VIRUS BATTLES ON EXERCISE BIKES

A beam came down in the form of a ring of poker chips, stacking upward into the sky until Ante manifested herself in its center. Fixing her hat with one hand, the gray-skinned navi took quick account of her surroundings. "So this is the Electown Network... It's been so long since I've been in the common area. I've almost forgotten what viruses look like," she mused to herself, resting easily with her scepter bearing down upon the ground. It would be a very peaceful and easy scene if she didn't know that she was going to be fighting viral creatures in just a few moments... or worse, fighting them half naked. "So Teruko, I must ask: did you clarify the situation a bit further with my ally?"

"Nope!" Teruko responded, pedaling at an easy pace as she watched the screen. "But what, are you thinking she won't notice? It shouldn't be hard for her to tell."

"That's not what I'm worried about. My worry is that she won't really understand the purpose," Ante complained, knitting her eyebrows with worry. "I'll just have to take the situation into my own hands and explain it myself once I see her." Clutching her staff with both hands, she rested her knuckles in her lap in a dignified way and watched the surrounding area, wondering what her new ally would be like. Teruko hadn't said anything about it yet, but Roxxy really looked like quite a character. One could only imagine what her navi looked like.

((Waiting for Lux))

A whirlwind started in the skies above the net and blasted its way towards the ground. The collision made a thud, and a crackle, and once the winds had cleared, Gale stood in their place.

"Huh, interesting outfit." Gale thought, as she spotted her Ally. She waved and then rushed over. "Hey there, I'm Gale." She held a gloved hand out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you."

After a moment of hesitation, she remembered her goal. "Oh, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm sort of starting fresh with Busting, so I'm glad to see that you're in the same boat. It means we'll be on a similar level."

"Just go already, I'm already cycling, you haven't even started!" Roxxy shouted over their link.

"Geesh, gimme a minute!" Gale said, towards the sky. "Um, sorry about that. Are you ready to go?" Gale asked it politely enough, but she was already walking backwards, deeper into the net, as she awaited a response.

((Ready))

Ante thought to herself that her ally had the look of a new fighter. It wasn't a bad look; it was actually sort of charming, making her seem like a student ready to learn. Unfortunately, Gale clearly didn't understand Ante's situation, but that didn't bother the level-headed navi very much. "After all, she was sort of dropped in without understanding much of what's going on," she reminded herself. She took Gale's hand in her own glove, creating a faint sound of rubbing fabrics as she applied a firm handshake. "It's very good to meet you, Gale. My name is Ante. Let's get along well."

Once the formalities were over, Gale displayed a little more of that eagerness and went straight out, looking for viruses to wipe out. That was just fine with Ante; she didn't despise formalities and conversation, but battle had always been one of her fortes. "Yes, I'm coming," she answered in a ladylike voice, proceeding quickly.

"Use your navi radar sensors or echolocation or whatever!" Teruko encouraged her navi. "You can't let them find viruses before we do or we lose the competitive advantage!"

"We may do well to think of this less as a competitive exercise and more of a team effort," the navi suggested. "Furthermore, I don't have those kinds of things. Unfortunately, the best thing we can do is keep moving and wait until we spot the viruses or they spot us. In that regard, we are lucky that they are naturally aggressive, so the simple rustling of our clothes could bring the creatures to us."

"Is that so?" the operator muttered, feigning interest. "At any rate, tell me when you find some."

Ante gave a small chuckled, walking forward confidently alongside her new partner. "I believe you'll know when it happens. Now Gale, there's something I really ought to tell you..." she started, adopting a serious expression...

((Ready))

After Ante and Gale introduced themselves to each other, they set out on the Electown network to find themselves some viruses to bust. Fortunately, they did not have to wait very long to see some opposition. Walking along a gleaming green road, Ante and Gale found a group of Metools running along the road towards them, while a duo of Canodumbs in the back were being accompanied by a Bunny hopping around. The Metools saw the incoming Navis and readied their mattocks for battle!

