VIRUS BATTLES ON EXERCISE BIKES

"You performed well also, my friend. Do not worry; I will have no problem keeping stride," Ante assured her ally with a pleasant smile.

"No no, Ante! If Gale says it like that you've gotta pass her! Pick up your skirt and keep up with her!" Teruko urged her navi, picking up her own pace pedaling as well. "We can't let you lag behind, you know. This is for your exercise too!"

"I can't hear you over your bike," her navi muttered quietly, but seeing as her operator didn't seem to care and probably couldn't hear her anyways, she complied. Grabbing up her skirt again, she took off running after Gale so as not to be left behind.

Teruko nodded, then slowed her pace down just a little. "Remember your pacing, Ante! Exercising is 50% physical and 50% mental. You've gotta be in it to win it! When there's nobody to challenge, you challenge yourself!" she proclaimed proudly, clenching her fists tightly around the bike handlebars. Thinking about it again, she laughed and revoked her statement. "Of course, there is somebody to challenge this time, so just do that!"

((Ready for battle 3))

Ante and Gale encounted something very unusual in the form of viruses being carried around by a group of black navis. At least that's what it looked like at first. The 'navis' in question turned out to be weird black paper cut-outs. The viruses, consisting of two mushroom things and two navi-sized ears of corn, didn't seem to mind being carried by the two-dimensional beings. A pair of the black shadowy entities leading the group stopped at an empty spot on the vast metal stretch of land and activated something that warped the floor into a rolling grassy field.

The viruses were dropped onto their new home, which they seemed very happy about.

1D2A: 50 HP [grass]
1D2B: 50 HP [grass]
1D2C: 50 HP [grass]
1D2D: 50 HP [grass]
MushyA: 80 HP [grass]
MushyB: 80 HP [grass]
BombCornA: 70 HP [grass]
BombCornB: 70 HP [grass]

Terrain: 80% Grass, 20% Metal

Ante.EXE: 150 HP [metal]
Gale.EXE: 80 HP [metal]

[Battle 3 - Begin!]

Gale had been running just fine until the strange spectacle. A group of two-dimensional cut-outs ran in carrying viruses. After arriving, they tossed down the viruses, and turned a large area from metal into Grass.

Gale stuck out her heels and slid to a stop. "And not just any viruses. Wood Viruses." This wasn't very good for her. Looking over the enemies, she paused for a bit to consider the flat enemies.

"Huh, never seen those things before." She commented aloud, tilting her head. "I wonder what their deal is. I guess we'll find out soon enough." After a moment's hesitation, staring, and thinking, Gale turned from the enemies to her Ally.

Taking a quick side-step, she slid herself behind Ante. "I uh, think I'm tagging you in for role of fighter this round. I'll play support." She gave her a sharp, friendly slap on the back, and added a bit of wind-based help to scoot Ante along, towards the enemies. "Good Luck!"

After that, she set to work supporting. A fancy back handspring placed some extra distance between her and the enemies: Gale's attempt to throw off the aim on anyone trying to pin her with a hit. When nothing appeared immediately, she decided to make some chip requests herself. "Something Ranged, please. And, uh, the Guard." She asked. She dropped to one knee, held one arm out, and steadied that arm with her opposite one. After just enough time to roll her eyes, she found herself in control of the chips she had requested.

Drawing in wind to her hand, she lined up her knuckles with the giant Corn-stalks and opened her fist, releasing a burst of air. As the air went flying down the field, Gale's hand shot into the air in recoil, but she was able to remain in kneeling position.

She quickly brought it back down in front of her, as a shield formed on the outside of her off hand. She positioned the yellow disc in front of her body in order to shield herself from any sort of barrage of enemy attacks.

"Stupid wood viruses. Stupid grass. We're in Electown, not Woodtown. I shouldn't have to deal with this." Gale complained in her head as she sat behind her defenses.

Turn Summary:
- - -Gust to Push Ante towards the enemies
1. Back Handspring [Dodge]
2. Shotgun at BombCornA, BombCornB [50 dmg, Spread(1), A accuracy]
3. Guard1 [1 Hit Shield, Chance to Reflect up to 60 damage, Piercing, Line, S accuracy]

Ante gave a sigh of relief as whatever random system decided her strip sequence failed again in its function. She was only half-listening to her partner describe the change-up for this battle. "Sure, I would be happy to take on the role as front fighter-" she answered automatically, before being suddenly blown in towards the enemies.

