Shadows in the Dark

The first thing one noticed about Electown was how alive it was. The entire place, from the wallpaper to the busy streets, themselves a mimicry of the real Electown, the entire place was alight with activity.

Even the dark alleys.

It was there that Shade lurked, jumping from dark corner to dark corner, prowling for viruses in the narrow cracks between the digital buildings. He materialied and dematerialized at will, zig-zagging at a slink as he wandered silently. As he wandered by an errant, empty recycle bin, shadows overtook it and left it... twisted. Broken. A mangled shape. Shade took no notice.

He did notice, however, when his leg started vibrating. In response he slid up side of a nearby building in the shadows between the cyber-bricks, and landed squat on its' rooftop. A smaller, oblong-shaped shadow coagulated in the cloud surrounding him, and upon it Shade's operator appeared, rendered in purest black and white. Simple shapes. An outline, much like Shade himself.

"You done yet?" Marcus asked, slight disdain creeping into his voice. "My IM conversations lag when you're running about..."

"Not yet." Shade replied, eyeing the alleyway down below. "Soon." Marcus sighed, and the shadow-screen fell to pieces. Shade merely shook his head in response, then leapt from the rooftop and took to the alleys once more.

(HP: 150)
Shade continued to prowl until he finally spotted some prey: a trio of metools gathered in a small intersection below. They were unaware of the Navi's presence, and chattered away, as if they were having a discussion about something...



Viruses Identified!

MetoolA: 40HP
MetoolB: 40HP
MetoolC: 40HP

Terrain: 40% Metal, 60% Normal (Metal alleyways, rooftops considered Normal)
Features: cross-shaped alley intersection flanked by 3 buildings and a single wall, approximately 10' high

Shade.EXE: 150HP

-(Battle #1! Ready, Fight!)-
Shade rose up. Not from the rooftop, where he currently sat, but the far alleyway. He rose up, dark and imposing, smaller shadows curling around him in the air, and beckoned to the Metools. "See something you want, kiddies?" He intoned, making a "come here" gesture with his fingers. "Why don't you come and get it?" He grinned, the color of his teeth lost in the black morass that covered him, and dropped into a low stance.

...Meanwhile, Shade slinked silently down from the rooftop, sliding along the texture of the brickwork, his back porous as it deformed around the wall.

"Markus." Shade began, "Send me that Rageclaw, would you?"

"Ugh, fine." Marcus responded, saying no more. The audible 'click' through the closed channel shortly afterward signaled that either A, Shade had just been hung up on by his Operator, or B--

Betting on the second option, Shade slinked across the alleyway as his double taunted the viruses audibly, swaying around in an attempt to dodge them-- but not their ire. "Come on, I'm just one navi! Surely you can kill me, right? There's three of you!" A shadowy face presented itself next to him, blowing a raspberry with a manifested tongue. The real Shade took the opportunity to swoop in.

--his Operator had just slotted the chip he required. Shadows coalesced around Shade's hand as he approached one of the Metools from as close to its' blindside he could muster, their addition changing his arm's shape. His hand grew long and wickedly sharp points that threatened to maim what they did not simply tear asunder, as his arm thickened and bulged with power to support the new addition. Shade permitted himself a low growl the moment before he struck.

And struck he did, leaping forward claw first, closing his deadly appendage around his prize. He wasted no time afterward as his muscles tensed, pulling his arm back like a slingshot before whipping it forward at bullet speed. A second click filtered through the line as Shade's arm distended slightly, rubberbanding outward before releasing its' cargo and snapping back.

Their second chip, Shade noted.

Their shotgun, Shade's shadow noted, rising to the occasion. Small beads of pestilence gathered like raindrops in the miasma surrounding Shade, blackened spheres that would look unhealthy at the best of times. Shade smirked at the formation, then clicked his tongue; a sound oddly reminiscent of a firing hammer, with much the same effect. The projectiles exploded forward from their position of rest beside Shade, parting the air with a whiff as they hurtled forward, spinning. Despite being made of shadow, the projectiles were just as real as the navi who unleashed them, and they struck with fury enough for the strays to spark off the metal alleyway.

"Bang." Shade remarked, turning to face the third Metool. A darkened hand rose, silently, from the street behind it as Shade looked on, fingers flexing as they reached for the helmeted virus--

Summary

Freebie: Make a Decoy.
Schmuck Bait: Taunt the little gits and try not to get punked.
First: Grab Metool A with the Rageclaw 1. Deal 20 damage to it by hurling it at Metool B.
Second: Shoot both Metool A and Metool B with the Shotgun for 50 big ones. Messy work, but I'll take it.
Third: Terrorize Metool C with Shadow Grip's 20-damage tap on the shoulder.
Always: 5'er to anything that gets close. (Nova 2)
Shade quickly went to work on the viruses, chucking one of the metools into the other, causing them to bounce away like a pair of marbles (20). He followed up with a shotgun, but the first metool managed to roll away. Unfortunately the other wasn't so lucky (50).