-- ENEMIES --
(1 move to melee)
Metool A: 40 HP (Front, Solar)
Metool B: 40 HP (Front, Metal)
Metool C: 40 HP (Front, Metal)
(2 moves to melee)
Bunny: 50 HP (Running around Canodumbs, Magnet)
Canodumb A: 50 HP (Further back, Solar)
Canodumb B: 50 HP (Further back, Solar)

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
40% Solar (Roadway)
50% Metal (Sides of road)
10% Magnet (Scattered)

-- TEAM BATTLE 01, READY? START!! --

"I believe you'll know when it happens. Now Gale, there's something I really ought to tell you..." Ante said, trailing a bit towards the end. However, before she had a chance to finish this thought, Gale and her companion stumbled upon some enemies. Or, more accurately, before some enemies sought them out. A decent distance away, a bunny hopped in circles around two Canodumbs, while, closer, three Metools stood ready to launch attack.

"Alright!" Gale exclaimed. "You ready to show our operators who's in shape?" Gale glanced across the field and made her best effort to decide what she wanted to do. It didn't take her too long.

She turned away from the enemies for a moment and leaned forward a bit. Then, with a swing of her arms, and a strong push off from her legs, she entered a back flip. However, where many would have peaked and exited the back flip, she continued rising. Thanks to her innate control of the wind, she rose further, tucking her back flip and gaining velocity, continuing to spin until she was at least twenty feet over the battlefield.

Once she hit the peak of her rise, she burst out of her tuck. She gathered air around her foot, and spun that leg around her, swiping it through the air. She used this kick to create a small air current flying downwards towards the Bunnie, planning to knock him back into the Canodumb behind him.

Next Gale corrected her orientation, making sure she was descending feet first. collecting air around her feet once more, she rubbed them together to gather electricity. With a bit of help from the air, and a lot of help from Gravity, she sent herself falling at high speed, Energy-Imbued feet first, towards the Metool sitting on the Solar Panels.

She stumbled forward after landing, falling to her hands and knees. "Oh well," she thought, "I guess I can't be expected to always stick my landings." she leaned back and began sitting on her knees, and wasn't too surprised that her Operator chose now to chime in.

"Hey, just sitting around now, huh?" Roxxy asked rhetorically. "Getting tired already?"

"No way!" Gale wouldn't let herself be beat, even in such a trivial manner. So she jumped to her feet. As she jumped up, she noticed that Roxxy had sent her a chip.

"This seems to be the heaviest hitting chip we got in that pack." The operator said, slotting it in. "So give it the best you got."

Gale nodded. Taking the chip data, she held out a hand, and collected a compacted ball of air to her hand. Holding it in front of her, with her fingers brought together like a muzzle, she braced her arm with the other one and lined up her aim with the Bunnie she'd been targeting before.

"I was just hoping to make it a little dizzy," She thought with a smile, "But I guess this will work too." She drew more air in and prepared to fire. "Ready, Aim, Fire!" she shouted, as she released the energy. After it had blasted forth, her hand flew upwards, apparently from the recoil provided by the blast, and she took a half step backwards to regain her balance.

She clenched her fists and smiled, before remembering that she had an ally. Spinning on her heels and entering a far more relaxed posture, she decided to watch her partner for a bit, forgetting, momentarily, that she was in the middle of a battle.

Battle Summary:
1. Jump! [Leap to Metool A (Placing Self on Solar Road)]
- - -Enter High Altitude thanks to AirStep
- - -Knock Bunnie into Canodumb B wih Gust
2. Breezy Bash MetoolA [40 [color=gold]Elec[/color] damage; Melee B Accuracy]
3. Shotgun Bunnie A, Spread to Canodumb B [50 damage, Spread 1, A Accuracy]

Ante held out one hand, attempting to stop her ally and give her the valuable explanation of her accursed attire, but she failed. Watching Gale head into the enemies, she sighed, thankful at least that Gale's spunky attitude was likely to mean they cleared out the enemies fast. "She'll find out in due time, I suppose... Setting battle routine," she announced, readying her scepter horizontally, clasping its body with both hands.