Seeing that the situation had sped along quickly, Teruko hurriedly slotted in chips for her navi. "Boy, you're going right into them! That's the spirit! You'll get your exercise in faster if you do it that way!" she laughed heartily, approving of Ante's apparent haste to get into battle.

Ante was not upset, but was somewhat concerned as to whether Teruko had given her chips proper for finishing off her enemies at close range. Thankfully, it appeared that she had; Ante equipped her rageclaw, aiming her spade-headed scepter at the opponents as she approached. "This situation is easy to adapt to," she muttered to herself in support, bringing the spearhead towards the corn enemy and attempting to fling it into its own ally.

Once she'd finished with that, she realized that the mushroom viruses were likely to be a threat if nobody dealt with them. She realized that Gale was an elec-elemental navi and that such viruses could do considerable harm to her (although she'd yet to solve the mystery as to why the forces of nature were particularly dangerous to electrically oriented navis).

She armed her scepter, then flung it horizontally to release two matching-numbered cards towards them. After plunging in more poker chips to her dealers, she then pulled the lever and released a spreadshot of chips to try to finish off the mushroom viruses. "I doubt they're all finished, but hopefully that will draw aggression from Gale," she told her operator.

"Maybe," Teruko answered noncommittally. "I don't think these guys stand a chance regardless!"

1) Rageclaw to BombCornA into B [20 slashing to both]
2) One Pair to MushieA and MushieB [30 shot attack, 2 targets]
*Variable Buff [+10 buff to next attack]
3) Shotgun to MushieA and B [60 shot attack + spread]

Gale tossed Ante into the fray and fired a Shotgun at the Bombcorns, striking both with the single attack (50) (50). Ante caught up to the viruses and finished the pair off by flinging them into each other (20) (20). The silhouettes were alarmed now that their 'crop' was in danger. They leapt high in the air to try and body slam the navis. Gale's guard obscured her view and she was taken by surprise by a falling navi-shaped flap (15). Ante was too busy attacking the Mushys to notice her assailants and was slammed by one of the 1D2s as well (15). The two others missed their mark and landed beside each of the navis with heavy impacts. Ante hit the Mushys with her Two-Pair (30) (30) and drew their attention towards herself. One of them teleported up to her and began to shake loose a cloud of spores but was deleted by a Shotgun before it could finish its attack (60). The other one stayed more or less where it was, shuffling back and forth.

1D2A: 50 HP [metal] [beside Gale]
1D2B: 50 HP [metal] [beside Gale]
1D2C: 50 HP [grass] [beside Ante]
1D2D: 50 HP [grass] [beside Ante]
MushyA: 50 HP [grass] [beside Ante]
MushyB: DELETED
BombCornA: DELETED
BombCornB: DELETED

Terrain: 80% Grass, 20% Metal

Ante.EXE: 135 HP [grass] [Rageclaw: 5 uses]
Gale.EXE: 65 HP [metal] [Guard]

Gale found herself under assault, so she sprung back into action. She lept to her feet, and spun around to face one of the two 1D2s that was now surrounding her. Once she had him in front of her, she spun her lower body about 45 degrees. Rubbing one foot against the other one, she gathered electrically charged wind around one of her feet.

She spun her body back forward adding a little extra strength to the kick she had aimed at the enemy's side. The electricity arced, powered up by the metallic ground that supported both Gale and her target.

Once she'd shot off the kick she spun, keeping her shielded arm ahead of her. Roxxy was paying more attention this time, it seemed, as Gale found herself with a tool to use. Activating the chip, she found wind shooting around her hand, forming a few blades of wind above her knuckles. With her free arm, the one not occupied by a shield, she made her best attempt to sucker punch the other 1D2, scoop him up, and chuck him into the air.

Once that attack had been launched, she swung her arm through the air, across her body, sending a gust of air through the air. She targeted it at the 1D2 she'd just hit, making her best effort to shove him into his allies over on the grass.

