VIRUS BATTLES ON EXERCISE BIKES

Lifting her scepter into the air, Ante bashed down on the ground, sending a shockwave towards the Champu. Unfortunately, the first managed to evade it, but the second could not, and was shredded to pieces after its descent.

Gale, meanwhile, had the Momogra on her tail. They moved to behind her to attack, which she inadvertently avoided by doing her weird back handspring thing. The Powie near her leapt at her, but the short burst of wind she produced pushed the Powie nearer to its brethren. The Shotgun she fired at the Momogra afterwards hit both without flaw, though it wasn't enough to delete them. Pulling up a shield, she then let the Solar panels heal her. (+15)

Ante followed up Gale's moves with her own, firing the Shotgun through her scepter. It hit flawlessly, and the skewering and flailing that ensued afterwards was much celebrated. Oh wait, the surviving Champu did go and rush Ante, but its attack was too rushed, and it stumbled into the floor instead of delivering its punches.

-- ENEMIES --
Momogra A: 10 HP [Solar, in front of Gale]
Momogra B: 10 HP [Solar, in front of Gale]
Powie A: DELETED
Powie B: DELETED
Champu A: 30 HP [Metal, behind Ante]
Champu B: DELETED
Eleball: DELETED
Lark: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 100 HP [metal, left]
Gale.EXE: 80 HP [solar, right] (Guard1, Shield)

-- 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)

Ante was pleased by the relative success of her attacks. Sure, they hadn't all gone off flawlessly, but as close as she could have hoped with little retaliation, and the Champu... Well, she didn't want to giggle, but it was hard to hold back. Unfortunately, right as her lips curled into her smile, her neck-piece suddenly emitted a beep and exploded into poker chips. It really didn't affect much, but the sensation was somewhat unpleasant, as the garment had been hugging her neck rather close and emitted a small force as it released itself. Once it was off, however, she realized her suit was a little more comfortable without it.

"Ha ha ha! I was worried about this bug originally, but if it keeps snailing along by this, we'll be done with your training before anything bad happens, right?" Teruko laughed with a big smile.

"Perhaps... But I highly doubt that the one who bugged me would be so merciful. No, I believe that we'll see the true, twisted design he has in mind somewhere in the future..." she mused. "At any rate, ahem," the navi paused, coughing into one hand, "I didn't mean to embarrass you," Ante told her ally, turning to face her. "I didn't mean eccentric in a bad way. They say that an eccentric personality can serve as an indicator of the potential to become a powerful leader or a genius, after all," she clarified, pressing one hand against her breast endearingly.

Teruko laughed somewhat awkwardly, huffing from her exercises between giggles. "Er, it sounds more like you're teasing her than complimenting her, Ante," she pointed out.

Ante's face flushed slightly, then she turned back to her enemies. "I'm not one for joking, Teru, you know that," she sighed, then hoisted her weapon up to wield it against the remaining enemies. "Anyways, let's focus on the battle." Moving in quickly, she attempted to execute another pitchfork motion against the final Champu, pumping her staff's power up with another infusion of chips as she attacked. "Gale, if you would, please finish them off!" she called out. Grabbing one hand onto her skirt, she prepared to lift it to dodge in case the necessity arose.

*) Variable Buff to next attack [Strengthen 10]
1) Rage Claw to Champu [30] into MomograA [20 melee attack + slashing + impact]
2) Dodge
3) Dodge

Gale was fairly happy with how everything was going now. Except for her partner's encouraging words. She had managed to avoid damage and had even continued to regain health from the panels she was standing on.

On the other hand, Ante went and called her eccentric again. Gale blushed a bit more red , but managed to cough up a "Oh, um, thanks." Making sure to face away from her ally so she couldn't see her face.

After taking a second to cool down, she found herself with another chip at the ready. Ante called out for her to finish off the enemies, so she decided she'd better try her best. "Alright!" She responded, before entering a cartwheel.

She hoped this move would make her a bit more difficult of a target. As soon as she exited the cartwheel, she activated her chip. She allowed the air around her arm to cease swirling, dragging it from shield position to spinning around her fist once more. With a bit of focus she managed to shoot up the requisite three blades of wind, and set to work.

Keeping her guard up, she slashed with her other arm, attempting to bring her wind blades through the first Momogra. After a quick swipe, she gave herself a little boost, using the wind, as she lunged at the second one. Holding her fist out, she made her best attempt to head blade-first into the second Momogra.