The Metools themselves barely had enough time to react, and the third instantly hid under it's helmet upon feeling Shade's ice cold, painful touch (20). Their fear seemed to become tangible, as the shadows around them seemed to sap their energy, though apparently hiding under a helmet kept the boogyman at bay (5).


MetoolA: 15HP
MetoolB: Deleted
MetoolC: 20 [under helmet]

Terrain: 40% Metal, 60% Normal (Metal alleyways, rooftops considered Normal)
Features: cross-shaped alley intersection flanked by 3 buildings and a single wall, approximately 10' high

Shade.EXE: 150HP
"Damn," Noir remarked. "I must be gettin' sloppy to miss a shot like that." He cracked the elongated shadow that served as his neck, rolling his head from side-to-side in the process, and flexed the Rageclaw that served him as a right hand... for now, anyway.

Noir took a few lazy, almost tormenting steps forward, grinning with malevolence at the Metool before him. It was cowering in its' helmet. Cowering! Hiding! As if that trick worked to dissuade any but the most idiotic navis! Noir sighed with dismay. His right arm twitched, almost of its' own will, as he reached down to grab the Metool's helmet. Long, spindly tendrils warped outward from where the Rageclaw's threatening implements would normally be, and lolled their way down to the edges of the helm from the top, like blackened support cables. Noir supposed that made his arm the crane, then? Regardless, Noir then attempted to yank the Metool up into the air by its' helmet, pulling with all his might on that one arm. With some effort, his arm snapped back behind him into a 'ready' position, cocked just the same as it had before.

Unlike before, however, Noir gazed intently at the Metool sitting across the alleyway from him, taking the moment required to try and aim his shot. If he tossed the Metool too hard, it would hit the alley wall. Granted, that would still kill it, but he would prefer to just end things now, if possible. If he didn't toss it hard enough, it would just smack against the ground. And if he tossed it at the wrong angle, its' helmet would absorb the shock, still leaving him with a target to take care of.

An annoyance.

Noir's eyes flared unnaturally with his concentration, glowing a bright red, and he threw his arm-- and its' ammunition-- forward with calculated might. The shadows surrounding Noir warped as his arm passed through them, gnawing tauntingly at it and its' cargo, begging to be unleashed. Noir released his grip at the end of the arc, his arm relaxing as its' burden lightened, and watched the result...

Or, to sum up:
First I tried to pick up Metool C with the Rageclaw.
Then I carefully tried to plan my toss.
After that, I hurled(?) the little thing(Did I even pick it up?) at Metool A, hopefully knocking their heads together for 20 each. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
And of course, my Shadows tried to take a bite out of the crap near me for 5 damage.
Bump.
*CRAAASH*

Noir's plan to flip-n-throw the hiding Metool proved successful as the two viruses (comically) crashed against one another, resulting in a quick deletion. Their remains left behind few zennies and...a battlechip!

MetoolA: DELETED
MetoolB: DELETED
MetoolC: DELETED

Terrain: 40% Metal, 60% Normal (Metal alleyways, rooftops considered Normal)
Features: cross-shaped alley intersection flanked by 3 buildings and a single wall, approximately 10' high

Shade.EXE: 150HP

-BATTLE WON!-
300z + [Shockwave] Battlechip ShockWave
Damage: 40 + Line Attack + Ground Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Sends a narrow, but long, shock wave rolling in front of an enemy. Slow, but difficult to jump over due to its length.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Noir let out a deep sigh as he seemed to shrink, growing lower and lower to the ground until he was melded entirely with the shadows that he exuded, taking the form of a large pool of the stuff. Innumerable hands lurched outward from the miasma that comprised him at that moment, grasping and writhing around the battlefield as they searched ceaselessly for the rewards the viruses dropped. When they seemed to be done, Noir reformed, drawing in all of the hands and shadows and reappearing above them with the chip and zenny in hand.

He crushed them in his fist, transmitting them to the PET, and then darted off into the alleys once more.

"Let's keep going." He said to no-one in particular.
When Noir spoke out, he didn't direct it towards no one specifically, but someone certainly heard him. Three viruses emerged out of the blue when the navi barely walked more than a block from the digital neighborhood! Though the ENGBall looked rather docile, the hotheaded Champus were swinging their fiery fists as a form of provocation!

ENGball: 80 HP [Blue]
ChampuA: 60 HP
ChampuB: 60 HP

Terrain: 100% Metal

Shade Noir.EXE: 150 HP

-BATTLE TWO, START!-
((I have zero interest in this battle, as should be made obvious by my months of completely ignoring it. Jacking out.))

Noir eyes the completely featureless expanse surrounding him in nearly all directions, and wonders idly where Electown went.

He then decides to get the fuck out, and pops up a decoy in front of the viruses before sliding away through the shadows in the cracks between the panels.

Free: Decoy in front of viruses
1-2-3: GTFO (And then jack out)
And so Noir jacked out after seeing Electown disappear before his eyes.

[Jack Out Successful]