She called out to her ally. "Ante, you can do it! I'll leave the rest to you!" She knew her ally had at least one more Multi-target chip, so she could only assume she'd use it to deal with the line she'd tried to form.

Battle Summary:
1. Breezy Bash at 1D2A [40 [color=orange]Elec[/color] dmg; melee, B accuracy (x2 due to terrain)]
2. RageClaw1 at 1D2B [20 dmg, Impact, Throw; B accuracy]
- - -Gust [Knock 1D2B into 1D2C and 1D2D, to line them up]
3. Cheer on Ante!

Ante fell back after the 1D2 body slammed her, surprised at the force that its paper-thin body carried. "One should never underestimate the abilities of an unknown opponent... That was an error on my part," she admitted, thankful that the damage wasn't worse than it was. "I just hope that Gale is okay."

Luckily, it seemed by Gale's quick movements that the damage wasn't anything terribly serious. Still, her ally seemed to be counting on her and helping her line up a shot. Ante nodded receptively, turning her attention to Teruko and briefly wondering to herself what the strange contraption her operator had set into could possibly be. "Excuse me, I'll need the rest of my arsanel... both the cannon and the shockwave," she specified, summoning to memory her full selection of chips.

Teruko slotted through the chip with a little difficulty, unwilling to give up her exercise to do so. "I'm feeling the burn too, ahaha!" she assured her navi with a grin as her face reddened in exertion.

Ante's lips curled into an entertained smile, but then quickly reset into their ordinary stoic frown. The navi decided that her first priority would be taking care of the remaining mushroom, and thus pumped up her right arm's dealer with another stock of chips. Turning to face it while trying to ignore the flapping paper man in close range, she released the weapon in the mushroom's direction. She then wasted no time in moving to line up her shot as well as she could.

Grunting, she raised her scepter above her head, transforming its head from spade to club in mid-swing. She then brought it down hard upon the ground, bringing up a torrent of playing cards that exploded across the ground and spread through the air, accenting the force of her strike.

*Variable Buff [+10 buff to next attack]
1) Cannon to MushieA [50 shot attack + knockback]
2) Move to better line up wave
3) Shockwave to 1D2 group [40 ground + line attack]

The tackle Gale had made towards the cutout beside her shredded through one with ease, and the cutouts flying about at him flopped around uselessly with utter disregard for courtesy. The attempted throw later on failed, however, her gust of wind did not, helping to line up the viruses. A Cannon shot from Ante towards the remaining Mushy deleted it decisively, leaving the cutouts to fight. After Ante loaded up the Shockwave, they tried jumping at her to stop her attack, and one did succeed (15) but was pushed away when the scepter Ante wielded whacked it away and damaged it. One of the enemies managed to jump of the way of the Shockwave, but the other two were not as fortunate.

1D2A: DELETED
1D2B: 10 HP [metal] [beside Gale]
1D2C: 50 HP [grass] [beside Ante]
1D2D: 10 HP [grass] [beside Ante]
MushyA: DELETED
MushyB: DELETED
BombCornA: DELETED
BombCornB: DELETED

Terrain: 80% Grass, 20% Metal

Ante.EXE: 120 HP [grass] [Rageclaw: 5 uses]
Gale.EXE: 65 HP [metal] [Guard] [Rageclaw: 5 uses]

Gale found that her plan was working alright so far. Of course, Ante hadn't finished them off like she'd hoped, but that was ok. "That's alright. Lets keep it up, Ante!" She decided to keep it up. With all the wooden viruses gone, and the three remaining enemies on the ropes, Gale decided it would be safe enough to head in to support Ante up close and personal.

She pushed her head down and rushed towards the enemies, with the shield ahead of her and her wind-blade sporting knuckles dragging behind her. Upon getting closer, she slid to a halt on the grassy terrain. She shuddered a bit at the feeling of the dirt. "This would be better if I wasn't in battle and could enjoy this more."

She turned to the best looking enemy and brought her fist back. She swung it by him, hoping to use the wind claws to tear the two dimensional enemy in two. With a little help from the wind, she shoved the baddy towards Ante with her shield before turning to the remaining ones.

With a swift scoop, she tried chucking one of the remaining baddies at the other. She hopped back and grinned, holding the shield in front of her body once again. She watched her ally, and hoped Ante would finish it off.