Having focused on the battle, Gale found herself much less red. She had managed to alleviate her embarrassment. "I mean, I'm sure Ante meant the best. She sounded embarrassed herself when Teruko mentioned she sounded kind of mean." Gale was comforted by the thought that her ally wasn't being condescending, just somewhat socially awkward.

Roxxy was enjoying the whole situation. Seeing the Navis grow embarrassed was one of the things she was using to keep her mind off the stress of the exercised. She was somewhat surprised by how exhausting the leg exercises seemed to be getting. She did appreciate the burn though; it was always nice to know something was working.

She didn't have much focus left to pay to Gale, however. The Navi found herself happy to have gotten a chip, seeing how little attention her Operator seemed to be paying.

Turn Summary:
1. Cartwheel [Dodge]
2. Rageclaw1 at Momogra A [40 damage, Slashing, Melee; B accuracy]
- - -Gust to shoot self towards Momogra B
3. Rageclaw1 at Momogra B [40 damage, Slashing, Melee; B accuracy]

With one last push, Ante and Gale tag-teamed the last few viruses, and deleted them easily. Gale healed herself for staying strong on the solar panels. (+15)

-- ENEMIES --
Momogra A: DELETED
Momogra B: DELETED
Powie A: DELETED
Powie B: DELETED
Champu A: DELETED
Champu B: DELETED
Eleball: DELETED
Lark: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 100 HP [metal, left]
Gale.EXE: 95 HP [solar, right] (Guard1, Shield)

-- 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)

-- BATTLE 04, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
Ante: [FireHit1] Battlechip, 500z, 3 FXP
Gale: [WideShot1] Battlechip, 500z, 3 FXP

((Using a MiniEnrg))

Ante dropped her scepter's butt to the ground, then turned to Gale, hoping to rectify the situation and stumbling over her words again. "There's really no need to be embarrassed, I only thought to compliment you on some of the differences between the two of us that help to make us an effective busting team," she explained with a calm smile. "I wasn't trying to-"

Seeing that that sort of talk would only make Gale more confused, Teruko interrupted with an excited cheer and topic change. "Woo! Ante, we got another chip! That's five now. Are you starting to feel any stronger?" she asked.

"A little," she admitted, then sighed. "I'm afraid it's not much compared to my former strength though. We'll have to continue. On that note, would you mind transferring me one of my recovery subchips? Our training isn't over yet and I seem to have taken a bit of damage in our last bout."

Teruko nodded, slotting through a MiniEnrg subchip. "Did that work?"

"Yes, thank you," the navi responded.

"Maaan, Ante, Gale's beating you! She got way more viruses in that last battle than you did," Teruko pointed out, seeming to step up the pace of her own exercises as she did so. "You can't go easy on her just cause you're trying to be friendly. The only way to work off flab is to go all out!"

Ante's eyebrows lowered, knitting and giving her an offensive expression. "Is that to imply that I have some significant amount of flab to work off?"

Teruko laughed, but then her eyes seemed to glisten with malice behind their narrow, curved slits. "Now Ante, all girls have a little flab to work off, I think. Doesn't matter who you are, does it?" she suggested with a wide smile that was cheerful yet intimidating.

Nodding so as not to be confrontational, Ante surrendered. "Of course," she replied, then turned her head to Gale with another quaint smile. "How about you, Gale? Do you feel like this sort of workout is effective?"

((Ready for Battle 5))

Gale smiled as she watched the last of the viruses disappear, and dismissed all her battle related equipment. She was much happier with the rewards this battle, with how the battle had gone, and how she felt.

The solar terrain had continued working, and she felt almost fully recharged after that battle. 'Wow, imagine if this worked for everyone! Solar charging is so great." She mused.

Ante started talking, and Gale took it in, trying to turn her words into normal speech. She was about to figuring she seemed to be apologizing and supporting their teamwork when Teruko stepped in.

"Oh, right, we did too!" Gale called out.

She sent the data to Roxxy, and the operator nodded. "Nice. This should come in handy, I'm sure. "

"Are you going to ask me how I feel or something?" Gale prompted, expectantly.

"You seem fine," Roxxy teased back.

Gale puffed out her cheeks for a moment, before rolling her eyes and turning back to her friend. They seemed to be talking about being flabby. As Teruko sped up her work out, Roxxy tried to match pace. Gale, meanwhile, pulled her tank top close to her skin and stared at her stomach.