A small buzzer indicated that although her strip routine had activated, nothing was going to come off yet. Ante counted herself thankful and watched Gale's impressive acrobatics... well, at least until the landing. Smiling, she held forward her scepter and aimed down its length, using one hand to position it to act as an sight for her arm-mounted card dispenser. "Be wary, Gale. I'm laying down supporting fire; I'll try to be careful!" she called out, releasing a volley of poker chips from one of the dispensers in a shotgun spread. Using the lever to quickly reload it, she shifted her aim to one of the cannons in the back. Sensing something amiss, she looked to her operator.

Seeing that she was being stared at, Teruko raised her eyebrows. "What's the matter Ante? Speak up, the bike's a little noisy," she urged her navi.

"Teruko, there are two matters requiring your attention. First of all, you seem to have only slotted me a shotgun; I require a cannon as well. Secondly, as a variable navi, I have a special attack damage optimizer that can be activated. I'd like you to watch so that you will understand how this works in the future," she elaborated, priming her weapon for the input of the cannon chip.

"Sure, but you seem pretty self-automated. Do I actually need to do anything?" Teruko responded, slotting in the requested chip quickly.

"I'll always need you to watch my back, Teruko," she said with a small chuckle, finding her operator's novice approach to virus busting somewhat amusing. "Remember that even in our computer age, human input is vital." Lining up her sight again, she pointed towards the cannon in the back, then pulled the lever to release a concentrated burst of chips. Seeing that she was out of weaponry for the moment, she held one hand to her skirt, preparing to lift it if she was forced to dodge. The outfit wasn't exactly ideal for fighting, but she liked to be ladylike even on the battlefield and enjoyed the feeling of a long skirt.

1) Shotgun to Metool B and C [50, spread]
*Variable Buff [+10 strengthen to next attack]
2) Cannon to CannodumbA [50 + knockback]
3) Dodge

Without wasting time, Gale rushed into the heat of battle, rushing into a jump high into the air. A couple of the Metools hurled their pickaxes at her, but to no avail. Soon, a flying kick landed at one of the Metools, deleting it with electrical force. A small air current ensued briefly as the kick was executed, knocking over a Bunny that was about to shoot at her. After that, an air-fueled Shotgun blast deleted two more of their enemies.

Meanwhile, Ante was playing the role of support fire, summoning a storm of poker chips as bullets. Both hit quite easily, and Ante then followed up with another attack of a concentrated type. The viruses were then decimated as the final blow was struck, and the Navis were none the worse for wear.

-- ENEMIES --
(1 move to melee)
Metool A: DELETED
Metool B: DELETED
Metool C: DELETED
(2 moves to melee)
Bunny: DELETED
Canodumb A: DELETED
Canodumb B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
40% Solar (Roadway)
50% Metal (Sides of road)
10% Magnet (Scattered)

-- TEAM BATTLE 01, VICTORY!! --

-- REWARDS --
Ante: [Shockwave] Battlechip, 180z, 1 FXP
Gale: [Guard1] Battlechip, 180z, 1 FXP

Gale clapped her hands together. "Great! That was awesome Ante, we did it!" She sent the reward data back to her PeT before rushing over to her ally.

"Not a bad start," Roxxy said, over the volume of her stationary cycle. "Better keep it up, though, we have a lot more peddling to do, and I don't think you've had enough exercise yet either."

Gale nodded, and turned back to Ante. "Well, you heard her. I vote we stick to this Solar Road and follow it to wherever it is it goes." She spun around and began rushing down the path, checking over her shoulder only once, to make sure her ally was there with her. "If we keep up this pace, we'll definitely prove how fit we are!"

[Battle 2 Ready]

Ante gave a satisfied sigh, letting her arms fall easily to her side. "Well, that was refreshing," she spoke aloud, walking over to meet Gale. "Sure, let us follow it. Better to stick to a path if we can, after all."

She reflected that she'd gotten off easy this time; whatever god of fortune watched over her ridiculous strip poker subroutine had decided to spare her this once. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would choose to spare her the indignities that she knew were on the way, however.

"Hey, you may have a nice body already Ante, but quit daydreaming! You've got to work to keep your figure!" Teruko alerted her, snapping her out of her worry.