Turn Summary:
1. Close in on enemies [Movement]
2. Rageclaw1 1D2C [40 dmg, melee, slashing, B accuracy]
- - -Gust [Knock 1D2C to Ante]
3. Rageclaw1 1D2B @ 1D2D [20 dmg, melee, impact, B accuracy]

Ante was surprised that the paper men could generate such force simply with the momentum of their own thin bodies. Fixing her hat back on her head, she frowned in their direction. "My reaction time is so sluggish... it's a little embarrassing," she sighed, tapping her scepter against the ground idly.

"C'mooon, Ante, don't let up! If the enemy gives you a smack, you just gotta smack em' back!" Teruko cheered her navi on. "You've still got your rageclaw, so just stick it to em!"

The navi nodded, bringing her scepter to bear like a lance, holding it tightly in both hands. Earlier her weapon had been made into something like a pitchfork, but now she'd need to duplicate that function almost exactly, tossing the enemies around like loads into a pile. It occurred to her that the analogy would be a little more apt if the creatures had any substance to them, but with their paper bodies, her weapon might just tear them into pieces instead. Regardless, the outcome of destroying them would be the same, she figured.

Luckily the enemies were keeping within melee range, at least. With several thrusts of her scepter, she attempted to jab into the enemies and throw them all about, grunting under the exertion as one might while shoveling hay. It wasn't that doing it was terribly difficult, but doing it quickly was a bit of a pain. "I'm really starting to miss my old strength," she sighed sadly.

"Ha ha! Cheer up, Ante! You and Gale might not be able to bust together if you hadn't lost your power, right?" her operator laughed in a goodnatured way, although she was also puffing with similar exertion. Maintaining leg exercises while busting is no easy feat.

"You're right... That's a good point," Ante admitted with a smile. As a final action, she reached into her dealer and pulled out a black Queen of Spades card, then turned back to one of the 1D2s and dealt it out as a preventative measure. The card was something of a positive result of the bugs put into her; a simple nick of its tip would lower the enemy's offensive capabilities.

1) Rageclaw to 1D2C into D [20 melee attack to both + impact]
2) Rageclaw to 1D2C into D [20 melee attack to both + impact]
3) Rageclaw to 1D2C into B [20 melee attack to both + impact]
* Variable Debuff to 1D2C [damage -10 to one attack]

...So much rage.

1D2A: DELETED
1D2B: DELETED
1D2C: DELETED
1D2D: DELETED
MushyA: DELETED
MushyB: DELETED
BombCornA: DELETED
BombCornB: DELETED

Terrain: 80% Grass, 20% Metal

Ante.EXE: 120 HP [grass] [Rageclaw: 5 uses]
Gale.EXE: 65 HP [metal] [Guard] [Rageclaw: 5 uses]

[Battle 3 - Victory!]

Ante Get: 500z + 2 FXP
Gale Get: 500z + 2 FXP

Gale dismissed her chips after watching the viruses die in some form.

"Well, that was . . . fun." Gale commented. It hadn't been quite as exciting as some battles, but it was a battle, so it was at the very least exciting. In order to supplement a little more of her own excitement, Gale decided to strike up some idle conversation with her ally after sending her rewards up.

Something had occurred to her a while ago and she decided to address it. "Ante always picks up her dress when she dodges." She thought. She couldn't help but wonder how practical this is.

"Ante, I like your style. You can battle so well and look so high class doing it. Your dress and your hat and everything: it all makes you look very lady like." She started. "It's so much fancier than my outfit." Gale's clothing was fairly simple, and this flavored the intonation of that last sentence.

"But being a battling Navi, do you ever wish you were wearing. . . I dunno, less clothing?" It seemed like a fair question to Gale. "I mean, she has that dress and the bodysuit and the big hat and the corset. She'd probably be more mobile with just her bodysuit."

Gale thought about it for a moment, and decided to cover her tracks a little. "Not that what you have isn't great. It's really pretty." Gale smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head for a moment.

After waiting for a response, she figured they'd probably look for another battle, but for now she decided to just take a back seat.

