Nervous Retry

Bounding down the fire escape quickly, the navi was finally back on good old solid ground, far from the heights of the rooftops. But as he came around the corner from the alley, he'd find himself staring face to face with what had to be another part of the gang from above. Each virus seemed to be wearing the same signature headbands and looked none too happy to see him. From behind the perhaps odd party of beast and plant, stood a swordsmen who signaled the others to attack!

Enemies
Armadill A: 100HP
Armadill B: 100HP
Cacty A: 70HP
Cacty B: 70HP
Swordy-E: 80HP

Terrain
100% Metal

Ally
Cambiare.EXE: 140HP

—Battle 4, Start!—
"Cambi, you ready for this! It looks like these guys mean busine...Cambi...Are you smiling?"

Surprisingly, Cambiare didn't seem to mind the little around-the-corner ambush the viruses had prepared for him. After the nerve wracking obstacles he faced previously from the jumpy springs, tight alleyways, and tall rooftops, fighting on regular environment felt like a godsent to the poor navi. "Land...Land! I finally get to fight on regular land!" The navi proclaimed to the world with a smile.

"Wipe that grin off your face, Cambi! Before that Swordy sticks something funny into you!"

Finny was more concerned about the viruses than the navi who was going to fight it, going on ahead and loaded the next Program Drive along with few battlechips into the PET. The P.D. changed the navi into his Tenuto form, and the first chip had summoned a Windbox in front of him. "R-right...Battle!" He bashed his giant, white gauntlets against one another, causing both to reverberate in a ringing pitch that formed into a sound barrier. At the same time, the Windbox finally kicked in and began to blow harsh wind over the viruses to keep them at bay.

"Wh-what now, Finny?" said the navi as he pointed one of his arm towards the viruses, waiting for the next battlechip to load. "Well...I really can't get creative with the chips we have so far. I guess we should just wreck them up like everything else?"

"W-wreck?"

Without warning, the gauntlet opened up and a tank barrel extended out from within, clearly longer than the actual length of the gauntlet that it came out from. "T-t-this again?!" Cambiare frowned when he saw the weapon. "We gotta wreck'em hard! Show who they're messing with! And nothing says that clearer than a giant gun!!" Finny had her usual mischievous grin on her face, all the while shaking her head side to side like a strange metronome. "And you know what? I don't think that itself might be enough!"

"I-It isn't?!"

"No! Needs a bit more kick in it!"

And so, the operator proceeded to loaded the Attack+20 chip, causing the already huge tank gun into something even bigger. Cambiare almost fell forward due to the sudden change, but barely managed to keep his arm up, let alone stand and aim straight. "I sure hope this r-really sends them a m-message, cause I don't want to do this ever a-again!" As he lined the gun with the Armadil, Cambiare fired a destructive shelling towards the virus, which ended with a giant explosion in the middle of the street

The tank gun reverted back to its original size before it slipped back into the gauntlet, leaving behind...a sore arm. "Y-yeah...Ever again..." Cambiare whispered to hiimself as he slowly rubbed his shoulder.

Change: Tenuto Form
1. Andante [30 HP Barrier | 30 HP Casing | 2 TCD]
2. Wind [Push | Reduce Accuracy | To-All-Clause (Enemies) | Wind | 100 HP] {S} Towards Swordy-E
3. Attack+20 [+20 Damage to each hit | Stackable] {S}
4. TankCannon [80 /or/ [b]80+20+Blast2[/b] | Alt-Mode] {A | C} @ Armadil B (Target) / Armadil A / Cacty A

Cooldown:
None
Almost laughing in the face of his new enemies, Cambiare maintained his mildly confident attitude as the Swordy began a slow approach. That slow approach did not last long, as a WindBox suddenly dropped down in front of Cambiare. The virus raised its sword warily, waiting for the box to do something. It did something just as Cambiare smashed his fists together and created a barrier, the torrent of wind emerging from the box at the same time and pushing the Swordy back. For the moment the swordsvirus was harmless, as were the rolling attacks of the numerous other viruses. One of the Armadills began to maneuver around the brunt of the wind to get a chance at attacking while Cambiare directed a fairly large firearm at the virus force. With just the slightest hesitation, he fired the boosted cannon and sent an explosive shell flying at the viruses. It smashed into one of the wind-suppressed Armadills and exploded, deleting it and a Cacty instantly. As the cannon dismantled and disappeared from his arm, Cambiare noticed the remaining Armadill finally lining up far out of the WindBox's effective range. The Swordy seemed to be imitating this movement, but was still feeling the effects of the wind.