"I don't think I have flab. . ." she trailed, before being interrupted by Ante's question. "Oh, yeah, I think it's a grand old time. I'm having fun, aren't you?" She thought a bit more, and decided she hadn't properly answered the question. "And I think it's helping us get used to busting together and with the chips we have." She looked back at Ante, and something struck her.

Staring at her ally, she could swear something was different about her. "Hm. . ." She looked her up and down, tilter her head, and tried to compare her to the image she'd seen before. Her memory Ante didn't seem that different from the current Ante, and Gale found herself unable to place her finger on anything more than her lip, as she thought.

"Nevermind, let's keep going!" Gale said happily with a shrug.

[Battle 5 Time]

[Bump]

[bump again?]

[BUMP 3]

"W-w-wait, stop!"

A small voice was heard just up ahead from where Ante and Gale stood, barely heard through the constant thudding that also came from the same source. As the thud became louder, the ground began to shake as a figure was revealed through the horizon. "I command you to stop, Naxinger X!"

The figure was, unbelievably, a giant metal robot painted in black and silver spare its huge yellow chest pieces. With its unmistakable 19XX's design, the "Naxinger X" was rampantly running around while trying to outrun a scrawny boy navi dressed in a lab coat that was two sizes too big for him. The size of the robot was more than enough to squash the small, chasing navi with its hands, but it looked like it insisted on running.

Just as when the boy was running out of breath and the robot was about to achieve its freedom, Naxinger stopped from its track as the two female navis stood in its way. Hesitant to go the other direction, despite the fact that it could've easily walked over the navis, the robot assumed its fighting stance as to provoke the navis to get out of his way.

"Gah! What are you doing!" yelled the boy navi. "It's just malfunctioning, that's all! He doesn't mean to harm you or anything!" Though the navi was insisting that the robot would bring no danger to anyone, he proceeded to bash the robot's leg with its oversized wrench. "Stop it right now! You're suppose to be my project, not a running trainer!"

But as the wrench continued to clang against the metal leg, the robot started to become agitated by all of this and (gently) kicked the navi far far (far far far) away from here. Pounding its chest like a war drum, the Naxinger was looking to relieve this stress onto these two strangers...What a very unfortunate turn of event for these two.

Naxinger X: 350 HP

Terrain: 100% Metal

Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 95 HP

-BOSS BATTLE, START!-

"...That's a tremendous robot," Ante pointed out, not even feeling her boots collapse into poker chips as she stood in awe. Once she noticed, she wiggled her toes and sighed. She assumed Gale would again fail to notice, however, which was for the best. "Ordinarily I would be against destroying the property of others, but that robot is clearly on a rampage. It could cause some serious trouble if we don't take care of it," she told Gale with a surprisingly calm face.

"A-A-Ante! That thing's huge! What do you mean take care of it!?" Teruko panicked, grabbing at her hair. "I know you were a super Net-Knight at one point or something, but geez, look at it!"

Ante gave another confident smile and closed her eyes. "Don't worry, Teruko. Size is not always indicative of strength in an enemy navi. Sometimes, all it takes is finding a weak point," she explained. "For now, let's take some cautious pokes until we discover that vulnerability. Our damage output is a little lower than Gale's, so we'll draw attention while she tries to get in the most powerful attacks."

"I see," Teruko nodded, slotting through her new firehit chip. "We got a new chip, but it won't help us here," she sighed. "Everywhere is metal as far as the eye can see! What luck!"

Her navi chuckled. "My luck hasn't been too great in this most recent year," she mused, readying her club-headed scepter. With surprising quickness, she moved forward, feeling the cool metal of the floor biting through the cloth-covered pads of her feet. "Ho there, monster!" she cried out, hoping to get its attention. "Cease your action at once!" Ante knew that she didn't have time to reason, of course; she was just trying to draw attention off of Gale.

Raising her flaming, club-headed staff into the air, she brought down the head of it twice, intended to clang her own steel across the creature's bulky legs. Finally, she grabbed up the hem of her skirt, intending to dodge if the creature retaliated, which it almost certainly would. Anything as much as stepping forward could be considered an attack from such a tremendous, heavy robot. As a final measure, she pulled out another of her Queen of Spades cards and attempted to slap it across the creature's metallic exterior to sap its strength.

1) Firehit1 to Naxinger X [60 fire melee + impact]
2) Firehit1 to Naxinger X [60 fire melee + impact]
3) Dodge
*) Variable Debuff to Naxinger X's attack [11]

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))


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

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))