Ante released the tension in her body, lowering her scepter's head back onto the ground with a thunk and sighing. "Another step towards recovering my strength... And an eye-opener. I need to remember that while these enemies may appear weak, I'm not at the level that I can afford to ignore them," she reminded herself.

The navi was surprised as Gale addressed her so directly about her choice of clothing, but flattered by the compliment. Smiling in a reminiscent way, she turned her eyes to Gale. "Well, there was a time when I was a much more adept fighter... So adept that I barely needed to move when I fought. I suppose that's the reason," she answered. As Gale continued, however, the coincidence of mentioning less clothing hit Ante and she couldn't suppress the urge to giggle. "Hmhm.." she laughed coyly into one hand. "Less clothing you say? I wonder when I should tell you..." she continued enigmatically, but still didn't feel up to explaining the whole situation to her ally.

"You really should tell her some time, Ante," Teruko whispered into her PET, creating a kind of disorienting mechanical whistle in Ante's ears. "It's just going to get more awkward."

Ante realized that this could very easily be the case, but continued smiling. "At any rate, thank you for the compliment. Your clothes suit you very well, perhaps better than mine do me. About my own clothes and why I don't just get a more functional skirt, though... Well, I'll ask you: Did you happen to notice...?" she muttered, slowly raising her hand. Unfortunately, Ante was long-winded and liked to take things slow. This would work against her as the HOSTILE FORCES OF THE NET interrupted her once again.

((Ready for battle 4))

Ante and Gale's little walk brought them to a two-colored strip of roadway, with one side being made of metal, and the other of glowing solar panels. They were both walking on either side of it and talking, with Ante ready to divulge her little 'problem', when a little head popped up from the ground near Gale. She managed to spot it and avoid its brandished shovel before it disappeared back into the ground. A look around them revealed that the little head was not alone; they were surrounded by a host of viruses. To their left, the little head popped out of the ground with a fellow ally and a Powie. On the road behind them, another Powie accompanied two Champus. In front of them, a strange ball of electricity hovered near a googly-eyed Lark.

-- ENEMIES --
Momogra A: 60 HP [Normal, left]
Momogra B: 60 HP [Normal, left]
Powie A: 60 HP [Normal, left]
Powie B: 60 HP [Metal, behind]
Champu A: 60 HP [Metal, behind]
Champu B: 60 HP [Solar, behind]
Eleball: 80 HP [Solar, front]
Lark: 100 HP [Metal, front]

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 120 HP [metal, left]
Gale.EXE: 65 HP [solar, right]

-- TERRAIN --
30% Solar (Strip running through the middle)
30% Metal (Strip running parallel to the other)
40% Normal (Everywhere else)

-- BATTLE 04, READY? START!! --

Cut short, Ante looked around her to see the multitude of viruses that had suddenly appeared. Her eyebrows set sternly and she sighed with annoyance. "These interruptions are becoming a nuisance," she murmured, hoisting her scepter back up from its idle positions.

"Hey, don't forget that we're out here to get stronger! The more of these little guys we find, the better!" Teruko laughed cheerfully. "Rather, you should accept their challenge with a smile and get ready to use some chips!"

Ante had a hard time smiling into the strange, beady-eyed faces of the viruses. She understood that some girls out there found the forms of viruses "cute." That had never been the case to her; to her, their very function made it hard to see anything likable in them. With her former strength she could easily brush them aside without thinking about them, but now that they were staring at her with their doofy faces... To her, it was almost like they were pleased for the chance at revenge. She cringed momentarily, then brought her staff to bear. "Teruko, I would appreciate it if you could slot me in my cannon chip. I think it's best if I try to kill that electric ball before it has a chance to injure us," she requested quietly.

Teruko complied, but knit her eyebrows curiously. "You've got a weird look on your face, like something's creeping you out. Are you okay?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Everything's fine," Ante responded with a small nod, confirming that she'd received the chips. After pumping her dealers up with an added payload of chips, she pulled the lever with a swift motion and released the stored pile towards the eleball virus. Without hesitating, she lifted her staff with both arms, then swung it in a wide arc, twisting her body to cover a 180 arc and releasing two cards like spinning blades.