"You're right," Ante responded, although she didn't actually think there was much chance of a navi's figure changing from lack of exercise. "Let's look for more adversaries."

Teruko nodded, showing no fatigue from the biking. "That's the spirit! We can try out your new weapon too." With a broad smile, she put the new chip the PET had spat out with the other three, arranging all four in a neat little line.

((Ready for Battle 2))

Moving through the solar roadway, Ante and Gale found that it did not go very far, and that it ended very soon up the path. They continued on regardless off the beaten path in search of more viruses. Their search was not without avail, as they found a sizable group of viruses in their trek. A boxing Champu virus was accompanied by a Volgear behind it, with two Powies to their left and right. However, as Ante and Gale were about to engage the viruses, two more attacked them from behind: a couple of rodent Bunny viruses!

-- ENEMIES --
Volgear: 80 HP (Behind Champu)
Champu: 60 HP (Front)
Powie A: 60 HP (Flanking left Volgear)
Powie B: 60 HP (Flanking right Volgear)
Bunny A: 50 HP (Behind Navis)
Bunny B: 50 HP (Behind Navis)

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere)
30% Magnet (Scattered)

-- TEAM BATTLE 02, READY? START!! --

Though the road stopped, the two kept making their way deeper into the net. No lack of infrastructure was going to keep them from completing their workout.

It wasn't long before they came on a small battalion of enemy troops. Of course, the initial troop was accompanied by a squad that seemed to have been sent to flank, so Ante and Gale had a war on two fronts now.

Gale took a step forward and decided to take action. "Ante, deal with the Bunnies!" she shouted, as she dashed forward. She began running, head low, in a straight line towards the Champu and Volgear.

She set her sights on the latter enemy, all but ignoring the first one. Once she had picked up enough speed, she dropped the ground in a base-runner's slide, making her way under and past the Champu.

Once she had cleared that obstacle she found Roxxy slotting in a chip. She ignored it for now. "Here, Gale. Feel free to try out your new Guard," the cyclist projected over the sound of her pedaling. Gale finished running towards the Volgear. She rubbed her hands together to gather up some static, reeled her body back, arm extended, and then flung it forward at the Volgear's body with all her might.

With a little help from the wind, she took a small jump back the landed her a decent distance away, though her aim was to place he beyond the Powie that had been to her left. Once she landed, she activated the chip Roxxy had sent her.

A yellow and green shield, colored to look like a Metool's helmet, and only slightly larger, appeared in Gale's hand. She held it in front of her, trying her best to line it up with the Powies, and hoping that she'd get some use out of the reflect in the shield.

Her shield blocked her view of the field a bit, but she could only assume Ante was doing her best, so Gale was inspired to keep doing her best as well.

Battle Summary:
1. Movement [Run under Champu, to Volgear]
2. Breezy Bash [40 [color=gold] Elec[/color] dmg; melee; B Accuracy (x2, presumably)]
- - -Gust [Knockback self up and over where Powie A was]
3. Guard1, attempt to line up with Powies A and B [1 Hit Shield, Chance to Reflect up to 60 damage, Piercing, Line, S accuracy]

Ante ran a quick check to figure out which cards had been dealt her upon the arrival of the new viruses. She realized as she counted them that it was a little ironic for her to be so appreciative of bad hands, but that didn't lower her gratitude. "Well then, I'll continue," she muttered to herself, pointing her scepter out in the direction of the bunnies.

Gale had jumped right into the battle, heading for the Volgear. That suited Ante just fine; she would be happy to continue picking off the enemies at a distance if she could. Nodding in confirmation of Gale's plan, she set her sights on the bunnies. "They're a little fast moving, but I'll give it a shot. If you would, Teruko, please lend me the shockwave. I'd like to preserve our shotgun for attacking the Powies, who I believe will be somewhat more difficult to hit with a ground based attack."

"Powies? Is that what they're called, those little gray ones? I wonder why..." Teruko responded, slotting in the chips quickly while keeping up her pedaling. "Huh, I almost forgot that you've been at this for a while, Ante. I guess you'd know the names of the viruses then."

