. We might even try a new venue of combat in another net," the navi offered. She also realized that upon jacking out, her clothing would be restored, removing the risk of anything further than what had already been removed coming off.

"Huh? Well, okay, I guess. That means going to the shop though, right? I'll have to change back into my suit after we get some water," Ante's operator thought out loud.

Ante looked up in surprise, then shook her head. "My apologies, Teruko. I didn't mean to speed you out of your workout routine," she muttered.

"Naw! Don't worry about it. Besides, who's to say we can't jog to the metroline after we get some water?" Teruko replied with a grin. "We'll get you powered up in no time!" With that, the operator jacked out her navi in a beam of light and explosion of poker chips.

((Jacking out))
As the giant robot brought down a flaming sword of death upon them, Gale lapsed into a solid moment of anti-stoicism. Clenching her teeth, she threw her arms up in front of her face, prepping to take the very fatal looking blow.

That is, of course, until she heard the shout and the thunk. The moment she heard the cues that implied she'd be fine, she dropped her arms to her sides and gave an embarrassed smile.

Gale was very puzzled by the kid's attempt at bribery and fast talk, but she was more than happy to do both. The "science project" seemed to be under his control and nobody had even died. She had, however, gone through a lot of trouble dealing with the thing, so the reward was appreciated.

"Nice loot." Roxxy chimed in over their link. "Does it make up for that scare the science project gave you?"

Gale rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at this comment. "I wasn't scared. In my opinion it's a better move to take an attack with your arms than your face. That's all."

Roxxy smiled, but Gale quickly jumped into Ante's conversation before the interaction could go any further. "Sure, getting some upgrades could be fun." Gale couldn't help but remember some of her old favorite tricks, as Ante mentioned increasing their strength.

Roxxy had no issues with this, so the two jacked out in order to go shopping, before continuing their busting with Ante and Teruko elsewhere.

[Jack Out]