Grabbing up the hem of her dress, she prepared to dodge again. She smiled with a faint chuckle as she remembered Gale's words to her earlier. "Perhaps it's inefficient, but I do like this dress," she thought to herself, then quickly put her mind back onto the battle. It wouldn't do to be hit while being absorbed in such ridiculous musing.

*) Variable Buff to next attack (Strengthen +10)
1) Cannon to Eleball [50 shot attack + knockback]
2) One Pair to Eleball and ChampuA [30 shot attack to both]
3) Dodge

Gale slid to a stop when she noticed the impressive number of enemies that had appeared before her. Of course, once again Ante had been cut off by the battle. Her somewhat long winded manner of getting to points seemed to end with her failing to get to those points a lot.

"At least this time we don't have grass or Wood enemies." She mused, with a shrug. As she glanced around, she noticed the enemies again. There still were a lot. There was also the terrain. It was far better for her than that the last battle had given her. She had seen an awful lot of roads since getting onto this net.

"Gale, step it up! Ante's way ahead of you." Roxxy chastised. Gale snapped back into focus and nodded. "Right!" She found herself in possession of a chip, but was more interested in using a Signature Attack.

She headed after the Lark. It seemed the most vulnerable, being elementally weak and on elementally strong terrain. Running at full speed she stopped when she figured she was close enough.

She twisted her hips as her leg shot into the air, coming almost straight up in front of her. On her way up she dragged it across the floor and her other foot, generating electricity in the wind she circled around the foot. She brought the foot down at high speed, hoping to land her heel on the enemy. Electricity arced out from the floor and her foot, and she could only hope it would work.

After her foot returned to the ground, she took a small hop back and activated the chip she had been sent. Once again she found herself bracing behind a yellow shield, waiting for retaliation.

Turn Summary:
1. Movement [Close in on Lark on metal]
2. Breezy Bash [40 [color=gold]Elec[/color] damage; melee; B accuracy (Doubled and tripled?]
3. Guard1 [1 Hit Shield, Chance to Reflect up to 60 damage, Piercing, Line, S accuracy]

((Bump))

Focusing her fire on the Eleball was fruitful for Ante, as she instantly deleted it, comboing it with a hit on the Champu behind them. Meanwhile, Gale dashed up to the Lark in front of them and took it out with a nice electrified foot to its face. It was then that the viruses started relegating tasks to defeat the individual Navis. The Momogra and one of the Powie went for Gale, while the Champu and the other Powie went for Ante.

Holding up the Guard proved to be utterly useless for Gale as one of the Momogra appeared behind her and whacked her sideways from the back. (15) Luckily, this bashing allowed her to stumble out of the way of the attacks of the other Momogra and the Powie, which cracked the floor where she was. At the end, she managed to heal off the attack thanks to the Solar terrain, leaving her no worse for wear than she originally was.

Meanwhile, Ante fared a little better, dodging away from the Champus' fierce punches. However, she was a bit too distracted from focusing on the fighters that she didn't notice the Powie hovering over her head, which smashed down on her painfully. (20)

-- ENEMIES --
Momogra A: 60 HP [Solar, behind Gale]
Momogra B: 60 HP [Solar, behind Gale]
Powie A: 60 HP [Normal, near Gale]
Powie B: 60 HP [Metal, behind Ante]
Champu A: 30 HP [Metal, in front of Ante]
Champu B: 60 HP [Metal, in front of Ante]
Eleball: DELETED
Lark: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 100 HP [metal, left]
Gale.EXE: 65 HP [solar, right] (Guard1)

-- TERRAIN --
25% Solar (Strip running through the middle)
5% Cracked (Where PowieA was)
30% Metal (Strip running parallel to the other)
40% Normal (Everywhere else)

"Uff!" Ante grunted, going down underneath the Powie with an uncharacteristic lack of grace. Crawling out from under it, she paused to pick up her hat and reposition it on her head, then grabbed up her scepter. She coughed into one hand, then readopted her usual elegant gravity. "I suppose I should pay more attention," she muttered, closing her eyes and blushing slightly.

Teruko fought back the urge to laugh at her injured navi, realizing that it would be rude and unfriendly, but seeing Ante's feathers get ruffled amused her. "Oooh, it looks like Gale's powering up from the solar terrain! That must be one of her powers as an elec navi... It's pretty cool!" the operator cheered with sparkling eyes, slightly regretting that her own navi didn't have elemental navi functions.