With a tactful smile, Ante decided it may be entertaining to let her operator see how they attacked on her own and watch her surprise. That meant being especially careful not to get hit, however. "Increasing gamble..." she spoke quietly to herself, priming one of her levers to increase her damage output. "Releasing." Transforming the head of her scepter into a club, she raised it above her head with both hands, then brought it down hard onto the ground. A stream of cards rose up from the panels of the net, heading towards the hopping bunnies.

Glancing between her PET screen and her monitor, Teruko still showed no sign of fatigue. "What's up, Ante? You need another chip?" she asked.

"No, thank you. I think our best option for now is to focus on defense. There is little chance that we can kill all of the viruses quickly, so we will undoubtedly experience some retaliation. Therefore, I will focus upon defense," she answered somewhat more at length than she intended. Placing one hand on her skirt to lift its hem, she waited for the viruses to attack and prepared to evade.

*Variable Buff [+10 strengthen to next attack]
1) Shockwave to Bunny A and B [50 line ground attack]
2) Dodge
3) Dodge

Before the viruses could even consider attacking, Gale was already sliding under the Champu. It attempted to swing at her but missed completely as she kept going and whacked the Volgear with an electric punch. The metal panels caused a burst of electricity as the punch connected, making short work of the Volgear. Ante assaulted the Bunnies opposite Gale's targets with a wave of cards, but only one of the diminutive pink viruses took the attack. The other one sent an electrified ring straight at Gale as she landed, but the attack only found a reflective shield in its path. It bounced off and smacked into one of the Powies, damaging it.

The other Powie simply hopped several panels to the side and remained there. The Champu felt a little more adventurous, warping up to Ante and delivering a quick jab. She hopped out of the way and the virus returned to where it had been before.

-- ENEMIES --
Volgear: DELETED
Champu: 60 HP (Front)
Powie A: 50 HP (Flanking left Volgear)
Powie B: 60 HP (Flanking right Volgear)
Bunny A: 50 HP (Behind Navis)
Bunny B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 100 HP

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere)
30% Magnet (Scattered)

Gale saw that whatever they were doing, it was working. "Maybe not as quickly or effectively as last time, but we're still doing great." she thought, optimistically. She decided to get back to work.

"Rageclaw, please" she called over her link, as she rushed towards the Champu. Roxxy had no issues with this, so she complied fairly quickly. These battles were fairly interesting, and made her exercising far more entertaining. The competition didn't hurt either.

Gale slid to a stop in front of the Champu. She raised one gloved hand over her head, and air began surging around it, forming sharpened claws extending beyond her knuckles as she clenched her fist. She swung this fist down before the Champu, doing her best to slice into him with her blades of wind.

After this, she swung her arm at the Champu once more, this time with a slightly different goal. If it worked out, she planned to send him flying into the Powie she hadn't hit yet. After this attempt, she turned her head halfway, almost making a shoulder check, but thought better of it.

"I'm sure whatever Ante's doing, it's going well. She seems pretty skilled." Gale did want to help out, or get help, in some way. So she spun in a shortly completed circle and kicked through the air, sending a small gust of air at the Powies.

With the air on its way with the intent of knocking the Powies into each other, she made her ally aware of her intentions. "Ante, that should get them together! You should be able to finish them off!"

Gale suddenly wondered if maybe she was being too presumptuous. "Maybe Ante had her own plan for dealing with them. Well, anyway, this shouldn't hurt. I'll ask how she feels about it after." This made her feel a bit better.

Battle Summary:
1. Movement to Champu [Rush!]
2. RageClaw1 at Champu [40 Slashing Damage, B Accuracy]
3. RageClaw1 Champu at PowieB [20 Impact Throw Damage, B Accuracy]
- - - Gust at PowieB [Knock towards PowieA to help Ante hit both]

"Thank you very much for the assistance, Gale. I'll be sure to-!" Ante started to respond, raising one gloved hand in affirmation, then gasped in surprise as both of her gloves burst into clouds of poker chips, then fell to the floor of the net in a cascade of red and black. "Shoot, it started..." she muttered to herself, momentarily distracted.