Enemies:
Armadill A: 100HP
Armadill B: DELETED
Cacty A: DELETED
Cacty B: 70HP
Swordy-E: 80HP

Terrain:
100% Metal

Allies:
Cambiare.EXE: 140HP [30HP Casing | 30HP Barrier]
WindBox: 100HP
"Finny, t-things aren't going too w-well!" The Windbox was able to keep the viruses at bay, but not for long. The Armadil was ready to charge right up to the nervous navi's face and the Swordy was going to follow up next. And from the look of the Swordy's sparky sword plus the highly conductible metal panels, he might have preferred the heads-on tackle instead.

Finny, on the other hand, seemed to have everything planned out ahead of time and loaded the chips in. "Are you ready, Cambi?" The navi replied as he shook his head. "W-what? No! What should I be ready f-for?!" Without warning, the first chip had summoned the Whirly virus in front of the Windbox, and was immediately carried away by the gust. "G-Go get 'im!... I guess?" yelled Cambiare as he tried to cheer on for the Whirly virus. Surprisingly, the cheering did have an effect as the virus charged right at the Swordy faster than it did before.

Attacking the Swordy was nice and all, since it was a big threat, but that still didn't do anything about the immediate threat of the Armadil. The navi was panicking, looking side to side in confusion. "I-It's getting close, it's getting cl-cl-close!" But before he was able to get an answer, the next chip had Cambiare's gauntlet open up once more, but this time, a large drill bit had come out instead of a tank gun. "What is t-this, Finny?! What am I su-suppose to do with this!"

"Huh? What else? Hit that virus that's doing the soni-"

"DON'T MAKE IT S-SOUND EASIER THAN IT IS!"

"Just take it like a man and tank the tackle~"

"S-SERIOUSLY, PLEASE T-THINK ABOUT IT FOR A S-S-SE-SECOND!"

It was too late to change Finny's mind, the Armadil was seconds away from crashing into Cambiare. Though the navi was protected by his sound barrier, intentionally trying to get hit wasn't something the navi can simply do... As simple as it may be. N-no choice!! Got to attack and d-delete it before it attacks me! Cambiare clenched his fist as the drill began to spin furiously, throwing a straight punch at the Armadil, hopefully before it crashes into him!

Maybe it was the sheer amount of pressure and stress from that small moment, the navi's mind was at haze as he placed his hand over his visor to calm himself down. "U...Urgh...What's n-next, Finny..." The operator smiled as she pointed her finger at the Cacty. "What do you think? Now get to it and bust that ugly cactus up!" Despite her navi's current state, Finny was at her usual, pushy ways and slipped in one last chip into the PET.

The drill bit receded back into the gauntlet, but a long gun barrel with a scope came out to replace it. Cambiare shook his head to regain his focus and lined the scope to the lone Cacty virus. "One...Last...Shot!" The navi fired a single, yet accurate shot at the virus and immediately went away to evade possible attacks.

1. AquaWhirl [70+[b]17[/b] | Panel Change: Aqua | Gust Guided] {C | Random} @ Swordy-E
2. DrillArm [60 x 2 (1st) | 60 (2nd) | Break | Knockback (1st) | Long Attack] {B} @ ArmadilA
3. MarkCannon [70 | Seeking | Lock-On] {A} @ CactyB
4. Dodge

Cooldown:
Andante: 2 TCD
Calling out a virus as backup, and sending it forth, it had perhaps surprising results, as the powerful wind blowing across the battlefield send the whirling water spout sailing across the field and slamming quite hard against the Swordy, deleting it away in a flurry of watery death.

Then came a one on one bout with a rolled up beast, and as it charged forward, it found itself face to face with a drill, that sliced through it quite easily, deleting it. All that remained was the stationary cacti, and one quick, powerful blast easily dealt with it as well.

Enemies
Armadill A: Deleted
Armadill B: Deleted
Cacty A: Deleted
Cacty B: Deleted
Swordy-E: Deleted

Terrain
100% Metal

Ally
Cambiare: 140HP [30HP Casing] [30HP Barrier]

Misc
Windbox: 100HP [2 turns remaining]

—Battle 4, Victory!—
Cambiare: 540z, CactusBall1

Quote ()

CactusBall1
Damage: 20 x 2-4 Hits + Ground Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Rolls a spiked ball at an enemy. The exact number of times this attack hits is random, but is always between 2 and 4.
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
"I'm...So glad it's o-over"

Cambiare sighed as the barrier surrounding him slowly faded away, finally getting the chance to relax after a back-to-back-to-back battle against viruses. He looked around the street, making sure there wasn't any other viruses ready to ambush, or some strange contraption, or possibly worse.