"Yes, I've always admired that trait. It takes a level of tact and strategic-thinking to be able to manage an element, you know? The elemental navi has greater powers, but must consider how to cover his or her weaknesses... it's like adding another whole dimension of strategy to the battle," Ante mused, watching Gale with admiration.

"So uh... why don't you have one?" Teruko asked in a low, dumb whisper.

"... Oh, well, I'm not really cut out for it, I think. Don't you find elements a little eccentric? They're sort of flashy for me," she laughed quietly into one hand. "But they suit a spirited navi like Gale well. At any rate, we'll be in danger if we chat any longer. Please send me the rest of my arsenal."

"All of it? You've still got like three chips here, Ante," the operator responded, holding up the chips so her navi could see.

Speeding the situation along, Ante nodded to confirm and then readied her weapon as Teruko slotted through the chips. "I'll work quickly," she said with a smile, pumping her scepter up with another infusion of chips. Raising it high above her head, she transformed the end into a club extension and then brought it down hard, bringing up another tremor and showering cards around the creeping shockwave line.

She then turned her attention onto the Powies, lining up her scepter with a coy smile on her face. "Perhaps this will teach you a lesson," she whispered, firing off the burst of chips and then quickly moving in with her spade-headed scepter. Reaching it forward, she attempted to skewer the Powie and then sling it into the other nearby one.

*) Variable Buff to next attack [Strengthen 10]
1) Shockwave to ChampuA [50] and ChampuB [60 ground line attack]
2) Shotgun to PowieA and PowieB [50 shot attack + spread]
3) Rageclaw to PowieB into PowieA [20 melee slashing + impact to both]

Gale was somewhat flustered by the way the battle was going. She successfully blasted through her target, but then found herself under assault. First a little mole popped up behind her and smacked her back, causing her to stumble forward. She did a little more than stumble, though, and found herself tripping and landing flat on her backside, managing to turn around in the air.

She could only watch, relieved, as the powie appeared in the air above where she had been, plowing through the area she'd occupied only a moment before. The other Momogra jumped up too, but didn't seem to find her. She exhaled, happy that she'd avoided those attacks, even if it hadn't quite worked out as she'd planned.

She had, of coursed, landed on Solar panels, and this had a much appreciated benefit. Gale could feel the panels glowing warmth filling her with energy, entirely due to her natural electrical affinity. She almost felt like she was glowing too, despite her fairly ungraceful sitting position.

Deciding this wasn't the greatest place for her to be, she rolled backwards, just far enough to get her hands under her, before launching into a back handspring. She landed on her feet solidly this time, and felt good about it.

Gale glanced back at her ally, and found that Teruko and Ante seemed to be talking about her. She blushed under the inspection, but avoided actually listening as well as she could. She tried to focus on the battle instead.

"I mean, sure, Ante and Teruko may admire my element, but like Ante said I'm kind of eccentric. I'm not nearly as elegant as she is." Gale thought.

"Hey Gale, focus! I'm sending you chips. Try and help a little." Roxxy chided, between reps. Gale blushed even more, but managed to focus. She first swiped out with her shielded arm, to knock air towards the Powie that had just almost hit her. Her goal was to knock it away from herself and towards its friend. She figured it would help Ante with the attack she herself was lining up against the two.

She then turned her attention to the two moles. Holding her hand palm out in front of her, bracing it with her shielded arm, she lined up her aim with the front Momogra. She was glad one of them had helped her avoid an attack, but it was an accidental side effect of trying to kill her, so she felt much better when she released the blast of air she'd gathered to her hand.

No longer sure what to do, she decided her best bet would be to stay on the solar panels and keep herself safe. She focused and gathered wind around her right arm, forming a little wind vortex that was ready to deflect incoming attacks. Now shielded from two sides, she held her guard in front of her face, and braced her other arm at her side.

Turn Summary:
1. Back handspring [Dodge]
- - - Gust to Knock Powie A into Powie B to help Ante hit with Shotgun
2. Shotgun at Momogra A and B [50 damage, Spread (1); A Accuracy]
3. Gather Shield, Defend [Activate Shield NCP]