Teruko looked surprised as well, but not overly worried. The gloves coming off hadn't exactly revealed much; she still had on her skinsuit beneath them, after all. "Uh, don't worry about that, Ante. I'm just going to send you a shotgun and a cannon, so just keep focusing on the battle," she reassured her navi as she slotted through the data.

Ante nodded, quickly regaining her composure. After all, losing a pair of gloves wasn't going to offset things too highly. Her training put her far beyond the influence of such petty matters and allowed her to keep her attention on the enemy. Raising her scepter once again, she lined up her sight with the enemies that Gale had so graciously put close together for her to attack. "Firing," she announced in quiet monotone, releasing a blast of poker chips from her arm dispenser after pulling the lever.

Before arming her cannon, she made sure to make use of her variable type boost, loading more poker chips into the dispenser. She then spun her body around and aimed towards the remaining bunny, using her long scepter as a guide. "Powered up; releasing cannon." After blowing a high velocity shot of chips from her other dispenser, she took the time to reload and also prepare for enemy retaliation.

1) Shotgun to PowieA and B [50 shot attack + spread]
*Variable Buff [+10 strengthen to next attack]
2) Cannon to BunnyA [50 shot attack + knockback]
3) Dodge

Rushing the Champu, Gale did her best in trying to hit the Champu, but somehow the virus was simply too fast in its movements, dodging both of her swipes. It then retaliated with two punches of its own, dealing the Navi a fair bit of damage both to her face and to her pride. (10x2) Ante was a bit more fortunate on her part, landing a hit on two Powie and following that up with a Bunny kill. The surviving Powie leapt up to Ante to deliver a pounding weight on her head, but she sidestepped the attack easily.

-- ENEMIES --
Volgear: DELETED
Champu: 60 HP (Front)
Powie A: DELETED
Powie B: 10 HP (Near Ante)
Bunny A: DELETED
Bunny B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 80 HP

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere)
30% Magnet (Scattered)

Gale wasn't very excited about being hit. She let out a small squeal of pain and shock, and covered her face with her arms as the creature attacked her. Though it wouldn't help now, she gathered air around her arms and allowed to create a protective shield to defend her from future assaults.

After a moment she recovered her poise and dropped her arms, though the air remained swirling around one arm.

"C'mon, Gale, you're going to let a virus like that get the best of you," Roxxy taunted. "Ante hasn't even been hit yet. Looks like you're going to have to take off your kid gloves too."

Gale's brow furrowed, and she decided she'd get her revenge on the virus. Holding the defended arm in front of her, she rubbed her free hand against it in order to generate a good amount of static.

Pulling back the outer arm, she crouched down, arm tucked in to her body. After a moment's preparation she burst up with her best attempt to deliver a devastating uppercut to the boxing virus. She even had used a little help from the wind to try and send it flying.

Gale tried to remember what chip she could use. She almost blanked so just went with the one she knew she'd used last. "Shotgun!" she called. Holding her arm out, she leveled it with the Champu and, steadying her firing arm with the shielded one, she released the air she'd gathered with a loud bang.

As her arm shot into the air from the recoil, she once again hopped a step back to prevent herself from falling. She then shot her arm back to her side.

Roxxy had been in enough sync with Gale to slot the chip in at the right time. Busting wasn't very difficult for Roxxy, and being on a stationary cycle hadn't upped that difficulty much. "Well, glad that talk of kid's gloves got her interested." Roxxy thought. "That was an interesting show, too. Wonder what it was about. . . " She didn't actually put any more thought into it, though.

Gale, on the other hand, hadn't even seen it. She had been so bothered by the enemies that she'd missed the spectacle, and the noise of falling poker chips seemed to be associated with Ante's attacks anyway, so that hadn't tipped her off either. The comment from her operator, as a result, was a non sequitur that implied her ally was beating her.

"I don't care if she's doing better. That's great for her. I'm glad to know my allies are doing well. I just don't want my enemies to do well, and I don't want to fall behind. As long as I do my best I should be ok though. . ." Gale nodded, behind her arm, her beliefs mentally reaffirmed.