"Gosh, stop being so paranoid! So you came across bad things here and there, it's not like you have bad luck. Now keep on going!" Finny exclaimed, since Cambiare was taking too much time being too cautious. "H-huh? I s-started this to prove you that I'm not that wimpy anymore, but t-this... This is bad luck, no matter h-how you see it!"

Even as the navi tried to exit the alley and get onto the main street once more, Cambiare looked left and right, hoping that he wouldn't come across a ladder, a mirror, or any of those sorts...

-BOSS BATTLE, READY!-
As Cambiare emerged from the alleyway, he discovered a vacant street with a traffic monitor overhead. The traffic monitor's placement must have been an oversight by whatever company controlled it, because there wasn't any sort of vehicle traffic around. Still, the machine switched from red to green dutifully.

Further in the distance, he spotted two navis, one pinning the other against the wall. The two were shouting at each other, so they were either having a steamy lover's spat or one was menacing the other. As they spoke, an awkward tussle occurred in which they flipped around and reversed position. Then suddenly, one was on the smooth pavement of the net, pressing their own face against the floor with one hand.

Before Cambiare had time to vanish back into the alley and pretend he hadn't seen anything, the one with her face against the floor managed to turn her head enough to face him. "You over there! Help! There's a criminal over here!"[b][/b] she shouted, before smothering her own face back into the ground. She was a somewhat short girl with black hair in a long ponytail, held with a band that was obnoxiously colored with a red and white alternating diamond pattern. She wore a silver breastplate with matching gloves and boots, as well as a bodysuit with a pattern akin to her hairband. The shape of her body was fairly impressive, as was her flexibility, based on the position she'd managed to take. One of her legs was held nearly behind her in the air, kicked onto the other guy's shoulder, with the other out behind him. Her right arm pressed onto the back of her hand (and was clad with a black, metal cuff, not found on the other wrist), while her left joined with the other navi's hand.

"Get your damned party toy off of me!" the other navi snapped, sounding just as irritable despite the fact that he seemed to be winning, judging by their positions. His voice had a rasp to it, like that of an affected lifetime smoker. He was a taller guy in full black armor, mostly nondescript except for the device covering his head, which resembled a steel bear trap. He was hunched over slightly as he held onto the other navi's hand. "Hey, guy, why don't you keep walking and pretend you never saw this, huh?"

Pretending that he had not seen such a truly ridiculous scene would be very difficult. That aside, the other girl was insistant on the fact that he stayed. "Wait, wait! My name's Novelty; I'm a NetPolice Prosecutions Officer! I was trying to apprehend TrapMan after he escaped from prison and caught him in my finger trap! Now we're stuck together and it's the only thing keeping him from jacking out of the net! He's a criminal and a notorious pervert! A-Although he hasn't touched me, for whatever reason."[b][/b]

"I don't want to touch you, bitch!" TrapMan snapped, not bothering to elaborate further. "I managed to rig that Trap Bracelet on the way out of jail and I'm using it to control her arm, but damn if she isn't a bitch. H-Hey, guy, that sounds like fun, right? I can make her do whatever you want if you just help me out here!" he bartered. "You help me out of this finger trap and we'll get some mileage out of her! I-I can even get you in good with the Mafia, if you want! I was headed to join one of them right now!"

Both sounded pretty desperate. "Oh! Hey! I've also got some mystery data I found earlier! What do you say, huh? It's yours if you help me!" the bad guy offered. Although Cambiare didn't see any mystery data around to back up his claim...

TrapMan: 100 HP (1 movement away)
Novelty: 200 HP (1 movement away)
Finger Trap: 10 HP
Trap Bracelet: 10 HP

Cambiare: 140 HP

--BATTLE 5, START, SORT OF--
Cambiare was still cautious as he made his way to the main road. The deserted street with the pointlessly blinking lights, no car, and walking on the dead middle of the road certainly made the atmosphere eerie for the nervous navi. "...A-a-anything might come out right now." Cambiare whispered to himself. "After all the crap you went through, you should really be fine with 'anything' by now." said Finny, surprisingly reassuring her navi. Cambiare nodded his head with a relieved smile thinking that things really can't get any worse...Until it really did.