Battle Summary:
1. Shield NCP [1 Hit Shield]
2. Breezy Bash at Champu [40 Elec Damage;Melee; B Accuracy (x2, presumably)]
- - -Gust to add KnockBack [Knock Champu into the air]
3. Shotgun to Champu [50 damage, Spread (1), A Accuracy]

It upset Ante to see her ally being hit; perhaps that youthful vigor for battle that she'd praised earlier unfortunately came coupled with a bit of inexperience as well. Still, she reminded herself that Gale was playing the up front role while she supported from the back, so it was only logical that Gale would take more of the hits. "I just hope she's strong enough to withstand them..." she thought to herself, keeping a stoic frown.

"Hey Ante, your partner's getting hit! We need to pull something out of your bag to help her out. What all do you have programmed in for special moves?" Teruko inquired, not really knowing what all Ante was capable of aside from chips.

Ante tried to tap into her former signature attack line-up, finding her options largely closed to her. |FULL HOUSE --LOCKED--|, |FOUR OF A KIND --LOCKED--|, and so forth. The only one that was open was One Pair, and it looked like it had been trashed by the glitch in her system so thoroughly that its original potency would be almost completely lost. Still, it was available to her, so she figured she might as well use it. "Cute... He labeled my only available skill under 'Demo Version.' I suppose we'll have to work to unlock the full attack," she laughed, although she didn't actually find it very cute or humorous at all.

"Does that mean it sucks?" her operator asked, not really understanding the terminology. "Well, it's not like it really matters; the enemies are about dead anyways. Just use it so we can figure out what it does, okay?" she cut off.

With a small nod, Ante loaded the program into her scepter. "But first, I really ought to take care of that jumping enemy. Then we'll focus on helping Gale," she muttered, turning to focus on the Powie. With a quick jab, she attempted to skewer the Powie on the end of her scepter's spade-shaped head and toss it into the enemy Champu, hoisting the weapon as one might a rake or hoe. Instead of chasing it, however, she kept hold of the staff with both hands and swung the weapon in a sideways arc. Two cards spun out from the slot at the end of the staff, moving through the air with amazing speed towards the enemy viruses.

"Wow! I dunno, it still looks cool... Are you sure he bugged it?" Teruko asked.

Ante didn't answer; she wasn't sure what the power would be like in the end, but she knew that it couldn't match up to her former attack. She figured it couldn't hurt to remain cautious, on the bizzare chance that the enemies endured even their latest assault, so she ended by again freeing up the hem of her skirt to allow movement.

*Variable Buff [+10 buff to next attack]
1) Rageclaw to PowieB into Champu [30 damage melee + 30 damage throw @ Champu]
2) One Pair to Powie B and Champu [30 shot attack, 2 targets]
3) Dodge

Showing no mercy to the beaten viruses, Ante and Gale made quick work of their enemies and was rewarded with shiny zennies.

-- ENEMIES --
Volgear: DELETED
Champu: DELETED
Powie A: DELETED
Powie B: DELETED
Bunny A: DELETED
Bunny B: DELETED

-- ALLIES --
Ante.EXE: 150 HP
Gale.EXE: 80 HP

-- TERRAIN --
70% Metal (Everywhere)
30% Magnet (Scattered)

-BATTLE TWO, WON!-
Both: 350z +2 FXP

The battle ended, with Gale feeling a good bit more satisfied. "I took a bit of damage there, but it wasn't that bad. I should be able to go on just fine." She sent the reward data to her Operator before heading over to her Ally.

Roxxy, like her Navi, glanced over the data and ignored it. Cash was nice, but it wasn't as interesting. Roxxy was more interested by these details being dropped by their allies. "Who are they talking about? Some "he" who locked her Sigs? That's odd. Maybe they started over again recently too?" She continued biking as she thought, though she wasn't going very fast, largely due to the distraction.

With Roxxy zoned out slightly, Gale took charge. "That was great, Ante." Gale looked at her ally, and for the first time noticed the missing gloves. She cocked her head slightly as she stared at her friends hands, but decided to think nothing of it.

She turned back to face her friend, nodded, and then spun around. "I guess we better keep going." Gale called, as she continued began to run. "Try and keep up!"