The navi suddenly found himself an eyewitness to a cop & robber bout, standing quietly as things continued to unfold between the two strangers...Most likely due to fright or disbelief that the fight was actually happening in front of him. "Finny, w-what's going on exactly?" the navi whimpered. "Looks like some serious fight! Why don't you join in and socialize~." Cambiare shook his head furiously and began to step away from the fight as quietly as he could. "Not a chance, n-nn-no can do! I don't mind being a l-loner for now!" Unfortunately, the nervous navi didn't make it away from the female navi's sight as she cried for help, unable to turn a blind eye now.

Criminal? Netpolice and Netmafia? Finger trap and Trap bracelet? Mystery Data? All these words were thrown at Cambiare, but the poor navi was too confused to fully comprehend his situation. Looking at both navis with an almost panicked look, the navi honestly wanted to run away from all of this. "A finger trap and handcuffs? Geez, what in the world did they do to get in all of that..." said Finny as she smirked. "What do you think, Cambi? Which one you wanna help out?" Cambiare faced Finny's holoscreen and just shook his head like a child who didn't know what to do...but to shake his head.

Twirling her orange pigtail, Finny had an even bigger smile as she moved her screen closer to Novelty and TrapMan. "Bad luck for you, my navi's too much of a spaz. Against viruses? He's a wreck. Against stranger navis? It's like a train wreck plus a tornado aftermath and...so on and so forth." Taking a closer look at both the traps between the navi, she continued on with her little 'talk,' "Alright, tell me why I should help you? As you can see, we could just easily leave like nothing went on, and Cambi would honestly prefer that over anything else~"
The black armored navi wheezed as he tried to start out an impassioned plea, allowing the girl to start. "I'm trying to bring him in, he's an escaped convict! He is a big player in the Mafia Techari family and he's a degenerate that harassed citizens and officers alike!" she pleaded, appealing to Finny's sense of moral obligation and human decency.

TrapMan blew a raspberry inside his bear trap helmet. "Alright, you can have that, or you could have a cushy recommendation... a foot in to the Mafia! A-And I have mystery data! You can have that too!" he concluded. He omitted the offer of the NP officer's body, seeing that Cambiare had a female op and probably wouldn't go for that. "We all live in a material world, right? Keh heh blurHARG!!"

The vicious cough was making it harder to be mad at the guy...

"What mystery data? He's lying! There's nothing here!"

"Sure there is!"

"Where?!"

"I can't say or I lose my bargaining chip!!"

"Even so, that's like 500 zenny or a Guard1! Please!"

"Ow, get your foot out of my face, bitch! See?! She's assaulting an injured man!"
After hearing the desperate plea from the two trapped navis, Finny's mischievous smile slowly began to fade out. "...This is boring." Despite her obvious duty as a civilian to help the cop apprehend a criminal, nor getting lured by the delicious bribe, the operator was just not interested in helping either one. Maybe it was the wacky battles she and her navi fought so far that made her look into this situation with such indifferent eye (Though the situation was just as wacky as otherS), or maybe she was just too tired, but Finny just didn't care as much as she did only a minute ago. "Cambi, are you still..." Turning the screen around, she saw that Cambiare was still shaking like a helpless puppy, trying to ignore any eye contact possible. "...Yeah, this isn't going to work."

Turning towards Novelty and TrapMan, Finny shook her head, shrugged, and sighed. "Sorry folks. We can't be of much help here. I think Cambi and I will leave now~" Even without trying to hear any more words of desperation from the two trapped navis, Finny('s screen) drifted away from them and neared Cambiare. "Aww, Poor buay-bee is being too scwaed/" The navi still remained silent, but at the very least, turned his head towards Finny. "Come on, tough guy. We're getting out of here." It was then that Cambiare's trembling stopped and a small smile came up on his poor face...But Finny had something in her mind before she left.

All of a sudden, Cambiare's arm suddenly transformed into a buster with a battlechip data loaded in. "Aa---aahh?" And without warning, it fired a shot without the navi's consent, breaking off the trap bracelet right out of Novelty and TrapMan's wrist with dead-on accuracy. Confused, perplexed, bewildered, and everything that can explain this feeling, the nervous navi just stared at his buster for a good 10 seconds before he snapped out. "F-Fi-F-Finny, w-w-what hap-ha-happened?!?" Finny's mischievous smile returned once more, bigger than ever, while pulling out a MarkCannon chip out from the PET. "Well...I really don't want something bad on my record if that cop gets out of this somehow. Don't want things to nip my butt for something like this~"

In the end, her reason to help was for her own and her navi's good, and nothing more. Not wanting to get any more involved, Cambiare and Finny left the network without seeing the end of the cop and criminal feud...

-JACK OUT-